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CNN Live Today

Compromise Reached on Patriot Act Legislation; The Christmas Campaign

Aired December 08, 2005 - 11:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are coming up -- actually, we're exactly at the half hour. I'm Daryn Kagan. Here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
We're waiting to hear from Senator Arlen Specter about a new deal on the Patriot Act. Republican leaders tell CNN they have an agreement to extend 16 controversial provisions of the law set to expire at the end of the year. Negotiations had stalled over Patriot Act provisions that some feel may violate civil liberties.

This video just into CNN a short time ago. Two tractor trailer accidents in south Dallas shut down traffic on Interstate 20. In this crash, an 18-wheeler jackknifed trailer when it slammed into a new station's SUV and burst into flames. Earlier, another rig jackknifed. No reports of any injuries.

An autopsy will be performed today on a passenger who was fatally shot by air marshals at Miami's airport. Authorities say Rigoberto Alpizar was suspected of having a bomb. No explosives were found. His wife says he was mentally ill and did not have his medication.

The five main suspects in the failed July 21st London transit bombings made court appearances via a video link this morning. But the men did not enter pleas. Four of the men charged with attempted murder and conspiracy to murder. A fifth suspect faces similar charges. They're scheduled to appear before a judge next month.

Ooh, baby, it is cold outside. Many of you across the country are coping with frigid temperatures, as well as rain, sleet and snow depending on where you are. Right now we're looking at Indianapolis, Indiana. Brace yourself. This is just the beginning of the season's first winter storm.

And the Olympic torch for the 2006 winter games gets a blessing from the pope. Pope Benedict delivered the blessing from his window at the Vatican. The torch is now on a two-month long journey across Italy. It will stop at the Olympic site in Turin.

To California now. A lot of people wondering whether it will life or death for the co-founder of the notorious Crips gang. That is the issue before California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lawyers for Stanley Tookie Williams will make a clemency plea to the governor today.

Our Chris Lawrence is live from Sacramento. Chris, hello. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, in just about 90 minutes from now, prosecutors and defense attorneys for Tookie Williams will meet with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger right in the building behind me. And they'll basically be making their final argument as to why Williams should live or die.

You know, the publicity blitz is already started with the governor getting a lot of pressure on both sides. Some of the supporters of Williams taking out full page ads in some of the California papers. But when the lawyers go inside, they'll each have about half an hour to make their case.

And, from what we know, the defense will show this video as part of their presentation. It's got letters and testimonials from former gang members and schoolchildren who say Williams deserves to live. They say he has redeemed himself on death row and that he's written books that have kept kids out of gangs to help broker peace deals. Celebrities like actor Jamie Foxx, rapper Snoop Dogg, have all come out in support of Williams.

But on the other hand, law enforcement, victims' rights groups and even some of the victims' families, point to Williams' crimes. They say that he is the co-founder of the Crips street gang and a man who was convicted of murdering four people. And they say just the fact of writing books can't begin to make up for those kinds of crimes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WES MCBRIDE, RETIRED GANG INVESTIGATOR: I don't know if he's redeemed himself or not in real life. Let's say he has. He still has to pay for those four deaths. And being real sorry now doesn't count.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE: The governor is not going to have very long to make up his mind. Williams is scheduled to be executed just after midnight on Tuesday, and that will happen unless Governor Schwarzenegger reduces his sentence to life in prison -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So, Chris, this is not a question of trying to argue that Tookie Williams is innocent of those crimes?

LAWRENCE: Well, his supporters are arguing two things. One, that the evidence was flawed and he didn't receive a fair trial. And two, that he has redeemed himself. He is a different man now that than he was then. But the governor is not making a decision to free Tookie Williams. This decision whether to reduce his punishment from execution to life in prison.

KAGAN: Chris Lawrence, following the story live in Sacramento, thank you. As Chris was mentioning, several celebrities leading the call for clemency for Stanley Tookie Williams. Snoop Dogg and other major West Coast rap artists have released this tribute video to the Crips founder. The song is called "Real Soon." It calls for Tookie Williams to be freed. The single also features actor Jamie Foxx, who has publicly rallied for clemency for Williams.

The families of the four people Williams is convicted of killing are urging the governor not to forget them and the crime.

Let's go live now to Capitol Hill. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania talking about a just-reached compromise on the extension of the Patriot Act.

SEN. ARLEN SPECTER (R), PENNSYLVANIA: The first thing I did this morning was call Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner to express my thanks to him and appreciation to him for his cooperation and for his good work on this conference.

It has been a very, very difficult conference, and the staffs have been working really around the clock on it. And Chairman Sensenbrenner and I have had many conversations about it ourselves and we have cut through the knotty problems to produce what I think is a balanced bill.

There's never been any doubt that there's a need for reauthorization of the Patriot Act. The wall which had separated and prohibited the use of information gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- prohibited that being used in the criminal prosecution -- was taken down by the Patriot Act, and that's a very, very important tool for law enforcement.

There's no doubt about the need for tools for law enforcement to fight terrorism both domestically and internationally, and the Patriot Act was put into effect immediately after 9/11. But equally clearly there's been a need for refinement of the protection of civil liberties and civil rights.

And this is not a perfect bill. I would have vastly preferred the Senate bill which passed unanimously out of the committee and then, when it got to the floor, no one even wanted to raise an objection.

SPECTER: It was on the unanimous consent docket, which is really unheard of for a peace of legislation of this magnitude.

But we went to confer with the House and the House had different views, and I respect the House's views. And we have a bicameral system, and the White House also had positions. And we hammered out what I think is a good bill. I repeat, not a perfect bill but a good bill.

The biggest issue of concern expressed about law enforcement powers has been the so-called library provision under Section 215. Under existing law, a law enforcement agent could obtain these records unilaterally, on a declaration of relevance.

The conference report now requires a judge to review a statement of facts. And the court has to be satisfied that these records are relevant to a terrorism investigation.

The Senate version required a connection to the foreign issue by requiring one of three conditions: a foreign agent, somebody who was known to work with foreign agents or having contacts.

The conference report added an additional provision which we put in because of information brought to us in a confidential, classified briefing by law enforcement officials; that situations arose where they needed the extra flexibility of being able to get records on a showing to the judge that they were relevant to a terrorism investigation even though the individuals' records were not -- he was not a foreign agent.

That provision has drawn objections. And if I had my druthers, I wouldn't have put the provision in. But that was one of the compromise items which we worked out and, all factors considered, it's reasonably good -- not perfect, but acceptable.

SPECTER: On the national security letter, under existing law there is no judicial review. We now have in the conference report a provision for a judicial review.

Under existing law, somebody who received a national security letter cannot tell anybody. Now the individual can consult with a lawyer and, with court permission, can tell the person whose records are involved.

If there's an application to quash the national security letter, the court has the authority under the conference report to do so if it is unreasonable, oppressive or contradictory to any existing law.

There is an addition which was made in conference, which has caused some substantial disagreement, and that is a provision that there is a conclusive presumption that the matter should be classified if, for national security reasons or diplomatic relations, on the determination by a very high-ranking official...

KAGAN: We have been listening to Senator Arlen Specter about a deal reached today on Capitol Hill. It will provide for an extension of 16 provisions in the Patriot Act that were due to expire at the end of the month.

With more on that, let's bring in our justice correspondent Kelli Arena -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Daryn.

well, we just heard from the senator 14 of the 16 original provisions of the Patriot Act will be made permanent. Two of those provisions will not be. One that we've done a lot of reporting on, Daryn, which is called the Library Provision, section 215.

What this means in plain English is that law enforcement can go to, say, a library, for example -- that's the most popular example -- and say that they need records, the computer records, books you've taken out, any records that a library keeps because they felt that it was relevant to an investigation. Well, we just heard from the senator now the law enforcement has to go before a judge with a statement of facts and say, look, this is why we need this information. That will be sunsetted, which means it's extended for four more years, which then Congress will have to take it up again to figure out what they're going to do with it in four years.

One other, roving wiretaps. As you know, Daryn, you have your home phone, your cell phone. I mean, there's a lot of different phones connected to you. Law enforcement had argued that the old, old law of just getting, you know, getting a separate warrant for each of those phones was ridiculous, that they should be able to tap any phone connected to a person. That was renewed, but again, expires in four years. Congress will take it up again.

There was one thing that was added to the Patriot Act, which was the called the Lone Wolf provision. And this basically is a definition of -- we've heard this term, as well -- what is a lone wolf? And before it was somebody that had to be identified or connected to a foreign government. The Patriot act said, no, that doesn't have to be, because look at Timothy McVeigh, for example, he wasn't connected to a government and pulled off a terrorist attack against the United States. Seems like that definition stands, again, four years it will be reviewed.

I think that judging from earlier reaction from law enforcement, you know, it could have been worse. They've argued that every single one of the provisions is very necessary in the war on terror. Of course, the big question is, is oversight and whether or not the government has overstepped -- Daryn.

KAGAN: And we'll be watching it. Kelli Arena, live from D.C., thank you.

ARENA: You're welcome.

A lot of holiday cards in the mail, but the one from the White House has some people upset, not by the picture on the card, by what it says inside. We'll explain that.

And putting political correctness aside, I'll speak with a woman who is wearing her Christmas spirit, and she wants you to do the same.

First a look at what they're saying about President Bush's speech about Iraq from CNN's Veronica De La Cruz at the dot-com desk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VERONICA DE LA CRUZ, CORRESPONDENT: Following President Bush's latest speech on his administration's plan for victory in Iraq, a plan which includes eight objectives aimed at achieving that goal. CNN.com asked, how would you define victory in Iraq?

George in Texas says, "Success would be for the USA to remove ourselves from Iraq and for the Iraqis to continue on with business as usual; without a collapse of the new government."

Tim in Florida says, "Success will be defined as having prepared and supported the Iraqis until they can protect themselves in their democratic and safe country. We are presently on the only right course."

And Larry in Tennessee says, "I do not see how we can win a war when the objective is not known."

To read more of these responses, you can log on to CNN.com.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Who knew the holidays could be controversial? The first lady, Laura Bush, added to a merry Christmas brouhaha when she unveiled the White House Christmas card last week. The front shows a secular White House scene, with the presidential pets in the snow.

Inside holiday greetings, but no merry Christmas. A spokeswoman says that's appropriate because the greetings are sent to people of all faiths. The last White House card to mention Christmas, by the way, was mailed by the president's parents back in 1992.

The campaign by Christian Conservatives to put Christmas back in the holiday seems to be gaining some momentum. The promote Christmas, some stores are now selling "just say Merry Christmas" bracelets. The wristwear It is the idea of Ohio shop owner Jenn Giroux, and she joins me from I think what is a very snowy Cincinnati this morning.

JENN GIROUX, BRACELET CREATOR: Hi, Daryn.

KAGAN: Hi. Good to see you. Glad you could join us. We really appreciate that. Tell us about your campaign and the response you're getting.

GIROUX: Well, we're amazed. My husband and I have nine children. We have a small Christian bookstore, and we noticed even Christians talking to other Christians felt like they should say "happy holidays." So in an effort to just encourage Christians to have the courage to merry Christmas, and keep Christ in Christmas, we just have created these wristbands to encourage people to just say merry Christmas. We had no idea we would tap into a national frustration.

We have had orders pouring in. We have gone through 15,000 bracelets in just 16 days, shipping out to 43 states. Twenty-five thousand more bracelets are coming Monday. Ten thousand are already pre-ordered. The Midwest Hallmark stores are carrying them. We are truly humbled to be an instrument to help this country again place Christ at the center of the holiday season.

KAGAN: Absolutely crazy. You had no idea. Now, so your message is for Christians to talk to other Christians about this. Is it meant to be exclusive at all? Because, it is a holiday season. After all, Hanukkah does start on the same day as Christmas, December 25th. There are a lot of holidays being celebrated this time of year.

GIROUX: Well, you know, what I have -- we have found from peoples' e-mails and them calling us is that, you know, people are tired of being told not to celebrate Christmas. You know? The creation of separation church and state, people consider that a judicial myth and they're tired of it. They're tired of the ACLU. We've had great stories from parents, you know -- for anybody to say there's not a war on Christmas, it would be like me saying there's no pornography problem on the Internet. Anybody with eyes to see can see that Jesus is removed from all of the places in society, from the stores. And this is just parents trying to say, hey, we want to preserve Christ in Christmas for -- during the Christmas season for our children and our grandchildren.

So it's meant no offense to other people of other faiths. I have a lot of friends of other faiths. I wish them happy Hanukkah. There's no offense intended here. This is a very positive thing to encourage Christians, to give Christians the courage to say merry Christmas and declare Jesus as the center of the season.

KAGAN: And clearly you have tapped into something. Quickly, tell us your Web site where people can get more information.

GIROUX: People can go to operationjustsaymerrychristmas.com or they can call us at the phone number at the Web site and we'd be happy to help them. We dropped the price way down so church groups and pastors and other retail stores -- the main thing is that people are really emboldened to finally, again, move the pendulum, which has been swung way to the left by the politically correct, to really...

KAGAN: And just say merry Christmas if that's the season that you're in.

GIROUX: Just say merry Christmas.

KAGAN: Jenn Giroux, sometime I would like to talk you about the real story here: how you're mother of nine, run a bookstore and a national campaign at the same time. You have it together. Thank you. And let me be the -- one of many to say merry Christmas to you.

GIROUX: Thank you, Daryn. Merry Christmas.

KAGAN: Jenn Giroux, thank you so much.

When we come back, Mimi makes a comeback. Grammy awards for her emancipation efforts. If you're hip, you know we're talking Mariah Carey. If not, we'll fill you in. Stay with us until after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

KAGAN: Hard to imagine, 25 years ago today, a voice of a turbulent generation was silenced. The world remembers John Lennon. In New York's Central Park this hour as we look at a live picture, fans are gathered around the "Imagine" mosaic, the centerpiece of the Strawberry Fields Memorial. The tribute sits in the shadow of the Dakota apartment building. That is where Lennon lived and where Mark David Chapman gunned down the legendary Beatle.

And at Virgin's Megastore in London, one minute of silence to honor Lennon's vast contribution to music. Lennon's widow, his sons and surviving Beatle bandmates have made no public comments today.

Coming up in a couple of hours on CNN's "LIVE FROM" with Kyra Phillips, a conversation with the author of the book "Lennon Revealed," Larry Kane, discusses his long time friendship with John Lennon.

Speaking of music, a lot of Grammy nominations were announced this morning, but the headline can be summed up in two words: Mariah Carey. This hit, "We Belong Together," earned the pop diva nominations for both song of the year and record of the year. In all, Carey received a whopping eight nominations, including album of the year.

Carey has some company in the multiple-nomination category. John Legend and Kanye West tied Carey with eight nominations each. The Grammy committee also gave shout-outs to 50 Cent -- working on saying that -- Gwen Stefani, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Green Day, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. The award ceremony is February 8th in Los Angeles.

I'm Daryn Kagan. International news is up next. Stay tuned for "YOUR WORLD TODAY." Jim Clancy and Zain Verjee will be along after a quick break.

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