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CNN Live Today

President Bush's Agenda; Trial Date set for Scooter Libby; Iran Nuclear Threat

Aired February 03, 2006 - 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: Pushing math and science to keep America competitive, that's President Bush's focus as he promotes what he calls his competitiveness agenda. Mr. Bush is visiting a computer chip plant in New Mexico at this hour, and our White House correspondent, Dana Bash, is traveling with the president.
Dana, good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

And we're actually here at Intel. Intel is the company that probably made the computer chip from your computer, the one that you were using when you and I were e-mailing this morning. It's a very well-known company, and it is the perfect place, the White House thinks, for Mr. Bush to promote what he was talking about in the latter half of this week, that is American know-how and innovation.

Now, what these initiatives are, are really a handful of modest proposals, things like more money for R&D, research and development, a tax credit for R&D, and to promote education, more teachers for high school math and science.

Now, it has been well noted that Mr. Bush went out of character, if you will, and he did not introduce a big proposal that might have been hard for Republicans to sell this election year, nothing at all like Social Security. But this agenda is very much crafted with an eye towards the election.

They know -- Republicans know there is a lot of anxiety about the economy. That is why Mr. Bush is talking about this. Expect him to talk about the jobs report you have been talking about all morning. The White House is very happy about that -- Daryn.

KAGAN: All right, Dana. Thank you.

Dana Bash, live from New Mexico.

We'll listen in, in just a little bit to the president's speech in a bit.

Right now, let's take a look at what's happening right "Now in the News."

There is word that fires have damaged or destroyed six churches in central Alabama, all within the last 24 hours. Investigators say that at least some of the fires may have been arson. No arrests have been made.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has just delayed a vote on Iran's nuclear program until tomorrow. The board is expected to approve a resolution referring Iran's nuclear activities to the U.N. Security Council. The proposal would delay the threat of sanctions for one month to give Iran time to prove its nuclear intentions are peaceful.

A massive rescue effort is under way right now in the Red Sea after a passenger ship with about 1,400 people sank earlier today off the coast of Egypt. State-run media reports at least 100 survivors have been rescued so far and about 15 bodies have been recovered.

Former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby will not stand trial until next year. That is well after the midterm congressional elections. The judge says he doesn't like to have a case linger but had no choice because one of Libby's lawyers had a scheduling conflict. Libby has pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury, making false statements, and obstruction of justice in connection with the CIA leak investigation.

Good morning. And welcome to the second hour of CNN LIVE TODAY.

Let's check some of the time around the world.

Just after 11:00 a.m. in Washington, D.C.; just after 9:00 a.m. in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

We're in Atlanta at CNN world headquarters. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Let's go to John King, who is in Washington D.C., following the case of the former chief of staff for Dick Cheney.

Here's John.

Good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, good morning again to you.

As you just noted, Scooter Libby's trial now scheduled for January 8, 2007. That decision made here at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., this morning.

Mr. Libby charged with lying to the grand jury, lying to prosecutors about his knowledge of the whole Joe Wilson-Valerie Plame CIA leak affair. Now, he, of course, has said he is innocent.

In the court today, mostly housekeeping matters, but setting that trial date was one key thing. The judge noting that he hates to delay the trial so long, but there are a number of complex evidentiary fights still going on, they will take months, one of Libby's lawyers has a trial. That will hold him up some, too.

So January 8, 2007 the trial date. After the hearing today, Libby came out of the courthouse with his attorney -- attorneys, plural. His lead attorney, Ted Wells, issuing a brief statement to reporters, saying he is confident when this is all over Mr. Libby will be exonerated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TED WELLS, SCOOTER LIBBY'S ATTORNEY: We are very happy with the trial date set by the Judge Walton (ph). The January 8, 2007 date will permit us the time we need to prepare Mr. Libby's defense. The defense will show that Mr. Libby is totally innocent, that he has not done anything wrong. And he looks forward to being totally vindicated by a jury.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, there are a number of very contentious legal issues to resolve. The defense wants to subpoena documents, subpoena testimony from journalists. That will take weeks, if not months, to fight out in the courts.

There are issues over classified documents. The defense lawyers have to go into a closed room here at the courthouse to review them, and they need to get a special copying machine so they can share them amongst themselves. You can't have a copy machine with a memory because those documents are so highly secretive.

Another almost humorous issue in court today, the defense wants many of Mr. Libby's handwritten notes from his days at the White House. The prosecution says it can't read them. So they're trying to make an arrangement where Mr. Libby will sit down with both the prosecution and the defense and translate his scribbles, if you will.

Daryn, a number of very contentious legal issues to be resolved. There also, of course, is a political tone to this trial. He is the former chief of staff to the vice president, a key architect to the Iraq policy, and now with a trial date scheduled in January, 2007, that is after the midterm elections. Not a concern to the federal judge, but probably a bit of a relief to Republican political strategists.

KAGAN: So, John, with his defense attorneys asking for these daily White House briefing reports, they're trying to paint a picture that Scooter Libby was just so busy, that he wasn't lying, he was just confused?

KING: That's exactly right. What they want to say, that if Scooter Libby said something to a reporter and then told the prosecution a different story, if he said something in his testimony to the grand jury or in his interviews with the FBI that was not true, what they are trying to say is that this is an incredibly busy man who during that period of time was involved in some of the most sensitive and high-stakes issues in the government, the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, other highly-classified sensitive national security issues, as well as being the vice president's day-to-day chief of staff. They want to say that if he made a mistake, it was because he was so busy. And one of the things they want is all the records, the president's intelligence briefings, other records of White House sessions to show just how busy this man's 18, sometime 20-hour days are.

They want to make the case that if he said something that is false, it was an accident, he just had a faulty memory, it was not a deliberate strategy, a deliberate effort to lie to prosecutors.

KAGAN: And as we've already seen, convicted of bad handwriting, which is a crime that many of us participate in as well -- yes, exactly.

John, thank you.

John King, live in Washington, D.C.

Six minutes past the hour. We move on to international concerns that Iran may be trying to build nuclear weapons. A vote on whether to report Iran's nuclear activities to the U.N. Security Council has been postponed.

Our senior international correspondent, Matthew Chance, joins us from Vienna, Austria. That's where the U.N. nuclear watchdog group is meeting right now.

Hello.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you as well, Daryn.

That's right, a critical period in international diplomacy when it comes to working out a common strategy over Iran and its nuclear program, which is extremely controversial. A meeting here in the Austrian capital, Vienna.

The 35 members of the board of governors of the IAEA -- that's the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency -- have still not reconvened this emergency session in order to vote on a resolution that's been tabled by the main European countries that would report Iran to the United Nations Security Council, where it could possibly face some kind of punishment, ultimately, possible sanctions.

There's still some back-room negotiations going under way, some back-room diplomacy under way to try and get as many people on board with this resolution as possible. Diplomats that we've spoken to say they're trying to create as broad a consensus as possible over Iran in order to send that country the strongest possible message that now is the time for it to come into compliance and obey the will, if you like, of the international community -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Matthew Chance, live from Vienna.

Thank you.

We move on to other news this morning.

The Bush administration expected to ask Congress for an estimated $120 billion in extra funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That would raise the total price tag for the wars to almost $450 billion since the 9/11 attacks. This new supplemental request comes nine months after Congress approved an additional $76 billion in war spending.

So the U.S. is fighting the war on terror on another front as well. But in this battle, troops are not using bullets and bombs. Instead, it's all about offering health care and hope.

Our Barbara Starr has that story from Ethiopia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A tiny Ethiopian baby shrieks, grabbing for the nearest hand. A concerned mother watches.

The soldiers are part of a special operations team conducting a medical clinic in the sweltering heat of southern Ethiopia. Four hundred people will get medical care on this day from the U.S. troops.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One pill twice a day until it's all taken.

STARR: This is the front line in the war on terror. Fourteen hundred U.S. troops are in the Horn of Africa offering humanitarian relief so conditions improve and terrorism cannot take hold.

SGT. CHUCK MCDERMOTT, U.S. ARMY RESERVE: It's a lot easier for us to start something good than to -- than to -- than to -- than get into a battle about.

STARR: Meet Sergeant Chuck McDermott, an Army reservist from New York City. He works for the transit authority and spent the days after 9/11 at ground zero. An Iraq veteran, he has been in Godarai (ph) for five months, organizing the military relief effort in this drought-stricken area.

MCDERMOTT: The war on terror, this is the way to prevent it from starting.

STARR (on camera): Many of these people are suffering from parasites, sexually transmitted diseases, and other illnesses. For them, the U.S. military is the only source of medical care.

(voice over): McDermott and his team are always on the move.

In the village of Godarai (ph), a makeshift clinic for the cows and goats, the livelihood of the people. McDermott has become friends with the village sheikh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you?

STARR: The sheikh has a message for President Bush. He wants the U.S. Army to stay forever.

This cornfield is McDermott's victory. Weeks ago, the ground was bare. The military brought in this water pump for irrigation from the river. Now there is food to eat and crops the village can sell.

As the sheikh and the soldier walk this ground, the village learns that McDermott will be leaving within a few weeks, returning to New York. The sheikh says he will honor the soldier with a dinner of roasted goat.

MCDERMOTT: It's really something to come some place and actually change people's lives.

STARR: McDermott says he will never forget this place, where the war on terror was fought with smiles and a helping hand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Daryn, back home now, of course. But what the real message is that the U.S. troops out in this very remote area are trying to offer is this: the governments in East Africa, of course, are not terribly strong. They don't really serve the needs of their people very well.

There's terrible poverty, of course, and a lot of concern that terrorism will take hold in this region, the people would find no way to defend themselves. The U.S. troops feel if they are here, it is really going to help keep this area more safe and not become a refuge for al Qaeda -- Daryn.

KAGAN: So it's kind of like painting the drugs red, white and blue, so that people learn to love America instead of hate America.

STARR: Well, it is part of that. These people don't know an awful lot about America. These U.S. troops, this small group of people, is their real exposure to it.

As one of the soldiers said to us, she said, "If we do this right, we won't be back here in 10 years with 150,000 troops." So it's a real effort by a very small group of soldiers doing some very unique work -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Great story. Barbara Starr, thank you for sharing it with us today.

Still on the loose nearly 36 hours after going on a rampage at a gay bar in Massachusetts. We're going to bring you the latest on the police search for Jacob Robida.

Also ahead, a controversial depiction of the prophet Mohammed sparking protests around the world. We'll talk about what's behind the response.

And later on, we're talking heart health, what you don't know that might put you at risk.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Take advantage of a much needed tax break. That's what former president Bill Clinton wants Hurricane Katrina to do. So his foundation is launching an effort to help victims find out if they're eligible for the earned income tax credit which refunds payroll and income taxes to low-wage workers. Millions are eligible for the credit but they never claim it.

Let's see what people are claiming on Wall Street today.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

Cash for a down payment, extra vacation time? What police departments are doing to attract new recruits to an increasingly unpopular line of work.

Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Help wanted. Those are two words that police departments across the country know only too well. They're in desperate need of new recruits, but recruiters say it's become incredibly difficult to find new hires.

Our Chris Lawrence takes a closer look at that problem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Home video captures the end of a police chase in Chino, California. A sheriff's deputy draws his weapon on the passenger, an unarmed airman just back from Iraq.

Some say videos like this are hurting the image of officers everywhere and are partly to blame for police jobs going unfilled.

LT. MIKE BARLETTA, SAN DIEGO COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPT.: The media questions or spotlights bad behavior by law enforcement so much that I think that turns people off.

LAWRENCE: Lieutenant Mike Barletta says San Diego can't recruit nearly enough deputies, so he's gone all over the country handing out applications.

BARLETTA: We took it to Chicago, San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas.

LAWRENCE: And others are aggressively recruiting in his back yard. Kane County (ph), Washington, flooded San Diego with ads.

BARLETTA: We just don't need any more competition. It makes it frustrating. LAWRENCE: Across the country, departments are desperate. Near Seattle, any deputy who brings in a new hire gets an extra 40 hours vacation. Lexington, Kentucky, gives new officers $7,400 for down payment on a home.

The LAPD offers a $250,000 retirement payment after 20 years. And it even sent recruiters to Florida beaches to recruit college students on spring break.

BARLETTA: It's probably become a lot more cutthroat.

LAWRENCE: Police recruiters used to be able to count on people coming out of the military, but the Pentagon has its own recruiting problems.

BARLETTA: There's a number of bases locally who are not allowing my recruiters to go on their base.

LAWRENCE: The shortage is getting worse, not better.

(on camera): One officer I spoke with said when he joined the force, there would be 400 applicants lined up competing for maybe 10 jobs. Now, he says, the glamour has gone out of the job and videos like the one we saw earlier make him think that some people out there believe all cops are bad.

Chris Lawrence, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, news from police in Massachusetts. They are calling this a hate crime. This morning, a nationwide lookout for the teenager who is accused of the attack.

Police say 18-year-old Jacob Robida shot three customers at a gay bar and slashed one with a hatchet.

CNN's Dan Lothian reports from New Bedford, Massachusetts.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Police in New Bedford continue searching for 18-year-old Jacob Robida. He's the teen who allegedly walked into a gay bar on Wednesday night and attacked customers with a hatchet and his gun. According to witnesses, he first walked in and showed what appeared to be a fake ID, asked if it was a gay bar, and then began his attack.

(on camera): He's described, again, as white male, 5'6, 210 pounds, has brown hair and hazel eyes, and was last seen driving a 1999 green Pontiac Grand Am. He faces charges of attempted murder, assault and civil rights violations.

Dan Lothian, CNN, New Bedford, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE) KAGAN: And from Massachusetts to New Mexico, let's listen in to President Bush speaking today about the importance of science and math education and jobs in America.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... why do we need to be trying to spread freedom when the world is a dangerous place? Why don't we just come home? And I strongly reject that notion. And I want to explain to you why.

First of all, with an enemy that lurks, if we were to withdraw, it would only embolden the enemy and make this country less secure. If we were to withdraw from the world, it would -- it would be a missed opportunity to lay the foundation of peace for generations to come by spreading liberty and freedom.

See, part of my foreign policy is this: I believe that there is an almighty, and I believe that the almighty's gift to everybody on the face of the earth, regardless of where they live or regardless of their region is freedom. And I believe deep in everybody's soul is the deep desire to live in freedom. And I believe this country, if it were to retreat, would miss an opportunity to help others realize their dream, and I also know that history has proven that free societies yield the peace that we all want.

Secondly, when it comes to competition, the world is going to be competitive whether we're in the mix or not. For example, this competitive world is going to demand a job skills set that emphasizes math and science, which we'll talk about here in a second. And if our kids don't have the talents necessary to compete, those jobs won't go away, they'll just go to another country.

KAGAN: Listening in a little bit to President Bush. It's the part of his speech where he's talking about foreign policy and defending the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The president also on the road today in New Mexico, talking about science and math education and the importance of that in terms of creating a competitive American workforce.

Much more news ahead. We're back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: We haven't heard nearly enough about today's weather from Jacqui Jeras. So let's fix that. Let's go find Jacqui.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Still ahead, a controversial cartoon of the prophet Mohammed, it sparks protests all around the world. A closer look at why so many Muslims are outraged. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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