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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Iraq Takes Center Stage at G-8 Summit; D.C. Prepares for Reagan's Funeral
Aired June 08, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
Iraq and the new world order, 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Iraq takes center stage at the G8 Summit as world leaders back the president at the U.N.
Thousands say goodbye in California as the nation's capital prepares for President Reagan's funeral.
Laci Peterson's family takes the stand, new details about a suspicious phone call and a fishing trip. Is the case against Scott Peterson getting stronger?
A deadly disease but will a new pill give melanoma victims their lives back?
Married, pregnant, no one's talking they're betting around the block with Jenny from the block once again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
What a difference a year makes. The U.N. Security Council vote was 15-0 in support of the U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq's interim government. After all the arguments prior to the Iraq War, this afternoon's vote came after just two weeks of talks and four revisions. The resolution spells out what powers the new interim Iraqi government will have when it takes over on June 30th.
It authorizes the multinational force to remain in Iraq to help ensure security but it also gives the Iraqi government the right to ask the force to leave at any time. The vote of approval also gives the president momentum leading into the G8 Summit at a seaside Georgia resort where Iraq is front and center on the agenda.
With a reaction from the summit here's CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King. Good evening, John. JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Anderson. Word of that unanimous vote at the United Nations Security Council came as Mr. Bush was meeting with one of his fiercest critics when it came to the war in Iraq, the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin, though, had his country vote yes on the resolution among the 15 votes in favor, so Mr. Putin coming here at the G8 Summit.
Mr. Bush's big theme here is unity. He wants to prove that the bitter disagreements over Iraq are in the past and that these countries will work together now, not only in Iraq but in the broader war on terrorism. In this meeting this afternoon with President Putin, Mr. Bush called the vote at the U.N. Security Council a major victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vote today in the United Nations Security Council was a great victory for the Iraqi people. The international community showed that they'll stand side by side with the Iraqi people.
The U.N. Security Council resolution supports the interim government, supports free elections, supports the multinational force. America supports strongly the idea of a free society in the midst of hatred and intolerance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Mr. Putin called the resolution a major step forward. So did Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He was a very vocal critic of the war and in the whole debate leading up to the war in Iraq said German troops would never participate.
Now there are no plans for German troops to join the multinational force but Mr. Schroeder talking about working with Mr. Bush, not only at the United Nations but now on Iraqi debt relief, a very amicable meeting between two men who did not speak for months because of their disagreements over the Iraq War.
And, one other politician at this meeting who views this vote as very significant is the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He, of course, is under fire back home in Great Britain and across Europe for supporting President Bush against public opinion in his country.
You see Prime Minister Blair being greeted by Georgia school children here. He called the United Nations vote a message not only to the Iraqi people but to the terrorists as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: For the Iraqis themselves, this means that they now realize they have a unified world community on their side helping them towards the stability and the democracy and the prosperity they want to see for themselves. And I think for the terrorists and the fanatics, the former regime elements that are trying to stop this process of democracy, I think they now know that it isn't just the United States and the U.K. or indeed the multinational force, it's the whole of the United Nations and the world community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So, from the White House perspective the perfect kickoff for the summit here at Sea Island, Mr. Bush getting the unanimous vote in the Security Council. He believes it will help his image on the world stage and, Anderson, he also thinks it will help in the political campaign here in the United States.
Democrat John Kerry saying this president, Mr. Bush, has failed to build international alliances. The president on this day thinks he's rebutted that criticism at least a bit -- Anderson.
COOPER: What a difference a year makes. John King thanks.
Now to President Reagan, state funerals, all of them, are extraordinary, somber and of course fairly rare events but this is the first one since 9/11 and so, sadly, Ronald Reagan's state funeral scheduled for Friday in Washington has to be considered something no other state funeral ever has been considered, a very, very tempting target. Preparations are underway for the pomp of the funeral but there is concern tonight about the circumstances.
CNN's Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry joins us now with details. Good evening, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Anderson.
There is deep concern that this will be symbolic target for terrorists. That's why all Senators have gotten a memo revealing that this has now been classified as a national security special event putting it on par with a national convention or an inauguration. That enables the Capitol Police to have help brought in from the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement agencies.
You can see over my shoulder here that the Capitol Police have just started putting up a security barrier that is going to help them as this is where all the people are going to line up in order to try to file past the coffin of Ronald Reagan. Security is just part of the preparations that are underway for this very momentous event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): Military planes roar over the nation's capital to get ready for the 21 jet flyover. The real thing will feature the missing man maneuver. One jet shoots straight up and leaves the others behind.
Precision is key to such an historic occasion, just the tenth state funeral for an American president in history. Before the drama plays out before millions of people around the world, military personnel practice the somber duty of loading the casket onto a horse drawn casson.
The procession will start at 6:00 p.m. with the casson starting near the White House for its journey to the capitol. Six horses will tug the flag-draped coffin. A seventh horse will trail the casson wearing an empty saddle with a pair of Reagan's own boots reversed in the stirrups. Planners say this indicates that the warrior will never ride again.
The dress rehearsal also included the testing of the 21-gun salute. Once the casket reaches the west front of the Capitol, it will be walked up the grand entrance where Mr. Reagan was sworn into office. The casket will then be led up this set of stairs leading into the rotunda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Anderson, the last state funeral for a president was in 1973 for Lyndon Johnson. Only 40,000 people turned out for that one. Officials here were initially estimating there would be 100,000 for the Reagan funeral. Now they've upped it to 150,000 and other officials are saying it could be even more -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Ed Henry thanks for that.
As Ed mentioned, during tomorrow's procession in Washington, a riderless horse with boots facing backwards will follow the funeral casson and it is a striking, poignant image.
Here's a quick news note about that tradition. During President Kennedy's funeral in 1963, the Army quartermaster horse Blackjack caught much of the world's attention. The practice is believed to be a holdover from ancient times when a horse was often sacrificed at the burial of its warrior rider.
There are just about six hours left for viewing President Reagan's casket at the presidential library in Simi Valley, California and those people are already waiting in line. The lines have been so long, in fact, there were traffic jams in the middle of the night.
By late afternoon, more than 70,000 people had filed past Reagan's casket. It tells you something about the powerful pull of the presidency and of this president, as does the fact that one of the men who would be president himself, Democrat John Kerry, was among those paying their respects, not that he had to wait in line.
CNN's Frank Buckley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The outpouring for President Reagan three days after his death so great that lines to catch shuttle busses just to get to the library stretched for hours, traffic snarled and library officials extended viewing hours just to meet the demand. GARY FOSTER, REAGAN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Well, we were prepared for there to be a fairly great outpouring of affection for the president because, after all, this is, you know, the heart of Reagan country but we had no idea it was going to be like this to tell you the truth.
BUCKLEY: Some waited four hours in line to catch a shuttle bus but few, if any, complained.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel really honored, honored to be here even four and a half hours later half asleep. So, it was worth it.
BUCKLEY: At the president's casket some salute, others shed tears. There are families and individuals, cub scouts and senior citizens. They spend about two minutes in the presence of the late president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My feet hurt. My back hurts. I'll be 62 this month and there are older people here but it was worth it.
BUCKLEY: Officials added 25 shuttle busses to the 25 already at work and by mid afternoon wait times were under two hours.
Among those paying respects on this day, Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Kerry in Los Angeles to attend his daughter's graduation from film school canceled overt campaigning for the week in observance of President Reagan's death.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And, average Americans continue to pass by the casket of President Ronald Reagan at a rate, we are told, of some 2,000 to 3,000 people per hour. By the time the viewing period is over at 10:00 p.m. local time, Anderson, we're told that the number will be more than 100,000 people that have passed by the president's casket.
We were also told this evening by President Reagan's office that Nancy Reagan has been moved by what she's seen. In a statement released by that office attributed to Nancy Reagan, she says: "It is unbelievable what I am seeing on TV" -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, Frank, we see another bus just arriving right behind you with even more people still coming to view the casket. Frank Buckley thanks.
A quick news note on efforts to memorialize Reagan, two Republican lawmakers have proposed separately putting Reagan's face on either the $20 bill or $10 bill at the appropriate time. Some Democrats are against the idea. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says a more fitting tribute would be to boost spending for Alzheimer's research.
That leads us to today's "Buzz." What do you think, should Ronald Reagan's image replace Alexander Hamilton's on the $10 bill? Log onto cnn.com/360, cast your vote, results at the end of the program tonight.
An alleged serial rapist arrested in Ohio tops our look at what's happening "Cross Country." Let's take a look.
Columbus, Robert Patton, Jr. charged with rape after DNA evidence linked him to a dozen assaults in the city over the past 13 years. Patton had his DNA taken when he was jailed in 2001 but it wasn't even tested for more than two years. Officials say they simply didn't have enough money.
Granby, Colorado, bulldozer damage, residents say it will cost millions to rebuild the town after a man used an armed bulldozer to damage more than a dozen buildings. You see it right there. Marvin Heemeyer shot himself in the head after going on the rampage on Friday. He had fought with town officials over zoning rules and code violations at his muffler business.
In Boston, construction delay, construction for the Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center in late July was supposed to start today but members of city unions set up picket lines instead. Unions are protesting stalled contract talks with the city.
That's a quick look at what's happening "Cross Country" right now.
360 next, John Ashcroft grilled on Capitol Hill, did the Justice Department green light the use of torture? Find out why Senators are pressing him for an answer.
Also tonight, sunshine, cancer and a promising new therapy, a health report you will not want to miss.
Also a family feud at the Scott Peterson trial. Laci's family takes the stand. Hear what they have to say about their former son- in-law. It's not good, all that ahead.
First, your picks, the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The shocking excesses that now go by the collective name Abu Ghraib came as a terrible surprise to many high level administration officials, or so they've said. That claim grew a little complicated though with the discovery of a memo that shows the Justice Department was looking into the laws regulating torture back in August of 2002, looking into them not to abide by but to circumvent them. It made for an interesting afternoon for John Ashcroft at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
CNN's Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senators demanded to know if the Justice Department told the president it was legally OK to torture al Qaeda terrorists and whether the president, based on that advice, issued an order on interrogations that led to the abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison. SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We know when we have these kinds of orders what happens. We get the stress test. We get the use of dogs. We get the forced nakedness that we've all seen.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: First of all, let me completely reject the notion that anything that this president has done or the Justice Department has done has directly resulted in the kinds of atrocities which were cited. That is false.
ARENA: Justice Department lawyers did contribute to a March, 2003 report obtained by CNN which suggests interrogators have broad latitude to use pressure when questioning detainees. But Ashcroft refused repeated Democratic demands to turn over memos or to tell Senators what legal advice he gave the president and the sparring got personal.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: There's a reason why we sign these treaties to protect my son in the military. That's why we have these treaties so when Americans are captured they are not tortured. That's the reason in case anybody forgets it. That's the reason.
ASHCROFT: Well, as a person whose son is in the military now on active duty and has been in the Gulf within the last several months, I am aware of those considerations and I care about your son.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Throughout the attorney general insisted the president did not issue any order that would violate U.S. laws and he says his department will prosecute anyone who broke the law -- Anderson.
COOPER: Kelli Arena thanks from Washington tonight.
Two deadly car bomb attacks in Iraq, that tops our look at global stories right now in the "Up Link."
A car bomb outside the entrance to a U.S. base in Baquba killed an American soldier, wounded ten others. An Iraqi civilian was also killed.
And in Mosul, a taxi exploded near city hall killing nine Iraqi civilians, wounding at least 25.
In Baghdad, hostages released, a coalition military operation has freed three Italians and a Pole who were taken hostage in Iraq. U.S. officials say they are in good health. Some people believed to be involved in the kidnapping have been detained.
Saudi Arabia now, an American killed, an employee of an American contractor, military contractor, was shot to death in Riyadh today, the second fatal attack on westerners in just three days. In poll results released today, meanwhile, almost half of all Saudis said they have a favorable view of Osama bin Laden's sermons and rhetoric.
Italy and Belgium, bomb arrest, police in those two countries arrest at least eight suspects in the Madrid train bombings, including an Egyptian who allegedly has been preparing more attacks.
Worldwide look up, Venus passes between the Earth and Sun for the first time since 1882. Here are some people in South Africa enjoying the view. People in Africa, Europe, Middle East will see the entire transit when the Sun, Venus and Earth line up precisely. The northeastern U.S. and Canada have seen only the tail end of the rare celestial event.
That is a quick look at what's going on around the world in the "Up Link."
Ever since early man realized the universe was bigger than himself people worshipped the sun as a powerful life-giving force. These days, of course, people worship the sun for other more, well, cosmetic reasons and in that way the sun can easily be a life taker.
Skin cancer, the most common form of cancer, kills about 9,000 of us each year in this country and about 55,000 new cases are diagnosed. That is why researchers are working frantically to find new treatments that might save lives. Tonight there is new hope.
CNN Medical Correspondent, Holly Firfer reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brett Smith was told he had less than a year to live. With tumors in his liver, lungs and adrenal glands, melanoma was ravaging his body until he met Dr. Keith Flaherty who entered him into an experimental trial for a new melanoma therapy using a drug called Bay 439006.
DR. KEITH FLAHERTY, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: It's a drug that blocks the function of an enzyme and, in this case, it's an enzyme that we know is abnormal or mutated in the majority of cases of melanoma.
FIRFER: By blocking that enzyme it prevents melanoma from growing and spreading. Early study results show that the drug in conjunction with traditional chemotherapy shrinks tumors and keeps them from recurring.
BRETT SMITH, MELANOMA PATIENT: Now I can live a normal life just by taking a pill in the morning and a pill at night.
FIRFER: Although this experimental therapy is showing promising results, Dr. Flaherty warns it's not a cure for cancer. It's a way to treat melanoma as a chronic disease. That's why the medical community is looking at other trials.
Dr. Frank Kaluska is working on an individualized vaccine using cells from a melanoma patient's own tumors and adding a gene which stimulates the body's immune system. Those treated cells are reinserted into the tumor with the hope that the recipient's own immune system gets a boost to destroy the cancer.
DR. FRANK KALUSKA, MASS. GENERAL HOSPITAL: And what we hope is that the vaccine makes them immune to melanoma so that the melanoma doesn't come back.
FIRFER: Dr. Kaluska adds it's important because right now there are no proven treatments to help melanoma patients like there are for some other cancers. He says patients like Donald Anderson would not be alive today if not for this experimental vaccine.
DONALD ANDERSON, MELANOMA PATIENT: Until he tells me that there are no other alternatives then I will keep fighting and keep fighting and keep fighting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Coming up on 360, one says she's a princess, the other claims to be the leader of a lost Native American tribe, just ahead con artists and the stories they tell to get fame, fortune and money. That's next.
Also tonight, stem cell controversy, President Bush versus a former first lady, that tonight raw politics.
And say it ain't so Jennifer Lopez ties the knot again. Her new husband plays coy. The wedding pictures and a puzzlement ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody should have one talent. What's yours?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forging signatures, telling lies, impersonating practically anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's three. Nobody should have more than one talent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the talents say Mr. Ripley isn't the only expert at deception. Consider Steven Spielberg's 16-year-old nephew Jonathan. He was proud of his uncle's fame and fortune and it showed. From the Spielberg vanity plate on his BMW to the name dropping, Jonathan made sure everyone knew he was part of the family but there's just one catch. He wasn't.
The truth is Spielberg doesn't have a nephew named Jonathan. What he did have was a con artist, a 27-year-old man allegedly trying to pull off a scam that we are noticing more and more these days.
CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I practiced law for one year then I decided why not try my hand at pediatrics. JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These imposters were so bad they made good in Hollywood in films like "Catch me if you can" and "Six Degrees of Separation." Maybe one of these new characters will be next.
Take Antoinette Millard claimed to be a princess running the party circuit, posing with a tiara and with a Hearst family heir but one photographer became suspicious when the princess asked an un- royal-like question.
ANDREW WALKER, FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER: She had had some drinks and she was being a little flirtatious and asked me if I would take -- if I was interested in taking photographs of her in lingerie.
CARROLL: Millard is really a 40-year-old divorcee and former bank assistant vice president. She's charged with insurance fraud for filing false jewelry claims. She has not entered a plea. Calls to her apartment and her attorney were not returned.
Benjamin Maybanks (ph) is no blue blood either but prosecutors say he duped women out of cash after convincing them he was Kuwaiti royalty. He lived in this Queens apartment saying he was a sultan in hiding. Maybanks pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. His attorney isn't talking but Ronald Roberts' lawyer is.
He says Roberts, seen here posing with Donald Trump, really is part Native American. Prosecutors say he's faking it to open a casino. Roberts pleaded guilty to perjury charges.
DAVID MONTOYA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR: We're going to take those matters seriously and we're going to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
CARROLL: Hollywood might have its eye on them but law enforcement does.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: I want to talk more about the art of the con. From Kansas City we're joined by Stan B. Walters, a behavioral analyst, interrogation specialist and expert on spotting deception.
He's written the textbook used for interviewing and interrogation by several police academies. He's taught private, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in over 45 states. He's also known as "the lie guy. Stan thanks for being with us tonight.
What do a lot of these con artists have in common? Do they have certain personality traits that sort of lead them into this that make them successful?
STAN B. WALTERS, "THE LIE GUY": Well, typically these con artists are very charismatic in the first place. There's three things necessary for them to be able to pull off their con. You got the desire and the decision to do it and they have to see that their mark, that the target they have, the ultimate goal of their con is greater than the risk that they're taking to achieve it and they're willing to sacrifice that.
COOPER: And who is at fault for these cons? I mean in the case of this guy pretending to be -- this person pretending to be a sultan, one of the victims went to this person's apartment and they weren't living regally. They were living in Queens. The furniture was IKEA. You would think it would be pretty clear to realize, you know, this person isn't a sultan.
WALTERS: That's one of the gifts that the con man is the term con being able to gain the confidence of the victim. The see the opportunity, the victim either vulnerable for attention getting, the victim themselves has some greed.
The victim sees the attention received from the con artist as someone they perceive them to be and that con artist has that great ability to see their target, be intuitive enough to know what they need to see and hear and feed that to them and then not have any feelings about the pain and the suffering or the loss they're going to cause their victim.
COOPER: Obviously, it's often about money. How do you spot a con? I mean how do you -- what should people look out for?
WALTERS: Well, there's no real marker on a con. They don't wear little signs or have little snap bill cap and a black mask that you can tell they're coming. The best experts in the world have been conned by some of the best con artists and the confidence men.
The key is that we recognize that we can be used and we tend to be trusting individuals. If the deal or the offer appears too good to be true, you're getting too much attention, ask questions and don't be conned by your perceptions of who the person is or what you think you'll get out of it. Be suspicious.
COOPER: If it seems too good to be true it probably is.
WALTERS: It probably is.
COOPER: Stan B. Walters thank you very much.
WALTERS: Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, the Scott Peterson trial and a Christmas Eve fishing trip you haven't heard about. We have the details on that.
First tonight's "Reset."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The Peterson Trial just ahead, but first lets check some of our top stories in tonight's "Reset." As the U.N. unanimous approval, the Security Council has endorsed a U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq's interim government which assumes powers in just 22 days. The resolution also gives authorization for a U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq. The vote gives momentum to President Bush who is hosting the G-8 Summit right now, where Iraq is certainly front and center on the agenda. Throughout the day heads of states arrived one after another for the summit which is being held on a private resort island in Georgia.
In Washington, the FDA has approved the first blood test that can diagnose an anthrax infection in less than an hour. Unlike other test that take up to four hours.
Also in D.C., wasted plane tickets, wasted money. Congressional investigators say the Defense Department spent an estimated, get this, $100 million for airline tickets that were never used over a six-year period, and they failed to get refunds.
And nationwide drivers should see slightly lower prices at the pump later this summer, that according to the Energy Department which estimates a price of a gallon a gas will average 1.89 when more oil exports from OPEC arrive in U.S. ports.
Well, on one of the first dates Scott Peterson and Laci went on a fishing trip. This morning at his murder trial another fishing trip was mentioned, the one that Peterson says he took on the day Laci disappeared. Laci's stepfather testified today that he didn't believe the story, but it turns out, he, too, had gone fishing that same day. And in "Justice Served" tonight he's not the only witness to believe the defendant may be hiding something.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHARON ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S MOTHER: We feel Scott has nothing to do with this, with the disappearance of Laci.
COOPER, (voice-over): Sharon Rocha said she once thought the world of her son-in-law Scott Peterson allowing him to call her mom. But seconds after she hung up the phone with him on Christmas Eve 2002, she testified she was suspicious. Scott Peterson described Laci as missing, though she had been gone for less than an hour. In the days that followed, Rocha's testimony portrayed a distant, distracted Peterson.
(on camera): And what little information he did share was shocking. A warning that the authorities had a picture of him with another woman, that it was a fake. She quoted him as saying, they had done a really good job because the guy really did look like him. Today, Ron Grantski, Laci Peterson's stepfather told the jury, he was suspicious from the beginning. Asking him directly if he had a girlfriend. He said Peterson told him, no, before turning and walking away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, covering the case for us tonight, CNN senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin and Court TV anchor, Lisa Bloom.
Thanks for being with us. Together, the dynamic duo. Together again for the first time.
Lisa, let's start off with you. Laci Peterson's stepfather testifying that he never believed this whole fishing story, but then it's revealed that he actually did go fishing on Christmas Eve, just like Scott Peterson said he did.
How important is this for the defense?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: I think not important. I think Geragos is missing the point entirely. Grantski, did not have an 8- month pregnant wife at home. He didn't lie and tell people he was golfing, when in fact he was fishing. And he didn't go 90 miles north to Berkeley to fish when he lived in Modesto. And that's the key point.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: That's not entirely fair. The fact is, the prosecutors and others have made a big deal. Isn't it insane someone would go fishing on...
COOPER: He himself said that.
TOOBIN: on -- right. On December 24th this guy went fishing. You know, the prosecution doesn't have an abundant evidence. This is just one little piece of evidence that they have that turns out not to be such a big deal.
BLOOM: I disagree. I think it's such an important piece of evidence.
Why is Scott Peterson fishing where the body washed up four months later?
TOOBIN: Well, that's true.
COOPER: He also did testify two weeks prior to all this he was having dinner with Scott Peterson and this guy is an avid fisherman, Peterson didn't make any mention of the fact he had bought a new boat.
Anything there?
TOOBIN: Well, the prosecution theory is that this boat was bought essentially as an instrument of murder, that he kept it a secret. That no one knew about it. That this boat was a big surprise. Again, you know, it depends on how the jury views the whole case. It is possible to view that as very innocent. You didn't want to tell your wife's stepfather that you had a boat. So what? But...
BLOOM: Well, because if they are both avid fisherman it's the kind of thing he would mention in casual conversation. And Grantski testified today that, Scott Peterson, left his fishing pole -- a very nice fishing pole, at Grantski's home and it wasn't used. So were just building a case bit by bit. (CROSSTALK)
COOPER: This all circumstantial. Yes, building a case but all circumstantial thus far.
BLOOM: Absolutely, but you know, it's like a prologue to a book. It sets the stage. It gets the juries curiosity going.
What about all these suspicious circumstances?
It's not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but it pique's our interest.
COOPER: And jurors really pay attention to that. I mean, the notion that their interests will be piqued and that the character of the -- Scott Peterson is really on trial?
BLOOM: Well, I think so. I mea, look, the guy is a dog. We know from Mark Geragos. Mark Geragos used the word cad.
TOOBIN: That's a legal term that's Lisa using.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I really don't understand.
BLOOM: Who uses the term boorish in 2004. Lets call him what he is. The best he could get on cross examination from Laci Peterson's mother, is that she didn't know that Scott Peterson had an affair with somebody before Amber Frey. I mean, that's the best the defense has to offer, that the guy was cheating around a lot?
TOOBIN: Well, The fact is, if she knew about it, and this is another thing that Laci's mother said on the witness stand. That she knew, that Laci knew, that Scott had a previous affair.
COOPER: Before Amber Frey.
TOOBIN: So the idea -- before Amber Frey. So, the idea that this was the affair of his life and he had to kill his wife to get away from her, it takes away from that a little bit.
BLOOM: I think an affair is a little different when your wife is eight months pregnant. The idea he told Laci and she was fine with the affair, I don't think that passes the lab test.
COOPER: Amber Frey's father has been subpoenaed to testify. Said he doesn't want to, because he doesn't want to be restricted by the gag order, but tough cookies, right?
TOOBIN: This guy, you know -- Scott Peterson is on trial for his life. This is a death penalty case. It's not about whether it's convenient for to you testify or whether you have other issues you would like to resolve in your life. You testify. You show up.
BLOOM: Well, Ron Frey wants to talk. He doesn't want to be subjected to the gag order. He says it's not because of...
COOPER: He wants to talk but not on the stand though...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: There's nothing wrong with people who like talking to the media, OK, let's not get a little too close to home. He wants to talk. He's got things he wants to say. He thinks the subpoena does not apply to him. That's the argument he's going to make.
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: My show every day. He wants to talk, let him come and talk. We'll talk to him. Wouldn't you want to talk to him, Anderson? Come on.
COOPER: Not really. Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.
TOOBIN: Mark me down for not really.
COOPER: Jeff Toobin, thanks very much. Good to talk to you both.
Well, as President Bush remembers Ronald Reagan, he is also reminding America of his admiration of the Republican icon and of course, Reagan's wife Nancy, as well. But there's one sticky subject where the president and the wife of the former president part company, stem cell research. It is an (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to many conservatives, but to a woman who just lost her beloved husband to Alzheimer, it is a topic that transcends "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The issue of research involving stem cells derived from human embryos...
COOPER: In August 2001, President Bush issued his decree sharply limiting the federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell. Government funding would only be provided for use on some 60 already existing stem cell lines.
BUSH: This allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research, without crossing a fundamental moral line.
BUSH: The president's decision brought boat loads of criticism, from scientist, who said new lines were desperately needed to prominent Americans suffering from spinal cord injury or Parkinson's Disease, which like, Alzheimer, could benefit from the research. Opposition to the president's policy, also came from someone who could have political impact, Nancy Reagan, who watched her husband's mind and eventually his life slip away, ravaged by Alzheimer. She spoke out just a month ago.
NANCY REAGAN, WIFE OF RONALD REAGAN: Now science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with many answers they have been for so long been beyond our grasp. I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this.
COOPER: Taking flack from this former first lady could prove a political liability to a president in a close reelection race. Fifty- eight senators and 206 House members, touched in part by the Reagan's ordeal, wrote to the president asking him to expand the number of stem cell lines available. If Nancy Reagan continues her crusade for embryonic stem cell research this emotional issue could become a study in "Raw Politics."
Well, 360 next, a health epidemic and presidential silence. Rock Hudson, Ryan White and thousands dead, did Ronald Reagan wait too long to talk about AIDS?
We'll take a closer look.
And a little later in the "Current," David Hasselhoff arrested? Busted? Say it ain't so.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Ronald Reagan was famous for facing the enemy unblinkingly, at least, the political enemy but some enemies are not so big as the Soviet Union and it's one, a microscopic one, where some say the former president blinked. This is a medical story and so it is reported tonight by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six months after Ronald Reagan became president, the Centers For Disease Control released an alarming report. Five healthy young homosexual men had (UNINTELLIGIBLE), that's an uncommon pneumonia. Only months later the cause of their pneumonia would be given a name. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Throughout the rest of his presidency many would accuse President Reagan of ignoring AIDS.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT NIH: The reality is that harsh judgment is probably a bit unfair.
GUPTA: The first time President Reagan would utter the word AIDS in public would be well into his second term, six years after the virus was discovered.
RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no reason for those who carry the AIDS virus to wear a scarlet "A".
GUPTA: Peter Staley believes the administration avoided AIDS all those years because of homophobia.
PETER STALEY, AIDS ACTIVIST: He didn't talk about it and he ignored what was happening around me until 25,000 of us had died.
DR. LOUIS SULLIVAN, HHS SECRETARY UNDER FMR. PRES. BUSH: I'm not sure if anyone as president really would have responded more quickly simply because we didn't have the knowledge base then. GUPTA: The tide turned slightly in 1986. Reagan enlisted Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to draft a report about the AIDS epidemic. Among Koop's recommendations, condom distribution and sex education in schools.
DR. C. EVERETT KOOP, FMR. U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: The cost of this disease to our society are already high and they are going to get astronomical.
GUPTA: The cost for AIDS would become astronomical in human life and the sheer cost of treating the disease. In 1990 Reagan wrote to the "Washington Post" about how he and Nancy wished there had been a magic wand they could wave at AIDS to make it all go away, a sentiment many share today. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: There is still, of course, much anger in many communities. Joining me from Savannah, Georgia, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Fauci, thanks for being with us tonight. The "San Francisco Chronicle" said that Ronald Reagan was guilty, and I quote, of a "shameful abdication of leadership in the fight against AIDS." If he had been more vocal and compassionate early on would it have made a difference?
FAUCI: It may have made a difference with regard to the appreciation by the general public of the potential seriousness of this. He certainly has been criticized because of the fact that he was not publicly advocating prevention measures and making people aware. I think that the criticism of that silence, as you mentioned just now on the show, is in many respects justifiable. What I think he gets is much more harsh criticism which really does not take into account some of the things that went on behind the scenes such as the things that led up to the surgeon general's report and the fact that he allowed people like myself and Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to speak out very vocally about the issues. He didn't do it himself personally and like I said, that's a valid criticism.
But there were other things. For example, with the budget, when I first became the director of the Infectious Disease Institute, I put forth a budget that was 100 percent higher than it was the year before, from 66 million at the time which seems small now to well over 120 and it actually...
COOPER: What year was that?
(CROSSTALK)
FAUCI: The first year, that was '85. The budget...
COOPER: Because C. Everett Koop came later on in the administration. The criticism is that earlier on in 1981 or '82, they had been more vocal they might have made a difference. I think part of the anger, too, is that Reagan's communication director Pat Buchanan was quoted as saying in print that AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals. Behind the scenes, why do you think it was that Reagan wasn't more vocal early on?
FAUCI: Those kinds of comments about the gay community are unacceptable certainly to us in the public health community and that was never acceptable then and it's not acceptable now. As I mentioned, there's a justifiable concern and criticism about not coming out vocally as a visible vocal leader. But the thing that we need to understand and the point I was trying to make is that those who are his sharpest critics particularly in the activist community say then that was completely all bad throughout the entire time.
That's a bit unfair to late President Reagan. I do agree that if -- I believe if he had to do it over again now and look back on what he may have done, I'm sure, from what I know about him and I met him and discussed HIV-AIDS with him, even before he came out publicly with regard to AIDS on more than one occasion, I'm absolutely certain that he would say, you know, if I had to do it over again, I would have come out more vocally. He didn't do it and I think that this criticism of him in that regard are justified.
COOPER: Dr. Anthony Fauci, thank you for being with us.
360 next, whoever heard of silent nights in New York City? The hustle and bustle come with some noise but maybe not for long. We'll take that to the Nth Degree.
Also it seems like only yesterday we were getting all teary-eyed over the break-up of Ben and J.Lo. I actually wasn't all that teary- eyed but I guess some people were. Say hello to Mrs. Marc Anthony now. We'll find out what J.Lo's new husband had to say for himself today when we come back. Zsa Zsa Gabor , are you listening?
Also tonight. All ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: "Don't leave me, don't leave me," that's what they are saying. Jennifer Lopez, forever the bride. Her first marriage lasts a little more than a year. Her second for nine months. They say the third time's a charm. But what does it mean when the groom won't even admit to being married. This is the fairy tale so far of J.Lo and Marc Anthony. Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's nothing low about J.Lo. when it comes to counting husbands. No. 1 was a waiter. No. 2 was a choreographer, No. 3 is none other than Marc Anthony.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She likes being married.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She seems to have a propensity for changing husbands.
MOOS: J.Lo. and Marc Anthony once sung a duet called "Don't Love Me." He was dying and already British bookmakers are predicting the death of their marriage, giving odds of three to one that they will be over before the year is.
WARREN LUSH, SPOKESMAN, LADBROKES: Quite pessimistic about the chances. We think that J.Lo. in many ways could be the new Liz Taylor.
MOOS: Liz Taylor with her eight marriages. Two of them to Richard Burton who actually played Mark Anthony in "Cleopatra." The Roman Mark Anthony knelt, the singer Marc Anthony stayed on his feet, promoting his new CD but when asked about his marriage on "The View"...
MARC ANTHONY, SINGER: I have nothing to say about anything. My life is my life.
MOOS: Matt Lauer noticed his ring on "The Today Show." If it hadn't been from "US Weekly's" shot from a helicopter we'd have no proof the wedding happened. The magazine says Ben Affleck, who himself came close to being husband No. 3, gave two thumbs up when told of the marriage. Now there are reports that J.Lo. is already pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll find out in about nine months, won't we?
MOOS: On Regis and Kelly.
CARROT TOP, COMEDIAN: This way she can keep changing the name...
MOOS: Comedian Carrot Top displayed a wedding photo of J.Lo. that was a low blow deserving of a blow over Marc Anthony. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We wish them the best. Time to check in some pop news in tonight's "Current."
Madonna's third book for children will be out on June 21. It's called the "Yakov and the Seven Thieves." Madonna says the story is about how miracles can happen to anybody as long they take up the Kabbalah, hire a personal trainer and move to London.
David Hasselhoff is in trouble with the law. He was arrested Saturday for allegedly drunk driving. After spending the night in jail, the "Knight Ryder" actor was released. Same can't be said for Kitt (ph) who remains in custody after cops found (UNINTELLIGIBLE) schnapps in his gas tank.
Cameron Diaz may be getting in the reality show business. She is set to star in an MTV series called "Tripping." The program would have Cameron and her pals traveling to exotic destinations celebrities don't usually go to. First destination, the supermarket, second, a PTA meeting.
And Bravo is launching a reality show that looks for America's most gorgeous male model. The search is on now for contestants. Everyone seems to be trying out including some of our own 360 crew members who love nothing more than strutting their stuff down the catwalk.
That's what they do in their off hours. The real reason New York never sleeps. All that noise. But there is an effort to hush the city. We take that to the Nth Degree coming up. No more catwalks, we promise.
Plus tomorrow a special edition of 360 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time. 8:00 Pacific. Remembering Ronald Reagan, a look at his state funeral, live from Washington. That leads us to today's buzz. "Should Ronald Reagan's image replace Alexander Hamilton's on the $10 bill?" What do you think? Log on to CNN.com/360. We'll have results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for the buzz. Earlier we asked you should Ronald Reagan's image replace Alexander Hamilton's on the $10 bill? More than 172,000 of you have voted. 31 percent of you said yes, 69 percent of you said no. Not a scientific poll but it is your buzz. Thanks for voting.
Tonight taking conversion to the Nth Degree. You know that saying about a leopard and its spots? Well, it isn't true. Thanks to its mayor, New York, that cigar-chomping, pipe-chewing, chain-smoking, hard-core, hardnose, head case of a city is now indoors, at least, as sweet-smelling as Bendel's perfume department. So now Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going after another ingredient you'd think was a big-city inevitable, noise.
Having taken the bus out of New York's big mouth he now plans to shush that mouth. He's mounting an initiative to turn down the volume among the wild hubub that is the Big Apple. Jack Hammers ice cream trucks, air breaks, dog barks, sirens, bleeding, blasting, blaring, yodeling, yelping, yelling, bull horns and bull of many other kinds. Don't believe it can be done. Well, many didn't believe New York could put out its cigarettes, either. So get ready for a new slogan. "New York, the city that never sleeps but could if it wanted to and quite peacefully, too." Thank you very much indeed.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching 360. "PAULA ZAHN NOW" is next.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 8, 2004 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm Anderson Cooper.
Iraq and the new world order, 360 starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): Iraq takes center stage at the G8 Summit as world leaders back the president at the U.N.
Thousands say goodbye in California as the nation's capital prepares for President Reagan's funeral.
Laci Peterson's family takes the stand, new details about a suspicious phone call and a fishing trip. Is the case against Scott Peterson getting stronger?
A deadly disease but will a new pill give melanoma victims their lives back?
Married, pregnant, no one's talking they're betting around the block with Jenny from the block once again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York this is ANDERSON COOPER 360.
COOPER: And a good evening to you.
What a difference a year makes. The U.N. Security Council vote was 15-0 in support of the U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq's interim government. After all the arguments prior to the Iraq War, this afternoon's vote came after just two weeks of talks and four revisions. The resolution spells out what powers the new interim Iraqi government will have when it takes over on June 30th.
It authorizes the multinational force to remain in Iraq to help ensure security but it also gives the Iraqi government the right to ask the force to leave at any time. The vote of approval also gives the president momentum leading into the G8 Summit at a seaside Georgia resort where Iraq is front and center on the agenda.
With a reaction from the summit here's CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King. Good evening, John. JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good evening to you, Anderson. Word of that unanimous vote at the United Nations Security Council came as Mr. Bush was meeting with one of his fiercest critics when it came to the war in Iraq, the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Putin, though, had his country vote yes on the resolution among the 15 votes in favor, so Mr. Putin coming here at the G8 Summit.
Mr. Bush's big theme here is unity. He wants to prove that the bitter disagreements over Iraq are in the past and that these countries will work together now, not only in Iraq but in the broader war on terrorism. In this meeting this afternoon with President Putin, Mr. Bush called the vote at the U.N. Security Council a major victory.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The vote today in the United Nations Security Council was a great victory for the Iraqi people. The international community showed that they'll stand side by side with the Iraqi people.
The U.N. Security Council resolution supports the interim government, supports free elections, supports the multinational force. America supports strongly the idea of a free society in the midst of hatred and intolerance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Mr. Putin called the resolution a major step forward. So did Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. He was a very vocal critic of the war and in the whole debate leading up to the war in Iraq said German troops would never participate.
Now there are no plans for German troops to join the multinational force but Mr. Schroeder talking about working with Mr. Bush, not only at the United Nations but now on Iraqi debt relief, a very amicable meeting between two men who did not speak for months because of their disagreements over the Iraq War.
And, one other politician at this meeting who views this vote as very significant is the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. He, of course, is under fire back home in Great Britain and across Europe for supporting President Bush against public opinion in his country.
You see Prime Minister Blair being greeted by Georgia school children here. He called the United Nations vote a message not only to the Iraqi people but to the terrorists as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TONY BLAIR, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: For the Iraqis themselves, this means that they now realize they have a unified world community on their side helping them towards the stability and the democracy and the prosperity they want to see for themselves. And I think for the terrorists and the fanatics, the former regime elements that are trying to stop this process of democracy, I think they now know that it isn't just the United States and the U.K. or indeed the multinational force, it's the whole of the United Nations and the world community.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: So, from the White House perspective the perfect kickoff for the summit here at Sea Island, Mr. Bush getting the unanimous vote in the Security Council. He believes it will help his image on the world stage and, Anderson, he also thinks it will help in the political campaign here in the United States.
Democrat John Kerry saying this president, Mr. Bush, has failed to build international alliances. The president on this day thinks he's rebutted that criticism at least a bit -- Anderson.
COOPER: What a difference a year makes. John King thanks.
Now to President Reagan, state funerals, all of them, are extraordinary, somber and of course fairly rare events but this is the first one since 9/11 and so, sadly, Ronald Reagan's state funeral scheduled for Friday in Washington has to be considered something no other state funeral ever has been considered, a very, very tempting target. Preparations are underway for the pomp of the funeral but there is concern tonight about the circumstances.
CNN's Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry joins us now with details. Good evening, Ed.
ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good evening, Anderson.
There is deep concern that this will be symbolic target for terrorists. That's why all Senators have gotten a memo revealing that this has now been classified as a national security special event putting it on par with a national convention or an inauguration. That enables the Capitol Police to have help brought in from the Secret Service and other federal law enforcement agencies.
You can see over my shoulder here that the Capitol Police have just started putting up a security barrier that is going to help them as this is where all the people are going to line up in order to try to file past the coffin of Ronald Reagan. Security is just part of the preparations that are underway for this very momentous event.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY (voice-over): Military planes roar over the nation's capital to get ready for the 21 jet flyover. The real thing will feature the missing man maneuver. One jet shoots straight up and leaves the others behind.
Precision is key to such an historic occasion, just the tenth state funeral for an American president in history. Before the drama plays out before millions of people around the world, military personnel practice the somber duty of loading the casket onto a horse drawn casson.
The procession will start at 6:00 p.m. with the casson starting near the White House for its journey to the capitol. Six horses will tug the flag-draped coffin. A seventh horse will trail the casson wearing an empty saddle with a pair of Reagan's own boots reversed in the stirrups. Planners say this indicates that the warrior will never ride again.
The dress rehearsal also included the testing of the 21-gun salute. Once the casket reaches the west front of the Capitol, it will be walked up the grand entrance where Mr. Reagan was sworn into office. The casket will then be led up this set of stairs leading into the rotunda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HENRY: Anderson, the last state funeral for a president was in 1973 for Lyndon Johnson. Only 40,000 people turned out for that one. Officials here were initially estimating there would be 100,000 for the Reagan funeral. Now they've upped it to 150,000 and other officials are saying it could be even more -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Ed Henry thanks for that.
As Ed mentioned, during tomorrow's procession in Washington, a riderless horse with boots facing backwards will follow the funeral casson and it is a striking, poignant image.
Here's a quick news note about that tradition. During President Kennedy's funeral in 1963, the Army quartermaster horse Blackjack caught much of the world's attention. The practice is believed to be a holdover from ancient times when a horse was often sacrificed at the burial of its warrior rider.
There are just about six hours left for viewing President Reagan's casket at the presidential library in Simi Valley, California and those people are already waiting in line. The lines have been so long, in fact, there were traffic jams in the middle of the night.
By late afternoon, more than 70,000 people had filed past Reagan's casket. It tells you something about the powerful pull of the presidency and of this president, as does the fact that one of the men who would be president himself, Democrat John Kerry, was among those paying their respects, not that he had to wait in line.
CNN's Frank Buckley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The outpouring for President Reagan three days after his death so great that lines to catch shuttle busses just to get to the library stretched for hours, traffic snarled and library officials extended viewing hours just to meet the demand. GARY FOSTER, REAGAN FAMILY SPOKESMAN: Well, we were prepared for there to be a fairly great outpouring of affection for the president because, after all, this is, you know, the heart of Reagan country but we had no idea it was going to be like this to tell you the truth.
BUCKLEY: Some waited four hours in line to catch a shuttle bus but few, if any, complained.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel really honored, honored to be here even four and a half hours later half asleep. So, it was worth it.
BUCKLEY: At the president's casket some salute, others shed tears. There are families and individuals, cub scouts and senior citizens. They spend about two minutes in the presence of the late president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My feet hurt. My back hurts. I'll be 62 this month and there are older people here but it was worth it.
BUCKLEY: Officials added 25 shuttle busses to the 25 already at work and by mid afternoon wait times were under two hours.
Among those paying respects on this day, Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. Kerry in Los Angeles to attend his daughter's graduation from film school canceled overt campaigning for the week in observance of President Reagan's death.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BUCKLEY: And, average Americans continue to pass by the casket of President Ronald Reagan at a rate, we are told, of some 2,000 to 3,000 people per hour. By the time the viewing period is over at 10:00 p.m. local time, Anderson, we're told that the number will be more than 100,000 people that have passed by the president's casket.
We were also told this evening by President Reagan's office that Nancy Reagan has been moved by what she's seen. In a statement released by that office attributed to Nancy Reagan, she says: "It is unbelievable what I am seeing on TV" -- Anderson.
COOPER: And, Frank, we see another bus just arriving right behind you with even more people still coming to view the casket. Frank Buckley thanks.
A quick news note on efforts to memorialize Reagan, two Republican lawmakers have proposed separately putting Reagan's face on either the $20 bill or $10 bill at the appropriate time. Some Democrats are against the idea. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle says a more fitting tribute would be to boost spending for Alzheimer's research.
That leads us to today's "Buzz." What do you think, should Ronald Reagan's image replace Alexander Hamilton's on the $10 bill? Log onto cnn.com/360, cast your vote, results at the end of the program tonight.
An alleged serial rapist arrested in Ohio tops our look at what's happening "Cross Country." Let's take a look.
Columbus, Robert Patton, Jr. charged with rape after DNA evidence linked him to a dozen assaults in the city over the past 13 years. Patton had his DNA taken when he was jailed in 2001 but it wasn't even tested for more than two years. Officials say they simply didn't have enough money.
Granby, Colorado, bulldozer damage, residents say it will cost millions to rebuild the town after a man used an armed bulldozer to damage more than a dozen buildings. You see it right there. Marvin Heemeyer shot himself in the head after going on the rampage on Friday. He had fought with town officials over zoning rules and code violations at his muffler business.
In Boston, construction delay, construction for the Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center in late July was supposed to start today but members of city unions set up picket lines instead. Unions are protesting stalled contract talks with the city.
That's a quick look at what's happening "Cross Country" right now.
360 next, John Ashcroft grilled on Capitol Hill, did the Justice Department green light the use of torture? Find out why Senators are pressing him for an answer.
Also tonight, sunshine, cancer and a promising new therapy, a health report you will not want to miss.
Also a family feud at the Scott Peterson trial. Laci's family takes the stand. Hear what they have to say about their former son- in-law. It's not good, all that ahead.
First, your picks, the most popular stories on cnn.com right now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The shocking excesses that now go by the collective name Abu Ghraib came as a terrible surprise to many high level administration officials, or so they've said. That claim grew a little complicated though with the discovery of a memo that shows the Justice Department was looking into the laws regulating torture back in August of 2002, looking into them not to abide by but to circumvent them. It made for an interesting afternoon for John Ashcroft at the Senate Judiciary Committee.
CNN's Justice Correspondent Kelli Arena reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Senators demanded to know if the Justice Department told the president it was legally OK to torture al Qaeda terrorists and whether the president, based on that advice, issued an order on interrogations that led to the abuse at Abu Ghraib Prison. SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We know when we have these kinds of orders what happens. We get the stress test. We get the use of dogs. We get the forced nakedness that we've all seen.
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: First of all, let me completely reject the notion that anything that this president has done or the Justice Department has done has directly resulted in the kinds of atrocities which were cited. That is false.
ARENA: Justice Department lawyers did contribute to a March, 2003 report obtained by CNN which suggests interrogators have broad latitude to use pressure when questioning detainees. But Ashcroft refused repeated Democratic demands to turn over memos or to tell Senators what legal advice he gave the president and the sparring got personal.
SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: There's a reason why we sign these treaties to protect my son in the military. That's why we have these treaties so when Americans are captured they are not tortured. That's the reason in case anybody forgets it. That's the reason.
ASHCROFT: Well, as a person whose son is in the military now on active duty and has been in the Gulf within the last several months, I am aware of those considerations and I care about your son.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: Throughout the attorney general insisted the president did not issue any order that would violate U.S. laws and he says his department will prosecute anyone who broke the law -- Anderson.
COOPER: Kelli Arena thanks from Washington tonight.
Two deadly car bomb attacks in Iraq, that tops our look at global stories right now in the "Up Link."
A car bomb outside the entrance to a U.S. base in Baquba killed an American soldier, wounded ten others. An Iraqi civilian was also killed.
And in Mosul, a taxi exploded near city hall killing nine Iraqi civilians, wounding at least 25.
In Baghdad, hostages released, a coalition military operation has freed three Italians and a Pole who were taken hostage in Iraq. U.S. officials say they are in good health. Some people believed to be involved in the kidnapping have been detained.
Saudi Arabia now, an American killed, an employee of an American contractor, military contractor, was shot to death in Riyadh today, the second fatal attack on westerners in just three days. In poll results released today, meanwhile, almost half of all Saudis said they have a favorable view of Osama bin Laden's sermons and rhetoric.
Italy and Belgium, bomb arrest, police in those two countries arrest at least eight suspects in the Madrid train bombings, including an Egyptian who allegedly has been preparing more attacks.
Worldwide look up, Venus passes between the Earth and Sun for the first time since 1882. Here are some people in South Africa enjoying the view. People in Africa, Europe, Middle East will see the entire transit when the Sun, Venus and Earth line up precisely. The northeastern U.S. and Canada have seen only the tail end of the rare celestial event.
That is a quick look at what's going on around the world in the "Up Link."
Ever since early man realized the universe was bigger than himself people worshipped the sun as a powerful life-giving force. These days, of course, people worship the sun for other more, well, cosmetic reasons and in that way the sun can easily be a life taker.
Skin cancer, the most common form of cancer, kills about 9,000 of us each year in this country and about 55,000 new cases are diagnosed. That is why researchers are working frantically to find new treatments that might save lives. Tonight there is new hope.
CNN Medical Correspondent, Holly Firfer reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLLY FIRFER, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brett Smith was told he had less than a year to live. With tumors in his liver, lungs and adrenal glands, melanoma was ravaging his body until he met Dr. Keith Flaherty who entered him into an experimental trial for a new melanoma therapy using a drug called Bay 439006.
DR. KEITH FLAHERTY, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: It's a drug that blocks the function of an enzyme and, in this case, it's an enzyme that we know is abnormal or mutated in the majority of cases of melanoma.
FIRFER: By blocking that enzyme it prevents melanoma from growing and spreading. Early study results show that the drug in conjunction with traditional chemotherapy shrinks tumors and keeps them from recurring.
BRETT SMITH, MELANOMA PATIENT: Now I can live a normal life just by taking a pill in the morning and a pill at night.
FIRFER: Although this experimental therapy is showing promising results, Dr. Flaherty warns it's not a cure for cancer. It's a way to treat melanoma as a chronic disease. That's why the medical community is looking at other trials.
Dr. Frank Kaluska is working on an individualized vaccine using cells from a melanoma patient's own tumors and adding a gene which stimulates the body's immune system. Those treated cells are reinserted into the tumor with the hope that the recipient's own immune system gets a boost to destroy the cancer.
DR. FRANK KALUSKA, MASS. GENERAL HOSPITAL: And what we hope is that the vaccine makes them immune to melanoma so that the melanoma doesn't come back.
FIRFER: Dr. Kaluska adds it's important because right now there are no proven treatments to help melanoma patients like there are for some other cancers. He says patients like Donald Anderson would not be alive today if not for this experimental vaccine.
DONALD ANDERSON, MELANOMA PATIENT: Until he tells me that there are no other alternatives then I will keep fighting and keep fighting and keep fighting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Coming up on 360, one says she's a princess, the other claims to be the leader of a lost Native American tribe, just ahead con artists and the stories they tell to get fame, fortune and money. That's next.
Also tonight, stem cell controversy, President Bush versus a former first lady, that tonight raw politics.
And say it ain't so Jennifer Lopez ties the knot again. Her new husband plays coy. The wedding pictures and a puzzlement ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody should have one talent. What's yours?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forging signatures, telling lies, impersonating practically anybody.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's three. Nobody should have more than one talent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, the talents say Mr. Ripley isn't the only expert at deception. Consider Steven Spielberg's 16-year-old nephew Jonathan. He was proud of his uncle's fame and fortune and it showed. From the Spielberg vanity plate on his BMW to the name dropping, Jonathan made sure everyone knew he was part of the family but there's just one catch. He wasn't.
The truth is Spielberg doesn't have a nephew named Jonathan. What he did have was a con artist, a 27-year-old man allegedly trying to pull off a scam that we are noticing more and more these days.
CNN's Jason Carroll reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I practiced law for one year then I decided why not try my hand at pediatrics. JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These imposters were so bad they made good in Hollywood in films like "Catch me if you can" and "Six Degrees of Separation." Maybe one of these new characters will be next.
Take Antoinette Millard claimed to be a princess running the party circuit, posing with a tiara and with a Hearst family heir but one photographer became suspicious when the princess asked an un- royal-like question.
ANDREW WALKER, FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER: She had had some drinks and she was being a little flirtatious and asked me if I would take -- if I was interested in taking photographs of her in lingerie.
CARROLL: Millard is really a 40-year-old divorcee and former bank assistant vice president. She's charged with insurance fraud for filing false jewelry claims. She has not entered a plea. Calls to her apartment and her attorney were not returned.
Benjamin Maybanks (ph) is no blue blood either but prosecutors say he duped women out of cash after convincing them he was Kuwaiti royalty. He lived in this Queens apartment saying he was a sultan in hiding. Maybanks pleaded not guilty to fraud charges. His attorney isn't talking but Ronald Roberts' lawyer is.
He says Roberts, seen here posing with Donald Trump, really is part Native American. Prosecutors say he's faking it to open a casino. Roberts pleaded guilty to perjury charges.
DAVID MONTOYA, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR: We're going to take those matters seriously and we're going to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.
CARROLL: Hollywood might have its eye on them but law enforcement does.
Jason Carroll, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: I want to talk more about the art of the con. From Kansas City we're joined by Stan B. Walters, a behavioral analyst, interrogation specialist and expert on spotting deception.
He's written the textbook used for interviewing and interrogation by several police academies. He's taught private, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in over 45 states. He's also known as "the lie guy. Stan thanks for being with us tonight.
What do a lot of these con artists have in common? Do they have certain personality traits that sort of lead them into this that make them successful?
STAN B. WALTERS, "THE LIE GUY": Well, typically these con artists are very charismatic in the first place. There's three things necessary for them to be able to pull off their con. You got the desire and the decision to do it and they have to see that their mark, that the target they have, the ultimate goal of their con is greater than the risk that they're taking to achieve it and they're willing to sacrifice that.
COOPER: And who is at fault for these cons? I mean in the case of this guy pretending to be -- this person pretending to be a sultan, one of the victims went to this person's apartment and they weren't living regally. They were living in Queens. The furniture was IKEA. You would think it would be pretty clear to realize, you know, this person isn't a sultan.
WALTERS: That's one of the gifts that the con man is the term con being able to gain the confidence of the victim. The see the opportunity, the victim either vulnerable for attention getting, the victim themselves has some greed.
The victim sees the attention received from the con artist as someone they perceive them to be and that con artist has that great ability to see their target, be intuitive enough to know what they need to see and hear and feed that to them and then not have any feelings about the pain and the suffering or the loss they're going to cause their victim.
COOPER: Obviously, it's often about money. How do you spot a con? I mean how do you -- what should people look out for?
WALTERS: Well, there's no real marker on a con. They don't wear little signs or have little snap bill cap and a black mask that you can tell they're coming. The best experts in the world have been conned by some of the best con artists and the confidence men.
The key is that we recognize that we can be used and we tend to be trusting individuals. If the deal or the offer appears too good to be true, you're getting too much attention, ask questions and don't be conned by your perceptions of who the person is or what you think you'll get out of it. Be suspicious.
COOPER: If it seems too good to be true it probably is.
WALTERS: It probably is.
COOPER: Stan B. Walters thank you very much.
WALTERS: Thank you.
COOPER: 360 next, the Scott Peterson trial and a Christmas Eve fishing trip you haven't heard about. We have the details on that.
First tonight's "Reset."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The Peterson Trial just ahead, but first lets check some of our top stories in tonight's "Reset." As the U.N. unanimous approval, the Security Council has endorsed a U.S.-backed resolution on Iraq's interim government which assumes powers in just 22 days. The resolution also gives authorization for a U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq. The vote gives momentum to President Bush who is hosting the G-8 Summit right now, where Iraq is certainly front and center on the agenda. Throughout the day heads of states arrived one after another for the summit which is being held on a private resort island in Georgia.
In Washington, the FDA has approved the first blood test that can diagnose an anthrax infection in less than an hour. Unlike other test that take up to four hours.
Also in D.C., wasted plane tickets, wasted money. Congressional investigators say the Defense Department spent an estimated, get this, $100 million for airline tickets that were never used over a six-year period, and they failed to get refunds.
And nationwide drivers should see slightly lower prices at the pump later this summer, that according to the Energy Department which estimates a price of a gallon a gas will average 1.89 when more oil exports from OPEC arrive in U.S. ports.
Well, on one of the first dates Scott Peterson and Laci went on a fishing trip. This morning at his murder trial another fishing trip was mentioned, the one that Peterson says he took on the day Laci disappeared. Laci's stepfather testified today that he didn't believe the story, but it turns out, he, too, had gone fishing that same day. And in "Justice Served" tonight he's not the only witness to believe the defendant may be hiding something.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHARON ROCHA, LACI PETERSON'S MOTHER: We feel Scott has nothing to do with this, with the disappearance of Laci.
COOPER, (voice-over): Sharon Rocha said she once thought the world of her son-in-law Scott Peterson allowing him to call her mom. But seconds after she hung up the phone with him on Christmas Eve 2002, she testified she was suspicious. Scott Peterson described Laci as missing, though she had been gone for less than an hour. In the days that followed, Rocha's testimony portrayed a distant, distracted Peterson.
(on camera): And what little information he did share was shocking. A warning that the authorities had a picture of him with another woman, that it was a fake. She quoted him as saying, they had done a really good job because the guy really did look like him. Today, Ron Grantski, Laci Peterson's stepfather told the jury, he was suspicious from the beginning. Asking him directly if he had a girlfriend. He said Peterson told him, no, before turning and walking away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, covering the case for us tonight, CNN senior legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin and Court TV anchor, Lisa Bloom.
Thanks for being with us. Together, the dynamic duo. Together again for the first time.
Lisa, let's start off with you. Laci Peterson's stepfather testifying that he never believed this whole fishing story, but then it's revealed that he actually did go fishing on Christmas Eve, just like Scott Peterson said he did.
How important is this for the defense?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV ANCHOR: I think not important. I think Geragos is missing the point entirely. Grantski, did not have an 8- month pregnant wife at home. He didn't lie and tell people he was golfing, when in fact he was fishing. And he didn't go 90 miles north to Berkeley to fish when he lived in Modesto. And that's the key point.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: That's not entirely fair. The fact is, the prosecutors and others have made a big deal. Isn't it insane someone would go fishing on...
COOPER: He himself said that.
TOOBIN: on -- right. On December 24th this guy went fishing. You know, the prosecution doesn't have an abundant evidence. This is just one little piece of evidence that they have that turns out not to be such a big deal.
BLOOM: I disagree. I think it's such an important piece of evidence.
Why is Scott Peterson fishing where the body washed up four months later?
TOOBIN: Well, that's true.
COOPER: He also did testify two weeks prior to all this he was having dinner with Scott Peterson and this guy is an avid fisherman, Peterson didn't make any mention of the fact he had bought a new boat.
Anything there?
TOOBIN: Well, the prosecution theory is that this boat was bought essentially as an instrument of murder, that he kept it a secret. That no one knew about it. That this boat was a big surprise. Again, you know, it depends on how the jury views the whole case. It is possible to view that as very innocent. You didn't want to tell your wife's stepfather that you had a boat. So what? But...
BLOOM: Well, because if they are both avid fisherman it's the kind of thing he would mention in casual conversation. And Grantski testified today that, Scott Peterson, left his fishing pole -- a very nice fishing pole, at Grantski's home and it wasn't used. So were just building a case bit by bit. (CROSSTALK)
COOPER: This all circumstantial. Yes, building a case but all circumstantial thus far.
BLOOM: Absolutely, but you know, it's like a prologue to a book. It sets the stage. It gets the juries curiosity going.
What about all these suspicious circumstances?
It's not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, but it pique's our interest.
COOPER: And jurors really pay attention to that. I mean, the notion that their interests will be piqued and that the character of the -- Scott Peterson is really on trial?
BLOOM: Well, I think so. I mea, look, the guy is a dog. We know from Mark Geragos. Mark Geragos used the word cad.
TOOBIN: That's a legal term that's Lisa using.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I really don't understand.
BLOOM: Who uses the term boorish in 2004. Lets call him what he is. The best he could get on cross examination from Laci Peterson's mother, is that she didn't know that Scott Peterson had an affair with somebody before Amber Frey. I mean, that's the best the defense has to offer, that the guy was cheating around a lot?
TOOBIN: Well, The fact is, if she knew about it, and this is another thing that Laci's mother said on the witness stand. That she knew, that Laci knew, that Scott had a previous affair.
COOPER: Before Amber Frey.
TOOBIN: So the idea -- before Amber Frey. So, the idea that this was the affair of his life and he had to kill his wife to get away from her, it takes away from that a little bit.
BLOOM: I think an affair is a little different when your wife is eight months pregnant. The idea he told Laci and she was fine with the affair, I don't think that passes the lab test.
COOPER: Amber Frey's father has been subpoenaed to testify. Said he doesn't want to, because he doesn't want to be restricted by the gag order, but tough cookies, right?
TOOBIN: This guy, you know -- Scott Peterson is on trial for his life. This is a death penalty case. It's not about whether it's convenient for to you testify or whether you have other issues you would like to resolve in your life. You testify. You show up.
BLOOM: Well, Ron Frey wants to talk. He doesn't want to be subjected to the gag order. He says it's not because of...
COOPER: He wants to talk but not on the stand though...
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: There's nothing wrong with people who like talking to the media, OK, let's not get a little too close to home. He wants to talk. He's got things he wants to say. He thinks the subpoena does not apply to him. That's the argument he's going to make.
(CROSSTALK)
BLOOM: My show every day. He wants to talk, let him come and talk. We'll talk to him. Wouldn't you want to talk to him, Anderson? Come on.
COOPER: Not really. Lisa Bloom, thanks very much.
TOOBIN: Mark me down for not really.
COOPER: Jeff Toobin, thanks very much. Good to talk to you both.
Well, as President Bush remembers Ronald Reagan, he is also reminding America of his admiration of the Republican icon and of course, Reagan's wife Nancy, as well. But there's one sticky subject where the president and the wife of the former president part company, stem cell research. It is an (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to many conservatives, but to a woman who just lost her beloved husband to Alzheimer, it is a topic that transcends "Raw Politics."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The issue of research involving stem cells derived from human embryos...
COOPER: In August 2001, President Bush issued his decree sharply limiting the federal funding of research on embryonic stem cell. Government funding would only be provided for use on some 60 already existing stem cell lines.
BUSH: This allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research, without crossing a fundamental moral line.
BUSH: The president's decision brought boat loads of criticism, from scientist, who said new lines were desperately needed to prominent Americans suffering from spinal cord injury or Parkinson's Disease, which like, Alzheimer, could benefit from the research. Opposition to the president's policy, also came from someone who could have political impact, Nancy Reagan, who watched her husband's mind and eventually his life slip away, ravaged by Alzheimer. She spoke out just a month ago.
NANCY REAGAN, WIFE OF RONALD REAGAN: Now science has presented us with a hope called stem cell research, which may provide our scientists with many answers they have been for so long been beyond our grasp. I just don't see how we can turn our backs on this.
COOPER: Taking flack from this former first lady could prove a political liability to a president in a close reelection race. Fifty- eight senators and 206 House members, touched in part by the Reagan's ordeal, wrote to the president asking him to expand the number of stem cell lines available. If Nancy Reagan continues her crusade for embryonic stem cell research this emotional issue could become a study in "Raw Politics."
Well, 360 next, a health epidemic and presidential silence. Rock Hudson, Ryan White and thousands dead, did Ronald Reagan wait too long to talk about AIDS?
We'll take a closer look.
And a little later in the "Current," David Hasselhoff arrested? Busted? Say it ain't so.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Ronald Reagan was famous for facing the enemy unblinkingly, at least, the political enemy but some enemies are not so big as the Soviet Union and it's one, a microscopic one, where some say the former president blinked. This is a medical story and so it is reported tonight by CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six months after Ronald Reagan became president, the Centers For Disease Control released an alarming report. Five healthy young homosexual men had (UNINTELLIGIBLE), that's an uncommon pneumonia. Only months later the cause of their pneumonia would be given a name. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Throughout the rest of his presidency many would accuse President Reagan of ignoring AIDS.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT NIH: The reality is that harsh judgment is probably a bit unfair.
GUPTA: The first time President Reagan would utter the word AIDS in public would be well into his second term, six years after the virus was discovered.
RONALD REAGAN, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's no reason for those who carry the AIDS virus to wear a scarlet "A".
GUPTA: Peter Staley believes the administration avoided AIDS all those years because of homophobia.
PETER STALEY, AIDS ACTIVIST: He didn't talk about it and he ignored what was happening around me until 25,000 of us had died.
DR. LOUIS SULLIVAN, HHS SECRETARY UNDER FMR. PRES. BUSH: I'm not sure if anyone as president really would have responded more quickly simply because we didn't have the knowledge base then. GUPTA: The tide turned slightly in 1986. Reagan enlisted Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to draft a report about the AIDS epidemic. Among Koop's recommendations, condom distribution and sex education in schools.
DR. C. EVERETT KOOP, FMR. U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: The cost of this disease to our society are already high and they are going to get astronomical.
GUPTA: The cost for AIDS would become astronomical in human life and the sheer cost of treating the disease. In 1990 Reagan wrote to the "Washington Post" about how he and Nancy wished there had been a magic wand they could wave at AIDS to make it all go away, a sentiment many share today. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: There is still, of course, much anger in many communities. Joining me from Savannah, Georgia, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Fauci, thanks for being with us tonight. The "San Francisco Chronicle" said that Ronald Reagan was guilty, and I quote, of a "shameful abdication of leadership in the fight against AIDS." If he had been more vocal and compassionate early on would it have made a difference?
FAUCI: It may have made a difference with regard to the appreciation by the general public of the potential seriousness of this. He certainly has been criticized because of the fact that he was not publicly advocating prevention measures and making people aware. I think that the criticism of that silence, as you mentioned just now on the show, is in many respects justifiable. What I think he gets is much more harsh criticism which really does not take into account some of the things that went on behind the scenes such as the things that led up to the surgeon general's report and the fact that he allowed people like myself and Surgeon General C. Everett Koop to speak out very vocally about the issues. He didn't do it himself personally and like I said, that's a valid criticism.
But there were other things. For example, with the budget, when I first became the director of the Infectious Disease Institute, I put forth a budget that was 100 percent higher than it was the year before, from 66 million at the time which seems small now to well over 120 and it actually...
COOPER: What year was that?
(CROSSTALK)
FAUCI: The first year, that was '85. The budget...
COOPER: Because C. Everett Koop came later on in the administration. The criticism is that earlier on in 1981 or '82, they had been more vocal they might have made a difference. I think part of the anger, too, is that Reagan's communication director Pat Buchanan was quoted as saying in print that AIDS is the wrath of God upon homosexuals. Behind the scenes, why do you think it was that Reagan wasn't more vocal early on?
FAUCI: Those kinds of comments about the gay community are unacceptable certainly to us in the public health community and that was never acceptable then and it's not acceptable now. As I mentioned, there's a justifiable concern and criticism about not coming out vocally as a visible vocal leader. But the thing that we need to understand and the point I was trying to make is that those who are his sharpest critics particularly in the activist community say then that was completely all bad throughout the entire time.
That's a bit unfair to late President Reagan. I do agree that if -- I believe if he had to do it over again now and look back on what he may have done, I'm sure, from what I know about him and I met him and discussed HIV-AIDS with him, even before he came out publicly with regard to AIDS on more than one occasion, I'm absolutely certain that he would say, you know, if I had to do it over again, I would have come out more vocally. He didn't do it and I think that this criticism of him in that regard are justified.
COOPER: Dr. Anthony Fauci, thank you for being with us.
360 next, whoever heard of silent nights in New York City? The hustle and bustle come with some noise but maybe not for long. We'll take that to the Nth Degree.
Also it seems like only yesterday we were getting all teary-eyed over the break-up of Ben and J.Lo. I actually wasn't all that teary- eyed but I guess some people were. Say hello to Mrs. Marc Anthony now. We'll find out what J.Lo's new husband had to say for himself today when we come back. Zsa Zsa Gabor , are you listening?
Also tonight. All ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: "Don't leave me, don't leave me," that's what they are saying. Jennifer Lopez, forever the bride. Her first marriage lasts a little more than a year. Her second for nine months. They say the third time's a charm. But what does it mean when the groom won't even admit to being married. This is the fairy tale so far of J.Lo and Marc Anthony. Jeanne Moos reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's nothing low about J.Lo. when it comes to counting husbands. No. 1 was a waiter. No. 2 was a choreographer, No. 3 is none other than Marc Anthony.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She likes being married.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She seems to have a propensity for changing husbands.
MOOS: J.Lo. and Marc Anthony once sung a duet called "Don't Love Me." He was dying and already British bookmakers are predicting the death of their marriage, giving odds of three to one that they will be over before the year is.
WARREN LUSH, SPOKESMAN, LADBROKES: Quite pessimistic about the chances. We think that J.Lo. in many ways could be the new Liz Taylor.
MOOS: Liz Taylor with her eight marriages. Two of them to Richard Burton who actually played Mark Anthony in "Cleopatra." The Roman Mark Anthony knelt, the singer Marc Anthony stayed on his feet, promoting his new CD but when asked about his marriage on "The View"...
MARC ANTHONY, SINGER: I have nothing to say about anything. My life is my life.
MOOS: Matt Lauer noticed his ring on "The Today Show." If it hadn't been from "US Weekly's" shot from a helicopter we'd have no proof the wedding happened. The magazine says Ben Affleck, who himself came close to being husband No. 3, gave two thumbs up when told of the marriage. Now there are reports that J.Lo. is already pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll find out in about nine months, won't we?
MOOS: On Regis and Kelly.
CARROT TOP, COMEDIAN: This way she can keep changing the name...
MOOS: Comedian Carrot Top displayed a wedding photo of J.Lo. that was a low blow deserving of a blow over Marc Anthony. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: We wish them the best. Time to check in some pop news in tonight's "Current."
Madonna's third book for children will be out on June 21. It's called the "Yakov and the Seven Thieves." Madonna says the story is about how miracles can happen to anybody as long they take up the Kabbalah, hire a personal trainer and move to London.
David Hasselhoff is in trouble with the law. He was arrested Saturday for allegedly drunk driving. After spending the night in jail, the "Knight Ryder" actor was released. Same can't be said for Kitt (ph) who remains in custody after cops found (UNINTELLIGIBLE) schnapps in his gas tank.
Cameron Diaz may be getting in the reality show business. She is set to star in an MTV series called "Tripping." The program would have Cameron and her pals traveling to exotic destinations celebrities don't usually go to. First destination, the supermarket, second, a PTA meeting.
And Bravo is launching a reality show that looks for America's most gorgeous male model. The search is on now for contestants. Everyone seems to be trying out including some of our own 360 crew members who love nothing more than strutting their stuff down the catwalk.
That's what they do in their off hours. The real reason New York never sleeps. All that noise. But there is an effort to hush the city. We take that to the Nth Degree coming up. No more catwalks, we promise.
Plus tomorrow a special edition of 360 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern time. 8:00 Pacific. Remembering Ronald Reagan, a look at his state funeral, live from Washington. That leads us to today's buzz. "Should Ronald Reagan's image replace Alexander Hamilton's on the $10 bill?" What do you think? Log on to CNN.com/360. We'll have results when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Time now for the buzz. Earlier we asked you should Ronald Reagan's image replace Alexander Hamilton's on the $10 bill? More than 172,000 of you have voted. 31 percent of you said yes, 69 percent of you said no. Not a scientific poll but it is your buzz. Thanks for voting.
Tonight taking conversion to the Nth Degree. You know that saying about a leopard and its spots? Well, it isn't true. Thanks to its mayor, New York, that cigar-chomping, pipe-chewing, chain-smoking, hard-core, hardnose, head case of a city is now indoors, at least, as sweet-smelling as Bendel's perfume department. So now Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going after another ingredient you'd think was a big-city inevitable, noise.
Having taken the bus out of New York's big mouth he now plans to shush that mouth. He's mounting an initiative to turn down the volume among the wild hubub that is the Big Apple. Jack Hammers ice cream trucks, air breaks, dog barks, sirens, bleeding, blasting, blaring, yodeling, yelping, yelling, bull horns and bull of many other kinds. Don't believe it can be done. Well, many didn't believe New York could put out its cigarettes, either. So get ready for a new slogan. "New York, the city that never sleeps but could if it wanted to and quite peacefully, too." Thank you very much indeed.
I'm Anderson Cooper. Thanks for watching 360. "PAULA ZAHN NOW" is next.
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