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Plane Crashes into Building in New Jersey, 14 Injured; Americans Wants Specifics from State of the Union; Homeland Security Nominee Undergoes Questioning; Vatican Reports Pope's Condition Not Serious

Aired February 02, 2005 - 13:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Prayers from around the world for Pope John Paul II, still in a hospital. We have the latest from Rome on his condition.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Protecting America and preserving your rights. The man picked to be the nation's new homeland security chief says he can do both. We're LIVE FROM Washington.

O'BRIEN: Will your hospital make you sick? New information on the risk of getting an infection while you're being treated.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

We begin today on the fringes of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The New York metropolitan area where there's an airplane sticking outside of a warehouse after an aborted takeoff, an apparent aborted takeoff early this morning from that airport.

At least 14 people were hurt when a twin engine Challenger aircraft roared off the runway, crossed a six-lane highway at rush hour, and then slammed into a garment facility, luckily, before most employees showed up for work.

As we say, 14 people were hurt. No one killed. The pilot has survived. He has a broken leg. And obviously, that will help investigators quite a bit as they try to determine the cause of this.

Let's just bring you up to date on what we know about the plane and the incident. First of all, it's a Challenger CL-600, a shortened version of a regional jet commonly used, made by Canadair or Bombardier, a Canadian firm. And this particular aircraft has the capacity for 13 passengers and crew. There were 11 aboard at this time.

Let's take a look and show you exactly where this happened, Teterboro Airport, give you a sense of what we're talking about. This is Teterboro Airport. There are two main runways there. This one, along here, was closed today. It is the longer of the two runways. It is 7,000 feet.

The shorter of the runways was in use today, about 6,000 feet. Let's go over to it. We'll take you down the runway and tell you what happened. Nominal take-off roll for this Challenger would be about 5,700 feet, 6,000 feet until the end of the runway.

And the distance from the end of the runway to that highway is only 250 feet. The distance from there to that warehouse, which we just told you about, is 450 feet. Now that is inside the current FAA limitations of 1,000 feet of buffer space. But this runway was built before that rule was put in place. No system for arresting the roll of an aircraft here, which some airports have employed.

Now, let's take a look at some of the footage we've been watching all day today, and we'll give you some idea. First of all, you can see the treads there across that turf, the end of the runway, straight off, into the location where the aircraft was.

And there are a couple of things about this wreckage you need to know about. First of all, you see these black what appear to be bands on the runway. That's a clear sign that the thrust reversers on the engine were deployed. Those thrust reversers are used to brake the aircraft. And clearly, the pilots made the decision to stop the take- off roll and not go airborne.

You can also see in the wreckage indication that the speed brakes were deployed. Those speed brakes also used to brake an aircraft.

We get that wider shot up now. I just want to show you something else. Take a look at this right engine. You'll notice it's charred much more than the left engine. Is that because of the post-crash fire, or is it because, potentially, that engine might have failed during that takeoff run?

All part of the investigation. Could go either way. But it is interesting. When we watched the fire, we had no reason to indication the fire was stronger on one side of the airplane or the other. That's some of the ideas that are going around right now as the NTSB go team arrives on the scene there and begins this investigation.

Once again, with the crew alive and able to talk about it, it should be fairly -- well, not simple, but it should be relatively evident what caused this crash fairly soon -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Miles, thank you so much.

Well, the Constitution requires it. Presidents adore it. Friends and foes analyze it, spin it, parse it down to the merest inflection. It's the annual State of the Union speech, and tonight's the night.

Modern presidents have transformed what the framers envisioned as a time-to-time status report into a star-spangled showcase for their agendas. President Bush, we understand, plans to plug his Social Security overhaul, his energy program, his immigration and medical malpractice reform, and of course the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The speech starts at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific. But CNN's coverage starts one hour earlier with a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN NOW," at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. on the west coast.

And what do ordinary viewers hope to hear? CNN's Kelly Wallace spoke with several this week. And in their answer, in a word, specifics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We brought together Dawn Jimenez, whose husband just returned from Iraq; John Pollinger, Middletown, New Jersey's police chief; Roseann Salanitri, a conservative activist; and Ilana Reich, a psychologist from Manhattan, along with her boyfriend, Bob Agnes.

Over lunch at a New Jersey restaurant, they all said they wanted specifics from President Bush tonight.

ROSEANN SALANITRI, CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST: I don't want to hear sound bites. I don't want to hear tax reform. All right, what does that mean?

BOB AGNES, RETIREE: I think he's got to reach out to the American people and explain exactly what he means to do about those programs.

ILANA REICH, PSYCHOLOGIST: I never find those kinds of speeches helpful because they're not clear enough, specific enough.

SALANITRI: I do want to hear him say that the things that he mentioned in his campaign and the things that he ran on, that it's still full speed ahead.

WALLACE (on camera): Chief Pollinger, what do you want to hear from the president tomorrow night?

CHIEF JOHN POLLINGER, MIDDLETOWN, NEW JERSEY, POLICE: Less arrogance. I was kind of disappointed when right after the election, he decided that this was a mandate. When you get just past 50 percent of the popular -- the popular support, it's not a mandate. It's a privilege.

DAWN JIMENEZ, MILITARY WIFE: I want to know what he's going to do for our military, how he's going to help them get what they need in order to secure our home front and keep the war over in Iraq and Afghanistan and et cetera, and away from our backyards.

WALLACE (voice-over): And following Sunday's elections in Iraq, what do they want to hear? They all agreed the president should not lay out a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.

JIMENEZ: I do not expect a timetable. Do not give me a timetable, because I won't believe it.

POLLINGER: What I'd like to hear from the president, would be, we're not going to abandon the Iraqi people until they are confident enough to ask us to.

REICH: I think the issue is, are we going to be going all over the world, all the time to free countries, and is that our policy?

POLLINGER: Needs to tone down the rhetoric...

REICH: Perhaps that's not what we want...

POLLINGER: ... create the fear that we're going to be going to...

AGNES: I think -- I think the insurgents have to believe that we will stay there forever if it takes that long.

POLLINGER: Absolutely.

AGNES: They're not going to win. Give it up.

WALLACE: Kelly Wallace, CNN, Middletown, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: If President Bush wanted to introduce his new attorney general at tonight's event, and there's some indication he did, he won't be able to.

Senate Democrats are still on their feet, debating the former White House counsel's attitudes and history on torture and foreign detainees. Almost no one expects Gonzales not to be confirmed. And talk of a filibuster fizzled. But there won't be a floor vote today.

The president's nominee for homeland security chief, meanwhile, is fielding polite but sometimes pointed questions from a Senate committee. And CNN's Jeanne Meserve joins us from Washington with that.

Hello, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Much of the questioning has dealt with actions taken by Michael Chertoff in the aftermath of 9/11. As head of the criminal division at the Justice Department, Chertoff played a role in crafting the Patriot Act, which gave the government broad new surveillance and law enforcement powers. Chertoff evaluated the controversial law this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: My experience with the act is a couple of years old. And in the areas in which I worked, I thought the information sharing, the additional enhanced criminal penalties, actually worked quite well. And -- particularly information sharing, I think, was critical in allowing us to pursue additional terrorism cases.

With respect to criticism of the act, you know, my position is always that if there's something that we haven't anticipated that's going on that we don't know about, I'm always interested in hearing about it. And I'm always open to adjust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: While at justice, Chertoff oversaw the detention of more than 700 men on immigration charges. The Justice Department inspector general was sharply critical, saying the men were systematically mistreated.

Today, Chertoff responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERTOFF: Mistreatment of detainees in detention facilities is wholly unacceptable. It's always been unacceptable. Again, I understand it was an emotional time. But training has to be in place so people understand that you don't give vent to emotions. People are being detained not to be mistreated or punished, but simply as part of the legal process to allow investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Chertoff was asked about reports, that the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, was given a plea deal to prevent disclosure of his mistreatment in custody. Chertoff said that information had already been turned over to authorities for investigation and the plea deal was only made to save the government time and effort.

He was also asked whether he ever gave the Central Intelligence Agency the green light to use certain torture techniques. He told the committee that he said at the time he would not discuss hypotheticals but advised that torture was illegal.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thank you. CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for most latest information, day and night.

PHILLIPS: The doctors are optimistic, says Italy's minister of health, but the hopeful remain concerned for ailing Pope John Paul II, hospitalized for breathing difficulties arising from a bout of the flu. Hours after the pope's late night arrival at the hospital some have dubbed the Third Vatican, prayers are being offered at the real Vatican and at thousands of churches around the world.

We get an update now from CNN's Jim Bittermann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Vatican basically saying that the pope's condition is stable. Vatican radio saying optimistically the pope could leave here in a few days. A Vatican spokesman saying nothing to be alarmed about. However, there must have been a great deal of alarm last night, because in fact, in the middle of the night, 11 p.m., well past the pope's bedtime, the pope was brought here to Gemelli Hospital outside of Rome, about two miles away from the Vatican, despite the fact that there's plenty of medical equipment and medical care equipment available inside the Vatican itself. So there must have been quite an alarming situation going on.

We're told that the pope was suffering from respiratory spasms, that these muscle spasms that would cut off the flow of oxygen. So it must have been fairly alarming for the people around him, and that's why they moved him here.

Now since then what indicates it may -- that his condition may have stabilized is that his personal doctor, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, has gone home, and also we're told that, in fact, the pope was able to take some breakfast this morning and was able to swallow liquids. That, according to Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN. That of course, indicates the pope's spasms have at least quit for the moment.

Now, the other problem he has, according to the Vatican, is that he is suffering from respiratory infection, and that can be quite hazardous for someone suffering from Parkinson's disease. So I think they'll probably be keeping him in the hospital for at least a few more days to see how the infection goes. After that, it's sort of speculation of what might happen here.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, at the Gemelli Hospital outside Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And in our next hour, we're going to discuss the inevitable papal succession with CNN Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher.

O'BRIEN: Also, a story you'll see only on CNN. Ahead, we'll take you inside the Catholic seminary playing a prominent role in the church's sex abuse scandal.

Also ahead, avoiding infection. New information on steps you can take to prevent picking up a bug in the hospital. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

That is one unhappy rodent, folks. The crowd goes wild for the seer of seers, the sage of sages, the prognosticators of prognosticators and weather prophet extraordinaire or not. Punxsutawney Phil is the name. We'll capture the shadow and the excitement of Groundhog Day.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: This story is just in to CNN, and it's truly amazing.

Rescuers in India on Wednesday found nine survivors of December's tsunami disaster in the tropical archipelago of the Andamans near Thailand. Five men, three children, one woman, all of them emaciated, picked up by a police party, a random search, 38 days after that tsunami hit December 26.

According to authorities, they lived off coconuts and coconut water for all these days. They were found in a remote part of the island about 24 miles, 39 kilometers, from the naval base on Campbell Bay.

Now, since the tsunami hit, about 2,000 people have been listed dead, 555 still missing in that particular chain of islands.

So once again, Indian rescuers have found nine survivors from the December tsunami in a remote island in the Andaman Islands, not too far from Thailand. They're obviously emaciated, but they are alive. Three children, one woman, five men. We are obviously watching that one closely for you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, a California seminary is ground zero for the church sex abuse scandal on the west coast. CNN's Drew Griffin gives us an inside look in an investigation you'll see only on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has dominated this hill in Camarillo, California, since the 1930s, St. John's Seminary, a school for young men aspiring to the priesthood.

But behind these walls, is a dark secret. This seminary's alumni role contains a who's who of accused Catholic priest pedophiles.

Richard Sipe, a former priest, and now an expert on the clergy sexual abuse in the United States, says this one seminary has a shameful record.

RICHARD SIPE, FORMER PRIEST: I've been involved in about 200 cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests in this country. Of those case, St. John's comes up over and over and over again.

GRIFFIN: They are now infamous cases in southern California's ongoing sex church scandal: Michael Baker, who graduated from St. John's in 1974, is reported by the archdiocese to have abused as many as 23 boys.

Patrick Ziemann, a bishop who had to resign over allegations of sexual abuse, graduated in '67. Ziemann had no comment to CNN.

And Michael Wempe, who soon goes on trial for alleged sexual abuse of a minor, which he denies, graduated from St. John's in 1966.

A review of the Los Angeles Archdiocese's own report of sex abuse by priests reveals 18 percent of St. John graduates between 1962 and 1976 went on to be accused of abuse. For the graduating class of 1972, the rate of those accused would reach one-third.

In that class was Michael Harris, a priest who would become a principal and counselor to young boys interested in entering the priesthood. Then, according to one of those boy, took their faith and destroyed it.

JOHN GRIMLEY, ALLEGES ABUSE: I'm the shell of what I could have been. I'm not -- I'm not a properly formed adult.

GRIFFIN: John Grimley wanted to be a Catholic priest and likely would have been a good one. He was a successful Catholic high school student, college and law student. He once helped write speeches for the first President Bush.

But he never fulfilled what he says was his true ambition, to become a good, Catholic priest, because he says he was sexually and emotionally abused by a bad one.

GRIMLEY: I couldn't understand why this priest was wanting me to do things which all my years of Catholic education had taught me were wrong.

GRIFFIN: Other accusers of Father Michael Harris have settled multimillion-dollar lawsuits with the church. But Harris has always maintained his innocence.

For Grimley there is nothing innocent about what he says Harris did to him. He says he is a survivor of a dark journey that began on a sunny California day at St. John's. He was a high school freshman on a field trip, to find out what it would be like to attend the seminary. But the priest who was escorting him, Grimley says, would turn out to be a pedophile.

GRIMLEY: And he said, "I want you to come and talk to me about your interest in the priesthood."

GRIFFIN: He ignored the warnings of a St. John's student on that sunny day, who tried to tell him about the strange things going on behind the seminary doors.

GRIMLEY: He said something that I'll never forget. It was chilling. He said that "you should be very careful about going here. You probably shouldn't go here. There's a lot of weird stuff going on."

GRIFFIN: Former priest Richard Sipe says the pedophiles of the Catholic Church are byproducts of a seminary system that keeps all sorts of secrets.

SIPE: The problem is the number of bishops and priests who are sexually active not in criminal ways but with women, with men, and with each other. And that whole atmosphere pervades in seminaries.

GRIFFIN: Sexual activity among priests is not illegal, of course, and according to Sipe, by itself, is not a problem for the church. Except, he says, that the church has tried to keep it a secret, and that created a deeper and darker secret, the small percentage of priests who abuse children. (on camera) And at St. John's where you have graduate after graduate becoming accused after accused, could there any -- be anyway the L.A. Archdiocese hierarchy didn't know about what was happening?

SIPE: No. No. There is no way they did not know.

CARDINAL ROGER MAHONEY, ARCHBISHOP OF LOS ANGELES: Well, I -- I think that is not correct.

SIPE: Cardinal Roger Mahoney is archbishop of Los Angeles. His responsibilities include St. John's, and he says there has been no problem at St. John's under his watch.

MAHONEY: Absolutely not. Not during my time here, either while I was at the seminary or as archbishop, I was unaware of any kind of activity like that. And I think that the men who are rectors and priests who were in charge would have certainly not only made sure it didn't happen, but also would have told me about it.

GRIFFIN: But in what could be a turning point for the Catholic church, the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Bishops have decided to seek out the root cause of the growing clergy sexual abuse scandal in the United States, and more than 100 seminaries, including St. John's, will be visited, students, faculty and graduates questioned. And at the top of the list will be questioned about sex, homosexually and promiscuity.

Richard Sipe calls it a start but says the Vatican will not like the result.

SIPE: And so you have an atmosphere, not that's coming in from the bottom, but that comes down from the top and then is tolerated from the top.

GRIFFIN: For John Grimley, who now isolates himself in London, the Catholic Church's investigation into how Michael Harris and other accused pedophiles were allowed to enter the priesthood comes too late.

GRIMLEY: We live like hermits. We live broken, shattered lives, because when trust is so -- so savagely taken, then you're just barely surviving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: With more on the ongoing criminal investigation, because you're taking it from all different angles, the employment records and also reports of abusive priests, have attorneys been able to get their hands on these documents?

GRIFFIN: Some. Some of the documents that the district attorney in Los Angeles wants have been turned over. But t here's been a two-year fight for employment records of accused priests. That continues.

The diocese does not want to release them and just last week appealed the decision that forced them to turn over those documents to the D.A. They have filed yet another appeal in the two-year struggle for the district attorney to see what the diocese knew, who in the diocese knew what and what the leaders of the church in Los Angeles did or didn't do with the information that these priests were abusing.

PHILLIPS: So it's possible there were so many reports of abuse that's why they don't want this released? I mean, is that a possibility?

GRIFFIN: It's all speculation at this time. But obviously, the church, for some reason or another, does not want to have full disclosure on this issue, especially to the district attorney, who's conducting a criminal investigation aimed at priests and at leaders of the church in Los Angeles.

PHILLIPS: On the civil side, 490 complaints so far?

GRIFFIN: Yes, a class action lawsuit. This is s going to be -- when it settles -- and they're in settlement talks now, it's going to be bigger than Orange County, which settled for $100 million, bigger than Boston.

You're talking, in those cases, less than 100 complaints each. But in Los Angeles, where you have hundreds and hundreds of complaints involving dozens and dozens of priests, there is a lot of speculation that this is going to be a whopper of a settlement, if the church goes that route.

PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to see what happens. Drew Griffin, thanks so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, getting ready for Super Bowl XXXIX. Strapping on the pads and ready to roll out the new commercials. What advertisers will and will not be promoting during the big game.

Later on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you explain, you know, the hardest day in your life is one of the most happiest days, too?

PHILLIPS: A Marine in Iraq, his newborn son in Omaha. And the day that forever changed their lives.

Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, from the State of the Union to the state of the blog. We'll check out the Web's spin on the president's agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: To use it in his own words, it ain't the heat; it's the humility. Maybe that's why famous New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra is now pitching a fit over an advertisement promoting "Sex and the City" on our sister network TBS and has filed a $10 million lawsuit.

The ad asks for the definition of Yogasm. Possible answers included A) a type of yo-yo trick; B) sex with Yogi Berra; or C) what Samantha has with a guy from yoga class. Well, the answer is C, but Berra is more than miffed about the mention.

According to his suit, the reference to sex damaged his otherwise spotless reputation. TBS spokeswoman has no comment on Berra's lawsuit.

O'BRIEN: We wish him -- them well, I guess, as they engage in all that.

The TiVo in turmoil. The company's president quit yesterday. There's talk of trouble.

Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange for a better look at TiVo's situation -- Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired February 2, 2005 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: Prayers from around the world for Pope John Paul II, still in a hospital. We have the latest from Rome on his condition.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Protecting America and preserving your rights. The man picked to be the nation's new homeland security chief says he can do both. We're LIVE FROM Washington.

O'BRIEN: Will your hospital make you sick? New information on the risk of getting an infection while you're being treated.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

PHILLIPS: And I'm Kyra Phillips. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

We begin today on the fringes of Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The New York metropolitan area where there's an airplane sticking outside of a warehouse after an aborted takeoff, an apparent aborted takeoff early this morning from that airport.

At least 14 people were hurt when a twin engine Challenger aircraft roared off the runway, crossed a six-lane highway at rush hour, and then slammed into a garment facility, luckily, before most employees showed up for work.

As we say, 14 people were hurt. No one killed. The pilot has survived. He has a broken leg. And obviously, that will help investigators quite a bit as they try to determine the cause of this.

Let's just bring you up to date on what we know about the plane and the incident. First of all, it's a Challenger CL-600, a shortened version of a regional jet commonly used, made by Canadair or Bombardier, a Canadian firm. And this particular aircraft has the capacity for 13 passengers and crew. There were 11 aboard at this time.

Let's take a look and show you exactly where this happened, Teterboro Airport, give you a sense of what we're talking about. This is Teterboro Airport. There are two main runways there. This one, along here, was closed today. It is the longer of the two runways. It is 7,000 feet.

The shorter of the runways was in use today, about 6,000 feet. Let's go over to it. We'll take you down the runway and tell you what happened. Nominal take-off roll for this Challenger would be about 5,700 feet, 6,000 feet until the end of the runway.

And the distance from the end of the runway to that highway is only 250 feet. The distance from there to that warehouse, which we just told you about, is 450 feet. Now that is inside the current FAA limitations of 1,000 feet of buffer space. But this runway was built before that rule was put in place. No system for arresting the roll of an aircraft here, which some airports have employed.

Now, let's take a look at some of the footage we've been watching all day today, and we'll give you some idea. First of all, you can see the treads there across that turf, the end of the runway, straight off, into the location where the aircraft was.

And there are a couple of things about this wreckage you need to know about. First of all, you see these black what appear to be bands on the runway. That's a clear sign that the thrust reversers on the engine were deployed. Those thrust reversers are used to brake the aircraft. And clearly, the pilots made the decision to stop the take- off roll and not go airborne.

You can also see in the wreckage indication that the speed brakes were deployed. Those speed brakes also used to brake an aircraft.

We get that wider shot up now. I just want to show you something else. Take a look at this right engine. You'll notice it's charred much more than the left engine. Is that because of the post-crash fire, or is it because, potentially, that engine might have failed during that takeoff run?

All part of the investigation. Could go either way. But it is interesting. When we watched the fire, we had no reason to indication the fire was stronger on one side of the airplane or the other. That's some of the ideas that are going around right now as the NTSB go team arrives on the scene there and begins this investigation.

Once again, with the crew alive and able to talk about it, it should be fairly -- well, not simple, but it should be relatively evident what caused this crash fairly soon -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Miles, thank you so much.

Well, the Constitution requires it. Presidents adore it. Friends and foes analyze it, spin it, parse it down to the merest inflection. It's the annual State of the Union speech, and tonight's the night.

Modern presidents have transformed what the framers envisioned as a time-to-time status report into a star-spangled showcase for their agendas. President Bush, we understand, plans to plug his Social Security overhaul, his energy program, his immigration and medical malpractice reform, and of course the U.S. mission in Iraq.

The speech starts at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific. But CNN's coverage starts one hour earlier with a special edition of "PAULA ZAHN NOW," at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. on the west coast.

And what do ordinary viewers hope to hear? CNN's Kelly Wallace spoke with several this week. And in their answer, in a word, specifics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We brought together Dawn Jimenez, whose husband just returned from Iraq; John Pollinger, Middletown, New Jersey's police chief; Roseann Salanitri, a conservative activist; and Ilana Reich, a psychologist from Manhattan, along with her boyfriend, Bob Agnes.

Over lunch at a New Jersey restaurant, they all said they wanted specifics from President Bush tonight.

ROSEANN SALANITRI, CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST: I don't want to hear sound bites. I don't want to hear tax reform. All right, what does that mean?

BOB AGNES, RETIREE: I think he's got to reach out to the American people and explain exactly what he means to do about those programs.

ILANA REICH, PSYCHOLOGIST: I never find those kinds of speeches helpful because they're not clear enough, specific enough.

SALANITRI: I do want to hear him say that the things that he mentioned in his campaign and the things that he ran on, that it's still full speed ahead.

WALLACE (on camera): Chief Pollinger, what do you want to hear from the president tomorrow night?

CHIEF JOHN POLLINGER, MIDDLETOWN, NEW JERSEY, POLICE: Less arrogance. I was kind of disappointed when right after the election, he decided that this was a mandate. When you get just past 50 percent of the popular -- the popular support, it's not a mandate. It's a privilege.

DAWN JIMENEZ, MILITARY WIFE: I want to know what he's going to do for our military, how he's going to help them get what they need in order to secure our home front and keep the war over in Iraq and Afghanistan and et cetera, and away from our backyards.

WALLACE (voice-over): And following Sunday's elections in Iraq, what do they want to hear? They all agreed the president should not lay out a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops.

JIMENEZ: I do not expect a timetable. Do not give me a timetable, because I won't believe it.

POLLINGER: What I'd like to hear from the president, would be, we're not going to abandon the Iraqi people until they are confident enough to ask us to.

REICH: I think the issue is, are we going to be going all over the world, all the time to free countries, and is that our policy?

POLLINGER: Needs to tone down the rhetoric...

REICH: Perhaps that's not what we want...

POLLINGER: ... create the fear that we're going to be going to...

AGNES: I think -- I think the insurgents have to believe that we will stay there forever if it takes that long.

POLLINGER: Absolutely.

AGNES: They're not going to win. Give it up.

WALLACE: Kelly Wallace, CNN, Middletown, New Jersey.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: If President Bush wanted to introduce his new attorney general at tonight's event, and there's some indication he did, he won't be able to.

Senate Democrats are still on their feet, debating the former White House counsel's attitudes and history on torture and foreign detainees. Almost no one expects Gonzales not to be confirmed. And talk of a filibuster fizzled. But there won't be a floor vote today.

The president's nominee for homeland security chief, meanwhile, is fielding polite but sometimes pointed questions from a Senate committee. And CNN's Jeanne Meserve joins us from Washington with that.

Hello, Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Miles.

Much of the questioning has dealt with actions taken by Michael Chertoff in the aftermath of 9/11. As head of the criminal division at the Justice Department, Chertoff played a role in crafting the Patriot Act, which gave the government broad new surveillance and law enforcement powers. Chertoff evaluated the controversial law this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: My experience with the act is a couple of years old. And in the areas in which I worked, I thought the information sharing, the additional enhanced criminal penalties, actually worked quite well. And -- particularly information sharing, I think, was critical in allowing us to pursue additional terrorism cases.

With respect to criticism of the act, you know, my position is always that if there's something that we haven't anticipated that's going on that we don't know about, I'm always interested in hearing about it. And I'm always open to adjust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: While at justice, Chertoff oversaw the detention of more than 700 men on immigration charges. The Justice Department inspector general was sharply critical, saying the men were systematically mistreated.

Today, Chertoff responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHERTOFF: Mistreatment of detainees in detention facilities is wholly unacceptable. It's always been unacceptable. Again, I understand it was an emotional time. But training has to be in place so people understand that you don't give vent to emotions. People are being detained not to be mistreated or punished, but simply as part of the legal process to allow investigation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Chertoff was asked about reports, that the so-called American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, was given a plea deal to prevent disclosure of his mistreatment in custody. Chertoff said that information had already been turned over to authorities for investigation and the plea deal was only made to save the government time and effort.

He was also asked whether he ever gave the Central Intelligence Agency the green light to use certain torture techniques. He told the committee that he said at the time he would not discuss hypotheticals but advised that torture was illegal.

Miles, back to you.

O'BRIEN: Jeanne Meserve in Washington, thank you. CNN is committed to providing the most reliable coverage of news that affects your security. Stay tuned to CNN for most latest information, day and night.

PHILLIPS: The doctors are optimistic, says Italy's minister of health, but the hopeful remain concerned for ailing Pope John Paul II, hospitalized for breathing difficulties arising from a bout of the flu. Hours after the pope's late night arrival at the hospital some have dubbed the Third Vatican, prayers are being offered at the real Vatican and at thousands of churches around the world.

We get an update now from CNN's Jim Bittermann.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Vatican basically saying that the pope's condition is stable. Vatican radio saying optimistically the pope could leave here in a few days. A Vatican spokesman saying nothing to be alarmed about. However, there must have been a great deal of alarm last night, because in fact, in the middle of the night, 11 p.m., well past the pope's bedtime, the pope was brought here to Gemelli Hospital outside of Rome, about two miles away from the Vatican, despite the fact that there's plenty of medical equipment and medical care equipment available inside the Vatican itself. So there must have been quite an alarming situation going on.

We're told that the pope was suffering from respiratory spasms, that these muscle spasms that would cut off the flow of oxygen. So it must have been fairly alarming for the people around him, and that's why they moved him here.

Now since then what indicates it may -- that his condition may have stabilized is that his personal doctor, Dr. Renato Buzzonetti, has gone home, and also we're told that, in fact, the pope was able to take some breakfast this morning and was able to swallow liquids. That, according to Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN. That of course, indicates the pope's spasms have at least quit for the moment.

Now, the other problem he has, according to the Vatican, is that he is suffering from respiratory infection, and that can be quite hazardous for someone suffering from Parkinson's disease. So I think they'll probably be keeping him in the hospital for at least a few more days to see how the infection goes. After that, it's sort of speculation of what might happen here.

Jim Bittermann, CNN, at the Gemelli Hospital outside Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And in our next hour, we're going to discuss the inevitable papal succession with CNN Vatican analyst Delia Gallagher.

O'BRIEN: Also, a story you'll see only on CNN. Ahead, we'll take you inside the Catholic seminary playing a prominent role in the church's sex abuse scandal.

Also ahead, avoiding infection. New information on steps you can take to prevent picking up a bug in the hospital. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?

That is one unhappy rodent, folks. The crowd goes wild for the seer of seers, the sage of sages, the prognosticators of prognosticators and weather prophet extraordinaire or not. Punxsutawney Phil is the name. We'll capture the shadow and the excitement of Groundhog Day.

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

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O'BRIEN: This story is just in to CNN, and it's truly amazing.

Rescuers in India on Wednesday found nine survivors of December's tsunami disaster in the tropical archipelago of the Andamans near Thailand. Five men, three children, one woman, all of them emaciated, picked up by a police party, a random search, 38 days after that tsunami hit December 26.

According to authorities, they lived off coconuts and coconut water for all these days. They were found in a remote part of the island about 24 miles, 39 kilometers, from the naval base on Campbell Bay.

Now, since the tsunami hit, about 2,000 people have been listed dead, 555 still missing in that particular chain of islands.

So once again, Indian rescuers have found nine survivors from the December tsunami in a remote island in the Andaman Islands, not too far from Thailand. They're obviously emaciated, but they are alive. Three children, one woman, five men. We are obviously watching that one closely for you -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, a California seminary is ground zero for the church sex abuse scandal on the west coast. CNN's Drew Griffin gives us an inside look in an investigation you'll see only on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It has dominated this hill in Camarillo, California, since the 1930s, St. John's Seminary, a school for young men aspiring to the priesthood.

But behind these walls, is a dark secret. This seminary's alumni role contains a who's who of accused Catholic priest pedophiles.

Richard Sipe, a former priest, and now an expert on the clergy sexual abuse in the United States, says this one seminary has a shameful record.

RICHARD SIPE, FORMER PRIEST: I've been involved in about 200 cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests in this country. Of those case, St. John's comes up over and over and over again.

GRIFFIN: They are now infamous cases in southern California's ongoing sex church scandal: Michael Baker, who graduated from St. John's in 1974, is reported by the archdiocese to have abused as many as 23 boys.

Patrick Ziemann, a bishop who had to resign over allegations of sexual abuse, graduated in '67. Ziemann had no comment to CNN.

And Michael Wempe, who soon goes on trial for alleged sexual abuse of a minor, which he denies, graduated from St. John's in 1966.

A review of the Los Angeles Archdiocese's own report of sex abuse by priests reveals 18 percent of St. John graduates between 1962 and 1976 went on to be accused of abuse. For the graduating class of 1972, the rate of those accused would reach one-third.

In that class was Michael Harris, a priest who would become a principal and counselor to young boys interested in entering the priesthood. Then, according to one of those boy, took their faith and destroyed it.

JOHN GRIMLEY, ALLEGES ABUSE: I'm the shell of what I could have been. I'm not -- I'm not a properly formed adult.

GRIFFIN: John Grimley wanted to be a Catholic priest and likely would have been a good one. He was a successful Catholic high school student, college and law student. He once helped write speeches for the first President Bush.

But he never fulfilled what he says was his true ambition, to become a good, Catholic priest, because he says he was sexually and emotionally abused by a bad one.

GRIMLEY: I couldn't understand why this priest was wanting me to do things which all my years of Catholic education had taught me were wrong.

GRIFFIN: Other accusers of Father Michael Harris have settled multimillion-dollar lawsuits with the church. But Harris has always maintained his innocence.

For Grimley there is nothing innocent about what he says Harris did to him. He says he is a survivor of a dark journey that began on a sunny California day at St. John's. He was a high school freshman on a field trip, to find out what it would be like to attend the seminary. But the priest who was escorting him, Grimley says, would turn out to be a pedophile.

GRIMLEY: And he said, "I want you to come and talk to me about your interest in the priesthood."

GRIFFIN: He ignored the warnings of a St. John's student on that sunny day, who tried to tell him about the strange things going on behind the seminary doors.

GRIMLEY: He said something that I'll never forget. It was chilling. He said that "you should be very careful about going here. You probably shouldn't go here. There's a lot of weird stuff going on."

GRIFFIN: Former priest Richard Sipe says the pedophiles of the Catholic Church are byproducts of a seminary system that keeps all sorts of secrets.

SIPE: The problem is the number of bishops and priests who are sexually active not in criminal ways but with women, with men, and with each other. And that whole atmosphere pervades in seminaries.

GRIFFIN: Sexual activity among priests is not illegal, of course, and according to Sipe, by itself, is not a problem for the church. Except, he says, that the church has tried to keep it a secret, and that created a deeper and darker secret, the small percentage of priests who abuse children. (on camera) And at St. John's where you have graduate after graduate becoming accused after accused, could there any -- be anyway the L.A. Archdiocese hierarchy didn't know about what was happening?

SIPE: No. No. There is no way they did not know.

CARDINAL ROGER MAHONEY, ARCHBISHOP OF LOS ANGELES: Well, I -- I think that is not correct.

SIPE: Cardinal Roger Mahoney is archbishop of Los Angeles. His responsibilities include St. John's, and he says there has been no problem at St. John's under his watch.

MAHONEY: Absolutely not. Not during my time here, either while I was at the seminary or as archbishop, I was unaware of any kind of activity like that. And I think that the men who are rectors and priests who were in charge would have certainly not only made sure it didn't happen, but also would have told me about it.

GRIFFIN: But in what could be a turning point for the Catholic church, the Vatican and the U.S. Conference of Bishops have decided to seek out the root cause of the growing clergy sexual abuse scandal in the United States, and more than 100 seminaries, including St. John's, will be visited, students, faculty and graduates questioned. And at the top of the list will be questioned about sex, homosexually and promiscuity.

Richard Sipe calls it a start but says the Vatican will not like the result.

SIPE: And so you have an atmosphere, not that's coming in from the bottom, but that comes down from the top and then is tolerated from the top.

GRIFFIN: For John Grimley, who now isolates himself in London, the Catholic Church's investigation into how Michael Harris and other accused pedophiles were allowed to enter the priesthood comes too late.

GRIMLEY: We live like hermits. We live broken, shattered lives, because when trust is so -- so savagely taken, then you're just barely surviving.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: With more on the ongoing criminal investigation, because you're taking it from all different angles, the employment records and also reports of abusive priests, have attorneys been able to get their hands on these documents?

GRIFFIN: Some. Some of the documents that the district attorney in Los Angeles wants have been turned over. But t here's been a two-year fight for employment records of accused priests. That continues.

The diocese does not want to release them and just last week appealed the decision that forced them to turn over those documents to the D.A. They have filed yet another appeal in the two-year struggle for the district attorney to see what the diocese knew, who in the diocese knew what and what the leaders of the church in Los Angeles did or didn't do with the information that these priests were abusing.

PHILLIPS: So it's possible there were so many reports of abuse that's why they don't want this released? I mean, is that a possibility?

GRIFFIN: It's all speculation at this time. But obviously, the church, for some reason or another, does not want to have full disclosure on this issue, especially to the district attorney, who's conducting a criminal investigation aimed at priests and at leaders of the church in Los Angeles.

PHILLIPS: On the civil side, 490 complaints so far?

GRIFFIN: Yes, a class action lawsuit. This is s going to be -- when it settles -- and they're in settlement talks now, it's going to be bigger than Orange County, which settled for $100 million, bigger than Boston.

You're talking, in those cases, less than 100 complaints each. But in Los Angeles, where you have hundreds and hundreds of complaints involving dozens and dozens of priests, there is a lot of speculation that this is going to be a whopper of a settlement, if the church goes that route.

PHILLIPS: It will be interesting to see what happens. Drew Griffin, thanks so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, getting ready for Super Bowl XXXIX. Strapping on the pads and ready to roll out the new commercials. What advertisers will and will not be promoting during the big game.

Later on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you explain, you know, the hardest day in your life is one of the most happiest days, too?

PHILLIPS: A Marine in Iraq, his newborn son in Omaha. And the day that forever changed their lives.

Tomorrow on LIVE FROM, from the State of the Union to the state of the blog. We'll check out the Web's spin on the president's agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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PHILLIPS: To use it in his own words, it ain't the heat; it's the humility. Maybe that's why famous New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra is now pitching a fit over an advertisement promoting "Sex and the City" on our sister network TBS and has filed a $10 million lawsuit.

The ad asks for the definition of Yogasm. Possible answers included A) a type of yo-yo trick; B) sex with Yogi Berra; or C) what Samantha has with a guy from yoga class. Well, the answer is C, but Berra is more than miffed about the mention.

According to his suit, the reference to sex damaged his otherwise spotless reputation. TBS spokeswoman has no comment on Berra's lawsuit.

O'BRIEN: We wish him -- them well, I guess, as they engage in all that.

The TiVo in turmoil. The company's president quit yesterday. There's talk of trouble.

Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange for a better look at TiVo's situation -- Susan.

(STOCK REPORT)

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