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American Morning
Bus Attack in Israel; Football Players of University of Miami is under investigations; O'Donnell walks out in a show; David Letterman with Death Threats; "Who are the Job Creators?"; Multiple Attacks in Israel; NYT: Justice Department Investigating S&P; Blood Connection in Aruba; Van Der Sloot Trial; School Bomb Plot Foiled; Scandal Rocks University of Miami; Keeping the Beat
Aired August 18, 2011 - 06:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): This morning, sending allegation against a former Booster at the University of Miami. Claims, he gave lavish gifts and sex parties to athletes. A live report ahead.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): No joking around with this story. Late night talk show host, David Letterman, the target of a jihadist website wants him dead.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): As we all know, Standard & Poor's downgraded the United States credit rating. Now, the U.S. justice department is reportedly investigating S&P. We'll tell you why just ahead.
CHRISTINE O'DONNELL, FORMER SENATE DELAWARE CANDIDATE: That's why I agreed to come on your show. That's what I want to talk about. I'm not being weird. You're being a little rude.
ROMANS: Christine O'Donnell not ready for prime time. The former GOP Senate candidate walks of the set during an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. Why it happened and what they're both saying about it on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (on-camera): We're chockfull it is this morning. Good morning to you. Thursday, only one more day until Friday. It's august 18. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. Two breaking stories we're following right now.
ROMANS (on-camera): That's right. The first one in Israel. Let's get right to it. We're learning about more violence there. Attackers went after a bus, assaulted in Israeli military force, and even targeted another vehicle in the town of Eilat. That's near the Egyptian border. At least five people critically wounded at this hour. Jerusalem bureau chief, Kevin Flower, joins us on the phone from Jerusalem. Kevin, what can you tell us about these attacks?
VOICE OF KEVIN FLOWER, JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Well Christine, as we know from the Israeli military at this point is that there are two confirmed attacks, the first one on a bus that was headed to that southern lot. It was attacked by gunmen in a car following it. That's the attack where the five people were injured. But there was military also told us was that shortly after that attack and very close to that first location, an improvised explosive device, a bomb detonated on the road, targeting another bus and that there are unknown number of injuries stemming from that.
There are also reports of a third attack on a pedestrian car and a private vehicle, the details on that sketchy from the Israeli military at this point. But what they also told us is that this is a situation that is ongoing now. We spoke to one of their suppose people just a few minutes ago and told us Israeli military personnel are currently engaged in gun battle with these attackers. They say that it could be one squad of attackers or maybe more.
No word on where these people came from. Of course, all eyes will be looking at the Gaza Strip or from the across the Egyptian border as the places where the attackers possibly came from, Christine.
ROMANS: So Kevin, it is still happening as we speak. Do we know anything about who the people are or what their motive would be, why this is happening on the southern part of the country near the Egyptian border?
FLOWER: Well, it is the speculation for us to say who it is. But the authorities are going to be looking at certain places. They are going to be looking at the Sinai Peninsula. Recently, the Egyptian military has been engaged in military operations against what it calls Al-Qaeda element operating in the Sinai Peninsula, that's in the last week. They sent several thousand troops at the Sinai Peninsula.
They will also be looking at the Gaza Strip, of course. The Gaza Strip home too many Palestinian militant groups who routinely engage in attacks against Israel. And just earlier this year, there is an anti-initial attack from the Gaza Strip, targeting Israeli bus and that was anti-tank missiles.
So they are also will be looking there but at this point it is too early to say. It is really a developing situation and the information is quite scattered at the moment, Christine.
ROMANS: All right, CNN's Kevin Flower. We will let you get going back to your news gathering as this - as the details continue to unfold in this ongoing event. Thanks, Kevin.
It's very unusual for attack in this part of the country that did not happen when Hosni Mubarak was running Egypt. So, maybe that has something to do with it, too.
COSTELLO: We are following breaking news out of Syria this morning. Senior U.S. officials say the White House is ready to call for Syrian President Bashar al Assad to step down over the government's crackdown on its own people. That could come as early as today.
U.S. expects other international leaders to follow suit. Assad told the United Nations that military operations against civilian protesters have ended but new violence was reported overnight.
VELSHI: In the United States, University of Miami rocked by widening scandal this morning. Jailed businessman and ex-booster Nevin Shapiro claims he spent millions of dollars on hurricane athletes. Miami hurricane athletes over an eight-year period, giving them expensive jewelry, meals, even prostitutes.
He claims several coaches knew about it. Shapiro is serving a 20-year sentence for fraud unrelated to this. David Mattingly joins us live from Coral Gables, Florida.
Give us more on this story, David.
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ali, Shapiro had a lot of access to a lot of Miami players over the years. And now he is revealing details about violations of NCAA rules that he instigated involving 72 student athletes here at the University of Miami, most of them football players and including a dozen current players here at the university.
He says he bought them gifts from clothing to jewelry and suits and televisions. And he also paid for lavish nights out on the town. Taking players to clubs, to strip clubs and this is where it gets worse. He says he also paid for prostitutes for Miami players and also arranged sex parties for some of the players.
And on one occasion Shapiro says that he even paid for the abortion for a stripper who claims that she got pregnant by one of the Miami players. All of these violations, of course, very almost off the charts when you think about it in terms of violations for NCAA rules when they tried to protect the amateur status of these players at universities like Miami.
The NCAA already saying that if these allegations are true, it could have impacts on programs all across the country and the way they deal with the boosters, Ali.
ALI: And that's what the NCAA is saying about it. This is of course relating to some former players, any response from them and the NCAA about them?
MATTINGLY: The former players that have been speaking up so far are not saying a lot about their relationship with Shapiro. But listen to what they have to say. These are players that left the program and are in the pro. So, listen to what they have to say here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, you can go back and forthwith someone that's in jail. And try to explain yourself. And really don't want to do that. That's very unnecessary. So, I will leave it at that. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know he Missouri and I know, you know, what really happened. But you know it is you know, it is over. It is done with. The NCAA is gone away and we are just moving on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: The NCAA says that it has already been looking into these allegations for five months now. And they are looking very strongly at the relationship universities have with these boosters here at the University of Miami, one of the premier football programs in the country.
The university pledged to stay on top of this investigation and cooperate fully. Their new coach here signed on in December and says part of his job now also Ali is to get to the bottom of this.
ALI: All right David, thanks very much. We will stay on top of it with you.
David Mattingly in Florida.
ROMANS: Less than two weeks after downgrading America's Triple-A credit rating Standard & Poor's reportedly is the target of a justice department investigation.
According to "The New York Times" the feds want to know how the credit rating agency missed the mortgage crisis. You remember S&P along with the other major credit agencies gave those mortgage backed securities very high ratings. Even though we now know that they weren't worth the paper they were printed on.
"The times" reports the justice department re-claims that S&P business managers overruled analysts who wanted to assign lower ratings to those bonds, those bonds rather because they were making record profits.
Now the investigation reportedly began before the nation's credit rating was downgraded. CNN contacted the justice department but declined to comment.
COSTELLO: Late night talk show host David Letterman is being targeted by terrorists. An assassination threat posted on a jihadist Web site calls for letterman's tongue to be cut out and his mouth shut forever. This after the funnyman cracked a joke about an Al-Qaeda's leader's death. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTEMAN: So anyway, they picked a successor to Osama bin Laden and his name was Ilyas Kashmiri. Well, guess what? He was blown up by an American drone. Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The FBI is looking into the jihadist threat. No comment from letterman.
VELSHI: A bizarre encounter here on CNN last night. Former Delaware Senate Candidate Christine O'Donnell, you remember her, walked off the set during an interview with Piers Morgan.
O'Donnell was on the show to promote her new book "Troublemaker" but when pressed by Piers about her positions on gay marriage and don't ask, don't tell, she had enough. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, PIERS MORGAN SHOW: Why are you being so weird about this?
CHISTINER O'DONNELL, FMR. DELAWARE SENATOR: I'm not being weird about this, Piers. I'm not running for office. I'm not promoting a legislative agenda. I'm promoting the policies that I lay out in the book that are mostly fiscal but are mostly constitutional. That's why I agreed to come on your show. That's what I want to talk about. I'm not being weird. You are being a little rude.
MORGAN: I thought - I'm baffled as to why you think I'm being - I think I'm being rather charming and respectful. I'm just asking you questions based on your own public statements and now what you have written in your own book. It is hardly rude to ask you that, surely.
O'DONNELL: Well, don't you think as a host if I say this is what I want to talk about, that's what we should address?
MORGAN: Not really, no. You are a politician.
O'DONNELL: Yes. OK. I'm being pulled away. You know, we turned down another interview for this.
MORGAN: Where are you going? You are leaving?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: That's a unique way of doing it too by the way, somebody blocking the camera. You could see that shadowy figure tries to stand in front of the camera.
Later Piers talked about the exchange with Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: I found it a very strange moment. And I don't think anyone who watches the interview would deduce I was being rude. I'm a little bit cheeky maybe but not rude. I found it odd to p that it was that particular moment to leave because I think on reflection when looks back at this, it looks like she has something to hide.
In another words, her view may be so extreme or contentious that it would cause her political damage. That was the only thing I could deduce from it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Piers invited O'Donnell to come back on the show tonight. Here's what she say on twitter.
O'DONNELL (via twitter): Thanks for the invite. Schedule already packed, maybe another night. No hard feelings, you cheeky bugger.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: That's what I call Ali all the time.
VELSHI: That's right. And I didn't walk off.
COSTELLO: No, you didn't. You are going to stay here for my talk. I know you enjoy the topic.
Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big store cease of the day. The question this morning, are Rick Perry's treason accusation against the fed out of line? I know.
This whole treason thing has been dragging on for days now. And it won't die because Perry's critics won't let and neither will he. The tough talk and texting back and down, he said it would be treasonous for Fed Chair Ben Bernanke to continue printing money to play politics. And yesterday he upped the ante.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RICK PERRY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They should open their books up. Until they do that I think they will continue to be questions about their activity and what their true goal is for the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Critics are appalled. That includes some Republicans. Tony Prado, the former Bush White House spokesman tweeted Perry's remarks are inappropriate and un-presidential. Although Perry has his supporters, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCKER CARLSON, ANALYST, FOX NEWS: The fundamental point he makes is totally true. Actually, we are devaluing the currency. It is happening because of the fed's policies. And it is benefiting in a short-term way I think the White House.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Still treason? As defined in article three of the constitution if you don't have your pocket sized constitution handy this is what it says "Levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort" as in Benedict Arnold who betrayed America during the revolutionary war. Ben Bernanke, the man running the federal reserved which is basically the central bank for the United States, is he conspiring against the United States?
So, the talk back question today, is Rick Perry's treason accusation against the fed out of line? Tell us on facebook. Facebook.com/Americanmorning.
I'll read your comments later this hour.
VELSHI: I submitted my response.
ROMANS: Whoever knew economists were so exciting they could be called treasonous.
VELSHI: You know Tucker Carlson interestingly enough in that defense is defending the wrong thing. I mean he wasn't -
ROMANS: I didn't hear him make the point Tucker Carlson is talking about.
VELSHI: Yes. There are two different points. I can't believe Rick Perry doesn't need - he just - I can't believe her Perry doesn't understand this because he must. So it is very strange as motivation.
COSTELLO: Let me ask you this question. Is the federal reserved audited every year?
VELSHI: Its books are open, you can see them. They were little closer back in the day Christine used covered them. They were very close. That is changed every year. Their books are public and by congressional decree they have o be more open than they are. So this is an old strange argument that other people made much better than Rick Perry has.
ROMANS: It appear though that argument he is making, sort of this vague we don't know what they are doing and who they are working for, that appeals to a crowd that have long held that there are black helicopters and this sort of, you know, conspiracy theory, new world order type stuff.
You always hear the fed at the center of that. If he has a more nuanced criticism of what the fed has been doing the past year, he should give up, lay that out.
VELSHI: He is talking about whether you like what the fed is doing or not. Rick Perry making it sounds like a Dan Brown novel.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: We want to hear what you think. So, facebook.com/americamorning.
VELSHI: All right, still to come, the missing piece. How Aruban investigators think a bloody handprint might help uncover the mystery of a Maryland woman who simply vanished. COSTELLO: And President Obama promising a plan that will create jobs and jump starts the economy. Can he really do it? If not him, who? We will talk to someone that may have that answer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: President Obama heading to Martha's Vineyard for vacation after he meets with his economic team today. All that coming on the heels of a new Gallup Poll that shows just 26 percent of Americans approve of how he's handling the economy. The president promised to present his own plan, jobs plan, when Congress returns in September.
But how much leverage does he have? And who in D.C. actually has power to create jobs?
Jay Powell joins us now. He was the Treasury Undersecretary in President George H. W. Bush's administration, a visiting scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center.
Jay, welcome to the program again. Nice to get your perspective on this.
You know, we kind of know what we think the president is going to unveil. We don't know all of the details, but it looks like it's going to be tax cuts he's going to push for, infrastructure spending, something we've tried before, of course, but - it's been a little disappointing. Help for the long-term unemployed. And also specific help for struggling sectors.
Can the president with a big plan in September fix what's wrong with the economy right now?
JAY POWELL, VISITING SCHOLAR, BIPARTISAN POLICY CENTER: Well, the president is going to try to make the case that we should have some additional deficit spending and programs now to help the unemployed and get the economy started on the one hand, while at the same time proposing substantial deficit reduction in the medium and long term. That's the case he's going to have to make and it's a complicated case and it's going to be very difficult because, of course, there's - not that much support for additional deficit to spending among the Republicans or among independent voters.
In addition, if there's a lot of more deficit spending, we're going to meet the need to increase the debt ceiling again before the presidential election and that is not something the president would want.
ROMANS: No. And, you know, messing around with the debt ceiling, I mean, Morgan Stanley this morning coming out with a note that's - there's royal global markets saying we're dangerously close to a recession in the world. And one of the reasons that they list is the debt ceiling drama that has hurt confidence around the world, quite frankly.
So we're still kind of feeling - feeling the after-effects of that at least if you listen to some of the analysts on Wall Street.
Meanwhile, you've got - you've got Rick Perry and now - you know, a proclaimed presidential candidate and he's saying that the Fed chairman is somehow treasonous if he continues on the path that the Fed has been going.
Is it treason what's happening at the Fed right now under Ben Bernanke in your view? And you're an expert on military and fiscal policy.
POWELL: Well, certainly not. I mean, there have been many errors or some errors, anyway, in the Fed's history in which it was wrong and history has not judged it well. This is not one of them, in my view.
The Fed has had interest rates effectively at zero for almost three years now. So it's - it's more or less out of ammunition. There are some modest additional things that the Fed can do, perhaps more quantitative easing, but they are modest and at the margin and I don't think we can look to the Fed for a lot of help on the jobs front in the near term.
ROMANS: And that's the irony here. So you have criticism of the Fed on one hand. On the other hand, you have people like Morgan Stanley saying we're going to need more from Central Bankers around the world because, in fact, it is global Central Banks the only ones with a clear policy right now to try to help the economy.
POWELL: I think they're doing what they can. But it's - on the - we've used the monetary powers that we have, really, to the fullest extent. Again, some additional things at the margin and perhaps some fiscal things at the margin can be done. That will be a difficult case to make, but it will be made.
But fundamentally there's no magic bullet here in Washington to fix what's wrong with this economy.
ROMANS: Well, and it's interesting to say that, because Diane Swonk, who's an economist in Mesirow Financial, she always says don't they get it that if there were magic bullet somebody would have fired it already? We fired every kind of bullet we can think of. And essentially, you know, the Fed the only game in town running out of bullets and economy worldwide that is still slow.
Isn't it maybe quite frankly we are in a difficult period here? And people who want an easy and simple solution to fix it were not going to get that?
POWELL: Yes. As you know, Christine, this is a different kind of a - a recession. It's really a contraction and what it's about is the fact that consumers are substantially overlevered because their homes are worth 30 percent less than what they used to be worth and they still have big mortgages.
And secondly, unemployment and underemployment is about 25 million people or 16 percent of the workforce. So, you have a really difficult situation and the traditional tools have been deployed. So we're going to be looking at novel tools and experimental programs, mortgage relief and that kind of thing to try to get the economy started. But it will be a period of - of continued pain for some time, I believe.
ROMANS: All right. Jay Powell, thank you so much -
POWELL: Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: -- for that perspective. Nice to see you again.
POWELL: Nice to see you.
VELSHI: All right. Time - what time is it? Twenty-one minutes after the hour.
Let's check in with Rob Marciano to give us a look at the nation's weather. What's going on, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Got a couple of thunderstorms that are rolling, actually it's in your neighborhood, the northeast. Let's take a look at them.
Philadelphia up towards New York City, we do have ground stops at these airports because of the - the rough weather. This wouldn't last all that long. But, nonetheless, Philadelphia seeing departure delays right now at about an hour.
Other spots we might see some in the afternoon. D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Orlando, Florida has seen those pop-up thunderstorms the past few days that will continue to be the case today. This weak front is pushing off to the east. Those thunderstorms you see are kind of well ahead of the front. Behind it, a little bit it the way of cooler and drier air. But down to the south, the hazy, hot, humid conditions continue.
And we've got a number of heat advisories out for parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. And yesterday Shreveport once again coming in with a record breaking number of 109; Tyler, Texas, 105; Houston at Hobby Airport, over 102; and look at that, New Iberia once again and Lafayette that's the heart of Cajun Country, my friends, seeing triple digit heat yesterday. And you can bet there was some humidity in there as well.
All right. Some humidity here. This is what could be our next tropical storm. It's been very slow to develop and it's moving quickly off towards the west, towards Central America.
So the question is does it get to tropical storm status before it makes landfall? Well, we'll just have to wait and see. There's distinct possibility that happening, but the track is going to keep it - and we say this for the first time for many years, unfortunately south of Texas which is where they desperately need the rain.
But there is another storm, guys, a little bit more interesting than this one that's just off the Coast of Africa and has plenty of time to develop and it looks like stirring currents right now will take it in the general vicinity of the lower 48. We'll keep you up to date on that as we go on throughout the morning.
Back up to you.
VELSHI: All right, Rob. Thanks very much. We'll - we'll keep an eye out for all of that.
Coming up, stocks in Europe taking a tumble. They started off a little rough -
COSTELLO: Yes.
VELSHI: -- and things have taken a big turn. We're going to tell you what's going on in Europe when we get back.
ROMANS: Also ahead, Abercrombie & Fitch's stock took a big hit. What's behind the drop? We'll tell you the sitch (ph) right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-six minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
U.S. stock futures trading much lower ahead of today's market open. Dow futures now down more than 160 points. NASDAQ futures down more than 40. S&P futures down around 20 points.
Meanwhile, stocks in Europe were tumbling right now as investors react to a statement from Morgan Stanley warning of a possible - the possibility of a global recession. Germany's market is leading the losses with stocks there down almost 3.5 percent.
Michele Bachmann promises cheaper gas if she's elected president. She told a crowd of supporters in South Carolina on Wednesday that gas will come down to below $2 a gallon in a Bachmann administration. That is a tough promise to keep, though. Gas prices are tied to global oil prices, not to Washington.
And it's official, the plug-in Cadillac is on its way. GM announced it is moving forward with plans to build an electric Cadillac coupe. The new car is said to be a luxury version of the Volt. No word yet on how much the car would cost or when it will hit showroom floors.
Abercrombie & Fitch taking a big hit. The retailer stock dropped nearly nine percent yesterday. This after telling the cast of "Jersey Shore" not to wear its brand. But the stock dip appears to be unrelated. It seems to have more to do with the company's earnings.
Don't forget to check in with the all new CNNMoney.com for the latest in money news.
AMERICAN MORNING back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: We are following this breaking news out of the Middle East, escalating violence in Israel. Terrorists launching several attacks this morning. It began with a bus shooting near a city of Alat, which close to the Egyptian border, a tourist city generally. The attackers then launched an assault on soldiers. At least five people have been critically injured. Many more wounded.
There are also reports of a roadside bombing targeting a second bus in. No word yet on who the assail apartments may be. We have people on the ground there watching the story develop. We will bring you more information as we get it.
ROMANS: Also breaking morning, the U.S. is ready to call for Syria's President Bashar Al Assad to step down because of the brutal crackdown on his own people. It could come as early as today.
Senior U.S. officials say the move has been coordinated with allies in Europe, Turkey, and the Arab world. We are expecting a statement from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
COSTELLO: We will bring that to you live. Standard & Poor's is reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department for the ratings it gave mortgage securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis.
According to "The New York Times," the Justice Department is looking into whether S&P business managers overruled analysts on deals to potentially earn more money.
VELSHI: Developing story out of Aruba now where an American woman simply vanished two weeks ago. Robin Gardner was last seen snorkeling on the western tip of the Caribbean Island.
She was with a man who brought her to Aruba, a guy named Gary Giordano. He's now the prime suspect in the case. Martin Savidge is live in Aruba. He's been following this closely and they discovered a bloody handprint where the pair were snorkeling. Is this a big deal for investigators, Martin?
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is a big deal, Ali. There are two developments here that are significant for moving the case forward. Number one, up until this point, authorities had Gary Giordano as a suspect primarily because he was the last to be with Robin Gardner and is the one that reported her missing.
Now they have found out about an insurance policy and they say that could be motive. Then as you point out, now they have also found traces of blood in the area where the couple was said to be snorkelling.
That's raising suspicions here because if you have a drowning or an incident in the water, how do you end up with blood? Here is the first thing. They have not determined yet whether that is human blood. It could come from somebody fishing or some other means.
If they determine it is human blood then, of course, they want to find out if it is Gary Giordano's blood, Robin Gardner's blood. They have the DNA from both to check that. Gary Giordano apparently has told authorities the blood came from him, that he cut his hand on some coral.
As to that insurance policy, Gary Giordano has also admitted to authorities that he did take it out. He called it travel insurance and he said he took it out on both of them.
The real question here and Aruban authorities are not talking about the amounts, is whether there would be an accidental death payoff because as they know money for murder is one of the oldest crimes on the book. That's what they suspect looking for proof. That's another matter, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Martin, thanks very much. I know you are covering this. If there are any more developments we will come back to you. Martin Savidge in Aruba.
ROMANS: You know, the prime suspect in Natalee Holloway's disappearance in Aruba is now a murder suspect in Peru. Van Der Sloot could be a free man by 2012. Van Der Sloot faces charges in the May 2010 killing of Stephanie Flores.
She was found dead in his Lima Hotel room. Her family wants prosecutors to pick up the pace warning that Peruvian law allows Van Der Sloot to walk if he's not on trial within 18 months of his arrest.
COSTELLO: Police in Tampa, Florida, say they foiled a Columbine- style plot to bomb a high school campus. An expelled student, 17- year-old Jared Canel, allegedly planned to blow up Freedom High School on the first day of class next Tuesday.
Among the evidence seized at his home, a journal that detailed a minute by minute plan to hunt down two assistant principals and kill about 30 students. There were drawings of the school in his home and bomb making materials, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF JANE CASTOR, TAMPA POLICE DEPARTMENT: We are probably able to thwart a potentially catastrophic event, the likes of which the city of Tampa has not seen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Police say an anonymous tip led them to Canel. They say the teenager wanted to cause more casualties than the Columbine attack in 1999.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROMANS: Anonymous tip is so important because kids when they hear -- how many times have we heard -- we heard something about something. They have to act. I don't know if it was a kid who turned him in, but it is incredibly important to keep your ears open on things like this.
VELSHI: Good job by everybody involved on that.
All right, still to come this morning, allegations of athlete payoffs at the University of Miami. Just how widespread is this problem among other NCAA teams? The executive director for si.com weighs in.
ROMANS: Out of the blue, signs that you should and shouldn't ignore for a heart attack. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on the case. It's 35 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: The University of Miami is railing from scandalous accusations this morning. Jailed businessman Naven Shapiro claims he spent millions of dollars on athletes at the school over eight years buying them expensive jewelry, meals and even buying them prostitutes. He claims that several coaches knew all about it.
Joining me to talk about the fallout from these allegations is B.J. Schecter, executive editor of si.com. Thanks for coming in.
No problem.
COSTELLO: These -- I mean, this is really scandalous, but this isn't the first time this sort of thing has hit the University of Miami. In fact in 1995, you feature the University of Miami on the cover of "Sports Illustrated" and said the program should be canceled.
B.J. SCHECTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, SI.COM: Yes. If you look back on our article as I did yesterday, a lot of the things that are happening now or coming out now happened then. In terms of paying players and in terms of taking them to strip clubs and getting them women, it is really eerily similar. So they didn't -- got hit hard with sanctions before. They really didn't learn their lessons.
COSTELLO: So this guy, Shapiro, he is a booster, right? He is in jail now for a Ponzi scheme and is singing because none of these players that supposedly he -- helped in the past are coming forward to help him. And that's why he is spilling everything. So, but you don't doubt the truth of his allegations.
SCHECTER: Unfortunately, in college sports, we see this all the time. Whether it is tattoos at Ohio State, whether it is money at the University of Alabama. Every big time program has these larkers that hang around the program and that have money.
And that want to look cool around the players and that want to think that they have influence over the players and now we are seeing sometime it is coaches.
COSTELLO: But the paying for sex parties. I can understand parties on a yacht and stuff like that, but paying for sex parties, I mean, that's just decadent and disgusting actually.
SCHECTER: A lot of this is really disgusting. This Yahoo report, Shapiro allegedly paid for an abortion for, you know, a --
COSTELLO: Stripper.
SCHECTER: A woman -- stripper that one of the players allegedly impregnated. It is all about access, you know. A lot of these players have no problem finding women. But if they get invited to a party and everything is laid out right in front of them, you know, it is cool to these guys.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about these guys, boosters. This is what Jimmy Johnson said about boosters. He said these parasites hang around every program and the players have got to be smart enough to know they want something. They aren't giving out free drinks to them unless they get something in return.
So why aren't universities keeping a closer eye on boosters? I know they give a lot of money to the university and football programs and that's probably one of the reasons why. But if they get the university in trouble like this, why aren't they clamping down on these boosters?
SCHECTER: Well, a couple of reasons. Jimmy Johnson, I would say Jimmy Johnson -- happened under his watch. And so, you know, he should -- he should know what type of influence and how bad these are for their programs.
On the other hand, they do it for a couple of reasons. You mentioned the money that they give a lot of money to the school. They help lure players to that school to Miami and to Ohio State to USC.
If they don't allow these players to have access to these boosters, they will go -- they will go to a school that will so a lot of times they -- they are turning their head and putting their heads in the sand and not acknowledging. Sometime they know all about it. They just don't -- they don't want to hear about it.
COSTELLO: It's all about money and football.
SCHECTER: It is.
COSTELLO: Yes, I know that's the way of the world. Maybe I'm naive but that really stink.
SCHECTER: It does. The NCAA has could clean this up. They have the opportunity to clean this up. Unless they come down hard on these programs, really hard, I don't think that death penalty, but really hard sanctions.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about the death penalty because they could say to the University of Miami your program is over. Good-bye. Why wouldn't they do that? If this is going on for eight years, under a -- a variety of coaches, and apparently, the school's administration had no idea, which is kind of hard to believe. Why shouldn't the University of Miami's football program be bye-bye?
SCHECTER: Well, if it were up to me, I -- you know, I might give them the death penalty. I don't think the NCAA ever will and there is one reason, it is money.
TV contracts, the amount of money that it brings in to the school, the city, they would -- I don't think they would ever do that because it would be a catastrophic impact for Miami and for other businesses that rely on the University of Miami football to bring in millions of dollars not only for the university, but to the city.
COSTELLO: So what probably will happen?
SCHECTER: Well, I think you are looking at severe scholarship reductions. I think you are looking at two, three, four years of a bowl ban. You know, I think this is going to cripple the program.
I think it is going to cripple the program even before the sanctions come out because if you are a top recruit, whether it is in South Florida or anywhere else why would you go to the University of Miami right now because you know that they are going to get hammered?
COSTELLO: Yes. B.J., depressing conversation, but an interesting one all the same. B.J. Schecter, thank you so much for coming in this morning.
SCHECTER: Thank you.
ROMANS: The story, the headlines are still horrible and then you read beyond the headlines, and it is still horrible.
VELSHI: It's horrible exactly.
All right, still to come on AMERICAN MORNING, need to get away from it all? For a million dollars you can have a trip that's out of this world. We will explain.
ROMANS: Family important. Family, right? Well, coming up, we will tell why you it matters when it comes to your heart. It's 44 minutes after the hour.
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ROMANS: A lot going on this morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day:
Israel reports six people have died following a string of violent attacks this morning. At least 29 others were hurt. It began with a bus shooting near the city of Eilat. It's close to the Egyptian border. The attackers launched an assault on Israeli soldiers.
There are also reports of a roadside bombing targeting a second bus. No word yet on who the assailants may be.
The White House is set to call for Syrian President Assad to step down as early as today. U.S. officials say it's a coordinated move with allies in Europe, Turkey, and the Arab world. We expect to hear from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Pope Benedict arriving in Madrid for a four-day visit in connection with the World Youth Day. The papal trip met with protests from those who say it's costing money it doesn't have.
Catherine Greig, the girlfriend of reputed crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger, is being arraigned this morning in Boston. She is accused of helping him elude authorities during his 16 years as a fugitive. The two were arrested in California in June.
They wanted to build a campfire along with their fort. Now, two Nevada teens face third-degree arson charges after winds caught hold of that fire, forced evacuations and closed a section of highway. Two firefighters were also injured.
The record drought in Texas choked the industrial agricultural industry. It already cost farmers $5.2 billion. Economists in Texas A&M say without rain to help winter wheat is going to get even worse.
Talk about a hotel room with an incredible view. A Russian firm plans to open the first space hotel in 2016. The commercial space station will float 250 miles above earth. Five days there will cost you about a cool million bucks.
You are caught up the day's headlines.
AMERICAN MORNING back in 60 seconds.
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ROMANS: Welcome back.
New this morning, the San Francisco Bay Area Transit System's Web site hacked again this week with home addresses and personal information of, oh, 102 officers out for the whole world to see. Sunday's incident was the work of a hacking group Anonymous, but it's unclear if they were also responsible for yesterday.
COSTELLO: No warn when there should have been. The Indiana state fair now admitting it did not follow severe weather procedures last weekend before high winds brought down that stage that killed five people. Comments coming after Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said, quote, "Maybe there were some things left undone that shouldn't have been."
VELSHI: Take a look at the salt truck after it plowed through a repair shop wall in Queens. Yes. Yes.
COSTELLO: That's scary.
VELSHI: It's dangling more than 30 feet above the ground. Debris and concrete falling to the street crush some parked cars below. That's a half hour. If fire department was able to get the driver out and he is OK.
COSTELLO: You mean he was just dangling in the cab for a while?
VELSHI: Yes, I don't know how they got him out but that was -- yes.
COSTELLO: Oh.
VELSHI: You know what, the -- no need for salt trucks this time of year. He is out of practice a little bit.
ROMANS: It says no word yet on what caused the crash. What caused the crash was the salt truck going through the wall!
I'm sorry. I'm glad everyone is OK.
A flood of information out there about heart attacks sometimes confusing and even misleading. Frankly, it's hard to kind of tell what is myth and what is fact.
VELSHI: That's right. It's one of those things that everybody thinks they know a lot about.
This morning to give us the cold, hard facts and we are loving this series, CNN' chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is with us.
Sanjay, you have spent a year looking at heart disease from pretty much every angle. You got a documentary coming up. It's called "The Last Heart Attack," which I think is great -- the idea that we can actually eliminate heart attacks.
Give us the more glaring misconceptions and myths that we have about heart attacks.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, some things really just jumped out at you as soon as we started working on this documentary -- people's misconceptions about this.
Now, I want to say, you know, part of this whole journey for the last heart attack was I myself, wanted to become if I could be heart attack proof which is what doctors said was possible and they now say that I am. So, you know, that, obviously, is something that I think we can achieve for many, many people in the country.
One of the big misconceptions I'll tell you right away is the idea, first of all, that people say heart attacks came out of the blue. You know? There were no warning signs at all.
And myth number one is that, oftentimes, you know, a heart attack is going to be proceeded by chest pain. That may not be the case. In fact, the first symptom that someone may have -- that they, in fact, have catastrophic heart disease is that crushing chest pain that is associated with a heart attack.
It may not be any pain whatsoever, that sort of Hollywood heart attack where people clutch their chest. People may not have that. They may feel back pain. They feel just a little fatigue. They may feel unusual.
And that's something that they need to remember to get checked out -- especially if they have had some concern that they have heart disease. So, don't always think you're going to have some sort of warning sign.
And really quickly, something that people talk about quite a bit is their cholesterol numbers. They say, look, you know, my cholesterol is fine. I am not at risk of having a heart attack.
What they find in some of these studies is that about a fifth of the people who fall into the safe zone, in fact, still had heart attacks. That's another myth that low cholesterol is actually going to tell you that you're safe.
You know, what's interesting is that in the study, in this documentary we found that you really need to look at the blood vessels themselves to understand, regardless of what the cholesterol number is, the real question is: what do the blood vessels look like and they're pretty -- there are some simple tests out there that can give you that information.
Also, really quickly, I found this fascinating -- it has less to do, we found -- and this is new information -- less to do with how much cholesterol you have in your blood rather than the size of the cholesterol particles. The smaller the size, the more damaging they are to your blood vessel walk. Big particles, less damaging. So, you could have a high cholesterol number and big particles -- that may not be that bad. Low cholesterol, small particles, that's bad.
So, you know, these are things that you got to ask your doctor about when you get these numbers check.
COSTELLO: I was just going to say that, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, because my doctor, since I have heart disease in my family, my father died of a heart attack, he is always talking about lower your cholesterol, lower your cholesterol. That's really important because you have this family history. So, are you saying my doctor might be wrong?
GUPTA: I'm saying your doctor and many doctors out there may be incomplete. This is based on brand-new data that people are getting is that, you know, there was a study done on out of Framingham, Massachusetts which really sort of tried to categorize what are the risk factors for heart disease. It's not so say those risk factors are wrong, it's just that we have so much more knowledge now about what really causes a heart attack.
There was so many people who said, look, I never had a risk factor. I had none of these problems and yet I still had a heart attack.
Why? Because the risk factors that we knew about were just incomplete.
Cholesterol, I think, is the best example, Carol. You know, if you have the LDL, that's the bad kind of cholesterol, what you really need to figure out is just how damaging is that cholesterol to your blood vessels. And again, looking at the amount, but also looking at the particle size and taking that extra beat will give you a lot of information.
COSTELLO: I'm going to go back and have an argument with my doctor.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Yes, excellent to do that on national TV. You won't even get an appointment with your doctor.
ROMANS: Yes, Carol.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Sanjay, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks so much.
And you can catch Sanjay's entire special report. It's called "The Last Heart Attack." I'm definitely watching this. Sunday night, at 8:00 Eastern, right on CNN.
It's no different than what I normally do at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday night on -- you know, I'm watching CNN anyway.
ROMANS: But you won't eat a whole pizza while you're doing it.
VELSHI: That's exactly correct.
COSTELLO: I know.
VELSHI: Carol, I can't believe you outed your doctor.
COSTELLO: I didn't say his name because he would be really mad at me.
VELSHI: Yes, but he knows who he is.
ROMANS: But it's important awareness if you have a risk factor in your family, you know, someone who has a heart attack in your family -- it's all the more reason to live a healthy lifestyle and really worry about wellness.
VELSHI: I didn't know before today that they could tell you the difference in the size for your cholesterol was cholesterol.
ROMANS: It doesn't say on the diner menu whether that's good cholesterol or bad cholesterol.
VELSHI: Yes, exactly.
ROMANS: That's all I need.
COSTELLO: That will be the next disclosure.
ROMANS: I need more information.
COSTELLO: We have been asking you to talk back on one of the big stories on the day and, boy, do you have a lot to say? We ask you this question: Are Rick Perry's treason accusations against the Fed out of line?
Here are some of your responses.
This from Eran, "I'm confused, if the Fed's actions are treasonous, in favor of the White House, would Perry then be implying that the administration is deliberately anti-American? If so, where's the proof? I see the same old rhetoric amongst the new presidential candidates, finger-pointing and labeling, when that energy should be used to strengthen their platform.
This from Kirby, "I think a mistake was made but being a Republican, I'm willing to forgive him. It seems to me that all of the candidates for president are being careless with what they say, and the pundits, bloggers and the news hosts are having a heyday with it."
And this from Tom, "Treason is a word that candidates use for shock value. We have been shocked to death by these people running for president. Let's hear some answers instead of catch phrases. As a small business owner, I'm looking for truth in a candidate. But all I hear is rhetoric."
VELSHI: I like what Tom says. That said, I don't know whether Tom is sort putting his hands up and saying, yes, they said it for shock value. I don't think treason is a word that you bring into the world for -- I mean, treason is a very serious crime that is in the Constitution.
COSTELLO: Well, on the other side of the coin you could say the same thing whoever the Democrat was that called the Tea Party terrorists, right?
VELSHI: I agree with you. I don't think these kinds of words should be bandied about.
ROMANS: Rick Perry has not said treason or treasonous.
He stands by it, even elaborated on it, but he -- the word is not coming out of his mouth. Karl Rove in an op-ed said it's a mulligan, every first time -- you know, when you get out there, you get the first mulligan and this may have been Rick Perry's first mulligan. We'll see.
VELSHI: If I were the Fed chief, I might be talking to a lawyer about suing him.
COSTELLO: I don't think Ben Bernanke --
VELSHI: I mean, if somebody accused me of treason? If somebody accused me of treason, I'd be in a lawyer's office.
COSTELLO: I don't think Ben Bernanke cares. But who know?
Keep your comments coming, though. We are interested if what you have to say. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning.
VESLH: And still to come -- I'm just thinking about this stuff -- still to come: we are following some breaking news out of Israel right now. We are getting a lot of information here. Attackers launching several attacks apparently, not only on the military but on civilians. We know there are some people very seriously injured.
We're going to have the latest developments from Israel on the other side of this.
ROMANS: Plus, David Letterman, a terrorist target? We'll tell you why.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. It's 57 minutes after the hour.
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