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CNN CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT
Tape Shows Osama bin Laden Declaring War on America; Martha Stewart Submits Documents to Congress; Rich Beem Edges Tiger Woods for PGA Championship
Aired August 20, 2002 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CONNIE CHUNG, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. I'm Connie Chung. The chilling words of Osama bin Laden caught on tape.
ANNOUNCER: "Terror on Tape." Osama bin Laden in a secret 1998 meeting declares holy war on the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSAMA BIN LADEN (through translator): By God's will, their actions are going to have a successful result in killing Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Another dramatic revelation from the cache of videotape uncovered in Afghanistan. Tonight, a CNN exclusive. A chilling inside look as the seeds of terror of sown.
Deadline day for Martha. Lawmakers want to know what she knew and when she knew it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that you are rich and famous doesn't mean you get treated any differently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Tonight, the congressional deadline.
A deadly attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone yelled bear, bear, bear. She came out to get the baby, discovered that it was missing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A peaceful vacation community is shattered as as a mother finds her baby in the jaws of a bear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I entered the woods, I saw the bear standing there. That's when I walked up to the bear and shot the bear.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: What makes a bear attack?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in the hole!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Swing of the putter. Look at this putt! Look at this putt! The Beemer!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
The former stereo salesman who beat Tiger Woods for a major championship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICH BEEM, 2002 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER: This is so cool. You can't even believe it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
Tonight, Rich Beem goes first person with Connie about life at the top.
This is CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT, live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, Connie chung.
CHUNG: Good evening. Tonight, more of that stunning archive of videotapes obtained by CNN in Afghanistan. CNN was told that the 64 tapes have been buried for a year in the Afghan desert. They provide never-before-seen footage of Osama bin Laden announcing his jihad against America and the West.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIN LADEN (through translator): By God's grace we have formed with many other Islamic groups and organizations in the Islamic world, a front called the International Islamic Front to do jihad against the crusaders and Jews.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: National Correspondent Mike Boettcher joins us now from CNN Center in Atlanta with more on this exclusive find, and we also welcome back from Washington CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen. Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.
Mike, we'll start with you. This tape is extraordinary, of this 1998 meeting that bin Laden called. He calls for a few selective reporters in. He brings in leadership, and he makes this announcement and videotapes it and yet does not release it. Can you tell us why?
MIKE BOETTCHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, part of the reason is the words were -- and this is what I believe and what some analysts have told me in studying this -- is that Osama bin Laden had some very, very harsh words there.
You heard them on the tape earlier in this show when he talked about by the grace of God and the result -- the end of the result will be the killing of a lot of Americans. You had, Ayman al-Zawahiri on the tape later on talking about a nest of CIA spies at the embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
And frankly, Connie, I believe that they believe that they may be giving too much away, that they had the African embassy bombing operations in full steam and they thought that that might tip their hand to Western intelligence agencies.
CHUNG: I see...
BOETTCHER: But that is only an assumption and a good guess from some very top analysts.
CHUNG: Well -- and in fact do you believe that U.S. intelligence knew about this meeting and the substance of it?
BOETTCHER: I believe they knew about the meeting. But the world didn't know about it, because there was no video released. What if you declared a war and no one came?
That's basically what happened. What resulted on that day, that day was so key, Connie, because that day resulted in what we saw on 9/11, the attacks in Washington and New York. That was a declaration of war. But no Western journalists were there. There were Pakistani journalists and one Chinese. Also, there was no videotaping allowed, only pictures of the top three people there. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden, and Abu Has (ph) who is the -- was the military commander who has been killed, that was Mohamed Atef was his real name.
So it just wasn't receiving any attention in the West because there was no video allowed, basically.
CHUNG: But -- and we'll get back to this in just a moment with Peter as well -- but Mike, why, if U.S. intelligence did have some knowledge it, why -- did American intelligence drop the ball, when, in fact, later, the U.S. embassy bombings occurred in Kenya and Tanzania?
BOETTCHER: Well, admittedly, Western intelligence agencies and specifically the ones in the U.S., were late in identifying al Qaeda. At the time 1998, terrorism wasn't the top priority that it is now. And they knew about this meeting, but we don't know how much they knew about what was said or if they knew anything that might have led them to believe that an attack was imminent on a U.S. embassy.
Certainly, by Ayman al Zawahiri's own words on this tape in 1998 talking to the Pakistani journalists about an embassy in Africa, which was the embassy in Cairo, there would have been a hint that something was up. You had Osama bin Laden saying the result should be, if God blesses, to kill many Americans. That should have been a hint. But in hindsight, again, it's very easy to say that. And at the time, you have to consider the context of 1998.
CHUNG: All right. Peter Bergen, how do you analyze the orchestration of this meeting?
PETER BERGEN, TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, I mean the meeting was cold, mostly Pakistani journalists and a Chinese journalist. And it was bin Laden's basically -- it was not only bin Laden going public, it was really al Qaeda going public. You have Ayman al Zawahiri, the No. 2, and the military commander, Abu Has (ph), as Mike has pointed out, so al Qaeda is going public with its war against the United States, and bin Laden is very, very clear in the videotape.
I mean he's talking about attacks on Americans which are in process or about to happen. It's really a kind of remarkably -- you know, bin Laden's statements are usually the best guide to his actions. And I think a lot of people kind of took it as a rhetorical device when he declared war against the United States. How could this guy in Afghanistan really do any damage with his sort of small crew of people?
And I think it wasn't just American intelligence that underestimated bin Laden, everybody did, and I include myself and the media in that as well. No one really believed that bin Laden was capable of blowing up U.S. embassies, warships, or 9/11.
With each succeeding attack they got more and more deadly. And I think it wasn't a lack of information about these people's intentions. It was sort of a lack of imagination about their ability to pull it off. In fact, going back to this press conference in June, the United States government released a warning to all its embassies in the Middle East and Asia, saying we're worried about possible attacks.
Unfortunately that warning did not include Africa. So, again, it's not a problem of a lack of information. It's really a problem of a lack of imagination about the scope of this group's activities.
CHUNG: But, Peter, after each successive attack, why didn't U.S. or world intelligence or the media take it seriously?
BERGEN: Well, there were elements of the media that took it seriously, as there were elements of the U.S. government. But complacency and inertia are usually pretty good explanations of a lot of different things.
No one believed it could happen in the United States. That's the fundamental thing. There was plenty of information in the summer of 2001 that al Qaeda was planning something catastrophic, but everybody was looking in the wrong direction, including the media.
CHUNG: Yes. As you look at this videotape of the meeting, you had interviewed Osama bin Laden a year earlier. Does this Osama bin Laden that you see in the news conference resemble the man that you had interviewed?
BERGEN: Very much so. One of the striking things about bin Laden is when he talks he's very low key. You see that in the press conference. You also saw that in our interview. He barely raise his voice. It's not like he's some sort of table thumping demagogue. Even though his words are filled with rage, his manner is pretty kind of -- he is quite mild mannered.
And we see that in the press conference in '98. The other thing that I remember from our interview in '97 is that the translator that we use is also in the room in this press conference, and also one of the chief bodyguards is also in the room.
CHUNG: Yes, I noticed that. I noticed that you had pointed out that this bodyguard you were not allowed to film or to tape was actually on this tape that Nic Robertson had gotten.
We'll probably show it in just a minute. I wanted to ask you, Peter, does bin Laden have a commanding stature or appearance, though, because of his height, by virtue of just his height?
Well, the people around him treat him with the utmost deference. For a start, they refer to him as sheikh, which is a term of -- it means "old man" in Arabic, but it basically is a term of respect.
When we were doing the interview with him, they hung on his every word. And you see in these pictures, he's much taller than anybody around him. He's 6'4". Even though he walks with a slight stoop, he still dominates the picture. And I think that, you know, these people are prepared to fight to the death for him, these people immediately around him. There's no doubt about it.
CHUNG: I noticed that he had a cane, or is that for any purpose, or is it -- was it simply that he didn't need it and was using it?
BERGEN: The cane is not cosmetic. I mean, he suffered a foot wound during the war against the Soviet Union in the '80s, and he walks with a pronounced limp, so the cane is for real.
CHUNG: Does he still have this entourage that we saw on this videotape?
BERGEN: We don't really know anything about exactly the circumstances either, you know, the kind of entourage he has around him. As a guess, I would guess that he has a smaller group around him than the 30 people or so that we see in this videotape.
CHUNG: Mike Boettcher, I think the general consensus is that those who are seen in this videotape surrounding him may very well be in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay or whatever, and that there is a potential that U.S. intelligence will be able to gather information from them. My question to you, though, is it likely that they would turn and spill information to the United States?
BOETTCHER: Well, I was talking to a man I've known a long time, who is a top intelligence analyst in the coalition. And he was doubtful about some of the information coming out from prisoners in Guantanamo. He said that the top-ranking and middle ranking al Qaeda people are trained the same way U.S. people would be trained if they were captured, to give up gradually perished information, information that is no longer of any use to their enemy, information that is old, and gradually give varying degrees of information.
He thinks a lot of that is going on, and certainly the bodyguards would be the top people in training, those guarding Osama bin Laden. But, that is not true in all instances. There is some very good information coming out from some interrogations of these prisoners, and I am told that that information has helped to stop several terrorist attacks.
So there's a mix going on there, but certainly just like the Secret Service, who would be guarding President Bush, would hear a lot of things, certainly those bodyguards, the flies in the wall, would also hear a lot of things.
CHUNG: And would U.S. intelligence certainly be able to identify them more clearly by seeing them on these videotapes?
BOETTCHER: Well, it would require identifying the eyes, and in one instance, perhaps we have identified the eyes of one individual. But we're not quite sure yet. And as soon as we do make that identification, we'll report on it, Connie.
CHUNG: Mike, do you believe that U.S. intelligence had access to any of these tapes? For instance, the CIA. Had the CIA seen any of this material or were they really quite surprised to see it and will be quite surprised when they actually view it?
BOETTCHER: Well, a very good source of mine who is really on the front lines of this terrorism battle for the coalition states unequivocally that no intelligence agency in the world had these tapes. This is the first time that this person had seen those tapes, and I've talked to other people, too, who are in the coalition. They say it is the first time, they believe. But this person says unequivocal unequivocally it's the first time, and everyone we showed it to was astounded, Connie, everybody.
CHUNG: Peter Bergen, why wouldn't the CIA have gotten ahold of these tapes? Doesn't that seem as if it might be a major failing of our U.S. intelligence?
BERGEN: Well, I think, you know, we consistently are -- the CIA is a fallible organization like any other. And I think that, you know, it makes its mistakes and we're familiar with a lot of them. But I want to amplify something Mike just said about Guantanamo Bay. I talked to someone who's directly involved in the investigation of 9/11 and asked him what sort of information are you getting out of the people in Guantanamo Bay.
He said very limited information. Apparently the hundreds of people there are not -- either not talking or don't have much to say.
CHUNG: All right. Peter, I just want to go over to Mike Boettcher one more -- with one more question, and that is to just give us a preview of what is coming up tomorrow on these tapes.
BOETTCHER: Well, tomorrow you will see how intricate al Qaeda training is, and you will see what they are training for. Out in the hinterlands of Afghanistan, they have set up what essentially is a mock city, where they are practicing urban warfare tactics, tactics to attack big cities in the west.
And you also see tactics used in assassinations and kidnapping and blowing up things like bridges -- Connie.
CHUNG: Peter Bergen, one more question. Do you think that Osama bin Laden is still alive?
BERGEN: Connie, there's no evidence he's dead, so until there is, I'm presuming he's alive. Mike and I have talked about this. We share the same opinion that he's alive, that he's had a shrapnel wound to his shoulder and that he probably is in either the tribal areas of Pakistan or in Afghanistan.
CHUNG: All right. Peter Bergen, Mike Boettcher, thank you so much for being with us tonight, and we'll probably see you tomorrow.
When we come back, keeping track of your kids. Parents will want to see this one. Stay with us.
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead -- an outing in the Catskills turns tragic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Witnesses tell us that the bear actually had the baby in its mouth. They started yelling and screaming at the bear. The bear dropped the baby and ran into the woods.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: A rare bear attack.
Next, high-tech gadgets to protect and track your children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
It's piece of mind, basically, to know where their child is at the click of a button.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Can we depend on technology to find a child missing in America? CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Shortly after Osama bin Laden's declaration of jihad against Americans, al Qaeda operatives attacked the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. That was followed in October 2000 by the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole. Two suicide bombers approached the Navy destroyer when it was docked in the Yemeni port of Aden.
Using a standard harbor boat to avoide detection, the bombers rammed the Cole with several hundred pounds of high explosives. The explosion killed 17 sailors and injured 39 other crew members. The blast also blew a 40-foot hole in the hull, incapacitating the billion-dollar destroyer.
So what became of the U.S.S. Cole? The answer when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: So what happened to the U.S.S. Cole after al Qaeda terrorists blew a 40-foot hole in his hull? The Cole was loaded onto a Norwegian salvage ship and was carted back to a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi for repairs.
This past April, after 14 months and $250 million worth of repairs, the Cole returned to the fleet at its home port in Norfolk, Virginia. It now has a plaque commemorating those who died, along with 17 white stars on the passageway that runs the length of the ship.
CHUNG: Tonight an emotional appeal from the family of an abducted 9-year-old Virginia girl. Relatives of Jennifer Short ask for help finding the little girl who disappeared last week. Her parents were found shot to death in their home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBY YOUNG, JENNIFER'S AUNT: I beg you, if there is anyone out there that has any information about Jennifer, please call the sheriff's department.
Jennifer, we miss you and we love you very much. Please don't give up, because we'll never give up until we find you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Certainly, it's been unavoidable that our series "Missing in America" has focused on some really awful stories of children's disappearances. But tonight, some helpful information, we hope. CNN's David Mattingly found some options for concerned families looking for high-tech solutions to protect your children.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A child abducted from a public park in California. Another child snatched from a Texas parking lot. Both with happy endings, but not until after days of panic for the parents. Timothy Neher knows that frightened, empty feeling from when he briefly lost his niece and nephew at a zoo.
TIMOTHY NEHER, WHERIFY WIRELESS: Basically, thought, what would I have done if I didn't find them? I wouldn't have had pictures of them. I wouldn't even have known what those children were wearing to tell the police.
MATTINGLY: So when he got them back, he also got an idea, a global positioning wristwatch and cell phone that tracks a child on the Internet. It's called Wherify, costs $400 and a monthly fee. It's not even on the market yet and already there are thousands of orders.
NEHER: I think it's the concern for abduction, but it's also a concern that, you know, it's peace of mind, basically, to know where their child is at the click of a button.
MATTINGLY: The information age has clearly weighed in on the search for missing children. Amber Alerts flash warnings to motorists in California. At the Major League ballpark in Miami, the faces of missing children have leaped from milk cartons to the giant screen. Digital fingerprinting is also booming. One company, SentryKids, reports sales way up as demands from law enforcement and entrepreneurs for the scanners and software has nearly doubled. And retailers report a surging demand from parents for cell phones, walkie talkies and new gadgets like this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At the time they pick the product up, a flashlight comes on, sirens go off.
MATTINGLY: The $49.95 Herbie hydrant was originally invented as a locator device for children in case of a fire. But according to marketers, the main motivation behind most purchases now is the fear of home intruders.
NICK SCARANE, EASTERN DISTRIBUTING: Now Herbie is a companion for the child to give them added safety in the home.
MATTINGLY (on camera): Even though the number of children abducted by strangers has been going down in recent years, that according to the FBI, missing children experts still say these high- tech devices can be a good idea, so long as you don't ignore the basics.
REUBEN RODRIGUEZ, CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN: The concern is obviously you might be dulled into complacency if they have a beeper or a tracking system on them. There's no substitute other than keeping your eye on your child and talking to them about safety issues.
MATTINGLY: And no substitute for peace of mind as parents look for new ways to keep track of their children.
David Mattingly, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: Coming up, will Martha Stewart be called before Congress?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES GREENWOOD (R), PENNSYLVANIA: We know it would be a media circus if we subpoenaed her.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ANNOUNCER: The heat is on when CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: This next story is just so awful, it still gives me the chills. It happened yesterday on a hot, dry afternoon in New York's Catskill Mountains, a historic vacation spot about 70 miles north of New York City. A black bear was spotted inside a bungalow colony, popular with Hasidic Jews. Parents hustled their children inside, but not before the bear was able to snatch a sleeping 5-month-old Esther Schwimmer (ph) from her stroller and carry her off into the woods.
Some of the adults chased after the bear and scared it into dropping the baby. But little Esther had already been mauled, suffering severe head and neck wounds. She was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital. The 150-pound bear was later shot to death. Officials believe this is the first deadly bear attack in New York.
For more on the tragic incident, we're joined by the man who killed the bear, Officer David Decker of the Fallsburg, New York Police Department, and he comes to us from South Fallsburg, New York. Thank you, Officer Decker, for joining us. We appreciate it.
We understand that a number of the vacationers, perhaps even family members, saw the bear grab the child in its mouth. What did they tell you they saw?
OFFICER DAVID DECKER, FALLSBURG, NY POLICE: It started -- I received a 911 call for a child being mauled by a bear. When I responded to the bungalow colony, there was about 40 to 50 hysterical people screaming, bear, bear, and pointing into the woods. As I got in my vehicle, I walked into a small clearing on the edge of the woods. And that's when members of the community and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) ambulance crew were carrying an infant out of the woods.
CHUNG: Were you able to see the infant? What was the infant's condition at the time?
DECKER: It was wrapped up in a blanket. I saw a lot of blood in the blanket, so I knew it was a pretty severe injury. People were still hysterical, screaming bear, and pointing into the woods. That's when I entered the woods and approached the bear, which was approximately 15 feet in front of me.
CHUNG: You followed the bear into the woods. And what did you do?
DECKER: I started up to walk and approach the bear. The bear then attempted to climb a tree. That's when I shot it once.
CHUNG: Can you tell about the bear? I assume it was a black bear.
DECKER: I was told about it by a bunch of conservation officers. It was approximately a and a half to two years old, approximately 150 to 175 pounds. It was a healthy male black bear.
CHUNG: This must have been so horrifying for the family. Were you able to spend any time with them?
DECKER: It's a close-knit community. I didn't get to speak much to the family. I just interviewed the parents for my report. They were very distraught and upset of the situation. I can't see anybody losing a 5-month-old child.
CHUNG: Have you ever experienced a bear attack in the years that you've been on the job?
DECKER: Never. Never.
CHUNG: What kind of reports do you usually get?
DECKER: We just get bears tipping over garbage cans, going into backyards, digging up bird feeders, and just calls like that. Usually, the bears are gone before we get there. If they're still on the property, we just scare it away, make some kind of noise and they usually don't come back. They usually come out at night. Yesterday it was rare because it came out approximately 2:00 in the afternoon in a busy community.
CHUNG: Officer Decker, we thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
DECKER: Thank you.
CHUNG: This mauling was highly unusual. For more on bear behavior, we're joined now by Don Moore, animal curator with the Wildlife Conversation Society here in New York. Don, it is unusual for black bears to be dangerous, isn't it?
DON MOORE, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY: Sure. These guys are very shy, very retiring, totally nonconfrontational as opposed to their relatives, the polar bears. And this is one of the first maulings in New York, or the first mauling in New York that's resulted in the death of a human.
CHUNG: What could have caused this black bear to attack?
MOORE: One of the things about this time of year is it's late August. The bears are getting ready for hibernation. So, they are looking for food. They are really good problem solvers. They have excellent noses and they can smell food from a long way off. The baby might have smelled like food. It might have had scented oils on it, like baby oil or something. And this is compounded by the drought this year that's caused there to be very little food out in the wild. So, the bears are looking.
CHUNG: But are there any other factors? I mean, for one thing, the officer who shot the bear said he was probably around two years old. Does that make a difference?
MOORE: Well, the bear would have been a young bear, obviously, at age two. Probably very exploratory, having just lost his mom, probably last year. She would have kicked him out if she had other cubs this spring. And so, he really doesn't kind of know what he's doing, going into hibernation. And that's probably a factor.
And he was -- I heard he didn't have any fat on him. So he was probably young and hungry and that, compounded by the drought, which restricts his food resources in the wild, would drive him maybe into a human habitation where, you know, with our trash cans and everything else, there's usually a lot of food there.
CHUNG: Now, black bears usually don't attack human beings. Is that correct?
MOORE: I've found in the wild that when I'm confronted by a black bear, they'll just kind of turn tail and run. There have been examples of black bears in New York facing down campers for food. But it's always about food. And if you just leave the food behind and go, the bear doesn't care about the people. Most bears will run away from people. They're shy.
CHUNG: You know, there are a lot of us who -- around this summer, go on vacation somewhere where there are bears. I mean, my husband and son and I go to a place where there are black bears and, I think, grizzly bears. So, tell us, what should we do if we see a bear?
MOORE: I would say that it's very enjoyable to go into the wild and watch bears, but you want to avoid a direct confrontation. And the way to do that is to restrict their access to food. So, not talking about grizzly bears, but talking about black bears, if you are a camper, you can put the bag of food in a tree near your campsite, and that will eliminate the possibility of a bear going into your tent. And don't hide a candy bar in your tent to be eaten later because the bear can smell the candy bar.
If you are in a cottage, then you want to use a sealed trash can. And our staff in the Adirondacks has advised people to seal their trash cans, lock their trash cans, put their trash cans out of sight. And if they are using dumpsters, make sure the dumpsters are locked.
CHUNG: All right. And just very quickly, grizzly bears?
MOORE: Grizzly bears, well, you wear bells and you go into country that -- where the bears aren't, where grizzly bears aren't.
CHUNG: Literally, bells?
MOORE: Yes, and just warn the bear of your approach so that the bear knows that the bear can move off. And never get between a sow bear and her cubs.
CHUNG: OK. Got it. Thank you so much, Don Moore. Appreciate your being with us.
MOORE: Sure.
CHUNG: Coming up, Martha Stewart's moment of truth.
ANNOUNCER: Still ahead:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPORTS ANNOUNCER: Rich and famous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: He beat Tiger Woods.
RICH BEEM, WON 2002 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: I'm so high right now, it's unbelievable. I am -- I can't even tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Now, Rich Beem tees it up with Connie when CONNIE CHUNG TONIGHT continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: A high-profile gamp chicken between Martha Stewart and Congress ended today when Stewart handed over 1,000 pages of documents related to her stock trading activity. Congressional investigators had demanded the materials to investigate charges that she had inside information about the biotech company ImClone. The chairman of the committee handling the investigation said that Stewart's action today buys her some time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM GREENWOOD (R), PENNSYLVANIA: We had to ask for these documents and try to piece the story together, and if we still find that there are gaps in the story, and there probably will be, then we may have to subpoena her to come and testify at a hearing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHUNG: Stewart sold almost 4,000 shares of ImClone one day before the company announced bad news about a once promising cancer drug. A House committee had threatened to subpoena Stewart's phone and e-mail records if she did not give them up voluntarily by today. So to discuss the implications for Martha Stewart and her publishing and entertainment empire, we're joined by CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin -- Jeffrey, thank you.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi.
(LAUGHTER)
CHUNG: All right. So the committee gets all of these documents, voluminous amount of material. What's the committee going to do with it?
TOOBIN: Well, that's a good question. I mean, Martha Stewart's big problem is that she's fighting a two-front war. She's got the U.S. Attorney's Office in New York investigating her for insider trading, a classic criminal investigation.
CHUNG: Which is very serious.
TOOBIN: Very serious, very separate. You have got Congress investigating her for insider trading as well. Now you might ask, why?
CHUNG: Yes, exactly, and dare I say, the silly investigation?
TOOBIN: The Congress has lots of things to do. They have got a budget to pass, a war going on, and here they are investigating this single example of possible insider trading.
And this is a very big deal for Martha Stewart because it's basically a public investigation. Every document that gets turned over to Congress promptly gets leaked into the press, and dribble by dribble, more bad news seems to come out about her.
Her problem is, there are no real rules in the congressional investigation. She's got to figure out how to keep from testifying there, because she doesn't want to testify and she doesn't want to have to take the Fifth. But she wants to keep cooperating. What happens now? We'll see how they react to the documents and see whether they are satisfied by them.
CHUNG: You know, it is probably -- I think it's just terribly annoying that they are sticking their nose in there and trying to grandstand.
TOOBIN: Well, it could be that it's August. There's not much news out there, and Congress is not even in session now, but you have got these committee -- the committee here and Congressman Greenwood is on television every day, and Billy Tauzin, the chairman of the committee, is on television every day.
And obviously a lot of people are interested in what happens to Martha Stewart, but I can't think of an example of an entire congressional committee essentially duplicating the criminal investigation of a private individual for no purpose other than to just gather information.
CHUNG: Well, I can't see any legitimacy to it. I mean, really, I've covered the Hill. You know what the people on the Hill do.
TOOBIN: And they like to get their names in the paper and they loke to get themselves on television. But you know, Martha Stewart has to be in the position of not complaining about the investigation...
CHUNG: Yes, of course.
TOOBIN: Because if she gets them angry, all they have to do is slap a subpoena, and Congressman Greenwood said something ver interesting today on CNNfn this morning. He said, look, if we subpoena her we're not going to let her write a letter to say she's taking the Fifth. She's going to have to go up to Congress, raise her hand and say I decline to answer questions. Can you imagine what a spectacle that will be? And remember, she's not just dealing with an invest -- lawyers on -- she's got to, attention Kmart shoppers. This is her audience. She's got to make sure that these people don't think she's some kind of crook. That's a big issue for her.
CHUNG: So if they find in these e-mails and in telephone records the smoking gun, they'll just come out and say we found the smoking gun?
TOOBIN: Apparently. Because the funny thing they keep saying is, well, we're not doing the criminal investigation. That's up to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
CHUNG: Thank you very much.
TOOBIN: So if they find the smoking gun I guess they'll say, well, we'll turn it over to the U.S. Atorney's Office, which is gathering the same documents at the same time anyway. I don't know what they'll do with these documents, but they will certainly probably get some more publicity.
CHUNG: All right. So enough of that frivolity. Let's go to the David Westerfield trial. Danielle van Dam, 7-year-old killed. (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
TOOBIN: She was seven, right.
CHUNG: Killed. He is on trial for murder, kidnapping. They've been deliberating how many days?
TOOBIN: Nine days. Day nine just ended. One of the rules of thumb about jury deliberations is, often juries will deliberate about one day for each week of testimony. This is an eight-week trial, we're now in day nine.
Now, there's no indication, they have sent no notes saying they are near any sort of deadlock. But this has turned into a very long deliberation, and frankly, having sat through some of the trial out there, I'm pretty surprised.
CHUNG: So does that bode well for...
TOOBIN: Well, I think a lot of people thought this was almost an open-and-shut case for the prosecution. So to the extent it's taking a long time, you have to figure it helps the defense. They've also asked for certain parts of testimony, certain witnesses, especially on the issue of time of death, which was a very important defense argument.
Again, you don't know if all the jurors are concerned about that. Could be just one juror. But I would say the last several notes have been fairly encouraging for the defense.
CHUNG: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you. TOOBIN: No, no. One more thing.
CHUNG: What?
TOOBIN: Happy birthday.
(LAUGHTER)
Everybody is talking about it but nobody's wished you a happy birthday.
CHUNG: You know, I think the guys at "CROSSFIRE" did.
TOOBIN: Oh, did they?
CHUNG: Isn't that nice?
TOOBIN: Well, I got here a little too late.
CHUNG: No, no, no. But no one between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern time.
TOOBIN: OK, well, now consider it done. Anyway, happy birthday from all of us.
CHUNG: Thank you. Thanks you so much. Always happy to have you. You know that.
Coming up, close your eyes, imagine this: beating Tiger Woods, a major, major golf tournament. Pretty good feeling, right? Well, we'll meet the guy who did it when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: It was a golfing upset to remember with a finish to behold. Rich Beem came out of nowhere to beat Tiger Woods, far and away the best player in the world, by one stroke and capture the PGA Championship last weekend in Minnesota.
Beem persevered where so many other golfers had failed, by holding off a hard charge from Woods in the final few holds -- few holes. It's been a long and winding road for the 31-year-old Beem.
He even gave up the game a few years ago, supporting himself by selling stereos and cellular phones, earning $7 an hour. That is small change compared to the $990,000 paycheck he took home for winning the PGA trophy. To tell us about it, we're joined by Rich Beem, from Bellevue, Washington, near where he's competing in the NEC Invitational Tournament.
Rich, congratulations, and thank you so much for talking to us.
BEEM: Absolutely. My pleasure.
CHUNG: Now Rich, how can the person who shot the worst shot in the Dry -- in the history of the Dry Heave, become the PGA championship?
BEEM: Oh, no. The stories are already getting out about the Dry Heave. Yes, you're right. It was the worst shot ever in the Dry Heave. For those who don't know, it's a fun pro scratch tournament in Scottsdale at the end of the year. But yes, I hit a wedge from 116 yards about 30 yards off line.
CHUNG: So we have to clue the viewers in, right? I was talking to your golf teacher or your golf coach, or one of your best friends, right, one of your friends, Peter Kostis. He set me up to do this to you.
BEEM: I bet he did.
CHUNG: Well, you know, my husband actually gave -- my husband's a dedicated golfer. And I gave him a present and that was for his 40th birthday and that was a lesson with Peter Kostis. So it's been working out just fine.
BEEM: Yes, it has.
CHUNG: He's his guru now. All right, Rich, you have a great story to tell. When did you start playing golf?
BEEM: Probably when I was about three years old. My dad has got pictures of me taken when I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I guess, in the wood right next to the green. But my dad was a golf pro for the government for about 30 years or so, and now he's a coach at New Mexico state.
CHUNG: Gotcha. And when did you start taking it really seriously?
BEEM: About when I was in high school, my last year of high school in New Mexico. I was actually -- I lived over in Germany for a few years. Then when I came back, I really wanted to play soccer. That was my true passion. But I found out I really wasn't good enough.
So I started playing golf again full time and then earned a scholarship to go to New Mexico State. From there just kind of developed.
CHUNG: But then one day you said, I mean, you went to work at $7 an hour to sell cellular phones and stereos. Why?
BEEM: Not really -- that profession was not really what I wanted to do, but it was just something to kind of pass the time. I was just bored with golf. I was tired, I was burnt out. I had played up on the Dakotas tour, the mini-tours for a couple of years and did not have any success whatsoever.
I was engaged to a gal who moved out to Seattle. So I kind of followed her out here. I basically just took the first job I could find. That was doing that at (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Hi-fi here in Bellevue.
CHUNG: OK, so what brought you back to golf seriously?
BEEM: Watching Paul Stankowski win the Bellsouth Classic in 1996. Paul was a friend of mine. He attended UTEP (ph) when I went to New Mexico State. And just kind of watching him inspired me to try and go -- try it again to play golf.
CHUNG: OK, so you won...
(CROSSTALK)
Go ahead. So you won the Kemper?
BEEM: Yes, well, actually I had to go back to work at El Paso Country Club and then I started playing well there, and then I found out real quickly that I was a better player than I was an assistant pro. So my boss told me one day, you know, you got two options, either quit and go play golf for a living, or just quit, because I don't think your purpose in life is to be a head golf pro.
So I went ahead and went through qualifying school in '98 and, lo and behold, I won the '99 Kemper Open, and that really kind of sparked my career.
CHUNG: Wow.
BEEM: Yes.
CHUNG: And then another tournament came along, right?
BEEM: Yes. I kind of went up and down for a few years, and then earlier this month I actually won the International, which was my second tour victory, and I thought that was going to be one of the highlights of my life up until -- little did I know that last week was going to happen.
CHUNG: Oh, man, and then it came along. And you were just spectacular.
BEEM: Thank you.
CHUNG: I mean, Tiger Woods was breathing down your neck. That's a heck of a lot of pressure.
BEEM: Yes, it was. I guess one of the overlooked things, though, is that I kind of had a really big lead with about five holes to go. I played steady coming in while he was making all the birdies. I was somewhat of aware of what he was doing, but I was still more focused in on myself than I was about Tiger.
CHUNG: Good for you. And then there were two critical holes that my husband was telling me about, the 11th hole and the 16th, right?
BEEM: Yes, yes. The 11th hole is a par 5. It was actually reachable on Sunday. I hit a beautiful drive there and my caddie and I had a great yardage, and we actually hit 7 wood in there to about six feet. I made that eagle. From what I understand, some people say that when they saw it on TV, it kind of looked like it rattled Tiger a little bit.
I find that a little hard to believe. But then on 16 I hit -- it's the toughest hole on the golf course. It's not very long, but you have -- you have two carries over water. I hit a 7 wood again out in the fairway and had 148 yards to the hole and actually just barely cleared the second hazard, but then I made about a 35-foot birdie putt, and gave me a four-stroke lead with three to go. And he ended up birdying...
CHUNG: Four in a row, right?
BEEM: Yes, he had already started his birdie barrage. He birdied 15, 16, and then after that I knew I was four up with two to go. Then he birdied 17 and 18, so I only had a two-stroke lead going into 18, but, so I had one stroke to play with on 18 and I used it all up.
CHUNG: Rich, it was just unbelievable. Your wife said that you just can't dance. That was a -- what was that up there? You were trying to dance after you won the trophy?
BEEM: Yes. Well, I was elated beyond belief, as you can possibly imagine. Yes, that's about the extent of my dancing skills. You can even ask my wife. I didn't even dance with her at our wedding reception I'm such a bad dancer. I was just kind of caught up in the moment.
CHUNG: You deserve every -- everything that you want from now on. That was just unbelievable. It was great.
BEEM: Thank you. I appreciate that.
CHUNG: Under that kind of pressure. We congratulate you. My husband wanted to come in and do this interview. Jeffrey Toobin wanted to come in and do this interview, but I wouldn't let any of them talk to you.
BEEM: Well, I'm sure I'll see your husband later on this winter over in Gray Hawk, and by the way, happy birthday.
CHUNG: Hey, thank you so much.
BEEM: Hey!
CHUNG: And your birthday is Saturday?
BEEM: Yes, it is. Be all of 32.
CHUNG: OK. Congratulations again.
BEEM: Thank you again.
CHUNG: Take care.
BEEM: You, too.
CHUNG: And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHUNG: So I'm calling my husband because I want to find out what he thought of the interview with Rich Beem. What do you think? With Rich Beem.
You did? Really? You won't believe what he said. OK. Good.
OK. Rich Beem has a chance to do it all over again, beat Tiger Woods. Good night.
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Martha Stewart Submits Documents to Congress; Rich Beem Edges Tiger Woods for PGA Championship>
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