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Iraqis Celebrate Successful Elections; Democrats Demand Exit Strategy; Senator Clinton Recovered from Fainting Spell; Jury Selection Begins for Michael Jackson Trial

Aired January 31, 2005 - 15:00   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: ... election. Ballots shipped to Baghdad today for the round the clock vote counts. Official results are expected next week.
Dancing in the streets. Iraq's majority Shiites staged a second day of celebration. They've apparently voted in far greater numbers than the country's minority Sunnis, whose formerly powerful ranks are plagued by rebellion right now.

With the heavy Shiite turnout, especially in the south, Iraq's largest Shiite political party is claiming it won the most votes. Also expecting strong showings, a secular Shiite ticket and the Iraqi Kurds.

Iraq's interim leader is praising his country's voters, its election officials and its security forces. At a news conference in Baghdad, Ayad Allawi says that the elections struck a death blow against the insurgents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The terrorists were defeated yesterday in Iraq, and there will still be violence, but the terrorists now know that they cannot win. On behalf of the courageous Iraqi people, I would like to thank the tens of thousands of electoral workers for their hard work and -- and for their bravery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: When Iraq's assembly meets it will face an August deadline to write a constitution. If it succeeds, Iraqis will go to the polls in October to approve the constitution or not. If the voters approve it, they'll vote again in December to elect a new government. If they reject the constitution, that process starts all over again.

TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: And with the election hurdle cleared, Democrats in Washington are calling on President Bush to focus on a plan to bring American troops home. The challenge comes as Mr. Bush is savoring Iraq's election and the U.S. role in getting it done.

Standing by live at the White House now, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

Hi, Suzanne. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Well, really, Iraq's elections seen as a vindication for the White House and for President Bush's policies. We saw the president publicly today in a swearing in ceremony for his news secretary of education secretary, Margaret Spellings.

Behind the scenes, of course, President Bush making a number of calls to key allies as well as some of the harshest critics of the Iraq war. President Bush today talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, of course, saying that he thanked them for their support, the importance of Iraq elections, looking forward to the Middle East peace initiative, working on that, as well.

The president also reached out to the Iraqi leaders, the interim prime minister, Allawi, as well as the president there, saying that, of course, the U.S. will continue its commitment in training Iraqi forces.

Now, all of this, of course, Tony, has reinvigorated the debate over when it is that U.S. troops should withdraw from Iraq. Already top Democrats are calling for a very clear and concise exit strategy, but the White House saying that now is not the time to set a timetable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NE), MINORITY LEADER: Yesterday's elections were a milestone, but on Wednesday night, the president needs to spell out a real and understandable plan for the unfinished work ahead: defeat the growing insurgency, rebuild Iraq, increase political participation by all parties, especially Iraq's moderates, and increase international involvement.

But most of all, we need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there. So that we know what we need to do and so that we know when the job is done.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In terms of setting timetables, I think the president has previously talked about timetables send the wrong message to the terrorists, because all terrorists have to do is wait, and then they can plan and coordinate and prepare attacks around those timetables.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, the Democrats called their comments today a prebuttal to the president's State of the Union address. White House press secretary Scott McClellan saying that they weren't going to engage in a pre-prebuttal, but he did say the president, of course, is going to be talking about the success of Iraq's elections to make the case that he believes bringing democracy to the world is a realistic goal.

The president this afternoon, of course, Tony, working on that State of the Union address. We are told it's his 13th draft. And he's in the family theater practicing, a couple practice sessions this afternoon to make the case. He believes, of course, Iraqi elections are successful, democracy will come, and, of course, he'll also be talking about his domestic agenda, as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: We've got prebuttals and pre-prebuttals and we're just going to call the whole thing off, Kyra. Suzanne, thank you.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

HARRIS: The president, by the way, is speaking to the NBA champs from last year, the Detroit Pistons. There's the live picture. Trying to make out a couple of people in the background. Now I can't.

PHILLIPS: Can you name all the players?

HARRIS: You know, well, I can name a couple, but I can't see the team.

PHILLIPS: That's a real wide shot there. There you go.

HARRIS: Ben Wallace was -- is the center for the Pistons, and he was one of the guys involved in that big brawl a couple of months ago with Ron Artest.

PHILLIPS: How can we forget?

HARRIS: Yes. And there was...

PHILLIPS: He was cleared, though, wasn't he?

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. He had a couple days to spend on the bench.

PHILLIPS: Was it carving the pines?

HARRIS: Yes. On the end of the bench with the suspension, but he's back in the lineup now. Once again, President Bush congratulating the Pistons on a really good season for that team.

All right. Moving on. So has Iraq's election been a boost for President Bush ahead of Wednesday's State of the Union address? Find out today on "INSIDE POLITICS," starting at 3:30 Eastern.

PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton fainted today as she started a speech in New York. The first alarming reports that the Democratic senator was rushed to the hospital, but those reports turned out to be false.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick joins us now from New York to tell us what happened.

And Deb, she got right back up there and kept going, didn't she?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, she barely missed a beat on this. As a matter of fact, she felt well enough about an hour after the fainting spell to continue on to her next speaking engagement at a Catholic college. She spoke there for about 45 minutes. That's the video that you see here.

But earlier in the day, Mrs. Clinton was addressing a woman's group, about 150 people in a suburb just outside Buffalo. And according to a local official who was there, Mrs. Clinton told the crowd that she was feeling queasy, that she had some sort of a stomach virus, that it was either the flu or food poisoning. She looked very weak.

According to the witnesses, she began speaking, asked for some water, then sat down to continue addressing the crowd. But then she had to leave the stage. She came back, and that's when the fainting spell occurred.

About 30 seconds, according to one of the witnesses, and that person says that about four people caught her as she was falling. She was immediately surrounded by her Secret Service agents.

Her press secretary, Philippe Reines, did release a press statement just a short while ago. He said, "Senator Clinton is suffering from a stomach virus. She wasn't feeling well while speaking at an event in Buffalo, New York this morning. She felt weak, needed to sit down and then fainted briefly. She received immediate medical attention at the site and is now proceeding with her schedule as planned."

Senator Clinton did not go to the hospital. No EMS ambulance was called. She was treated there and then went on with her schedule. She was speaking to the crowd at the college. No incidents reported there. We're not exactly sure whether, in fact, she alluded to the fainting spell earlier in the meeting -- earlier in the day.

She had canceled some outside meetings that she had before the earlier speaking engagement. But right now she's back up. She's speaking, carrying on with her schedule -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Deb Feyerick, thank you so much -- Tony.

HARRIS: Michael Jackson says he wants his day in court. Well, now he has it. The King of Pop is in court for the start of his jury selection in the high profile, high stakes child molestation trial.

CNN's Sean Callebs is covering it all outside the courthouse in Santa Maria, California.

Hi, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Indeed they've been inside the courtroom now more than a couple of hours. And to give you an idea of the number of prospective jurors waiting to get in this morning, they want to go through 150 this morning, another 150 this afternoon. It took so long to get folks through all the metal detectors that proceedings were delayed just about an hour.

Let's show you what it looked like this morning when Jackson and his entourage pulled up. Two black SUVs. Michael Jackson getting out, dressed in white, from head to toe.

He briefly turned and waved to the throng of supporters here. Indeed, there are people from as far away as France and Sweden. Then he calmly walked in, and he will be in court or is required to be in court for the duration of this trial.

Let's contrast this to what happened during his first court appearance here several months ago. There was even a much larger crowd this time. He jumped up on top of the van, began waving wildly to the crowd and, really, that made the law enforcement offices here in the county uncomfortable. They were worried about his security. They were worried about his safety. He was told to tone his act down.

Also, Jackson has been admonished by the judge on a couple of occasions for being late and another time for having to get up in the middle of court proceedings and go use the restroom. Now, since those admonishments, he has been a different person in the courtroom. He's been very calm.

His family is not in there today. Simply not enough seats for his family. We're told once the trial does start, there will be seats in the trial for his family.

The noon break is happening right now. You can hear the crowd starting to pick up just a bit. And a lot of people here, really, on hand to voice their support for Michael Jackson.

He has been very critical of all the publicity that has leaked out, the information that has come out leading up to this trial, and even though there is a gag order he got approval by the court, and he issued this statement critical of all the pretrial publicity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL JACKSON, ACCUSED OF CHILD MOLESTATION: In the last few weeks a large amount of ugly, malicious information has been released into the media about me. Apparently, this information was leaked through transcripts in a grand jury proceeding where neither my lawyers nor I ever appeared. The information is disgusting and false.

Years ago, I allowed a family to visit and spend some time at Neverland. Neverland is my home. I allowed this family into my home, because they told me their son was ill with cancer and needed my help. Through the years I have helped thousands of children who are ill or in distress.

These events have caused a nightmare for my family, my children and me. I never intend to place myself in so vulnerable a position ever again.

I love my community, and I have great faith in our justice system. Please keep an open mind and let me have my day in court. I deserve a fair trial like every other American citizen. I will be acquitted and vindicated when the truth is told. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CALLEBS: OK. Now we're looking at live picture. These are some of the prospective jurors leaving the courtroom.

The judge in this case, Rodney Melville, has a somewhat ambitious schedule. He wants to go through 150 prospective jurors in the morning, 150 in the afternoon. All told, 750 over a two and a half day period.

Now this trial is expected to last as long as five to six months. He's asking anyone who would have a hardship, not be able to sit on the case that long, to come forward now, and they theoretically could be excused.

The rest will be filling out seven-page questionnaires. And once those have been filled out, the lawyers will sit down Thursday, Friday, begin trying to pair down this list, try to find 12 members to sit on the poll, eight alternates.

Now, if convicted of four counts of child molestation, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent, Jackson could, Tony, spend more than 20 years in prison.

HARRIS: OK. Sean, a couple thoughts. See if we can get to both of them. How long is this jury selection process expected? You mentioned questionnaires and everything else. How long is that -- never mind the trial, how long is the jury selection process supposed to take?

CALLEBS: Good question. By all the administration we have this is going to take time. Because if you talk to attorneys, they say the most critical aspect of it is choosing a jury. They expect it's going to last perhaps three to four weeks to select a jury. Then the trial would last between four and six months. So we're going to be hearing about this for awhile.

HARRIS: And the jury pool in Santa Barbara County, who lives there? Who's likely to be on this jury?

CALLEBS: Well, who's likely to be on this jury still untold, but the people that live here, the majority are white, a lot of Hispanic people, only about two percent of African-American in this area.

Jackson's defense team hasn't raised a lot of questions about that. They just want to see a jury of his peers selected. They say they're pretty confident that this is a very conservative area, and Jackson's defense attorneys think that will actually play into their hands.

HARRIS: Sean Callebs reporting live, following the Jackson trial for us. Sean, thank you.

Understanding our soldiers' sacrifices. A poignant look back at two fallen heroes and the pain their deaths have left behind. That's next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Live pictures right now, Santa Maria, California. Fans, media gathering outside the courthouse here as the Jackson trial is set to begin.

We saw a quick shot there of Michael Jackson leaving the courtroom. It doesn't look like he's going to come out the front door as planned. Maybe he is. You see a number of the deputies responding to his security detail. My guess is he probably went out a side door there.

But you can imagine, there's about 100 fans, we are told, that are outside of that courtroom. About 10 times as many members of the media, as you can imagine, crowding around that Santa Maria courthouse, waiting for the start of the child molestation trial.

Jury selection has been taking place. It was set to begin with the first pool earlier this morning. We saw some of the people living the courtroom. About 300 potential jurors, we're told. They appeared in two groups of 150, one in the morning and then one in the afternoon for another court session.

Jackson was in the courtroom, as you saw. He was before the superior court judge, Rodney Melville. Wanting to make room for potential jurors, the judge had ordered that the pop star leave behind his typical entourage of assistants and family members that accompanied him last time he came to court. You'll remember they all dressed in white in support of their brother, their friend.

Now, on Sunday, Jackson issued a video statement on his web site, calling leak from the grand jury disgusting and false, asking that he be allowed his day in court.

As you know, Jackson, 46, was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of child molestation, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent, one count of attempted child molestation, and one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. Michael Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges.

We've got cameras in a number of different places right here in front of the courtroom, and then also we have a wider shot camera, I believe, on the car that brought Jackson to court. You can see all his supporters there out there behind the gates close to that car.

Sean Callebs also there outside of the courtroom.

Sean, it looks like he took a little side turn and went out the side door?

CALLEBS: Perhaps so, but I can tell you the two SUVs that brought him to the courthouse this morning are parked -- you can't see because of the crowd of media behind me trying to get some kind of shot. So if, indeed, he does take advantage of this hour and a half break or so, we presume he's going to come out through the front, get into one of these large vehicles and drive off. The crowd has been pretty steady throughout the day. You mentioned about 100. I would say it's easy that. A lot of people are, indeed, dressed in white, and within the last 15 minutes or so they began to get a lot more vocal. You can hear them chanting. Throughout the day they're playing various songs by him over loud speakers in their area, as well.

Although an overwhelming number of fans out here are in complete support of him, there were a couple today with some child rights groups. One gentleman had a sign up. One Jackson supporter took issue with what was on the sign, ripped it down, and the Jackson supporter was taken away, apparently is going to be charged with disturbing the peace.

But other than that, other than the crowd cheering and chanting its support for Michael Jackson, it's been pretty calm throughout the day. As you mentioned, there are a number of law enforcement officers here behind me.

And we contrast this a bit ago Jackson's appearance this morning. He got out of the SUV dressed in white, actually turned, waved to the crowd and immediately went into the court.

They have asked him to tone it down, not jump on the vehicle and get the crowd worked up again. They were concerned about possible security there, and apparently, everybody's worked out any kind of perhaps sticking points over that. Jackson has done everything that law enforcement has asked him since then.

The judge also admonishing him on a couple occasions for being late for court once and walking out of court to use a restroom on another occasion. So he is trying to be the model defendant at this point, do everything that the judge is asking him -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, in about -- within the past 12 months, there have been a couple times where we've taken a live picture from the Neverland Ranch, Sean, police officers and detectives obtaining evidence for this trial.

What do we know with regard to what's going to be used and what's not going to be used at this point?

CALLEBS: Well, we know that a lot of the what is termed adult material will be used. The prosecution wanted to call this erotic, but in a ruling just a day or two ago, the judge came out and said no, it cannot be called erotic. It must be called adult. We know there will be some magazines. We know a number of other items were taken away, as well.

There have been all kinds of lurid details that have come out in media reports. We heard Jackson talk about some of those. It's going to be interesting to hear just how graphic they will be, once presenting that information to the jury.

We also know that the 13-year-old boy in question here will have to testify in open court, in front of Jackson, in front of his family, in front of the media. At that time, a court artist will not be allowed to sketch any pictures of the 13-year-old, so we will never see what that child looks like, but we will hear in very open court exactly what he claims happened back in February/March of 2003, just how that has played out.

Because you know, there are very limited seats in the courtroom. Basically there's going to be one pool journalist in there every day, and that journalist is going to have to come out at noon. Then at the end of the court session at the end of the day and brief the crush of media here of what went on.

It's going to be interesting to hear what happened in the court this morning in terms of trying to select a jury pool. We're told that 66 people requested a hardship, saying they simply couldn't last four to six months in the jury, some of them for financial reasons, others caring for a member of the family, things of that nature.

But the fact that so many out of 150, only 66 said they couldn't last five or six months from what we hear from attorneys, it's usually much more than that.

Now we see Michael Jackson is departing. I think we're going to go to a shot of Jackson departing at this point. Can't see if he's coming out through the front door.

PHILLIPS: We are taking the live shot, Sean, yes. We're taking the live shot now.

CALLEBS: Yes. We're talking about -- Yes. Now you can hear the crowd. He's walking out now with his entourage, his security, always holding the umbrella over his head.

It's interesting. You see he has an armband on. Now, in the past, the prosecution has complained about that armband. They have contended he has had biblical references or the number 777 on that. And it's something that they have tried to get the judge to stop, but unclear if there's any kind of writing, message on that armband at this time. But that certainly has been a sticking point, a point of some concern for the prosecution.

But Jackson calmly walking out today, getting in the SUV, not really waving to this crowd at this point. We can tell you there are people from France. There are people from Sweden here. It's just amazing the amount of people that the pop icon can still command at any given moment to come out and voice their support for him.

Now this is going to be about an hour and a half break. We're told that about 2 p.m. local time, 5 p.m. on the east coast, court will once again resume. They're going to try and go through another 150 prospective jurors this afternoon.

And those who say they can last the four to six months that the trial will take will have to fill out that seven-page questionnaire. We have not seen it, but certainly this is the kind of thing that both the defense, prosecution will either try to weed out those who will support Michael Jackson no matter what, or those who are convinced of his guilt, try to get as unbiased a jury pool as possible, 12 members, eight alternates. And we'll see how that plays out this afternoon.

It should be interesting to see if as many people as this morning believe they could last the entire time and sit on this jury pool.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sean Callebs live from Santa Maria, California. As you see live pictures of Michael Jackson taking off in his SUV with his entourage. About an hour and a half break as the jury selection continues in the child molestation trial with Michael Jackson.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: That's it.

PHILLIPS: Went quickly, didn't it? Two and a half hours, boom.

HARRIS: OK. See you back here on Friday.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks for being with us.

HARRIS: Yes. That wraps up this Monday edition of LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: Now to take us through the next hour of political headlines, of course, Judy Woodruff and "INSIDE POLITICS."

Hi, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra, thanks to you and Tony.

Millions of Iraqis have cast their votes in the landmark elections. As the ballots are being counted, we'll look at what sorts of promises U.S. politicians are making about exit strategies.

Plus, Senator Clinton causes a scare today when she faints during a speech in Buffalo. More on her condition when "INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Now in the news, Hillary -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton fainted while speaking at a private club in Buffalo, New York, today. An aides says she's suffering from a 24-hour stomach virus.

Despite the ailment, Mrs. Clinton continued with a busy schedule. You see her here speaking at a Catholic college later in the day.

Terror suspects held at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can challenge their detention in U.S. courts. That was the ruling today from a federal judge today in Washington, D.C. That contradicts a ruling from another federal judge last week. The Bush administration says it is reviewing today's decision. Pope John Paul II has a mild case of the flu. The Vatican says the 84-year-old pope will be forced to cancel several scheduled events until he feels better. The pope also suffers from Parkinson's Disease, among other ailments.

Now "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

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Aired January 31, 2005 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: ... election. Ballots shipped to Baghdad today for the round the clock vote counts. Official results are expected next week.
Dancing in the streets. Iraq's majority Shiites staged a second day of celebration. They've apparently voted in far greater numbers than the country's minority Sunnis, whose formerly powerful ranks are plagued by rebellion right now.

With the heavy Shiite turnout, especially in the south, Iraq's largest Shiite political party is claiming it won the most votes. Also expecting strong showings, a secular Shiite ticket and the Iraqi Kurds.

Iraq's interim leader is praising his country's voters, its election officials and its security forces. At a news conference in Baghdad, Ayad Allawi says that the elections struck a death blow against the insurgents.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYAD ALLAWI, IRAQI INTERIM PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The terrorists were defeated yesterday in Iraq, and there will still be violence, but the terrorists now know that they cannot win. On behalf of the courageous Iraqi people, I would like to thank the tens of thousands of electoral workers for their hard work and -- and for their bravery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: When Iraq's assembly meets it will face an August deadline to write a constitution. If it succeeds, Iraqis will go to the polls in October to approve the constitution or not. If the voters approve it, they'll vote again in December to elect a new government. If they reject the constitution, that process starts all over again.

TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: And with the election hurdle cleared, Democrats in Washington are calling on President Bush to focus on a plan to bring American troops home. The challenge comes as Mr. Bush is savoring Iraq's election and the U.S. role in getting it done.

Standing by live at the White House now, CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

Hi, Suzanne. SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Well, really, Iraq's elections seen as a vindication for the White House and for President Bush's policies. We saw the president publicly today in a swearing in ceremony for his news secretary of education secretary, Margaret Spellings.

Behind the scenes, of course, President Bush making a number of calls to key allies as well as some of the harshest critics of the Iraq war. President Bush today talked with British Prime Minister Tony Blair as well as French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, of course, saying that he thanked them for their support, the importance of Iraq elections, looking forward to the Middle East peace initiative, working on that, as well.

The president also reached out to the Iraqi leaders, the interim prime minister, Allawi, as well as the president there, saying that, of course, the U.S. will continue its commitment in training Iraqi forces.

Now, all of this, of course, Tony, has reinvigorated the debate over when it is that U.S. troops should withdraw from Iraq. Already top Democrats are calling for a very clear and concise exit strategy, but the White House saying that now is not the time to set a timetable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NE), MINORITY LEADER: Yesterday's elections were a milestone, but on Wednesday night, the president needs to spell out a real and understandable plan for the unfinished work ahead: defeat the growing insurgency, rebuild Iraq, increase political participation by all parties, especially Iraq's moderates, and increase international involvement.

But most of all, we need an exit strategy so that we know what victory is and how we can get there. So that we know what we need to do and so that we know when the job is done.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: In terms of setting timetables, I think the president has previously talked about timetables send the wrong message to the terrorists, because all terrorists have to do is wait, and then they can plan and coordinate and prepare attacks around those timetables.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Now, the Democrats called their comments today a prebuttal to the president's State of the Union address. White House press secretary Scott McClellan saying that they weren't going to engage in a pre-prebuttal, but he did say the president, of course, is going to be talking about the success of Iraq's elections to make the case that he believes bringing democracy to the world is a realistic goal.

The president this afternoon, of course, Tony, working on that State of the Union address. We are told it's his 13th draft. And he's in the family theater practicing, a couple practice sessions this afternoon to make the case. He believes, of course, Iraqi elections are successful, democracy will come, and, of course, he'll also be talking about his domestic agenda, as well -- Tony.

HARRIS: We've got prebuttals and pre-prebuttals and we're just going to call the whole thing off, Kyra. Suzanne, thank you.

MALVEAUX: Sure.

HARRIS: The president, by the way, is speaking to the NBA champs from last year, the Detroit Pistons. There's the live picture. Trying to make out a couple of people in the background. Now I can't.

PHILLIPS: Can you name all the players?

HARRIS: You know, well, I can name a couple, but I can't see the team.

PHILLIPS: That's a real wide shot there. There you go.

HARRIS: Ben Wallace was -- is the center for the Pistons, and he was one of the guys involved in that big brawl a couple of months ago with Ron Artest.

PHILLIPS: How can we forget?

HARRIS: Yes. And there was...

PHILLIPS: He was cleared, though, wasn't he?

HARRIS: Yes, yes, yes. He had a couple days to spend on the bench.

PHILLIPS: Was it carving the pines?

HARRIS: Yes. On the end of the bench with the suspension, but he's back in the lineup now. Once again, President Bush congratulating the Pistons on a really good season for that team.

All right. Moving on. So has Iraq's election been a boost for President Bush ahead of Wednesday's State of the Union address? Find out today on "INSIDE POLITICS," starting at 3:30 Eastern.

PHILLIPS: Hillary Clinton fainted today as she started a speech in New York. The first alarming reports that the Democratic senator was rushed to the hospital, but those reports turned out to be false.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick joins us now from New York to tell us what happened.

And Deb, she got right back up there and kept going, didn't she?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, she barely missed a beat on this. As a matter of fact, she felt well enough about an hour after the fainting spell to continue on to her next speaking engagement at a Catholic college. She spoke there for about 45 minutes. That's the video that you see here.

But earlier in the day, Mrs. Clinton was addressing a woman's group, about 150 people in a suburb just outside Buffalo. And according to a local official who was there, Mrs. Clinton told the crowd that she was feeling queasy, that she had some sort of a stomach virus, that it was either the flu or food poisoning. She looked very weak.

According to the witnesses, she began speaking, asked for some water, then sat down to continue addressing the crowd. But then she had to leave the stage. She came back, and that's when the fainting spell occurred.

About 30 seconds, according to one of the witnesses, and that person says that about four people caught her as she was falling. She was immediately surrounded by her Secret Service agents.

Her press secretary, Philippe Reines, did release a press statement just a short while ago. He said, "Senator Clinton is suffering from a stomach virus. She wasn't feeling well while speaking at an event in Buffalo, New York this morning. She felt weak, needed to sit down and then fainted briefly. She received immediate medical attention at the site and is now proceeding with her schedule as planned."

Senator Clinton did not go to the hospital. No EMS ambulance was called. She was treated there and then went on with her schedule. She was speaking to the crowd at the college. No incidents reported there. We're not exactly sure whether, in fact, she alluded to the fainting spell earlier in the meeting -- earlier in the day.

She had canceled some outside meetings that she had before the earlier speaking engagement. But right now she's back up. She's speaking, carrying on with her schedule -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Deb Feyerick, thank you so much -- Tony.

HARRIS: Michael Jackson says he wants his day in court. Well, now he has it. The King of Pop is in court for the start of his jury selection in the high profile, high stakes child molestation trial.

CNN's Sean Callebs is covering it all outside the courthouse in Santa Maria, California.

Hi, Sean.

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Tony.

Indeed they've been inside the courtroom now more than a couple of hours. And to give you an idea of the number of prospective jurors waiting to get in this morning, they want to go through 150 this morning, another 150 this afternoon. It took so long to get folks through all the metal detectors that proceedings were delayed just about an hour.

Let's show you what it looked like this morning when Jackson and his entourage pulled up. Two black SUVs. Michael Jackson getting out, dressed in white, from head to toe.

He briefly turned and waved to the throng of supporters here. Indeed, there are people from as far away as France and Sweden. Then he calmly walked in, and he will be in court or is required to be in court for the duration of this trial.

Let's contrast this to what happened during his first court appearance here several months ago. There was even a much larger crowd this time. He jumped up on top of the van, began waving wildly to the crowd and, really, that made the law enforcement offices here in the county uncomfortable. They were worried about his security. They were worried about his safety. He was told to tone his act down.

Also, Jackson has been admonished by the judge on a couple of occasions for being late and another time for having to get up in the middle of court proceedings and go use the restroom. Now, since those admonishments, he has been a different person in the courtroom. He's been very calm.

His family is not in there today. Simply not enough seats for his family. We're told once the trial does start, there will be seats in the trial for his family.

The noon break is happening right now. You can hear the crowd starting to pick up just a bit. And a lot of people here, really, on hand to voice their support for Michael Jackson.

He has been very critical of all the publicity that has leaked out, the information that has come out leading up to this trial, and even though there is a gag order he got approval by the court, and he issued this statement critical of all the pretrial publicity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL JACKSON, ACCUSED OF CHILD MOLESTATION: In the last few weeks a large amount of ugly, malicious information has been released into the media about me. Apparently, this information was leaked through transcripts in a grand jury proceeding where neither my lawyers nor I ever appeared. The information is disgusting and false.

Years ago, I allowed a family to visit and spend some time at Neverland. Neverland is my home. I allowed this family into my home, because they told me their son was ill with cancer and needed my help. Through the years I have helped thousands of children who are ill or in distress.

These events have caused a nightmare for my family, my children and me. I never intend to place myself in so vulnerable a position ever again.

I love my community, and I have great faith in our justice system. Please keep an open mind and let me have my day in court. I deserve a fair trial like every other American citizen. I will be acquitted and vindicated when the truth is told. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CALLEBS: OK. Now we're looking at live picture. These are some of the prospective jurors leaving the courtroom.

The judge in this case, Rodney Melville, has a somewhat ambitious schedule. He wants to go through 150 prospective jurors in the morning, 150 in the afternoon. All told, 750 over a two and a half day period.

Now this trial is expected to last as long as five to six months. He's asking anyone who would have a hardship, not be able to sit on the case that long, to come forward now, and they theoretically could be excused.

The rest will be filling out seven-page questionnaires. And once those have been filled out, the lawyers will sit down Thursday, Friday, begin trying to pair down this list, try to find 12 members to sit on the poll, eight alternates.

Now, if convicted of four counts of child molestation, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent, Jackson could, Tony, spend more than 20 years in prison.

HARRIS: OK. Sean, a couple thoughts. See if we can get to both of them. How long is this jury selection process expected? You mentioned questionnaires and everything else. How long is that -- never mind the trial, how long is the jury selection process supposed to take?

CALLEBS: Good question. By all the administration we have this is going to take time. Because if you talk to attorneys, they say the most critical aspect of it is choosing a jury. They expect it's going to last perhaps three to four weeks to select a jury. Then the trial would last between four and six months. So we're going to be hearing about this for awhile.

HARRIS: And the jury pool in Santa Barbara County, who lives there? Who's likely to be on this jury?

CALLEBS: Well, who's likely to be on this jury still untold, but the people that live here, the majority are white, a lot of Hispanic people, only about two percent of African-American in this area.

Jackson's defense team hasn't raised a lot of questions about that. They just want to see a jury of his peers selected. They say they're pretty confident that this is a very conservative area, and Jackson's defense attorneys think that will actually play into their hands.

HARRIS: Sean Callebs reporting live, following the Jackson trial for us. Sean, thank you.

Understanding our soldiers' sacrifices. A poignant look back at two fallen heroes and the pain their deaths have left behind. That's next on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PHILLIPS: Live pictures right now, Santa Maria, California. Fans, media gathering outside the courthouse here as the Jackson trial is set to begin.

We saw a quick shot there of Michael Jackson leaving the courtroom. It doesn't look like he's going to come out the front door as planned. Maybe he is. You see a number of the deputies responding to his security detail. My guess is he probably went out a side door there.

But you can imagine, there's about 100 fans, we are told, that are outside of that courtroom. About 10 times as many members of the media, as you can imagine, crowding around that Santa Maria courthouse, waiting for the start of the child molestation trial.

Jury selection has been taking place. It was set to begin with the first pool earlier this morning. We saw some of the people living the courtroom. About 300 potential jurors, we're told. They appeared in two groups of 150, one in the morning and then one in the afternoon for another court session.

Jackson was in the courtroom, as you saw. He was before the superior court judge, Rodney Melville. Wanting to make room for potential jurors, the judge had ordered that the pop star leave behind his typical entourage of assistants and family members that accompanied him last time he came to court. You'll remember they all dressed in white in support of their brother, their friend.

Now, on Sunday, Jackson issued a video statement on his web site, calling leak from the grand jury disgusting and false, asking that he be allowed his day in court.

As you know, Jackson, 46, was indicted by a grand jury on four counts of child molestation, four counts of administering an intoxicating agent, one count of attempted child molestation, and one count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. Michael Jackson has pleaded not guilty to all of these charges.

We've got cameras in a number of different places right here in front of the courtroom, and then also we have a wider shot camera, I believe, on the car that brought Jackson to court. You can see all his supporters there out there behind the gates close to that car.

Sean Callebs also there outside of the courtroom.

Sean, it looks like he took a little side turn and went out the side door?

CALLEBS: Perhaps so, but I can tell you the two SUVs that brought him to the courthouse this morning are parked -- you can't see because of the crowd of media behind me trying to get some kind of shot. So if, indeed, he does take advantage of this hour and a half break or so, we presume he's going to come out through the front, get into one of these large vehicles and drive off. The crowd has been pretty steady throughout the day. You mentioned about 100. I would say it's easy that. A lot of people are, indeed, dressed in white, and within the last 15 minutes or so they began to get a lot more vocal. You can hear them chanting. Throughout the day they're playing various songs by him over loud speakers in their area, as well.

Although an overwhelming number of fans out here are in complete support of him, there were a couple today with some child rights groups. One gentleman had a sign up. One Jackson supporter took issue with what was on the sign, ripped it down, and the Jackson supporter was taken away, apparently is going to be charged with disturbing the peace.

But other than that, other than the crowd cheering and chanting its support for Michael Jackson, it's been pretty calm throughout the day. As you mentioned, there are a number of law enforcement officers here behind me.

And we contrast this a bit ago Jackson's appearance this morning. He got out of the SUV dressed in white, actually turned, waved to the crowd and immediately went into the court.

They have asked him to tone it down, not jump on the vehicle and get the crowd worked up again. They were concerned about possible security there, and apparently, everybody's worked out any kind of perhaps sticking points over that. Jackson has done everything that law enforcement has asked him since then.

The judge also admonishing him on a couple occasions for being late for court once and walking out of court to use a restroom on another occasion. So he is trying to be the model defendant at this point, do everything that the judge is asking him -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, in about -- within the past 12 months, there have been a couple times where we've taken a live picture from the Neverland Ranch, Sean, police officers and detectives obtaining evidence for this trial.

What do we know with regard to what's going to be used and what's not going to be used at this point?

CALLEBS: Well, we know that a lot of the what is termed adult material will be used. The prosecution wanted to call this erotic, but in a ruling just a day or two ago, the judge came out and said no, it cannot be called erotic. It must be called adult. We know there will be some magazines. We know a number of other items were taken away, as well.

There have been all kinds of lurid details that have come out in media reports. We heard Jackson talk about some of those. It's going to be interesting to hear just how graphic they will be, once presenting that information to the jury.

We also know that the 13-year-old boy in question here will have to testify in open court, in front of Jackson, in front of his family, in front of the media. At that time, a court artist will not be allowed to sketch any pictures of the 13-year-old, so we will never see what that child looks like, but we will hear in very open court exactly what he claims happened back in February/March of 2003, just how that has played out.

Because you know, there are very limited seats in the courtroom. Basically there's going to be one pool journalist in there every day, and that journalist is going to have to come out at noon. Then at the end of the court session at the end of the day and brief the crush of media here of what went on.

It's going to be interesting to hear what happened in the court this morning in terms of trying to select a jury pool. We're told that 66 people requested a hardship, saying they simply couldn't last four to six months in the jury, some of them for financial reasons, others caring for a member of the family, things of that nature.

But the fact that so many out of 150, only 66 said they couldn't last five or six months from what we hear from attorneys, it's usually much more than that.

Now we see Michael Jackson is departing. I think we're going to go to a shot of Jackson departing at this point. Can't see if he's coming out through the front door.

PHILLIPS: We are taking the live shot, Sean, yes. We're taking the live shot now.

CALLEBS: Yes. We're talking about -- Yes. Now you can hear the crowd. He's walking out now with his entourage, his security, always holding the umbrella over his head.

It's interesting. You see he has an armband on. Now, in the past, the prosecution has complained about that armband. They have contended he has had biblical references or the number 777 on that. And it's something that they have tried to get the judge to stop, but unclear if there's any kind of writing, message on that armband at this time. But that certainly has been a sticking point, a point of some concern for the prosecution.

But Jackson calmly walking out today, getting in the SUV, not really waving to this crowd at this point. We can tell you there are people from France. There are people from Sweden here. It's just amazing the amount of people that the pop icon can still command at any given moment to come out and voice their support for him.

Now this is going to be about an hour and a half break. We're told that about 2 p.m. local time, 5 p.m. on the east coast, court will once again resume. They're going to try and go through another 150 prospective jurors this afternoon.

And those who say they can last the four to six months that the trial will take will have to fill out that seven-page questionnaire. We have not seen it, but certainly this is the kind of thing that both the defense, prosecution will either try to weed out those who will support Michael Jackson no matter what, or those who are convinced of his guilt, try to get as unbiased a jury pool as possible, 12 members, eight alternates. And we'll see how that plays out this afternoon.

It should be interesting to see if as many people as this morning believe they could last the entire time and sit on this jury pool.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sean Callebs live from Santa Maria, California. As you see live pictures of Michael Jackson taking off in his SUV with his entourage. About an hour and a half break as the jury selection continues in the child molestation trial with Michael Jackson.

We're going to take a quick break. More LIVE FROM right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: That's it.

PHILLIPS: Went quickly, didn't it? Two and a half hours, boom.

HARRIS: OK. See you back here on Friday.

PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks for being with us.

HARRIS: Yes. That wraps up this Monday edition of LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: Now to take us through the next hour of political headlines, of course, Judy Woodruff and "INSIDE POLITICS."

Hi, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Kyra, thanks to you and Tony.

Millions of Iraqis have cast their votes in the landmark elections. As the ballots are being counted, we'll look at what sorts of promises U.S. politicians are making about exit strategies.

Plus, Senator Clinton causes a scare today when she faints during a speech in Buffalo. More on her condition when "INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Now in the news, Hillary -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton fainted while speaking at a private club in Buffalo, New York, today. An aides says she's suffering from a 24-hour stomach virus.

Despite the ailment, Mrs. Clinton continued with a busy schedule. You see her here speaking at a Catholic college later in the day.

Terror suspects held at the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can challenge their detention in U.S. courts. That was the ruling today from a federal judge today in Washington, D.C. That contradicts a ruling from another federal judge last week. The Bush administration says it is reviewing today's decision. Pope John Paul II has a mild case of the flu. The Vatican says the 84-year-old pope will be forced to cancel several scheduled events until he feels better. The pope also suffers from Parkinson's Disease, among other ailments.

Now "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

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