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Karl Rove Testifies Before Grand Jury in Leak Investigation; Tony Snow Tapped for White House Press Secretary; Pentagon Considers Reducing Troop Levels in Iraq

Aired April 26, 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: Good afternoon from the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Kyra Phillips has the day off.
High stakes testimony in the nation's capital. Karl Rove, President Bush's top political aide, is making his fifth appearance before the grand jury investigating the CIA leak case. CNN chief national correspondent John King joins us now with the very latest -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Fredricka, that testimony to begin this hour. Karl Rove arrived at the federal courthouse here in Washington about 30 minutes or so ago. The special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, strolled back in just a few minutes ago. The grand jury, we are told, back from its lunch break, ready to get back to work.

And on the agenda today, as you noted, the fifth time Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff and the president's most trusted political adviser, to go before the grand jury to answer questions about his role in what has become known as the CIA leak investigation.

Now significantly, sources sympathetic to Rove say they believe this could be quite a turning point. They believe that what he is there to do today is to clean up what one source called, quote, "a few loose ends," to tie up a few loose ends, a few remaining questions that the special prosecutor has about Rove's role in a White House effort to discredit critics about the case to go to war in Iraq.

And the Karl Rove side believes after this testimony today there could be a quick resolution of this. I should note, though, Fredricka, they have voiced such confidence before.

The special prosecutor has said he wanted to keep the grand jury in place to try to get new evidence. But sources sympathetic to Karl Rove say they believe that if he cleans up the loose end, as they say, the few remaining questions they say the prosecutor has, that this soon could be put behind him.

How would that be significant? Certainly, it would remove a legal cloud and a political cloud over one of the president's most trusted advisers, who has said from the beginning that he did not break the law when it came to the whole investigation of who outed a CIA operative. We now know her name is Valerie Plame. But Karl Rove also has conceded that in his early conversations with the grand jury, he did not disclose a conversation with a "TIME" reporter about Valerie Plame and about all the issues surrounding her.

Karl Rove came back and corrected that testimony. There have been some questions about just the give and take, about why he did that, how he realized he had made that mistake. And again Fredricka, it's a very complicated legal case. There's a heated political argument about this, as well. Karl Rove hoping this testimony today is his fifth and last time before the grand jury and that he is cleared of any legal wrongdoing quite soon.

WHITFIELD: And John, all of this taking place on the heels of Karl Rove's responsibilities being diminished at the White House. Did the White House have any idea that this fifth testimony were to take place today? Is there anything to the timing is what I'm asking.

KING: There's no direct connection, if you will. Karl Rove was -- had his policy portfolio taken away. Josh Bolten, the new White House chief of staff, bringing in his most trusted aide from the budget office, where he previously worked, to take the policy operation.

Some privately, even close Karl Rove friends saying it didn't work out as well as they had hoped, that he didn't do as well managing policy as he does managing political campaigns.

So the two are not directly connected. But certainly, Karl Rove has informed the White House counsel's office, the chief of staff's office, his own staff at the White House, that he would need time out of the office today to go to the grand jury and answer the questions.

You see him there in the White House driveway. That appearance was just moments before he went first to his attorney's office to prepare for this testimony. He is now before the grand jury. T

So the White House, of course, is informed by Karl whenever he has to go out for these legal proceedings. And again, they say the two have nothing to do with each other, this case and his diminished duties. But they certainly would like this to be resolved.

Already, Fredricka, remember, the pretrial proceedings of the vice president's former chief of staff under way, he was indicted. His trial scheduled in January, after the November elections. But still, there have been quite some startling information in the pretrial filings back and forth that will continue right up through those elections.

WHITFIELD: All right. John King in Washington, thanks so much.

Still on the business of the White House, there's "Snow" business like show business unless you can get a gig at the White House. President Bush made it official today. The now former FOX network anchor, Tony Snow, will assume the position of White House press secretary, replacing Scott m McClellan behind the podium.

CNN's Elaine Quijano has more on what a media insider brings to the job -- Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you, Fredricka.

Well, in that announcement earlier today in the White House briefing room, President Bush said Tony Snow will be an outstanding addition to his staff. He says Snow understands the relationship between the government and the media.

But critics are already zeroing in on Tony Snow's previous harsh comments aimed at the Bush administration in his role as commentator and columnist. Tony Snow has called President Bush, among other thing, quote, "something of an embarrassment."

Well, the president today acknowledged those opinions, those pointed comment, during the announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For those of you who read his columns and listened to his radio show, he sometimes has disagreed with me. I asked him about those comments. And he said, "You should have heard what I said about the other guy."

I like his perspective. I like the perspective he brings to this job. And I think you're going to like it, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, Tony Snow wasted no time in meeting and greeting reporters in the White House briefing room. Less than an hour after that announcement was made official, he was back in the briefing room, shaking hands and introducing himself to reporters.

Now, he was asked, interestingly, whether or not he'd be able to still express those same very sharp opinions and harsh comments now that he'll be working for the White House. He said, quote, "You're not coming in here to drink the Kool-Aid. You're coming here to serve the president" -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so start date immediately? When do we start seeing him?

QUIJANO: Not immediately. A couple of weeks for transition, and Scott McClellan will stay on for a couple of weeks in order to help facilitate that transition. We understand, though, it could be coming in the next couple of weeks for him to have his first briefing as the new White House press secretary -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Elaine Quijano, at the White House, thanks so much.

U.S. forces in Iraq on the attack from the air and on the ground. They raided what's believed to be a terrorist safe house south of Baghdad yesterday, killing a dozen suspected insurgents. A woman's body was also found at the scene. No word on who she is. Ground troops got into the gunfight at the house. Then a fighter jet followed up with an air strike.

Separate planes, same mission. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld both in Iraq on an unannounced visit. They arrived in Baghdad about six hours apart in a show of support for Iraq's new prime minister-designate. They're urging him to form a unity government quickly.

The trip comes among growing calls for Rumsfeld to resign over his handling of the war. Asked whether this might be his last trip to Iraq, Rumsfeld said no.

Fewer boots on the ground? CNN has learned the U.S. is hoping for some big troop cuts in Iraq. Let's go straight to the Pentagon and senior correspondent Jamie McIntyre -- Jamie.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, just to be clear, this is not something you're going to hear come out of Donald Rumsfeld's mouth when he's in Iraq, or General Casey, for that matter.

But CNN has learned that military planning has been well under way for some time for potential significant cuts by the end of the year, reductions in U.S. troop levels, bringing the levels down from what they are now, at about 130,000, 132,000, to somewhere under 100,000. Reduction of over 30,000 troops in the course of the year.

But all of this is contingent on the two main linchpins of that policy: one, the formation of the Iraqi government and the effectiveness of that government, as well as the continued improvement of Iraqi troops that would have to take over the mission.

According to the plans that are on hold at this point while they see what's going on, the U.S. troop levels would go from 15 brigades to 10. And again, that would be under 100,000 troops. And there's even a more optimistic scenario that would bring troop levels down to 75,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. But that's based on, really, the most optimistic, best case scenario.

And just to be clear, it's not that troops in Iraq would be getting a "go home early" card. These reductions would be accomplished by, as troops are rotated out, fewer troops would be sent to replace them in their regular rotation.

But again no decisions yet. General Casey will make the recommendation. And probably the next thing they're going to wait for is this 30-day period to see if the new prime minister is able to assemble a cabinet and get working the first fully constitutional government in Iraq -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Jamie, let me ask you about Secretary Rumsfeld's trip to Iraq. What's the understanding about how much troops know or how much they've responded to all of the critics back home, asking for Rumsfeld to resign?

MCINTYRE: Well, from what we've heard, it's not something that's on the mind of many U.S. soldiers in Iraq. They're really focused on their mission.

And, of course, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld has sort of brushed aside the criticism, saying that there's a handful of retired generals who are entitled to their opinion.

And of course, the opinion that matters most is President Bush's. Because he's the one that decides whether Rumsfeld gets to stay in his job. And Rumsfeld is in Iraq with a fresh endorsement from President Bush in his back pocket, Bush saying that Rumsfeld's not going anywhere. So for the moment, it seems to be sort of an academic argument at both -- at best.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon, thanks so much.

Well, what's in a name? A lot if you're Iraq's prime minister- designate. He's decided to use his real name now, Nuri al-Maliki, not Jawad al-Maliki. He says he adopted the name Jawad when he was in exile as part of the anti-Saddam Hussein resistance. He changed his name to protect relatives in Iraq.

Well, imagine a sleep disorder so violent you drive your partner from bed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHY SHEEHAN, WIFE: I sleep in the chair now. A La-Z-Boy chair. And I want to get a new one.

BILLY SHEEHAN, SLEEP DISORDER PATIENT: I'm not giving up the bed. I'm going to fight it to the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, they have a good sense of humor about it, but it really is no joke. An eye-opening story about troubled sleep and one way to fix it when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Well, tossing and turning is one thing. Billy Sheehan is something else entirely. Every night was a nightmare for this Sheehan and his family until he got some help.

CNN's Allan Chernoff reports for "PAULA ZAHN NOW".

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His arms thrash wildly, and so do his legs. Every night this is how Billy Sheehan sleeps, or tries to sleep.

B. SHEEHAN: A good night's sleep? Been years. Fifteen years. And it's terrible. It's just I toss, I turn, I'm up, I'm down. I'm on the end of the bed. I'll roll off the bed, I'll hit my head on the dresser. CHERNOFF: He's turned his bedroom into a battlefield, broken three lamps and a TV set while he was sleeping. Billy, now 49, never used to be so violent at night. But as he's aged, he says his sleep has deteriorated and he's become more destructive.

Four years ago, his wife Kathy decided to get out of the line of fire for her own safety.

K. SHEEHAN: I sleep in a chair now, a La-Z-Boy chair, and I want to get a new one.

B. SHEEHAN: I'm not giving up the bed. I'm going to fight it until the end.

CHERNOFF: But often Billy gets out of bed and ends up asleep standing or sitting in the kitchen. One night, he says, he crushed his nose on the kitchen countertop.

B. SHEEHAN: I woke up and -- I felt -- remember the biggest bang on my nose. And it was bleeding internally and externally. My eyes -- couldn't even see straight it swelled so. I broke it, I broke my nose.

CHERNOFF: The problem has affected the entire family.

B. SHEEHAN: Orange, what are you going to do?

CHERNOFF: Billy, who works as a mechanic, has so little energy that he can't leave the house to take his-year-old son, Billy Junior, to a ball game or the zoo.

Finally, Billy turned to a sleep expert at New York Methodist Hospital. Here at the sleep research center, Billy gets wired before bedtime so technicians can monitor him through the night, from eye movements to breathing.

The analysis reveals that Billy's nighttime violence is only a symptom of a much bigger danger. Sleep center director Dr. Gerard Lombardo says Billy suffers from severe sleep apnea, meaning he often stops breathing during the night.

DR. GERARD LOMBARDO, NEW YORK METHODIST HOSPITAL SLEEP CLINIC: The back of the throat closes during sleep, and no air enters into the lung and into the heart and brain.

CHERNOFF (on camera): What happens to Billy when he relaxes during sleep is that the rear of his tongue right here moves back. And his soft palate -- that's the tissue all the way at the back of the mouth -- comes down. Together, they're effectively blocking his airway.

He can be in that state for as long as 90 seconds, and his oxygen level has fallen to half of what it should be. At that point, his brain is saying "give me air", and Billy responds violently. He's fighting for breath. LOMBARDO: His brain is trying to wake him up to breathe so that's where you see the sudden violent activity. Brain is saying, "If you don't breathe, this is it." And there's a last resuscitative gasp to clear the airway. And this happens 400 times a night.

CHERNOFF: So a violent fight or flight during sleep?

LOMBARDO: It is a fight or flight that has no business being in the sleep period. Fight or flight is for day time.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): as scary as it seems, sleep apnea is relatively common. Doctor Lombardo says as many as 10 percent of Americans suffer some type of the disorder. But few people are as violent as Billy.

LOMBARDO: Tonight, we're going to start right from the beginning.

B. SHEEHAN: With the mask?

CHERNOFF: A mask that delivers a flow of air through Billy's nose.

LOMBARDO: It just gently moves the tissue aside. And if you see Billy's treatment video, perfect sleep. No violence. Every breath clear.

CHERNOFF: And Billy says he recently started sleeping normally, eight hours a night, for the first time in years. Kathy still spends the night in the La-Z-Boy, but if Billy remains under control at night, she intends to finally rejoin her husband in bed.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And watch "PAULA ZAHN NOW" weeknights at 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific.

Mumps on the march? A 45-year-old Colorado woman has tested positive with the state's first case of mumps since the start of an outbreak in the Midwest. The woman had reportedly driven to Iowa twice to visit a relative who was sick, although not sick with the mumps.

But Iowa has been ground zero for the biggest outbreak the U.S. has seen in 20 years. A total of three cases of mumps have been confirmed in Colorado this year. Usually, Colorado only sees three or four mumps cases in a year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. NED CALONGE, COLORADO CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER: It's a way to remember that these diseases are not gone. They have not been eliminated. And it's a lesson to tell us that vaccinating our children continues to be important. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Tests are pending on two dozen other suspected mumps cases in Colorado.

Still to come, what every parent needs to know so your child's face doesn't end up on a missing sign.

The news keeps coming and we'll keep bringing it to you. More of LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gas prices suck!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So much for vacation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Price gouging. That's exactly what it is.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our government could do a lot with the fluctuation of the gas prices going up and down, because we do have reserves. And I think they need to open them up.

(END VIDEO CLIP0

WHITFIELD: Well, it's tough, and people are fired up about it. As pump prices skyrocket, so do profits. Occidental Petroleum's numbers have soared 45 percent since this time last year. ConocoPhillips' profits are up 13 percent and Exxon Mobil's numbers are due out tomorrow.

But the industry says don't blame oil companies for the high prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP0

RED CAVANEY, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: Attempts to open new areas to oil and natural gas production have been stymied, leaving the country with little choice but to turn to foreign supplies to satisfy the growing U.S. consumer demand for motor fuels, natural gas and other important oil-related products.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Red Cavaney points out seven of the 10 largest oil companies are owned by governments in other parts of the world.

As energy prices spike, Chrysler is getting gassed up about alternative fuel. Stephanie Elam joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange with the story on that.

Hi, Stephanie. STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

That's right. Chrysler is going all out for ethanol-based vehicles. The automaker says it will devote about a quarter of its auto production to ethanol-ready models. It expects to sell half a million by 2008. And they say that these cars will actually be available at regular dealerships. They'll also go ahead and offer a version of its Jeep Grand Cherokee, Jeep Commander and Dodge Dakota pickups that can be running on either gas or ethanol, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so what are the downsides, if any, of switching to ethanol fuel?

ELAM: There's one pretty big one, and that's the fact that it's pretty hard to find, ethanol.

WHITFIELD: That's bad.

ELAM: So it's bad. It doesn't really help out if you can't find it. So it's the main reason why these cars aren't that popular.

Most gas stations don't carry ethanol, which comes from a combination of corn and sugar, and since it has to do with corn, several hundred stations that do sell ethanol are mainly in the Midwest.

Talking about oil giants, they don't necessarily want this to catch on. They're protecting their huge profits and so, therefore, they're hoping people don't really look to do that, Fredricka.

(STOCK REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Stephanie. Good talking to you for the first time on the air. I understand that you are a fellow Bison.

ELAM: I am, indeed. I was just telling my producer that. Go Howard.

WHITFIELD: Go Howard. All right, thanks so much.

College for the rest of you folks.

All right. Well, everyone tells their kids, don't talk to strangers. But if you let it end there, you're making a big mistake. Tips ahead on making your children safety savvy when LIVE FROM returns.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Attack Iran? Don't even think about it. That's Iran's message to the U.S. today. Our Aneesh Raman has the latest from Tehran in a report you'll only see on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rising rhetoric in the nuclear dispute between Iran and the west. The country's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khameini today warned that if America attacked Iran, American interests around the world could be harmed and that Iran would respond with double the strength.

It comes a day after the country's top nuclear negotiator warned that if anybody issued military strikes against Iran, the country would continue its nuclear program but do so in secret.

Iran is solidifying its position ahead of that Friday deadline, saying it will not cease enrichment of uranium, that that process is now irreversible towards what the country has, from the beginning, maintained is a peaceful civilian nuclear program.

Iranian politicians, as well as the people, say it is their right to have such a nuclear program and that anyone that is suggesting Iran is heading towards a weapon must produce evidence.

The only thing on the table, it seems, from Iran is allowing inspectors to come into the country and maintain the fact Iran that is doing a civilian nuclear peaceful program.

But yesterday, as well, the country's top nuclear negotiator warned that if the U.N. Security Council issued sanctions against the country, it would cease all cooperation with the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA.

Aneesh Raman, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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