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American Morning
Toyota Issues Massive Recall; White House Entertaining Change of Venue for Terrorist Trial;
Aired January 29, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. It is now 7:00 on the nose here in New York on this Friday, January 29th. Glad you're with us. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Reports. Thanks for joining us. Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
Toyota will have to answer to Congress. A House committee has called a hearing for next month. They want to know if Toyota mishandled a serious safety problem with sticking accelerators. And at 5.3 million vehicles under recall, the world's largest car company is trying to manage a P.R. problem that is threatening itself to accelerate out of control.
CHETRY: A winter ice storm that pounded Texas and Oklahoma with rain, ice, and heavy snow now heading east. You can feel the chilly temperatures ahead of it. The severe weather actually cut power, ended up canceling many flights and stranding drivers.
Our Jacqui Jeras is tracking the storm system and she's going to tell us how it could affect your weekend travel plans.
ROBERTS: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner defending the bailout and trying to set the record straight about the stimulus. He says the American people got a raw deal but it would have been worse without it. Christine Romans exclusive sit down with the treasury secretary just ahead.
CHETRY: And Congress is taking on Toyota. There's a House committee now scheduling a hearing for next month to investigate how the auto giant handled or mishandled its sticking gas pedal issue.
ROBERTS: The world's top-selling car maker reeling this morning, 5.3 million vehicles need to be repaired, so they've recalled them. And so does Toyota's reputation. Deb Feyerick is following the latest developments for us and she is here.
And Deb, millions of Toyota customers not sure what to do with their cars, whether to get into them, leave them parked, take them to the dealership, what.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the biggest problem, and now a lot of people are questioning, should they be on the road. Toyota's big dilemma is that they've warned millions of people that the cars they're driving may be unsafe.
And here's the kicker, there's nothing anyone can do about it right now because Toyota is still trying to figure out how to fix the problem in the cars that are on the road.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: As soon as he got word of the recall from Toyota headquarters, Maryland Toyota dealer Ben Messier and his sales team went into high gear figuring out which cars might have the faulty gas pedal.
BEN MESSIER, TOYOTA DEALER: The CTS pedals, which are the affected pedals, will have a one inch by one inch silver tab on the top left hand side of the accelerator arm. Look all the way down on top of the accelerator arm, right here is a little silver plaque. That right there says "CTS" on it.
FEYERICK: CTS disputes any problems with its accelerators, saying they were built to Toyota's design specifications. Messier meantime says the message from above was clear, protect Toyota's reputation.
MESSIER: Toyota mentioned our first concern is safeguarding the brand, making sure Toyota gets in front of this and takes care of the customers. We'll worry about selling cars tomorrow.
FEYERICK: But now with millions of cars affected, dealers in New York and New Jersey appear to have closed rank. We called more than a dozen Toyota dealerships and even went to visit several in person. All of them told us they were not authorized to speak about Toyota's problems and instead referred us to a central information number out of California.
When we called, a Toyota spokesman who handles quality design described the latest recall as a "customer satisfaction problem," telling CNN Toyota's strategy has been to be transparent and truthful about an accelerator problem they don't yet know how to fix but which they say is caused by an environmental condition.
But Toyota has not been as open as they claim says marketing specialist Richard Laermer.
RICHARD LAERMER, BRANDING EXPERT: One of the real problems with crisis communication is if you don't act fast in clearing up the mess, the mess just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. With this, they knew something was going on and they didn't handle it as rapidly as they could have.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: A Toyota spokesman says the company is close to having a new pedal design, but they are not sure how long it will take manufacturing those pedals or how they plan to go about installing them in millions of vehicles. And what's interesting is we called their hotline, and they give us the same information that's on the Web site. They don't really add new information. And then they say if you have a problem, contact the dealers.
But as you saw in the piece, we did contact the dealers, and the dealers tell us to call back the customer service number. So there's really a bounce back of information, I don't want to say punting of information, but nobody is getting any real clear answers.
ROBERTS: As we saw last hour when we had a couple of crisis management experts on, they think that Toyota should get all their commercials off the air, have the president of the company say this is the problem and this is what you do about it. They are not communicating enough.
FEYERICK: And they say that they are being open and transparent, but how can you be open and transparent when you don't know what the problem is and when you don't know how long the problem has been in effect?
CHETRY: And add the floor mat issue to it as well. They had to recall millions of vehicles because of the floor mats, and now you're saying they don't know if it's the floor mat or the accelerator that's causing the problem.
FEYERICK: Now they are looking to see whether there was an overlap there. They have some explaining to do.
ROBERTS: Deb Feyerick for us this morning. Deb, thanks.
CHETRY: It didn't take long for GM and Ford to try to capitalize on Toyota's troubles. GM now offering Toyota customers $1,000 rebates or free financing if they switch brands by the end of February. Ford is also planning $1,000 rebates for Toyota owners as well as Honda owners who trade in their Japanese models to buy American.
ROBERTS: A nasty does of winter snow, ice, rain pummeling the southern plains. There is a foot of snow on the ground in parts of Texas forcing major highways to shut down. In Oklahoma tens of thousands of people may be in the dark for several more days.
Ice an inch and a half thick in some places brought down tree limbs and power lines. Our reporter Emily Wood with CNN affiliate KWTV has more from Oklahoma City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EMILY WOOD, KWTV REPORTER: It is still drizzling this morning, and I've got to tell you, we are freezing cold here. Conditions are only expected to grow worse today.
We're just off Interstate 44 on one of main thoroughfares in town. I want to show you what kind of road conditions morning commuters are dealing with today. It is solid packed ice, and that's not to say city workers aren't trying. They are out here and working on the roadways, but with conditions like this, there's not a whole lot they can do.
We're actually on the side of the road in a parking lot here, and I am basically ice skating even though I have snow boots on. That's how slippery it is. You can't walk, you sort of move around the best you can and hope you don't fall down.
But again, not great conditions this morning, and, of course, here in Oklahoma City we're asking that if people don't have to be out, that they just stay home.
Emily Wood for CNN, now back to John and Kiran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Emily, thanks so much.
Right now, it's six minutes past the hour. We'll see where the storm is going today and what it will be like.
(WEATHER BREAK)
CHETRY: Also new this morning, his party has been on the offensive, but Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele is now defending his tenure at the top. CNN had the only national camera crew at the RNC winter meetings in Hawaii.
Steele was pretty fired up when a reporter challenged his claim that the RNC started off 2010 with more money in the bank than the Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL STEELE, RNC CHAIRMAN: We bested the Democrats in, let's be conservative, six out of six months last year in fundraising, where we raised more than they did. Don't believe me. Well, what do you think it is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
Check your facts. I'm sure you will. But get it right, because you've been getting it wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Well, Steele also said he will run for a second term, saying he's doing what he was hired to do, raise money and win elections.
ROBERTS: She's not stopping any potential terrorists right now. A man from Brooklyn caught this TSA agent napping at LaGuardia Airport in New York on Sunday. He snapped a cell phone picture and posted it online. As you can imagine, the unidentified agent has been reassigned to desk duty during an investigation.
CHETRY: All right, well, the attorney for one of conservative activists accused of trying to tamper with a senator's phone says there was no wiretap scene. Three of four suspects appeared in court yesterday and a lawyer says they were trying to capture embarrassing footage of Democrat Mary Landrieu's staffers ignoring calls about her support of the healthcare bill.
We now have pictures of all four suspects, including James O'Keefe. He's the one who posed as a pimp and used a hidden camera to target the community organizing group ACORN.
ROBERTS: The stimulus project rolls on this Friday morning. Eliot Spitzer is coming up live in the half hour to talk about whether he thinks the stimulus has had a positive impact. It's coming up now on ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back, it's 12 minutes past the hour right now, and it's time for a quick check on what's new.
ROBERTS: And developing right now, the White House may be pulling a complete 180 when it comes to holding the 9/11 terror trials in New York City. CNN is now learning that the White House is considering alternate venues after losing its big supporter, the city's mayor Michael Bloomberg.
New York's governor also said he is concerned about the price tag and the burden that a trial will put on New Yorkers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. DAVID PATERSON (D), NEW YORK: Every time there's a loud noise during the two years of the trials it will frighten people. And I think New Yorkers have been through enough.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: It would be great if the federal government could find a site that didn't cost a billion dollars. It is up to the federal government what kind of trial they're going to have, whether it's a military or a civilian trial. It's up to the government to decide where.
Attorney General Holder called me and said can you provide security? I said, yes, we can, it will cost a lot of money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: New York Republican Congressman Peter King also introduced legislation yesterday to block funds for a 9/11 trial in lower Manhattan.
CHETRY: The story is still developing this morning and our Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House right now. She has just confirmed some details about this story. Susan, what are you learning?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, we certainly know the White House as well as the Justice Department has been under a lot of pressure in trying to move the site of that trial from Manhattan to other places perhaps less costly. I was able to talk to several senior administration officials this morning about this, and one of them did confirm, saying that conversations have occurred within the administration to discuss contingency options such the possibility of a trial in lower Manhattan be foreclosed upon by Congress or locally.
So clearly administration officials, they are acknowledging now that they have reached out and had conversations with Justice Department officials, with local officials, obviously in New York, Manhattan, to figure out what is the best van venue here.
They are listening and they are hearing concerns about cost and about the security in holding that trial in Manhattan.
Now, what's also important to note, however, is White House spokesman Bill Burton was asked about this yesterday, if there would be any kind of changes, and he made it crystal clear that the president still agrees with the Attorney General Eric Holder that it is important that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad be tried in a civilian criminal court and not a military tribunal, that that has not changed.
And they also believe, the president still believes, that this trial can be held in a secure and successful manner inside of the United States. Those two positions the administration very clear on, very consistent.
But what they are acknowledging this morning is they are in discussions with looking to the Justice Department to find an alternative location for that trial.
CHETRY: That certainly entails a lot. Just think about all of the logistics that have to go into figuring that out and whether or not it would really save any money. It's going to cost somebody, some area, some jurisdiction money, regardless of whether it's in New York City or not.
MALVEAUX: Well, one of the things that Mayor Bloomberg had mentioned, he though that perhaps if it was done at a military base that was out of sight or out of reach, at a big city where there are a lot of folks, where there's issues of traffic, where there's issues of people coming up and a lot of onlookers who are curious about all of this, if it was done in a remote location or a military base, perhaps it would cost less. Perhaps it would be less of a hassle. Those are the kinds of things clearly the Justice Department would be looking at.
And we have been told by White House officials that again, this is in the hands of Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Department, not up to the White House. But they certainly are signaling here that if there is another option or an alternative, it's better to consider it -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning with that information. Thank you.
The Obama administration is moving quickly on the president's promise to end the nearly 17-year ban on gays serving openly in the military. CNN has learned that during Senate hearings next week, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen will announce steps the Pentagon would have to step before Congress and the White House could repeal the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
ROBERTS: And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton making headlines for her plans or lack thereof in 2012. She told PBS's Tavis Smiley that she is not interested in serving the second term should President Obama get reelected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAVIS SMILEY, HOST, "TAVIS SMILEY REPORTS": Can you imagine yourself doing all four years and if asked doing it for another four years?
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: No, I really can't. I mean, it is just...
SMILEY: No to what? All four or eight?
CLINTON: The whole eight. I mean, that would be very challenging. But, you know, I don't want to make any predictions sitting here. I'm honored to serve. I serve at the pleasure of the president. But it's a 24/7 job and I think at some point I will be very happy to pass it on to someone else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And Secretary Clinton again ruled out another run for the presidency saying she eventually wants to spend time reading and writing and maybe teaching.
CHETRY: There you go. All right.
Well, Christine Romans had a chance to sit down one-on-one with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. She talked to him about how he fights the image that bankers ended up walking away with America's money. We're going to hear what he said about the criticisms lodged at him over AIG as well as the bank bailouts.
Seventeen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's coming up on 20 minutes after the hour. And that means as it does this time every morning, it's time for "Minding Your Business." Microsoft founder Bill Gates talking to CNN about his experiences in Haiti. He told our Poppy Harlow in Davos, Switzerland that the world needs to do more than just rebuilding after the devastating earthquake.
CHETRY: Gates says that long-standing problems like the education system need fixing. He also made those comments shortly after announcing a $10 billion commitment to research, develop and deliver vaccines to the poor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL GATES, MICROSOFT FOUNDER: We've been spending a lot of vaccines, even that commitment won't cover all of the needs. So we need the governments, both in rich and poor countries to come along. But millions of lives have been saved with this commitment. Over eight million additional lives will be saved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, in a statement, Gates also said, quote, "We must make this the decade of vaccines." There you go.
All right. Well, Christine Romans is "Minding Your Business" right now and she's here with part two of her exclusive interview with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. She had a chance to sit down with him, talk a little bit about a lot of questions that Americans want answered, including, you know, how he's recovering from a lot of the bad press and a lot of the criticism over how the bailout and the AIG money was handled.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: And he's really on message. This is the Treasury secretary. He keeps trying to push the president's agenda of jobs, then keeps talking about the things that they are doing and what they're fixing. But I asked him specifically about the stimulus, the $862 billion stimulus, the recovery act pushed by this president, pushed by his team, including Timothy Geithner. And I asked him whether the stimulus is working to create jobs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: The stimulus is supposed to be the American people's bailout and we even have polls this week to show the majority of people think it's a waste. Fifty-four percent of people we polled said that it just helps the bankers. I think that maybe people just think every taxpayer dollar is going to go back in the pocket of a banker somewhat.
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: I think you're right. I think...
ROMANS: How do you change the communication on that?
GEITHNER: I think you're actually right. I think that a lot of people have been left with the impression by their elected leaders that the Recovery Act went to large banks without conditions and they'll never see it again.
In fact, what we did is we came in and we gave a very modest amount of additional money to small and community banks, and we took back from the major banks the investments my predecessor had to make. We forced them to raise capital and we devoted huge amount of resources to tax cuts for businesses and Americans and investments to things that are critical, to things most Americans believe in. And one of the most important things are elected leaders need to do is to help explain what happened, not to fan the -- you know, not to fuel the anger and resentment out there, but to actually explain.
ROMANS: Compare for me the political heat right now on the hill, about the AIG staff. Compare for me the political heat with the economic heat of the last couple -- maybe September, for example, of 2008. Which was more painful for you?
GEITHNER: Because our financial system is no longer on the brinks of collapse, because we are starting to repair this terrible crisis in the financial system, I feel more confident about the basic foundation of our economy than I have for three years. And that's the really important thing.
You know, the president said last night is very important. You know, we take a lot of political heat. We're in a deeply political moment, very angry moment. But you know, what we're going through comes with the job. It's nothing like what people have been experiencing across the country for the last two and a half years, for the last year they're still experiencing. And you know, our job, our obligation is to work on things that are going to make a difference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: A very angry moment, a very political moment he said. You know earlier this week, he was absolutely grilled on Capitol Hill. He's been there some 22 times for appearances, the most contentious -- the most contentious hearing yet with this treasury secretary, but he told me again and again nothing compares with what the American people are going through. Nothing compares with what we went through in September 2008. He can take the political heat. He's just going to keep pushing the president's agenda. Jobs is the thing that we want to do now.
ROBERTS: All right. Great interview. Christine, thanks so much.
CHETRY: Also coming up tonight on "CAMPBELL BROWN" at 8:00, she investigates just how paying students' tuition with stimulus dollars is working. And at 10:00, "AC 360" returns to the site of the very first stimulus project, an $8.5 million bridge in Missouri. Did it make a difference and did it bring jobs to the local economy?
ROBERTS: And coming up at about 15 minutes' time, we're going to have a little bit of fun this morning. Ozzy Osbourne once known as the prince of darkness, lead singer Black Sabbath, solo artist, reality TV show star, he's got a new book out. It's an autobiography called "I am Ozzy.
I had a chance to sit down and talk with him about that and the zany life that he led, and reminded him that we actually met almost 25 years to the day that we sat down to talk when, shall we say, we both look a little different. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: It's nice to see you. Come on in, Oz. Nice to meet you. How are you?
OZZY OSBOURNE, SINGER: Fine.
ROBERTS: We're going to sit you right down here if that's all right. Terrific. We've actually met a long time ago.
OSBOURNE: Oh, my goodness me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: There you go. We both looked a little different as I said. I'm a little blonder, a little younger, maybe with a little more hair. So Ozzy coming up in about 15 minutes. Stay with us. Twenty-five minutes after the hour.
CHETRY: You guys are rocking it. You're rocking.
ROBERTS: That was in Rio de Janeiro of all places.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 27 and a half minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
We're at the magic wall this morning, because we wanted to show you something brand new on our web page to help you really get a sense of the scope of the disaster in Haiti. You probably heard when you've been using Google Maps, Google Earth, you've got that street view function.
Well, we've given you a street view function of Haiti on our Web site. We've got a number of different runs of video here. You can actually just by using your mouse go over here and have a look around. Look at that, 360-degree view. It's called Haiti 360, so you can get a really good and interesting look there at what's going on as we take a walk through or drive through in some cases the streets of Haiti.
You can actually see the cameraman here walking with that little device on his head as he gets a picture from street level of what's happening there in Haiti. We've got some cameras that are mounted on vehicles as they are in Google Maps and Google Earth. So you can get a clear view, very up close and personal of what's happening in Haiti.
And don't forget the CNN "Impact Your World" Web site where you can help out as well. You can check out this CNN.com/impact, the other one at Haiti360.
And because of the immense size of the disaster, the huge number of people still in need in Haiti, the release efforts that we've seen so far can seem like just a drop in the bucket. But as or Gary Tuchman shows us, work is getting done and it is slowly getting to some people who desperately need it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The man encouraging these young Haitians to eat is a good man to know these days in this earthquake-ravaged country.
TONY BANBURY, PRINCIPAL DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL: We need to get more to them and as quickly as possible.
TUCHMAN: His name is Tony Banbury, an American, who is the principal deputy special representative of the United Nations secretary general.
BANBURY: The international community is responding. Aid is getting out, but we still need to do more.
TUCHMAN: I sit next to him in this chopper as we fly through the coastal town of Jacmel, Haiti, where his observations will have a lot to do with how much help the town will get. A town of 167,000 people with hundreds of deaths and more than half the homes destroyed. Talk to the residents and the displaced person camp here, and you'll hear this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE, HAITIAN (through translator): There is not enough. We need more food, water. We need sheets and tents.
TUCHMAN: They also need help in their hospital which has been heavily damaged. Listen to this doctor from Delaware.
NANCY FLEURANCOIS, AMERICAN DOCTOR: We're seeing everything but a lot of traumatic fractures, crash injuries, and patients with a lot, you know, broken bones and all. All different parts of -- sorry, all different parts of the limbs.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): There are also not enough antibiotics. This baby is getting his share but there are other babies who are not.
Many more shipments are coming in. The Dominican Red Cross is offloading supplies here in Jacmel. More tents have been delivered to the airport. But in a disaster of this magnitude, this U.N. boss knows more is needed. And he says he will send the word where it's needed immediately.
(on camera): But it can be done. It's not pie in the sky to do it a few days.
TONY BANBURY, DEP. HEAD, U.N. PROCESSING MISSION IN HAITI: It's all pie in the sky because it's happening already. Lots is happening. More needs to be done but organizations are here and the systems are in place and the assistance is being delivered but more is needed. The U.N. won't be satisfied until everything that the people here need is at their disposal.
TUCHMAN: It's hard to blame the people who work for the U.N. if they take this tragedy more personally than some other disasters. That's because at least 83 U.N. personnel were killed in the earthquake and some 50 others are still missing. (voice-over): And that's the reason the U.N. boss couldn't stay longer in Jacmel. He had to fly back to Port-au-Prince to a memorial service for his co-workers who died.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Jacmel, Haiti.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: We're crossing the half hour now. That means it's time for this morning's top stories.
Its image is producing some of the safest cars on the road is tarnished and now Toyota will have to answer to Congress. Next month the House committee will hold a hearing to find out just how quickly the auto maker responded to safety defects with sticking accelerators. Pedal issues forced to recall 5.3 million vehicles, Toyota stopped selling eight of its most popular models this week until it comes up with a permanent fix.
And a nasty dose of winter, snow, ice and rain pummeling Oklahoma, Texas and the southern plains. There's a foot of snow on the ground in parts of Texas forcing major highways to shut down. The same system has winter storm warnings up from New Mexico to the Carolinas.
And a new study show banning cell phones while driving is not reducing the number of crashes. Researchers say accident rates in three states, in D.C., did not fluctuate before and after hand-held devices were banned. They are now focusing on whether the use of hands-free devices like blue tooth may be influencing the results. Kiran.
CHETRY: John, thanks. Well, it's been a bruising week for the president's financial team. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner grilled by Congress over the bailout of AIG among other things. And also the chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke getting confirmed for a second term but only after a grueling confirmation hearing and a lot of questions about his leadership.
All of this happening as the president pushes for regulation to reign in Wall Street. So here to offer his take this morning, the man they used to call the sheriff of Wall Street, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
ELIOT SPITZER, FMR. NEW YORK GOVERNOR: Glad to be here.
CHETRY: We just got some late breaking news which I want to ask you about as well because you had front row with this for many years but the consideration by the White House now of possibly moving the sight of the 9/11 trial from lower Manhattan. There's been a big outcry. Mayor Bloomberg and even Governor Paterson coming out against having this trial there. What do you think?
SPITZER: Well, initially I was supportive of the White House. I thought the Department of Justice made a reasoned decision about where to put the trial if they decide to move it, so be it. I think where it is matters much less if it takes place and we get a conviction.
I think that is we, as citizens care about justice should be done and we should prove to the world the rule of law works in the United States. We will punish terrorists and we will give them the absolute maximum possible sanction but have a trial that proves that we believe in the rule of law.
CHETRY: There's a big outcry and many people felt it was a slap in the face, at least symbolically to hold the trial steps from Ground Zero, where so many people died as a result of 9/11.
SPITZER: I actually felt differently about that and I think the Department of Justice and the president, that time and again, if they change the decision, that's fine and I think we should support them either way. But I think in a way the statement was just the opposite. The statement was you struck here, we will bring you to justice here.
And I think it was a statement that we are better than you. In the sense that we can stand up to you in the way that speaks to our historic set of values and what makes us a different type of a nation. So I viewed it differently, but again I think the emotion surrounding where the trial takes place, much less important than we get a conviction and justice will be done.
CHETRY: Let's talk about Ben Bernanke. He was confirmed yesterday, you've been critical of some of the Federal Reserve chairman's handling of various issues. What do you think about him getting a second term? Is it good for our growth?
SPITZER: Well, look, he is now there and we all have to be on one team because we all care about the future of our economy. My view about both him and Tim Geithner was do you go back to a doctor who's been wrong five times in a row on the theory maybe he's learned something or do you go to a doctor who's been right five times in a row?
The fact of the matter was Bernanke and Geithner were wrong in the way they handled the economy over the past five to seven years. They inflated the bubble and did not put in place the steps and regulatory measures and take the positions that would have prevented this cataclysms. That's now history. They're there. Let's figure out what we can do to build an economy that creates jobs, jobs, jobs. That's what we have to care about.
CHETRY: It's interesting. Christine Romans, our Christine Romans had the chance to sit down one on one with Tim Geithner yesterday and he offered a very strong defense, especially taking some heat about giving banks and the AIG bailout and banks getting reimbursed to the dollar. Let's listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIM GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: I will carry for my life the burdens and decisions we made in that context, but as I said yesterday and I said consistently and I think the record will show this, we looked at all alternatives and there was no alternative except default and collapse much greater cost and expense to the taxpayer than the one we chose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So he basically said there was really no alternative to paying off AIG trading partners at full value, do you buy that?
SPITZER: No, I don't. But here's the thing. I have fundamentally disagreed with Tim about that. Tim's a good person but I think he's been dead wrong on many, many issues especially the AIG bailout where what he is saying is that Goldman Sachs and the other banks would have collapsed had they not gotten -- in Goldman's case a check for $12.9 billion.
Goldman has said something completely different. So that then raises the question, who told Tim that Goldman was about to collapse and why did he believe that? If he believed it and it's directly contrary to what Goldman was saying publicly. Were there security violations committed by Goldman in its statements to the marketplace about its financial position?
There's a load that bears investigation and I think the reason the public is so upset is that these payments are viewed as being symptomatic of an enormous transfer of wealth, of tax dollars to banks. Goldman then turns around and gives the moneys away and bonuses.
CHETRY: Right.
SPITZER: Remember, Goldman's profits last year were $12 billion, identical to the amount we gave them when they were paid off as an AIG counter party. So tax dollars gave them the profit that they then gave away in bonuses. The public is saying, we have no jobs. We're running these deficits. This makes no sense.
So I think Tim has not answered the hard questions. But again, maybe it's time to move on. Because now we've got to focus on jobs, rebuilding an economy that is in very, very bad shape.
CHETRY: That's right and that's what the president is trying to do, sort of layout some plans. One of the things he talked about was tax breaks for small businesses who hire, also $30 billion of the money that actually went to Wall Street and they repaid, giving that money to community banks to open up credit to small businesses, are these substantive moves, in your opinion?
SPITZER: Sure, they are. They are not big enough but they are the first critical steps. Notice what's fascinating again, the money needs to go to the community banks because community banks have been lending the big banks that were bailed out have not been lending. And that is a point of tension, but to move beyond that.
Yes, get money back into the pipe line so companies can borrow, create an infrastructure, something he did not talk about in these words -- create an infrastructure bank of enormous scale to invest in not only the high speed rail but the other types of investments, electric cars, the infrastructure and other nations are building the infrastructure for electric cars, along their interstate highway system, energy R&D, get us away from imported oil.
Structurally, that creates the financial imbalance that drives jobs overseas and give tax breaks to small business and give money to state and local governments or else they will continue to layoff workers and that will feed into this cycle that is dragging down our economy. Many things he has to do short term, long term. The energy grid, health care reform is part of an economic revival program.
Because if we don't control health care costs, we cannot compete. Each of these is a macro policy that needs to be addressed systemically over years. Not an easy fix but it's one that we have to go through.
CHETRY: Lots of good points there. You're going to be joining our economic panel on this very issue in the next hour. We're also going to be getting some GDP numbers and some other numbers on the economy. So we look forward to talking to you again. Eliot Spitzer, former New York governor. Thanks so much.
Right now, it's 38 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Forty minutes after the hour. Welcome back to the most news in the morning.
Flashback, January 1985, Rio de Janeiro. At that time, I was a fresh-faced kid from Canada with a rather amusing mullet and he was a seasoned rock road warrior who had the rather dubious ability to consume lethal quantities of drugs and alcohol and somehow miraculously not die.
Twenty-five years later at the age of 61. Ozzy Osbourne is still kicking it and penning it. His new autobiography "I am Ozzy" is out and so are our youthful secrets.
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ROBERTS (on camera): Ozzie, it's great to see you, it's been 25 years.
OZZY OSBOURNE, AUTHOR "I AM OZZY": I can't believe this.
ROBERTS: Here, let me play a little bit of this for you here. You had just gotten out of the Betty Ford Clinic.
ROBERTS: There's been some interesting changes in your life recently.
OSBOURNE: We both look so young.
OSBOURNE: -- to be a rock and roll star, you don't have to be crazy and take drugs and alcohol all the time. It's just...
ROBERTS: That sure didn't change.
OSBOURNE: I don't want to die. You know, it's just that I don't want to die.
ROBERTS: So that was 1985.
OSBOURNE: And still haven't died.
ROBERTS: Twenty-five years ago, you're still alive. But you just gotten out of the Betty Ford Clinic and said you hadn't completely given up everything but it took you another 21 years...
OSBOURNE: I've been clean and sober now for about six-and-a-half years.
ROBERTS: Why did it take so long?
OSBOURNE: I needed it to survive. Until eventually, you know, I kept chipping and chipping away and after that interview, I must have gone into another 15 rehabs over the years. You know.
ROBERTS: In fact, in the book you talked about basically this one day of substance abuse blending into the next. You write, "by now I was putting so much of the stuff" -- talking about cocaine - "up my nose that I had to smoke a bag of dope every day just to stop my heart from exploding."
OSBOURNE: Oh, yes, I mean, I know that if I left here and start drinking booze at the end of the day I would be asking strangers where to get coke. I mean, it just goes hand in hand. I mean, back then, I mean before in the '70s when I first started to use coke, it was like you have to know somebody who knew somebody and who knew someone. If I walk around the block here, I could find somebody to give me it.
ROBERTS: You told me in 1985 that the reason that you went into rehab was you didn't want to die.
OSBOURNE: Yes.
ROBERTS: Are you surprised that you lasted this long?
OSBOURNE: I've been living miracles. I mean, one time I was in New York and I got half a pint of codeine, liquid codeine and overdosed really bad. I nearly went into respiratory arrest, you know. I mean, that happened to me all the time. I'm lucky to have my life but I'm just as lucky to have a family.
Point in question, my son, Jack, we had an argument one day and Jack, what have you ever wanted -- whatever you wanted I got for you. He turned to me and said what about a father. And that hit me right between the eyes. Like, wow.
ROBERTS: So what was it, Ozzie, about the lifestyle? What is it about the rock and roll lifestyle for so many people that you lose yourself in that alternate reality which really has nothing to do with reality at all? OSBOURNE: You do -- first of all, I'm a drug addict, alcoholic. (INAUDIBLE) the most unnatural thing for me to do is to be sober. I depend on chemicals that make me feel the way I think I want to feel. But then again, rock and roll is the only job that the more you turn and appear loaded -- if you appear up here loaded, you wouldn't last five minutes or any other job.
And you name any job and check -- the more I got crazy, the more my popularity was getting -- but the downside, I have to live with me and I do something really stupid like sleep around or whatever, and so guilty the next day, drink to get that guilt away and do the same thing again, you know.
ROBERTS: Are you surprised Sharon stayed with you for as long as (INAUDIBLE)?
OSBOURNE: She's my baby -- she's...
ROBERTS: She's (INAUDIBLE) because at one point you tried to kill your baby, were strangling her, you ended up in jail...
OSBOURNE: She tried to kill me more than once, too.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Yes, he did. He actually was in an alcohol blackout and he tried to strangle his wife, ended up in jail with not an idea of what happened.
CHETRY: Been through a lot together.
ROBERTS: They have.
CHETRY: This is all recounted in this new autobiography. It's one of the most fascinating rock autobiography things I've ever read. We're going to play a little more of that interview, coming up in our next hour. You would not believe who his biggest musical idol is.
CHETRY: All right. I look forward to it. Great stuff.
ROBERTS: Forty-five minutes after the hour. We'll be right back
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CHETRY: There's a look at Nashville this morning as we listen to some Tim McGraw. It's cloudy right now, 29 degrees. A little bit later, freezing rain, going up to a high of 36, and Jacqui says that they're probably going to get some snow after that freezing rain as well.
ROBERTS: Yes. It's a bit of a wintry mess out there.
Jacqui is in the Weather Center in Atlanta, tracking all of the Extreme Weather across the country, and we've got everything from terrible in the Southern Plains and into Texas, to probably some airport delays in the northeast today. JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, gosh, yes. We're going to have a whole lot of travel delays, especially with this storm system as -- as it moves across the south. And the wind in the northeast is causing the problems.
And if you're traveling on the roadways today, it's really I-40 that's going to be some of the worst of it. Still, problems in Oklahoma City, and that's going to stretch into Memphis, as well as Nashville and then eventually head over towards the Carolinas.
The snowfall totals have been really hefty in some areas. Check out these pictures that we have out of Amarillo, Texas where you got 10 inches of snowfall yesterday, covered the roadways. I-40 was closes in Amarillo and across really pretty much all of North Texas. That is back open today, but it's still going to be rough going and a lot of slick spots.
We had some record snowfall totals. Dalhart, Texas had over a foot. And there you can see those numbers, way up there in the double digits for so many of you.
Today we're going to see some more of that heavy snow, and it's going to be really kind of focusing in on the state lines just north of Arkansas through Tennessee, into North Carolina, as well as Virginia. The focus of the snow here today, and then as we head into tomorrow we'll watch that move towards the Mid-Atlantic states and into the Central Appalachians, but 6 to 12 is going to be easy. We think Nashville will be more like maybe 1 to 4 inches because you're going to see that freezing rain about a quarter of an inch to half of an inch can be expected, and then snow on top of it.
So sometimes you can't see that stuff. It's certainly something you're going to need to watch out for if you're trying to travel today. But just don't do it if you don't have to, if you live in that area.
Up to the north today, high pressure in control, so you're going to have some beautiful, sunny skies. Looking a lot better, but with those winds we will have those travel delays. So we're looking at New York City as well as Boston and Philadelphia, Atlanta, a few delays, as well as Memphis and Houston.
OK, guys. If you remember yesterday, we talked about "Go to Florida! It's where the beautiful weather is today." Well, you might have one problem.
Take a look at this video. This is over the West Palm Beach area. They're closing the beaches on Singer Island and have been closed for at least two days now because of shark sightings. They've seen dozens, if not literally hundreds, of sharks in this area.
Apparently this happens every year because the fish -- they're -- they're following the fish, which are migrating this time of the year. But, man! Look at all those!
ROBERTS: That's just the annual... CHETRY: Oh, my goodness! That is terrifying!
ROBERTS: That's just the annual lawyers convention, isn't it, Jacqui? Just kidding!
JERAS: Oh, you wouldn't catch me anywhere near that, I can tell you that, guys.
CHETRY: No, that scares me. It just -- I get goosebumps just seeing that shot. No way!
JERAS: Worst nightmares.
ROBERTS: Jacqui, thanks so much. Great pictures this morning.
CHETRY: Stick to the pool.
ROBERTS: This morning's top stories just minutes away, including survival of the fittest in Haiti, starving people risking their lives for food.
Karl Penhaul in the middle of a food handout that spiraled into extreme chaos.
Plus, breaking news about possible about face by the Obama administration, why the accused 9/11 mastermind may not be going to New York City for trial after all.
CHETRY: Also, at 8:25 Eastern, we're going to see part two of John's interview with Ozzy Osbourne. He partied like a rock star, he crashed like one, but unlike so many others, he came out clean on the other side.
Now, these stories and much more at the top of the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
Seventeen days after the earthquake, there is at least one small sign of joy in Haiti, the new lives that have come into this world since the disaster.
CHETRY: Doctors in Port-au-Prince have set up a makeshift maternity ward to care for the newborns and their mothers, and they're doing what they can with the supplies that they have. But as our Sanjay Gupta tells us, even with all the challenges these doctors are facing, they have not given up hope.
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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If you think it's tough in here in Haiti, imagine the challenges for fragile newborn.
GUPTA (on camera): So we're here in this makeshift maternity ward, literally this tent, and there are a lot of babies here.
They have numbers, not names. This is Baby 12 over. Over here is Baby 11 in this crib, and if you keep going all of these numbers. They're not named yet because doctors, the parents aren't sure these babies are all going to survive.
This here is Baby 20.
GUPTA (voice-over): He is seven weeks premature, and under the best possible circumstances he is high risk.
GUPTA (on camera): You think -- you see a baby like this, you think maybe be in an incubator. They're giving antibiotics, maybe even in an ICU depending how sick they were.
DR. WINSTON PRICE, AMERICAN PEDIATRICIAN AND VOLUNTEER: Oh, absolutely.
GUPTA: Instead, they're here in this tent.
PRICE: That's right.
GUPTA: Literally with flies flying all around.
PRICE: In this post-quake period, working here, it's very frustrating, knowing that the ability to take care of infants like this exist in the 21st century, and that those resources have not poured into Haiti to a degree that we would all expect.
GUPTA: The other day we were here and -- and two babies died within an hour.
PRICE: Yes.
GUPTA: Is that -- I mean, is that common? Is that something that you're seeing a lot?
PRICE: Well, you know, the infant mortality here in Haiti, even before the earthquake, is still very high, but it's been increased here because of the conditions. These tents are very hot. The control or the flies and the cross infections is not something that we do very easily in this environment.
GUPTA: And if all that wasn't bad enough, there is something else as well, something invisible. And it has to do with -- simply with the way that women and their children are treated here and how it's gotten even worse after the earthquake.
GUPTA (voice-over): You see, Baby 20 is at risk and is completely dependent on his mother. But his mother, Mary Claude (ph), is also at risk. From the moment they leave this makeshift maternity ward, they are especially vulnerable.
GUPTA (on camera): Your organization writes specifically that there's a real concern that -- that women could be exploited, they could be trafficked and they could be abused. DR. JEMILAH MAHMOOD, CHIEF, UN POPULATION FUND'S HUMANITARIAN DIVISION: Yes. Women are subject to that (ph), and in Haiti, in fact, it was a preexisting problem before the earthquake.
If, for example, you know, they be -- they are weak, they -- they are helpless at the moment or they confused and they've lost their whole family and they may be taken away and trafficked.
GUPTA (voice-over): What's going on here? And how could all of this affect Baby 20?
I went straight to the Minister of Health's office to discuss some of these issues.
GUPTA (on camera): So they get protected here on the compound, even by women military.
DR. ALIX LASSEGUE, EXEC. DIRECTOR, STATE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: Yes.
GUPTA: But what happens after they leave?
LASSEGUE: In this kind of situation, they could -- they could have assault. They could be raped. And there is some steps that are -- have been already done to try to -- to cope with this problem.
GUPTA (voice-over): But for the time being, things are getting better for Haitian women and their infants, for Mary Claude (ph), and, yes, for Baby 20, who incidentally is one of 7,000 babies expected to be born in Port-au-Prince this month alone. Born in a tent, and he's considered lucky.
GUPTA (on camera): It's hard to -- hard to answer this, but given everything you know, what are the chances Baby 20 is going to survive, is going to make it?
PRICE: This baby seems to be strong and doing quite well in the last few hours, and we're going to do everything possible to give him the support that he needs.
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GUPTA: John and Kiran, we now know there's about 3 million people affected by the earthquake here in Haiti, and about 63,000 of them are pregnant women. A lot of them are going to give birth literally unattended on the streets, or in tents, like the ones you just saw, which is why it's part of redevelopment. There is such a focus on women and their babies.
John and Kiran, back to you.
ROBERTS: Sanjay Gupta this morning. Doc, thanks so much.
Top stories are coming your way in just 90 seconds. Stay with us.
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