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Aide Says Bush Approved Leak of Classified WMD Intelligence; Outbursts from Moussaoui in Sentencing Phase; Weather Forecasters Strive to Keep Ahead of Coming Storms

Aired April 06, 2006 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. Kyra Phillips has the day off.
We begin this hour with some breaking news. It involves the long-running debate over leaks of U.S. intelligence on Iraq. Court filings made public today reveal that a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney said that Cheney told him that President Bush authorized the release of a previously classified U.S. intelligence estimate. The former aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was Vice President Cheney's chief of staff.

According to the court filing, the intelligence leak was intended to refute critics who were questioning the administration's case for war against Iraq.

Lewis Libby has been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to FBI agents who were investigating the 2003 disclosure of a CIA agent's identity. That CIA agent is married to a prominent critic of the White House intelligence claims used to justify the war in Iraq.

For more on this story, let's turn to CNN's national security correspondent, David Ensor.

And what's the reaction, David?

DAVID ENSOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, as you say, the government's answer to a request for documents from lawyers for Scooter Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, made public today, is where we find this. And it says that Vice President Cheney told Libby the president himself had authorized Libby to disclose portions of a then classified intelligence document on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs.

The document says, quote, "Defendant" -- that's Libby -- "testified that the vice president advised him that the president had authorized the defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE." That's the national intelligence estimate, the document prepared by U.S. intelligence in the run-up to the war that has been widely discredited since then, since no meaningful WMD has been found in Iraq.

Now, the president does have the right to decide when and how to declassify documents. So experts are saying this was entirely legal, but it does show that the Bush White House campaign to respond to its critics, people like Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who was husband of the former CIA officer, Valerie Plame Wilson, that campaign was apparently directed from the very top.

The revelation comes in the government's response to the effort of Libby's lawyers to gain access to additional classified documents that they say they will need to defend him against all the charges you just mentioned.

So it is not to suggest that the president had any involvement at all in the illegal leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a clandestine CIA officer, but simply that he did authorize, according to Mr. Libby's testimony and according to this government description of it, that certain portions of a then classified document be declassified -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Now what about reaction, potentially, from Joe Wilson or his wife, Valerie Plame? We know up until recently Joe Wilson, the former U.S. ambassador, has been very outspoken, saying that it was his great suspicion that these instructions were coming straight from the top, but the White House was saying, especially President Bush, was saying, we're looking into this and as soon as we are able to learn who might have revealed this information, we'll take the necessary steps -- take them very seriously?

ENSOR: But we have to be careful to separate two things here, Fredricka. The leaking of the name of Valerie Plame Wilson, which was against the law, and concerning how that was done. As you mentioned, Scooter Libby has been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice, so forth in connection with that.

And the separate matter of the decision to disclose, thus, leak, certain information to "The New York Times" that came out of a classified document, having to do with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. These are two different things.

The president had the right to order his staff to disclose certain limited information from that classified document. Nobody had the right, however, to disclose the name of Valerie Plame Wilson, which was the original crime about which this whole scandal has shaped around. And that, still -- there's no suggestion here that the president authorized that or even really knew what was happening -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. David Ensor in Washington, thanks so much.

Well, the president spoke to reporters just a short time ago as he boarded Air Force One in Charlotte, North Carolina. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me start over. I'm pleased that Republicans and Democrats in the United States Senate are working together to get a comprehensive immigration bill. Want to thank the efforts of those involved in the process. I appreciate their understanding there needs to be a comprehensive immigration bill. I recognize there are still details to be worked out. I would encourage the members to work hard to get the bill done prior to the upcoming break. Thank you, all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, you condemned leaking throughout your administration. Do you have any comments about the new Scooter Libby reports that -- that he was authorized by you in to leak Valerie Plame's identity?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: No reaction yet from the White House on this latest information involving that CIA leak investigation.

For some legal perspective now on all of this, I'm joined on the phone by Jeffrey Toobin. He's our senior legal analyst.

Jeffrey, thanks -- thanks for being with us.

Well, we see that the prosecutor has already said in these filings that it does not appear, nor is he saying that any laws were or were not broken. How do you see it?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Fredricka, I think one way of looking at this is that this is a political problem for the president, but it's not a legal problem.

WHITFIELD: Why not?

TOOBIN: Because it does seem clear, under executive orders and even under the Constitution, that a president has the unilateral power to order information declassified at any time. That is part of the power of the presidency.

So if he told Vice President Cheney, who, in turn, told Scooter Libby, to release this classified information to "The New York Times," that was not a violation of either the president or the vice president's duties, under the law. That is consistent with their duties.

However, the fact that the president and the vice president were scheming to discredit Mr. and Mrs. Wilson during this period, is inconsistent with the position they have put forth in public, and that's a political problem. But that certainly does not suggest any illegal activity.

WHITFIELD: So if that's the case, if you would see this as no illegal activity taking place, then what does this do? Does this deflate overall the perjury case against Lewis "Scooter" Libby?

TOOBIN: Not really, because he is not specifically charged with lying about this specific piece of classified information, which is regard to a national intelligence estimate. He's charged with lying about Valerie Plame's identity in his conversations with reporters about that. The other significant thing, Fredricka, I think about the disclosure today is it significantly raises the possibility that both the vice president and potentially the president will be called as witnesses in this trial. And that, again, is a political problem. It's not illegal to be called as a witness. But sitting vice presidents and presidents are rarely involved in a criminal case, and it will keep the case in the news.

I think the only good news for the White House about the Plame case is that the trial is scheduled for after the 2006 elections.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So let's talk about the grounds in which the timetable, then, that we might see a subpoena of the president and the vice president.

TOOBIN: Right. It would probably come from the defense side, given the way the case is evolving. The defense would say that Libby's lawyers would say they need the testimony of the vice president or the president to support their position in the case.

But that -- that controversy, that legal dispute, probably would not arise until 2007, which is certainly the way the White House would want it if they -- if they have to have this controversy at all.

WHITFIELD: All right. And we'll have continued discussion on this breaking story as the hour rolls on. Jeffrey Toobin, thanks so much.

Well, was he a calculating terrorist or a wannabe al Qaeda martyr who could not fly? The jury deciding Zacarias Moussaoui's life or death heard both arguments today and testimony from a man some consider the face of strength and resolve on 9/11.

CNN's justice correspondent, Kelli Arena, is in Alexandria, Virginia, with more on that -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, this is a phase two, as you know. This jury, already deciding that Moussaoui is eligible for the death penalty. They say that he is responsible for at least one death on September 11, because he lied to investigators to allow the plot to go forward.

In opening arguments today, the prosecution promised some very emotional and painful testimony. And I'll tell you, they certainly delivered on that score.

The defense asking the jury to keep an open mind, arguing that there are several mitigating factors: Moussaoui's childhood, his mental health status. They argue that they believe that he is a paranoid schizophrenic.

And then, of course, we heard from the first witness, former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani. And I can tell you it has been powerful. Peppered throughout his testimony of what he saw firsthand that day, we have seen videos of those towers burning. We have seen close-up shots of people jumping out of the buildings. We've seen this before, but -- but just amazing to look at it, while you're sitting right there with family members of victims who died that day. The mayor, former mayor, describing it as the most awful scene he's ever seen in his life, body parts everywhere. He described the smell of burning flesh that he says permeated the city for months after the attacks.

All through this, I watched the jury intently. They -- pretty stone-faced. They did -- you know, sometimes just put their hands over their mouth or you could see that it was hard for them to look at the video.

But the one person who definitely had the most reaction was Moussaoui himself. And at some points he was just very bored. At other points, he was laughing at what he saw, nodding his head, you know, like, you know, yes, that's what we did, agreeing with the prosecution when they said that he had no remorse over what happened.

When he left the courtroom on the first break, he started singing "Born in the USA." That, right after we saw the horrible video of people jumping out of the building. When he left for this lunch break, he said, you know, "America, you can go to hell."

Of course, he waits until the jury has left the room before he has these outbursts. They've become very commonplace. But you could see these family members watching him, especially as he's laughing, tearing up, trying to console each other. It's been very, very emotional, very painful to be in this courtroom today.

WHITFIELD: And so Kelli, you mentioned the outbursts, or at least one of the outbursts from Moussaoui taking place once the jurors left the room. Did the jurors see anything about his antics, whether it was perhaps singing the song "Born in the USA" or anything else, his being stoic or even laughing at these...

ARENA: Oh, yes, they see him laughing. Yes, they see him laughing. They're looking right at him, you know, so they can see what his reaction is to what he's looking at.

He's -- he's been warned very, very sternly by the judge that he's not to make any outbursts while that jury is there, while court is in session. And he's at least abided by that and waited until the judge and the jury leave the room before he has these outbursts.

But, oh, yes, I mean, they see him. They see him laughing. They see him nodding. They see him yawning. They seem him checking the clock behind him, like this is all just, you know, a big pain for him to be there. It has really -- it's just -- you know, you can't -- you can't even imagine what's going through his mind as he's doing this, you know, in front of these people who are going to decide whether he lives or dies.

WHITFIELD: And what's the next step then? We've heard from Rudy Giuliani. Is there anyone else to testify?

ARENA: Right, he's not done. Yes. I don't know about today. He's not done yet. I'm not exactly sure how long -- how long his testimony will go on.

We do expect to hear those calls to 911. We expect to hear the calls from flight attendants, the people on those planes, that they made on their cell phones. We're expected to hear the flight cockpit recording from Flight 93. That's the plane that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, as passengers tried to take back the plane.

This is only the beginning of what everyone here is quite sure is going to be some really tough times. Even the defense has acknowledged that this is going to be a very emotional, personal moment. I happened to be on the elevator with two of the defense attorneys right after those videos were shown.

One of the family members was on that elevator, as well. And she looked at them, and she said, you know, "I want you to know that we understand that you're doing a job. We want you to know that we don't hate you." And she said it with tears in her eyes.

And these two defense attorneys, who have had such a rough go. The client won't talk to them. He insisted on testifying, you know, against them. He curses them as he leaves the courtroom. You could just see that they were just -- they were just so moved by that moment and walked out. And I looked at one of them and he said, "You know, that really helps a lot." You know, as he made his way back into the courtroom.

So lots of -- lots of moments, images that have been recalled that I think we'd all rather forget, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Tough day, all the way around. Kelli Arena, thank you so much.

ARENA: You're welcome.

WHITFIELD: Well, also in the Washington area, an abrupt about- face today for a controversial congresswoman. After several days of arguing that she was a victim of racial profiling, Georgia Democrat Cynthia McKinney apologized to her fellow lawmakers on the House floor today for her run-in with a Capitol Hill police officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CYNTHIA MCKINNEY (D), GEORGIA: I appreciate my colleagues who are standing with me, who love this institution and who love this country. There should not have been any physical contact in this incident.

I have always supported law enforcement and will be voting for HR-756, expressing my gratitude and appreciation to the professionalism and dedication of the men and women of the U.S. Capitol police. I am sorry this misunderstanding happened at all. And I regret its escalation, and I apologize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The apology came as a District of Columbia grand jury began considering a possible indictment against McKinney. Police say she struck an officer during an altercation at a security checkpoint at the entrance to a house office building.

Well, keeping an eye on the sky now. Severe storm, hail, tornadoes, any or all can spring up at any time, anywhere, from Nebraska to Arkansas. The alerts will come from one place specifically: the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. And that's where we find our Rob Marciano today.

Hi, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Fredricka. Norman, Oklahoma. This is the Storm Prediction Center. This is basically the nerve center of severe weather and especially this time of year, tornadoes across the country.

It's been a very busy morning already. But it's going to get busier as the afternoon progresses.

I'll give you an inside look on what forecasters here are dealing with. And by the way, with a day as busy as today, media typically is not allowed, so you are getting a privileged inside at the SPC here in Norman, Oklahoma.

All right. We're in the heart center here. In the red chair is Rich Thompson. Right now he's talking to a day two convective outlook. The red chair is the lead forecaster. So he's really been busy this morning, trying to update what we call the convective outlook, something that meteorologists all over the country will look at.

Rich, do you have a second?

RICH THOMPSON, METEOROLOGIST: Sure.

MARCIANO: All right. Tell me what is it about the convective outlook today that -- where are the areas of concern?

THOMPSON: Well, today, we can go to a satellite image over here on the right. We're looking for thunderstorm development this afternoon. We're leaning toward early afternoon in the area of our greatest threat. And I believe I have a convective outlook up on one of these screens, focusing the high risk into eastern Kansas, some concern about even extending that into northeast Oklahoma, although that's relatively uncertain at this time.

But we're looking for the area that's clearing out, and there's a little bit of what we call cumulus development in Kansas. The surface boundary is tightening. And I think that within two hours or so we'll see the first signs of storm development. So we want to stay ahead of that with the watches. We've already issued a mezoscale discussion (ph), outlining that threat, and we're working on one for the south down in Oklahoma.

MARCIANO: So generally -- generally speaking, it's going to get busier as the afternoon rolls along? THOMPSON: Yes. Yes, we expect it to ramp up rapidly by about 2 p.m. Central Time.

MARCIANO: Now, it's not often you guys actually issue a high- risk warning are like you have today, but people should really be more concerned about the moderate area there, as well.

THOMPSON: Yes, we don't want to downplay the threat overnight, especially into northwest Arkansas. There's some threat for significant tornadoes later. But the storm coverage may be a little bit more isolated than areas to the north. So we're really -- it's -- the significance of the storms could be important but the coverage is a little more uncertain down there, and it's farther out. So don't ignore the moderate risk areas.

MARCIANO: Thanks for your time.

THOMPSON: Thank you.

MARCIANO: He's not the only person here. We also have mezoscale (ph) forecasters. This is Greg. He focuses in on a tighter area, a zero- to three-hour time frame.

Also Shara (ph). Also a mezoscale (ph) forecaster here, doing the same thing.

And typically, on a less busy day, you'd only have one lead forecaster. Today, we have a second forecaster, backing -- back Rich up, and this is Jeff.

So what they've -- what they're about to do or have just done is issue the first storm watch box of the day. A severe thunderstorm watch box is about to be issued for storms that have already started to bubble up. But they have said that is just a precursor, really. That's just, you know, a preshow before the big show as we get in through this afternoon.

There's one thing, Fredricka, that Rich has pointed out throughout the morning that we may have some hope for, is that the amount of moisture that is fed into this system, not as much as he would -- well, like to see for a huge outbreak. So we have a little bit of hope to hold on to that conditions, although ripe for tornadoes this afternoon, not all the variables are there to really make this crazy. So hopefully, that won't happen.

A little bit later on in the show, Fredricka, we're going to actually launch a weather balloon right outside the Storm Prediction Center and we'll get a vertical profile of the atmosphere. That should be interesting to watch. Hope you stay tuned for that.

WHITFIELD: We will, indeed. All right, thanks a lot, Rob. Fingers are crossed. Hopefully no tornadic activity, even though the conditions are ripe for it. Thanks so much.

Well, new dramatic video of a rescue of a driver in Jefferson County, Missouri. The man apparently drove right into a rain-swollen creek near The town of Festus, which is near St. Louis. You're looking at the video right there. He was rescued by local fire department officials. And as far as we know, he seems to be OK. But some scary moments.

And some sighs of relief coming from communities all along the Red River. The new levee system seems to be holding so far, preventing the massive flooding of neighborhoods and cities that we saw a decade ago.

The bulging river is causing headaches for drivers, with water spilling right over interstate 20 north of Grand Forks. It could be a week before the river level is back to normal. It is now about 20 feet above flood stage, reaching the bottom of the bridge in neighboring East Grand Forks, Minnesota.

Well, she was wounded in Iraq while serving her country. Now she's recovered and, guess what? She's reenlisting. Up next, a soldier who lost part of an arm in a convoy attack tells us why it's so important that she stays in the military.

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Under the microscope, the first case of bird flu in Great Britain. Initial tests show the deadly H5N1 strain was found in a wild swan in eastern Scotland. International experts are still testing. If they confirm it, Britain would become the 14th country in the European Union with bird flu.

And heads up for pet lovers. A report in the journal "Nature" suggests that cat owners should be especially concerned about bird flu. It says cats infected with the H5N1 virus can give it to other cats. The authors say cats should be kept indoors in places where bird flu has been detected.

And he is an acting legend for roles in "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Million Dollar Baby." But now Morgan Freeman is out to prove he is the boss in his newest film. We'll talk about that with him, and we'll also talk about his efforts to rebuild his home state after Hurricane Katrina, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The maker of the controversial drug Vioxx has suffered yet another blow in court. Susan Lisovicz joins us from the New York Stock Exchange to tell us more about that -- Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. This news came out after the markets closed late yesterday afternoon. A split decision but clearly not good news for Merck.

Late yesterday, a jury in Atlantic City, New Jersey, ruled that Merck was liable in the heart attack of one Vioxx user, not in the heart attack of the other. The 77-year-old man and his wife will receive a $4.5 million payment. The jury is deciding today on punitive damages, which could bring it into the double digits.

The other plaintiff, who was 59 years old, got virtually nothing. The jury decided that both of them, however, in both cases, Merck had failed to provide warning of increased heart risks. Basically, misled the medical community and so was liable in that case for both of them.

WHITFIELD: So then why a split verdict? What's the difference between the two patients?

LISOVICZ: Well, it's interesting, isn't it, Fred? Because both men had heart attacks. Both of them had used it or said that they had used it for longer than the 18-month period. This is the point in which Merck acknowledges greater health risks.

Both had cardiovascular risks in their DNA. So neither of them were in the greatest of health.

But the key difference was that the older plaintiff had prescription records for the entire four years that he took Vioxx. The other had just three prescriptions, what amounted to maybe a few months worth of use. He claimed he got samples from doctors and that took him for the longer period.

The older plaintiff, Merck argued, could have had a -- could have had a heart attack on own because he was an ex-smoker. He had clogged arteries. He had diabetes. But in the end, the jury just didn't buy it.

(STOCK REPORT)

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