CBS Evening News open - 2009-04-01

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Now, thank you for joining us. We hope

[0:01] you have a great evening.

[0:02] >> For more news, go to cbs4.com where you

[0:04] can listen to our radio partner,

[0:05] Newsradio610 WOD. Now, here's the CBS

[0:09] Evening News with Katie Kurrick. We'll

[0:10] see you at 11.

[0:16] >> From London, pump

[0:19] and power. As world leaders tackle the

[0:21] financial crisis, the Treasury Secretary

[0:24] tells CBS News more heads could roll.

[0:27] So, you leave the option open to

[0:29] actually pressure a bank CEO to resign?

[0:32] >> Of course.

[0:32] >> Tonight, the global challenge, recession

[0:35] to recovery. I'm Katie Kirrick at the

[0:38] G20 summit. Also tonight, street

[0:40] demonstrations here turned violent.

[0:44] Protesters stormed the Royal Bank of

[0:46] Scotland, angry that British taxpayers

[0:49] were forced to bail it out. In France, a

[0:52] wave of boss nappings by workers furious

[0:56] about job cuts. And the British give

[0:59] America's first lady a welcome.

[1:01] >> She's just amazing woman.

[1:03] >> Fit for a queen.

[1:11] >> This is the CBS Evening News with Katie

[1:14] Kurrick reporting tonight from London.

[1:18] >> Good evening everyone. And the G20

[1:20] summit officially opens here tomorrow

[1:22] and both President Obama and British

[1:25] Prime Minister Gordon Brown are

[1:26] predicting there will be an agreement on

[1:28] a rescue plan for the world economy. But

[1:31] today, many of the leaders got down to

[1:33] business with a series of important

[1:35] one-on-one meetings, including Mr. Obama

[1:37] and the president of Russia. Chip Reed

[1:40] is our chief White House correspondent.

[1:41] And Chip, they made a surprising and

[1:43] significant announcement.

[1:45] >> Yes, they did, Katie. On his first day

[1:48] on the world stage, President Obama

[1:50] grabbed the spotlight with a

[1:52] breakthrough with Russia on nuclear

[1:54] weapons.

[1:55] After the president's first meeting with

[1:57] Russian President Dmitri Medvidev, the

[2:00] two leaders announced negotiations on a

[2:02] new treaty to reduce their nuclear

[2:04] arsenals. In a joint statement, they

[2:06] said, "We committed our two countries to

[2:08] achieving a nuclear free world." White

[2:10] House officials say it's part of an

[2:12] ambitious agenda worked out in advance

[2:14] to give US-Russian relations a fresh

[2:16] start.

[2:16] >> Over the last several years, uh, the

[2:19] relationship between our two countries

[2:21] has been allowed to drift.

[2:22] >> That veiled criticism of the Bush

[2:24] administration later became much more

[2:26] direct when a senior White House

[2:28] official said the US and Russia will now

[2:30] focus on mutual interests, not quote a

[2:33] buddy buddy relationship. a reference to

[2:35] former President Bush's claim that he

[2:37] looked into Russian leader Vladimir

[2:38] Putin's eyes and got a sense of his

[2:40] soul. Mr. Obama accepted an invitation

[2:43] to visit Russia in July and he tried out

[2:46] his Russian.

[2:46] >> Thank you everybody.

[2:47] >> Thank you.

[2:52] >> I'm still working on my Russian.

[2:54] >> Just two hours later, he accepted

[2:56] another invitation from Chinese

[2:57] President Hu Jin Tao to visit China

[3:00] later this year. The grueling day began

[3:02] early this morning at 10 Downing Street

[3:04] where the president and first lady were

[3:06] welcomed by British Prime Minister

[3:08] Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah. At a

[3:10] press conference, Mr. Brown heaped

[3:12] praise on his American guest.

[3:14] >> Your first 70 days in office have

[3:16] changed America and you've changed

[3:18] America's relationship with the world.

[3:21] >> Despite policy differences with French

[3:22] President Nicholas Sarcoi and German

[3:25] Chancellor Angela Merkel, Sarcoi today

[3:27] expressed confidence in Mr. Obama.

[3:31] who insisted that their differences have

[3:33] been vastly overstated.

[3:35] >> I am absolutely confident that

[3:40] this meeting will reflect enormous

[3:42] consensus.

[3:44] >> This evening, the president visited

[3:45] Buckingham Palace for a private audience

[3:48] with the Queen and husband, Prince

[3:49] Phillip. Mr. Obama's gift for the Queen,

[3:51] a video iPod with footage of her 2007

[3:54] trip to Washington, a gift that

[3:56] officials say she requested.

[3:59] Tomorrow is a crucial day in this

[4:00] summit. The G20 leaders hope to pound

[4:02] out a final agreement on rescuing the

[4:05] global economy. It will focus on more

[4:07] stimulus spending and more regulation.

[4:09] And White House officials say they are

[4:11] confident an agreement is very near.

[4:13] Katie

[4:14] >> Chip Reed, thank you very much. Now, if

[4:17] you want to be seen and heard, show up

[4:19] where the cameras and microphones are.

[4:21] There are plenty of them here for this

[4:22] summit and they've attracted thousands

[4:25] of demonstrators from environmentalists

[4:27] to anarchists. The summit is being held

[4:29] in East London near the old docks. The

[4:32] demonstrations about four miles away in

[4:34] the financial district. Mark Phillips

[4:36] reports. There was some violence and

[4:38] more than 30 arrests.

[4:43] >> No major international summit is

[4:45] complete these days without its

[4:47] requisite street theater of protest. And

[4:49] while this one may not have been as big

[4:51] as feared, it made up an enthusiasm what

[4:54] it lacked in size.

[4:57] Police said about 4,000 people jammed

[5:00] into the center of London's financial

[5:02] district. There were times when the

[5:04] protesters seemed to be getting the

[5:05] upper hand. Pockets of police surrounded

[5:08] and in retreat with each side blaming

[5:11] the other for starting the violence. You

[5:13] get enough angry people in a small space

[5:15] and bad things happen. They hit me in

[5:18] the head twice.

[5:19] >> The yellow line of the law formed up to

[5:21] try to contain the chaos.

[5:23] >> London's police are using a new tactic

[5:26] in these demonstrations, a variation on

[5:28] the police cordon, not to keep

[5:30] demonstrators out, but to keep them in.

[5:33] But penning them in only seemed to make

[5:35] some of the protesters angrier.

[5:39] A few of them, police said they were

[5:41] known anarchists looking for trouble,

[5:43] broke their way into the offices of one

[5:45] of the failed banks that's had to be

[5:47] bailed out with taxpayers money.

[5:53] The G20 leaders may be here to try to

[5:56] fix the world's economy. The

[5:57] demonstrators were here to hold to

[6:00] account the bankers they believe broke

[6:02] it.

[6:02] >> As well as anger, I mean, there's no

[6:04] question about it. There is a righteous

[6:07] fury against this. Yeah. Um just skull

[6:10] duggery and corruption and sheer theft.

[6:14] >> That fury was acted out on the streets

[6:16] of London. But there's more left.

[6:18] Protests are also planned for tomorrow

[6:21] around the venue where the G20 leaders

[6:23] will be meeting. Mark Phillips, CBS

[6:26] News, London.

[6:28] Just before flying here to the summit,

[6:30] President Obama staged his own protest

[6:32] of sorts when he in effect fired the CEO

[6:35] of General Motors after finding his

[6:38] restructuring plan unacceptable. Today,

[6:40] Treasury Secretary Tim Gener told me

[6:42] executives of banks taking bailouts

[6:45] could suffer the same fate.

[6:48] Will you exert even more influence in

[6:51] the future if these CEOs aren't managing

[6:53] their businesses properly? you know,

[6:55] recovery here in our economy as a whole

[6:57] depends on a financial system that's

[6:58] doing a better job of providing credit.

[7:00] We want banks to go back to the business

[7:01] of making sure they're providing the

[7:03] credit that, you know, families and

[7:04] businesses need to invest in the future.

[7:06] Again, we're going to make sure we do

[7:07] that on on conditions to protect the

[7:08] taxpayer, provide the kind of

[7:10] accountability you that the American

[7:11] people want. And again, the test should

[7:13] be what's going to make these

[7:14] institutions stronger.

[7:15] >> So, you leave the option open to

[7:17] actually pressure a bank CEO to resign.

[7:20] >> Of course. Of course. Do you think the

[7:22] global recession is getting worse or do

[7:24] you think the worst is over?

[7:25] >> We've seen some encouraging signs, not

[7:27] just in the United States recently, but

[7:28] in some other economies as a whole, but

[7:30] this is a very challenging crisis. It

[7:32] took a long time for these problems to

[7:34] build up. It's going to take some time

[7:35] for us to work work through this.

[7:37] >> Mr. Secretary, a congressional

[7:39] investigator told a Senate committee

[7:40] yesterday that the Treasury Department

[7:43] still has no mechanism for tracking how

[7:45] banks have spent billions of dollars in

[7:48] TARP money and that much of that or some

[7:51] of that could have been lost to fraud.

[7:53] How can this be? We are moving very

[7:56] quickly, Katie, to make sure we have in

[7:57] place strong transparency, strong

[8:00] conditions on this assistance, stronger

[8:02] tracking mechanisms, and we're committed

[8:04] to the strongest possible oversight, not

[8:05] just by the Congressional Oversight

[8:06] Panel, but by the Treasury Inspector

[8:08] Generals, by the GAO, and where they

[8:10] propose things that will make our

[8:11] program stronger, we will adopt them.

[8:13] >> With all due respect, aren't you a day

[8:14] late and a dollar short? I mean, $300

[8:16] billion has been doled out. And this

[8:18] investigator tells a Senate committee,

[8:20] there's no mechanism in place. It seems

[8:23] crazy to the average person.

[8:24] >> Katie, I've been Secretary of Treasury

[8:25] for 2 months. If you look at the new

[8:27] commitments we've made, not the

[8:29] commitments we've inherited, not the not

[8:31] the dispersements that already made, but

[8:32] if you look at the new commitments we've

[8:34] made, we are bringing the strongest

[8:36] standards of transparency and

[8:37] accountability to those programs. The

[8:38] American people will be able to judge

[8:40] how this money is being used, the impact

[8:41] it's having, and again, we are going to

[8:43] work very closely with those oversight

[8:44] bodies and make sure that we're giving

[8:46] them all the tools they need to do their

[8:48] job. You've really been in the

[8:50] crosshairs the past couple of months.

[8:52] Has that been difficult for you?

[8:54] >> You know, when I took this job, I knew,

[8:55] you know, I was coming into a job where

[8:57] there was just enormous challenges,

[8:59] enormous anger, frustration across the

[9:01] country for the damage caused by people

[9:03] who took too much risk. It's just deeply

[9:06] unfair. And I knew that all the choices

[9:08] we were going to make were going to be

[9:10] tough choices. And this was going to

[9:12] come with a lot of heat. It comes with a

[9:13] job. Expected it. And it is a great

[9:16] privilege for me to work with this

[9:18] president and this Congress to try to

[9:20] help address these basic challenges, put

[9:21] in place a stronger financial system for

[9:24] the future. And again, we're moving

[9:25] very, very quickly to try to do that.

[9:27] >> Treasury Secretary Timothy Gitener,

[9:29] thank you so much.

[9:30] >> Thank you. Thanks for having me.

[9:32] >> Secretary Gitener also told me GM and

[9:35] Chrysler have made some progress in

[9:37] their restructuring, but quote, "They're

[9:39] not there yet." Meanwhile, all the

[9:41] automakers are still having trouble

[9:43] selling cars. Today, GM reported sales

[9:46] plunged 45% in March. Ford down 41%.

[9:50] Chrysler and Toyota sales fell 39%. In

[9:54] other news tonight, a huge embarrassment

[9:56] for the Justice Department admitting

[9:58] today it did not play fair in the

[10:00] prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted

[10:02] Stevens on corruption charges. It's now

[10:05] asking a judge to throw out his

[10:07] conviction. And our justice

[10:08] correspondent Bob our explains.

[10:12] When Alaska Senator Ted Stevens was

[10:14] convicted last October, the Bush Justice

[10:16] Department hailed the verdict as a

[10:17] victory over corruption.

[10:19] >> Guilty on all counts.

[10:21] >> And just a week later, Stevens, facing

[10:23] up to 35 years in prison, lost his bid

[10:25] for reelection. But today, in a stunning

[10:28] reversal, the government admitted it

[10:29] withheld critical evidence from the

[10:31] defense. In asking a judge to throw out

[10:33] Steven's conviction, Attorney General

[10:35] Eric Holder promised to drop all

[10:36] charges, saying it is in the interest of

[10:38] justice to dismiss the indictment and

[10:41] not proceed with a new trial.