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American Morning
U.S. Predator Drones Target Gadhafi Forces; Mosque Protest Battle; New NATO Airstrikes in Libya; Gadhafi Forces Severely Cut; McCain Arrives in Libya; New Weapon for Libyan Rebels; Obama Takes on Gas Prices; Senator John Ensign Quits Senate; Obama's Cross-Country Campaign; McCain to Campaign for Trump?; Hotel Guest Catches Falling Toddler; Michigan Mosque Protest; Royal Wedding a Week Away
Aired April 22, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi. A lot happening overnight, let's get you caught up. The United States introducing a new weapon to assist rebels in the fight for Libya, the predator drone, and Arizona Senator John McCain on the ground in Benghazi this morning in talks with opposition leaders.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kiran Chetry, the Florida pastor who burned a Koran and sparked riots in Afghanistan is back at it again. This time he's fighting for the right to try to protest outside of a Michigan mosque today. We're speaking to the mayor of Dearborn who warns there could be chaos on this AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Good Friday morning to you. It is April 22nd. I'm Ali Velshi.
CHETRY: I'm Kiran Chetry. Christine Romans is off. We are talking a little bit about what's going to happen at that court appearance today. We're speaking of the Dearborn Michigan mayor coming up, but first some developments out of Libya.
VELSHI: Out of Libya, now, yes, air strikes targeting Gadhafi forces overnight in the Libyan city of Sirte. That is the birth place of Moammar Gadhafi. Reuters reporters saying there have been nine deaths in the NATO bombing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (voice-over): Also overnight, U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen says coalition air strikes have damaged 30 to 40 percent of Gadhafi's ground forces. Despite that Mullen says the battle in Libya appears headed for a stalemate.
CHETRY: Also Senator John McCain is in the Libyan rebel strong hold of Benghazi this morning. He arrived there overnight to meet with leaders of Libya's opposition. McCain calls them his heroes. The Arizona senator has been a strong supporter of using American military force to try to remove Moammar Gadhafi from power.
VELSHI: President Obama arming the Libyan rebels with predator drones. You can see them here. The unman planes have been used extensively in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked about the U.S. stepping up efforts to help opposition fighters in Libya.
CHETRY: All Fred Pleitgen is --
ROBERT GATES, DEFENSE SECRETARY: The president has said that where we have some unique capabilities he is willing to use those and, in fact, he has approved the use of armed predators. And I think that today is their first mission. So I think that will give us some precision capability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Fred Pleitgen is live for us in Tripoli. Let's get started with McCain's trip to Benghazi to meet with the rebels. Why is it significant?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very significant, Kiran because he obviously is someone who has been a strong proponent of more military action to help the rebels there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): That's why he received pretty much a hero's welcome when he came there to Benghazi.
He's meeting with members of the Transitional National Council, which is, of course, something like the rebel government there in Benghazi to talk about how America can help.
As you said he went to visit Freedom Square, which is the main square in Benghazi where many people cheered him on. He spoke to some them. He told them that America would help the rebels in any way that they can and that he did feel America's responsibility.
It's very, very significant because it also comes, of course, after the announcement yesterday of America using those predator drones here in the fight against Moammar Gadhafi. That's something that's really made, you know, made them very happy.
There are a lot of positive statements coming from the rebels there. So it is a very significant visit. It seems as though the rebels feel that the U.S. should take a more leading role in all of this.
They would like the U.S. to contribute more, but at the same time they are saying that they are very, very happy with that new decision to put in the predators and also, of course, with that visit by John McCain. Kiran.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Fred, let's talk about these drones for a second. Do the Libyan rebel forces have anything to do with these drones? Are they operated by NATO forces or by the U.S.? PLEITGEN: No. They'll be operated by the U.S., but they're a very significant weapon when you look at the eastern front in Libya and, of course, especially if you look at the kind of urban warfare in Misrata.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): What's been going on so far, Ali, is that the rebels have been criticizing NATO saying they're not taking enough risk. They're not conducting enough air strikes against Gadhafi forces, especially in places like Misrata.
What the predator brings to the table in all this is that it's a weapon that can stay in the air space for a very long time, it's very slow flying, it can monitor even the smallest sort of detail.
So what you can do with that, for instance, you can hover around, you can see whether or not one of Gadhafi's tanks is taking a shot, whether an artillery piece is taking a shot and then you can take that out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: That's the capability that so far NATO has not been bringing to the table and that was one of the reasons why NATO has been so reluctant to strike targets for instance in Misrata because, of course, Gadhafi is hiding his tanks, his hiding his artillery pieces until he uses them against civilians, Ali.
CHETRY: All right, we'll see if it makes a difference, turns the tide a little bit for the rebels. Thanks so much, Fred. We'll check in with you throughout the morning.
VELSHI: This morning we're getting the first word on the fate of three journalists detained by pro-Gadhafi forces more than two weeks ago.
Claire Gillis covering the Libyan conflict for the "Atlantic" and "USA Today" was allowed to call her parents in Connecticut. She told them that she's doing well.
Gillis said the journalists being held with her, American reporter James Foley and Spanish photographer Manuel Brabo were also in good health before they were separated earlier this week. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded their release.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: We also for the immediate release of Americans who are being unjustly detained by Libyan authorities, including at least two reporters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: And at 7:10 Eastern, we're going to be talking with the parents of both Clare Gillis and James Foley right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
CHETRY: Well, it doesn't matter if you drive, bike or walk to get around. Everybody is paying more for high gas prices because they end up driving up the price for just about everything else we buy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): From food to clothing and -- I mean, you can see when you look at that sign right there, gas prices are up and they're up significantly, 31 straight days now.
VELSHI (voice-over): According to the AAA, the national average is now $3.85 a gallon. President Obama on a mission to crack down on one group that he thinks is contributing to higher prices, traders and speculators.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The attorney general is putting together a team whose job it is to root out any cases of fraud or manipulation in the oil markets that might affect gas prices and that includes the role of traders and speculators. We're going to make sure nobody is taking advantage of American consumers for their own short-term gain.
VELSHI: Already gas prices have Americans rethinking vacation plans. Companies at the Grand Canyon report a 10 percent drop in tourism. Mount Rushmore saw about 6,000 fewer visitors in March.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: We'll bring Stephanie Elam right now to talk more about this. So when he talks -- when the president talks about trying to crack down on traders and speculators, how?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, exactly. Well, that's what a lot of people are wondering, how this task force is going really work. A lot of what was laid out there was not -- it wasn't enough information for people to really know exactly what the plan is.
Just saying the attorney general is going to start looking into this to see if people are actually manipulating the market. It's not going to be an easy task to figure out, that's for sure. This is something that a lot of people think has been going on for a long time and it's pretty hard when you look at all the massive amounts of numbers that are there, it's hard to figure out.
But when you take a look at all the things going on, you know, you've got U.S. stockpiles, we found out now from the Energy Department that they're dwindling, that number coming down. Also these oil prices being so high that actually we're seeing demand go down.
OK, granted it's still high, but it's not as high as it was. So that demand is also playing into it because you have Saudi Arabia saying that they're going to go ahead and cut production and we know that there's been all that unrest there.
They're saying this weaker demand is part of it, that's even led OPEC to say they're downgrading their annual forecast for global oil consumption. So these are some issues that are really pushing up the price and has this sort of hot bed of energy around oil prices.
And then the uncertainty behind this is part of what's pushing it up and it just making it very difficult for so many people as we get ready for the big driving season in the United States. We're not even there yet and still people are hurting.
VELSHI: I think the president -- I don't think people should weigh into this discussion because they've never -- no administration has ever successfully been able to deal with oil speculation.
ELAM: Right. It just too hard to do.
VELSHI: Too hard.
ELAM: You know, he talked also about ending subsidies for the big gas companies and that's something that's come up before, but nothing has really happened about it either. So while this has been said, not a lot of people are hopeful.
CHETRY: Well, it's a very tangible thing, everybody can feel it, and it's some speech.
VELSHI: Very little you can do about it except conserve.
ELAM: People would love it to happen but -- yes.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Well, also he burned the Muslim holy book, he triggered riots in Afghanistan, and Pastor Terry Jones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): He's the leader of the tiny fringe church in Florida is now fighting to protest outside of a mosque in Dearborn, Michigan, today on Good Friday.
It's home to one of the largest Muslim communities in America. A jury will decide whether he's allowed to do this morning. Jones, though, says he's going to go either way. Officials have warned it could lead to riots and even gunfire.
VELSHI (voice-over): Dearborn, Michigan Mayor Jack O'Reilly has warned it could be chaos. He joins us live, coming up 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: He's caught in the middle of a sex scandal and now Nevada Senator John Ensign is calling it quits. His term ends in 2012, but he says he's stepping down May 3rd.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (voice-over): The Republican is in the middle of an ethics investigation and admitted to having an affair with his former chief of staff's wife.
Investigators are looking into allegations that he paid her family nearly $100,000. Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval will appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of Ensign's term.
President Obama fund-raising and talking about cost- cutting out west. He stopped in Reno, Nevada yesterday for his third town hall in two days. The president called for an end to subsidies for oil companies and tax cuts to the wealthy.
The president also hosted a series of fund-raisers. Democratic sources tell CNN that supporters paid over $35,000 for dinner with the president.
And Donald Trump says you're so hired to Megan McCain. He sat down with her for an interview yesterday for the "Daily Beast." McCain asked Trump whether he'd hire her for his presidential campaign. Trump said he loved the idea.
Trump may be hoping to follow in the footsteps of Megan McCain's father, John McCain, won the Republican nomination in 2008. Trump called the McCain's great people. He also slammed GOP hopeful Mitt Romney saying he was going to lose the race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: This next story is pretty amazing. I'm talking about being in the right place at the right time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY (voice-over): Hotel guest, this is in Orlando, just happened to be there when a toddler fell four stories from a hotel balcony and survived because the guest saw it all go down and actually caught this child. The 2-year-old had slipped through the railing.
VELSHI: Now her body smashed into another balcony on the way down. Miraculously a guest got to her before she hit the ground. A woman staying at the hotel says she didn't see the fall, but she heard the screams from those who did.
MICHELLE KNIGHT, HEARD SCREAMS: It was directly across. So everybody in the pool must have seen that's why they were screaming like they were - it was a lot of screaming.
VELSHI: As for the girl's mom, she told police she left her daughter with a friend in the room next door. Child services is investigating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And the amazing thing, even though they said that she bumped one of the balconies, she went to the hospital, but there was nothing wrong with her. So, I mean, can you imagine?
VELSHI: That really is miraculous.
CHETRY: All right, so a lot of people use the hand sanitizer on their hands. Does it really work? Does it really kill 99.9 percent of germs like they say?
VELSHI: I believe it does.
CHETRY: Well you may be surprised.
VELSHI: OK, and Apple getting into a little hot water over this discussion we've been having the last couple days about whether it actually tracks you where you go. Politics are getting involved now. Senator Al Franken goes after Steve Jobs on it. We're going to tell you what this does, how dangerous it is and what might be done about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. It is Good Friday.
CHETRY: It is Good Friday.
VELSHI: Happy Good Friday to you.
CHETRY: You, too.
VELSHI: Apple coming under fire this morning after revelations we've been talking about for the last couple days. The iPhone and iPad have built-in tracking systems that secretly collect location data on individual users. The information is not encrypted, which means anyone can access it.
Lawmakers are concerned about privacy issues. Minnesota Senator Al Franken sent a letter to Apple's CEO Steve Jobs demanding an explanation as to why people are being followed. No comment yet from Apple.
We, of course, want to know what you think. So go to our blog, CNN.com/AM. Got to our Twitter page @CNNAM or go to Facebook.com/AM, and let us know. We'll read your comments in the 8:00 hour.
CHETRY: Sounds good.
Well, you can't believe everything you read. I -- do you always -- often wonder if just putting a little dab of that hand sanitizer is as effective as washing your hands with soap and water?
VELSHI: I don't -- I really don't think it's as effective.
CHETRY: Right.
VELSHI: But I think it's pretty good.
CHETRY: Yes. Well, it turns out that it doesn't really, though, fight off 99.9 percent of bacteria as you often see on the little ad. They say that there are certain things that it doesn't cover. This is according to the FDA. They want four companies to remove those false claims because it says they don't kill MRSA, which is that, you know, flesh-eating bacteria or E. coli or Salmonella or, when it comes to virus, this H1N1 --
VELSHI: Really?
CHETRY: -- which is swine flu. So they say the best way to protect yourself is still same old old-fashioned soap and water, and you have to do it for -- what are you supposed to do for "Happy Birthday"? You're supposed to sing "Happy Birthday."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Twenty seconds, yes.
VELSHI: Twenty seconds?
CHETRY: Yes. You're supposed to sing "Happy Birthday to you".
VELSHI: I like washing my hands.
CHETRY: That's fine (ph).
VELSHI: I'm a big hand washer/toothbrush-er kind of guy.
CHETRY: Yes. Flossing.
VELSHI: That's good, right? Given that we sit here and talk to each other like this, yes.
CHETRY: What other hygiene tips this morning that you have?
VELSHI: No. Like I said, I wash my hands and brush my teeth. I figure that covers --
CHETRY: Once a week -- once a week whether you need it or not.
VELSHI: Yes. Yes.
CHETRY: Good.
VELSHI: I think the whole bathing thing is a waste of water.
CHETRY: Exactly.
VELSHI: All right. Lawmakers are blasting Blast. Seventeen state attorney generals petitioned Pabst Brewing Company, the maker of Colt 45 Blast, to halt production of the malt beverage, calling it a binge in a can saying it targets kids.
Blast is a fruity drink with a colorful design and contains 12 percent alcohol by volume. Pabst stands by their product saying they only market to people above the legal drinking age.
CHETRY: Yes. And this goes back and forth, the ton of free advertising they could never afford -- VELSHI: Yes. Right.
CHETRY: -- to actually buy on their own.
VELSHI: Because nobody I knew knew what Blast was --
CHETRY: Exactly.
VELSHI: -- until we kept talking about it on TV.
CHETRY: Well, I don't know if you experienced this yesterday. We were trying to send out tweets --
VELSHI: I did. Yes.
CHETRY: -- on HootSuite, which is the one where you can sort of jam all your social networking sites.
VELSHI: It didn't work.
CHETRY: Not working. Well, now, we found out why. It may be Amazon to blame. Yes. A technical glitch on Amazon.com servers caused major websites like HootSuites, I think Foursquare, Reddit to slow down or crash altogether. The Amazon rents out space on its computer servers. Most sites were backed up within 12 hours, but some still are running a little slow.
VELSHI: All right. It's almost 18 minutes after the hour.
Let's go to Jacqui Jeras to find out what the national weather picture is looking like. Good morning, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey. Good morning, guys. We're looking at some really soggy conditions today and the big weather headline into the weekend is going to be the threat of flooding.
At this hour, we're concerned about severe weather. There you can see the yellow box, that's the severe thunderstorm watch which is in effect, and this includes you in Kansas City and just west of town in the Western Burroughs (ph), we do have a severe thunderstorm warning in effect. So damaging winds and large hail can be expected. The storm is going to stick around for about 30 or 40 minutes or so.
Now, wet weather across the Ohio Valley. And this is going to come in waves, guys, over the next couple of days. So the Middle Mississippi River Valley and the Ohio River Valley are going to be the big areas of concern. In fact, over the next five days, we could see as much as 10 inches of rain here.
Severe weather a possibility from Texas into parts of Indiana, and temperature-wise, it's feeling pretty nice across the South but still coolish across parts of the North. We'll tell you what you can expect for your weekend forecast coming up a little bit later on in the show.
And you guys said you both wash your hands and brush your teeth --
VELSHI: Yes. I (INAUDIBLE).
JERAS: But do you turn off the water in between?
CHETRY: I turn off the water in between brushing my teeth.
JERAS: Oh, good.
VELSHI: I can't. How do you turn off the water in between brushing -- washing your hands?
CHETRY: Yes. That would be tricky.
JERAS: Well, while you're scrubbing, right?
CHETRY: Oh, no. That would be way too much.
VELSHI: Yes. Then you need those kinds -- those ones that have the -- that you can operate with your hand, you know?
CHETRY: Right.
JERAS: I ask you this because it's Earth Day.
CHETRY: Oh. It's Earth Day on Good Friday.
VELSHI: I would absolutely get one of those installed in my house, one of those hospital types of taps where you can actually turn it on and off without touching it with your hands.
CHETRY: Yes.
JERAS: I'm all about using the elbow.
VELSHI: Yes. We're finding a lot out about our personal hygiene this morning. Nice to see you, Jacqui.
JERAS: You, too.
CHETRY: This is the cutest video --
VELSHI: Oh, my God. This one really is very cute.
CHETRY: -- if you love penguins, which I -- I absolutely love penguins.
VELSHI: Who doesn't love penguins?
CHETRY: They're so cute.
VELSHI: Only bad people don't love penguins.
CHETRY: Agreed.
VELSHI: This is a YouTube sensation. Check it out. CHETRY: OK. Just so you can explain what's going on here. That is Cookie, a baby penguin at the Cincinnati Zoo. The penguin --
VELSHI: Who's apparently very ticklish.
CHETRY: Yes. They call them the ticklish penguin. He absolutely loved -- they call that the tactile stimulation.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: Yes. They love to be petted and they're just very friendly like that. Well, this one apparently makes that hilarious, giggling sound when you rub his belly. Original video is now approaching 1.2 million hits on YouTube and just that is (INAUDIBLE).
VELSHI: That is very cute.
CHETRY: They are so cute.
VELSHI: All right. Lady Gaga getting into some hot water about what she said during an interview when she was being compared to Madonna.
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: She used some language that she -- she has apologized now she regrets using. We'll tell you a little bit about what she said when we come back.
CHETRY: All right. And also "A Million Little Pieces," that was the book that sparked a big war over, you know, between Oprah and James Frey. She felt very lied to by him. Well, he's going to sit back down for more. We'll talk about it coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Beautiful, beautiful sunrise this morning.
VELSHI: What that is again, that is New York, right?
CHETRY: Yes. That's --
VELSHI: When we don't know, it's New York.
CHETRY: It's just -- so we'll just stick (ph) with it's New York.
VELSHI: And the sun is coming up. Got it.
CHETRY: Well, Lady Gaga is in a bit of trouble. She's apologizing for an offensive statement that she made. She was responding to accusations that her single "Born This Way" is a rip-off of Madonna's "Express Yourself" saying, quote, "That's retarded."
And on a statement to CNN, Gaga says it was an honest mistake and that she considers it part of her life's work to push the boundaries of love and acceptance.
Fine. (INAUDIBLE) --
VELSHI: But that doesn't answer the question.
CHETRY: Yes. Exactly. I'm also still not understanding what -- about we are, you know -- stuff she's doing to her face.
VELSHI: I don't get much about Lady Gaga except that she's famous and people really like her and she has monsters, right?
CHETRY: Little monsters.
VELSHI: Little monsters. That's what it is. But I -- yes, she's talented.
Lindsay Lohan heads back to court this morning. Today's hearing is going to help determine whether there's enough evidence to put the actress on trial for charges that she stole a $2,500 necklace. Last month, Lohan pleaded to -- decided to reject a plea deal, believe it or not. If Lohan is ordered to stand trial, she could be sent to jail for a probation violation.
CHETRY: All right. Well, James Frey, who was scolded by Oprah -- scolded is putting it pretty mildly --
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: -- for fabricating the details of his best-selling memoir, "A Million Little Pieces" has agreed to return to her show next month. A source tells "The New York Post," that Oprah apologized to James Frey for giving him such a beating on the show and he's agreed to come back to talk about everything that's happened since then and also his new novel, "The Final Testament of the Holy Bible."
VELSHI: And that one is expected to be true?
CHETRY: This is a novel. So now you have a fictional license.
Now, do you know anyone else is going to be appearing?
VELSHI: On "Oprah"?
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: No. But it's her last -- I mean, she's wrapping it up a month --
CHETRY: No. I know.
VELSHI: -- within a month.
CHETRY: That's what I mean.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Yes.
VELSHI: That's pretty good. I'm sure we're going to get the lineup --
CHETRY: All right. Cool.
VELSHI: -- over the course of the (INAUDIBLE).
CHETRY: Amazing video, by the way, of a quick escape from an exploding hydro boat.
VELSHI: Oh, wow. This is incredible. Watch this.
CHETRY: Apparently, the person who was in this didn't even know that it was on fire. We're going to tell you what happened, coming up.
VELSHI: There we go.
And we're going to be talking about -- sorry, I was looking at that video, which stopped. Because we're going to show you what really happens after the break.
Terry Jones, you know this man. He is in Dearborn, Michigan, right now. He is ready to protest in front of a mosque in a city that has one of the biggest Muslim populations in the country. We'll tell you how that's going to go down when we get back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-nine minutes after the hour. Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
You're looking outside of our studios here where we're looking -- this is the view from our studios in New York City.
CHETRY: It's 41 degrees right now.
VELSHI: It was cold this morning.
CHETRY: Yes. It was chilly. It was chilly. It's in the 30s as usual, it seems. I guess we can expect this weather until July. Fifty-four degrees for a high today. Jacqui is going to be here in about 15 minutes with your full national forecast.
Meantime, though, we're covering our top stories this morning at half past the hour. Senator John McCain is in Libya this morning visiting rebel headquarters in the Stronghold City of Benghazi. McCain has been pushing for military intervention to remove leader Moammar Gadhafi from power.
Also, President Obama taking on high gas prices. He started a task force to root out potential fraud and manipulation of the oil market. The group will also probe speculators and traders seeing whether they're to blame in any way for some of the higher prices. And it's not explicitly called a Birther Bill, but Louisiana lawmakers appear to be pushing similar legislation. Anyone running for president would need to -- need a signed affidavit with their birth certificate. The birther controversy was started by critics who claim they don't believe that President Obama was born in the United States.
VELSHI: Terry Jones, the controversial Florida pastor who burned the Koran, sparked riots in Afghanistan, and he's even reported to have a $2 million bounty on his head in Pakistan. Well, he's stirring up trouble again, this time, Dearborn, Michigan -- home to one of the country's largest Muslim populations and mosques. He plans to protests outside the Islamic Center of America today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY JONES, PASTOR, DOVE OUTREACH WORLD CENTER: I'm going to be addressing the issue of jihad and Shariah to exercise our First Amendment rights.
REPORTER: Will you exercise those rights at the mosque?
JONES: Yes.
REPORTER: Or will you exercise it at city hall?
JONES: No. We will --
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: That doesn't matter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, yesterday, religious leaders came together at that mosque to show their support. The imam there was also pretty quick to dismiss Jones.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IMAM SAYED HASSAN, AL-QAZWINI ISLAMIC CENTER OF AMERICA: Terry Jones does not represent the Christian community. He represents himself and only himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Jack O'Reilly, Jr. is the mayor of Dearborn, Michigan. And he joins us this morning from Detroit.
Good to have you back on the show, Mr. Mayor.
As we know, when we saw you last, you talked about how a third of the population in Dearborn is Muslim. You also talked about the integration. You say that people live in peace there.
What potential damage could this pastor do if he shows up?
MAYOR JACK O'REILLY, JR., DEARBORN, MICHIGAN: Well, he has shown up and he's always been welcome. I mean, I want to make it clear off the bat, he's always been welcome to come and give voice to his concerns and speak out in Dearborn. The issue has always been location. But, of course, any time someone comes in who's going to raise people's emotions, then we have to worry about the human factor.
VELSHI: Tell me what that means. When you say the issue is location, is it that he wants to protest in front of this mosque? Would you rather have him protest where, in front of city hall or a square somewhere?
O'REILLY: It's not rather. I mean, he has to have an event where it can support it. If of all of sudden, a thousand people showed up in front of the building you're in and they stood on the public side walk in front of the building and wanted to give voice to their concerns, they would be obstructing access. They would be obstructing, they may spill over into the roadway. They present a danger.
And that's what we're talking about here. The site he's selected is all private property. And the only public property is right of way for a main road, a state trunk line. And it's a grassy area that's not maintained for human occupation. It's incidental to the roadway.
So, he's picked the site, while it's public, that doesn't support a large group.
CHETRY: So, basically it's in your hands. I mean, you -- you denied him a permit to do it outside of the Islamic center. You're in charge of the police. You know, if he shows up, what's going to happen? Is he going to be tied up in court all day?
O'REILLY: No, I don't think so. What will happen is -- and that's what everybody wants us to predict what will happen. Everybody has to understand that when we do enforcement, we have to respond to what someone else does. We don't anticipate behavior, we respond.
And so, when we look at this situation, we say if he shows up there -- now, let me give you an example, there were five permits filed for the same site, same time. So, five different entities wanted to have that -- their free speech exercised at that site in front of the mosque. We evaluated them. We were still evaluating whether or not Pastor Jones' application could be -- could be accommodated on the property available.
And what he did in his petition is he said, "I'm going to have five or six people." That's why we kept evaluating it. On Tuesday, he put out this flyer on the Internet, which was inviting everybody under the sun to come and we went -- oh, my gosh, that clearly blows it, because, you know, his petition is five or six people. He's inviting people -- we have no idea how many people will respond to his invitation.
So, we said, look, we have to deny this permit because that site cannot support even 100 people, let alone more.
VELSHI: What do you understand the process is right now? We understand that a judge sided with prosecutors who said they don't want this permit to be issued, this rally to take place. Now, he's got to go before a jury this morning that's going to make a decision?
O'REILLY: Yes, the judge made no decision at all. He asked for a jury trial. And so, yesterday, a jury was empanelled after he arrived. So, he came into the Detroit area, appeared in court.
They began the process of identifying the jury. The jury was selected. And at 8:00 a.m. this morning, they will begin the hearing on the peace bond, which simply means that he's got to ensure that if, as a result of his actions, there are costs and damages, that he will be responsible for them.
CHETRY: Do you anticipate violence?
O'REILLY: No. And I'm -- we've done everything we can to deflect it. As I said, though, when emotions get raised, we know that it's just human nature that some people have limited control sometimes of themselves. So, we're trying to do everything we can to keep this peaceful.
We have offered him free exercise of his rights and everyone else free exercise of their rights in the right venue which means a place that can support it, that has parking.
I mean, just the media -- think about it, as you're the media, how many media trucks are going to show up? How many other media? There's nowhere for them to park legally at the site he's chosen. There's nowhere for anyone to park. There's nowhere for people to congregate.
And we've got other churches there. That's called Altar Road because when it was -- in 1954, four Christian churches, different denominations, built there and this road was built for access. If they're celebrating Good Friday and that road is blocked, the congregation cannot get to services.
So, the choice, you know, the week that's both Passover and both the death and resurrection of Christ is such a pivotal time period in many faiths' annual calendar that this is just a bad choice. But we're going to do the best we can. We're going to respond appropriately. We never intend to deny him his rights, but he has to stay within the law.
VELSHI: Mayor Jack O'Reilly, Jr., we wish you and everybody in Dearborn a peaceful weekend, a peaceful Friday and we'll keep a close eye on what's going on over there. Thanks for joining us.
O'REILLY: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
All right. We'll still to come on AMERICAN MORNING: we're going to check in with Zain. She's in London. And there's this new unofficial Twitter page for the queen of England. It's pretty funny, some of the tweets that have been going out. Hundreds of thousands of followers are already jumping on board.
Thirty-six minutes past the hour.
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CHETRY: Show you some live pictures right now of Yemen, a key U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda. But tens of thousands of people have been gathered for pro-government rallies. You may know this if you've been following it. But it's been about three months that there have been protests and uprising, opposition protesters gathering, trying to get rid of the long-time president there, Saleh.
VELSHI: You know what the important thing about today is?
CHETRY: The -- what, the -- after the call to prayer?
VELSHI: No. Just -- I mean, not just in the Muslim world. It's Good Friday.
CHETRY: Absolutely.
VELSHI: But for some people, it's a week away from the royal wedding.
CHETRY: It's Good Friday and it's a week away from the royal wedding. You're absolutely right.
There is a lot going on today. We want to check in, though, with our lovely and adorable Zain. She's telling us a little bit more about what's going on.
First of all, sources say that Kate Middleton is already getting ready for her honeymoon. I mean, that's not surprising, right? Splashed all over the New York papers was a picture of her doing last-minute shopping.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, she's doing some major retail therapy, guys. She was on King's Road. It's a pretty trendy area. She got an apartment pretty close to that, and she and her friends like shopping down that road.
But she was photographed going to a shop called Whistles buying what's called the Kate blouse. It's a sort of a nice silky frilly kind of a top she bought.
She was also, guys, going to different shops, like Banana Republic. And here, they have something called TK Maxx, like TJ Maxx, like some of the more discount designer shops.
So, a lot of people are seeing her as someone that's pretty accessible, kind of normal, going to buy summer dresses for her honeymoon. Nobody knows where it is, but it sounds like there's a beach and it's going to be hot.
CHETRY: Everyone is saying, everyone's trying to say it's going to be their town, that's the funny part. Because they want --
VERJEE: Yes.
VELSHI: You know --
VERJEE: The latest is called Mystique (ph).
VELSHI: A few weeks ago, Zain, I'm sure it reached you over there, the whole issue about the snake that escaped from the Bronx zoo and while looking for it, the most exciting thing is a Twitter page had been set up for the snake and the snake apparently was tweeting.
Well, apparently, something is going on with the queen that's similar to that. She's not missing, but someone other than the queen is tweeting on her behalf.
VERJEE: She's -- no, she's not missing. We know exactly where she is, Ali.
Yes, she has a Twitter handle. So, someone is tweeting as @Queen_UK. Now, some of them are funny. I'll give you a flavor of some of the tweets. One says, "Up early to authorize Easter, despite a large night yesterday for one's birthday. Someone get one a hot crossed bun and a sweet sherry."
(LAUGHTER)
VERJEE: Another one by one is, "OK, people, one can confirm that four-day weekend starts now. Early Gin O'clock and celebration of your queen's birthday."
You know, guys, her favorite drink, actually, is something known as Gin and Dubonnet. Have you ever had it?
VELSHI: No, I haven't had.
CHETRY: I thought it was -- is that like a gin gimlet? Is it like a gimlet or no?
VERJEE: It's sort of, kind of, the Dubonnet is like, kind of, like a sweet wine. Think of maybe an amaretto or something. So, on this Twitter handle, you know, there's a lot of references to gin and Dubonnet and Gin O'clock there with the queen. That's what --
(CROSSTALK)
VERJEE: Almost 200,000 followers.
VELSHI: The palace folks are not troubled by this? They don't have to -- they don't get to step out there and say, you guys can't have this address, this handle?
VERJEE: No. There's been no controversy over it. You know, they're in a light-hearted mood about this. They're quite a number of @queen Twitter handles. But this one is definitely the best one, with almost 200,000 people following. I'm one of them. So, that's @Queen_UK.
CHETRY: That's hilarious.
All right. Zain Verjee, looking forward to seeing you. I've been on a plane soon.
VERJEE: And you.
CHETRY: Take care.
VERJEE: See you. Taking you to King's Road shopping.
CHETRY: Can't wait.
VELSHI: I'll be here, manning the fort if anything goes wrong.
VERJEE: All right. We'll send you a postcard.
VELSHI: Thank you.
VERJEE: We'll see you a souvenir.
VELSHI: You can watch Zain every morning at 5:00 a.m. on "WORLD ONE," right here on CNN.
In case, you didn't understand what she was saying, when she said controversy.
CHETRY: Controversy.
VELSHI: There you go.
CHETRY: There you go. They say I'll be (INAUDIBLE). I got to start picking up on these.
VELSHI: That's right, you better say it.
CHETRY: The wrong emphasis on the wrong syllable.
VELSHI: That's it.
CHETRY: All right. Well, don't miss a minute of it.
VELSHI: We won't.
CHETRY: You don't seem as excited.
VELSHI: I'm excited. I'm thrilled.
CHETRY: Counting down to the big day next week on AMERICAN MORNING. Yes, yes, yes. We will be there.
But, meanwhile, we're going to take a quick break. Your top story is coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifteen minutes to the top of the hour. A lot going on this morning.
Let's run you through the headlines to get you caught up.
Senator John McCain of Arizona in Libya this morning, meeting with rebel leaders in Benghazi. McCain was greeted by cheers, Libyans waving American flags as he visited Benghazi's freedom square.
President Obama looking into high gas prices, announcing a new task force where he claims that he'll try to root out any cases of fraud and manipulation in the oil and gas market.
Washington wants to know why your iPhone is tracking you and then storing that information. Senator Al Franken says it raises serious privacy concerns. So far, Apple is not commenting on why phones record where you've been.
Toyota announcing this morning it will begin ramping up production later this year after cuts were made following last month's earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The automaker says that U.S. production should be back to normal by November or December.
Now, you're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back in 60 seconds.
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VELSHI: Forty-seven minutes after the hour.
There's no overwhelming, terribly tragic weather situation today. I'm so glad for it.
VELSHI: I hope not. I was still struggling out in Texas.
VELSHI: Those wildfires are continuing. They're not getting much of a break.
Jacqui Jeras in the severe weather center for us.
You know, Jacqui, they were going to get -- some amount of break coming, but I don't know.
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, kind of. Eastern Texas. And I'm starting to think that you're cheating on me, Ali, and watching other weather casters if you think there's no bad weather today.
There is! We got a lot of extreme weather. We got severe thunderstorms. We've got the flooding threat. We've got still concerns about wildfire.
We'll start out in the nation's midsection today. Severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for parts of Kansas, as well as into Missouri. A line of severe thunderstorms moving through Kansas City right now. So, large hail and damaging winds possible. There you can see a ton of lightening with it.
If you live in Kansas City, tell your boss that it's OK if you're late because you want until the storm passes before you take off. You know, I-70 is going to be kind of the big corridor that we're going to be watching throughout the weekend and into next week. And we're going to see these waves of storms that kind of move through here. Some of these storms could be severe.
Now, one of the biggest concerns I have is that the rainfall is going to be so heavy. Take look at forecast rainfall in the next five days and watch this big bullet area of purple develop. That's the potential for 10 inches of rain, 10 inches in five days. So, you know, two inches a day.
That's way too much than you can handle. The ground very saturated here. We already have river flooding on the Mississippi River, as well as into the Ohio River Valley. So, this is going to be a concern.
Major flooding is expected by Sunday across much of this region. So, flood watches and warnings have been posted all over the place.
And just make sure you're real cautious over the weekend, holiday weekend for a lot of people that you don't drive across any of those roads that are covered in water.
Now, some of those storms will be severe. We're watching Texas once again. You mentioned the fire danger, still critical in western parts of the state. But we've got that dry line as we call it in Texas, which is a common feature we'll see this time of year.
And ahead of it is we have moisture. We even had some rain across parts of Texas overnight. And, unfortunately, some of those thunderstorms we were talking about yesterday, yes, that produced lightning and can trigger more fires. So, we'll watch that as well.
Tomorrow is your Saturday. It's the weekend. Hey, it's going to be nice across the South, but all that rain across the nation's midsection will be the big focus here. More rain into your Easter forecast and it's going to be sunny for the bunny across parts of Florida.
VELSHI: Sunny for the bunny.
CHETRY: Sunny for the bunny. I love it.
VELSHI: That's it, Jacqui. I am never getting my weather reports from FOX again.
JERAS: OK. Thank you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Jacqui.
VELSHI: I'm sticking with Jacqui. That was serious weather.
CHETRY: Sure was. Don't you feel bad?
VELSHI: I do. Why don't you handle the rest of this?
CHETRY: A stunning scene on Seattle's Lake Washington. This is a hydroplane boat racer.
VELSHI: Oh, this is crazy.
CHETRY: I love this video.
Making runs across the water when the back of her boat catches fire. There you see. Well, she didn't realize it at the time. It sparked a mini explosion almost.
The driver, though, was able -- there you see it. She jumps out as soon as she realizes that quickly, how quickly she gets her belt off, into the water, and swam ashore. Officials say there was mechanical failure in that engine and the driver is fine.
VELSHI: Wow. That must have been a shock.
CHETRY: I know. I mean, she clearly -- I mean, you have to be ready for that and she was.
VELSHI: That's incredible.
All right. We're going to take a break.
CHETRY: Yes. We'll come back and talk a little bit about Donald Trump -- we talked to him yesterday. Today, he's getting some campaign advice from someone who's been through that once before in 2008.
Fifty minutes past the hour.
VELSHI: And we're also going to be talking about the hot zone in Japan. This is the area affected by that nuclear fallout. What it looks like? What's going on there? How long before people can go back?
Look at it. Pretty desolate.
Stan Grant is going to be taking us on a tour.
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VELSHI: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
They waited 18 years to win, when they finally did --
CHETRY: I know. This is Real Madrid soccer team. Their trophy literally got thrown under the bus. Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The vice captain of Madrid's soccer team didn't get thrown under the bus -- even though he did drop the team's trophy under the bus. The one he was clutching so proudly just moments before. Only to let it slip during the victory parade.
And then the bus ran over it, rescuers ran to retrieve the King's Cup.
It was rushed inside the bus, but the owner of the shop that made the trophy, called it practically a complete wreck.
The player who dropped it, Sergio Ramos, tweeted a joke, "It didn't fall, it jumped of when it saw so many Madrid fans."
(on camera): Now, the guy is a soccer player. He probably would have been better off holding the cup with his feet, but he's not the only butter fingers when it comes to dropping a trophy.
(voice-over): Little did the captain of the Spokane Chiefs know he was kissing the Memorial Cup good-bye.
Seconds later, as he tried to share the glory -- their look said it all, holy puck. The captain tried to fix the Canadian Hockey League trophy. But that didn't work. So might as well make do with two.
As the captain said later, "We can drink from the cup a little easier."
Often, the culprit is a loose lid. For instance, when Chris Chelios won a Norris Award for top defensive player in the NHL.
CHRIS CHELIOS, HOCKEY PLAYER : Coming from Larry, it means a lot to me. Maybe it doesn't mean a lot to me.
MOOS: When Maria Sharapova won the U.S. Open in 2006, the lid from her trophy bounced off her like a spiked serve.
And when Camilo Villegas won the PGA Tour, the replica putter was fine but the miniature golf club on the trophy --
CAMILO VILLEGAS, PGA TOUR WINNER: Oops, it broke.
MOOS: Oops, it broke. And despite his best efforts, he couldn't fix it.
The jinxed trophy even strikes champion bowlers. Pete Webber told "Sports Illustrated" when his eagle shattered, people came unto grab pieces to take home.
Victory is sweet. Sometimes your cup runneth over, and other times your cup gets run over.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Bottom line, though, they fix it, right? They're fixing it or getting a new one.
VELSHI: They're fixing it, they say.
CHETRY: OK. All right. Good.
VELSHI: That's it. Your top stories are coming your way after the break. Stay with us.
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