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American Morning

Julian Assange Wanted by Interpol For Sex Crimes; Tornadoes Hit The South; Michigan Police Search For Three Missing Brothers; Medicine Labels that Mislead; Susan Boyle vs. Frog; Toyota Prius Fix; WikiLeaks Founder Calling Clinton to Resign; Tracking Twisters; The Future of Publishing

Aired December 01, 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: Fast and furious, massive storm system bearing down on the East Coast. Homes torn apart, trees knocked down, and the worst may be yet to come. Good morning. Thanks for being with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. It's Wednesday. It's the first day of December. I'm John Roberts.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry. Glad you're with us. We're going to have a lot more on the severe weather in just a moment.

First, though, the other top stories. He is now the most wanted man, the man behind WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, being hunted by Interpol, the world police, this morning. But he is in an undisclosed location and still talking, saying in an interview that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should resign. We're live in London with the latest on the search and live reaction from the White House.

ROBERTS: Hopes for a happy ending fading fast in Michigan. Three young boys are still missing. Their father is under arrest for kidnapping, but he's not helping the police out. Insight this morning from an expert on missing kids and why we shouldn't give up just yet.

CHETRY: And also the next time you give your child medicine, there's a 50/50 chance you'll be dosing a child incorrectly. And it's not your fault. Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more on labels that can be misleading coming up in the next hour.

ROBERTS: Up first, though, we've got a big and dangerous storm to talk about this morning. To give you an idea of how big this system is, have a look at this. Rain clouds drenching folks from the Florida panhandle all the way up to New England.

CHETRY: And here in the east, the weather's been going downhill all night. Tornadoes touching down in Georgia, dozens of homes damaged there. Conditions are ripe for tornadoes. Watches are posted from the Carolinas all the way to Washington, D.C.

Our Jacqui Jeras is live on the ground in Buford, Georgia, for us this morning, an area that did get hit. Now that it's lighter outside, Jacqui, how is it looking in terms of damage?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it's not looking great. We're not actually able to get into the neighborhood any further than we are right now. But from what I understand, you know, take a look at this home. You can see that one of the walls is off the side, a lot of roof damage here, all the shingles are out and the garage has been blown in, as well.

But it's my understanding that there's some homes that are basically demolished and you can't live in them that are down the line. And once it gets a little bit brighter, we're told authorities are going to let us get in there and get a better look at some of this damage.

The storms came through with very little warning yesterday afternoon and caught residents off guard. There are 56 homes damaged, 12 of them are basically looking at major, major damage. What's amazing, though, is that nobody was injured in these storms as they rolled on through. Residents say that there was no warning. They were surprised when it came through.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The wind was pushing really hard on the house, and it was pushing like really hard. And I've never felt it push that hard. And I heard some stuff start ripping. And then the next thing I knew, it sounded like a train was coming through it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it was terrifying at the time. I'm just thankful to be alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JERAS: And it's unclear at this time whether or not this was a tornado or a microburst or even straight-line winds. The National Weather Service will be out to assess the damage later on this morning.

There was also quite a bit of flooding across the area. Record rainfall in Atlanta, more than two inches, and that flooded the streets across much of the area. And this happened, unfortunately, during that rush hour drive home. This is a picture of Interstate 85 where cars were actually getting stuck in the water and just caused total mayhem on some of the interstates yesterday afternoon.

Now, this storm system has continued to cause problems at this hour. The severe weather threat is still out there. As we take a look at the national map, we'll show you where we have the watches in effect now. This thing stretches from Montreal all the way down to Florida. The tornado watches from North Carolina on through Virginia, up towards the Delmarva region. And these should expire by about 10:00 this morning as some of the energy from the storm shoots a little further northward.

And the wind then will be the big focus and they could be gusting up to 50 miles an hour in the northeast. And that's one of the things that folks here in Buford, Georgia, are going to have to deal with now that they don't have any power. They've got damage to clean up, temperatures in the 30s this morning. But you add in that wind-chill factor as the winds gust up to 20 miles per hour. And it's going to be feeling like 20s throughout the day, pretty nippy for Georgia.

CHETRY: Absolutely. All right, Jackie Jeras in Buford, thanks so much.

Speaking of tornadoes, why would anyone rush towards these storms to record it? We're going to find out when we talk to Reed Timmer of the Discovery Channel's "Storm Chasers" coming up at 8:40 eastern.

ROBERTS: New this morning, back to class today at the Wisconsin high school where a 15-year-old sophomore took classmates and a teacher hostage before turning the gun on himself on Monday. The gunman, by the way, has died of his wounds. Students revealed they tried to calm him down with small talk about hunting and fishing during their ordeal.

CHETRY: A drug bust for the ages in suburban Atlanta, more than 900 pounds of meth, street value more than $4 million, all of it seized after the DEA got a tip. Agents then stormed the home. One arrest so far.

ROBERTS: Well, these are desperate hours in the search for three missing boys in Michigan and Ohio. Still no sign of brothers Andrew, Alexander, and Tanner, and a gloomy outlook from Morenci Michigan's police chief. Listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF LARRY WEEKS, MORENCI, MICHIGAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: We continue to talk to virtually all parties involved in this investigation, including Mr. Skelton. Statements that he's made to investigators would indicate that it's not going to be a positive outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Skelton is John Skelton. He's the boy's father. He's under arrest and charged with parental kidnapping.

So what might have gone wrong here, and how unusual is this situation? Joining us now is Ernie Allen, the president and CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Ernie, good to see you this morning. So he's been charged with parental abduction. Does this sound like a typical case?

ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: John, it's really not. Parental abduction is certainly not unusual. There are more than 200,000 of them a year in this country. But it's very rare that the abductor actually harms the child. Less than one percent of these cases involve physical harm to the children. So if that is, in fact, what's happened, this is not a typical case.

ROBERTS: What do we know about this situation? My understanding is he was estranged from his wife.

ALLEN: Well, they are going through a divorce process. Obviously there was conflict. He had taken two of the boys previously, which certainly was a signal.

But what we know in these situations is that in 80 percent of the cases the motive for taking the child is not love of the child, it's anger or revenge directed at the ex-spouse. So these are very volatile situations that many people don't take very seriously.

ROBERTS: It's a very bizarre story here that the kids were taken by Skelton on the afternoon of thanksgiving. He said he was going to drop them off with a caregiver whom he knew. And apparently police have not been able to find out if this is a real person that he was talking about. But he was going to drop them off with a caregiver because he was going to go commit suicide?

ALLEN: Well, that's not a very positive signal here. We certainly are aware of examples in which parental abductors kill the child, kill themselves with a message that if I can't have them, you can't either.

We don't know that in this case. There's still unresolved facts. And we believe that there's still hope. And until we find -- till we know where these three little boys are and what's happened to them, the public still can help. We really need information about what people might have seen, what people might suspect.

ROBERTS: Yes. There was an APB, if you will, out for anybody who might have seen a blue dodge caravan year 2000 traveling in the area of the home because it was believed he took them for a ride, at least down a highway for a time. So people who might have seen this van are being asked to call police.

But you say you believe there's reason for hope. The police chief didn't sound too hopeful in that press conference.

ALLEN: Well, I'm not trying to suggest false hope. Our point here -- and we say this in every case -- is until these children are actually found, until we know with certainty what happened to them, there's always some hope.

There are a whole range of scenarios under which these children could still be alive. We know that Skelton has not been telling the truth. We know he's been misleading law enforcement. The response of the police and the Michigan state police and the FBI and Ohio authorities has been extraordinary. I'm not second-guessing the Chief Weeks at all.

But all I'm saying is these children are still out there somewhere. And somebody knows where they are. Somebody knows what's happened to them. We just need that break, that key piece of information.

ROBERTS: Let's hope you're correct. Ernie Allen from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children, thanks for joining us this morning. Good to talk to you.

ALLEN: Thank you, John.

CHETRY: Such a sad story.

ROBERTS: It really is.

CHETRY: Well, there's that new twist this morning in the Amtrak situation where you were not able to bring guns on, but there was really no system to check whether or not passengers had guns.

ROBERTS: Yes, since there is no security.

CHETRY: But they're now saying that they are lifting that ban on passengers transporting guns. It's a policy been in effect since 9/11. So now passengers will be able to check unloaded firearms and as much as 11 pounds of ammunition in checked bags onboard some Amtrak trains. And the new rules set to take effect December 15th.

ROBERTS: And the weapon has to be unloaded and has to be in checked luggage which goes into a locked baggage car, right?

CHETRY: On some cars, so hopefully.

ROBERTS: The head of the TSA says they may tweak new airport pat-down procedures. The goal is to be more sensitive when screening certain passengers like those with external medical devices. In the meantime, all passengers will be screened against government watch lists before getting their boarding passes. The TSA hopes that's going to cut down on a lot of the false positives they've been getting.

CHETRY: Brand new fallout this morning over the huge document leaks by whistle-blowing Web site WikiLeaks. Julian Assange landing on Interpol's most wanted list along with the likes of Usama bin Laden, not for the leaks but for alleged sex crimes.

He's also feeling the heat over releasing thousands of classified State Department documents. But even from his hideout, he is still haunting the U.S. government. Atika Shubert is live from London this morning. And in an interview, he took aim at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This time around, Julian Assange is keeping a very low profile. He's only given out very few interviews, and even then from an undisclosed location. No one knows where he really is right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: On the run, the mysterious man behind WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, holed up and hiding out in an undisclosed location this morning. But that's not stopping him from speaking out. "TIME" magazine Richard Stengel speaking exclusively to Assange via Skype, Assange blasting secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: She should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diploma diplomats to engage in espionage in violation of the international covenant to which the U.S. has signed up. Yes, she should resign. SHUBERT: No response so far from the secretary, but the State Department is coming to her defense this morning, insisting that Hillary Clinton did not order State Department staff to spy on diplomats as the WikiLeaks document suggests.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any document that leaves the State Department has the secretary of state's name on it. She was responsible, but she was not the author of that particular document. The contents of that came from outside the Department of State.

SHUBERT: In the meantime, Assange is now a most-wanted man. The international police organization Interpol issuing a red notice, similar to an arrest warrant, saying he is suspected of rape, sexual molestation, and illegal use of force in August incidents in Sweden.

Despite this, Assange is warning of a new document released, this time targeting, quote, "a big U.S. bank." The Web site "Huffington Post" reported that Assange claims he has information from the computer hard drive of one of Bank of America's executives. Bank of America this morning flatly denying and dismissing the speculation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SHUBERT: It was thought that WikiLeaks may have information on Bank of America to put out already seems to be affecting -- in fact, Bank of America stock closing yesterday went down by three percent.

CHETRY: We'll have to wait and see if, indeed, that is the case when he supposedly releases it, as you said, perhaps after the first of the year. Atika, thanks so much.

Also coming up at the bottom of the hour, we're going to hear from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the diplomatic mess they're dealing with, and the potential fallout in the Middle East.

ROBERTS: And as you can imagine some people have managed to find the humor in all of this. "The Daily Show" had a little fun with all the WikiLeaks drama last night and also stumbled upon another little- known Web site.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, "THE DAILY SHOW": The release of many embarrassing and possibly diplomatic cables has introduced the world to a new super-villain, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Am I pronouncing that right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: WikiLeaks and its founder, this man, Julian Assange.

(LAUGHTER)

STEWART: Oh, Assange. Thank you. Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks, the site not to be confused with "Wookie Leaks" where for $10.99 a month you can --

(LAUGHTER)

It's self-explanatory, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: That's a paid site, "Wookie Leaks."

ROBERTS: Still to come, the last check in the mail for many Americans, Congress so far failing to extend unemployment benefits. But is there an indication that the two sides might come to an agreement?

CHETRY: We have an "AMERICAN MORNING" health alert for you as well. An alarming new study this morning about over-the-counter medicines you give to your kids. Well, even if you read the directions, there's a 50/50 chance you could be giving your child the wrong dose. We'll explain why and how you can fix that.

ROBERTS: And the new magazine with no pages and no ink. It is for, you guessed it, iPads only. The creator calls it the future of publishing. Does this mark the end of the printed magazine? We'll ask that question. It's 14 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: It's Wednesday, the first day of December. World AIDS Day. Live picture of the White House there where a red ribbon marks the event. Right now, more than 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide.

And two hours from now, they'll be laying out a section of the AIDS memorial quilt in Atlanta's Centennial Park. And unfortunately, adding more patches each and every day. Another large section of the quilt will be on display at nearby Emery University, as well. There are now more than 40,000 blocks in the quilt, each representing someone who lost their battle with the disease in this country.

When it comes to testing for HIV, the government says a record number of adults got screened for the first time last year. Almost 83 million Americans between 18 and 64 were tested in 2009. That's an increase of 11 million people from 2006. Still, the Centers for Disease Control says 55 percent of all adults have never been tested at all. And even worse, 28 percent of the population at high risk for HIV has not been screened either.

CHETRY: Well, it's also cold and flu season, and maybe you have a sick child at home and you're reaching for the medicine bottle, but there is a 50/50 chance that you're actually giving your child the wrong dose of medicine.

ROBERTS: Researchers just examined 200, 200 top-selling liquid pediatric medications and here's the bottom line. The labels at the very least are confusing. Our senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us this morning from the CNN Center in Atlanta with your a.m. house call. So when we talk about confusing and I guess inaccurate, how bad is it? ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's really bad according to this study. They say that, in fact, most products don't make it clear what you're supposed to do or they don't include a little dosing device. That's a fancy word for like a little cup or syringe that can help you measure. So I brought two products that according to this study aren't quite getting it right. So let's take a look at this.

This is Infant Tylenol. OK. So what you're supposed to do is take the dropper and open it and start squeezing it out. Now, first of all, maybe it's because I'm an older mommy, I can barely read this. But I have used this many times for my children and it says you're supposed to do 1.6 milliliter. Well, nothing on here says 1.6 milliliter. So you're supposed to do 0.8 plus 0.8. It's hard to read the 0.8. All the medicine gets on there. And, you know, at 3:00 in the morning, I remember doing this, adding up these decimals is, you know, a little bit confusing.

Here's another product. This is a stool softener, a gastrointestinal product. And these instructions say to use one to three tablespoons. So, of course, a parent would say, well, do I use one, or do I use two, or do I use three? And this comes with nothing. No syringe, no dropper, no nothing. You're supposed to measure it on your own. So we went into our kitchens and we found a couple of spoons.

So is this a tablespoon? Is this a tablespoon? If it's a teaspoon, is it this tiny one? Is it this one? And there actually have been studies that show the parents really do use tableware to dose out their children's medicine. And as you can imagine, that could make for some serious errors.

Now, we got with the folks who make these products and here's what they had to say. They said the over-the-counter medicine industry takes very seriously its responsibility to help parents and caregivers safely and correctly administer OTC pediatric oral medicines to children. It is our goal that all OTC medicines will fully follow Consumer Healthcare Products Association guidelines by the end of 2011. So I guess that means that they're not all following them right now. And researchers tell us that that is a problem -- John, Kiran.

CHETRY: Yes, I actually have noticed that they've changed around some of the dosing cups have bright, you know, they're written in bright, clear black lettering. The ones that are clear, you can't really read it. You know, the ones that are the exact same color as the actual dosing cup.

COHEN: It's so hard.

CHETRY: So what I'm wondering also is the potential for harm. I mean, if you're squeezing out the Tylenol, you give too little, you give too much, especially when it comes to the weight of the child. Oftentimes you don't really memorize how much they weigh.

ROBERTS: Yes. And I was just thinking if you don't want to O.D. on the stool softener --

CHETRY: All right. You had to go there.

COHEN: Right.

CHETRY: Let's go with Tylenol for a moment. But, you know, it also says if your infant is 26 pounds, or you know to give you a range, and so that's also tough.

COHEN: Right. That is tough because you don't know -- I mean, you don't always remember exactly what your child weighs. I think the bottom line here is that while 50 percent of parents do it wrong, thank goodness there usually aren't terrible outcomes because parents do it wrong. Deaths are very rare, terrible illnesses because a parent goofed. Those are very rare. You know, most of the time if you under or overdose by a bit, it's not such a big deal. However, it's so easy to make this right. The authors of the article are like, why can't they just do it the right way? Why do they continue to do it in a way that is confusing for parents?

CHETRY: I hear you. All right. Elizabeth Cohen for us this morning. Thanks so much.

COHEN: Thanks.

CHETRY: Well, still ahead, Susan Boyle gets a little choked up on "The View," as she's singing in the middle of a Christmas classic on live TV.

ROBERTS: And seeing the light. A CNN iReporter giving us a close-up look at one of the nation's most spectacular holiday light shows. The fireworks begin right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Time for some of the stories that got us talking in the newsroom. Apart from the stool softener.

CHETRY: I'm sorry. That's one you don't want to dose incorrectly.

ROBERTS: Exactly.

British singing sensation Susan Boyle in New York City promoting her new album. She got a little choked up during an appearance yesterday on "The View," unfortunately, happening in the middle of a live performance of the Christmas carol "Oh Holy Night." Here's what it sounded like.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN BOYLE, SINGER: Angel voices, oh --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Oh, poor Susan. She tried to recover from the vocal malfunction, but couldn't. Host Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd rushed to her rescue telling the audience that Boyle had a frog in her throat.

CHETRY: She sounded good before it, so --

ROBERTS: She did. And you want to make sure if you get in a situation like that, you don't push it. Because she had a lot of singing to do for the rest of the day.

CHETRY: Yes, she did. Because she was at the tree lighting. And she also could be up for a Grammy nomination. The nominations will be announced tonight and it's taking place in style with a star- studded concert. You've got Katy Perry. Justin Bieber expected to perform. L.L. Cool J. is hosting. 53rd Grammy Awards is going to be held on February 13th, right around Oscar time.

ROBERTS: Yes. We've got the great Oscar show coming up, too, with two new hosts.

Two holiday stories to tell you about now. Check out this spectacular view of the 18th annual Festival of Lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside, California courtesy of CNN iReporter Al Mealey. An estimated 50,000 people showing up on Black Friday for the opening night fireworks. Half a million people expected to visit the festival between now and January the 2nd.

CHETRY: And organizers are calling it the world's biggest menorah. It will be on display in New York Central Park tonight marking the first night of Hanukkah. The two-ton steel structure stands 32 feet high and features genuine oil lamps and glass chimneys to protect the light from the wind. Pretty cool.

ROBERTS: Wow. Pretty spectacular.

Top stories just two minutes away now, including Toyota's big fix. Hundreds of thousands of hybrids need repairs. What to watch for when you drive one.

CHETRY: Also, the weight of a quarter million leaked classified documents weighing heavy on the White House this morning. We're going to be speaking with Robert Gibbs, the press secretary, coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Crossing the half hour now. Our top stories. Trouble with Toyota's top-selling hybrid. The company saying it's going to fix some 650,000 Prius models. A cooling pump glitch could cause the electric engine to overheat. Drivers should watch for a warning light on the dash.

CHETRY: The NFL trying to head off fan worries about a work stoppage next season. It's been rumored. The league promises full refunds or tickets if games do end up getting canceled. A collective bargaining agreement expires this spring. And without a deal, owners could lock out players. ROBERTS: And an international manhunt underway this morning for the man behind Wikileaks, Julian Assange. Interpol put him on its most-wanted list over alleged sex crimes in Sweden.

CHETRY: Well, meanwhile, Assange is also feeling the heat over releasing thousands of classified State Department documents, but he's still talking this morning from an undisclosed location via Skype, Assange did an interview and said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should resign. White House Press secretary Robert Gibbs joins us from the briefing room this morning. Good to have you with us this morning, Robert.

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning, how are you?

CHETRY: Good, thank you. Julian Assange gave an interview to "Time" magazine saying that among other things secretary of state Hillary Clinton should resign because some of those leaked cables show that there was perhaps some espionage or talk of espionage in looking into United Nations leaders. What is your reaction to what Julian Assange said about secretary of state Clinton this morning?

GIBBS: Well, my reaction is I think that statement is ridiculous and absurd. The president has great confidence in and admires the work that Secretary Clinton as done to further our interests in the world and to keep this country and our region a safer place to live in. I think that - I'm not entirely sure why we care about the opinion of one guy with one web site. Our foreign policy and the interests of this country are far stronger than his one web site.

CHETRY: Do you think that the talk of how much potential damage to U.S. foreign policy because of these leaks - do you think that talk is overblown?

GIBBS: Well, look, I know this. That we have interests, as I said in this world, and the world has an interest in us playing the type of role that we play in foreign policy. We're not going to be able to make progress on things like counterterrorism or nuclear nonproliferation without the involvement of the United States of America. That's why I say that our foreign policy is far stronger than one person with one web site.

We have behind us the interests, not just of more than 300 million American citizens, but the hopes and dreams of the entire world.

CHETRY: You were asked yesterday whether or not the president has made calls in the wake of the Wikileaks, the latest document dump. You said this was best handled by the State Department, why?

GIBBS: Well, look, obviously these are State Department cables, and the secretary of state and folks at the State Department have reached out to world leaders and foreign ministers to - to alert them that these documents would likely be coming and be released by this web site. And I don't doubt if the president has occasion to talk to some of these world leaders that this might come up. But I think the secretary of state is handling this very effectively.

CHETRY: She called it an attack on America's foreign policy interests. Does that perhaps - if she's calling an attack on our interests, rise to the level of having the president himself make some of these calls?

GIBBS: Well, again, I don't doubt that the president, if he has occasion to talk to some of these leaders will certainly mention - mention this. But again, I think the secretary of state is handling this effectively. I think that the bottom line is we have the world's greatest diplomats. We have the interest of the American people on our side, and as I said, we're not going to further our goals or the goals of the world in countering terrorism and those that want to hurt us in making progress on the issues like nuclear nonproliferation, spread of deadly nuclear weapons without the heavy involvement of U.S. foreign policy. And we'll continue to do that.

CHETRY: Much was made after 9/11 about the need to connect the dots more, to share intelligence. Now there's some talk in the wake of this that the administration might actually roll back efforts to internally share some of the intelligence on terrorists and threats. Will this - will these leaks change the way that intelligence is shared?

GIBBS: Well, we have to balance - we understood after 9/11 we didn't share enough, now we have to - we understand we have to balance both the need to share with the need to know. We have to ensure the Department of Defense has put in some safeguards that ensure that while intelligence is downloadable and accessible for battlefield - our commanders in the battlefield and soldiers to see what they're going to walk into if they're going out on patrol.

We also have to make sure that, you know, somebody that doesn't need to have access to highly-classified information and State Department cables doesn't have access to it, isn't allowed to put in a thumb drive or CD and copy hundreds of thousands or millions of documents. I think we can easily balance that need to share, but also that need to know and ensure that accessed information has significant and needed oversight.

CHETRY: Our CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said he'd be shocked if there was not already a signed arrest warrant for Assange. Can you confirm whether or not the Justice Department has gone that far?

GIBBS: Well, look, I would refer you to the Justice Department and I'm always counseled. And I think it's good advice not to talk about any on-going criminal investigations around the leaks of highly classified information.

CHETRY: I want to ask you quickly about 'don't ask, don't tell.' The lame-duck Congress it looks at this point it's not going to come to the table. It's not going to come to them. A lot of the president's supporters are viewing this as a promise broken, 'don't ask, don't tell' policy is still in place. Can you rule out an executive order to change this policy? GIBBS: Well, an executive order wouldn't change the policy because the policy's written into law. And I would say I would reject the notion that this is not going to come up before a lame-duck congress. And I'd point you directly to what our Defense Secretary Bob Gates, also President Bush's last defense secretary said yesterday. And that is that changing this, repealing 'don't ask, don't tell' is an urgent matter for this Congress to finish this year because right now we have courts that are ruling 'don't ask, don't tell' unconstitutional.

The president believes this policy is wrong. If a court overturns 'don't ask, don't tell,' they're not likely to give the Pentagon the transition period that it wants to ensure that this is done in an orderly fashion. That is what has led Secretary Gates and Secretary Mullen to advocate strongly for Congress dealing with, repealing 'don't ask, don't tell,' so that there can be that transition. A court is likely to rule, but not give them a period to transition.

CHETRY: Senator Lindsay Graham himself says he does not see this being able to come up and then you're going to be dealing with a Congress that has six more Republicans, perhaps at least the Senate that has six more Republicans, perhaps not as receptive to gay rights. So how is this going to get taken care of in this Congress?

ROBERTS: Again, I think this is going to get taken cared of by this Congress because the Pentagon studied this, the troops do not find this to be serious, do not find this to be disruptive. And as I just said, this policy is going to change. It's either going to change because Congress changes the law and provides the Pentagon with a transition period that it wants and needs, or some court somewhere in this country is going to overturn 'don't ask, don't tell,' nobody's going to have a transition.

One day the policy's going to be 'don't ask, don't tell,' and the next day the policy's going to be changed and there's going to be an implementation on the fly. And what Secretary Gates was very eloquent in saying yesterday was we have an opportunity to find out that transition period and do this in an orderly way. And that's why he is called on Congress to change this law.

CHETRY: All right. Robert Gibbs, it's great to talk to you this morning. White House Press Secretary, glad you can spend some time with us.

GIBBS: Thanks for having me.

CHETRY: Thanks.

ROBERTS: Well, thousands of Americans are set to begin losing unemployment benefits after Congress failed to agree on extending aid to the long-term unemployed. Can the two sides come to an agreement soon? We're minding your business this morning.

There's a new magazine, its creator calls it the future of publishing. But why would you want to see your stuff on an iPad? Got to buy the iPad first, then you'll find out. Coming up, 39 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: 18 minutes now to the top of the hour. Christine Romans here minding your business this morning. So unemployment benefits set to run out now.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they really are. And I'm telling you that the state agencies which we talked to yesterday say they're inundated with calls and requests and e-mail messages from people, hundreds of thousands of people today who are very, very concerned this morning about whether their next check will come from.

As it is now, the unemployed will still get their checks, but the long-term unemployed, they're not going to get another extension. Here's what went down in Congress yesterday. It was basically a battle of ideologies.

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SEN. JACK REED (D), RHODE ISLAND: Now, I find it difficult to understand how some of my colleagues on the other side would object to an extension of unemployment benefits for a year that are not offset, but at the same time insist that we provide tax cuts for the very richest Americans without paying for them.

SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Do we provide the important benefits by burdening future generations by adding on to that almost $14 trillion national debt? Or do we provide the important benefits by raising taxes on businesses who are already struggling? Is there a better way? Of course there's always a better way. Especially if we work together, we can always find a better way.

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ROMANS: Working together. We'll have to wait for the next Congress to do that, I guess, because this Congress couldn't at least done this on this subject of extending unemployment benefits. If you just lost your job, you still file for unemployment benefits. The first 26 weeks is still covered, it's this long-term unemployed that's an issue here.

Some people are getting benefits for up to 99 weeks. By December 11th, 635,000 people will stop getting their checks. Checks right now are on average about $322 a week. By December 25th, 1.6 million people will stop getting their unemployment checks just in time for Christmas. And by the time you have woken up to watch football on new year's day, two million people will have lost their unemployment benefits.

By the end of February, it will likely be about four million people who will stop getting their jobless benefits. Again, these are the long-term unemployed folks. These are what we call the 99ers, the people who have been out of work for so long, they've been receiving unemployment benefits now for up to 99 weeks, it's simply unheard of. What's the hope for those people if there is some? It is that the Democrats insist on a tradeoff with the Republicans that if they extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, if that gets done, that they put in unemployment benefits on there. All of this, of course, would not be paid for.

CHETRY: All on borrowed money.

ROMANS: All on borrowed money.

CHETRY: All right. Choices, there's no easy answers for this.

ROMANS: And let me give you one last piece of advice from the state agencies. If this is you, many of the state agencies are telling us, continue to file online for the extension even though you know you're not going to get it. Still do it.

ROBERTS: Just in case.

ROMANS: Just in case there's a retroactive passage next year and then you're already in the queue. That's just something for the folks who have been asking that for the state agencies.

ROBERTS: Good advice. Christine Romans this morning. Christine, thanks.

Still to come this morning, a major airport shut down today because of the weather. Heavy snow stopping planes from taking off. We've got that story coming your way at the top of the hour.

CHETRY: Also, the east is bracing for a massive storm this morning. Tornado watches are up. Rain is coming down. Jacqui joins us after the break with the latest forecast, 45 minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: Well, we're at 49 minutes past the hour right now. Time to get a check of the morning weather headlines. Jacqui Jeras is in Buford, Georgia. It's right outside of Atlanta. They saw quite a round of nasty weather and more is on the way around the east. Hi, Jacqui.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Kiran and John. Yes, it is nasty out here at this hour and a lot of damage that these people are waking up to. Some people are just starting now to come back into the neighbourhood and assess some of that damage.

You can see major damage to this house behind me, that whole wall has been dropped out. You can see the picture hanging on the wall that's behind it. Do you see that there? So a very devastating situation. The National Weather Service will assess whether or not this was a tornado.

And I am seeing some different directions on some of these trees that have been knocked over. So we'll have to wait and see what they say. Nationally, we've got a big problem with this storm because it's still causing that threat of severe weather along with some real blustery conditions into the northeast.

Tornado watches are in effect at this hour from North Carolina stretching all the way up to the Delmarva. This includes you in Washington, D.C., down towards Richmond and into Raleigh. The rainfall has been really impressive. A lot of flash flooding with this, up to four inches in Asheville, all those lists there that you can see are records.

If you are trying to travel today, we are expecting some big- time delays, very cold out on the backside of this system, too. Temperatures dropping about 20 degrees from what they were yesterday.

There you can see the airport delays over an hour we expect in the northeast primarily because of those winds. John and Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: All right. Jacqui Jeras for us this morning. Got to get through today. Things are still tough out there. Thanks so much.

Well, talk about an adrenaline rush, chasing down tornadoes all in the name of science. We're going to be speaking with Reid Timer from the hit show "Storm Chasers." He's going to tell us what it's like to be so close to the fury of mother nature.

ROBERTS: And wait until you see some of the video he's got as well and the lead singer for the group OAR talks about John Lennon's influence on his music and how he came to write the song "Dakota" about losing Lennon. It's all as we preview this weekend's documentary on "Losing Lennon: Countdown to Murder." It's 51 minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: It's 55 minutes past the hour. Sir Richard Branson calls it the future of publishing. It will be a magazine only for these guys, the iPads. No paper, no ink. Just an app to download. Branson's company, Version Media released it yesterday.

ROBERTS: "Project" might just mark the beginning of the end for the printed magazine as we know it. No app needed to bring in our Poppy Harlow this morning and you got a chance to talk about with Sir Richard about his latest project.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: He is always doing such fascinating things, whether sending literally the average person into space, which he's working on. He always shakes up conventional industries. That's what Richard Branson does.

This is sort of the first foray he's had into publishing since he was 16 years old and he published a student newspaper. His daughter, Holly brought him this idea. He thought it was crazy and now he's a huge supporter. Take a listen to part of our conversation about his now digital magazine.

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SIR RICHARD BRANSON, CHAIRMAN, VIRGIN GROUP: We went with the iPad initially. It's a fantastic platform. It's literally exploding around the world. It enables you to do things with a magazine on the iPad that you could never do with a normal magazine on the stores so it brings the magazine alive.

HARLOW: Is the future of publishing in apps and not in physically printed products?

BRANSON: Sadly, for physically printed products, I think the future is in apps. For an advertiser, you know, Virgin Atlantic, you know, with our planes, for instance.

If we advertise on target, we're going to be able to, you know, take people into the plane. We're going to be able to let people hear the roar of the engines and see what kind of seats they're sitting in.

We can let people see the quality of the food but we can do it all in a really fun way which is not possible in a -- in just a magazine on the bookstores.

HARLOW: Is there real money to be made here, Richard? I mean, you do delve into things that are unexpected, like galactic, but you also are a very savvy businessman and clearly see this is a sustainable business.

BRANSON: I have no idea whether we'll make money out of it. I hope it will pay the bills. I think if you create the best and if it's a really fun magazine. If it's one that people are telling their friends about, it's only costing $2.99 a month so, you know, I think word of mouth will get out and hopefully get many, many people wanting to subscribe to it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARLOW: Very interesting that Richard Branson like in many other industries is the first one to do this, an app-only magazine and you guys, we were just talking about this.

Rupert Murdoch, obviously the media moogle, he is doing something similar. He's launching "The Daily," which is going to be a daily newspaper iPad only.

So, you know, a lot of British newspapers say the war between Branson and Murdoch and Richard Branson said that is not the case, not a war, but interesting to see if he'll make money. He said I don't know if we'll make money, we'll see.

ROBERTS: Most things he touches turns to gold, but publisher like Condi Nash sees a future in the iPad and he's tailoring a lot of his magazines for online delivery as well, but this goes a step beyond that.

HARLOW: He goes a step beyond that because he's not even touching a physically printed product. Did you hear him say? He doesn't believe there's a future there. When he was talking about this yesterday at the presentation, he said people read now more than they ever now if they have an iPad. I know you love your iPad, Kiran.

CHETRY: Of course, I put a lot of newspapers and magazines on here too as well because it's just easier than carrying around the physical paper.

HARLOW: Much easier. Neat. See how this does, but a neat thing he is doing.

ROBERTS: Thanks, Poppy. Great to see you this morning. Great job. Top stories coming your way right after a quick break. Stay with us.

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