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CNN Live Today

CIA Leak Probe; Return of the Shuttle

Aired July 13, 2005 - 11:00   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's take a look at what's happening ""Now in the News."
"TIME" magazine reporter Matt Cooper appears before a grand jury this morning. The panel is investigating the leaked identity of a CIA operative. A recently disclosed internal "TIME" magazine email indicates that Bush political adviser Karl Rove was Cooper's source. But Rove's lawyer says his client is in no way threatened by Cooper's testimony.

We'll have a live report just ahead.

Sentencing is under way for former WorldCom CEO Bernard Ebbers for his role in the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. Ebbers faces a possible 85 years in prison for WorldCom's $11 billion accounting scandal that sent the company into bankruptcy. A live update on Ebbers' sentence when it happens.

The House Armed Services Committee begins examining the proposed $18.5 billion merger of Unocal and China's state-owned oil firm. A live picture from Capitol Hill there for you.

Many say they're concerned about the deal's potential national security implications. The Chinese oil firm's bid exceeds a $16 billion cash and stock offer from Chevron. That deal already has won U.S. regulatory approval.

Discovery poised to mark NASA's first mission into space since the Columbia disaster in 2003. The crew is scheduled to held to the launch pad about an hour from now, and liftoff is still set for this afternoon at 3:51 Eastern.

A CNN special report, "Return of the Shuttle," with live launch coverage airs today beginning at 3:00 Eastern.

And good morning. Welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.

We have news developing all over the country, all over the world. We are expecting any minute to see videotape that was shot just minutes ago inside the White House.

President Bush this morning holding a cabinet meeting, and often cameras allowed to come in and tape for somewhat and reporters allowed to ask questions. Of course, on the top topic, the deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, and what kind of involvement he might have in a special investigation. A special prosecutor trying to finger the person who might have given the name of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative.

Matt Cooper, a "TIME" magazine reporter, right now giving testimony after holding out for a long time before a grand jury. We'll have more on Matt Cooper in a minute.

Now, though, let's go and queue up the tape from the White House and see what President Bush -- if he would answer any questions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you all for coming. We have just finished our third Cabinet meeting of the year. I want to thank my secretaries for being here today.

Thank you for the briefing.

Today's briefing reminded us about the strength of our economy. We had some good news today: OMB is going to announce that the 2005 deficit is $94 billion less than previously expected. In other words, revenues coming in are greater than anticipated. It's a sign that our economy is strong, and it's a sign that our tax relief plan, our pro- growth policies are working.

I told the Congress and told the country we'd cut the deficit in half by 2009. We're ahead of projections now. In other words, these numbers indicate that we're going to cut the deficit in half faster than the year 2009 so long as Congress holds the line on spending.

And so my message to the United States Congress is, "Let's be wise with the taxpayers' money." My Cabinet's committed to that. And we look forward to working with the appropriators to make sure that they spend your money wisely.

This good news on the deficit and on the budget is coupled with good economic news when it comes to job creation. Unemployment rate's down to 5 percent. We've created more than 2 million jobs this year. More Americans are working today than ever before in our nation's history.

Over the next couple of weeks I look forward to working with Congress to continue pro-growth policies. One is getting an energy bill.

Secondly is to promote free and fair trade. And the matter at hand is a free trade agreement with our neighborhood, countries in Central America and the Dominican Republic.

Finally, I hope we can continue to press for and pass legal reform. I think it's a very important message to say to our job creators, small-business owners, that we'll have a fair legal system. And Congress has got some legal reform matters pending.

BUSH: And finally -- finally, finally -- we want to work with Congress to pass a fiscally responsible highway bill.

Again, I want to thank my Cabinet for being here. I'll be glad to answer a couple of questions.

QUESTION: Can I ask you if you have spoken with your deputy chief of staff, Karl Rove, about the Valerie Plame matter? And do you think he acted improperly in talking about it with reporters?

BUSH: I have instructed every member of my staff to fully cooperate in this investigation.

I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports. We're in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed.

QUESTION: Mr. President, on that note, has Mr. Rove come to you and discussed -- when did he discuss the fact that he had conversations with reporters about Valerie Plame?

QUESTION: And based on that, do you feel as though it was appropriate in 2003 for your spokesman to say definitively that Karl Rove had nothing to do with the Valerie Plame?

BUSH: We're in the midst of an ongoing investigation. And this is a serious investigation. And it is very important for people not to prejudge the investigation based on media reports.

And, again, I will be more than happy to comment on this matter once the investigation is complete.

QUESTION: In your search for a replacement for the Supreme Court, when do you anticipate beginning to interview potential candidates? And would you consider a candidate (inaudible) people who don't have experience as a judge?

BUSH: We had a very good meeting yesterday. The vice president and I met with leaders of the Senate -- four members of the United States Senate -- and we talked about a lot of subjects.

Just one of the subjects was that very subject: Would I be willing to consider people who had never been a judge. And the answer is: You bet. We're considering all kinds of people: judges, nonjudges. Laura gave me some good advice yesterday, which is to consider women which, of course, I'm doing.

(LAUGHTER)

And in terms of the process, we're still consulting with members of the Senate, and I anticipate continued consultations. I say "we're consulting"; it's just not me; it's members of my staff. We've got a lot of contacts in the Senate on both sides of the aisle and people are calling in with suggestions. And I encourage them to continue to do so; I'm looking forward to their advice.

BUSH: Of course, I fully recognize it's my responsibility to come up with a nominee. And I intend to do so in a period of time that will give me time to fully analyze the different candidates and speak to them.

I'm not exactly sure when that process will begin, in terms of the interviews. And probably if I knew, I wouldn't tell you.

(LAUGHTER)

But the American people can rest assured that I understand the seriousness of this responsibility and that I will name somebody who will bring dignity to the court, someone who will be able to do the job and someone who will sit on that bench and interpret the Constitution and not use the bench from which to legislate.

Thank you all very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Videotape shot in the White House not too long ago. President Bush after a cabinet meeting, the third one of the year, President Bush was saying.

Trying to focus on things like what he says is encouraging, economic news, the energy bill, trade, a potential Supreme Court nominee. And yet, the White House Press Corps clearly focused on the issue of deputy chief of staff Karl Rove. Mr. Bush deflecting those questions, saying this is an ongoing investigation as to a possible leak of a CIA operative's name.

Our Elaine Quijano was right there in the room. We heard the president calling on her. Let's go to her right outside the White House.

Elaine, good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Daryn.

And it was just yesterday that President Bush was asked this as reporters were leaving the Oval Office after an appearance with the prime minister of Singapore. And Mr. Bush did not respond then. But today, the first two questions out of the gate, as we just heard, had to do with Karl Rove.

The president essentially repeating what we have heard from his press secretary, Scott McClellan, talking about not wanting to prejudge the investigation. The president also today reiterating that he has instructed members of his staff to cooperate fully.

The president also saying, when asked, when pressed more specifically about perhaps when Karl Rove may have told him about conversations with reporters about Valerie Plame, the president saying -- you heard him -- "We are in the midst of an ongoing investigation. This is a serious investigation." And going on to say that he would be more than happy to comment once the investigation is complete.

Now, all of these questions, of course, swirling not only around the president, but also his White House press secretary, Scott McClellan, who fielded some 30 questions or so yesterday, as well as the day before that at another contentious White House briefing.

Now, while Scott McClellan has, in fact, uttered the same sentiment that he will not comment as the investigation is still ongoing, Republicans have been jumping to Karl Rove's defense, specifically the Republican National Committee, out talking about how they believe all of these questions concerning Karl Rove are nothing more than partisan attacks.

We have continued to hear that. In fact, the RNC putting out statements to that effect today.

And we also, we should tell you that Karl Rove's own attorney, Robert Luskin, when asked about the fact that Matt Cooper will be testifying today's, saying that he feels that his client, Karl Rove, is in no way threatened by Matt Cooper's impending testimony, also saying that he does not expect that it will cast any doubt on Rove's past testimony.

But certainly all of this now coming directly to the president in a form of two questions after that cabinet meeting -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Elaine Quijano live at the White House. Elaine, thank you.

To Britain. Authorities are learning new details about the four men believed to be behind the terror attacks. We have the latest on the investigation live from Leeds, England.

And our coverage of the Shuttle Discovery's liftoff continues after this break. About 30 minutes from now we'll get a glimpse of the astronauts suiting up for their big journey. We'll go live to the Kennedy Space Center the minute we see them.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: A live picture from Kennedy Space Center. The Space Shuttle Discovery getting ready a few hours from now for launch -- for launch into space.

We're going to talk with someone who's very familiar with Discovery. NASA astronaut Pam Melroy served as pilot of Discovery for a mission in October 2000. She's with us now from the space center in Florida.

Colonel, good morning.

PAM MELROY, NASA ASTRONAUT: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Do you get those same butterflies in your stomach knowing that you've been onboard that same ship but you're not going today?

MELROY: I think it's actually harder to watch a shuttle launch than to be on it. At least when you're inside the shuttle, you sort of have at least the illusion of control. KAGAN: I'm going to ask you that. With control, do you believe the space shuttle program and specifically Discovery is safe?

MELROY: Yes, I do. The astronauts...

KAGAN: Colonel Melroy, I'm just going to jump in here. Hopefully NASA is doing better with their technical ability today than we are with our sound from Kennedy Space Center. We're going to work on getting the microphone fixed a little bit.

Should we go back to the colonel?

OK. We're going to get -- we're going to get back to her in just a moment. But in the meantime, while we wait on getting the colonel's microphone fixed, let me tell you about this. It's a major milestone for the U.S. space shuttle program.

NASA is set to launch its first shuttle mission since the Columbia disaster two-and-a-half years ago. Let's go back to look at he live picture of Shuttle Discovery on the launch pad. Liftoff, as we look at the clock, just hours away -- Discovery, keep in mind, has undergone extensive safety modifications designed to avert a tragedy like the Columbia disaster.

Now, there was a brief concern yesterday. There's this plastic foam cover, it fell from a cockpit window, damaging two protective tiles near the tail of the shuttle. Crews quickly replaced those tiles. We're going to show you the animation here.

Now attention is focusing on Discovery and its crew of seven. That's how the little piece fell off. It fell from the nose down, and there was some damage, but they were able to replace that. And they say that that's OK and ready to go.

What about the crew of seven that are going today? Miles O'Brien tells us more about them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Being the first is never easy, and so it goes for the Discovery astronauts, the first shuttle crew to fly after the loss of Columbia. Good thing they're led by a commander well-accustomed to the vanguard.

Eileen Collins, among the first women to fly in the Air Force, the first female shuttle pilot, and then commander, she is at home in the hot seat.

EILEEN COLLINS, DISCOVERY COMMANDER: And I personally like being stressed out. I think it's good training for us. And on the real flight, if you only get one thing goes wrong, it's going to be much easier to handle it, because you're trained to handle a lot more.

O'BRIEN: The real flight they are training for began as a typical shuttle run to re-supply the Space Station. They were set to launch not long after Columbia was due back in February of 2003. But Columbia did not make it home. The crew of seven perished over Texas 16 minutes before they were due to arrive in Florida.

COLLINS: When the accident happened, I had an opportunity to just take myself off the mission and say, I want to spend more time with my family.

O'BRIEN: Eileen Collins is not only an astronaut, she's a working mom with two young children.

COLLINS: I have never had any pressure from my family to not fly this mission. My parents, my husband, my children, my friends -- you know, I would think that I would have, but I haven't. Having said that, I have asked myself, do I really want to fly this mission, many times. And the answer always came back yes.

O'BRIEN: No surprise to anyone who knows her, not the least of them, husband Pat Youngs, who met her 22 years ago when they were both in the Air Force. He marvels at his overachieving spouse, who earned a Masters at Stanford in 11 months.

PAT YOUNGS, EILEEN COLLINS' HUSBAND: I recall helping with some of her homework, and it was pretty difficult looking at it. And I remember she would just sit there and grind it out and sort it out when I was thinking, if I was doing this, I think I'd go play nine holes and come back and look at it later. But that's how she always is, and just, you know, figured it out.

O'BRIEN: And for this mission, finishing safe and sound is the primary goal. Over the past two-and-half years, NASA has spent more than $1.5 billion looking for answers for what brought Columbia down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Booster ignition and liftoff...

O'BRIEN: The crew's fate was sealed about a minute after launch, when a two-pound piece of insulating foam careened off the external fuel tank, piercing a lethal hole in the heat shield on the left wing. The orbiter disintegrated 16 days later in the blast furnace of re- entry. NASA has redesigned the fuel tank, changed the way it applies the foam, and removed it from some places to reduce the risk of a big piece breaking loose.

ANDREW THOMAS, DISCOVERY MISSION SPECIALIST: I don't think our vehicle is going to be plagued by problems with foam coming off the tape, no. There will be some small pieces of foam that come off. That always happens. We know from the flight history that happens. I don't think they're going to be serious, though.

O'BRIEN: They will launch during daylight hours, under the gaze of a more sophisticated network of tracking cameras to spot trouble. Heat shields on the wings will be rigged with sensors to detect a debris strike. And then, once in space, the crew will conduct a painstaking survey of the orbiter with cameras mounted on the end of a newly-designed boom. And they will approach the space station belly first, giving the station crew a chance to shoot yet another ream of photos. There is good reason for all this checking and re-checking of the orbiter's wing protection. CHARLES CAMAROA, DISCOVERY MISSION SPECIALIST: We thought we could survive a quarter-inch hole in some cases, and an inch hole on the upper surface. Right now, we believe that we cannot survive if we see like a thumbnail-size piece of coating loss from the outside surface in a critical region on the leading edge.

O'BRIEN: The astronauts will try some new ideas for patching holes in the heat shield in space, but right now NASA does not have a lot of confidence in the techniques. So, as a last resort, if the orbiter is damaged, the crew will simply stay on the space station, a safe harbor, waiting for rescue. But all this attention on avoiding what happened to Columbia's crew leaves a nagging concern, that other lurking problems might be overlooked.

STEVE ROBINSON, DISCOVERY MISSION SPECIALIST: It's the thing that we haven't thought of yet that will be the next thing that will surprise us. And -- but there are a whole bunch who are out there worrying about that. It's just not as visible to the rest of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And liftoff of Discovery...

O'BRIEN: For the astronauts of Discovery and their families this will be a long, hard mission. Before Columbia, shuttle crews and their families all breathed a sigh of relief once the rocket engine stopped and the orbiter was in space.

JIM KELLY, DISCOVERY PILOT: Well, this time, they're going to be sitting on the ground for two week, watching the clock tick and going, well, I'm still waiting for the event that killed the last crew. Psychologically, for the families, for NASA, for all the managers, for everybody, it's psychologically going to be a completely different thing.

O'BRIEN: Miles O'Brien, CNN, Houston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And with that, let's go back and bring back in Colonel Pam Melroy. She has not only flown once, flown twice on shuttle missions, including onboard Discovery, onboard the ship back in October of 2000.

Welcome back.

MELROY: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: What can you tell us that's special about this ship?

MELROY: Well, actually, each of the vehicles is special in its own way. There are really small subtleties that are usually only known to the technicians who process it. But I think any vehicle that you actually live in -- I mean, Discovery was my tent on a mission to space, and so it's kind of got a unique sense of home to it, for sure.

KAGAN: Not one, but two women onboard this mission. Is that not even news anymore? I think it's cool, personally. MELROY: Yes. Well, we do too. Both Eileen and Wendy are good friends, and it is kind of fun.

On my first mission, I was the only woman. On my second one, there were two of us. And it definitely added a dimension. It's a lot of fun.

KAGAN: A lot has been made of not only the safety concerns, and the specific things that has happened at NASA and to the shuttle over the last few years, but that the entire culture has kind of had a redo. Can you see that?

MELROY: Yes. It's very visible. And one of the best ways that I have seen it actually is to be in the simulator while we're practicing for the mission management team, which has had a complete overhaul.

And so I've been the crew inside the simulator running a very difficult scenario, where the mission management team had to make some very complicated decisions. And so I have actually seen that change of the culture and bringing diverse points of view together to get a better solution.

KAGAN: At this point, where we're just a couple hours, maybe three hours before -- before launch, what's the crew feeling? What are you thinking about at this particular moment?

MELROY: Well, it's a very exciting moment. It's one of the reasons why we don't really ask the crew if it's good to go, because it's a little bit like packing for a long trip. You've got the car loaded up, you're actually sitting in the seat, and -- we just lost power.

KAGAN: Well, we lost the lights, but we can still hear you. So finish your thought.

MELROY: OK. All right.

Yes, so the last thing you're waiting for is to climb in the seat and turn the key in the ignition. And they are ready to light the candle. They're very excited.

KAGAN: And where will you be watching from?

MELROY: I'll be watching from here at the press site. We'll all be holding our breath, and we'll be very excited. And there's going to be a lot of tears and cheering and crying when they finally get airborne.

KAGAN: Absolutely. Well, Colonel Pam Melroy, thank you for your thoughts. And our apologies for our technical glitches this morning. Hope NASA has their act together a little bit better today.

MELROY: I hope so, too. Thanks, Daryn.

KAGAN: Thank you, Colonel. Enjoy the launch. You can log on to CNN.com/shuttle for more special reports on shuttle's return to flight. This afternoon, CNN will be live from Kennedy Space Center for the shuttle liftoff. Our space correspondent and "AMERICAN MORNING" host Miles O'Brien anchors our one-hour special today beginning at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We want to show you some really cool pictures that came in just while we were on commercial break here. This is a look at the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

They are suiting up. Yes, this is the real deal. Getting ready. In about a half-hour, at 12:01 Eastern, we expect to see live pictures of them walking out down the pad to actually board Shuttle Discovery. And then the launch is scheduled for just after 3:00 p.m. today.

As we get closer to this afternoon's scheduled liftoff of Discovery, you might want to learn more about the crew members and their mission. And it's really easy to do that. You just click on CNN.com. Veronica de la Cruz is at the CNN .com desk with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CNN ANCHOR: The countdown is on. America is looking to return to a manned space flight with the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery.

Get cleared for takeoff at CNN.com.

Discovery and it's crew of seven astronauts are ready for liftoff at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. The mission will be the first for the shuttle program since the 2003 Columbia disaster in which seven astronauts died.

You can count down the remaining time with CNN.com's countdown clock, follow online at cnn.com/shuttle, and sync your clocks with ours.

Five Americans, one Australian and one Japanese astronaut will guide Discovery to the International Space Station. Two of the Americans are women. During the mission, astronauts will conduct three space walks, install equipment and test repair techniques.

You can click through this gallery to meet the crew members, starting with Commander Eileen Murray Collins, who has already logged more than 537 hours in space. And find out what's ahead for the Discovery crew. You can check out some of the highlights on the 13- day mission, starting with day one. The crew will set up onboard equipment and replay launch video, sending it to NASA overnight for review. The clock is ticking. Countdown to liftoff at CNN.com/shuttle.

From the dot-com newsdesk, I'm Veronica De La Cruz.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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