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American Morning

New York City Transit Strikes Continues; Judge Resigns in Domestic Spying Case

Aired December 21, 2005 - 08:00   ET

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

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.
I'm Soledad O'Brien.

The transit strike in New York causing big headaches; costing big money, too, hundreds of millions already lost. Where do things stand this morning? How long could it continue? We'll take a look.

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

Saddam Hussein finally made it back to court. But now he's facing more tough testimony. We will be taking you back live to Baghdad.

O'BRIEN: And millions of Christmas packages being delivered today as post offices around the country brace for their biggest day. We've got some last minute mailing advice from the postmaster general.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning.

Welcome everybody.

Miles has the day off.

We're nice enough to have Rick Sanchez helping us out.

We certainly appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: God, it's great to be here.

O'BRIEN: You're here for the week, right?

SANCHEZ: I am. I am.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Let's get right to our top story.

We're talking, of course, about the transit strike here in New York City. A state mediator is talking to both sides, but no plan to get them together any time soon. And, in fact, every day that the strike goes on, the costs build. That goes for commuters, it goes for business and it goes for the strikers, too.

Let's check in with Allan Chernoff.

He's at the Brooklyn Bridge. It's one of the main ways to get into Manhattan -- hey, Allan, good morning.

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

We have lots of smiling faces, people quite cold but still very intrepid New Yorkers, as you see behind me. Hundreds of people making that walk. And it takes at least 20 minutes to walk all the way across the Brooklyn Bridge.

But people, at least for the second day, lots of folks saying they don't really mind.

Just a few moments ago, in fact, the mayor himself just finished his trek across the bridge. He spent the night on the Brooklyn side, walked over and he did speak to the media a few moments ago, saying this strike must end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: You can't break the law. You've got to go back to -- back to work and then back to the bargaining table and negotiate the way every other union has negotiated in this city without a strike. Strikes are illegal and the city is not going to tolerate it, the state's not going to tolerate it and the law and the courts are not going to tolerate it. And you saw that yesterday in the judge fining the union a million dollars a day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Lawyers for both sides will be back in court later this morning. The union is appealing that $1 million a day fine. But certainly things look very tough for the union right now.

The international union, the parent of the local here in New York, has actually come out against the strike.

Now, a mediator did meet with both sides. But I spoke a few moments ago with a spokesperson for the MTA and he said no movement whatsoever, no talks at all planned for today at the moment -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, then not a hopeful sign at all.

Allan Chernoff this morning reporting for us.

We're going to check in with you threat the morning commute and later through the morning, as well.

Thanks, Allan -- Rick. SANCHEZ: The White House is going to be hearing more about its secret wiretapping program. Congress may investigate the president's actions now.

And there's a report this morning that a federal judge has resigned from his post, possibly in protest.

Elaine Quijano has been following this story.

She's joining us now from the White House -- good morning, Elaine.

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Rick.

Citing unnamed sources, the "Washington Post" is reporting this morning that U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of the members of that secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, 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 this story.

The report, though, comes at a time when others here in Washington have publicly raised questions about the domestic spying program.

Now, the White House continues to insist that the program is lawful, that civil liberties are being protected. And the administration continues to argue that the revelation of the program's very existence has hurt national security because it gives the enemy, in their words, a sense of what the United States is doing to try to disrupt plots and prevent attacks.

White House officials also insisting, Rick, that the program itself is highly targeted and that it focuses on the international communications of Americans suspected of having terrorist ties.

SANCHEZ: Elaine, did the president not say last year that wiretaps require court orders? And, if so, what has changed since then?

QUIJANO: Well, the White House says when the president made those remarks -- and he did so in April of 2004 when he was talking about the Patriot Act, that he was specifically referring to, or those comments should have been taken in the context of the Patriot Act itself. And, again, what the White House is saying is that the Bush administration needs to have, the president needs to have all of the available tools necessary because of the fact that communications in this modern day and age are rapidly -- can rapidly change, and so he needs to be able to move quickly to respond at a moment's notice and that this NSA program allows them to do that -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Elaine Quijano following the story for us from the White House. By the way, in just a couple of minutes, we're going to be asking Senator Carl Levin, a member of the Intelligence Committee, about a possible Senate investigation into the president's program.

O'BRIEN: Let's go to Iraq now, where today's session of the Saddam Hussein's trial has wrapped up for the day. The morning's dramatic testimony was marked by descriptions of torture and executions after the 1982 attempt on Saddam Hussein's life.

Aneesh Raman is in the courtroom.

He's joining us by phone -- Aneesh, good morning.

ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Soledad, good morning to you.

Day six of this first trial of Saddam Hussein. Lunch recess was to have ended about a half hour ago. This court, though, rarely sticks on schedule.

Today, though, Saddam did appear in court. This after he defiantly boycotted the proceedings two weeks ago on Wednesday. He was subdued, though, not embarking on the diatribes, the confident, brazen, aggressive talk that we've seen before. Instead, really only speaking in court twice, once interrupting the first witness, to say that he wanted the proceedings paused so that he could observe Muslim noon prayers.

The judge said that the testimony would continue. Saddam then, minutes later, shifted in his seat and began praying on his own.

He then did stand up and address the court at the end of this morning's session, right before the lunch recess, and questioned, essentially, the role of the prosecutor.

He, as well as his half-brother, Barzan Hassan al-Tikriti, repeatedly mentioned the cameras in the courtroom, very aware, Soledad, of the world that is watching. And they are playing to that.

Their lawyer, the defense lawyer stood up, as well, today, and began comparing atrocities from those that were being described by this witness to those that they claim are being endured by Sunnis in Baghdad itself in the past few months under the Shia government.

So a number of different games being played.

But, again, testimony continuing about abuse, about torture, about years spent in prison after that failed assassination attempt in July, 1982 -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Why haven't we seen the American attorney, Ramsey Clark, in the courtroom today?

RAMAN: Yes, his chair has been empty. It's unclear. There were some suggestions it was because of security that he did not come.

This morning, we saw sort of a delay in the proceedings because they were working out whether someone would take his seat, another member of the defense team, Americans, who are here advising Saddam's legal defense team.

But, again, Ramsey Clark not showing up today. And it seems security an issue.

The defense, by the way, Soledad, presented this morning a 30-age document to the court saying that they fear for their lives. They were threatened at the airport. And, also, the defense attorneys saying that the accommodations they have been provided here have no bathroom and that they want to be better kept after -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Aneesh Raman updating us on what's happening in Baghdad this morning.

Thanks, Aneesh.

Other stories making news.

Let's get right to them.

Carol's got that -- good morning.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Soledad.

Good morning to all of you.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Osama bin Laden may be too busy hiding to direct worldwide terrorist operations.

The defense secretary, on his way overseas, was asked if he believes the al Qaeda leader is still alive.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I suspect that, in any event, if he's alive and functioning, that he's probably spending a major fraction of his time trying to avoid being caught. He, I have trouble believing that he's able to operate sufficiently to be a -- in a position of major command over a worldwide al Qaeda operation. But I could be wrong. We just don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan today, meeting with President Hamid Karzai.

In Washington, lawmakers are eager to adjourn for the holidays, so today could be a big day for legislation. Among the items on the agenda, those Patriot Act provisions set to expire in 10 days. Right now lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have not ruled out temporarily extending those expiring provisions. Of course, we'll keep you posted.

Divers off Miami Beach today hope to recover the fuselage of that seaplane that crashed on Monday, killing 20 people. Investigators say the right wing came off the plane upon takeoff. They're studying amateur video of the crash frame by frame for clues.

Today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, not much time left for your gift giving list. Chances are a high tech gadget just might fit the bill. In fact, a new Associated Press Ipsos poll finds high tech gadgets becoming essential for a growing number of people. In fact, those polled said they spend up to $150 a month for their high tech fixes. And half of the respondents cannot live without their computers. Can't even imagine life without them.

O'BRIEN: I believe it. I believe it. Yes, I mean it's a good gift.

COSTELLO: How could we function?

O'BRIEN: Yes. I like that.

All right, Carol, thanks.

SANCHEZ: You didn't know this, perhaps, or maybe you just didn't think about it on this day, but it's the very first day of winter.

O'BRIEN: And it's felt like winter. It's been a long time.

SANCHEZ: Yes. So, in some places that means very little time for sunlight.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: Like very, very short. Winter solstice means the sun is at its southernmost position, so for us it's the shortest day of the year. But it's also the longest night. I guess it depends on how you look at it.

O'BRIEN: Yes, what a joy if you're trying to commute by walking.

SANCHEZ: Let's find out what the forecast is.

I imagine it's going to be dark tonight.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, ATS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

SANCHEZ: We'll get through that.

But what about everything else?

Bonnie Schneider standing by -- what have you got?

SCHNEIDER: That's always a sure thing. The forecast tonight -- dark. That's true.

(WEATHER REPORT)

SANCHEZ: Still to come, he didn't curse the judge today. So how did Saddam Hussein behave in court? We're going to talk more about today's action with an adviser to the court. O'BRIEN: Then, President Bush is taking more heat for the secret wiretap program. A bipartisan group of senators is now calling for an immediate investigation. We're going to talk to one of those senators up next.

SANCHEZ: And you've got mail, and lots of it. Today is the busiest delivery day of the year for the U.S. Post Office. Can you imagine 900 million pieces of mail?

Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Growing concern over President Bush's secret wiretap program. Five U.S. senators are asking for a "immediate inquiry" into the president's actions. The request reads, in part, this: "We write to express our profound concern about recent revelations that the United States government may have engaged in domestic electronic surveillance without appropriate legal authority."

Two of the signers are Republicans, three are Democrats, including Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.

He's on Capitol Hill this morning.

It's nice to see you, Senator Levin.

Thanks for talking with us.

SEN. CARL LEVIN (D-MI), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good to be with you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: It's a -- what you're calling for is a joint hearing of the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. And, as we point out, it's a bipartisan call right now.

Are you getting any traction from this call?

LEVIN: Well, it's a little early to know, but when you have a bipartisan group such as we have, that are calling upon two committees to promptly hold, urgently hold an inquiry into this, it means that there's some growing concern on Capitol Hill about a program which seems to be so totally unauthorized and unexplained.

The president wraps himself in the law, saying that it is totally legal, but he doesn't give what the legal basis is for this. He avoided using the law which we provided to the president, where even when there's an emergency and there's a need for urgent action, can first tap the wire and then go to a court. So he has all the authority that he needs, but he didn't use it here by using the court which we provided to put -- which is really the check and balance on the executive branch.

O'BRIEN: Listen to what Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you, all.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: This is still a highly classified program and there are details that it's important not be disclosed. This program -- the disclosure of this program has damaged our national security and put us at greater risk, because the enemy wants to know what we're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: He doesn't sound like a guy who wants hearings.

LEVIN: Well, it sounds like they want to avoid giving an explanation as to what is the legal basis for tapping the wires of American citizens without using the process which we gave them, which is a special court, a FISA court, which has approved like 15,000 or 20,000 wiretaps, only disapproved five. And yet they avoided using that process and instead say they have some other legal authority. But they haven't given it.

Now, that's what their obligation is. If they're going to tap the phones of American citizens without using the check and balanced court which we provide, they have a duty, it seems to me, to say this is our legal authority and not just claim that they have legal authority without such an explanation.

O'BRIEN: Senator Levin, as you -- I'm sure you've heard, we've heard from the administration that FISA is too slow. They don't think the court responds fast enough. In addition, they've also said -- and I'm going to kind of give you the nutshell -- one, national security requires going around the FISA court; two, the president has the authority -- we've heard that from the president himself; three, Congress approved it when they authorized the use of force.

Alberto Gonzales, the attorney general, told me that just the other day. He also said this.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERTO GONZALES, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have briefed certain key members of Congress from the beginning of this program about what we're doing and the justifications for what we're doing. And we didn't brief other members of Congress because of the importance of keeping this program classified as much as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: OK, so that's number four.

We told some of you anyway.

What do you make of that?

LEVIN: They have the ability to move quickly. We specifically gave them that ability in the law that we wrote by saying they could tap the wire first and then go to the court to notify the court and to get authority.

Secondly, they simply claim they have authority. That's not good enough in a country which is ruled by law. The president is governed by the same laws as everybody else. The constitution governs. And he has an obligation, particularly when he says he operated legally, to explain what that legal jurisdiction is. And then when they drag out the resolution that authorized the use of force against al Qaeda in Afghanistan as a reason -- as the justification or a legal basis for what they're doing here, that just shows you how far they're going to reach and stretch to provide some legal justification, because that auth -- that resolution authorizing force did exactly that. We authorized the use of force against al Qaeda. That's got nothing to do with tapping the wires in the United States of American citizens.

O'BRIEN: Let me ask you a quick final question about the Patriot Act.

It's now being negotiated.

Do you think that bill is dead?

LEVIN: It's not dead, no. Everyone wants to extend it. The question is whether we're going to have a few months to go after the pieces of the Patriot Act which were added by the House of Representatives, which were not in the Senate bill. The Senate adopted a bill unanimously to extend the Patriot Act. We put the protections in there. And then when it came back from conference from the House, they added provisions which put in serious jeopardy some very basic liberties of Americans.

So, no, we all want to extend it. The question is whether we'll have a three month extension so we can debate and hopefully correct some of those flaws.

O'BRIEN: Senator Carl Levin of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Thanks for talking with us.

LEVIN: Thanks, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Appreciate it -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, Santa's helpers are up to their ears, you might say, in mail, 900 million pieces, to be exact. We're going to talk to the postmaster general about the busiest delivery day of the year. And we're going to try and flush him out for you, to help you find out if you can still get packages to your loved ones ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

I'm Rick Sanchez.

Four days to Christmas and it's the busiest delivery day of the year, did you know, for the post office?

Nearly one billion pieces of mail with a good number of those being, well, your holiday cards or gifts.

John E. Potter is the nation's postmaster general and he's good enough to spend some time with us this morning.

Good morning to you, Mr. Postmaster General.

JOHN POTTER, U.S. POSTMASTER GENERAL: Good morning, Rick.

How are you?

SANCHEZ: Good. Good.

Tell us, if you would, how today compares to an average day?

POTTER: Well, an average day we deliver about 650 million pieces of mail. Today will be over 900 million. So we're really geared up and ready to go.

SANCHEZ: Well, there's a whole lot of people out there, probably millions of them, who could use your help. And they want to know what they can still do today if they wanted to get a package out and get it to grandmother's house by Christmas Day.

POTTER: Well, today you can get your packages to grandma's house anywhere in the country by mailing priority mail. As the week goes on, you really should think about using express mail. We can deliver locally priority mail anything that's put in our hands by Friday. But for those packages that are going across the country, please use express mail. We'll make sure it gets there.

And, by the way, we deliver on Christmas Day.

SANCHEZ: Priority today, express after that, did I read you right?

POTTER: No. You can use priority mail tomorrow for mail that's staying local.

SANCHEZ: Right.

POTTER: But things that are going cross country, to make sure it's there, use express mail.

SANCHEZ: Go with express mail.

POTTER: Yes. SANCHEZ: Speaking of locally, we've got a little issue here in New York. I don't know if you've heard about it. There's this thing called a strike.

POTTER: Oh, I'll tell you what, I was coming to work today and I heard one of our carriers being interviewed on national radio. And he had a great line. He said neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor a New York City transit strike is going to keep us from delivering our mail. I was so proud of what he said. Our attendance is normal. Our people are there. They want to deliver for their customers.

SANCHEZ: Is it true, though? Because we heard from some of the fellows over at UPS that they're having big problems getting through.

Are you having any problems in New York City?

POTTER: Our attendance is normal. Our people are moving around. Obviously, the traffic is a little heavy, so we're putting feet to the street. We're moving them out.

SANCHEZ: Hey, let me ask you something about this new technology that you seem to be behind, and that's this idea of click and ship, which is really a way of people getting the packages out without having to go to the post office.

How is this working for you?

POTTER: Well, it's working fabulous. Over 20 million packages have been paid for online and picked up. You know, if you get online with the post office, if you have a computer, literally you have a post office in your home. You can get online. You can produce a label, put it on the package. If you tell us that you have that package, the next day when the carrier is on their normal rounds they'll come by and pick that package up.

SANCHEZ: But hold on. Let me ask you another question.

How do you know, for example, how much it weighs?

POTTER: Well, you -- we're counting on you to use a local scale to figure out what the weight is.

SANCHEZ: What kind of scale?

POTTER: Well, you can use your bathroom scale if you want. We also sell some scales for those people who use and will use that on a frequent basis. So a Weight Watchers scale, any scale you have, you know? We don't care what you have, just weigh it properly and put the proper postage on there.

SANCHEZ: See if you can use it. Right.

You cut something like $15 billion last year. You're planning to cut $5 billion over the next five years.

Where are we seeing these cuts? POTTER: Well, what you're seeing is not a cut in service. If anything, our service has improved dramatically. As I said, we're bringing the post office to your home online. We have a number of efforts. We have expanded window hours.

Where we're cutting is in operations. We have automated the processing of mail. We now have machines that can read 90 percent of handwritten addresses. That's allow...

SANCHEZ: That sounds...

POTTER: That's allowing us to be a lot more efficient and this holiday season we can move letters much quicker than we could in the past because we rely on machines to get it done.

SANCHEZ: A quick question, a quick question before we let you go.

If we're saving money, as you say we are, then why is the price of stamps going to be going up a couple of cents?

POTTER: Well, the price of, you know, the cost of doing business goes up for everybody. We haven't raised rates since 2002.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

POTTER: And this year has a little something that's a little unique. Next year, we have to put $3 billion into an escrow fund that we didn't have to the previous years. So we're raising rates primarily to deal with this congressional requirement that we have to create an escrow fund of $3 billion.

SANCHEZ: We are out of time.

But thanks so much for going on the record with us.

Good talking to you.

POTTER: Thank you, Rick.

Appreciate it.

And keep mailing.

SANCHEZ: All right.

See you later.

Now, Postmaster General John Potter, good enough to join us.

Thanks so much -- Soledad, back over to you.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

Still to come this morning, a story we have been following all morning. A federal judge resigns. Apparently it's in protest over the president's secret spy program. We're going to take a look at what that could mean for the spy program just ahead as we continue right here on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Oh, that picture says it all, doesn't it? This is the Brooklyn Bridge, people coming into Manhattan this morning. Never a good sign when the people who are walking are sometimes moving faster than those people who are driving. But it is a mess. And because it's 8:30 here in New York, you've got to have four people in the car or they won't let you into the city.

Here's Central Park. No, these people are not out for a stroll. Those guys are in suits. They're going to work this morning.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

O'BRIEN: It is a cold day to be hoofing it.

We're going to be updating this story all through the morning.

Good morning.

Welcome back, everybody.

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