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American Morning
Rockets From Lebanon Hit Israel; Obama's Team Boasts Many Heavyweights; 11 Macy's Stores Shut Down Across Nation; Roland Burris Caught in the Middle of Illinois, Senate Politics
Aired January 08, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Jessica Yellin is live in Washington. So, Barack Obama, number one, giving sort of a dire assessment, but number two, saying, look, there is bipartisan, there is consensus here on what we have to do.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kiran, because he argues the stakes are just so high. There's enormous agreement. Now, Obama is going to predict today, as you say, that unemployment in the U.S. can reach up to 10 percent or even higher and that household income will plummet unless Congress passes his massive stimulus plan.
Now, this is all part of his ongoing sales pitch, which is designed to build public support for spending that could top $800 billion. And multiple Obama aides tell me that he will not announce the final figure for that stimulus plan, but he'll urge Congress to pass it whatever the dollar signs are quickly. And he'll also assure Americans that basically Washington spending will make a difference in their lives in a way they can feel if they support this stimulus plan now -- Kiran.
CHETRY: And he also is promising that it's going to be free of pork. How is that possible? Is that a lofty goal that probably is not base in reality?
YELLIN: Yes, very lofty. He did vow that the money will not be handed out to politicians, congressional districts. His aides also tell me that they are working with Congress to develop a system maybe to let the agencies, federal agencies decide which projects are worthy of funding, instead of letting local politicians decide. But we'll see how well that goes.
Already the nation's mayors have been to town with a list of ready to go projects they'd like funded and among them, a $20 million minor league baseball museum in Durham, North Carolina. $4.8 million for a polar bear exhibit at a Rhode Island Zoo. And $500,000 for environmentally friendly golf courses in Dayton, Ohio.
Now who can be against that? The question is do you really want federal money spent on it? But projects right now are not funded. But you really should expect a struggle with Congress in deciding who gets to determine where the money goes.
CHETRY: That's right. Lobbyists are going to be very busy as well. Guess there's something we can do about it. Jessica Yellin, thanks so much.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news from the Middle East this morning. Israel under attack from a new direction overnight. Four rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel raising fears that fighting in the region may escalate.
Also this morning, the United Nations says the Israelis fired on a truck that was delivering aid this morning killing the driver. That's according to the Associated Press.
CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is live. She's in our Jerusalem bureau this morning.
Christian, have you heard any word about this U.N. aid truck that was fired on in Gaza?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've been hearing about this since this morning from the U.N. in the Gaza. And we're trying to track down the IDE version of what happened. We haven't yet had any luck on that. There's also been some Hamas rocket fire out of Gaza. And this is during this lull when they are trying to get this humanitarian assistance into the people but it went on. Despite those incidents, the lull continues and it does until 4:00 p.m. Local, which is for another hour.
Also, we're monitoring this rocket fire that came in from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, which is on the other end of the country from the Gaza ballots. That seems to have been just localized, and it was just four rockets that came in (INAUDIBLE). But it's not been viewed as a second front that's opening in this war.
It did wound slightly two civilians, Israeli civilians, up in the western Galilee region and Israel returned fire. Hezbollah, which might have been expected of doing that because it's the big power down there in southern Lebanon, has said that it had nothing to do with it. And the Lebanese government, the U.N., monitors down there and checking it out.
But, at the same time, Israel continues its military offensive obviously around this force, the humanitarian force, to put pressure on Hamas as the politicians and diplomats and various delegations are meeting in Cairo to try to hammer out a cease-fire.
We really don't know how that cease-fire is going. We get various different calibrations from various different sides. But it essentially centers on having some kind of mechanism to stop the continued smuggling of weapons in cache from Egypt into Gaza -- John.
ROBERTS: Christiane, just back to the rockets fired out of Lebanon, again. So as you said, Hezbollah is the real strength down there in the south. So if Hezbollah was not responsible for firing those rockets or Hezbollah organized groups, who might have been? Who is suspected of firing the rockets?
AMANPOUR: Well, there are a lot of Palestinian groups down there, particularly the PFLP, which is a very radical, a popular liberation front for Palestine. A very radical group that has, in the past, and does have rockets, but it's not the same capability as what Hezbollah has. Hezbollah has really gotten quieter -- quite an army and quite a militia.
So they think it's probably one of those Palestinian groups, but the investigation goes on. And Israel is demanding an investigation. But I think significant that Hezbollah told the Lebanese government, it's part of that government, that it didn't do it.
ROBERTS: Right. Christiane Amanpour for us from Jerusalem this morning. Christiane, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Well, inauguration day is now just 12 days away, and it's being called the biggest security crackdown in inauguration history. Police in our nation's capital will be shutting down bridges across the Potomac River into Washington along with a huge chunk of downtown D.C. on Tuesday, January 20th, inauguration day. Intelligence officials say there's no specific threat, but it's still an attractive target for international and domestic terror groups.
This afternoon, Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on the Mumbai terror attacks. They'll focus on what lessons can be learned to prevent similar attacks in the United States.
Close to 400 people in 42 states now sick from Salmonella poisoning. And the CDC is stepping up efforts to find the source of that outbreak that started three months ago. Officials say that the best protection against Salmonella is to avoid raw or undercooked meat, and to wash your hands frequently.
ROBERTS: Barack Obama's cabinet full of Washington heavyweights, but once he sworn in to office, will Obama get lost in the crowd.
And the IRS wants to give you a tax break. You still have to pay them, but Uncle Sam may bend some of the rules to help Joe the Taxpayer. We'll tell you how. It's six minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: The Most News in the Morning. Take a look at this. Past, present and future presidents all together at the White House. President Bush and former Presidents Clinton and Bush and Carter met with President-elect Barack Obama for lunch discussing issues facing the incoming administration.
And when it comes to Barack Obama's cabinet as everyone's confirm, it will also be a crowd of political heavyweights as well. There's Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, all with their own clout. So will the president-elect get lost in a sea of strong voices?
CNN special correspondent Frank Sesno joins us now from our Washington bureau with more about this.
It's very interesting. They say that a lot can be -- you can -- I guess find out a lot about a person by who they choose to surround themselves with. So what do some of these power players signal about Barack Obama and how he plans to run the country?
FRANK SESNO, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: What was really interesting here, I think, is to be looking at the communications angle among many things right now. And that's sort of what I want to talk with you a little bit about today.
Sanjay Gupta -- Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's medical correspondent, an extraordinary personality is under consideration as we know for Surgeon General. What does that say? That says that this -- the communications aspect, this bully pulpit that in the Bush administration was really centralized, message central in the White House, is something that Barack Obama is feeling pretty comfortable about sharing.
And you mentioned a lot of the other names that are going to be in the cabinet, presuming that they are all confirmed, they are all great communicators in their own right. And that requires sort of a loosening of control, if you will, and I don't think Obama is going to get lost in that shuffle, but it's going to be a very different kind of message machine than we've seen in the past.
CHETRY: It is very interesting that you bring that up. Because we keep hearing that we're in unprecedented times, that it's going to take a coming together that we have not seen in generations to get through the economic crisis, to fight the two wars, and being able to sort of explain or articulate why that's so important is something that was criticized highly within the Bush administration. Barack Obama, of course, you know, been likened to Ronald Reagan when it comes to be able to communicate.
SESNO: That's what's really interesting about this. You know, when Ronald Reagan was called "The Great Communicator," it was because of what he did and because of the way he could talk to a camera and give a speech.
In this particular case, and the point of this thing really is that Obama is a -- is communicating across platforms. I'm going to call him a multiplatform communicator -- online, on the radio, on television, in speeches. If you look here, these are the photo ops that we've been seeing in recent days. The imagery is used -- that looks like it could be the Roosevelt Room -- looks like he could be president already.
But he's comfortable, apparently, bringing these characters into the administration who are going to be these communicators in their own right. With the exception of Donald Rumsfeld, at the height of his influence in the Bush administration, the message was held very, very tightly over these last eight years.
CHETRY: And this is also interesting. In addition to some of the big players in the cabinet, you're also pointing out some of the staff hires -- career journalists like Linda Douglass of ABC News, Jay Carney from Time Magazine, who also will be in the new administration. So, what does this tell you or does it shed any light on transparency more so than what we saw in the last administration? SESNO: That's -- of course, that's what we'd like, and it's what the Obama campaign has been talking about, that they're going to bring a new level of transparency to the capital, that they're going to change the way business is done. And a lot of the way, they've already changed the way business is done. This is the way Obama has communicated throughout his campaign.
You know, he announced his campaign and he's talking -- he's already doing the Saturday radio addresses online -- on Facebook. And he's talked about engaging his army of supporters through the governing process.
That's all about communicating. That's all about reaching out. And it can't be done by just one person. So, if it translates into sort of more transparency in policy, remember the Bush administration was criticized for doing energy policy in secret and the Clinton administration for hatching health care reform in secret. The real test is whether there is going to be genuine transparency throughout the process and accountability as a result of it in this new administration.
CHETRY: And, you know, one other thing that you bring up is talking about how he is decentralizing the message, if you will. Do you think there's going to be a lot of independent voices in that they may be able to say things that they feel that don't necessarily mean the administration or Barack Obama himself agree?
SESNO: Well, that's the -- that's a really interesting question right now, whether these communication centers become power centers and whether everybody stays on the same page of music going forward. Because, you know, at the end of the day, they could be doing business differently and there can be a new cast of characters, though a lot of them have been here before.
But nobody repeals the laws of politics or repeals the laws of human nature. And politics is fundamentally about competition and influence and access and -- kind of positioning. And even though they are coming in as a pretty happy team or so, that's the image that's projected and seems to be the case right now, and very high-powered people seem to want to work for this administration. And so, they are coming in with an era of good feeling.
Nonetheless, you know, at the end of the day, who has the microphone, who has the television camera are the people with the profile and the influence. So keeping them on the same page is also going to be a challenge, I think, going forward.
CHETRY: That's right. You point that out aptly, as well as the, you know, the jockeying for the presidency which everybody wants as well.
SESNO: Access, access, access.
CHETRY: Exactly.
SESNO: That's Washington. CHETRY: Frank Sesno, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks.
SESNO: Good to see you.
ROBERTS: The IRS and you happy together. We'll show you how the tax man is taking a kinder, gentler approach to helping Americans settle their tax debts.
He says she broke his heart. Now he wants -- his kidney back. One of the strangest divorce battles you'll ever hear about. It's 14 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Sixteen and a half minutes after the hour. The nation's tax code is so complicated. Americans are spending nearly $200 billion just trying to figure out how much they owe. That's according to a new report from the National Taxpayer Advocate. The report also says the IRS needs to do more to help taxpayers struggling in this economy to meet their obligations. That may be part of the reason why the IRS has decided to bend some of its rules this tax season.
Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here.
Wow. Maybe they aren't as mean as everybody thought they were.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, those are two words you never hear in the same sentence -- flexibility and IRS, right?
ROBERTS: Exactly. Yes.
WILLIS: But that's exactly what's going on out there. Doug Schulman, the IRS Commissioner, he's the top dog over there, telling reporters this week the folks who are struggling in this economic downturn are going to get a bit of a hand up from the IRS that's going to be more flexible.
Let's look at the people who are going to get help here. If you have lost your job, if you rely on social security for most of your income or maybe you've have some unexpected medical costs, the IRS is going to give you a hand here. They'll allow you to skip installment payments. They will suspend collection efforts. No phone calls, no late fees.
And of course, this is a big deal for people out there who owe a lot of money, John. Folks worry about those late taxes that they have. You know, this will be really meaningful to a lot of people.
ROBERTS: You know, a friend of mine had a really good idea in terms of an economic stimulus -- suspend the personal income tax for a year and you don't have to worry about the IRS and a lot of people will have all of this disposable income.
WILLIS: We love that idea, right? That would be really nice for so many people. And you know, we're talking about unemployment jacking up to possibly 10 percent next year.
ROBERTS: Yes, that's the warning that the president-elect will send this morning in his speech.
WILLIS: That's right. That's right. So, a lot of people out there, concerned. But I have to tell you, this only goes so far, OK. This doesn't mean that you don't have to pay your taxes. What it means is that your taxes will be delayed. You will have to pay back this money ultimately. The IRS is just going to give you a little more time to do it and they're not going to harass you for it.
My suggestion to you today if you're thinking about this -- fill out something called Form 9465. That will allow you to pay your back taxes over time and you've always been allowed to do that, John.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, it's nice that they're being a little bit flexible, recognizing that some people are in hard times and trying to give them a little bit of a break.
WILLIS: Absolutely. That is some good news in an otherwise bleak economic environment.
ROBERTS: Kinder, gentler IRS.
WILLIS: That's right.
ROBERTS: Who knew they were so warm and fuzzy, huh, Gerri?
WILLIS: You know, this economy has lots of surprises. That's just one of them.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much, Gerri.
It's your home, your savings, your job. How's the current economic crisis affecting you? Gerri Willis is blogging all morning, taking your questions. Go to cnn.com/am and ask Gerri about your money issues.
CHETRY: Well, this is quite a bizarre story. A kidney now at the center of a divorce settlement in New York. Dr. Richard Batista is demanding that his estranged wife give back the organ since the two have parted ways.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. RICHARD BATISTA, WANTS WIFE TO RETURN KIDNEY HE DONATED: There's no deeper pain that you can ever express, betrayal from somebody who you loved and devoted your whole life to.
DOMINICK BARBARA, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING RICHARD BATISTA: We are asking for the value of the kidney that he gave his wife.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Batista gave his wife a kidney back in 2001 after two failed transplants. He says he'll settle for $1.5 million in compensation. Divorce lawyers, of course, call this pretty unlikely, to say the least, because organs are not something you can put a value on. Also, apparently, it's more of a way to publicize his case. He's a surgeon himself, but he says she has not permitted him to see their three daughters in months. So, this is his way of trying to get the case out there.
ROBERTS: Certainly a sense of irony about it. She breaks his heart. He wants his kidney back.
CHETRY: That's right. And he says, to add insult to injury, she's started having an affair with a physical therapist. That's why he wants his kidney back.
ROBERTS: What a sorted little web we have going on here.
CHETRY: That's right. Dare I say, only on Long Island. That's from my producer Brian (INAUDIBLE) there.
All right. Well, shutting down bridges downtown in D.C. in lockdown. Just some of the security measures planned inside the Beltway on inauguration day. How authorities plan to keep the crowds and the president-elect safe.
Also, talk about economic stimulus. The porn industry -- they want a bail out, too. Do they really need it, though? And is this just another stunt? Twenty minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 23 minutes after the hour. This just in to CNN. We've all been wondering how the holiday shopping season or basically the lack thereof was going to affect retail stores. Well, we're starting to get some of the first indications. Macy's announcing, according to the Associated Press just a few minutes ago, that it will be closing 11 underperforming stores in nine states across the country affecting some 960 employees. Here's some of the cities that will be affected -- Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Nashville, and St. Louis. So they'll be losing at least one Macy's store. We mentioned there are multiple stores in those cities. And again, these are underperforming stores. The cost to Macy's will be about $65 million.
How was their holiday shopping season? Apparently, same store sales in stores that had been opened for at least a year were down about four percent over the holiday season, which actually wasn't as bad as some people had predicted. But, obviously, sales are not going to pick up heading into the New Year either. So, again, Macy's deciding to close, according to the Associated Press, 11 stores in nine states including cities -- Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Nashville and St. Louis. 960 employees will be out of work -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, he's not even officially been announced, but there's already been some concerns over Barack Obama's pick of Leon Panetta to head the CIA. So does it matter that his spy chief has little Intelligence experience? Joining me now is CIA veteran Gary Berntsen. Berntsen led CIA forces in Afghanistan in the months after the 9/11 attacks. He's been back many times since. And he's the author of "Human Intelligence, Counterterrorism, and National Leadership."
Good to see you this morning, Gary.
GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Great to see you, Kiran.
CHETRY: So Leon Panetta, a former California congressman and of course Clinton insider and Washington insider. What was the reaction when you guys heard that he was the pick to head the CIA?
BERNTSEN: Well, of course, I was stunned, because he had no experience in the Intel when he was in the House of Representatives even though he served as the chief-of-staff for Clinton, he really didn't have any involvement in Intel.
I think you have to ask rhetorically as if there was a siege situation in New York, Kiran, would you want Leon Panetta to be the on-scene commander? Well, of course, the answer would be no to that. You have to understand something. The CIA chief, the director of CIA, is the on-scene commander for the world. This is not a normal bureaucracy. There's Intelligence collection going on, there's covered action going on, there's a fight against Islamic fundamentalists, globally, outside of Afghanistan and Iraq.
And he has absolutely no experience in this. I find it stunning that Obama would be putting his name forward. And he's a decent man, he's a wonderful public servant, but he's completely unqualified for this.
CHETRY: You know, this is interesting, you write on your Web site also that the less a president is experienced in national security and intelligence, the more afraid they are, I guess you could say of the CIA, more fearful of the power of the CIA. And you said that Panetta is going to basically create a significant firewall between the CIA and the White House. Explain.
BERNTSEN: Well, you know, you have presidents -- Democratic presidents, who started with Jimmy Carter who sort of gutted clandestine collection with Stansfield Turner. Bill Clinton did the same thing with John Deutch. And a lot of Democratic presidents are afraid of the agency. They think it's going to cause them problems. They don't support the mission. They don't believe that gentleman should be reading other people's mail. And unfortunately, it's a very dangerous world that we live in. We have to read other people's mail. We have to conduct these types of operations to get advance warning to defend ourselves, and it's not the normal sort of bureaucracy or business.
CHETRY: Well, this is interesting. Barack Obama was defending his choice, because there have been some even Democrats who are questioning his pick of Leon Panetta. And he said that it's a time to turn over a new page. And that, you know, the agency that suffers credibility problems under the Bush administration is going to be renewed. Do you buy any of that?
BERNTSEN: No. I think the Bush administration has had problems of course in public relations area. They have kept the nation safe for seven years, despite numerous plans and efforts on the part of our enemies to attack us. Just because Obama wants to put -- you know, President-elect Obama would like to put a novice in charge of the CIA doesn't mean that our enemies is going to stop trying to attack us. They will continue. 9/11 was chapter one in this book. Despite -- with the Islamic fundamentals and extremists, it's going to go on for many years, maybe 20 years.
CHETRY: David Ignatius writes in "The Washington Post" that while Panetta is a surprising pick, he argues he is a good one. And this is why we talk about the politicalization of the CIA. He writes, "Ideally, the next CIA director would have an experienced professional, but the reality is that the professional now lack the political muscle to fend off the agency's critics and second-guessers. That's the heart of the problem: The agency needs to rebuild political support before it can be depoliticized."
Do you think there is a chance that Panetta could actually help the agency some?
BERNTSEN: Political support comes from the president. CIA works for the executive branch. We don't need a CIA director there doing public relations. The CIA director needs to get to business and do the mission. The president, the executive branch, should handle the politics. Mr. Ignatius is a very bright guy; he's a journalist, not an Intelligence professional.
CHETRY: Who do you think was the most effective CIA leader in our recent history.
BERNTSEN: Bob Gates, who is the current Secretary of Defense, did a wonderful job. (INAUDIBLE), he's doing a great job of defense. Look, I support Obama's choice of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. Fine lady. She's done a great job. Panetta may have done a great job there. This is very different. CIA, very different.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll see how he handles some of the questions that are still coming about his pick. Gary Berntsen, great to see you as always, thanks.
ROBERTS: Twenty-eight minutes after the hour. And here are this morning's top stories. Israel under attack from a new direction overnight. Four rockets fired from Lebanon land in northern Israel raising fears that fighting in the region could escalate. Also this morning, the United Nations says the Israelis fired on a truck delivering aid this morning, killing the driver. That's according to the Associated Press.
This afternoon, Roland Burris is expected to explain why he accepted the Senate appointment from Illinois State Governor Rod Blagojevich. Burris is scheduled to testify in Springfield, Illinois, before an impeachment panel that is investigating the governor. Arriving last night in Chicago, Burris talked about being denied access to the Senate floor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROLAND BURRIS (D), ILLINOIS SENATE APPOINTEE: The only thing I regret is not being able to walk on that floor with my colleagues and be sworn in. And that, I look forward to in the very near future.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: A new report out today slams the Pentagon for not being careful enough with nukes. The task force recommends that the Department of Defense create a new position to oversee its nuclear management. This follows a couple of embarrassing loose nuke incidents last year and the year before that got the civilian and military leaders of the Air Force fired.
There are just 12 days until President-elect Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of these United States. And when he takes office on the 20th of January, he will inherit two wars. One in Iraq and another in Afghanistan, both without a clear end in sight.
Joining us with the latest on Obama's transition to power is CNN senior Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
Barbara, we know that the president-elect wants to have troops out of Iraq within 16 months. Do military leaders have any kind of a clear plan on how to proceed with the draw-down of U.S. troops in Iraq as well as the current buildup in Afghanistan?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Not at this point, John, and that is most interesting. It now looks like Barack Obama will come into power with no clear final agreement amongst his top military advisers on how to do just that, draw troops down in Iraq so they can build up troops in Afghanistan to get that extra 30,000 troops into that second war.
Another session in the tank here in the Pentagon on Monday. The tank that very secret closed door session with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General David Petraeus in attendance. Four separate sources tell me that it was a very extended discussion about how to proceed here.
The problem is the same one that it's been for months. Unless they can get a significant number of troops out of Iraq and get them out fairly soon, they can't free up the troops to go to Afghanistan. They've been going round and round on this. They haven't even completed their final strategic review of Afghanistan. All of this now going to land on the President-elect's desk.
ROBERTS: Barbara, the status of forces agreement reached between the United States and the Iraqi government will -- is supposed to see all U.S. troops out by the year 2011. Is that realistically going to happen?
STARR: Well, probably not. That is the date on the calendar that all of this back and forth is moving towards. Get everybody out of Iraq by 2011. But military sources are now privately saying they have every expectation that the Iraqis are going to ask for some U.S. forces to stay and there will be some reserve, if you will, capacity capability of U.S. forces nearby, possibly in Kuwait.
That complicates it all. But 2011, John, officially is the date the U.S. military is working towards, but as you said, Barack Obama is going to bring the chiefs and the commanders in and say he wants troops out of Iraq in 16 months and they can't even agree how to get them all out by 2011. So it should be a pretty interesting session when he finally meets with his military commanders. John.
ROBERTS: We look forward to hearing more about that. Barbara, I know you have the story for us. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning. Barbara, thanks so much.
A stunning apology from the Army to family members of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. It mistakenly sent letters to 7,000 families with a greeting dear John Doe. Army chief of staff General George Casey is writing personal letters of apology to all of those families.
The Army is blaming the mistake on a contractor that improperly addressed the letters. They were mailed last month to inform survivors about organizations offering assistance to families of fallen soldiers. Kiran.
CHETRY: On inauguration day, millions of people will be in Washington to witness history but that also makes the day an attractive target for terrorist groups. Officials say they don't know of any specific threats but they are going to be shutting down bridges and roads across downtown D.C. and in areas connecting it with Virginia, January 20th.
For more now, we turn to our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve with a little bit more information on what people can expect for the millions that are heading there. Hey there, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran. First on the threat. Homeland Security officials say they have no credible reports indicating any terrorist threats to the inauguration and no adjustments are being made to the nation's threat level but officials have always seen this celebration as a potential target for a lot of reasons.
It's symbolic. It's highly visible. It's historic and of course, it will bring millions of people here and dozens and dozens and perhaps hundreds of VIPs. Officials say they do have particular concerns about the possibility of a lone wolf, improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have now issued a threat assessment to law enforcement and Homeland Security officials nationwide, why nationwide? Because one worry is that with all the attention and resources focused on Washington, terrorists might have an opening to strike elsewhere. They want everyone all across the nation to be on their toes. Kiran.
CHETRY: What's it going to be like if you are traveling there? What can you expect if you're heading to the inauguration or to D.C. in general?
MESERVE: It is going to be very, very difficult. As you know, there is a Beltway that rings Washington, D.C., two of the major routes from that Beltway into D.C. will be closed into incoming traffic, 395 and 66. In addition there is a river that separates Virginia from D.C.. All of the bridges going from Virginia to D.C. will be closed to inbound traffic.
We're talking about personal vehicles here. There will be some allowances, of course, for emergency vehicles, some of the charter buses and personal limousines and taxis and things of that sort. Essentially, if you live in Virginia or coming from the south and you want to drive into the city, you'd have to drive around to Maryland and come in that way but if you do, there are massive street closings downtown for security reasons and simply for transportation reasons.
So you're not going to be able to drive anywhere close to the Mall or close to the Capital at all. Officials really want people to leave their personal vehicles elsewhere. The best way to get in is going to be mass transit, to walk, or to bike. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Pump up those tires then.
MESERVE: You bet.
CHETRY: If you plan on getting there.
MESERVE: You bet.
CHETRY: Thanks a lot, Jeanne.
MESERVE: You're welcome.
CHETRY: It's 34 minutes after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY (voice-over): Who killed John F. Kennedy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flash apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m.
CHETRY: This morning a new book shining the spotlight on an old name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was one time when he went off on a tirade. Yes, I had the SOB killed, I'm glad I did it.
CHETRY: The criminal being thrust back into the conspiracy and the evidence the author is hanging his story on.
You're watching the most news in the morning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHETRY: Just in at 8:37 here on the East Coast. New job numbers out just moments ago. Gerri Willis is here following it for us this morning. Hi, Gerri.
WILLIS: Yes, big news today. And some good news today for a change when it comes to jobless claims. For the week of January 3rd, some 467,000 Americans filed for jobless benefits. Now, this comes as a surprise to economists who had predicted that far more Americans would file. Some 490,000 to 590,000 for an average estimate of 540,000, believe it or not.
Last week we had 492,000 folks who filed for jobless claims. So this marks a real improvement in what is going on. People out there had expected far, far worse. Now remember this comes in the context of monthly jobless numbers coming out tomorrow. Everybody is watching that number. It's a critically important number. The expectation that some seven percent of Americans will be jobless and that will be up from 6.7 percent in the previous month.
One bit of bad news in this report today from the department of labor I want to mention is continuing claims. Those are the claims for folks who file week after week after week. Those went up to 4.6 million from 4.5 million. So we've got sort of a mixed bag here, Kiran. Obviously, some short term good numbers which I think people will take in a very positive light, not what we were expecting as we look at these jobless picture which has been deteriorating frankly for sometime.
CHETRY: Right. So we're hearing about Macy's deciding to close some under performing stores and we also have our President-elect talking about the possibility, the very real possibility of double digit unemployment if something isn't done. So you know, is this a ray of hope or is this just a blip?
WILLIS: Well, we're going to have to see. You know, the continuing claims number really is the worst since the 1980s. So that tells you how dark this picture is right now. And of course, we'll be following this in an ongoing way, watching these jobless claims.
You know, we had a big report this week from ALCOA laying off tens of thousands of people. It's definitely something we want to keep an eye on and a small ray of sunshine here. It's always good to get some good news on the jobless front.
CHETRY: All right. Gerri Willis, thanks.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
ROBERTS: Well, more than 45 years after President Kennedy was murdered in Dallas, new fuel to the conspiracy fire. We're getting our first look at a mob boss' assassination confession that the FBI allegedly knew about decades ago. AMERICAN MORNING's Jason Carroll is here now with more that. Fascinating.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think the conspiracy theorists are going to have a field day with this one, don't you? You know after all these years, an author claims there is now solid evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald did not act alone when he assassinated John F. Kennedy in 1963.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to conclude there was a fourth shot and a second rifle.
CARROLL (voice-over): Directors like Oliver Stone have produced movies about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I never met anybody named Oswald.
CARROLL: Authors have written hundreds of books on it. Now, another new book. Claiming government documents say a Mafia crime boss confessed, yes, confessed to ordering the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
LAMAR WALDRON, "LEGACY OF SECRECY": These are not just casual remarks made by an aging godfather when he was in prison.
CARROLL: Lamar Waldron is co-author of "Legacy of Secrecy." Waldron says Carlos Marcelo ordered the investigation in retaliation for Kennedy cracking down on organized crime. And Waldron says a national archive record proves his claim. Buried within millions of pages of files, declassified by the FBI ten years ago, he says are details of Marcelos alleged confession to an undercover informant in 1985.
WALDRON: It was one time when he just went off on a tirade against the Kennedys that he let slip to the FBI informant that, yes, I had the SOB killed. I'm glad I did it. You know? I'm sorry I couldn't have done it myself.
CARROLL: The official report on Kennedy's assassination released in 1964 by the Warren Commission found Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. Three other government investigations have since concluded the same. Vincent Bugliosi has studied the Kennedy assassination. His book "Reclaiming History" also backs the commission's findings.
As for Wauldron's findings --
VINCENT BUGLIOSI, "RECLAMING HISTORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF JFK": If I could categorize it in a couple of words, sublime, silliness. There is no merit to this.
CARROLL: Carol Marcelos was investigated in the 1970s by the house committee on assassination which found he did have, "the motive, means, and opportunity to have President John F. Kennedy assassinated but concluded they could not establish direct evidence of his involvement.
BUGLIOSI: Hundreds upon hundreds of people had mode of means and opportunity. The seminal question is did he do it? And that is where you have to come up with evidence.
CARROLL: But Waldron says the now declassified documents speak for themselves.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, Carlos Marcelo died in 1993. Waldron says the record shows Marcelo also talked about how Jack Ruby, the man who shot Lee Harvey Oswald was, also, "his man." The FBI still has hundreds of hours of FBI tapes that, to date, still have not been released.
ROBERTS: So what about the credibility of Carlos Marcelo? I mean does he have any? Or could he just be boasting to say, oh, yes I had everything to do with it?
CARROLL: Well you know, that's a good point. I think the critics obviously are going to argue that Marcelo has no credibility and that this FBI informant has no credibility. The author Waldron of course would say look, he had enough credibility that the FBI used this informant for many, many years.
ROBERTS: At least as you said, more fuel to the fire for conspiracy theorists.
CARROLL: Absolutely.
ROBERTS: Fascinating stuff. Jason, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Well a very different kind of economic stimulus. The porn industry asking for a bailout. We're going to find out why "Hustler's" founder wants Congress to help Americans "sex" it up. Is this just a publicity stunt? Forty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Part of me just wants to shrink away right now. Anyway, we're talking about a stimulus. Is the porn industry really eligible for a piece of the bailout pie? Well, it certainly is hoping that's the case. Industry titan Larry Flynt and "Girls Gone Wild" CEO Joe Francis want a $5 billion bailout. Do they really need your tax dollars? CNN's Ted Rowlands takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Kiran, nobody is disputing that porn is big business and may or may not be in trouble but this seems to many like just another Larry Flynt publicity stunt.
ROWLANDS (voice-over): "Girls gone Wild" creator Joe Francis and "Hustler's" Larry Flynt sent out a press release, saying because sales are down, and jobs are at stake, the porn industry needs a government bailout.
The porn industry needs a bailout? You got to be kidding me.
LARRY FLYNT, PUBLISHER "HUSTLER" MAGAZINE: Why not, you know? They did it for the automobiles. They did it for the banks. You got a lot of unhappy people out there, that sex is the furthest thing from their mind. ROWLANDS: Larry Flynt's business is off about 25 percent, saying economic woes has apparently affected people's libidos. Vivid Entertainment, the leader in adult video sales also tells CNN business is down but talk to Vincent Morezes at Odyssey Video in Los Angeles and you get a much different story. He says business is up, just like it was after 9/11.
VINCENT MOREZES, STORE MANAGER, ODYSSEY VIDEO: I guess during hard times or tragedy the adult sales and rentals just jump dramatically. It's a huge onslaught of just people just buying and renting.
ROWLANDS: And you're seeing some of that right now?
MOREZES: I think so especially with the economy being so bad. It's just cheaper. It's just cheaper than a girlfriend.
ROWLANDS: Back to the bailout, keep in mind, Larry Flynt is the same guy who outed congressmen for having alleged affairs during and after the Clinton impeachment hearings. He has a long history bashing politicians, and admits he's not expecting any bailout.
FLYNT: I'm dead serious about making Congress look stupid. You know, I think the American people should have more to say about those bailouts and how they're spending the money. The politicians have never handled our money wisely since I've been in this world and I don't think they're going to start now.
ROWLANDS (on-camera): So far no word from anybody on Capitol Hill. John, Kiran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Ted Rowlands for us. Ted, thanks so much
A slick commute for drivers in Boston. Ice coating a number or roadways last night sending cars sliding into ditches, guardrails and each other. It was like an insurance industry seminar there. Luckily though, no serious injuries were reported.
As for what's in store today, Rob Marciano is at the weather center down there in Atlanta. And yes, it looks like you got some sunshine in the south there in Florida for the big football game tonight but the northern tier not looking good.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, "CNN NEWSROOM" just minutes away. Heidi Collins is at the CNN Center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning, Heidi.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, good morning, Kiran. That's right. Here is a check of what we're working on coming up at 9:00 this morning.
President-elect Obama calling for dramatic action to save the economy. We're going to have his speech coming to you live this morning.
And Israeli's two tracks. The military steps up its mission in Gaza. The diplomats look for a cease-fire in Egypt.
And outrage over a police killing. Protesters turn violent on the streets of Oakland. We'll have it all for you when we get started at the top of the hour right here on CNN.
CHETRY: All right. Heidi, thank you.
ROBERTS: Imagine suddenly being forced to give up one of your most prized possessions especially one that keeps you in touch with friends and family. Why Barack Obama is desperate to hang on to his Blackberry. It's 51 1/2 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: We're on. One hard thing about moving into the White House giving up a lot of everyday freedoms and for Barack Obama that may include his Blackberry. We're both sending e-mails and that's the pitiful part about this. You know, the Blackberry or as they joke the crack berry, you are used to communicating through this every single day, it would be hard if somebody just say Jason, thanks, you're time is up with the Blackberry.
CARROLL: I'm really addicted to this thing. Got to have it.
CHETRY: And so does Barack Obama.
CARROLL: I'm getting a message back now. This is our executive producer now she is saying, ha ha, ha ha, ha ha ha. All right. Let's get to it. Are we supposed to do this now?
CHETRY: Yes.
CARROLL: Well, obviously, you can tell a lot of us are addicted to these blackberries here. Barack Obama just like the rest of us, he seems to be addicted as well. Attached to his BlackBerry throughout the campaign. You can see some of the video there. Common sight to see Obama checking his Blackberry and sending messages. The Secret Service wants him to give it up for security reasons but Obama, like a true Blackberry addict, is resisting. Listen to what he said during his interview with CNBN this week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a concern I should add, not just of Secret Service, but also lawyers. I'm still in a scuffle around that. How do you stay in touch with the flow of everyday life?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Did we actually hear from Obama in that? OK. Let me just give you the "Reader's Digest" version there. Obama actually doesn't like the idea of potentially losing direct communication with friends and others and he says he doesn't want to live in a bubble but President Bush was forced to give up e-mail for security reasons. There is always the concern that hackers could get access to e-mails or Blackberry messages and also worries that all those Blackberry messages or e-mails would have to be kept as presidential records.
It's just one of the sort of pitfalls of living in this new digital age where we want all of our information sent out there immediately and we want to get it back immediately. John and I were talking about before. I asked John, do you keep yours? You keep it nearby but not actually up with you here on the set.
ROBERTS: I don't keep it up here because it interferes with the microphones.
CHETRY: Microphones. But it's not far away. It's a mere seven feet away.
CARROLL: He's got it over there.
ROBERTS: Seven feet.
CHETRY: Or eight.
(CROSSTALK)
CARROLL: You know, it was something my mom said about this. She says it's all very impersonal. She says we should get rid of the blackberries and go back to actually making a phone call.
CHETRY: Your mother?
CARROLL: Yes, my mom. I can't get her to get one.
ROBERTS: This is just great way to save time. Because if you contact somebody via e-mail or instant message or whatever, you don't have to talk to them.
CHETRY: The other thing is when you're taking countless commuter flights when you walk in on he plane from D.C. to Washington, no one is talking. Everyone is sitting here like this. And I'm thinking, aliens from outer space must think what do these people do? You know, no one talks to each other. They are sitting directly next to each other.
ROBERTS: The one benefit of it, though, is it has dramatically reduced, when you get on a plane or you're in a train, the number of phone conversations that are going on. People don't talk on the phone anymore. They just text each other.
CARROLL: I'd rather here the click, click of the BlackBerry than someone speaking loudly on the phone.
ROBERTS: But you know, it has created a very impersonal society and as well people will say things on e-mail they would never say to your face. And I've been re-reading the last lecture of Randy Pausch's book. You know, the Carnegie Melon professor who died from pancreatic cancer.
And he likes to talk about the lost art of the written note and just how meaningful that really is. If somebody gives you a written note as opposed to an instant message or whatever on a BlackBerry, it's just so much more meaningful.
CARROLL: I wonder if that is dying sort of -
ROBERTS: It is.
CHETRY: Could I add one more thing?
CARROLL: Please do.
CHETRY: You never -- you're 24/7. I mean, obviously, the presidency is -- people argue that the reason the BlackBerry is a problem is you never detach and you're never not at work.
ROBERTS: Here is a funny thing. I remember a producer who worked here and told me a story. He got a phone call waking him up at 5:00 in the morning from another producer who said did you see my e- mail? No! I was asleep!
CHETRY: That's what happens. This is my alarm clock. It's right under my pillow, unfortunately. All right. Jason, you struck a nerve.
CARROLL: Obviously.
ROBERTS: A couple of minutes to the top of the hour now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: We were going to send you a text message on this but we thought it was much better to do it in person. That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us on AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you back here bright and early again tomorrow.
