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Full First Day for Obama on Foreign, Domestic Issues; Gitmo Status to be Reviewed; Nomination Battles Continue in Congress; Obama Declares Transparency, Rule of Law as Priorities

Aired January 21, 2009 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): First parades and parties, now prayers and policy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): He's got the whole world in his hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): He's got the whole world in his hands.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (singing): He's got the whole world in his hands.

PHILLIPS: Welcome to the first full day of the Obama administration. The key word there being "full."

Change has already come to Gitmo. The fences still stand, but prosecutions are standing down, at least for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

OK, history's written now. Time to get working on the future. Oh, and did you ever carve your initials into the cabin wall at summer camp? Well, outgoing presidents do stuff like that, believe it or not. It's not like the former prez carved "W. was here" somewhere in the Oval Office, not as far as we know, at least. But that envelope is just one of several little torch-passing traditions. We're going to talk about that today.

And later on, of all the numbers a toddler could mash into one phone, well, they had to be 911. The cops who came say Daddy had a lot to hide.

Well, you could argue that President Obama has been on the job for 2 1/2 months now, even amid the hoopla of Inauguration Day. Aides were at work behind the scenes. And today, though, after one last inaugural tradition, the work takes center stage. And when it comes to Gitmo, the new commander in chief means business.

CNN's Suzanne Malveaux at the White House.

Suzanne, where do we even begin?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, you're absolutely right. At 5 in the morning we saw the lights on at the residence here at the White House. And then it was in the 8 a.m. hour we saw those lights on, and a Marine that was posted right outside the door there at the office of the West Wing, meaning that the president was doing his business and working.

One of the first things that he did was he made some phone calls to Middle Eastern leaders to express the fact that this is going to be the top of his agenda, that he is going to be very much engaged in the Middle East peace process, putting in calls to King Abdullah of Jordan, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, as well as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

We got a statement from Robert Gibbs, the press secretary explaining, way. And he says he used this opportunity on his first day in office to communicate his commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term and to express his hope for their continued cooperation and leadership. In the aftermath of the Gaza conflict, he emphasized his determination to work to help consolidate the cease-fire by establishing an effective anti-smuggling regime to prevent Hamas from rearming and facilitating a partnership with the Palestinian Authority, a major reconstruction effort for Palestinians in Gaza.

So obviously, that is the top of his foreign policy agenda.

Also, Kyra, this afternoon, he's going to meet with his top economic team to obviously push for that 825 billion -- billion dollar -- stimulus package. Says it's going to create a whole bunch of jobs, millions of jobs. He wants to make sure that Congress is on-board.

And then also, he's going to be meeting with his top military brass. We will see them here at the White House, General Petraeus as well as Secretary Gates. They will be here. And he's going to outline this new mission from day one saying, "Look, 16 months I want U.S. troops out of Iraq." Obviously, they're going to need to be put in Afghanistan where things have declined, but he is going to make that clear that that is now their new priority, their new mission.

He's also going to ask for their feedback and say, "Look, do you think this is going to work" -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux there, live from the White House. See you back here in about 45 minutes. Thanks, Suzanne.

Well, CNN's Susan Candiotti is at Guantanamo Bay.

Susan, what can you tell us about -- just to add to what Suzanne was saying, about this possibly be the first big story we're going to be talking about when it comes to President Obama and what he's going to be doing next?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it didn't take long for him to do what he had long promised on his campaign trail. Did it?

As a matter of fact, over the objections of five alleged plotters in the 9/11 attacks, two military judges have now given President Barack Obama exactly what he has wanted, and that is to grind the process to a halt here and at Guantanamo Naval Base, the detention process in particular, until the cases of each and every one of the 245 detainees that are here can be thoroughly reviewed. They will reviewed by the Pentagon. They will be reviewed by the Justice Department to decide how they should proceed from here.

Now we can tell you this, that of those 245, there's only been three convictions since these military commissions have been under way, and of 60 of the 245, more or less, who have already been cleared for release, well, there is no country willing to take them that the U.S. government can find.

So what are the options here? Well, the U.S. government might, in the end, move all of these people, if the detention process is, in fact, shut down at the end of this review, they could move everyone to the United States to be tried in U.S. courts. That's not likely to happen, but some of them could also be moved to U.S. courts marshal. They might be moved to an international court forum, or in fact they could try to find some other countries that are willing to take them. All of this is part of the review process.

Now, Barack Obama has long said that he believes that this -- detention camps have tarnished the image of the United States. And now finally, he said he is ready to take it on. And some military judges have now agreed that it's time to allow him time to give it a look.

Back to you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, Susan Candiotti. Appreciate it so much. Thank you.

And here's what we're going to want to know: what happens to the cases at Guantanamo Bay after 120 days? And if the facility is shut down, where would the terror suspects be sent?

Well, ahead this hour in the NEWSROOM, we're going to go live to New York to hear what attorney and international law expert Rahul Manchanda has to say about the latest Guantanamo developments and exactly what could happen to those enemy combatants there.

And we want to know what you think, of course. What would you like President Obama to do in his first 100 days in office? You could e-mail us your thoughts: cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. We'll read as many as we can next hour.

Well, it's going to be a lot easier for the new president to have a cabinet meeting if he has a cabinet today. We're watching confirmation action on four fronts: a floor vote in the Senate on Hillary Clinton for secretary of state, a committee vote expected next hour on attorney general nominee Eric Holder, and hearings for transportation secretary nominee Ray Lahood and treasury pick Tim Geithner.

CNN's Dana Bash is on the Hill.

Dana, tell us about a pretty taxing day, shall we say, for Geithner?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very good, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Wish I could take credit for it. That's my clever writer.

BASH: Very good. Well, obviously we've been reporting that this is going to be the toughest nomination for the Obama team to get through. It is Timothy Geithner for treasury secretary.

And the reason is because of the fact that we learned last week that he did not pay $34,000 in taxes, in taxes on Social Security and Medicare, and that was brought to light back in December to the committee.

But many members on the Senate finance committee, which is in charge of confirming Timothy Geithner, just found out about it. So they certainly, as you can imagine, have some questions about that before they confirm him. But, you know, Timothy Geithner, he started out understanding that those questions would come, and he started with a very deep apology.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: These were careless mistakes. They were avoidable mistakes. But they were unintentional. I should have been more careful. I take full responsibility for them. I have gone back and corrected these errors and paid what I owed.

I want to apologize to the committee for putting you in the position of having to spend so much time on these issues when there is so much pressing business before the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So there you see a very contrite Timothy Geithner trying to explain he understands he made a mistake and he's sorry about the fact that he has taken the committee's time in dealing with this.

But you know, for several Republican senators, that wasn't enough, including Senator Jim Bunning, who made it pretty clear that he is getting a lot of questions from his constituents, saying, "Wait a minute. You're going to confirm as treasury secretary somebody who didn't pay his own taxes when that is the role of the treasury secretary, to be in charge of the IRS?"

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JIM BUNNING (R), KENTUCKY: As far as I know, the committee has never interviewed the IRS personnel involved in the tax case, and none of the witnesses has been made available to the staff or committee members. That is unacceptable in light of evidence that the IMF clearly explained his payroll tax obligations, as acknowledged by the nominee himself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: But I should tell you, despite the grilling that Geithner is getting on his tax issues, several Republicans, even those who said that they were not happy about it, they were very clear that they do believe that he is going to get confirmed.

And they are continuing to press him on a host of other very critical issues, including how, as treasury secretary, he would spend $350 billion in rescue funds and, of course, on a much bigger level, how he would go forward with trying to fix this absolutely devastated economy.

PHILLIPS: Well, Dana, real quickly, too, what about Hillary Clinton? We want to know what's going on real quick with that -- quickly with that nomination.

BASH: There was just a fascinating moment on the Senate floor. We saw for the very first time since his presidential campaign John McCain go on the Senate floor and speak out in favor of hurrying up this vote for Hillary Clinton.

You know, he had spoken very fondly of Hillary Clinton during the campaign. In part that was because he was trying to get her voters. But it's also because he has, in talking to people who are close to him, a deep admiration for Hillary Clinton.

So he is trying to move up this vote by basically just a few hours, but he's also trying to make a point that he is going to help Hillary Clinton and, more broadly, the Obama administration where he can. And this is an area where he clearly thinks that he has common interests, and that is making Hillary Clinton secretary of state.

PHILLIPS: All right, definitely we need a secretary of state. There's a lot to deal with at this point, that's for sure. Dana Bash, OK, great. Thank you so much.

Well, we are waiting for -- I have to get used to saying this. President Obama. I keep wanting to say president-elect. President Obama is going to be holding a live event there at the swearing-in ceremony for the White House staff. And then after the ceremony, he'll sign some executive orders on executive branch ethics, all a part of the formal duties that he has as he goes forward here, his first official day of business as president of the United States.

Wall Street also watching the Geithner hearing, by the way. We mentioned that just a minute ago. We're watching Wall Street to see how the numbers are affected. Dow Industrials down 87 points right now. Susan Lisovicz will tell us what all that means in just a few minutes and how the numbers differ with new administrations come in. It's sort an interesting twist to our conversation today.

We're also going to be watching the floor debate that's leading up to the vote on Hillary Clinton for secretary of state. The speeches are going to start later this hour, and if tempers flare, you're going to feel the heat right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Well, Senator Ted Kennedy is out of the hospital now. His wife was quoted as saying that those seizures that he had yesterday just go with the territory. It was a sobering part of the inaugural celebration and a reminder also of the battle that that liberal lion is still fighting.

Those seizures were pretty scary, yes. But how serious were they?

And don't have to rummage around your grocer's freezer, by the way, to find those frozen strawberries. We're going to look at the cold snap that's going on in Florida and what's happening to the crops there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. We're waiting for that live event. I was actually reading through my notes right now. The White House office of the press secretary just sent this out. He's going to be stepping up to the mikes, we're told, in possibly a minute or so. It's a swearing-in ceremony for the White House staff.

And then he's got just this list of all these various meetings that he has to do today: from meeting with all his economic advisers, to meeting with all his advisers in the sit room -- not our sit room, of course, the real situation room. And all the various military leaders on -- talking about Iraq.

And I'm just looking through all his commitments he has, all the way up until about 5:15 this evening. So we're monitoring all of them, his first official day of business. And we'll bring this to you live as soon as it happens.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama says that things are going to get worse before they get better. And he wasn't kidding. We're going to tell you who's about to cut some more jobs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: More dismal economic news. Cleveland-based Eaton Core is -- Corp., rather, is cutting another 5,200 jobs. The company actually makes industrial parts for electrical circuit breakers, and hydraulics and transmissions for trucks and cars.

The mining giant BHP Billiton is slashing 6,000 jobs, we're told. Also Swedish telecom equipment giant Ericsson is cutting 5,000 jobs worldwide, which includes some in the U.S. And a downturn in advertising means that Clear Channel Communications is eliminating 1,850 jobs. And after its parent company posted more than $1 billion in losses in the fourth quarter, United Airlines is letting another 1,000 workers go.

Let's get straight to Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange, rather, to see how investors are reacting to all those job cuts.

You know, Susan, even though there's a new president, new administration, lots of changes going on, the reality is our economy is still suffering and there's a lot of people that are going to continue to lose their jobs.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question about it, Kyra. And you know, yesterday -- yesterday's performance here on Wall Street was a perfect example of that. I think it's one of the reasons why President Obama wants to dive in right away. There's -- really, there should be no time to waste here.

The economy is sinking, the litany of job cuts that you just gave is broad-based. Job cuts are often seen, you know, in different ways here on Wall Street, because on one -- in some respects, job cuts can be good if the company is really reorganizing itself, trying to become more efficient. And that's obviously what all job cuts are intended to do, but what we're increasingly hearing, Kyra, let's go back -- we'll revisit later. Back to you.

PHILLIPS: You got it. We just want to get to the president here, the first time we're hearing from him in sort of an official manner, talking economy, Iraq. Let's listen in.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (in progress): ... get everyone together on the first day, to welcome you to the White House.

From our vantage point yesterday, you couldn't help but be inspired by the sight of Americans as far as the eye could see. They were there because they believe this is a moment of great change in America, a time for reinvigorating our democracy and remaking our country. They've entrusted all of us with a great responsibility, and so today I'd like to talk with you about our responsibility to keep that trust.

In a few minutes I'm going to be issuing some of the first executive orders and directives of my presidency. These steps are aimed at establishing firm rules of the road for my administration and all who serve in it. And to help restore that faith in government without which we cannot deliver the changes we were sent here to make, from rebuilding our economy and ensuring that anyone who's willing to work and find a well-paying job, to protecting and defending the United States and promoting peace and security.

However long we are keepers of the public trust, we should never forget that we are here as public servants, and public service is a privilege. It's not about advantaging yourself; it's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization. Public service is simply, and absolutely, about advancing the interests of Americans.

The men and women in this room understand this, and that's why you're here. All of you are committed to building a more responsible, more accountable government. And part of what that means is making sure that we're spending precious tax dollars wisely and cutting costs wherever possible.

During this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts, and so should Washington. That's why I am instituting a pay freeze on the salaries of my senior White House staff. Some of the people in this room will be affected by the pay freeze, and I want you to know that I appreciate your willingness to agree to it, recognizing that it's what's required of you at this moment. It's a mark of your commitment to public service.

But the American people deserve more than simply an assurance that those who are coming to Washington will serve their interests. They also deserve to know that there are rules on the books to keep it that way. They deserve a government that is truly of, by, and for the people.

As I often said during the campaign, we need to make the White House the people's house, and we need to close the resolving door that lets lobbyists come in to government freely and lets them use their time in public service as a way to promote their own interests over the interests of the American people when they leave.

So today we are taking a major step towards fulfilling this campaign promise. The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years.

When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president. And there will be a ban on gifts by lobbyists to anyone serving in the administration, as well.

Now the new rules on lobbying alone, no matter how tough, are not enough to fix a broken system in Washington. And that's why I'm also setting new rules that govern not just lobbyists but all those who have been selected to serve in my administration.

If you are enlisting in government service, you will have to commit in writing to rules limiting your role, for two years, in matters involving people you used to work with and barring you from any attempt to influence your former government colleagues for two years after you leave.

You will receive an ethics briefing on what is required of you, to make sure that our government is serving the people's interests, and nobody else's, a briefing I'm proud to say I was the first member of this administration to receive last week.

But the way to make a government responsible is not simply to enlist the services of responsible men and women, or to sign laws that ensure that they never stray. The way to make government responsible is to hold it accountable. And the way to make government accountable is make it transparent so that the American people can know exactly what decisions are being made, how they're being made, and whether their interests are being well served.

The directives I am giving my administration today on how to interpret the Freedom of Information Act will do just that. For a long time now, there's been too much secrecy in this city. The old rules said that, if there was a defensible argument for not disclosing something to the American people, then it should not be disclosed. That era is now over.

Starting today, every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information, but those who seek to make it known. To be sure, issues like personal privacy and national security must be treated with the care they demand, but the mere fact that you have the legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it.

Freedom of Information Act is perhaps the most powerful instrument we have for making our government honest and transparent and of holding it accountable. And I expect members of my administration not simply to live up to the letter, but also the spirit of this law.

I will also hold myself as president to a new standard of openness. Going forward, any time the American people want to know something that I or a former president wants to withhold, we will have to consult with the attorney general and the White House counsel, whose business it is to ensure compliance with the rule of law. Information will not be withheld just because I say so. It will be withheld because a separate authority believes my request is well- grounded in the Constitution.

Let me say it as simply as I can: Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. Our commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made. It means recognizing that government does not have all the answers, and that public officials need to draw on what citizens know.

And that's why, as of today, I'm directing members of my administration to find new ways of tapping the knowledge and experience of ordinary Americans, scientists and civic leaders, educators and entrepreneurs, because the way to solve the problem of our time is -- the way to solve the problems of our time, as one nation, is by involving the American people in shaping the policies that affect their lives.

The executive orders and directives I'm issuing today will not, by themselves, make government as honest and transparent as it needs to be. And they do not go as far as we need to go towards restoring accountability and fiscal restraint in Washington. But these historic measures do mark the beginning of a new era of openness in our country.

And I will, I hope, do something to make government trustworthy in the eyes of the American people in the days and weeks, months and years to come. That's a pretty good place to start.

Thank you very much. All right? So that's -- all right.

There you go. (INAUDIBLE)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: All right, we like that, especially as journalists. A new era of openness which is going to help all of us trust in this new form of government.

You're seeing the president of the United States there attending the swearing-in ceremony of his White House staff, talking about the expectations he is going to have of his staff. And he is actually signing the executive branch ethics right now -- a little bit of confusion there. I guess he has to sign a number of them. Joe Biden adding a little humor there.

But here's what's interesting. A couple things that stood out: basically, the president saying this new era is going to include a transparency and a freedom of information that we have not seen, what he says, in a very long time.

Number one, lobbyists. He's going to have stricter limitation on lobbyists. One example of that, banning all gifts to lobbyists. Obviously, through the past number of years we've seen issues with a lot of corruption and illegal back-and-forth that has caused a lot of scrutiny with regard to lobbyists.

I'm going to see if he's going to speak again here. Let's go ahead -- I think he's taking questions. Let's listen in again.

(AUDIO GAP)

OBAMA: The swearing-in is going to be taking place and the vice president is going to be carrying that out? OK. Before the vice president does that, let me first just say how proud I am of all of you. This is an extraordinary collection of talent, and you inspire great confidence in me.

I think the more the American people get to know you, the more you will inspire great confidence in the American people. All of you have made extraordinary sacrifices to be here. Many of you have brought your families here. They're making extraordinary sacrifices.

But what a -- what a moment we're in. What an opportunity we have to change this country. And for those of us who have been in public life before, these kinds of moments come around just every so often. The American people are really counting on us now. Let's make sure we take advantage of it. I know you will. So thank you for your commitment.

Joe, you want to administer the oath?

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Am I doing this again?

OBAMA: For the senior staff.

BIDEN: For the senior staff. All right.

OBAMA: A number of Cabinet members have already.

BIDEN: My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts. No. You have a copy of the oath? The oath right there? Well, thank you. Which senior staff are we doing?

OBAMA: Whole bunch of senior staff. Rise.

BIDEN: All of the senior staff, please rise. I will say "I," and then you repeat your name. All right?

OBAMA: (INAUDIBLE)

BIDEN: I -- your name -- repeat your name, please. Do solemnly swear or affirm...

SENIOR STAFF: ... do solemnly swear or affirm...

BIDEN: ... that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States...

SENIOR STAFF: ... that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States...

BIDEN: ... against all enemies, foreign and domestic...

SENIOR STAFF: ... against all enemies, foreign and domestic...

BIDEN: ... and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same...

SENIOR STAFF: ... and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same...

BIDEN: ... that I take this obligation freely...

SENIOR STAFF: ... that I take this obligation freely...

BIDEN: ... without mental reservation or purpose of evasion...

SENIOR STAFF: ... without mental reservation or purpose of evasion...

BIDEN: ... and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office...

SENIOR STAFF: ... and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office...

BIDEN: ... on which I am about to enter...

SENIOR STAFF: ... on which I am about to enter...

BIDEN: ... so help me God.

SENIOR STAFF: ... so help me God.

BIDEN: Congratulations. Mr. President, our senior staff.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Are we all done?

All right. I think I'm all done, but since I haven't seen some of you guys since it became official, let me shake your hands. All right?

PHILLIPS: OK, that takes a little heat off of Chief Justice John Roberts from yesterday in the inauguration when there was a little blip in taking the oath. Joe Biden sort of making a funny dig at him because they weren't really organized right there. Joe Biden not quite sure, OK, who am I going to swear in? Do we do it now? Do we do it all together?

They're just sort of making it up as it goes there in their casual style that they do. But basically bottom line, this is the new president and his senior staff. And he was talking about the sacrifices that they are all going to have to make, and in particular, he was talking about the fact that he is freezing the pay of about 100 White House employees, some employees that may be in this group right here, who make more than $100,000 a year.

A couple of those jobs, of course, are some of the high-profile jobs, such as White House chief of staff, national security adviser and press secretary. And then the president will decide whether he wants to let us all know what the other jobs are that would entail that type of salary and the fact that he's asking his staff to hold it there at $100,000. Part of the obviously struggling economy and something that he says a new way moving forward with a government for the people.

Couple other interesting things that he said as he signed the executive branch ethics order here and introduced his staff and what he expects from them, he said, look, with regard to ethics, I'm going to check all of your backgrounds. I'm going to know everything about you, everyone that you've associated with. There's been too much secrecy going on in this city and that era, as the president said, is now over.

I mentioned the lobbyists. They'll have stricter limitations on those. And also he made it clear to all of us and also to his staff that he wants to carry on with a new standard of openness. Just because he's got the power to say something will become public or not, he's not going to operate that way. He said his administration will be about transparency and the rule of law, that freedom of information is -- and freedom of speech is very important to him and that this presidency will embrace all of that.

And, you know, he could be, of course, referring to various moves that were made in the Bush administration with regard to our privacy and national security, especially after 9/11, when a lot of us in the American public were tapped into just because the president wanted to go forward that way for the sake, he said, of our security in a time that terrorists had attacked us on 9/11.

So, it will be interesting to see how this all develops and the changes the president is making with regard to his standard of ethics and openness. Suzanne Malveaux, live for us there at the White House. Suzanne, it's definitely a new adventure, and its something we love to hear about. OK, yes, he's going to give us the information when we ask. We're not going to get any sort of jargon, as he says, about what he wants to withhold for his own purposes or not. We'll see how it goes.

MALVEAUX: It certainly is a different standard than what we've seen in the past. Obviously, he is saying that just because he doesn't want to release information that he's not just going to say, well, you can't have it, but that there will be other people that you'll have to run this by, the attorney general, White House counsel, to get a second opinion.

We'll see if there is a real independence in that measure, in that way that they act independently of the president. We saw in examples of the past, there were acquisitions of the closeness between Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush, whether or not there was an appropriate distance between what he was looking for and obviously what Alberto Gonzales was tasked to do in the Justice Department.

So, that's an open question. I thought what was interesting, looking at all of this unfold, that little exchange that he had with Biden there, Biden making that little bit of a joke there about John Roberts and the chief justice yesterday kind of botching up a little bit the administering the oath there. And Biden saying something about, well, he hopes his memory's a little bit better.

A joke obviously, but you could tell that Barack Obama just kind of tapped him there on the shoulder and shook his head a little bit. He really wants to set a very serious tone on his first full day, and he wants to make it very clear to people that he's not about taking cheap shots or anything, and he's about holding everybody accountable, and this is all a part of what he is trying to do on his first day, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. He has a number of meetings. He's going to meet with his economic staff, and then he's going to go to the Sit Room, not our "SIT ROOM." I have to keep repeating that, but the real Sit Room, Suzanne, with all his various military leaders talking about Iraq and Afghanistan. So, could we hear from him after those briefings, or is this sort of the first sort of official news conference he's going to hold today introducing his senior staff? MALVEAUX: It really was a ceremony, because they only allowed White House pool cameras inside. So, it really wasn't a press conference. So, we're eager and anxious for a press conference and more access to him. So, we'll see just, you know, how transparent and access he's going to be -- accessible he's going to be to us.

But, yes, he's going to sit down with top military brass here at the White House in the basement of the West Wing, the real Situation Room, and talk about ways of moving forward, a new mission when it comes to the U.S. military trying to get him out in 16 months out of Iraq, possibly sending those soldiers to Afghanistan, where things have really deteriorated.

It's been described to us as a meeting where he will seek their input. He's going to lay out the mission, but he's also going to ask, how do we make this actually happen? How do we carry this out? And, Kyra, we'll see if there's any kind of public statement afterwards, but we're fighting for it. We're rooting for more access from the administration.

PHILLIPS: We all want that more access. And you bring up a good point. I said press conference. I'm so used to saying that, right? But there are no members, probably, of the press in that room. That's his senior staff.

But then again, Suzanne, they're probably asking him some tough questions up there. Maybe not. I don't know. They want to stay in good scene (ph) with the boss.

MALVEAUX: Well, members of the press but very, very small group, a very kind of controlled situation. So, we're working to get more access.

PHILLIPS: We're looking forward to it. Suzanne, thanks so much.

MALVEAUX: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well, a journey to the lion's den. A group of international students in the Middle East talking with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and other key players in the latest crisis.

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PHILLIPS: Well, new signs that big changes may be coming in the way that the U.S. handles terror cases. And we reported earlier that judges have suspended two of the cases involving terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. One of them, the 9/11 case, attorney Rahul Manchanda, an expert on international law joins us live from New York. Raul, I haven't talked to you in a while. At first, when we did chat -- this was a number of years ago -- there was rumblings that maybe Gitmo would be closed down. Now it looks like it's going to become a reality. And my first question is going to be, something that we discussed a number of times: Where do these enemy combatants go? Because a number of their countries don't even want them back.

RAHUL MANCHANDA, ATTORNEY: Well, that's a great question. You know, the reality is right now, what's happening is a closing of the loopholes in the international legal community right now. Before, you know, the United States and Israel could turn around and say, well, it's not a war. These aren't soldiers, these are enemy combatants or illegal combatants.

But in response to the international community's outcries, you know, this is a response. President Obama has now suspended all of the tribunals for about 120 days for review of the procedures and -- legal procedures that are going into place here. And of particular focus are two issues. One is the alleged use of torture techniques and maybe the revisiting of those issues. And the second the evidentiary standards used to convict or to offer as testimony during trials involving hearsay.

PHILLIPS: But here's my question, Rahul, is, will -- is that what will happen? If this closes down, which it looks like it's going to, will each one of these individuals be given a fair trial? Or is there enough evidence that exists? I mean, many of these guys have been thrown in there because they've been associated with, you know, certain individuals, and they were just deemed enemy combatants.

So, I guess there's one question. Tell me if that is what could happen. And second of all, would they go to U.S. jails? Would they go to Russian jails? Would they go to military brigs? They've got to go somewhere.

MANCHANDA: Well, there's a movement afoot to move these detainees into U.S. detention facilities and to try them in U.S. federal circuit courts. There's also been a movement to extradite some foreign nationals and move them into their foreign countries. But another issue is that those foreign countries may treat those detainees even worse than anything they could have seen at Guantanamo Bay.

So, there's a lot of questions here. The reality is, a lot of these people are there because of legitimate issues, and what they're trying to do is vet the procedures right now to make sure they comply and comport with international legal accepted practice. But at the same time, they don't want to free these people, either. And they also don't want to turn them over to foreign countries that may or may not treat them even worse than what they've seen over here.

PHILLIPS: So, really, there is no set game plan that we know of if indeed Gitmo closes? Is that what you're saying? Or is it the type of thing where there probably is a very detailed plan in place, we just don't know it yet. And how long would it take to actually see it close down and these guys pack up and move out?

MANCHANDA: Well, I don't think you're going to see an imminent foreclosure or closure of the facility. I think what you're going to see is a 120-day suspension for in-depth review. And I think that review team is going to comprise individuals from HRW, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the ACLU and lots of other organizations that have been very critical of the administration's handling of the issues the last seven, eight years. Keep in mind that this facility was opened up during the height of great fear and cacophony. And the reality is, you know, it was created for the sake of national security. But with a lot of time that's gone by, a lot of groups that are critical or have been critical of the procedures involved are now being given a voice.

And I think this 120-day period is really for the purpose of reviewing in-depth the procedures and the issues involved, as well as legal issues involved. But I doubt highly that they're just going to close the facility down and free all of these people. I think that's very unlikely.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll be talking again. Rahul Manchanda, appreciate it.

MANCHANDA: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Well, he didn't ask for it. He probably doesn't want to deal with it. But President Barack Obama isn't shying away from the latest crisis in the Middle East, vowing to get the peace process back on track. He might be interested in a trip to the region by a group of international students who have met with some of the major players, including Hamas militants. CNN's Cal Perry brings us their story.

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CAL PERRY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a scene somewhere between a press conference and a mini demonstration. The U.S. deputy chief of mission in Lebanon being grilled by a group of young students. Many, like Alina Sara, are American and fairly one-sided on their views on Middle Eastern politics. On this day, debating the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.

ALINA SARA, STUDENT, BEIRUT EXCHANGE: How do you justify your unconditional backing of Israel when there was total violation of humanitarian law, human rights?

BILL GRANT, U.S EMBASSY, LEBANON: What role did the legitimate government of Lebanon have in declaring the '06 war?

SARA: Well, they didn't have a say.

GRANT: Right.

PERRY: This exchange is all part of The Beirut Exchange, a program that offers students a two-week crash course in Middle East politics. Thirteen students from eight different nations have traveled to Lebanon, all searching for a better understanding of the complexities in the region.

GRANT: We would much prefer that you get your understanding of U.S. policy from us and not from some biased news source. You don't have to agree. I mean, I represent the Bush administration. As of Tuesday at 12 noon Washington, D.C. time, I will represent the Obama administration. PERRY: Nick Noe, who started the program last year, wants to open a dialogue beyond any that existed before. In some cases, the students talk to the very leaders that their own countries have labeled as terrorists.

NICHOLAS NOE, FOUNDER, BEIRUT EXCHANGE: Over the last couple of years there's been a sort of shift that it's really important, even if you disagree, even if you think some people are the worst people in the world, if you want to make good policy, you have to know what people are saying.

PERRY: This group of students has nick with both Osama Hamdan, the public face of Hamas, and Nawaf al-Moussawi, a top-ranking official from Hezbollah.

NOE: So, we're on our way to the Iranian embassy here.

PERRY: And on this day, Nick is taking the students from a meeting with the U.S. diplomats to the Iranian Cultural Center. Iranian officials stress to us that this is, quote, "an unofficial meeting," wanting to make it clear we are welcome to film but in no way is this meeting any kind of dialogue between Iran and the U.S. For some, especially the American students, it's a rare opportunity to hear the Iranian perspective.

NOE: They get off a plane from Denver, Colorado, or from New York or from South Carolina. They've never been to the Middle East.

PERRY: It's all happening as the new U.S. president put forward an olive branch to the region.

OBAMA: ... that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

PERRY: An offer from President Obama, but already some young Americans are exploring a new way forward.

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PHILLIPS: All right, now Cal Perry joining us live from Beirut. I remember when you had a chance to interview the militant leader of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal. Actually, you set it up for Nic Robertson for a huge exclusive, and you got branded. There were all things all over the Web site about you being a sympathizer to terrorists, and people gave you a hard time and they hassled you. How is it that these kids can get by with doing it? Is it because they don't work for CNN?

PERRY: Well, I think it opens up a huge gray area here. And it's one that we have to talk about, especially on the heels of what we heard from Barack Obama in his inauguration speech, and those phone calls he's making to world leaders today.

When I meet with Khaled Mashaal, and I've met with him in the past three months, I am hassled, I am asked questions, be it at U.S. airports or at border crossings around the Arab region in places like Israel, in places like Jordan, in places like Egypt. What's interesting is, the Obama policy, American policy is going to change in the Middle East. Everybody knows that that's going to happen.

I would venture to say that these young groups of students like we're seeing in this program are sort of going to pave the way for Obama to perhaps talk to people that he hasn't spoken to before, not just militant leaders, but let's take the president of Syria as an example. Certainly, we can look for the U.S.'s relationship with Syria to shift. And when you look at this group as a microcosm of potential future U.S. foreign policy, it's quite interesting, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, and it will be interesting to see what President Barack Obama would have to say about the meetings these students had. Cal Perry, sure appreciate it. Great job. Thanks so much.

Well, Senator Ted Kennedy's seizure, what may have caused it, and how's he doing now? We'll let you know.

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PHILLIPS: Some future jurors who routune -- routinely, rather, see high-tech forensic tools on their favorite TV shows can soon expect to be dazzled in the courtroom. It's called the CSI effect. Deborah Feyerick has our "Edge of Discovery."

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DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You may have seen it first on NBC's "Law and Order SVU."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, "LAW AND ORDER SVU": The lasers are capturing every detail in 3-D.

FEYERICK: But this 3-D laser scanner is no Hollywood prop. At least not in the hands of law enforcement agencies like the California Highway Patrol.

LT. DAVE FOX, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: It's enabled us to do our job in a more efficient way. We're able to collect more data. It's helped us to open our roadways faster.

FEYERICK: In complex investigations like this tragic tunnel collision involving dozens of vehicles, no critical evidence is overlooked.

SGT. DON KAROL, CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL: The tunnel was full of molten metal and debris everywhere. The scanner allowed us to be able to collect accurately the positions of all the vehicles. We were able to establish diagrams and three-dimensional models that we wouldn't have been able to do without the scanner.

FEYERICK: That's because the scene is scanned with laser precision, and line by line, millions of points of data measurements are recorded. In mere minutes, a three-dimensional perspective emerges.

DEPUTY STEVE TILLMANN, L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: Picking up things that you don't even think about or that may have some bearing on the case down the road.

FEYERICK: And down the road in the courtroom, the ability to reconstruct and virtually revisit the scene of the crime may help jurors separate fact from fiction.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN.

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PHILLIPS: Senator Ted Kennedy is expected to recuperate at home after being released from a Washington hospital today. Doctors watched him overnight after the senator, who's battling a brain tumor, suffered a seizure during an inaugural luncheon at the Capitol yesterday. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, here with the latest on the senator's condition.

And I remember, after the speech was over, all of a sudden everyone on the street was, hey, did you hear about that senator? Did you hear about your senator? I thought, oh, no, something has already happened in this moment of, you know, excitement for everybody. What's the status?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the good news is that it was so scary yesterday, the good news is he appears to be doing better. Senator Kennedy was released from the hospital this morning.

We're not sure exactly where he is at this moment, but we're told that he was released. We're told his spirits are good. That's what his office says. And they say that he was released this morning. And that's really all that they're telling us. But it's good to know his spirits are good. We're also told that he was talking and communicating after he had that collapse.

PHILLIPS: Something we started talking about, too, and I don't know if you answer to this, but I thought, I'll throw that out to you, maybe you know, if you want to tell me exactly what happens during a brain seizure. But could the cold weather have affected, do we know, what exactly happened to him? Because a lot of -- some folks were saying at the table, you know, when it gets really cold, how people feel dizzy, some people pass out. So, I don't know. I'm just throwing it out there.

COHEN: You know, I think that certainly stress can play a role in seizures. And so, who knows if very, very cold weather could play a role. But he did have his collapse inside, not outside.

PHILLIPS: OK. That's right, at the luncheon.

COHEN: So, that is important to remember. Let's talk a little bit about what a seizure is. If you want to look at it this way, it's kind of the neurons in the brain kind of getting angry and kind of spouting off, sort of bursts of electrical activity that are not normal. The body becomes rigid and can start to shake. Now, seizures are not unusual in someone who has a brain tumor in the parietal lobe, which is the area of the brain where Senator Kennedy had his tumor, which was diagnosed in May. As a matter of fact, Kyra, the way that they knew he had a brain tumor was that back in May he had a seizure. So, this is not unusual. This is not an unexpected thing. He's probably on medications to control seizures. But those medications, it can be tough to get the dosage exactly right.

PHILLIPS: What else do we know about his cancer and sort of the stage that he's in right now?

COHEN: Right. What we know about his cancer, again, was that he was diagnosed in May. And we know that he has had surgery since then. He has a glioma. And we know that that is -- that's not a rare brain tumor at all. We know that he has had the treatment that one would expect. We were told that he would go on to have radiation.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll continue to follow his condition. Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Well, our special investigations unit is on to some new developments in the US Airways flight that crashed into the Hudson River. It turns out that the engines on that plane and several others set some red flags flying at the FAA.

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PHILLIPS: All right, you've heard the of the boy who cried wolf. Well, Canada has the tot who dialed 911. Listen to this. A father living near Vancouver gave the cordless phone to his 11-month-old son to play with. Well, somehow those little fingers hit the 9 and the 1 and the 1, and the Mounties showed up. Lo and behold, what did they say they found? Five hundred pot plants. Daddy allegedly a pretty busy botanist. He probably is going to give junior the base unit to play with next time around.

And take a listen to this. An Aussie bandit apparently has a fondness for fondling jungle Jane blowup sex dolls. Not kidding you on this one. Police nabbed the 23-year-old suspect, who allegedly smashed a wall to get into a porn shop Down Under.

The suspect reportedly had his way with half a dozen of the inflatable women, leaving fingerprints and DNA evidence behind. Police say that the burglar cleaned up the mess, by the way, that he made on the premises, but didn't know how to treat a lady. The used dolls were dumped in the alley behind the store. We'd love to show you the doll, but it's pretty bad.