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White House Shifts Gears on Troubled Miers Nomination; Controversy in Iraq Over U.S. Air Strikes; Wilma Watch
Aired October 17, 2005 - 13:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Supreme Court support. Will President Bush get Harriet Miers confirmed? Senate Judiciary Committee members Chuck Grassley and Patrick Leahy join me live this hour.
Homicide investigation. The wife of a TV legal analyst, Daniel Horowitz, found dead. The Bay area is in shock. CNN's own Nancy Grace is live on the story.
And bear market or a lot of bull? Why some market watchers are getting a little pessimistic.
From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Kyra Phillips. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.
Harriet Miers admired, that's the hope of a White House now spotlighting the credentials of the White House council whom President Bush wants to put on the highest court in the land. Having called on conservatives and the nation to take the largely unknown Miers on faith, and being largely rebuffed, Mr. Bush is calling some expert witnesses to testify to Miers' intellect.
We get the details now from CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.
Hi, Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, hey, Kyra.
A lot of people are calling this part two of the strategy from the White House. I've been hearing from Republican insiders for now weeks now who have been complaining, saying the White House doesn't have a clear, consistent message when it comes to Harriet Miers is. They say they don't want to know whether or not she's an evangelical Christian or if she's the president's best friend. What they want to hear is the qualifications, and that is what the White House in part is doing now, is addressing the concerns of some of those Republican insiders.
That is why the president early today met with a handful, about a half-dozen of former justices from the state Supreme Court to talk about her qualifications a bit. Interestingly enough, the relationship with many of them, she has not gone forward and presented certain cases, but rather they spoke in kind of broad terms about her qualifications and what it was like to work with her as a colleague. Just a little bit of this from the White House, defending what they are calling the second part of their strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They have seen Harriet Miers' legal talents up close. They have witnessed her deep commitment to the law, her skilled advocacy on behalf of her clients, and her leadership in the legal profession. They share the president's confidence that Harriet Miers will be an outstanding Supreme Court justice because of her qualifications and experience, and judicial temperament.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Now, of course, Kyra, part of this plan is to try to get Harriet Miers to the hearing phase of all of this. There was some question last week whether or not she was even going to make it that far. That is because many conservatives were calling for her to withdraw her nomination. The White House believes they're beyond that phase now, they can get to that hearing phase.
The Democrats have a very different strategy here as well. They want to get her to that hearing phase before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but they're going to be critical. They're not going to ask those serious, tough questions until that phase.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MINORITY LEADER: I believe in being intellectually honest and consistent, of which those people at this stage complaining about Miers simply are not. Let's have this the hearings. Let's find out who this woman really is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And Kyra, of course the big question here, just how much have we learned about Harriet Miers from these judges, from her colleagues. It is questionable just how much in terms of judicial philosophy, for instance, that we've learned from them having listened to them over the course of the day, having listened to them with the president.
One of them was a fellow member of the lottery commission back in Texas, another one was a liaison from the Supreme Court to the bar association. So, it was very clear that they had a great deal of respect for her, but questionable whether or not we've learned all that information about her judicial record -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Suzanne, do we have any idea when these hearings are going to start?
MALVEAUX: We think they're going to happen the first week of November. That's in negotiations now between Democrats and Republicans who are pushing for the first week of November. We know that both sides, what they do want is to have this wrapped up by Thanksgiving.
PHILLIPS: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thanks so much.
PHILLIPS: Well, in just a few minutes I'm going to speak with two people who have a lot to say about whether Miers starts her judicial career at the top or at all. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy and Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, both on the Judiciary Committee, will join me at the bottom of the hour right here on LIVE FROM.
Controversy in Iraq this hour over deadly U.S. air strikes in and around an Iraqi insurgent stronghold. U.S. officials say that dozens of insurgents were killed today in the Ramadi area just west of Baghdad. Iraqis say that 20 civilians, including children, were among those victims. The attacks were carried out one day after the crucial referendum on Iraq's new constitution.
CNN's Aneesh Raman is in Baghdad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Conflicting reports emerging on what took place Sunday in the town of Ramadi, west of the capital city. Now, the U.S. military is quick to point out that insurgents in Iraq are living in and amongst civilians, and that they plan these air strikes with incredible caution so as to minimize civilian casualties. at, though, as we wait to find out what exactly happened on Sunday in Ramadi.
Meantime, in the Iraqi capital, the counting continues of the ballots after Saturday's constitutional referendum. A delay, though, today because of a sandstorm that descended upon Iraq. Planes were unable to get from the north and the south in to the capital with ballot boxes. Initial results, though, expected tomorrow. Early optimism, though, from the government that this constitution will pass.
Now, on Wednesday, we will see the first of a potential number of trials against Saddam Hussein. He will likely appear in court, along with seven other defendants of his former regime, over crimes against humanity, atrocities committed in the northern village of Dujail back in 1982 after Saddam survived an assassination attempt and had thousands of residents of that village put in jail, had over a hundred of them executed.
We expect the defense at this trial session to request a delay. That delay could be come days, if not weeks. It is also the first of perhaps 12 trials against Saddam Hussein. The first in a lengthy process.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Baghdad.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, here we go again. This year's Atlantic hurricane season has spawned another potentially dangerous system. Tropical Storm Wilma is drifting slowly in the Caribbean now, but it could strengthen and set its sights on the U.S. Gulf Coast soon.
Our meteorologist Jacqui Jeras is tracking that storm.
A lot of people on the Gulf Coast not wanting to hear that, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, I know they don't. But they need to pay very close attention to this one, because next weekend we could be looking at another hurricane, not just a tropical storm, when it gets into the Gulf of Mexico.
Right now it is a tropical storm. It's getting bigger and stronger.
Take a look at the size of this storm now. The tropical storm- force winds extend out 70 miles from the center of the storm. It's just over 200 miles away from the Nicaragua- Honduras line here, and it is moving to the south. But we're expecting it to start to curve off to the west and then head a little bit farther to the north.
Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches have been posted across the Cayman Islands. Heavy rainfall on the order of three to six inches can be expected with locally heavier amounts. And then tropical storm warnings now have been issued for the Nicaragua- Honduras line extending over to Cabo Camaron. So that means tropical storm conditions are expected in less than 24 hours now.
There is the forecast track. Some gradual strengthening will be expected. And by Wednesday morning this will likely become a hurricane, could possibly become a major hurricane before it gets into the Gulf of Mexico. However, the water temperature is a little cooler in the Gulf, so we shouldn't see a major hurricane hopefully at landfall.
But still, a big margin of error this far out in the forecast. And we really need to watch the entire Gulf of Mexico, not just Florida, not just the eastern Gulf, not just the western Gulf. Everybody needs to be on high alert.
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: All right, Jacqui. Thanks so much.
Well, Tropical Storm Wilma is the 21st named storm this year. And in fact, Wilma is the last name on the list. And we were wondering, when was the last time that happened? Here's what we got from the National Hurricane Center.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TONY HARRIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This year's hurricane season will go down in the record books not only because of the strength of its storms, but also the number. With 21 named storms, this season already ties the record set in 1933. And it could break that record before November 30. Because meteorologists are out of names -- they don't use the letters Q, U, X, Y or Z -- any new storms we see this year will have to be named by the Greek alphabet. So look for Tropical Storm Alpha next.
Eleven of this year's 21 named storms have become hurricanes. That's edging closer to the record 12 hurricanes in 1969, the same year that Hurricane Camille hit New Orleans.
We've had five major hurricanes this season. The record for that stands firm at eight major hurricanes set in 1950.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a homicide investigation. Who killed the wife of TV legal analyst Daniel Horowitz? CNN's own Nancy Grace knows Daniel and knew his wife Pamela. She joins me later this hour.
And how do you rebuild in the wake of utter destruction? One family's story of loss and recovery in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Ali Velshi in New York. Less than 1 percent of what you make is left over after you pay all your taxes and bills. And that's got America's businesses wondering what you're going to spend on this holiday season.
LIVE FROM continues in just a minute.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: A quick look at the Dow industrials. Up 20 points right now. Well, it's doom and gloom for stocks, at least if you believe that some, you know, bearish analysts who say the three-year- old bull market is coming to an end soon.
You may be feeling the pain already, though. Many portfolios have shrunk this month, fueling fears of rough times ahead.
CNN's Ali Velshi in New York with all the details.
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
PHILLIPS: And this video just in. In search of support, of course. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers back on Capitol Hill.
She met here with Senator Charles Schumer of New York. As you know, he's on the Judiciary Committee, which must vote yea or nay on sending her nomination to the full Senate.
She's been making many of these types of visits. We saw the same type of photo ops with John Roberts as well. We're going to talk more about her nomination. We've got two senators joining us later in the hour, and we'll talk about her nomination.
Well, straight ahead, a mother and a son separated by a storm.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hear the word "Mama," I turn around and look and there's so many people, thousands and thousands of people, but I knew it was my son because I know his voice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: You're not going to want to miss this story. The miracles and mishaps of one family struggling to survive in New Orleans. We'll be talking about it straight ahead on LIVE FROM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, it's back to school today for students at a school in New Orleans French Quarter. St. Louis Cathedral Academy opened its doors this morning for the first time since Hurricane Katrina. It's the first school to reopen on the east bank of Orleans Parish. That new student body consists of students enrolled before Katrina hit, as well as sons and daughters of emergency workers and relief officials.
In another attempt to move forward, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco named a commission today to try to stimulate reconstruction. She appeared with the panel in Baton Rouge.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHLEEN BLANCO (D), LOUISIANA: To coordinate the continuing rebuilding effort, I have created by executive order the Louisiana Recovery Authority. This is the board of directors of my recovery effort that is the function that they will perform. I have selected some of the best minds from or with connections to Louisiana.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And leading the panel are Dr. Norman Francis -- he's the president of Xavier University -- and former CNN Chairman Walter Isaacson, a native of New Orleans.
Well, among the hundreds of thousands of hurricane survivors, there are countless, powerful stories. And today we bring you the saga of the Green family of New Orleans. With the help of CNN.com, we're tracking the story of three branches of this family and how they went through their own separate ordeals and blessings in the aftermath of the storm.
CNN.com writer Christy Oglesby has their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTY OGLESBY, CNN.COM WRITER (voice over): Robert Green was on a mission on his first trip to the Lower 9th Ward since Hurricane Katrina. He was looking for two bodies.
ROBERT GREEN, KATRINA SURVIVOR: I thought I could dig through the rubbish and find my grandbaby. OGLESBY: As water from a broken levee covered his neighborhood on August 29, Green and his brother kicked through their attic. Their house broke from its moorings, it floated two blocks with the family on the roof as other drifting homes bumped and shattered.
GREEN: But this is where our house landed. This is where we actually stopped. This is where everybody who died, died behind this house.
OGLESBY: One of Robert's granddaughters, 3-year-old Shinay (ph), slipped into the water as the family scrambled from one housetop to another. She never resurfaced.
Robert's mother, the baby's great grandmother, Joyce Green, also died in the night. Nearly paralyzed from Parkinson's, she didn't survive three falls into the water. When a neighbor in a boat came for survivors, they left her corpse on the roof.
Robert Green hoped state and federal officials would help collect their bodies.
GREEN: I figured if I gave them an exact address -- I can't believe my show is down there -- if I gave them an exact address, that they would actually come back to the address and pick up her body.
OGLESBY: Safe on the St. Claude Bridge, Robert and the 9th Ward Greens waited five hours for evacuation. They could still see Joyce's corpse on the rooftop.
At the same time, five miles away, the drama of their relatives in Gentilly, another flooded neighborhood, was just beginning. Robert's cousin Walter Francis had set out to find his mother, Nellie. The flood was rising and his mother was home alone, seven blocks away.
WALTER FRANCIS, KATRINA SURVIVOR: I got out to this area, and then I could see what made the hair stand up on my neck. The current was so strong I was afraid that if I got out in it I would get swept away.
OGLESBY: Worried, Walter turned back, unaware neighbors had ferried Miss Nellie safely to the dry ground of a nearby cemetery. For days, Miss Nellie nursed a feeling of neglect.
NELLIE FRANCIS, KATRINA SURVIVOR: I couldn't understand why my children were leaving me. And I told everybody they had never done that before. And it hurt bad.
OGLESBY: From stores across the street from the cemetery, military veterans and neighborhood men commandeered food, water, insect repellent, bedding, tents and diapers. They created a camp for the living among the dead and sustained more than 70 people for more than a week.
With battery-powered radios, camp leaders kept up with news reports and evacuation efforts. One of the organizers, Miss Nellie said, wrote down the names of all camp residents to keep track of them. That Wednesday, Walter arrived at the cemetery.
N. FRANCIS: He was coming around that building holding a stick. Somebody said, "Oh, look at Moses." And I raised my head. When I raised my head I said, "No, that's not Moses, that's Jesus Christ." And I knew he flew across that street.
W. FRANCIS: And I think I got about right here and I dropped the stick, and I ran up to her right here, and she was sitting on the bench. And I hugged her right here. And it's been a long time since I cried like that.
OGLESBY: Miss Nellie left the cemetery Friday when a helicopter took the oldest and sickest. That was the same morning about six miles west Miss Nellie's niece, Joycelyn Askew, realized that her son was in danger.
JOYCELYN ASKEW, KATRINA SURVIVOR: Well, after the hurricane came, we were accounting for all family members. And all family members were accounted for except for my sister, her husband and my son.
OGLESBY: She was on duty as a police officer at Tulane University when she found out that her youngest son was stranded at the New Orleans Convention Center. "Cherub-faced Quentin (ph) is 22, but not street savvy," his mother said. "He would never survive the lawlessness of the riverfront."
On pained knees that require surgery, she started her seven-mile trek. She made her way through thousands of hungry, anger, thirsty and desperate people.
ASKEW: I prayed and asked god to help me. I asked him to help my son find me. And as I get here, I hear the words -- I hear the words, "Mama."
I turn around and look, and there are so many people, thousands and thousands of people. But I knew it was my son because I know his voice.
All of a sudden, I heard the words "Mama" again and he stepped out. He walked up to me, we hugged and we kissed and we cried. It was the reason why I came down here, and the lord did answer my prayer.
OGLESBY: Joycelyn and Quentin (ph) found each other. Miss Nellie survived the cemetery. Robert is still looking.
These are the names and numbers of people I called to try to find out where my mother was, where my granddaughter was. I called Red Cross, I called the coroner's office, I called the bar association, I called anybody who gave me a phone number.
OGLESBY: His calls to officials haven't helped locate his grandbaby or his mother. Neither has his search. GREEN: To see if they were able to match up the DNA to the samples we gave them for both my mother and my granddaughter. To see if we can try to get them to give us an answer, because I can't get an answer from here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And we're going to talk more about this story in just a moment, but first, this just in to CNN. We are just getting word out of Martinez, California, that a Contra Costa County judge has declared a mistrial in the Susan Polk murder trial. You may remember this happened back in 2002.
Susan Polk is the woman accused of stabbing her husband to death. Polk was accused of murder in 2002, of killing her psychologist husband in a pool house of their home. Polk's husband Felix was her therapist when she was a teenager, and the two later married.
Now, here's where the twist comes in. Polk was being defended by attorney Daniel Horowitz. And as you know, within the past 48 hours, we've been covering the story of the homicide -- authorities are saying it's a homicide of Daniel Horowitz's wife.
She was found dead at the couple's LaFayette's home on Saturday. Well, Daniel Horowitz, of course, representing Susan Polk in this murder trial. He loses his wife to what police are saying was a homicide over the weekend.
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