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President Bush to Announce Supreme Court Nominee?; In the Bullseye?

Aired July 19, 2005 - 10:59   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 go ahead and take a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
Right now at the White House President Bush is meeting with Australian Prime Minister John Howard, a key ally in the war on terror. President Bush and Prime Minister Howard will hold a news conference in about 50 minutes. You'll see that live right here on CNN when it happens.

Also in Washington, a guessing game over a Supreme Court nominee. It's believed that Mr. Bush could announce his pick as early as today. A live report from the White House is straight ahead.

Today in London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair held talks with representatives from Britain's Muslim community. The meeting at Downing Street was attended by Muslim clerics, lawmakers and business leaders, among others. They discussed ways of tackling homegrown Islamic extremism in the wake of the deadly London terror attacks.

And Hewlett-Packard says it will cut 14,000 jobs or about 10 percent of its staff. The technology giant says it will also restructure its retirement benefits to employees. That plan is designed to save the company nearly $2 billion a year.

Good morning. Welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY. Let's check the time around the world.

1:00 a.m. tomorrow in Sydney, Australia; 11:00 a.m. in the nation's capital; and 7:00 p.m. in Baghdad. From CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan.

Much of Washington abuzz this morning over rumblings that President Bush could soon announce his Supreme Court nominee. At issue, not just the seat being vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, but also the potential rule of a swing vote in helping to write President Bush's legacy.

We have CNN correspondents covering this developing story. Ed Henry on Capitol Hill. We begin with Bob Franken at the White House.

Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And indeed, the nation's capital is abuzz, to use your word. There's conflicting information. A variety of sources say an announcement will come today or an announcement could come today or it won't come today. The president has to, of course, make that decision. And the other bigger decision being just which of the perspective nominees will be among those whoa re chosen.

Now, the last word we got -- the last word we got from the president was from an appearance yesterday. He's going to be making an appearance in a few minutes with the prime minister of Australia, who you see walking with the president as he arrived for meetings. At the meeting yesterday, which was with the prime minister of India, the president gave us his latest guidance on timing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm going to take my time, and I will be thorough and deliberate. But make no mistake, we've heard a lot of suggestions from members of the United States Senate -- a lot. As it turns out, many of the senators have got strong opinions one way or the other. And, of course, we're listening to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And you're looking now at a picture of the Supreme Court that the president hopes is not the operative picture come October. That is to say, that whoever the prospective nominee is has been confirmed and replaces Sandra Day O'Connor, who is retiring and will step down as soon as a replacement is confirmed by the Senate.

Speculation is running rampant on a variety of names, including the two Ediths from the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans, particularly Edith Clement, who is considered a conservative but with a really nondescript kind of a background right now, not a strong written record right now. But there's always the possibility that that name has been floated just as a distraction or that it is purely speculation and the president is holding his cards close to the vest.

Our next indication of what's going on here will come or not come in the news conference that follows the meeting between the Australian prime minister and the president -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right. You know questions will be asked there. Bob, thank you.

We're going to get more on the potential Supreme Court nominee in just a moment.

First, though, we want to take you to Iowa to witness live what is about -- well, how's this for timing? Two residential halls, two dorms coming down in an implosion.

For those of you who know Iowa State, just so you know, Storms and Knapp halls, they closed in 2003 and 2004 respectively. They are two of four residence halls in the neighborhood that are being brought down and being rebuilt with other facilities.

The public was invited to come from a safe distance and watch that happen. That picture from Iowa State.

OK, so that was what's happening in Iowa. Now what's happening on Capitol Hill.

Our Congressional Correspondent Ed Henry.

Ed, you got anything better than a two-building implosion?

ED HENRY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tough act to follow.

KAGAN: Yes.

HENRY: But there are a lot of smoke signals here on the Hill as well about whether or not the president is going to name his Supreme Court nominee. As you mentioned and you heard from Bob Franken, conflicting signals here at the White House, but also on the Hill as well.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist about an hour ago told me he does not expect that this nomination is going to come down today. He's obviously someone in a position to know. The Senate will be handling the confirmation hearings.

But then there are other signals suggesting perhaps this nomination is a little more imminent, such as the fact that last night, the Senate Judiciary chairman, Arlen Specter, was supposed to be attending a softball game with his staff on the National Mall last night. Instead, he got called over for an unexpected meeting with the president at the White House.

You see after the meeting he was seen chatting with Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff. Obviously, that got some tongues wagging about whether or not this is going to come down today, whether Arlen Specter got a signal from the president.

Specter, when CNN caught up with him later, and he actually made it to that softball game that I mentioned, he would not tip his hand. But he suggested stay tuned. Based on his conversation with the president, there is an expectation that something is coming.

Now, whether it's today, tomorrow or the next, the bottom line is it has to come soon. That's why the speculation is coming with such force.

The bottom line is senators in both parties say the president has to get the clock ticking if he wants to get this new justice seated by the first Monday in October. The bottom line, Senate is going out of session on August recess. At the end of next week, they need to get this nominee up to the Hill for courtesy calls with senators on the Judiciary Committee next week. Then they would have the entire month of August for the FBI background check with an expectation. An expectation, again, that the hearings would start probably right after Labor Day.

Again, all of this with an eye towards getting it all wrapped up by the first Monday in October -- Daryn. KAGAN: Well, you know if they're pulling a senator out of a softball game, softball being sacred in Washington, D.C., that's something very serious.

HENRY: Big news

KAGAN: Ed Henry on Capitol Hill. Thank you.

And now to a CNN "Security Watch" and two central issues: the U.S. war on terror and the rights of its citizens. This morning, those issues collided in a court hearing for Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen and, according to President Bush, an enemy combatant. The government has used that designation to hold Padilla for three years without criminal charges being filed.

Now the Justice Department is appealing a February ruling which found that Padilla had to either be charged or released. A ruling from this morning's hearing is probably weeks away, and legal analysts say regardless of the outcome the landmark case is almost certainly headed to the Supreme Court.

On Capitol Hill, minutes from now, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff is to testify on his plans to restructure the department. Chertoff will describe to the Senate committee his plans to modify both homeland operations and its organizational structure. And he'll likely face questions on comments he made last week to The Associate Press.

In those, he discussed priorities by comparing the 9/11 attacks to the London terror bombings. In his words, "The truth of the matter is, a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people. A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people. When you think about your priorities, you're going to think about making sure you don't have a catastrophic thing happen first."

One hundred and fifty-three police officers shot to death last year. That number might have been higher if not for the protective vests that most cops now wear. It also, though, might have been lower.

According to the federal government, which is accusing the country's top vest maker, a Japanese supplier of the fabric of creating vests that fail when they're most desperately needed. CNN's Aaron Brown takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHELLY CUNNINGHAM, LOUISVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: 124, Charlie. What's his location?

AARON BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For eight-year veteran Shelly Cunningham, her bulletproof vest is the most important part of her uniform.

CUNNINGHAM: I've never been shot at, at all. But I wear it every day anyway, you know? BROWN: And it's a good thing she's never been shot at, her vest never tested. Because it's possible it might not work. The same model didn't work in Oceanside, California, two years ago. A police officer died in that incident.

SGT. GREG BURNS, LOUISVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: The officers pretty much depend on that their vests are going to work. So now, they are going around with a question mark in their mind about, if I'm shot, is this vest going to stop a bullet?

BROWN: The vests are made by a company called Second Chance Body Armor, and it says the material inside the vest is defective.

The material is called zylon, made by a company in Japan.

In tests conducted by the National Institute of Justice, the zylon material inside the vest degraded far more quickly than the company said it would, especially when exposed to ordinary things, like light and heat and humidity.

DOUGLAS WAGNER, ATTORNEY, SECOND CHANCE BODY ARMOR: We believe that the NIJ will eventually conclude, as Second Chance has, that vests made from zylon should be replaced with vests made of materials that have proven to be effective over considerable periods of time.

BROWN: Which means a lot of bad vests on a lot of good cops need replacing.

ROBERT WHITE, LOUISVILLE POLICE CHIEF: I'm estimating that 600 of our 1,200 vests actually have zylon and need to be replaced, but my understanding, there are actually over 800,000 vests out there with various law enforcement agencies that actually have zylon. So I would imagine that they are going through the same process we are, by replacing those vests.

BROWN: In Louisville alone, the police chief says it will cost at least a half million dollars for replacements. Dozens of states and the federal government are suing both Second Chance and the Japanese manufacturer of zylon.

THOMAS F. REILLY, ATTORNEY GENERAL, STATE OF MASSACHUSETTS: The bottom line is these vests need to be replaced with vests that are safe.

BROWN: Second Chance has declared bankruptcy. While admitting no liability, the Japanese company has agreed to pay $29 million to settle the first in a series of lawsuits, those filed by seven states. The company blames Second Chance for making the vests incorrectly.

In the meantime, in Louisville and elsewhere, cops are wearing those Second Chance vests, taking chances while making arrests like the one Anetta Gordon made at a housing project in Louisville.

ANETTA GORDON, LOUISVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: He had a gun when he committed this, and we didn't know if he had a gun at this time that we were trying to apprehend him. So we were nervous bringing him out. Not knowing whether or not your vest is going to work, I wear it anyway, just in case.

Anything's better than nothing. But yeah, for my family's sake, for everybody that counts on me coming home, I was very nervous.

BROWN: Aaron Brown, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Let's take a look at a developing situation we're watching out of Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State. A HAZMAT situation, a hazardous chemical situation on campus. The OSU maintenance shop appears to be the problem.

The chemical appears to be hydrochloric acid. Seven people reporting breathing problems, three people may have suffered chemical burns. HAZMAT crews set up decontamination units on the scene, and that's what we're watching there, to help people affected by the incident.

There were some people who were reported as unaccounted for on the scene, but everyone has now been find. So trying to clean up -- not exactly sure what caused that in the first place, but we'll continue to monitor that situation from Ohio State.

Since the London terror attacks there has been a backlash against Muslims in Great Britain. Will Tony Blair's Muslim summit help end the tensions? The latest from London is next.

Plus, another deadly ambush in Iraq today. After the break, we'll take you live to Baghdad for the latest.

And what are President Bush and Australian Prime Minister Howard talking about right now at the White House? We'll hear from both of them in about 40 minutes. They'll hold a joint news conference. We'll be there live when it happens.

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KAGAN: To Iraq now. Fresh rounds of violence in one incident near Khalis. Gunmen shooting from two cars opened fire on a minibus filled with civilian employees of a U.S. military base. At least 10 people are dead.

For more on today's violence in Iraq, CNN's Aneesh Raman is live in Baghdad -- Aneesh?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning.

Another disturbing incident to the tell you about. Just a few hours ago, Migvil Issa (ph), a Sunni member of Iraq's constitutional committee, was gunned down, police say, in the Karada an area of Baghdad, killed along with two of his associates. Issa (ph) was one of 15 members added to the constitutional committee who were Sunni, an effort by this government to outreach to that community. It comes on a day when the president of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, has said that the constitution will be drafted by the end of the month, two weeks ahead of schedule. It also comes, Daryn, amid a spike in violence here in Iraq, specifically a spike in suicide attacks that have been injecting a great deal of fear into the Iraqi society.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

RAMAN (voice-over): Alaa Abbass is a walking target. Manning this checkpoint, every car, every person is a potential killer. Such is life in a world of suicide bombings.

ALAA ABBASS, IRAQI POLICE OFFICER (through translator): Our job is 100 percent dangerous. You can see, searching vehicles and checking IDs, yes, it is 100 percent dangerous.

RAMAN: His estimation is no exaggeration. In the past week alone, suicide attacks killed over 170 Iraqis. The worst incident on Saturday in the town of Musayyib, where 90 people died after a bomber detonated himself next to a fuel truck.

For the forces on the ground, it is easily the most formidable insight tactic.

BRIG. GEN. DONALD ALSTON, SPOKESMAN, U.S. MILITARY: The suicide bombing absolutely picks precisely the time and precisely the place to cause the effect that they're going to cause. It is very difficult when the suicide bomber is -- when the attack is imminent, in order to deflect that.

RAMAN (on camera): And perhaps the most powerful effect of the suicide attacks is the fear they spread. A few weeks ago, this Baghdad restaurant was hit. Twenty-three people were killed after a man entered inside and detonated himself. For Iraqi civilians, who bear the brunt of the casualties, it seems these days there is nowhere completely safe.

(voice-over): So in Iraq, the question is how to prevent the bombings. Military officials say borders must be sealed so those willing to die can't enter the country so easily. And better intelligence is needed to catch the bombers at a point when they can still be stopped, both wholly dependent upon the still fledgling Iraqi forces.

But...

LAITH KUBBA, SPOKESMAN, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER: The police is not fully equipped to deal with the insurgency yet.

RAMAN: Therein is the difficult reality for those like Alaa.

ABBASS: Day after day we control the situation, but we all know it will take time to really control everything. RAMAN: Suicide bombers are the worst of insurgent attacks in every way. But eradicating them soon in Iraq seems impossible. All those on the front line at any time can do is try to minimize the casualties.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

RAMAN: Now, Daryn, that last point can't be overstated. Once a suicide bomber is out on the streets with an explosives vest, it is essentially impossible to prevent them from blowing themselves up. It has to occur beforehand. That solution, though, till this day, remains elusive -- Daryn..

KAGAN: Aneesh Raman, thank you for that report live from Baghdad.

Back here in North America, it might not directly hit the coast. Some in Texas are still nervous about Hurricane Emily. Residents along the Texas Gulf Coast are preparing for the worst. A live weather report on where Emily is going next is coming up.

And in about 30 minutes, President Bush and Australia's prime minister will have a joint news conference at the White House. We're standing by for that event, and we'll take you to it live as soon as it begins.

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KAGAN: CNN is your hurricane headquarters. We are keeping a close eye on the movement of Hurricane Emily this morning. Residents along the Texas Gulf Coast are preparing for the worst.

Forecasters are warning that south Texas will feel the impact when the storm comes ashore. That area could get up to 10 inches of rain.

Rain is expected to be a big problem for people in Monterrey, Mexico. They will also have to contend with Emily's tropical storm- force winds. Landfall is expected overnight.

The cleanup is already under way in Emily's wake. Many tourist areas in the Yucatan Peninsula lost power poles and plenty of trees. But luckily, there have been no reports of fatalities.

Remember to keep it here on CNN, your hurricane headquarters.

That's where Chad Myers is keeping it, because he is watching Emily as it swirls away.

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KAGAN: Well, as Hurricane Emily is bearing down on the Mexican coast, track the storm online at CNN.com/hurricane. Emily, by the way, is the second hurricane to reach Category 4 status this year. See what each category means in our online interactive report. CNN.com also wants to know about your hurricane experience. So go online, send us our pictures, your stories, your video. It's all online at CNN.com/hurricane.

A big story that's kind of hanging out there, we're waiting to find out about a Supreme Court nominee. Is today the day? Our CNN Washington correspondents have the latest on the judicial buzz.

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