Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Saturday

Hurricane Emily Strikes Jamaica; Names of London Terror Suspects Released; Rove Controversy Intensifies

Aired July 16, 2005 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN ANCHOR: Unfolding this hour, Hurricane Emily pounding Jamaica now with very dangerous winds. CNN is your hurricane headquarters. We'll have the up to the minute information.
Also, an important piece of evidence is removed from the scene of the London terror attacks. We're live with new developments in the investigation.

And a scary twister moves across a Florida community. We'll tell you where it happened and add up the damage.

And a police officer saves a man's life on camera. This isn't the first time this officer has been a hero either. Welcome to CNN live Saturday. I'm Gerri Willis, in for Fredricka Whitfield. Those stories in a moment. But first, other headlines now in the news.

President Bush is urging the Senate to rise above partisan politics during the confirmation process for a new Supreme Court justice. In his weekly radio address, Mr. Bush says the nominee deserves fair treatment, a fair hearing and a fair vote. Mr. Bush has not revealed who he plans to nominate for the seat being vacated by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

And in California, an Islamic religious leader and his son arrested last month as part of a terrorism investigation have agreed to be deported to Pakistan. The two are were connected to a mosque in Lodhi, that's about 80 miles east of San Francisco. They're among five people arrested in the investigation.

Hurricane Emily is picking up steam on its approach to Jamaica with winds topping now 145 miles per hour. Mexico is ordering all tourists to leave the resort town of Cancun, for year that Emily could be headed there next. It's a very dangerous storm and for the latest we go to meteorologist Bonnie Schneider in the weather center. Bonnie, bring us up to date.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Gerri, a lot has just come in now. We have reports from aircraft reconnaissance planes that the maximum sustained winds of Hurricane Emily are now up to 155 miles per hour. You're probably thinking, that makes this storm a category five. Well almost. One hundred fifty five miles per hour or greater takes it to a category five status, and we're seeing fluctuations in the storm, so at times Emily is likely to become classified as a category five.

The good news with Emily right now is we're not seeing the eye or the center of circulation move over any land mass at present. The bad news is for Jamaica. While the storm is not making a direct hit at present, hurricane force winds extend outward 70 miles. And we're seeing these strong winds that are getting very close to the southern coast of Jamaica right now.

At present, we have tropical storm force winds, which means winds over 39 miles per hour. This is going to mean a tremendous amount of rain for Jamaica, five to eight inches. In the mountainous terrain, in the higher areas, we could see as much as 15 inches of rain squeezed out of these clouds. So it's going to be a very dangerous situation for Jamaica, even though the hurricane is not making a direct strike over the island. Just as it skirts it to the south, it will bring about those deadly winds and rains to the island. And the next stop for the storm is the Cayman Islands. And that's where hurricane warnings are in effect. Even though, as I said, right now the center of circulation is not passing directly over the island. We are feeling the force of this -- magnitude of this storm, which now has maximum winds at 155 miles per hour. It's a good thing that the storm is not passing directly over Jamaica, or this would really be a catastrophic situation.

Now as we take a look at the track, we have some new updates for you. Let's take a look at that. You'll find that what we're looking at as this storm works its way through, it's going to be making land fall eventually, first on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico or the Cancun area as a category three. So the good news is the storm is likely to weaken just a bit, downgraded to category three by 8:00 a.m. on Monday, with maximum winds at 115 miles per hour.

U.S. landfall, is that a possibility? Absolutely. Because we have our cone of uncertainty that stretches all the way from Central Coastal Texas down through Mexico. So we may see land fall in Mexico. And it may not affect the U.S. at all. But it is still too early to say. Right now the National Hurricane Center in Miami is tracking this land fall south of Brownsville, so in Mexico. However, the storm is still powerful and it may be somewhere between a category three and a category one at land fall with winds possibly even up to a hundred miles per hour. So even if the storm does track to the south of Brownsville, places like Corpus Christi and further south will feel some effect from this storm, because we're likely to see these tropical storm force winds that are strong enough to kick up the -- things out in the backyard certainly and cause some storm surge across much of the area as well.

Now we look at the big picture now, we can see Emily on the map right here south of Jamaica, still a good distance away from the island. It's almost misleading when you look at this satellite perspective. It looks like the storm is going right over the island. But actually it is just the outer bands that we're seeing right now. Still a serious situation for Jamaica, because this storm is likely to cause storm surge, especially along the southern coast, and mudslides, and that can be a major concern for residents of Jamaica.

And for those traveling and who are in the Yucatan Peninsula, certainly the next stop with the storm going in this direction affecting areas that are very popular with tourists, like Tulum, Mexico, Cozumel and Cancun. We're likely to see this happening later on as a category three with land fall expected in the Yucatan Peninsula. So things to note with this storm is, it's actually getting stronger as it moves over warmer water over the ocean right now. Into the Western Caribbean. The water temperature right in this region, south of Cuba, is about 85, 86 degrees. And then once it turns into the Gulf of Mexico, we're expecting that water temperature to be possibly even a degree or two warmer. We had some reports of that yesterday. So keep in mind, this is a major hurricane. Good news, it's not making land fall over Jamaica right now. But Jamaica certainly is being affected by Emily, with strong winds, heavy rain and, hopefully not, but possibly some mudslides. Gerri?

WILLIS: Bonnie, thanks for that report.

People in south Florida are no strangers to extreme weather. But even long time residents were shocked by what they saw yesterday. Take a look at these pictures. One man says he saw a funnel cloud dropping down from the sky as this water spout came ashore near his home in Punta Gorda. The tornado actually touched down twice in the span of about 20 minutes. But despite the jaw dropping images, only minor damages are being reported. And our thanks, of course, to affiliate WBBH for the video.

Scotland Yard has now named all four suspected bombers in last week's attack on the London subway and a bus. Another victim died overnight, bringing the death toll in the terrorist attack to 55. CNN's Matthew Chance is following the investigation and he's joining us now from Kings Cross Station in London. Matt, what are you finding?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gerri, thanks very much. Well these images, which have been released by Scotland Yard -- that the latest developments in this ongoing investigation, they're very much the images that many people in the British public were waiting to see. Police have indicated that they had this image of all four of the suspected bombers at Luton Train Station about an hour away from London where they obviously congregated and launched their attack from. These images now we have in at CNN within the last few minutes, showing all four of the suspected bombers.

All four of their names have also been confirmed by Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London police, including the youngest of the bombers, Hasib Hussain, 18 years old, now believed to be linked to the bombing of the number 30 bus. Shehzad Tanweer, 22-years-old, from Leeds, linked with the Old Gate Bombing to the east of London.

Muhammad Sadiq Khan, one of the names that's been confirmed within just the last few minutes, he was a primary schoolteacher. He was married. He had an 8-month-old son and he's been linked to the bombing in the west of London at Edgware Road.

And the fourth bomber, now named as Germaine Lindsay, the only one of the four to be of Jamaican origin, not of Pakistani origin. He's Jamaican born. He's been linked with, perhaps the most serious of the bombings in terms of death toll, because it was just underneath this area from where I'm speaking to you now between King's Cross and Brussels Square where at least 22 people were killed. So that element -- that leg of the investigation now seems to be concluded.

Earlier, police took away forensic teams, finished their work at the area around Tavistock Square where the bus bombing took place. But elsewhere across Central London, forensic teams still scouring the bomb sites in search for any clues who could give them some clue, some fingerprint as to who carried out -- not just who carried out these attacks, but who planned these attacks and who constructed the devices that caused such devastation. Gerri?

WILLIS: Well the investigation continues. Matt, what can you tell us about the biochemist now in custody in Cairo?

CHANCE: Well not a great deal. Certainly the focus of the investigation has shifted away from these forensic scenes that's we've been reporting on here to a more international dimension. Magdi al- Nashar is the name of the chemist. He's 33-years-old. He trained in biochemistry both at Leeds University in the north of England and North Carolina State University, in the U.S. where he's understood to have done at least one semester. So U.S. authorities are investigating that branch of it as well.

He was arrested by the authorities in Cairo, the Egyptian police, he's being questioned. It's believed that British agents are present with Egyptian authorities as that questioning takes place. He's being called the Chemist in Britain in the local media, at least. And so the understanding is that he may be linked to the individuals who actually constructed the explosive devices. Although, I have to say at this stage, Magdi al-Nashar is, according to the Egyptian Interior Ministry, refusing to acknowledge or rather denying that he had anything to do with these attacks.

WILLIS: Matthew Chance, thank you so much for that report.

The CIA leak investigation moves forward. Who said what when columnist Bob Novak and White House adviser Karl Rove talked about the actions of the CIA agent?

Also, cameras were rolling when a fast-moving police officer brought a potential tragedy to a safe conclusion on this bridge. We'll show you what happened.

And some are calling Lance Armstrong superman as he rolls along the Tour de France. Just a little later, CNN's Sanjay Gupta will show us how Armstrong's made himself into one of the world's greatest athletes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: And now CIA leak investigation. Republicans are insisting today that the latest turns in the case show that Karl Rove is not the leaker. Let's go to the White House and our correspondent Elaine Quijano with this new piece of a complicated puzzle.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Gerri. This really is complicated. But just to set the tone once again, let's remind our viewers it was about two years ago that a CIA operative's name was made public in the media. Now as the investigation continues about who may have leaked her identity, we're also getting some new details about communications that President Bush's chief political strategist Karl Rove was having with others at the time.

Now, the latest, the Associated Press is reporting that an e-mail was sent from Karl Rove to the now national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, in July of 2003, describing a conversation Rove had with "Time" magazine's Matt Cooper. Now, a lawyer familiar with the investigation, who we should note is sympathetic to Rove's version of events, confirms the e-mail is authentic.

According to the A.P., Rove told Hadley, quote, "Matt Cooper called to give me a heads up that he's got a welfare reform story coming," then said, "When he finished his brief heads up, he immediately launched into Niger. Isn't this damaging? Hasn't the president been hurt? I didn't take the bait, but I said if I were him, I would get 'Time' far out in on this."

Now, Rove there was referring to an op-ed piece by the operative's husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson. And in that piece, it was highly critical of the Bush administration's use of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq War. Now, Republicans have argued that Rove in those days was simply trying to steer away reporters, including "Time" magazine's Matt Cooper, away from reporting what they felt was an inaccurate story. But Democrats, of course have seized on this, calling for Karl Rove's resignation, also circulating a memo that they say outlines a quote, "troubling picture," end quote, of how the Bush administration has handled this so far.

Now, the president has, in effect, literally stood by Karl Rove. We have seen pictures for the last couple of days of the president with Karl Rove not too far away. Signals, certainly, that Karl Rove is still a member of the president's inner circle. But we should also say that only, of course, the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, has a full picture of what the grand jury testimony has been in this case, from journalists as well as administration officials who have testified.

We should also tell you, though, that there are some published reports today, including in "The New York Times," that suggest the prosecution is now turning its attention to a classified 2003 State Department memo that identified this covert operative and also identified the fact that she was married to Ambassador Joe Wilson. State Department is not commenting and Gerri, still, a lot of unanswered questions now -- Gerri.

WILLIS: Thank you, Elaine Quijano, from the White House with that report.

Most of the controversy in the CIA leak investigation focuses on who revealed Valerie Plame's identity as an undercover agent. But whether anyone will ever be prosecuted for revealing that information remains to be seen.

As Wolf Blitzer explains, the cover-up is more likely to be the source of any legal problems and it wouldn't be the first time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Martha Stewart went to prison not because she was convicted of insider trading, the original suspicion against her, but because of perjury, lying to federal authorities about her stock trades.

RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I shall resign the presidency, effective at noon tomorrow.

BLITZER: President Richard Nixon was forced to leave the White House, not because he was involved in the original Watergate break in of Democratic Party headquarters, but because he was engaged in a cover-up to try to conceal his aides' involvement.

Former Clinton Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros was forced out of office and has been the subject of a special prosecutor's criminal investigation because he admitted lying to the FBI about how much he paid a former mistress. That investigation continues to this very day, with more than $21 million federal taxpayer dollars pent.

In the world of federal investigations, the cover-up, the conspiracy or the lie is often the source of enormous criminal problems, sometimes even more so than any original action or wrongdoing.

And according to several close observers of the current investigation into the leaking of CIA officer Valerie Plame's name to the press, that could be where the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, is now focusing his attention.

The original suspicion was that there may have been a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. But that law requires clearing a very high bar for prosecution.

The disclosure must reveal the identity of a covert agent. It must be intentional. It must be made by someone with authorized access to classified information. The person disclosing the information must be aware that the information disclosed will reveal the identity of the covert agent. And he or she must know that the U.S. government was taking active steps to protect the identity of that agent.

Because of that high burden of proof, the question some are asking is whether Fitzgerald and his team may be moving beyond that to a possible perjury, obstruction of justice or conspiracy case.

Did, for example, someone lie to FBI investigators or to the federal grand jury? Did individuals conspire to come up with cover stories? There's no publicly known evidence that that occurred, but the extent of the current probe by the special prosecutor suggests those paths of inquiry are certainly possible.

The prosecutor has gone to extraordinary lengths to pursue his leads, including going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to get journalists to testify before the grand jury.

Judith Miller of "The New York Times" is currently in a northern Virginia jail for refusing to name her source or sources for an article she was researching but never published.

It's likely none of this will come clear until Fitzgerald announces his conclusions, either leading towards indictments or a big never mind. He was appointed December 30, 2003.

In the end, many close observers say, don't be surprised if there are indictments but no charge of violating that original 1982 disclosure law. If that happens, it will again prove an old Washington maxim: the cover-up is always worse than the crime.

Wolf Blitzer, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: One person embedded in the CIA leak controversy is "Time" magazine reporter Matthew Cooper. Now, you can hear his perspective here tomorrow on a special one-hour edition of "RELIABLE SOURCES." That's tomorrow morning at 11:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

It looked like something out of a bad movie. But this chase scene was very real. We'll have the latest on the big rig that led police through the streets of Los Angeles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WILLIS: Welcome back to CNN LIVE SATURDAY. I'm Gerri Willis. A Virginia police officer is credited with saving a life and just in the nick of time. The drama started when a man threatened to jump from a bridge over a busy interstate highway. Reporter Jeremy Crider with our affiliate WSLS has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY CRIDER, WSLS REPORTER: Roanoke City police officer Jay A. Krauts (ph) is used to buckling in and staying busy, but during his drive Friday night.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We received a call of a man that was getting ready to jump off a bridge.

CRIDER: So Krauts and city police took off for the Elm Avenue Bridge. They showed up to this, the man on the left of your screen sitting on the side of the bridge, threatening to throw himself off.

(on camera): The drop more than 20 feet here on the interstate 581.

(voice-over): A busy road full of weekend traffic.

SGT. MAC BABB, ROANOKE POLICE DEPARTMENT: His intent was to hurt himself, but it certainly could have hurt other people at the same time. CRIDER: The officers tried to talk him down, it didn't work.

BABB: He said good-bye, fellas.

CRIDER: Now watch the other officers distract the man as Krauts (ph) comes running in behind him. He wraps his arms around his waist just as the man leans forward to fall.

BABB: He had just reached the breaking point and had had enough.

CRIDER: Enough to throw himself into traffic. Watch it again in slow motion. Officer Krauts grabs the man just in the nick of time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's off the bridge. 265, we have subject in custody.

CRIDER: Other officers help pull the man on to the bridge. He's handcuffed and on his way to the hospital.

BABB: He was a little angry with me that we did save him. But, you know, I said you're -- I just told him -- I said, it's not going to happen if I can intervene.

CRIDER: The third time Officer Krauts has helped prevent an attempted suicide on a Roanoke Bridge.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIS: That report from Jeremy Crider with our affiliate WSLS. Thank you, Jeremy.

Here are some other stories making news across America this Saturday. Two men are jailed in L.A. today. They're accused of stealing a big rig and leading police on a high-speed chase. It all came to an end four hours later. A spike strip punctured one of the truck's tires.

And a big 12-foot Florida gator goes on the attack, leaving a Port Charlotte man dead. The incident happened while Kevin Murray was swimming in a canal. The alligator was captured and killed.

Police in Pittsburgh are charging a 20-year-old art student with reckless endangerment. Brian Crawford and his buddies videotaped him doing some really risky maneuvers. You can see here. He says he wanted a resume tape to get into stunt man school.

And if bigger is better, this one is a keeper. Baby Destiny was born this week in Kentucky, checking in at a whopping 14 pounds, 3 ounces. And she wasn't even full term. Destiny's full name is practically as big as her cheeks. Here we go. Destiny Elaine Patricia Georgia Lynn Tanner. Welcome.

Life has changed a lot for people in London. Young Muslims are among those profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks. Find out what they are facing as they try to move on with their lives.

And later, a new chapter in the Harry Potter mania has some critics worried about the impact on their children.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com