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American Morning

Striking Transit Workers Digging in; Saddam Hussein Back in Court This Morning

Aired December 21, 2005 - 07:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Soledad O'Brien. Nearly seven million New York commuters are scrambling to get to work in the freezing cold today. Striking transit workers are digging in, and the city is losing as much as $400 million a day. We've got a live report just ahead.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez in for Miles O'Brien. Saddam Hussein is back in court this morning. He's hearing some gripping testimony of some torture and executions. We're told to expect a surprise as well, so we're going to be following this very closely. We'll go live to Baghdad for the very latest.

O'BRIEN: And a high-level protest over President Bush's wiretap orders. A federal judge suddenly quits. We're live at the White House on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning. Welcome, everybody. Miles is on vacation, so Rick has agreed to stick around, help us out. We appreciate that.

SANCHEZ: Always happy to hang out with you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Let's get right to our top story this morning, and that is the transit strike here in New York City, getting very costly. Millions of people are fighting the bitter cold to get to work, and the strikers and their union up against millions of dollars in fines, hundreds of millions dollars in lost business, too, to throw in there in the number crunch.

Allan Chernoff is live at the Brooklyn Bridge for us this morning. That is a main gateway into Manhattan.

Hey, Allan, good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Soledad.

Soledad, I don't know if you've ever walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, but it is absolutely beautiful. It's Something that everyone should do at least once in their lifetime. Of course, a lot of New Yorkers are hoping they don't have to do it more than once or twice, maybe today, the second day. But New Yorkers who are coming over that bridge, lots of smiling faces, people very intent, and a lot of people don't want to stop to talk to us, because they need to get to work very quickly. But there are now hundreds of people flowing all over the bridge. Of course, many more cars coming across as well. Those cars filled with at least four passengers. That is the rule here in New York during a strike.

We have one intrepid New Yorker with us who has just walked across the bridge. Joanna has joined us. And, Joanna, I understand you're not even going to work, right?

JOANNA ZICHANG, BROOKLYN RESIDENT: No. I'm going to volunteer at my church today. I had signed up to work this shift, and the strike can't stop that.

CHERNOFF: Good for you. Now, how was the walk across the bridge?

ZICHANG: It was really nice. I mean, normally, I would do this in the summer only, right? But, you know, there's no other choice, so you just do it.

CHERNOFF: And you don't live next to the bridge on the Brooklyn side?

ZICHANG: No, I took a car service to the bridge, and they didn't even gouge me, which was fantastic. And then I just walked over here.

CHERNOFF: Joanna, thank you very much.

ZICHANG: You're welcome.

CHERNOFF: New Yorkers clearly pulling together here, facing the transit strike for the second day, and of course a lot of people saying they don't mind the walk across the bridge, but they don't want to be doing it for too long, especially in this type of weather -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: You're right. It's a beautiful walk, but it is a cold walk on a morning like this. I feel sorry for some of those commuters.

All right, Allan, we'll continue to check in with you throughout the morning rush hour -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: I want to tell you now about a dramatic development in the controversy over President Bush's authorization of domestic wiretaps. "The Washington Post" is reporting that a judge who sits on that secret court we've been telling you about that oversees some of the government surveillance has just resigned over concerns over secret wiretapping program.

The latest on the controversy from correspondent Elaine Quijano. She's following things for us at the White House.

Good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick. That's right, citing unnamed sources, "The Washington Post" is reporting this morning that U.S. district Judge James Robertson, one has resigned. The "Post" saying the judge, a Clinton appointee, had privately expressed concerns to associates about the warrantless surveillance program that's now been made public.

Now CNN has not confirmed the story. The report, though, comes at a time when others here in Washington have publicly raised questions about the domestic-spying program. The Bush administration continues to insist that the program has kept Americans safer. The administration coming out in the days after this program was made public, including Vice President Dick Cheney, just yesterday insisting that the program does still protect civil liberties.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRES. OF THE UNITED STATES: The activity we've undertaken is absolutely consistent with the Constitution. It's reviewed very carefully by the president every 45 days. He has to personally sign off on it, has to be approved by the Justice Department and the attorney general, and we've briefed the Congress on it about a dozen times, so it is good, solid, sound policy. It is, I'm convinced, one of the reasons we have not been attacked for the last four years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now White House officials insist the program is highly targeted, and it only focuses, they say, on the international communications of Americans suspected of having terrorist ties -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Elaine Quijano, we thank you for bringing us up to date.

Meanwhile, the president criticizing the Senate for delays in renewing the Patriot Act. Senators are hoping to adjourn for the holidays today, with Vice President Dick Cheney attending the sessions to cast potentially tie-breaking votes on critical budget and defense bills. A vote to extend the Patriot Act, which expires in 11 days, may not even come to the floor, we're told -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let's take to Iraq now, as the trial of Saddam Hussein resumes after two weeks recess. Already this morning, pretty dramatic testimony about torture and executions under Saddam's regime. Now a prosecutor is promising a surprise yet to come in the trial.

Correspondent Aneesh Raman is in the courthouse this morning. He's on the phone for us.

Hey, Aneesh. What's this surprise they're talking about?

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. It's unclear at the moment. The prosecution had suggested similar things before. It could be that this first witness we talked to today, who was not veiled, who was not behind a curtain, was a surprise itself. They have not come out with anything huge at the moment.

As you say, Saddam Hussein, though, appearing in court this morning after boycotting the last session, much more subdued today, Soledad, than we've seen him before. He enters as he always does, the final of the eight defendants to come in and be seated in the courtroom. When he did, all of the other defendants stood up, saluted him still, as they say, president of Iraq.

He did speak twice during the session. The first time was to interrupt the witness as he was testifying, just around noon local time, saying that the trial had to be adjourned so he could have his mid-day prayers, Muslim prayers. The judge said that would not happen, that the witness would essentially carry forward. But Saddam, in his seat, sort of turned to his left and began praying for some 10 minutes.

And then he spoke just before the lunch recess. He challenged the legitimacy, again, of the prosecution in its role. But again, he's much more subdued today -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you about this witness, because I think what he has been saying just utterly heartbreaking. Give us some of the details that he has shared about his family and happened to him.

RAMAN: Yes, he's essentially -- and I should mention, this is a witness I met in Dujail just some weeks ago. I profiled him in the village, and he told me then, as he told the court now, that the abuse that was suffered after that failed assassination attempt on Saddam Hussein in July 1982, seven of his brothers that were killed, 43 members of his family that were detained, abuse suffered in prison, beatings by cables, children that died after a year spent in Abu Ghraib Prison. So he detailed all of that today, came under some fierce cross-examination from the defense, who actually brought up what he said in the CNN report, because he also admitted that his brother was involved in the failed assassination attempt. And also from the defendants as well, especially Saddam Hussein's half brother.

So we're about to go back into the courtroom in about half an hour, and we expect that witness to continue. It looks like we're going to have another day tomorrow, because there were to be five witnesses total, and we're still on witness number one.

O'BRIEN: All right, Aneesh, I'll let you go so you can get back into that courtroom. Thanks, Aneesh, for the update -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Well, a commercial jet forced to make an emergency landing in Boston. Pilots on the Midwest Airlines flight realized that they had some kind of trouble with the landing gear shortly after takeoff from Logan Airport. So they circled for about two hours burning off fuel before finally landing the plane safely. Passengers reported the landing was fairly smooth, despite the fact that they were a bit scared.

We're also getting more details this hour on that vintage seaplane that crashed in Miami that we've been telling you about the last couple of days. The loss of the right wing is what caused the plane to crash seemingly. But investigators don't know what caused that, what caused the wing to suddenly snap off.

CNN's Dan Lothian, he's in Miami, he's following it for us.

Dan, there's been some talk of metal fatigue. Anything else on that?

DAN LOTHIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. In fact, just a few minutes ago, the National Transportation Safety Board just wrapped up a press conference, and investigators say that they were able to take some pictures of that wing that was brought up from the bottom and taken to a warehouse yesterday. Those pictures were sent off to Washington for analysis, and what they have discovered is that there is some fatigue cracking on that wing. Now, some of this could be caused because of the age of the plane, but that's something that has yet to be determined.

As you mentioned, though, the wing breaking off, it has been confirmed as the cause of this crash.

Later today, officials hope to bring up the rest of the airplane, the fuselage from the bottom of the water here, and take it to a warehouse for further analysis.

All of this, of course, especially difficult for the relatives of the victims.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LOTHIAN (voice-over): On the small island of Bimini, it seems everyone is family, whether they are relayed to each other or not.

CLETUS SMITH, LOST FATHER IN CRASH: It's only seven miles long, by a half mile wide. And from one end to the next we know even. You can go door to door and you can actually get a meal from everybody. That's how close-knit we are.

LOTHIAN: But for Cletus Smith, this tragedy is even more personal. He lost his father, Donald, a longtime dock master at a Bimini fishing marina, and he lost his young nephew.

SMITH: We just pull together, and we just hold on each other inside there, because we, together, we will get through it.

LOTHIAN: Leonard Stuart's family was decimated.

LEONARD STUART, LOST FAMILY MEMBERS IN CRASH: I was praying that they would survive. Really, really devastating for the family.

LOTHIAN: He lost 11 family members, including cousin Sala Mae Roll (ph) and Genevieve Ellis (ph.

STUART: I've been through tragedies and (INAUDIBLE), I think I'm a little strong at this stage. I'll probably break down probably as we get near to the funeral time.

LOTHIAN: Twenty people were traveling from Miami to the Bahamas on the vintage seaplane when it went down in the waters off Miami Beach on Monday. Smith says he has no desire to visit the crash site.

SMITH: It's just too harsh. Seeing the plane go down, it's just hard enough. LOTHIAN: Relatives, some local, others from overseas, have been arriving in Miami to eventually claim the bodies and meet with investigators. The Red Cross, on the scene, too, offering counseling and assistance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LOTHIAN: Another important part of the investigation will be videotapes taken by eyewitnesses. The National Transportation Safety Board will be taking those tapes to Washington for frame-by-frame analysis. We're told that the investigation as to the ultimate cause of the plane crash could take up to a year -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Dan Lothian, thanks so much for bringing us up to date on that.

(WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, what was really behind the resignation of a federal judge who's supposed to oversee domestic wiretaps? We're going to talk to our senior legal adviser, Jeff Toobin. That's ahead.

SANCHEZ: Also then, a huge defeat for intelligent design supporters. A judge blasting the school board that actually tried to mandate this.

O'BRIEN: And those new airport-screening rules are going to kick in tomorrow. We'll tell you what those rules are, and how you can avoid a long holdup in the security lines. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. we're Back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: More now on the story we've been telling you about, about secret government wiretapping. Controversial in Washington D.C., and we're getting word this morning that a federal judge has resigned over the issue.

CNN's senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin knows the judge, joins us this morning.

Tell us a little bit about Judge James Robertson. You know him personally.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: He's a Clinton appointee, known as relatively liberal, but he was appointed to the 11-member FISA court by former Chief Justice Rehnquist, so he is respected across the spectrum, and this is a very extraordinary step for him to take, for any federal judge.

O'BRIEN: Before we talk about how extraordinary it is and why, explain to me about the 11-member FISA court. What's their job?

TOOBIN: Right. This whole controversy is about whether President Bush bypassed the requirement for national security wiretaps. For all wiretaps relating to terrorism or international matters, they go through this 11-member court. It's a secret court. Its deliberations are never revealed to the public. All 11 members are appointed by the chief justice of the United States, and they operate in panels, deciding on whether each wiretap request is appropriate.

O'BRIEN: He has not said explicitly why he resigned, in all fairness, but it's incredibly unusual this move, wouldn't it be?

TOOBIN: Federal judges almost always, virtually 100 percent of the time, express themselves on the bench through their opinions, or not at all. You know, I was trying to think of when a federal judge has ever done anything in protest? And there was one federal judge in the '90s who quit because he thought the sentencing guidelines were too draconian. But Once in 10 years is about as often as it happens, and I think it's indicative of how unusual this is.

O'BRIEN: Apparently there are a couple of colleagues who say that while he didn't explicitly say why he was resigning, he expressed a real concern about this warrantless surveillance program authorized apparently by the president. What happens now? I mean, it's 11 members. It's only 10 now. Who's going to be the 11th member?

TOOBIN: Right, well, Chief Justice Roberts, the new chief justice, will appoint his replacement. I mean, this court was so obscure before this controversy. One of the sort of funny things in Chief Justice Roberts confirmation hearings is someone asked him about the FISA court and his plans for it. He said, before I was nominated for chief justice, I've never even heard of the FISA court. So it's not exactly a high-profile operation in most circumstances. And since all of its deliberations are secret, we don't really know much about how they work, but the new chief justice will appoint a replacement, and they'll go from there.

But I guess in the larger sense, this is symptomatic of how controversial the president's decision was to do this -- these warrantless searches and wiretaps, and that the controversy isn't going away very quickly.

O'BRIEN: "The Washington Post" says that Judge Robertson was known as a liberal judge. Do you think a sort of liberal judge with a capital 'L' and this is a real political statement he's making, or do you think it's a different kind of statement he's making?

TOOBIN: I think the fact that he's a liberal judge is, obviously, involved here. The -- a more liberal judge would be more concerned about wireless wiretaps, so it's no a surprise...

O'BRIEN: Warrantless wiretaps?

TOOBIN: I know I...

O'BRIEN: But I follow you. Don't worry.

TOOBIN: Overdoing the W's there. So that's -- it's not surprising that that's the kind of judge who'd be upset. But he's not like some wild, crazy liberal. I mean, he is very much a judge more than a politician, and the fact that he did it is really unusual.

O'BRIEN: Yes, and very interesting, I think. As it continues all this story each and every day.

TOOBIN: An unpredictable story.

O'BRIEN: Yes, it is.

Jeff Toobin, thanks as always -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, what a scene in New York. "Closed for business" signs all across New York City. This just days before Christmas. Think about that. Is the transit strike an economic crisis for the city, or will it turn out to be? Andy Serwer is up next with a tally of the city's losses thus far. We're adding them up for you.

This is AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: You can't help but see it. Any one of us yesterday who went out to lunch or hanging out in the city, businesses are closed. I went to a place to eat some lunch and I was the only person there, and there was all this food everywhere. It's definitely having an effect, economically, isn't, Andy?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Absolutely. It's a huge problem, a huge impact on the city, Rick. We're going to talk about it. Of course the big number you've heard is $400 million. That comes from the mayor's office, losses to the city, on overall economic activity on a daily basis. We're going to break that down for you.

But first, let's talk about the impact, the direct impact on the city's coffers, how much the city is actually losing here in direct money flowing into its budget. Sales tax in Manhattan and New York City, all the outer boroughs, 8.375 percent. You can see about up to $2 million a day. Business income tax -- that's taxes on businesses when they have sales at the end of the year -- up to $4.3 million. Personal income tax, six million. That's the strikers. And people who are independent contractors who get paid on that basis who are not going to work. So you can see up to $12 million directly.

Now, you can see of that $400 million, $250 million coming from retailers, and that is the big hit there. Bloomingdale's scrambling to get people there working. you can see here six percent of annual revenue lost, should be this week, a third of the holiday revenue from this week alone. Tiffany's, this flagship store is in the city, they get 10 percent of their international sales from that store. People in the suburbs not coming in. People in Manhattan not going to the stores, because you got to walk around and carry the bags. You can't get a cab. Of course there's no subway or buses. It's a big mess, and it adds up to a big hit. I think's the bottom line. O'BRIEN: It's going to be a huge hit.

You haven't even started doing the math on the people who won't get paid because they can't come into work, a lot of daily workers are people who are paid that way. And you know, it's just a mess.

I hope they resolve this strike as soon as possible.

SERWER: So do I.

SANCHEZ: Good time to see a show, though.

O'BRIEN: If you can get there.

SANCHEZ: If you happen to be around.

SERWER: Right, if you can there and you can get in.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: Thanks, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

Well, intelligent design is creationism relabeled. That's what a federal judge said in his ruling to keep intelligent design out of Pennsylvania classrooms.

CNN's Mary Snow has details for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a coincidence, but fitting, that Dover High School sits across from a church. It was in this town that the line between church and state was tested over whether intelligent design, the theory which says life is so complex that there has been to be a master design, can be taught alongside evolution.

In a landmark ruling, a federal judge called it creationism re- labeled, saying intelligent design cannot be mandated in science classes in public schools. Former school board member Casey Brown fought to keep it out of the classroom.

CASEY BROWN, FORMER SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: The broadness of his ruling, I view it as a victory for the separation of church and state, for the civil rights of all religious groups who live within this country.

SNOW: Former school board member Jim Cashman also sees Dover's battle as significant, but for a different reason. He fought for the teaching of intelligent design.

JIM CASHMAN, FORMER SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: I'm concerned about the trend I see in judges and how they're interpreting the constitution because I don't think they're doing it accurately. SNOW: And that goes to the heart of the battle in this rural town, where school board had voted to include intelligent design, a battle that ultimately resulted in a lawsuit brought by 11 parents and the ACLU.

After a six-week trial, Judge John Jones issued a 139-page ruling with harsh words for school board members, questioning the motives behind their support for intelligent design. Quote, "It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious conviction in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the intelligent design policy."

Dover's battle grabbed the attention of evangelist Pat Robertson, who in November accused the town of rejecting God, when the community voted to oust school board members who supported intelligent design. But Jeffery Brown believes it was the right call.

JEFFERY BROWN, FORMER SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: We went from the 21st century school district that's at war with 19th century science to the little district that could.

SNOW (on camera): While the legal battle may be over here in Dover, Pennsylvania, some say it could take years for the town to repair its reputation and pay the more than $1 million in legal fees.

Mary Snow, CNN, Dover, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The intelligent design debate could be headed to a courtroom in Michigan now. Two science teachers are considering a suit after they were told they could not teach intelligent design.

SANCHEZ Still to come, would you be willing to skate for miles in the freezing air just to try and get to work? Check out some of the extreme ways that New Yorkers are getting around during the strike. You will want to meet this young lady.

Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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