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CNN Live At Daybreak
Senate Offices Closed in Washington This Morning
Aired February 03, 2004 - 06:29 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Senate offices are closed in Washington this morning. Public tours of the Capitol have been canceled just in case. What appears to be the deadly poison ricin was found in Senator Bill Frist's mailroom. The ricin was found in the Dirkson Senate Building now far from the Capitol. Six of eight tests came back positive and we are awaiting the results of a ninth test. That will determine if this substance is, indeed, ricin.
Let's head live to Washington now and producer Paul Courson -- Paul, just to get this straight, I thought there were eight tests.
Now there are nine tests being conducted on this substance?
PAUL COURSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eight tests have been conducted so far, Carol, and test number nine is taking place up at Fort Dietrich in Frederick, Maryland. That's about 30 miles from here. Fort Dietrich historically known for its germ warfare research. The kind of testing methodology that they have there is more refined than perhaps could be conducted here in town and it's the result of that test...
COSTELLO: Why so many tests? Why do so many tests need to be conducted, Paul?
COURSON: Again, not knowing the details of the methodology here in town when the early tests were taking place last night, Fort Dietrich might be the definitive test that they can really rely on. Indeed, there may also be some criminal investigation in some of the testing that they're doing. You might remember with the smallpox -- I'm sorry, the anthrax scare up on Capitol Hill, they could actually tell what kind of chopping took place of the germ particles that were going on, and that's part of the criminal investigation that could be under way, again, with this, the ricin scare.
COSTELLO: And as far as exactly where this was found, it was found in the mailroom of Senator Bill Frist's office. But we don't know if it was in an envelope, in a package or if it was just lying somewhere on the floor.
COURSON: Part of that might be kept quiet as part of the criminal investigation, too. They may very well know, but they're trying to determine more details. We had a police officer tell us last night, for example, that it was in an envelope, but that -- they may have backed away from that as the investigation continues.
You mentioned earlier in the hour, Carol, the idea of irradiated mail that had been taking place since the anthrax scare on Capitol Hill. The reason why irradiation doesn't work on ricin is that it's not a bug. It's not a germ. It's not bacteria that irradiation would take care of.
COSTELLO: So all mail is still being irradiated, but that wouldn't make any difference in this case?
COURSON: Right. It's a chemical. It's a toxin. Now, we have gotten word from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee this morning that the Senate will convene at a quarter to 10, 9:45, but that Senate office buildings will remain closed for the collection and disposal and examination of mail that might be accumulated in those offices.
We're also trying to find out, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was supposed to be up on Capitol Hill today testifying about the budget. We don't have definitive word yet whether that testimony will continue.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Now, 16 people we know were decontaminated last night because of this substance that was found.
Were they the only people in the building at the time or will more people be tested or we won't know until the final ninth test is conducted on this substance?
COURSON: Well, it might be a sort of proximity effect. In this mailroom, you can imagine quite a lot of activity was probably going on. There was a mention of cuttings on the floor. This might be the open top of envelopes that was cut away to remove the contents.
But usually the symptoms to ricin poisoning, to ricin contamination, happen within eight to 10 hours. So by now you'd think you'd know.
COSTELLO: Right.
You're not far from the Capitol or this Senate office building. Can you tell us, just lay out the geography for us so people understand the set up at this particular place in Washington.
COURSON: There are quite a few buildings around the U.S. Capitol that the tourists would come and see. And those buildings include mail handling facilities. The Senate Republican leader, Mr. Frist of Tennessee, would have his own mail processing facility because of his stature. And it was in one of those buildings that the contaminated mail, the powder, was found.
COSTELLO: OK, and we were expecting to get final results of this final test at 5:00 a.m. Eastern time this morning. That has not happened. Do we know why?
COURSON: Who knows? It could be that they're testing the -- there's some sort of testing procedure that they're taking great care with and maybe the results are being analyzed in such a way that they might have raw data and then they need to be interpreted by other experts. That's not known to us yet.
COSTELLO: All right, Paul Courson reporting live from D.C.
We appreciate the update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 3, 2004 - 06:29 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Senate offices are closed in Washington this morning. Public tours of the Capitol have been canceled just in case. What appears to be the deadly poison ricin was found in Senator Bill Frist's mailroom. The ricin was found in the Dirkson Senate Building now far from the Capitol. Six of eight tests came back positive and we are awaiting the results of a ninth test. That will determine if this substance is, indeed, ricin.
Let's head live to Washington now and producer Paul Courson -- Paul, just to get this straight, I thought there were eight tests.
Now there are nine tests being conducted on this substance?
PAUL COURSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eight tests have been conducted so far, Carol, and test number nine is taking place up at Fort Dietrich in Frederick, Maryland. That's about 30 miles from here. Fort Dietrich historically known for its germ warfare research. The kind of testing methodology that they have there is more refined than perhaps could be conducted here in town and it's the result of that test...
COSTELLO: Why so many tests? Why do so many tests need to be conducted, Paul?
COURSON: Again, not knowing the details of the methodology here in town when the early tests were taking place last night, Fort Dietrich might be the definitive test that they can really rely on. Indeed, there may also be some criminal investigation in some of the testing that they're doing. You might remember with the smallpox -- I'm sorry, the anthrax scare up on Capitol Hill, they could actually tell what kind of chopping took place of the germ particles that were going on, and that's part of the criminal investigation that could be under way, again, with this, the ricin scare.
COSTELLO: And as far as exactly where this was found, it was found in the mailroom of Senator Bill Frist's office. But we don't know if it was in an envelope, in a package or if it was just lying somewhere on the floor.
COURSON: Part of that might be kept quiet as part of the criminal investigation, too. They may very well know, but they're trying to determine more details. We had a police officer tell us last night, for example, that it was in an envelope, but that -- they may have backed away from that as the investigation continues.
You mentioned earlier in the hour, Carol, the idea of irradiated mail that had been taking place since the anthrax scare on Capitol Hill. The reason why irradiation doesn't work on ricin is that it's not a bug. It's not a germ. It's not bacteria that irradiation would take care of.
COSTELLO: So all mail is still being irradiated, but that wouldn't make any difference in this case?
COURSON: Right. It's a chemical. It's a toxin. Now, we have gotten word from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee this morning that the Senate will convene at a quarter to 10, 9:45, but that Senate office buildings will remain closed for the collection and disposal and examination of mail that might be accumulated in those offices.
We're also trying to find out, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was supposed to be up on Capitol Hill today testifying about the budget. We don't have definitive word yet whether that testimony will continue.
COSTELLO: Understand.
Now, 16 people we know were decontaminated last night because of this substance that was found.
Were they the only people in the building at the time or will more people be tested or we won't know until the final ninth test is conducted on this substance?
COURSON: Well, it might be a sort of proximity effect. In this mailroom, you can imagine quite a lot of activity was probably going on. There was a mention of cuttings on the floor. This might be the open top of envelopes that was cut away to remove the contents.
But usually the symptoms to ricin poisoning, to ricin contamination, happen within eight to 10 hours. So by now you'd think you'd know.
COSTELLO: Right.
You're not far from the Capitol or this Senate office building. Can you tell us, just lay out the geography for us so people understand the set up at this particular place in Washington.
COURSON: There are quite a few buildings around the U.S. Capitol that the tourists would come and see. And those buildings include mail handling facilities. The Senate Republican leader, Mr. Frist of Tennessee, would have his own mail processing facility because of his stature. And it was in one of those buildings that the contaminated mail, the powder, was found.
COSTELLO: OK, and we were expecting to get final results of this final test at 5:00 a.m. Eastern time this morning. That has not happened. Do we know why?
COURSON: Who knows? It could be that they're testing the -- there's some sort of testing procedure that they're taking great care with and maybe the results are being analyzed in such a way that they might have raw data and then they need to be interpreted by other experts. That's not known to us yet.
COSTELLO: All right, Paul Courson reporting live from D.C.
We appreciate the update.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
