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American Morning
Look at Some of Morning's Top Stories
Aired January 10, 2002 - 07:21 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.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're going to take a minute or two now to look into some of the stories that got our attention this morning in newspapers around the country. Anderson and Paula join us.
And I want to start, if I can, with a still photograph that is on the front page of almost every newspaper in the country. And it has nothing to do with the alleged guilt or innocence of the defendant in the trial, but look at that picture. That was taken by the pool photographer at the hockey dad trial. That's the defendant and, Thomas Junta. Steven Senny (ph) snapped that picture when, during the course of the testimony. And I watched a bunch of this yesterday. The guy was trying to indicate, you know, the struggle and what went on.
But I just found that one of the most compelling still photographs I've seen in a long, long time.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of people were surprised at how compelling his testimony was and how -- I mean I think he did very well on the stand.
CAFFERTY: I agree with you. I think he's going to get off.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we just heard a key prosecution, a former prosecutor and a defense attorney sort of come to that conclusion in our last segment...
COOPER: Yes, yes.
ZAHN: ... based on the testimony of the dueling medical examiners yesterday, one that...
CAFFERTY: But even more than that...
ZAHN: ... one that it would have took one blow, one that it took several blows to kill him.
COOPER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: More than that, though, his, the demeanor of the defendant, didn't you think he was, I thought he was a very jury friendly kind of witness. He handled himself well on the stand and, you know, if you were sitting there listening you couldn't help but feel maybe a little sympathy for the situation he found himself in.
COOPER: That's absolutely true.
CAFFERTY: Right?
COOPER: Yes.
ZAHN: But the one thing I think is going to be very tough for the jurors to buy is this whole notion that he felt so threatened by someone grabbing his wrist. I mean here's this guy over, sitting over 200 pounds by someone feeling very threatened by a 150 pound...
COOPER: But I think his claim is the guy jumped on his back, also.
ZAHN: Right.
COOPER: I mean he's saying the guy jumped on his back and that it was wrestling, you know, the whole thing went so quickly that there wasn't much forethought in it.
CAFFERTY: I worked with a guy in Nevada years ago who weighed about 120 pounds. He was an engineer. And I saw him in a bar fight one night back when I was leading a different life than I lead now and this guy, I don't care what you weighed, you didn't want to confront this guy. He was that tough and that fast.
I mean just because a guy is physically small, doesn't mean they can't be tough and a threat, right?
COOPER: I could take you, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Yes, I'm sure you can. Paula could take me.
ZAHN: Ooh, maybe we'll make that a Friday morning segment.
There was a really interesting exclusive story in "USA Today" about the treatments the detainees, the 351 of them that CNN says exist that will be coming to Cuba. "USA Today" calls them prisoners and apparently they will be shackled together. They will not be allowed to use bathrooms. There will be specially designed urinal spittoons that will be provided. And the only food, according to the "USA Today," that they will be given are peanut butter sandwiches.
COOPER: Yes, it's -- and also sedated. Or they may be given valium or some other drug, which is kind of an interesting idea.
CAFFERTY: I want to know the bureaucrat that came up with the word detainee. I mean somebody in Washington had to say all right, here's what we're going to call them. We'll call them detainees. And for want of...
ZAHN: You know, I sort of scanned, I scanned the morning papers this morning and there is no consensus on what it is we are supposed to call them.
COOPER: Nice news about Lisa Beamer.
ZAHN: Wasn't that great?
COOPER: Yes.
ZAHN: She is, was, of course, the wife of Todd Beamer, who was credited with trying to take over that plane that was heeded, we believe, for either the White House or Camp David. She gave birth to a healthy baby daughter last night. The baby's name is Morgan. We don't have many more details on that. But she also became a symbol of strength in the wake of September 11.
COOPER: Yes.
ZAHN: She, of course, retracing her husband's steps by taking the identical flight from New Jersey to San Francisco to show that she wasn't afraid to fly.
CAFFERTY: Yes, it's great stuff.
COOPER: We wish them well.
ZAHN: Congratulations, Lisa Beamer.
COOPER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Indeed.
ZAHN: We're interested in hearing what you have to say, as well. You can e-mail us here at AMERICAN MORNING. Our address is am@cnn.com. We will be checking our e-mail a little bit later on this morning. We read them all. Please include your name, then we can read it on the air.
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