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American Morning

Strike is On in New York City; Plane Crash off Miami Coast; Cheney Coming Home

Aired December 20, 2005 - 08:59   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Soledad O'Brien.
New York City subway and bus workers are on strike. The nation's largest transit system has come to a grinding halt, and just throngs of New Yorkers are walking to work this morning. And it's cold. Even Mayor Bloomberg walked to City Hall.

If you're trying to get a taxi, good luck. I hope you have lots of cash. You're going to need it.

That story is ahead.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Rick Sanchez, in for Miles O'Brien.

Investigators are on the scene of a plane crash off the Miami coast. So what went wrong? It's a live report, and it's straight ahead.

O'BRIEN: And Vice President Dick Cheney cuts short his trip to the Middle East. We're live from the White House, and we're going to tell you why.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody.

Oh, that's the morning commute. And this time we're not showing you taxis and buses and --- we are -- and cars. We are showing you people walking, and there are lots of them this morning.

It's 9:00 here in New York, and the transit strike is on. And that means what a mess for seven million commuters who are either going to have to figure out a way to get to work this morning, like walking through the park -- you can see those folks there, hoofing it -- or just not going into work.

It's going to cost the city lots of money, $400 million to $700 million is what's estimated. Some folks are coming in from the outer boroughs, like over the Brooklyn Bridge this morning, as you can see in this shot here. Just walking into work this morning.

It is cold. Let's get right to Chris Huntington. He's live for us at one of the city's major commuter hubs, Penn Station.

Hey, Chris. Good morning. How are the commuters doing that you're talking to?

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Folks are pretty consistently angry, Soledad. And we've asked just about everybody that will pause long enough to answer the question, "Do you think this strike is warranted?" The almost consensus answer is no. And you ask them, well, do these folks deserve to get paid a bit more, and a lot of them say yes.

But frankly, the first concern -- and this is perhaps typical of New Yorkers -- is "I need to get to work on time and it's not happening today." Folks are having to walk. They're having to argue their way into taxis that are picking up multiple fares. Those that can drive are able to do so only because cars with four people are allowed in -- any car trying to get into Manhattan with fewer than four occupants is being turned back.

A lot of folks walking in, as you mentioned. I think you showed some shots of the Brooklyn Bridge, which, of course, goes over the East River from Brooklyn into lower Manhattan. Mayor Bloomberg walked over that earlier this morning.

There will be folks walking. We spoke to a woman earlier on the program who lived in Staten Island, had to take a ferry, then a train to New Jersey, then another train back in here.

By and large, this is not going to be an easy situation. And if the previous two big strikes in recent modern history is any indication, this is a strike that could go on for at least a week, and maybe longer.

Back in 1980 it went 11 days; 1966 for 12 days. So, Soledad, there's no sign that the two sides are getting any closer, except perhaps going to court, which will happen later today -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Oh, it's going to be a mess, for sure. Chris, let me ask you a question about the surplus. We hear in the negotiations that the MTA has got something like a billion dollars in surplus. Is that a big issue in this -- in this debate?

HUNTINGTON: That's a huge issue. You know, the argument here, as with most strikes, frankly, is about money, money, money.

The MTA, because of the booming real estate market primarily here in New York City and real estate taxes, announced, somewhat tactically, perhaps not a great maneuver, that it had close to a billion dollars in surplus. And so the Transit Workers Union has made a huge issue of that throughout these talks that, hey, there's a whole lot of money on management side, why can't we get any.

I did the quick math. It works out to about $30,000 per worker in surplus just this year. The authorities say, of course, that surplus would be used up for track maintenance and so forth. It wouldn't even be there in future years. So it's all about the Benjamins.

Back to you. O'BRIEN: Oh, as it often is in these kinds of debates. All right. Chris Huntington for us live in Penn Station.

Thanks, Chris. I know it's chilly there.

Let's talk about the weather. Not a great day if you're walking to work or if you're standing out doing live short, either.

Bonnie Schneider at the CNN Center for us.

Hey, Bonnie. Good morning.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Soledad. I think Chris needs to put that hat on a day like this.

And actually, you saw in that live shot those flags kind of blowing about in the breeze. The winds have picked up a bit, and that's not good news, because that's made the wind-chill factor drop down even further.

You can see those people, thousands of them, walking to work. And many of them will have to walk miles and miles in this bitterly cold weather. A hat, a hood, the whole works is recommended on a day like today, especially when you're out there for a long period of time. It doesn't take long for that cold to just rip right through you. And you'll be feeling it today.

Look at the wind-chill factor, right at 11. It just jumped up from 9 just a couple of minutes ago. But these winds are certainly picking up, and they will stay pretty strong for a good portion of the day into the morning hours.

The good news is that snow that's in New York State is staying upstate. We're not going to see snow for New York City. In fact, we're looking at sunshine over the next few days.

The forecast looks like this, with highs in the mid-30s. Low temperatures will be in the 20s, meaning tomorrow morning it will be cold again. But let's hope things are resolved by tomorrow so folks won't have to walk to work like they are today.

You know, elsewhere across the country, high pressure has dropped down further to the south, really creating some very cool conditions for much of the mid-South and Southeast this morning. We're looking at some places with temperatures still into the 20s at this hour.

In Nashville, bitterly told for Tennessee, 19 degrees. That's it. It's 23 in Birmingham, Alabama.

And further to the south, we have 53 in Orlando. It's 50 in Tampa at this hour.

Temperatures will start to warm up in south Florida a bit. But I think overall, with this high pressure system parked right over here, we're looking at clear skies and cool conditions for the Southeast, and especially cool for the Northeast and the Great Lakes -- Rick. SANCHEZ: Bonnie Schneider with a look at the weather.

We thank you, Bonnie.

Well, weather isn't believed to have played a role in the crash of a vintage seaplane off Miami Beach. Federal investigators are hoping to pull the plane from the ocean floor today. Finding the flight data recorder could help investigators figure out what went wrong. Nineteen people were killed, one person is still missing.

Live now to Christopher King. He's been following the story for us throughout the morning.

Christopher, back to you. Good morning.

CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rick.

The Coast Guard is back on scene. Take a look over here behind me, you can see just beyond this jetty there's the Coast Guard over there. They want to lift the seaplane out of the water, but first they have to determine just how safe that is.

Now, this is where the crash happened just beyond this jetty over here in Miami Beach. It happened just after takeoff, around 2:30 yesterday afternoon. The scene was awful.

The plane broke apart as it crashed into the water. Fire and smoke trailed out. Twenty people were on board. Rescue workers recovered 19 bodies. Three were infants, one person is still missing.

The Coast Guard spoke a while ago about the search effort.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. JAMES MAES, U.S. COAST GUARD: We've got divers down looking at the wreck area -- wreckage area. We're trying to map that, trying to get it photographed for the investigation. Once we get a determination as to whether or not it is a navigation hazard, and whether or not the investigation will be affected by the transitive cruise ships, we'll make the determination to open the port up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, there are some questions as to exactly how many people were on board. One report says 19 people, another report says 20 people. But yet another report says there was another woman who says she was supposed to have been on that flight. We're still trying to confirm that information -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Christopher.

Meanwhile, a scary flight ended safely for more than 270 passengers and a crew aboard an India flight in Los Angeles. Watch this landing.

It's a plane that suddenly blows a tire on takeoff. For the next 90 minutes, pilots take the plane over the ocean to try and dump as much fuel as they possibly could, then try and attempt another landing. More than 100 firefighters and paramedics were on hand at the end.

A spokesperson says that the crews were prepared for the worst. Luckily, it never came.

And here's another incident. Mechanical problems forcing this small plane to land on an active highway near Detroit, Michigan. It was later carted away on the back of a flatbed truck. The pilot said his engine started to sputter, so it merged into traffic on the southbound lane of I-75, then he got out and pushed his plane out of the way of traffic.

That was nice. There were no injuries.

O'BRIEN: Thank goodness.

Vice President Dick Cheney quitting -- cutting short, rather, his overseas trip today. Mr. Cheney is leaving Pakistan just in case he has to cast a deciding vote in the Senate on some key pieces of legislation.

Let's get right to CNN's Elaine Quijano. She's live at the White House for us.

Hey, Elaine. Good morning.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Soledad.

That's right. And the vice president, as you'll recall, made that surprise trip to Iraq over the weekend, then moving on to Afghanistan. And his last stop, Pakistan, that is where he met with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. He was also there to take a look at the U.S. contributions for earthquake relief.

Now, later this week the vice president was scheduled to make stops in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but aides say that won't be happening. Instead, the vice president will be returning to Washington in order to cast the tie-breaking votes if necessary on two bills, budget reconciliation and defense appropriations, both looking to be potentially deadlocked. And, of course, among the vice president's duties under the Constitution, presiding over the Senate.

So Mr. Cheney wanting to be on hand if needed to cast his vote -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Elaine Quijano is at the White House for us this morning.

Elaine, thank you.

Lots of other stories making news. Let's get right to Carol Costello for an update on those.

Carol, good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Iraqi officials say they have more than 1,000 complaints about last week's elections. They're trying to address them all before announcing the election results. Now, that could mean we won't hear final results until next month.

Early tallies suggest Iraq's religious parties are in the lead, while the candidate said to be favored by the United States, Iyad Allawi, is trailing.

A man accused of posing as a New York City firefighter and sexually assaulting a woman could be in court this morning. Peter Braunstein faces charges of sexual abuse, kidnapping and burglary. Police caught up with him in Tennessee last week after six weeks on the run.

Thousands expected today at the funeral of Stanley "Tookie" Williams in Los Angeles. People waited in long lines to pay their respects to the former gang leader who later wrote books for children while behind bars warning them against gang violence. Williams was put to death last week for killing four people back in 1979. His execution sparked widespread debate about the death penalty and redemption.

In the meantime, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is apparently cutting ties with his hometown in Austria. The government told officials to take his name off the city's sports stadium. It seems he's frustrated with the uproar after his refusal to grant clemency to that former gang leader, Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is said to be very strong in Austria.

And the chances of a white Christmas in the Lake Tahoe area are looking pretty darn good. The strongest storm of the season there so far dumping about three feet in the last couple of days. You don't want to be out on the roads in that storm, but you probably do want to be here, out on slopes.

Ooh, maybe not. That looks nasty. No, definitely, I would not want to be skiing or driving. But it looks beautiful if you're just looking at it on television.

O'BRIEN: Maybe skiing. Not so much driving.

All right, Carol. Thanks for the update.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, searching for what caused that that fiery plane crash off of Miami Beach. The latest from Coast Guard officials. It's going to be from the scene next.

O'BRIEN: And then coming up this morning, only 2005, people already, though, are talking about 2008 and aye the likelihood of a Hillary Clinton-Condoleezza Rice showdown. We'll talk about that. Plus, it's pay-up time for Michael Jackson. He's nearly $300 million in debt. The loans are due today. We'll talk about what he could lose if he doesn't settle up.

That story's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Welcome back.

The picture really does tell everything. That's the plane going down. Behind it is its wing apparently on fire. A fiery crash off of Florida.

A vintage seaplane breaking up within sight of the horrified beach-goers who were there, some with cameras, as you can see. The plunge into the sea apparently killing all 20 passengers. Nineteen bodies have thus far been recovered.

Well, earlier, we spoke with the acting NTSB chairman Mark Rosenker about what's next as far as the recovery teams are concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ROSENKER, ACTING NTSB CHAIRMAN: This morning we'll begin the process of attempting to recover the aircraft. We're particularly interested in gathering both the -- to see if any body might be there of the 20th passenger or crewman.

We're also looking for the cockpit voice recorder. It's very important to find that so we can begin the process of assessing that, reading it out and understanding what happened just moments before that plane crashed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And to Coast Guard Captain James Maes for more on the investigation. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPT. JAMES MAES, U.S. COAST GUARD: This morning we will have Miami-Dade police divers will be down, taking a look at this, documenting the wreckage and continuing our look around down there.

SANCHEZ: You know, interestingly enough, because I happen to be from that area and I've been there quite a bit, that's where those jetties basically create a channel, and you have some real fast-moving water that goes through there. In fact, it's kind of a treacherous place for boaters when they're first taking their boats out there.

Is that pretty much where this area is? And does that create a problem for you and the divers?

MAES: Oh, absolutely. It is right inside the jetties of Government Cut, which is the main ship channel. As a matter of fact, I'm the captain of the port, and one of the things we had to do yesterday was actually close that channel down for recreational and commercial traffic.

We have three cruise ships that were expecting to depart yesterday afternoon between 4:00 and 5:00. We've closed the port down and the channel down indefinitely, and they're still waiting to depart sometime today. We're hoping we can reopen that channel at some point today.

SANCHEZ: Captain, I know that you don't officially investigate these things, you're there to perform search and rescue. But let me ask you, from what you saw yesterday, from what you experienced, perhaps not so much as a captain, but just as a layperson who saw and was on the scene, if you see the video of this plane coming down, does it look to you like there was no doubt some type of catastrophic failure that caused this?

MAES: I'm probably going to have to defer that answer to my friends with the National Transportation Safety Board. But I can tell you that we did have some of our Coast Guard homeland security cameras on Government Cut, and we did actually capture some imagery, and we provided that to the NTSB.

SANCHEZ: So you have pictures as well of the plane as it was perhaps coming down?

MAES: We have pictures of the airplane taking off, and we did have some pictures of some debris entering the water, yes, and we did provide that to the NTSB.

SANCHEZ: Is there anything on that that we should know about, that it is any different from the pictures that we at CNN have exclusively been putting on the air?

MAES: I think that it's consistent with the types of things that have been on the air. I've been so busy here doing the search-and- rescue recovery efforts that, honestly, I haven't had a chance to watch the news that much, but I think it's pretty consistent with what you've had out there.

SANCHEZ: Well, finally, Captain, are you going to be able to get this plane out of the water today? And if so, when do you think you'll be able to do so, and how tough is it going to be?

MAES: Well, right now, we don't really have a timeline for getting it out. We're waiting for the salvage operation to get on here, to take a look at where the debris is.

We're working with the divers to map out the debris field for their investigations, potentially criminal and transportation investigation. Once we complete that, we'll be looking at the salvage plan.

The salver will have to get his or her equipment in the location here. And then we're going to be keeping our fingers crossed on weather. It's getting a little chilly here today, a little windy, and we're hoping that any weather wouldn't affect our salvage operations.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Coast Guard Captain James Maes.

Now, this plane, by the way, was built in 1947. So age is one of the possible factors that's being considered, we're told, during this investigation -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, a brand new set of problems for Michael Jackson. The bills are coming due. We are going tell you what in his multimillion-dollar empire is at stake here.

Stay with us. You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Michael Jackson has a big loan payment due today, and if he can't pay he could lose control of the treasured Beatles song catalog. Attorneys now are trying to renegotiate the more than $200 million in loans to give him a little more time to pay.

Maureen Orth has written extensively about Michael Jackson for "Vanity Fair" magazine. She's in Washington this morning.

It's nice to talk to you. Thanks for being with us.

MAUREEN ORTH, "VANITY FAIR" SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You're welcome. Good morning.

O'BRIEN: Good morning to you.

Two hundred million dollars in loans. Now, the things that he owns, can he pay this, do you think?

ORTH: Well, it's more than $200 million, actually. It's closer to $300 million, and most of it is secured by his half interest in the song publishing catalogs that he owns. He owns the publishing interests in almost 400,000 songs, including 251 Beatles songs. And that's worth a lot of mono pep.

O'BRIEN: Is it worth $270 million?

ORTH: Probably yes, much more than that. He shares it with Sony Music, his former record company, and they share costs of it together. So, yes, it is worth more than that.

O'BRIEN: Why is he facing these money problems? I mean, here's a guy who's earned just gobs and gobs of money over the years. Is the problem that he's paying off so many lawyers for so many years that that's just added up?

ORTH: Well, I don't -- yes, he's paid off millions and millions of dollars worth of lawyers' fees. He's also had to $25 million to the first boy who accused him of sexual molestation. That's really when a lot of the problems began.

But he's really a person who has spending that's completely out of control. He has expenses that people like you and I, Soledad, don't have.

I remember one of my articles a couple of years ago coming across like $60,000 owing to a Beverly Hills pharmacy, $72 a month for the Slurpee machine at Neverland. We have got the animals to feed. Plus, he takes jets everywhere, and he no longer tours and he doesn't sell records.

So he doesn't have the money coming in that sustains his completely out-of-control spendthrift lifestyle.

O'BRIEN: Who is managing his money? Isn't there some accountant who's sort of telling him what he can spend and what he can't?

ORTH: He doesn't really listen to those people. And there's a completely revolving door of advisers. And he often chooses people who are charlatans who have "get rich quick" schemes that he listens to, and sometimes he even listens to whatever little boy is around him at the time.

So there's no rhyme or reason for how he's advised. There have been people...

O'BRIEN: Wait, he turns to the little -- the little kids who are his fans for financial advice?

ORTH: No, maybe I would say more than his fans. Whatever little boy is his special friend of the day.

I was told by one of his -- the author, Stacy Brown (ph), who authored a book with his ex-publicist, Bob Jones, that Bob Jones used to see him just turn to whatever little boy was the flavor of the month and say what do you think, I should I do this deal?

O'BRIEN: That's so surprising. Let's put up a graphic of what's at risk here, what he owns.

You talk a minute ago about the 50 percent stake, the Beatles song catalog.

ORTH: Right.

O'BRIEN: And then he's got his own music publishing company. And then he's got the ranch.

ORTH: Right. They're all heavily, heavily in -- you know, in debt. There's a big lien on Neverland. And that's also not such an easy thing to sell, because who really wants to have an amusement park and a zoo in their own -- in their own backyard? You kind of have to make it some kind of a museum or some kind of a Graceland or something like that.

O'BRIEN: And certainly no one will forget the police raids that happened at Neverland.

ORTH: Right.

O'BRIEN: I mean, I would imagine even if you turned it into a park that's going to be kind of a...

ORTH: Bad karma.

O'BRIEN: Certainly a tough sell for people.

ORTH: Yes.

O'BRIEN: The family home, not only at Neverland, but the home where his parents live, what kind of financial...

ORTH: Well, that is also -- yes, the family home in Encino is supposedly being foreclosed on as well this week or today. The family declared bankruptcy several years ago, and most of the family, with the exception of Janet Jackson, simply does not earn a stable living.

His family has tried various schemes to get him. He's now in Bahrain, somewhat in hiding, sort of estranged from his family, as he usually is, except for the trial when they all came in and made a big show of unity. But now they don't talk to him, and they're wondering what's going to happen to them.

Janet supposedly is buying a house for the mom, and that's about it.

O'BRIEN: God, that would be so surprising. I mean, if the Jacksons are bankrupt after all the money that they have made over the years, and could be potentially homeless, that's pretty shocking.

Let's talk a moment about -- about Debbie Roe. What happens to her? I mean, if he's in Bahrain with the kids and the nanny, she's been fighting for custody. Where does that stand, do you know?

ORTH: Well, Debbie Roe is part of the money woes, too, because he had to pay her $10 million when she suddenly announced she wanted a divorce. And lately she's been battling him for custody of the children.

A lot of the people think that's one of the reasons she took such a dive during the trial when the prosecution expected her to be a good witness and she sort of slobbered all over Michael at the trial. But she has not been able to see the kids, and she wants to very much. And they've been sort of kept away from her. So obviously, she's going into court, I think, to try to get her visitation restored.

O'BRIEN: We'll see what happens, because the day -- today, rather, is the deadline for these loans to come in.

ORTH: Right.

O'BRIEN: Maureen Orth from "Vanity Fair" magazine.

Thanks, Maureen.

ORTH: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: And just in time for last-minute shoppers, some of the year's best movies are coming out on DVD. We're going to tell you which ones are worthy of wrapping up.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Well, we're just a few moments away from the opening bell, about to ring on Wall Street this morning. Let's take a look at some of the numbers.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody, as we come up on the half- hour.

SANCHEZ: Ding, ding, ding.

O'BRIEN: I don't know why it's the case, but it's true. It's true, they are always way more excited than the people across town.

SANCHEZ: I think you're right. You've nailed that one.

O'BRIEN: I know I'm right on that.

Welcome back, everybody.

Here in New York, maybe there's not so much cheering from them because the transit strike is on. And it means slow-going for people who are trying to come into the city this morning.

SANCHEZ: Yes. A cold morning to walk into work, too.

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