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American Morning
Letterman Reveals Sex, Extortion Scandal; Obama Lobbies for 2016 Summer Olympics in Chicago; Chicagoans Split Over Hosting Olympics; Will Violence and Other Problems Hurt Chicago?; Iran Agrees to Open Nuclear Sites; New Information Reveals Pilots Violating the Sterile Cockpit Rule
Aired October 02, 2009 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And we are just ready to cross the top of the hour. Good morning. It's Friday, October 2nd. I'm Christine Romans for John Roberts this morning.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you this morning, Christine. I'm Kiran Chetry. We've a lot of big stories we're breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
First, Dave Letterman dropping a bombshell in his show last night. Although the audience laughed at first, it clearly wasn't meant to be funny. The late night comic revealed that he had sex with members of his staff and that he was part of an alleged $2 million extortion plot, a person threatening to go public with that.
We're going to be live at the Ed Sullivan Theater with Alina Cho for more details.
ROMANS: An Olympic sized fly-by -- President Obama's whirlwind trip to Denmark to try to win the 2016 Olympics for Chicago. It was so fast and furious the pitchman chief is backing eh air and headed home for the answer. We'll have live reports from both Chicago and Copenhagen on D-Day.
CHETRY: And chatting in cockpit -- airline pilots are banned from non-essential talk during taxiing, takeoff, and landing. But experts say the no-chitchat rule is frequently violated, sometimes with disastrous results. We'll show you how laughing, chatting pilots captures on voice data recorders could be putting passengers in danger.
We begin this morning, though, with a real shocker on stage at the Ed Sullivan's Theater, David Letterman making a late-night confession. If you went to bed before midnight on the East Coast, you're probably hearing about this for the first time.
The talk show host revealing on his show last night that he was the victim of an alleged $2 million extortion plot and that he had sex with female staff members. This morning a CBS employee who works on the show "48 Hours" is charged with attempted grand larceny in this case.
Alina Cho if following this story live for us. She's live outside the Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan where Letterman tapes his show. Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, good morning to you.
If you're a Letterman fan, you know that David Letterman rarely gives interviews, he rarely gives press conferences. So over the years he has often used his own show as a vehicle to make major announcements about his life -- his marriage back in March, emergency bypass surgery, even a kidnapping plot against his own son Harry, but certainly never anything like this until now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: It started out like it has for nearly three decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the "Late Show" with David Letterman.
CHO: Late night laughs.
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": It's so bright and sunny, the skunks were coming out of the subway squinting.
CHO: But after the monologue, it quickly turned serious. The audience stunned.
LETTERMAN: This whole thing has been quite scary.
CHO: When David Letterman revealed he is the victim of an alleged extortion attempt.
LETTERMAN: This morning I did something I've never done in my life. I had to go downtown to testify before the grand jury.
CHO: Letterman said he received a package three weeks ago from a person who claimed to have information about his sex life. And he wanted $2 million. Pay up or he goes public.
LETTERMAN: I get to looking through it, and there's a letter in the package. And it says that I know that you do some terrible, terrible things.
(LAUGHTER)
And I can prove that you do these terrible things. And sure enough contained in the package was stuff to prove that I do terrible things.
(LAUGHTER)
CHO: The 62-year-old host went to the Manhattan district attorney's office, which began an investigation. Letterman said he set up several meetings with the man, who he said wanted to turn his life off stage into a screen play, possibly a book, and gave him a fake check for $2 million. On Thursday, an arrest. Then another bombshell.
LETTERMAN: And I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I have done that were going to be...
(LAUGHTER)
Well, now why is that funny?
CHO: The admission, right from the host, right from his desk.
LETTERMAN: The creepy stuff was that I have had sex with women who work for me on this show.
CHO: He tried to break the tension by taking shots at his favorite target, himself.
LETTERMAN: And would it be embarrassing if it were made public? Perhaps, it would. Perhaps, it would, especially for the women.
CHO: It has not known when the sexual encounters with staffers took place. Letterman married long time partner in Regina Lasko in March. The couple has been together since 1986 and they have a six- year-old son, Harry.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Keep in mind Letterman's stunning admission last night comes at a time of great success in his career. Think about it. After lagging behind Jay Leno for years in the rating, Letterman now consistently beats Conan O'Brien. Just last week he had President Obama on the show and saw his best ratings in four years.
But Kiran, last night, Dave being Dave, said to the audience, "I know what you're thinking-'I'll be darned, Dave had sex.' " And again, Dave Letterman fans will tell you that was vintage Letterman.
CHETRY: Again, very interesting, because he's admitting something that has serious implications but at the same time, making a joke out of it. So it's sort of a little bit of a cringe worthy moment, I guess?
CHO: It was. It was nine minutes. This I can tell you for sure, Kiran, having watched it live last night -- it was nine minutes of riveting television. And the studio audience really didn't know how to react. At times they were gasping audibly. They were laughing as you saw in the piece. And they were stunned completely silent.
I can tell you after watching Letterman for many, many years, 29 years on the air, he has talked very personally about his life, more recently after the birth of his son, but certainly there has never ever been anything like this on the Letterman show.
CHO: Very interesting. We'll see what happens today about it. Alina Cho for us, thanks so much.
CHETRY: And when a politicians slips up, David Letterman is usually one of the first people to poke fun at it. So will this affect his image or his career at all? At 7:30 eastern, Tom O'Neill from "In Touch Weekly" will weigh in. ROMANS: And in just a few hours we'll know if Chicago will be hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics. One Olympic expert says "There is no doubt it will be extremely close."
President Obama is scheduled to leave Copenhagen at any moment after putting his personal touch on the Olympic bid early this morning while most of you were sound asleep.
The Chicago delegation made its sales pitch to the International Olympic Committee, and all night across the windy city skyline, buildings were lit up with the number 2016, hoping to add a little luck.
We have correspondents on both sides of the globe covering this for us. Senior White Correspondent Ed Henry is in Copenhagen. But first let's turn to our own Ali Velshi in Chi-town. Good morning in Chicago, Ali.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. You lived in this town, and you know that when things like this happen, it becomes a small town. People really do gather around and rally.
We're here at Daley Plaza in downtown Chicago. It's a little early yet, this announcement's several hours away. But what we've got people gathering, security officials, a police officer with a dog sniffing around to see if everything's OK.
And over this shoulder, you can see there are monitors set up, there's a bandstand, and then a gathering of media from around the world. We've got satellite trucks all over the place.
This is going to be the place where Chicagoans come to watch and hopefully celebrate if they get the Olympics or go home and do something else if they don't get the Olympics.
There is a significant proportion of the population who is ambivalent or who doesn't care -- doesn't want the Olympics here, thinking the money spent on it is going to take away from money that can be spent on other things. Listen to some of what I heard from Chicagoans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
N'DANA CARTER, CHICAGO RESIDENT: My mother would pack up some food and we'd have blankets and sheets and we'd come and sleep in the park.
VELSHI: A smile lights up on N'Dana Carter's face as she remembers the nights her parents would take her and her sisters to spend the night in Washington Park, a huge space with more acreage than Washington's National Mall.
But that smile disappears when talk shifts to Chicago possibly winning the bid to hold the Olympics and plans to build an 80,000 feet stadium in Washington Park over the very spot Carter slept under the stars as a child back in the '60s.
CARTER: The biggest negative is the cost. There's no city that has had the Olympics that hasn't spent more than 20 years paying for it.
VELSHI: That's not true of every Olympic city, but there's more.
CARTER: Then it's the displacement. This displacement is going to hurt a lot of people.
VELSHI: Carter is among those who don't want the Olympics because they think thousands of low-income Chicagoans will be moved out to make room for construction of new sports venues.
But the city has said all along, that won't happen. They say the sheer size of Washington Park plus the fact that the athletes' village is planned for an abandoned hospital, means the city can construct enough new venues without forcing renters out of their homes.
And Olympic bid supporters say it'll bring in the type of construction this city needs to put people back to work.
TOM VILLANOVA, CHICAGO BUILDING TRADE: We're talking about an initial $4 billion in construction. So there will be an effect across the board for all 24 trades that I represent.
BOB KERSEY, CHICAGO RESIDENT: I really don't see any reason why we shouldn't get it. I'm all for it.
VELSHI: But some people will be moving out. Developers not necessarily affiliated with the Olympic bid are anticipating a property boom, and they've offered south side homeowner money to sell his childhood home regardless of whether Chicago wins the bid. And if the city is victorious, Kersey gets a bonus.
VELSHI (on camera): Can you tell me what that bonus was?
KERSEY: I can't tell you that.
VELSHI (voice-over): Most Chicagoans, according to a new poll, support the bid, but that doesn't sway the city's many opponents. No one's offered N'Dana Carter a bonus, and she says she's not leaving, whether or not the Olympics come to town.
CARTER: They will drag my cold dead body out and my ghost will hurt them. That's the way it's going to work. I'm not going. I am staying.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: We've heard a lot of opposition. We don't hear a lot of people saying that they're going to drag their cold dead bodies out and their ghosts are going to haunt them.
The bottom line here is Chicago doesn't stand to benefit as much from the infrastructure building that typically takes place when an Olympics comes to a town because it's got a pretty strong infrastructure.
What Chicago does have is a lot of social problems, crime problems, things like that, and a lot of people are saying let's divert the money there instead of spending it on Olympics -- Christine and Kiran?
ROMANS: Thanks so much, Ali. A very tired and cold chi-town this morning.
CHETRY: Yes, but maybe they'll have something to cheer about not to many hours from now.
ROMANS: Maybe.
CHETRY: Hey Ali, stand by, we're going to check back in with you in a moment. But first we're going to head to Copenhagen and our Ed Henry. And before we talk about the Olympics, Ed, you're getting some breaking news about the president meeting with his general there. What do you know about that meeting?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Kiran, we've just got this breaking news that the president has wrapped up a 25-minute meeting aboard Air Force one with his commander on the ground in Afghanistan.
This meeting though took place here in Copenhagen. That's because General Stanley McChrystal was already in Europe in the last couple of days, so White House officials privately arranged for the general to be here in Copenhagen.
They were trying to keep this secret. It has just leaked out basically that the president met with the commander. This was to continue the conversation that really kicked off Wednesday, that three-hour meeting in the White House Situation Room, to figure out what is the strategy coming out of General McChrystal's report, that scathing report about how the situation on the ground has deteriorated in Afghanistan. And the general believe there needs to be more troops sent there.
That's obviously going to be a big, big issue in the days ahead. But right now, obviously the president in Copenhagen to try to make this final pitch for Chicago's bid for the Olympics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: After flying through the night for seven hours, the president arrived in Copenhagen for just four hours, immediately joining force with first lady Michelle Obama to help make the final pitch for Chicago and the U.S. to host the 2016 Olympics.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is nothing I would like more than to step just a few blocks from my family's home with Michelle and our two girls and welcome the world back into our neighborhood. At the beginning of this new century, the nation that has been shaped by people from around the world wants a chance to inspire it once more.
HENRY: But his wife stole the show with a speech that tugged at the heart strings.
MICHELLE OBAMA, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: In my dad's early 30s he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. And as he got sicker, it became harder for him to walk, let alone play his favorite sports.
HENRY: Mrs. Obama spoke emotionally about her father getting sicker but still teaching her how to play sports while propping him up on crutches.
MICHELLE OBAMA: My dad was my hero. And when I think about what these games can mean to people all over the world, I think about people like my dad, people who face seemingly insurmountable challenges but never let go. They work a little harder, but they never give up.
HENRY: It also wouldn't be Chicago without lobbying from the mayor.
MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: We want to share our city with the world. We want to welcome people from all nations. You have my commitment that Chicago will work every day for the next seven years to be an Olympic city that you and the world would be proud of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: But the final word came from the president on his way out the door here at this center where the IOC meeting was going on. The president sort of half jokingly said to reporters, look, the only part I'm upset about is the fact I had to follow Michelle, obviously suggesting that her presentation really resonated with these IOC members.
So the real drama will come after about noon eastern time when we expect to get the results of the voting, how this will play out. A lot of speculation here on the ground that it's really between Rio and Chicago, a real close competition there.
And in fact we've just gotten word that the president, Air Force One has already lifted off from Copenhagen. He was just on the ground for a few hours, already headed back to D.C. The final word on all of this is likely to come down while he's in the air on the way back to Washington - Kiran.
CHETRY: Wow. All right, I know a lot of fingers crossed and I'm sure a lot of anticipation. Five hours from now we'll find out. Thanks, Ed.
And stick around, we're going to talk to you and Ali. And Ali, let me just get you back into this about the PR part right now. Chicago does have some big obstacles that could stand in the way, in particular, the city's violence.
How big of a problem could what's has been going on -- of course, that high profile tragic beating of a 16-year-old that was caught on tape, how is that all possibly factoring in?
VELSHI: It's been factoring in for a while, particularly those people who oppose the Olympic bid here are saying that the Chicago south side has been plagued with violence for a very long time. But we've really been hearing a lot about youth on youth violence in the last year, and then the beating death of a 16-year-old student who apparently wasn't involved in anything got involved between two factions, caught on a cell phone video has really garnered national attention.
The president has sent the attorney general, Eric Holder, and the education secretary, Arne Duncan, to Chicago to meet with school officials and community leaders. Arne Duncan was the CEO of Chicago's public school system. So the idea is that he's bringing in cabinet- level members to come into Chicago and to try to see whether there's a solution that they can offer to the violence in Chicago.
That is obviously marring Chicago's chances for a bid and we'll see whether it has any impact at all. But it's definitely got a lot of people around here saying we have big problems in Chicago. Let's solve them before we spend money on something like the Olympics which may not the solve the problems that they've got to deal with particularly on this city's South Side, Kiran.
ROMANS: You know, Ali, every mother, father family I know in Chicago, this is what they talk about. They talk about the violence in Chicago, the youth and youth violence, right up there when they're talking about the economy. They're very concerned about this.
You know, Ed, have you heard if the president thinks that the city's violence could be an issue for the Olympic Committee? And what can really be done?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He certainly does believe it could be an issue. And I want to point out that my colleague, Suzanne Malveaux, was really pressing Robert Gibbs at the White House briefing about this yesterday and got some good information. First of all, what Ali was just pointing out, Robert Gibbs' revealing that next Wednesday the Education secretary and the attorney general are going to that school in Chicago to really shine a light on this and figure out some solutions moving forward.
And secondly, Robert Gibbs also mentioned that the president in his private meetings here with these IOC members, if it came up, and the issue of safety, he was prepared to talk to him about it frankly, about his adopted hometown and to explain that he believes people will be safe. And in fact a couple of days ago, I met with the first lady along with some other reporters back in Washington. And I asked her directly about the violence and the first lady told me at the time that, look, this is a problem in Chicago, but it's a problem in many big cities, not just the U.S., but around the world. So they're very much prepared in their talks here with IOC members to deal with it because they know it's a big, big issue, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Ed Henry, Ali Velshi, thanks guys.
CHETRY: And by the way, stay with CNN all morning for continuing coverage of the Olympics decision from Copenhagen. We expect to hear who the winner is between 12:30 and 1:00 Eastern Time. And you can, of course, follow every step on the air and all online all of it here on CNN.
So, you may say we've heard this before. But Iran is promising to come clean on its nuclear programs to let the inspectors in. But from the past, we know that sometimes talk can be cheap.
Jamie Rubin was an assistant secretary of state. He's going to tell us whether this is a major breakthrough or not on the nuclear issue with Iran.
It's 18 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. The death toll in Indonesia after two powerful earthquakes is now at least 1,100 people. Hundreds more are said to be injured. Rescuers are digging through rubble looking for survivors. In the hard hit western city of Padang, a teenager was rescued from a collapsed building after 40 hours.
A Texas judge is clearing the way for two men in Dallas to get a divorce. Texas doesn't recognize or legally perform gay marriages. The men were married elsewhere, but "The Dallas Morning News" reports the court says that doesn't mean it can't preside over their divorce. The attorney for the man who filed says he and his client are "ecstatic."
And the White House putting Tehran on notice. President Obama says Iran has two weeks to let international inspectors into its newly discovered nuclear plant. Iranian officials did agree to that timeline. The talks with the U.S. and the four other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and the E.U's top foreign official says -- also says Iran has agreed to export a lot of its uranium for processing in another country.
CHETRY: Christine, thanks.
So we're talking about Iran. Iran promising to come clean on its nuclear program and to let inspectors in, but the U.S. knows from the past that talk can be cheap. U.S. and European officials are already warning that this could fall apart. And the question that many are asking is can America trust Iran to do what it says?
For more now, we have a perspective that we're happy to have this morning. Former Assistant Secretary of State Jamie Rubin. He's been in this position before and he joins me now with more.
How -- thanks for being here, by the way. Nice to see you. How significant do you think is it that Iran is now coming back with talks saying that yes, we will let the inspectors in and yes, we'll do it within two weeks?
JAMES RUBIN, FORMER ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: I think it is significant. This particular site that was revealed about a week ago today was only part of the puzzle, however. And I do think that they'll allow these inspectors in.
The big news if it's followed up on is that Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency are going to find a way to remove from Iran this nuclear material that could be made into a bomb. And if that happens in a careful and verifiable way, then I think a lot of the concerns about Iran immediately going to a nuclear weapon will be limited.
CHETRY: So this is significant if it is indeed all they have. Meaning if they agree that they're going to allow this enriched uranium to be processed elsewhere, but still for Iran's use, right? They get to save face and at the same time we get to have our fears allayed. But what if there's a secret...
RUBIN: No.
CHETRY: You know, I mean, they didn't want us to find out about this site, so what if there is secret uranium enrichment taking place, as well?
RUBIN: Well, look, I think with Iran we're going to have to go back to a standard we used to use in our arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union back in the Cold War. And that is if we can discover what was called militarily significant cheating in a timely way and we'll have time to respond to that cheating, then the agreement is worthwhile. And I think that what we showed in revealing this side a week ago is that we're pretty good at finding a covert side.
But secondly, let's be clear. The U.S. has made a move, as well. We have accepted the idea that Iran is going to continue to enrich uranium while this is all going on. They're going to enrich some in Iran, ship some out to be reprocessed to make it better for their medical site, but meanwhile, they'll continue to enrich uranium. So we, instead of demanding a freeze on their program, we've said, OK, let's try to put some controls on it. So if they cheat in a militarily significant way, we'll be able to respond. And that's the hard question is how much we will be able to verify and how much time there is between when they might make a decision to use this material wrongly and when we would find out.
CHETRY: All right. So the Obama administration calling it a constructive beginning and saying that hard work does lie ahead. But the other interesting thing, this is from a Johns Hopkins professor by the name of Elliot Cohen (ph). He wrote in the "Wall Street Journal" that we should encourage the Iranian people to change their country from within. He said, "It's in the American interest to break with past policy and to actively seek the overthrow of the Islamic Republic." If he says not through an invasion, so how can the United States support regime change within if we're not talking about an invasion?
RUBIN: Well, a lot of people, I think on the outside have a certain degree of wishful thinking about Iran itself. That somehow with some cell phones and some perhaps money to certain groups or communication tools that the recent uprising over the election can be transformed into a revolution. And I think...
CHETRY: Do you agree with that?
RUBIN: I don't. I think that the sad truth is that the regime was able to crack down on these protesters, that there are serious problems within the regime. And I think that's not going to go away. And the result is that many of the moderates, so-called moderates in this system that used to be part of this government now are on the sidelines criticizing the regime.
But the idea that, you know, we should wait around and not do anything in the arms control field, which is what Mr. Cohen would propose, that forget trying to control their weapon, let's try to get at the problem, which is the regime itself. I think that's naive in the extreme. We've got to deal with the problem at hand, which is the potential for Iran having nuclear breakout. If we can deal with that, yes, we can have time to support human rights in Iran. But to not deal with the regime because of its human rights problem would be a mistake, the kind of mistake that people suggested during the Cold War.
Again, as an example, we used to be able to do both. We talked to the Soviet Union about arms control and we talked to them about human rights. And that's what the Obama administration is trying to do.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see how it works out. James Rubin, former assistant secretary of state, great to talk to you. Thanks for being with us this morning.
RUBIN: Nice to see you this morning.
CHETRY: Right now, it's 25 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-eight minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
You may not know this, but there is a rule that airline pilots are supposed to follow. No chitchat on takeoff, on landing, only essential conversations are allowed. But there's startling information this morning about pilots who disregard that rule who may be putting passengers in danger.
Our Jeanne Meserve in Washington now with more details. What do they call it? They call a sterile cockpit. Right? We heard about that during the Colgan Air crash in Buffalo.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Sterile cockpit rule. What it means is that in the cockpit, non-essential conversation is banned during taxiing and while flying under 10,000 feet. It's a federal rule, but accident investigations indicate it's a rule that is sometimes broken and with disastrous results.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): Minutes before a 2004 plane crash in Kirksville, Missouri that killed 13 people, a joking pilot says, "Love to poke my head back around and say that, you know, ladies and gentlemen, uh, we've thought about it." A laughing co-pilot chimes in, "It was unanimous up here." The pilot continues, "We've come to the conclusion that you people should all shut the blank up."
ROBERT SUMWALT, NTSB MEMBER: It is really sad to listen to a cockpit voice recorder where the pilots are sitting there laughing, carrying on, having a great time not aware that they're about to run into the ground.
MESERVE: After 24 years as a commercial pilot, Robert Sumwalt is now a member of the National Transportation Safety Board. He believes the sterile cockpit rule, which bans non-essential talk during taxiing, takeoff, and landing is frequently violated and for safety's sake, he says that must change.
SUMWALT: I think people need to draw that line in the sand and say this is a regulation, we will adhere to it.
MESERVE: The NTSB has cited violations of the sterile cockpit rule in six crashes since 2004, according to a survey by "USA Today."
In Lexington, Kentucky, in 2006, chatting cockpit crew took off on the wrong one run way, 49 were killed.
In Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2004, the pilot and co-pilot were laughing about alcohol minutes before impact. They both died.
Investigators are also looking at whether cockpit small talk contributed to the 2009 Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, New York. The Airline Pilots Association believes pilots usually do adhere to the sterile cockpit rule but says to improve compliance there should be more training and observation.
CAPT. PAUL RICE, AIRLINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL: But a properly trained airline pilot sits in the jump seat and observes his or her airline pilots and has the ability to comment to question.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: In that situation, however, the pilot who's flying might be careful not to break the rule. A more realistic way to get a sense of the problem might be to pull cockpit voice recorders and listen to conversations. But people on all sides of the debate said that is a non-starter. Kiran, back to you.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning -- thanks so much. We're coming up on a minute past the hour right now.
We'll look at the top stories this morning.
The president's on his way back to the U.S. after making his in-person pitch to try to score the 2016 Summer Olympics for Chicago. He was joined by First Lady Michelle Obama who told Olympic officials what it would mean to her father to see the games in Chicago. Oprah Winfrey adding to the star power was also there for the presentation. And the president's message: Chicago can handle the Olympic challenge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The host, athletes, and visitors from every corner of the globe is a high honor and a great responsibility. And America is ready and eager to assume that sacred trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And a reminder, stay with CNN for live coverage all morning leading up to the IOC's announcements which will take place sometime around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time today.
ROMANS: The president is saying thanks to the Senate Finance Committee. The key committee made some last-minute changes to its health care reform bill said to ease the impact on working class families. And that bill is essentially all set to be passed by the committee early next week and head for a debate in the full Senate. The 23 senators worked until well after midnight, finally shutting things down at 2:18 a.m.
CHETRY: Wow.
All right. Federal employees are on notice from the president. No texting behind the wheel. Why did I get this story again?
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: President Obama signed an executive order on the heels of a two-day Federal Summit on Distracted Driving. The government's also planning to ban texting and driving for bus drivers, for truckers, and for those who travel across state lines.
ROMANS: And now back to our breaking news this morning: David Letterman's dramatic admission on television that he had sex with staff members. It started with this uncomfortable moment when he said he was the victim of an extortion plot. His audience -- his audience seemed to think he was joking. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, TV HOST: This whole thing has been quite scary. I had to go downtown to the -- testify before the grand jury. And I had to tell them how I was disturbed by this. I was worried for myself. I was worried for my family. I felt menaced by this. And I had to tell them all of the creepy things that I have done that were going to be...
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: So, in the process of revealing the charge of extortion, Letterman throws in that he had sex with women on his staff. What does this mean for his image? Tom O'Neill is senior editor with "In Touch Weekly" and Tom joins us now for more on this stunning David Letterman story.
Tom, good morning. I mean, it was nine minutes of television. There were some laughing from the audience at what I would say would be inappropriate parts. I mean, maybe they didn't realize that it was a -- it was a real confession happening here.
What do you make of what happened there on "Letterman" last night?
TOM O'NEILL, SR. EDITOR, "IN TOUCH WEEKLY": You can't know. It was done in typical Letterman-style where we were all put ill at ease while watching this. Was he joking when he talked about the terrible, creepy things he did? At first, it didn't seem that way. It seemed as if he was really confessing to us. Then he built this like a comic act to crescendo where everyone's laughing at the end, and now, you think, well, maybe -- maybe this is not a big deal.
Look, David Letterman just got married in March. For 30 years, he was a single man. If this was consensual sex with his co-workers, maybe that's not so bad. But we also have to wonder, is it that terrible that it gets into areas, let's say, perhaps, of sexual harassment?
ROMANS: And we just don't know.
O'NEILL: Yes.
ROMANS: I mean, he mentioned that there were women on his staff who he had had sex with. But he doesn't give anymore details -- anymore details than that. What do we know about David Letterman?
I guess he's a reclusive, yes, but he's also revealed a lot of himself on the air before. I mean, there was an extortion plot involving his son, he's had a stalker. He announced concerns about his health before on the air. So, he's reclusive, yes, but he does share with his audience. This takes the cake, though.
O'NEILL: This does, because, first of all, let's be honest. You don't think of David Letterman as a sexual object.
ROMANS: No.
O'NEILL: But on the other hand, he's the classic bohemian. So, he fits that profile. And he's a rascal. So, this isn't -- if this had happened to Jay Leno, it might be damaging. But, you know, how much damaging is it with Letterman's audience? These are largely frat boys.
ROMANS: Let's talk about -- I guess, he makes -- he makes a living making fun of other people. He makes a living making fun of other powerful men's dalliances, poking fun of them. Did he diffuse anybody calling him hypocrite by him going out and trying to get ahead of it?
O'NEILL: I think so. I think he handled it brilliantly last night. The question is, now, what happens next? He said in this monologue of his, it's up to the women to come forward and tell their stories if they want to. Well, what if they do? And what if it's really embarrassing?
The question I have is, when he told this story last night, he described the scene of how it started. When he got up one morning, he got into his car and there was a box in the backseat that he opened and the extortion begins there. And I want to know what was in that box, because this was the evidence.
ROMANS: Of the creepy things that he had done.
O'NEILL: Yes.
ROMANS: What was that evidence?
O'NEILL: What's in the box?
ROMANS: All right. Tom O'Neill, senior editor, "In Touch Weekly." This is clearly the story people are going to be talking about this morning.
Another story that we're talking about this morning is this fire hero. This man in the Bronx who is -- suddenly hears screams and he climbs up a fire escape, and from the fourth floor, he grabs a 4- year-old boy and protecting him from the falling debris, protects him from the smoke and turned himself into a New York and frankly national hero. The picture is just -- just amazing.
We're going to have him on. He's going to talk to us about what he was feeling, what he was thinking, and we'll try to find out how that little boy is doing today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning."
We showed you this video yesterday and it was just astounding to watch. The little boy is OK, by the way. Because it is disturbing to watch if you don't know the outcome.
But this man rushed to the rescue of a 4-year-old boy after a fire broke out, really a blazing inferno in a New York apartment building. He tried to shield himself from falling debris and then ended up saving the little boy's life.
ROMANS: And the man who pulled that little boy to safety was instantly turned into an American hero. His name is Horia Cretan, and he joins us now this morning.
Good morning.
HORIA CRETAN, RESCUED 4-YEAR-OLD BOY: Good morning.
ROMANS: You know, so many people have watched this...
CRETAN: Thank you very much.
ROMANS: ... and just riveted by the idea of running up to the -- running up the fire escape and grabbing this little boy. First, what were you thinking? What were you thinking? And then, as you're carrying him down, I mean, he was really lifeless. He was not -- he was sort of deadweight. It must have been difficult.
Were you worried about whether you were pulling out a boy you were saving or whether he had...
CRETAN: Well, what I was worried about is he still alive? Because his head just dropped, and he was -- he wasn't helping himself or helping me bring him up. He just couldn't hold his weight and he was unconscious. And that's really scared me. I'm like, are we doing this for a reason or...
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: So, you didn't know if he was even alive or dead at that point?
CRETAN: No.
CHETRY: Let's just walk people back to how it began. You live in the -- you were walking by in the neighborhood.
CRETAN: No, I own a store in the very same building at the first floor. So...
CHETRY: In the same building. So you're familiar with that neighborhood?
CRETAN: Yes, pretty much.
CHETRY: And when you heard the alarms going off and you saw firefighters coming at he scene, how did you end up getting up to the fire escape?
CRETAN: I was already there at the time. I was already the time the firefighters came afterwards.
ROMANS: So, you had heard the screaming and you were wondering, are these kids playing in the street? Or is this -- is this something more dangerous?
CRETAN: That's exactly what I thought. I thought it was -- you know, just kids coming from school. It was around 4:00, and, you know, people just come out of school at that time. They play around, but this time the scream was totally different. So, I decided to look outside and see what's happening.
CHETRY: S you run off the fire escape. You said that the firefighter at the time, he broke the window, got in there, there was smoke pouring all over. He handed the little boy to you.
CRETAN: Yes, he did. And because I didn't see nobody coming to help him -- so, I said, "Well, he's pretty much alone, too." The rest of the crews were trying to get into the building through the main entrance and try to make their way on the floor below, the main apartment. So I had to go up there. And I didn't see nobody helping him. So, what was I going to do?
ROMANS: So the pictures that we see, you're taking this child down one flight of this fire escape. You know, it's cumbersome, it's steep. I mean, you must have been worried you were going to drop him, he's not helping -- because he's lifeless.
Basically, you lay him on the fire escape. I thought it was so amazing. You pulled this blanket up around your head and his head. Things must have been falling from the fire.
CRETAN: Yes, they were. He wasn't -- he didn't realize the effect, because he had the mask on and he couldn't see very well. And he realized I'm right below him and he's breaking the glass.
ROMANS: He's breaking the glass.
CRETAN: Yes. And I'm like, wow, the child already had a cut on his leg. I didn't want anymore injuries to him than what he already got.
ROMANS: But then at one point here, you look down and you sort of -- you're starting to tell people, you know, "OK, he's breathing, he's breathing." Did you -- you laid him down and you assessed that, look, he's breathing, and you could see that he was -- looks like you were trying to signal there to people that he was going to -- that you thought he was going to be OK.
CRETAN: Right. Right. I screamed to him. I had to let him know easy with the glass because, you know, we're getting hurt right below you right now.
ROMANS: Right.
CRETAN: And -- and so, there were a lot of people. They were just stunned by the whole thing. So, they need (INAUDIBLE) just the same because the boy is what we worry about. There's nothing else going for neither one of us.
CHETRY: And his older brother was down there. He was hysterical. The boy's name by the way is Christopher. He's OK. Thank goodness. He had smoke inhalation and he was given oxygen on the scene.
But, you know, the other amazing twist in all of this, is this is not the first time you've rescued somebody from a fire. You've pulled your own sister from a fire in your native country. And that your father didn't make it out of that fire alive. What happened?
CRETAN: No, he didn't. It was -- it was a sad story. It was a tragic moment at the time. And you know, it had an impact on people around the neighborhood like it does right now. I mean, it's amazing. This just skyrocketed. I never thought it would come to this level. I've gotten messages from all over the world. And...
ROMANS: Were you thinking of that when you ran up in the building? Or you're just acted on instinct? You weren't thinking that...
CRETAN: This has become famous because somebody happened to be on the corner with the camera pretty much. You don't do things like this for no merit whatsoever. What is the merit to you? The merit in itself is you save somebody. And the whole community's just being great. They're adopting me like a son and I'm a part of a big family and I'm happy to have them in my life. And it's just amazing.
CHETRY: What did little Christopher's parents say to you?
CRETAN: I did not speak to them yet. Believe it or not, I've seen them on TV, and I believe that I'll be able to meet them today. Later, I'm probably -- I'll go and see the boy at the hospital, and we need to see this boy's house (ph). It's amazing. I've got to look him in the eye one more time. Are you kidding me (ph)? And I hope to see him back on the block.
I hope they're going to recover from all this because they've lost everything they had, pretty much, as far as, you know, valuables. But other than that it was a success story.
CHETRY: They got the most priceless thing of all back, the 4- year-old, thanks to you.
CRETAN: Yes. Yes, they did. Yes, they did.
CHETRY: Well, thanks for joining us. It was so great to hear your story.
CRETAN: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
CHETRY: Horia Cretan, rescuing this boy, Christopher, from the burning building. And the pictures were just amazing, which is why we wanted to have you on and tell your story.
CRETAN: It's sinking in little by little.
ROMANS: And we like happy endings. We definitely like happy endings.
CRETAN: Thank you very much. ROMANS: All right. Thanks so much. It's about 15 minutes till the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Here's what we're following now for you. Just days after they announced the dates, Kanye West and Lady Gaga are canceling their tour. Live Nation announced the news yesterday and said refunds will be issued. The cancellation comes on the heels of all of that publicity for - negative publicity for Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swift at the VMAs.
CHETRY: Well, don't ask for a beer on a US Airways flight over New Mexico, or any wine for that matter. The federal judge has ruled that officials can keep the airline from serving alcohol on its New Mexico flight after a passenger got off a plane and caused a deadly drunk driving crash in 2006. The airline had argued that it wasn't subject to local liquor laws.
ROMANS: The TLC network has shut down filming of the children on "Jon & Kate Plus 8" after receiving a cease and desist order from their father, Jon Gosselin. Just Monday the network announced that the popular reality show would be renamed "Kate Plus 8" with a reduced involvement by Jon Gosselin. Filming not directly involving the kids will continue, TLC said, although they may have to rename the show just "Kate" now.
Jon Gosselin spoke exclusively to our "LARRY KING LIVE" last night and broke the news this way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": In that same announcement, TLC said it would continue its exclusive relationship with you and that you'd be on the show but on a less regular basis.
JON GOSSELIN, REALITY SHOW DAD: That's fine (ph), and I'm asking not to be on the show and I'm asking my children not to be on the show. I mean, I don't want them to film anymore. I don't think it's healthy for them, and I - the reason I don't think it's healthy for them is that we're going through a divorce right now, and I don't think it should be televised and I think my kids should be taken off the show.
KING: But it was OK in the past. Do you think it was ever healthy, really?
GOSSELIN: I don't, and, you know...
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Variety's reporting that Kate Gosellin has taped a television talk show pilot. Jon is reportedly shopping other TV projects too. CHETRY: I really can't say anything. I really can't. Let's just say the timing -- the timing is interesting, and I'm sure that that's not the last chapter in this ongoing saga.
ROMANS: No, it's not.
CHETRY: Well, let's check in with Rob Marciano. If you're getting ready for the weekend and you live in the south, you could be hit with some storms coming your way this weekend. Hey, Rob.
ROMANS: Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning again, guys. We have some storms right now, but where there are storms today, they should be gone tomorrow. So that's - we're getting into a fairly progressive pattern. Middle of fall now, I guess, you'd almost say, and that means things are starting to move fairly rapidly from west to east. This is a pretty strong storm for this time of year, and it is spawning some showers and storm around the front, and this will all be slowly propagating off to the east in due time.
I want to touch briefly on what's going on overseas. Typhoon Parma - this is the second typhoon or at least tropical cyclone here in - in a week, heading towards the Philippines. Right now, it's the equivalent of a Category four storm and it's forecasted to go just north of Manila. And forecast may be dumping as much as four to eight inches of rain in already flood-stricken areas.
All right. We do have some rain across parts of the south. There was a tornado watch in effect for parts of southern Louisiana. That has since been dropped. New Orleans got some rain going and there's some rain stretching into parts of Mississippi and Alabama. The center of this low is back through here. So even though it's dry through Chicago, you may get a little backlash, a little back end action there later on tonight and tomorrow.
And then folks who live in New York, you'll see some storms, I think, tomorrow, but certainly Sunday looks to be a better day. Sixty-three for the high in New York today, 71 degrees in Atlanta, and it will be 55 degrees in Chicago. And that particular front will continue to press off to the east tomorrow and should be off into the Atlantic Ocean come round about Sunday.
That's the latest from here, guys. I will pass it back up to you.
ROMANS: All right. Rob Marciano. You know, when it's Friday, everybody hangs on Rob's every word.
CHETRY: That's right.
ROMANS: I mean, every day of the week, we hang on every word, Rob, but Friday especially.
CHETRY: Yes. Exactly, because they need to know if it's going to be nice for the weekend. Meanwhile our Carol Costello is going to be joining us in just a few moments. You know about the bipartisanship and the lack of it, I guess you could say, that's been going on in Washington over the health care debate. Well, is there room and is there really a viable third party? She's going to take a look.
Fifty-two minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Just a - a short while ago, President Obama huddling with the top US commander in Afghanistan. The strategy session aboard Air Force One coming as the president faces a political dilemma.
CHETRY: Yes. It's no secret that General Stanley McChrystal wants more troops. Others say that it may be time to scale back. Our Pentagon Correspondent, Barbara Starr, joins us now. And this very interesting, for us, because fact that they - that Obama was facing some criticism - the President - for going ahead to Copenhagen, but he ended up meeting with General McChrystal there and had a 25 minute - by all accounts - meeting, continuing the talk about Afghanistan. Very interesting.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: How convenient is that General McChrystal was in London on a preplanned visit, a number of speaking engagements. But the White House clearly knew he was nearby, asked him to come to Air Force One. The two sat down and talked. A lot of folks think that it was high time for these two men to look each other right in the eye and have this conversation, because right now what's happening, as all the discussion goes on about Afghanistan, positions are being staked out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): Secrecy has surrounded the high-stakes White House deliberations about Afghanistan, but key military players are now putting their cards on the table.
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL, TOP MILITARY COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: We need to reverse the current trends, and time does matter. Waiting does not prolong a favorable outcome. This effort will not remain winnable indefinitely. Public support will not last indefinitely.
STARR: In London, General Stanley McChrystal laid out his urgent case, that it is troops on the ground that are a must to fight the insurgents.
MCCHRYSTAL: A strategy that does not leave Afghanistan in a stable position is probably a short-sighted strategy.
STARR: Vice President Joe Biden wasn't mentioned, but Biden and National Security Council Adviser Jim Jones are said to be calling for a more limited effort, going just after al Qaeda, using fewer troops on the ground.
In Washington, McChrystal's boss, General David Petraeus, was asked, what if the president decided to use drones or a small number of special forces on the ground? He pointedly failed to endorse the idea.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: I think we would go back to - I think it's - let's talk about, again, what are the goals and objectives. I think this is - this is why this is a hugely important and hugely valid conversation to have.
STARR: By all accounts, Petraeus and Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are backing McChrystal, but what side is Defense Secretary Robert Gates on? A senior Pentagon official tells CNN Gates is becoming more comfortable with the notion a significant number of additional combat forces will be sent, it just may not be the entire 40,000 the military believes are needed. But Gates's bottom line?
ROBERT GATES, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The reality is, failure in Afghanistan would be a huge setback for the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: You know, General McChrystal says it's important to take the time to get this all right, just not to take forever to do it.
ROMANS: OK. That strategy session aboard Air Force One, we were talking about earlier with General McChrystal - General McChrystal and the president - what are your sources telling you about that meeting that happened just about an hour ago?
STARR: Well, this is very important because General McChrystal, for the first time by all accounts, gets individual face time with the president. No strap-hangers, none of the political staff from the White House - face-to-face time between the two men.
It's interesting, you know, back in George Bush's day, with - when General Petraeus was in Iraq, those two had a direct line of communication. General Mcchrystal and President Obama did not, so this is going to be a very important meeting, but the bottom line is it may be Bob Gates who has the final ear of the president about what to do.
ROMANS: All right. Barbara Starr. Thanks, Barbara.
CHETRY: Thanks, Barbara. Good to see you this morning.
And coming up, by the way, at 8:15 Eastern, we're going to have more on the administration's split over what to do in Afghanistan. We're going to talk with retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni, and also Michael O'Hanlon from the Brookings Institution about what factors may be in play as the administration decides whether or not to send more troops.
