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American Morning
Michael Jackson's Doctor Linked to His Death by Administering Propofol; 911 Tapes Released of Gates Arrest Controversy; Colgan Co- Pilot Felt Ill Before Flight; Michael Vick Back in the Game; Critics Slam Biolab Location in Tornado Alley; No Health Care Vote Before August
Aired July 28, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks very much for being with us on this Tuesday, it's the 28th of July. Thanks for joining us on the Most News in the Morning. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We're following several developing stories this Tuesday morning. We're going to be breaking them down for you in the next 15 minutes.
There is a new focus this morning on Michael Jackson's personal physician and his potential role in the singer's death. Sources are telling CNN that Jackson was given the powerful anesthetic Propofol the last night of his life. We're taking a closer look at the man who became Michael Jackson's live-in doctor.
ROBERTS: Tape from a 911 call shedding new light on the case that has sparked a national debate over racial profiling. Did race play a factor on the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.? You'll hear the tape this morning.
CHETRY: Also, with the Buffalo plane crash, the deadly disaster waiting to happen? Just-released transcripts now show that the co- pilot in February's crash was in no condition to fly. CNN's Allan Chernoff has reported extensively on this crash. He's going to be joining us with new developments this morning.
ROBERTS: We begin with the dramatic development in the investigation of Michael Jackson's death. A source close to the investigation telling CNN that Jackson's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray allegedly gave Jackson the powerful anesthetic Propofol or Diprivan in the hours before he died. CNN's Randi Kaye is following all of the developments for us this morning -- Randi.
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, the latest headline, a source close to Michael Jackson's family with knowledge of the investigation tell CNN that Jackson's personal physician administered the powerful that investigators believe killed him.
The drug is known by the brand name Diprivan. It's also known as Propofol. And we're told Jackson's doctor gave it to him within 24 hours of his death. This is incredibly significant because Dr. Conrad Murray's lawyer has never commented on that drug known by the brand name Diprivan. All the lawyer has told us in the past was Dr. Conrad Murray did not prescribe or administer anything that should have killed Michael Jackson.
So, this is the very first time Dr. Murray has been connected to Propofol. We know he was at Jackson's home the day he suffered cardiac arrest, June 25th, and his lawyer has said he gave him CPR and tried to revive him.
You'll remember there were numerous news reports of Propofol at Jackson's home and his sister, La Toya even said she saw an IV stand in his bedroom. We know the drug is delivered through an IV drip.
This all really put investigators on alert because Propofol is supposed to be used only in a hospital setting. It's a very powerful sedative used during surgeries. A nurse who once worked for Jackson had told us he begged her for the drug to help him sleep. So if this drug was inside Jackson's home and if Dr. Conrad Murray provided it, this could mean big trouble.
Dr. Murray is already at the center of a manslaughter investigation related to Jackson's death. When I asked Dr. Murray's office about this, I was told, "We will not be responding to rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources.
A meeting was tentatively scheduled for the doctor's lawyer to meet with investigators last week but never panned out. This, by the way, would be the doctor's third meeting with authorities. He was questioned twice after Jackson died and his car was seized and examined.
It is curious that last week they announced they wanted to speak with him again then suddenly raided his clinic and storage facility in Houston. And now the third meeting has yet to be scheduled. Dr. Murray's lawyers' office told me he is "understandably concerned" and feels he's being made the scapegoat here. John, Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Randi Kaye reporting for us this morning. Randi, thanks so much. And in just a few minutes time, we're going to take a look at the potential criminal case against Dr. Murray with former prosecutor Paul Callan and defense attorney Mickey Sherman.
And later on this hour, at 6:40 Eastern, we're digging deeper into Dr. Murray's story. Who is he? How long were he and Jackson friends? Erica Hill is going to get that for you coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Also this morning, recordings of a 911 caller giving us new insight into the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Gates. And while the call will not end the bitter debate about racial profiling by police, a meeting over beers with Professor Gates and Sergeant James Crowley at the White House this Thursday could help smooth things over.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is live in Boston. So, we're hearing about these 911 tapes. And one of the significant things, the caller never mentions race, initially. And then later on when she's asked about it by police, she says maybe one of the men may be Latino. But she never says black men. ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Kiran. Absolutely. And that's probably going to come as a surprise to some. We should tell you CNN, first of all, did reach out to Professor Henry Gates for his reaction to these tapes, but he declined to comment. Cambridge police, on the other hand, say these tapes speak for themselves.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO (voice-over): The 911 call that eventually led to Professor Henry Gates' arrest never mentioned two black men.
OPERATOR: Are they still in the house?
FEMALE WITNESS: They're still in the house. I believe, yes.
OPERATOR: And were they white, black, or Hispanic?
FEMALE WITNESS: Well, there were two larger men. One looks kind of Hispanic but I'm not really sure. And the other one entered and I didn't see what he looked like at all.
QUIJANO: At one point, the caller herself raises the possibility the situation might not be an emergency.
FEMALE WITNESS: I don't know if they live and they just had a hard time with their key. But I did notice that they kind of used their shoulder to try to barge in. And they got in.
QUIJANO: Cambridge police also released audio of the police radio transmissions from that day. The dispatcher can be heard repeating the 911 caller's description of two suspicious persons or S- P's.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Both S-P's are still in the house, unknown on race. One may be a Hispanic male. I'm not sure.
QUIJANO: Later after Sergeant James Crowley arrives, this...
SGT. CROWLEY, CAMBRIDGE POLICE: I'm up with the gentleman who says he resides here, a little uncooperative. But keep the cars coming.
QUIJANO: Then an unidentified voice in the background can be heard as Sergeant Crowley calls in the identification.
CROWLEY: I've got ID of a Henry Louis Gates.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUIJANO: Now Cambridge police say they are forming a panel not to conduct an internal investigation into what happened, but rather to take a look at what lessons can be learned from it. Meanwhile, as you mentioned at the top there, Kiran, a senior administration official is telling CNN that meeting that President Obama suggested with him, Sergeant Crowley and Professor Gates to talk about the incident over beers at the White House is now expected to happen on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. -- Kiran.
CHETRY: There you go. They're penciling in the beers. Elaine Quijano for us, thanks so much.
And, by the way, it was funny because, of course, anytime you're asked this in the political world, who would you rather have a drink with -- would it be Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Would it be John McCain or Barack Obama?
Anyway, they always ask what would you drink as well. So, it was a hot topic during yesterday's White House briefing. Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WENDELL GOLER, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Officer Crowley is drinking Blue Moon. We hear Professor Gates is drinking Red Stripe or Beck's. What's the president drinking?
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president had a Budweiser at the all-star game. So, why are you looking at me like that? That's what he drank.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Blue Moon, Red Stripe, Beck's.
GIBBS: What's wrong with Budweiser? Why do you hate Budweiser? Why do you hate Budweiser, Wendell? This is --I don't -- how about this. How about you and I we'll go pick out the beer, and we'll do the beer run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: How about that Wendell Goler from FOX News? He sort of...
CHETRY: He looked like he didn't believe him.
ROBERTS: Turned his nose up at the idea of a Bud. Wendell, dude, come on.
CHETRY: And let's look at this. I love this rendering. This is our producer's take on how it might look. There you go.
We have the Blue Moon there on the left with Sergeant Crowley. Then, you know, double-fisted -- it's the Harvard professor that's double-fisted. The Red Stripe at the top and the Beck's, and then there's the president with his Budweiser.
ROBERTS: Right. It's interesting the Harvard professor would even drink a beer from Jamaica. Where' Beck's? Is that Holland?
CHETRY: Yes, I think so. But, yes, Red Stripe.
ROBERTS: They're imports either way, right?
CHETRY: There you go. ROBERTS: Other stories new this morning. In a few hours, Judge Sonia Sotomayor should be a giant step closer to becoming America's next Supreme Court justice. The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on her nomination this morning. Republicans managed to delay the vote for a week but the outcome is not in doubt.
Democrats have a 12-7 majority on the committee. They're all expected to support Sotomayor. After the vote, her nomination will move to the full Senate.
CHETRY: All right. Well, Democrats say they're making some progress on health care reform. House leaders, though, now concede that they'll be no vote before the August recess and they're citing the concerns raised by a group of fiscally conservative Democrats who called themselves the Blue Dogs. The Senate already delayed action on a bill until the fall. The White House says it is still optimistic, though, about getting a health care reform bill passed this year.
ROBERTS: And saying their goodbyes in space. The shuttle Endeavour crew now preparing to undock from the International Space Station today. NASA says the hatches are scheduled to close this morning at 10:23 Eastern. Endeavour is expected back on earth on Friday.
CHETRY: You know, they go to all the college rankings and as a parent you want to know, is this a good -- a good school for my kids? Will they have great job prospects when they come out? You don't always check to see whether or not there's a lot of keggers going on in the university.
ROBERTS: Well, I do remember when my son started at the University of Colorado, I think it was a year or two years after it got voted the number one party school in the nation. So, things are different there now for Jody Diagostino (ph), one of our writers whose daughter is going to see you this fall.
CHETRY: See that. Well, they have a new list now. "The Princeton Review" always releases its annual party list. So, here we go.
Number one, Penn State tops the list because of its "widest use of beer." Poor Nittany Lion. There he is. Crowd surfing right there as well. Yes. They say that they define party schools by asking the students questions about the popularity of drug and alcohol on campus.
University of Florida, Ole Miss, Georgia, and Ohio University round out the top five. So there you go. Colorado in the clear.
ROBERTS: Yes. There you go.
By the way, Beck's beer, German, not Dutch.
CHETRY: But an import nonetheless.
ROBERTS: Yes. There you go. The Harvard professor drinks the imported beer.
CHETRY: We have our own resident bloodhound here on AMERICAN MORNING. Christine Romans. She's been tracking the stimulus dollars. Wants to know where they are. Are they creating jobs? She joins us with her report, still ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. With toxicology results still pending, it appears the investigation into Michael Jackson's death is zeroing in on his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray. A source telling CNN Dr. Murray gave Jackson the powerful sedative called Propofol, otherwise known as Diprivan that authorities believe may have contributed to his death.
Joining us now to talk about the potential case against Murray, Paul Callan. He's a former New York City homicide prosecutor. He's also defended anesthesiologists in malpractice cases. And criminal defense attorney Mickey Sherman.
Good morning to both of you.
PAUL CALLAN, FORMER NEW YORK CITY HOMICIDE PROSECUTOR: Good morning.
ROBERTS: So if it's true, this report say that Dr. Conrad Murray was providing Michael Jackson with Diprivan, Propofol to help him sleep and he died as a result of that or that was a contributing factor, what's his legal exposure?
CALLAN: Well, his legal exposure is very, very dangerous here. He faces potential manslaughter charges.
You know, this is an extremely dangerous drug. It's normally administered only in a hospital setting with ventilation equipment available in case something goes wrong with the patient. If he was administering this drug in Michael Jackson's house to help him sleep, I think it's clearly gross negligence and probably will constitute a crime under California law.
ROBERTS: Mickey, what you think because when Texas police executed the search warrant on Dr. Conrad Murray's house, they said that they were looking for "evidence of the offense of manslaughter." Is that an indication of where possible charges could go?
MICKEY SHERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, clearly, it's a criminal investigation. But, you know, generally you need some intent to commit the crime. And a very tough decision is for the law enforcement people as well as the jury later down the road to decide, is this man the doctor trying to help him? Is he treating him? Maybe it's unconventional. Maybe it's bad treatment, but is it a criminal defense? Is there any intent to really hurt Michael Jackson?
I mean I can't believe that his doctor wants to hurt him. It's the negligence. Is that so ratcheted -- you know, ratcheted up that it will amount to a criminal defense? CALLAN: Well, you know, Mickey, and I think you've seen this in your own practice. Doctors tend to get jammed up sometimes when they overprescribe medications. And sometimes there are doctors out there who are trying to make money by prescribing inappropriate medications to patients. And I think that's where the focus here probably is with Conrad Murray. Was he being paid a lot of money by the Jackson people to get drugs for Michael Jackson? If that's the case, this is a makeable criminal case. But we have to see. Of course, we don't have all the facts at this point.
CHETRY: Here's the other thing, with Propofol, it's a constantly administered drug in order to maintain sedation, which means that in a hospital setting you have to have an anesthesiologist who's constantly pushing in the needle. You've got to have some sort of a drip that's available, a machine, a pumper, whatever.
So, here we understand that Dr. Murray allegedly gave him the Diprivan beginning a little bit after midnight. So, he would have had to administer a constant dosage in some way, shape or form. The fact that he would have had to have been maintaining this, does that increase his liability?
SHERMAN: It certainly sounds like it increases his civil liability if nothing else. The question is, does that rise at a level of criminal probability? And, again, I don't know if a jury or a grand jury or a prosecutor or a judge is going to say he intended or his recklessness was so high that it amounts to murder or manslaughter or something of that nature.
ROBERTS: The other thing, too, is when you're looking at a toxicology screen, if you suspect and I've done some reading on this, if you suspect that Propofol or Diprivan may have been involved in the death, and that has been the case in some cases where people have used the drug to get high, very rare, and died as a result and there have been Propofol vials all over the place. But if you're not looking for it immediately in the toxicology screen, is there a chance you don't find it.
CALLAN: There is such a chance because it's a very interesting drug. It tends to disappear very, very quickly. So unless they're focused on it early on in the investigation, it may be that it would disappear and be hard to detect in toxicology reports. And then you're stuck with a situation where maybe he administered the drug but is that what caused the death. So I have to agree with Mickey here. This is not going to be an easy criminal case but it may be a criminal case.
SHERMAN: Where you touched down on (INAUDIBLE) report which is this happens sometimes when they are trying to get high. This is not the case. This is not Michael Jackson driving a late model BMW to a bad neighborhood buying drugs. He was being treated by a physician.
Michael Jackson clearly had these demons and clearly have a history of abusing himself physically through various narcotics. We've seen it before, Marilyn Monroe, Anna Nicole Smith, John Belushi. Whenever these unnecessary deaths occur, we want to blame somebody. We've got to hold somebody hostage.
CALLAN: But here you've got a doctor who's giving this drug to help Michael Jackson sleep. You're supposed to give...
SHERMAN: To help.
CALLAN: But you're supposed to give this drug when you're operating on somebody in the operating room.
ROBERTS: Let me put the shoe on the other foot. OK? The doctor comes to you and says Paul Callan, I want to hire you to defend me. How do you defend him?
CALLAN: Well, I think the only way to defend him is by saying, hey, the doctor didn't intend to kill Michael Jackson. He was trying to help Michael Jackson. And we don't know. Maybe he did have ventilation equipment. Maybe there was a nurse hanging around. I mean, we know there was a nurse nutritionist who worked at the facility.
ROBERTS: According to what we heard, there wasn't a heart rate. There wasn't a heart monitor.
CALLAN: Which is another thing the anesthesiologist will tell you you've got to have a heart monitor. You have to have a ventilator. This is a dangerous drug. None of those things were present. So I think there's a defense here, of course, but it's going to be a technical defense.
ROBERTS: But, Mickey, you think this is leaning more towards the civil case than a criminal case? Some malpractice or...
SHERMAN: Clearly, you back the Brinks truck and pay the estate a fortune. The question is, does it rise to the level really -- and does it deserve to rise at the level of being prosecuted?
ROBERTS: Right. Mickey Sherman and Paul Callan, it's good to see you this morning. Thanks for dropping by.
SHERMAN: Nice to be with you.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, we're getting some new information on that Buffalo crash, Colgan Air back in February, that deadly accident. There are now transcripts out about why the co-pilot thought about backing out of that flight right before it took off.
Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. $787 billion. Not so much if you say it fast. So what's President Obama's stimulus brought us so far? Well, according to a new House of Representatives committee report, since the end of June, it's created or saved more than 48,000 jobs. Of those, nearly 3,500 were in Washington State for highway repairs. On the flip side, Georgia has not reported any jobs created or saved by the stimulus.
CHETRY: Yes, but we're tracking it all with our Christine Romans who's "Minding Your Business" this morning with a look at more places where the stimulus dollars are going.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And the beautiful thing about this transportation infrastructure committee report is that you can see, feel and touch a direct on-the-job highway job. You can see those. You can see the -- you see the cones, you see the guys and the women working those jobs.
ROBERTS: So, they're saying in Georgia, no jobs. It's interesting, because on the weekend, I drove a highway in Georgia that had been repaved, and there was a big sign there saying it was the American Reinvestment Act.
ROMANS: Really?
ROBERTS: Is that what it's called?
CHETRY: Recovery...
ROMANS: Well, I'm going to hand you the list and you can look yourself for Georgia. There it is.
So, Oregon...
ROBERTS: (INAUDIBLE) 575.
ROMANS: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Texas, Illinois, Washington, Utah, Indiana -- these are the states with the most, at least 1,500 infrastructure jobs. These are highway jobs that have been created in the last month of 1,795 jobs in Iowa, my home state. These are on- the-job actual positions. And this committee says altogether, it's 48,600 created or sustained.
You can go yourself through all the list if you look at the community Web site. I want to tell you a little bit about how difficult it is to track jobs outside of that though. Highway jobs are a little bit easy to track, and this committee has been doing that. It's showing that 75 percent increase in actual work being started on the roads.
But look at where some of the other money is going because you can look on the recovery.gov Web site and see these -- these little bubbles represent where this money is going. By far, the stimulus money is going to tax relief. That's what you're feeling in your paycheck. The $12 every paycheck or so that you're seeing if you qualified for the tax relief. State and local fiscal relief, $144 billion.
CHETRY: That's helping plug these budget holes in many ways.
ROMANS: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Then that infrastructure and science is what we're talking about here now. Then you can see checking the vulnerable. That's the extension of food benefits, unemployment benefits and the like, health care. So, you can go down the list and see all these different things.
So, in the highway jobs, we're counting these numbers, the Transportation Construction Committee is counting these numbers. You can see these jobs are also indirect jobs that they're calculating in there too.
Outside of that, though, we use the formula. The government uses a formula. For every $92,000 of money spent, they count that as one job. So that's how they kind of estimate the job outside of it.
Christina Romer, who's the top adviser to the president, has admitted that, you know, it's difficult to count every single job, but sustained or saved or created jobs, they're still trying to get a handle on how we cover (ph) or created those.
CHETRY: You got a numeral for us this hour?
ROMANS: I do. The numeral is $2,050,000. This has to do with tracking the stimulus money. And, you know, we're just kind of investigating every little corner. This is stimulus money.
CHETRY: She said her hint is -- I see dead people.
ROMANS: I see dead people. This is how much money was spent on people who died, who got those stimulus Social Security checks.
ROBERTS: Oh.
ROMANS: 8,200 people got stimulus Social Security checks, $250 check, even though they were dead.
ROBERTS: Remember they fired those out...
ROMANS: And the Social Security Administration tells us that, in fact, 84 percent of those have been returned to the treasury. They've gotten most of the money back. But there's something called H-2 special beneficiaries who were just fired off the checks even though they weren't alive anymore.
ROBERTS: So, just back to what I was saying at the beginning, I'd like to know how many jobs this I-575 repaving in Georgia.
ROMANS: I will find out. I-75 (ph) repaving in Georgia.
ROBERTS: $18.6 million project.
ROMANS: All right. I'll find out.
ROBERTS: It's a very nice surface.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: No traffic.
ROBERTS: I was driving my motorcycle at 65 miles an hour and it was about 94 degrees. So...
CHETRY: See a lot of people working? Were you texting while driving your motorcycle?
ROBERTS: No.
CHETRY: All right. Well, because we have a new story on that. You don't text while you drive, do you?
ROMANS: I do not, no.
CHETRY: I got to stop.
ROMANS: You do?
CHETRY: I have when I've been stopped at a red light.
ROMANS: No, no, no. You can't do it. I'm stopping. You can't do it.
CHETRY: All right.
Well, speaking of such a -- all right, never mind. I'll talk about it later.
ROBERTS: Let's tell you Michael Vick could be headed back to the NFL. He met with Roger Goodell. Right? And Goodell apparently is willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Ryan Smith, our resident sports attorney is coming up to talk about the possibilities. Next, stay with us.
Twenty-four and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. New questions this morning about the crew of that commuter plane that crashed outside of Buffalo last February, killing all 49 on board and one person on the ground. In a new cockpit recording, the co-pilot says she felt sick, sick enough that she considered skipping the flight.
CNN's Allan Chernoff has reported extensively on the crash. And, Allan, there seems to be more evidence of the pilot fatigue issue that we've discussed and the fact that these pilots, some of them are so -- are paid so poorly that they don't want to take a sick day because it's going to cost them money. ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly what seems to have happened here. Right? She clearly was sick. She said so on the tape in the cockpit and then admitted that she didn't want to call in sick because she would have to pay for a hotel room.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): As Colgan Air's Flight 3407 took prepared for takeoff from Newark, co-pilot Rebecca Shaw sniffled in the cockpit telling Captain Marvin Renslow, "I'm ready to be in the hotel room."
Shaw had flown as a passenger through the night from Seattle to Newark, New Jersey for the flight to Buffalo. "If I felt like this when I was at home, there's no way I would have come all the way out here. But now that I'm out here," said Shaw. "You might as well," responded Captain Renslow.
An hour and a half later, Flight 3407 crashed five miles from the Buffalo airport. There's no evidence that Shaw's illness caused the crash, and air safety experts say there's no way to know for sure whether Shaw was unfit to fly.
TODD CURTIS, AIRSAFE.COM: Every pilot has the right and the obligation to exercise their common sense and good judgment.
CHERNOFF: But Colgan Air puts blame on Shaw saying, "Flying fatigued or sick is not an option. Every Colgan Air pilot has an absolute obligation as a professional to show up for work fit for duty."
ROBIN TOLSMA, WIDOW OF FLIGHT 3407 VICTIM: I don't understand.
CHERNOFF: Robin Tolsma, who lost her husband on the flight, faults the airline.
TOLSMA: It was a complete recipe for disaster from the moment that aircraft took away from the jetway.
CHERNOFF: Captain Marvin Renslow was at the controls, not the co-pilot. The NTSB Monday released an interview summary with executives from Gulfstream Training Academy where Renslow had studied piloting. Academy director James Bystrom (ph) told the NTSB Renslow's performance at the academy was above average.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Indeed, it was only later in his career that Renslow repeatedly failed test rides, some of which he failed to disclose to Colgan Air -- John.
ROBERTS: So, was it Renslow who appears to have made the fatal mistake in the final seconds? And might he have also been suffering fatigue because of the schedule that they keep? Because they fly in from other cities...
CHERNOFF: It is tough. ROBERTS: ... cities where they can afford to live to get in this big hubs of Newark, New York, places like that.
CHERNOFF: Right. Renslow had flown in from Florida, and he had been seen napping in the crew lounge at Newark airport prior to the flight. Doesn't mean necessarily that he was fatigued but we know that he was seen napping.
Now he was at the controls as you point out. And yes, it is believed that he was the one who actually made the fatal mistake of having that nose pointing up rather than down to try to get the plane out of fatal dive.
ROBERTS: Just because the pilot has a nap doesn't mean necessarily that they are too fatigued to fly. Because they are plenty of intercontinental flights, transoceanic flights, where they're actually sleeping quarters on the plane to allow pilots to get some rest.
CHERNOFF: Certainly, and I think pilots just -- they try to nap whenever they can. And also we should point out just because a pilot is feeling ill doesn't mean that they're not qualified, not be able to fly.
ROBERTS: It is fascinating though how many aspects of this case we're learning about. And, Allan, you're doing a great job keeping on top of all of it.
CHERNOFF: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much - Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's 30 minutes past the hour right now.
New this morning. There's a bombshell report directly connecting Michael Jackson's doctor to a powerful drug that may have killed the pop star. A source close to the investigation tells CNN dr. Conrad Murray gave Jackson a powerful dose of the sedative Propofol hours before he died so that he could sleep. Attorneys for Dr. Murray who is now the target of a manslaughter investigation say they won't comment on "rumors, innuendo or unnamed sources."
Defense Secretary Robert Gates making a surprise visit to Iraq to get a firsthand look at the U.S. military's new role there. Gates arrived this morning and will also meet with the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Last month, U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi towns and cities, and handed over security to Iraqi forces.
CHETRY: And President Obama putting the hard sale on health care reform. This afternoon, he's going to be participating in a town hall meeting that's sponsored by the AARP. He'll take questions on his health care plan from members of the audience, as well as over the phone. Both House and Senate leaders have acknowledged that they may not be able to get anything done by the -- before the August recess, but that they're still working to get health care passed in this session.
Well, Michael Vick is back in the game. Now he just needs to find an NFL team that will let him play. The former star quarterback who just finished serving 18 months in prison for running a dog fighting ring received what's been called a conditional reinstatement Monday from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: I do believe that this transitional approach that we've outlined for Michael is the best thing for him. That it will have the best opportunity to lead to a success for a young man who has his life ahead of him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: A ruling on Vick's full reinstatement is not expected until October. But he could be cleared before then.
Joining us to talk about Vick's return to the NFL is sports attorney and BET talk show host Ryan Smith.
Great to have you.
So were you surprised that Roger Goodell said you can come back in.
RYAN SMITH, TALK SHOW HOST, BET: Not at all. He had to give him some sort of second chance. You know, playing in the NFL is a privilege, not a right. But there has to be some sort of forgiveness. He served 18 months. Goodell is thinking let's let him back in, at a time frame that's not immediate right after he serve his sentence, but just after a little bit of time.
CHETRY: When we talk about conditional, what does he have to do? What obligation does he have to meet to actually become fully reinstated?
SMITH: Well, Michael Vick submitted a plan to the commissioner about what he's willing to do to show that not only he has remorse, but also to show that he's going to be an active good citizen and a good spokesman on behalf of dogs.
So he's going to work with the Humane Society possibly, to be a spokesman for them. Because his voice as a convicted felon of these kinds of crimes has a greater impact than just someone coming out and saying don't abuse dogs. Look at what he lost, he can say. This is what I have to -- you know, this is why you should not hurt dogs.
CHETRY: Just to remind people who may have forgotten this federal conspiracy charge against Vick for his role in this dog fighting venture, which was on his property, included executing approximately eight dogs who underperformed. One of them, he got the OK to wet the dog down, electrocute them. In one case they hung the dog, in one case they drowned them, and in one case they slammed the dog's body against the wall.
If you and I faced prison time for that, do you think we would get our old jobs back?
SMITH: We would never get our old jobs back. And that's what in some ways makes this surprising in the overall scheme of things. And that's why the commissioner is taking this approach. If you look at it this way, the NFL doesn't just want people to come and play in their league and be good players. They want good citizens. So what he's trying to say is, look, I don't want to take everything away from him. He served 18 months in jail. He did his time. But, I'm not going to let him right back in unless he shows me complete remorse.
Unless he shows me not only is he going to be somebody who's going to say I'm sorry, but he's going to be somebody who's going to fight for the rights of dogs and make sure this doesn't happen again.
CHETRY: And then the other interesting thing is as you said that Roger Goodell made sure that -- it was said in his statement that playing to the NFL is a privilege, it's not a right. But he also said that a player is held to a standard of conduct higher than that generally expected in society, and it's held accountable when that standard of conduct isn't met. In this case, it seems, at least, he -- yes, he served his time...
SMITH: Right.
CHETRY: ... but that wasn't being held to a standard higher than, I mean, you know, this dog-fighting ring is not anything that would be acceptable to society. And he's getting his job back.
SMITH: Right, because most people would not get their jobs back.
CHETRY: Right.
SMITH: But I think what he's trying to show is if he just cut the player off right now, then NFL players might look and say, you know what, this is unfair. I served my time. You're trying to hold me to a standard that's higher, but I'm in the public eye all the time. Maybe if I can show remorse, maybe if I can go out there and do things that the normal citizen can't do because of my stature, maybe I should be let back in.
CHETRY: All right. So he cleared that first hurdle.
SMITH: OK.
CHETRY: The next hurdle is finding a team that will take him on. What do you think the likelihood of this will be?
SMITH: That is going to be a real challenge. And I think at least for now, he's going to have trouble finding a team. People -- a lot of people out there are saying let's give him another chance. But you know what, the moment he walks on that field, especially during this preseason, the attention for the team will be focused on him rather than on the team's development. And then throughout, if you're going to his game, you're going to have to pass by PETA protesters and all kinds of other people trying to tell you what he did. If he goes out and changes the way people view him, if he becomes a spokesman, I think that's really important for him, then maybe when he gets on that field for the first time, it will be, you know, Michael Vick, convicted dog felon, but look at how he's changed his life.
CHETRY: So, when do you see this? Maybe in mid-season replacement-type situation happening?
SMITH: You know, he could come back as early as week one.
CHETRY: Right.
SMITH: The commissioner can say I'm going to evaluate that as soon as I want. But I think he's going to come back mid season. I think if he really changes the way people look at him, I think you could see him come in October, something like that when someone gets injured and they need him.
CHETRY: So not to mention all that type of pressure. He also has to play well, right?
SMITH: I know.
CHETRY: I mean, on top of that, he's been out of the game.
SMITH: He's been out of the game. So the good thing about this suspension for him is that he gets to be in a preseason training camp. You know, for some people out there who are really opposed to what he did, me included, you included, it seems kind of like, well, forgive him and gave him a chance to get back in shape, to play. He's been given every opportunity to really kind of succeed here. But, the thing is, if he's going to get back on that field, if he's going to become a quality player, he has to get that practice going. You'll have that in preseason. And if you look at it from the larger scheme of thins, if he can go in here and he can really change the way he's viewed, maybe it's a success.
CHETRY: All right. He's getting some help from Tony Dungy.
SMITH: Right. Right.
CHETRY: The former coach of Indiana Colts. So, good luck to him in the end. Everybody wants him to succeed, obviously. And turn his life around.
Great to talk to you, Ryan, as always. Thanks for being here.
SMITH: Good to be here. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Good to see you, Ryan.
He's the man increasingly at the center of the investigation into Michael Jackson's death. So who is Dr. Conrad Murray? We will find out coming up in just a little while.
First of all, though, I want to tell you a little something -- been one of those days where I'm getting ahead of myself here.
CHETRY: No, it's OK. It's...
ROBERTS: We'll do it on the other side of the break.
CHETRY: It's testing and driving. Yes.
ROBERTS: We'll do it on the other side of the break, OK?
CHETRY: All right.
ROBERTS: Hey, a little suspense for you. We'll be right back for that. Stay tuned. 6:37.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Michael Jackson had a powerful sedative in his system when he died. And authorities believed that the drug might have contributed to his death. A source tells CNN Jackson's personal physician administered the dose.
Erica Hill with more on Dr. Conrad Murray.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Conrad Murray was one of the last people to see Michael Jackson alive. A man the pop star insisted on having by his side. Telling concert promoter AEG Live, only Dr. Murray would do for his upcoming London show.
RICHARD PHILLIPS, AEG LIVE: He said, you don't understand. My body is the machine that fuels this whole business, OK? I need that kind of attention. And you know what? When Michael Jackson says that to you, when there's this much at stake, you don't argue.
HILL: Murray became Jackson's personal physician in May, and explained his lead to current patients as a, quote, "once in a lifetime opportunity." An opportunity with a salary of $150,000 a month. Plus travel, hotel, and per diem expenses. But how did he get to the singer's side in the first place?
The two met in Las Vegas in 2006, when Dr. Murray treated one of Jackson's children on the recommendation of a Jackson bodyguard. Murray's attorney told CNN's Larry King their relationship went beyond a doctor and patient.
Let me clear up something -- make sure we understand -- Dr. Murray was not a doctor first. He was a friend first. They were a close personal friend. And Michael Jackson really treated him as -- as family. HILL: Conrad Murray is 56. He graduated from a Meharry Medical College in Nashville, and spent his internship and residency years in California. He operates clinics in both Nevada and Texas, until signing on with Jackson, most of his time was spent in Las Vegas.
In a statement, his attorney said the cost to maintain Murray's Texas clinic, quote, "exceeds any collection." And documents obtained by CNN showed his Nevada practice also suffered financially with some $400,000 in judgements for debts over the last couple of years.
Since his famous client's death, Murray has not spoken publicly, except through his lawyer. Though, everyone is waiting to hear what the man, who found Michael Jackson unconscious, has to say.
Erica Hill, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Propofol is a sedative, one that is very tricky to use, could be extraordinarily dangerous leading in respiratory depression, possibly respiratory arrest and death. It's known by the brand name Diprivan.
We're going to learn more about this when we talk to Dr. Sanjay Gupta coming up at the top of the hour.
Well, it's the first study of its kind -- this is what we promised you going in to the break, and the results of it are shocking. Just how much does texting behind the wheel affect your ability to safely operate a vehicle?
CHETRY: And you know, it would be a no-brainer that it would make things more difficult, making things more distracting.
But researchers actually put it to the test. They took cameras and they basically had these cameras in these big rigs, OK? And they figured out what a driver was doing immediately prior to a, quote, "safety-critical event." And the study which was done by Virginia Tech put these cameras in these long haul trucks for a combined 6 million miles and what they found was that texting boosts the risk of a crash by 23 percent. The video even captured one driver using a full keyboard behind the wheel.
ROBERTS: Currently, 10 states and the District of Columbia have a complete ban on texting while driving. Four more states plan to implement a ban by the end of the year.
CHETRY: Yes, it goes. I mean, New York doesn't have a ban on texting and driving. New Jersey does have a ban. But little towns, in my town, you can get cited for that, but statewide, not necessarily, except that...
ROBERTS: It's a growing movement across the country.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: You know, it's the same thing as, you know, using hands free versus holding a cell phone to your -- to your ear.
CHETRY: Texting requires far more distractions -- you know, you're far more distracted, I think...
ROBERTS: Well, you're not looking at the road while you're texting, so that's the big problem.
CHETRY: They said the people were looking down for as long as five seconds, which is how much time you would need to either stop if a car in front of you stopped, swerve if there was something in the road.
ROBERTS: You know, it started with the 8-track tape and now it's moved to texting.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Anything that take your eye off the windshield, you know.
CHETRY: Well, why would you put an infectious disease center, some are asking, right smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley?
Jeanne Meserve looking into that for us.
Forty-three minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Forty-four minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Homeland Security has a plan to build a new infectious disease lab. It's going to be built in Kansas. And critics are saying that it's a bad idea to put deadly biohazards in the middle of Tornado Alley. But are there arguments about pathogens or politics?
Our Jeanne Meserve is live in Washington with more on this.
So, what are the critics saying about where they're building this facility?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I tell you, it's going to be located in a town called Manhattan, Kansas. But a draft Government Accountability report is fanning the flames of a fierce argument over whether the decision is a dangerous one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): A powerful tornado hit Manhattan, Kansas last year, doing $20 million of damage to Kansas State University.
But this is where the Department of Homeland Security has decided to put a new agricultural laboratory to research the most dangerous animal pathogens, like highly contagious foot and mouth disease.
Critics say after it's built, another tornado could damage the facility, resulting in a release and a catastrophe.
MICHAEL GUIFFRE, ATTORNEY: It absolutely is unsafe. You know, all they need is that tornado to hit and it will cause billions of dollars of damages to the U.S. economy. It will wipe out tens of millions of animals.
MESERVE: Guiffre represents a group that wants the lab and its economic benefits in San Antonio, Texas, one of several competing sites. He and others are seizing on a draft Government Accountability Office report, which says the DHS decision to put the lab in Kansas is based on flawed risk and economic analyses. It concludes this questionable methodology could result in regrettable consequences.
What is the GAO talking about? Foot and mouth disease was inadvertently released from a research lab in Britain in 2001, leading to eight outbreaks on nearby farms which were contained by massive animal slaughters.
A DHS official counters the GAO report saying, "We feel like we've done a very thorough assessment of the risk, the security and the safety of this particular facility."
And proponents in Kansas insist it will not pose a hazard.
TOM THORNTON, PRESIDENT, KANSAS BIOSCIENCE AUTHORITY: The safety and security measures that go into this kind of research have enhanced dramatically in such that this kind of bio-contained research takes place safely and securely on the mainland, in cities like Atlanta, Georgia at the Centers for Disease Control every single day.
MESERVE: The construction of the Kansas lab will result in the closure of the outdated Plum Island Animal Disease Center off Long Island, New York.
The GAO report concludes it will be less risky to continue animal research there than to move it to the agricultural heartland. But DHS says it has no plans to revisit its decision.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: As for the tornado issue, we talked to a specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who points out that although there are tornadoes in Kansas and also in Texas, it's a bit of a red herring. He says the probability of a government building built in today's engineering specifications being damaged in either place by a tornado is pretty small.
Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: It just doesn't sound so good, right? But in reality, probably safe?
MESERVE: Yes, they say that even in a very, very strong storm, there would be an outer layer that would be able to withstand the winds and protect the inner core. That's the idea. I'm not an engineer, but a lot of people are vouching for that plan. CHETRY: All right. Jeanne Meserve for us this morning from Washington. Thanks.
MESERVE: You bet.
ROBERTS: It's a big day for Judge Sonia Sotomayor. The judiciary committee voting on her confirmation. What will the vote be? Will it be strictly on party lines? Will she get some Republicans to vote for her? And what could that portend for the vote in the full Senate that will be coming up?
Our Brianna Keilar breaks it all down for you coming up. Forty- eight minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, there's that beautiful picture of Miami this morning. Look at those clouds. 77 degrees there right now. Chance of storms at 90 degrees a little bit later on today.
CHETRY: Yes, beautiful now. A little later, we're going to be running for the AC.
ROBERTS: Yes -- well, always, you know, this time in Florida. One of the most incredible things too about Florida this time of the year are those incredible thunderstorms that roll in out of the Everglades. Every day at about 1:30, boom.
CHETRY: Yes, the skies just open up, you're drenched, and then about 15 minutes later, clear sky again.
ROBERTS: You know, it's like pouring water on the rocks on the steam. It does makes it hotter.
Karen Maginnis is monitoring the extreme weather across the country. She's at the weather center in Atlanta this morning.
What do you got, Karen? Good morning.
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: All right, Karen, thank you so much. We'll see you again a little bit later on this morning.
CHETRY: Well, how's this for lucky? Winning the lottery once, of course, will be pretty lucky. How about winning twice in one night? That's almost unbelievable. But that's exactly what happened to a guy in Massachusetts. He won first $1,000 on a scratch-off ticket, right? That's not that bad. That's great. Then he decided to test his luck again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP BRUNELLE, DOUBLE WINNER: It was $1 million. And at that point, I didn't know what to do. I was just kind of in shock. Just kind of... UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were you shaking? What were you feeling, thinking?
BRUNELLE: I actually, yes, I'm still kind of shaking.
You hear about people winning these things all the time, but you never think it's going to be you winning it, you know.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Twice in one night.
BRUNELLE: Exactly. Especially twice in one night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. The guy's good luck did have its limits. He said he got a flat tire on his way home.
ROBERTS: In the middle of a thunderstorm as well.
CHETRY: That's all right. He had $1,001,000 to get it changed.
ROBERTS: There you go. Fifty-five minutes after the hour. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Seventy-one degrees and cloudy right now as we take a look at the nation's capital. That's the weather in Washington. Possible thunderstorm today. A high of 91 degrees.
Anybody living in New York yesterday knew what it was like to have some thunderstorms roll through. Some pretty bad ones yesterday.
We're back with the Most News in the Morning.
More gridlock on Capitol Hill this morning with lawmakers split over President Obama's plan for health care reform. Some conservative Democrats in the House say they will not support it, but the chamber's number two Democrat is trying to sound upbeat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. STENY HOYER (D), MAJORITY LEADER: This bill, most of it, will go into effect in 2013. So time is not running out in the sense. We have a postal service shortage problem. Time is running out on that, because the money is running out. We're not in that situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Let's bring in our conversational correspondent Brianna Keilar. She's on Capitol Hill this morning. And Brianna, the Senate is inching toward a bipartisan deal here on health care. Now the real snag seems to be in the House. What's holding things up there?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just as infighting, John, between this fiscally conservative blue dog Democrats and House Democratic leaders who are pushing their health care proposal. This in fighting has not been resolved yet. Although there is an offer on the table last night after a meeting that went well into the evening.
Henry Waxman, the chairman of a key committee where blue dogs have held up this health care proposal. He made an offer to blue dog Democrats. Now what is in the offer? Are blue dogs going to accept it? We don't know the answer to that at this point. But what we also know coming out of this meeting was, yes, perhaps Steny Hoyer was sounding upbeat but at the same time, he made it official that the House will not vote on health care reform before they leave for their August recess.
And, John, we already knew the Senate wasn't going to do it. So bottom line here, you have both chambers missing this deadline that President Obama initially set out on his key domestic priority, health care reform.
ROBERTS: We're going to have to wait a while for that.
We'll be talking, by the way, to one of those blue dogs, Congressman Jim Cooper coming up in just a little while. On a different topic, though, Brianna, later on today, the Judiciary Committee there in the Senate is going to hold a vote on Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor. What can we expect there today in terms of the vote? Will it be strictly along party lines, or might they be able to peel off one or two Republicans?
KEILAR: We know they're going to be able to peel off one. But other than that, John, it's looking like it's going to be along the party lines. Democrats voting for her, Republicans voting against her with the exception of Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, who has said that elections have consequences.
And so even though he has concerns about Sotomayor, he's going to vote for her. And then the next stop here, we're expecting a debate and then a vote next week before the full Senate. So we're expecting Sonia Sotomayor to be confirmed as the first Latina Supreme Court justice before the Senate does leave for its August recess - John.
ROBERTS: All right. Brianna Keilar for us this morning from Capitol Hill. Brianna, thanks so much.
