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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown
Interview With New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; Interview With Ashley Smith
Aired October 07, 2005 - 22:00 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 again, everyone.
The end of a day filled with bomb-sniffing dogs and security alerts, and not just here in New York.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: No. It was a jittery day all around.
Here's what it looked like in a word or two.
Out in San Francisco, the BART transit system went on higher alert today, meaning more officers, longer patrols, but, as yet, no bag checks.
The Washington Monument evacuated after somebody called in a bomb threat, came with the dogs, nothing found.
Penn Station, New York, in came the people with the moon suits and the breathing gear. It turned out to be a soda can with some kind of drain cleaner inside. Police roped off a portion of the Amtrak ticket area in Penn Station, did not evacuate the giant facility.
Meantime, service on one of the subway lines that runs beneath Penn Station was suspended after somebody discovered a bag on the tracks of a station farther uptown, yet another false alarm.
With all this playing out, officials in New York and Washington were airing their differences, bickering over how seriously to take the larger threat. There was a bulletin here and a press conference there. And, as that unfolded, we began more learning about -- we began learning more -- prefer it that way -- about the suspected...
COOPER: Yes, that's better.
BROWN: Thank you -- suspected plot.
Ray Kelly, the New York police commissioner, joins us in a moment.
We begin with CNN's Deborah Feyerick.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It began during the morning rush, first, a suspicious package, then a soda can filled with green liquid at Penn Station. In the afternoon, a major Manhattan subway line was temporarily shut down. And so it went, the mayor standing by his decision to warn New Yorkers, despite opposition from Washington.
MICHAEL BLOOMBERG (R), MAYOR OF NEW YORK: A lot of our information comes from the FBI. And what you see in Washington is different intelligence agencies looking at either different information or evaluating it differently.
FEYERICK: The timing of the suspected attack is one reason New York's mayor went public, CNN learning that, Friday, October 7, was talked about as a date for a possible attack. Sunday, October 9, was another date mentioned.
BLOOMBERG: The intelligence information you get is never going to be so explicit and so guaranteed to be correct. By the time you get that, the event has already taken place.
FEYERICK: An official close to the investigation tells CNN the information about the suspected attack came from a source who had provided accurate information in the past, the official telling CNN, the source was questioned in Iraq and passed a polygraph test concerning the proposed New York City subway attack, that source trained in a terror camp in Afghanistan.
Based on the information, the U.S. launched a joint operation. Three men were taken into custody. A official tells CNN they are of different nationalities, some Middle Eastern. The FBI chief in New York says there's no reason to believe any terror suspects are in the city.
(on camera): As for the New York-Washington split, a high-level City Hall source tells CNN, Mayor Bloomberg spoke with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff before Thursday's press conference and that Chertoff did not ask the mayor to withhold the information or stand down.
The source also says New York's FBI's chief did get permission from the FBI director in Washington to attend the press conference.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: With us now, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.
Welcome back. Thanks for being with us.
RAYMOND KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Good to be with you.
COOPER: NYPD found out about this over the weekend. Information wasn't released until yesterday. Why?
KELLY: For operational considerations. We were made aware of the fact that it would be an attempt made by the military to take people into custody. COOPER: In Iraq?
KELLY: Yes. I don't want to be specific.
COOPER: OK.
KELLY: I can't. Obviously, there's a lot of things out there in the media. Some are true. Some are not true.
COOPER: OK.
KELLY: But I'm privy to some classified information.
But we knew a military operation was going to be conducted. And we waited for that operation to take place. It -- in our judgment, after it did take place, it added credibility to the information that we had. And that's when we decided. That's when the mayor decided to go public with the information.
And the reason we did that is because we were increasing resources. And you simply can't increase resources in a significant way in New York City without announcing it to the public.
COOPER: Because people would notice it.
KELLY: Right. Sure.
COOPER: When -- when Washington finds out something, finds out this information, I mean, how do you decide? How are those discussions orchestrated to decide, all right, we are going forward with this information or not?
I mean, it seems like Washington, in this case, had a different take than -- than New York.
KELLY: Yes.
Well, we have very experienced people working for us. We have veterans of the CIA, National Security Council, our two deputy commissioners. So, you know, we are talking to people in Washington all the time about this information. And we made a decision, based on our analysis, that it was the right thing to do to deploy additional resources to better protect the subway system.
COOPER: Do you have any belief that any of these alleged plotters are in this country now or in this city?
KELLY: Well, that's a matter of ongoing investigation.
COOPER: Do you -- is it true that -- that -- that well, actually, I won't -- I won't even put you on the spot on that one.
This operation that you have, the intelligence operation, I mean, it is really unprecedented for a police force to really have their -- you have a veteran of CIA. I think he's been in the CIA more than...
KELLY: Thirty-five years.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Thirty-five years.
KELLY: Terrific.
COOPER: How is that working? I mean, how do you collect your own intelligence?
KELLY: Well, it's working very well.
We do analysis. And, of course, we have investigations that are ongoing here in our city. But it's working well. And I think it's important to realize or to -- to reaffirm the fact that we have been attacked twice successfully, the 1993 bombings, the 2001 events, the horrific events of September 11. We have been targeted several times since then.
So, we are different than -- than other places. And we have a big police force, the biggest by far in the country. And so, we're going to use our resources, do everything we can to better protect New York City. And one of those things is creating, I think, a very effective and sophisticated intelligence division.
COOPER: I know you have got officers in the Dominican Republic, in London, obviously. I mean, do you your own human intelligence, your own collection? Or is it working with police forces?
(CROSSTALK)
KELLY: We are working with police agencies in those countries. We have liaison officers that are working closely with other police officials.
But we are not collecting intelligence, by any stretch of the imagination, in foreign countries.
COOPER: And -- and when there is an attack, like in London, for instance, your officers do what? I mean, they look for specific information that might have resonance here?
KELLY: Sure.
Well, question number one for them is the New York question. Is there any nexus to New York at all?
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Right. One of the bombers wore a New York Yankees hat, I think.
KELLY: Correct.
And, in the other event, they had a New York shirt that -- that they were wearing. So, these are cause for concern for us. But our detective in London had a front-row seat. And very, very cooperative, the British authorities have been with our detective. And he gave us real-time information.
The morning of July, I was on the phone with that detective before 7:00, giving us information that would help us better protect our city.
COOPER: And I know you probably can't confirm or deny it. There have been reports that there was a specific date for this -- this latest threat, today being one, also Sunday being the other. Is there a time limit, in your mind, on the increased security measures or this just a day -- day-to-day thing?
KELLY: It's a day-to-day situation. We are going to make an analysis, an evaluation as we go forward, literally on an hourly basis, you might say. But we're not going to set a -- a -- a time limit on -- as to when we're going to perhaps reduce our coverage.
COOPER: Commissioner Kelly, it's always good to see you.
And, as I told you off camera, when I was down in New Orleans and when I saw the NYPD, I knew things were going to be better very quickly. So, it was -- it's great to have you.
(LAUGHTER)
KELLY: Good.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Thanks.
You know, for better or worse, we have spent the last day or so fixated on the words specific and credible, mostly to do with the state of alert here in New York. But they can just as easily be used in another context, the president's speech yesterday.
He talked about 10 terrorist plots since 9/11 and 10 plots overcome. The question is, how specific and how credible were those plots?
We asked CNN's David Ensor to investigate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID ENSOR, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the president's scorecard, 10 of what he calls serious plots foiled since 9/11, three of them within the United States, and another five attempts to case targets here, also stopped.
A number of those on the list are linked. The 2002 West Coast airliner plot. Al Qaeda plans to hit targets on the West Coast with planes.
The 2002 Jose Padilla plot to blow up apartments and, possibly, a dirty bomb in the U.S. And the plot by Indian national Issa al-Hindi and others to attack Heathrow Airport in 2003. He was captured in Britain.
All of these plots and others were connected to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind who was captured in March of 2003 and has been talking to the CIA.
BRUCE HOFFMAN, DIRECTOR, RAND CORPORATION: It shows the enormously significant impact that even the apprehension of a single individual can have on a terrorist group's plans but also, indeed, its capabilities, too.
ENSOR: The White House list includes nothing that has not been made public before and nothing in the past year. Could that be a sign of failure to detect recent terrorist plots? John McLaughlin was deputy director of central intelligence and stays in touch with his former colleagues.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I know for a fact that we continue to succeed against these terrorists. I imagine the latest successes are not discussed because they are ongoing operations that haven't played out fully, and they're too sensitive to reveal at this point.
ENSOR: Of course, Osama bin Laden has his list, too, Bali, twice, Madrid, Sharm al-Sheikh, Riyadh, Casablanca, and then there was London, not to mention the almost daily violence in Iraq.
HOFFMAN: They have been able to manipulate Iraq to their benefit, to keep their cause alive in essence.
ENSOR (on-screen): The greatest success the president can point to is that Al Qaeda has been unable to hit the U.S. since 9/11. But as senior intelligence officials continually repeat, in their business you don't know what you don't know.
David Ensor, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still to come on the program tonight, responding to desperate calls for help more than a month too late.
But, first, at about quarter past the hour, time for some of the other stories that made news on this Friday.
Erica Hill joins us in Atlanta.
Good evening, Ms. Hill.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Mr. Brown, good evening to you.
We begin tonight in Iraq, where six Marines were killed in a pair of explosions, now, all this as the U.S. announced the end of a major offensive in the western part of the country. The military says more than 50 insurgents were killed in the six few days and said there are more raids to come in the run-up to a constitutional referendum on October 15. The United States is sending a delegation to Southeast Asia to come up with a strategy for preventing and dealing with the global outbreak of the bird flu. Health and Human Secretary Mike Leavitt will lead that group. Experts have been warning since 2003 that the avian influenza is the world's greatest health risk.
The captain of the tour boat that capsized last weekend, killing 20 elderly tourists, says it was a fuller-than-usual load. Richard Paris says the Ethan Allen was carrying 10 to 15 more passengers than normal. He was at the wheel when the boat flipped, spilling 47 passengers into a lake in the Adirondacks, Lake George, of course.
And the Vatican is going to issue some new standards for the priesthood. And a senior official say they will no longer place a specific ban on homosexuals joining the clergy. Instead, candidates are required to be celibate for at least three years before entering seminary, Aaron.
BROWN: Erica, thank you. We will check in again with you in about a half-an-hour for some of the other stories of the day.
Much more ahead tonight, starting with the levees in New Orleans and the plans to rebuild them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need to rebuild them high.
BROWN (voice-over): Higher than they were when Katrina hit, high enough to withstand an even bigger hurricane. That's what many think. But that's not plan. So, we will ask, why not?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have gone through about 15,000 911 calls. We have got it narrowed down to under 1,000 now.
BROWN: One thousand 911 calls made the night Katrina hit still waiting to be checked out.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She'll be confirmed.
BROWN: The president's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, how much trouble is Harriet Miers in?
BILL KRISTOL, EDITOR, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": It's a mistake that can be rectified by Ms. Miers deciding that it might be for the good of her president if she stepped aside.
BROWN: From New York, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The mayor of New Orleans said again today that he is just not thinking about rebuilding his he city, but is thinking big, he said. He called on others to do the same, which brings us to the levees that surround the city.
They weren't strong enough to withstand Katrina. We all know that by now. And remember, after the storm, how everyone said the levees were going to be rebuilt bigger and stronger and safer? Well, apparently not everyone got the memo, because, right now, the levees are being rebuilt exactly the same.
CNN's Dan Simon investigates.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coming back from Katrina, one key, strong levees, these bulldozers in St. Bernard Parish moving dirt to rebuild what nature destroyed. Hard to believe, but this is where levees once rose 17 feet in the air, washed flat, and with it, much of this parish.
COL. LEWIS SETLIFF, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: What's exciting today is we came out here this week and started our initial construction aimed at long-term recovery of the hurricane protection system.
SIMON: The plan, to rebuild that hurricane protection system like it was, just sufficient to withstand a Category 3 storm. The excitement here is hardly universal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the job done right, to where you won't have to worry about having a problem like this again.
SIMON: In a community in which house after house was destroyed by the floodwaters from a Category 4 storm, many residents unable to hide their frustration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need to rebuild them high, in my opinion, to the proper level, what they could handle a Category 5 or 4, instead of just a Category 3.
SIMON: But the Army Corps of Engineers says it doesn't have the funding, nor the resources, to rebuild bigger and better and still have the levees finished by next summer. It says it could strengthen further at a later date, still not a good plan, says Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter.
SEN. DAVID VITTER (R), LOUISIANA: I'm tired of living by the old Corps standard and the old Corps schedule. This is an emergency situation.
SIMON (on camera): I know you don't make those decisions, but you're aware that that sentiment is out there.
SETLIFF: We are intimately aware that that sentiment exists. Again, our authorities -- authority to act rests solely to restore what was here before the storm.
SIMON (voice-over): Touring the parish, as we did today, the magnitude of rebuilding the levees become clear. Mile after mile will have to be rebuilt. Everywhere, there are examples of the powerful storm surge.
(on camera): And this right here is pretty striking, when you consider that, before the storm, you could not even see that pipe. That's because it went right through the levee.
(voice-over): The Corps says, even getting the levees back to pre-Katrina strength by next year will be difficult.
KEVIN WAGNER, ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS: We are very committed to actually getting the work done. We know, a lot of people are not going to rebuild until we have these levees in place, because that -- which provides the protection for them from the hurricanes' storm surges.
SIMON: Kevin Wagner, who is overseeing the levee rebuilding in St. Bernard Parish, knows what's at stake. He, too, lost his home. The planned replacement levees, he says, will be enough for him to rebuild his house.
WAGNER: Forty years, the system worked very well. And I think you can have complete confidence that, once we finish with this, people will have a level of protection that they'll feel comfortable with.
SIMON: The Corps concedes, a stronger, bigger levee system would be preferable, but there's no money, no plans and no time to build before the start of next year's hurricane season.
Dan Simon, CNN, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: I got to tell you, that report came as a complete shock to me today, because, I mean, the assumption is, these things are being built bigger and stronger and -- and taller, at the very least. But none of that...
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Because they didn't seem to work the other way.
COOPER: Right.
BROWN: Yes.
COOPER: And the guy says, oh, everyone is going to be satisfied that they're protected. But then the next sentence is, they're not going to be fully protected, because we all know these things failed.
BROWN: It struck me. It's like, there's an intersection where a train goes through and the car doesn't see it because there's a big bush there. And they don't reopen it until they can put the bush back in.
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: They'll figure it out. I didn't mean that politically. It's literally a bush.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: When Hurricane Katrina hit, 9/11 operators in New Orleans fielded thousands of calls. In most cases, help had to wait weeks because of the flooding in that devastated city. In many cases, help has yet to arrive.
Reporting for us tonight, CNN's Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barry Boright and his partner Patrick Brennan are United States Marshals from Washington, D.C. They're in New Orleans playing catchup, responding to 911 calls six weeks old, dating all the way back to the night Katrina hit.
BARRY BORIGHT, U.S. MARSHAL: We have gone through about 15,000 911 calls. We've got it narrowed down to under 1,000 now.
KAYE: Most of the calls came from or about the Lower Ninth Ward, people calling to be rescued.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got a handicapped girl, and I got a baby that's on a pump machine. Our water is coming up.
KAYE: Relatives calling about loved ones, or residents who were trapped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you in the attic ma'am? The water's high?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it's high.
KAYE: Because of the chaos and flooding caused by Katrina, it's taken until now to respond.
PATRICK BRENNAN, U.S. MARSHAL: I like being part of it. I like feeling that I'm doing something besides watching it on CNN at home.
KAYE: After the storm, police and other law enforcement couldn't access the Lower Ninth, too much water. This is the first time the marshals are getting a good look inside. They don't expect to find survivors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KAYE: Making their way through the muck and the mud isn't easy. And inside there's heavy lifting, so the marshals can get a clear picture of the floor. The attics are checked, even what's left of this kitchen. Boright and Brennan squeeze their way through crawl spaces, then spot a red flag.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A powered wheelchair here has me really concerned. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a wheelchair in the corner.
KAYE: They leave without finding the man relatives had called 911 looking for.
(on camera): Are you pretty confident that nobody is in there?
BORIGHT: Yes, as sure as we can be without emptying it completely, you know, emptying the house completely.
KAYE (voice-over): The marshals move quickly from one house to the next. Some days they and the rest of their team check off as many as 800 calls.
(on camera): The marshals haven't recovered any bodies here in the Ninth Ward on this round. But we did spot a dog up here on one of the roof tops. They believe he likely swam through the storm and ended up there. Probably now without food and water for about six weeks. Luckily, the marshals carry that with them in their car and gave some to him right away.
BORIGHT: Are they sending out animal rescue?
KAYE (voice-over): The Marshals make a 911 call of their own to animal rescue. While we wait, the dog waits, too. Then disappears into the house through a crawl space. The marshals try to get inside to rescue him, but it's too dangerous.
They leave more water, and wait. About an hour later the dog is rescued by animal control. And the marshals move on, still hoping to find answers, knowing hundreds of families are still waiting.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Still ahead on the program tonight, these ladies stick together. What's happened since we first met them?
Later, Ashley Smith on the fugitive who came to call God, drugs and sudden fame, her story as NEWSNIGHT continues on a Friday night from New York City.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: For most of us, the idea of a man showing up on our doorstep at 2:00 in the morning, fresh from a shooting spree, is plenty cause enough to ask, why me?
For Ashley Smith, there is a surprisingly easy answer. Ms. Smith, as you will recall, is the young woman who spent seven hours last March with a desperate killer named Brian Nichols in Atlanta. In the morning, very early in the morning, Mr. Nichols turned himself in to police.
Ms. Smith has now written a book about what transpired that night. Some sensational details, it contains. She gave her captor at one point methamphetamines from her own supply. He had asked for marijuana.
But, mostly, it's a book about faith, because Ashley Smith believes she knows why Brian Nichols found her that night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: Did you have any idea why, of all of the people in Atlanta he could have chosen that night, he chose you?
ASHLEY SMITH, FORMER HOSTAGE: You know, I asked him the same question. And the only answer I can come up with and him also was just that it was a miracle, by chance, you know?
I was walking out of my house at 2:00 in the morning for cigarettes. It's not like he came and knocked on the door or something. So, I just -- it was a miracle.
BROWN: Why -- why the word miracle?
SMITH: I think the word miracle because of everything that happened in the apartment that night with him.
You know, you have to read through the book and see that a miracle did occur that night for me that has changed my life since then. And, also, he turned himself in without any further violence. So, I think that's why you would use the word miracle.
BROWN: OK.
Had -- had you ever met him before?
SMITH: No, I had not.
I know several people have asked me that question throughout several interviews. And I did not know him before then. I had only lived in Atlanta 10 months prior to that. And I think, six or seven of those months, he was in jail. So...
BROWN: One of the other things I think people wonder about -- there's probably several things, but one of them is, at one point, the two of you, in separate cars, as I recall, leave. And the part that's, I think, counterintuitive to people is that you didn't just run like the dickens the other direction.
SMITH: Well, I did dial 911 that day, at that time. But I did not press send. And there were several reasons I didn't press send.
I knew that he was going to let me leave to see my daughter before we had -- before we left to take the truck. So, my focus was really mainly to get him back to the apartment, where he would be alone without any transportation to get anywhere, and to call the police as soon as I left.
Another thought that I was having was, I really was driving a piece of junk at the time and it really cut off every time I got in there. So, I knew that, if I did try to get away and my car did cut off, it would make him mad. And he wasn't mad when he left. So, I could just picture my car cutting off, then him coming to the window, going, OK, I'm mad now.
BROWN: I guess, at that point, for -- what -- what time of the morning is that?
SMITH: I think it was about 6:00, 6:30, somewhere around there.
BROWN: And, at that point, you believed -- you must have believed that this would end OK?
SMITH: I didn't know that it would end OK.
I did know that he was going to let me leave. So, I knew that -- that -- well, I was hoping. He was leading me to believe that I was going to be able to see my daughter.
BROWN: Yes.
SMITH: But when I left the house, I wasn't sure how it was going to end. I did continue to pray as I left the house that nobody else would be harmed. And that's the way it ended up happening.
BROWN: And -- and can you understand that most people, when they hear that part of the story, would go...
(LAUGHTER)
BROWN: ... I think, if it were me, I'd be driving as fast as that thing would take me in the opposite direction?
SMITH: Yes, of course.
Reading through the book, there are several things that I look at in the book and I'm like, hello? Why didn't you just run or shut the door and lock him out?
BROWN: Yes.
SMITH: Or -- I just -- I was being led by God that night, I really think. And it all -- the end of the -- the end of that story was a -- was a good outcome. So...
BROWN: The end of part of the story is a good outcome.
SMITH: Right.
BROWN: It is very likely, it seems to me, that the end of the story is, he gets the death penalty. How do you feel about that?
SMITH: You know, it's really up to God, and God holds his future in His hands. It's not -- it really doesn't matter what I think.
BROWN: If you were asked -- let me try it this way, OK? If you were asked at a penalty phase, as you might very much well be, to testify on -- in his behalf to try and save his life, would you do that?
SMITH: Either way, I'm going to have to testify. So what I'm going to do when I testify is go out there and tell the truth about what I saw that night. I've tried very hard to distance myself from any media coverage of his trial and what's going on there, because I don't want to have -- I want to have my knowledge of what I saw that night, and what -- how I was treated, and everything that I witnessed that night.
So that's how I'm going to go into that, whether it be whoever, whoever it helps.
BROWN: And if it's helpful to him...
SMITH: I'm just going to tell the truth.
BROWN: If it's helpful to him, so be it, and if it's not, so be it.
SMITH: I'm just going to tell the truth, right?
BROWN: It's nice to meet you. Good luck.
SMITH: Thank you.
BROWN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's an interesting interview. Why do you think she didn't want to answer the question about what she thought about the death penalty?
BROWN: Because it's an uncomfortable -- she -- I -- First of all, of course, I don't know why. I mean, I'm just guessing why. It's -- I asked the question because I thought she hadn't thought about it before, to be honest, and it's an uncomfortable moment she finds herself in.
On the one hand, she apparently talked him into surrendering peacefully after he committed an awful series of crimes. And the end result of that, and to some degree, then, her complicity in his surrender is going to lead to his death. And I just wanted to know what she thought.
And I don't mean this harshly of her. She's a young woman put in a weird and awkward situation. She, just like far more experienced people, ducked it.
COOPER: Yes.
BROWN: Yes.
COOPER: I don't -- we were talking about this, we'd be curious to know what you at home think about what you heard from the interview tonight, but also what you've heard, maybe, from other interviews this young woman saying, or if you've read the book, maybe even some of those comments.
You can send us an e-mail at the e-mail address, newsnight@cnn.com, and we'll try to read some of those e-mails later on, perhaps in the next hour of NEWSNIGHT. Be interesting to hear what you think.
Coming up the next hour, we're going to show you a raid on a meth lab in Michigan, when DEA agents showed up at the house -- Well, that's not that story. That's the Supreme Court nomination. That's Harriet Miers. We'll have a story about that. We'll also talk about the Nobel Peace Prize, which has been awarded. We'll also have a story about a meth lab coming up.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: No, we're not ending the program early. Just time to check morning papers from around the country and around the world. We usually do this at the end of an hour. We thought we'd do it earlier. Why not? We thought we'd add another anchor. That seemed to work, so we thought we'd try this too.
"Wall Street Journal," the weekend edition, just a chance to point out the only difference between the weekday and the weekend edition is, they use photos in the weekend edition, and they have a photo of the doctor, "The Doctor, the Father, the Movie, and the Medicine, Cast Apart by Lorenzo's Oil. Two Unlikely Collaborators Write Their Own Sequel."
So if you want to go grab the weekly, the weekend edition -- come on, Aaron -- of "The Wall Street Journal," there it is.
"The Boston Herald," all our friends up in New England, and some of them here, "Read It and Sweep. World Champions Back to the Way It Used to Be, but We'll Always Have Last Year." They lose in three straight to the Chicago White Sox, who actually they may be something, Chicago, this year.
"The Daily News." We mentioned this briefly yesterday. It's a truly disgusting story. "1,000 Bodies in Ghoul Probe." How often do you get to use the word "ghoul"? "District Attorney Expands Investigation into Body Snatchers' Sale of Human Parts." Man, if that doesn't sell newspapers on the street Saturday morning in New York, you cannot sell them.
How are we doing on time, Wilson? Thank you.
"The Washington Times," down here, if you don't mind, "Zarqawi Justifies Killing of Civilians, Permissible to Spill Infidel Blood." No, it's not. Don't do that.
"The Washington Post" has no clear lead that I can figure out. But I want to talk about Harriet Miers anyway. "The Right Result Was the Key to Miers in Dallas (INAUDIBLE) Made a Name for Candor." I find this the most fascinating story going on right now, as Republicans try to figure out what to do with Harriet Miers. We'll be talking more about that in the hour ahead, and some in the section ahead too, as it turns out.
"Dallas Morning News," "Bus Owners Shut Down." You remember this horrible incident, 20 elderly people died just before Hurricane Rita hit. "Firm Being Investigated for Fatal Fire, Deemed a Threat to Public Safety." Yes, I think so.
If you happen to be traveling in Chicago or the Midwest tomorrow, it's going to feel like fall. The weather in Chicago, according to "The Chicago Sun Times," our favorite paper in the Midwest, is "Crisp."
All right, still ahead on the program tonight, in case you're expecting Tom DeLay to take a pair of indictments lying down, how The Hammer is hitting back. This got even nastier today.
We'll take a break first. From New York and around the world, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: You know, a lot of you have probably moved on from Hurricane Katrina, perhaps tired of hearing so much about it. And I understand that. But we continue to focus on it, because there are a lot of questions that haven't been answered, and a lot of stories that haven't been told.
Tonight, for instance, there are hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens sleeping far from their homes in strange cities, separated from their loved ones. An update, for a moment, on two of them, a young girl named Taneisha Belvin (ph) and a woman who became known as Mama Nita. They found each other during the evacuation from New Orleans. They reached out to each other and never let go, and they still haven't let go.
Today, they're living together with Taneisha's grandmother in Houston. A retired couple offered them a vacant house they had planned to rent out.
It hasn't been easy. Taneisha gets scared whenever the weather turns ugly. But when Hurricane Rita blew by, she had plenty of new acquaintances to hang onto, not to mention one old friend.
Coming up, President Bush still championing his Supreme Court nominee, despite bitter opposition from conservatives, I might add.
But first, about a quarter till the hour, time again to check on the headlines with Erica Hill from Atlanta. Erica?
HILL: Hi, Anderson.
Former House majority leader Tom DeLay has filed a motion to quash an indictment against him. DeLay's legal team says prosecutor Ronnie Earle tried to browbeat a grand jury into indicting the Texas congressman. Earle's office says there's is no merit to the claim.
The people of Spokane, Washington, will vote in December on whether or not to oust its mayor. Mayor James West is alleged to have solicited sex from young men and sexually abused Boy Scouts as a troop leader. A single mom organized a campaign for a referendum, collecting more than the necessary 17,000 signatures for a recall vote.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a law prohibiting high school athletes from taking certain nutritional supplements. He vetoed a similar law a year ago. That was at a time when he had a multimillion-dollar contract with "Body Building" magazine. Now, the new version of the bill requires students to take a pledge against using three specific types of supplements.
And nuclear watchdog Mohammed ElBaradei is the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He says the honor is a message to, quote, "Keep doing what you're doing." The Egyptian diplomat shares the prize with the United Nations group he heads, which is, of course, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
And no karma from Mr. Chama-Chama-Chama-Chameleon. Boy George arrested in New York on cocaine charges. The '80s singer was busted after reporting a burglary at his home in Little Italy. And when cops showed up, they found the Culture Club crooner was in a drugged stupor. We're not sure if that's what led to the face and head paint, but that's fine.
COOPER: You know, if you're going to call the police, I don't know, call me crazy, but don't be in a drugged stupor.
BROWN: Or wash first.
COOPER: Or wash first, that would be good too.
BROWN: There are some moments where we feel old.
Wherever you stand on the nomination, it's a fascinating moment for members of both parties. But right now, it's the Republicans who are breaking ranks from their president. We'll talk with George Allen, a Republican senator from Virginia, about Harriet Miers.
And later, are subway riders in New York staying off the trains because of the threat, or possible threat?
From the A-train to the Z, this is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: What's not to like? It's almost a poignant plea from the president as he closes out the week with another public defense of his latest candidate for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Texas lawyer Harriet Miers. Today, the president predicted a happy ending for Ms. Miers, for the court, for the country. But many of her detractors aren't ready to take that leap of faith, not nearly.
Here's CNN's Dana Bash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An Oval Office moment to remember. Just four days after tapping Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, the president is asked if he'll give in to scathing criticism and withdraw her nomination.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She'll be confirmed. And when she's on the bench, people will see a fantastic woman, who is honest, open, humble, and capable of being a great Supreme Court judge.
BASH: What's jaw-dropping, calls for withdrawal are not coming from Democrats, but some furious fellow conservatives, writing columns calling her nomination an "insult to the institution," even "scandalous."
WILLIAM KRISTOL, EDITOR, "THE WEEKLY STANDARD": It's a mistake that could be rectified by Ms. Miers deciding that it might be for the good of her president if she stepped aside.
BASH: Privately, Bush aides are stunned, saying Republicans should trust the president who, in two campaigns, rallied conservatives with this promise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We stand for judges who strictly and faithfully interpret the law, instead of legislating from the bench.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: But many rank and file say Miers isn't what they bargained for, that they've been burned by presidents who said, Trust me, with justices like David Souter and Anthony Kennedy, who turned out to be too moderate.
JESSICA ECHARD, EAGLE FORUM: This is a letdown for the conservative base. Most of the folks who voted for President Bush are not energized by this nomination.
BASH: One key conservative senator is openly concerned about Miers' unknown record on issues like abortion.
SEN. SAM BROWNBACK (R), KANSAS: We'll have to try to gather little pieces and shreds of evidence, and do almost a "CSI" type of operation to try to conjecture out of that where a person will be.
BASH: An urgent, week-long White House effort to stop the blaze of anger has had some success. After calls from Karl Rove and Miers confidants, the influential Focus on the Family's James Dobson told supporters he was reluctantly taking the president's word for it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JAMES DOBSON, FOCUS ON THE FAMILY: If I have made a mistake here, I will never forget it. The blood of those babies that will die will be on my hands to some degree.
(END AUDIO
BASH: Even nervous support like that allows the White House to charge Miers' GOP opponents are mostly Washington elitists.
(on camera): Frustrated Bush aides insist Miers is qualified, and complain she is being held to a, quote, "different standard." But officials take solace in what they say really matters, confirmation, and no senator so far says they'll vote against her.
Dana Bash, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BROWN: What this boils down to, in essence, is that conservatives believe the president should have picked a nominee with known clear conservative views. They are afraid, as Dana reported, and as Senator George Allen of Virginia said earlier this week, they'd get another David Souter on their hands.
We talked with Senator Allen a short time ago.
Senator, the president said the other day that in his selection of Ms. Miers, he had picked the best person available. Do you believe that?
SEN. GEORGE ALLEN (R), VIRGINIA: I think that's the president's characterization. That would not be mine. But I think we'll have to see. I'm one who gives the president a presumption of nominating qualified individuals based upon his past record of performance, where he's nominated outstanding men and women, well qualified, who have the proper judicial philosophy.
But right now, there's not enough for me to be able to say that same sort of adjectives for Harriet Miers.
BROWN: Would it make you feel more comfortable if you knew how she felt about the reasoning and the legal underpinnings of a decision like Roe versus Wade?
ALLEN: You can't get into specific cases that are undoubtedly going to come before the court. Roe versus Wade will come before the court, because this court strikes down, or has before, cases like late-term partial birth abortion being prohibited, or making sure that parents are involved if an unwed minor daughter has an abortion.
I'm going to want to know what she considers the importance of precedent, and when would precedent be deviated from, what sort of conditions? I want to know what she thinks of the role of the states in passing laws which do not affect interstate commerce.
BROWN: Senator, is that precedent thing kind of like a wink and a nod sort of thing on Roe versus Wade? Oh, I don't always think precedent should be upheld, wink-wink. Is it one of those things?
ALLEN: No, I don't think it's exactly like that at all, Aaron. Nice question, though.
BROWN: Thank you.
ALLEN: That's a clever way of saying it. No, I think you need to know how they truly feel on precedent, the roles of the people in the states to pass laws, the federal government, private ownership or property, freedom of expression, freedom of liberty, the rule of law.
But you -- it is helpful to know when, in their views, what sort of indicators would there be, when a precedent should be changed. I do want to know her rationale, her logic, the factors that would go into her decision making on a variety of fronts, but not on any specific measure.
BROWN: Some of your colleagues seem pretty upset about this. Do you think it is in the realm of possibility that this will never come to a vote?
ALLEN: At this point, I could not envision that. I can understand why a lot of people are maybe deflated or disappointed. This is an opportunity for those of us who like conservative justices to gain ground and pick up another justice on the Supreme Court.
And so that's why you're seeing that reaction in a bit of a disappointment or deflation, in that Harriet Miers is not well known by many other than the president. And ultimately, as we go through our interviews, as various senators do, and the hearings, I'm hopeful, but I do think that there has to be a proving that she does have that proper judicial philosophy.
And I think -- and if that's the case, I think that there'll be strong support for her in the Senate. But it's still a process, and she should be accorded due process.
BROWN: Not to mix metaphors for the football coach's son, but it sounds like what you're saying is, it's no slam-dunk. It's...
ALLEN: No, it is not.
BROWN: Thank you, sir. It's nice to meet you. I appreciate your candor with us tonight.
ALLEN: Great to be with you, Aaron. Keep up the good work.
BROWN: Thank you, sir.
Senator George Allen of Virginia.
It's been since 1930 that a president with control of the Senate has lost a nominee on a vote of the floor of the Senate. If it comes to that, I assume that if he's going to lose (INAUDIBLE), she'll withdraw at some point. But the vehemence of the conservative elite, the Bill Kristols and the George Wills, and those folks, and they're important players, the vehemence with which they have come out on this is stunning.
COOPER: And yet you have someone like Dobson, who's come out and said, you know, Trust me on this one, basically, or trust the president on this one.
BROWN: Yes. I mean, it's -- I guess as just someone who writes about this stuff, the president has delivered to conservatives on key moments all the time. But for, really, since the days of Reagan, the conservative wing of the Republican Party, or just the Republican Party, has looked to this moment, in fact, when they would get real solid control of the U.S. Supreme Court. And they don't want a maybe- probably-could be, they want a, you-better-believe-it-is moment.
And she's not that, because she has no record.
COOPER: Trust but verify, as Reagan said.
Aaron, thanks.
Coming up in our next hour, yellow alert, orange alert. Local or federal, who can you believe these days?
A break first.
This is NEWSNIGHT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PAULA ZAHN, CNN: Lauren Manning is considered a September 11 miracle. The Cantor Fitzgerald vice president was going into the World Trade Center when a fireball exploded down the elevator shaft, blowing her out the door and setting her on fire.
LAUREN MANNING: As I was running, I was, you know, praying, probably screaming to God, Please, you know, help me, help me. You know, I can't, I can't leave now. It's not my time to leave.
ZAHN: Manning was burned over 80 percent of her body and spent six weeks in a drug-induced coma. Her husband, Greg, was by her side the whole time.
GREG MANNING: I was going to stand by her, I was going to be with her every step of the way, I was going to do everything I could to get her through it.
ZAHN: Lauren says she decided to live for her family.
LAUREN MANNING: I have the most incredible love from my husband and my son. They have served as the ultimate energizers.
ZAHN: Her husband, Greg's powerful daily e-mails about Lauren's battle for life are contained in the bestselling book "Love, Greg and Lauren." Lauren has never read it.
LAUREN MANNING: I'm living Greg's book. So when I'm ready to go back for a good review, then I'm sure I will pick it up.
ZAHN: After dozens of surgeries, Lauren still has many more to go and undergoes daily physical and occupational therapy.
LAUREN MANNING: I feel privileged to have life, and I have sought to make the most of every moment I have.
BROWN: Well, good evening again. It's 11:00 here in New York, and across the East. The subways are running here.
COOPER: They are, but are they a target this weekend? This big question for this hour on NEWSNIGHT.
Here's what we know right now about the subway situation...
ANNOUNCER: ... terror, and the transit system? New York says yes, Washington's not so sure. Why the disconnect? And who can you trust?
Kids caught in the crossfire on America's newest war on drugs, crystal methamphetamine.
And Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes expecting. But why is mum the word? And what's Scientology have to do with it?
COOPER: ... ahead in this hour.
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