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American Morning
Yale Murder Arrest Could Be Imminent; FBI Probe Targets Afghan National; Obama to Hold Health Care Reform Rally on the Road; ACORN Under Fire, Who's Behind the Videotapes?; What the New Health Care Plan Means for Your Wallet; Lawmakers Demand More Information on the President's Czars
Aired September 17, 2009 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome. Glad you're with us on AMERICAN MORNING on this Thursday, September 17th. I'm Kiran Chetry. We have T.J. Holmes with us in for John Roberts. Good to see you.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: I haven't been back with you guys in a while. Thanks for having me back.
CHETRY: We didn't scare you away that badly.
HOLMES: No. I just thought you guys didn't like me and didn't want me back. But good to be here.
Good morning to you all. We've got several big stories this morning, probably one more so than any other that we're going to be breaking down in the next few minutes or so and really zeroing in all morning because it appears that the police are zeroing in on a suspect in that Yale murder mystery.
Reports out this morning of a possible DNA match in the strangulation death of graduate student Annie Le, one DNA match that could implicate Yale lab technician Raymond Clark. He had been called a person of interest. You see him there.
Police had him in handcuffs and took him in to get some evidence from him a few days ago. The police scheduled now to hold a press conference, 7:00 Eastern Time. We will, of course, be covering that live.
CHETRY: Also, the FBI searching an apartment and home in suburban Colorado. They're looking for evidence of a terrorist plot with links to al Qaeda. The Afghan national at the center of this investigation is denying he had any part of a terror plot. His visit last weekend to New York prompted raids on three Queens apartments. We're going to get the latest developments on that story just ahead.
HOLMES: And the president forging ahead on health care, today taking his aim for reform to college students. He's hoping to seize any momentum after the unveiling of a long-awaited health plan. So far, though, people on the right and people on the left don't seem to like the so-called bipartisan plan that's come out of the Senate. So what's the president saying about it? We're live at the White House this morning. CHETRY: We begin, though, with news of a possible break in the investigation of the murder of Yale graduate student Annie Le. And we're keeping a close watch on developments out of New Haven, Connecticut right now because police are expected to hold a news conference in less than an hour. There are reports this morning of a possible DNA match that could tie the Yale lab technician, Raymond Clark, to Annie Le's death.
Mary Snow is covering this developing story. She's on the phone in New Haven this morning.
Mary, again as we said, in an hour we expect to hear more details. But what do you know now?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): And it is expected, Kiran, that it will be a big announcement. This was a news conference that we've called overnight, and the police chief here in New Haven had been saying that they were looking for any DNA match in order to make an arrest. This after Raymond Clark, a 24-year-old Yale technician, was taken into custody and had samples taken from him. Also, search warrants were executed at his home.
And we do know that a police department at a nearby town near his home had informed that they were helping assist the New Haven Police Department in surveillance of a person of interest. And it is believed that Raymond Clark is in a hotel. He has been under surveillance even though he hadn't been officially named a suspect.
The police chief here said that police knew where he was at all times. His car was impounded yesterday. More evidence was taken from his home. The Connecticut State police had expedited the DNA evidence that they were analyzing in this case. Obviously, it became a priority.
The police have been anticipating a briefing this morning and this news conference was called. We're working our sources, trying to match that -- those reports about a DNA match.
CHETRY: Mary Snow for us this morning. We'll check in with you throughout the show as we get more developments. And as you said, this hastily called news conference announced in the middle of the night set to take place in less than an hour. We'll have it live.
HOLMES: Also developments on the FBI's investigation of alleged U.S. terror plot. Agents wearing hazardous materials, suits, raided a suburban Denver home of Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan national with suspected ties to all right. Zazi's visit to New York over the 9/11 weekend triggered Monday's raids on several apartments in the borough of Queens.
Deborah Feyerick following this story for us. The story seems to have gone from New York cross-country now.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly has and as a matter of fact, this investigation did start in Denver and took federal agents to New York. But whether New York is the end point or just a stopping point along the way is still an open question.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): With some New York City residents on edge, an investigation into a possible terror strike ongoing this morning. FBI agents searched the Denver home of an Afghan man who recently traveled across the country. He's 24-year-old Najibullah Zazi, an airport limo driver who moved from New York to Denver six months ago.
This as FBI Director Robert Mueller answered questions on Capitol Hill about Monday's predawn raid on two apartments in Queens, New York.
SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: But you assure New Yorkers and the American public that the situation is under sufficient control and there is no imminent danger that they're safe?
ROBERT MUELLER, FBI DIRECTOR: I can say that I do not believe there's an imminent danger from that particular investigation.
FEYERICK: So far no one has been arrested. CNN affiliate KUSA in Denver spoke to Zazi and his lawyer. He says Zazi went to New York to resolve an issue related to a vending cart business and denied that Zazi has any ties to terrorism.
ARTHUR FOLSOM, NAJIBULLAH ZAZI'S LAWYER: I think the main thing he wants people to understand is that he had absolutely nothing to do with this. He loves this country. He loves living here. That's why he brought his family over here.
FEYERICK: During the trip, Zazi was stopped by police before crossing the George Washington Bridge for what he was told was a random drug stop. Later his rental car was towed for alleged parking violations.
Police asked if they could search the car and examine a laptop while it was impounded. Zazi agreed. Zazi's return visit to New York prompted FBI agents to raid the two homes of people he contacted. One of the men questioned by agents spoke to us on condition we not use his name.
The man said while not close he has known Zazi for about seven years. He ran into him at a Queens mosque and agreed to let him stay at his place for the night. "He's Pashtun. You can't turn away a fellow Pashtun," said the acquaintance, who did not see Zazi leave the next day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, there are several events that have put New York on heightened security. The president's visit to Wall Street and, of course, the upcoming United Nations general assembly when world leaders will gather next week. So once it got to New York, things really began to --
CHETRY: Move quickly...
FEYERICK: Move quickly. Exactly. Exactly.
HOLMES: All right. Deb Feyerick, we appreciate you this morning.
CHETRY: Thanks, Deb.
Well, meanwhile, the make or break battle over health care reform back on center stage. In fact, in just a few hours, President Obama hits the road to make his case for revamping health care. And today's audience will be college students, many of whom don't have insurance. The ones in the audience. The president's campaign to win support coming on the heels of a long-awaited and one and only health care reform proposal that was aiming for bipartisan support.
Suzanne Malveaux is the only reporter live at the White House this early. So let's start with the plan. We heard about it, of course, over the past several weeks. This is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Max Baucus and his bipartisan "gang of six" that was supposed to be working to hammer this out. What does the White House saying about it this morning?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kiran, a lot of what you see in that proposal very much reflected, very much what we saw from the president and what he actually said he wanted in his own plan, the Obama plan, if you will, when he went before Congress just last week. And to the White House, it's pretty satisfied with this.
You're taking a look. You see a plan that doesn't add to the deficit. It is less than $900 billion over ten years. That's a mark, a figure that the president had actually noted himself.
This is something that mandates all people have health care coverage, insurance. That's a flip actually from the president when he was campaigning. He used to slam his opponent Hillary Clinton for that, but he has since turned around -- has come around to that.
The other thing is that it provides consumer protection, so insurance companies can't drop people who are very sick. They can't deny them coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
The one thing that this doesn't have that the president did want that he had preferred was what we've all been talking about, that public option, the government-run alternative insurance plan to provide a competition to private companies and said it's going to be a co-op, something that is owned by the collective -- by the people who actually are a part of that plan.
So, that is a bit different. And, Kiran, honestly, the White House, too, the president disappointed that you don't see the kind of bipartisanship that he had hoped for. This is something he ran on change, but he also ran on bridging the differences, the gaps between Republicans and Democrats. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, Kiran. CHETRY: And so, was this the one shot? I mean, was this the -- seemed to be the move that had the best chance? So what happens now is the president is still out there on the road, still trying to sell this, but was this really the biggest chance to get anything done?
MALVEAUX: It really is the biggest chance, but this is not over. It's far from over. And what we're going to see, Kiran, is a lot of Obama in the next couple of days. We're talking about five -- five talk shows, Sunday shows that he is going to go and do one-on-one interviews with, including our "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JOHN KING." He's going to have a huge rally today at a college campus and then is even going to hit late night David Letterman to bring a little spin, I guess a little bit of comedy as well as pushing for health care reform. So he is really going to be in campaign mode, if you will, to try to solve this thing.
CHETRY: Yes. That's what it feels like, I'm sure, right? Campaign mode again. All right.
MALVEAUX: Campaign mode.
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us. Thanks.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
HOLMES: We're going to see a lot of Obama, huh?
CHETRY: Yes.
HOLMES: I guess a lot of people complaining we don't see him enough, huh? Just kidding.
Ten after six, we're going up on now. A few of the stories here we're keeping an eye on. One developing in Afghanistan.
A car bomb exploded in a residential area near the Supreme Court building in Kabul. Officials say at least two international soldiers killed, 38 others wounded.
CHETRY: In northern California, more bones found on the property belonging to Nancy and Phillip Garrido as well as the property next door. Police say they cannot tell at this time if the fragments are human. The Garridos are accused of kidnapping Jaycee Dugard when she was 11, keeping her in a makeshift compound in their backyard for 18 years. Authorities have been searching the area for evidence that could link the couple to at least two other child abduction cases.
HOLMES: All right. Sometimes you know this is a kid. Sometimes you do something wrong, you get your privileges taken away.
Well, that's what happened to the governor of South Carolina. We're learning there were some more fallout over Mark Sanford and his admitted long-distance extramarital affair. Well, federal documents now coming out showing that shortly after he confessed to having a mistress in Argentina, the Department of Homeland Security yanked the governor's security clearance. The action was taken according to documents because of concerns about his "lack of candor and trustworthiness." Officials reportedly reinstated Sanford's clearance a week later.
CHETRY: There you go.
You know, the community organizing group ACORN under fire after these undercover tapes came out here in the show, various employees helping people posing as a pimp and a prostitute, giving them advice on how they could possibly get away with doing it. Well, now, the group who's behind these videos also being the subject of some questions themselves. Our Jessica Yellin is digging into this deeper, and she'll join us after the break.
Ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A little Coldplay for you this morning. And welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning" coming up on the quarter after the hour.
The Obama administration expected to announce this morning that it's scrapping many elements of a U.S. missile defense shield in Europe originally proposed by President Bush. When he took office, President Obama promised he would study the plan missile defense system. Just yesterday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Michael Mullen said they were close to the end of a seven-month review.
CHETRY: If you had to pay a little bit more for your Coke or Pepsi, would you drink it less? That's apparently the thing behind a proposal to battle obesity. A group of nutrition and economic experts say that a penny per ounce tax could help soda drinkers cut two pounds a year. They say the idea much like a cigarette tax would cut consumption while raising government revenues. More than 30 states already charge sales tax on soft drinks.
HOLMES: That Red Bull treated you this morning, Kiran.
CHETRY: Stop it.
HOLMES: All right. Also, something people think it's important that you're allowed to carry a gun on Amtrak. Well, the Senate approving a measure that would allow Amtrak passengers to carry licensed handguns in their checked bags? However, the legislation said Amtrak would lose federal subsidies if it prohibits passengers from bringing their guns onboard under security restrictions similar to those imposed on airlines. Opponents claim it's too costly for Amtrak to ensure checked firearms would not be stolen or misused.
CHETRY: Well, the liberal community organizing ACORN feeling the heat lately. Employees caught on hidden camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute about how to lie about their profession to get housing help. ACORN now getting increased scrutiny from Congress, even the FBI. And the group itself has ordered an internal investigation and review of its practices. But these undercover videos are also raising many questions, including who is behind them. Jessica Yellin has that part of the story.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL. POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, T.J., two self-described filmmakers have made big news with their undercover ACORN videos. Now they've raised lots of questions about more than just what's on those tapes.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If Tom Jones is going...
YELLIN (voice-over): These are the hidden camera videos that triggered a firestorm over grass routes activist group ACORN. Behind the videos, two 20-something. Hannah Giles (ph), seen here posing as a prostitute, and James O'Keefe pretending to be her pimp.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hannah Giles (ph) and I continued our investigation of ACORN.
YELLIN: The two are conservative filmmakers. According to her web biography, Giles is the daughter of conservative writing Doug Giles. Now an Internet sensation, she's appeared on FOX News.
HANNAH GILES, CONSERVATIVE FILMMAKER: As I sat there, I was like I cannot believe they're actually falling for this and not necessarily falling for it but what can we get them to say next.
YELLIN: O'Keefe says he's a filmmaker dedicated to exposing corruption he believes the mainstream media ignores. Here he's in his pimp outfit on FOX News.
JAMES O'KEEFE, CONSERVATIVE FILMMAKER: I think this is the future of investigative journalism and it's the future of political activism.
YELLIN: The two have gotten results. Since these videos were posted the U.S. Senate has voted to cut off some of ACORN's funding and media outlets from "The Washington Times" to Jon Stewart are asking --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, TV HOST: Where were the real reporters on this story? You know investigative media, give me camera three. Where the hell were you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YELLIN: It's not the first time agenda driven activists had made headlines with hidden camera reports. The animal rights group PETA makes them all the time, and political campaigns have driven news with videos like this.
Remember Macaca (ph)?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Macaca (ph), or whatever his name is. YELLIN: That remark considered racially offensive by some took down an incumbent senator. Experts in investigative journalism say reporters are wise to be cautious about posing as fake characters using hidden cameras to get a story.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You really have to weigh again how important the information is, how important the story is to society, the community, and is there any other way to get at it. Because I think it does raise questions of fairness and the credibility of the media.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YELLIN: The video makers turned down our request for an interview through their sponsor, the conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. Breitbart tells us the two made these videos out of a sense of idealism and righteousness, and he tells us they have more videos coming -- T.J., Kiran.
CHETRY: Jessica Yellin for us this morning. Thanks.
All right. Well, Christine Romans is going to be joining us in just a moment, and she's talking about your health and your money this morning. As we talk about whether or not any health care plan will actually come out of Congress this session.
Seventeen and a half minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: That's our new Christine Romans' theme music.
CHETRY: That's right. It's better than money, money, money.
HOLMES: Good morning, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I don't have any money, money, money.
HOLMES: Money, money -- we talk about money. We have another health care reform package of some kind.
ROMANS: OK. This is the Baucus proposal.
HOLMES: Do you agree with this one?
ROMANS: We've been poring over it, taking a look at it. Just the summary is sort of 200 and some pages. We're trying to figure out what this is going to mean for your money and your family budget. What are the changes here that matter to you?
Like a lot of the other proposals if you already have health care coverage through your company that doesn't change, nothing really changes for you. And all of this is slated to begin in 2013. So it wouldn't start immediately if, of course, this is adopted as planned, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I've got a whole bag of caveats here, so we're just going to go through what we've got and tell you what it's going to mean for your money.
First of all, you would be required to buy insurance if you don't have insurance, health care insurance. Or you would be fined. They really want to make sure that they cover as many people as they possibly can. What do those fines, those penalties for not having insurance look like?
If you are a family of four and you're making about $66,000 a year, the fine for you is $3,800 a year. If you are an individual making above $32,000 a year, the fine is $950 a year.
OK. If you're a family of four making below $66,000 a year, the fine for not buying insurance is $1,500. If you are an individual making below, that should be below $32,000 a year on the right side, if you're an individual making $32,000 a year, the fine is $750. So now you can see sort of where you sit for your situation what the fines would be for not buying insurance.
Now, this program would also -- this proposal would also expand Medicaid eligibility. So it expands a government-run health care program that we already have, so if your income for a family of four is $30,000 or for an individual is $14,000, you would be eligible for Medicaid.
There are a lot of other differences here, including the fact that there would be a state-run insurance option. You would go to the state-run insurance option if you didn't get insurance through your company, it would go to the state-run insurance option to be able to buy insurance. And depending on how much money you make, it's a sliding scale, but depending on how much money you make and how much money your family brings in, there would be subsidies, government subsidies, to help you pay your premiums, to help you pay for your drug co-pays and your other co-pays. So depending on where you are on the income scale, that's how it's going to fit for you.
HOLMES: Are people or families are not going to be in a position where they're trying to balance out? Is it going to cost me more to pay for the insurance or the fine? I mean, it's one thing to say we're going to cover everybody but essentially I'm just going to penalize you if you don't get coverage.
ROMANS: The hope here is that the subsidies and the premiums and the state exchanges, the idea here is that the fine would offset what you should go and just buy the insurance for anyway. So there's going to be a fine line to walk and it's all sort of changing.
CHETRY: And there's also -- you said that if you have a current plan that you like, it wouldn't change. Now there are some who say that's not the case.
ROMANS: That's right.
CHETRY: Senator Rockefeller has been a little bit harsh on this plan because of the plan to what -- tax, so-called Cadillac plans. Meaning, plans that offer a lot of --
ROMANS: And there is some concern that the plan that you have or maybe your premiums are going to rise. There are some people who say the biggest winner -- the biggest winners for health care reform and including the Baucus plan are people who do not have health insurance now and people who have a pre-existing condition and can't get health insurance. The real winners here are the people who can't go out and buy insurance because they have something, their family who has an illness. That would go away.
In many of the proposals, that would go away. And if you don't have any insurance at all and you're completely uncovered, the state plans -- the state exchange would have to have four levels of insurance -- bronze, silver, gold, and platinum -- and all of them would cover preventative care and that would be 100 percent covered under all of these plans. I mean, 100 percent covered for preventative care. Also, prenatal care and all of these other things would be the baseline.
So the idea here is to get people covered at least those -- those baselines. But you're right. I mean, when you start looking to the other groups who are included in this, there will be some changes for people.
CHETRY: They have to figure out a way to pay for it and how to do it.
ROMANS: But remember, all of this is fluid. There will be horse trading.
HOLMES: Yes.
ROMANS: They're going to be fighting about this behind closed doors for god knows how long. So we don't know what it's going to look like in the end, or we don't even know. But I'm just trying to tell you this most recent proposal, a key Democrat outlining really close to the president's plan, what it will look like for your wallet.
CHETRY: OK. Thanks a lot.
HOLMES: Thank, Christine.
Well, stay with us. The story probably going to be our breaking story for this morning out of Yale about the murdered student there who was actually found, a body was found on her wedding day. There she is, Annie Le.
Well, coming up this morning, a press conference from police at 7:00. We're told reports are out that possibly -there's a DNA match and an arrest could be made but how is there an arrest when police still, to this point, have not even said they had a suspect? I'm going to get into the ins and out of this case with Attorney Paul Cowan, coming up after the break.
Right now, it's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning." Twenty- eight minutes past the hour now.
Pick a policy and there's likely to be a czar reporting to the White House. They're special advisers, and they're really nothing new. Many presidents have had them. But the problem for many in Congress is that these people are virtually unknown to lawmakers and to you, but that could change.
Lisa Sylvester is digging deeper on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are about 30 so-called czars watching over everything from Afghanistan to the economy. Some lawmakers complain these advisers have bypassed the Senate confirmation process, answering only to the president and can't be forced to testify before Congress.
REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: This formation of a shadow cabinet that, in fact, is more than twice the size of the real cabinet is a danger to the very question of who is advising the president and on what basis.
SYLVESTER: Representative Frank Wolf says the czars have not been put through full security screenings unlike cabinet members who have had to go through a lengthy vetting process.
REP. FRANK WOLF (R), VIRGINIA: The FBI said they do a background check, but it's the same background check they would do for an intern at the White House. They do not do a security clearance.
SYLVESTER: Green jobs czar Van Jones stepped down after controversial statements he made surfaced. And President Obama's car czar, Stephen Ratner (ph), without explanation, resigned amid reports the New York attorney general was investigating an investment company linked to him. The White House defended itself saying the practice of appointing czars is nothing new.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: These are positions that date back at least to many, many administrations where there may be policy coordination between many different departments in order to make governmental responses more efficient.
SYLVESTER: The Democratic National Committee followed up saying, "Most telling of the credibility of these attacks is that they come from the same Republican Party that didn't utter a peep about the 47 documented czars in the Bush administration."
But it's not just Republicans bothered by the czars. This week, Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, who chairs the Senate Constitution Subcommittee, asked the White House to disclose more information. Who are the individuals? What are their responsibilities, and whether and how these positions are consistent with the appointments clause of the constitution? (END VIDEOTAPE)
SYLVESTER: Lawmakers continue to press the issue introducing legislation to withhold funding from many czars, calling for congressional hearings and the resolution of disapproval was introduced in the House of Representatives -- Kiran, T.J.?
CHETRY: Lisa Sylvester for us. Thanks.
Well, it's 30 minutes past the hour now and we have a look at our top stories this morning.
President Obama is pushing forward on health reform, taking it on the road and online. In fact in just a few hours, he heads to the University of Maryland. Go Terps. His audience, college students because many young adults don't have health insurance. The president's rally will also be shown on Facebook for students nationwide to watch.
HOLMES: And for the first time since taking office, President Obama is going to award the Medal of Honor and it's going to a soldier in Afghanistan. This afternoon's ceremony pays tribute to Sergeant First Class Jared C. Monti, a 30-year-old Massachusetts native who was killed in action in 2006, sacrificing his life to save some of his comrades.
CHETRY: And the trial of a Louisville high school football coach could go to the jury today. Jason Stinson, charged with reckless homicide in the death of one of his players, 15-year-old Max Gilpin. Prosecutors allege that his brutal practice in August in the heat last year is what led to Gilpin's death.
HOLMES: And we are expecting to hear about half hour from police in Connecticut on a break in the Yale murder case. Reports say there is a DNA match and that an arrest could be coming. The Yale lab technician, Raymond Clark, is the one that they essentially called a person of interest in the strangulation death of grad student Annie Le.
Paul Callan, defense attorney and former New York prosecutor, joining us here now.
And, huh, we got some questions for you. I guess first and foremost, they never said they had a suspect but we see them walking out with a guy in handcuffs. What was the point of this whole spectacle? Why not call him a suspect? Why put him in handcuffs?
PAUL CALLAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Very strange case. You know, this has been a very public investigation. Usually, the police are quiet about these things. The investigation takes place behind closed doors. And yet here, he's paraded publicly in handcuffs. Very, very strange.
I mean, I think he's been more than a, quote, "person of interest" since the beginning of this investigation. I think he's really been a suspect. It looks like police must have been very close to thinking they were going to keep him in custody permanently, and that's why he had the handcuffs on and something about the investigation didn't pan out at that point and they had to release him.
HOLMES: So, they, obviously -- they must be missing something major. If they can go to the point of the video we just saw there of putting him in those handcuffs and it seems as if he might be the only person that we know of, at least they've really been looking at. So something big must be missing from their investigation.
CALLAN: Well, I think from what I've read about the case, they had narrowed it to him on a circumstantial basis, because bear in mind there are security cards that allow entry and exit from certain rooms in this lab, this rodent lab, at Yale.
And my suspicion is they probably had narrowed it to only a couple of people who had access to the area where the body was found. And they were looking for one additional thing, a DNA link, that would take him permanently as the suspect. And I think probably we're going to find that today.
HOLMES: And they've been telling us now that they know where he is at all times. There are only a couple of ways to interpret this. It sounds like they are essentially saying, hey, just got hang out until we come arrest you. It's just like it's an arrest -- you're on standby to be arrested.
CALLAN: Yes. It is becoming a real spectacle. I mean, there are press reports this morning that he's holed up at a hotel and the hotel is surrounded by the police. And I presume there's going to be some sort of camera coverage scene when they swoop in. Now, you don't see that very often in a murder case. So, this is -- this is quite a spectacle.
HOLMES: What risks are they running here if they -- if they feel this strongly that this is their guy? They believe, possibly, they have a murderer that they just let walk out of the door, got out into the public. I mean, how, I guess, tricky is it for the police and a balancing essentially, then somebody they think murdered someone out there back into the public?
CALLAN: Well, you know, in the end, I think they'll be OK, because what the police have done here apparently is, because of a weakness in their case, they didn't make an arrest. But they did. The only thing they can do under the circumstances and that is put him under 24-hour surveillance, so that he won't commit any other crimes while they're developing a last piece of evidence.
So, I think it's going to be hard to criticize the police if they've been watching him continuously. They're waiting for the lab to come through with that piece of DNA evidence that links him. If it does link him, they swoop in for the arrest.
So, the public has been protected and I think ultimately the police will be exonerated in terms of how this investigation was conducted. HOLMES: And remind our viewers here that the gentleman we're talking about is the lab technician, Raymond Clark. He's the one that we just saw in handcuffs in the video and what not.
Our Mary Snow now reporting to us that police are telling her that, in fact, there will be an arrest soon, but not saying who they might be arresting. Again, police are telling our Mary Snow that there will be an arrest soon.
So, that might be the news we get at this 7:00 press conference, but not saying who they might arrest.
Again, I want to reiterate here that that video you're seeing is of that person of interest, that Raymond Clark, that they collected DNA from. Hand in handcuffs but never under arrest, under surveillance. But police are now saying there will be an arrest but not saying exactly who it will be.
Hopefully, we will get that information here in just a couple of minutes.
I want to wrap here with you with one more question out of Hofstra, the case there. Four men under arrest. A woman accuses them of rape. Now, she has gone back on her story, saying that's not true, it was actually consensual. This whole situation. But these four men, we've already seen their faces on TV. They've been arrested. Their names have been out there.
In cases like this, and this one in particular, do the four young men have any recourse now? And besides filing a false police report, are there any other charges she could possibly face?
CALLAN: You know, T.J., this is a horror story for these men because their reputations have now been permanently smeared with respect to the public. In terms of their rights to sue, they clearly can sue her for making the false claim against them, for defamation and a variety of other courses of action.
Now, whether she has any money that they could collect because you can only sue for money damages in a civil case is another matter.
The question is could they sue the police for having made the arrest in the first place. I would say it is going to be difficult to sue the police because the police will say we relied on what the rape -- alleged rape victim -- told us and we made the arrest.
In terms of what will happen to this young woman who's made this false complaint, she could face criminal charges herself. There are a variety of statutes in New York available for filing a false complaint.
I will tell you that law enforcement authorities a lot of times don't make arrests in this situation because they want to encourage people who make false complaints to recant quickly so that an injustice like this is not perpetuated. HOLMES: All right. Paul Callan, we appreciate you and all these stories. I think you might be sticking around a little while with us. We might hear some more about that Yale case. So, we appreciate having you as always.
CALLAN: OK. Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Thanks, Paul.
Again, as T.J. just said moments ago, police are saying now that they expect to make an arrest shortly in the killing of that university -- Yale University grad student, Annie Le. So, keep it here. As soon as we get the latest developments, we'll bring you those details. And we expect a press conference in about 20 minutes. We'll have that live as well.
Meantime, we're going to take a quick break. When we come right back, we're going to be talking about the Afghan war strategy perception versus reality when it comes to making decisions about sending more troops.
It's 37 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning
It appears the White House is holding off now on any move to send more troops to Afghanistan. President Obama making those decisions, saying that making those decisions will be, quote, "a very deliberate process." His top military adviser had suggested a troop increase would be needed to fight a deepening insurgency in Afghanistan. But support for the war is lagging here at home.
Barbara Starr taking a closer look at the reality of what combat is like in Afghanistan.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, T.J., President Obama's making it clear he'll take his time in deciding whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, but top military officials are expressing their concerns.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice over): Troops on patrol talked with Afghans about building a medical clinic. This is the type of action U.S. commanders want -- helping Afghans so they don't turn to the Taliban.
But the combat reality? Senior U.S. officers increasingly believe urgent change is needed.
GEN. JAMES CONWAY, USMC COMMANDANT: If I could change one thing today with what's happening in the south of Afghanistan, it would be more troops, but more Afghan troops.
STARR: In an exclusive interview with CNN, General James Conway, Marine Corps commandant, spells out how more troops might be use.
CONWAY: I think that there's lots of places where we believe we can put the Taliban on the run, as well as disrupting his logistics and supply lines, his command and control, his money source, which in large measure is drugs.
STARR: Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, now says even more U.S. troops may be needed.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: What will happen in that two or three-year period in terms of the security environment while we're training?
ADM. MICHAEL MULLEN, CHAIRMAN OF JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: If we are just training?
GRAHAM: Yes.
MULLEN: I think the security environment will continue to deteriorate.
STARR: As public support for the war continues to slip, Conway says the public isn't seeing the full picture.
CONWAY: So, summing up, I think that what the country needs is to understand better perhaps what's taking place.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Members of Congress have now been briefed about the new strategy assessment and the so-called metrics -- the standards for judging any success in this war.
Kiran? T.J.?
CHETRY: So, a lot of big challenges in deciding that. Barbara Starr for us this morning. Thank you.
HOLMES: And we're coming up on 20 to the top of the hour. But we want to share with you a beautiful picture. Everybody in the studio just said, ah, look at that.
CHETRY: It went away so fast. It was the sunrise.
HOLMES: The sunrise.
CHETRY: Now, the clouds are hiding it a little.
HOLMES: Gorgeous shot. Just makes you want to live in New York.
CHETRY: But, T.J., don't you want to live here? He goes, there's sun in Atlanta, too. HOLMES: Yes, we have sun in Atlanta. We'll get a shot of the Atlanta sunrise here in a bit. We're going to be talking about weather here in just a second with our Rob Marciano.
You know, fall is supposed to be the season coming up, but some places are going straight to winter. They are in the 20s.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Right now, we're at 46 minutes past the hour where it's time to fast forward through the stories that will be making news later today.
The Massachusetts senate is scheduled to consider the late Ted Kennedy's final wish which would be allowing Governor Deval Patrick to temporarily fill his Senate seat until a special election is held in January. But right now, state Republican lawmakers are vowing to delay a vote on that bill.
This afternoon at 3:00 Eastern, the International Space Station will be flexing its robotic arm for the first time, grabbing a cargo carrier as it passes by the outpost. The Japanese capsule is carrying five tons of equipment all to be used for the space station.
Also today, lesson plans across the country will focus on the constitution. It was 222 years ago today back in 1787 that the historic document was signed in Philadelphia. There are also a number of festivities planned in cities from coast to coast.
So, you know, you're here in New York, maybe you can get to one of those constitution parties if you have time.
HOLMES: Oh, please, allow me, tell me where they're happening today and I will attend. Nothing like a good constitution party.
Rob Marciano, let's turn to him in Atlanta.
Good morning to you. And, sir, we use the extreme weather graphic just now so that means you got something extreme to tell us about.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: All right, Rob. I've never seen you do a weather cast with so much of my home state in it, unfortunately for the wrong reasons. But the flooding, put a lot of Arkansas in it.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, listen, that's where the news is, pal, and...
HOLMES: Rarely.
CHETRY: And Rob travels where the news is. All right, Rob, you're going to love this next one.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: You're going to love this next one. We're going to show you after the break. It's so cute. Father and daughter going to the ball game together. And we'll show you what happens after a foul ball hit the stands. Let's take a look in a minute.
Forty-nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning, again.
Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning."
It's everybody's dream at a baseball game. You catch a ball. Catch a foul ball, maybe a home run. And that dream finally came true the other night for a Philadelphia Phillies fan. He's been watching his beloved Phillies since he was just a little guy, 3 years old.
CHETRY: Well, he is 32 now.
LEMON: Yes.
CHETRY: He's a dad. So he wanted to share his major league love with his little daughter, and here's what happened. After that foul ball grab, it has the whole country talking.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was a foul ball catch that left folks in anything but a foul mood.
(VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: No, it wasn't Steve Monforto's catch at the Philadelphia- Washington game that had them laughing. It was his 3-year-old daughter's right arm.
And though she threw back Daddy's souvenir, the heartwarming hug is what lingers. It's one of those moments that evokes this from women...
(VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: ...and from men.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I like what he's doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS: He was doing what Emily was used to doing -- catching and throwing a Nerf ball with dad. But it was the post-toss hug that tugged at most folks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband would have had a fit, but he recovered very nicely to hug her.
MOOS: That hug turned the 32-year-old engineering project manager into a paragon of parenting: "What a prince," "absolute hero," "dad of the year," "best dad ever," "I want to meet this dad."
Yes, well, he's already married. That's his wife with their younger daughter at the game.
Steve told us he hugged Emily when she looked as if she thought she'd done something wrong by tossing away the ball.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow! Classic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MOOS (on camera): Right away, the Phillies sent someone up to the stands to give dad and daughter a ball to replace the one that Emily threw back.
(voice-over): When an online curmudgeon suggested dad should have tossed her after the ball, the next person responded: "Do us all a favor and don't reproduce."
But let us reproduce the slow motion replay and watch Steve's face as he realizes the beloved foul may be gone, but the fairest of all was still in his arms.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: He is a great dad. How adorable.
That was in those quick moments that you see, you know.
HOLMES: She just -- she does not hesitate at all. It was just a reaction.
Thanks.
CHETRY: He should be proud of her. He taught her to throw.
HOLMES: He taught her to throw. She did what she was supposed to do. Good arm on the little one.
CHETRY: Yes. And alls well that ends well, because the Phillies -- that was a nice move on their part. They brought another ball up to him so he will certainly remember that.
Well, still ahead, we are following the latest news out of New Haven, Connecticut, this morning. And in just about ten minutes we expect a press conference from police. They're talking about this murder of Annie Le. Yale grad student. And we've been getting reporting that it looks like an arrest will happen shortly. So we're going to get more details on this. It's developing and breaking as we speak this morning.
Fifty-five minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And good morning everybody. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Talking about the make or break battle over health care reform. It's back on center stage. And in just a few hours, the president hits the road to make his case for revamping health care. Today's audience, college students. Many of them don't have insurance out there these days. The president's campaign to win support coming off the heels of the long-awaited and one and only health care reform proposal that at least aims to provide bipartisan support.
Suzanne Malveaux working her sources at the White House.
Your source is up this early, Suzanne? She's there for us. Let's start...
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: There are some people who e-mailed me back at this hour, T.J.
HOLMES: OK.
MALVEAUX: Not a lot.
HOLMES: That's all right. At least some of those sources are up. Let's talk initially here about this plan. This is supposed to be the one that has bipartisan support. This is the one everybody has been waiting on. The fifth that's out there.
So, is this the one the White House can get behind as well?
MALVEAUX: This is certainly the closest one. A lot of what is in this proposal is reflective of what we heard from the president say before Congress just last week. So, the White House pretty much satisfied with what they're seeing here.
One of the things it does, it doesn't increase to the deficit. It's less than $900 billion over 10 years that the president said it was going to be the cost of his plan. It's also one that mandates, requires people to get health insurance or face a fine.
Now, that's a flip, T.J. When he was a candidate, he slammed Hillary Clinton for mandating health care coverage. He has since come around to that -- that position.
The other thing it does -- provides consumer protection so that insurance companies, they can't drop various sick people from their coverage. They can't deny you if you have a pre-existing condition, that type of thing.
But one thing it does not have that the White House and the president really did want and prefer was that public option, the government-run insurance program that would offer some sort of competition to the private sector insurance companies.
Well, that's going to be done through a co-op, something that is collectively owned by the people who are part of that co-op. So, that's different.
The other disappointing thing, obviously, from the president, he ran as a candidate of change but also somebody who's going to bring everybody together, clearly this is not a bipartisan bill at this point. We don't see any Republicans who are signing on to this. There are even some Democrats who are having some problems with this, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. And when are we going to hear from the president? Just seems like he is not out there enough on this thing, Suzanne. Of course, I'm teasing.
MALVEAUX: Just don't say that (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: Yes. I hope people can sense the sarcasm. But he's really, really getting out there this weekend.
MALVEAUX: We're going to see him at a rally. He's going to be at a huge rally, University of Maryland college park today. But then also, you're going to see him five, five networks on the Sunday shows over the weekend. He's going to be on Dave Letterman doing comedy.
So, you name it, T.J., all the forums across the board. This president is trying to sell this plan and get it through.
HOLMES: All right. Suzanne Malveaux working her sources or waking her sources up this morning. Suzanne, as always, good to see you. See you again soon.
Coming up at the bottom of the hour, Representative Anthony Weiner who says that this new health care legislation is DOA in the House at least. That's coming up at 7:30 Eastern right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
