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The Situation Room
Prosecutors say Karr's DNA Doesn't Match Crime Scene; President Bush Visits Gulf Coast; Tropical Storm Ernesto Lashes Cuba; NTSB Investigating Comair Crash
Aired August 28, 2006 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: And to our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information are arriving all the time. Standing by CNN reporters across the United States and around the world to bring you tonight's top stories.
Happening now, it's 5:00 p.m. in Boulder, Colorado, where the DNA does not match. No evidence of John Mark Karr at the JonBenet Ramsey scene.
It's 7:00 p.m. in Miami where Tropical Storm Ernesto may pack a punch. Tonight hurricane watches are up in Florida and there may be more states in Ernesto's path. We will speak live with the director of the National Hurricane Center, Max Mayfield.
And it's 2:00 a.m. in Casio (ph), Kenya where Senator Barack Obama is being greeted like a rock star while getting an HIV test. Tonight the political message behind that very unusual move.
Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm John King. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
A stung turn TODAY in one of this country's highest profile murder cases. After almost 10 years, hundreds of leads and one alarming admission, many thought the man who killed JonBenet Ramsey had been caught. But right now the newest suspect is no longer a murder suspect. Let's get the details of these dramatic developments from CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti. She's live in Boulder, Colorado -- Susan.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. What a turn of events for the Boulder police, the district attorney, the defense attorneys and all of the families involved in this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): Despite his own admission...
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
CANDIOTTI: And his purported admission five years ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: JonBenet, God what a powerful thing to just be alone with that little girl. CANDIOTTI: Despite the mounting evidence aired out in the media by those who say they knew him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He got out from under the guest bed and went into a room.
CANDIOTTI: Despite information from authorities who held him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard from my people that he said that he had sex with her, the girl.
CANDIOTTI: Despite the money spent to fly him across the Pacific in business class and across the western U.S. in a state-owned jet, the Boulder district attorney investigating the JonBenet Ramsey murder is back to square one. In its motion to dismiss Karr's arrest warrant, prosecutors wrote quote, "Because his DNA does not match that found in the victim's blood in her underwear, the people would not be able to establish that Mr. Karr committed this crime despite his repeated insistence that he did.
Karr's public defender went on the offensive.
SETH TEMIN, JOHN MARK KARR'S ATTORNEY: We're deeply distressed by the fact that they took this man and dragged him here from Bangkok Thailand with no forensic evidence confirming the allegations against him.
CANDIOTTI: According to court documents, investigators performed DNA testing on items John Mark Karr touched in Thailand. A Colorado scientist did not want to rely on that, so the Boulder district attorney made the decision to take Karr back to the United States. Authorities took the DNA sample from Karr the day he arrived in Colorado, sent the sample to the lab last Friday and on Saturday investigators confirm there was no DNA match linking Karr to JonBenet Ramsey.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: And at this hour, John Karr is still in jail, not being released because California authorities have asked to extradite him because he is a fugitive on outstanding misdemeanor child pornography charges in that state. Now tomorrow we hope to learn more about what led to the arrest of John Mark Karr in Thailand because the district attorney is going to release a 150-page long affidavit in connection with the arrest warrant -- back to you John.
KING: Susan Candiotti, great work for us today on this stunning development in Boulder, Colorado. Susan, thank you very much. And what might all this mean now for John Mark Karr? Joining me from New York is our CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeff, if you look at this motion to quash the arrest warrant that the prosecutor filed in Colorado essentially saying we don't have a case, she says they're in a catch-22. That to get a DNA sample they needed to arrest him, to ask his family to do other tests. Now they say that his family has a good alibi for him. They say to have asked those questions before they arrested him would have increased the flight risk. Do you buy it?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well it's hard to tell, John, but I have to say -- I mean this is a pretty unpersuasive document. You know they arrested him with no with no -- he hadn't given any special inside knowledge of the case. What he was talking about to other people and to investigators, there had been speculation that he knew something that was only -- only the killer would know. He didn't know anything in particular.
He just sounded frankly like some nut, which is what he turned out to be. And it's just very hard to see why the Boulder district attorney went to all of this effort for someone -- against whom there was nothing against except his own loony word.
KING: Some nut, loony words, to use your words, obviously someone who has said and recording conversations, some disturbing things about young children and how he likes to be around young children. What are the legal -- what is likely to happen now as California seeks extradition?
TOOBIN: Well he's going to face those charges, but those are pretty minor charges. Those are misdemeanors where he faces a Maximum of a year in prison and he'll have to resolve that in some way through a trial or a plea bargain, but he's really out -- he's not going to be convicted of the JonBenet Ramsey case because he's innocent.
KING: And play Professor Toobin for me for a minute, if you would. What are the questions you would have for the Boulder prosecutors right now about why they did this?
TOOBIN: Well I think, you know, their concern for the children of Bangkok is admirable, you know the fact that he had access to children there, but it would seem to me that the way to deal with that is have the Thai officials arrest him for any offenses that he committed there. But the JonBenet Ramsey case had nothing to do with it. They could have gotten a DNA sample that way and protected the Thai children, prevented him from fleeing but without this bizarre circus of flying him across the Pacific Ocean for no reason.
KING: Well put, bizarre circus. Jeff Toobin, thank you so much for your help today.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Thank you. And Jack Cafferty has some thoughts on this. You might not be surprised by that. He joins us now from New York. Hi, Jack.
CAFFERTY: Indeed, I do John. How are you? The news media might come out of this whole John Karr story with a well deserved black eye. For the last week and a half we couldn't get enough of this weird little creep who was arrested in Thailand as a suspect in the 10-year- old murder of JonBenet Ramsey. His picture was everywhere all the time.
We obsessed over every little detail of the story down to what he ate and drank on that flight from Thailand back to the United States. We fixated on alleged e-mails and phone call recordings of Karr, talking about the 6-year-old girl and his fascination with the case.
Well his ex-wife said he was with her in another state the night JonBenet was murdered in Colorado, but that didn't stop us. He confessed, well sort of. And besides, he's wanted for possession of child pornography in California. This guy is right out of central casting.
He looks guilty, doesn't he? Well guess what? He didn't do it. His DNA doesn't match samples from the murder scene. Whoops, it's not nearly as good a story if he didn't do it, now is it?
Here's the question. What should the media learn from the dropping of the case against John Karr in the JonBenet Ramsey murder? E-mail your thoughts to CaffertyFile@CNN.com or go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile, but please be gentle.
KING: I suspect they won't be so gentle...
CAFFERTY: No, probably not.
KING: We'll check back in a little later. Thank you Jack.
Hurricane watch for Florida. The Sunshine State braces for Ernesto. We'll take you live to the National Hurricane Center to find out where this storm will strike. Max Mayfield will join us live, but first, President Bush is on the Gulf Coast tonight marking one year since Hurricane Katrina flooded the region with destruction and despair. He's getting a firsthand look at the repair work that still needs to be done in the hardest hit communities and on his own public image. Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is traveling with the president -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, as you know of course President Bush is still feeling the political heat a year later after the federal government's botched job in dealing with Hurricane Katrina. President Bush essentially trying to convince the American people that he is committed to recovery of the gulf cost region and the long haul.
The president's message today quite simply saying optimism is the only option. It was a brief visit to both Gulfport, as well as Biloxi. The towns destroyed by Hurricane Katrina now cleared of debris. He went on a series of highly choreographed events to essentially emphasize the positive, meeting with local business leaders who are bringing back jobs and cash to the casinos.
Also toured a boat factory that has residents -- some Mississippi residents back to work. And while Mr. Bush said that the $110 billion of federal aid for recovery efforts is a robust effort by the federal government, he says of course this is really just the beginning, that there's still a lot of work that needs to be done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My message to the people down here is that we understand there's more work to be done and just because that a year's passed, the federal government will remember the people. This is an anniversary, but it doesn't mean it's an end. Frankly, it's just the beginning of what is going to be a long recovery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And John, President Bush now in New Orleans, Louisiana, that is where he is going to be having dinner with local officials, state officials there. He admitted that the recovery effort much slower in Louisiana and New Orleans. He also said today that it is going to take years, not months to get this region back in shape -- John.
KING: Suzanne Malveaux tonight traveling with the president. We'll check back in with you again tomorrow -- thank you Suzanne.
Tropical Storm Ernesto was pummeling Cuba, but don't think this storm will punch itself out. It should gain strength before hitting Florida and could later threaten the Carolinas, perhaps as a full- fledged hurricane.
Let's get the latest now from Max Mayfield. He of course is the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Max, what do we know?
MAX MAYFIELD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER: Well right now, John, the hurricane hunter plane, the (INAUDIBLE) plane has been flying shore patrol here, up and down the cost line on the north coast of Cuba. They're not really seeing much of a wind shift there. In fact, if we look at one of the Cuban radar sites, we can see the circulation right in here, about 40 miles east of a town called (INAUDIBLE), so it's still over land and that's probably good news. It's not going to strengthen significantly until it gets back over water. Once it gets away from land here tomorrow, the (INAUDIBLE) the water temperatures are warm; I don't see any reason why this should not go ahead and strengthen.
KING: Go ahead and strengthen to hurricane strength by the time it hits Florida you believe?
MAYFIELD: Well the most likely scenario is for it to become a strong tropical storm before it gets here. We do have tropical storm warnings out on the East Coast, south of (INAUDIBLE) beach on the West Coast from (INAUDIBLE) southward. That includes Lake Okeechobee and all the Florida Keys. We also have a hurricane watch up in that area and so what that means is we're forecasting a strong storm. There is some possibility it could become a category one hurricane.
KING: And when you say some possibility, walk through the determinate factors. Water temperatures obviously, the path it takes, the wind speed.
MAYFIELD: And the upper level environment and it's been a little bit inhibited today by the upper level environment, but that should become more favorable tomorrow. And we need to remember last year, Katrina was only a minimal tropical storm over the northwest Bahamas the day before it hit southeast Florida. And we had considerable wind damage and some significant flooding down here. And most of the people in Miami/Dade and of course in Brevard County only had tropical storm conditions.
KING: I saw the funnel cone earlier, if you will. The projected path was pretty wide much earlier in the day. Has that narrowed at this point as you prepare for this thing to move off Cuba and come toward the United States?
MAYFIELD: Well it narrows you know the closer in to a timeframe (INAUDIBLE) and it expands. And we -- this is the current forecast with that cone of uncertainty. We still have some computer models that take it through the Florida Keys and up in the southwest coast. We have one that (INAUDIBLE) the coast and then off the Atlantic and everything in between there. So I think we've got a very reasonable forecast. Florida will definitely see some impacts in both wind and rain from Ernesto.
KING: And based on everything you just showed us there, the people of South Florida should be taking their precautions. Max Mayfield at the National Hurricane Center, Max, thanks so much for your help tonight. We'll touch base...
MAYFIELD: Thank you, John.
KING: ... next few days. Thank you. And coming up, a deadly mistake through the eyes of a pilot, a takeoff from the wrong runway ends in a fiery crash, was there any way to avoid the accident?
Plus, fear of foreigners. Pat Buchanan joins us to explain why he thinks Mexicans are taking over California and laying claim to it. It's provocative viewpoint, I'll ask the tough questions.
And rock star treatment. Kenya rolls out the red carpet for Senator Barack Obama. We will take you there live.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Word just in now of a new weather threat, tornados in Ohio. Let's go live to CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. She's at the CNN Weather Center -- Jacqui.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KING: Jacqui Jeras at the CNN Weather Center. We will keep an eye on that. Thank you very much Jacqui.
And we told you a few moments ago President Bush is spending tonight on the Gulf Coast. And tonight there's evidence that Hurricane Katrina is still doing damage to the president and the public's confidence in him. We have new poll numbers on the political fallout one year after the storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING (voice-over): Back on the Gulf Coast one year later. Katrina's political toll is obvious as the lingering rebuilding challenge.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), HOMELAND SECURITY CHMN.: Katrina was clearly a blow to the president because it undermined his well deserved reputation for competence and compassion.
KING: In a new CNN poll just 34 percent of Americans approve of how Mr. Bush responded to Katrina. Sixty-four percent disapprove. Even fellow Republicans say the president is still paying a price for the government's initial response a year ago.
COLLINS: It was hesitant and halting when it should have been crisp and competent.
KING: What made Katrina's political punch even more powerful was that it came just as Americans were turning increasingly sour on the Iraq war.
ANDREW KOHUT, PEW CENTER: As people become demoralized and negative about a political leader, when something like Katrina comes along, it reinforces and cements in, crystallizes a negative image.
KING: Sixty percent of Americans, for example, view the president as a strong and decisive leader a year ago. Just 51 percent do now and 51 percent considered Mr. Bush honest and trustworthy back then, just 44 percent now. This is part of what Bush allies consider a distorted picture, the president at first viewed the damage from Air Force One because he believed visiting right away would drain police and other resources from search and rescue efforts. Instead, this reinforced the idea of a president too detached to understand the desperation.
ANDREW CARD, FORMER W.H. CHIEF OF STAFF: Some of the frustration that I experienced in the White House was that people didn't recognize that the president's hands were tied frequently during the response to Hurricane Katrina by a relatively weak response from the state and local governments.
KING: The president's anniversary visit is designed to offer assurances the government is better prepared for this hurricane season and to highlight a $110-billion federal commitment to the Gulf Coast recovery. Yet, even some loyalists lament what they see is a failure to follow through on this post-Katrina promise.
BUSH: We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action.
MICHAEL GERSON, FORMER SENIOR BUSH ADVISER: You know we gave out a lot of money and we, you know, rebuilding various things, but America really needed a dialog on race and poverty.
(END VIDEOTAPE) KING: Still to come here, no DNA match in the murder case of JonBenet Ramsey. Find out why prosecutors are dropping charges and sending the man who was the suspect straight on to California.
Also, what happened right before the fatal airline crash in Kentucky? We'll examine what it might have been like in the cockpit of that commercial flight.
You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: What caused the commuter jet to come down in a fiery explosion in Kentucky? There are no clear answers. But one official at the airport in Lexington says the taxiway was changed during a repaving project just last week. Forty-nine are dead and right now one man is alive.
Officials say the jet went down a wrong shorter runway than it should have. Let's get more now on this investigation from our Brian Todd -- Brian.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, two pilots including one who has flown the same type of aircraft through Lexington's Bluegrass Airport (ph) several times tell us they believe the pilots of Comair Flight 5191 thought they were taking off on the correct runway, so we asked an expert how he thinks they ended up on a much shorter one and what unfolded once they started down it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): Cleared to take off on a 7,000-foot runway, why did the pilots of Comair (ph) Flight 5191 turn down a runway half as long? We go through scenarios with Ben Berman (ph), a pilot and former NTSB chief investigator. Using special software, we simulate conditions at Bluegrass Airport (ph), programming in all the vital information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put in August 27, Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. and then the program will give us the right (INAUDIBLE) for weather.
TODD: The software gives us the exact layout of Bluegrass' (ph) runways and puts us in the cockpit of a CRJ-100 (ph), the same type of aircraft. We note the software shows us the runways as if the lights are working. The NTSB says the lights on runway 26, that shorter one, were out at the time. Berman (ph) and I put ourselves in a cockpit first taxiing toward both runways.
(on camera): Why does he stop on 26 coming up here?
BEN BERMAN, FORMER NTSB CHIEF INVESTIGATOR: He does it because he thinks its runway 22. And he's got a lot of work to do in that short distance, getting the airplane ready for flight. There isn't much time. He looks down, looks up, sees a runway, maybe it's runway 22, we're here. It's runway 26.
TODD: But shouldn't his instruments, his compass, have told him he was pointing in the wrong direction?
BERMAN: Ideally yes, the runway numbered 26 matches off to a heading of 260 or almost west. And you can see this airplane now positioned at the beginning of runway 26 is showing it 263 on the compass, so it's lined up with 26.
TODD (voice-over): Berman says by this time the pilot has figured in his so-called V1 (ph), V for velocity, based on the weight of the plane and the length of the runway, it's also known as the decision speed. Before reaching that speed, if something goes wrong, you can abort takeoff. After it, you've got to try to take off, but if he's going down the wrong runway, Berman says, the V1 (ph) calculation would be off target.
BERMAN: At this point, the end of the runway is coming up very quickly and they must realize something is very, very wrong. But by this time they're faced only with a snap reaction. Stop the airplane right now and accept an accident off the end of the runway or try and make it go, try and make it fly.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD: Berman says investigators are doing the same kinds of simulations with more sophisticated technology. Also at their disposal, the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, which will likely tell them what the pilots may have been saying about those runways -- John.
KING: Fascinating look, Brian Todd, thank you very much.
And just ahead, more details on today's stunning turn of events in the JonBenet Ramsey probe. Charges have been dropped against the suspect in her murder. We'll have more on why.
And are illegal immigrants on an invasion and conquest of the United States causing a state of emergency? Political pundit Pat Buchanan thinks so. In a few minutes I'll ask him about that.
Stay right here. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: To our viewers, you're some in THE SITUATION ROOM where new pictures and information are arriving all the time.
Happening now, prosecutors in Colorado have dropped their case against John Mark Karr. He won't be charged in the 1996 killing of JonBenet Ramsey. Authorities say his DNA didn't match samples found in the beauty queen's underwear. This comes a week and a half after his arrest and public confession in Thailand.
Tropical Storm Ernesto is beating a path toward south Florida and could make landfall tomorrow. It weakened after a brush with Cuba, but it could regain strength over open water. A hurricane watch is in effect for much of Florida's Atlantic Coast. President Bush is calling the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina just the beginning of recovery efforts. He's on the Gulf Coast tonight praising residents' courage in the face of the storm and the failures in the government's response. It's his 11th visit to the region since Katrina hit.
Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm John King. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Even though John Mark Karr is not being charged with the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, he's not being released. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti joins us once again with the latest unusual twist in this case -- Susan.
CANDIOTTI: A lot of unusual twists and they keep on coming. That's right. He is not a free man now because the state of California wants to hold an extradition hearing to get their hands on him again. That's because he is a fugitive from an outstanding child pornography case, a misdemeanor case out of California, so that extradition hearing will be coming up relatively shortly.
But here's yet another twist. Did you know that John Mark Karr had actually been a free man for an entire hour because that's how long ago he had been released before authorities picked him up again because of a snafu? Authorities here did not know that the state of California had actually put a warrant out for him to pick him up again, so for an hour although he was in the company of investigators from the D.A.'s office, he was nevertheless out of jail before they picked him up again.
Anyway, as all of our viewers know by now, authorities did not make a DNA match to John Mark Karr so despite his many admissions that he kidnapped, raped and there was no DNA match, therefore the case against him was dropped. Back to you John.
KING: Susan Candiotti, stunning developments in Boulder, Colorado. Let's get more insight on this case. Joining me now from Denver is Norm Early who used to serve as that city's district attorney. Mr. Early let me just start with this simple question, it sounds to me, you listen to Susan Candiotti, you follow this all day long, it sounds a bit like Keystone Cops.
NORM EARLY, FORMER DENVER DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well that's unfortunate because it got the reputation of being a Keystone Cop situation from the very beginning when the Boulder authorities didn't cordon off the house and didn't make it a true crime scene so that evidence could be preserved. What happened up in Boulder today, as far as them not knowing what California wanted, it's amazing that at this time of law enforcement, with the great communication we allegedly among one another, that something like that could happen and he could have absconded and gone just about anywhere during that hours period.
KING: Now the prosecutors make a high profile arrest. They bring this gentleman over from Thailand. They have him custody and now in this warrant, which they say essentially, never mind, they say that they took a DNA test from him. It does not match the sample found on the victim's body. They also say that his family has given him a pretty good alibi, that he could not have been in Boulder, Colorado on the night of the murder. Is there no way the police could have done some of this work before they arrested him?
EARLY: Well you know, they only found out his true identity five days before this arrest went down. And they had already made a difficult decision. Do we arrest? Do we not arrest? Having made that decision, they had to follow through. All of us want the right guy. Nobody wants the wrong guy. You don't, John. I don't. Nobody in the public wants the person who did not commit this crime.
The only way for them to know whether they had the right guy, according to their expert, was to get a pristine swab of this man for DNA purposes. They got that pristine swab. Once getting it, they found that they did not have the person whose DNA matched, and they did what the system should have done, they cut him loose. They did not make him face charges that could not be proven.
KING: Apparently we will hear from the District Attorney Mary Lacey in the morning in Boulder, Colorado. If you could ask the first question, sir, what would it be?
EARLY: I'm sure the first question will be a take off on what you just asked me, John, why did you bring him all the way back here instead of just leaving him over there and seeing if you could gather your evidence while he was there. I'm anticipating that one of the reasons is because he was teaching second graders. Some people are saying well he wasn't teaching second graders in the U.S. You know, to me, a second grader is a second grader is a second grader and you really don't want any kid in this world to be molested.
If the boulder's D.A.'s office could have helped prevent one of this kids in Thailand from being molested, I think it was the right thing to do. Also, once John Mark Karr is marked as the individual who is the prime suspect in the JonBenet Ramsey case, he has incentive to stay there and to teach kids in Thailand is probably far less than it was the day before. So, his incentive to abscond would be very great.
KING: There will be a lot of questions looking back at just how all this played out and the mistakes that were made. Help us look forward. As you mentioned, he does still face these charges in California. They are considered relatively minor. And yet you have heard all of the tape recordings, the other statements from this man. He's a disturbed individual, to say the least. What happens going forward?
EARLY: Well he's certainly a very disturbed individual. He's weird, perverted. He's not a very nice person, by all of objective standards. The question is, is he a murderer and by now we know that he's not. Has he committed child pornography in the state of California? That remains to be seen.
He's only dealing with misdemeanor charges there, which is small potatoes, given what he's been facing in this JonBenet Ramsey case, but that will eventually be resolved and perhaps he will get as much as a year in jail. But after that, he is still going to be a free man and the point is what do we do with people like this in our society? Because, you know, he's had a disturbing childhood. He's obviously very disturbed now. How do we deal with individuals like this to protect our children in the future?
KING: Quickly sir, how would you deal with them?
EARLY: Well, you know, one of the things that you got to make sure is that he gets the kind of counseling that he needs and that he comes to understand that these twisted and bizarre feelings that he has. And from my standpoint it's not going to happen over night. It's got to be something that a lot of time and a lot of energy and a lot of money is going to be invested in, in order to make sure children in the future are protected. But, he will be a beneficiary of that and hopefully our children will be as well.
KING: Former Denver District Attorney Norm Early. Thank you sir for your thoughts tonight.
EARLY: Thank you, John.
KING: Take care. And up ahead tonight, he warns that an immigrant invasion could once again make the American southwest part of Mexico. I will speak with conservative commentator and author, Pat Buchanan.
And he's rising political star at home. He's treated like a rock star in his father's homeland. We're with Senator Barack Obama in Kenya. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Even the most popular U.S. presidents rarely get the kind of overseas welcome that Senator Barack Obama has been getting in Africa. The Illinois Democrat has been visiting his father's homeland of Kenya and he's honing his credentials as a political rock star along the way. Our Africa correspondent Jeff Koinange has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF KOINANGE, CNN AFRICA CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If Barack Obama was expecting a quiet reunion in his ancestral home town, he was seriously mistaken. From Obama t-shirts to photo ops to signing the 11-year-old autobiography, now a best seller, all in his first few minutes here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up, guys. Back up.
KOINANGE: And the phalanx of bodyguards, more visible here do to the sudden rock star status.
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), ILLINOIS: This is obviously a wonderful event for me. The opportunity to come back to the land where my father was born. KOINANGE: And with that, the senator's convoy was off. Thousands lined the streets just to catch a glimpse of the man many here consider their son and brother even though he was born in the U.S. All the way to his first stop the crowd kept growing and singing. This was the first time the crowd had seen Obama and even for a politician used to crowds, Obama mania here seemed a bit overwhelming. But he quickly composed himself, greeting them in the native tongue of his father, a goat herder, turned Harvard educated economist.
OBAMA: I am so proud to come back home and to see all of the people here.
KOINANGE (on camera): It was at his first stop that Obama probably got his biggest welcome. Thousands of locals turning up just to see him take an HIV test.
OBAMA: I just want everybody to remember that, if a U.S. senator from the United States can get tested, and his wife can be tested, that everybody in this crowd can get tested, and everybody in the city can get tested, and everybody in country can get tested.
(APPLAUSE)
KOINANGE (voice-over): Applause now, but this is a country where many avoid getting tested, out of fear of testing positive for AIDS. More than two million people in this country have died of AIDS, and at least three million are carrying the virus, and probably many more.
Next stop: the recently named Senator Barack Obama secondary school in his father's village, an hour away. The students ecstatic, singing Senator Obama, you have achieved fame and fortune; you are our inspiration. Where he unveiled a plaque.
But the best, no doubt, came last, Obama reuniting with his grandmother for first time in 14 years, and introducing his children -- a favorite son, now a hero, trying to make a difference on both sides of the Atlantic.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOINANGE: And, John, yet another raucous welcome for the senator, as he gave a keynote address at the country's largest university, this time speaking out against two ills he says are hampering Kenya's growth, namely ethnicity and corruption -- John?
KING: And Jeff, is this about what Senator Obama expected or is it a bit overwhelming?
KOINANGE: I tell you, it was pretty overwhelming. You could see in some parts, especially with those crowds as the convoy was going through the streets of Kisumu, it was pretty overwhelming. And then when he got off his vehicle, went to his first stop, when he did that HIV test. He looked pretty overwhelmed in some parts and in fact the crowds had to be calmed down by local politicians because they were literally going wild. This man got a rock star welcome in his father's ancestral home, John, no doubt about it.
KING: Jeff Koinange, tracking this trip for us. Many think Senator Obama someday will be seeking national office here in the United States. Jeff, thank you very much.
And up ahead, fear of foreigners. Pat Buchanan joins us to explain why he thinks Mexicans are taking over California and laying claim to it. It's a provocative viewpoint. I'll ask him the tough questions.
And what should the media learn from the dropping of the charges against John Mark Karr in the JonBenet Ramsey case?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: He warns of an invasion of immigrants that's changing the very nature of America and could lead, he says, to the southwest United States to once again become part of Mexico, at least culturally. Political commentator, former Republican presidential candidate and author Patrick Buchanan has a new book titled "State of Emergency."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KING: I want to begin with something you say near the end of the book, where you call for a moratorium on immigration so that the government can think about what we should have as a policy.
And you say this: "The first imperative is an immediate moratorium on all immigration. And while the moratorium lasts, we should debate and decide whom we wish to come and whether we wish to alter or preserve the ethnic-religious composition of America. After all, America belongs to us, not the world."
There are some who would say Pat Buchanan wants to set a government policy where we pick the white English-speaking people. They can come to America. Others are left out.
PAT BUCHANAN, AUTHOR, "STATE OF EMERGENCY": Pat would say the American people should decide who comes, John.
We've got 36 million immigrants in this country, 12 million folks here illegally, more illegal aliens than all the Jews and Irish and English who ever came. The American people want the borders secured, and I think they support a time-out. But if you've got to have a time-out, you've got to have a certain number -- as John F. Kennedy said, 150,000 to 250,000 -- who should decide who comes and what are the criteria?
I do believe we should favor folks from cultures and civilization that have been assimilated before. But the purpose of the moratorium is like the moratorium we had from 1924 to 1965, to assimilate, Americanize and to introduce all these folks to our language and culture, and history and heroes, and make them Americans.
KING: But you know how emotional this debate is, and many would say, if we went back in time, that you and I might not be here, that the Irish would not have been welcomed, if you had somebody in government...
BUCHANAN: We were in by then. We were in by then.
KING: ... somebody in government saying, who gets to come and who doesn't get to come?
BUCHANAN: Well, sure. John...
KING: You clearly think -- I want to read more from your book -- you clearly think that the people coming in from Mexico, and I assume Central and South America, are a threat to the culture of the United States, because you write in your book, "Those who believe it doesn't matter from where they come will turn America into something she cannot survive, becoming a multicultural, multiethnic, multilingual Tower of Babel."
You think it's that bad?
BUCHANAN: It's what Teddy Roosevelt said, we'll become a "polyglot boarding house for the world, a tangle of squabbling minorities."
The problem with the immigration, basically -- let's take Mexico -- is these folks are breaking the law first.
Secondly, they're coming in huge numbers like no other group before.
Third, they're from a contiguous nation.
Fourth, 58 percent of Mexicans believe the Southwest belongs to them.
Fifth, the Mexican government is pushing them in here, and it's got a political and ideological agenda that I outline in the book.
If you don't have secure borders, Ronald Reagan said, John, you don't have a country anymore.
KING: Well, let's talk a little bit about that, then I want to get to the politics. But you mentioned California in your book. You talk quite a bit about it, what you call an invasion coming in from Mexico.
"The golden land is no more. For the first time since the Spanish came, native born Californians have begun to depart, fed up with rising crime rates and rising taxes to subsidize illegal aliens. They're leaving for Arizona, Nevada, Idaho and Colorado, as the California they grew up in and love morphs into Mexifornia."
You also talk about perhaps Texas.
Is that -- some people -- sometimes you write in a book, you get a little bit out there, a little hyperbole to catch attention. Are you trying to catch attention or do you think that's a serious threat?
BUCHANAN: Thirty-four percent of California is Hispanic. Thirty-four percent of Texas, 43 percent of New Mexico. You've got a half-million illegals making it in every year. You've got a million -- I mean, another half-million illegals.
Clearly, what is going to happen is that's going to be completely his Hispanicized. The Census Bureau, John, says 102 million Hispanics, mostly concentrated in the Southwest, by 2050.
To me, what happens when native-born Americans of European descent depart is this is going to become a border land which is basically neither America nor Mexico. How do you think the Mexicans lost Texas? The folks came it in from the South, they outnumbered Mexicans 10-1, and then they told the Mexicans good-bye.
KING: This is a dangerous debate. You get into race, ethnic questions.
Let me ask you this, if the border...
BUCHANAN: You've got to get into race and ethnic questions.
KING: If the border were secured and through legal immigration California became a majority Hispanic, majority Latino, Texas became a majority, do you have a problem with that if they came in through legal immigration?
BUCHANAN: Yes, I do. Yes, I do. If they're -- because of the Mexican situation, Mexico has a claim on this country. John, our Irish ancestors, Italian ancestors, Jewish folks they didn't say, look, this belongs to us. That grand march, what did you have 500,000 to a million people, they are under Mexican flags. They say this is our land.
You had 90,000 people in the Coliseum in a soccer game in California in L.A., what happened? When the Mexican team came out there, they booed the American flag, they tore down -- excuse me, tore down the American flag, booed our national anthem, through garbage on the American team.
You have got a tremendously rising, militant group among Mexicans in this country which is documented there. And if we don't wake up to, we're risking the break-up of our country. T.R. warned against this, Wilson warned against it, half the great Americans did.
KING: It is a significant policy debate. It's also a bit of a tug-of-war with your party. And you've gone to war with the Republican party in the past when you've deemed it necessary.
Ken Mehlman, the Republican National Committee Chairman, as you know, disagrees with you, and the president of the United States disagrees with you on much of these points.
What Ken Mehlman said in a June 22 speech to the -- as I believe -- was to NAACP, no, Latino elected officials, I'm sorry. He said, "America has always and will always be changed by the immigrants who come to our shores, changed for the better."
You have a fundamental disagreement. I want you to talk about that in the context of Republican politics. You talk about it here about impeaching the president for not securing the borders.
BUCHANAN: I think the president is not going to be impeached, but he's guilty of an impeachable offense. The constitution commands the president of the United States to defend the United States from an invasion. When he himself says, 6 million people have been stopped. We don't know how many have gotten in. Most people think about half that number. You have got an invasion.
He hasn't been enforcing the immigration laws. And he hasn't been defending the border against an invasion, John. He ain't going to be impeached, because the Democrats are going along with the program, because both of them are beholden to the same corporate people right down there on K Street who want limitless immigration and who want cheap labor and who want to be able to go abroad and bring in foreign workers into this United States.
So, I think that the president of United States has been derelict in his duty. Unlike Dwight Eisenhower who put together something called Operation Wetback, excuse me, on the border when he had a million immigrants coming in from Mexico. He sent we've got to stop this. He sent down a general to do it. And they deported those folks.
Something has happened to the elites in this country if they can't defend America's border.
KING: What would you say, I've known you a long time, what would you say to a Muslim watching in Dearborn, Michigan or a Latino watching in Los Angeles, California, maybe even a Cuban-American watching in Miami,Florida who says this is a crazy white guy.
BUCHANAN: I'd say, look, anybody from any country or culture or civilization can be a good American. We know that. Cuban-Americans are good Americans. Mexican-Americans fight in our wars. Muslim- Americans fight in our wars.
I would say simply this, I'm an American. If you're coming here to be an American, fine, that's the immigrants we want. But if you're coming here simply for a job and you don't give a hoot about the United States of America, I would say stay home because there's millions of people all over this world who want to be Americans. And those are the type of people who have waited in line for years, who ought to get those 150,000 slots or 250,000 slots, John. Those are the people we want. We don't want a bunch of proletarian workers who have no desire to be citizens and who don't want to be American citizens.
KING: What would you say lastly in closing, to a Republican strategist like a Ken Meade or a Karl Rove at the White House who would say, talk like that will drive away Latino voters and cost the Republicans what could be an emerging majority for the next 25, 30 years. BUCHANAN: What I'll tell them is, look, you keep pandering to ladened, you keep going to meetings like that, you keep dishing the Republican base by supporting open borders which they don't want, you fail to secure America's borders and you will take down the coalition some of us put together with Richard Nixon and some of us put together with Ronald Reagan. You will drive away the Reagan Democrats.
It is working class Democrats, John, who are most militant, African-Americans, about stopping the invasion because they suffer the social costs and they lose the jobs.
KING: Pat Buchanan, always provocative. Agree or disagree, it's an interesting book.
BUCHANAN: Take it easy.
KING: Good to see you, Pat. Thank you very much.
BUCHANAN: Now let's find out now what's coming up next. John Roberts is in for Paula Zahn. Hi, John.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, thanks very much, John.
Of Pat's new book subject of discussion during my vacation in the last couple of weeks. Some interesting stuff he has to say, very controversial as well.
At the top of the hour, the latest breaking news in the JonBenet Ramsey case. We have more on why prosecutors decided not to file any charges against John Mark Barr. And how a last second request from California is keeping him in jail tonight.
Also, a bizarre tale that sounds like a twist on "Arsenic and Old Lace." Two grandmothers are accused of befriending homeless men, taking out big life insurance policies on them and then killing them. All of that coming up at the top of hour, John.
KING: Interesting story. We will be watching. Thank you, John.
And still ahead here, what should the media learn from the dropping of the case against John Mark Karr in the JonBenet Ramsey murder? Jack's back with your e-mails.
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KING: Jack's in New York with "The Cafferty File." Hi Jack.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: How are you doing, John.
The question this hour is what should the media learn in the dropping of the case against John Karr in the JonBenet Ramsey murder? The media was on this case like a bird on a worm for two weeks. Now in the end, the DNA didn't match-up, no charges will be brought against him.
The e-mail, a lot of it, came in as follows. Chris in Hollywood, California, "the media has been dropping the ball for years now. Ever since the O.J. trial, American's have been conditioned to look at peculiar news stories instead of focusing on matters of national interest."
Rosalyn, California, "Jack, when the story broke, I noted it coincided with the released of the NSA spying program court decision. You know, the one that said the president broke the law with his illegal wiretapping program. John Mark Karr conveniently emerges as the long lost murder suspect and stole the attention away from what really was and is the true story of the year."
R. in Houston, "the media needs to stop jumping on the poor, innocent white girl bandwagon. The girl's been gone for a long time, and rather than concentrate on how messed up New Orleans still is, the media talks about a pedaphile murder case from 10 years ago for two weeks. Give it a rest. I can't remember seeing a minority missing child on the news for more than four days."
Fred in Florida, "Jack, don't blame the media, you're just giving the viewers what they want. More people hit on Bennifer, Britney, Tom-Kats and K-Fed sites then they do on the news. You're just giving them what they want. These are the folks who can't name two Supreme Court justices, but can name the seven dwarves."
Gary in Florida, "I believe in CNN to provide me honest, impartial information. I take that information, make a personal decision as to what I believe. I know that sounds kind of liberal or progressive. But you know independent thinking has always worked pretty well for me. I'm obviously not an O'Reilly sheep."
And Curtis in Maine, "Jack, the 24 hour news cycle is a monster that needs to be constantly fed. This episode proves the media need to go on a strict diet."
If you didn't see your e-mail here, go to CNN.com/caffertyfile. Perhaps you'll see it there or perhaps not -- John.
KING: Well, take a look, some pretty provocative statements on a rather interesting day. Jack, thank you very much.
And thanks for joining us here in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I'm John King in for Wolf Blitzer.
John Roberts is standing in for Paula Zahn. Is up right now.
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