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American Morning
Bracing for Hurricane Alex; Larry King to Hang Up Suspenders; Suspected Russian Spies Arrested; Verizon to Sell iPhone in 2011?; Deadly Chicago Inner-City Schoolyard Brawls
Aired June 30, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Wednesday, June 30th. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. We've got a lot to talk about this morning. So, let's get you right to it.
Thousands of people along the Gulf Coast this morning are bracing for not oil but a giant hurricane and taking cover. It's a category 1 storm. Winds are at 80 miles per hour. And while that might not see like much, this storm is huge. Landfall expected within hours.
We're live from South Padre Island, Texas -- right in the path of the storm this morning.
CHETRY: Rich, talented ask Bond girl looks. One of 11 accused Russian spies locked up for trying to steal U.S. intelligence and led a double life. The thrilling plot captured the attention around the world. And we have some revealing details about the suspects in the so-called deep cover operation.
ROBERTS: And the King is leaving his throne. After 25 years here at CNN, broadcasting legend Larry King announced last night that he's going to step aside for hosting his primetime show this fall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": I'm incredible proud we made the "Guinness Book of World Records" for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot on the same network. With that chapter closing, I'm looking forward to the future, what my next chapter will bring. For now, for here, it's time to hang up the nightly suspenders.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: This morning, a look at the iconic television host who has interviewed everyone from presidents to Hollywood royalty.
CHETRY: And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running. We'd love for you to join our live conversation. Head to our Web site, CNN.com/amFIX and we'll be reading some of your comments throughout the morning.
ROBERTS: Well, up first this morning, Hurricane Alex getting bigger and roaring across the Gulf's warm waters. Category 1 storm expected to slam into the coast today near the Texas/Mexico border. It's packing winds currently at 80 miles an hour.
CHETRY: And its enormous size is actually covering the entire Gulf. Alex is also kicking up 12-foot high waves, sending oil skimming boats from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle back to shore now.
And Reynolds Wolf is in the storm's path. He joins us the phone from South Padre Island, Texas.
We understand that you guys have been getting some big gusts. In fact, it's been making it difficult for us to get a shot of you out of South Padre Island, Texas, this morning. What's it like?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST (via telephone): Absolutely, Kiran. No question about it. And the way this really picked up, from vantage point, obviously, daylight has come on. And with it, we've got full view of the Gulf of Mexico. And from our vantage point, it is one angry sea. We're talking about massive waves.
Again, a lot of (INAUDIBLE) out there. Rain has also picked up considerably. We've got some very heavy downpours that have come through. It's been intermittent. We've got band come through, it's just deluge, then stops, lets up there, and another one comes through. A repeated process as the storm makes closer to land.
Preparation here at South Padre Island. (INAUDIBLE).
And what we've seen locally in Brownsville, the mayor has sent out over 60,000 sandbags at South Padre Island. They've been set up in many places to hold back the water that they do anticipate will be coming through.
The wind, as I have been telling you, is one of the things that causes widespread power outages. We've got power crews that are standing by and hoping to restore utilities quickly should they come out.
And I'm telling you, with the winds increasing and some of them, again, expected to see up to hurricane force, not beyond. Some places getting up to may 60 to 80-mile-an-hour, obviously much stronger towards the center of circulation.
We're going to have some power outages. (INAUDIBLE).
But, you know, one thing to consider, people in this area are veterans of these storms. (INAUDIBLE) back in 2008, less than a mile from our exactly location, we were experiencing Hurricane Dolly. So, people have seen this before. They've seen this kind of damage. They are definitely on guard. They are taking it in stride, also, kind of mixed emotions.
Back to you.
ROBERTS: All right. Reynolds Wolf for us in windy South Padre Island this morning, we hope to be able to see a picture of him at some point, but the wind blowing that satellite dish around. We may not get it for the rest of the day.
CHETRY: Right. Slow-mover, too -- according to Jacqui. We'll check in with her as well.
Meantime, this next story is a bittersweet one for us at CNN. Legendary Larry King has announced that he'll be stepping aside come the fall.
ROBERTS: It's going to be the end of an era for a broadcasting legend whose show remains a most must visit venue for the who's who of politics and entertainment. King has been the face of CNN at 9:00 p.m. for 25 years now and he has interviewed some -- listen to this -- 50,000 people.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: This was tough. It was -- it was time. I was ready to do it. CNN folks agreed to it. We sat down and we are going to do specials. And more time with the family. I want to expand. I want to do other things that I haven't been able to do.
BILL MAHER, "REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER": I'm reminded of what my father who was a broadcaster said the day Mickey Mantle retired. Say it isn't so, he began the broadcast.
KING: You're putting me in that class?
MAHER: Mickey Mantle -- you are definitely the Mickey Mantle of broadcasters. Mickey mantle played 18 seasons. You played more than that.
So, I know some people out there will say, it's maybe inappropriate to say too soon for a man who's in his 70s. But it is too soon. I hope you are -- I hope you are doing this of your own volition and not because of what the media says.
KING: It has nothing to do with it. There was no pressure from CNN. I don't pay attention to that, I love what I do. But it was time, Bill. It was time. It was just time.
I will tell you --
MAHER: As long as it is coming from, and not dictated by "The New York Times" or anybody else.
KING: Not at all.
MAHER: OK.
KING: I was -- I did the 25th anniversary week. We had Lady Gaga. We had Bill Gates. We had President Obama, and LeBron James. I'm flying home from that week, and I'm thinking to myself, I've done 50,000 interviews. I'm never going to top this. I want to go on, I want new horizons. I want to try other things.
MAHER: Right.
KING: I'd like to stay in some way with CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: There you go. And we'll see what the future holds for Larry. He says he's going to continue to be doing regular specials on major international and national events.
ROBERTS: Yes. Certainly, you know, he may be hanging up the 9:00 p.m. time slot but he's not hanging up the microphone. You know, the future is somewhat in question right now. We're not sure exactly what Larry is going to do but his past -- as you are about to see -- is certainly unforgettable.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: My name is Larry King and this is the premier edition of "LARRY KING LIVE." Every night at this time, we'll be here for one hour. We're going to meet fascinating people from all walks of life.
Ted Turner called me, said, Larry, you want to come work to me? You work at 9:00 until 10:00 every night. It's your show.
My agent was the late Bob Wolf. Bob called me up and said, it ain't a bad deal. You give me a nice money, same as your radio money. You're doubling your pay. They give you an option at the end of the year if you're unhappy, you can bail out. So, I said I'll try it. I tried.
The favorite guests are those who can do four things, and that would be you have passion, a sense of humor, anger, and ability to explain what you do very well.
DONALD TRUMP, CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Larry, all of the interviews you've done, what's been your favorite?
KING: If I had to pick one -- there are so many -- it would probably be Brando. One, because he's so hard to get. He entertained the entire crew. He was sweet, he was funny. At the end of the interview, he kissed me. He was responsive. He was an incredible guest.
I like live TV and I like unpredictability.
You react unpredictable. You react unpredictably. There's nothing wrong with that.
CARRIE PREJEAN, FMR. MISS CALIFORNIA: You're being inappropriate. OK? KNG: OK. All right. "Inappropriate King Live" continues.
Ahmadinejad, that was something.
Are you denying that a Holocaust existed?
PRES. MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, IRAN (through translator): You cannot violate the rights of the audience.
KING: I understand that. But all I wanted to know is: do you agree that there was a Holocaust? That's a simple yes or no.
(MUSIC)
PRISCILLA PRESLEY: Hello, Larry King.
KING: Hello, Priscilla, dear. Thank you for having us.
PRESLEY: Welcome to Graceland.
KING: That's the most expensive "LARRY KING LIVE" I've ever done, the expense of going there, amount of crew, setting up Graceland, renting that Cadillac. I like doing presidents, of course. You can't get any higher than that. You still like this job?
OBAMA: This is the best job on earth. I mean, it's an extraordinary privilege.
KING: George Bush I, one of the regular guys of all time.
Being a former president, seeing your name on buildings, what's that like?
GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: When I see these things, it's great.
KING: Is it hard to drive by the Watergate?
RICHARD NIXON, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: I've never been in the Watergate. So, it's not a hard --
KING: Never been in?
NIXON: Other people were in there, unfortunately.
KING: I live for two things, interviewing people and being on top of a story where I'm in the middle of things. He's on roof 5, he's on 405, and I'm following a map to know where he is going. He's driven through two counties. We followed him all the way.
America under attack.
I found myself at ground zero.
THOMAS VON ESSEN, N.Y. FIRE COMMISSIONER: This was the North Tower. That was the South Tower. KING: I knew my life had changed, I knew television would change.
KING AND MARLON BRANDO (singing): Got an angel beside me. (INAUDIBLE) to guide me. Got a date with an angel, and I'm on my way to heaven.
BRANDO (singing): When the chapel bells ring out --
KING (singing): Going to make him an offer he can't refuse.
BRANDO: Darling, goodbye.
KING: Goodbye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: As Larry mentioned, the first guest to sit in that chair across from him was then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo.
CHETRY: We got a chance to speak to former governor earlier this morning about why he knew 25 years ago that Larry would be a success.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIO CUOMO, THEN-NEW YORK GOVERNOR (via telephone): First of all, his magnificent voice, that sound, it's same on television as it is on radio, that will be a big plus. And he will ask of important guests and he'll get plenty of important guests because they'll love to come to him because he -- he will be probing but not nasty. And he will -- he will ask the same questions that the people at home would ask.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERTS: And we want you to send us your thoughts on Larry King's decision to hang up his suspenders. The amFIX blog is up and running this morning. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX.
CHETRY: He probably still wears suspenders even if he's not --
ROBERTS: He'll always wear suspenders. It's not just a showbiz thing. That's him.
CHETRY: Right. He likes them.
Well, tonight, don't miss Larry King's primetime exclusive interview with Elizabeth Edwards. We're going to hear about her split from John Edwards, her continuing battle with cancer and how she's dealt with the heartache head-on. That's tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, "LARRY LIVE," right here on CNN.
ROBERTS: A Russian spy ring, spies among us, living in our suburbs. Eleven people who have been arrested on spying on this country and the femme fatale of it all, Anna Chapman. Who is she? We'll find out -- coming up next. It's 11 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Fourteen minutes after the hour.
Now to a developing story: A suspected Russian spy ring busted wide open. Eleven people have already been arrested and the FBI is tracking even more.
CHETRY: It's a bizarre story. The investigators say they've been operating in deep cover for more than a decade. But at the same time living all-American lives.
Deb Feyerick continues to follow the story for us and she's here now with more.
A lot of people have been focusing on one woman in particular.
DEB FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Absolutely. And, you know, what's so interest being these alleged spies is that they were living full integrated Americanized lives just as they had been instructed to do. That is until one of them, it appears, decided to run.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK (voice-over): Talking on YouTube, accused spy Anna Chapman says she's inspired by the quantity and quality of people she's met in New York -- many of them successful in business.
"I'm working on a project that will connect two capitals, New York and Moscow -- from my point of view, the two major cities for me to look for most talented people."
The striking 28-year-old entrepreneur seen here on her Facebook page appears to have started domdot.ru, a search engine for Russian real estate. But Chapman, says an acquaintance, is not so much James Bond as she is James Bond's girlfriend. Many of her Facebook friends seemingly of Russian origin. The FBI says she is a highly trained intelligence operative. A spy, the headlines read, sophisticated enough to elude detection until now.
FEYERICK (on camera): An FBI agent says Anna Chapman was inside this coffee shop on her computer when a van known to be driven by a Russian government official passed by. It is at that point that FBI agents detected a wireless network signal and they say Anna Chapman was passing encrypted data from her computer to a computer inside that vehicle.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Whether real estate was Chapman's real career, another woman in Boston accused of being a spy is also in real estate. On her website, Anne Foley is described as a native of Montreal who, quote, "lived and was educated in Switzerland, Canada, and France". According to court papers, her alibi on a trip to Russia was she was working as an international business consultant. Her husband, Donald Howard Heathfield, an international sales consultant for an energy company, is also under arrest. Prosecutors say a birth certificate with his name was found in a safety deposit box. And though it appears genuine, prosecutors say the real Donald Heathfield passed away five years ago.
Of the 11 alleged spies one worked as a journalist for the New York based Spanish language newspaper, El Diario. Vickie Palez is accused of traveling to South America where she received $76,000. Allegedly for recruiting sources. On a wiretap her husband, Juan Lozaro (ph) who claimed to be born in Uruguay, is allegedly heard telling his wife he and his parents moved to Siberia when the war started. Palez' son spoke about the charges.
WALDOMAR MARISCAL, SON OF VICKY PELAEZ: There were like most like reporters are like you guys. Innocent. Very scary. It's horrible.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Now, justice officials will not say who it was who is getting ready to leave the United States. We do know that ten of the 11 are in custody here. There was a concern that if released on bail they might leave. There is one man, he is in Cypress. His passport was confiscated but he must stay in the country and check in with the police department. So, he is sort of at liberty.
CHETRY: Wow.
ROBERTS: I love this fascination with Anna Chapman. She is like the electric king of this whole thing.
FEYERICK: The James Bond girl. Absolutely. Absolutely.
CHETRY: And now you see her on YouTube videos and of course she is going to be on the front of every paper.
FEYERICK: You know what is really interesting also, she really seem -- she was hustling to make a life here. She was meeting up with businessmen, venture capitalists. And you hear that little thing she does on YouTube in Russian and she was really trying to establish herself as credible. We spoke to a couple of her friends online and they said, you know, she really worked 24/7, really wanted to make something of her life. Who knows if even some of it was legitimate.
ROBERTS: Allegedly a double life.
FEYERICK: A double life.
ROBERTS: The intrigue.
CHETRY: Deb Feyerick for us, thanks.
ROBERTS: Thanks, Deb. Coming up at 8:40 Eastern, we are going to talk, by the way, with Oleg Kalugin. He spent 35 years working undercover as the KGB chief in the United States. He is going to give us his take on the suspected spy ring. Why he is surprised at the number of arrests and how this might impact the recent attempt between the United States and Russia to play nice with each other.
CHETRY: Well, there is some iPhone rumors it's that AT&T's exclusive lock on the iPhone may be ending soon. Verizon is getting in the game and it could open things up for a whole new group of future iPhone owners. Nineteen minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-one minutes past the hour. When trading starts in just over an hour, Wall Street is going to try to make up some of the huge losses from yesterday, reacting to a drop in consumer confidence and fears of a bigger global slowdown. The Dow losing 268 points, over 2.6 percent of its worth. The Nasdaq down almost 4 percent. Trading today in Asia finishing with some big red arrows as well. Japan, the biggest loser. Things are a little better in Europe. London's FTSE up just over one-half of a percentage point.
ROBERTS: And Verizon customers, we have heard this before, well the rumors are flying again that the company will be selling the coveted iPhone. Bloomberg news reported sources close to the deal say the Apple device will be available to Verizon customers in January. Insiders say that timetable makes sense because it coincides with the introduction of Verizon's new faster 4G network. No official comment from the companies themselves.
CHETRY: What happened?
ROBERTS: We discovered a problem with the new iPhone 4. This is the latest generation thing. Apparently -- I found out online that this might be a fairly common problem.
CHETRY: It went dead on you?
ROBERTS: This was activated yesterday and promptly went dead. Tried everything. Hard reset. People have been writing in. We talked about this earlier saying hold down the two buttons. Tried that ages go.
CHETRY: And you are positive it is charged. It was not an empty battery?
ROBERTS: Yes, fully charged. No, it is just dead. Dead, dead, dead.
CHETRY: Well, you know, the upside to that is you won't have to worry about losing reception.
ROBERTS: Exactly. Yes. Apparently, the other problem is, you put your hand on that part of the iPhone and you lose your reception. I don't know if this is -- imagine it is an Apple problem. Apple, can you help us out here? Dead iPhone 4. Don't know what's going on with it. But other people have reported similar problems. CHETRY: On the upside, my 3 is working just fine. Elena Kagan letting her guard down. New video shows Kagan's feisty side from her time as the Dean of Harvard's Law School.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Twenty-six minutes now after the hour. Your top stories just minutes away, but first an A.M. Original, something that you will see only on "American Morning." Reigniting the second amendment debate this week the Supreme Court struck down Chicago's 28- year-old ban on handguns. The case could have a huge impact, not only in which Chicago, but across the nation.
CHETRY: And here at "American Morning" we are taking an in-depth look at the deadly inner city violence in Chicago. Starting with a case that shocked the nation. T.J. Holmes joins us live now with part one of our series, "Walk In My Shoes." Good morning, T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you guys, Kiran and John. We talked about Chicago violence. It is on other people's radar now. But it has been something they have been dealing with here in Chicago for quite some time. And a lot of it had to focus on young people the kids, the students being killed. But we just wrapped up another school year, 31 kids were killed during this school year. And this case that put this all in the nation's radar really was that case of Darion Albert, phone video showed him being beaten and killed during a brawl. Well, the nation saw it and was shocked. But for the young people involved in it, they saw things a lot differently. And that's what I found out when I went to talk to them, want to let you know, though, some of this video you are about to see is a bit disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES (voice-over): It shocked the nation. But for 17-year-old Vashion Bullock, this brawl was only a step removed from his everyday reality.
HOLMES (on camera): What happened that day that had you end up in the middle of all that?
VASHION BULLOCK, FOUGHT IN DEADLY STREET BRAWL: One of the kids threw a rock at my brother. So, I approached the boy. Why are you throwing rocks?
HOLMES (voice-over): For weeks, Vashion said tension was brewing between two rival factions at Chicago's Finger High School. Fights between the teens were nothing new really but on this day, some kids came with makeshift weapons.
BULLOCK: They brought those weapons to the fight. They brought them. Picked up bottles and brought them. They ripped the railroad tracks up just to fight.
HOLMES: The video shows a shirtless Vashion with his brother, Eugene Riley, standing next to him, both empty-handed as another teen whacks Vashion with a wooden plank. When the brothers appear again, they are holding planks.
HOLMES (on camera): So your brother comes over and does what?
BULLOCK: Swung at one of them. He was fighting. He had to protect himself and me. Because I am his little brother.
HOLMES: You are telling me, your brother was simply defending himself and defending you at the time with whatever was around and whatever you got on the side with you?
BULLOCK: Come on, I got hit in the back of my head. He got hit in the back of his head with the stick.
HOLMES: Now, did Darion, so you know, did he ever -- was he ever part of the group that was jumping you?
BULLOCK: I ain't going to say he was fighting me. Because I -- I couldn't tell.
HOLMES: So, you assumed he was over there trying to swing on you and trying to fight you and your brother.
BULLOCK: No. I ain't going to assume. I know for a fact.
HOLMES (voice-over): But authorities have repeatedly said Darion was nothing more than an innocent bystander, on his way home from school, caught between two rival groups.
HOLMES (on camera): So, from what the -- you see in that video, what do you see your brother doing to Darion?
BULLOCK: I seen him fighting -- he had him with the stick. It was a fight.
HOLMES (voice-over): Darion was still on the ground when Vashion's brother, Eugene, delivered a final blow.
HOLMES (on camera): I know you miss your brother and I know that you love him. But, do you think it was necessary to take it that far?
BULLOCK: They brought those weapons to the fight. That's what people are not understanding.
HOLMES: Darion was down. Why do you think your brother had to go after and hit this kid who clearly wasn't a threat anymore, at least?
BULLOCK: He was another body, another body with two hands that could have been swinging on anybody.
HOLMES (voice-over): After video of the brawl was released, Vashion's brother, Eugene was taken into custody. One of five teens charged in the killing of Darion Albert.
BULLOCK: I'm just saying they should let all of them go. Because it was just a fight. Fights happen daily. HOLMES (on camera): But, you know, for the police and our justice system, that isn't good enough. Your brother picked up something to hit a kid and that kid died.
BULLOCK: What about the other people that picked up the weapons? Where are they at?
HOLMES: Don't you think somebody should be held accountable for Darion's death?
BULLOCK: No, not accountable for the whole thing because it was a mistake. Nobody wanted him to die. Nobody messed with him to die. We just -- it was a fight. Fights get out of hand. Not intentionally. Just because.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: It was a mistake. It was just a fight. It was just an accident. You hear him there. Now, his brother, Eugene Riley, still awaiting trial right now in that case. I mentioned at the top, 31 students have been killed in this school year. Compare that to 49 killed last school year. It sounds like some improvement with 31 still alive.
Guys, we are following up here as well and just to show you, give you an idea of the violence in Chicago, week and a half ago, over a weekend, about 60 people were shot, 10 killed and among them several, 15, 16, 17 and 18-year-olds.
ROBERTS: It is unbelievable to hear those numbers and to think as hard as they are trying, police have not been able to make a dent in it.
HOLMES: Not yet. One other note, they are starting to use stimulus funds. They are going to use $25 million to go towards mentoring programs and other programs to help the students deal with the violence better which they say in the pilot phase of some of those programs showed pretty good, remarkable improvement, they even say.
So that's starting to be used and maybe they can make a dent.
ROBERTS: Certainly have a long way to go, no question. T.J., thanks so much.
Tomorrow as we continue our series, "Walk in my Shoes," we are asking the question why do teens fight? T.J. sat down to talk with kids I Chicago to ask is it about survival, power, or honor? What, if anything, can be done to change this behavior? That's tomorrow right here on the Most News of the Morning.
CHETRY: In the meantime, it's 31 minutes past the hour, time to check other stories new this morning.
Attorney General Eric Holder is now on the ground in Afghanistan meeting with U.S. and Afghan officials to talk about improving the nation's justice system and battling corruption. Holder says that supporting the rule of law is one of President Obama's top priorities.
The trip is first for attorney general who oversees FBI and DEA agents stationed in Afghanistan.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: The State Department confirming the United States is accepting help from 12 different countries and international organizations to deal with the Gulf oil spill now in its 72nd day. Japan is the only country identified so far.
Dozens of nations have reportedly offered assistance. The State Department hasn't said why some offers are being accepted and some rejected.
CHETRY: Hurricane Alex is roaring across the gulf this morning. The storm is getting bigger and better defined but sustaining category I strength for now, winds hitting 80 miles per hour. Landfall is expected sometime today near the Texas-Mexico border.
This storm is kicking up 12-foot high waves, and that's forcing oil cleanup boats to the Florida panhandle to head back to shore.
ROBERTS: Day three of Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings getting under way in a half hour. Kagan has been cool, calm collected, not to mention downright funny in the face of some Republican attacks against her.
CHETRY: This morning we are seeing another side of the Supreme Court nominee from her days at Harvard. Our Jim Acosta is following that. He joins us live in Washington this morning. Hey, Jim.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran, John. This sort of Elena Kagan unplugged. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has gone out of her way, as you know to avoid controversy during her confirmation hearings. But there have been a few moments when she let down her guard and shown her sense of humor with cameras rolling during her days as the dean of the Harvard law school.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELEGA KAGAN, U.S. SOLICITOR GENERAL: What do we know about her? What do we think about her?
ACOSTA: It was 2005. Then dean of the Harvard law school, Elena Kagan, leading a panel discussion.
KAGAN: Does anybody know anything about her?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Not much.
ACOSTA: The subject, Harriet Miers. George W. Bush's pick for the Supreme Court. In this exchange, Kagan is off camera, but she and the panel appear to have fun with Miers' lack of name recognition.
KAGAN: How do you pronounce her name?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miers. At least that's how everybody else has been pronouncing it. They don't know anything either.
ACOSTA: The panel questions Miers legal heft, criticism that helped doom her nomination. On this video recorded at Harvard Kagan appears to agree with Miers' critics.
KAGAN: We don't know much about her views. Republicans have a little bit of, you know, want to know better who this person is, too.
ACOSTA: The comments sound eerily similar to what Republicans have been saying about Kagan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Miss Kagan has less legal experience of any nominee in at least 50 years.
KAGAN: I have something of a political background myself.
ACOSTA: Also in '05, Harvard alumni I didn't for then Senator Barack Obama, Kagan gushed over the man who would become president, calling him her hero and praising his speech to the 2004 Democratic convention.
KAGAN: You could have heard a pin drop. And in part that's because all of the rock star qualities that he has -- the eloquence, the magnetism, great looks, brilliance.
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am glad that Dean Kagan set the proper tone.
(LAUGHTER)
ACOSTA: At a graduation ceremony in 2007 --
KAGAN: You will face choices between doing what is easy and doing what is right.
ACOSTA: Kagan sharply criticized key members of the Bush White House over the administration's secret wiretapping program. She slammed Alberto Gonzalez, who as White House counsel once tried to pressure former Attorney General John Ashcroft to approve the program while Ashcroft was in the hospital.
KAGAN: This is a story, to put it bluntly, some of lawyers that failed to respect the rule of law. And of other lawyers who stood up for and vindicated it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And on another video she takes a gentle dig at Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, saying that his Harvard degree was the best thing about him. Kagan is known for her wicked sense of humor, but on many of these videos, Kagan is cautious, staying clear of controversy in public.
Videos are now up on the Judiciary Committee's website. And we did find that golden little nugget tucked away in those videos. At a 2008 panel discussion with our own Jeff Toobin, she says Jeff taught her everything she knows about the law. I think she was kidding, but I think Jeffrey would enjoy that.
CHETRY: He joked, here she is, getting ready to get confirmed and I'm covering the Michael Jackson trial.
ACOSTA: He can take all the credit.
ROBERTS: It is interesting when you look back at how measured she was in her comments. It is like she had some idea maybe someday.
ACOSTA: Oh, yes. She was very much the administrator, John, during this time. Even her colleagues will say, even her students will say, former students will say, she was probably tailoring much of what she said during all of that time, keeping in mind there might be better things to come down the line.
ROBERTS: When you are the Dean of the Harvard law school you know maybe you can go up from there.
ACOSTA: Yes, I think so.
ROBERTS: Jim, thanks so much.
CHETRY: If we only all had that foresight. The Kagan confirmation hearing resumes 9:00 eastern time, in just about 20 minutes. You can watch it right here on CNN or online.
ROBERTS: Global intrigue, a Russian spy ring operating right here in the United States. We are going to get perspective on this from a man who was the KGB station chief in the United States for many years. Oleg Kalugin is coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 40 minutes after the hour. A developing story this morning -- 11 people busted so far in the alleged Russian spy ring. Most of the suspects live what seemed like all American lives, married, successful careers, children.
The FBI says it was an elaborate to gain U.S. intelligence. But what exactly were they after, and what did they manage to get, if anything?
Joining us this morning from Rockville, Maryland, to help answer those questions, former chief of KGB foreign intelligence operations Oleg Kalugin joins us this morning. Oleg, great to have you with us this morning. What were your thoughts when you first heard about the spy ring and the fact there were 11 of them involved.
OLEG KALUGIN, FORMER MAJOR GENERAL, KGB: I was astonished really. I have quite an experience in this country. I witnessed all kinds of expulsions of diplomats and some other guys arrested as well, put in jail. But I never thought at this time when there was a reset of Russian American relation, the Russians would still conduct intelligence operations of this scale.
I mean, look, almost a dozen people, that's amazing. And they are practically illegals. They are not undercover or diplomat or journalists or scientific research. This is, in fact, reminds me of the worst years of the cold war.
But the sheer number of the guys, that's what struck me. In my time we had some illegals in the United States, two, three, let's say, but I'm really amazed.
ROBERTS: Eight of these suspects were married couples operating, you know, quite under the radar screen, living typical suburban lives. Nobody had any suspicions of them. One woman said I don't know how they could have been Russian spies. Look what they did with the flowers in their garden. They were living all-American lives.
What does it take to infiltrate, Oleg, on that level?
KALUGIN: Well, in the old days, there was a special department of illegal operations. Apparently since the collapse of the USSR, this department suffered serious setbacks.
But with the Russian sort of reappearance of the world arena with current Russian leader, Mr. Putin, through officially it's President Medvedev, but the man behind is Mr. Putin, a former KGB guy, I think that for him it was a matter of just honor to restore the vitality and efficiency of the old KGB-style Soviet espionage.
And of course the United States used to be enemy number one. No more priority number one. That's the official lingo of the Russian intelligence these days.
Under these circumstances they would try to approach American diplomats or scientists. But they also created that illegal network who would operate from behind the scenes in the hope that one day they will just promote some of their friends to the state department or CIA or some other federal government, you know.
So that was a truly remarkable revival of the old-style Soviet approach but on a bigger scale.
ROBERTS: You probably heard, probably read about the so-called femme fatale of the operation, Anna Chapman, this 28-year-old woman. What do you think of her?
KALUGIN: Well, she seems to look like a person who beautifies the organization, makes it more attractive, and represents the contemporary Russian society. Some of the guys, I understand, sort of belong to the different generation, those that live in the United States for a while.
She is a fresh person, character in this whole network. Apparently she -- well, provided somehow to operate against the United States. She probably made that's guys feel sort of encouraged with this lady in charge. Sometimes personality plays a critical role in an operation.
ROBERTS: She certain sly getting lots of attention and we will have to find out as these charges come -- KALUGIN: No wonder.
(LAUGHTER)
ROBERTS: No wonder. We'll have to find out as these charges come down just exactly what they were able to glean in terms of intelligence. Oleg Kalugin, it is great to catch up with you. Thank you so much for taking the time. Appreciate it.
KALUGIN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: All right -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right, well, we're 15 minutes until the top of the hour.
We told you the bittersweet news here at CNN that Larry King is going to be calling it quits at least on his nightly show; ending his 25-year run.
Well, one of his frequent guests and somebody who even got to talk to him on the other side of the microphone, Donald Trump with reaction coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, for 25 years, Larry King has been a prime time staple here at CNN. But this morning, we are nearing the end of an era.
CHETRY: That's right. Last night the legendary TV host announced that he'll step aside from his hosting of the prime time nightly show this fall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, CNN HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": I talked to the guys here at CNN. And I told them I would like to end "LARRY KING LIVE", the nightly show, this fall. And CNN has graciously accepted to agree to giving me more time for my wife and I to get to the kids' Little League games.
Until then, we've got more shows to do. And who knows what the future is going to bring.
REGIS PHILBIN, TV HOST (on the phone): Larry King has always been there, always been with us.
KING: Right, wow.
PHILBIN: And I'm going to miss you terribly, Larry because frankly, you're one of a kind.
KING: Yes so are you Regis.
PHILBIN: I will miss you, I'll miss you your suspenders, I'll miss your voice. I'll miss everything.
KING: I'm not going away.
PHILBIN: Ok. That's what I want to hear. That's why I called. I want to make sure you are not going away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: King says that he will continue to host regular specials for CNN on major national and international subjects.
ROBERTS: And then maybe he'll fill in for Regis Philbin once in a while.
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: One of the people that Larry King had on very often is Donald Trump. And he joins us live on the phone. Donald, good morning. So your thoughts --
DONALD TRUMP, REAL ESTATE MAGNATE (on the phone): Good morning.
ROBERTS: Your thoughts on Larry King hanging up the suspenders at least on a regular basis.
TRUMP: Well, there's never really been anybody like Larry at what he does. He was the best. He -- there was something about him. You know people would say he was easy but he wasn't easy. He'd get into you.
I mean, I've had many people over the years, they are really tough interviewers. Where you have your guard up, you'd really have to guard up and you wouldn't give them anything. With Larry you open your heart. And he was just a very unusual guy.
And you know, he would do this five nights and six nights a week. And getting people on a show and really the newsmakers that often, is really a trick. There's never been anyone like Larry King. And there won't be.
CHETRY: You know and Donald, what I also marveled at is, with the same ease that he can interview Former President Richard Nixon, he can interview Lady Gaga. He could be in a car with Snoop Dog.
I mean, do you think we're ever going to see that type of versatility with, you know, people trusting him and him providing credibility no matter who he was talking to?
TRUMP: Well, times have changed and the whole media picture -- you folks know better than I do -- has changed so much. But -- and that's one of the reasons. But you'll never see anything like Larry again. Larry was unique. He was really the best at what he did.
ROBERTS: You know, I sat down with Larry at a -- what was that -- a borders, I think, when his book came out. And we -- we did this thing in front of an audience where Larry was telling stories. And interviewing him was so simple because he was so full of so many stories, you would just kind of lay out well.
TRUMP: Right.
ROBERTS: Well, tell us -- tell us about this particular thing. Tell us about the Mapo (ph) story. And he would go on for ten minutes about it.
What -- give us the flip side of that coin, though. When you sat down with Larry, you had to tell your story. How did he get out of you maybe some of the things you didn't even want to talk about?
TRUMP: Well that was it. There was an ease that you had with Larry. And -- it is not the word familiarity because that would be a bad word but there was an ease. He'd -- he'd put you at ease and then he'd get things out of you that the killers of the world in your business could not get.
And you know, it is very interesting because two weeks ago he called me and he said would you do me a really big favor. I have never done this before. I would like you to sit in my chair and interview me. And I did that, as you know, last week.
ROBERTS: Yes.
TRUMP: And I found it fascinating. I found two things -- I found what he does fascinating. It's probably easier sitting on the other side of the table, actually. And people don't realize that.
But the other thing, I -- I found his responses to my questions really amazing. He is just an amazing guy and CNN will miss him greatly.
COOPER: Yes and he wanted to point out, you know, he's still going to be here regularly. He's still going to be a member of the family for as long as he wants to be. But you know, the other interesting thing, Donald, you, of course, know this as well. I mean, what goes into making somebody successful in any business, I mean, you have -- had success, of course in real estate, you had success on television.
One of the things that Larry said when -- when we were at his 50th party to me was, you know, you're young and you want to -- move ahead in this business and, you know, there's just -- you are going to get so many people telling you different things. The one piece of advice I would give you is be yourself.
TRUMP: Yes.
CHETRY: You can only be you and that's what I have done all of these years, staying himself. That's what Larry did. He was just himself. And he was certainly greatly rewarded for it on television.
TRUMP: Well, I think that's true. And I know you both are yourselves. And that's why you're doing so well. I see how well you're doing and that's great. But the fact is you have to be yourself. You think you can't really change. You come out a certain way. And Larry was always a big believer. He would tell a lot of people that. He's say be yourself. I mean, if that's good, that's good. And if it's bad you try and change a little bit. But ultimately you have no choice. You have to be yourself.
ROBERTS: Well, as a man who's always been himself, Donald Trump, thanks for joining us this morning with your thoughts on Larry. We really appreciate it.
TRUMP: Thank you both very much.
ROBERTS: All right. Take care.
One team's plan to revitalize Detroit, get it growing, with gardens -- real green. Jason Carroll, "Building up America" coming right up. It's 53 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: You did catch me dancing there. Fifty-six minutes past the hour. Welcome back to The Most News in the Morning.
Planting seeds to save a city; a teenager in Detroit is growing the idea along with a team of volunteers to try to help restore the Motor City to its former glory.
ROBERTS: Yes. Her story is the latest in our ongoing series "Building up America" and our "Dancing with the Stars" contestant, Jason Carroll here with us this morning.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You caught me here.
ROBERTS: Good morning.
CARROLL: Yes. The person we were talking about at the very top there, her, is Ivory Price. She is a remarkable, remarkable young woman if I can editorialize just for a moment there. Ivory spends much of her time after school with an organization called BuildOn. BuildOn has students actually volunteering all across the country.
In Detroit, Ivory and the others are helping one of the city's worst neighborhoods literally dig its way out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Motor City. Motown. In its heyday Detroit thrived, a place of economic opportunity and growth. A place 15-year-old Ivory Price only hears about.
IVORY PRICE, STUDENT: My grandma would show me pictures of what it used to be.
CARROLL: Ivory's Detroit is a city with one of the country's highest unemployment rates. So many businesses shut down, so many homes abandoned. But Ivory believes there's a way to get Detroit growing again.
PRICE: Just planting one seed can definitely help towards that goal.
CARROLL: We found Ivory with a group of volunteers, planting a garden in an abandoned lot in one of Detroit's worst neighborhoods.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
CARROLL: She volunteers for an organization called BuildOn; it's a non-profit that created after-school programs where students help rebuild impoverished areas. Here, they reclaim land with a garden. Eventually they'll donate the food they grow.
PRICE: We've definitely encountered people even with this project, and other times in BuildOn saying that that's impossible. You can't do that. You should just leave it alone. Why waste your time.
CARROLL (on camera): What do you say to people like that?
PRICE: I tell them you never know until you try.
CARROLL (voice-over): Trying -- in this neighborhood, it's challenging.
(on camera): In addition to being economically devastated, the volunteers that are out here trying to rebuild this neighborhood also have to deal with crime. There's a gang that operates right here on this block and prostitution as well, which takes place right here in what used to be a playground.
JIM ZIOLKOWSKI, FOUNDER, BUILDON: Before our kids begin any projects, they can --
CARROLL (voice-over): BuildOn's founder says the garden is just the beginning.
ZIOLKOWSKI: The rest of the neighborhood sees what's going on and sees how the youth are stepping up and leading this change. They take a stake in the garden. And then the gangs move out. Then the prostitution moves out. It's changed. It doesn't happen overnight, but it happens.
CARROLL: Ivory Price believes change is possible. She's seen it in her life. When not singing or volunteering, she's writing about her own economic struggles.
PRICE: The place had rats and bugs. At night my mother and sister and I would sleep in the same bed to keep warm.
I have been there before. And the fact that I can come out here and help other people that are going through the same thing or things that are even worse, it makes me feel happy.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Terrific young lady. You will find volunteers like Ivory working in states like Connecticut, Michigan, Illinois and California. They have some 2,500 high school students from 118 schools working nationwide.
You know one of the wonderful things about this also is that, you know, many of the places, you'll find there's just not a lot for teenagers to do after school. There are no after school programs. So this really gets them involved in their community and gives them a chance to give back in a way. It helps.
CHETRY: Right. And with so many local and state budgets, you know, in trouble in the red, they are not -- they are cutting programs like this. So they are cutting opportunities for the kids after school and if somebody doesn't step in, what happens? CARROLL: And so Ivory was telling me not only do -- you know, people who have very little, they have a way to give back in some way. And it just -- fulfills them as well. It was wonderful to see these folks at BuildOn doing what they do.
ROBERTS: Great to see them as we were talking about with Sanjay Gupta last hour, filling in that food gap as well. Giving some healthy food and --
CARROLL: A very important job.
(CROSS TALKING)
ROBERTS: Great piece, Jason. Thanks for joining us.
CHETRY: Yes. Thanks Jason.
Well, that's going to do it for us. Continue the conversation on today's stories by heading to our blog, CNN.com/amfix. We will see you right back here bright and early tomorrow morning.
ROBERTS: The news rolls on here on CNN with Kyra Phillips in the "CNN NEWSROOM".
