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Dems to Run Ad Promising Strong Stance on Issues; Security Experts Worried about L.A. Port; Entertainment News: Celebrities Donate Clothes for Tsunami Relief, Two Celebs Recover from Surgery, Nick to Go Solo, "The Apprentice: The Musical" Coming; Former WorldCom, Tyco CEO's Face Trials This Week

Aired January 19, 2005 - 14:30   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.


TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: A North Carolina man and woman accused of kidnapping their two children from a foster home are now in custody. And the children are said to be fine. Police captured the couple today in Virginia. Authorities say James Cantor and Alisha Chambers went to the foster home in Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday, pulled a handgun on the foster mother and then fled with the children.
Former ImClone chief executive Sam Waksal has agreed to pay a $3 million civil penalty to settle charges over the insider trading scandal that also involved his friend, Martha Stewart. Plus, regulators say Waksal and his father will be liable for $2 million in ill-gotten gains. Waksal had already agreed to pay $800,000 to partially settle the case.

In the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office says Israeli and Palestinian security officials will meet later today. Palestinian officials say they have started redeploying their forces in Gaza to stop attacks on Israel. Mr. Sharon has said high-level contacts with the Palestinian authority and its new president, Mahmoud Abbas, will not take place until there is action to stop the attacks.

After clearing a big hurdle, Condoleezza Rice is expected to be confirmed by the Senate as secretary of state tomorrow. Rice's nomination cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today on a 16-2 vote. Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer voted against the nomination.

Also in Washington, final preparations are under way for President Bush's second inauguration. And ahead of tomorrow's swearing-in, security is extremely tight. Many of Washington's streets have been blocked off, and extra police and military troops are now in place. The head of the Secret Service calls the security effort unprecedented.

LIN: Democrats may not be feeling they have much to celebrate during the inaugural festivities, but they're not staying quiet. The Democratic National Committee has prepared a television ad emphasizing its loyal opposition, especially on Social Security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIR, DNC: Democrats are eager to work with you, but make no mistake. We will not abandon our long-held principles.

On Social Security, we will not let you undermine its fundamental guarantee. On taxes, we'll fight your efforts to shift the burden to working families, and we'll demand an honest foreign policy.

So as you swear to uphold the Constitution, we will be standing with you, making sure you keep that promise for all Americans.

The DNC is responsible for the content of this advertisement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, just a little while ago I asked CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider if he'd ever seen anything like this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is an ad that the Democrats have taken out essentially saying, we're going to put up a fight.

This is supposed to be the era of good feelings with the inauguration of a president, but it looks more like the era of ill will. Because the Democrats are standing their ground, and they're saying, we're going to fight this president if he wants a tax cut that we don't agree with. We're going to fight him if he wants to change Social Security and we're going to stand up for what we believe in foreign policy.

It doesn't exactly sound like a promise of cooperation, sweetness and light.

LIN: Well, we don't know exactly where or when this ad is going to run. But clearly the Democrats are very intent on sending a message.

What you've just said, though, is pretty typical of partisan politics at the beginning of yet another administration. So how is this different? Why would they go through all the trouble of making this ad?

SCHNEIDER: Well, first of all, this is not typical. Normally when a president is inaugurated, you have at least a show of good feeling, of goodwill.

The best you can say is that Terry McAuliffe, at the beginning of this ad, says, "Congratulations, Mr. President."

So it's not typical. What it does show, it reflects the mood of Democrats today. Democrats are very bitter. They're very dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country.

Our polling shows that even at the end of the Clinton years, which were not exactly the era of good feeling, there was peace. There was prosperity. And Republicans were overwhelmingly satisfied in January 2001 when Clinton left office. They were overwhelmingly satisfied with the way things were going.

Democrats now are not. They're unhappy. They are deeply disapproving of President Bush. They're angry about Iraq. And what the ad says is, they're going to stand up for what they believe in, and they're going to stand up to President Bush.

LIN: Can't this backfire on the Democrats?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. There's a real risk. And I think the Republicans' response to this ad is likely to be two words: Tom Daschle. Remember what happened to him last November?

LIN: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: Tom Daschle obstructed Bush's program, and look what happened. He lost his bid for re-election. Now, of course, he was running in a deeply red Bush state that Bush carried by over 20 points. But the fact is, they got rid of tom Daschle.

So if the Democrats are going to play the role of obstructionists, the Republicans' reply is, you try that, and let's see what happens.

LIN: Well, beyond the beltway, too, the American public is not tolerant of gridlock politics, either.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Americans don't want to see Washington once again bogged down in partisan warfare. Overwhelmingly, when given the choice what sudden Democrats do, should they stand up for what they believe in, or should they compromise and support Bush in order to get things done? Americans are overwhelmingly, even now in this era of goodwill, in favor of compromise. They believe things have to get done; problems have to get solved.

But that is not the mood of Democrats out there. And they feel as if they had some success in this election, sure. They lost, but John Kerry got eight million more votes than Al Gore. The Democrats' misfortune is, George W. Bush got 11.5 million more votes than he got in 2000.

LIN: All right. So with important issues on the line, the future of Iraq, Social Security reform and other matters here at home, how is this likely to play out?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, I think what we're likely to see is, this is the Democrats throwing down the gauntlet. This is them saying we're not going to roll over. We're not impressed by the Republican victory. We are going to continue to stand up for what we believe in.

And you know, there's an interesting race going on for the chairman of the Democratic Party. Howard Dean looks like the front- runner right now, and he's been picking up some endorsements. Howard Dean...

LIN: Howard Dean. SCHNEIDER: ... is not a guy who's going to roll over. Howard Dean, if he becomes the chairman of the party, and that's a long way to go, there's a number of weeks into February when he'll -- when that race will be decided, but if they choose Howard Dean, that's another signal that Democrats are not in a very cooperative mood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Late word also, the Democratic National Committee has bought time to run the ad on national cable outlets.

HARRIS: We want to show you -- I'm sorry. Sorry, Carol. We want to show you some -- I'm in a hurry to get to these pictures. We want to show you some live pictures just in to CNN of the two little kids, the two little kids -- oh, there they are, who were the subject of this Amber Alert and this manhunt since Saturday.

This is 11-month-old Brianna and 2-year-old Paul Chambers. They have been through quite an ordeal, Carol, since Saturday, when their parents stormed into their foster parents' home, allegedly at gunpoint, took these kids from the foster parents' home and then hit the road.

And they've been on the road since Saturday. These are the kids returning to the sheriff department's office in Watauga County. That's in North Carolina, the city of Boone, North Carolina.

The kids, as you can see there, appear to be safe and sound. We know that they will be checked out at a local hospital, and then, we understand, they will be returned to the foster parents' house. We'll double-check that to make sure.

But the kids appear to be safe and sound. Little 11-month-old Brianna and 2-year-old Paul Chambers now in the hands of the sheriff's department in Boone, North Carolina.

OK. What you're about to see may sound like a plot from a movie thriller or the TV series "24," but it raises the very real possibility of a terror attack dwarfing the tragedy of 9/11.

In our inauguration week series, "Defending America," David Mattingly looks at the nuclear threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's biggest container port. Forty-three percent of all the goods that come into the U.S. by water in shipping containers come through here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The port of Los Angeles and Long Beach is arguably not only America's most critical port, but potentially the most important port in the world.

MATTINGLY (on camera): It is one of the single biggest engines driving the U.S. economy, a gateway to more than $200 billion in annual trade, with more than 5,000 ships unloading over nine million cargo containers a year.

If the numbers don't impress you, consider this. Without this port, store shelves would empty. Factories would close, and I'm told thousands would find themselves out of a job.

(voice-over) If terrorists inserted one of their agents somewhere into the long chain of companies involved in sending a product from a factory in South China to the United States, they would be in a position to get a nuclear device into a box.

Then onto a container.

Into the frenzy of commerce heading west. And onto a ship headed for California. And the device would not have to detonate to blow a hole in the U.S. economy. If authorities got a tip about a nuclear device in one of these boxes, they might well shut down the port to find it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so if you shut down this port this port, you're talking about -- these are the warehouses for the entire national economy. We don't have big warehouses anymore. It's in this transportation system.

MATTINGLY: Steve Flynn has been banging the drum raising awareness about maritime security, he says, is deeply vulnerable.

STEVE FLYNN: Most Americans that I meet are simply flummoxed by the fact that while we can track -- FAA can track airplanes. Turns out we can't track ships.

It's a foolish game to be playing. There are things that we could be doing at reasonable costs to rein in this risk. Not to eliminate it, but to rein it in.

MATTINGLY: Here, the federal government is testing how its agencies would react if a dirty bomb shipped to the U.S. in a container, exploded in the port of Los Angeles.

The exercise mobilized the FBI, Department of Energy, FEMA, the Coast Guard, Customs, the EPA, and defense departments, and an army of local authorities. Similar exercises were held across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our goal here is to take the lessons of 9/11, where we've seen failings in coordination, command, communication, and try and stress those and fix them.

MATTINGLY: In the post-exercise analysis, authorities concluded some things work well. Some things, like communications between the 50 agencies involved, did not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, chief, we've got five critical that need to be transported. I can't get EMS 6 to answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we know that we're vulnerable. And there are gaps. But we're trying to make sure it doesn't happen here. But we believe it will happen. MATTINGLY: A dirty bomb blowing up in the port, threatening surrounding neighborhoods is one terrible possibility. But there's one much worse. But there's one much worse. In this scenario, a bomb, similar in size to those used on Japan in World War II, comes into the L.A. port in a container and is loaded onto a truck. The truck drives into downtown Los Angeles, and the bomb is detonated by remote control.

MATTHEW MCKINZIE, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Thirty-two thousand people would die. These people would die as a result of the intense blast, high winds, intense heat radiation from the firebomb. A further 160,000 people, though, could die as a result of exposure to fallout.

MATTINGLY: Matthew McKinzie is a physicist working for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Using the same special software that helps the federal government gauge the impact of a nuclear war, he can create a model for a catastrophe. Just enter the city, the date, and the size of the bomb, a simple point and click for the ultimate terrorist attack.

MCKINZIE: What the code shows is a hole basically, burned and blasted out of the center of Los Angeles.

MATTINGLY (on camera): What about the radiation?

MCKINZIE: The radiation, the fallout plume, impacts a much larger area of Los Angeles.

MATTHEW BUNN, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT: A nuclear bomb is what happened to Hiroshima, where an entire city was obliterated in an instant by a single bomb. That's what we're talking about here.

And unfortunately, it does not take a Manhattan Project to make a nuclear bomb. Potentially, even a relatively modest cell of reasonably skilled people could put together at least a crude nuclear bomb that would be capable of incinerating the heart of any major city in the world.

MATTINGLY: Any city like Los Angeles or maybe New York or Washington, D.C., the cities attacked on September 11.

BUNN: No one, of course, can reliably calculate the probability of a nuclear terrorist attack in the United States. But I believe it's likely enough that it significantly reduces the life expectancy of everyone who lives and works in downtown Washington, D.C., or New York.

MATTINGLY: David Mattingly, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, security is the focus of our special look at "DEFENDING AMERICA." Coming up tonight, CNN's special report comes to you at 7 p.m. Eastern with Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn. And we'll have more "DEFENDING AMERICA" coverage at 10 p.m. with Aaron Brown.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

LIN: Well, TV star Teri Hatcher was looking pretty good in her designer dress at the "Golden Globes" Sunday. And now she's doing some good with that same dress.

That's just one of the stories making entertainment news today. Our Sibila Vargas joins us when LIVE FROM continues.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Well, we know the Hollywood winners of the Golden Globes. Bow it seems some tsunami victims will be getting some benefit from the awards show.

LIN: Nice to hear. And are you ready for "Apprentice," the musical?

HARRIS: No. Oops.

LIN: Well, we are. OK. We're going to go to L.A. for all the latest entertainment news with CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.

What's up, Sibila?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

Golden Globe winner Teri Hatcher has decided to take it all off. But no, it's not for "Playboy," but for a very good cause.

The "Desperate Housewife" is donating the pewter dress she wore at the awards show. Her Donna Karan gown will be auctioned off for victims of last month's tsunami.

Actor Liam Neeson is also getting into the spirit of giving, donating his Golden Globes tux to help raise money for the effort. The auction is being held online by the Clothes Off our Backs Foundation.

Well, he's known as the wacky, witty fashion critic of the red carpet, but Cojo was a no-show at Sunday's Golden Globes. That's because Steven Cojocaru was undergoing a kidney transplant. Cojocaru was lucky enough to get a kidney which was donated by a friend. Now he hopes to grace the red carpet again after a short recovery period.

And Cojo isn't the only TV personality who's recovering from surgery. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's" Ty Pennington is recovering from a weekend appendectomy. But as the old saying goes, the show must go on. And it did as he guided his design team from his hospital bed, Carol. That's what I call dedication. LIN: Oh, my goodness! That's a man who wants to be on TV.

HARRIS: Take a day. It would be OK. No one would complain.

LIN: You bet. All right, Sibila. What is this that I hear about Nick Lachey going solo?

VARGAS: Well, wait, wait, wait. Before you start thinking it's deja vu all over again, I'm happy to report that unlike Brad and Jen, the newlyweds are still very much an item. Whew! It's Nick's music career that's breaking away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS: That's right, Nick's going solo. Lachey has inked a deal with Jive Records. Former 98 Degree band member is also going to have -- be having his very own reality show on MTV, following the making of his album.

So watch out, Justin, and watch out, Usher. You may be getting some competition.

And speaking of competition, "The Apprentice: The Musical" may be coming to Broadway. No, I'm not kidding.

Donald Trump says there's been a lot of interest from Broadway and that he and reality TV guru Mark Burnett are weighing their options. Trump says, of course, the musical adaptation would be a smash. Of course, that's what Trump would have to say.

Imagine a Broadway production number based on the phrase, "You're fired." (singing) "You're fired, you're fired, you're fired."

LIN: Wow!

VARGAS: I can't believe I just did that, Carol.

LIN: I think you just auditioned, Sibila.

VARGAS: I just did. I'll be the new Trump musical. Could you imagine Donald Trump, though, I mean, in a musical?

LIN: No.

VARGAS: If he decides to do it?

LIN: He doesn't have the time. He's getting married.

HARRIS: Yes. And how do you think, Sibila, Donald Trump would handle that line, "You're fired"? How would he do it?

VARGAS (singing): You're fired. You're fired. HARRIS: I just had to say it one more time.

VARGAS: I just did it. Now I want you to try it, Tony, now that you put me on the spot.

HARRIS: You're fired.

It's New York, right?

Thanks, Sibila.

VARGAS: Thank you guys.

HARRIS: It is one of the seven deadlies, but it is not necessarily a crime.

LIN: That is the crux of two high-profile trials involving former CEO's. Is being guilty of greed enough to get him convicted?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LIN: Leaders of scandal-ridden companies WorldCom and Tyco are both in court this week.

Former WorldCom head Bernie Ebbers is becoming his criminal fraud trial, while ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski has appeared for his retrial in a New York state court.

Allan Chernoff reports on the two exec corporate titans who -- or two ex-corporate titans who may symbolize corporate greed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pediatric dentist Doug Schmidt of Indianapolis was a believer in WorldCom and its chief executive, Bernie Ebbers, enough that he put more than $3 million into WorldCom stock, all of which he lost.

DOUG SCHMIDT, PEDIATRIC DENTIST: The downfall of WorldCom company and the way the stock was handled was one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on the public.

CHERNOFF: As Dr. Schmidt was losing his savings, WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers was driving his company into the biggest bankruptcy in corporate history. WorldCom collapsed under an $11 billion accounting fraud, for which Ebbers now faces criminal charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie Ebbers never received a dime he was not entitled to.

CHERNOFF: Ebbers built WorldCom through an insatiable appetite for buying up companies. For himself, Ebbers accumulated a vast portfolio of real estate, including Canada's largest ranch and timberlands in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, more than half a million acres in all. Dennis Kozlowski, former chief of Tyco, also collected real estate, homes in Florida, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado, and this sprawling apartment in Manhattan, complete with a $15,000 umbrella stand and a $6,000 shower curtain. Kozlowski told "The New York Times" he didn't even know about the curtain. His designer bought it.

Kozlowski's spending sprees included more than $15 million for fine art and $2 million for his wife's birthday party on the island of Sardinia.

After a case last year that ended in mistrial, Kozlowski, once again, faces charges he stole from Tyco by arranging unauthorized bonuses. Kozlowski maintains it was all approved by the board.

(on camera) Enron's collapse may have garnered more headlines, but for many, the personal spending of Kozlowski and Ebbers made them personify of corporate greed in the '90s. True, greed is not a crime, but the means by which the two acquired their wealth is what's on trial.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And we have news of a medical first.

HARRIS: This is amazing. Doctors successfully operating on a baby's severe heart defect before the birth. The child later being delivered by C-section.

We'll have the complete story when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 19, 2005 - 14:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: A North Carolina man and woman accused of kidnapping their two children from a foster home are now in custody. And the children are said to be fine. Police captured the couple today in Virginia. Authorities say James Cantor and Alisha Chambers went to the foster home in Boone, North Carolina, on Saturday, pulled a handgun on the foster mother and then fled with the children.
Former ImClone chief executive Sam Waksal has agreed to pay a $3 million civil penalty to settle charges over the insider trading scandal that also involved his friend, Martha Stewart. Plus, regulators say Waksal and his father will be liable for $2 million in ill-gotten gains. Waksal had already agreed to pay $800,000 to partially settle the case.

In the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office says Israeli and Palestinian security officials will meet later today. Palestinian officials say they have started redeploying their forces in Gaza to stop attacks on Israel. Mr. Sharon has said high-level contacts with the Palestinian authority and its new president, Mahmoud Abbas, will not take place until there is action to stop the attacks.

After clearing a big hurdle, Condoleezza Rice is expected to be confirmed by the Senate as secretary of state tomorrow. Rice's nomination cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today on a 16-2 vote. Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry and Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer voted against the nomination.

Also in Washington, final preparations are under way for President Bush's second inauguration. And ahead of tomorrow's swearing-in, security is extremely tight. Many of Washington's streets have been blocked off, and extra police and military troops are now in place. The head of the Secret Service calls the security effort unprecedented.

LIN: Democrats may not be feeling they have much to celebrate during the inaugural festivities, but they're not staying quiet. The Democratic National Committee has prepared a television ad emphasizing its loyal opposition, especially on Social Security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MCAULIFFE, CHAIR, DNC: Democrats are eager to work with you, but make no mistake. We will not abandon our long-held principles.

On Social Security, we will not let you undermine its fundamental guarantee. On taxes, we'll fight your efforts to shift the burden to working families, and we'll demand an honest foreign policy.

So as you swear to uphold the Constitution, we will be standing with you, making sure you keep that promise for all Americans.

The DNC is responsible for the content of this advertisement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIN: Well, just a little while ago I asked CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider if he'd ever seen anything like this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is an ad that the Democrats have taken out essentially saying, we're going to put up a fight.

This is supposed to be the era of good feelings with the inauguration of a president, but it looks more like the era of ill will. Because the Democrats are standing their ground, and they're saying, we're going to fight this president if he wants a tax cut that we don't agree with. We're going to fight him if he wants to change Social Security and we're going to stand up for what we believe in foreign policy.

It doesn't exactly sound like a promise of cooperation, sweetness and light.

LIN: Well, we don't know exactly where or when this ad is going to run. But clearly the Democrats are very intent on sending a message.

What you've just said, though, is pretty typical of partisan politics at the beginning of yet another administration. So how is this different? Why would they go through all the trouble of making this ad?

SCHNEIDER: Well, first of all, this is not typical. Normally when a president is inaugurated, you have at least a show of good feeling, of goodwill.

The best you can say is that Terry McAuliffe, at the beginning of this ad, says, "Congratulations, Mr. President."

So it's not typical. What it does show, it reflects the mood of Democrats today. Democrats are very bitter. They're very dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country.

Our polling shows that even at the end of the Clinton years, which were not exactly the era of good feeling, there was peace. There was prosperity. And Republicans were overwhelmingly satisfied in January 2001 when Clinton left office. They were overwhelmingly satisfied with the way things were going.

Democrats now are not. They're unhappy. They are deeply disapproving of President Bush. They're angry about Iraq. And what the ad says is, they're going to stand up for what they believe in, and they're going to stand up to President Bush.

LIN: Can't this backfire on the Democrats?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. There's a real risk. And I think the Republicans' response to this ad is likely to be two words: Tom Daschle. Remember what happened to him last November?

LIN: Yes.

SCHNEIDER: Tom Daschle obstructed Bush's program, and look what happened. He lost his bid for re-election. Now, of course, he was running in a deeply red Bush state that Bush carried by over 20 points. But the fact is, they got rid of tom Daschle.

So if the Democrats are going to play the role of obstructionists, the Republicans' reply is, you try that, and let's see what happens.

LIN: Well, beyond the beltway, too, the American public is not tolerant of gridlock politics, either.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. Americans don't want to see Washington once again bogged down in partisan warfare. Overwhelmingly, when given the choice what sudden Democrats do, should they stand up for what they believe in, or should they compromise and support Bush in order to get things done? Americans are overwhelmingly, even now in this era of goodwill, in favor of compromise. They believe things have to get done; problems have to get solved.

But that is not the mood of Democrats out there. And they feel as if they had some success in this election, sure. They lost, but John Kerry got eight million more votes than Al Gore. The Democrats' misfortune is, George W. Bush got 11.5 million more votes than he got in 2000.

LIN: All right. So with important issues on the line, the future of Iraq, Social Security reform and other matters here at home, how is this likely to play out?

SCHNEIDER: Yes. Well, I think what we're likely to see is, this is the Democrats throwing down the gauntlet. This is them saying we're not going to roll over. We're not impressed by the Republican victory. We are going to continue to stand up for what we believe in.

And you know, there's an interesting race going on for the chairman of the Democratic Party. Howard Dean looks like the front- runner right now, and he's been picking up some endorsements. Howard Dean...

LIN: Howard Dean. SCHNEIDER: ... is not a guy who's going to roll over. Howard Dean, if he becomes the chairman of the party, and that's a long way to go, there's a number of weeks into February when he'll -- when that race will be decided, but if they choose Howard Dean, that's another signal that Democrats are not in a very cooperative mood.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: Late word also, the Democratic National Committee has bought time to run the ad on national cable outlets.

HARRIS: We want to show you -- I'm sorry. Sorry, Carol. We want to show you some -- I'm in a hurry to get to these pictures. We want to show you some live pictures just in to CNN of the two little kids, the two little kids -- oh, there they are, who were the subject of this Amber Alert and this manhunt since Saturday.

This is 11-month-old Brianna and 2-year-old Paul Chambers. They have been through quite an ordeal, Carol, since Saturday, when their parents stormed into their foster parents' home, allegedly at gunpoint, took these kids from the foster parents' home and then hit the road.

And they've been on the road since Saturday. These are the kids returning to the sheriff department's office in Watauga County. That's in North Carolina, the city of Boone, North Carolina.

The kids, as you can see there, appear to be safe and sound. We know that they will be checked out at a local hospital, and then, we understand, they will be returned to the foster parents' house. We'll double-check that to make sure.

But the kids appear to be safe and sound. Little 11-month-old Brianna and 2-year-old Paul Chambers now in the hands of the sheriff's department in Boone, North Carolina.

OK. What you're about to see may sound like a plot from a movie thriller or the TV series "24," but it raises the very real possibility of a terror attack dwarfing the tragedy of 9/11.

In our inauguration week series, "Defending America," David Mattingly looks at the nuclear threat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's biggest container port. Forty-three percent of all the goods that come into the U.S. by water in shipping containers come through here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The port of Los Angeles and Long Beach is arguably not only America's most critical port, but potentially the most important port in the world.

MATTINGLY (on camera): It is one of the single biggest engines driving the U.S. economy, a gateway to more than $200 billion in annual trade, with more than 5,000 ships unloading over nine million cargo containers a year.

If the numbers don't impress you, consider this. Without this port, store shelves would empty. Factories would close, and I'm told thousands would find themselves out of a job.

(voice-over) If terrorists inserted one of their agents somewhere into the long chain of companies involved in sending a product from a factory in South China to the United States, they would be in a position to get a nuclear device into a box.

Then onto a container.

Into the frenzy of commerce heading west. And onto a ship headed for California. And the device would not have to detonate to blow a hole in the U.S. economy. If authorities got a tip about a nuclear device in one of these boxes, they might well shut down the port to find it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so if you shut down this port this port, you're talking about -- these are the warehouses for the entire national economy. We don't have big warehouses anymore. It's in this transportation system.

MATTINGLY: Steve Flynn has been banging the drum raising awareness about maritime security, he says, is deeply vulnerable.

STEVE FLYNN: Most Americans that I meet are simply flummoxed by the fact that while we can track -- FAA can track airplanes. Turns out we can't track ships.

It's a foolish game to be playing. There are things that we could be doing at reasonable costs to rein in this risk. Not to eliminate it, but to rein it in.

MATTINGLY: Here, the federal government is testing how its agencies would react if a dirty bomb shipped to the U.S. in a container, exploded in the port of Los Angeles.

The exercise mobilized the FBI, Department of Energy, FEMA, the Coast Guard, Customs, the EPA, and defense departments, and an army of local authorities. Similar exercises were held across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our goal here is to take the lessons of 9/11, where we've seen failings in coordination, command, communication, and try and stress those and fix them.

MATTINGLY: In the post-exercise analysis, authorities concluded some things work well. Some things, like communications between the 50 agencies involved, did not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, chief, we've got five critical that need to be transported. I can't get EMS 6 to answer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we know that we're vulnerable. And there are gaps. But we're trying to make sure it doesn't happen here. But we believe it will happen. MATTINGLY: A dirty bomb blowing up in the port, threatening surrounding neighborhoods is one terrible possibility. But there's one much worse. But there's one much worse. In this scenario, a bomb, similar in size to those used on Japan in World War II, comes into the L.A. port in a container and is loaded onto a truck. The truck drives into downtown Los Angeles, and the bomb is detonated by remote control.

MATTHEW MCKINZIE, NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: Thirty-two thousand people would die. These people would die as a result of the intense blast, high winds, intense heat radiation from the firebomb. A further 160,000 people, though, could die as a result of exposure to fallout.

MATTINGLY: Matthew McKinzie is a physicist working for the Natural Resources Defense Council. Using the same special software that helps the federal government gauge the impact of a nuclear war, he can create a model for a catastrophe. Just enter the city, the date, and the size of the bomb, a simple point and click for the ultimate terrorist attack.

MCKINZIE: What the code shows is a hole basically, burned and blasted out of the center of Los Angeles.

MATTINGLY (on camera): What about the radiation?

MCKINZIE: The radiation, the fallout plume, impacts a much larger area of Los Angeles.

MATTHEW BUNN, HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT: A nuclear bomb is what happened to Hiroshima, where an entire city was obliterated in an instant by a single bomb. That's what we're talking about here.

And unfortunately, it does not take a Manhattan Project to make a nuclear bomb. Potentially, even a relatively modest cell of reasonably skilled people could put together at least a crude nuclear bomb that would be capable of incinerating the heart of any major city in the world.

MATTINGLY: Any city like Los Angeles or maybe New York or Washington, D.C., the cities attacked on September 11.

BUNN: No one, of course, can reliably calculate the probability of a nuclear terrorist attack in the United States. But I believe it's likely enough that it significantly reduces the life expectancy of everyone who lives and works in downtown Washington, D.C., or New York.

MATTINGLY: David Mattingly, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, security is the focus of our special look at "DEFENDING AMERICA." Coming up tonight, CNN's special report comes to you at 7 p.m. Eastern with Anderson Cooper and Paula Zahn. And we'll have more "DEFENDING AMERICA" coverage at 10 p.m. with Aaron Brown.

Stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.

LIN: Well, TV star Teri Hatcher was looking pretty good in her designer dress at the "Golden Globes" Sunday. And now she's doing some good with that same dress.

That's just one of the stories making entertainment news today. Our Sibila Vargas joins us when LIVE FROM continues.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.

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HARRIS: Well, we know the Hollywood winners of the Golden Globes. Bow it seems some tsunami victims will be getting some benefit from the awards show.

LIN: Nice to hear. And are you ready for "Apprentice," the musical?

HARRIS: No. Oops.

LIN: Well, we are. OK. We're going to go to L.A. for all the latest entertainment news with CNN entertainment correspondent Sibila Vargas.

What's up, Sibila?

SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol.

Golden Globe winner Teri Hatcher has decided to take it all off. But no, it's not for "Playboy," but for a very good cause.

The "Desperate Housewife" is donating the pewter dress she wore at the awards show. Her Donna Karan gown will be auctioned off for victims of last month's tsunami.

Actor Liam Neeson is also getting into the spirit of giving, donating his Golden Globes tux to help raise money for the effort. The auction is being held online by the Clothes Off our Backs Foundation.

Well, he's known as the wacky, witty fashion critic of the red carpet, but Cojo was a no-show at Sunday's Golden Globes. That's because Steven Cojocaru was undergoing a kidney transplant. Cojocaru was lucky enough to get a kidney which was donated by a friend. Now he hopes to grace the red carpet again after a short recovery period.

And Cojo isn't the only TV personality who's recovering from surgery. "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition's" Ty Pennington is recovering from a weekend appendectomy. But as the old saying goes, the show must go on. And it did as he guided his design team from his hospital bed, Carol. That's what I call dedication. LIN: Oh, my goodness! That's a man who wants to be on TV.

HARRIS: Take a day. It would be OK. No one would complain.

LIN: You bet. All right, Sibila. What is this that I hear about Nick Lachey going solo?

VARGAS: Well, wait, wait, wait. Before you start thinking it's deja vu all over again, I'm happy to report that unlike Brad and Jen, the newlyweds are still very much an item. Whew! It's Nick's music career that's breaking away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

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VARGAS: That's right, Nick's going solo. Lachey has inked a deal with Jive Records. Former 98 Degree band member is also going to have -- be having his very own reality show on MTV, following the making of his album.

So watch out, Justin, and watch out, Usher. You may be getting some competition.

And speaking of competition, "The Apprentice: The Musical" may be coming to Broadway. No, I'm not kidding.

Donald Trump says there's been a lot of interest from Broadway and that he and reality TV guru Mark Burnett are weighing their options. Trump says, of course, the musical adaptation would be a smash. Of course, that's what Trump would have to say.

Imagine a Broadway production number based on the phrase, "You're fired." (singing) "You're fired, you're fired, you're fired."

LIN: Wow!

VARGAS: I can't believe I just did that, Carol.

LIN: I think you just auditioned, Sibila.

VARGAS: I just did. I'll be the new Trump musical. Could you imagine Donald Trump, though, I mean, in a musical?

LIN: No.

VARGAS: If he decides to do it?

LIN: He doesn't have the time. He's getting married.

HARRIS: Yes. And how do you think, Sibila, Donald Trump would handle that line, "You're fired"? How would he do it?

VARGAS (singing): You're fired. You're fired. HARRIS: I just had to say it one more time.

VARGAS: I just did it. Now I want you to try it, Tony, now that you put me on the spot.

HARRIS: You're fired.

It's New York, right?

Thanks, Sibila.

VARGAS: Thank you guys.

HARRIS: It is one of the seven deadlies, but it is not necessarily a crime.

LIN: That is the crux of two high-profile trials involving former CEO's. Is being guilty of greed enough to get him convicted?

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LIN: Leaders of scandal-ridden companies WorldCom and Tyco are both in court this week.

Former WorldCom head Bernie Ebbers is becoming his criminal fraud trial, while ex-Tyco CEO Dennis Kozlowski has appeared for his retrial in a New York state court.

Allan Chernoff reports on the two exec corporate titans who -- or two ex-corporate titans who may symbolize corporate greed.

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ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pediatric dentist Doug Schmidt of Indianapolis was a believer in WorldCom and its chief executive, Bernie Ebbers, enough that he put more than $3 million into WorldCom stock, all of which he lost.

DOUG SCHMIDT, PEDIATRIC DENTIST: The downfall of WorldCom company and the way the stock was handled was one of the biggest frauds perpetrated on the public.

CHERNOFF: As Dr. Schmidt was losing his savings, WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers was driving his company into the biggest bankruptcy in corporate history. WorldCom collapsed under an $11 billion accounting fraud, for which Ebbers now faces criminal charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bernie Ebbers never received a dime he was not entitled to.

CHERNOFF: Ebbers built WorldCom through an insatiable appetite for buying up companies. For himself, Ebbers accumulated a vast portfolio of real estate, including Canada's largest ranch and timberlands in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, more than half a million acres in all. Dennis Kozlowski, former chief of Tyco, also collected real estate, homes in Florida, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Colorado, and this sprawling apartment in Manhattan, complete with a $15,000 umbrella stand and a $6,000 shower curtain. Kozlowski told "The New York Times" he didn't even know about the curtain. His designer bought it.

Kozlowski's spending sprees included more than $15 million for fine art and $2 million for his wife's birthday party on the island of Sardinia.

After a case last year that ended in mistrial, Kozlowski, once again, faces charges he stole from Tyco by arranging unauthorized bonuses. Kozlowski maintains it was all approved by the board.

(on camera) Enron's collapse may have garnered more headlines, but for many, the personal spending of Kozlowski and Ebbers made them personify of corporate greed in the '90s. True, greed is not a crime, but the means by which the two acquired their wealth is what's on trial.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIN: And we have news of a medical first.

HARRIS: This is amazing. Doctors successfully operating on a baby's severe heart defect before the birth. The child later being delivered by C-section.

We'll have the complete story when LIVE FROM continues.

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