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American Morning

Traficant in a Jam

Aired July 24, 2002 - 09:18   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as you may know, Congress plans an historic vote tonight on whether to expel one of its own, Representative James Traficant, the colorful, that's saying it mildly, Ohio Democrat who was convicted of bribery and corruption.

He spoke with Connie Chung last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES TRAFICANT (D), OHIO: I cut my hair with a weed- whacker. I'm just a son of a truck driver. Forget this Congress business, I'm just a regular guy. And you know what, look at my...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Oh my goodness, dropped out at the best part. He went on and on and on. Well whatever happens, you can bet Traficant won't go quietly.

Kate Snow is standing by live on Capitol Hill right now. And if anybody watched the -- his little banter last night, it'll be interesting to see what he might say given the fact that he's had preparation in advance of his testimony.

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Paula.

You know he's been known for years up here on Capitol Hill for his what they call one-minute speeches. They do these at the beginning of every day when they open for business. People would tune in to C-SPAN just to watch Jim Traficant give his one-minute speech. In fact, yesterday, Representative Dick Armey said he wouldn't be alone in wanting to sit down and watch Traficant.

This is probably going to be his final performance, his grand finale. Last week, the House Ethics Committee of course recommended expelling Jim Traficant. And it is expected that the House will go ahead and do that tonight. But he's not going without a fight in part because of something that happened last week.

Some questions were raised. In fact, we almost didn't have a vote tonight because of questions about this man you see here. That's Richard Detour. He testified last week before the Ethics Committee called by Jim Traficant. He testified that he had been pressured by prosecutors in Traficant's criminal trial to lie. And in fact, he never testified before the criminal trial, only last week here in Congress.

And over the weekend, a juror back in Cleveland, who had been on that jury that convicted Traficant in criminal court, said that he might have changed his mind if he had known about this man, Richard Detour.

Traficant brought that up with Connie Chung.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAFICANT: Congress, if, in fact, there was any justice, they would ask for a stay of the sentencing of Traficant while they investigate the prosecutorial misconduct brought forward by Richard Detour. Now you should interview Richard Detour because why does America fear...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Well I guess we're having problems with that tape as well.

But many times in the past, Paula, members of Congress who get to this point where it's been recommended by the Ethics Committee that they leave will go ahead and resign to avoid the embarrassment of being thrown out of the U.S. House. Not Jim Traficant. He has insisted that he will not resign. He will appear here tonight. He will likely become only the second person ever kicked out of Congress since the Civil War.

And his antics get a lot of laughs up here on Capitol Hill. But I spoke yesterday with one of his good friends, a fellow congressman, who said today is actually a rather sad day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm saddened that people think he's a joke. Some people think he's a joke, and I don't happen to think that he's a joke. And I'm all saddened that he's now facing the prospect of going to prison and being expelled from the House. To me that's a waste of a career, which, by all accounts, has been successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: A lot of people back in Youngstown, Ohio do consider Jim Traficant a great success, Paula. They welcome the money that he's been able to get back, the federal money that he's gotten for his district.

We understand today he plans to wear his white denim suit when he gives his half hour of remarks later tonight.

And one last note, Paula, he is not going quietly. He is already signed up on the ballot to run from prison for his district, for his seat as an Independent. He says he fully intends to run from jail -- Paula. ZAHN: Beam him up, Kate, his favorite phrase that he liked to use before his...

SNOW: That's his favorite.

ZAHN: ... one-minute testimony.

SNOW: I'll bet we'll hear that tonight.

ZAHN: Yes, I'm dying to hear what he has to say.

We apologize that we had a little computer problem there that prevented you from hearing some of the colorful stuff he had to say tonight. But I'm sure now that he's had time to prepare what he's going to say tonight, it might even be more interesting than that. So we're going to share a little bit of that, Kate, tomorrow morning with our audience. Thanks for that update.

SNOW: Sure.

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