CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-10-28

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:05] Just ahead, Vice President Cheni's close

[0:07] aid Lewis Scooter Libby is indicted in

[0:10] the CIA leak investigation. John Roberts

[0:13] has details and analysis from the White

[0:15] House. Also, millions of American homes

[0:18] are at risk for sinkholes. We'll look at

[0:21] why in our Consumer Alert and what is

[0:24] the most difficult thing about being the

[0:26] future king of England. Prince Charles

[0:29] will tell you in a rare interview. It's

[0:31] all starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:34] online edition. Well, the story leaked

[0:37] out this morning when a source told our

[0:39] Gloria Boura that Vice President Cheny's

[0:41] top aid Lewis Scooter Libby would be

[0:44] indicted. The Justice Department

[0:46] confirmed it at midday Libby was charged

[0:49] with one count of obstructing justice,

[0:51] two counts of perjury for lying to a

[0:53] grand jury, and two counts of lying to

[0:56] FBI agents. Carl Rove, the president's

[0:59] most influential aid, was not charged.

[1:02] But at a mid-after afternoon press

[1:04] conference, special prosecutor Patrick

[1:06] Fitzgerald said he is not closing down

[1:09] the investigation, which means there

[1:11] could be more charges. Here's John

[1:13] Roberts at the White House.

[1:16] The special prosecutor dropped the

[1:18] hammer on Dick Cheneyy's chief of staff

[1:20] today. A stinging fivecount indictment

[1:22] that ended Lewis Libbyy's career at the

[1:24] White House and could send him away for

[1:27] 30 years. To

[1:28] >> be frank, Mr. Libby gave the FBI a

[1:30] compelling story.

[1:31] >> According to the indictment, the story

[1:33] Libby told the FBI and the grand jury

[1:36] was that he heard about CIA operative

[1:38] Valerie Plame from reporters. In fact,

[1:41] says Fitzgerald, Libby learned about Pla

[1:43] from several government officials,

[1:45] including the vice president, then

[1:46] passed that information on to reporters.

[1:49] He was at the beginning of the chain of

[1:50] the phone calls the first official to

[1:52] disclose this information outside the

[1:55] government to a reporter and that he

[1:57] lied about it afterwards under oath and

[1:59] repeatedly. Libby handed in his

[2:01] resignation this morning was stripped of

[2:03] his White House pass and security

[2:05] clearance and was gone before the

[2:06] indictments went public. The vice

[2:08] president expressed deep regret calling

[2:11] Libby one of the most capable and

[2:13] talented individuals I have ever known.

[2:15] The president, whose administration has

[2:17] been rocked by the investigation and

[2:19] charges, said it was a sad day.

[2:22] >> Scooters worked tirelessly on behalf of

[2:24] the American people

[2:26] and sacrificed much in the service to

[2:28] this country.

[2:30] He served the vice president and me

[2:32] through extraordinary times in our

[2:33] nation's history.

[2:34] >> I have instructed every member of my

[2:36] staff to fully cooperate.

[2:38] >> And the investigation is not over. Carl

[2:41] Rove escaped indictment today, but

[2:43] according to sources, still faces a

[2:45] possible perjury charge. Fitzgerald

[2:47] wants to know why Rove didn't tell the

[2:49] grand jury about a telephone

[2:51] conversation with Time reporter Matt

[2:53] Cooper in which he identified Valerie

[2:55] Plain. Ro's legal team hopes to convince

[2:58] the prosecutor it was an honest

[3:00] omission. And to see Rogue this morning,

[3:02] he feels pretty good about his chances.

[3:04] >> I'm going to have a great Friday and a

[3:06] fantastic weekend. The case started with

[3:08] the outing of a CIA operative, but

[3:10] Fitzgerald found no crime in that. It

[3:13] didn't sit well with Pla's husband,

[3:14] former ambassador Joe Wilson. In an

[3:17] exclusive interview for Sunday's 60

[3:19] Minutes, he told Ed Bradley,

[3:20] >> after Mr. Rove said about my wife, she's

[3:23] fair game. I would like to see him frog

[3:24] marched out of the White House, whether

[3:26] it's in handcuffs or not, is immaterial.

[3:27] If it was not illegal, it was certainly,

[3:29] it seems to me, a dubious ethical

[3:31] comportment, and I think we deserve

[3:33] better from our senior public servants.

[3:36] In a statement through his attorney late

[3:38] today, Lewis Libby said he is confident

[3:40] that he is going to be cleared of the

[3:42] charges. But if what Fitzgerald says is

[3:44] true, he's got an awful lot of

[3:47] explaining to do to a jury. Bob, this

[3:49] next story is about household horrors,

[3:51] but it has nothing to do with Halloween.

[3:54] More than 22 million homes in this

[3:56] country have septic systems buried

[3:58] outside, and you may not even know if

[4:01] you do until something dreadful happens.

[4:04] Here's Mika Brazinski with our Friday

[4:07] consumer alert.

[4:09] >> Hey, James, you want a for snack?

[4:10] >> Jerry Carter never thought twice about

[4:12] letting her 2-year-old son play in the

[4:14] backyard.

[4:16] >> When one afternoon, little James

[4:19] vanished.

[4:20] >> He just disappeared,

[4:21] >> right? He just fell right through.

[4:22] >> As this photo shows, the ground under

[4:25] James had literally caved in. He had

[4:27] fallen into an abandoned cesspool. He

[4:30] was in mud, water. He was up to his chin

[4:34] and you couldn't get to him.

[4:35] >> No. I couldn't reach his head. He was

[4:37] looking up just screaming hysterically.

[4:39] >> Experts say millions of homes have these

[4:41] abandoned tanks under their yards.

[4:43] Before neighborhoods had sewage lines,

[4:46] every home had its own cesspool, but

[4:48] their concrete covers were not made to

[4:50] last forever.

[4:52] >> Jim Bon Meyer is a safety consultant for

[4:54] the septic industry. concrete after

[4:56] about 30, 40, 50 years, it starts to get

[4:58] weak and starts to cave in, especially

[4:59] the type of concrete they used back in

[5:01] those days.

[5:02] >> So, we're hitting high time for these

[5:03] things to pop.

[5:04] >> Yeah, you're going to see you're this is

[5:06] going to become a very common occurrence

[5:07] all over the country. Now,

[5:09] >> cesspool collapses have already made

[5:11] headlines across the nation. New Jersey,

[5:14] a 92-year-old woman dies after plunging

[5:16] 15 ft down into a cesspool behind her

[5:19] house. Texas. A 2-year-old girl was

[5:22] killed after an abandoned tank at her

[5:24] home caved in. In all cases, the

[5:27] homeowners had no idea the holes even

[5:29] existed. How do you know whether it has

[5:31] one of these hazards?

[5:33] >> You actually have to look at the

[5:35] records. If the house was built in 1953,

[5:37] but the sewer line didn't come through

[5:39] until 1965, you know you've got one in

[5:41] your yard.

[5:42] >> Oh, I got you.

[5:43] >> Little James survived without a scratch,

[5:45] but Jerry has a message for homeowners.

[5:48] Find out whether your home has a

[5:50] cesspool and whether or not it was

[5:52] filled in.

[5:53] >> Those people that just say, "Oh, it's

[5:55] never going to happen. We're our yard's

[5:57] fine." No, you don't know.

[5:59] >> Mika Bzinski, CBS News, Allentown, New

[6:02] Jersey.

[6:02] >> Prince Charles and his wife Camila are

[6:04] coming to the United States next week

[6:06] for the first time since they got

[6:08] married. Steve Croft of 60 Minutes sat

[6:11] down with the Prince for his first

[6:12] American interview in more than a

[6:14] decade. Steve Bob, if you're the Prince

[6:17] of Wales, there isn't much reason to

[6:18] give interviews. You don't have to run

[6:20] for election, and your only real

[6:21] competition for higher office is your

[6:23] mother and your oldest son. So, very few

[6:26] people know what Prince Charles is

[6:27] really like. And he's managed to ride

[6:29] out the public scandals, and now he

[6:31] wants to reintroduce himself and his new

[6:33] wife to the American people.

[6:35] What is the most difficult part of your

[6:38] job

[6:42] >> besides dealing with people like me?

[6:46] >> Oh dear. Well,

[6:49] what's the most difficult part of that

[6:50] job? Well, I I've always uh believed

[6:55] that the ever since I was quite young, I

[6:57] think that the the most important thing

[7:00] is to is to be is to be relevant. And so

[7:05] uh I mean it isn't easy uh as you can

[7:08] imagine because if you say anything

[7:10] people don't say it's all right for you

[7:11] to say that uh it's very easy to just

[7:14] dismiss anything I say. So what I've I

[7:18] mean it's difficult but what I've tried

[7:19] to do is to put my money where my mouth

[7:23] is

[7:25] to be relevant.

[7:27] >> How much how much of his money does he

[7:29] give away? He gives away about a quarter

[7:31] of uh between somewhere between5 and $6

[7:33] million and he raises about $200 million

[7:36] a year for something called the Princess

[7:38] Charities which is a lot of money and

[7:39] I'm not sure anybody else would be doing

[7:41] that if he weren't. I I must admit a

[7:43] bias. My view of the British royalty is

[7:46] sort of parallel to our founding

[7:47] fathers. Uh but what is he really like?

[7:50] I mean, what did you think of him?

[7:52] >> Well, I think for somebody who's never

[7:53] had to uh to take out the trash or pay

[7:55] rent, he's surprisingly on top of

[7:57] things. I mean, he's got uh, you know,

[8:00] the best education, the best uh, tailor,

[8:02] the the best of everything. He knows how

[8:04] to fly helicopters, jet planes. He's got

[8:06] lots of experience. And, uh, he's very

[8:09] personable. I mean, he's been doing this

[8:10] for 30 years, shaking hands, and being

[8:12] charming. That is the main thing about

[8:14] his job. And he is about as charming as

[8:16] anybody I've ever met in my entire life.

[8:18] And more candid than I thought he was

[8:20] going to be about lots of things.

[8:22] >> All right. Well, we look forward to

[8:23] seeing this interview for sure. You'll

[8:25] see the whole interview on Sunday night

[8:27] on 60 Minutes. More stories are just a

[8:30] click away, but don't forget to join me

[8:32] on television for the on air edition of

[8:34] this CBS Evening News. On Monday's

[8:37] broadcast, Eye on America, you'll meet a

[8:39] man whose daughter was accidentally

[8:41] killed in a high-speed police chase.

[8:44] Now, he's on a crusade to get police

[8:46] departments to stop these chases. For

[8:49] cbsnews.com,

[8:51] I'm Bob Sheeper.