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CNN Saturday Morning News
O.J. Simpson Found Guilty in Robbery and Kidnapping Trial; $700 Billion Bailout Bill Now in Place
Aired October 04, 2008 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, I'm T.J. Holmes and this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, T.J. Good morning, everybody, I'm Alina Cho. Betty has the morning off. Thanks so much for starting your day with us.
And we have some breaking news that happened overnight, a verdict in the O.J. Simpson robbery and kidnapping trial, incredible coincidence. It's related to the hotel room confrontation in Las Vegas over sports memorabilia, by the way. The coincidence is that the verdict came 13 years to the date after that acquittal in the double murder case in Los Angeles. We're going to be live in Las Vegas with our own Ted Rowlands who's been following it.
HOLMES: Also, an important story for all of us. This thing has been signed, sealed and delivered, now it's in place. The $700 billion bailout bill that we're told we all need. Well, when is it going to kick in? We'll be talking about the bailout bill a lot this morning.
Also, we're soliciting e-mails from you, weekends@cnn.com. We've been getting some in. We'll share them with you throughout the morning.
CHO: Looking forward to that.
But first, O.J. Simpson is waking up this morning, facing the prospect of spending the rest of his life in prison. Overnight as we just told you he was found guilty of robbing two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room last year. The verdict came exactly 13 years to the day that Simpson was acquitted of double murder in Los Angeles. And our CNN's Ted Rowlands following the story for us from Las Vegas. Hey, Ted, good morning.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alina.
Worst case scenario for O.J. Simpson after 2 1/2 weeks of testimony, 22 witnesses, the jury came back with a resounding prosecution win, finding Simpson guilty on all 12 counts. After the counts were read, Simpson had very little reaction in the courtroom. He sort of turned and faced the jury after they were about halfway through reading the counts against him.
Behind him, though, in the courtroom his sister and his friends were weeping openly. This was a complete loss for Simpson. Defense attorneys were hoping that they could at least get some of these charges -- a couple of these not guilty, especially the most serious, the kidnapping and the armed robbery with a deadly weapon. That did not happen.
So, Simpson could spend the rest of his life in jail because he's facing a lot of jail time. Even if the judge comes in with minimum sentences. They even lost, did the defense attorneys, when they tried to ask the judge to please let O.J. go until he was sentenced.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YALE GALANTER, O.J. SIMPSON ATTORNEY: In terms of the state's motion to revoke bail, of course, we oppose that. Mr. Simpson is not a flight risk. He has honored every one of his court appearances, always has. He's never been late. He owns property in Florida. Truly no reason to take him into custody pending sentence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. That motion's denied. They're both remanded to custody right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROWLANDS: And after that, they put the handcuffs on O.J. Simpson and he was taken via an underground tunnel to the county jail. The Clark County detention center, where he will remain until December 5th. That is when Judge Jackie Glass will sentence Simpson for these 12 felony counts. Simpson's co-defendant, Clarence Stewart, also found guilty on all counts. Alina.
CHO: Ted, I know you mentioned in an earlier hour that he could get at least 20 years in prison, which presumably could be the rest of his life, considering he's 61-years-old. Now, we talked to Jeffrey Toobin about an hour ago about this. He said cases often do not win on appeal, and yet Simpson's attorney wants to go ahead with that, doesn't he?
ROWLANDS: Oh, absolutely. Yes, they think that they've got a couple of things that they can attack. One of the things that they felt like this was overcharged, especially the kidnapping. When you think of kidnapping, you don't think about a group of guys and some ne'er-do-wells going into some hotel room and exchanging property.
In fact, in this case, one of the victims said he didn't feel like a victim and he didn't think O.J. should be convicted. So there's a lot of things they can go for. But as Jeffrey said, the odds of getting something like this overturned, pretty small.
CHO: Ted Rowlands live for us in Las Vegas. Ted, thank you -- T.J..
HOLMES: All right. We will turn to the economy now. The big question about this big bailout, $700 billion, we're told we had to have it. So it's in place now, signed, sealed, delivered. Does that mean it's all good? Well, not quite. President Bush signed that bill into law, just an hour or so after the House passed it yesterday. Well the markets didn't feel too good about it yesterday, not exactly optimistic.
The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 157 points on Friday after being up 300 points at the start of trading. Lost actually 7.3 percent for the week, the Dow did. The bailout came after a government report showed that the biggest drop in jobs happened since 2003 and employers cut 159,000 jobs last month. However, the experts out there had predicted job losses were going to be far less, about 400 -- or rather, about 105,000 just this year alone, we have lost 760,000 jobs.
We have had our money team and our correspondents all over this story all week, over the past couple of weeks since it's been happening on this bailout. Brianna Keilar there for us this morning on Capitol Hill. And our senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is in New York for us.
First, we're going to hear from both of them, but we do want to hear first Brianna's report on the immediate reaction to bill passing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The bill is passed. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A $700 billion bailout plan signed into law. Now what? First up, the hard sell. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle trying to win over constituents who think they're being played for fools in a rescue of Wall Street.
REP. ROY BLINT (R), MINORITY WHIP: I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks where we all get a chance to talk with the people we work for and the people of the country about what the final product really did, how it really protected taxpayers.
KEILAR: Lawmakers want to convince voters that taking toxic mortgage-backed securities off the hands of financial institutions will undo the credit crunch and stop home loans, car loans, student loans from drying up. It's an election year. In the Senate, one in three seats face re-election. In the House, every seat is on the ballot next month. And some admit their sport for the bailout could be the political kiss of death.
REP. HOWARD COBLE (R), NORTH CAROLINA: This vote for me -- I voted aye today. It may be politically damaging, and the sky may fall tomorrow but it will fall upon my head. It won't fall upon anyone else's and no one else will be adversely affected.
KEILAR: President Bush pointed out Friday what many analysts are saying about the plan.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Americans should also expect that it will take some time for this legislation to have its full impact on our economy.
KEILAR: And so members of Congress will be watching and waiting to see if the bailout eventually buoys the American economy but syncs them in the process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Here in foreseeable future, we're also going to be seeing lawmakers holding quite a few hearings, trying to get to the bottom of the question, how did the U.S. economy come to be in such dire straits. The first of those hearings are going to be in this coming week, on Monday. There's going to be a couple of hearings this upcoming week in the House to look at the collapse of Lehman brothers and also the government takeover of insurance giant AIG -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Brianna Keilar for us on Capitol Hill. Brianna, we appreciate you this morning.
CHO: To our Allan Chernoff now from the view from New York, the nation's financial center, of course. Everybody wants to know how Wall Street is going to react. Hey, Allan, good morning. So how soon will the Treasury Department be able to start buying up those bad mortgage-backed securities that we've been hearing so much about?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Alina, good morning. Given the crisis, you would hope that the Treasury would be able to do it almost instantaneously, but the fact is this is all very complicated. The Treasury now has to get the plan in place. It has to hire experts who can actually assess all of these so-called toxic mortgages, and then it has to come up with some sort of auctioning process for this all to happen.
One source told me yesterday that it's going to be at least four weeks before the plan is actually in place and operating. We're talking after the election. So, even though we are facing really a dire crisis right now, it's not just going to happen right away.
CHO: Allan, break down the vote for us because many people, as you know, many members of Congress facing an election impending. They're hearing from their constituents. So, how did the vote break down? Because a lot of people coming out saying after the fact, listen, my constituents said they don't want me to vote for the $700 billion bailout so I didn't. So did we see a lot of switching?
CHERNOFF: Yes, well, that's the reason it didn't pass on Monday. Of course, there was an outcry. People saying, why should we bother bailing out Wall Street? And then you heard Wall Street's response, that plunge we suffered on Monday. And that, I think, helped people to understand that, you know what? Maybe this is a bailout for Wall Street, but more importantly, this is a bailout to save the entire economy. And that is clearly what made the switch.
Some congressmen, indeed, saying yesterday after the vote that they heard from their constituents once again --
CHO: That's right.
CHERNOFF: Saying, hey, you know, we -- we are worried about our economy now. One congressman said his first vote was a blue collar vote against the plan. And when he switched around, he said now it was a red, white and blue vote.
CHO: Well, that was put very well. Especially, Allan, as you well know when you consider that the Dow lost 818 points just this past week, Wall Street is all about perception. So it is something that many people say this had to be passed, and as we saw, it did in short order. Allan Chernoff from New York. Allan, thank you.
So what does the $700 billion bailout bill mean to you? E-mail your thoughts to weekends@cnn.com. Please include your city, name and state so we can use your thoughts. And we're going to read your responses throughout the morning -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Well, Alina, we have seen auto companies bailed out by the government in the past. This time around we're seeing banks, we're seeing financial institutions being bailed out. Well, next we might have a state that needs to be bailed out as well. We're talking about California here. The state relies on short-term loans to cover basic operating expenses such as funding for schools and police.
Well, the governor there, Schwarzenegger, he warned he might need help from the federal government.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIFORNIA: We know that we need anywhere between $6 and $7 billion, that's the amount that we knew that we needed to, you know, two months ago. That's the amount that we know we need now. So, there's nothing new with the amount. It's just that we need that money and cash is running out by the end of the month of October. So, this is why it's important that we get going right now and that we solve those problems.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: As you heard there by the end of the month of October, well, they have a specific date. They say without the loans, California could run dry of cash on October the 29th -- Alina.
CHO: Well, Texas three weeks after Hurricane Ike, hundreds of families still have no idea where their missing relatives are. We'll have an update.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back. The alleged mastermind behind a series of deadly bombings in Baghdad is dead. The U.S. military says Mahir Al Zubaidi was killed in a coalition raid. He was believed to be the leader of one of Al Qaeda's In Iraq's local network. He is being blamed for killing hundreds of civilians in the Sadr City area. The military says he also planned and participated in kidnappings and videotaped beheadings -- T.J.
HOLMES: Well, 800 people dead. This is in Haiti and of course after that string of hurricanes and tropical storms we've been seeing, the number 800 just being released by the Haitian Red Cross and is expected to rise because so many people are still missing. Four major storms caused massive flooding and mudslides. U.S. aid officials say the tropical weather compounded an already critical food shortage.
Also just three weeks now after Hurricane Ike, or not just three weeks, but here we are three weeks, rather, after the storm and 300 people are still missing in Texas. 24 at least of those 300 children. That's according to a group that works to track the missing in Crystal Beach, one of the areas hit hardest by Ike. The fire chief said it took longer than he expected to get agency support, but he's doing all he can.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF DAVID LOOP, CRYSTAL BEACH FIRE DEPT.: I think the response was a little bit slow on the movement through the different agencies to get what we needed in here, and it's here now. I'm thankful for that. We could ask what we could have done here to try to make the recoveries, we could honestly say that we did everything possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The agency tracking the missing said it's hopeful many of the people on the list are safe and were evacuated. Sometimes just hard to -- you know, people take off, and they go stay with relatives or what not, just not accounted for. So hopefully, most of them are just somewhere we don't know --
CHO: Let's hope that's the case, right?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. I mean, it's just amazing a storm of that magnitude coming on shore. You have to remember a lot of damage you have in places like that. I was in Clute, Texas, outside of Houston, a very remote areas in Pretoria counties. So there are a lot of people that's going to take a while to really find every single person. It's going to take a while to find every single person. It's going to be a tough thing. No question about it.
Hey, we're going to start off this weather forecast by showing you something very scary and then showing you something very pretty. We can easily do that just by showing a picture of me as scary and showing a shot of you two guys which is pretty, but scary stuff.
Take a look at this. Some strong thunderstorms in parts of Tulsa, Oklahoma. I know it says winter storm warnings. Strong thunderstorms in Tulsa last night. You see this video. Very tough to sleep last night. This storm is now moving into parts of Arkansas and back into parts of Missouri as well.
Now, something pretty. This is Albuquerque, New Mexico, where today they're inflating the big balloons. It is the balloon thing. Absolutely. Where they will be going up --
CHO: It's the balloon thing.
WOLF: The balloon thing. For lack of a better title. CHO: I think that's the proper official name.
WOLF: If you say balloon thing, and you mention New Mexico, people are going to kind of put two and two together. It's going to be a great thing to see. I'll tell you. It's really cool and sometimes they'll do this or at least light up the balloons at nighttime where you have just the great contrast, the dark skies, then you have the flames, the burners that help inflate these balloons. And it is just a beautiful thing to see.
CHO: Look, there's T.J.
WOLF: What is that? Is that a cow? That was a cow. Yes, all kinds of colors.
HOLMES: We're going to get you the official name. What is this thing?
WOLF: Guys, can you give me a heads-up on the official name please?
HOLMES: We're going to find it and we'll get back to you. You do the weather. We'll get back to you.
WOLF: The international balloon festival in Albuquerque.
HOLMES: I thought there was more to it than that.
WOLF: Did you expect something more than the balloon thing?
HOLMES: Yes.
CHO: Anyway --
WOLF: OK. I'm sorry, it is the Albuquerque Balloon -- International Balloon Fiesta, a party atmosphere.
CHO: Got you.
WOLF: All right. Let's show you something else. Let's get right back. We're supposed to be doing weather here.
CHO: Yes.
WOLF: Let's begin with what's happening in parts of the central plains, some strong thunderstorms last night for Tulsa. We showed you that video earlier. Right now we are just seeing some scattered showers, in Springfield, southwards along Portsmith, along parts of i- 30 and Conway, Little Rock. Little Rock, you're going to get the rain in the next hour or so.
Meanwhile, into the Rockies what we're seeing is just some rain in the lower elevations, but in the higher spots, notice some pink popping up just near parts of Provo and Salt Lake City. That's going to be some snow, some of it very heavy, especially by later tonight, and into tomorrow. We could see anywhere from one to two feet in the highest elevations.
Now in terms of your weather along the eastern seaboard, couldn't be better. Plenty of sunshine for New York and southward to places like say Washington, D.C., the tidal basin will be beautiful there. For Miami, look for a chance of scattered showers. Out west, it's going to be a rainy day for you in San Francisco, San Jose, places like that, say (inaudible). It's going to be shower city for you. With temperatures mainly in the 60s along the coast. Back in Denver, 73 degrees. Kansas City with 79. Dallas with 91.
And the cleanup continues in Houston with 87 degrees. Miami, with 83. And Washington, D.C., again, a perfect day with 73 and low humidity. That's a look at your forecast. Let's send it back to you, fans of the big balloon thing.
CHO: You know, it's one of my great dreams to ride up in a hot air balloon. I don't know why I haven't done it.
WOLF: You know, we're all about making dreams a reality here. So, you never know. Maybe we can pull some strings and make it happen.
CHO: Could you?
HOLMES: We can't get anything done here.
CHO: Yes, you can. Reynolds can.
HOLMES: OK. Maybe Reynolds.
WOLF: It's a big challenge.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thanks, buddy.
WOLF: Anytime.
HOLMES: Look at that thing.
CHO: Well, CNN is tracking the presidential candidates, and here's where they are today. In just a couple of hours, Democratic candidate Barack Obama will host a rally in Newport News, Virginia. Republican John McCain is at home in Arizona.
CNN Tuesday night, Nashville is the battleground as the presidential candidates face off in their second debate. Don't miss a minute of the action. CNN and the best political team on TV, your home for politics.
And with election day just one month away, have you made up your mind? Are you still at this late date undecided? Learn about the candidates' plans from the contenders themselves, in their own words. Watch "Ballot Bowl" this afternoon, 2:00 p.m. Eastern time, right here on CNN.
Well, tough times might have you banking on your 401(k).
HOLMES: OK. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis will tell you when it's OK to break open that nest egg.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back. In these tough economic times, are you thinking about digging into your 401(k)? A lot of people are. Well, our personal finance editor Gerri Willis explains why that should be your bank of last resort.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Today's economy may have you wondering if you should tap into your 401(k) a little early. Now while this is not recommended, if it becomes necessary, there are ways to do it right.
First off, you can access the money in your 401(k) through a hardship withdrawal if you need emergency funds. Now you can only use this money if you need to pay down medical expenses, avoid foreclosure, pay college tuition or if you lose your job or become disabled, but you'll probably have to pay a 10 percent penalty if you're less than 59 1/2 years old.
On top of that, you also pay income taxes. Bottom line, about 40 percent of your distribution is going back to Uncle Sam. Taking a loan out of your 401(k) is basically borrowing money from your nest egg with the opportunity to pay it back to yourself without a penalty or taxes. Generally you have five years to pay it back, but in some cases like buying your first home, you can take up to 15 years. This may sound like a good deal, but beware.
Taking a loan out on your 401(k) these days is risky. If you're fired or you quit your job you have to pay the money back in two to three months. If that's not possible, you'll owe taxes and a 10 percent penalty on what you took out. Any way you slice it, if you pull money on you of your 401(k) before you're 59 1/2 you run the risk of running out of money before you retire. So make sure your 401(k) loans are a hardship withdrawals or a last resort.
Coming up on "OPEN HOUSE," protecting your money from your retirement fund to your house to your savings, our panel of experts is standing by with advice. That's "OPEN HOUSE," 9:30 a.m. Eastern.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Josh Levs, hello again to you. We've been asking for these e-mails about the bailout and you are getting them.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Can you believe it? It's unbelievable. We started asking around 7:00 a.m. I've never seen this many.
CHO: You're kidding.
LEVS: We had hundreds by 7:30. And now, we're still trying to sort through them all.
CHO: Let me guess. Most people are angry.
LEVS: Yes. How did you know? Yes, I know. This is the thing, I mean they're expressing a lot of these anger. Let's go to some of these.
We'll start off with this first one here, comes from Theresa Smith who says this, "I accept responsibility for my life but I'm angry that I'm once again being asked to take responsibility for everyone else. I am patriotic and I love living in this great country, but enough is enough."
Now, over to Thomas in Youngstown, Ohio. "Being a small business owner, I felt totally abandoned by our two-party system." Let's stay with this for now. Daniel Brewster. "Great message we're sending to the youth. If you're rich, you won't get punished. Instead, you will get rewarded. This is a theft of the U.S. Treasury." There you go. You will get punished -- you will not get punished, there you go. And ends with a theft of the U.S. Treasury. There you go. We got it. One step behind me.
But I'll tell you something. When we piece through these, we are looking for the ones who are feeling OK about the bailout or have positive things about it. We certainly invite those. We're not editorializing, we just haven't seen any.
CHO: You know, I went on the streets of New York and I talked to a lot of people about this. They all said, you know, listen, we're angry about it but we can see how Wall Street affects Main Street. So, they can see the other side as well. But you're not seeing that on line right now.
LEVS: We're not seeing that so far right now, but keep in mind that even the people who passed this are angry about it. So, the fact that they're angry doesn't mean inherently mean that they hate everything about it. They're just angry that the government is in the situation at all in the first place.
CHO: I bet they're mad about the sweeteners.
LEVS: Yes, that too. We're going to talk about the sweeteners and the pork a little more this morning.
CHO: Good.
LEVS: Yes.
CHO: Josh Levs.
HOLMES: Josh, thank you.
LEVS: Thanks, guys.
HOLMES: All right. We'll take Wolf Blitzer for 200 please, ballots. CNN, playing a little bit of "Jeopardy" here.
CHO: What happens when the best political team on TV meets Alex Trebek? We'll tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: CNN for 2,000, please.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I'm Wolf Blitzer.
Federal election commission rules for 2007-2008 put a limit of this much for an individual gift per candidate, per election.
ALEX TREBEK, HOST "JEOPARDY": Eric (ph).
ERIC: What is $2,000?
TREBEK: No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: No. 2,300. Come on. Who doesn't know that one? It doesn't seem right. I'm not used to hearing Wolf Blitzer say, "I'm Wolf Blitzer" without saying you're in "THE SITUATION ROOM."
CHO: And you're in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I was just going to say that.
HOLMES: That's what we saw on "Jeopardy." Alex Trebek there with our folks. Wolf Blitzer as well as members of the best political team on television delivering the political cues on the show.
CHO: That's right. It was great stuff.
HOLMES: Well, all right. We're going to stick with some of the foreclosure mess we're going to be talking about. It's coming up at the top of the hour. A lot of people are going hunting for those foreclosed homes. We're going to talk next hour with personal finance columnist for the "Wall Street Journal" about -- this is a good move for a lot of people to be making right now.
CHO: Well, you can imagine people think, oh, I might be able to get a deal in this mess.
HOLMES: Looking for a deal.
CHO: Yes, little silver lining there.
But first, we want to go to "OPEN HOUSE" with Gerri Willis. It starts right now. And we're back with more news in 30 minutes.
