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American Morning
Stimulus Deal Reached; Bank CEOs Get Grilled in Congress; Peanut Corporation of America Executives Refuse to Answer Questions on Salmonella Case; Spirit of Lincoln Alive and Well; Recession Proof Businesses; Examining Standards for Medical Fertilizations; Michelle Obama on "Vogue"; AWOL U.S. Soldier; Biden and Obama
Aired February 12, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: It's a minute after the hour and time for this morning's top stories.
A special Department of Justice court will hand down rulings today on three cases asking if certain childhood vaccines caused autism. An attorney in the case says a panel of special masters will issue the decision. The parents are seeking compensations saying a combination of vaccines containing a mercury preservative, thimerosal, led to autism in their children.
Two men had been released without being charged in Australia after they were arrested in connection with the deadly wildfires in the southeastern state of Victoria. Police say the men were behaving suspiciously. It's not immediately clear why they were released. Officials still suspect arson and fear the death toll could top 300 people.
And with the economy down, the price of gas is up for the 15th straight day approaching two bucks a gallon now. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded sits at $1.95. In 13 states, the average price is $2 or more.
Twenty-four days into the Obama administration and we got a deal. Congress expected to make a final vote soon on the president's economic recovery package after Capitol Hill struck a deal yesterday. The final taxpayer tally, $789 billion, but only three Republicans in the entire Congress supported it. And while some lawmakers say it's a great compromise, others are saying it's anything but.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), HOUSE SPEAKER: It's always the consideration of what we had in the bill that we wish was still, we wish that that were still there but the fact is that there's plenty there to create nearly four million jobs that the president has set as our goal.
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R), IOWA: I could talk about substance of this bill, but the point is, we could have a better substance with more votes, and got the job done better.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: So what's in it for you? Here's the breakdown.
Most Americans will get a $400 tax credit for the next couple of years. Couples will get $800. We're expected to start seeing that as an extra $13 a week in your paycheck beginning in June.
First-time home buyers may now qualify for an $8,000 tax credit. That's $500 more than they get now but it's about half the amount that was proposed in the Senate's version of the bill.
Book and tuition money for college kids, many students will be getting a $2,500 tuition tax credit. And people who received Social Security will get a one-time payment of $250.
And more on this, Brianna Keilar joins us now live from Washington. They're trying to get this on the president's desk by Monday, Brianna. Does it look like they can do it?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is the expectation. They think they're going to be able to do it and it has been a long night, though, for Senate staffers writing this legislation overnight. We could see a vote in the House today, perhaps tomorrow. The Senate would then follow, but yes, the bottom line is that Congress is set to send the $789 billion economic stimulus package to President Obama's desk by Monday.
Now, those few Republicans who signed on to the plan in the Senate they fought to keep spending down. They were able to make sure it was spending on highways, bridges, sewer systems, infrastructure that is really emphasized in this bill, spending that they say is going to create more jobs in some of the other projects the Democrats had pushed for. And they also want out on keeping funding for new school construction out of the bill, something that House Democrats really wanted in, but still bottom line, $54 billion in education spending survived this process. Quite a bit of money, John but some House Democrats are upset. They think it's been underfunded.
ROBERTS: So what do you think, Brianna? Can the president claim victory on this? One Richard Stevenson in the "New York Times" writes today that this is either a sign of an ambitious legislative agenda ahead or maybe more stormy waters ahead. The jury's out at this point.
KEILAR: Well, Democrats and Republicans on the Hill will tell you the tone is a little different, the fact that he reached out to Republicans and spoke with them a number of times. Ultimately when you look at this bill, it's not far from what President Obama said he wanted at the beginning of this process, so in that regard, yes. But it hasn't gotten that broad bipartisan buy-in that he wanted for obviously.
Remember in the House, not a single Republican voted on the House or voted for the House version. Only three of these Republicans in the Senate signed on, and we're not expecting those numbers to change much in the final vote, John.
ROBERTS: Not exactly the broad bipartisanship that he was looking for but he got it through.
Brianna Keilar for us this morning from Washington. Brianna, thanks so much.
KEILAR: Thank you.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it wasn't pretty and wasn't expected to be. CEOs from some of the country's biggest banks on Capitol Hill yesterday trying to explain themselves and what their companies have been doing with taxpayer money. Their banks collectively received $165 billion in government bailout money, and lawmakers were looking for answers about what they've been doing with it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHAEL CAPUANO (D), MASSACHUSETTS: But basically, you come to us today on your bicycles after buying Girl Scout cookies and helping out Mother Teresa, telling us, we're sorry. We didn't mean it. We won't do it again. Trust us. America doesn't trust you anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Allan Chernoff has more on the rough day. Quite a grilling, but I think that some of the lawmakers were really tapping into some of their constituents' anger about what's been going on.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: No doubt about it. Not a good day to be a bank executive and certainly the congressmen were questioning whether these bankers can be even be trusted with the billions and billions of bailout money that they've received.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. MICHAEL CAPUANO (D), MASSCHUSETTS: America doesn't trust you anymore.
CHERNOFF (voice-over): A grilling for CEOs whose banks have taken half of the $350 billion in bailout funds.
CAPUANO: Start loaning the money that we gave you. Get it on the street.
CHERNOFF: The bankers claim they are putting the money to good use, citing numbers that made it seem there's no lending freeze.
KEN LEWIS, CEO, BANK OF AMERICA: We are lending. In the fourth quarter alone, we made more than $115 billion in new loans to consumers and businesses.
JOHN STUMPF, CEO, WELLS FARGO & CO.: Last quarter alone, we made $22 billion in new loan commitments and $50 billion in new mortgages.
CHERNOFF: But Congress wasn't buying those statistics that don't fully reflect today's credit squeeze for consumers and small business. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do with the new money?
CHERNOFF: The CEO of JP Morgan Chase said the problem lies beyond the bank.
JAMIE DIMON, CEO, JP Morgan Chase: There is a huge amount of non-bank lending which has disappeared, which is the same thing to the consumer. Finance companies, car finance companies, mortgage companies.
CHERNOFF: With job losses mounting, some of the bankers promised they would hold off on foreclosures for three weeks until the federal government can offer relief, but no such help is offered for consumers drowning in credit card debt.
REP. JOE BACA (D), CALIFORNIA: The American people, the taxpayers, shouldn't be responsible for the mistakes you did and going out and trying to get so many consumers to tie in to credit cards. How do we answer and how do we deal with your problems in trying to attract many individuals to get into the credit cards?
CHERNOFF: Silence from the CEOs?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Yes, those bankers certainly do not want to give up on those very, very profitable credit card loans. Bankers are saying that the bailout money is going to be a very good investment for American taxpayers, and they're also saying that they want to return the money as soon as possible.
CHETRY: All right. Some of them are on their way to doing that. Wells Fargo, I believe, right?
CHERNOFF: Well, they're talking about they legally can't do it just yet. They've got to replace that money with money that they raised in the markets. Right now, it's not a great time to do that.
CHETRY: All right. Allan Chernoff for us this morning, thanks so much.
John?
ROBERTS: While many businesses are folding, others are doing just fine. So what's their secret?
Our Carol Costello looking into that this morning. And the octuplet mom forced into hiding, facing death threats? Why are so many people outraged at her and the fertility doctor who signed off on the whole thing?
Nine minutes now after the hour.
CHETRY: The peanut mess gets stickier. How much did the company really know about the deadly salmonella?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART PARNELL, OWNER, PEANUT CORP. OF AMERICA: I respectfully decline to answer your question.
CHETRY (voice-over): Inside the peanut scandal hearing.
REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CHAIRMAN, ENERGY & COMMERCE: This company cared more about its financial bottom line than it did about the safety of its customers.
CHETRY: What company e-mails reveal ahead on the Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill left furious after trying to get answers from the executives from the Peanut Corporation of America. It's the company at the center of one of the nation's worst ever salmonella outbreak.
Abbie Boudreau with CNN special investigations unit is tracking the story for us this morning -- Abbie.
ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: Officials from the Peanut Corporation of America refused to answer any questions from members of Congress yesterday even after dramatic revelations from internal company documents and e-mails.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this container are products that have your ingredients in them. And I just wonder, would either of you be willing to take the lid off and eat any of these products now?
BOUDREAU: With nine death now linked to the salmonella outbreak, hundreds sickened and the FBI looking into the Peanut Corporation of America to see whether the poisonings were crimes, the top officials of the peanut company at the center of it all had only one thing to say to Congress on Wednesday.
PARNEL: On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your question based on the protections afforded me under the United States constitution.
BOUDREAU: Committee chairman Henry Waxman revealed new documents that showed the trail of salmonella poisonings in the plant.
REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CHAIRMAN, ENERGY & COMMERCE: These documents obtained by our subcommittee are very disturbing because what they show is that this company cared more about its financial bottom line than it did about the safety of its customers.
BOUDREAU: Representative Waxman showed this e-mail that the president of the company sent after he learned the company's products had tested positive for salmonella. "We need to discuss this," the president wrote to the manager of a peanut plant. "It's costing us huge dollars. We need to protect our self."
In another series of e-mails from last August, after one lab tested positive for salmonella in the company's product, then another lab showed the product to be clean. Stewart Parnell wrote "OK, let's turn them loose then." That seems to contradict a later e-mail written in early January as the outbreak became more publicized, stating, "We do not believe the salmonella came from our facility."
Various members of Congress tried to directly press Parnell and also the plant manager, Sammy Lightsey (ph), about these documents.
REP. BART STUPAK (D), MICHIGAN: Did you or any officials at the Peanut Corporation of America ever place food products into the inner state commerce that you knew to be contaminated with salmonella?
PARNELL: On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully decline to answer your question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the advice of counsel.
PARNELL: On the advice of my counsel --
STUPAK: Is it your intention to refuse to answer all our questions today based on the right against self-incrimination?
PARNELL: Yes.
BOUDREAU: In earlier statements, the company denied it shipped out dangerous products, and that its top priority has been and will continue to be to ensure the public safety.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOUDREAU: Testimony Wednesday also revealed the company knew about a contamination problem as far back as 2006. The Peanut Corporation of America now faces at least three lawsuits, and another plant in Texas has been closed by officials because of concerns of a possible contamination -- John, Kiran.
ROBERTS: Abbie Boudreau for us this morning.
Ethical questions and growing outrage after a poor mom of six has eight more kids at once. Did a fertility doctor break the rules? Was it irresponsible? Even criminal? An expert in the profession weighs in ahead.
Plus in this economy, will you do almost anything for money, like how about quitting smoking? A new study that may surprise you, also coming up.
CHETRY: Also the man, the myth, and the legend. We're taking a look back at President Lincoln on his 200th birthday, tracing his roots from frontier kid to freedom fighter and why he matters now more than ever. But first we're going to see how do you do on a little Lincoln trivia? How many years is four score and seven years. No Googling allowed. The answer after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right, welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Before the break we asked an Abe Lincoln trivia question. How many years is four score and seven years? Some people here thought maybe it was two weeks. Others...
ROBERTS: Not counting the seven years.
CHETRY: Yes. All right.
ROBERTS: Then it was maybe seven years and two weeks.
CHETRY: But you know...
ROBERTS: Maybe not.
CHETRY: How about it? 87 years, one score, 20 years. All right. That's how President Lincoln started his iconic Gettysburg address, of course.
ROBERTS: You know what score is around here, don't you?
CHETRY: What?
ROBERTS: A club over in Queens.
They call him Honest Abe, the great emancipator, the rail splitter. But much of what we know about Abraham Lincoln today on his 200th birthday may just come from the myth and not the man.
Our Jim Acosta live at Lincoln Memorial in Washington this morning. Good morning, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
You would think after 200 years historians would stop asking the question, who is Abraham Lincoln? But we keep searching for the truth because the story of Lincoln is very much the story of America, warts and all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHILDREN: Four score and seven years ago, our fathers...
ACOSTA (voice-over): He is still with us. Two centuries after the birth of Abraham Lincoln, his voice lives on. Honest Abe, the great emancipator, who freed the slaves, preserved the union and paid for it in cold blood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no question Lincoln is the greatest president America has ever produced. Presidents talk to portraits of Lincoln. Why? Because no matter how bad you think you have it, Lincoln had it worst.
ACOSTA: But there's more to the story.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lincoln is the myth that we have made around him.
ACOSTA: A growing number of scholars point to Lincoln's frontier roots and what they say were his deep-seated racial prejudices.
MANNING MARABLE, PROF. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: He used the "N" word when he became president. He first advocated the idea of forced migration of free blacks from the United States to either Liberia or to Central America.
ACOSTA: But Lincoln was affected by the deaths of thousands of African-American soldiers during the civil war. That said, historians debate whether he truly changed.
MARABLE: Lincoln, at the end of the civil war, was convinced that black men had earned the right to vote.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But that was as far as he ever got on thinking about the equality of blacks and whites. The story has been of the great emancipator who freed the slaves and that is simply an inaccurate remembrance of Lincoln.
MARABLE: He's a challenging figure, started out life as a racist, and yet came to terms with much of his own racism, and in that, he proves his greatness.
ACOSTA: Today's presidents follow Lincoln's lead. The nation's first African-American president, Barack Obama, famously formed a team of rivals in his cabinet just like Lincoln.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends.
ACOSTA: Lincoln brought America together.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lincoln was determined to not have America divided house, to have us as one nation and he put it in global terms, that we were going to stay a nation because democracy and freedom had to prevail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And Washington is obsessed with Lincoln these days. You can head over to the Library of Congress and see a copy of the Gettysburg address or you can venture over to the site of at the assassination at Ford's Theatre. And right now, it is reopening after an extensive renovation and if that's not enough, sir, why don't you come here for just a moment. You can even come down to the Lincoln Memorial today and meet an impressionist of Honest Abe. He is still with us, John. ROBERTS: It's good to see him. He's looking in fine form as well for 200 years old.
Jim Acosta for us this morning.
ACOSTA: He looks pretty good, yes.
ROBERTS: Yes. Jim, thanks so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Warts and all.
ROBERTS: Warts and all.
Stay with CNN today because you're bringing you all-day coverage of Lincoln's 200 birthday. In our next hour, there's going to be a replaying at the Lincoln Memorial and we will take you there live.
And then at 9:00 a.m. Eastern this morning, join our Soledad O'Brien for a CNN special, from Lincoln to Obama. We'll have special reports looking at the history and the link between our 16th and 44th president. That's right here only on CNN.
CHETRY: Car purchases plummeting. Designer clothes staying on the racks. But despite the down economy, drugstores are selling more condoms than ever. Why experts say protection in your pocket is recession-proof.
You're watching the Most News in the Morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." Everyone needs a heart-shaped pool. What the heck?
Well, you may not have as much money to spend this Valentine's day, but at least you're being safe. Despite the downturn in the economy, condom sales said to be on the rise. Neilsen says they increased five percent in the fourth quarter of '08 compared to last year.
Well, condoms are not the only recession-proof thing out there. Some businesses are surviving, even thriving in today's economy and it didn't take a penny of bailout money to do it.
Carol Costello joins us live from Washington. We're all interested in this because all we hear about and really all we've been reporting on is how many businesses and many sectors are struggling but not all.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not all. You know, we're hearing about so many massive job losses. It kind of makes you want to jump off a bridge, doesn't it? And because we're hearing of so many job losses it's easy to lose focus on what's right with America. What makes us strong and resilient, able to overcome hardship without asking for a bailout.
Yes, Virginia, it's true. Some businesses are doing just fine in this recession.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Don't even think of mentioning the "R" word here. Fishs Eddy, a dishware store that plays to your sense of humor, will laugh you right out of the store. Winks, smiles, even laughter. They're requirements at staff meetings here.
(on camera): How is business doing?
DAVE LENOVITZ, CO-OWNER, FISHS EDDY: Great. The numbers are through the roof. It couldn't be better.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think we've been very good at making people feel good when they come in.
COSTELLO (voice-over): And that is one secret to their success. Making people forget the doom by plastering their windows with spit- in-the-face recession signs.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People definitely come in and they do a double-take.
COSTELLO: Who wouldn't? It says Fishs is having a not going out of business sale.
MUSIC: Wooly bully, wooly bully.
COSTELLO: They play kooky music like "Wooly Bully" and sell whimsical, a more affordable fare alongside more expensive items, something for everyone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I was laughing at their sign.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're happy to see they're not going out of business.
JERRY GOLDMAN, FISHS EDDY CUSTOMER: It's the right attitude because things have to get better. A place like this brings you back to the good old days of having a few laughs.
COSTELLO: Of course humor isn't the only weapon in Fishs Eddy's arsenal and it's not the only company thriving in bad times either. Over on Long Island, P.C. Richard & Son electronics is, too.
GREGG RICHARD, PRESIDENT P.C. RICHARD & SON: I guess it's kind of simple, but, you know, four generations we've been doing this, for 99 years.
COSTELLO: Note he said, simple. As in the customer comes first.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good prices. They work with you when you come in.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Delivery is great. COSTELLO: And P.C. like Fishs Eddy also employs common sense. Both stores chose to control their growth and their debt even in boom times, unlike Circuit City down the street, which expanded itself right out of business.
RICHARD: We don't make our decisions based on short term profitability. We could grow 50 stores next week if we wanted to. That's not the right thing to do, because we know our customers would not be taken care of the way they expect.
COSTELLO: The lesson here? Hey, maybe there is a way to beat the recession. And you don't even need a bailout.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Now that's not to say they don't worry about the recession. I'm sure they do, but they don't fear the recession, choosing to do business as they always have, in any kind of economy.
CHETRY: Carol Costello for us this morning. A little bit of good news. We love it.
COSTELLO: Yes.
CHETRY: Thanks.
ROBERTS: Twenty-nine minutes now after the hour, and here are this morning's top stories.
Another scary security breach at the birthplace of the atomic bomb. A spokesman says 69 computers are missing from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Thirteen were lost or stolen in the past year alone. Officials say no nuclear secrets or other classified information were at risk though in the security breach.
Cash may help smokers quit. A study involving hundreds of General Electric employees paid smokers up to $750 to quit and stay off cigarettes. Fifteen percent of them did. Now, you're saying 15 percent? That's not great but it's actually three times as many people who tried to quit for free. So cash does have some incentive there.
The octuplet mom now reportedly in hiding along with her six older children. Nadya Suleman's spokesman tells Reuters that she is facing death threats over her decision to have fertility treatments and expand her family to 14 children. Meantime, the mother has started a Web site and is seeking donations on it. She says that she'll use the money to help raise her kids.
Suleman's situation has obviously enraged many people across the country. Some who are having trouble feeding their own much smaller families right now. There's also a lot of anger directed at the fertility doctor who made this all possible.
CHETRY: And joining us now is Dr. Jamie Grifo. He's the program director at NYU's fertility center. Thanks for being with us this morning, doctor.
DR. JAMIE GRIFO, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, NYU FERTILITY CENTER: Good morning.
CHETRY: We sort of wanted to get somebody who's an expert in this field because it's something that everyone is still talking about, and the average person is really shocked at the number eight. But from a professional standpoint -
CHETRY: ... in this field because it's something that everyone is still talking about and the average person is really shocked at the number eight, but from a professional standpoint, can you weigh in on what your reaction was and what you think of this case?
GRIFO: Well, we're all angry about this case, too. This is not a success. This is not what we do. We try and help patients have a single healthy offspring. We treat infertile couples and try to help them build families. And this just didn't happen in this case.
ROBERTS: Dr. Michael Kamrava, do you know him?
GRIFO: I don't know of him. I know of him.
ROBERTS: Do you know the clinic?
GRIFO: The clinic I only know by looking at the statistics and their pregnancy rates appear to be significantly lower than other clinics and sometimes that's because the patients you choose to treat. Because if you treat hard patients you're going to have lower numbers, and that's a problem, too, with these statistics when they first had a law for us to have to treat patients there was a selection against patients who had poor prognosis. So...
ROBERTS: But this idea of implanting six embryos for every pregnancy, every IVF cycle is that unusual?
GRIFO: It's very unusual but it speaks perhaps to the quality of what goes on in the lab or the quality of the embryos that particular patient gives but...
CHETRY: She claimed that she had other things scarring from the ectopic pregnancies and other reasons why she had so many implanted when she went for her treatment.
GRIFO: Those would not affect the results and that would not make you put in more embryos in a young woman like this. It's just not right. Our guidelines clearly state that we don't do that.
CHETRY: And that's what I want to ask you about because you have guidelines. But there's no laws governing this situation. I mean, it really is up to the individual doctors and the patients to figure out what's best. There's no hard and fast rules to IVF.
GRIFO: Well, that's correct but the fact that there were 44,000 IVF babies born in the same year and we didn't have octuplets means we're following the guidelines. This is one unusual case. The chance that six embryos would split into octuplets is a 1:10,000 event. The chance that six embryos from this clinic would implant and make six babies is a phenomenal number as well. So this is just a bad case and a bad outcome and it's not what we aim for.
ROBERTS: Because of this, the California Medical Board is looking into whether or not standards of care were violated here. This is what Dale McClure of the American Society from Reproductive Medicine said about it "our guidelines provide the flexibility to give each patient treatment individualized to her needs and her best chance to become pregnant without risking high order multiple pregnancy. However, it seems that the guidelines may not have been followed in Ms. Suleman's case."
What's your sense about following, (a), the guidelines? What do you think is going to happen to this doctor?
GRIFO: Well, I think a lot is going to happen to this doctor. First of all, he'll probably lose his membership in SART, our organization, probably the California State Medical Board will...
ROBERTS: SART. Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology.
GRIFO: We're the group who put out the guidelines to fix the problem of high order multiples and we did that and we did it very well and dramatically reduced the incidence of high order multiples.
ROBERTS: So you think he'll lose his membership?
GRIFO: Yes.
ROBERTS: What else?
GRIFO: The California State Medical Board may lift his license, may keep him from practicing for awhile. I'm sure something is going to happen.
CHETRY: Dr. Grifo, for these children that were born and this mother, who is not gainfully employed, who is trying to take care of children, are they going to have needs their entire life, these eight?
GRIFO: It remains to be seen. There's a high chance that her children already have needs. This is not a good case.
CHETRY: What about the psychological effect that goes into that?
ROBERTS: If somebody came to you with six kids and said I want to get pregnant again, what would you do?
GRIFO: Well, it's a tricky situation that we're in, in that situation, and what we would do, I would do is say to this patient why do you want more? You have six children. How are you doing? How are things at home? How is your life? How are you supporting them? And then maybe refer that person to our program psychologist to talk about those issues. And maybe we could help her see it in a different light and maybe she would have made a different choice, but at the end of the day you have these frozen embryos and they're the patient's embryos. It's really difficult to say no and you know, we face being sued for that as much as the outcome in this case but I would never follow six embryos and put back six embryos in a patient like this. It's not what we've do. It's not what we've done. Our field shouldn't be remembered for this one bad case. We've done a great job.
CHETRY: Yes. You're very right and made a difference in the lives of so many people who wouldn't be able to have children if it wasn't for IVF. But yes this is a case that has confounded a lot of people and raised a lot of questions.
ROBERTS: And people keep talking about it, too. Dr. Jamie Grifo, NYU Medical Center, good to have you with us this morning. Thanks.
GRIFO: Thanks, John.
CHETRY: In Oklahoma, residents are starting to rebuild their homes after the devastating tornadoes. We're going to get the latest from the cleanup and also a look at your forecast. Our Rob Marciano is tracking things from the CNN weather center. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran. One of those tornados was a monster. We'll tell you what the storm survey said about the winds of that thing and now winds across the northeast as the storm rapidly moves out to sea. If you live in New York, you will be affected. Details coming up in the most news in the morning. We'll be right back. It's 35 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Thirty-eight minutes after the hour.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, Michelle Obama gracing the cover of "Vogue." We'll go behind the scenes and talk to the magazine's editor-in-chief to find out what it's like when the First Lady becomes your cover girl.
Also he helped lead the Steelers to their historic Super Bowl victory. Now Santonio Holmes is auctioning off the gloves that he wore when making that game winning catch. The Super Bowl MVP will be here next hour to talk about a cause close to his heart.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: That's John in our control room right there, the brain trusts helping us out this morning. And welcome back to The Most News in the Morning. She's a mother, a lawyer, the First Lady and now she's a "Vogue" cover girl Michelle Obama. Only the second first lady along with Hillary Clinton to grace the cover of the fashionista's Bible as they call it.
Our Lola Ogunnaike talked to the magazine's editor and some of its readers about the first lady's photo spread.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a beautiful picture. She looks like your everyday woman, but there's still a sense of grace and power and beauty there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She looks absolutely beautiful and her arms are wonderful, it's the arms, right?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'd like to wear that color sometime.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: OK, so what was Michelle Obama like when you actually interviewed her?
ANDRE LEON TALLEY, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, "VOGUE": As natural as a fresh drink of water in the ladle in the country on a spring day.
OGUNNAIKE: You are so descriptive. I love it. I think the interesting thing is that the number of pieces that she's wearing in the magazine actually come from her own closet, is that true?
TALLEY: Of course, it's true. The Narcisso Rodriguez is from her own closet. Everything she wore was from her own closet, her own choices.
OGUNNAIKE: So was she at all hesitant about it, or was "Vogue" hesitant? Because some people....
TALLEY: Conversations were held to make sure that everything was going to represent the new era of the Obamas and what they stand for, not only here at "Vogue" but as well as I can imagine with the Obama team. They wanted to reflect that Michelle is not an elitist in the elite club of fashionistas. Which she is not.
Michelle, you saw her going to Camp David today, had on Converse sneakers and jeans. She will put on a pair of leggings, and a white cotton shirt and keep it moving. What she's done in this role is she's become an iconic image in the fashion industry that we hope will help support it. She is a stimulus package, a one-woman stimulus package for the fashion economy.
OGUNNAIKE: What revelation did she share with you, Andre? I know you got good stuff out of her. So tell me.
TALLEY: She said I mean, Kennebunkport is Chicago and I think they'll surprise people to go home to Chicago on the weekends sometimes because they love the city.
OGUNNAIKE: So you can take the girl out of the city but you can't take the city out of the girl.
TALLEY: You can take the girl out of the city but you can take the girl back to the city and she'll go back to the big city and she'll still be the same.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: What a character, he's hysterical. This is a beautiful cover shot of Michelle Obama. So tell us a little bit about the dresses that she's wearing.
OGUNNAIKE: Well, she's wearing Jason Wu on the cover. Jason Wu is the 26-year-old designer who designed the white gown that she wore at the inaugural ball. And she's wearing Narcisso Rodriguez on the inside and she's actually. He's the one who designed that controversial dress that she wore on the night of the election.
She actually addresses that in the piece. She acknowledges that not everyone is going to like some of her choices but she's OK with that. Because she doesn't live for fashion. Her family is her top priority. She enjoys fashion but it's not her top priority at all.
CHETRY: I mean, sometimes you don't really have a choice, people project what they want to see onto you, right? It's funny because she got a lot of praise actually for wearing J. Crew when she did one of the talk show circuits.
OGUNNAIKE: And she's wearing J. Crew in this as well. She's got a J. Crew cardigan with a tweed skirt in a little shell. She does high and low, one minute it's Narcisso, $2000, $3000 dress and the next minute it's a $400 outfit from J. Crew.
CHETRY: Although Lola teases me because I still think J. Crew is a little pricey at times.
OGUNNAIKE: But hey, Jackie Kennedy is wearing custom from Oleg Cassini and Givenchy so J. Crew is cheaper.
CHETRY: I agree with you. You're right. Lola, thanks so much.
OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Well Vice President Joe Biden has been known to put his foot in his mouth on occasion. This week, it seems that he may have done it again. Is the new VP becoming a PR liability?
A critical ruling expected soon regarding autism. Is there a connection between autism and certain vaccines in children? We're "Paging our Dr. Gupta" for answers.
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ROBERTS: We're back with the most news in the morning. Deserters of the Iraq war are fugitives in the eyes of the U.S. government but to anti-war groups they are heroes. Many of them are avoiding jail time by living in countries that don't support the war and that is not sitting well with Washington.
Our Jason Carroll has got the story of one AWOL soldier that you'll see only on CNN and here to bring it to us now. Good morning, Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. The U.S. military watching this very, very closely. They are paying close attention to what their German government decides to do with Andre Shepard. He's a deserter seeking asylum, a favorable ruling in his case could open the door for other U.S. deserters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL (voice-over): He's a poster child for Europe's anti-war movement featured on TV and in print.
ANDRE SHEPHERD, AWOL SOLDIER: I've received letters from all over the world, including within the United States which was a real plus to give me the strength to keep going.
CARROLL: Staying is more like it. He hopes in Germany. Andre Shepherd is a U.S. Army deserter, trying to stay out of prison for refusing to fight what he says is an unjust war.
SHEPHERD: I thought we were there to free the people not to occupy the country and terrorize the population.
CARROLL: Shepherd's concerns began in 2004 soon after being deployed to Iraq as an Apache helicopter mechanic. He never saw action. But had doubts about the war, which continued after being reassigned in 2005 to a desk job in southern Germany.
SHEPHERD: This affected me psychologically very severely. I began a lot of drinking. I had a lot of disciplinary problems.
CARROLL: In 2007, as the Army planned to send him back to Iraq, Shepherd went AWOL in Germany with anyone who would take him in, including punk rockers.
SHEPHERD: They thought that I was crazy. However, they supported me because they believed that what I was doing was the right thing.
CARROLL: Shepherd then sought asylum. His case now under German government review, will test a European directive requiring member countries to grant asylum to any soldiers protesting an unlawful war.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: From what I know of this case, it's fairly week.
CARROLL: Some military experts say it will be hard to prove the war in Iraq is unlawful.
O'HANLON: I believe that when you put on the uniform you have accepted, to a large extent, what you're doing. I also think that by this late day of 2008-2009, the war in Iraq has demonstrably improved. CARROLL: The U.S. Army says "we do not, as a general policy, proactively pursue deserters... the U.S. Army is not a party to the asylum process, which is completely in German hands."
With some 38,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in Germany, Shepherd supporters say if asylum is granted, more could follow, but acknowledge U.S.-German relations could be strained.
TIM HUBER, MILITARY COUNSELLING NETWORK: That's a very historic relationship and offering asylum would run counter to that.
SHEPHERD: The absolutely worst case scenario is that this could go for several years and I ultimately fail.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: If Shepherd is returned to U.S. custody, he could face up to five years in prison. Shepherd is currently living in a refugee center in Germany and has been receiving money from his supporters there. It could take several weeks to half of a year before the German government finally makes its decision.
ROBERTS: This is the sort of case that evokes strong opinions or emotions on both sides. It's either right or it's completely and utterly wrong, depending on where your politics lie.
CARROLL: Well, we have to see what happens here.
ROBERTS: Fascinating story. Thanks for bringing it to us, Jason.
CARROLL: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Fifty-three minutes now after the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): The tainted peanut scandal heats up.
PARNELL: I respectfully decline to answer your question.
CHETRY: Nine people now dead and hundreds sick.
PARNELL: I respectfully decline to answer your question.
CHETRY: From inside Abraham Lincoln's law office and writing here at his desk.
How President Lincoln's dream became President Obama's reality.
OBAMA: We're no longer divided north and south, slave and free.
CHETRY: You're watching The Most News in the Morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Vice President Biden said the following thing about a conversation the two of you had in the Oval Office about a subject he didn't disclose. If we do everything right, if we do with absolute certainty, we stand up there and we really make the tough decisions, there's still a 30 percent chance that we're going to get it wrong.
Since the vice president brought it up, can you tell the American people, sir, what you were talking about and, if not, can you at least reassure them it wasn't the stimulus bill or the bank rescue plan and if in general you agree with that ratio of success, 30 percent failure, 70 percent success?
OBAMA: You know, I don't remember exactly what Joe was referring to. Not surprisingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: That's President Obama at the news conference this week, being asked to explain remarks made by Vice President Joe Biden. Biden, as you know, is famous for gaffs sometimes and sometimes for saying too much. Well, now just weeks into Mr. Obama's presidency, there are questions about whether Biden is an asset or a liability. Karen Tumulty is the national political correspondent for "Time Magazine" and joins us now from Washington.
I'm sure there's a lot of things the Vice President wants to be the butt of the President's joke at the first news conference probably isn't one of them. So what was going on there in your opinion?
KAREN TUMULTY, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "TIME": Well that was a pretty remarkable diss, I'd say. You know there were a hundred ways the president could have gone with that, starting with what the vice president was trying to say was and he didn't do that. I think, you know, from the outset, people in the administration have understood from the minute Joe Biden got on the ticket that, you know, one of their challenges is going to be harnessing him for peaceful purposes.
So you know he's taken a very high profile role in a lot of ways, but I do think that keeping him on the script is going to be one of the big challenges for this Obama operation which really has always prided itself on its discipline.
CHETRY: It's interesting. And another example of the dynamic between the two of them was on display a day after the inauguration when President Obama and Vice President Biden had this exchange. Let's look at it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Joe, do 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: The senior staff, all right.
OBAMA: A number of staff members have already...
BIDEN: My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts, Chief Justice Roberts.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you saw, he was trying to make a joke because, of course, the oath of office seemed to be bungled a little bit by Justice Roberts when he was administering it to incoming President Obama at the time. And you saw President Obama sort of tap his arm to say, get moving, get serious.
TUMULTY: That's right. It was just sort of the - his displeasure was pretty evident there. And again I do think that one of the challenges is they like to keep Joe Biden on script. He gave a very important speech just last weekend in Munich at a security conference. So he is considered, I think, overall an asset for this administration and particularly on foreign policy. But, you know, again, the contrast with Obama himself is just so striking.
CHETRY: Yes, it's interesting. Because there was a lot of speculation and, of course, people sort of analyze all the decisions that presidents make and candidates make and when he was chosen, people said, wait a minute, this President Obama or then Candidate Obama run the risk of looking very inexperienced next to a Joe Biden but what you've sort of seen on display is a very different personality the two of them, President Obama much more serious and Joe Biden a little more laid back, loose and as we said before, a loose cannon, someone called him?
TUMULTY: Well, I think in some settings it does appear that way,but in others he is very sure with it, as he was last weekend. He was an extraordinary asset I think to the president in selling this stimulus package. I did an interview this week with Senator Olympia Snowe, one of the only three Republican votes for it. The first person who reached out to her was Joe Biden all the way back in December. And he was very important in convincing her that she could actually, you know, do some business with this administration.
CHETRY: Right. And that's the other interesting thing. And I wanted to ask you about this, Tony Blankley in a critique of President Obama, he is a conservative columnist, he basically praised Vice President Biden by saying - "along with a fair amount blarney, Joe Biden also makes more honest and candid observations in an afternoon than many politicians make in a lifetime. One comes away from a conversation with Biden with at least one truthful nugget."
Of course, he was using this as a diss on politicians and also on President Obama saying that he doesn't always -- he is not as forthcoming as he should be when answering questions. But Joe Biden does sort of command a lot of respect from the Senate colleagues, those in the media and others. Is he being sold a little bit short because of his personality?
TUMULTY: I think so, but I also think that this is going to probably be a continuing story line in this administration because the fact is that as much as they try and keep him right behind that teleprompter and as often as they can away from the press, these things are going to happen. And I think that everyone understood that when Joe Biden was selected for the ticket.
CHETRY: Karen Tumulty this morning, national correspondent for "Time" magazine. Thanks for being with us this morning.
And John, you and I were remarking, we loved during the primary campaign to have Joe Biden on the show because he was very refreshing.
ROBERT: Absolutely. You know, you ask him a question, he gives you an answer. And sometimes the answer is pretty interesting as well.
