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Tropical Storm May Be Headed for Gulf; Alleged Russian Spy Network Arrested In U.S.; Petraeus To Go Before Senate For Confirmation Today; Lawyers Seek iPhone Victims; Landmark Gun Ruling: Supreme Court Expands Rights of Gun Owners; Kagan on the Hot Seat; Katrina Projects Strapped for Cash; Avandia Warning
Aired June 29, 2010 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good Tuesday morning to you. Thanks so much for joining us on this 29th day of June. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We have a lot to talk about this morning, so let's get to it.
Southern Texas right now is under a hurricane warning. Tropical storm Alex now gaining strength over the warm waters of the Gulf and could become a category 2 storm. So where is Alex headed and what does it mean for the oil spill cleanup? We're going to get to the latest from our hurricane headquarters to find out.
ROBERTS: Russian officials say charges that a group of deep cover Russian agents were trying to steal top secret U.S. business is quote, "baseless." The Russian foreign ministry also says it's just bad timing with the allegations would happen so soon after relations reset between the two countries. Just ahead, what it all means for national security.
CHETRY: And the popular diabetes drug, Avandia, continues to take fire and criticism as two new studies say that it can lead to heart failure. The FDA is planning to vote on whether to pull the GlaxoSmithKline pills off of market when they meet next month. At the bottom of the hour, we're going to talk with Dr. Sanjay Gupta who will explain the dangers and how it could affect you.
Also, the AMFix blog is up and running. Join the live conversation, CNN.com/AMFix.
ROBERTS: First this morning, Texas on high alert. Tropical storm Alex setting its sights on the state's southern coast and expected to get stronger throughout the day. Alex could be a category 2 storm when it hits land likely some time tomorrow. Right now, it is only a tropical storm.
The good news -- the storm is expected to miss the Gulf oil spill site. The bad news -- still expected to kick up some major waves delaying some of BP's clean-up plans off the coast of Louisiana.
Those waves could even push more crude into already vulnerable marshes and bays. For more, let's bring in our Jacqui Jeras is in hurricane headquarters. Jacqui, we talked about the potential for the hurricane to form in the Gulf. The thought was, well, if it were on the east side of the oil spill it might be good but the west side would be the worst news.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It really is, but so far the tropical storm-force winds are only maybe about 100 miles from the center of the storm, so we don't think they'll see those sustained winds over the oil spill. So that's good news that at least they can keep all the equipment and ships out there.
One other thing it could do that we think it will is bring up some wave action here. In a sense that's good because that would kind of break up the oil spill a little bit and help disperse it. But unfortunately, we think with the persistent evil winds into that area that is going to start to bring that oil spill a little bit further inland than it normally would have been and possibly a little further off to the west.
It is a tropical storm, Alex, 70-mile-per-hour winds. That's no wimpy thing. It will be a hurricane later on this morning we think this morning, just four miles per hour away from that right now. Here you see the forecast projection. Here's where the oil spill is. So it is nowhere near that.
John, you talked a little bit about that better case scenario, if it were to go over towards say Florida. That would bring offshore winds in. The computer models are kicking in a little area of low pressure by Friday. Hopefully that will start to push it back upon itself.
In the meantime we'll be dealing with those onshore winds pushing toward the east. Texas should be feeling the impacts of Alex we think by late tonight with those waves kicking in and heavy rain but won't feel tropical storm-force conditions until sometime tomorrow. John and Kiran?
ROBERTS: Thanks so much. We'll see you in a little while for the travel forecast.
CHETRY: Also new this morning, it seems like something out of a fictional thriller. The FBI uncovers a suspected KGB-style spy ring. The foreign ministry of Russia is now saying that the allegations are baseless and that the timing isn't great given the country's just hitting the relations reset button last week.
The feds arresting ten people though yesterday accused of using phony IDs, secret communication, and in some cases even invisible ink. The FBI claims it is all part of an alleged plot to ferret out inside intelligence into U.S. policy. Our Deb Feyerick has been looking into this with more details. Hey, Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is so interesting reading through these complaints. You think is this really happening now? In one meeting two spies were allegedly supposed to identify each other saying, "Haven't we met in California last year?" and the answer, "No, I think it was the Hamptons." All of them are described as Russian intelligence operatives highly trained. Their goal was not espionage but reporting specifically on people in the U.S. government or people with access to policymaking according to the criminal complaint.
An intercepted message quoted in papers shows that the men and women were given bank accounts, cars and houses to accomplish their mission and they in turn were expected to send back intelligence reports.
Among the alleged spies, a long-time columnist for a Spanish language newspaper and her husband, both arrested. Their Yonkers home, seen here, was searched yesterday. According to the complaint the spies communicated with Russian contacts through private wireless computer networks set up. These networks transferred encrypted data between computers at specific designated times.
One case an alleged spy identified as Anna Chapman worked from a coffee shop near Times Square, another time from a bookstore near Greenwich Village. Each time an official allegedly with ties to the Russian mission to the U.N. in the area and, that's how the two computers basically talked to one another. Chapman's parents are Russian. She was here on a work visa working out of her home.
A U.S. undercover agent posing as a Russian met with another alleged spy in a local park. The undercover agent gave the accused spy $5,000 to leave at secret drop point under a bridge in Arlington, Virginia. He did that, the money wrapped in a newspaper. His home seen her also searched yesterday.
When a U.S. undercover agent asked this man in Washington whether he had a specific meeting place should anything happen, the response came back the meeting place was the Russian consulate in New York City. A Russian embassy spokesman says he's not aware of these reports but again, Russia has responded this morning saying the charges are baseless.
So right now they're all looking into that. And again, it is not clear how much information they did give or whether they were successful in recruiting anyone.
CHETRY: It is fascinating to know in the year 2010 this is still happening.
FEYERICK: And one of the young lady is 28 years old, relatively young. But she's described as a deceiver, highly trained.
ROBERTS: And the fact there were so many is what's really unusual. You think of Robert Hanson acting as a solo operative. But ten of them in this network really takes it up a notch.
FEYERICK: Right, Robert Hanson, the FBI agent who worked as an undercover agent. And they didn't know he was in the agency. So it's still going on.
ROBERTS: Deb Feyerick for us, thanks. In just a couple of hours time General David Petraeus goes before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a hearing to confirm his appointment as commander of the troops in Afghanistan. The general is popular with Democrats and Republicans alike, but the president's war strategy, not so much.
CNN's Barbara Starr joins us from the Pentagon with a preview. Barbara, The last time the general testified on Capitol Hill he was getting grilled about the plans for Afghanistan. You expect a repeat?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, to say the least, John, expect a repeat. Expect General Petraeus to be very closely questioned by the senators of the Armed Services Committee on a number of issues. They want him to convince them there can be progress in the war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Here in southern Afghanistan's Marjah region, coalition forces talk again with local afghan leaders. Four months ago, the U.S. promised to bring security to this area, but the Taliban are still here and across much of the country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the president said it best of all, that this is a very tough fight that we're engaged in. There are some serious problems here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think you've heard any overoptimistic statements from me. In fact I specifically won't use the term "optimism," nor "pessimism" for that matter. I use "realism."
STARR: If General David Petraeus is confirmed by the Senate and takes over the war, he faces controversy and challenge. First, he must show he gets along with Ambassador Carl Eikenberry and envoy Richard Holbrooke, both criticized but now-fired General Stanley McChrystal.
On the ground, this is a war in trouble. This is the deadliest month of the war for the coalition. But can General Petraeus really change the course of the war? After all, he approved everything his predecessor McChrystal put in place.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, first of all, one is constantly reevaluating tactics and procedures and even broader strategy in this kind of a war because it is so complex.
STARR: Are even on the controversial combat restriction rules, which Petraeus is expected to review, no hint of what changes, in any, he will make.
GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: Our normal impulse of closing with the enemy, of pressing the fight, can sometimes result in dropping a bomb on a house that you don't -- you're not sure who's inside.
STARR: President Obama may have diffused the major controversy about that July, 2011 date to begin withdrawing U.S. forces, the president now leaving himself some wiggle room.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There has been a lot of obsession around this whole issue of when do we leave. My focus right now is how do we make sure that what we're doing there is successful.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: One last detail on the career of General Stanley McChrystal. He informed the army yesterday that he will retire. That's expected. After being relieved of duty by the president, there's no other job for him in the army.
ROBERTS: It's still so stunning to see it all come crashing down for General McChrystal. Isn't it?
STARR: It really is.
ROBERTS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon this morning, thanks.
In just a minute we're going to talk more about the Petraeus hearing with Kurt Volcker, the former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a senior advisor to the Atlantic Council.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, it is nine minutes past the hour. The Supreme Court strikes down Chicago's strict ban on handguns. It is a landmark ruling that expands the rights of gun owners. We're going to get reaction from the community activist who took his fight to the high court and won.
ROBERTS: And Apple could be hit with a class action lawsuit because of its new iPhone. We'll tell you what the problem is and Apple's response to the complaints. It's nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: It's 12 minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. The war in Afghanistan back in the spotlight today and under the microscope as General David Petraeus will go before the Senate Armed Services Committee to be confirmed as the new top commander in Afghanistan.
And while he is not expected to face any significant challenges as the new leader there, the president's war strategy itself could face some friendly and not-so-friendly fire from both sides of the aisle today.
Joining us from Washington, Kurt Volcker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO and senior advisor to the Atlantic Council. Thanks for being with us this morning.
KURT VOLCKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Good morning. Thank you.
CHETRY: Petraeus seems to have pretty solid support actually on both sides of the aisle as the man in charge of the war. It is the strategy we are talking about that could be facing some questioning today, the counterinsurgency, so-called COIN strategy. What else does General Petraeus need to say today to convince those lawmakers that this will spell success in Afghanistan?
VOLCKER: Well, Petraeus has a tremendous amount of personal credibility. He's been a tremendous general both in Iraq and at Cent- Com. He needs to convince the senators he can carry this out successfully. That means showing we have the will to see it through until we are successful.
I think what's worrying right now is that a number of the people out there, whether Karzai or the Taliban or even some in our own military, think we don't have the will to win and are hamstrung by this July, 2011 deadline. And so he has to show that we do have the will to succeed.
CHETRY: You mentioned Karzai. There have been a lot of questions as to whether or not he is a reliable partner to lead, which is one of the big keys of us ever being able to call what's going on in Afghanistan a success, is whether or not their central government is powerful enough and able enough to care for and protect its people.
VOLCKER: There's no doubt that the central government is weak, that it is not as effective as it should be, that there's corruption, that it doesn't have full confidence of the people in the local areas.
But there is only one president of Afghanistan, and that's President Karzai. We have to work with him and we have to work on all those things, whether governance or corruption or police, or training with the military. He's the one we have to work with.
CHETRY: A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll shows support eroding, just 42 percent of people now favor the war in Afghanistan, and 56 percent oppose it. A lot of that seems to stem from how you define success and whether or not people trust that Afghanistan can ever have a strong central government.
VOLCKER: Right. I think that the definition of success in my mind is not some clear-cut military victory. That will never happen. There will be military victories. There are enemies out there that we have to defeat.
But the real success is when you have institutions and governments that are sustainable and that are good for the people in Afghanistan, and I'd also say on the other side of the border inside Pakistan. That's going to take a very long time. We need to be patient about this.
That's why I think this July 2011 deadline is problematic because that can't be achieved in a year. But at the same time the consequences of failure in Afghanistan, a return of the Taliban, access for Al Qaeda, a shot in the arm for bomb extremists around the world is going to be devastating for U.S. security interests.
CHETRY: You have sort of outlined why you think it's troublesome to have this July 2011 date, you know, set bold date, we're going to start to pull out, the belief of many in Afghanistan that we will just close the door, shut off the lights, as the president referred to and cautioned people to be careful of. But the question is what is the alternative? Is this an open-ended war where we cannot say when we will ever be able to get out?
VOLKER: You can never signal to your enemy that you're leaving because then they will make sure to wait and plan accordingly so that they succeed when you go.
CHETRY: Right. But the flip side of the argument is as long as Afghan leaders and those there believe that we're going to stay and we're going to take the lead, they don't have the incentive to move forward and lead themselves.
VOLKER: Well, I think that's part of the counterinsurgency strategy, that it can't be the international community, the United States alone imposing what happens on Afghanistan. We need to work with the local government authorities. We need to work with central government authorities, training of the police and the army as has been discussed many times before and that's lagging. But that's the right approach. It's just that it takes patience and strategic focus to get there. We keep assessing this every six months.
CHETRY: Right.
VOLKER: You're not going to see success in six months.
CHETRY: Well, you speak of the assessment. The latest audit showing Afghan forces not ready to take charge. They talk about high rates of desertion, high rates of drug use, illiteracy. And that major piece of the puzzle is still missing. I mean, we've been talking about training and getting Afghan soldiers up to speed for nine years.
VOLKER: That's right. But clearly the Taliban is effective at training Afghan soldiers. There's got to be a way that we can be more effective at this. And I do think that General Petraeus who is the author of the counterinsurgency strategy is the best person for the job.
CHETRY: All right. And he's going to be answering questions similar to this today on the hill. And we'll be listening to how he responds.
Kurt Volker, great to get your opinion this morning. Thanks so much.
VOLKER: Thank you for having me.
ROBERTS: Well, celebrities love to tweet. Cyclist Lance Armstrong is certainly no different. Just ahead, what he's telling the world about racing in next month's Tour de France.
And with so much focus on the oil spill cleanup, money is running out for another huge need in the region -- people still trying to rebuild their homes after Hurricane Katrina five years ago. That story coming right up.
Seventeen and a half minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. A little bit of a buzz from the racing world. Lance Armstrong with his latest tweet. The seven-time champion says that he is going to be taking his last ride at next month's Tour de France, that it's been a great ride. He finished third, by the way, in the tour last year after a three- year retirement.
ROBERTS: She is pulling the plug on her daytime talk show, but Oprah's new television channel likely helped her top Forbes annual celebrity 100 list. She knocked off Angelina Jolie for the top spot. Beyonce and director James Cameron locked in second and third. And Lady Gaga entered the list at number four.
CHETRY: Well, there you go.
Well, some good news for travelers in New York and beyond. JFK airport has reopened its new and improved main runway today. It's made of concrete instead of asphalt. It's wider and the four-month project cost $376 million. It actually came in under or at-budget. That's one of the longest commercial runways in the entire world.
ROBERTS: And bagging big money, the Department of Transportation says airlines collected $769 million in baggage check fees in the first quarter. That's up 33 percent. They brought in another $1 billion in other fees as well.
CHETRY: Yes. That's not much of a surprise, right, when you see what it's like to fly nowadays.
Christine Romans is here "Minding Your Business" this morning. We're talking about Apple, the much-awaited four -- iPhone 4.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
CHETRY: And now a potential glitch.
ROMANS: A potential glitch and a potential class action lawsuit. There's already a Sacramento-based law firm that is seeking people who had trouble with the death grip -- the death grip on the iPhone. You've heard of this, right? Where you hold it too tightly and you lose -- you lose service.
CHETRY: That's your new phone. Have you had that happen to you, John?
ROMANS: Have you?
ROBERTS: No.
ROMANS: I just tried to make it do it and I couldn't do it. ROBERTS: It's on airplane mode. It's because the antenna goes around the outside and if you hold it like that, you block the antenna.
ROMANS: So this is wildly popular, the fourth generation of the iPhone. And this firm in Sacramento says that if you have experienced poor reception quality, dropped calls and weak signals, we would like to hear from you. It's sort of like a high-tech ambulance chaser, I guess you would say. This is the law firm Kershaw, Cutter and Ratinoff.
Now, this is what Apple says responding to the reception problem. They say, you know, gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. Steve Jobs very famously said, you know, if that happens, then don't hold it that way. But alas, this is still happening, talking about the glitch.
ROBERTS: The trick is to get it to flow just slightly off your ear without touching it.
CHETRY: I'm also wondering if you cover it, I mean, a lot of people put skin on it, does that affect it as well if you put a skin around the phone?
ROBERTS: Well, apparently they're selling a $30 skin which alleviates the problem to some degree.
ROMANS: But it's a wildly popular little gadget and so the people who --
ROBERTS: Another 30 bucks.
ROMANS: Yes. The people who follow the cult of Apple look for any kind of little thing that they can dig into on this. And a lot of people have these. I mean, you heard about all of the delays in getting them and how difficult it was, which brings me to my "Romans' Numeral" which is 394 every single minute.
CHETRY: This is how many Apple products get sold.
ROMANS: This is how many of these things get sold. Just this, 394 every single minute in the first three days that it was available. And it would --
CHETRY: And it shouldn't be because your last one was every three seconds.
ROMANS: I know. That's my job, to trick.
But look, they would have sold more, too, if they could have because you couldn't. Today, AT&T stores for the first time will start offering them there so people we'll be seeing some lines and some demand at the AT&T stores today.
ROBERTS: It's amazing the way that these things just fly off the shelf.
ROMANS: I know. I tell you it's a cult. It's like something, something about these gadgets really appeals to people, especially after a recession. You know, you want to spend money and get something for it.
ROBERTS: Christine Romans "Minding Your Business" this morning.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Thanks.
Well, it could be one of the craziest things that you'll ever see. Check this out. An Oklahoma woman setting a new world record by walking for four hours on the wings of a World War II era biplane over San Francisco.
CHETRY: Ashley Battles had to endure hurricane-force winds, frigid temperatures and she was covered with millions of bugs. But, she had her iPod and apparently she still got reception. She actually danced a little bit up there.
ROBERTS: Yes. Well, coming up, a Supreme Court ruling could be a game-changer for America's gun owners. The decision stemming from a challenge to Chicago's strict handgun ban. We'll talk to the man who took the fight to the high court.
It's 25 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twenty- seven minutes past the hour.
A major victory for gun owners and the NRA and another setback for gun control advocates. The Supreme Court ending its term with a landmark ruling that expands an individual's right to bear arms. The decision came in a case involving Chicago's strict ban on handguns.
Kate Bolduan has reaction from the Chicago man who challenged the city's decades-old law and won.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OTIS MCDONALD, PLAINTIFF FOR HANDGUN RIGHTS: That's all I wanted is just a fighting chance. Give me the opportunity to at least make somebody think about something before they come in my house on me.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Wanting to defend himself from what he calls the drug dealers and gangs in his South Side Chicago neighborhood, 76-year-old Otis McDonald began a fight that ended Monday on the steps of the Supreme Court. This community activist won a challenge to Chicago's strict handgun ban. The justices effectively striking down a law in place for nearly 30 years.
(on camera): What does this decision mean to you after this long journey that you described?
MCDONALD: It means that I can rest a little better at night. I believe -- you know, I will believe now and I will believe resting at night that another person will have an equal chance to protect themselves in their own home.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Two years ago, the Supreme Court invalidated a similar ban in Washington, D.C. But that only applied to federal law. Justice Samuel Alito writing this 5-4 majority opinion took that view even further saying the Second Amendment, quote, "applies equally to the federal government and the states." But Justice Stevens on his last day on the bench disagreed, saying this decision, quote, "could prove far more destructive -- quite literally -- to our nation's communities and to our constitutional structure." Chicago's mayor, Richard Daley, says he's disappointed.
MAYOR RICHARD DALEY, CHICAGO: A dead person has a right to a gun in his home. Does he have a right to point a gun at his child? He's the parent. Does he have a right to point a gun at his spouse? Does he? Those are valid questions to ask.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Chicago is now working to rewrite its ordinance to comply with the high court ruling and still retain tough gun restrictions. The justices did signal that what they called reasonable gun regulations would presumably be allowed to stay in place. But one key question the justices left unanswered -- where then are the boundaries?
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And we're coming up to the half-hour now, which means it's time to check the top stories.
A hurricane warning along the south Texas coast as the state braces for Alex. It's still a tropical storm at the moment, but forecasters say it could strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane before it makes landfall. That's expected some time tomorrow.
The storm could also pick up strong waves delaying part of BP's oil clean-up plan off the coast of Louisiana.
CHETRY: Teen sailor Abby Sunderland is now back home in California this morning. The 16-year-old was rescued while attempting a solo sail around the world. She was about halfway through her trip when she was picked up after her boat was battered by high seas, her mast broke off because of heavy winds and a rogue wave in the Indian Ocean earlier this month.
ROBERTS: And vice president Joe Biden is planning on heading to the gulf coast later on today. He's going to be checking up on BP's efforts to clean up it's 71-day old oil spill. The White House tells us that the vice president will visit both New Orleans and the Florida panhandle. And while the focus along the gulf is on the oil spill cleanup and this hurricane season, many people are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from five years ago. In neighborhoods across New Orleans, volunteers are still helping people rebuild homes that were damaged back in 2005, but the clock is ticking to get the work done because money from the government is soon going to run out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARNET PERKINS, HOME REBUILT BY VOLUNTEERS: I can hear people say that they're down, they're waiting on the count. I was down and ready to throw the towel in. I mean, I had done just gave up.
ROBERTS (voice-over): Almost five years after Hurricane Katrina, Barnett Perkins was unsure if he would ever be able to repair his home in New Orleans' Seventh Ward. But recently volunteers arrived, landscaping, painting and installing sheet rock.
I had to good a picture of to remember.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why? Because I had never had any one to volunteer and do anything for me and I was so happy and so grateful.
ARTHUR JOHNSON, DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT, EPISCOPAL COMMUNITY SERVICES: This was the typical type of person that, family, that we're working with to help make a difference. And we have an obligation to do as much as we can for as long as we can.
ROBERTS: Perkins' home is one of eight that Episcopal Community Services of New Orleans is rushing to complete before it's rebuild program runs out of funds at the end of June. Since Katrina, the program has rebuilt more than 60 homes with the help of 12,000 volunteers from around the country. But now a government grant they hoped would fund rebuilding for the remainder of the year has been delayed indefinitely.
NELL BOLTON, EXEC. DIRECTOR, EPISCOPAL COMMUNITY SERVICES: We're coming in on the summer volunteer season. June and July are always big months, and we don't have the ability to start new houses. Without the funding, we won't be able to continue to tap that energy, that labor and that good will. It will be such a loss.
ROBERTS: Even today, more than 50,000 homes remain unoccupied in New Orleans. And while dozens of non-profit groups have worked to get people back in their homes, funding for programs like these is hard to maintain when other disasters take over the spotlight, most recently earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, and now the oil spill in New Orleans' own backyard.
MATTHEW SCHNEIDERMAN, VOLUNTEER: People are very interested in these sort of opportunities to be of service, like immediately following a catastrophe. And I never really got that these sort of events like have much longer lasting impacts on the people that it affects.
DAREN GRAYTON, VOLUNTEER: I've had my teammates at my job say, "hey, everything's fine down there, going down for a vacation? No, we're coming down to help. Help is needed everyone down here."
ROBERTS: For Barnet Perkins that help has arrived just in time.
JOHNSON: We have an obligation to make sure that your house is complete. We're not just going to come here and do a little something and leave. And I want to make sure that you know -- you understand that and I know the expression on your face --
PERKINS: I believe it. Now. After what have been did. I believe it now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: And soon after they finished the work that you just saw in our report, Episcopal Community Services Rebuild Program will shut down its warehouse, say good-bye to its crew and wait for word on its future. So, you know, while so many parts of New Orleans have bounced back and are in some ways more robust than they've been in a long, long time, there is still large swaths that have remain if not untouched, certainly haven't come back from the hurricane.
And if it weren't for people going down there like that fellow, you know, a lot of this work just wouldn't get done.
CHETRY: Barnet's house is complete now? Did they finish it?
ROBERTS: It's just about done, yes.
CHETRY: Yes, that's amazing. And again you said that the funding is just what? Just -- they're uncertain as to whether or not they're going to continue --
ROBERTS: Too many competing interests. There's just too many things to pay for these days.
CHETRY: All right. Well, great story though. Happy for Barnett. I'm glad he wanted to keep that picture of everybody who helped him out. It was very touching.
Well, we've heard what the nominee has to say. Now there are questions from the senators and they get to question the president's pick for a seat on the Supreme Court. Day two of Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings and our Dana Bash is going to be joining us from inside the hearing room on what we can expect today. 35 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Less than two hours, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan will be back in the hot seat at her confirmation hearings. She'll be facing some tough questions from senators about her qualifications for the job.
Dana Bash is live on Capitol Hill inside of the hearing room. And it will be interesting because it is not just the Republicans that are going to be grilling her. Democrats also want to know where she may or may not come down on key issues.
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kiran. It is right here in this chair that Elena Kagan sat yesterday and told these senators that she would take a "modest approach" to the court and show great deference to other branches of government. What she was trying to do was calm the senators up here, particularly those sitting over on this side of the (INAUDIBLE), the Republican senators who one by one made very clear that they did not think that she would be able to shed her liberal politics when she dons a Supreme Court robe.
But it wasn't just the Republicans, as you were alluding to there, Kiran. It was also some Democrats, particularly the Democrat who sits right here, Herb Kohl, who said he was also worried also about her lack of experience.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: Miss Kagan has less real legal experience of any nominee in at least 50 years. It is not just because the nominee has not been a judge. She has barely practiced law and not with the intensity and duration from which I think real legal understanding occurs.
SEN. HERB KOHL (D), WISCONSIN: Your judicial philosophy is almost invisible to us. We don't have a right to know in advance how you will decide cases.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now, that is going to be in various forms no doubt the key line of questioning we're going to hear from senators today on the Republican side, senators saying that they believe that President Obama is putting her on the court as a rubber stamp for the policies that he's pushing. That will no doubt come before the court, like health care reform.
Now, the Democratic side, you are hearing concerns about her view on issues like executive power. So we certainly expect those issues to be pressed. The question is whether she will answer those questions to satisfy these senators. Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Dana Bash for us this morning. Thanks so much.
And as we said, day two will also be a chance for Elena Kagan to answer Republican criticism that she may put politics ahead of impartiality if confirmed.
ROBERTS: Our CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has known Kagan for 30 years. He joins us now from Washington with some perspective and inside scoop. Jeff, good to see you this morning.
When you take a look at what she said yesterday regarding her philosophy, she said, "I'll do my best to consider every case impartially, modestly, with commitment to principle and in accordance with the law." She said she would be "properly deferential to Congress and the president," but she's got no judicial paper trail because she hasn't been a judge. So how are people really going to be able to discern, divine, what her judicial philosophy is?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I don't think they're going to know in any great detail what her judicial philosophy is. But through her statements -- and she's speaking a little bit there in Supreme Court code -- you can get a sense of where she's coming from.
What modesty means in current Supreme Court parlance is that she is not going to be anxious to overturn laws. Overturn gun laws. Overturn campaign finance laws. She is going to defer to the elected branches of government in most cases, though certainly not all cases. But that's the code she was speaking in when she mentioned the word "modesty."
CHETRY: So you mean Sonia Sotomayor said "fidelity" to the law -- that was also something that she said during her confirmation process. And then it was John Roberts who said "I call balls and strikes." So all of them trying to show they're going to be impartial and deferential to what's already on the books.
TOOBIN: Well, yes. The balls and strikes analogy has come in for a lot of criticism --
CHETRY: Right.
TOOBIN: -- from Chief Justice Roberts because we have seen a very active court. Of course, we're going to talk about the gun control case. The citizens United case that overturned the campaign finance laws. Overturning previous decisions in lots of different areas including abortion law. So this has not been a modest court over the past five years.
ROBERTS: How do you think this process is going to go today? Senator Schumer had an interesting line yesterday, he said, "the potential -- these hearings have the potential to be like eating like spaghetti with a spoon. It's a lot of work and it's hard to feel satisfied at the end."
TOOBIN: You know, I think that's an apt, if weird, analogy. Because you never really get Supreme Court nominees to answer questions because, as Arlen Specter likes to say, Supreme Court nominees say as little as possible in order to be confirmed.
The most important fact about Elena Kagan's nomination is that there are 58 Democrats in the Senate, which means it will take a Republican filibuster to stop her. There's no sign of a filibuster on the horizon. So to a certain extent, these hearings don't matter that much because -- unless there is some bombshell. So she's in pretty good shape regardless of what she says.
CHETRY: You talk about some of those key rulings. Yesterday the Supreme Court struck down the city of Chicago's ban on handgun ownership and this could then invalidate -- I mean the ripple effect could invalidate handgun laws in many municipalities around the country.
TOOBIN: You know, Kiran, this is a good reminder of why the Supreme Court matters. Because this decision has immense practical significance, basically for every American.
This is a case that says state and local gun control laws are unconstitutional. But the length of that decision, the breadth of the decision could really be enormous because there are a lot of issues raised by this.
OK. Handguns in the home, clearly now permissible. What about machine guns? What about tanks? What about stinger missiles? What about registration of gun owners? What about selling silencers? What about selling weapons to people who have been convicted of crimes? All those laws are now open for question because what the court said was, gun ownership is like -- is a fundamental right like freedom of speech. And you can't register newspapers and magazines like you register gun owners.
CHETRY: But however, they did say that they were able to retain the flexibility to preserve the reasonable gun control measures currently in place. So they did leave breathing room. As I understand, Chicago was going to try to re-write their legislation.
TOOBIN: Well, you know, if there is a lawyer's whizzle word better than reasonable, I don't know what it is. Because you know, what's reasonable? I me an, everyone up to three years ago though all gun control was reasonable. The court had changed dramatically. The law of the second amendment. Yes, I do believe that somehow the courts will figure out a way to uphold prohibitions in buying stinger missiles.
But all those other questions I raised including, you know, what if someone has been convicted of domestic violence, can they get a gun? Those laws look like they may be out the window today.
ROBERTS: Jeffrey Toobin, always great to see you, thanks for stopping by this morning.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jeff. CNN's going to have live coverage of the day two of Kagan's confirmation hearings. That all starts at 9:00 Eastern.
ROBERTS: Still ahead, mounting evidence against the diabetes drug Avandia. Not one but two new studies find the drug can lead to bigger risk of heart attack. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us at the bottom of the hour to talk about how to deal with the news.
CHETRY: Also Jacqui Jeras is along with the morning's travel forecast and an update on tropical storm Alex. We'll take a look at where it is projected to head. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Good morning, New York City where it is going to be positively steamy today, 77 degrees right now. Later on today, 90, mostly sunny. Little cooler than yesterday but some relief headed our way towards the middle and end of the week.
CHETRY: It's been so hot, they had to open cooling centers yesterday in the city to get elderly and other people out there and out of the heat. It's 49 degrees right now.
Let's get a check of the weather this morning, Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center for us. Your eyes are on tropical storm Alex this morning and where he may be headed.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIS. Yes, well, it's moving towards the U.S.- Mexican border, somewhere right within that neighborhood. Right now it's moving across southern parts of the Gulf of Mexico. This thing has really ramped up since the overnight.
We're looking at maximum winds now, 70 miles per hour. That's nearly a hurricane. You have to go up to 74 to reach hurricane status. It is moving north-northwesterly but expected to take a more westerly turn in the next 24 hours. That's why that cone of uncertainty is still rather large at this time.
Hurricane warnings (INAUDIBLE) on southward and this will likely be a category 1, maybe category 2 hurricane at landfall. It is going to bring in strong easterly winds over that oil spill so unfortunately that would push it a little further inland.
Rainfall along the Gulf Coast states is going to be very, very heavy, anywhere between three and six inches, 5 to 10 in the pass of the storm. The big picture showing cooler conditions starting to usher their way into the northeast. After all the record highs yesterday, a little cooler today. We're back down in the 80s as we head into tomorrow.
CHETRY: Jacqui Jeras for us. Thanks so much. Still ahead this morning's top stories a couple of minutes away including a cold war spy thriller, but it is real. The FBI busting an alleged Russian spy ring that was living under the cover of the American dream. Russia now responding to those allegations. What happens to the reset button now?
ROBERTS: At 8:50, extreme swimming at the age of 60. A woman tried to conquer a challenge got the best of her 30 years ago. Cuba to Florida, 103 miles. Dangerous currents and moody jellyfish. We followed her on a 24-hour training swim.
CHETRY: And he once took on a Kodiak bear. But is Kobayshii afraid of chestnut? See this is all competitive eating. We're going to find out why the man who changed it forever may sit out the Super Bowl (inaudible) hotdog eating contest on the 4th of July. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Coming up on 54 minutes after the hour. A health alert you need to know about. Avandia has been plagued by questions about its safety lately. More studies say the popular drug to treat diabetes may increase the risk of heart attacks.
CHETRY: CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us from Atlanta. There is a lot of confusion about this, whether or not Avandia does damage the heart and if you have diabetes, what do you do?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. Good morning, guys. This was the top selling diabetes drug in the world at one point, Avandia. There have been a lot of safety concerns over the last three years really.
Some studies saying, look up to 50,000 heart attacks, heart failures, even deaths, could be attributed to this drug. That got people's attention back in 2007. Now there are new studies. Trying to look specifically at what's happening here. What are the likelihoods of people developing some of these problems if they are taking this medication.
Take a look at some of the numbers here. These are based on large studies looking at Medicare patient, hundreds of thousands of them. You find that if you are taking Avandia, elderly patients, 27 percent increased risk of stroke, 25 percent increased risk of heart failure and 14 percent increased risk of death.
Those are the numbers according to this new large study. That's the one that's getting all the attention this week. Now, I will tell you that a lot of people will say, well, are diabetics perhaps more at risk for those things anyway? How do you know if it is the medication or the disease itself, which is why some of the numbers I'm about to show you are particularly important.
What they looked at here was people who are on Avandia and switched to another diabetes medication and how many heart attacks and strokes they could decrease per month. Take a look there. Specifically 500-plus heart attacks per month, decreased if you stop Avandia, 300-plus heart failures a month decreased again by stopping Avandia.
That's what we are talking about here. GlaxoSmithKline says, look, this has been studied. There have been six clinical trials. If you take them in aggregate, they don't show any increase of these problems. This is brewing for a big fight over the next couple of weeks with the FDA and this particular drug manufacturer.
ROBERTS: There is another study from GlaxoSmithKline that funded just out today which they are pushing back heavily against the latest studies. The question being raised that this has been known since 2007 at least in a couple of the studies, one in the "New England Journal of Medicine" back then and these new ones in "The Journal of the American Medical Association." Why is the drug still on the market? GUPTA: Well, you know, it's a good question. Back in 2007, when the safety concerns started to get raised there was a vote, whether or not to pull this particular drug from the market. And at that point it came one vote shy of actually pulling it. There's also this black box warning saying people who are at risk of the problems should not be taking the medication.
You know, it's interesting, John, they basically said the drug manufacturers said we need to do more safety studies. The studies will be completed in 2014. Now we are hearing look, that's too long and too confusing. Within the next two weeks let's bring this to a vote again.
CHETRY: In the meantime, I know that when there is a black box warning often times doctors do, you know, say maybe you should switch to something else. Are there other effective drugs for patients to switch to?
GUPTA: Yes. You know, there really are. There's 12 different classes of these types of diabetes drugs and I think if you really look at some of the data, you know, regardless of the safety risk, which are going to be addressed -- the next couple of weeks, there are other medications that are probably just as effective, if not more so, and don't have this track record. There are good options. Talk to your doctor about that.
CHETRY: People should listen up for sure today. All right, thanks so much, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Great to see you.
GUPTA: Thanks, guys.
CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break and we will be back in 90 seconds with your top stories.
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