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CNN Live Today
9/11 Investigation; Life & Liberty; Supreme Court Hears International Abduction Case
Aired March 30, 2004 - 11:00 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police are searching for clues in the disappearance of a University of Wisconsin student. Sophomore Audrey Seiler was last seen Saturday near her off-campus apartment. A surveillance tape shows her leaving the apartment building. Seiler was a victim of a mysterious attack in February where she was knocked unconscious. Police have no evidence linking that attack to her current disappearance.
Authorities in Uzbekistan say 16 terror suspects were killed in a raid today by Uzbek Special Forces. They stormed a hideout for suspected Islamic militants. The violence today follows attacks yesterday that killed 19 people. The U.S. considers Uzbekistan a key ally in the region. U.S. troops use an Uzbek military base for operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
It is 11:00 a.m. at the White House, it is 5:00 p.m. in London, from CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. Good morning once again.
Up first this hour on CNN, the breaking news from the White House, an about-face in the standoff over Condoleezza Rice and the September 11 Commission. The Bush administration now says that Rice will testify in public under oath.
White House correspondent Dana Bash is tracking this story for us.
Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
And the pressure had certainly been mounting over the weekend and then again yesterday from Republicans and Democrats alike for the White House to change position and allow Condoleezza Rice to testify in public. And that is exactly what they have done this morning. The have, in fact, shifted their policy, shifted their position, and they are now saying that she will testify.
It came in the form of a letter from the White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to the chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission. And it reads, in part, "the President recognizes the truly unique and extraordinary circumstances underlying the Commission's responsibility to prepare a detailed report on the facts."
Now the reason that the White House had been giving for Dr. Rice not testifying in public under oath is it was executive privilege. That they did not want to set a precedent for either this White House or future presidents that senior aides would not be able to give advice freely and then, perhaps, have to be forced to do so before the public under oath.
So what the major condition of this agreement is, and the commission now has agreed to this, is a letter, in writing, from the commission, and also, now, from members of Congress, that this is not going to be precedent-setting. That they understand that 9/11 was a unique situation, a unique event and that is the only reason why they have agreed now to let Dr. Rice go up and testify under oath. And they want to make sure with that that future presidents will not be forced to follow this situation because this is so unique.
Another condition is the fact that they are saying that Dr. Rice will be the only White House aide to testify. That will be it.
Now the president -- just a little of a back story here for you, Daryn. The president was thinking about this, was talking about perhaps changing his mind over the weekend while he was in Crawford, Texas, at his ranch. And it was yesterday that he decided finally, according to a senior administration official, that the process was getting in the way of the substance. Essentially he understood the political firestorm around this. He understood that the story was becoming well why won't Dr. Rice testify, instead of the story being more about the substance on getting to the bottom of 9/11.
Now one last thing that the White House has agreed to this morning is to allow the president and vice president to meet in private, not under oath, with all members of the 9/11 Commission. That is something that they were resisting before. They simply wanted them to meet with the chair and vice chair. Now they are opening up this meeting to all members of the commission. The commission has agreed and is applauding this morning all of these decisions and this turnaround here at the White House -- Daryn.
KAGAN: A couple of things here, Dana. First of all, the president and vice president, that will still be in private and not under oath, as we understand it at this time?
BASH: Correct. Correct. Not -- they will -- we should not expect the president and vice president to appear in public under oath before this commission, simply to do so in private. Something along the lines of what we heard from Condoleezza Rice in February, it was a private interview with members of the commission.
KAGAN: Well, and getting back to Dr. Rice here, one thing that we haven't talked about since this news broke just about an hour ago, there was this mounting political pressure on the White House and on Dr. Rice to testify. But also hanging out there, this commission does have the power to subpoena. And is that really what this agreement is about when you say no future aides of the president will be called? They're saying you will not subpoena anybody else from the White House?
BASH: Well certainly that could be inserted (ph) in terms of the setting of the precedent for the future. In terms of this current situation, the chair, Tom Kean, said a couple of times in the talk shows over the weekend that he did not think that he was going to subpoena Dr. Rice, first of all, because he didn't think on legal grounds he could win. And also because they simply don't have enough time.
This commission runs its clock out in July. So they -- by going through that process, they really wouldn't have gotten what they wanted. So they wanted to keep the political pressure on instead, and so far, obviously, it seems to have worked -- Daryn.
KAGAN: That does appear to have worked out the way the commission would have liked.
Dana Bash at the White House. We're back with you in just a bit.
Let's get some political perspective on these developments now. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is with us again from Washington.
Bill, the spin from this White House is all part of the development of this, of how they're going to do this and explain this reversal of a position they were so adamant about, even as early -- as late as early this morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is a reversal. And they are claiming that they have protected the principle that they were taking a stand on. The principle is that this would not set a precedent, because they believe that testimony under oath in a public way would mean violating the separation of powers. That this is a commission that is set up by Congress, it's responsible by Congress -- to Congress.
Condoleezza Rice works only for the president. She is a staff member in the White House. She is not confirmed by Congress. She's not answerable to Congress. So the argument is she should not have to answer to Congress or to a commission that is set up by Congress on policy matters.
How are they protecting that principle that they are taking a stand on, by saying this sets no precedent, it is a unique event, a national emergency, 9/11, and therefore, it should not be used as a precedent. That's what you call a face-saving compromise.
KAGAN: ... part of the agreement or the development that both the president and the vice president will appear before all 10 members of the commission?
SCHNEIDER: That's also a compromise, because they said they would appear, but only before the chairman and vice chairman of the commission, one Democrat and one Republican. And that also raised the question that was doing political damage, why is the administration doing this? Do they have something to hide that they won't testify before the whole commission, they won't testify in public?
It's -- it was mysterious to many voters. They were taking a lot of political hits. Our latest poll showed a majority of voters said the Bush administration is covering up something about the 9/11 intelligence, they're trying to hide something.
Instantly, not just from critics, but from a majority of Americans, instantly the perception is why are they doing it, they must be hiding something, and they appeared to be hiding behind these legalisms that don't make a lot of -- a lot of sense to most Americans.
KAGAN: Bill Schneider in Washington. Bill, thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
KAGAN: Turning now from Condoleezza Rice to another woman, an American woman. She has been closed since the September 11 terror attacks. Today, the government announcing plans to reopen the Statue of Liberty.
Maria Hinojosa is at Ellis Island in New York harbor.
Maria, good morning.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, where it's a beautiful springtime day, sort of.
Anyway, call her Miss Liberty, Lady Liberty or simply the Lady, we do not have an exact date, but by July of 2004 she will be open.
Now here's the interesting thing. A lot of people think open, that means you are going to be able to get all the way to the top of the torch. Not necessarily. Behind me, you can see Lady Liberty. What will be open is just the part below where the green starts, essentially the base, the pedestal. So that area has now been refurbished, will be continued to be refurbished until July of 2004 when it will be open.
Now some people might not remember, the Statue of Liberty closed on September 12, 2001. You couldn't even take a ferry to Liberty Island. It reopened on December 20, 2001, but all you can do now is take a boat to Liberty Island and walk around Lady Liberty but you cannot get close to her at all.
Now just to talk a little bit about some very specific questions, Stephen Briganti, who is with the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation, is here.
Now why is it that you won't be able to go all the way up to the tippy top? Is that a question of safety or just -- or just problematic?
STEPHEN BRIGANTI, PRESIDENT, STATUE OF LIBERTY FOUNDATION: Well, Maria, you haven't been able to go to the torch since 1916, but you have been able to go to the crown, and for now that's a safety precaution. The Secretary of Interior announced today that the statue would reopen in July and up to the top of the pedestal and be able to look inside the inner part of the statue and see the great work by Eiffel. HINOJOSA: In fact, what's going to happen now is you're going to be have -- you have a glass floor so that people can come under and then look up and see.
BRIGANTI: Yes, a new glass floor and ceiling will be established so that people can look up and see the entire insides of the statue.
HINOJOSA: Now, the refurbishing of Lady Liberty had begun before September 11. But after September 11, that was when you just said we have to rethink this entirely. What were the things that you -- that were being considered after 9/11?
BRIGANTI: Well, of course, everything changed after 9/11. The primary thing were the number of exits and the challenge of getting people out of there should there be a problem.
HINOJOSA: And because it's a fort, in fact, there is only one way in, one way out.
BRIGANTI: That's right.
HINOJOSA: People forget that.
BRIGANTI: Yes, it's an old fort, 190 years old, and the statue sits on top of it. So it has just one exit at the moment.
HINOJOSA: OK, quick money question, Mayor Bloomberg donated $100,000 of his own money, did that privately. It is a question of money now before we can...
BRIGANTI: It is (ph).
HINOJOSA: What do you need?
BRIGANTI: Well, we need -- we actually, with our sponsors, American Express, Folgers and Wal-Mart, we will be closing the gap by the end of July. There have been many people who have contributed privately. So that campaign is going very well.
HINOJOSA: OK, and just finally, what does this mean for you, Stephen, to finally know she's going to be open?
BRIGANTI: Well it's great. We were here in 1986. And to be back again and to open it one more time, I think the whole world will be excited about that.
HINOJOSA: OK. Thanks a lot for joining us here on this day.
So, July 2004, those folks who want to come up and take the ferry and actually be able to walk a little bit closer to Lady Liberty, that will be possible -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Should be a little bit warmer by then, too, as well.
HINOJOSA: We hope so.
KAGAN: Yes, hope so. Springtime, right?
Maria, thank you.
News coming out of London now. The war on terror, British police raiding locations across southern and central England today, arresting eight suspects and making a huge find.
Our senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar has more from London on that story.
Sheila, hello.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
A major counterterrorist action this early -- in the early hours of this morning, involving, we are told, 700 British police officers from five different forces, plus members of Britain's security services and special branch. They brought in eight British citizens between the ages of 17 and 32, we are told. They searched 25 different locations, homes and businesses. And here at this storage facility behind me, they found 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
Now ammonium nitrate fertilizer, obviously, has a legitimate use in agricultural and gardening. But combined with other substances, Daryn, it can be a very powerful explosive, the kind of explosive that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing, the kind of explosive that was used in Bali.
Now these men are being held under Britain's Counterterrorism Act or Terrorism Act 2000. And with the permission of a judge, they can be held for 14 days without charges being filed. British police saying this morning that they believe they had foiled -- made an important step towards foiling what they believe was a terrorist or planned terrorist act. One, they said, that was not linked to either Irish Republican terror or even to the bombings in Madrid earlier this month. They have indicated, however, to CNN that they believe that they -- this is a possible Islamist-related plot -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sheila, this comes -- this arrest comes, I understand, following weeks of warnings that there could be a huge terror attack and Britain being the target?
MACVICAR: Well we have been hearing now for months, in fact, from senior British officials, everyone from the head of MI-5, to last week, the head of the Metropolitan Police, that it was -- quote -- "inevitable," in the words of senior British officials, that there be an Islamist terror attack somewhere in the U.K.
Now, obviously, that serves to do two things. One, to warn the population, warn them to be vigilant. There was a major campaign under way here asking for public vigilance with regards to packages or parcels. And today's find this -- particularly the finding of this ammonium nitrate here in this facility, would very strongly, it seems, seem to underlie the seriousness of the threat faced here -- Daryn. KAGAN: Sheila MacVicar in London.
We are staying on top of a new development in the Condoleezza Rice story. We'll be going back live to Washington for an update as the White House reverses position, agreeing to let Condoleezza Rice testify in public under oath before the 9/11 Commission. There are some conditions on that, however. We'll have more of that ahead.
And we now know more about what's going on behind the scenes with the grand jury in the Michael Jackson case.
And later, the presidential candidates are both saying, "I feel your pain at the pump." But now they're going head to head over what should be done about it.
CNN LIVE TODAY is back after this.
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FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: CNN's LIVE TODAY will be right back.
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KAGAN: The jury hears more testimony today in the trial of a Texas mother accused of beating two of her sons to death with stones. Deanna Laney is also accused of injuring a third child severely. Her attorney says Laney was overcome by delusions and believed God was telling her to kill her children. Prosecutors will try to prove she knew right from wrong.
It is deja vu at the Tyco trial. Defense attorneys made yet another request for a mistrial today. The jury deliberating the fate of Tyco's former CEO and its ex-finance chief has been in a state of turmoil since last week. Now the defense says a juror identified in the media as the holdout has become the subject of terrible attacks in Internet chat rooms. The judge rejected the request for a mistrial yesterday.
To California now, CNN has learned the grand jury investigating the Michael Jackson child molestation case plans to meet four times this week. Because of the intense media interest, the panel is meeting at a secret location instead of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Reports indicate that Jackson's accuser, as well as his accuser from 1993, will testify before that grand jury.
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that some say could impact the war on terrorism. At issue, the authority of U.S. agents making arrests outside the country. The Bush administration says that a ruling could affect the legality of arresting terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.
Elaine Quijano has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The question before the Supreme Court this week deals with a relatively obscure federal law, the Alien Tort Statute. The case involves a Mexican doctor, Abutro Albreson Shane (ph), who in 1990 was kidnapped from Mexico by people working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The doctor stood trial in L.A. for the murder of a DEA agent, but was acquitted after spending two-and-a-half years in a U.S. prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's a very painful situation. I felt terrorized, filled with fear. It's a very bad situation for anyone to experience.
QUIJANO: The doctor sued several parties including those bounty hunters who kidnapped him. He was awarded $25,000 for emotional distress and won by citing the Alien Tort Statute.
RALPH STEINHAROT, ALVAREZ-MACHAIN CO-COUNSEL: It gives the victims of egregious violations of human rights access to a federal forum in which their wrongs can be adjudicated.
QUIJANO: But one of the Mexican nationals involved in the kidnapping appealed the decision. Now, the case has wound its way to the Supreme Court and the Bush administration worries it could affect U.S. officials' ability to capture terrorists like Osama Bin Laden.
CARTER PHILLIPS, ATTORNEY FOR BOUNTY HUNTER: They might very well want to do that without the benefit of the foreign governments' approval and if that happens, under the theory of the case here, anyone who assists the United States is subject to liability.
QUIJANO: Subject to liability, also could be U.S. corporations doing business overseas that are accused of violating international laws or human rights. Already, suits have been brought against several American companies.
EDWARD LAZARUS, ATTORNEY, AUTHOR: As globalization really expands, the question will be to what degree U.S. courts are going to be open to all kinds of acts of alleged international unlawfulness to settle in the United States even if they don't have that much connection to the United States.
QUIJANO (on camera): The Bush administration has also asked the Supreme Court to clarify when federal officers have the authority to arrest someone in a foreign country. A ruling is expected by June.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: Godzilla is not the only giant to fall in Tokyo. The New York Yankees may be expensive, but they are not unbeatable. Baseball season gets off to a rough start for the guys in pinstripes. That's coming up next.
And the hockey player on the receiving end of a controversial blow on the ice is talking about his recovery.
CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: So you say you missed Major League Baseball's opening day? Well don't feel bad, it took place in Japan. Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees at the Tokyo Dome in the wee hours this morning. The final there, Tampa Bay 8, Yankees 3. Die-hard Yankee fans filled the ESPN Zone restaurant in Times Square to watch the early morning game from Tokyo.
Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore says he doesn't even remember the sucker punch that may have ended his NHL career. Moore broke two vertebrae when Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi hit him from behind and drove his head into the ice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE MOORE, COLORADO AVALANCHE: I'm in an optimistic stage, you know. I've come a long way. And hopefully one day I'll be able to play again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: He's down here for two. Bertuzzi goes after him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: Bertuzzi was suspended for the season, even though he apologized for the blind side. Vancouver police are still looking into the possibility of filing assault charges.
Let's check on the weather. Jacqui Jeras is doing that for us today.
Jacqui, good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Daryn.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: The latest issue dividing the presidential candidates is at your gas station and on your television. Bush and Kerry square off over escalating prices at the pump. That's next.
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Aired March 30, 2004 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Police are searching for clues in the disappearance of a University of Wisconsin student. Sophomore Audrey Seiler was last seen Saturday near her off-campus apartment. A surveillance tape shows her leaving the apartment building. Seiler was a victim of a mysterious attack in February where she was knocked unconscious. Police have no evidence linking that attack to her current disappearance.
Authorities in Uzbekistan say 16 terror suspects were killed in a raid today by Uzbek Special Forces. They stormed a hideout for suspected Islamic militants. The violence today follows attacks yesterday that killed 19 people. The U.S. considers Uzbekistan a key ally in the region. U.S. troops use an Uzbek military base for operations in neighboring Afghanistan.
It is 11:00 a.m. at the White House, it is 5:00 p.m. in London, from CNN Center here in Atlanta, I'm Daryn Kagan. Good morning once again.
Up first this hour on CNN, the breaking news from the White House, an about-face in the standoff over Condoleezza Rice and the September 11 Commission. The Bush administration now says that Rice will testify in public under oath.
White House correspondent Dana Bash is tracking this story for us.
Dana, good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.
And the pressure had certainly been mounting over the weekend and then again yesterday from Republicans and Democrats alike for the White House to change position and allow Condoleezza Rice to testify in public. And that is exactly what they have done this morning. The have, in fact, shifted their policy, shifted their position, and they are now saying that she will testify.
It came in the form of a letter from the White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales to the chair and vice chair of the 9/11 Commission. And it reads, in part, "the President recognizes the truly unique and extraordinary circumstances underlying the Commission's responsibility to prepare a detailed report on the facts."
Now the reason that the White House had been giving for Dr. Rice not testifying in public under oath is it was executive privilege. That they did not want to set a precedent for either this White House or future presidents that senior aides would not be able to give advice freely and then, perhaps, have to be forced to do so before the public under oath.
So what the major condition of this agreement is, and the commission now has agreed to this, is a letter, in writing, from the commission, and also, now, from members of Congress, that this is not going to be precedent-setting. That they understand that 9/11 was a unique situation, a unique event and that is the only reason why they have agreed now to let Dr. Rice go up and testify under oath. And they want to make sure with that that future presidents will not be forced to follow this situation because this is so unique.
Another condition is the fact that they are saying that Dr. Rice will be the only White House aide to testify. That will be it.
Now the president -- just a little of a back story here for you, Daryn. The president was thinking about this, was talking about perhaps changing his mind over the weekend while he was in Crawford, Texas, at his ranch. And it was yesterday that he decided finally, according to a senior administration official, that the process was getting in the way of the substance. Essentially he understood the political firestorm around this. He understood that the story was becoming well why won't Dr. Rice testify, instead of the story being more about the substance on getting to the bottom of 9/11.
Now one last thing that the White House has agreed to this morning is to allow the president and vice president to meet in private, not under oath, with all members of the 9/11 Commission. That is something that they were resisting before. They simply wanted them to meet with the chair and vice chair. Now they are opening up this meeting to all members of the commission. The commission has agreed and is applauding this morning all of these decisions and this turnaround here at the White House -- Daryn.
KAGAN: A couple of things here, Dana. First of all, the president and vice president, that will still be in private and not under oath, as we understand it at this time?
BASH: Correct. Correct. Not -- they will -- we should not expect the president and vice president to appear in public under oath before this commission, simply to do so in private. Something along the lines of what we heard from Condoleezza Rice in February, it was a private interview with members of the commission.
KAGAN: Well, and getting back to Dr. Rice here, one thing that we haven't talked about since this news broke just about an hour ago, there was this mounting political pressure on the White House and on Dr. Rice to testify. But also hanging out there, this commission does have the power to subpoena. And is that really what this agreement is about when you say no future aides of the president will be called? They're saying you will not subpoena anybody else from the White House?
BASH: Well certainly that could be inserted (ph) in terms of the setting of the precedent for the future. In terms of this current situation, the chair, Tom Kean, said a couple of times in the talk shows over the weekend that he did not think that he was going to subpoena Dr. Rice, first of all, because he didn't think on legal grounds he could win. And also because they simply don't have enough time.
This commission runs its clock out in July. So they -- by going through that process, they really wouldn't have gotten what they wanted. So they wanted to keep the political pressure on instead, and so far, obviously, it seems to have worked -- Daryn.
KAGAN: That does appear to have worked out the way the commission would have liked.
Dana Bash at the White House. We're back with you in just a bit.
Let's get some political perspective on these developments now. Senior political analyst Bill Schneider is with us again from Washington.
Bill, the spin from this White House is all part of the development of this, of how they're going to do this and explain this reversal of a position they were so adamant about, even as early -- as late as early this morning.
WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is a reversal. And they are claiming that they have protected the principle that they were taking a stand on. The principle is that this would not set a precedent, because they believe that testimony under oath in a public way would mean violating the separation of powers. That this is a commission that is set up by Congress, it's responsible by Congress -- to Congress.
Condoleezza Rice works only for the president. She is a staff member in the White House. She is not confirmed by Congress. She's not answerable to Congress. So the argument is she should not have to answer to Congress or to a commission that is set up by Congress on policy matters.
How are they protecting that principle that they are taking a stand on, by saying this sets no precedent, it is a unique event, a national emergency, 9/11, and therefore, it should not be used as a precedent. That's what you call a face-saving compromise.
KAGAN: ... part of the agreement or the development that both the president and the vice president will appear before all 10 members of the commission?
SCHNEIDER: That's also a compromise, because they said they would appear, but only before the chairman and vice chairman of the commission, one Democrat and one Republican. And that also raised the question that was doing political damage, why is the administration doing this? Do they have something to hide that they won't testify before the whole commission, they won't testify in public?
It's -- it was mysterious to many voters. They were taking a lot of political hits. Our latest poll showed a majority of voters said the Bush administration is covering up something about the 9/11 intelligence, they're trying to hide something.
Instantly, not just from critics, but from a majority of Americans, instantly the perception is why are they doing it, they must be hiding something, and they appeared to be hiding behind these legalisms that don't make a lot of -- a lot of sense to most Americans.
KAGAN: Bill Schneider in Washington. Bill, thank you.
SCHNEIDER: Sure.
KAGAN: Turning now from Condoleezza Rice to another woman, an American woman. She has been closed since the September 11 terror attacks. Today, the government announcing plans to reopen the Statue of Liberty.
Maria Hinojosa is at Ellis Island in New York harbor.
Maria, good morning.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Daryn, where it's a beautiful springtime day, sort of.
Anyway, call her Miss Liberty, Lady Liberty or simply the Lady, we do not have an exact date, but by July of 2004 she will be open.
Now here's the interesting thing. A lot of people think open, that means you are going to be able to get all the way to the top of the torch. Not necessarily. Behind me, you can see Lady Liberty. What will be open is just the part below where the green starts, essentially the base, the pedestal. So that area has now been refurbished, will be continued to be refurbished until July of 2004 when it will be open.
Now some people might not remember, the Statue of Liberty closed on September 12, 2001. You couldn't even take a ferry to Liberty Island. It reopened on December 20, 2001, but all you can do now is take a boat to Liberty Island and walk around Lady Liberty but you cannot get close to her at all.
Now just to talk a little bit about some very specific questions, Stephen Briganti, who is with the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation, is here.
Now why is it that you won't be able to go all the way up to the tippy top? Is that a question of safety or just -- or just problematic?
STEPHEN BRIGANTI, PRESIDENT, STATUE OF LIBERTY FOUNDATION: Well, Maria, you haven't been able to go to the torch since 1916, but you have been able to go to the crown, and for now that's a safety precaution. The Secretary of Interior announced today that the statue would reopen in July and up to the top of the pedestal and be able to look inside the inner part of the statue and see the great work by Eiffel. HINOJOSA: In fact, what's going to happen now is you're going to be have -- you have a glass floor so that people can come under and then look up and see.
BRIGANTI: Yes, a new glass floor and ceiling will be established so that people can look up and see the entire insides of the statue.
HINOJOSA: Now, the refurbishing of Lady Liberty had begun before September 11. But after September 11, that was when you just said we have to rethink this entirely. What were the things that you -- that were being considered after 9/11?
BRIGANTI: Well, of course, everything changed after 9/11. The primary thing were the number of exits and the challenge of getting people out of there should there be a problem.
HINOJOSA: And because it's a fort, in fact, there is only one way in, one way out.
BRIGANTI: That's right.
HINOJOSA: People forget that.
BRIGANTI: Yes, it's an old fort, 190 years old, and the statue sits on top of it. So it has just one exit at the moment.
HINOJOSA: OK, quick money question, Mayor Bloomberg donated $100,000 of his own money, did that privately. It is a question of money now before we can...
BRIGANTI: It is (ph).
HINOJOSA: What do you need?
BRIGANTI: Well, we need -- we actually, with our sponsors, American Express, Folgers and Wal-Mart, we will be closing the gap by the end of July. There have been many people who have contributed privately. So that campaign is going very well.
HINOJOSA: OK, and just finally, what does this mean for you, Stephen, to finally know she's going to be open?
BRIGANTI: Well it's great. We were here in 1986. And to be back again and to open it one more time, I think the whole world will be excited about that.
HINOJOSA: OK. Thanks a lot for joining us here on this day.
So, July 2004, those folks who want to come up and take the ferry and actually be able to walk a little bit closer to Lady Liberty, that will be possible -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Should be a little bit warmer by then, too, as well.
HINOJOSA: We hope so.
KAGAN: Yes, hope so. Springtime, right?
Maria, thank you.
News coming out of London now. The war on terror, British police raiding locations across southern and central England today, arresting eight suspects and making a huge find.
Our senior international correspondent Sheila MacVicar has more from London on that story.
Sheila, hello.
SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Daryn.
A major counterterrorist action this early -- in the early hours of this morning, involving, we are told, 700 British police officers from five different forces, plus members of Britain's security services and special branch. They brought in eight British citizens between the ages of 17 and 32, we are told. They searched 25 different locations, homes and businesses. And here at this storage facility behind me, they found 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
Now ammonium nitrate fertilizer, obviously, has a legitimate use in agricultural and gardening. But combined with other substances, Daryn, it can be a very powerful explosive, the kind of explosive that was used in the Oklahoma City bombing, the kind of explosive that was used in Bali.
Now these men are being held under Britain's Counterterrorism Act or Terrorism Act 2000. And with the permission of a judge, they can be held for 14 days without charges being filed. British police saying this morning that they believe they had foiled -- made an important step towards foiling what they believe was a terrorist or planned terrorist act. One, they said, that was not linked to either Irish Republican terror or even to the bombings in Madrid earlier this month. They have indicated, however, to CNN that they believe that they -- this is a possible Islamist-related plot -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Sheila, this comes -- this arrest comes, I understand, following weeks of warnings that there could be a huge terror attack and Britain being the target?
MACVICAR: Well we have been hearing now for months, in fact, from senior British officials, everyone from the head of MI-5, to last week, the head of the Metropolitan Police, that it was -- quote -- "inevitable," in the words of senior British officials, that there be an Islamist terror attack somewhere in the U.K.
Now, obviously, that serves to do two things. One, to warn the population, warn them to be vigilant. There was a major campaign under way here asking for public vigilance with regards to packages or parcels. And today's find this -- particularly the finding of this ammonium nitrate here in this facility, would very strongly, it seems, seem to underlie the seriousness of the threat faced here -- Daryn. KAGAN: Sheila MacVicar in London.
We are staying on top of a new development in the Condoleezza Rice story. We'll be going back live to Washington for an update as the White House reverses position, agreeing to let Condoleezza Rice testify in public under oath before the 9/11 Commission. There are some conditions on that, however. We'll have more of that ahead.
And we now know more about what's going on behind the scenes with the grand jury in the Michael Jackson case.
And later, the presidential candidates are both saying, "I feel your pain at the pump." But now they're going head to head over what should be done about it.
CNN LIVE TODAY is back after this.
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FRED KATAYAMA, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: CNN's LIVE TODAY will be right back.
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KAGAN: The jury hears more testimony today in the trial of a Texas mother accused of beating two of her sons to death with stones. Deanna Laney is also accused of injuring a third child severely. Her attorney says Laney was overcome by delusions and believed God was telling her to kill her children. Prosecutors will try to prove she knew right from wrong.
It is deja vu at the Tyco trial. Defense attorneys made yet another request for a mistrial today. The jury deliberating the fate of Tyco's former CEO and its ex-finance chief has been in a state of turmoil since last week. Now the defense says a juror identified in the media as the holdout has become the subject of terrible attacks in Internet chat rooms. The judge rejected the request for a mistrial yesterday.
To California now, CNN has learned the grand jury investigating the Michael Jackson child molestation case plans to meet four times this week. Because of the intense media interest, the panel is meeting at a secret location instead of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. Reports indicate that Jackson's accuser, as well as his accuser from 1993, will testify before that grand jury.
The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that some say could impact the war on terrorism. At issue, the authority of U.S. agents making arrests outside the country. The Bush administration says that a ruling could affect the legality of arresting terrorists, including Osama bin Laden.
Elaine Quijano has more.
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ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The question before the Supreme Court this week deals with a relatively obscure federal law, the Alien Tort Statute. The case involves a Mexican doctor, Abutro Albreson Shane (ph), who in 1990 was kidnapped from Mexico by people working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The doctor stood trial in L.A. for the murder of a DEA agent, but was acquitted after spending two-and-a-half years in a U.S. prison.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It's a very painful situation. I felt terrorized, filled with fear. It's a very bad situation for anyone to experience.
QUIJANO: The doctor sued several parties including those bounty hunters who kidnapped him. He was awarded $25,000 for emotional distress and won by citing the Alien Tort Statute.
RALPH STEINHAROT, ALVAREZ-MACHAIN CO-COUNSEL: It gives the victims of egregious violations of human rights access to a federal forum in which their wrongs can be adjudicated.
QUIJANO: But one of the Mexican nationals involved in the kidnapping appealed the decision. Now, the case has wound its way to the Supreme Court and the Bush administration worries it could affect U.S. officials' ability to capture terrorists like Osama Bin Laden.
CARTER PHILLIPS, ATTORNEY FOR BOUNTY HUNTER: They might very well want to do that without the benefit of the foreign governments' approval and if that happens, under the theory of the case here, anyone who assists the United States is subject to liability.
QUIJANO: Subject to liability, also could be U.S. corporations doing business overseas that are accused of violating international laws or human rights. Already, suits have been brought against several American companies.
EDWARD LAZARUS, ATTORNEY, AUTHOR: As globalization really expands, the question will be to what degree U.S. courts are going to be open to all kinds of acts of alleged international unlawfulness to settle in the United States even if they don't have that much connection to the United States.
QUIJANO (on camera): The Bush administration has also asked the Supreme Court to clarify when federal officers have the authority to arrest someone in a foreign country. A ruling is expected by June.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, Washington.
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KAGAN: Godzilla is not the only giant to fall in Tokyo. The New York Yankees may be expensive, but they are not unbeatable. Baseball season gets off to a rough start for the guys in pinstripes. That's coming up next.
And the hockey player on the receiving end of a controversial blow on the ice is talking about his recovery.
CNN LIVE TODAY is coming right back.
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KAGAN: So you say you missed Major League Baseball's opening day? Well don't feel bad, it took place in Japan. Tampa Bay beat the New York Yankees at the Tokyo Dome in the wee hours this morning. The final there, Tampa Bay 8, Yankees 3. Die-hard Yankee fans filled the ESPN Zone restaurant in Times Square to watch the early morning game from Tokyo.
Colorado Avalanche player Steve Moore says he doesn't even remember the sucker punch that may have ended his NHL career. Moore broke two vertebrae when Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi hit him from behind and drove his head into the ice.
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STEVE MOORE, COLORADO AVALANCHE: I'm in an optimistic stage, you know. I've come a long way. And hopefully one day I'll be able to play again.
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ANNOUNCER: He's down here for two. Bertuzzi goes after him.
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KAGAN: Bertuzzi was suspended for the season, even though he apologized for the blind side. Vancouver police are still looking into the possibility of filing assault charges.
Let's check on the weather. Jacqui Jeras is doing that for us today.
Jacqui, good morning.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Daryn.
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KAGAN: The latest issue dividing the presidential candidates is at your gas station and on your television. Bush and Kerry square off over escalating prices at the pump. That's next.
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