[Kiran Chetry, Cnn Anchor:] Meet Kristen, the woman who allegedly cost a governor $4,000 and his political career.
[Gov. Eliot Spitzer , New York:] I am resigning from the office of governor.
[Chetry:] New this morning. What her friends knew, brand new pictures and her troubled past. Race back in the race.
[Sen. Hillary Clinton , Presidential Candidate:] And I certainly do regret deeply that, you know, it was said.
[Sen. Barack Obama , Presidential Candidate:] We keep on thinking we've dispelled this. It keeps on getting raised once again.
[Chetry:] The "Most Politics in the Morning" on this AMERICAN MORNING. And welcome. Thanks for joining us this morning. I'm here in New York. John is the day after a pretty exciting dinner last night, hanging out in D.C. this morning.
[John Roberts, Cnn Anchor:] Yes. Got to have dinner last night with Bill Gates and Colin Powell talking about issues that they want to see talked about in this election season. We'll chat more about that coming up. But we begin right now with breaking news out of North Carolina. Police arresting a second suspect overnight in the murder of UNC student Eve Carson. They say that they received an anonymous tip that 17-year-old Lawrence Lovett was hiding out in a house in Durham. They say that Lovett was the person driving the car in the ATM surveillance photos that were released last week. There's a shot of a man believed to be Lovett there in the front of that car using the ATM machine. A SWAT team surrounded the house that he was holed up in around 4:00 a.m. Apparently, Lovett put up no resistance when he was arrested. The other suspect, 21-year-old Demario Atwater, was arrested yesterday and charged with first-degree murder. Police now say they believe he was in the back seat. There's sort of a shadowy figure in the back seat of the car in that ATM photo. Atwater is being held without bond. Carson, the popular 22-year-old University of North Carolina student body president, was shot to death about a mile from campus a week ago Kiran.
[Chetry:] Well, this morning, we're also learning more about the woman at the heart of the scandal that ended the political career of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. "The New York Times" broke the story and said that Spitzer hired this prostitute on February 13th. Well, "The Times" says she's an escort known as Kristen, and there is her MySpace page. Her birth name Ashley Youmans. She goes by the name Ashley Dupre, 22 years old, an aspiring singer from New Jersey who lives in New York. Dupre told a reporter from "The Times," "I just don't want to be thought of as a monster. This has been a very difficult time. It is complicated." "The Times" says Dupre has appeared in federal court but has not been charged with any crime. Meantime, two of Ashley Dupre's friends joined us earlier on AMERICAN MORNING. Freddy Sagastume and Rob Cummings say that were trying to break into the business together and had no idea about her other alleged career.
[Freddy Sagastume, Friend Of Ashley Dupre:] I was surprise, you know. It's like somebody you view like a little sister, you know. Still do. And, you know, you just want to make sure that she's all right.
[Chetry:] Right now, we bring in CNN's Jason Carroll, who has been following these fast moving developments. You know, of course, a huge bombshell when this story first broke.
[Jason Carroll, Cnn Correspondent:] Right.
[Chetry:] And then yesterday, when the information about exactly who this person was broke as well. A lot of questions.
[Carroll:] Yes. And just another embarrassing development for Governor Eliot Spitzer. Spitzer resigned yesterday after a federal affidavit revealed details surrounding his $4,300 encounter with that prostitute named Kristen. "The New York Times" says that prostitute's real name is Ashley Dupre, a 22-year-old aspiring musician, originally from New Jersey. She is a young woman with a troubled past. On her MySpace page, she talks about being homeless and being the victim of abuse. Sources say Spitzer started using the escort service she allegedly works for eight months ago. Federal agents had him under surveillance twice this year. Spitzer spent less than three minutes at the podium yesterday. He apologized to his family and to the public.
[Gov. Eliot Spitzer , New York:] To every New Yorker and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely apologize. I look at my time as governor with a sense of what might have been. But I also know that as a public servant, I and the remarkable people with whom I worked have accomplished a great deal. There is much more to be done, and I cannot allow my private failings to disrupt the people's work.
[Carroll:] Spitzer's resignation becomes official on Monday. That's when Lieutenant Governor David Paterson will be sworn in as New York's new governor. As for Alexandra Dupre, her attorney isn't saying much. He would not even confirm "The New York Times" report that Dupre is in fact Kristen.
[Chetry:] All right. Jason Carroll following the latest for us this morning. Thank you.
[Roberts:] Now to presidential politics this morning, Kiran. Geraldine Ferraro remains defiant and Hillary Clinton is keeping her distance. Ferraro resigned her position as a Clinton fund-raiser yesterday. She has been under fire for saying race is the reason that Barack Obama is ahead in the presidential contest. Our Suzanne Malveaux is following the democratic drama. She's been following the Hillary Clinton campaign. So, how much damage has this done to the campaign and sort of, you know, where does Ferraro stand now with it, and what does Hillary Clinton have to do to kind of clean up the mess?
[Suzanne Malveaux, Cnn Political Correspondent:] You know, John, it certainly was a distraction over the last 48 hours for both of the campaigns, but specifically for Hillary Clinton. It was a big problem for her. I spoke with Geraldine Ferraro yesterday on the phone. We had a conversation. And she said she has no regrets. She has no apologies about the comments she made. She says, I am who I am, and I'm going to speak up and I'm going to speak out. But obviously, she realized she created a problem for Hillary Clinton.
[Roberts:] Remind our viewers of exactly what it was that she said...
[Malveaux:] Right.
[Roberts:] ... and why so inflammatory.
[Malveaux:] Well, what she said was, was that essentially Barack Obama was in the position that he was in because he was black. That if he was a white man or white woman he would not have gotten to the point where he is. A lot of people found that very offensive inside the Obama campaign, outside of the Obama campaign. People inside of Clinton's own campaign found those offensive comments. Geraldine Ferraro says, look, the Obama campaign was pushing this and they accuse me of being racist. They didn't actually say she was racist. They said it was offensive comments. They were very careful about that.
[Roberts:] She was there out to say that they were attacking me because I'm white.
[Malveaux:] Yes, she did say that. But she did also yesterday, distanced herself and said she realized what was happening here. It was too politically damaging. She sent a letter. I'm going to read in part. She said, "Dear Hillary, I'm stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself. You can continue to speak for yourself about what's at stake in this campaign. The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't let that happen."
[Roberts:] Hillary Clinton originally came under some criticism for not immediately repudiating her remarks. She said, she doesn't speak for me but it wasn't very much of a forceful denunciation. She since changed her position on this.
[Malveaux:] Well, I was at this event last night. It was the Black Press of America. Obviously, Hillary Clinton still trying to court the African-American vote, not giving up on it yet. Was issued essentially an apology and an explanation. Let's take a listen.
[Sen. Hillary Clinton , Presidential Candidate:] I rejected what she said, and I certainly do repudiate it. And regret deeply that, you know, it was said. Obviously, she doesn't speak for the campaign. She doesn't speak for any of my positions. And she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.
[Malveaux:] She's not kidding when she says very large. We're talking about thousands of people who are part of this finance committee. If you raise money for her essentially you're part of the committee. There is some politics obviously that's going on here. Those comments were offensive to a lot of people. That was a sincere belief. But also, you have to take into account it was last week Samantha Power. This is an adviser to Obama called Hillary Clinton a monster. There was a lot of pressure for her to step down. Ultimately, she did. And so, you did have the Obama campaign that was calling attention to this saying, look, what are you going to do here about Ferraro?
[Roberts:] Yes, it's just one side before the other. Just when these advisers just sort of step off the reservation a little bit, they get hit pretty hard from the other side. Suzanne Malveaux, good to see you here in Washington for a change.
[Malveaux:] Good to see you, John.
[Roberts:] All right. Take care. We're going to be talking with Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, by the way, coming up 7:30 Eastern here on AMERICAN MORNING about this and, of course, the Florida and Michigan primaries. Will there be a redo? Kiran.
[Chetry:] And exactly how will they pull it off if they do decide to do it? A lot of questions for Howard Dean this morning. We hope he answers them. Also, Alina Cho here with some other stories new this morning for us. Hi, Alina.
[Alina Cho, Cnn Correspondent:] Hey there, Kiran, good morning. Good morning, everybody. New this morning, the Pentagon has reportedly admitted filming interrogations of terror suspects. According to "The New York Times," a military review has turned up nearly 50 tapes so far. They cover the interrogations of two al-Qaeda suspects, convicted terrorist Jose Padilla, and Ali al-Marri, an accused enemy combatant. According to "The Times," at least one of the tapes showed forcible gagging. Now, the Pentagon says there's nothing on the tapes that could be classified as torture. The CIA is under investigation for destroying tapes that showed terror suspects undergoing the controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding, which stimulated drowning. A new report out today says the FBI improperly gained access to telephone, e-mail and financial records of Americans. Now, the Justice Department report says the FBI used so-called national security letters to gain access to those records as part of terrorism investigations, but without a judge's approval. Officials familiar with the report say all of the lapses occurred before new rules were put into place last March. Southwest Airlines says it expects normal operations today after having to pull jets from service and cancel some flights. Inspections found "ambiguity related to required testing." A CNN investigation revealed congressional documents that showed Southwest flew dozens of planes without mandatory safety checks. Our Drew Griffin first broke this story. He's going to join us in our next half hour. The link is complete. The space shuttle "Endeavour" has docked with the International Space Station. Before the linkup, the shuttle's commander guided the ship through a 360-degree back flip so the station crew could take some key pictures. Now, those photos will be examined for possible damage to the shuttle just after liftoff. During the 16-day mission in space, astronauts will install a giant new robot and a new science lab. They'll also do lots of floating there. And it's just the preseason but apparently never too early for base brawl, get it? It happened between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Shelley Duncan of the Yankees takes a hard slide into second with his spikes up. Ouch! Spiking the second baseman in the leg apparently got a cut there. Umpire ejects Duncan. But watch the right side of your screen. Jonny Gomes of the Rays comes in from the outfield and well, there you have it. Huge brawl, benches cleared. But there's some back story to this, Kiran. There may be retribution. This may have been retribution rather. Last week, Elliott Johnson of Tampa Bay collided at home plate with Yankees catcher Francisco Cervelli...
[Chetry:] Ouch!
[Cho:] ... breaking his arm. At the time, Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, said the play was too aggressive for spring training. So a little tit for tat there. Hope the Yankees don't get into another fight today. That's because actor and comedian Billy Crystal is going to be playing for them. He signed a one-day contract with the team. He suited up yesterday to practice with the Yankees. What a thrill for him, huh? So he's going to play in today's exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He's going to wear number 60 since the game is one day before his 60th birthday.
[Chetry:] It's pretty cool. How can anyone do that, or you have to be special?
[Cho:] I think you got to be Billy Crystal.
[Chetry:] All right.
[Cho:] Well, he's a big Yankee fan, you know.
[Chetry:] Of course.
[Cho:] And he's in the stands a lot.
[Chetry:] Here he is warming up.
[Cho:] That's pretty cool.
[Chetry:] I think he's warming up with Derek Jeter.
[Cho:] Yes.
[Chetry:] Once in a lifetime.
[Cho:] I'd like to warm up.
[Chetry:] Exactly. Please, can we walk on, coach? Put us in. Too rough for us, Alina, with all the spiking and hard slides.
[Cho:] Absolutely. We've got to stay right here. What a deal?
[Chetry:] Thanks.
[Cho:] You bet.
[Chetry:] John?
[Roberts:] Let's hope that Billy Crystal keeps his feet on the ground tonight, too. The benefits of taking aspirin. A new study says it does more than just help heart patients. Our Dr. Gupta tells us what else the tiny tablet may prevent. Plus, we're learning more about this morning about the call girl at the center of the Eliot Spitzer scandal. Who is she? And what do prosecutors want to know from her. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.