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Homes Lost in California Landslide; Rumsfeld Lashes Out at Amnesty International; CNN Founder Ted Turner Shares Hopes for Network
Aired June 01, 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, HOST: Cruising California, monitoring the hillside in Laguna Beach, California. Part of it gave way, sending several homes and part of a road crashing down. We get the latest now in this report from Liz Habib, live from Laguna Beach, California.
Liz, bring us up to date.
LIZ HABIB, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Kyra. I'll tell you what's going on. These homes are breaking all kinds of weird angles. Twelve to 15 million -- over a million-dollar homes breaking and crashing down the hillside here on Laguna Beach.
We'll pan out and show you the scene a little bit. Give you a little look up there at the top of the hill. This is the area where it's happening. Some of the worst damage is behind the trees. Homes literally buckled in half up here. Homes on the hill just sort of hanging in the balance as the hillside comes sliding down.
We had a very rainy winter here in southern California. You may remember there were mud slides in different parts of the state during February and January. The theory here is that a lot of the water seeped into the hillside, and now the hillside is loosening up and giving way.
This was a crazy situation for the people who lived here this morning. I spoke to one woman who said, you know, what it sounded like to her, 6 a.m. this morning, she was in the shower. You know those little Pop Rocks, the candy you eat that explode in your mouth? Sort of sounding like that. A bunch of crackling noises and then one big crack and the side of her house slipped off the hill into the canyon.
Three hundred, 350 homes, somewhere in that range, evacuated this morning. It was just a crazy scene, people running down the hill. They really didn't know what happened. They were disoriented. It was so early in the morning. A lot of them thought maybe there were in an earthquake.
The crews up here, fire crews, police crews, geologists say it's going to take two to three days before people can get anywhere near their homes again. This is still a very fluid situation. That hill is still coming down, and the street is coming down, as well.
If you're up there close, it's one of those things where it moves in inches. Cars are moving. Homes are sliding. So if you were up in the homes even right now you'd probably hear those crackling noises again of the homes coming down.
These homes again, it's a very desirable area to live in, Laguna Beach. There's a gorgeous view of the ocean. So even though there's the danger of mud slides, as there is everywhere in Southern California, that's why the people live in those homes.
Again, 300 to 350 homes evacuated. No one seriously injured out here. There were minor injuries -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Liz Habib, live from Laguna Beach, California. We're on the story.
Well, this year many forecasters predict more active than usual hurricane season, which began today and runs until November 30. The forecast is not welcome news to those affected by the six intense hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. last year. Damage is estimated at well over $40 billion.
Colorado State University professor William Gray forecasts 15 named tropical storms and eight hurricanes. And his research team says four of those will be major hurricanes.
Government forecasters predict 12 to 15 tropical storms, as many as nine hurricanes and three to five of them will become major hurricanes.
Get more information about this year's hurricane season at our web site: CNN.com/weather.
Other news across America now.
It was first thought to be an accident. Now Ohio investigators believe that a house fire that killed nine people was arson. Eight of the people killed in last month's fire were children. Cleveland's fire chief says until now they had wondered why none of them were able to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF PAUL STUBBS, CLEVELAND FIRE DEPARTMENT: We had young, able-bodied people who we believe had the early notice of a smoke detector warning, and yet they weren't able to self-evacuate. There's something wrong with that picture automatically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Investigators detected an accelerant that was used in that fire.
The FBI has dug up the grave of Emmett Till in hopes of finding new evidence in the killing that helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Till was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 after apparently whistling at a white woman. Two men were acquitted of that crime. The Justice Department announced plans last year to reopen the investigation. Arrests could happen. Help is on the way for airline passengers who mistakenly show up on the no fly list. By the end of the year, passengers will be asked for birth date as well as their name and address. The hope is it will reduce the number of mismatches on terror watch lists.
Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld lashed out today at the human rights group that likened the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet gulag. Standing by live with that and other news from the Pentagon, CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
Hi, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, it was a blistering attack from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld as he opened his Pentagon briefing today, disputing charges from Amnesty International that the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was, quote, "the gulag of our times."
Rumsfeld said that it's important to remember the people being detained at Guantanamo are suspected terrorists, and some, he said, have been found back on the battlefield after they have been released.
He leveled -- he called the charge leveled by Amnesty International reprehensible and said it was, quote, "inexcusable."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Most would define a gulag as where the Soviet Union kept millions in forced labor concentration camps. Or I suppose some might say that where Saddam Hussein mutilated and murdered untold numbers because they held views unacceptable to his regime. To compare the United States and Guantanamo Bay to such atrocities cannot be excused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Amnesty International USA fired off an e-mail, saying that -- a couple of things. One it said that "the deliberate policy of this administration is to detain individuals without charge or trial in prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Air Base and other locations where their treatment has not conformed to international standards."
It specifically accused Donald Rumsfeld personally of approving a December 2002 memorandum that permitted such unlawful interrogation techniques as stress positions, prolonged isolation, stripping and the use of dogs at Guantanamo Bay and said he should be held accountable, as all those responsible for torture, no matter how senior.
Now the Pentagon violently disagrees that any of those techniques, properly applied, would constitute torture.
Amnesty International also said that they had been criticizing Saddam Hussein's human rights campaign back 20 years ago when Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was, quote, "courting him." Again, the Pentagon vigorously disputes the idea that Rumsfeld was courting Saddam Hussein in this 1983 meeting when he was acting as a special envoy for the United States.
Rumsfeld also noted that, of the 68,000 detainees that have been held since September 11, the United States has had 370 criminal investigations. He said only one-tenth of 1 percent of military personnel have been found to have done anything illegal -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jamie, did anything come up in the Pentagon briefing about al-Zarqawi and is injured or not?
MCINTYRE: Well, more confirmation that the U.S. believes that he was injured based on statements on the web sites and seem to correlate with events that the Pentagon aware of.
But again, they don't know the extent of his injuries. They think he was injured in a confrontation along the western border with Syria. But today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld did issue a somewhat veiled warning to Syria and Iran not to offer any aid and comfort to Zarqawi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUMSFELD: The current assumption is that he's in Iraq. It would certainly -- were a neighboring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him. They obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al Qaeda network, and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: That sounds a lot like a warning, but Rumsfeld stopped short about finding any consequences for somebody who did take Zarqawi in -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jamie McIntyre live from the Pentagon. Thank you so much.
And this just into CNN. It's a story we've been following throughout the day, and now we are getting word that the Dutch voters today massively rejected the E.U. constitution, with an exit poll showing 63 percent voting no this in this potentially lethal blow to the text. Of course, three days after a roaring French rejection of that treaty.
This coming down now, of course. It's saying that this could be a fatal blow to the treaty that was designed to make the E.U., of course, run better following the fact that it was getting larger from 15 to 25 states. Now we're getting word Dutch voters massively rejecting the E.U. constitution. As soon as we get more information, we'll bring it to you.
Well, fallout today from the stunning unmasking of the Watergate informant Deep Throat. At the urging of some of his family, the aging former official of the FBI revealed the long held secret to an attorney for publication in "Vanity Fair."
The "Washington Post," to whom Deep Throat secretly leaked, confirmed his identity later yesterday.
President -- the president was asked today whether he thinks Mark Felt is a hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP0
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's hard for me to judge without learning more about the situation. All I can tell is that it was a revelation that caught me by surprise, and I thought it was very interesting. I'm looking forward to reading about it. Reading about his relationship with the news media. It's a brand-new story for a lot of us who have been wondering a long time who he was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, President Bush wasn't eager to judge Deep Throat. A lot of our viewers certainly were. We asked for your opinion about Mark Felt's role in exposing the Watergate scandal as an inside informant: was he a hero or a bum? Here's a sampling of what -- what we've heard from you so far.
Judy says that "he is a criminal, pure and simple. I'm sure his relatives and many Democrats will say he's a hero. It's strange how your political affiliation can distort your concept of truth. I'm a Canadian, so I think I'm close to unbiased as it gets."
This from Angel in Oakland: "Deep Throat was a hero because democracy and the Constitution are more important than partisan politics. We need more Deep Throats today."
And this one coming from Earline: "He was -- if he was proud of what he did, he would do it in the light of the day, but he hid under the darkness and denied it all the way up until now."
Dianne: "I think he's a bum and dishonored the tradition of the FBI. He empowered and distorted the position of journalists in a process that should have been handled by the appointed committee."
And Fred says, "Let us let history judge Mark Felt. I suspect that it will not judge him kindly, however. How could it when a man who is the deputy director of the FBI demonstrates that he could not be trusted to keep confidential the very confidential information about the administration for which he worked. Hero, hardly."
And finally Garrett, "Felt is a hero. He showed everyone in America that no man is bigger than the office. He showed us that the president is just a citizen like and you me and is subject is the same laws as us. He truly showed everyone that no one is above the law."
Here's another reminder of something that we doubt you'll want to miss. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein tomorrow night, "LARRY KING LIVE" exclusive. That's "LARRY KING LIVE," 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific. And a correction for you now. Last hour, we ran a piece by Aaron Brown that said Howard Hunt passed away. Well, he has not. We regret that error. We apologize that that was incorrect.
Well, something that happened 25 years ago today, it's affecting what you're doing right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Celebrating our silver anniversary. And just ahead, we're going to show you some moments from the day that we made television news history.
And former astronaut Neil Armstrong made history landing on the moon. Now he's threatening to sue his barber. Find out what the heck is going on ahead on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since CNN signed on as the world's first all news television network. Here's a look back at that eventful day that forever changed the way the world watches news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not every day of the week that a 24- hour-a-day news network is dedicated. So let's go now and see the birth of a network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1979, barely over a year ago, two men set sail on this satellite journey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are taking the advantages of written journalism and putting it into the video mode.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We at Turner Broadcasting System anticipate we'll last and be a powerful force now and for the foreseeable future of mankind.
The Cable News Network, the news channel, will serve to inform the people of this country and beyond. CNN will be a living history on a 24-hour a day basis, 365 days a year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that we can perhaps bring together in brotherhood and kindness and friendship and in peace the people of this nation and this world.
TURNER: I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready camera 3, one center up.
DAVID WALKER, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm David Walker.
LOIS HART, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Lois Hart. Now here's the news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you already know, this is the first day for the Cable News Network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really happy to be here at the start of something very special in television journalism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're happy that you're here with us to watch the news channel as the news goes on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Today, the network took time to celebrate the occasion at its annual world report conference here in Atlanta, Georgia. Speakers included CNN founder Ted Turner.
Well, CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, spoke with Turner earlier today. The CNN founder discussed the many world events that have been covered by the network, what he'd like to see the network become in the future and his inspiration for starting it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was it like for you that day, 25 years ago, when you stood right here and announced the birth of this -- this incredible entity?
TURNER: Well, it was incredibly exciting. I knew it was going to succeed. I just knew it. I wasn't -- I wasn't going to let it fail. Failure was not an option.
AMANPOUR: You've also said that it wasn't about just making money. Yes, you wanted to make money, but what was it about?
TURNER: It was about an adventure. I really thought that the world would benefit by having lots of information about all different parts of the world and the important things.
We had plenty of stations, local stations all over America that ran local news about automobile crashes and fires and rapes and plundering and all that sort of thing. I wanted a network -- we weren't pure serious journalism. I mean, we did follow O.J. Simpson all around L.A. all day, and we had Jessica at the well. And we did -- we did a number of continuing stories that were really pretty trivial but of high interest.
But our main concentration was on serious news, and since we were not a local news channel, we were going to be a national and international news channel. We put our focus from the very beginning on national and international news that really wasn't available from CBS, NBC and ABC.
But my position -- I didn't know much about journalism. I watch TV a little. I listen to radio. I read the newspapers. But -- but somebody's got to take the position of being the place to go to. Somebody's got to be the most respected name in television news, and I wanted that position for CNN.
I wanted to be the "New York Times" of the airwaves. Not the "New York Post" but the "New York Times." And that's what we set out to do, and we did it. In 20 short years by all the surveys, we became the world's most respected news source. The "New York Times" had been there for 100 years. We did it in 20.
And you can coast on that reputation for a long time, but you're really -- if you're going to hold that position, which is the pole position, which I think will be the most profitable position, too, you have to -- you have to earn it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, we invite you to tune in tonight beginning at 8 Eastern for "DEFINING MOMENTS: 25 STORIES THAT TOUCHED OUR LIVES." Again, that's tonight, 8 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
And we're not sure this is something you'll see only on CNN. But it's certainly the first time we've seen a squirrel loopy for a lollipop. I guess we'll try and explain coming up.
Check of the big board right now, numbers on Wall Street. Dow Jones Industrials up 52 points. We're going to take a quick break. You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Got to give you a little LIVE FROM bonus story today. You know how we're total suckers for cute animal video. Well, how can we resist this little guy who stumbled on something he just couldn't resist in downtown Denver?
So how many squirrel licks does it take to get to the center of that Tootsie Pop? We'll get back to you.
In the meantime, this is our little way of saying happy 25th anniversary, CNN. It can't always be bad news, right?
That wraps it up for LIVE FROM today. Now to take us through the next half hour of political headlines, our Judy woodruff.
Sorry, Judy, we just had to roll the squirrel and the lollipop.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Very, very cute, thank you, Kyra. And we'll see you tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. WOODRUFF: So he's been called a hero by some, a villain by others. How will history judge the man who came forward to say he was Deep Throat?
Plus behind the scenes at the Clinton White House with John Harris, author of the new book, "The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House."
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Right now in the news.
Slip sliding away in Laguna Beach, California. Fifteen to 18 homes in the Bluebird Canyon region slid down a hill early this morning. Home owners got a little warning from noisy pipes before the earth gave way. Authorities were able to safely evacuate more than 300 residents.
Two minor injuries have been reported.
They've been listening to testimony since March 9. Now jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial are getting ready to enter the next phase. In just a couple of hours, Judge Rodney Melville will detail his instructions. Closing arguments are tomorrow. Then the jury begins the task of determining Jackson's guilt or innocence.
One small clip for man, one giant leap for another man's bank account. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is ready to launch the owner of this Ohio barber shop into orbit. Armstrong found out that Mark Sizemore (ph) swept up clippings from a recent trim and sold them to a collector for three grand. Now Armstrong is threatening to sue him.
"JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.
END
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Aired June 1, 2005 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Cruising California, monitoring the hillside in Laguna Beach, California. Part of it gave way, sending several homes and part of a road crashing down. We get the latest now in this report from Liz Habib, live from Laguna Beach, California.
Liz, bring us up to date.
LIZ HABIB, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Kyra. I'll tell you what's going on. These homes are breaking all kinds of weird angles. Twelve to 15 million -- over a million-dollar homes breaking and crashing down the hillside here on Laguna Beach.
We'll pan out and show you the scene a little bit. Give you a little look up there at the top of the hill. This is the area where it's happening. Some of the worst damage is behind the trees. Homes literally buckled in half up here. Homes on the hill just sort of hanging in the balance as the hillside comes sliding down.
We had a very rainy winter here in southern California. You may remember there were mud slides in different parts of the state during February and January. The theory here is that a lot of the water seeped into the hillside, and now the hillside is loosening up and giving way.
This was a crazy situation for the people who lived here this morning. I spoke to one woman who said, you know, what it sounded like to her, 6 a.m. this morning, she was in the shower. You know those little Pop Rocks, the candy you eat that explode in your mouth? Sort of sounding like that. A bunch of crackling noises and then one big crack and the side of her house slipped off the hill into the canyon.
Three hundred, 350 homes, somewhere in that range, evacuated this morning. It was just a crazy scene, people running down the hill. They really didn't know what happened. They were disoriented. It was so early in the morning. A lot of them thought maybe there were in an earthquake.
The crews up here, fire crews, police crews, geologists say it's going to take two to three days before people can get anywhere near their homes again. This is still a very fluid situation. That hill is still coming down, and the street is coming down, as well.
If you're up there close, it's one of those things where it moves in inches. Cars are moving. Homes are sliding. So if you were up in the homes even right now you'd probably hear those crackling noises again of the homes coming down.
These homes again, it's a very desirable area to live in, Laguna Beach. There's a gorgeous view of the ocean. So even though there's the danger of mud slides, as there is everywhere in Southern California, that's why the people live in those homes.
Again, 300 to 350 homes evacuated. No one seriously injured out here. There were minor injuries -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Liz Habib, live from Laguna Beach, California. We're on the story.
Well, this year many forecasters predict more active than usual hurricane season, which began today and runs until November 30. The forecast is not welcome news to those affected by the six intense hurricanes that made landfall in the U.S. last year. Damage is estimated at well over $40 billion.
Colorado State University professor William Gray forecasts 15 named tropical storms and eight hurricanes. And his research team says four of those will be major hurricanes.
Government forecasters predict 12 to 15 tropical storms, as many as nine hurricanes and three to five of them will become major hurricanes.
Get more information about this year's hurricane season at our web site: CNN.com/weather.
Other news across America now.
It was first thought to be an accident. Now Ohio investigators believe that a house fire that killed nine people was arson. Eight of the people killed in last month's fire were children. Cleveland's fire chief says until now they had wondered why none of them were able to escape.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF PAUL STUBBS, CLEVELAND FIRE DEPARTMENT: We had young, able-bodied people who we believe had the early notice of a smoke detector warning, and yet they weren't able to self-evacuate. There's something wrong with that picture automatically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Investigators detected an accelerant that was used in that fire.
The FBI has dug up the grave of Emmett Till in hopes of finding new evidence in the killing that helped galvanize the civil rights movement. Till was murdered in Mississippi in 1955 after apparently whistling at a white woman. Two men were acquitted of that crime. The Justice Department announced plans last year to reopen the investigation. Arrests could happen. Help is on the way for airline passengers who mistakenly show up on the no fly list. By the end of the year, passengers will be asked for birth date as well as their name and address. The hope is it will reduce the number of mismatches on terror watch lists.
Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld lashed out today at the human rights group that likened the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay to the Soviet gulag. Standing by live with that and other news from the Pentagon, CNN's Jamie McIntyre.
Hi, Jamie.
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.
Well, it was a blistering attack from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld as he opened his Pentagon briefing today, disputing charges from Amnesty International that the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was, quote, "the gulag of our times."
Rumsfeld said that it's important to remember the people being detained at Guantanamo are suspected terrorists, and some, he said, have been found back on the battlefield after they have been released.
He leveled -- he called the charge leveled by Amnesty International reprehensible and said it was, quote, "inexcusable."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Most would define a gulag as where the Soviet Union kept millions in forced labor concentration camps. Or I suppose some might say that where Saddam Hussein mutilated and murdered untold numbers because they held views unacceptable to his regime. To compare the United States and Guantanamo Bay to such atrocities cannot be excused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: Amnesty International USA fired off an e-mail, saying that -- a couple of things. One it said that "the deliberate policy of this administration is to detain individuals without charge or trial in prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Air Base and other locations where their treatment has not conformed to international standards."
It specifically accused Donald Rumsfeld personally of approving a December 2002 memorandum that permitted such unlawful interrogation techniques as stress positions, prolonged isolation, stripping and the use of dogs at Guantanamo Bay and said he should be held accountable, as all those responsible for torture, no matter how senior.
Now the Pentagon violently disagrees that any of those techniques, properly applied, would constitute torture.
Amnesty International also said that they had been criticizing Saddam Hussein's human rights campaign back 20 years ago when Defense Secretary Rumsfeld was, quote, "courting him." Again, the Pentagon vigorously disputes the idea that Rumsfeld was courting Saddam Hussein in this 1983 meeting when he was acting as a special envoy for the United States.
Rumsfeld also noted that, of the 68,000 detainees that have been held since September 11, the United States has had 370 criminal investigations. He said only one-tenth of 1 percent of military personnel have been found to have done anything illegal -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Jamie, did anything come up in the Pentagon briefing about al-Zarqawi and is injured or not?
MCINTYRE: Well, more confirmation that the U.S. believes that he was injured based on statements on the web sites and seem to correlate with events that the Pentagon aware of.
But again, they don't know the extent of his injuries. They think he was injured in a confrontation along the western border with Syria. But today, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld did issue a somewhat veiled warning to Syria and Iran not to offer any aid and comfort to Zarqawi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUMSFELD: The current assumption is that he's in Iraq. It would certainly -- were a neighboring country to take him in and provide medical assistance or haven for him. They obviously would be associating themselves with a major linkage in the al Qaeda network, and a person who has a great deal of blood on his hands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: That sounds a lot like a warning, but Rumsfeld stopped short about finding any consequences for somebody who did take Zarqawi in -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jamie McIntyre live from the Pentagon. Thank you so much.
And this just into CNN. It's a story we've been following throughout the day, and now we are getting word that the Dutch voters today massively rejected the E.U. constitution, with an exit poll showing 63 percent voting no this in this potentially lethal blow to the text. Of course, three days after a roaring French rejection of that treaty.
This coming down now, of course. It's saying that this could be a fatal blow to the treaty that was designed to make the E.U., of course, run better following the fact that it was getting larger from 15 to 25 states. Now we're getting word Dutch voters massively rejecting the E.U. constitution. As soon as we get more information, we'll bring it to you.
Well, fallout today from the stunning unmasking of the Watergate informant Deep Throat. At the urging of some of his family, the aging former official of the FBI revealed the long held secret to an attorney for publication in "Vanity Fair."
The "Washington Post," to whom Deep Throat secretly leaked, confirmed his identity later yesterday.
President -- the president was asked today whether he thinks Mark Felt is a hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP0
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's hard for me to judge without learning more about the situation. All I can tell is that it was a revelation that caught me by surprise, and I thought it was very interesting. I'm looking forward to reading about it. Reading about his relationship with the news media. It's a brand-new story for a lot of us who have been wondering a long time who he was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, President Bush wasn't eager to judge Deep Throat. A lot of our viewers certainly were. We asked for your opinion about Mark Felt's role in exposing the Watergate scandal as an inside informant: was he a hero or a bum? Here's a sampling of what -- what we've heard from you so far.
Judy says that "he is a criminal, pure and simple. I'm sure his relatives and many Democrats will say he's a hero. It's strange how your political affiliation can distort your concept of truth. I'm a Canadian, so I think I'm close to unbiased as it gets."
This from Angel in Oakland: "Deep Throat was a hero because democracy and the Constitution are more important than partisan politics. We need more Deep Throats today."
And this one coming from Earline: "He was -- if he was proud of what he did, he would do it in the light of the day, but he hid under the darkness and denied it all the way up until now."
Dianne: "I think he's a bum and dishonored the tradition of the FBI. He empowered and distorted the position of journalists in a process that should have been handled by the appointed committee."
And Fred says, "Let us let history judge Mark Felt. I suspect that it will not judge him kindly, however. How could it when a man who is the deputy director of the FBI demonstrates that he could not be trusted to keep confidential the very confidential information about the administration for which he worked. Hero, hardly."
And finally Garrett, "Felt is a hero. He showed everyone in America that no man is bigger than the office. He showed us that the president is just a citizen like and you me and is subject is the same laws as us. He truly showed everyone that no one is above the law."
Here's another reminder of something that we doubt you'll want to miss. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein tomorrow night, "LARRY KING LIVE" exclusive. That's "LARRY KING LIVE," 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 Pacific. And a correction for you now. Last hour, we ran a piece by Aaron Brown that said Howard Hunt passed away. Well, he has not. We regret that error. We apologize that that was incorrect.
Well, something that happened 25 years ago today, it's affecting what you're doing right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Celebrating our silver anniversary. And just ahead, we're going to show you some moments from the day that we made television news history.
And former astronaut Neil Armstrong made history landing on the moon. Now he's threatening to sue his barber. Find out what the heck is going on ahead on LIVE FROM.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's hard to believe that 25 years have passed since CNN signed on as the world's first all news television network. Here's a look back at that eventful day that forever changed the way the world watches news.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not every day of the week that a 24- hour-a-day news network is dedicated. So let's go now and see the birth of a network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In 1979, barely over a year ago, two men set sail on this satellite journey.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are taking the advantages of written journalism and putting it into the video mode.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We at Turner Broadcasting System anticipate we'll last and be a powerful force now and for the foreseeable future of mankind.
The Cable News Network, the news channel, will serve to inform the people of this country and beyond. CNN will be a living history on a 24-hour a day basis, 365 days a year.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So that we can perhaps bring together in brotherhood and kindness and friendship and in peace the people of this nation and this world.
TURNER: I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready camera 3, one center up.
DAVID WALKER, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm David Walker.
LOIS HART, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Lois Hart. Now here's the news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As you already know, this is the first day for the Cable News Network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're really happy to be here at the start of something very special in television journalism.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we're happy that you're here with us to watch the news channel as the news goes on.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Today, the network took time to celebrate the occasion at its annual world report conference here in Atlanta, Georgia. Speakers included CNN founder Ted Turner.
Well, CNN's chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, spoke with Turner earlier today. The CNN founder discussed the many world events that have been covered by the network, what he'd like to see the network become in the future and his inspiration for starting it.
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CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What was it like for you that day, 25 years ago, when you stood right here and announced the birth of this -- this incredible entity?
TURNER: Well, it was incredibly exciting. I knew it was going to succeed. I just knew it. I wasn't -- I wasn't going to let it fail. Failure was not an option.
AMANPOUR: You've also said that it wasn't about just making money. Yes, you wanted to make money, but what was it about?
TURNER: It was about an adventure. I really thought that the world would benefit by having lots of information about all different parts of the world and the important things.
We had plenty of stations, local stations all over America that ran local news about automobile crashes and fires and rapes and plundering and all that sort of thing. I wanted a network -- we weren't pure serious journalism. I mean, we did follow O.J. Simpson all around L.A. all day, and we had Jessica at the well. And we did -- we did a number of continuing stories that were really pretty trivial but of high interest.
But our main concentration was on serious news, and since we were not a local news channel, we were going to be a national and international news channel. We put our focus from the very beginning on national and international news that really wasn't available from CBS, NBC and ABC.
But my position -- I didn't know much about journalism. I watch TV a little. I listen to radio. I read the newspapers. But -- but somebody's got to take the position of being the place to go to. Somebody's got to be the most respected name in television news, and I wanted that position for CNN.
I wanted to be the "New York Times" of the airwaves. Not the "New York Post" but the "New York Times." And that's what we set out to do, and we did it. In 20 short years by all the surveys, we became the world's most respected news source. The "New York Times" had been there for 100 years. We did it in 20.
And you can coast on that reputation for a long time, but you're really -- if you're going to hold that position, which is the pole position, which I think will be the most profitable position, too, you have to -- you have to earn it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, we invite you to tune in tonight beginning at 8 Eastern for "DEFINING MOMENTS: 25 STORIES THAT TOUCHED OUR LIVES." Again, that's tonight, 8 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
And we're not sure this is something you'll see only on CNN. But it's certainly the first time we've seen a squirrel loopy for a lollipop. I guess we'll try and explain coming up.
Check of the big board right now, numbers on Wall Street. Dow Jones Industrials up 52 points. We're going to take a quick break. You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN.
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PHILLIPS: Got to give you a little LIVE FROM bonus story today. You know how we're total suckers for cute animal video. Well, how can we resist this little guy who stumbled on something he just couldn't resist in downtown Denver?
So how many squirrel licks does it take to get to the center of that Tootsie Pop? We'll get back to you.
In the meantime, this is our little way of saying happy 25th anniversary, CNN. It can't always be bad news, right?
That wraps it up for LIVE FROM today. Now to take us through the next half hour of political headlines, our Judy woodruff.
Sorry, Judy, we just had to roll the squirrel and the lollipop.
JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Very, very cute, thank you, Kyra. And we'll see you tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. WOODRUFF: So he's been called a hero by some, a villain by others. How will history judge the man who came forward to say he was Deep Throat?
Plus behind the scenes at the Clinton White House with John Harris, author of the new book, "The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House."
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
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PHILLIPS: Right now in the news.
Slip sliding away in Laguna Beach, California. Fifteen to 18 homes in the Bluebird Canyon region slid down a hill early this morning. Home owners got a little warning from noisy pipes before the earth gave way. Authorities were able to safely evacuate more than 300 residents.
Two minor injuries have been reported.
They've been listening to testimony since March 9. Now jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial are getting ready to enter the next phase. In just a couple of hours, Judge Rodney Melville will detail his instructions. Closing arguments are tomorrow. Then the jury begins the task of determining Jackson's guilt or innocence.
One small clip for man, one giant leap for another man's bank account. Astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, is ready to launch the owner of this Ohio barber shop into orbit. Armstrong found out that Mark Sizemore (ph) swept up clippings from a recent trim and sold them to a collector for three grand. Now Armstrong is threatening to sue him.
"JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" is up next.
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