Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Bush Awards Medal of Honor; Peter Jennings Diagnosed With Lung Cancer

Aired April 05, 2005 - 11:30   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.


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A ceremony at the Pentagon this hour to honor a soldier who gave his life to save dozens of his bodies (sic) there in Iraq, the men who were under him.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is joining us now with more on this story.

Jamie, over to you.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Rick, quite a moving seen today in the Pentagon's hall of heroes, which is the area of the Pentagon which is set up to honor the bravest of the brave. Those who've been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. We see a live picture now of the wife of Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House yesterday posthumously. His name was added to the plaques on the wall, and there hadn't been an addition to that plaque since 1983, when two brave soldiers who fought in Somalia were awarded that honor. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presided over that ceremony. He seemed to, at some point, to be choking back emotion, as he welcomed Sergeant Smith to what he called America's most admired fraternity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECY.: One of the bravest among them we honor here today. A decade after Sergeant First Class Paul Ray smith first saw combat in "Operation Desert Storm," he returned to duty in Iraq. A proud sergeant, a tested soldier, and certainly an inspired leader. We stand in awe of the heroism described in Sergeant Smith's citation, in which was so eloquently recounted at the White House ceremony yesterday. Standing here today, one need not look far to understand what motivated his bravery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Today Sergeant Smith, Paul Ray Smith, sergeant first class, was cited for extraordinary act of valor under extremely dangerous circumstances. For that he was awarded the medal for valor in combat that is only bestowed to the bravest of the brave, according to Army officials, for his actions in Baghdad two years ago.

His widow, Birgit, who is a German citizen, said at the ceremony today as she struggled to contain her emotions, that she is beginning the process to become an American citizen, and she was grateful to the American people as she talked about her husband in loving terms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paul loved his country. He loved the Army. And he loved his soldiers. He loved being a (INAUDIBLE). He died doing what he loved. I'm grateful the Army gave Paul the opportunity to fulfill his dream of serving his country. He touched so many lives in so many ways and made a lot of people better soldiers and better people by what they learned from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: So Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith's name now inscribed in the Hall of Heroes, joining the likes of storied American heroes such as Jimmy Doolittle and Sergeant York.

Rick, back to you.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jamie McIntyre, reporting to us from the Pentagon.

Sergeant Smith's story is one of heroics and bravery in a moment that could not possibly have been planned. It was as spontaneous as they possibly could come, and that's why it's probably best told by the men who were there at the moment it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist Michael Seaman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Echo Company, 27 Infantry Battalion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist of the United States Army.

SGT. MATTHEW KELLER, U.S. ARMY: Sergeant Matthew Keller, 27 infantry.

RICK SANCHEZ, CO-HOST, "CNN LIVE TODAY" (voice-over): Four names, four soldiers, four lives that could have ended but not for the courage of one man.

(on camera) You'd say he may have saved the lives of some 40 men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

KELLER: I remember flying all around. I could hear them zipping by my ears. At one point in time, RPG blasts knocked me to the ground. They were doing whatever they could to kill us.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): April 2003. The men of the 11th Engineer Battalion find themselves on the outskirts of Baghdad near the airport with orders to build a jail for Iraqi prisoners. Suddenly, this rather routine job turns into a hellish nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They started throwing hand grenades over the walls, and that's when -- that's when the main part of the battle started.

SPEC. JOHN MELE, U.S. ARMY: We were taking extremely heavy fire. There was mortar rounds. I saw mortar rounds land prior to the one that landed on my vehicle.

SANCHEZ: The G.I.'s were a small force compared to the more than 100 Iraqis attacking them. The odds were not in the Americans' favor, and they were about to get even worse. The Bradley fighting vehicle they thought would defend them suddenly runs out of ammo.

KELLER: That kind of left the entryway into the courtyard vulnerable for the enemy to overtake if they were to advance.

SANCHEZ: One heavy gun still remained. It was a .50 caliber machine gun manned by Sergeant Louis Berwarld.

SGT. LOUIS BERWARLD, U.S. ARMY: I was firing my weapon and all of a sudden, I was extremely stunned. I looked at my arm and my hand, and there was quite a bit of blood. And I started to get light- headed. And I dropped down inside of my vehicle.

SANCHEZ: Someone had to grab the gun. It was do or die. Sergeant Paul Smith did both.

MELE: And instead of having just any other soldier that all of us knew how to man a .50 cal, he could have had any one of his soldiers get up there, but instead he put his life on the line to protect us, the fellow soldiers in his platoon.

SANCHEZ: This one soldier's decision, made in just a split second, is the place where courage and destiny come together, a moment that determined the fate of his fellow soldiers.

(on camera) He saved their lives?

MELE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: How many people's lives would you have said? How many soldiers were down there on the ground?

MELE: Probably about 40 out of the 50 that were there.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): After an exhaustive firefight, Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 33 years old.

A million Americans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. Only Sergeant Paul Ray Smith comes away with a Congressional Medal of Honor. An important tribute, no doubt, but not important enough for the men he led.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can keep the Medal of Honor. We'd rather have Sergeant Smith back.

SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez, CNN, Ft. Stewart, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: Have their sergeant back. And there's someone else who would rather have the sergeant back, his 11-year-old son. He was at the White House yesterday. His name is David. He accepted the Congressional Medal of Honor in his father's name. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's get back to the story we've been covering for a few minutes now. ABC News anchor Peter Jennings has announced that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He says he will start chemotherapy within the week. He does plan to try to keep working while undergoing chemotherapy.

We have on the phone with us Howard Kurtz, media reporter for "The Washington Post," also host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" right here on CNN. Howard, thanks for being with us.

HOWARD KURTZ, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: I think beside the health of Peter Jennings, which of course, we send out our best wishes to him, this fits into a bigger story of what has happened to the three top network news anchors that we've all watched for so many years. Tom Brokaw retires, Dan Rather steps down after the controversy with the National Guard story, and now Peter Jennings.

KURTZ: Well, obviously Jennings, as you mentioned, going to keep his job at least for a while, though ABC has made clear that there will be days when he will not feel up to anchoring "World News Tonight," and Charlie Gibson, Elizabeth Vargas, and others will be filling in. But if you look at it from a longer timeframe, clearly, the big three anchors who dominated network television since the early 1980s, all in a period of transition.

And for ABC News in particular, which was dealing with the news last week of Ted Koppel moving on -- he'll be leaving the network near the end of the year and no longer going to be the host of "Nightline," this presents some personnel problems potentially. But right now, an emotional time at ABC News. People much more worried about Jennings and his health than about, you know, what might follow.

KAGAN: There was a big story not that have that long ago, I think it might have been the tsunami story, Howard, that Peter Jennings did not travel for, and it was rather conspicuous that he didn't go.

KURTZ: He was one of the other big three anchors, I believe, that did not travel to Asia for the tsunami. He was not feeling well, and has not for some months. They blamed it on flu, on a cold. He even took some criticism in recent days for not going to the Vatican to cover the passing of the pope.

Well, again, it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that Jennings himself got the medical diagnosis of lung cancer. So obviously, now we know in retrospect that he had a reason for not taking on those assignments. Because Jennings, over the last two decades, has been someone who has been willing to run to an airplane at the drop of a hat, go around the world to cover the big stories for ABC News and it's only because of his health now that we see him staying closer to home.

KAGAN: And as -- of course, as a prominent member of a media, realistic in that you can't keep information like that private. More important to share it and get it out in the open.

KURTZ: ABC News has been smart about this. They have not sat on it. Jennings putting out an e-mail to his staff saying that he's going to continue to do the broadcast. There will be some good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky, and some days really cranky, he says, trying to take this with the good humor for which he is noted, but yes, in the age of Internet and cable and instantaneous news around the globe, it didn't make any sense for ABC to have this leak out so they have put it out to us just minutes ago.

KAGAN: Howard Kurtz from "The Washington Post" and from our "RELIABLE SOURCES." Howard, thank you. And once again, our best to Peter Jennings as he undergoes therapy -- chemotherapy for lung cancer. We'll take a break. Much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This is a question that's been going around for some time. Who will represent the United States at the Vatican at the pope's funeral? We've got some new information on that. Our state department correspondent, Andrea Koppel, has just dug that information up for us and I hear her, I don't know if she -- Andrea, are you there? Ready to go. Andrea, over to you.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right. CNN has just learned, Rick, the official representatives for the White House delegation to the pope's funeral on Friday. They include, as you might expect, President Bush and his wife Laura, as well as the president's father, Herbert Walker Bush, and president -- former President Bill Clinton, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Now, Secretary Rice is due to arrive where I am right now sometime within the next hour. I'm standing outside of what is known as the Vatican's embassy here in Washington, D.C. There's been a steady stream of both taxi cabs and sedans with diplomatic license plates pulling up here since the embassy opened this morning, a little over an hour ago. All of them coming by to pay their respects to the pope and also to sign a condolence book.

Inside, just a short time ago, there were representatives of the Serbian Orthodox clergy, who were there signing some words -- personal words. We're not allowed to show you what any of these individuals are, themselves, writing, but we have spoken to some of them as they left the embassy. And there are all kinds of expressions, everything from -- one person told us that the pope was really a light in their life, and they hoped that now that he's gone, that light will continue to burn. Secretary of State Rice is coming here really for a couple of reasons. One, for official reasons, to pay her respects to someone the United States views as great man, but also on a very personal level, Rick, the secretary believes that he was a great man of moral dignity. And some of our viewers might be surprised to learn that the United States government has only had diplomatic relations with the Vatican since 1984.

Rick, back to you.

SANCHEZ: Andrea Koppel bringing us that late-breaking information. We appreciate, Andrea, you sharing that with us. So there you have it. A small contingent, but very powerful, nonetheless, three presidents -- one current, two former. And it's interesting, and somewhat curious, that President Clinton is coming, given the fact that he just had that medical procedure not long ago.

KAGAN: Clearly feeling better. Up and at 'em.

We've got a lot more news just ahead, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: OK, but we are going to lighten things up a little bit. A lot of big, heavy news over recent days, so take a trip with us, all right. See what you can do here. Bird definitely not on Sesame Street. We're looking in Kansas. That's an emu, eluding his captors. Now it looks like they have him.

SANCHEZ: That was a tackle, wasn't it?

KAGAN: But he was free for most of the day. Even when police were called in to assist (INAUDIBLE) and the hands of this 100-plus emu. It was finally wrapped up. Now the search is on for the emu's owner.

SANCHEZ: Let's see it again. You know, when something's that good, you should look at it twice.

KAGAN: Well, I think the emu got the best of them. A fine day for emu. Well, emu doesn't look too happy right there.

SANCHEZ: That guy thinks he's Dick Butkus. You know what's interesting, we understand the emu's fine, but some of the people who were trying to catch him are a little sore today.

KAGAN: Yes, not so good. Yes, so for my fellow animal lovers out there, before you write in, emu's okay. Owner might not be so good when they find out.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That is going to do it for us.

SANCHEZ: I was going to say pigs. Those are fun to chase.

KAGAN: You might chase that. Have a wonderful afternoon. Knock yourself out. I have other plans, thank you, though.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

KAGAN: And I'm the pig farmer in Atlanta on this day.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

Thanks so much for being with us. "WOLF BLITZER" is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired April 5, 2005 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: A ceremony at the Pentagon this hour to honor a soldier who gave his life to save dozens of his bodies (sic) there in Iraq, the men who were under him.
Senior Pentagon correspondent Jamie McIntyre is joining us now with more on this story.

Jamie, over to you.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SR. PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Rick, quite a moving seen today in the Pentagon's hall of heroes, which is the area of the Pentagon which is set up to honor the bravest of the brave. Those who've been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. We see a live picture now of the wife of Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith, who was awarded the Medal of Honor in a ceremony at the White House yesterday posthumously. His name was added to the plaques on the wall, and there hadn't been an addition to that plaque since 1983, when two brave soldiers who fought in Somalia were awarded that honor. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presided over that ceremony. He seemed to, at some point, to be choking back emotion, as he welcomed Sergeant Smith to what he called America's most admired fraternity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECY.: One of the bravest among them we honor here today. A decade after Sergeant First Class Paul Ray smith first saw combat in "Operation Desert Storm," he returned to duty in Iraq. A proud sergeant, a tested soldier, and certainly an inspired leader. We stand in awe of the heroism described in Sergeant Smith's citation, in which was so eloquently recounted at the White House ceremony yesterday. Standing here today, one need not look far to understand what motivated his bravery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: Today Sergeant Smith, Paul Ray Smith, sergeant first class, was cited for extraordinary act of valor under extremely dangerous circumstances. For that he was awarded the medal for valor in combat that is only bestowed to the bravest of the brave, according to Army officials, for his actions in Baghdad two years ago.

His widow, Birgit, who is a German citizen, said at the ceremony today as she struggled to contain her emotions, that she is beginning the process to become an American citizen, and she was grateful to the American people as she talked about her husband in loving terms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Paul loved his country. He loved the Army. And he loved his soldiers. He loved being a (INAUDIBLE). He died doing what he loved. I'm grateful the Army gave Paul the opportunity to fulfill his dream of serving his country. He touched so many lives in so many ways and made a lot of people better soldiers and better people by what they learned from him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCINTYRE: So Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith's name now inscribed in the Hall of Heroes, joining the likes of storied American heroes such as Jimmy Doolittle and Sergeant York.

Rick, back to you.

SANCHEZ: CNN's Jamie McIntyre, reporting to us from the Pentagon.

Sergeant Smith's story is one of heroics and bravery in a moment that could not possibly have been planned. It was as spontaneous as they possibly could come, and that's why it's probably best told by the men who were there at the moment it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist Michael Seaman.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Echo Company, 27 Infantry Battalion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Specialist of the United States Army.

SGT. MATTHEW KELLER, U.S. ARMY: Sergeant Matthew Keller, 27 infantry.

RICK SANCHEZ, CO-HOST, "CNN LIVE TODAY" (voice-over): Four names, four soldiers, four lives that could have ended but not for the courage of one man.

(on camera) You'd say he may have saved the lives of some 40 men.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

KELLER: I remember flying all around. I could hear them zipping by my ears. At one point in time, RPG blasts knocked me to the ground. They were doing whatever they could to kill us.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): April 2003. The men of the 11th Engineer Battalion find themselves on the outskirts of Baghdad near the airport with orders to build a jail for Iraqi prisoners. Suddenly, this rather routine job turns into a hellish nightmare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They started throwing hand grenades over the walls, and that's when -- that's when the main part of the battle started.

SPEC. JOHN MELE, U.S. ARMY: We were taking extremely heavy fire. There was mortar rounds. I saw mortar rounds land prior to the one that landed on my vehicle.

SANCHEZ: The G.I.'s were a small force compared to the more than 100 Iraqis attacking them. The odds were not in the Americans' favor, and they were about to get even worse. The Bradley fighting vehicle they thought would defend them suddenly runs out of ammo.

KELLER: That kind of left the entryway into the courtyard vulnerable for the enemy to overtake if they were to advance.

SANCHEZ: One heavy gun still remained. It was a .50 caliber machine gun manned by Sergeant Louis Berwarld.

SGT. LOUIS BERWARLD, U.S. ARMY: I was firing my weapon and all of a sudden, I was extremely stunned. I looked at my arm and my hand, and there was quite a bit of blood. And I started to get light- headed. And I dropped down inside of my vehicle.

SANCHEZ: Someone had to grab the gun. It was do or die. Sergeant Paul Smith did both.

MELE: And instead of having just any other soldier that all of us knew how to man a .50 cal, he could have had any one of his soldiers get up there, but instead he put his life on the line to protect us, the fellow soldiers in his platoon.

SANCHEZ: This one soldier's decision, made in just a split second, is the place where courage and destiny come together, a moment that determined the fate of his fellow soldiers.

(on camera) He saved their lives?

MELE: Yes.

SANCHEZ: How many people's lives would you have said? How many soldiers were down there on the ground?

MELE: Probably about 40 out of the 50 that were there.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): After an exhaustive firefight, Smith died from a gunshot wound to the head. He was 33 years old.

A million Americans have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11. Only Sergeant Paul Ray Smith comes away with a Congressional Medal of Honor. An important tribute, no doubt, but not important enough for the men he led.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can keep the Medal of Honor. We'd rather have Sergeant Smith back.

SANCHEZ: Rick Sanchez, CNN, Ft. Stewart, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SANCHEZ: Have their sergeant back. And there's someone else who would rather have the sergeant back, his 11-year-old son. He was at the White House yesterday. His name is David. He accepted the Congressional Medal of Honor in his father's name. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Let's get back to the story we've been covering for a few minutes now. ABC News anchor Peter Jennings has announced that he has been diagnosed with lung cancer. He says he will start chemotherapy within the week. He does plan to try to keep working while undergoing chemotherapy.

We have on the phone with us Howard Kurtz, media reporter for "The Washington Post," also host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" right here on CNN. Howard, thanks for being with us.

HOWARD KURTZ, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: I think beside the health of Peter Jennings, which of course, we send out our best wishes to him, this fits into a bigger story of what has happened to the three top network news anchors that we've all watched for so many years. Tom Brokaw retires, Dan Rather steps down after the controversy with the National Guard story, and now Peter Jennings.

KURTZ: Well, obviously Jennings, as you mentioned, going to keep his job at least for a while, though ABC has made clear that there will be days when he will not feel up to anchoring "World News Tonight," and Charlie Gibson, Elizabeth Vargas, and others will be filling in. But if you look at it from a longer timeframe, clearly, the big three anchors who dominated network television since the early 1980s, all in a period of transition.

And for ABC News in particular, which was dealing with the news last week of Ted Koppel moving on -- he'll be leaving the network near the end of the year and no longer going to be the host of "Nightline," this presents some personnel problems potentially. But right now, an emotional time at ABC News. People much more worried about Jennings and his health than about, you know, what might follow.

KAGAN: There was a big story not that have that long ago, I think it might have been the tsunami story, Howard, that Peter Jennings did not travel for, and it was rather conspicuous that he didn't go.

KURTZ: He was one of the other big three anchors, I believe, that did not travel to Asia for the tsunami. He was not feeling well, and has not for some months. They blamed it on flu, on a cold. He even took some criticism in recent days for not going to the Vatican to cover the passing of the pope.

Well, again, it wasn't until yesterday afternoon that Jennings himself got the medical diagnosis of lung cancer. So obviously, now we know in retrospect that he had a reason for not taking on those assignments. Because Jennings, over the last two decades, has been someone who has been willing to run to an airplane at the drop of a hat, go around the world to cover the big stories for ABC News and it's only because of his health now that we see him staying closer to home.

KAGAN: And as -- of course, as a prominent member of a media, realistic in that you can't keep information like that private. More important to share it and get it out in the open.

KURTZ: ABC News has been smart about this. They have not sat on it. Jennings putting out an e-mail to his staff saying that he's going to continue to do the broadcast. There will be some good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky, and some days really cranky, he says, trying to take this with the good humor for which he is noted, but yes, in the age of Internet and cable and instantaneous news around the globe, it didn't make any sense for ABC to have this leak out so they have put it out to us just minutes ago.

KAGAN: Howard Kurtz from "The Washington Post" and from our "RELIABLE SOURCES." Howard, thank you. And once again, our best to Peter Jennings as he undergoes therapy -- chemotherapy for lung cancer. We'll take a break. Much more after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This is a question that's been going around for some time. Who will represent the United States at the Vatican at the pope's funeral? We've got some new information on that. Our state department correspondent, Andrea Koppel, has just dug that information up for us and I hear her, I don't know if she -- Andrea, are you there? Ready to go. Andrea, over to you.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right. CNN has just learned, Rick, the official representatives for the White House delegation to the pope's funeral on Friday. They include, as you might expect, President Bush and his wife Laura, as well as the president's father, Herbert Walker Bush, and president -- former President Bill Clinton, as well as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Now, Secretary Rice is due to arrive where I am right now sometime within the next hour. I'm standing outside of what is known as the Vatican's embassy here in Washington, D.C. There's been a steady stream of both taxi cabs and sedans with diplomatic license plates pulling up here since the embassy opened this morning, a little over an hour ago. All of them coming by to pay their respects to the pope and also to sign a condolence book.

Inside, just a short time ago, there were representatives of the Serbian Orthodox clergy, who were there signing some words -- personal words. We're not allowed to show you what any of these individuals are, themselves, writing, but we have spoken to some of them as they left the embassy. And there are all kinds of expressions, everything from -- one person told us that the pope was really a light in their life, and they hoped that now that he's gone, that light will continue to burn. Secretary of State Rice is coming here really for a couple of reasons. One, for official reasons, to pay her respects to someone the United States views as great man, but also on a very personal level, Rick, the secretary believes that he was a great man of moral dignity. And some of our viewers might be surprised to learn that the United States government has only had diplomatic relations with the Vatican since 1984.

Rick, back to you.

SANCHEZ: Andrea Koppel bringing us that late-breaking information. We appreciate, Andrea, you sharing that with us. So there you have it. A small contingent, but very powerful, nonetheless, three presidents -- one current, two former. And it's interesting, and somewhat curious, that President Clinton is coming, given the fact that he just had that medical procedure not long ago.

KAGAN: Clearly feeling better. Up and at 'em.

We've got a lot more news just ahead, after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET UPDATE)

KAGAN: OK, but we are going to lighten things up a little bit. A lot of big, heavy news over recent days, so take a trip with us, all right. See what you can do here. Bird definitely not on Sesame Street. We're looking in Kansas. That's an emu, eluding his captors. Now it looks like they have him.

SANCHEZ: That was a tackle, wasn't it?

KAGAN: But he was free for most of the day. Even when police were called in to assist (INAUDIBLE) and the hands of this 100-plus emu. It was finally wrapped up. Now the search is on for the emu's owner.

SANCHEZ: Let's see it again. You know, when something's that good, you should look at it twice.

KAGAN: Well, I think the emu got the best of them. A fine day for emu. Well, emu doesn't look too happy right there.

SANCHEZ: That guy thinks he's Dick Butkus. You know what's interesting, we understand the emu's fine, but some of the people who were trying to catch him are a little sore today.

KAGAN: Yes, not so good. Yes, so for my fellow animal lovers out there, before you write in, emu's okay. Owner might not be so good when they find out.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: That is going to do it for us.

SANCHEZ: I was going to say pigs. Those are fun to chase.

KAGAN: You might chase that. Have a wonderful afternoon. Knock yourself out. I have other plans, thank you, though.

I'm Daryn Kagan.

KAGAN: And I'm the pig farmer in Atlanta on this day.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

Thanks so much for being with us. "WOLF BLITZER" is coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com