Republican Congressman Mark Foley Forced to Resign
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm Bob Franken in Washington. We'll show you some of the e-mails and instant messages that are attributed to a congressman who has now resigned.</s>SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In harm's way -- women in combat, boots on the ground -- despite what the Pentagon says, American women in uniform face the same deadly dangers as their male counterparts.</s>RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: An AWOL soldier says he's doing what is right.</s>UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: I mean they can beat us down emotionally and put us in prison and call us cowards, but as long as we're doing what we feel is right, we'll always be free inside and they can never take that from us.</s>SANCHEZ: As he suggests, accused by some of being a coward. But will the Army show mercy to a soldier gone AWOL? Also, if you can find out how to move these DVDs off the shelves, you, too, could be a millionaire. And this...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... Jack Beach, watching them streak through the back streets.</s>O'BRIEN: 'Gangsta rap for an audience you might expect -- prison inmates. We'll explain what the hard rock is all about on this AMERICAN MORNING. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Soledad O'Brien.</s>SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez sitting in for Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: A controversy to tell you about on Capitol Hill this morning. Republican Congressman Mark Foley forced to resign on Friday over a series of lurid, sexually explicit e-mails that he sent to a 16- year-old Congressional page, a teenage boy. Well, this morning, an investigation is getting underway not only into the e-mails, but the question of what Republican lawmakers knew about the situation months ago. Complete live coverage this morning beginning with AMERICAN MORNING'S Bob Franken, who is in Washington, D.C. -- hey, Bob, good morning.</s>FRANKEN: Good morning, Soledad. And Republican lawmakers acknowledge that they knew about one e- mail that had been sent to a 16-year-old former page. That was brought to the attention of a Republican Congressman in 2005. But, Congressman Mark Foley resigned on Friday after the disclosure by ABC News of some other instant messages that had been sent earlier, in 2003, to other former pages. Some of them are quite lurid, as you pointed out. Here is an example. Foley using the term on the air, according to those who have done the investigation, Maf54. He says to the recipient: "You in your boxers, too?" The teen: "Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late." Maf54 -- as I said, that's supposed to be Foley -- "Well, strip down and get relaxed." And according to the ABC News, that was one of the instant messages that went out. There has been quite a reaction, quite a firestorm. Republicans are trying very hard to stop this from becoming so politically damaging in this very vital election year battle for control of Congress. Among the people who are trying to put it in perspective is the White House press secretary, Tony Snow, who had an interview this morning, Soledad, with you on AMERICAN MORNING.</s>TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals, as you know, that have been more than simply naughty e-mails. I think that, Soledad, you know, look, again, I'll reiterate my point, I think it's important to protect these kids and make sure that they have a good experience. And, look, like you, I want to find out what happened. But before we prosecute, let's figure out what all the facts are. That's probably the most important thing to do, is to be fair to all parties.</s>FRANKEN: And as far as the Republican Party is concerned, what is of paramount concern right now is to try and exercise damage control -- Soledad.</s>O'BRIEN: Bob Franken for us in Washington, D.C.. Thanks, Bob. And, of course, the question is as old as the political scandals themselves -- who knew what when? As the Foley fallout unfolds, that's going to be at the center of this heated debate. Andrea Koppel joins us with a time line of the events in this controversy -- hey, Andrea, good morning.</s>ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad. Even though this story only broke into the open late last week, some Republicans say they first learned about it last year.</s>KOPPEL (voice-over): In the fall of 2005, the family of a 16- year-old page contacts the office of Louisiana Congressman Rodney Alexander, the teen's sponsor and hometown representative. They were concerned about e-mails to the boy from Foley. Alexander's staff contacts House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office, which then refers the matter to the House clerk. From there, it's passed to the chairman of the Page Board, Republican Congressman John Shimkus. Shimkus tells Congressman Foley to "immediately cease any communication with the young man." Fast forward to the spring of this year. That's when Congressman Alexander discusses what's described as "over friendly e-mails" with his colleague, Congressman Tom Reynolds, who heads up the House Congressional Election Committee. Reynolds says he shared this information with Speaker Hastert. Hastert says he doesn't explicitly recall their conversation, but does not dispute Reynolds's account. It isn't until last Friday that Foley abruptly resigns over news reports he had exchanged sexually explicit e-mails with other teenage pages. The next day, House Republican leaders issue a joint statement calling Foley's communications with pages "an obscene breach of trust" and recommend the house Page Board conduct a full review. On Sunday, Democratic leaders in both the House and Senate are suggesting a GOP election year cover-up. By late afternoon, Speaker Hastert's office releases letters he's written to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Florida Governor Jeb Bush asking them to conduct an investigation to determine if Foley's actions violated federal or state law. The letter to the attorney general says: "I request that the scope of your investigation include any and all individuals who may have been aware of this matter, be they members of Congress, employees of the House of Representatives or anyone outside the Congress."</s>KOPPEL: The extraordinary speed with which House Republicans are responding to this scandal is no doubt influenced but the fact that even before this story broke, Republicans, Soledad, were worried that they could lose control of the House -- Soledad.</s>O'BRIEN: We'll see how it plays out. Andrea Koppel for us this morning. Andrea, thanks -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Well, how is this scandal playing with voters? CNN's Ed Lavandera is joining us now. He's in Aurora, Illinois. That's House Speaker Dennis Hastert's district -- you know, Ed, was interesting about this, the Republicans have long played to the conservative Christian vote. This particular scandal, this particular issue smacks right up against that, doesn't it? What are people saying?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're seeing here this morning as people are catching the morning train into Chicago for work, to start off their work week here, if there is a silver lining to what Republicans -- the Republican leadership is probably very worried about, at this point, it is that the vast majority of the people we've spoken with this morning aren't very aware of the details surrounding this case. Now, whether or not that starts to change in the next few days remains to be seen. But what we're hearing right now is that many people simply just don't know much about this. But that could change. The headlines that are greeting people this morning as they board the train this morning: "Sex Scandal In Congress," "Hastert Caves" definitely not the kind of headlines a politician wants to be seen about a month before the mid-term elections here. Some of the other things that people have been telling us here this morning, as well, is that we have heard from a couple of people who say they do believe that there are people covering their tracks and that sort of thing, and hiding information that they have at this point. But we've also heard from other people who have been following it a little bit that say look, we just don't know a whole lot about what is going on right now. We're willing to wait a few more days, a few more weeks, perhaps, to get the facts come out and let everything play itself out at this point. But here in the home district of Speaker Hastert, who is the man who wrote the letter yesterday asking for a full-fledged, independent investigation that should include looking into members of Congress or members of staff who might have known about what is going on, this is definitely something that people here driving their morning train to commute to work this morning will begin to learn a lot more about as this work week begins -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: Did they talk at all about this perhaps making them more likely or less likely to vote as a result?</s>LAVANDERA: Not really. I think -- I think, based on what we have heard so far this morning is that it's just a little bit too early for all of that. And the people that did say that they believed that there was information being covered up or being hidden or glossed over so far, at this point, those are people that -- the train is rather loud this morning, so I apologize -- are saying that those are probably people who have already made up their minds as to exactly how they were going to vote in the upcoming election in a month.</s>SANCHEZ: Ed Lavandera in Aurora, Illinois. We thank you so much for bringing us up to date on that. Always good to get the people's perspective on things. Also, what's next for Foley? Susan Candiotti is live now. She's in West Palm Beach with some more information on this investigation and on Foley himself -- good morning, Susan.</s>SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Rick. Yes, I just spoke with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and it acknowledges that it is now part of this investigation. In fact, FDLE tells me that it contacted the FBI in Washington yesterday and told them that the state was beginning its own investigation of this after communications between Florida Governor Jeb Bush and FDLE. It was not about what investigative techniques it will use, but it's safe to say that it will be looking at whether any of the communications between Foley and these aides took place or originated in Florida at any time. Now, what kind of a guy is Congressman Mark Foley? Well, we spoke to a number of his friends, who describe him as smart and funny. And Foley himself told a Washington, D.C. newspaper a few years ago, called "The Hill," that the spark for him entering politics began at the tender age of six, when he ran into Florida Congressman, at the time, Paul Rogers. Foley says that he saw Rogers being the center of attention, talking with his constituents, running for office. And that's where he said his dream was born. Foley served in local politics for a number of years then went on to work at the state level and then serve in the U.S. Congress for 12 years. He is described by friends as a devout Catholic, proud of meeting once, in person, Pope John Paul II. And his friends say they're having a hard time trying to wrap their arms around what happened.</s>SID DINERSTEIN, PALM BEACH GOP CHAIRMAN: They're just the people who are out front of a very large army and of a philosophy and of values. And -- so something like this is a betrayal of all of that.</s>CANDIOTTI: Now, in Florida this afternoon, Republican leaders will be meeting to decide on a replacement candidate for Mark Foley. That person will have a tough time of it, with only five weeks to go, and Foley's name on the ballot -- Rick.</s>SANCHEZ: The relationship between Governor Jeb Bush and Mark Foley goes back quite a bit, doesn't it, even before Jeb Bush was governor of the state, when he was head of the Republican Party?</s>CANDIOTTI: Oh, sure. They have known each other for a long, long time. And interesting to note that Florida Governor Jeb Bush on Friday was one of the first to say that he didn't know whether the allegations were true, but he thought it was the right thing for Foley to step down. He said he was very disappointed.</s>SANCHEZ: Susan Candiotti following that situation for us from Florida. We thank you, Susan -- Soledad, over to you.</s>O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, much more on the e-mail scandal surrounding Congressman Mark Foley. Was there a Republican cover-up? We'll take a closer look at that question just ahead. And the 2006 Paris Auto Show takes the wraps off the brand new Mini Cooper. It looks kind of like the old one. But designers say there's one big difference. We'll tell you what it is. And later, got an idea to boost business for Netflix? We'll explain why there could be a million bucks in it for you if you do. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.