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Vice President Dick Cheney Now Out of Hospital; Judge Samuel Alito Begins Confirmation Hearings

Aired January 09, 2006 - 08:00   ET

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

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
I'm Miles O'Brien.

We're following breaking news in Washington.

Vice President Dick Cheney now out of the hospital, taken there earlier this morning after complaining of shortness of breath. We'll have more on the story ahead.

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

The man who could tip the balance at the Supreme Court, Judge Samuel Alito, begins his confirmation hearings just hours from now. We'll bring you a live report just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: And maybe some encouraging news for mine tragedy survivor Randy McCloy. The latest update on his condition live from West Virginia ahead on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Good morning.

Good to have you with us on this Monday morning.

S. O'BRIEN: We're watching three big stories out of Washington, D.C. this morning, starting with the breaking news about Vice President Dick Cheney. He's out of the hospital now. The vice president spent about four hours in George Washington Hospital this morning. He woke up, apparently, complaining of shortness of breath. The doctors treated him for retaining fluids and it's likely the medication that he's taking for an old foot injury caused his problems. We saw him walking on Friday with a cane.

Vice President Cheney, of course, has had four heart attacks. His doctors say that his EKG is unchanged.

At the White House, President Bush just finished a breakfast meeting with his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel Alito. Senate confirmation hearings open at noon. The president says he hopes that the process is going to be dignified. You can expect, though, tough questions from Democrats when they have the opportunity to do some questioning.

And then the third issue brewing on Capitol Hill, the replacement for Tom DeLay as House majority leader. He resigned this weekend while the lobbying scandal was heating up. AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken has all of this for us this morning -- hey, Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And the hearing room in back of me is the one that is reserved these days for the exceedingly high interest hearings. And it doesn't get much higher than this. Samuel Alito, who has been nominated by President Bush to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Alito the conservative by most accounts; Sandra Day O'Connor the swing vote. So you can expect, as you point out, one very big fight up here with the Democrats leading the charge.

And the president, of course, is the man who nominated him. So he hosted him for a little breakfast this morning. They came out to the Rose Garden, where the president said that no matter how tough the fight up here, it should be, as you point out, dignified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's very important that members of the Senate conduct a dignified hearing. The Supreme Court is a dignified body. Sam is a dignified person. And my hope, of course, is that the Senate bring dignity to the process and give this man a fair hearing and an up or down vote on the Senate floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: So remember that word, dignified, and also remember the words abortion. There's going to be quite questioning about that, with many people questioning Judge Alito on his past statements in opposition to abortion. And there will be questions about presidential power, that in the context, of course, of all the disclosures recently of surveillance authorized by the president, and, of course, the treatment of detainees.

So it promises to be quite the tough week up here and we'll find out at the end whether we agree, Soledad, that it was dignified.

S. O'BRIEN: It might be tough to be dignified.

Let me ask you a question about the new job that happens to be open now, as Tom DeLay officially steps down from his position.

Tell us about the two guys who are really vying for it.

FRANKEN: That, of course, in the House of Representatives. Tom DeLay finally responding to pressure from fellow Republicans after the legal charges against him, legal charges now against his associates. The belief among Republicans that he could no longer really be a viable majority leader.

The fight is going to be thus far, between Roy Blunt, who is the man who has been acting in his stead, and Congressman John Boehner, who had been in the leadership but, in effect, got shoved aside and became chairman of the Education Committee. He now wants to return to the leadership.

The key words here is "so far." Those are the key words because others could enter the race. In addition to that, the speaker of the House, whose job also has been questioned by a few timid Republicans thus far, the speaker is saying maybe it's time for the Republicans to come up with some sort of lobbying reform.

Lots of controversy on both sides of this Hill.

S. O'BRIEN: You're a busy guy today, Bob.

FRANKEN: Yes, indeed.

S. O'BRIEN: Thanks, Bob.

Live coverage of the Alito confirmation hearing begins at 12:00 p.m. Eastern with a special edition in "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Three victims of the Sago Mine tragedy will be laid to rest today. Funerals for six of them were held yesterday. This is the procession for Jesse Jones in Buckhannon, West Virginia. The 44- year-old, who spent nearly half his life in the mines, was buried with pictures of his two daughters.

Now, meanwhile, doctors seem to be encouraged by the progress for the sole survivor, Randy McCloy.

CNN's Chris Huntington is at the hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia. And the fact that Randy is back in West Virginia is good news, isn't it -- Chris.

CHRIS HUNTINGTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Miles.

As many of our viewers are probably aware, he was in Pittsburgh for two days of treatment. He went there Thursday night, came back Saturday night, received three high pressure oxygen treatments, which the doctors hope -- and they underscore the word hope -- will contribute to his long-term cognitive and brain function recovery.

Here's the latest right now. They took Randy off the sedative yesterday that had been keeping him in a medically induced coma and they are looking for signs of wakefulness. The head of neurosurgery here at West Virginia University Hospital told us yesterday what he expects to see in the days ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JULIAN BAILES, NEUROSURGEON: We're looking for him to begin to arouse and open his eyes. He was beginning to do that a little bit before we had to sedate him. So we're looking for a progressive awakening and neurological improvement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTINGTON: Now, we will get an update on Randy's condition in about 20 minutes. And hopefully we will be hearing from that doctor, Julian Bailes. We are told we'll hear from the head of the trauma center here, Dr. Larry Roberts, who's been heading up the team.

The good news is for Randy that he is breathing on his own. His other vital organ functions are continuing to gain strength. His heart, they say, is back to normal. He still needs occasional dialysis to help his kidneys remove and process fluid from his body, fluid that was dramatically pumped into him to help fight dehydration in the early stages of his medical treatment -- Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Chris Huntington in Morgantown, thank you very much.

Let's get some other headlines in.

Carol Costello with that -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Miles.

And good morning to all of you.

Israeli doctors are trying to determine the extent of Ariel Sharon's brain damage. Doctors are in the process of bringing the prime minister out of his medically induced coma. He's now breathing on his own. His vital signs are good. But doctors stress his condition does remain critical.

Iraqi officials boosting security around Baghdad after a double suicide bombing. The apparent target? Police. The attackers tried to walk into the Ministry of Industry, but blew up near the main entrance instead, killing at least 14 officers and wounding dozens of others. We'll have a live report for you from CNN's Michael Holmes. That will come your way in the next half hour.

The bird flu scare is spreading across Turkey. Five new human cases have been confirmed there. The announcement coming just within the past half hour. Turkey is now -- Turkey has now confirmed 14 cases of the virus, including three deaths. A team from the World Health Organization now on the scene.

The man who tried to kill Pope John Paul II is getting out of prison this week. He tried to kill the pope back in May of 1981, two- and-a-half years after the assassination attempt in St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul met the gunman and forgave him.

And Arnold Schwarzenegger was slightly injured while riding on his Harley motorcycle. The California governor had his son Patrick in the side car of his Harley when a driver backed into their path. They collided. Luckily they were going at a very low speed. The governor had a cut lip. It took 15 stitches to repair his lip. His son also had some minor cuts and bruises. The driver of the other vehicle was not hurt and both father and son were wearing helmets.

To the Forecast Center now.

Let's check in with Chad -- good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, true love tragically cut short on the front lines. A husband and wife serve together in Iraq until one of them dies only days before he was due to come home. A soldier and widow shares her story.

S. O'BRIEN: And then later this morning, three men from different worlds forever linked by the tragedy of 9/11. A look at how they came together in their grief to realize a dream.

We'll have those stories ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Jim Bennett had planned to retire from coal mining in April. Instead, he's going to be buried today. He's one of the 12 victims of the Sago Mine tragedy. Bennett, though, may have left behind an important piece of information.

His daughter says he left a note showing that some of the miners survived for at least 10 hours after the initial explosion. No help came, though.

Joining us this morning from Charlotte, North Carolina is mine safety expert Bruce Dial.

Mr. Dial, thanks for talking with us this morning.

We certainly appreciate your time.

BRUCE DIAL, MINE SAFETY EXPERT: You're welcome.

Good to be here.

S. O'BRIEN: As we all followed this story as it unfolded, I'm sure you were watching closely, as well.

In retrospect, with the terrible tragic ending, did you see big failures in how this mine rescue was attempted?

DIAL: No, I don't. A lot of people don't understand all that goes into these mine rescue conditions. The number one thing we're worried about is making sure we don't put the mine rescue team itself into danger. You also have to understand that this mine averages only at about five feet in height and this five man team must carry everything they're going to need that two miles back to where they expected those people to be.

S. O'BRIEN: When you look at a time line of how this all unfolded, 6:30 a.m. on January 2 is when they believe the mine exploded. And then at -- we have this reference in the note at 4:25 p.m. That's the last time reference from one of the miners. And so that would sort of give you approximately a 10 hour window there. It wasn't until January 3, 4:30 a.m. that they begin the drilling, really, the -- sort of the, I guess, the most intense part of the rescue. And then, as we know now, January 3 at 9:00 p.m. the first body is found. And everyone seems to think why does it take so long to be able to get to those miners who are trapped and where clearly every moment is critical?

DIAL: Well, first, they have to determine where they think those miners are before they can start drilling holes. Once they've determined where they think they are, their best guess, then they have to get dozers in there to level off an area or get access to that area for the drill, get the drill in there and set it up and then start drilling.

So it's quite a process to just get one hole started. And so they have to make sure that they use the best guess they can to begin with.

S. O'BRIEN: We certainly know now that the best guess took a long time to get to. You know, there's some areas where one has to imagine technology is going to help. For example, why not breathing apparatuses that would last longer, as opposed to an hour, an hour- and-a-half of oxygen, why not a day, two day's worth?

DIAL: Well, you've got to remember that these men are carrying this breathing apparatus on their belt all the time. And to get it to last that long, it would be quite cumbersome and they probably wouldn't be able to carry it around with them all the time.

S. O'BRIEN: What about communication? I mean if you could pinpoint where the miners were much faster, you might, you know, clearly, you shave several hours off any kind of rescue.

Why not -- are there any technological upgrades that would help pinpoint the location?

DIAL: Well, you've got to remember, like radios, they don't work underground because you've got all of the interference of being underground and every 60 feet there's another turn somewhere. They are experimenting with different applications that would help them to pinpoint where they are, but right now there isn't anything like that on the market.

S. O'BRIEN: As you mentioned, really, the first and foremost goal is to not put the rescuers at any more risk. And so they had this robot in this particular rescue attempt. And early on, that robot kind of got mired in the mud and couldn't get in any further.

Anything being done on that front, where you could have something, maybe not a robot, but something that could go in and kind of scan the inside of the mine without putting rescuers' lives at risk?

DIAL: Yes, this robot, it also is experimental. They've been trying to find one and update it as they run into problems like this. Again, you've got to remember this robot has to be designed for the average height of coal, at around 42 inches high. So it has to be low profile.

If you -- when you make it low profile, then it can't go through very much, very deep mud. So they're going to have to find some other way to help it get traction.

S. O'BRIEN: There are going to be recommendations, one has to imagine, out of the numerous investigations that are now ongoing.

What do you think the top three recommendations will be?

DIAL: I think the top one will be -- you mentioned the larger apparatus. I don't think they'll get larger, but I think maybe there will be a better system of storing them throughout the mine so that they could use the one that they're carrying to get access to others that are stored throughout the mine.

Again, another one would be -- would just be how did this first explosion start? What can they do to prevent it in the future or set up monitors or something to prevent it from happening at other mines?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. It would be great if there was a way to sort of use this tragedy and learn from it so that it wouldn't ever happen again to anyone else.

Bruce Dial is a mine safety expert.

Thanks for your expertise and your time this morning, sir.

DIAL: You're welcome.

S. O'BRIEN: Miles.

M. O'BRIEN: Coming up, true love and heartbreak in Iraq -- a husband and wife are sent to war together. But, tragically, one of them dies just days before coming home. Their powerful story is ahead.

Plus, out of grief, a dream is born. How three men linked by 9/11 came together to realize a common goal while paying tribute to their fallen friends.

All that ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

M. O'BRIEN: Welcome back.

A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter went down in northern Iraq over the weekend, killing eight troops and four civilians on board. The chopper was flying support missions for the 101st Airborne Division, yet another reminder of the danger and continued bloodshed in Iraq.

And for our next guest, a poignant reminder of a personal tragedy.

Joining us is Captain Kate Blaise. She is the coauthor of "The Heart of A Soldier: A True Story of Love, War and Sacrifice."

She and her husband went to war together, and, unfortunately, she was the only one who came back alive.

Captain Blaise, good to have you with us.

ARMY CAPTAIN KATE BLAISE, COAUTHOR, "THE HEART OF A SOLDIER": Thank you.

Nice to be here.

M. O'BRIEN: What's it like when you hear news like that, a Black Hawk helicopter -- particularly involved in the 101st Airborne?

BLAISE: It kind of gives you -- your heart stands still. I still have so many friends and family in the 101st in particular, I hate to hear stuff like that.

M. O'BRIEN: I bet. It is a family, isn't it?

BLAISE: Very much so, especially in the 101st.

M. O'BRIEN: Let's back up and talk about your story.

You were high school sweethearts...

BLAISE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: ... you and your husband. And ultimately, it's kind of a long story, but from that point, enlisted together in the military in a -- I didn't even know it could be done, a couple's program.

Tell us about that.

BLAISE: Well, he originally joined the Army first as an infantryman and whereas I went to college and went the college route to become an officer. So we kind of did our -- the Army our own way. And eventually he went on to become a helicopter pilot.

So we got married and joined the married couples program, where they try and keep you together and...

M. O'BRIEN: OK. So the married couples program came after you both kind of, in separate tracks, went in?

BLAISE: Correct.

M. O'BRIEN: So you were in separate locations in Iraq. As a matter of fact, for much of your military career you were separated...

BLAISE: Right.

M. O'BRIEN: ... by the needs of being in the military. BLAISE: Correct.

M. O'BRIEN: That may have been difficult enough. But to be separated and also in Iraq, how hard was that?

BLAISE: Well, we were very lucky because the first couple of months we were separated in Iraq and then the last eight months we were about a mile apart on the same base. So we always joked with each other that it took more than a war to get us in the same place, where we could see each other every day.

So we had kind of a unique experience that most married couples don't have being at war and actually getting to spend quality time with your spouse.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes, quality time.

Would you call it quality time under those circumstances?

BLAISE: I would, because you realize, I guess, the fragility of life and so you enjoy the time that you do have together, whether it be five minutes or an hour or...

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Now, tell -- now, Mike was a Kiowa helicopter pilot.

BLAISE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: And he got mixed up in some bad weather, essentially.

BLAISE: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: Tell me about how that whole -- how you came to know that he wasn't going to make it home.

BLAISE: Well, we were about two days from leaving Iraq to head to Kuwait and head home. And I was actually playing cards with my boss that night, our last sort of hurrah in Iraq. And some members of his unit had come to find my boss, to let him know that Mike's helicopter had crashed, and were surprised to find me there.

And they were acting very casual and very -- I knew they weren't -- something was wrong because of the way that they were acting. They were trying too hard to be normal. And so -- and I knew that Mike was flying that night. And so...

M. O'BRIEN: So you knew?

BLAISE: I did.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

BLAISE: Pretty much as soon as they walked in, I knew that something was wrong.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes.

This is a story that's really about a love story more than it is about war. And you write very poignantly about it. I wanted to just share a quote. These are your own words: "Many people, in an attempt to reassure and comfort me, have said it will take time, but you'll make it through this and get over it. If there's one thing I've learned, it is you never get over losing a loved one. Instead, you find a way to learn to live with it."

Explain that, learning to live with it.

BLAISE: Well, I think it's a daily process of learning to miss somebody but realize that they're not coming back and move on with your life and make positive changes and try and do positive things and make them proud of what you're doing. And I really think that it's an ongoing thing that you -- I don't know if we ever get past it completely.

M. O'BRIEN: Is the book part of that effort for you?

BLAISE: For me, absolutely. I think so. I think -- I really wanted to let people know who America's soldiers are. And I think Mike was very much an America's soldier, what the Army and the military is made of, and I won't people to have sort of a glimpse of who that person is.

M. O'BRIEN: So as you reflect back now, having been through all you've been through, do you have great regrets about the course of action you took, signing up and going to war together?

BLAISE: Absolutely not. I'm very blessed. God blesses me every day. And we were very lucky. We had a lot of wonderful memories and wonderful times together and I feel very confident that I know where he is and one day, you know, we'll see each other again.

M. O'BRIEN: Thank you very much.

Army Captain Kate Blaise.

The book is "The Heart of A Soldier: A True Story of Love, War and Sacrifice."

Thanks for coming in.

BLAISE: Thank you very much.

M. O'BRIEN: Soledad.

S. O'BRIEN: Ahead this morning, three men, three very different backgrounds, but one common dream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it doesn't work, you know, we'll try again, maybe a similar place, you know? We're not going to give up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

S. O'BRIEN: The story of how three men forever linked by 9/11 came together to realize a dream they all shared.

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

S. O'BRIEN: Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at cnn.com/am.

Still to come this morning, it's time for the new year resolution.

M. O'BRIEN: Yes. Yes, I was thinking about some resolutions for me, too. But we'll get into that later.

We've got 10 top combinations this year.

S. O'BRIEN: Yes. I think the theory is that if you do couples, they can motivate each other. So we've got a married couple. They've got four kids. They need some serious help in kind of redefining their diet. And you've got some twins, twin brothers. We're going to see if they can spur each other onto (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

M. O'BRIEN: They're coworkers, right?

S. O'BRIEN: Yes.

M. O'BRIEN: They're the coworkers.

S. O'BRIEN: And a coworker, a lobbyist.

M. O'BRIEN: So they could either prop each other up or enable each other on a downward spiral.

S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely.

M. O'BRIEN: We'll see how it goes, right?

Back with more in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.

S. O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

It's shaping up to be a lovely day. See that shot of Central Park? It looks good.

M. O'BRIEN: It looks lovely.

S. O'BRIEN: It's supposed to be warm today, too.

In the wake of 9/11, so many people said I could have been among the dead if I had gone to work on time, if I didn't go to the dentist, if I hadn't taken my daughter to kindergarten.

So this morning Kelly Wallace has a really remarkable story of three people, three colleagues, who really could say the same thing. Fate is what kept them from going to their job at Windows On the World, utterly destroyed, at the top of the World Trade Center.

Now, they're opening this restaurant. It's called Colors. She's got the story behind the dream just ahead.

M. O'BRIEN: As in true colors, I suppose.

We look forward to hearing that story.

In the meantime, let's get some headlines in.

Carol Costello with that -- Carol, hello.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Good morning to all of you.

Vice President Dick Cheney back at home after a brief visit to the hospital. His motorcade left George Washington Hospital just about a half hour ago. He checked in early this morning. He had shortness of breath. Doctors say it was related to some medicine he's taking for a foot problem. The vice president was seen last week walking with the help of a cane.

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