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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
State Regulations Taking Action Against Tour Boat Company; DeLay Indicted Again; Bush Nominates Miers; Indonesian Police Try to Determine Identities of Suicide Bombers
Aired October 03, 2005 - 23:00 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. Welcome to the top of NEWSNIGHT. I'm Anderson Cooper. Aaron Brown has the night off.
We have several developing stories to bring to you over the next hour.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): In Upstate New York, state regulators are taking action against the company that ran the boat that capsized on Lake George yesterday, killing 20 people. We'll tell you all about that in a moment.
Plus, in Indonesia, police are still trying to figure out who the three suicide bombers were who struck this past weekend in Bali. They've released gruesome photos of three heads that were blown off of the bombing suspects.
And tonight, it has been 10 years since O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder. We look back and show you what O.J. is doing now -- well, you may not believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: First, we begin with developing news. On the tour boat that capsized yesterday in Lake George, New York, killing 20 people. Tonight we've learned that state officials have shut down the company that runs the tour after investigators determined that the boat did not have the required number of crew members aboard. They were supposed to have two; there was only one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): This afternoon, divers raised a 44-foot tour vessel, called the Ethan Allen. Investigators are examining the boat, trying to figure out what exactly caused the tragedy in what started off as a peaceful day.
It was a picture-perfect Sunday on Lake George in New York. The weather warm, the waters still. Many boats were on the lake, including the Ethan Allen, a 40-foot glass enclosed tour boat, carrying the captain and 47 senior citizens from the Detroit area. The scenic cruise was supposed to be fun and relaxing, but that all came to a horrific end at just before 3 p.m.
ANDREA SAUSE, WITNESS: I've lived here my whole life, and this is the worst thing that's ever happened.
COOPER: Authorities suspect a wake created from a larger boat caused the Ethan Allen to rock violently side to side. The captain says he tried to steer the boat, but could not control it; and within seconds, the Ethan Allen turned upside down and capsized, sending its frail passengers into the water.
A rescuer describes the scene;
FRANK SAUSE, BOAT RESCUER: One guy who as I was taking him off, he was very shook up and he said I think that was my wife -- they just took my wife. They put her over there.
FRANK SAUSE (voice-over): She's dead. I know she's dead. And I said, you know don't jump to conclusions.
COOPER: The death toll was staggering; and according to the New York State Police, unprecedented. Of the 48 people aboard the Ethan Allen, 20 perished. Some of the victims were in wheelchairs, others used walkers. Authorities say not one of them was believed to be wearing a life vest, which under New York state law, is not required.
This afternoon police divers and recovery crews resumed the grim task of salvaging the Ethan Allen from the bottom of the lake to help them find out exactly what went so terribly wrong and why. Something we all want to know, especially this woman. Her parents were on the boat. Her mother survived; her father did not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): They liked to travel. They were both really very active, which is why I -- I just don't understand. My dad was a wonderful swimmer and I don't know what happened yet with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It seems no one exactly knows what happened. Many more people probably would have died in the lake -- we know that. If it weren't for the heroic efforts of others. Alina Cho joins me from Lake George with a story of those who fortunately were at the right place at the right time. Alina, good evening.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, good evening to you, and we will get to that story in just a moment. But first, we want to go straight away to some video that we shot earlier this evening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHO (voice-over): It is of the vessel in question, the Ethan Allen. It was towed to shore late this evening. You may recall that divers raised the boat to the surface late this afternoon and spent much of the evening pumping water out of it. We are told that the boat will be put onto a trailer and then taken to a nearby facility for inspection.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Now earlier today, we spent some time with a family who was on Lake George when the accident happened and who came to the rescue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHO (voice-over): It is 9 o'clock in the morning, and the Rahal family is on a mission. Mounir and Joanne are skipping work. Their 13-year old daughter Allie is skipping school. It is that important.
JOANNE RAHAL, RESCUER (on camera): Because these people could have been my mother, they could have been my father, my brother, my sister.
CHO: The Rahals are spending the day visiting survivors of Sunday's tour boat accident, giving hope to the people who right now, need it the most.
MOUNIR RAHAL, RESCUER (on camera): You don't have to be related to people to love them.
CHO: The family is familiar to many of those who were on the boat.
CHO (on camera): The Rahals were on Lake George, themselves, on their own boat, enjoying their Sunday afternoon, on a day much like today, when all of a sudden, Joanne saw a plume of smoke.
JOANNE RAHAL: So, I said, Mounir, go over. Go see what's going on. And as soon as we got over there, the boat had already tipped over and there was, you know, quite a few people just holding on for their lives.
CHO (voice-over): The Rahals immediately began throwing everything that floated out to sea. Mounir even used a long metal pole to pull people to safety. All the while, he kept hearing this:
MOUNIR RAHAL: Help, please, help.
CHO: 13-year old Allie played a big role too. Putting to use the CPR she learned in school. The teacher said, when you get there and you're in the moment --
ALLIE RAHAL, RESCUER (on camera): You just know what to do. It just comes to you.
CHO: In all, the Rahals pulled eight people to safety; 20 others weren't as lucky. Mounir spent 30 minutes washing the blood off his boat. The memory of what happened is not so easily erased. And yet the Rahals say they wish they could have done more.
MOUNIR RAHAL: Helping other human -- I think that's the best things you could do for your own kind. It's the best thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: The Rahals say they plan to stay in close touch with the people they rescued. There are actually five kids in the family, Anderson. Seven people in all and with the eight people they rescued, the Rahals say their family has now grown to 15. Anderson?
COOPER: Where does the investigation stand at this point?
CHO: Very good question, Anderson. The NTSB arrived on the scene today. They say they will look at every screw on this boat. Of course, now it has been moved to this nearby facility for inspection. They say they'll look at every screw because, of course, all indications are right now from witnesses and the sheriff even, that it got caught up in the wake of a larger vessel, possibly a larger tour boat. But NTSB officials, other law enforcement say this investigation will be thorough and will take exactly as long as it has to. Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Alina, thanks very much for that. I will continue to follow that story, obviously.
Another developing story in Washington tonight, Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay finds himself in deeper trouble with the law. A Texas grand jury has brought a new charge against him of money laundering this time. It's punishable by five years to life in prison. The charge, which DeLay calls a quote, "abomination of justice," follows a conspiracy indictment last week, which forced him to give up his leadership position.
CNN Congressional Correspondent Joe Johns has more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE JONES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Travis County Prosecutor Ronnie Earl piled on a new charge against Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay, money laundering, a first-degree felony, on top of a prior charge of criminal conspiracy. This new and more serious charge comes after some fast-paced legal maneuvering in Austin, Texas.
Late Monday, attorneys for DeLay asked a judge to throw out the conspiracy charge because conspiracy in this context was not yet a crime in 2002, when the alleged wrongdoing occurred. The judge has not yet responded.
DeLay tried to laugh it off, speaking with a Texas radio station.
TOM DELAY, FORMER MAJORITY LEADER (voice-over): So this crime didn't even exist. And, and -- I'm sorry for laughing -- this is beyond -- it's just unbelievable. I mean he's making the case so the cops look good.
JONES: Delay's lawyers say Earl got the new money laundering indictment out of desperation.
UNIDENTIFIED MAIL (on camera): If this doesn't prove that the motivation behind this indictment is political, then I don't know what it is.
JONES: The indictments relate to a plan by Texas republicans to first take over the State House in 2002. Earl says DeLay and his associates used corporate money; $190,000 funneled through Washington, to win the Texas legislature in violation of Texas law.
Back in April, when I went to meet him, Earl explained his reasoning.
RONNIE EARL, TRAVIS COUNTY PROSECUTOR (on camera): I call it money laundering.
JONES: Why?
EARL: Well, taking the proceeds of a criminal transaction and using it for other purposes.
JONES: Delay's attorneys insist there was no money laundering because all of the financial transactions that took place were perfectly legal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (on camera): The law was followed. No law's been broken.
JONES (on camera): A source close to the investigation in Austin, speaking on background, tells CNN that the district attorney's office is not conceding any mistake was made in the original indictment.
And that while Ronnie Earl's office expects to argue the issue out in court, a decision was made to re-indict DeLay, just in case.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Earlier tonight I spoke with Dick Deguerin, the attorney for Congressman DeLay. Here's what he had to say about the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): Were you surprised when this indictment came down?
DICK DEGUERIN, ATTORNEY (on camera): No, I'd say this -- this indictment, although it has about eight times as many words, has no more substance than the other one. What's really important to remember, Anderson, is that no corporate money went to any individual candidate in Texas. That -- that's the only crime that there could have been.
COOPER (on camera): But corporate money was funneled to outside groups, which then sent money back into Texas for Texas candidates.
DEGUERIN: What happened was the corporate money, which was donated lawfully, was sent to the Republican National Committee, which sent it to places that it could be sent. And then another committee of the Republicans sent money that was collected from individuals to individuals in Texas. All legal. There was no mixture of the two monies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, we are following several other stories, tonight Cross-Country, let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): President Bush has nominated Harriet Miers to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. Miers is the White House counsel now and a confidante of the president. She's never served as a judge. The president once called her a pit bull in size six shoes. We'll have more on her nomination, coming up.
Near Los Angeles, not what firefighters want to hear; the National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for strong winds. We're talking about winds up to 50 miles an hour. Now firefighters are scrambling to put out several wildfires still blazing in the area.
And near the Florida Keys, on the seven-mile bridge, a fatal tanker crash. Police say a truck carrying gasoline, of all things, burst into flames -- you see it right there -- after the driver lost control, crashed into an SUV. The drivers of the truck and the SUV were killed. The passenger in the SUV is not hospitalized. No word on the extent of her injuries.
In Washington, a new blaring report on the FBI from the Justice Department says, due to the FBI's emphasis on terrorism cases, there has been a 45 percent drop in investigations into traditional crimes like drug trafficking and bank robberies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The inspector general also says the new focus is putting a strain on other agencies and local police. Those are the happenings Cross-Country, tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): Coming up, on this edition of NEWSNIGHT, more on the nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court. Find out why some conservatives are speaking out against the pick.
Plus, seeking answers in the Bali bombings. Police releasing grizzly photos of the suspected bombers. We're not going to show you the photos. We'll have that live report from the Islands. We'll have more on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Oh the feedback has been pouring in since President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as Supreme Court justice. Nothing odd about that, except the direction that the feedback's been coming from.
Here's CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley;
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR HARRY REID (on camera): Hello everyone. I'm happy to be here today with Harriet Miers.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Miers has never been a judge. A resume, which prompted a conservative group to call her possibly the most unqualified choice since Linden Johnson tapped his lawyer. Meanwhile, the Senate's top democrat sang her praises.
REID: So, anyone with that background makes me feel good. Someone who has been in a courtroom, has tried cases, answered interrogatories, done all those things that lawyers need to do.
CROWLEY: In the first week of the nominations, supporters are usually effusive and critics are polite, if not always by Ms. Manner's standards.
SENATOR CHARLES SCHUMER (on camera): And my first reaction is a simple one. It could have been a lot worse.
SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN (on camera): I see no negatives at this stage in Harriet Miers.
CROWLEY: But this time is different. In the yen and yang of Washington politics, if two left-leading democrats are not unhappy, then right-leading republicans must be. Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh took the case to the vice president.
RUSH LIMBAUGH, CONSERVATOR COMMENTATOR (on camera): On your part that there's some disappointment out there, that there's not somebody could be immediately rallied around, and you got people saying that they're depressed and they're, they're thinking that this is a decision that has let them down and they're frankly a little, a little warn out, having to appease the left on all of these choices.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): You'll be proud of Harriet's record, Rush, trust me.
CROWLEY: But conservatives don't want a nomination that requires a leap of faith. Stung by an unexpectedly liberal justice Suiter, another choice with a short paper trail, the right wanted a well- documented judicial conservative. Some republicans believe Miers is a copout by a president without the pose or the stomach for a fight.
"Her selection," wrote Conservative William Kristal, "will unavoidably be judged as reflecting a combination of cronyism and capitulation..." Yikes. When the friendly fire is that loud, what must the president's most reliable critics be saying? Pretty much the same thing.
TOM MATZZIE, MOVEON ORG PAC (on camera): What we know about her is that she's a friend of the president's; and when the president is choosing a friend, that reeks of cronyism.
CROWLEY (on camera): The White House is busy reaching out and reassuring wounded conservatives, while democrats sit back and enjoy the show. The noise was so loud from the right, that the Democratic National Committee decided it could wait a day or two before adding its voice to the mix.
Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It is a bit of a shock, to say the least, to hear conservatives speak out against President Bush's pick to the Supreme Court. Earlier tonight I asked CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin to weigh in on the Harriet Miers nomination. And I started off by asking him if he was surprised by the choice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST (on camera): Shocked. Totally shocked. I mean, you know, it's one thing not to be a judge. That's rare. All nine justices currently on the court, were former judges.
TOOBIN (voice-over): But, okay, put that aside. There are people who --
COOPER (voice-over): There's precedent to that.
TOOBIN: Right. Bill -- William Rehnquist, Felix Frankfurter, Earl Warren -- none of them served as judges before. But they had big public profiles. They stood for something. We knew what their public positions were.
Harriet Miers is invisible. We don't know how she stands on anything, much less the kinds of things that --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Relatively prominent attorney, I guess, in Texas. She was labeled as one of the most influential attorneys.
TOOBIN: Well, I mean she was relatively prominent as a corporate attorney. And corporate attorneys sort of do corporate work, but they don't really hold high profile positions on issues for the --
COOPER: And on constitutional matters.
TOOBIN: Certainly not on constitutional -- so we're picking a church. She attended some pro-life fund raisers apparently. But she also gave money to Al Gore in 1988.
TOOBIN (on camera): So, you know, basically it comes down to President Bush saying trust me.
COOPER (on camera): They are already charging cronyism. Obviously we've seen it with FEMA. But, but (INAUDIBLE) because she was actually head of his -- the selection committee to find other supreme court nominees, just as Dick Cheney was head of the committee to find vice presidential picks.
TOOBIN: I want to be head of a selection committee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOOBIN (voice-over): But no, I think this is a president who goes with his gut, who really does not --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: It seems that the personal matters with this president --
TOOBIN: And you know, sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't.
TOOBIN (on camera): What's odd about that in this context is that by definition, a Supreme Court justice has nothing to do anymore with the president. It's one thing to pick your own staff with people you're comfortable with. But Supreme Court justices, the constitution says they have to be independent. So, you know, whether that personal chemistry will matter in determining whether she's a good Supreme Court justice seems a little more shaky to me.
COOPER: There are thoughts and just from a political standpoint, those who had anticipated a very clear conservative choice, given criticisms of President Bush for spending too much money, spending, you know, huge amounts of money. He -- already in conservative circles, he's under fire. Did it surprise you that he didn't try to shore that up?
TOOBIN: Well, I mean, he's sort of boxed in because, you know, democrats are emboldened too. And a conservative choice might really have drawn a filibuster, which is what the democrats can do. Look, I think, you know, the important thing to remember is there are still 55 republicans in the Senate. A filibuster will be very difficult to maintain among democrats to hold more than 40 of them together. So I think the odds overwhelmingly favor confirmation of Harriet Miers, but as for what kind of justice she really will be, I don't think it's fair to say that anybody has any clear idea at this point.
COOPER: Do you think the president has a clear idea?
TOOBIN: I think he has a reasonable guess, but, you know, mostly, you know, remember when John Roberts looked at Chuck Schumer in those hearings and said, you know, I'm not an ideologue. Look at the opinions I've written. Look at my record. You know, she can't say that. She doesn't have a record.
COOPER: So then anyone can look at -- Chuck Schumer is a democratic liberal senator from New York, who, by the way today said about Miers, it could have been worse.
TOOBIN: It could have been worse. So I think the hearings will be unusually important because it will really be the first clue of any sense of what she stands for. COOPER: CNN Senior Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, the reality of war, plus the O.J. Simpson trial -- a decade later. We'll take a look at what's happened to the people involved in the case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Once again tonight, the Indonesian island of Bali is the center of a terror investigation after a series of coordinated explosions rocked two cafes and a restaurant at a tourist spot Saturday, killing at least 22 people, injuring more than 130. It comes three years after a nightclub attack killed 202 people.
This time around, investigators have dramatic video footage of the suspected bombers shot by tourists. Take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): Police, meanwhile, are taking unusual and very grizzly steps to get information on the suspected bombers. For more on that, we go now to Senior International Correspondent Stan Grant, who is in Bali.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Stan, what are they drawing?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STAN GRANT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, Anderson, it is a very grizzly step indeed.
GRANT (voice-over): They've released photographs of the seven heads of the three men they suspect of being the suicide bombers who carried out these attacks on Saturday night. Now, this comes after the release of that video you just mentioned. Now in the video you can see a man wearing a backpack as he walks through one of the restaurants before detonating explosives. Police believe that that man also was one of the suicide bombers.
GRANT (on camera): Now the investigation is focusing on the group Jama'a Islamia. That is a Southeast Asian terror network that, its aim is to try to create a Pan-Islamic state right across Southeast Asia.
GRANT (voice-over): It has close links with Al Qaida. They believe that Jama'a Islamia operatives who are still at large have been the ones who have masterminded this attack. And they've taken the step of actually bringing in a former Jama'a Islamia operative who has testified since against Jama'a Islamia. They brought him in to try to assist in their investigations.
Now 200,000 police across Indonesia have been placed on high alert. Special police have been brought in from Australia and also Japan, to assist in this investigation. The threat is that now this attack has happened, another one could well follow.
Anderson?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Stan, is Jama'a Islamia -- has that been outlawed as an organization? I think as I recall from reading, there had been some controversy about whether or not it was officially outlawed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRANT (voice-over): A lot of controversy about that. Jama'a Islamia is not just linked with the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, but subsequent bombings also in Jacatur (ph) at the Marriott Hotel. And the Australian Embassy just last year, now for all of that and despite a crackdown on Jama'a Islamia, which has netted some 300 operatives in the past few years, it remains a legal organization. It is not illegal to be a member of Jama'a Islamia. It is not illegal to support the organization. It is still not an outlawed organization. Many say that is the first step if you want to make sure there are no more attacks.
Anderson?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: A tangled web. Stan Grant, thanks for that from Bali, tonight.
U.S. troops are going after an Al Qaida forces in western Iraq, waging a battle that's been code-named Operation Iron Fist. CNN Jennifer Eccleston is embedded with Marines on the mission, and she gives us a first-hand look at what it is like to be right in the middle of a fight like this. The reality of war. Here's her report. And we want to warn you, some of the images you're about to see are very disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're taking incoming rockets.
JENNIFER ECCLESTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): India Company was looking for a fight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) a white building.
ECCLESTON: In eastern Karabula the insurgents complied. Gunfire and rockets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) run around with RPGs. As soon as I get a shot, I'm going to be taking a few.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you even see them?
ECCLESTON: Firing, but fleeing before they're identified and engaged. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know these pop shots are frustrating. Keep your eyes open and you're going -- we're going to snag one of them. Keep your heads down.
ECCLESTON: Frustrations mount --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you got somebody to shoot at, it's a done deal. Do it.
ECCLESTON: Nerves fray.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yankee four to Yankee six. What's going on? Roger. Anybody under -- anybody know what that machine gun fire was?
ECCLESTON (on camera): The Marines were taking sporadic gunfire for about an hour, which limited their ability to advance further into town. And they thought the shooters were coming from this area.
ECCLESTON (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) tanks are called in to take out the alleged safe haven. Marines think they may have struck their target, but then a stream of civilians in shock, in disbelief, in pain. The wall is hit, but so is a building. A mother, father and child struck by flying pieces of their home.
Marines treat them and others; the most serious evacuated.
What's our crime? One man moans. We're innocent. Innocence and guilt blurred when fighting encountered insurgency Marines say, especially when their enemy is capable of such deception. Hidden bombs like this, mines streets. Marines use their tools to isolate the insurgents, but everyone is a potential suspect.
DALE ALFORD, LIEUTENANT COLONEL (on camera): This isn't an open battlefield where we're -- you got the bad guys and the good guys lined up against each other. You've got innocent civilians intermixed in the battle. And it's -- it's always tough.
ECCLESTON: Especially tough this day. While the mission to secure Karabula is progressing, the mission to win the trust of innocent civilians suffers a setback.
Jennifer Eccleston, CNN, Karabula, Iraq.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, we are following several other stories around the world in tonight's Uplink. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER (voice-over): Along the southeast coast of China, Typhoon Long Wong (ph) hits with force. China says 59 of its soldiers in charge of domestic security were washed away in raging floodwaters. If they are confirmed dead, the death toll would climb dramatically from where it stands now, at three. In Luxembourg, the European Union has agreed to start membership talks with Turkey. It is a historic step that would transform the union by taking a predominantly Muslim nation and expanding its borders to Asia and the Middle East.
And aboard the International Space Station, an American millionaire, Gregory Olsen, paid $20 million to be a space traveler, a New Jersey scientist blasted off from Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz capsule over the weekend.
And that is a quick look at stories around the world in the Uplink.
COOPER (on camera): Still to come in this special edition of NEWSNIGHT, New Orleans tries to dig out from all its trash.
COOPER (voice-over): We're talking about tons and tons of it, enough to cover 200 football fields. The question is when's it all going to be gone and where's it going to go?
Plus, we're not done yet. A new and disturbing hurricane forecast for this month. Say it ain't so. But we'll tell you all about it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: And welcome back to NEWSNIGHT. I'm Anderson Cooper. Aaron Brown is off tonight. Here's a quick look at tonight's top stories in "The Reset."
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted again today. This time money-laundering, those were the charges. If convicted he could face up to life in prison. DeLay calls the charges, quote, "an abomination of justice."
President Bush has nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to fill Sandra Day O'Connor's shoes on the Supreme Court. Miers has no judicial experience, though that's not a requirement for the Supreme Court. Democrats generally have been cautious in their response. Some have expressed concern that they don't much about her. Conservatives have been even more critical, actually.
In California, near Los Angeles, hot dry winds forecasted through Wednesday are threatening drive up wildfires -- to drive up. Firefighters had been making progress. The regions largest fire is 85 percent contained. But we are watching those winds closely.
And comedian Nipsey Russell has died. Known for his rhyming wisecracks, Russell was a staple on variety shows like "Laugh-In" and "The Tonight Show" during the 1960s and 1970s and, "To Tell the Truth," which I met him on because I was on that as a kid. Nipsey Russell was 80 years old. An amazing he led.
As we told you at the top of the hour, the company responsible for the capsized tour boat in Lake George, New York, has been shut down by state officials. Now investigators said the boat did not have the required number of crew members aboard. They had one instead of two. There were supposed to be two. Twenty people on the boat were killed when it sank yesterday.
CNN's Deborah Feyerick looks into it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Investigators hope the cruise boat they raised from the bottom of the lake will provide answers as to why it sank in 70 feet of water, answers also important to survivors like 76- year-old Jeane Siler. After working with victims of Hurricane Katrina, she had decided to take a vacation. She has seen lots of tragedy. She was right in the middle of this one.
JEANE SILER, SURVIVOR: All of my friends around me, some of them not being able to swim, were fumbling about. Some of them were screaming. And those that could were trying to hang on to the side of the boat.
FEYERICK: In the moments before the tragedy, Siler was in the front of the small cruise boat named the Ethan Allen. She was talking to a friend when the boat, very close to the shoreline, steered into a wake.
SILER: I noticed the cabin floor was getting wet. And why, I don't know, but I stood up. And I don't know if I jumped out of the boat or if I was thrown from the boat when it tipped.
FEYERICK: Leon Koziol was swimming in the lake and waved to some of the seniors on board. He said there was nothing unusual about the water or the boat.
LEON KOZIOL, LAKE GEORGE VACATIONER: It was a large number of peoples, comfortably seated, seemingly in a very jovial, happy mood, taking in the sights, and, again, nothing unusual.
FEYERICK: Koziol has vacationed on Lake George for the past 30 years. He even wrote a fiction book about it. The narrow lake was very busy on Sunday, lots of boats, lots of waves.
(on camera): So, it may have just been bad timing?
KOZIOL: Bad timing. I think a combination of rogue wakes hit at the right moment, as he was making a turn in a very sheltered bay and probably wasn't anticipating it.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Investigators are looking into the possibility that waves from another cruise boat may have caused the Ethan Allen to capsize. A larger, faster vessel, the Mohican, run by a competing company, was also on the lake at the same time.
Bill Dow is president of the family-run business which owns the Mohican. He says that boat was two miles away.
BILL DOW, LAKE GEORGE STEAMBOAT CO.: It was none of our boats, big excursion boats, caused any problem on this lake. And they haven't. And we have been here, catch this, since 1817. The Mohican has been on the lake for 98 years, since 1908, doing the same cruise with the same speed. And there has never been any problems. And it's not our fault, period.
FEYERICK: As for Jeane Siler, one of 27 survivors, she suffered broken bones. They will heal. The emotional wounds will take a lot longer.
SILER: I was not prepared for this at all. I was -- never thought I was going to lose friends and never have a chance to say goodbye to them.
FEYERICK: Deborah Feyerick, CNN, Lake George, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: That poor lady. In New Orleans tonight, the waters that had turned streets into rivers after the hurricanes are now almost completely gone. The Army Corps of Engineers says it expects to declare the city dry by tomorrow or Wednesday, which is certainly a great achievement.
Now there's the garbage to deal with. There's tons and tons of garbage. We asked CNN's Rick Sanchez to find out when it is going to get picked up.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a mountainous mess: an estimated 22 million tons of garbage and refuse that residents are now returning home to.
(on camera): What's it like to come home to a place that looks like it has been hit by a bomb?
JAMES COMINITA, NEW ORLEANS RESIDENT: Devastating. It's like -- can't explain it.
SANCHEZ: Essentially, contract garbagemen from all over the country hired by FEMA to take part in what is one of the largest trash removal projects in our nation's history.
(on camera): To get a sense of just how big a job this is, imagine, if you would, 200 football fields, all of it stacked with trash, 50 feet high. That is what officials say they are dealing with here.
ALVIN CLOUATRE, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: People are coming home, little by little right now, and as they're coming home, they are hauling the debris out from their houses and hauling it to the curbside, where we can pick it up and.
SANCHEZ: So that means you may pick up some neighborhood's trash today and have to go back there next week because somebody else came home and put it out? CLOUATRE: That's correct. That's correct.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Army Corps of Engineer officials tell us the job will take six months to a year to complete. Residents are throwing out just about everything within their walls that Katrina's winds and rain ruined: furniture, refrigerators, carpets, in some cases, even the walls themselves. The hazardous waste that has to be disposed of is estimated at three to 10 pounds per household.
(on camera): Do you see an end in sight to all of this?
ANTHONY JONES, TRASH WORKER: No, I don't. There's trash everywhere.
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Army Corps of Engineers officials say they're sifting and separating the hazardous materials from other debris, like construction waste and fallen trees. They also say they have enough landfills to burn or bury the garbage locally, without having to take it across state lines.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And then of course there's also the environmental impact. And consider this, look at that building behind. Just like any one of our homes, that person, who have had their home destroyed here, had fuels and detergents and gases and paints and pesticides in their garage.
Well, that's fine if it's one or two home. But now multiply that by 100,000 or 200,000 people whose homes are now being gutted. And things like this are essentially being put into the garbage and the refuse.
All of that combined creates a real problem that officials here with FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers are trying to sift through to separate some of that material from some of the other materials. But they're having a tough time doing it. And in the end, it's almost certain that much of it will get away.
Anderson, back over to you.
COOPER: So, Rick, they're saying it goes to landfills, how many landfills are we talking about and where are these?
SANCHEZ: There are three landfills in New Orleans. Two of them are packed full already. The other one they're still working on and they're considering the possibility of having to build yet another one. They don't know at this point, as I've mentioned in my report, if they will have to take some of this stuff elsewhere.
In the end, Anderson, it's just a matter of how much junk is there? Really nobody knows. And remember, it's going to be even more if they have to demolish some of the homes in places like the 9th Ward, something that does remain a possibility.
COOPER: Yes. No doubt about it, some of the damage is beyond repair. Rick, thanks very much for that.
And after spending a month in the Gulf, I can tell you there's a word that comes to mind: enough -- or two words: no more. Mother Nature, however, may have some other plans. We're talking about hurricanes and what may happen over the next month or so.
Here's CNN's Rob Marciano.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It's a sight we've grown accustomed to: howling winds that make trees bend like rubber and tear rooftops apart, and flood waters that destroy homes, towns and countless lives. In the world of weather, 2005 could be called the year of the hurricane. Of the 17 named storms this year, nine of them became hurricanes and four, Dennis, Katrina, Ophelia and Rita, made landfall. But according to hurricane expert Professor William Gray, we're not out of the woods yet.
PROF. WILLIAM GRAY, COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY: We're calling for three named storms, two hurricanes and one major one for the rest of the season.
MARCIANO: At Colorado State University, a leading center for hurricane forecasting, Professor Gray uses computer models to analyze and predict the path of hurricanes. He and his team are predicting a more active-than-normal October, with storms likely to form in the Caribbean and move into the eastern Gulf of Mexico, or up the East Coast of the U.S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This month the probability of a hurricane making landfall somewhere along the U.S. coastline is about 21 percent.
MARCIANO: With the recent increase in stronger hurricanes, some argue global warming is to blame. But Gray disagrees. He says it's part of a natural weather cycle caused by the great ocean conveyor belts, an ocean current a circulates warm and cold water across the globe. Today, it's bringing a strong current of warmer water.
GRAY: When it's stronger, as it has been since 1995, we tend to have more major hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin. And when it's weaker, we tend to have fewer.
MARCIANO: Gray says it's a cycle that plays out over 25 to 30 years. If that's the case, we could start looking for the next inactive season in about the year 2020.
Rob Marciano, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, I don't know if you caught it this weekend, my hurricane coverage was mocked, mocked, I tell you, on "Saturday Night Live." We're going to show you some of what they had to say. It was good. Also the drama and the heartbreak, the trial of the century, it's hard to believe it has been 10 years since O.J. Simpson was acquitted. My interview with Nicole Brown Simpson's sister, Denise Brown, and how she is coping 10 years later.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It's 10 years now since O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Ten years later, here's how O.J. Simpson spent part of the day today: signing jerseys, for money of course, signing the initials "O.J." that came to mean so many different things to so many different people, and one thing to nearly everyone.
Nobody could look away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The defendant, having been acquitted of both charges, he is ordered transported to an appropriate (INAUDIBLE) facility and released forthwith.
COOPER (voice-over): Ten years ago today, a relieved and happy O.J. Simpson walked out of a California courtroom. He was a free man.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is still the story of the hour, the Simpson murder case...
COOPER: His trial, which took nearly a year, provided much fodder for tabloids and countless hours of programming for television networks. Some called it the trial of the 20th Century. It would most certainly change the way many Americans viewed our justice system.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: People know a lot more about how a criminal trial works, because everyone followed the Simpson case.
COOPER: The crime that sparked the Simpson trial was gruesome. The night of June 12th, 1994, the bodies of Simpson's estranged wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, were found in her front yard, stabbed to death; she nearly decapitated. Even if you weren't watching the constant news coverage of the case, some moments will no doubt still stand out.
This is one of them. Five days after the murders, O.J. Simpson, about to be arrested and with police in pursuit, takes to the highway, driving slowly in his white Ford Bronco, with a gun and a friend at the wheel.
TOOBIN: There we had on live television the entire country, even more than a Super Bowl audience, following this car, wondering where he's going, what's going to happen? Is he going to kill himself on live television?
COOPER: When the chase ends, O.J. was arrested, and the pieces were in place for the trial to begin.
O.J. SIMPSON: Absolutely 100 percent not guilty.
COOPER: It looked for many who were watching like a slam dunk case. There was testimony from Nicole's family about the couple's abusive relationship, supported by tense 911 tapes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 911 emergency.
NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON: Can you get someone over here now, to 325 Gretna Green? He's back. Please.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. What does he look like?
N. BROWN SIMPSON: He's O.J. Simpson. I think you know his record. Could you just send somebody over here?
COOPER: There were the blood droppings on Simpson's driveway, smudges in his SUV, bloody socks and one bloody glove. O.J. seemingly unaccounted for time when the murders were being committed. And there were the characters in this macabre drama: perennial house guest Kato Kaelin; Nicole's friend Faye Resnick, accused by the defense of dealing drugs; the much maligned judge, Lance Ito; O.J.'s maid Rosa Lopez; and a parade of police and scientists, faces and names burned into the memories of just about anyone who followed the trial.
But the man who would stand out above the others as he attempted to dismantle the state's case piece by piece was Johnnie Cochran, lead lawyer on O.J.'s prestigious and pricey dream team.
TOOBIN: What being in that courtroom every day taught you was that Johnnie Cochran owned that room.
COOPER: Cochran exposed now infamous police investigator Mark Fuhrman for his use of racist language. He took the L.A. crime lab to task for its sloppy procedures. And in one show-stopping moment pointed to a bloody glove to plant reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury.
JOHNNIE COCHRAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If it doesn't fit, you must acquit.
COOPER: And that is just what the jury did. After eight months of testimony, with hundreds of pieces of evidence, as an estimated 150 million people watched, they reached their verdict in under four hours.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We the jury in the above-entitled action find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder...
COOPER: One criminal trial, two murders, and 10 years later we are still talking about the profound effect it had on our perception of justice.
TOOBIN: The important legacy of the Simpson case is that racial divisions still exist, and even a bizarre celebrity murder trial can bring out some very important differences in realities about American life.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Earlier today I spoke with Denise Brown about how she remembers her sister, Nicole, and how she feels when the anniversary of the trial decision comes around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DENISE BROWN, NICOLE BROWN SIMPSON'S SISTER: Well, you know, you just want to remember all the positive things about somebody and the fun times that you had. And now all of a sudden, the timeline that you just went through, it was like, whoa, it just brought it right back again. And the horrific stuff that happened, the politics that played in it, you know, because I learned so much about a criminal trial, our justice system, and how politics played such a huge part in his acquittal. And I just -- oh, my God, you just brought me back to all of that again.
COOPER: You say politics. How do you mean?
BROWN: Well, I think that Gil Garcetti, I think he made a very political move, especially when one of the jurors that was picked, who -- when all the jurors were picked and they went down the elevator, and one of the jurors said, oh, it's payback time. They went back behind closed doors with Judge Ito, and, you know, they let the woman go that said -- you know, that went back and overheard the conversation. And I think that Gil Garcetti had a huge part in that, because he didn't want to have South Central or downtown Los Angeles burned down, because that was -- that's what they were thinking, because it was going to cost billions of dollars to fix it up again.
COOPER: You said that you try to remember the good times. It's hard often for people to remember the way their loved one lived their life as opposed to the way their life ended. Do you find that difficult? I mean, do your thoughts go back to what happened to your sister, or are you able to focus on the positive?
BROWN: You know what, I try to focus on the positive. Every time there's -- well, I guess I hate to use the word anniversary, but every time there is something like this that goes on, I am brought back to the first interview with Marcia Clark, which I thought was horrific, and that was walking into her room and seeing Nicole, a big huge poster of Nicole's body and her decapitated head. And that is what I really hate about it, because I really just love to remember the good times that we had as kids, the good times that we had as children, and as teenagers and growing up, and the concerts we used to go to and the -- you know, the boys and, you know, just the fun times.
COOPER: Are you able to see the kids, Sydney and Justin?
BROWN: Yes. Yes, we are.
COOPER: And, I mean, I don't want to pry, so if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but, I mean, what are those times like?
BROWN: Well, you know, we have great times. I mean, it's Christmastime and the summer. But we don't talk about this at all. You know, this is something that we don't talk about.
I love to remind them of what their mother -- who she was. And just so they don't forget. I don't ever want Nicole to be forgotten, for them especially. I don't want them coming to me in a year, two years, five years, 10 years down the road and saying, oh, my gosh, I don't remember her voice, oh my gosh, I don't remember what she looks like, what she did. You know, I just want her to be remembered just as the wonderful human being that she was.
COOPER: Are you -- I mean, we saw earlier a picture of O.J. Simpson signing autographs, which is remarkable to me that anyone wants that.
BROWN: Yes.
COOPER: Have your family been able to receive any of the money that was awarded to you in a civil case?
BROWN: Well, it wasn't awarded to us. It was awarded to the estate of Sydney and Justin -- or Nicole's estate for Sydney and Justin.
COOPER: OK.
BROWN: Yes -- no, the thing is, is that it was really bizarre that he picked this weekend, because we just had a fabulous event for Nicole's House and Nicole's House are the transitional homes, 18- to 24-month homes for women and children. And that's how I want to remember Nicole. I want to remember the positive things that we're doing, the great work that we're doing, trying to save lives, trying to help people. And really, he is just like absolutely nothing to me. And he never will be.
And, you know, I just think that, yes, Johnnie Cochran did do a huge disservice to the American public by dividing us racially. I -- you know, I just think that that is really sad, because it was not about white and black. It was about one man who murdered two people. And that's what the public needs to remember.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, coming up, how I made it on to "Saturday Night Live," of all things this weekend. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: It has been surreal for me these past few days, being back from New Orleans and Mississippi. Even more so this weekend when I turned on "Saturday Night Live" and I was honored to see myself -- well, sort of honored, take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Painting is wonderful!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is interesting. Let's take a look over here. We've got a pair of Oscar-nominated carpenters of sorts. We have Sharon Stone and Al Pacino. Here we are.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, Anderson.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sharon, tell us, do you have any previous experience with construction?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not. But I have partied with a few construction workers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And, Mr. Pacino, I'm no expert here, but I think you're trying to put a door where a window is supposed to be.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anderson, we are building a new house in new New Orleans. We'll put the doors wherever we want. Oh. There's a shih-tzu stuck in a Spanish oak tree. I go to save that dog.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Geraldo Rivera for FOX News.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no, it's 360, I'm Anderson Cooper. OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm reporting live from the cretinous crater of the Crescent City catastrophe, where in the last few days I've saved literally thousands of babies, black babies, white babies. This morning, I saved an Asian baby. When it comes to saving babies, Geraldo Rivera is colorblind. In fact, I'm about to save this baby right now. He is going to go...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, man. He ain't no baby. He's 32 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you can see, this young man is in the grips of a dastardly delirium brought on by the buffeting blasts of Katrina's gale-force onslaught. My first priority is to get him to safety aboard my flotilla fashioned from flotsam and jetsam and the silky hairs of my own moustache.
(GUNSHOT SOUND)
And that's it for me, Geraldo Rivera, FOX News.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I stayed after the gunfire, at least, in the skit.
Coming up next on this special edition of NEWSNIGHT, a rare and spectacular sight in the sky. You don't have to look up, you can just look at your monitor. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Finally tonight, after spending what seemed like a lifetime experiencing the horrors of nature, it's nice to look up and see one of its wonders. Here's the beauty that results when the Moon gets between the Earth and the Sun. A partial eclipse, visible across nearly half of the planet as long as the clouds stayed away. This is in Madrid. And this is why it's still one heck of a planet to live on, isn't it?
I'm Anderson Cooper, thanks for watching. "LARRY KING" is next.
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