Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Busy Travel Day on Thanksgiving; Stem Cells and You: Why Breakthrough Matters; Attempted Interview with Dr. Jan Adams
Aired November 21, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Trading during the day set a new high, $99.29. It then settled at $(9)9.03 in New York, a record. Investors are waiting for new numbers coming out today on oil supply.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: No matter where you're traveling today or how, we've got you covered across the country. Here we got correspondents in many of the major transportation centers. Our Susan Roesgen at O'Hare Airport in Chicago for us this morning, where weather is going to be the big story. Good morning, Susan.
SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. It could be a big story later today. I can tell you that already the lines here were longer at 4:00 this morning than they were here at 4:00 yesterday afternoon when I left, and I think early is good. I would always rather be on the first flight out instead of the last flight out, especially when they're not sure what the weather will do.
It's supposed to get colder later, wetter later, and that could affect both people traveling to get to the airport and people trying to get out. You know, John, the folks at Orbitz, the online travel company say that they expect 28 million people to be flying today. And although O'Hare is the second busiest airport in the nation, they say that actually today, according to Orbitz this airport will be the number one busiest because so many people have connecting flights through Chicago, even if this isn't their final destination -- John.
ROBERTS: All right. Susan Roesgen for us at one of the busiest airports in the country on this day. Thanks, Susan. We'll check back in with you a little bit later on -- Kiran.
CHETRY: We have Rob Marciano, and he's going to be your weather buddy today, telling you what the travel forecast is like and whether or not you're going to be OK. And, you know, if you bring good news, they like you. But if you tell them that it's going to be snowing in their neck of the woods, Rob, it's over.
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: And I'll tell you what, if they're sitting on an airport, which in many airports across the country, force-fed CNN, you know, we're happy to have you along, nonetheless. Hopefully, you won't be delayed too bad.
Some pretty shots for you to get things going. You know, it is nice to see snow this time of year in the holidays. But when you've got to drive through it, it's kind of a pain.
Manchester, New Hampshire, this is yesterday afternoon. The snow fell from northern New England all the way down to southern New England. We had the reports of couple of inches of snow as far south as Connecticut and some spots enough to slick up the roadways.
All right. Here's what's going on as far as the radar is concerned. Still a little bit of moisture flowing across parts of New England. The temperatures in some spots are right around freezing, so there's actually a travel weather advisory out for the possibility of seeing some black ice in spots there. Be careful.
This is all warm air from South Bend to just north of Detroit. This is all rainfall affecting this area, and also rainfall at least right now, could be delays in Chicago not only from rain and low visibility but from wind.
Later on today, we're going to see some cooler air filter into this system, and this is a winter weather advisory for snowfall of anywhere from one to three inches beginning later on this afternoon. So if you're traveling in the Western Great Lakes, earlier is better than later. That's for sure.
West of there, this system is certainly elongating in through parts of Kansas City. You're getting some showers and thunderstorms and snow advisory in effect for parts of Colorado. We've had reports of anywhere from two to six inches of snow in spots mostly in the front range. It looks like for the most part, this is beginning to shift out.
I should also mention that thunderstorms today in this red area from St. Louis south into the Texarkana area could be strong to severe just to make things even a little bit more interesting. At the moment we -- as John mentioned, I think we have delays at Teterboro and White Plains. That list is expected to grow. Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Sounds like if you get out early, you're much better off. So if you can wake up, slug down that coffee and get on the road. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: Always good advice. All right.
CHETRY: If you're one of millions in the airports this morning, we do want to hear from you. Send your I-Reports, your video pictures and e-mail to us if your flight's delayed, if it's canceled. Hey, we even got a couple of good news stories out of the airport today, so tell what's going on.
The e-mail address AM@CNN.com. Also, all morning long, we'll be featuring our travel, our holiday travel alert guide. On the right side of the screen, you can see airport delays and conditions that will continually update with real time information, and on the bottom will be a five-day travel forecast for the city that you're traveling to.
We're also going to check in on some of the other airports, La Guardia, Denver, a live look inside the FAA Command Center as well throughout the morning. ROBERTS: The White House is denying accusations from former Press Secretary Scott McClellan. In an excerpt from his upcoming book, McClellan claims the president and vice president were involved in his unknowingly passing on false information about Karl Rove and Scooter Libby's role in leaking CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. At the time, McClellan said neither of the two senior aides were involved in the Plame leak.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY: They're good individuals, they're important members of our White House team, and that's why I spoke with them so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, it turns out he says, yes, they were involved. Libby was eventually convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak case. McClellan appeared on "LARRY KING LIVE" back in April and was still defending the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCLELLAN: I said what I believed to be true at the time. It was also what the president believed to be true at the time based on assurances that we were both given. And knowing what I know today, I would have never said that back then.
I said that those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. I did speak directly with them, and I was careful about the way I phrased it at the time even though I believed what they had told me to be the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: McClellan tells CNN he's still writing the book titled "What Happened." It's due out in April. In a statement, Valerie Plame says she is shocked and outraged by McClellan's accusations. The White House says the president would not ask anyone to pass on false information and says the excerpts were taken "out of context." We'll talk more about this with Valerie Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson is coming up in our next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING.
The war of words between Democratic presidential hopefuls, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, is getting nastier. Mrs. Clinton attacked the Illinois senator for saying he has better foreign policy experience in judgment because he lived overseas when he was a child. Obama fought back questioning Clinton's foreign policy credentials.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact that I spent four years living overseas when I was a child. SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: With all due respect, I don't think living in a foreign country between the ages of 6 and 10 is foreign policy experience.
OBAMA: She has met with all of these world leaders, and I, you know, I was wondering which world leader told her that we need to invade Iraq?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, the fight is also drawing the attention of another rival, John Edwards. He said, "When it comes to mud, Hillary Clinton says one thing and throws another."
And Barack Obama talked about his past drug use to a group of high school students from Manchester, New Hampshire. During his speech yesterday, he addressed the issue saying he was hardly a model student.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: There were times where I got into drinking and experimented with drugs. You know, there was a whole stretch of time when I didn't really apply myself a lot. And it wasn't until I got out of college, or got out of high school and went to college that I started realizing 'man I've wasted a lot of time."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Obama has written about his drug use in his memoir "Dreams From My Father." He was in Manchester to pitch his $18 billion education plan. He also said Oprah Winfrey would be campaigning for him in Iowa and New Hampshire -- Kiran.
CHETRY: If you saw it last night, it really was a TV first. An exclusive interview turned into a walkout on last night's "LARRY KING LIVE." Viewers were expecting to hear from this man, Dr. Jan Adams. He's the plastic surgeon who operated on hip-hop star Kanye West's mother, Donda, the day before she died. Instead, though, Adams walked out on Larry, saying that the family at the last minute had told him not to talk.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. JAN ADAMS, OPERATED ON DONDA WEST: What I really want to say is I want to thank you for this opportunity. Basically, I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren't accurate about me. But I have a tremendous amount of love and respect for the West family, and they've asked me not to go on.
And I said from the very beginning, I don't have a side in this. They are my side, and so I'm going to respect their wishes. And I'm going to apologize to you, because I think I'm taking up your airtime, but I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that. I'm going to honor their wishes. OK.
LARRY KING, HOST: You mean, you won't answer any questions about anything?
ADAMS: None. None.
KING: All right. Then, how will you ever answer questions? I mean, where does this go?
ADAMS: Well, I will talk with them. I will talk with them when they're comfortable, then I'll be comfortable. If they're never comfortable, then I'll never be comfortable. They are what's important to me. I said that from the start, and that's what I'll continue to honor.
KING: Then just a few things having nothing to do with them. Don't you want to speak out?
ADAMS: No.
KING: You don't want to?
ADAMS: No. I do not.
KING: All right. But you came here to speak out?
ADAMS: That's correct. But I'm going to honor their wishes.
KING: OK. We'll bring our panel --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right. Stick around because Larry King is going to be joining us live a little later on AMERICAN MORNING to talk about it. And right now, we're joined by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a guest last night on Larry's show. And you got to love Larry. He says "I'm not answering any more questions." He says, "OK. Let me ask you one other thing."
But it really -- wasn't it just a shock? I mean, you were there to weigh in on the panel after you heard from Dr. Adams.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was a shock. We started to get some sense ahead of time. You know, he was in the green room talking to his lawyers, quite frankly, for quite some time. And basically at some point, you got the sense that maybe he wasn't going to come out at all. But then he sort of walked out and said I'm going to make a quick statement and walk off.
But even then, there was a back and forth, sort of OK, you can't talk about your relationship with Mrs. West, but you can talk about all of these allegations being leveled at you in the media, and he just decided not to.
CHETRY: Well, he is facing potential trouble here. He has three malpractice judgments against him, two DUIs and apparently word that California's medical board wants to revoke his license. And so, all of this, I guess, adding up. But the question is, why would he give an extensive interview to the "L.A. Times" when he seemed to get three potential possibilities for why Donda West perished, yet he's not going to do a live interview the next day?
GUPTA: Yes. And let me say, you know, regarding those three reasons, first of all, he was pretty explicit about why he thinks she died after the operation. One was possibly because of a heart attack. Two is because of an embolism. One was clots in the legs that flips off and goes to the lungs. Another one was just because of an overdose of pain medications.
But I will tell you what's interesting, Kiran, he had a whole stack of papers with him, talking about those DUIs, talking about an assault charge as well that was leveled against him and talking about a lot of his lawsuits saying, I've got a lot of paperwork here that vindicates me of a lot of the stuff, but I'm just not going to talk about it right now.
CHETRY: The other thing that was shocking, I think, when you think about getting plastic surgery, doing elective surgery that could cost you your life, I mean, there's always that type of risk. He wasn't certified. What is the deal with plastic surgeons being certified or not?
GUPTA: This is interesting. I think a lot of people don't realize this, you don't have to be certified, period, as any doctor in this country in the United States to practice medicine. You have to be licensed, but you don't have to be board certified. It's a different process.
So he wasn't certified. He was asked about that. He said he didn't think he had the need to get certified because he could operate out of his own clinic without any kind of board certification, and there are lots of doctors out there who aren't board certified who practiced. And frankly, a lot of them do a fine job.
But there's enough data out there to suggest the board certification does lead to better outcomes, and a lot of reputable hospitals in the country won't let you be on staff unless you're board certified. In my hospital, for example, you can't practice there unless you have a board certification.
CHETRY: All right. We're going to bring you back. Coming up in the next hour to talk a little bit more about this as well as some other news out today regarding in the medical world. Thanks a lot, Sanjay.
GUPTA: Sure. Thank you.
ROBERTS: Coming now at 12 minutes after the hour, potential medical tragedy reportedly involving the newborn twins of actor Dennis Quaid. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said that preventable error occurred in three patients, all of them children, were given an overdose of a blood thinner 1,000 times the dose that they should have gotten.
The web site TMZ.com is reporting that two of them were Quaid's twins who were born two weeks ago. TMZ says the babies are in stable condition in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. And a drug to help you quit smoking make you suicidal? The FDA is investigating reports of mood disorders and violent behavior associated with Pfizer's prescription drug, Chantrix. Officials are not sure if the drug is directly responsible for abnormal behavior because nicotine withdrawal can aggravate existing mental problems. Pfizer said it added information about the reports to the product's label but stressed there is no scientific evidence to support these claims.
Coming up, a breakthrough in science that could potentially cure countless diseases and end political debate about human embryos. We're talking to somebody who can shed some light on it for us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. We're taking a look right now at a live picture. That's Dallas Airport, the airport in Dallas this morning, coming to us from WFAA. They're looking at isolated thunderstorms, high of 72 degrees, and so far in the clear if you're flying out of Dallas today.
Let's take a look at Denver Airport. This is coming to us courtesy of KUSA, I'm assuming. Snow showers, high of 28 degrees, and looks nice and busy but things seem to be flowing through. Actually, it's a good sign when you see all of the aisles a little bit clear back there for airport security. So it's been filled up with bodies pretty quickly, and they also do not have any delays at this point in Denver.
ROBERTS: Of course, it's only 5:15 in the morning.
CHETRY: Yes, that's right.
ROBERTS: So have fun. Get time for things to go wrong.
U.S. and Japanese scientists say they have made a breakthrough in cultivating human cells. They managed to reprogram skin cells to behave like the so-called stem cells, potentially capable of curing disease. Some people believe this could end the practice of using embryonic cells, something strongly opposed by conservative groups. So what does this breakthrough really mean to you and me?
Bernadine Healy, the former head of the National Institutes of Health joins us from Washington. Doctor Healey, it's great to see you. I haven't seen you for a long time. How significant is this discovery by the scientists out there at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and what does it mean, scientifically?
BERNADINE HEALY, FMR. DIR. NAT'L INST. OF HEALTH: Well, I think it's a phenomenal discovery, John. It is one that the scientific community, the public should be applauding, and it is as consequential, I think as dolly, the clone, 10 years ago.
And what it means is the ability to produce in large volumes, probably less expensively stem cells, embryonic-type stem cells which are able to be reprogrammed in a way that they can create hard cells or nerve cells, pancreas, and offer that hope for curing diabetes, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's.
ROBERTS: Right. And it also removes this idea of rejection, does it not?
HEALY: And that's the big thing because it's your cells.
ROBERTS: Right.
HEALY: It is not someone else's, so the issue of rejection is eliminated. Right now, the embryonic stem cells that are out there would be rejected by your body.
ROBERTS: So what this mean politically. The White House came out yesterday, and the White House has been promoting alternatives to embryonic stem cell research literally since the president took office. They came out yesterday and basically said "I told you so."
HEALY: Oh, well. I think maybe they do have a point there. I think more importantly, behind the big issue of controversy is not the stem cells, is that they are harvested from embryos that are growing. They're cultivated in the laboratory. In some cases, they're created. But John, in addition to the ethical issue which many people have to be concerned about, about growing embryos, human embryos for the purposes of harvesting cells is the second issue that doesn't get enough attention, which is behind every embryo is a woman's egg.
And a woman's egg, those have to be harvested at risk to a woman's life, and I think that it eliminates the needs for those eggs and eliminates the needs of the embryos. And that is a big issue because the political issues will be defused. We can now focus on the real issues. How do we get those stem cells to turn into permanent heart cells, to turn into pancreas cells?
ROBERTS: Let me just back you up and drill down on that. Does this end the embryonic stem cell debate and render embryonic stem cells unnecessary? There are still some researchers who say, hey, this is still a viable avenue of research.
HEALY: Well, I think it is a viable avenue of research. It really was never an avenue of research for immediate transplantation into humans, John, because you really needed to have, as you said, your cells.
ROBERTS: Right.
HEALY: To do that, you have to get a clone. We have to get a clone of John and then give you your own cells back.
ROBERTS: Wow.
HEALY: And we haven't mastered that.
ROBERTS: That's a frightening idea what you just said there. How soon could this become practically available?
HEALY: Well, I think that just as with embryonic stem cells, it's going to take quite awhile because we have to start focusing on how to then turn them into permanent and healthy cell lines that are not going to cause tumors.
Embryonic stem cells and induced embryonic stem cells still have the risk of overdoing it in terms of growth in creating tumors.
ROBERTS: Yes. And in the fact, one of the ways that they got this skin cells to convert to stem cells was by introducing a cancer gene. So we'll have to see where this all goes. Dr. Bernadine Healy, former head of the Red Cross and the National Institute of Health, it's great to see you. You always have such a marvelous way of putting the most complex issues into such simple language, so we can all understand it.
HEALY: Thank you, John.
ROBERTS: Thanks. Take care -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, there's a promise to cut pollution in Asia. Topping your "Quick Hits" now. And leaders from 10 countries in Southeast Asia say they need to urgently address climate change and preserve natural resources.
Japan is also involved in the talks and is expected to announce financial incentives today to encourage the developing countries to cut emissions.
And the Christmas tree in New York's Rockefeller Center will be a bit greener this year because they're using energy-saving lights to replace the old-fashioned bulbs, and it could cut power consumption in half. Those lights, all 30,000 of them, get turned in a big tree lighting ceremony taking place next week.
With the holiday coming upon us, the shopping is starting. More and more shopping is done online though. Some tips on how to protect yourself from fraud this holiday season. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-four minutes after the hour. Gerri Willis here now "Minding Your Business," and the holiday shopping season officially starts on Friday. A lot of people will be making those online purchases.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people.
ROBERTS: We got stung once where our credit card got stolen. Yes. How do you protect yourself against that?
WILLIS: Well, there are a lot of things you can do. First off, if you're nervous about it, deal with people you already know. And when you're out there shopping, look at the security policies. They have them online. You can see them. And once you decide what you're going to buy, you're plugging in that visa number, look at the URL on the Web page. It should say "https" the "s" standing for secure. You don't want to see just "http" that means, hey, there's no security protection.
CHETRY: You know, a lot of people looking for deals on the Internet. They type in something, say Wow! An iPod or this VCR, it's so much cheaper than what I saw at the store.
WILLIS: Yes.
CHETRY: But you could be getting tricked.
WILLIS: Yes, it could be refurbished. It could be gray market. You want to be sure that you're getting a new item. This especially happens with electronics. They take goods. They fix them back up, and they sell them again for a rich price. You want to make sure you're getting the right thing.
Take a look at the description of the merchandise on the Web site. That will tell you whether it's new or not.
ROBERTS: Now, should you always use a credit card as opposed to a debit card when making online purchases?
WILLIS: I know. You know, I hate credit cards, right? I don't want a lot of credit card debt. But in this case, you really want to use a credit card because there's a zero liability limits with the credit card. If the number gets stolen, you don't have to worry about it. It's easier to do returns.
CHETRY: Right.
WILLIS: That debit card. If you travel...
CHETRY: That's your checking account.
WILLIS: You know, that money can go like that and then you're out of pocket.
CHETRY: Yes. That's a scary situation. One more thing. You recommend, OK, using a credit card. How about returns? Some are so easy. It's unbelievable, and others a restocking fee and other things you don't think about.
WILLIS: I'm telling you, it's getting harder and harder and harder. You got to make sure that you have the receipt. Obviously, that's an obvious thing. But ask about restocking fees. There should be policies outlined on the Web site. They can charge you as much as 25 percent of the value of the good for returning the stuff, and watch out especially for electronics because if you take all of that plastic packaging off...
ROBERTS: Yes.
WILLIS: ... you may not be able to return it.
ROBERTS: All right. Sure. Credit card, not debit card. Watch for the https in the URL.
WILLIS: Right.
ROBERTS: That little dress up there. Good tips, Gerri, thanks.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
CHETRY: Hey, if you're one of millions of people in the airports this morning, we do want to hear from you. Send us your I-Reports, your pictures, your e-mails. Your flight's delayed, cancelled. The email is AM@CNN.com.
We got a couple of good ones right now. A few of them with good news stories. They're saying that they flew on the red eye from Oakland connecting out to Nashville at the airport in Atlanta. Everything's going well for Alex, so good job Alex. And then Austin, Texas, as well.
TSA, he said he had no problems, whisked through security in Austin. The only problem, he said is he thinks they wanted to eat his homemade apple pie. Other than that, everything was going fine.
ROBERTS: Excellent. We have a lot of people watching us at airports today.
CHETRY: That's right. And so if things are going well, tell us as well. By the way, it brings us to our "Quick Vote" question. If you want to weigh in on this as well, what drives you nuts about traveling today? Cast your vote, CNN.com/AM and right now, 24 percent of you are saying it's traffic. Fifty-three percent saying the high gas prices, and 23 percent saying the long lines at airport security.
Those numbers are going to shift as you know the airports start to fill up as well, and the roads, of course. We're going to continue to tally the votes throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Story coming up in our next half hour here in AMERICAN MORNING that you just can't miss. As we've been saying, it's one of the busiest travel days of the year. We're monitoring the airports and your forecast, telling you how to get from here to there.
CHETRY: That's right. And which airport has the longest lines for security? We're going to tell you about that and update you on all the headlines when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Here's a look right now. Chicago O'Hare International Airport, they are looking at some precipitation today but it's starting off as rain right now, a high of 48 degrees and no delays right now. Rob Marciano told us it will change over to a wintry mix, maybe some snow, but that's going to be taking place in the late evening, perhaps overnight so hopefully, fingers crossed, it will spare travelers.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Remember what happened last Christmas when Denver got socked in for three days?
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: Hopefully we can avoid something like that today.
CHETRY: That's why I always take a downed coat. You never know if you're going to need it for a pillow.
ROBERTS: And a snow shovel.
CHETRY: Exactly. Welcome back once again. It is Wednesday, November 21st. I'm Kiran Chetry.
ROBERTS: And I'm John Roberts, good morning to all of you, particularly out there in the airports, trying to get from here to there to get over to grandma's house through the woods and through the valley, whatever.
New this morning - the price of oil close to $100 a barrel. Oil set a new record during the day, trading at $99.29, closing in New York at $98.03. That's a new high. The price was driven up by concerns about short oil supplies. The fed warning about the U.S. economy slowing down and the falling dollar. And a live look now from Detroit Airport. Well, not Detroit airport after all. It's just a highway in Detroit. Thanks to our folks WDIV for providing that for us this morning. Some traffic out there on the roads, obviously going to build as these people start to travel, and try to get to where they need to be today. The average price for gasoline right now, $1. Gosh, it's $3.09. Don't you wish it was $1.09? Still some 38 million Americans are going to travel more than 50 miles from home for thanksgiving. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Traffic is going to be heavy on the trains today as well. Amtrak saying about 70% more people will be traveling today than on average Wednesday, so the rails also going to be a little tough today. Flyer frustrations at the airport aren't keeping people out of the skies, though. We get a live look from La Guardia Airport. There you see arrivals, cute little girl with her purple coat getting ready to travel as well. And our Alina Cho is inside of the FAA's command center, when we get a look at the big bulletin board and you see the red dots, boy are we crowded in the skies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA CHO, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: We are already close to 4,000 flights, Kiran, at this hour, it's incredible. But so far, so good. No major problems to report. You know, the U.S. is the largest and the most complex aviation system in the world. Here at the FAA command center, the men and women that you're looking at right here, they're really the traffic cops managing the highways in the sky and when you look at a day like today when there are so many passengers, it's a big job, a really big job. And take a look at the screen her, those red dots that you were talking about. Each one of those dots represents a flight in the air right now. And as I look on the screen here, we got 3,872 active flights, by noontime today. That number will double to about 6,000. Now one problem that we've identified in the past hour or so is that Chicago and Cleveland air space is so full, so clogged, that they're actually moving those planes to the north into Canadian air space, to make room for flights in the south to move into midwest air space. Now, weather is going to be a factor as well naturally. We got weather conditions problems in Denver, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and now we've heard about some possible storms in Dallas and Houston. But Kiran really, the biggest problem is going to be volume today, 2.5 million passengers on a day like today, traditionally the second busiest travel day of the year. That's 20% more than normal and then 90% capacity, the planes are full, and so there's really little margin for error. You know, right now, in the next couple of hours, the president is going to open up military air space to commercial aviation, at 4:00 p.m. today through 6:00 a.m. Monday. One FAA supervisor says he wishes that air space would have opened up sooner because by then, most people will already be at their destination. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Alina Cho, thanks so much.
And our Rob Marciano also at the weather update desk. He's tracking extreme weather for us, some of the hot spots, taking a look at where the travelers might be facing some delays because of mother nature. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Hi Kiran. We have a number of outlined areas that we want to point out to you. First off, let's go to the map and I'll show you exactly what we're talking about. We have the northeast which could very well see some expected delays anywhere from 30 minutes to up to 60 minutes, JFK, La Guardia, the usual spots, Toronto also. Chicago, Alina mentioned all these spots. There is the storm system, you see, the highlighted blue areas, it does stretch all the way back towards the Texarkana area. Looks like the west coast will be many spots in the clear with the exception of San Francisco and Los Angeles, we could see a little bit of patchy fog there this morning. What's happening right now, we are looking at Detroit back through northern parts of Indiana. This is all warm rain but later on today, some of this is going to turn into snow, but I think the rain/snow line will be right about there to this here. Actually, you could see one to maybe three inches of snow and that includes the Chicago area. They're under a snow advisory later on tonight and into tomorrow morning. So, travel there is better. Everything north of there into this area, you could see the snow begin to fill in as cold air is pulled in behind the system and it's going to drop all the way down actually to Dallas where yesterday record high of 84 degrees, tomorrow's high will probably be somewhere in the 40s. So big changes under way across much of the country. John, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks much. We'll check back in with you in just a few minutes.
Ed Lavandera is half way through a travel adventure from Los Angeles to New York for thanksgiving. He is at Denver International Airport right now and I understand, Ed, and I hope that Kiran and I didn't jinx this, talking about it just a couple of seconds ago, that snow may be in the offing there?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, I think, John, today's going to be a long day for us. It has been snowing overnight here so that is, it will be a concern here in the Denver area, although so far, the flight boards here at Denver International Airport are showing all flights are taking off on time. If it continues to snow the way it is outside, officials here are saying they will be able to handle it and get most of these flights off on time but our adventure continues. This will be the definitely the longest leg and hopefully we'll be with you guys tomorrow morning. We're going from Denver to Dallas and Dallas to New York. So we're putting everything to a test today.
ROBERTS: All right. You're taking the long way, Ed, but you're taking it on purpose to see just how difficult it is to get from here to there. All right, Ed Lavandera for us this morning in DIA.
LAVANDERA: If we went straight to New York it would be easy.
ROBERTS: Exactly, nobody wants to do that. Some people don't, even if they're trying to. Ed, thanks very much. To the White House now, and former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan's accusation against President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. Our Jessica Yellin is following this story for us this morning. She joins us now from the White House. Jessica, just to set the table here, Scott McClellan back in 2003 came out and said Scooter Libby, Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leaking of the name of Valerie Plame. And now he's saying, yes in fact, they did as well as the President, the Vice- President and the chief of staff. What is the administration saying about this today?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Well John, this morning the administration is saying that the president has not and would not ask a spokesperson to pass on false information. They are fiercely defending him against these charges in this upcoming book by McClellan that you referred to, in which McClellan tries to explain why he exonerated Karl Rove and Scooter Libby from the podium of the White House back in 2003, as you recall.
This morning, Valerie Plame is telling CNN she, of course, the CIA officer whose name was leaked. She says that the accusations in this book appear to be shocking, and that she is disgusted and jut outraged by what McClellan says. But as you know, this leaves a whole gray area and a lot of uncertainty. What McClellan charges in this book is that five of the highest-ranking officials in the administration were involved in his passing along false information. Rove, Libby, the Vice President, the chief of staff Andy Card and the President himself. So the big question is, what does he mean by "involved"? Back in March of this year, Scott McClellan appeared on "Larry King Live" in which he said at that time that the President also didn't know, the president also was misled about Rove and Libby's involvement in leaking this case. So it's still a big question mark here. What is clear is that Scott McClellan long said he wants to clear the record, reestablish his credibility when the time is right. It seems that time is approaching. John.
ROBERTS: You know, it's highly unusual for a White House press secretary to come out and say something like that. What do you think this means for McClellan in the future? Could he go back and work in the republican party? YELLIN: you know as well as I do that particularly this group of administration officials do not take well to people who leak and speak against the administration, but we should point out that this is from a book that's coming out in April. McClellan has not clarified what he meant by "involved," so maybe he'll say some things in the coming months that will make him a little more friendly to this White House once again.
ROBERTS: And just to clarify what I said, coming to you, the President, the Vice President and the chief of staff were involved in passing on information to Scott, which he then passed on to us in the White House Press Corps. Jessica Yellin at the White House for us this morning. Jessica, thanks.
CHETRY: Well, there's a first time for everything, a guest walked out on "Larry King." Larry is going to be joining us to talk about it ahead. He says this is the first time this situation's happened. We're going to talk to him live ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN, HOST: Will you ever answer questions, I mean what, where does this go?
DR. JAN ADAMS, OPERATED ON DONDA WEST: Well, I will talk with them ...
KING: In relation to Mrs. West.
ADAMS: I will talk with them. When they're comfortable, then I'll be comfortable. If they're never comfortable, then I'll never be comfortable. They are what's important to me. I said that from the start. And that's what I'll continue to honor.
KING: Just a few things having nothing to do with them, don't you want to speak out?
ADAMS: No.
KING: You don't want to?
ADAMS: I do not.
KING: All right. But you came here to speak out?
ADAMS: That's correct, but I'm going to honor their wishes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Well, Larry King, you've seen it all on television, including a guest walking out on the middle of an interview. Dr. Jan Adams who operated on Donda West before she died was supposed to talk to Larry King for pretty much the entire hour. CHETRY: And then as we saw, after a minute he walked off the set. Well, Larry, joins us now on the phone. Larry, cool as a cucumber I must say when all of that was going on. How crazy was it last night?
KING: The whole night was crazy. First when I got to the network, they said he's late, the plane is late. He left late or something, he was delayed in Denver, not landing until ten after 8:00 so we had a standby panel to see how bad it would be because the weather wasn't great in New York, and then finally they tell me he's here, and I go in to do the show and then they tell me hold it, he doesn't want to go on, then he does want to go on and he says to me I'm thinking about it. I got this letter from the family and they've asked me not to go on so I'm talking to my lawyer and so I got to go on. So I go on with the panel, and then I get word that he's going on. So the panel exits and we take a commercial break and about eight minutes after 8:00, eight after 9:00 he comes on and the rest is history. He says the family wishes he not go on. So, I said why don't we talk not about the surgery, I understand that, and it's privileged, patient privilege. And he said he's going to grant their wishes and then when he left, he said, I'll tell you this as soon as I talk, I'm coming back to you.
ROBERTS: Larry, he had given an extensive interview to the "Los Angeles Times," I believe earlier in the day in which he even surmised some of the ways that Donda West could have died. What else was in that letter besides request from the family to not talk about it?
KING: That's about it, it was a one-paragraph letter, a copy of it was faxed to him at CNN.
ROBERTS: Were there any threats in it?
KING: There was, if you go on "Larry King Live," we're going to take this up with the medical board of California and ask somebody to have your license removed, or I should get the exact language. He was holding it, but it was just a one-paragraph letter. He's also talked to "People" magazine, which I think their issue comes out Friday.
CHETRY: To give viewers a sense of exactly what it was like. Obviously, some great planning on the part of your producers, your AP, Wendy Walker because you guys had, you had it covered. I mean, you were able to continue to talk about the subject with people that were there, but what were the behind-the-scenes moments like as that uncertainty unfolded?
KING: A lot of the frantic, Kiran, I didn't see, because I was on the air.
CHETRY: Right.
KING: So while I was talking to the panel in the first segment, I don't know what he was saying to them, but obviously he said well, I'll go on. Then they put the microphone on him. He had a shirt and tie there for him, he didn't put that on. He just wore what he wore on the plane and he sat right down and so I don't think they knew what he was going to say, and then finally, he said, "I don't want to go on." It had to be very hectic, first of all, we got Sanjay Gupta to come in to join the journalists and we have a criminal attorney and finally his lawyer later in the show. This is funny. Later in the show, he says to our producers, "Well, I'd like the lawyer to go on, but I don't want you to say he's my lawyer." In other words, like we found him in the street. Hey you, lawyer. I said well we can't do that, we got to say he's one of my lawyers. All right, we said he's one of your lawyers. I never had an hour like that, John and Kiran.
CHETRY: Never a dull moment, Larry. That's why you got to watch it every night. Larry King, thanks for getting up and talking to us about it this morning.
KING: May it not happen to you.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: And may it not happen to you again.
KING: No. Thanks, guys.
CHETRY: Our own Lola Ogunnaike, as Larry said, as well as chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta were there on "Larry King" last night as well and as Larry is saying, he is sitting there on set, uncertainty as to whether or not he's going to come out there. When he finally comes out there, you guys think he's going to talk about it.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: We thought he was going to be there for the entire hour. He was there for all of two minutes and then he walked off stage and then we were back up there filling up time. I think we did a good job, Sanjay, what do you think?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN, CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESONDENT: We were the fillers last night for sure. But yes, you started to get a sense of it before he went on, he didn't, as Larry mentioned, change his clothes and he said I'm going to go out and read a statement and then walked off, and then it was sort of back and forth for a little bit. Larry was still trying to ask him questions. And you know, it was sort of stunning. I was like, are the cameras still rolling? Is this still live? I didn't know at that point.
ROBERTS: Obviously, the family had the power to compel Dr. Adams to not talk to Larry, but legally how much power did they have?
GUPTA: That's an interesting question, John, because a lot of people invoked this whole idea of either physician-patient confidentiality or the physician-patient privilege. Those are two things. The confidentiality for the most part is an ethical term, which a lot the licensing boards to take very seriously and a lot of physicians obviously as well. When it comes to the actual privilege, that's something a physician can invoke to try and protect the confidentiality of a patient but how much legal sort of teeth that has is a little bit subjective and actually varies from state to state. This isn't a federal law specifically saying that a physician cannot talk about it, it's more of an ethical issue, something that sort of governed by the state. So, and certainly nothing kept him from talking about these DUIs, these assault charges, the whole malpractice thing that's against him.
CHETRY: So, he was coming on the show to defend himself against that. As you said, two DUIs, three malpractice judgments, the California board wanting to revoke his license. Apparently, a restraining order from his estranged wife. So Lola, what does it do to his credibility when he then, you see I guess the sausage being made as you will, as he's deciding talks, changes his mind and leaves?
OGUINNAKE: Well, what I felt was interesting is that he, excuse me, has the perfect opportunity to sort of clear up his name or at least defend himself, because in the court of public opinion, I think he's already been convicted, but him walking off stage, I don't think that helped his credibility at all. In fact, I think it hurt him.
ROBERTS: Well, you can see his whole story in the "L.A. Times," and it's going to be out in "People" magazine this week as well so obviously he was saying something about it. Sanjay, Lola, good to see you.
GUPTA: Thank you.
OGUINNAKE: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, your personal travel tales, a live look now outside at La Guardia Airport.
Ooh, there it is. Our Veronica de la Cruz has been reading through your e-mails as you make your way home for the holiday. We will recount some of those tales coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Well, it's ten minutes before 8:00 on the east coast, ten minutes before 5:00 on the west coast. And if you're just joining us, here's a look at what's making headline this is morning. Oil closing in on $100 a barrel. The price rising to a new record, $99.29 a barrel during the day yesterday. It closed at a new high in New York at $98.03. Traders are now watching for new numbers out today on the oil supply. Gas prices also hitting a high of $3.09 for regular unleaded nationwide.
Well, it's planes, trains and automobiles for millions of Americans today. There's a live look right now from inside of La Guardia Airport. Delays there running less than 15 minutes. The airports and train stations also crowded, and as we said, high gas prices. They're not keeping the drivers off the road. Still 38 million people will be going at least 50 miles away from home for thanksgiving.
ROBERTS: 53 minutes after the hour. We have been asking for your e- mails if you're flying or on the road today. Our Veronica de la Cruz has a look now at some of your tales of travel woes or perhaps things have been going well for some people.
VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: No, no, they're not going too bad. We definitely have the good, the bad and the ugly. We're going to start with some of that, Don and Marie Cox vented this to us this morning, they said "after going through the efforts to make seat reservations for weeks in advance for my wife and myself for our United Airlines flight from Orlando to Chicago. When we checked in, we were given seats at opposite ends of the aircraft and we're told that we needed to check in at the gate counter to see if we could get seats together. Now, we got seats together in the far back of the plane." So, doesn't always help to be early.
But John, like what I was just saying, we did get some positive e- mails. Christian says "when I was kicked out of coach they put me in business class."
CHETRY: Not bad.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes, exactly. This one from Catherine Rogers in D.C., she says there are hardly any lines or delays at Dulles. Got through security in 10 minutes." John this is for you, Joey Hall writes as this FAA web site shows there are no delays currently anywhere in the U.S.. Please let passengers know. As we mentioned earlier, FAA may not be your best resource on the web. The web site only shows airport-wide delays and programs. It doesn't really know individual airline delays. So, you know, if you're sitting in traffic at the airport today, go ahead and send us an e-mail or snap us a picture, send us an i-report. Because we want to know how it is going out there. We are going to be reading those e-mails all morning long, am@cnn.com is the place but again faa.gov, you know, we're getting mixed reviews on that web site. You might want to check out flightstats, also the individual airlines as well as the airports.
ROBERTS: So, he's saying that despite what the FAA says, there are delays.
DE LA CRUZ: Yes. I mean, it's basically, one blanket statement across the entire airport. It's not measuring each individual airline.
ROBERTS: I'm looking at the web site right now and there's still only one little orange dot right there on Teterboro Airport.
DE LA CRUZ: And are you refreshing those?
ROBERTS: Yes.
DE LA CRUZ: You are? OK.
ROBERTS: No, I left it the way it was from 6:00 this morning, of course.
DE LA CRUZ: I'm just checking, John. Come on.
ROBERTS: All right.
DE LA CRUZ: Are you on the right web site, faa.com?
ROBERTS: What's this green button here that says off/on, ooh.
DE LA CRUZ: Well, you never know. CHETRY: and Veronica you'll give us some tips later if you're doing a cross-country trip or even you're going out of your own area, where to find the best gas?
DE LA CRUZ: gasbuddy.com, $3.09 a gallon. You can find the cheapest gas for your trip coming up.
CHETRY: Sounds good. Thanks, Veronica.
ROBERTS: Veronica, thanks. Is it on?
That brings to us our "Quick vote" in the morning. What drives you crazy about traveling today? Cast your vote at cnn.com/am. Right now 27% of you say the traffic, 51% say it's high gas prices, 22% say long lines at security at the airport. We'll continue to tally the votes throughout the morning, and we'll bring you the results later on. Kiran.
CHETRY: Still ahead, the twins of actor Dennis Quaid, just two weeks old reportedly given an overdose of a blood thinner at one of the top hospitals in the U.S.. We're hearing from the hospital this morning. But how could a medication error like that happen? Dr. Sanjay Gupta pays us a house call right here in the studio, coming up the top of the hour on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Crunch time. The rush to get home for the holiday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're 30 minutes delayed, I can handle that, I can handle that!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We're live across the country with everything you need to know.
Rewriting history.
STEVE MCCLELLAN, FMR. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They were not involved.
The president's former press secretary and a bombshell revelation about the Valerie Plame case. Her husband joins us live.
Plus, prime time drama.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Don't you want to speak out?
ADAMS: No.
ROBERTS: What the doctor who operated on Kanye West's mom didn't want to talk about.
KING: You came here to speak out.
ADAMS: That's correct.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxant.com
