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Rumors Abound on Dick Cheney as V.P. Choice; Defense Presses Detective in Scott Peterson Trial
Aired July 15, 2004 - 14:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM.... And I'm Carol Lin.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half-hour. There's a knock at the door, you open it up, there's Osama bin Laden? A former in-law of the Al Qaeda terrorist recounts what happened when she met him face to face. Her story moments away.
LIN: And mistrial? Lawyers for Scott Peterson claim a lying detective is grounds to throw out the case. We're live on that story straight ahead. First, here's what's happening in the news.
PHILLIPS: Another Saudi militant gives himself up. Sources say Ibrahim al-Harbi surrendered to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Two days ago, another militant gave himself up to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, both taking advantage of a 30-day offer of leniency.
Within the past hour, NASA outlined plans to launch its first mission to the planet Mercury in 30 years. That mission, called "Messenger," is scheduled to liftoff August 2nd. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mercury January 2008. "Messenger" will study the composition and characteristics of Mercury's surface from orbit.
And the prisoner abuse scandal back in the spotlight. Lawmakers want the former head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, Paul Bremer, to testify. Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner is planning another public hearing next week. We're keeping you informed. CNN, the most trusted name in news.
LIN: So you heard the one about Dick Cheney? There's a theory running around Washington that Cheney may be dropped from the Bush presidential ticket. "The New York Times" put it -- put that story on its front page this morning. The "Times" says it's farfetched, but the clamor got so loud that Cheney had to address the issue in an interview due to be broadcast on C-SPAN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He has made it very clear that he wants me to run again. The way I got here in the first place was he persuaded me four years ago that I was the man he wanted in that post, not just as a candidate but as somebody to be a part of the governing team. And he's been very clear doesn't want to break up the team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, the Bush-Cheney campaign calls the rumors about Cheney nothing more than inside the beltway coffee talk. So how did it end up on the front page of one of the nation's most premier newspapers?
Howard Kurtz, host of -- host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," is here to sort all that out.
Howard, good to see you.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.
Take a look at the headline in "The New York Times." Specifically it reads "Hear the Rumor about Dick Cheney." What is a story like this doing on the front page of "The New York Times"?
KURTZ: I have been asking myself that very question. If it is coffee talk, it's over-caffeinated.
Look, rumors -- I'm not a big fan of putting rumors in the newspaper. I know a lot of juicy rumors right now that I'm not going to repeat on the air, because I can't prove them.
Obviously, the "Times" couched this as a rumor. And it would be one thing to mention it as a kind of a paragraph or two inside a political story. But to give it an above the fold prominence is helping to put it out there. I think somebody's judgment has just kind of wilted in the July heat here.
LIN: Judgment or agenda?
KURTZ: Well, in a larger sense, the press is pushing -- you know, having -- no longer having John Kerry to pursue on the veepstakes question, the press is pushing this story. Will Cheney be dropped? Is he a liability?
The media have commissioned polls showing that Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice would be a stronger running mate.
There's just one problem with this media-driven story line, and that is there's absolutely no evidence that the president is reconsidering Cheney as his running mate. Cheney has said so. Bush has said to so. We're in denial. We don't want to accept these denials.
LIN: But it's interesting that it's having such an impact already. John Kerry on the Don Imus, "Imus in the Morning" radio show had this to say about that story.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't tell you whether there's any substance to it, but I'll tell you what it will mean. It will mean that the president's word once again doesn't mean anything. That he's the biggest -- that he himself is the flip- flopper of all flip-floppers, because he's been touting how important Dick Cheney is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: I mean, the fact is, Howard, John Kerry would not have been asked that question if it wasn't on the front page of "The New York Times."
KURTZ: Exactly. And that's how these things often get put into play.
It's mostly Democrats who are talking about Cheney's supposed liability status on the ticket. Only a couple of Republicans have even broached the subject publicly.
This reminds me, Carol, of all the media stories, the endless speculations about would Hillary run for president in 2004? That was never going to happen. Would John McCain run as Kerry's vice president? That was always quite a long shot.
When the media decides they want to push a story line, even though they don't have much to support it, what do they do? They say, "Well, it's out there. People are buzzing about it." And of course, by doing that, we amplify it. And it's not much of a story as even the "Times" seems to acknowledge in the fine print, because right now it is nothing but speculation.
LIN: All right, speaking of stories that won't die. You talked about the John McCain -- will John McCain be the running mate of John Kerry? I mean, your own paper, the "Washington Post," the competitor to "The New York Times," ran that story, as well.
So speak from an insider's point of view. How do those decisions get made? And how do your editors define buzz?
KURTZ: Well, in the case of McCain, I think probably the "Washington Post" was as guilty as anyone else at pushing that a little too hard.
But there were conversations, we later learned, between John Kerry and John McCain. It was clear that if McCain had been receptive, which he was not, Kerry might have been inclined to offer him the No. 2 spot on the ticket. So I can't completely say that that was a non-story.
And look, if it turns out that Dick Cheney does get dumped from the ticket "The New York Times" can say they had the scoop.
But you know, editors often talk about, "Well, should we put something out there? Don't we owe it to our readers because it's being talked about on cable TV? It's being talked about on Imus?"
The problem is we have a pretty big megaphone here. And when we use it and we shout, and the front page is certainly shouting, to put out a story that at this point remains nothing but a rumor, I think we're doing a disservice.
LIN: All right. And filled with denial today from the Bush White House.
Thanks very much, Howard.
KURTZ: Thank you, Carol.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Perhaps they share tender family memories. Perhaps not. Meet Osama bin Laden's sister-in-law next.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM... on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: The government's event warnings that terrorists may attempt to disrupt the November election has caused a wide range of responses, from concern to confusion. Confusion among the public, which is not being told the details of the threat.
But in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, the acting head of the CIA says the new concerns are real.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, ACTING CIA DIRECTOR: This is a very serious threat we're facing.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": How serious?
MCLAUGHLIN: It's serious in the following sense, that I think the quality of the information we have is very good. We have a lot of experience now in terrorism. You asked before, you know, how trustworthy is our information?
Remember, this is the agency that brought to justice, working with others but on the basis of our intelligence, the architect of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; the chief bomber behind the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, Nashri; the chief terrorist in the Eastern Hemisphere, Hambali.
So we have now, particularly since 9/11, a very strong track record and highly reliable information on terrorism.
There's a tension all the time. And I know it's a frustrating one for the American public that more of the details of what we know doesn't come out.
What I would say to people, though, is that it's necessary for us to hold back a lot of the specifics, because those are the things we need to stop this. Those are the things we need to fight terrorists. One of the important things terrorists do -- I'll tell you -- is very simple. Very simple. They know how to keep a secret.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Acting CIA director John McLaughlin, speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. PHILLIPS: In Pakistan the U.S. is again urging the government there to do more to hunt down Taliban guerrillas. That from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage during a visit to Islamabad. He told CNN he was confident that bin Laden would ultimately be caught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: I certainly don't know where he is, and I don't think our friends here in Pakistan know.
I would note that a colleague of Osama bin Laden has just been returned to Saudi Arabia. We'll be obviously interested to learn what he knows. I have no doubt that equally some day at one point in time that Osama bin Laden will be found out and will be brought to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Meanwhile a close family member of Osama bin Laden says the al Qaeda leader still has many admirers in Saudi Arabia. Carmen bin Laden is the former sister-in-law of bin Laden and author of the book "Inside the Kingdom."
She talked with Anderson Cooper on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": You met Osama bin Laden when you were living in Saudi Arabia with your husband and with your family. When you first met him, what did you think?
CARMEN BIN LADEN, BIN LADEN'S FORMER SISTER-IN-LAW: Actually, you know, in Saudi Arabia the society doesn't allow to you meet and especially if your brother-in-law is very religious. Osama wouldn't sit with me and discuss with me.
But I came -- I came to see him two times. Three times. And two times I was well -- and another time it just happened that I -- he knocked at the door. He wanted to see my husband. And I opened the door. And I was face to face with him.
COOPER: And he was very sort of flustered by that?
BIN LADEN: Yes, just turned his -- and walked away.
COOPER: What was your impression of him?
BIN LADEN: Well, you know, I knew he was a very religious person. He was well admired, because when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, went to fight with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
COOPER: Right.
BIN LADEN: And he was really admired and respected in Saudi Arabia for his involvement in Afghanistan.
COOPER: Do you -- do you still think he is admired and respected by many in Saudi Arabia and also perhaps even by his own family still?
BIN LADEN: Yes, I do believe that. Yes, I think that he has -- he has a lot of admirers in Saudi Arabia.
COOPER: Do you think he still gets financial support from his family?
BIN LADEN: I think that it's very difficult for the bin Ladens to let down their brother so easily.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, we're live at the courthouse next in Redwood City.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Redwood City, where the defense continues to grill a lead investigator in the case. More coming up.
PHILLIPS: Pretty fancy start to the British Open. Oh, yes. Wait until you see what happened on the other end of that shot. We'll relive the moment. Get you updated on all the other sports news out there. LIVE FROM... is working on it, working on our swing. It's a hole in one!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: The police search of San Francisco Bay is the focus of the Scott Peterson murder trial today. That is where the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son washed ashore.
Our Rusty Dornin is covering the case and joins me live now from Redwood City, California.
How's the testimony going, Rusty?
DORNIN: Well, the cross-examination of Detective Dodge Hendee continued today. And exhaustive questioning about his searches on San Francisco Bay. He was involved in some 28 searches for remains of Laci Peterson's body and also looking for what prosecutors say were homemade cement anchors they believe Scott Peterson used to weigh down his wife's body.
However, under cross-examination Geragos kept pressing him, kept repeating the question over and over again. "So the sum of the evidence that you retrieved in this case amounted to nothing?" The detective had to admit, yes, we found nothing related to this case.
He then moved on to the house. Hendee was involved in searching the nursery there. He also admitted he found no forensic evidence in that nursery. Then went on to Scott Peterson's warehouse, where apparently Hendee had collected something he thought were blood samples. Also in the house that he thought were blood samples.
Again the detective had to admit he found no evidence there.
Geragos clearly leading the jury through a parade of evidence that just doesn't point to anything, didn't lead anywhere.
So what's going to happen is Hendee will finish up in about 15 minutes. And then the jury will be dismissed for the day.
This afternoon the judge will be watching a couple of interviews done with Scott Peterson, one that was conducted by CNN's own Ted Rowlands. He will decide whether those interviews will be admissible.
And then next week Detective Dodge Hendee will be back on the stand to finish his cross-examination.
That's what is happening.
LIN: I was listening. We were watching tape of Scott Peterson in that interview with -- with our Ted Rowlands when he worked for a bay area television station.
The coverage of those interviews basically stated that Scott Peterson said, for example, that he met with Marc Klass, who's the head of the Polly Klass Foundation. His daughter was kidnapped and murdered. Marc Klass says he never talked with Scott Peterson.
Is it that the prosecution is trying to set up Scott Peterson as a liar?
DORNIN: Well, there are some scenes in the Diane Sawyer interview, certainly, that show that Scott Peterson had a different story for police.
He told Diane Sawyer that he told police about his affair with Amber Frey the night that Laci Peterson disappeared. Well, several investigators have testified that he did not tell them.
So I know that Ted Rowlands, in his interview, asked several questions along those lines. By that time Scott Peterson was not answering any questions along those lines.
But definitely prosecutors want to show or try to prove that Scott Peterson was willing to lie about a lot of different things.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Rusty Dornin, live in Redwood City, covering that trial for us -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Shaq is sent packing, and today could be the day that Kobe Bryant decides to bolt to the Los Angeles Lakers or not.
With more on the world of sports, CNN's Steve Overmyer.
Shaq feeling the heat. Kobe feeling the heat, too, but in a different way.
STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Kobe's definitely creating a little bit of suspense in La-la land right about now.
The Lakers can offer him a little bit more money: seven years, $136 million. But right now he's creating that suspense and the possibility of joining the L.A. Clippers.
They can only offer him six years, $100 million. But they have just recently started to clear cap space, and it looks like they are under the cap space. They can sign Kobe Bryant if he chooses.
Today is the day that -- that most people -- I should say today is the earliest day that -- that Kobe could be expected to make his decision whether or not he could be staying with the Lakers.
Now, Kyra, we all know that Kobe and Shaq didn't get along. And the Lakers basically made the decision, our future is going to be Kobe. If we're going to get something, we're going to get something out of Shaq.
The door is wide open for Kobe to stay with the Lakers and really make it his team, as he has always wanted the spotlight. Well, now it's his chance to prove that he's worthy of the spotlight, and can he really be the heart of the Lakers?
PHILLIPS: So they're putting -- they're putting aside all this publicity from the trial and all that kind of stuff?
OVERMYER: Don't forget, yes, August 27 is going to be the beginning of that -- of that trial, as well. So you never know what his future is going to be one way or the other.
PHILLIPS: All right. Lance Armstrong. Let's go to Tour de France. Let's talk about when he's going to make his move.
OVERMYER: Well, he hasn't made his move just yet. But you know, right now he's actually a little upset with the -- with the French press. I'll get to that in a second.
But Lance Armstrong here you see he's riding with the U.S. Postal Service team. He's about nine and a half minutes back. Nice. Got into a little roadblock there was the cows were blocking the road early on. Don't expect him to retain the yellow jersey after this one.
But, again, our boy Lance is not too happy with the French press. Apparently, some members of the French press tried to get into his hotel room to try to find evidence of possible doping in his hotel room. But the owners of the hotel wouldn't get in -- wouldn't allow them in there.
He said this is very scandalous, that they've been trying to do this for many years. It's really unfortunate.
But we're expecting Lance to possibly make a move by this weekend. The French Alps begin tomorrow. The stages with the Alps begin tomorrow, and that's when he and Jan Ulrich really start to make their push. And tomorrow is when we're expecting him to start to make that move.
Again, he's nine and a half back but you know what? He's a five- time defending champion. He knows when to push. PHILLIPS: Right. He knows when to pull out all the stops. Yes. Exactly.
All right. We were kind of on this French theme. Let's talk about Thomas Levet in the British open. Still in the lead?
OVERMYER: Yes, yes. Right now he's still in the lead at five under.
But the shot of the day came from this man, Ernie Els on the par three eighth. They call this hole the postage stamp, because the green is so small it's like a postage stamp. Well, he licked it with a hole in one.
Ernie Els, is at 69. He's at two under par, still three strokes behind your leaders.
As for Tiger Woods, Tiger had the putter working. Very nice par -- or very nice birdie there. He's at one under 70 at four birdies, three bogies. Really, Kyra, the problem that has hampered Tiger for the past -- I don't know, what, two years is the fact that he cannot hit fairways. An din the British Open, you don't hit fairways you're going to be hitting those long putts just to save par.
PHILLIPS: And you know because you you've played that course a number of times.
OVERMYER: Yes, exactly. You know, I'm just happy to break par.
But what's interesting is this could be the turning point for Tiger Woods. You know, for the past 257 weeks Tiger has been the No. 1 player in the world. If Ernie Els wins, and if Tiger doesn't finish any better than 17th, Els will be the No. 1 player in the world.
PHILLIPS: And of course, if anybody wants to watch the British Open, we probably should plug TNT.
OVERMYER: Baby, exactly. It's on TNT right now, as we speak.
PHILLIPS: Shameless plug, yes. Don't flip us off yet. Wait and then go watch the British Open.
All right. Thanks so much, Steve.
OVERMYER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well, Honda has a new car, and young drivers are the target. Rhonda Schaffler joins us LIVE FROM... the New York Stock Exchange with that -- Rhonda.
(STOCK REPORT)
LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Rhonda. Looking for a break from the boardroom? Want to go from the corporate fast lane to the serenity of a horse ranch? Well, before you abandon your current career for the dream job, you might want to test reality with a so-called vocation vacation.
CNN's financial news correspondent J.J. Ramberg explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the view of the corporate cubicle, running a winery, announcing sports games and making fine cheeses are all fodder for daydreams. That is, until you actually get up close.
ALLISON LAKIN, SPROUT CREEK FARM: They get to climb in and scrub the pasteurizer, turning the cheese. That's the cheese maker workout section of the day when you turn about a thousand wheels of cheese ranging from two to 12 pounds. It adds up.
RAMBERG: Hoping to give people an opportunity to give their career fantasy a test drive before telling their current boss good- bye, Brian Kurth started Vocation Vacation, offering disgruntled corporate refugees, as he calls them, two-day stints in their dream jobs.
BRIAN KURTH, VOCATION VACATION: We have horse trainer and raceway manager and film events producer as well as L.A. celebrity wedding coordinator.
RAMBERG (on camera): Far from sitting on the beach for a couple of days these trips are often a lot of hard work. And one of the first things many vacationers find out is that their dream job is not quite so glamorous.
(voice-over) Bill Wilkinson and Michael O'Brien quickly learned that making cheese is not as fun as eating cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you do is hot and it's very timed. It's very regimented. And as far as the cleanliness, there -- it's not forgiving.
RAMBERG: But at a time when job satisfaction is especially low, even some unexpected hard work may seem like a better path to a paycheck than the jobs many people have right now.
J.J. Ramberg, CNN financial news, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Making cheese on your vacation.
PHILLIPS: Yum. All right. Go to Green Bay.
Emmy nominations out today. We're going to talk with a contender, "Joan of Arcadia's" Amber Tamblyn, expected to call in and share the moment with LIVE FROM.... LIN: And under the radar, a controversial security program goes bye-bye. More on that next.
PHILLIPS: All right. You're off to an interview with a big-time famous director.
LIN: Yes. Spike Lee. We can air a little bit of it tomorrow on your show.
PHILLIPS: There we go. That's a deal. All right. Well, we'll get it -- I guess the exclusive here. We'll talk about it more, LIVE FROM... on the homestretch right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired July 15, 2004 - 14:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, this is LIVE FROM.... And I'm Carol Lin.
PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's all new this half-hour. There's a knock at the door, you open it up, there's Osama bin Laden? A former in-law of the Al Qaeda terrorist recounts what happened when she met him face to face. Her story moments away.
LIN: And mistrial? Lawyers for Scott Peterson claim a lying detective is grounds to throw out the case. We're live on that story straight ahead. First, here's what's happening in the news.
PHILLIPS: Another Saudi militant gives himself up. Sources say Ibrahim al-Harbi surrendered to the Saudi Arabian Embassy in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Two days ago, another militant gave himself up to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, both taking advantage of a 30-day offer of leniency.
Within the past hour, NASA outlined plans to launch its first mission to the planet Mercury in 30 years. That mission, called "Messenger," is scheduled to liftoff August 2nd. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mercury January 2008. "Messenger" will study the composition and characteristics of Mercury's surface from orbit.
And the prisoner abuse scandal back in the spotlight. Lawmakers want the former head of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, Paul Bremer, to testify. Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner is planning another public hearing next week. We're keeping you informed. CNN, the most trusted name in news.
LIN: So you heard the one about Dick Cheney? There's a theory running around Washington that Cheney may be dropped from the Bush presidential ticket. "The New York Times" put it -- put that story on its front page this morning. The "Times" says it's farfetched, but the clamor got so loud that Cheney had to address the issue in an interview due to be broadcast on C-SPAN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He has made it very clear that he wants me to run again. The way I got here in the first place was he persuaded me four years ago that I was the man he wanted in that post, not just as a candidate but as somebody to be a part of the governing team. And he's been very clear doesn't want to break up the team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Well, the Bush-Cheney campaign calls the rumors about Cheney nothing more than inside the beltway coffee talk. So how did it end up on the front page of one of the nation's most premier newspapers?
Howard Kurtz, host of -- host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," is here to sort all that out.
Howard, good to see you.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": Thank you.
Take a look at the headline in "The New York Times." Specifically it reads "Hear the Rumor about Dick Cheney." What is a story like this doing on the front page of "The New York Times"?
KURTZ: I have been asking myself that very question. If it is coffee talk, it's over-caffeinated.
Look, rumors -- I'm not a big fan of putting rumors in the newspaper. I know a lot of juicy rumors right now that I'm not going to repeat on the air, because I can't prove them.
Obviously, the "Times" couched this as a rumor. And it would be one thing to mention it as a kind of a paragraph or two inside a political story. But to give it an above the fold prominence is helping to put it out there. I think somebody's judgment has just kind of wilted in the July heat here.
LIN: Judgment or agenda?
KURTZ: Well, in a larger sense, the press is pushing -- you know, having -- no longer having John Kerry to pursue on the veepstakes question, the press is pushing this story. Will Cheney be dropped? Is he a liability?
The media have commissioned polls showing that Colin Powell or Condoleezza Rice would be a stronger running mate.
There's just one problem with this media-driven story line, and that is there's absolutely no evidence that the president is reconsidering Cheney as his running mate. Cheney has said so. Bush has said to so. We're in denial. We don't want to accept these denials.
LIN: But it's interesting that it's having such an impact already. John Kerry on the Don Imus, "Imus in the Morning" radio show had this to say about that story.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KERRY (D-MA), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't tell you whether there's any substance to it, but I'll tell you what it will mean. It will mean that the president's word once again doesn't mean anything. That he's the biggest -- that he himself is the flip- flopper of all flip-floppers, because he's been touting how important Dick Cheney is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: I mean, the fact is, Howard, John Kerry would not have been asked that question if it wasn't on the front page of "The New York Times."
KURTZ: Exactly. And that's how these things often get put into play.
It's mostly Democrats who are talking about Cheney's supposed liability status on the ticket. Only a couple of Republicans have even broached the subject publicly.
This reminds me, Carol, of all the media stories, the endless speculations about would Hillary run for president in 2004? That was never going to happen. Would John McCain run as Kerry's vice president? That was always quite a long shot.
When the media decides they want to push a story line, even though they don't have much to support it, what do they do? They say, "Well, it's out there. People are buzzing about it." And of course, by doing that, we amplify it. And it's not much of a story as even the "Times" seems to acknowledge in the fine print, because right now it is nothing but speculation.
LIN: All right, speaking of stories that won't die. You talked about the John McCain -- will John McCain be the running mate of John Kerry? I mean, your own paper, the "Washington Post," the competitor to "The New York Times," ran that story, as well.
So speak from an insider's point of view. How do those decisions get made? And how do your editors define buzz?
KURTZ: Well, in the case of McCain, I think probably the "Washington Post" was as guilty as anyone else at pushing that a little too hard.
But there were conversations, we later learned, between John Kerry and John McCain. It was clear that if McCain had been receptive, which he was not, Kerry might have been inclined to offer him the No. 2 spot on the ticket. So I can't completely say that that was a non-story.
And look, if it turns out that Dick Cheney does get dumped from the ticket "The New York Times" can say they had the scoop.
But you know, editors often talk about, "Well, should we put something out there? Don't we owe it to our readers because it's being talked about on cable TV? It's being talked about on Imus?"
The problem is we have a pretty big megaphone here. And when we use it and we shout, and the front page is certainly shouting, to put out a story that at this point remains nothing but a rumor, I think we're doing a disservice.
LIN: All right. And filled with denial today from the Bush White House.
Thanks very much, Howard.
KURTZ: Thank you, Carol.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Perhaps they share tender family memories. Perhaps not. Meet Osama bin Laden's sister-in-law next.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM... on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: The government's event warnings that terrorists may attempt to disrupt the November election has caused a wide range of responses, from concern to confusion. Confusion among the public, which is not being told the details of the threat.
But in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, the acting head of the CIA says the new concerns are real.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN, ACTING CIA DIRECTOR: This is a very serious threat we're facing.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "WOLF BLITZER REPORTS": How serious?
MCLAUGHLIN: It's serious in the following sense, that I think the quality of the information we have is very good. We have a lot of experience now in terrorism. You asked before, you know, how trustworthy is our information?
Remember, this is the agency that brought to justice, working with others but on the basis of our intelligence, the architect of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; the chief bomber behind the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, Nashri; the chief terrorist in the Eastern Hemisphere, Hambali.
So we have now, particularly since 9/11, a very strong track record and highly reliable information on terrorism.
There's a tension all the time. And I know it's a frustrating one for the American public that more of the details of what we know doesn't come out.
What I would say to people, though, is that it's necessary for us to hold back a lot of the specifics, because those are the things we need to stop this. Those are the things we need to fight terrorists. One of the important things terrorists do -- I'll tell you -- is very simple. Very simple. They know how to keep a secret.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Acting CIA director John McLaughlin, speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. PHILLIPS: In Pakistan the U.S. is again urging the government there to do more to hunt down Taliban guerrillas. That from U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage during a visit to Islamabad. He told CNN he was confident that bin Laden would ultimately be caught.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD ARMITAGE, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: I certainly don't know where he is, and I don't think our friends here in Pakistan know.
I would note that a colleague of Osama bin Laden has just been returned to Saudi Arabia. We'll be obviously interested to learn what he knows. I have no doubt that equally some day at one point in time that Osama bin Laden will be found out and will be brought to justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LIN: Meanwhile a close family member of Osama bin Laden says the al Qaeda leader still has many admirers in Saudi Arabia. Carmen bin Laden is the former sister-in-law of bin Laden and author of the book "Inside the Kingdom."
She talked with Anderson Cooper on "AMERICAN MORNING."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": You met Osama bin Laden when you were living in Saudi Arabia with your husband and with your family. When you first met him, what did you think?
CARMEN BIN LADEN, BIN LADEN'S FORMER SISTER-IN-LAW: Actually, you know, in Saudi Arabia the society doesn't allow to you meet and especially if your brother-in-law is very religious. Osama wouldn't sit with me and discuss with me.
But I came -- I came to see him two times. Three times. And two times I was well -- and another time it just happened that I -- he knocked at the door. He wanted to see my husband. And I opened the door. And I was face to face with him.
COOPER: And he was very sort of flustered by that?
BIN LADEN: Yes, just turned his -- and walked away.
COOPER: What was your impression of him?
BIN LADEN: Well, you know, I knew he was a very religious person. He was well admired, because when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, went to fight with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan.
COOPER: Right.
BIN LADEN: And he was really admired and respected in Saudi Arabia for his involvement in Afghanistan.
COOPER: Do you -- do you still think he is admired and respected by many in Saudi Arabia and also perhaps even by his own family still?
BIN LADEN: Yes, I do believe that. Yes, I think that he has -- he has a lot of admirers in Saudi Arabia.
COOPER: Do you think he still gets financial support from his family?
BIN LADEN: I think that it's very difficult for the bin Ladens to let down their brother so easily.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, we're live at the courthouse next in Redwood City.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Rusty Dornin in Redwood City, where the defense continues to grill a lead investigator in the case. More coming up.
PHILLIPS: Pretty fancy start to the British Open. Oh, yes. Wait until you see what happened on the other end of that shot. We'll relive the moment. Get you updated on all the other sports news out there. LIVE FROM... is working on it, working on our swing. It's a hole in one!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LIN: The police search of San Francisco Bay is the focus of the Scott Peterson murder trial today. That is where the bodies of Laci Peterson and her unborn son washed ashore.
Our Rusty Dornin is covering the case and joins me live now from Redwood City, California.
How's the testimony going, Rusty?
DORNIN: Well, the cross-examination of Detective Dodge Hendee continued today. And exhaustive questioning about his searches on San Francisco Bay. He was involved in some 28 searches for remains of Laci Peterson's body and also looking for what prosecutors say were homemade cement anchors they believe Scott Peterson used to weigh down his wife's body.
However, under cross-examination Geragos kept pressing him, kept repeating the question over and over again. "So the sum of the evidence that you retrieved in this case amounted to nothing?" The detective had to admit, yes, we found nothing related to this case.
He then moved on to the house. Hendee was involved in searching the nursery there. He also admitted he found no forensic evidence in that nursery. Then went on to Scott Peterson's warehouse, where apparently Hendee had collected something he thought were blood samples. Also in the house that he thought were blood samples.
Again the detective had to admit he found no evidence there.
Geragos clearly leading the jury through a parade of evidence that just doesn't point to anything, didn't lead anywhere.
So what's going to happen is Hendee will finish up in about 15 minutes. And then the jury will be dismissed for the day.
This afternoon the judge will be watching a couple of interviews done with Scott Peterson, one that was conducted by CNN's own Ted Rowlands. He will decide whether those interviews will be admissible.
And then next week Detective Dodge Hendee will be back on the stand to finish his cross-examination.
That's what is happening.
LIN: I was listening. We were watching tape of Scott Peterson in that interview with -- with our Ted Rowlands when he worked for a bay area television station.
The coverage of those interviews basically stated that Scott Peterson said, for example, that he met with Marc Klass, who's the head of the Polly Klass Foundation. His daughter was kidnapped and murdered. Marc Klass says he never talked with Scott Peterson.
Is it that the prosecution is trying to set up Scott Peterson as a liar?
DORNIN: Well, there are some scenes in the Diane Sawyer interview, certainly, that show that Scott Peterson had a different story for police.
He told Diane Sawyer that he told police about his affair with Amber Frey the night that Laci Peterson disappeared. Well, several investigators have testified that he did not tell them.
So I know that Ted Rowlands, in his interview, asked several questions along those lines. By that time Scott Peterson was not answering any questions along those lines.
But definitely prosecutors want to show or try to prove that Scott Peterson was willing to lie about a lot of different things.
LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Rusty Dornin, live in Redwood City, covering that trial for us -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Shaq is sent packing, and today could be the day that Kobe Bryant decides to bolt to the Los Angeles Lakers or not.
With more on the world of sports, CNN's Steve Overmyer.
Shaq feeling the heat. Kobe feeling the heat, too, but in a different way.
STEVE OVERMYER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Kobe's definitely creating a little bit of suspense in La-la land right about now.
The Lakers can offer him a little bit more money: seven years, $136 million. But right now he's creating that suspense and the possibility of joining the L.A. Clippers.
They can only offer him six years, $100 million. But they have just recently started to clear cap space, and it looks like they are under the cap space. They can sign Kobe Bryant if he chooses.
Today is the day that -- that most people -- I should say today is the earliest day that -- that Kobe could be expected to make his decision whether or not he could be staying with the Lakers.
Now, Kyra, we all know that Kobe and Shaq didn't get along. And the Lakers basically made the decision, our future is going to be Kobe. If we're going to get something, we're going to get something out of Shaq.
The door is wide open for Kobe to stay with the Lakers and really make it his team, as he has always wanted the spotlight. Well, now it's his chance to prove that he's worthy of the spotlight, and can he really be the heart of the Lakers?
PHILLIPS: So they're putting -- they're putting aside all this publicity from the trial and all that kind of stuff?
OVERMYER: Don't forget, yes, August 27 is going to be the beginning of that -- of that trial, as well. So you never know what his future is going to be one way or the other.
PHILLIPS: All right. Lance Armstrong. Let's go to Tour de France. Let's talk about when he's going to make his move.
OVERMYER: Well, he hasn't made his move just yet. But you know, right now he's actually a little upset with the -- with the French press. I'll get to that in a second.
But Lance Armstrong here you see he's riding with the U.S. Postal Service team. He's about nine and a half minutes back. Nice. Got into a little roadblock there was the cows were blocking the road early on. Don't expect him to retain the yellow jersey after this one.
But, again, our boy Lance is not too happy with the French press. Apparently, some members of the French press tried to get into his hotel room to try to find evidence of possible doping in his hotel room. But the owners of the hotel wouldn't get in -- wouldn't allow them in there.
He said this is very scandalous, that they've been trying to do this for many years. It's really unfortunate.
But we're expecting Lance to possibly make a move by this weekend. The French Alps begin tomorrow. The stages with the Alps begin tomorrow, and that's when he and Jan Ulrich really start to make their push. And tomorrow is when we're expecting him to start to make that move.
Again, he's nine and a half back but you know what? He's a five- time defending champion. He knows when to push. PHILLIPS: Right. He knows when to pull out all the stops. Yes. Exactly.
All right. We were kind of on this French theme. Let's talk about Thomas Levet in the British open. Still in the lead?
OVERMYER: Yes, yes. Right now he's still in the lead at five under.
But the shot of the day came from this man, Ernie Els on the par three eighth. They call this hole the postage stamp, because the green is so small it's like a postage stamp. Well, he licked it with a hole in one.
Ernie Els, is at 69. He's at two under par, still three strokes behind your leaders.
As for Tiger Woods, Tiger had the putter working. Very nice par -- or very nice birdie there. He's at one under 70 at four birdies, three bogies. Really, Kyra, the problem that has hampered Tiger for the past -- I don't know, what, two years is the fact that he cannot hit fairways. An din the British Open, you don't hit fairways you're going to be hitting those long putts just to save par.
PHILLIPS: And you know because you you've played that course a number of times.
OVERMYER: Yes, exactly. You know, I'm just happy to break par.
But what's interesting is this could be the turning point for Tiger Woods. You know, for the past 257 weeks Tiger has been the No. 1 player in the world. If Ernie Els wins, and if Tiger doesn't finish any better than 17th, Els will be the No. 1 player in the world.
PHILLIPS: And of course, if anybody wants to watch the British Open, we probably should plug TNT.
OVERMYER: Baby, exactly. It's on TNT right now, as we speak.
PHILLIPS: Shameless plug, yes. Don't flip us off yet. Wait and then go watch the British Open.
All right. Thanks so much, Steve.
OVERMYER: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well, Honda has a new car, and young drivers are the target. Rhonda Schaffler joins us LIVE FROM... the New York Stock Exchange with that -- Rhonda.
(STOCK REPORT)
LIN: All right. Thanks very much, Rhonda. Looking for a break from the boardroom? Want to go from the corporate fast lane to the serenity of a horse ranch? Well, before you abandon your current career for the dream job, you might want to test reality with a so-called vocation vacation.
CNN's financial news correspondent J.J. Ramberg explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
J.J. RAMBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the view of the corporate cubicle, running a winery, announcing sports games and making fine cheeses are all fodder for daydreams. That is, until you actually get up close.
ALLISON LAKIN, SPROUT CREEK FARM: They get to climb in and scrub the pasteurizer, turning the cheese. That's the cheese maker workout section of the day when you turn about a thousand wheels of cheese ranging from two to 12 pounds. It adds up.
RAMBERG: Hoping to give people an opportunity to give their career fantasy a test drive before telling their current boss good- bye, Brian Kurth started Vocation Vacation, offering disgruntled corporate refugees, as he calls them, two-day stints in their dream jobs.
BRIAN KURTH, VOCATION VACATION: We have horse trainer and raceway manager and film events producer as well as L.A. celebrity wedding coordinator.
RAMBERG (on camera): Far from sitting on the beach for a couple of days these trips are often a lot of hard work. And one of the first things many vacationers find out is that their dream job is not quite so glamorous.
(voice-over) Bill Wilkinson and Michael O'Brien quickly learned that making cheese is not as fun as eating cheese.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you do is hot and it's very timed. It's very regimented. And as far as the cleanliness, there -- it's not forgiving.
RAMBERG: But at a time when job satisfaction is especially low, even some unexpected hard work may seem like a better path to a paycheck than the jobs many people have right now.
J.J. Ramberg, CNN financial news, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LIN: Making cheese on your vacation.
PHILLIPS: Yum. All right. Go to Green Bay.
Emmy nominations out today. We're going to talk with a contender, "Joan of Arcadia's" Amber Tamblyn, expected to call in and share the moment with LIVE FROM.... LIN: And under the radar, a controversial security program goes bye-bye. More on that next.
PHILLIPS: All right. You're off to an interview with a big-time famous director.
LIN: Yes. Spike Lee. We can air a little bit of it tomorrow on your show.
PHILLIPS: There we go. That's a deal. All right. Well, we'll get it -- I guess the exclusive here. We'll talk about it more, LIVE FROM... on the homestretch right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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