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American Morning
Secretary Rumsfeld Expected To Be Cautious About Rapid Intelligence Reform; Updates On The Jackson, Peterson, And Bryant Cases
Aired August 17, 2004 - 07:00 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.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole family were like unity, purity, innocence.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Jackson in court with his family as backup, the one-time King of Pop facing down the man putting him on trial.
The 9/11 hearings on the hill, this time the Pentagon talks about what could turn into a turf battle there.
And what a mess out west, the whole town buried in mud on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: And good morning on this Tuesday. Bill Hemmer along with Heidi Collins here. Soledad at home waiting and resting, and we all await the news.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
HEMMER: Nothing yet though, right?
COLLINS: No, nothing yet.
HEMMER: Still waiting.
Jurors in the Scott Peterson trial hear more of those tapes between Peterson and Amber Frey including what could be one huge lie regarding how Laci Peterson may have felt about the affair.
In a moment, we'll talk to Lisa Bloom, back with us here, from Court TV about that, as well as the Kobe Bryant matter, the Michael Jackson matter. We're in court all morning long here on AMERICAN MORNING.
COLLINS: Yes, we are. And those stories right down her alley.
Also, some major changes are in store for the military, and it's going to affect tens of thousands of troops who could be coming home. We'll talk to a member of the house select committee on homeland security, Republican Chris Shays.
HEMMER: Also, we'll look at a recent ruling here in New York. A judge refused to grant a woman a divorce even though her husband admitted cheating on her. He said adultery wasn't reason enough. We'll talk to a divorce lawyer about that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Jack Cafferty joining us now this morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Is that true?
COLLINS: That's true. It's the way the law is written.
CAFFERTY: In New York they did that?
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
When are those twins due to make their debut, by the way?
HEMMER: End of August, actually.
CAFFERTY: So, we're getting there.
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: The campaign is just getting ridiculous. We had a U.S. senator calling the vice president of the United States a coward yesterday in public. They're slamming each other about war records and the military. We'll take a closer look and find out whether that stuff is fair game or not.
HEMMER: All right, Jack, thanks for that.
All right, we'll start in the courtroom this morning. Significant developments in the big three legal cases we're watching.
In the Kobe Bryant case, details of his accuser's sex life will be allowed at trial. The prosecution's case suffered a setback yesterday when the Colorado Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on that matter.
In the Michael Jackson case, the singer sat and stared as the prosecutor was reeled by Jackson's lawyer yesterday. The defense claims that a major block of evidence was collected illegally and should be thrown out in that case.
Also in the Scott Peterson case, jurors heard Peterson tell his mistress that his wife had no problem with their affair. More of Amber Frey's recorded phone conversation to be played in court yet again today.
COLLINS: Throughout the morning, we're going to take a closer look at each of these cases. We'll begin in Redwood City, California. That's where Rusty Dornin is live for us this morning.
Rusty, hello.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, one of the amazing things about these phone calls is how persistent Scott Peterson was in continuing to call Amber Frey in the weeks after his wife disappeared. And these conversations sometimes go on for more than an hour.
And at times, he's evasive. At times he's apologetic for causing her pain for having lied to her. Sometimes he's romantic talking about their possible future together. And it seems even at times he's challenging her to interrogate him further.
Now remember, Amber Frey is cooperating with police throughout these conversations, but at times she too becomes emotionally involved in the conversations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over): As she and the police continued taping her phone calls with Scott Peterson, Amber Frey no longer seemed to welcome words of love. Like a seasoned prosecutor, Frey grills Peterson. He dodges her questions again and again.
SCOTT PETERSON, DEFENDANT: The fact is you don't know all the facts, and I can't share everything with you.
DORNIN: Legal analysts say suspicion he was being taped might have kept Peterson cagey. When Frey threatens to talk to the police, he gives her the green light.
PETERSON: But I also have nothing to hide in her disappearance, and if you, you know, you want to go to the police, that's fine.
DORNIN: In one called played last week, Peterson reads a poem to Frey. CNN discovered it was the same poem Peterson posted at the volunteer search center within days after his wife disappeared saying it was a poem they read to each other often.
PETERSON: Beneath the willow wound with ivy, we take cover from the worst of the storm with a great coat around our shoulders and my hands around your waist.
DORNIN: At one point Frey sobs that Peterson has ruined her life. Hearing the tape, Frey broke down in court.
PETERSON: Oh, Amber.
AMBER FREY, PROSECUTION WITNESS: Because it's been a nightmare for me.
DORNIN: Laci Peterson's mother and stepfather left the courtroom before lunch remarking that they just didn't want to hear any more for the day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: A conversation that's going to be coming up this morning, Amber Frey asks him if she should fear for her life?
He replies, "No Amber, you should not."
We think that the tapes are going to wrap up today. In fact, it's possible they could wrap up before the end of the day. And in that case, defense attorney Mark Geragos will begin his questioning of the prosecution's star witness -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Very good, Rusty Dornin. Thanks so much for that, Rusty.
And joining us now for a closer look at the Peterson case and the two other high-profile cases, Lisa Bloom from Court TV this morning.
Hello to you again, Lisa.
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Good morning.
COLLINS: All right, let's begin with Scott Peterson. We just heard from Rusty Dornin on this. We want to go ahead and listen to a little bit more tape. We keep hearing these taped conversations between Amber and Scott.
Here is one now that's two weeks after Laci was reported missing, one month after Scott said that he would spend Christmas alone even though Laci was eight months pregnant.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
FREY: Another question for you, Scott. Tell me why I should not be afraid of you after learning...
PETERSON: I am not, I am not an evil person.
FREY: You're not an evil person?
PETERSON: I am not. I would never hurt anyone.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COLLINS: How do you think all of this is playing with the jury?
BLOOM: Well, on the one hand, Scott Peterson always denies he had anything to do with Laci's disappearance. On the other hand, he does make some important admissions on those tapes.
As you just pointed out, Heidi, he told Amber in early December when Laci was very much still alive that he had lost his wife and this would be his first holiday season without her. He admits on the tapes that he told Amber that in early December.
I think that's devastating for him. And I think the real headline yesterday is Scott's willingness to smear the name of his missing wife, to imply that she was fine with an open relationship, that perhaps Conner was not her baby. You know, this is about two weeks after she goes missing. And he's willing to put this out there to Amber Frey and to the police who are listening in. He seems pretty confident to me that his wife is not coming back.
COLLINS: Well, you mentioned the moments where he told Amber that Laci knew about their relationship.
BLOOM: Yes.
COLLINS: And she was fine with it. OK, so he has also admitted many times to lying to Amber. But again, that primary question, does that make him a murderer?
BLOOM: No, of course not, although it does make him a little strange. You know, usually the cheating guy is honest with the girlfriend and lying to the wife. Scott Peterson has that a little bit backwards.
But you're right. All the lies on the tape, I'm sure the defense when they began their cross-examination today are going to say, everything he says is a lie, so when he says he wants to be with Amber for the rest of his life, that's a lie, too. And the jury should essentially throw out everything on the tapes. That will be the defense position.
COLLINS: All right, let's switch the whole process now to the Jackson process, Michael Jackson, obviously.
I'm wondering how likely it's going to be that the Jackson team can actually convince the judge that all of that evidence that was found in the investigator's office should not be admitted.
BLOOM: You know it all hinges on one, simple legal issue. Was the investigator hired by Mark Geragos, Jackson's then attorney, now Scott Peterson's attorney?
If so, all of that evidence is protected by the attorney-client privilege. And all of the hoopla surrounding the Jackson's showing up, trying to make the D.A. look bad I think will quickly be forgotten.
Either that evidence is going to come in or it's not. It's a simple, factual question, and it will be decided by the judge in the next couple of days.
COLLINS: OK, but one pertinent piece of evidence is that videotape.
BLOOM: Yes.
COLLINS: That Michael Jackson, they're saying, the prosecution are saying that Michael Jackson imprisoned this child, made this videotape that would make Jackson absolved of these molestation charges.
BLOOM: Right.
COLLINS: Now where does that stand? I mean, how is that going to make...
BLOOM: Right, that's an important question. This is a videotape of the boy supposedly saying that Jackson did nothing wrong. Now, that's part of the prosecution's case because the prosecution's case says that Jackson and a number of his friends conspired to make the little boy essentially say that on the tape.
My thinking is the defense is going to want to introduce that tape at trial. The molestation charges...
COLLINS: But how will they do that if they say, no we don't want to use any of this?
BLOOM: Well, it will be up to the defense. If the defense wins this hearing, they will get control of the tape. They will get to decide if it comes in at trial defensively or it doesn't come in at all because it helps the prosecution.
They will get control, and that's what they want.
COLLINS: All right, let's move this quickly to the Kobe Bryant case. The question there, obviously, yesterday the appeal was lost to have the sexual history of the accuser not allowed in court. So, once again back to that.
What's going to happen from here now? I mean, is the accuser going to stick with this or not?
BLOOM: Well, so far she is. You know, yesterday the prosecution says they're going forward. And you know, I don't think that's such a terrible issue for the prosecution. I don't think the term sexual history is really even the appropriate term because that makes it sound like we're talking about months.
COLLINS: Years.
BLOOM: Or years ago.
COLLINS: It's 72 hours.
BLOOM: A 72-hour period, specific sexual conduct and the judge and the Colorado Supreme Court now agree, says that's relevant because it could explain her injuries.
And you know, feminists, victims' rights advocates are not screaming about this, not saying it's a terrible thing. I think in fairness to Kobe Bryant's right to a fair trial, that evidence can come in. It's a very narrow window.
But by the way, a very important ruling yesterday for the prosecution that the accuser's mental health history and substance abuse history is not going to come in. So, I think the prosecution would be going into this trial fairly strongly except for the fact the accuser filed that civil suit. That's what's hurting her the most.
COLLINS: Exactly. Exactly. All right, Lisa Bloom from Court TV.
Thanks for helping us keep all three cases straight.
BLOOM: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: We appreciate it very much. Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Using the scorecard over here. Heidi, thanks.
Ten minutes past the hour, to Carol Costello now looking at other news. Carol, good morning there.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. Thank you.
Plans for Iraqi officials to meet with radical cleric Muqtada al- Sadr in the hopes of securing a truce in Najaf have been delayed amidst security concerns.
In the meantime, a car bombing in a busy section of Central Baghdad killed at least four people and injured some two dozen others. In the past 24 hours, at least 18 people were killed in clashes throughout Iraq. More than 150 others were wounded.
In Florida, the death toll from Hurricane Charley has risen to 19, a massive clean-up effort across the sunshine state now in its fifth day. At least 760,000 homes and businesses still without power this morning. The latest estimate for the amount of damage, $11 billion.
And operations are returning to normal at Los Angeles International Airport after some 5,000 passengers were forced to evacuate a terminal. Listen to this.
Federal aviation officials say a knife was detected in a man's carry-on bag, but he disappeared before a manual screening could be conducted. An official says a two-hour search failed to locate the man.
And talk show host Oprah Winfrey is slated today to serve her second day of jury duty. She was chosen yesterday to serve as one of 12 jurors in a Chicago murder trial. The billionaire celebrity will receive $17.20 a day for her work.
Back to New York now.
HEMMER: How many shows do you think she gets out of that jury duty?
COSTELLO: Oh at least three.
HEMMER: Yes, I think you're right about that.
COSTELLO: She'll have the jurors, fellow jurors on, maybe the victim...
HEMMER: She'll make the most of it, I guarantee you that.
COSTELLO: ... the family.
HEMMER: Carol, thanks for that. Weather news now in the Southwest. Torrential rains led to flooding and mudslides in New Mexico.
Look at this mass in the town of Cloudcroft, a wall of mud burying cars, flowing in to homes and doing major damage. Sandbags were given to residents to help prevent the flood waters from invading their homes. Luckily, no one was hurt. Again, that wall of mud in New Mexico.
COLLINS: Yes, I've spent some time in Cloudcroft, a beautiful place except for now.
We're going to check on that forecast now with Chad Myers who is at the CNN Center with the very latest on all of this.
Good morning to you, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Heidi. And more rain coming today.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MYERS: A day better then we've had all last week, no tropical systems affecting the U.S. whatsoever.
COLLINS: Thank goodness.
MYERS: Heidi?
HEMMER: Listen, welcome back, too, Chad -- an excellent job down there under some very difficult conditions down in Florida. Good seeing you back here.
MYERS: It was very emotional. It was not only a physical storm, it was an emotional storm for me and of course all the folks down there that were affected.
HEMMER: Welcome home, OK.
COLLINS: You did a great job, Chad. Thanks so much.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here.
In a moment, is the "Google" IPO finally at hand? The latest on when that Web search engine goes public in a moment here.
COLLINS: The staggering toll of Hurricane Charley, we'll take a look at one town that considers itself forgotten victims of the storm.
HEMMER: Also, where does the Pentagon stand on those recommendations out of the 9/11 commission? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has his say today on Capitol Hill.
Back in a moment after this, on a Tuesday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A national intelligence director should have control of the budget. That's what the Senate intelligence committee is proposing. But that may not go over well with the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and joint chiefs chairman, General Richard Myers, will have their say today.
Barbara Starr is live now at the Pentagon for more on this. Good morning to you, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Well, Rumsfeld and Myers will be up before the Senate armed services committee just about three hours from now. People will be watching very closely. This is Secretary Rumsfeld's first opportunity to testify publicly about intelligence reform.
The Pentagon controls about 80 percent of the $40 billion intelligence budget, so what Don Rumsfeld thinks will be very important.
Now, I was one of the reporters traveling with him last week through Europe and Asia. He spoke about this a good deal. It didn't get a lot of attention, but he highlighted some of his thinking on this very question. He is expected to be very cautious about any rapid reorganization.
What the secretary says is what's broken, how are you going to fix it? He wants to see specific problems, specific solutions. He's very opposed, at this point, just to reorganization for reorganization sake.
He laid out a couple of principles. He does want to see those intelligence stove pipes broken down, intelligence shared more broadly across the government. He also, though, is a fan, a big fan of the issue called competitive analysis.
He likes to see various parts of the government look at a piece of intelligence and have competing ideas about what it all means. Whether that worked in Iraq, of course, is another question entirely.
The secretary also is expected to be very skeptical about any broadening of the issue of domestic intelligence gathering. But as far as this whole issue goes, he wants to see solutions tagged to specific problems arising out of the 9/11 attacks.
You know, and most intelligence analysts say, still the major problem is getting those spies, those operatives, that human intelligence that is able to penetrate organizations like al Qaeda, find out what they're up to. That's a problem that's much more difficult, most people say, than simply reorganizing the government.
So, it should be quite an interesting hearing about three hours from now -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Indeed. And Barbara, other reorganization to talk about, too, here. What about President Bush's decision to re-deploy thousands of troops back to the U.S.?
Any idea when we can expect action on that?
STARR: Well, that's going to be a much more long-term proposition. Now the specific discussions with those countries are going to start. By all accounts, officials here at the Pentagon say it could be a couple of years before it's all put into place.
Seventy-thousand troops, about 100,000 people total, including family members and civilian employees eventually headed back to the United States. Other troops, lighter more mobile troops going forward, going abroad to be more flexible, ready to respond to crises.
But that is going to be a very long-term proposition. It could take a couple of years to put it all in place -- Heidi?
COLLINS: As you might imagine. All right, Barbara Starr from the Pentagon this morning. Thanks, Barbara.
HEMMER: Well, that massive restructuring of troop deployments in Europe and Asia will not affect troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Representative Chris Shays just returned from Iraq, again. He's on the House committee on homeland security and is chairman on the subcommittee on national security.
Good morning to you and welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: Good morning.
HEMMER: What is your position on the president's plan? Do you agree with the troop realignment?
SHAYS: Oh, it's long overdue. You had members of Congress for years trying to reduce the number of troops in Europe. I mean, the Cold War was over a long time ago, at least 10 years ago, and we still have that structure.
So, this is important. This is what we actually thought Donald Rumsfeld would have been doing a number of years ago. I mean that's where his strength is.
HEMMER: The surrogates for the Kerry campaign disagree. Wesley Clark is one of them, and Richard Holbrooke is another.
Listen to what Holbrooke said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD HOLBROOKE, FMR. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I was ambassador to Germany. I know that the Germans are very unhappy about these withdrawals. The Koreans are going to be equally unhappy.
How can we withdraw troops from Korea while we are engaged in a delicate negotiation with the North Koreans? And there's a country that really does have weapons of mass destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The Germans and the Koreans unhappy, is that the case?
SHAYS: Well, they may be. But I mean, they want it both ways. You know, they want us there, and then they don't want us to do things.
And we have to do what's in our national interest. I mean, there is really no reason to have 100,000 troops in Europe. We need some airbases; we need some Navy stations, you know, points of entry, points to store, points to launch off, but we don't need 100,000 troops.
And with regard to Korea, the 40,000 troops we have there isn't enough to do anything to dissuade the North Koreans. And so, you know whether we go from 40,000 to 25,000 I don't think really matters much at all except it's a very harsh kind of station. You can't bring your family.
And what we're trying to do is we're trying to make the quality of life better for our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.
HEMMER: Specifically on the issue of Iraq with your trip there, six times in the past 16 months you've visited Iraq. Where do you note the progress on your last trip?
SHAYS: Well, you know the great progress is that we have an Iraqi government. It is a government that now is in charge. And they want this to be an Iraqi revolution.
In every one of my trips -- and I traveled four times outside the umbrella of the military -- Iraqis would say, thank you for getting rid of Saddam and when are you leaving?
And it wasn't said with anger. They just want us out of there. They want to run their own country.
So, Negroponte, the relationship that we have with an ambassador instead of someone dictating to the Iraqis what's going to happen, oh, a big improvement. And I think you'll see some improvement over...
HEMMER: Still, you have the issue of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf.
SHAYS: Right.
HEMMER: It's an ongoing battle there again and has been for the past 10 days plus. With respect to Ayad Allawi, how is he seen by most Iraqis? Do they respect him as the leader now for that country and for the future?
SHAYS: Well, you know, I honestly don't know. I do know this. In Najaf, they want al-Sadr out of there, so they support what's happening.
The rest of Iraq has other questions because it presents an opportunity to complain about what's happening in Iraq, but the people there want him gone.
HEMMER: Chris Shays, representative from Connecticut, thank you for your time.
SHAYS: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, the man accusing Michael Jackson has some explaining to do himself. Jackson was there as the prosecutor defended his own case.
And take our Olympic challenge: Which were the first games to be televised? The answer and an update from Athens after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: All right, it's a good one today. Before the break, we asked you which were the first games to be televised. And the answer, Berlin 1936.
Adolf Hitler in the grandstand. Jesse Owens on the track showing the world what he was made of. Wow, didn't know that.
At the games in Athens today, by the way, the U.S. women's softball team continues its domination, shut out China 4-0 there. They have yet to let up a single run in Olympic competition.
In the pool, American Mike Phelps won a bronze just by a slim margin, just missed out on the silver, lost his chance though for seven gold medals in the games. The Thorpedo, Australian Ian Thorpe beat out Phelps to win the gold in a 200-meter freestyle.
China leads in the overall medal count. The U.S. tied for second with Australia. The host nation, Greece, has not been shut out. The home fans went crazy when they captured gold in synchronized diving. They also won bronze in weight lifting. And later today, the U.S. men's basketball team tries to redeem itself against the host country Greece.
So, we will see the guys back on the floor and see if they can do better than they did on Sunday with Puerto Rico.
COLLINS: First woman's medal, gold medal, was won last night.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Coughlin in the swimming pool. Jack was watching it very closely.
CAFFERTY: I haven't watched any of it.
COLLINS: I know.
CAFFERTY: I was reading a thing in the paper this morning. Apparently, at least at the games there are thousands of empty seats at these venues.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: There's no electricity. Like you get this...
HEMMER: There's a huge...
CAFFERTY: ... you know, an Olympic Village and a place where the people hang out and trade souvenirs, it's not happening.
HEMMER: There was a huge religious holiday on Sunday in Greece. And perhaps that accounts for some of the absence and some of empty seats. But we're going to see going forward whether or not that's the case.
COLLINS: We were talking yesterday about all the vacation time, too, in the summer.
CAFFERTY: Yes, and what's up with the swimmer who was going to win all these 28 gold medals. He hasn't won any gold medals. What's that deal?
HEMMER: He won a gold.
COLLINS: Single, yes.
HEMMER: Believe it or not, he won a gold.
CAFFERTY: But he was going to break Mark Spitz' record and do all this and that.
COLLINS: He was hoping.
HEMMER: A lot of hype. A lot of hype -- he's 19.
CAFFERTY: It's like, you know, overselling the deal there up front.
Seventy-seven days until the election, and it's just getting uglier by the day especially when it comes to the candidates' military records. President Bush, Senator John Kerry, of course, sniping at each other about their military past.
Yesterday, an ex-Navy fighter pilot, Senator Tom Harkin, criticized vice president Dick Cheney, called him a coward and said he dodged military service in Vietnam but is willing to be tough with "someone else's kids blood."
Senator Harkin accused President Bush and his vice president of resorting to dirty attacks on Kerry's war record.
The question is this, this morning, is a candidate's military record fair game in a campaign?
You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com.
It's getting nasty out there.
COLLINS: Very nasty, no kidding. All right, thanks so much, Jack.
Still to come this morning, motion denied. Why a judge says adultery isn't enough to grant a divorce, coming up next.
And live to Florida, recovery efforts push ahead as the toll from Charley's wrath grows larger.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired August 17, 2004 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole family were like unity, purity, innocence.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Jackson in court with his family as backup, the one-time King of Pop facing down the man putting him on trial.
The 9/11 hearings on the hill, this time the Pentagon talks about what could turn into a turf battle there.
And what a mess out west, the whole town buried in mud on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.
HEMMER: And good morning on this Tuesday. Bill Hemmer along with Heidi Collins here. Soledad at home waiting and resting, and we all await the news.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
HEMMER: Nothing yet though, right?
COLLINS: No, nothing yet.
HEMMER: Still waiting.
Jurors in the Scott Peterson trial hear more of those tapes between Peterson and Amber Frey including what could be one huge lie regarding how Laci Peterson may have felt about the affair.
In a moment, we'll talk to Lisa Bloom, back with us here, from Court TV about that, as well as the Kobe Bryant matter, the Michael Jackson matter. We're in court all morning long here on AMERICAN MORNING.
COLLINS: Yes, we are. And those stories right down her alley.
Also, some major changes are in store for the military, and it's going to affect tens of thousands of troops who could be coming home. We'll talk to a member of the house select committee on homeland security, Republican Chris Shays.
HEMMER: Also, we'll look at a recent ruling here in New York. A judge refused to grant a woman a divorce even though her husband admitted cheating on her. He said adultery wasn't reason enough. We'll talk to a divorce lawyer about that in a moment here.
COLLINS: Jack Cafferty joining us now this morning.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Is that true?
COLLINS: That's true. It's the way the law is written.
CAFFERTY: In New York they did that?
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Unbelievable.
When are those twins due to make their debut, by the way?
HEMMER: End of August, actually.
CAFFERTY: So, we're getting there.
HEMMER: Yes.
CAFFERTY: The campaign is just getting ridiculous. We had a U.S. senator calling the vice president of the United States a coward yesterday in public. They're slamming each other about war records and the military. We'll take a closer look and find out whether that stuff is fair game or not.
HEMMER: All right, Jack, thanks for that.
All right, we'll start in the courtroom this morning. Significant developments in the big three legal cases we're watching.
In the Kobe Bryant case, details of his accuser's sex life will be allowed at trial. The prosecution's case suffered a setback yesterday when the Colorado Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on that matter.
In the Michael Jackson case, the singer sat and stared as the prosecutor was reeled by Jackson's lawyer yesterday. The defense claims that a major block of evidence was collected illegally and should be thrown out in that case.
Also in the Scott Peterson case, jurors heard Peterson tell his mistress that his wife had no problem with their affair. More of Amber Frey's recorded phone conversation to be played in court yet again today.
COLLINS: Throughout the morning, we're going to take a closer look at each of these cases. We'll begin in Redwood City, California. That's where Rusty Dornin is live for us this morning.
Rusty, hello.
RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Heidi, one of the amazing things about these phone calls is how persistent Scott Peterson was in continuing to call Amber Frey in the weeks after his wife disappeared. And these conversations sometimes go on for more than an hour.
And at times, he's evasive. At times he's apologetic for causing her pain for having lied to her. Sometimes he's romantic talking about their possible future together. And it seems even at times he's challenging her to interrogate him further.
Now remember, Amber Frey is cooperating with police throughout these conversations, but at times she too becomes emotionally involved in the conversations.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN (voice-over): As she and the police continued taping her phone calls with Scott Peterson, Amber Frey no longer seemed to welcome words of love. Like a seasoned prosecutor, Frey grills Peterson. He dodges her questions again and again.
SCOTT PETERSON, DEFENDANT: The fact is you don't know all the facts, and I can't share everything with you.
DORNIN: Legal analysts say suspicion he was being taped might have kept Peterson cagey. When Frey threatens to talk to the police, he gives her the green light.
PETERSON: But I also have nothing to hide in her disappearance, and if you, you know, you want to go to the police, that's fine.
DORNIN: In one called played last week, Peterson reads a poem to Frey. CNN discovered it was the same poem Peterson posted at the volunteer search center within days after his wife disappeared saying it was a poem they read to each other often.
PETERSON: Beneath the willow wound with ivy, we take cover from the worst of the storm with a great coat around our shoulders and my hands around your waist.
DORNIN: At one point Frey sobs that Peterson has ruined her life. Hearing the tape, Frey broke down in court.
PETERSON: Oh, Amber.
AMBER FREY, PROSECUTION WITNESS: Because it's been a nightmare for me.
DORNIN: Laci Peterson's mother and stepfather left the courtroom before lunch remarking that they just didn't want to hear any more for the day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DORNIN: A conversation that's going to be coming up this morning, Amber Frey asks him if she should fear for her life?
He replies, "No Amber, you should not."
We think that the tapes are going to wrap up today. In fact, it's possible they could wrap up before the end of the day. And in that case, defense attorney Mark Geragos will begin his questioning of the prosecution's star witness -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Very good, Rusty Dornin. Thanks so much for that, Rusty.
And joining us now for a closer look at the Peterson case and the two other high-profile cases, Lisa Bloom from Court TV this morning.
Hello to you again, Lisa.
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Good morning.
COLLINS: All right, let's begin with Scott Peterson. We just heard from Rusty Dornin on this. We want to go ahead and listen to a little bit more tape. We keep hearing these taped conversations between Amber and Scott.
Here is one now that's two weeks after Laci was reported missing, one month after Scott said that he would spend Christmas alone even though Laci was eight months pregnant.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
FREY: Another question for you, Scott. Tell me why I should not be afraid of you after learning...
PETERSON: I am not, I am not an evil person.
FREY: You're not an evil person?
PETERSON: I am not. I would never hurt anyone.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COLLINS: How do you think all of this is playing with the jury?
BLOOM: Well, on the one hand, Scott Peterson always denies he had anything to do with Laci's disappearance. On the other hand, he does make some important admissions on those tapes.
As you just pointed out, Heidi, he told Amber in early December when Laci was very much still alive that he had lost his wife and this would be his first holiday season without her. He admits on the tapes that he told Amber that in early December.
I think that's devastating for him. And I think the real headline yesterday is Scott's willingness to smear the name of his missing wife, to imply that she was fine with an open relationship, that perhaps Conner was not her baby. You know, this is about two weeks after she goes missing. And he's willing to put this out there to Amber Frey and to the police who are listening in. He seems pretty confident to me that his wife is not coming back.
COLLINS: Well, you mentioned the moments where he told Amber that Laci knew about their relationship.
BLOOM: Yes.
COLLINS: And she was fine with it. OK, so he has also admitted many times to lying to Amber. But again, that primary question, does that make him a murderer?
BLOOM: No, of course not, although it does make him a little strange. You know, usually the cheating guy is honest with the girlfriend and lying to the wife. Scott Peterson has that a little bit backwards.
But you're right. All the lies on the tape, I'm sure the defense when they began their cross-examination today are going to say, everything he says is a lie, so when he says he wants to be with Amber for the rest of his life, that's a lie, too. And the jury should essentially throw out everything on the tapes. That will be the defense position.
COLLINS: All right, let's switch the whole process now to the Jackson process, Michael Jackson, obviously.
I'm wondering how likely it's going to be that the Jackson team can actually convince the judge that all of that evidence that was found in the investigator's office should not be admitted.
BLOOM: You know it all hinges on one, simple legal issue. Was the investigator hired by Mark Geragos, Jackson's then attorney, now Scott Peterson's attorney?
If so, all of that evidence is protected by the attorney-client privilege. And all of the hoopla surrounding the Jackson's showing up, trying to make the D.A. look bad I think will quickly be forgotten.
Either that evidence is going to come in or it's not. It's a simple, factual question, and it will be decided by the judge in the next couple of days.
COLLINS: OK, but one pertinent piece of evidence is that videotape.
BLOOM: Yes.
COLLINS: That Michael Jackson, they're saying, the prosecution are saying that Michael Jackson imprisoned this child, made this videotape that would make Jackson absolved of these molestation charges.
BLOOM: Right.
COLLINS: Now where does that stand? I mean, how is that going to make...
BLOOM: Right, that's an important question. This is a videotape of the boy supposedly saying that Jackson did nothing wrong. Now, that's part of the prosecution's case because the prosecution's case says that Jackson and a number of his friends conspired to make the little boy essentially say that on the tape.
My thinking is the defense is going to want to introduce that tape at trial. The molestation charges...
COLLINS: But how will they do that if they say, no we don't want to use any of this?
BLOOM: Well, it will be up to the defense. If the defense wins this hearing, they will get control of the tape. They will get to decide if it comes in at trial defensively or it doesn't come in at all because it helps the prosecution.
They will get control, and that's what they want.
COLLINS: All right, let's move this quickly to the Kobe Bryant case. The question there, obviously, yesterday the appeal was lost to have the sexual history of the accuser not allowed in court. So, once again back to that.
What's going to happen from here now? I mean, is the accuser going to stick with this or not?
BLOOM: Well, so far she is. You know, yesterday the prosecution says they're going forward. And you know, I don't think that's such a terrible issue for the prosecution. I don't think the term sexual history is really even the appropriate term because that makes it sound like we're talking about months.
COLLINS: Years.
BLOOM: Or years ago.
COLLINS: It's 72 hours.
BLOOM: A 72-hour period, specific sexual conduct and the judge and the Colorado Supreme Court now agree, says that's relevant because it could explain her injuries.
And you know, feminists, victims' rights advocates are not screaming about this, not saying it's a terrible thing. I think in fairness to Kobe Bryant's right to a fair trial, that evidence can come in. It's a very narrow window.
But by the way, a very important ruling yesterday for the prosecution that the accuser's mental health history and substance abuse history is not going to come in. So, I think the prosecution would be going into this trial fairly strongly except for the fact the accuser filed that civil suit. That's what's hurting her the most.
COLLINS: Exactly. Exactly. All right, Lisa Bloom from Court TV.
Thanks for helping us keep all three cases straight.
BLOOM: Thank you, Heidi.
COLLINS: We appreciate it very much. Bill, back to you.
HEMMER: Using the scorecard over here. Heidi, thanks.
Ten minutes past the hour, to Carol Costello now looking at other news. Carol, good morning there.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Bill. Thank you.
Plans for Iraqi officials to meet with radical cleric Muqtada al- Sadr in the hopes of securing a truce in Najaf have been delayed amidst security concerns.
In the meantime, a car bombing in a busy section of Central Baghdad killed at least four people and injured some two dozen others. In the past 24 hours, at least 18 people were killed in clashes throughout Iraq. More than 150 others were wounded.
In Florida, the death toll from Hurricane Charley has risen to 19, a massive clean-up effort across the sunshine state now in its fifth day. At least 760,000 homes and businesses still without power this morning. The latest estimate for the amount of damage, $11 billion.
And operations are returning to normal at Los Angeles International Airport after some 5,000 passengers were forced to evacuate a terminal. Listen to this.
Federal aviation officials say a knife was detected in a man's carry-on bag, but he disappeared before a manual screening could be conducted. An official says a two-hour search failed to locate the man.
And talk show host Oprah Winfrey is slated today to serve her second day of jury duty. She was chosen yesterday to serve as one of 12 jurors in a Chicago murder trial. The billionaire celebrity will receive $17.20 a day for her work.
Back to New York now.
HEMMER: How many shows do you think she gets out of that jury duty?
COSTELLO: Oh at least three.
HEMMER: Yes, I think you're right about that.
COSTELLO: She'll have the jurors, fellow jurors on, maybe the victim...
HEMMER: She'll make the most of it, I guarantee you that.
COSTELLO: ... the family.
HEMMER: Carol, thanks for that. Weather news now in the Southwest. Torrential rains led to flooding and mudslides in New Mexico.
Look at this mass in the town of Cloudcroft, a wall of mud burying cars, flowing in to homes and doing major damage. Sandbags were given to residents to help prevent the flood waters from invading their homes. Luckily, no one was hurt. Again, that wall of mud in New Mexico.
COLLINS: Yes, I've spent some time in Cloudcroft, a beautiful place except for now.
We're going to check on that forecast now with Chad Myers who is at the CNN Center with the very latest on all of this.
Good morning to you, Chad.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Heidi. And more rain coming today.
(WEATHER BREAK)
MYERS: A day better then we've had all last week, no tropical systems affecting the U.S. whatsoever.
COLLINS: Thank goodness.
MYERS: Heidi?
HEMMER: Listen, welcome back, too, Chad -- an excellent job down there under some very difficult conditions down in Florida. Good seeing you back here.
MYERS: It was very emotional. It was not only a physical storm, it was an emotional storm for me and of course all the folks down there that were affected.
HEMMER: Welcome home, OK.
COLLINS: You did a great job, Chad. Thanks so much.
HEMMER: Let's get a break here.
In a moment, is the "Google" IPO finally at hand? The latest on when that Web search engine goes public in a moment here.
COLLINS: The staggering toll of Hurricane Charley, we'll take a look at one town that considers itself forgotten victims of the storm.
HEMMER: Also, where does the Pentagon stand on those recommendations out of the 9/11 commission? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has his say today on Capitol Hill.
Back in a moment after this, on a Tuesday edition of AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: A national intelligence director should have control of the budget. That's what the Senate intelligence committee is proposing. But that may not go over well with the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and joint chiefs chairman, General Richard Myers, will have their say today.
Barbara Starr is live now at the Pentagon for more on this. Good morning to you, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Heidi.
Well, Rumsfeld and Myers will be up before the Senate armed services committee just about three hours from now. People will be watching very closely. This is Secretary Rumsfeld's first opportunity to testify publicly about intelligence reform.
The Pentagon controls about 80 percent of the $40 billion intelligence budget, so what Don Rumsfeld thinks will be very important.
Now, I was one of the reporters traveling with him last week through Europe and Asia. He spoke about this a good deal. It didn't get a lot of attention, but he highlighted some of his thinking on this very question. He is expected to be very cautious about any rapid reorganization.
What the secretary says is what's broken, how are you going to fix it? He wants to see specific problems, specific solutions. He's very opposed, at this point, just to reorganization for reorganization sake.
He laid out a couple of principles. He does want to see those intelligence stove pipes broken down, intelligence shared more broadly across the government. He also, though, is a fan, a big fan of the issue called competitive analysis.
He likes to see various parts of the government look at a piece of intelligence and have competing ideas about what it all means. Whether that worked in Iraq, of course, is another question entirely.
The secretary also is expected to be very skeptical about any broadening of the issue of domestic intelligence gathering. But as far as this whole issue goes, he wants to see solutions tagged to specific problems arising out of the 9/11 attacks.
You know, and most intelligence analysts say, still the major problem is getting those spies, those operatives, that human intelligence that is able to penetrate organizations like al Qaeda, find out what they're up to. That's a problem that's much more difficult, most people say, than simply reorganizing the government.
So, it should be quite an interesting hearing about three hours from now -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Indeed. And Barbara, other reorganization to talk about, too, here. What about President Bush's decision to re-deploy thousands of troops back to the U.S.?
Any idea when we can expect action on that?
STARR: Well, that's going to be a much more long-term proposition. Now the specific discussions with those countries are going to start. By all accounts, officials here at the Pentagon say it could be a couple of years before it's all put into place.
Seventy-thousand troops, about 100,000 people total, including family members and civilian employees eventually headed back to the United States. Other troops, lighter more mobile troops going forward, going abroad to be more flexible, ready to respond to crises.
But that is going to be a very long-term proposition. It could take a couple of years to put it all in place -- Heidi?
COLLINS: As you might imagine. All right, Barbara Starr from the Pentagon this morning. Thanks, Barbara.
HEMMER: Well, that massive restructuring of troop deployments in Europe and Asia will not affect troops in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Representative Chris Shays just returned from Iraq, again. He's on the House committee on homeland security and is chairman on the subcommittee on national security.
Good morning to you and welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: Good morning.
HEMMER: What is your position on the president's plan? Do you agree with the troop realignment?
SHAYS: Oh, it's long overdue. You had members of Congress for years trying to reduce the number of troops in Europe. I mean, the Cold War was over a long time ago, at least 10 years ago, and we still have that structure.
So, this is important. This is what we actually thought Donald Rumsfeld would have been doing a number of years ago. I mean that's where his strength is.
HEMMER: The surrogates for the Kerry campaign disagree. Wesley Clark is one of them, and Richard Holbrooke is another.
Listen to what Holbrooke said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RICHARD HOLBROOKE, FMR. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I was ambassador to Germany. I know that the Germans are very unhappy about these withdrawals. The Koreans are going to be equally unhappy.
How can we withdraw troops from Korea while we are engaged in a delicate negotiation with the North Koreans? And there's a country that really does have weapons of mass destruction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEMMER: The Germans and the Koreans unhappy, is that the case?
SHAYS: Well, they may be. But I mean, they want it both ways. You know, they want us there, and then they don't want us to do things.
And we have to do what's in our national interest. I mean, there is really no reason to have 100,000 troops in Europe. We need some airbases; we need some Navy stations, you know, points of entry, points to store, points to launch off, but we don't need 100,000 troops.
And with regard to Korea, the 40,000 troops we have there isn't enough to do anything to dissuade the North Koreans. And so, you know whether we go from 40,000 to 25,000 I don't think really matters much at all except it's a very harsh kind of station. You can't bring your family.
And what we're trying to do is we're trying to make the quality of life better for our soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.
HEMMER: Specifically on the issue of Iraq with your trip there, six times in the past 16 months you've visited Iraq. Where do you note the progress on your last trip?
SHAYS: Well, you know the great progress is that we have an Iraqi government. It is a government that now is in charge. And they want this to be an Iraqi revolution.
In every one of my trips -- and I traveled four times outside the umbrella of the military -- Iraqis would say, thank you for getting rid of Saddam and when are you leaving?
And it wasn't said with anger. They just want us out of there. They want to run their own country.
So, Negroponte, the relationship that we have with an ambassador instead of someone dictating to the Iraqis what's going to happen, oh, a big improvement. And I think you'll see some improvement over...
HEMMER: Still, you have the issue of Muqtada al-Sadr in Najaf.
SHAYS: Right.
HEMMER: It's an ongoing battle there again and has been for the past 10 days plus. With respect to Ayad Allawi, how is he seen by most Iraqis? Do they respect him as the leader now for that country and for the future?
SHAYS: Well, you know, I honestly don't know. I do know this. In Najaf, they want al-Sadr out of there, so they support what's happening.
The rest of Iraq has other questions because it presents an opportunity to complain about what's happening in Iraq, but the people there want him gone.
HEMMER: Chris Shays, representative from Connecticut, thank you for your time.
SHAYS: Thank you.
HEMMER: All right -- Heidi?
COLLINS: Still to come this morning, the man accusing Michael Jackson has some explaining to do himself. Jackson was there as the prosecutor defended his own case.
And take our Olympic challenge: Which were the first games to be televised? The answer and an update from Athens after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: All right, it's a good one today. Before the break, we asked you which were the first games to be televised. And the answer, Berlin 1936.
Adolf Hitler in the grandstand. Jesse Owens on the track showing the world what he was made of. Wow, didn't know that.
At the games in Athens today, by the way, the U.S. women's softball team continues its domination, shut out China 4-0 there. They have yet to let up a single run in Olympic competition.
In the pool, American Mike Phelps won a bronze just by a slim margin, just missed out on the silver, lost his chance though for seven gold medals in the games. The Thorpedo, Australian Ian Thorpe beat out Phelps to win the gold in a 200-meter freestyle.
China leads in the overall medal count. The U.S. tied for second with Australia. The host nation, Greece, has not been shut out. The home fans went crazy when they captured gold in synchronized diving. They also won bronze in weight lifting. And later today, the U.S. men's basketball team tries to redeem itself against the host country Greece.
So, we will see the guys back on the floor and see if they can do better than they did on Sunday with Puerto Rico.
COLLINS: First woman's medal, gold medal, was won last night.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Coughlin in the swimming pool. Jack was watching it very closely.
CAFFERTY: I haven't watched any of it.
COLLINS: I know.
CAFFERTY: I was reading a thing in the paper this morning. Apparently, at least at the games there are thousands of empty seats at these venues.
HEMMER: Yes.
COLLINS: Yes.
CAFFERTY: There's no electricity. Like you get this...
HEMMER: There's a huge...
CAFFERTY: ... you know, an Olympic Village and a place where the people hang out and trade souvenirs, it's not happening.
HEMMER: There was a huge religious holiday on Sunday in Greece. And perhaps that accounts for some of the absence and some of empty seats. But we're going to see going forward whether or not that's the case.
COLLINS: We were talking yesterday about all the vacation time, too, in the summer.
CAFFERTY: Yes, and what's up with the swimmer who was going to win all these 28 gold medals. He hasn't won any gold medals. What's that deal?
HEMMER: He won a gold.
COLLINS: Single, yes.
HEMMER: Believe it or not, he won a gold.
CAFFERTY: But he was going to break Mark Spitz' record and do all this and that.
COLLINS: He was hoping.
HEMMER: A lot of hype. A lot of hype -- he's 19.
CAFFERTY: It's like, you know, overselling the deal there up front.
Seventy-seven days until the election, and it's just getting uglier by the day especially when it comes to the candidates' military records. President Bush, Senator John Kerry, of course, sniping at each other about their military past.
Yesterday, an ex-Navy fighter pilot, Senator Tom Harkin, criticized vice president Dick Cheney, called him a coward and said he dodged military service in Vietnam but is willing to be tough with "someone else's kids blood."
Senator Harkin accused President Bush and his vice president of resorting to dirty attacks on Kerry's war record.
The question is this, this morning, is a candidate's military record fair game in a campaign?
You can e-mail us at am@cnn.com.
It's getting nasty out there.
COLLINS: Very nasty, no kidding. All right, thanks so much, Jack.
Still to come this morning, motion denied. Why a judge says adultery isn't enough to grant a divorce, coming up next.
And live to Florida, recovery efforts push ahead as the toll from Charley's wrath grows larger.
Stay with us here on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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