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American Morning
The Case Against O.J.; Soaring Stocks; Taser Incident; Truth Or Fiction?
Aired September 19, 2007 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Back in court. O.J. Simpson faces felony charges this morning, as the man who brought him to the hotel denies he put the squeeze on the juice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS RICCIO, RECORDED ALLEGED ROBBERY: I didn't set anybody up. In fact, O.J. had some even stranger ideas on how to do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Up, up and away. Overseas markets jump on the Fed's interest rate cut.
And in the swing. Bears in the backyard get a little too close for comfort. But who could resist a hammock, on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Oh, yes, battling over the comfort zone there.
Hey, welcome to the show. Thanks very much for joining us on this Wednesday, September the 19th. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry.
Everyone wants to take a load off every now and then. Even the bears.
ROBERTS: They're just like kids. They're always fighting over the hammock.
O.J. Simpson expected to be in court this morning. This time, no dream team, no Judge Ito and no Kato Kaelin, but he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Simpson will be arraigned on 11 counts connected to an armed robbery in Las Vegas. Ten of them felonies, including two counts of kidnapping, two counts of robbery, two counts of assault, all involving the use of a deadly weapon.
One of the men in the Vegas hotel room that night, Thomas Riccio, told Larry King last night that Simpson took things too far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS RICCIO, RECORDED ALLEGED ROBBERY: He was supposed to go in there, give them the option of calling the police or turning the stuff over to him. That's it. That's all that was supposed to happen. All of this other stuff, I can't answer why he would feel compelled to do that (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And who tape recorded the hotel room encounter and sold that tape to tmz.com. He also reportedly has a long rap sheet, including felony larceny convictions. AMERICAN MORNING's Chris Lawrence is live in Las Vegas for us this morning.
And, Chris, as we said, no Judge Ito, no Kato Kaelin, but certainly a cast of unusual characters again surrounding O.J. in this trial.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you said it, John. And this time he's not going to be wearing a suit, at least for this appearance. In a little less than five hours from now, the guards will bring O.J. Simpson through an underground tunnel and take him from the jail to the courthouse here behind me. He's expected to be wearing a prison jumpsuit, his hands and legs in cuffs. Now at that point his lawyer is going to ask the judge to let him out on bail and the judge will most likely make her decision one way or the other.
Late last night we caught up with Simpson's attorney after he saw his client, coming out of jail. He said that eventually he does expect a full acquittal for Simpson. And he talked about some of the potential problems for the prosecution's witnesses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YALE GALANTER, ATTORNEY FOR O.J. SIMPSON: Based on the conflicting media reports, the conflicting interviews that each and every one of these people has given to you guys, it's definitely fertile ground for an (INAUDIBLE). We'll examine it. We're going to be going over all the tapes, over the interviews. We'll be comparing it and comparing it to what they initially told the police.
Obviously the story has changed. I mean, you guys have been discussing that for the past two or three days. We'll go through it and do the appropriate things with them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: And police have also released a photo of two other suspects that they're still looking at. These photos were taken by the palace station surveillance cameras the night of the incident. Police say these are two people they are still looking for in connection with the crime.
As to the charges against O.J. Simpson, prosecutors say they added the kidnapping charges, not because anyone tied these men up and took them away from the room, but because a gun was pointed at one of the men inside and because O.J. -- they allege that O.J. Simpson grabbed the cell phone from Bruce Fromong and would not allow him to place a call.
Now one of the major problems -- potential problems for the prosecution is, right now Bruce Fromong is in critical condition in a Los Angeles hospital after he suffered a major heart attack.
John.
ROBERTS: And, Chris, as we know, with all the statements that have been made in the last week or so, O.J. Simpson was among the people who were making them. Has he implicated himself and how much of a problem does Galanter, his attorney, think that might be?
LAWRENCE: Exactly. O.J. Simpson, in the few days following this initial incident, he talked to just about everybody, media, anyone who would listen. And he made a lot of statements about, you know, what he wanted to do. In effect saying, yes, I did go there. Yes, I was trying to do this. He made certain statements that could come back to haunt him as we move along in the legal process. But again, there's always that fine line as to, you know, which statements actually get introduced into evidence in an actual trial.
ROBERTS: Yes. And out of all these people, how many of them can be trusted?
Chris Lawrence for us this morning.
Chris, thanks.
Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, as Chris has been reporting, to complicate things even more, there was a key witness, an alleged victim in this case, now in critical condition after he suffered a heart attack. Before it happened, he said O.J. Simpson and others stormed the hotel room commando style. AMERICAN MORNING's legal contributor Sunny Hostin is here to sort out the charges and also the major players in this case because, once again, you know, harkening back to 1994, it seems that everyone has a story as well, which may get in the way of witness credibility.
First of all, let's get to O.J. facing now 11 separate charges today. How strong is this case shaping up to be against him?
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR: It's shaping up very, very strong against O.J. We're talking about a very, very long period of time for O.J. He's looking at a minimum of three years. Minimum. And up to a maximum of life in prison. When you think about that and you think about his history, it's going to be very difficult to find a jury that can sort of forget about, you know, Nicole and Ron, and I think that he's going to go to trial. We all know he has a God complex. He said he's going to go to trial. We're looking, I think, at the next trial of the century.
CHETRY: Oh, goodness. Well, we're going to listen to what Tom Riccio said. He's the man who recorded Simpson -- this whole hotel scuffle. Well, anyway, what he says, to paraphrase, is that he was supposed to go in there, give them the option of calling the police or turn the stuff over to him and that's it. He says, I can't answer why he felt compelled to do more than that. This guy is a four-time convicted felon. He served a total of eight years in prison. How credible is he going to be as a witness, as the guy who turned the tape over to a gossip website before police?
HOSTIN: That's a great question. And a lot of people are sort of being conspiracy theorists now. They're saying O.J. was set up. And we're going to hear that with the defense. But the bottom line is, there is a tape and everyone has heard O.J. He was threatening. He was menacing. It was scary. There were guns involved. Even though -- you know, as a prosecutor, you really can't pick your witnesses. You wish that you had the choir boys on the witness stand.
But these are people that O.J. associated with. He associated with them. He's a criminal by many accounts and his cohorts are as well. So I don't know that that really is going to make a big difference.
CHETRY: We'll see what happens. We're going to get more detail from you coming up in about 30 minutes.
Sunny Hostin, thank you.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Some other headlines new this morning.
A rare editorial by Vice President Dick Cheney in today's "Wall Street Journal." He is answering charges in former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's books saying that the Bush administration's tax cuts and increased spending at the same time were irresponsible. Cheney says that Greenspan's assessment is off the mark. The tax cuts are pumping up the economy and bringing in more tax dollars. Spending increases were unavoidable, says Cheney, a result of 9/11.
There are new orders for U.S. government civilians in Iraq right now. They may not leave the green zone in Baghdad. Those orders are a direct result of the shootout involving Blackwater, one of the private security contractors that protects American diplomats in Iraq.
And very different versions of what happened during that shootout are coming out today. Leaks of a preliminary Iraqi report say Blackwater operatives fired first, attacking a car that did not stop when told to by an Iraqi policemen. Blackwater says it started shooting in response to a roadside bomb attack.
A powerful typhoon is slamming China's east coast early today. More than 2 million people south of Shanghai have been told to leave their homes. Forecasters say Typhoon Wipha could be the worst storm to hit the region in 10 years. Emergency crews sending out text message warnings overnight. Factories and schooled shut down. Ships and fishing boats ordered back to port. Dozens of flights grounded there. At least two people have been killed so far.
CHETRY: Yes, and they ordered that mandatory evacuation of all of those people. One of them who died stepped in a puddle that was charged electrically because of the winds blowing down a lot of power lines. So a messy situation there.
Britney Spears' custody battle heating up. A judge ordering the pop singer to undergo random drug and alcohol testing twice a week. And according to court documents, Spears and her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, must spend eight hours a week with a parenting coach. The couple has agreed to joint custody of their kids at shared 50/50, but Federline is asking a court to allow him more time with the kids. Since leaving rehab, there have been accusations from those close to Spears that she is still drinking and using drugs.
A judge in the Phil Spector murder trial says he may give the panel a lesser charge to consider today, involuntary manslaughter. That coming after the jury is still deadlocked, saying they could not reach a unanimous verdict. The panel split seven to five about whether or not they believe that he killed Lana Clarkson. The foreman not saying which way the majority is leaning. The record producer is charged with second degree murder after actress Lana Clarkson was found dead in his mansion back in February of 2003.
ROBERTS: Eight minutes after the hour. Time now to check in with our AMERICAN MORNING team of correspondents for other stories new this morning that we're following.
Stocks soaring worldwide after the Fed's interest rate cut yesterday. Ali Velshi following this from Chicago for us this morning.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
I got a bit of a silver lining here. You think you can stick a cloud in it?
ROBERTS: Absolutely. I sent you a text message yesterday. You said, the Dow's up 10 percent for the year. And I said, yes, it's up today 10 percent for the year.
VELSHI: Yes. Well, here we go. Here's what happened. The Fed drops interest rates by 50 basis points. That's a half a percentage point yesterday. It was widely expected the Fed would drop, but it was expected to be a quarter of a percentage point. That 50 really surprised the markets. It's the first move in 15 months for the Fed. It's the first drop in more than four years.
Now the Fed rate is 4.75 percent. That means the prime rate is 7.75 percent. And so many of us have home equity loans, car loans, credit card loans, other kinds of loans that are tied to the prime rate. So that goes down.
Now I was in the Chicago bond pits yesterday at the board of trade because that's where bonds trade. And when the Fed rate goes down, bond yields also go down and that's where a lot of adjustable rate mortgages are financed. So a lot of people who had mortgages that were ready to reset at a higher rate also got a bit of a discount.
All of this caused markets to do very well. The Dow had its best percentage gain since April of 2003. It had its best point gain since October of 2002, 330 some-odd points yesterday afternoon for the Dow.
Now all of this extra credit in the system means that business will spend more and consumer will spend more and that sent the price of oil to a new all-time high settle yesterday at $81.52. $81.51 this morning. Oil is trading even higher than that.
Asian markets are up. Hong Kong and Tokyo both up almost 4 percent. And Dow futures are looking brighter for today.
When I come back next, John, I'm going to keep on with the good news. I'm going to even tell you how you can make money off of inflation.
ROBERTS: OK. Looking forward to that. But you didn't need me to find the cloud in the silver lining. You found it -- oil.
VELSHI: Yes, you know, I know.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks. We'll talk to you soon.
New information this morning about the University of Florida student tasered at a Senator John Kerry speaking event. We all saw the videotape. Alina Cho at our national desk now with an update.
Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John.
You know, this is a YouTube sensation and the number one video on cnn.com. But if you have not seen it yet, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: I didn't do anything. Don't tas me, bro. Don't tas me. I didn't do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: A University of Florida student tasered after loudly questioning Senator John Kerry at an on campus event. It happened on Monday. Now the university is taking action. But against whom? I'll have that story coming up in our next half hour.
John, back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Look forward to it.
Alina, thanks very much.
The numbers are in from a hip-hop head-to-head battle. Kanye West against 50 Cent. Our Lola Ogunnaike caught up with Kanye exclusively last night.
Is he gloating?
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was the music face-off of the year, John, and Kanye won hands down. He sold 957,000 copies. 50 only sold 691,000 copies. So, yes, he was gloating last night. He said not gloating but celebrating. He said he was going to sip a lot of champagne. He was very, very happy last night. And yet, 50 said that he would retire if Kanye sold more than him and it looks like 50 is going to have to retire.
ROBERTS: Yes, but what are his people saying about that?
OGUNNAIKE: His people are saying they cannot confirm nor deny that 50 will retire.
ROBERTS: Yes, I think this is going to be a bet that he's going to welsh on.
Lola, thanks very much. We'll talk to you again soon.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: And our Rob Marciano is here today tracking extreme weather.
Florida again in the cross-hairs, Rob?
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, a disgruntled man puts his country for sale on eBay. We're going to show you why and show you what the bidding was up to.
And Hillary Clinton unveiling her new health care plan with much fanfare. The devil, though, is in the details. Isn't that always the case. We used the truth-o-meter for some campaign fact-checking. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: How about this? A disturbing, giant beehive on wheels. Take a look. This was the scene when a semi truck carrying 456 hives and over 13 million bees in those hives rolled over. It happened on Interstate 94. This is near Billings, Montana. And, obviously, you need a net. Look at those two. Police say that just a few hives spilled open, but thousands of bees got loose. Workers were in swatting mode as they tried to run away. They expected to be able to round them all up. How do you round them all up, by the way? And then continue on to California you? You need a bee whisperer.
Well, the world's only known albino buffalo gave birth to another albino. Well they say it may be -- it looks like it from there, doesn't it. The National Buffalo Museum in Jamestown, North Dakota, says the odds are one in a billion that white cloud would have another white offspring. The museum says it's waiting for DNA test results to find out if it really is indeed a rare albino bison.
ROBERTS: Cute little guy isn't he.
Seventeen minutes after the hour. Health care a hot topic now on the campaign trail. Hillary Clinton just unveiled her plan to overhaul the nation's health care system. John Edwards is touting his plan. Republican Rudy Giuliani weighing in as well. Bill Adair is the Washington bureau chief of the "St. Petersburg Times." He's also the editor of politifact.com and he's running the truth-o-meter for us this morning. Bill joins us from Tampa, Florida.
Bill, good to see you.
A quick explanation of what the truth-o-meter is?
BILL ADAIR, "ST. PETERSBURG TIMES": The truth-o-meter is part of our new website, politifact.com. And what we try to do is to sort out the truth in what the presidential candidates are saying. So we fact check individual statements that they make and then rule whether they're true, or half true or false. Or, in the most extreme cases, we call them "pants on fire."
ROBERTS: All right. We're going to get to some of those. Let's go with number one here. Hillary Clinton, Monday the 17th, in Des Moines during her health care speech said, "half of all personal bankruptcies in America are caused by medical bills." Where does that come up on the truth-o-meter?
ADAIR: Well, when we looked at that, we gave it a mostly true. We found that the calculation she was using came up a little short of the half that she talked about. To get to half, you have to include some things that we felt go beyond medical bills. Things like lost income due to illness. And also even losses from a gambling addiction. So we gave that one a mostly true.
ROBERTS: All right. Let's go to number two. Again with the health care plan. It "will cost $110 billion in the first year, which can be paid for with savings." Where did that one end up on the meter?
ADAIR: We gave that a half true. And that's based on some really optimistic math. About half of that is the assumption that the Bush tax cuts will expire and the ones that benefit the wealthiest Americans will be allowed to expire and not renewed. But the other numbers about the other half of the $110 billion are pretty optimistic. And several experts that we talked to question whether the things that she's assuming, which assume some big savings from electronic medical records and other things, whether that will really be the big savings that she expects.
ROBERTS: And that was a big point she was pushing when she was on with us yesterday.
Number three comes from Rudy Giuliani, again on Monday in Tampa, to reporters talking about the Hillary Clinton health care plan. He said, "what they will do is socialize medicine." Where did that one land?
ADAIR: We gave that one a false. And we heard that a lot and we've heard that about Senator Clinton's plan even before she introduced it. And if you look at the plan, there's really no way that you could call this socialism. Socialism would be a government- run, government-regulated plan, and her plan relies on health insurance companies.
ROBERTS: But certainly people say that trying to tie it to what she was doing in 1993 and 1994.
Final one here comes from Bill Richardson, Monday, September 3rd, northwest Iowa, speaking to the labor council there. He said of the Iowa caucuses, "Iowa, for good reason, for constitutional reasons, for reasons related to the Lord, should be the first caucus and primary." And the truth-o-meter says?
ADAIR: Pants on fire. We just -- we couldn't find any documentation to indicate that God preferred Iowa. And so we talked to a rabbi, we talked to a political science professor and decided that there really was no truth to this one.
ROBERTS: Well, you know, I've known Bill for a number of years and I -- bill Richardson -- and it sounded kind of like one of his jokes to me. But who knows.
Bill Adair from politifact.com, "St. Petersburg Times," thanks very much. We'll get you back again for more fact checking on what the candidates had to say. Good to see you this morning.
ADAIR: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: All right. Kiran.
CHETRY: You definitely don't want the "pants on fire" distinction, do you? That's not the one you're going for.
Well, some "Quick Hits" now and a call for more armored land vehicles. The Army is going to ask for 10,000 mine-resistant ambush- protected vehicles to protect troops from makeshift bombs in Iraq. It's four times more than the original request. These vehicles cost about $1 million each.
And thousands of Iraqi refugees hoping to come to the U.S. seem to be stuck behind bureaucratic red tape. The Department of Homeland Security and the State Department will now appoint senior officials to help straighten out the problem. Since 2003, only about 1,500 Iraqi refugees have been admitted to the U.S.
And a strange story out of Peru. Can you get sick from a falling meteor? We'll talk about it.
Also, you can find just about anything on eBay. Well, for a short time, shoppers had the chance to pick up a European country. Details ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: A satellite that can zoom in on an object just 18 inches across is now in orbit around the earth. The WorldView-1 satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California yesterday. It is owned by Digital Globe and promises to provide incredible, new, high resolution digital imaging of the earth.
Its garbage pickup on a global scale. A new, unmanned, electric drone is now patrolling the waters around the Hawaiian Islands. It's a new high-tech move to fight ocean pollution. The plane transmits a digital video image back to a ship that will collect any trash that pops up.
CHETRY: Pretty neat.
Well, he put his home country up for sale on eBay. He's a Belgian native. And he says he placed an ad out of frustration over the current power struggle between the political parties. Bidding for the country began at a reasonable $1 million. It reached $14 million before the ad was pulled from the site. He had various things on there. He was talking about how, hey, you have NATO headquarters. How great. The EU and some really great beers.
ROBERTS: Justin Hennin, as well.
CHETRY: OK.
ROBERTS: Winner of the U.S. Open.
A look now at a story coming up in our next half hour that you just can't miss. The University of Florida student tasered at the John Kerry event is one of the most viewed videos on cnn.com and an obvious target for our Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): We at CNN delight in watching our very own Rick Sanchez take a 50,000 volt jolt.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do it. Oh. Ah! Oh. Oh. It hurts.
MOOS: On that, Rick and Andrew agree. We do have one tip to make it less likely you'll get tasered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to break my arm!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, we should have warned Rick Sanchez, of course, that just a cup of coffee can sometimes do the trick to get you awake for the morning show. You don't necessarily need to taser yourself.
Well, we're going to have much more -- we're going to see the whole entire piece that Jeanne did. It really is a hoot. And we also have some new information on that student, by the way. Apparently this isn't his first brush with trouble. We're going to hear what the police had to say about the aftermath when they took him to jail.
ROBERTS: Yes, those stories and more coming up when AMERICAN MORNING returns. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. There's a beautiful shot this morning of the Walt Whitman Bridge, courtesy of WPVI in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's 55 degrees right now. Shaping up to be a pretty nice day. Seventy-seven degrees and sunny in the city of brotherly love.
And welcome back. It's Wednesday, September 19th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
Brand new in this half hour, O.J. Simpson's attorney is speaking out. Simpson is expected in court this morning on 10 felony counts, including kidnapping and armed robbery, all connected to a suspected break-in last week at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas. Simpson has insisted that he was the one performing a sting operation to get back some sports collectibles that he says were his in the first place. Everyone involved seems to have their own version of what happened, though. His attorney says that could give the country a major case of deja vu.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YALE GALANTER, O.J. SIMPSON'S ATTORNEY: I think that he's got a very substantial chance of being acquitted on the charges. Based on the conflicting media reports and conflicting interviews that each and every one of these people has given to you guys, it's fertile grounds for any potential -- we'll examine it. We're going to being pulling all the tapes and interviews and comparing it, comparing it to what they initially told the police. Obviously the story has changed. You guys have been discussing that for the past two or three days. We'll go through it and do the appropriate things for this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A supposed friend of O.J. Simpson's is speaking out. Tom Riccio said he helped Simpson arrange the confrontation with two sports memorabilia dealers in Las Vegas. Riccio is an ex-con with at least four separate felony convictions, including arson, escaping prison and stolen property charges. He's free while O.J. is in jail. He's the man who taped the suspected robbery and sold it to tmz.com.
But on "Larry King Live" he insisted it was not a setup, as one of O.J.'s other buddies had claimed, and there was not supposed to be a gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM RICCIO, O.J. SIMPSON'S FRIEND: They were going to give him his stuff before the gun came out. It wasn't supposed to be that way. We talked about it several times. I have proof that we talked about it. He was supposed to go in there, give them the option of calling the police or turning the stuff over to him. That's it. That's all that was supposed to happen. All of the other stuff I can't answer why he'd feel compelled to do that. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Riccio also said there was only one guy with the weapon and it was not O.J.
And a reminder, you can watch the O.J. Simpson arraignment live from your desktop or laptop, 11:00 a.m. eastern here on cnn.com. And we'll carry it here on CNN as well.
CHETRY: And also new this morning, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani is in London for a meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He's also meeting with former Prime Ministers Blair and Margaret Thatcher.
There are new polls out today that show a very slight change in American opinion on Iraq since President Bush's prime time speech and General Petraeus' testimony to Congress. The Pew Research Center finds that 47 percent of Americans think that the U.S. is likely to fail in Iraq, that compares to 49 percent in July; 42 percent think the U.S. Will succeed, compared to 43 percent in July.
We have an I-report video of a roadside bomb attack in Iraq. This is an attack on a supply convoy somewhere between Baghdad and Tikrit back in October of 2005. There you see the explosion. A private security contractor sent it to CNN's I-report. He did not give his name for fear of retribution by his employer. He says he doesn't work for Blackwater.
Peruvian scientists are investigating whether a meteorite that crashed in the country's southern Andean region is making the local population sick. Some 200 villagers began vomiting and complaining of headaches and dizziness after the object hit on Saturday. Fumes from the massive crater are so strong that scientists reported feeling irritation in their nose and throat. Even a scientist who was wearing a mask reported those feelings.
A consultant hired to inspect the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis was never used, according to the "Minneapolis Star Tribute." The Department of Transportation reported conducted the inspection of part of a bridge a few months before it collapse and decided that it didn't need the help of the consulting firm. The inspection found no major problems.
Well, he didn't get as much press but he may have been even more dangerous. Now a drug-resistant tuberculosis patient is out of the hospital. Robert Daniels was released in Denver, flown back to his home in Phoenix. Hospital officials say he's no longer contagious but, at the time, his T.B. was more widespread and resistant to drugs than in the case of Andrew Speaker, the man who sparked an international scare when he defied doctor's orders and took a national flight to Europe.
ROBERTS: That taser incident at the University of Florida, one of the hottest videos on cnn.com. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: Don't tase, me, bro. Don't tase me. I didn't do anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: There are new developments. Today "AMERICAN MORNING's" Alina Cho is here with that.
Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: John, good morning. As you well know, people have been fascinated by the story. Now the University of Florida is taking action against the campus police officers who tasered that student at an event with Senator John Kerry. It is a YouTube sensation and, as you just mentioned, the most watched video on cnn.com.
Now, 21-year-old Andrew Meyer was tasered after he loudly questioned Kerry on campus Monday. Meyer has been released after spending the night in jail.
And the University of Florida's president placed two campus police officers on paid administrative leave. He has also opened an internal investigation and called the tasering incident regretful.
BERNIE MACHEN, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA: We're absolutely committed to having a safe environment for our faculty and our students, so that the free exchange of ideas can occur. Civil discourse, civil debate are hallmarks of universities.
CHO: On his web site, Senator Kerry responded by saying, "I have never had a dialogue end this way. I believe I could have handled the situation without interruption."
Now this morning, some students are calling on the university to ban tasers all together, but university officials say, in the wake of Virginia Tech, the tasers will stay.
Also some questions this morning whether the student, Andrew Meyer, was trying to pull a prank. One officer reportedly said his demeanor completely changed once the cameras were out of site and that he even asked whether there would be cameras at the jail. Meyer is pretty well-known for taping his own practical jokes and posting them on his own web site.
Either way, John, this is serious business. He could be facing real charges of resisting an officer and disturbing the peace. The state attorney's office has not made a decision on that but certainly, as you well know, we will keep you posted on every development.
ROBERTS: The full story has yet to come out. Alina Cho this morning. Alina, thanks.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Scary new information on tainted toys. Newly released documents show some of toys recalled by Mattel this summer had 180 times more lead in the paint than the law allows. Mattel said some of the toys used paint that was 11 percent lead. The law sets the limit at less than 1 percent.
A House committee is looking today into crime on cruise ships, trying to get better reporting on crimes to the FBI and other agencies, as nearly all of the ships are registered outside of the United States. FBI director Robert Mueller is among those scheduled to testify.
And two million people forced out of their homes in China, as a deadly typhoon, packing 100-miler per hour winds, makes landfall. We have more I-reports and the latest news out of China.
Who is who? We go to the schools where the students keep the teachers guessing, how do they keep track of 18 pairs of twins? That's ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to "AMERICAN MORNING." How about this one? It's a rare and challenging task for teachers at two Scottish schools. They've got 18 sets of twins to look after. St. Alouicious and St. Timothy Schools have nine sets of twins. Needless to say, it's been a little tough figuring out who is who, except for the girl-boy twins. That's not as bad. For the girls, they often put different colored bows in their hair and are still working out the best method for telling apart the boys.
ROBERTS: 40 minutes after the hour. We're fortunate to have our Rob Marciano with us in the studio today as opposed to on remote from Atlanta.
Always good to see you.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm fortunate to be here. Always nice to visit New York.
ROBERTS: How is the Chinese mainland doing with the typhoon?
MARCIANO: It's not as bad as we thought. That's good news. They thought it might be the worst to hit mainland China in decades, certainly in years. It was a strong one, but it's weakening. There's the forecast track. You see down to a tropical storm stat with us winds less than 60 miles an hour now and it is affecting Shanghai in the way of heavy rains. That will be the brunt of it right now. It made landfall 240 miles south of Shanghai and that's good news. The track will eventually get its way up towards Korea.
Speaking of, let's roll along to Florida, which is always a hot spot for tropical activity. This thing flared up overnight. Look at the satellite signature there, starting to look more like rotation, hammering the East Coast with a lot of rain. Here's the radar showing you just that. A lot of action flowing off the Atlantic on to the eastern shores, with flooding from Jacksonville south towards say Cape Canaveral. And even towards the Keys we've had gusty winds and a couple of water spouts. So rainfall is going to be an issue with this, certainly over the next 24 hours. What happens after that it will be interesting.
Looks like whatever that circulation is, a hybrid, upper level thing gets into the Gulf. You have water temperatures to 85 degrees plus and this time of year that's a scary thought. So we're watching that closely as it moves to the west.
ROBERTS: In Florida at least they can use the rain though, right?
MARCIANO: You know, unfortunately for them they get it all at one time with the tropical moisture. A little bit at a time would be nicer.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Thanks. Well, another celebrity actress adopts a child. Your "Quick Hits" now. Mary Louise Parker adopted a little girl from Africa. She already has a 3-year-old son. Parker was nominated for her role in "Weeds" and she's also in a brand new movie with Brad Pitt.
Alicia Silverstone would rather go naked than eat meat. I'm sure a lot of guys would be happy to see that. The clueless star appears naked in a new TV ad for PETA. She talks about the benefits of being a vegetarian. The ad begins in Houston because that city is high on the list of cities with the worst eating habits.
Don't tase me, bro. Well, it's the catch phrase that's sweeping the nation. And Jeanne Moos will give us her take on the taser tale.
Plus, celebrity justice O.J. goes to court, the charges and the prison time he could be facing. Your morning legal brief is up next when "AMERICAN MORNING" returns.
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. One out of 14 says it's easy to get their hands on methamphetamine. This comes from the Meth Project. It's a nonprofit anti-drug group. One to three teens said there was little or no risk to trying meth once or twice and a quarter said there were benefits like weight loss and coping with boredom.
Charges that alcohol is being marketed to minors. The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Georgetown University says more than of third alcohol radio ads are heard between the age of listeners 12 and 20 years old. The industry represented say they are following voluntary guidelines.
Plus, we have some incredible pictures of students at southern Texas University that may have been exposed to rabies. See what's flying around there? They're bats, tons of them around their dorm room. Some of the kids shot Internet videos showing students trying to kill them with brooms and tennis rackets as they swarmed around. One student said he killed dozens of them. More than 200 students have been relocated to hotels. Health officials in Houston will determine if any of the students need rabies shots.
ROBERTS: What a lovely place to live.
If you've been watching "AMERICAN MORNING" you've seen the video, the shocking video of a Florida student getting tasered.
CNN's Jeanne Moos takes us inside the tale of the taser.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The taser's come a long way, baby. Nowadays they come in pastel.
TV ANNOUNCER: Metallic pink and electric blue.
MOOS: If you're going to taser a student, it's probably better for officers if there aren't a million cameras around recording those now famous last words.
ANDREW MEYER, UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA STUDENT: Don't tase me, bro.
MOOS: From every angle.
MEYERS: Don't tase me bro. Don't tase me. I didn't do this thing, ow.
MOOS: The video electrified the web. "Moron got what he deserved" read one post. Sure he got what he deserved, if this were communist China, responded another.
Whether he deserved it or not, Andrew Meyer, sure didn't seem to win friends with his questioning technique, addressing Senator John Kerry.
MEYER: I'll ask my question, thank you very much. I'll ask my question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've been talking for a few hours.
MEYERS: I'm not even done yet. I have two more questions. Thank you for cutting my mike. Thank you.
Are you going to arrest me? Excuse me. Excuse me.
MOOS: And when he yelled?
MEYER: Is anybody watching this?
MOOS: They weren't just watching. Some were applauding the officers. Meyer acted like he was being mugged.
MEYER: Oh, help. Help. Help.
MOOS: Once tackled but still resisting.
MEYER: Get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off of me, man. I didn't do anything.
MOOS: He got tased.
MEYER: Ow.
MOOS: Thus joining the ranks of those who have been electrified on camera, from pigs used as guinea pigs for taser testing to certain reporters who have shocked themselves to demonstrate the effects.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ow. Oh, man.
MOOS: While on the ground, officers warned Meyer he'd be taser if he didn't cooperate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop doing that.
MEYER: Oh, my God.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE OFFICER: Back up. Back up.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why are you doing that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did he do wrong?
MOOS: Seemed to think his life was in danger.
MEYER: Ask them where I am because they are going to try and kill me. They are going to try and kill me.
MOOS: Actually, he was released the next day. We don't know how many volts Meyer got hit with, but we at CNN delight in watching our very own Rick Sanchez take a 50,000-volt jolt.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Do it. Oh, ayi. Oh. It hurts.
MOOS: On that, Rick and Andrew agree. We do have one tip to make it less likely you'll get tasered.
MEYER: You're going to break my arm.
MOOS: Don't call the officers "bro."
MEYER: Don't tase me, bro. Don't tase me.
MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
MEYER: Ow, Ow, Ow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: It's not supposed to be funny, so why is everyone laughing.
Well, in other legal news O.J. Simpson facing a judge today during an arraignment hearing in Las Vegas.
It's time now for our morning legal brief. CNN's legal analyst Sunny Hostin joins us with more.
Good to see you this morning, Sunny.
SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good to see you.
CHETRY: So now, they've added a charge. This is first degree kidnapping with the use of a deadly weapon. How does this change the dynamic of the case?
HOSTIN: This was already a serious case. He's looking at serious charges. But when you add a kidnapping charge in combination with this tape that everyone is hearing, and we're hearing about guns and hearing O.J. on the tape saying, no one can go anywhere, it takes -- it's adding a very, very different dimension and getting very, very serious.
CHETRY: The irony is so he was acquitted in a double murder trial yet could face life in prison if he's found guilty of this robbery?
HOSTIN: Absolutely, the range from three years to life in prison. I think this is a much more clear-cut case than the murder case was. If prosecutors try this case well, he could be looking at a serious amount of time.
CHETRY: It's interesting though because defense attorneys are already chomping at the bit talking there's so many holes in it already. One is some of the credibility questions of some of the witnesses, including the man who gave that tape or sold that tape to tmz.com, Thomas Riccio. He spoke out a little bit yesterday to Larry King about what was supposed to happen during this altercation in the hotel room. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICCIO: He was supposed to go in there, give them the option of calling the police or turning the stuff over to him. That's it. That's all that was supposed to happen. All of this other stuff, I can't answer why he would feel compelled to...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Court documents show he's a four-time convicted felon serving a total of eight years in jail. If he's the star witness, is the prosecution in trouble?
HOSTIN: Prosecutors always have witnesses like that. Usually, if you're trying a drug case, the people testifying are other drug dealers. So I don't think that really is going to be the thing that's going to kill this case for the prosecution. By all accounts, this person was O.J.'s friend, confidant. They had done these sorts of deals before. You get what you get as a prosecutor, but I don't think that's going to change the dynamic all that much.
CHETRY: To add to the drama, one of the alleged victims, the accuser, is now in critical condition after having a heart attack. If, God forbid, this person dies, could O.J. and the others be facing murder charges as well?
HOSTIN: I don't think so. This allegedly happened on Saturday. O.J. was arrested on Sunday. These guys were interviewed, but this person suffered a heart attack on Monday. That's pretty tenuous, and I don't think that's going to happen.
CHETRY: The last thing is it's bringing up questions about the memorabilia in general, the fact that O.J. owes this $30 million to the Goldmans in that wrongful death civil suit and ways he was trying to avoid it.
One former friend of O.J.'s, by the name of Mike Gilbert, talks about helping him hide memorabilia and raking in money for things like autographs, all under the nose of the Goldmans. Is this going to come to light and is he going to end up owing more to them because of this case?
HOSTIN: I think absolutely. It's really just incredible to me, when you listen to O.J., and you listen to accounts, he's saying Mike stole this stuff interest me. Stole the stuff from him or stole the stuff from the Goldmans? There's a huge settlement and the Goldmans have had to be watchdogs. Those things that O.J. stole or robbed belonged to them really.
CHETRY: Why is it a judge, I think it was yesterday, denied a claim from the Goldmans to collect on some of this memorabilia? Why do they have to fight so hard when a judge -- a jury ruled they're owed this money?
HOSTIN: The enforcement of a judgment is very difficult and the onus is on the person that has the settlement to be the watchdog. Maybe the laws need to be changed in that respect but it is up to the Goldmans to go after this. And I hope that they do.
CHETRY: All right, Sunny Hostin, our "AMERICAN MORNING" legal contributor, thanks.
HOSTIN: Thank you.
CHETRY: We also want to hear from you. Do you think O.J. was set up? Go to our home page, cnn.com/am, and then flash AM. Click on "Quick Vote" to cast your votes. We'll have the results of our poll later.
John?
ROBERTS: Gold hitting an all-time high ahead of the Fed rate cut. What it means for the dollar. Ali Velshi is "Minding Your Business" this morning for us from Chicago.
And unbearably irresistible, everyone just loves a hammock. The full story about this picture with the three bears ahead on "AMERICAN MORNING."
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CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
Siblings fighting over a hammock. You see this in the human world, but how about in the bear world? This has to be some of the best video of the day. Some back yard bears having some fun. Imaging walking out to your back door and finding this.
When they get a little older, they'll realize the best place to be is in your trash can, not in the hammock. This happened in New Jersey. The bears eventually got tired of trying to make their way up on that hammock. It's harder than it looks, isn't it? They retreated back into the woods.
Now, John, you point out that whoever shot this video was brave because mama bear...
ROBERTS: Or stupid.
CHETRY: Brave and/or stupid because a mama bear could have been quite close by and would have wanted to protect her cubs.
ROBERTS: I think that mama bear was very close by. And they can get pretty violent when people get between them and their cubs.
CHETRY: There they go.
ROBERTS: It's coming up to two minutes to the top of the hour. Ali Velshi "Minding Your Business" for us this morning from Chicago.
Good morning, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST: You could say, John, that the bears were chased into the woods on the financial markets as well yesterday. If you wanted to be funny
CHETRY: Pretty good.
ROBERTS: There you go.
VELSHI: Thanks.
I'm in Chicago because we normally look at these things from the New York stock exchange. Here in Chicago, bonds trade, commodities trade and that's where you could see a lot of the changes that occurred yesterday.
Now, by the Fed lowering rates, bonds also traded higher, which meant that the yield, interest rates on bonds went lower and affects people's mortgages. So everybody got a bit of a discount. And that encourages people to spend.
When that happens, you see commodities increase in price. You saw oil go up in price. There's my cloud inside my silver living. Oil settled at its highest price every, $81.51, on NYMEX. And now it's trading even higher than that.
It also causes gold to go up because there's a threat of inflation. So yesterday we say gold settling at a 27-year high and this morning precious metals are trading even higher on international exchanges. Even basic metals are trading higher, copper aluminum, zinc, things like that, anything that you use for building, because this means there will be more money in the system to expand, to grow.
We're going to be back in about half an hour to tell you another story about how this decrease in interest rates has actually been like a big shopping coupon to America.
We're going into this holiday shopping season with a couple of problems on our hands. One is all of this interest rate nightmare we've had, this mortgage problem and this housing problem, some people are feeling a little uncertain about their spending. And then top that off with the problems we've had in the toy industry, you know, the Christmas shopping season is starting to look a little dicey. So this Fed rate cut comes just in time to get people to start spending.
By and large, if you were any sort of investor or anybody who carries debt, yesterday was a good day for you, but there are increasing threats of inflation. We are seeing oil prices pushing up. We are seeing all those commodity prices push up. And fundamentally, those are the goods that cause us to pay more for what we buy and use every day.
So there is actually truly a cloud inside the silver lining, John. We'll be up to talk about it more throughout the course of the show.
ROBERTS: And that coupon may not be worth what you thought it was.
VELSHI: That's right.
ROBERTS: Ali Velshi for us this morning from Chicago. Ali, thanks very much.
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