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CNN Live Saturday

Space Shuttle Maintenance; London Attempted Bombing Suspects Captured; President Bush's Agenda; Attempted Armed Robbery in Washington D.C.; Uzbekistan Want U.S. Military Out; Senate Changes Daylight Savings Time

Aired July 30, 2005 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, live, two shuttle astronauts exploring the world outside their space craft. We're live on how the mission is unfolding.
Also, a fast response by British authorities, all four bombing suspects now in custody. This hour a look at what the FBI can learn from London's experience.

And she fought for civil rights in the '60s and that led to her death. This hour, you'll hear the story of Viola Liuzzo. Her daughter will join us live.

Welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A busy hour straight ahead. But, first, now "In the News."

Two American soldiers and an Afghan interceptor were wounded earlier today by a roadside bomb in central Afghanistan. Coalition officials say they're injuries were not serious. The incident happened while the troops were on a security patrol.

In California, a hiking trip turns tragic for a group of boy scouts. They were hiking on Mount Whitney when a storm rolled in. They tried to find shelter but lightning struck killing the assistant scout master and a 13-year-old scout.

Near Los Angeles, more than a dozen people were hospitalized after two roller coaster trains collided. It happened at Disney's California Adventure theme park. Officials say at least 13 adults and two children were slightly hurt. It was the second accident in four months at a Disney park in southern California.

We begin by taking you 224 miles above the earth. Two shuttle astronauts have been working outside the international space station. They're making some repairs and also performing some tests. CNN's John Zarrella has been following the space walk from the Johnson Space Center in Houston and he joins us now.

Hi, John.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka. Well, you know, for Soichi Noguchi, the Japanese astronaut, and Steve Robinson, the U.S. astronaut, this was their first space walk so they're rookies as far as that goes and it had to be a great experience. You know, we always like to show those fabulous pictures and you can see right there live from one of the helmet cameras of one of the two astronauts as they're wrapping up, finishing up some last-minute cleanup and stowage in the shuttle's cargo bay. There is less than 15 minutes to go, right now, in what was scheduled to be a 6-1/2 hour space walk so they should be regressing back inside the hatch in just a few minutes now as they've wrapped up what can only be deemed a very, very successful 6-1/2 hour space walk.

We love to show those great pictures of spectacular images. And the first one out of the box is of Steve Robinson as he was going hand over hand down the space station handrail and falling way below him, of course, an image of the earth. That was just a spectacular view as they wrapped up the space walk.

Now, of course, one of the primary objectives here was to do some fix-up and odds and ends that had to be done. And what they had to replace in one instance was an antenna that had failed on the space station. That was done pretty quickly. The big prize today was practicing techniques that might be used in the future by space- walking astronauts if tiles damaged on ascent had to be done in space. So, the two astronauts worked in the shuttle's cargo bay practicing with new materials and new techniques. In one instance, they pulled out a caulk gun and started caulking what were some damaged tiles that had been brought up to test with, sample tiles. They used a caulk gun and they also began with what was a spatula to sort of cure that material in space. They said it looked to them to be somewhat like pizza dough.

The other part of the experiment was they used what looked like a shoe polish dabber to repair tiles in space. Everything appeared to work very, very well for the astronauts in this space walk, those missions going well. Expecting a press conference here in about an hour at the Johnson Space Flight Center where I'm sure they will talk about out elated they were at the success of this space walk. And after a couple of down days to have a very successful day like today, has to be reassuring and feel real good for the mission management team, here -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And John, what about other observations of potential damage to the skin of "Discovery" all taking part as a result of the Tuesday launch?

ZARRELLA: Right, exactly. They did some inspections using cameras and lasers yesterday. They continued those inspections today as the space walk was going on. The other astronauts on "Discovery" and in the space station used the robotic arm, one of the robotic arms to get beneath the belly of "Discovery" and continue looking at potential targets that they wanted to check out to see if there was any damage that could be serious. As far as we know at this point, everything looks very, very clean on the shuttle "Discovery" -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, John Zarrella thanks so much, in Houston.

Well, you can follow "Discovery's mission. Launch a free video and learn all about the shuttle's astronauts by logging in to CNN.com/space.

In the fight for Iraq: Insurgents apparently target civic groups meeting inside the National Theater in Baghdad. A suicide car bomb exploded outside the theater killing at least six people, wounding 26 others. Elsewhere, an American soldier and Iraqi civilian were killed by a roadside bomb.

South in Basra, two private security guards killed when a roadside bomb exploded near a British embassy convoy. Two children were injured in that attack.

Investigators in Britain say they...

(LOUD MUSIC)

Behind the recent terrorist attacks: Police say all four suspects in the July 21 attempted bombings are in custody. Two men were captured yesterday when police raided a London apartment. No shots were fired. Instead, police used tear gas to end the three-hour standoff.

A third suspect was captured in Rome. Police there confiscated computer equipment and other evidence. CNN's senior national correspondent, Nic Robertson has more from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Incredible pictures. Hands on his head and shirtless, the man police say identified himself as Ibrahim Mukhtar Said is captured. They say he tried to detonate a bomb on a London bus last week. Neighbors saw it all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After -- come out the flat with your underwear on and your arms up in the air. He was then saying to them, "How do I know you're not going to shoot me?"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going, please! Keep moving back.

ROBERTSON: A day of massive police raids in London and Rome ending in the capture of Britain's three most wanted men. Now, all four suspects in last week's failed bombings are in police captivity. It began in West London, two raids a mile apart.

(SHOTS FIRING)

ROBERTSON: The most dramatic caught on camera as police storm a flat in the low-rent Peabody Housing Estate. Incredibly, two floors below, a young child stumbles across the raid. She approaches to befriend the police dog. Another child joins, then an adult appears. Eventually, the police officer is forced to back off. The (UNINTELLIGIBLE) all is not going well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The police inside, to say to him, you know, like you need to maintain contact with us, you need to come out on the street. He stopped talking to them and then a more aggressive police officer came on the loud speaker.

ROBERTSON: White smoke from tear gas fired by the police begins to emerge from the flat, followed by Ibrahim and the man police identify as Ramsey Muhammad. He appears to be the man who, according to police, tried to detonate a bomb at the Oval Tube Station last week.

A mile away in an apparently coordinated raid in the more upscale Notting Hill neighborhood police netted another man in connection with the failed bombing. At about the same time in Rome, the fourth and final suspect of last week's failed attacks was arrested. A man police now identify as Hussain Osman whom they previously identified as suspect No. 4. They say he tried to detonate his bomb on a tube train in Shepherd's Bush.

PETER CLARKE, DEPUTY POLICE COMMISSIONER: A European arrest warrant has been issued and we will be seeking the return of that man to this country.

ROBERTSON (on camera): The arrest here should significantly increase the possibility police will be able to catch the people behind the bombers. But they caution, there is still a possibility other terror cells may strike.

Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: The swift execution of the British investigation raises an interesting question: How might a similar investigation in the states play out? Coming up a little later, CNN's Brian Todd looks at how legal and technological differences could impact a potential similar manhunt in the United States.

President Bush is in Washington area hospital this morning getting a routine checkup. This checkup is just one thing on Mr. Bush's agenda today. Let's get an update now from CNN's Elaine Quijano at the White House -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you Fredricka. We're not expecting to get any information on the checkup until later this afternoon. But another agenda item the president could be looking at this weekend could be deciding what to do about John Bolton, that of course, his nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Now, two senior administration officials say the president could issue a recess appointment as soon as early next week. CNN first reported this a couple of days ago, but Bolton's nomination has been stalled by democrats who want documents relating to his time at the State Department. The White House hasn't budged citing executive privilege. More recently, some democrats say they're concerned about Bolton incorrectly filling out a questionnaire for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but Bolton continues to have the support of the Bush administration and officials here maintain he is the right person to shake up the U.N.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We have outlined the comprehensive reforms that we want to see put in place to make sure the United Nation is an effective multi lateral organization and it's a critical time to be moving forward on this. The United Nations will be having their general assembly meeting in September and it's important that we get our permanent representative in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Meantime on the domestic front, President Bush, he enjoyed a string of legislative victories this week. At the same time, though, his approval rating dropped according to the latest Gallup poll released yesterday. 44 percent of people saying they approve of how the president is handling his job. That's down five points from earlier this month. Nevertheless, the president, after making a rare visit to Capitol Hill this week can chalk up a few wins before leaving for the August break. Congress passed an energy bill, a highway bill, and a Central American free trade agreement. The Senate also moved forward on reauthorizing many of the provisions of the Patriot Act which the president believes provides critical tools for law enforcement.

At the same time though, not all of the news this week is good for president. The No. 1 republican in the Senate, that you see there, Bill Frist, breaking with the president saying he now supports lifting restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Despite losing that support, though, Fredricka, there have been no indications on this side of Pennsylvania Avenue that President Bush is backing off of his previous veto threat on that issue -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Elaine Quijano at the White House, thanks so much.

Well, coming up a fight for life is captured on a security camera. We'll here from those who survived straight ahead.

An act of congress determines what time the sun sets. Is everyone happy with the schedule?

And the people of Niger struggle with famine. We'll have a report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well welcome back to CNN LIVE SATURDAY, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And attempted armed robbery takes a deadly turn in Washington D.C. Three men being held at gunpoint in an apartment building lobby phone fought back. Their life and death struggle was caught all on tape. Dave Statter with our affiliate WUSA brings us the gripping details. A warning tough, to some viewers, you might find the images disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVE STATTER, WUSA REPORTER (voice-over): Twenty-two year old Servando (ph) Hernandez talking with his buddies at their apartment building on 15th Street NW. It is very early Saturday morning and the men had just returned from a late dinner. In one of the final acts of his young life, Servando Hernandez opens the locked lobby door to let a man in. Police now know the man at 19-year-old Malcolm Piercehaul (PH) of Northwest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My friend opened the door.

STATTER: Luis Solito (PH) and Pablo Klemico (PH) are two of the other men on the tape. They say Piercehaul came in, took the elevator up, and then walked down the stairs, pulled a gun, and demanded money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Say, "Hey, give me the money."

STATTER: The fourth man, Pablo Klemico's (PH) cousin starts fighting with the gunman and the others join in. It appears that early in the fight Klemico's cousin is shot twice. The cousin is now recovering from his wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One for here, one stomach.

STATTER: The fight continues and it's at this point we stop the tape. Just before the shot that hit Servando Hernandez in the head and kills him. After Hernandez falls to the ground, Luis Solito and Pablo Klemico keep on fighting. It's a violent struggle over control of the gun. That's Luis trying to take the gun away and Pablo pulling the man's hair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My friend take the hair. I take the gun.

STATTER: The struggle moves to the steps. If you look closely in the bottom right of the screen you will see another shot is fired. It almost hits Luis Solito in the head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: T (UNINTELLIGIBLE) to my (UNINTELLIGIBLE) my faceshot. I not -- I now -- no no good my ear.

STATTER: Pablo Klemico says during the fight the man bit his finger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right here.

STATTER: More punches, more kicks, more struggling. It takes a while but overtly Solito and Klemico get the upper hand. Luis Solito gets the gun and is now pointing it at the man that killed one of his friends and wounded the other. The man runs out the door south on 15th Street with Pablo giving chase.

(ON CAMERA): You could have been killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

STATTER: You could have been killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, he want to kill me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Police identify the robbery suspect as Malcolm Piercehaul and arrest him. His attorneys are challenging the videotape evidence.

And now this just in, a possible setback in the U.S. war against terrorism. The country of Uzbekistan, its government tells the U.S. that a key military installation will have to be closed in that country. Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is on the telephone with more on this.

And Barbara, how critical is this notice?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a very delicate situation, Fredricka, for the United States military. The government of Uzbekistan yesterday informed the Bush administration they want the U.S. military in their country to pack up and move out. The U.S. had been using an air base known as K-2. There have been somewhat less than a thousand troops there, mainly Air Force. It was a valuable place for cargo flights, refueling, going into -- in and out of Afghanistan. Uzbekistan, a vital ally in the war on terrorism, but relations with the two countries have been deteriorating for months now since the May uprising by dissidents in Uzbekistan and a very brutal crackdown by the government there. The U.S. had expressed a lot of concern. There was going to be an investigation into human rights violations. The government of Uzbekistan was really opposing that and have been opposing any efforts to look into what had been going on in their country. So somewhat, officials tell us, in retaliation, they had already cut back on U.S. military operations, but, now, as of yesterday, they have told the U.S. to pack up and leave. And officials we have talked to, say that will happen, that if Uzbekistan no longer wants the U.S. military in their country, they will, indeed, pack up and go.

WHITFIELD: And quickly, Barbara, the timetable then?

STARR: Well, the notice from the Uzbekistan government is that the U.S. military needs to be out of their country within 180 days. Officials tell us they've already begun the planning to do that. That they thought this might be coming, they had moved some operations to other nearby countries and now as of today, they are making plans to take the rest of the U.S. military out of that country and move their operations to surrounding countries -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Barbara Starr, thanks so much for that update.

Coming up, the long days of summer are going to last a bit longer. But everyone is happy about the change in the daylight savings schedule. Will it really make things better or most? For most of us, worse?

With such rapid arrests following last week's attempted terror attacks in London, what lessons might U.S. investigators be learning?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: The Senate has approved a massive energy bill. It is meant to conserve energy, revive U.S. sources of fuel, and provide tax breaks. The legislation also extends daylight savings time a full month beginning in 2007. Many farmers and other people are not so happy with that provision. CNN's Chris Huntington explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's dawn at the Dean Crest Dairy Farm in Blairstown, New Jersey. That's just before 6:00 a.m. Eastern daylight time. Burt Dean's been working for half an hour and so has his son, Bill. Their schedule is set by their dairy cows. Clock time is an afterthought. So, they aren't bowled over by the prospect of an extra four weeks of daylight saving time.

BURT DEAN, DAIRY FARMER: I don't think it makes that much difference, really.

BILL DEAN, DAIRY FARMER: It doesn't matter if it's light out or dark out because the cows have to be milked every 12 hours.

HUNTINGTON (on camera): In the past, farmers opposed daylight savings because it but their sun-driven schedules even more out of sync with everyone else. These days, modern farmers simply shrug and say that is unlikely to help them conserve energy.

(voice-over): The Dean's farm, like most, is energy intensive, no matter what time it is. In fact, long summer days require more power to keep the cows and the milk cool, so extending daylight hours is unlikely to help. U.S. airline industry is in a flat saying the change would put them out of sync with international schedules. Create chaos, cost U.S. carriers $150 million a year and disrupt half a million passengers.

JAMES C. MAY, AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: They're either going to have to sit around airports an hour longer than they are used to sitting around or miss their connections altogether.

HUNTINGTON: The most serious objection to extended daylight saving come from parents. The National PTA is concerned for an extra four weeks a year children would wait even longer in the dark for their morning school buses. The rational for daylight savings is that it saves energy. Daylight time was first adopted during World War I primarily to save sole and again during World War II to save fuel. It was extended in '74 and '75 to save oil. Members of congress pushing the extension cite a 1975 government study that found that extending daylight saving it cut U.S. energy consumption by about one percent. That would now be about 200,000 barrels of oil a day based on the Energy Department statistics. David Preraur who worked on that study is not do sure its 30-year-old conclusions still hold.

DAVID PRERAUR, AUTHOR "SEIZE THE DAYLIGHT": That study was comprehensive at the time 37 it did find a saving of one percent in energy and it did not identify any increase in travel. However, of course, things may well have changed. HUNTINGTON: Things have changed. The Department of Energy does not stand by that study and is expected to conduct a new one. There is one benefit that would definitely come from extending daylight saving, an extra hour of daylight on Halloween. So children can look forward to trick or treating until the cows come home!

Chris Huntington, CNN, Blairstown, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Coming up, more than 800,000 children are starving. What can be done to save the people of Niger? Straight ahead, we'll take you to a place most of the world knows very little about.

And she was a white woman who believed actively in America's civil rights movement. Her commitment got her killed. I'll talk to Viola Liuzzo's daughter later on CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories now at the bottom of the hour. The shuttle astronauts get to work in making repairs to the International Space Station. It's the first of three scheduled space walks planned for "Discovery's crew. NASA manages could announce today whether the shuttle can return to earth as is, or if it might need repairs.

A suicide car bomber targets civic groups meeting in Iraq's National Theater. At least six people are dead and 26 other wounded.

Elsewhere in Baghdad an American soldier and an Iraqi civilian were killed in a roadside bombing.

London terror suspect Hussain Osman appeared at en extradition hearing in Rome today. His lawyers say the process could take months. Italian authorities are investigating whether attacks were being planned against Italy.

In the African country of Niger, people are struggling to find food in the midst of a growing famine. Many are also praying for rain inthe midst of a devestating drought. More than three-and-a-half million people including 800,000 children are on the brink of starvation in Niger. CNN's Jeff Koinange gives us this look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the road in the countryside, in one of the world's poorest nations. This is rural Niger, a land littered with contradictions, where both crops and cattle abound while a nation faces one of its worst famines in recent memory.

Village after village looks empty and abandoned. Many have opted for the big cities where aid agencies distribute food. Those two weak to walk scratch the ground for scraps. Around here, a handful of grain can often go a long way. Furterh up field, communities live in abject poverty, where the strong have to fend for the weak, the young fending for the old.

Seventy-five-year-old Abdulla Omar is so weak from hunger, he can hardly walk. His 10-year-old daughter Amina (ph), has to pound the family's few remaining grains in fear that her father will starve to death.

"I can't remember the last time we ate. We are so hungry," he says. Much of their livestock has been decimated by a famine that's killed thousands and threatens millions more.

(on camera): Now, what's deceiving about this scene here, is that it all looks so green and fertile, but scratch a bit of this surface here and you'll find that these soils are bone dry.

Now, speaking of bones, scenes that are repeated across this land: The bones of dead horses, donkeys and cows. An indicator the famine has been going on for quite a while with little on no relief in site.

(voice-over): Ousmane Abubakar is a nomadic herdsman who grazes his fast-thinning herd near the carcasses of his 20 dead cows. He says cattle are his life, providing much-needed food for his two wives and nine children.

"What else can I do? I've been herding cattle for many years. I can't do anything else," he says. The aid agency, Oxfam, may have found a solution to the dying herds. It's buying cattle from local herdsmen at a premium and converting the herds into meat and then giving it back to the community under a work-for-food program. A program that's getting food where it's needed most.

LOUIS BELANGER, OXFAM SPOKESMAN: So, it's basically, you know, bringing relief to some of the nomadic communities which are very much affected, because of the famine, because they've lost most of their herds.

KOINANGE: This enables hundreds of starving villagers like Parti Belari, to get the minimum $5 food vouchers from feeding centers like this one under a tree, in the middle of nowhere.

She happily receives her rice from Pakistan, sugar from Brazil, cooking oil and tea from China, "I am so happy," she says. "Without this, we would surely die," enough food to feed her five children for only a few days, as they await long-overdue rains.

BELANGER: The worst-case scenario for Niger here today is if there is no rain in the next two or three weeks, you're looking at a third year in a row with a very bad harvest and this would just bring disaster to the country.

KOINANGER: A disaster many here are hoping they can still avert in a land as unforgiving as it is unrelenting.

Jeff Koinange, CNN, Azagor, Niger.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WHITFIELD: And stay with CNN. We're going to continue to spotlight the famine in Niger. We'll look at the responsibility of the international community. Why has relief been so slow in arriving and what are the solutions to the crises? We'll address some of those questions and more today at 2:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

CNN "Security Watch:" The speedy arrest in the failed terror attacks on London's transit system raises a vital question: Would U.S. officials be able to respond as quickly as their British counterparts, in a similar scenario? CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Four suspects wrapped up in eight days. One as far away as Rome. Impressive even for a former Scotland Yard investigator.

PETER POWER, FMR. SCOTLAND YARD INVESTIGATOR: It's moving so quickly. In my experience, I've never seen an investigation go as fast as this.

TODD: With those compliments, comparisons. Could U.S. law enforcement move this fast? Officials past and present are taking a hard look at London.

DEPUTY CHIEF MICHAEL BERKOW, L.A. POLICE: There's a tremendous amount of evidence left behind by the nature of the event and so, as you work through these events, methodically, systemically and based on best investigative practices, you are going to have leads and that's exactly what happened in London and allowed them to move very quickly just as we had in the States.

TODD: We spoke to three former FBI counter-terrorism officials who say given similar evidence and manpower, U.S. agents could pull this off with equal efficiency.

GEORGE BAURIES, FMR. FBI COUNTERTERROR OFFICIAL: Since 9-11, there's been an increase in police training through the FBI, through the Joint Terrorism Task Force and increased counter-terrorism training that extends to police officers, county officers and state troopers across the United States and that allows for additional resources that the FBI can utilize for a crisis event.

TODD: But they also point out some key differences. In England, they say, the wide-spread presence of surveillance cameras is crucial. One former officials says: In England, it's possible the movement of any of these suspects could have been traced from subway stations or buses backward. Maybe even to the residences they left with cameras at every corner.

In U.S. law enforcement, they say, there's been a movement away from surveillance cameras, because of civil liberties concerns. The intensity of labor they require and because of high-tech sensors now being developed in the U.S. to detect strange body movements, chemical and biological agents. But experts are taking another look, given recent events in Britain. BAURIES: The success that the British authorities are having since the utilization of a CCT coverage, I think the United States is going to have to look at potentially maybe expanding or increasing the aggressiveness of which their pursuing these technologies.

TODD (on camera): Some other key investigative difference, say these experts, Great Britain is a much more compact country than the U.S., with more densely-populated, more easily-penetrated communities. ANd they point out legal differences. In Britain, for instance, law enforcement agents don't always need search warrants to enter property and make arrests.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for the latest information day and night.

Coming up: She was the only white woman killed for taking part in the civil rights movement. Next, I'll speak with the daughter of Viola Liuzzo, a brave woman who died for her belief.

And later, you'll hear from some brave Iraqis who tried to rise up against Saddam Hussein and paid the ultimate price. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Just moments ago, President Bush left the Bethesda Naval Medical Center for his routine checkup. We don't know his official condition, but we do know he was well enough to make some remarks upon discharge. He talked about visiting troops there at the hospital, as well as talking about the stalled confirmation hearings of John Bolton. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just finished two things. One, I had my physical and I'm feeling pretty good. It's a great hospital to come to to get your physical. But I also visited with some brave Marines who have been wounded. It's a remarkable experience to meet with these incredibly courageous souls who keep their spirit.

I understand why they're serving their country. I met with their parents. I met with the healers that work here at Bethesda. It's such a great credit to our country to have a place such as this. So, I want to thank you for having me and thanks for giving me my physical.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're welcome sir.

BUSH: Thank you. All right. Is he going to put out the return? I think you'll find it was pretty good. QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: President Bush there, leaving the Bethesda Naval Medical Center after getting, what he says, a good checkup. He feels good.

All right. When we come back after this break, a conversation with the daughter of a slain freedom fighter, as we approach the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act.

(WEATHER REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Johnson 40 years ago next week. Many Americans paid a terrible price to support the act, that included Viola Liuzzo and her family. She saw images of police attacking marchers in Alabama. The Michigan housewife then went to Alabama to take part in a second Selma-to-Montgomery march, but she never made it back home. Her story is told in a new "Court TV" documentary called "Home of the Brave."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Her name was Viola Liuzzo. A Teamsters wife and mother of five. She left her home in Detroit to volunteer in a civil rights march in Alabama and was brutally murdered just a week after she arrived.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Viola Liuzzo's daughter Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe, took part in the documentary and joins us now to talk about what happened. Good to see you, Mary. It would seem very difficult to talk about, publicly, this family tragedy, but did you find it would be worse, perhaps not to talk about it at all?

MARY LIUZZO LILLEBOE, VICTIM'S DAUGHTER: That's interesting that you bring that up, because there were many, many years where my sisters and brothers and I had chose for the most part, not to talk about it. But it had come to a point in my life and perhaps all of our lives, where we needed to find our voices again and speak out and carry on the legacy of my mother and of all those people that made that sacrifice 40 years ago.

WHITFIELD: Why is that? Because you felt like this part of history had not been told?

LILLEBOE: I absolutely felt that there were certain parts of it that hadn't been told and that people -- and in general young people, but also people who had forgotten needed to be reminded of the cost that was paid, the lives that were lost, the people that suffered, in order to protect this valuable Constitutional right of ours to vote; all of us. WHITFIELD: Your mom was a mother of five living in Detroit. How did she become a freedom fighter and you, at the time, were 17. I imagine you have rather vivid memories of that part of her life which consequently, ended up resulting in her death.

LILLEBOE: You know, she never became a freedom fighter in the sense that she decided one day to become politically active. It was the way we had been raised and it was not surprising to any of us that she decided to go down to Selma. She was born -- well, was raised in the South and so, it didn't surprise us that she was going to do it.

WHITFIELD: And then she did take it upon herself to be a part of it. How were you and your siblings informed that something tragic had taken place, that she had been killed and what later turned out to reveal by Klansmen?

LILLEBOE: She called us every night around dinner-time and checked in and she had called that night also to let us know that the march was over and it was successful and that she would be coming home.

And we, my brothers in particular, sort of celebrated that a bit and my father cautioned us that it wasn't over. And then, later that night, there was a phone call saying that something had happened to her and my father said, "is she all right?" and they said, "Well, she's dead. That's all we know."

WHITFIELD: And then, after upon learning of her death and then coping as children with the loss of your mother, you also then had to endure a smear campaign of sorts right? A lot of name-calling being cast upon your family as a result of her involvement with the civil rights movement. Tell me a little bit about what happened and how you all coped.

LILLEBOE: Well, there began to be some odd events. We received a magazine that -- published by the Klan that had police photos of my mom's body on it. We had crosses burned in our yard. The "Ladies Home Journal" took a survey of American women and asked the question of whether she had the right to leave her family and go down south and participate in this march. Seventy-two percent of them said, "no."

So, the image was being created of a mother who abandoned her children to go off and was presented as go off and it was -- she was a whore and, you know, everything that you could think of. And I don't know that we did cope. And that's why the making of this film, "Home of the Brave," and the program "Court TV" has started to celebrate the passing of the act, has been such a precious personal victory for my family and I believe for everybody that was involved at that time.

WHITFIELD: And you, your two brothers and two sisters, have been very intimately involved in this project. You even visited Selma, correct? In order to help make this story or help tell this story. Tell me about what you experienced in this day and age, nearly four decades, after your mother's death there?

LILLEBOE: Well, it was -- it was an event, a journey that I was ready for. I basically retraced my mother's journey from Detroit to Alabama. And went to Alabama specifically to speak to the people who had been there, people who had spent time with my mom on those last days of her life, and get to know -- get to be reacquainted with the mother I had had for 17 years. Because we didn't just lose our mother through death, but she was replaced with this tragedy, with this FBI cover-up smear campaign, with so many things. And through this journey, for me personally, I was able to reconnect with my mother and, in some way, give her her work and that tremendously miraculous event to everyone.

WHITFIELD:: And this, it sounds, had to be very painful, yet at the same time, cathartic journey. And all that compounded by the fact you end up learning there was an FBI file on your mother, as was compiled of a number of Freedom Fighters and other civil rights activists?

LILLEBOE: Right. In the FBI files on my mother, which her file, after she was killed, was larger than the file on the Klan at that time. And in that, there's references to Dr. King and to everybody who was being attempted to be smeared by Hoover, primarily, when we say the FBI we're talking about J. Edgar Hoover at that time. So this week, 40 years later, I will be in the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama, along with the largest gathering of people who were in the march in 1965, to celebrate the passing of that act. And to me, it's just so extraordinary that those people who were turned away 40 years ago will be sitting there together, as I will, as the representative of my mother all these years later.

WHITFIELD:: And that will be an extraordinary moment just as it is an extraordinary story to be seen on Court TV. Thanks so much, Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe. Thanks so much for telling your story and the story of your mother.

LILLEBOE: Thank you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD:: Coming up, they called him the Hitman. Now a lot of friends of boxer Thomas Hearns is worried about him getting hit. We will hear from this aging boxer who is determined to fight again, right after this break. You're watching CNN LIVE SATURDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD:: Author F. Scott Fitzgerald once said there are no second acts in American life. But he might not have known many boxers. Forty-six-year-old Thomas Hearns joins a long list of fighters trying to shake off the rust after years out of the ring. Larry Smith has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The calendar says that Thomas Hearns hasn't fought in five years. The critics say that at 46-years-old, he should never fight again. But the doctors say that he has passed all of his tests, so Hearns says he will return to the ring on Saturday night. THOMAS HEARNS, PROFESSIONAL BOXER: I appreciate all my support that people of the city love me and have some concerns about me being in the ring. I appreciate that. But, yet, still, I got to do what I want to do.

SMITH: What Hearns wants is a record eighth world title, but the shadow he is boxing is bigger than ever. A seven-time champion in his 23-year career, Hearns may be best remembered for losing two of the most famous fights of all time ,to Marvin Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard. His last fight was also a lost to little known Neriah (ph) Grant in 2000. Hearns' sprained ankle ended that fight, and he has been retired since. Michigan Boxing Commissioner Brad Wright and even Hearns' longtime trainer Emmanuael Stewart have said he should stay that way.

HEARNS: I've done everything that was asked of me. I went and took all the EKGs and all the brain scans they wanted. I can't help it if they aren't satisfied with the way it came out. I'm a healthy man. You know? So why shouldn't I be able to fight?

HENRY HILL, HEARNS' TRAINER: You know, everybody's saying, well, Tommy's going to do this. Why don't you talk Tommy out of fighting. No. I'm not talking Tommy out of nothing. Tommy is a grown man. Tommy makes his own decisions.

SMITH: But Hearns does have someone looking after him in training, his son Ronald who is 6-0 in his own career and will be fighting before his father in Detroit.

RONALD HEARNS, HEARNS' SON: There's no slacking, so while he's up there training, I'm on him like his trainer. Dad, you got to do this, you got to do that.

SMITH: Ronald graduated from American University with a degree in criminal justice before deciding to Dole out his punishments in the ring. Boxing is not the career his father wanted for him, fearing he would get hurt. But now it is the son who fears the father's fate in the ring.

R. HEARNS: I told him in my opinion, I said, Dad, if you go into this fight, if you look good then you go to the next fight. But if not, Dad, I would like to see you to hang it up. I mean, if I don't like what I see, I'm going to be the man who's going to go out there and tell him because he'll listen to me. We have that type of relationship.

SMITH: That bond may determine if Thomas Hearns final fight is in the ring or out of it. Larry Smith, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD:: Still to come on CNN, "IN THE MONEY" at 2:00 Eastern, finding solutions to the crisis in Niger. At 3:00 Eastern a CNN special, Warsaw Rising. But first Jack Cafferty with a preview of "IN THE MONEY." JACK CAFFERTY, CNN HOST: Thanks. Coming up on "IN THE MONEY," the check's in the mail. We'll look at how terrorists get their cash and how to stop it.

Plus, putting the fat cats on a diet. One Congressman thinks smaller CEO pay checks might actually help the American economy.

And the difference between saving and saving smart. If you're putting aside too much money for retirement? That's right, maybe too much.

All that and more, right after this quick check of the headlines.

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