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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Israel Says They Will Permit a Meeting Between Powell and Arafat; Jury Deliberates in Rep. Traficant Traficant

Aired April 08, 2002 - 22:00   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.
AARON BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening again. I'm Aaron Brown. This page tonight deals with two completely and unrelated things, the first of which isn't even all that interesting, and surely isn't a rant.

But I wanted to take a moment to explain how we see the issue of balance on the program. We don't feel we have to balance every guest or every segment on every night, and we surely don't believe we have to make everything a debate.

What we must do, what we try to do is be balanced over a reasonable period or time. So last week, for example, we had a Hamas spokesman and a representative of the Palestinian Authority on a couple of nights and on other nights, we had former Israeli Prime Minister Barak, and the current Israeli government spokesman Gideon Meir on the program.

Over the week, we were balanced, and that is a fair standard to hold us to, while allowing us to present a program that makes some editorial sense and is not just a nightly food fight, which moves us on to the other point of this page.

Among the things we'll do tonight is talk with the author of a book called "Revenge," a story of hope, perhaps a bit hard to imagine anything hopeful about revenge, but the author of the book, Laura Blumenfeld, looks at it differently than most.

She wanted vengeance after her dad was shot and injured in Israel by a Palestinian militant, and she got it. She got it by getting to know the gunman and his family, and eventually getting them to recognize that her dad was a human being, not some faceless pawn on earth simply to make a political point.

This is a story of hope and it is all the more compelling as we watch the endless violence in the Middle East, the attacks and the inevitable counter attacks. So perhaps we can hope that someday the Israelis and the Palestinians might be able to follow Lauren Blumenfeld's example, taking their revenge without taking a life.

On that note, we begin the whip with the situation in Israel. Bill Hemmer is in Jerusalem. Bill, a bit more than a headline from you tonight. BILL HEMMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Aaron hello, three points to make tonight. The Israeli army does confirm with CNN that indeed tanks are on the move out and away from two West Bank towns, Tulkarem and Qalqilya located right along the western edge of the West Bank. That partial withdrawal they say in those towns anyway is underway.

Also, Israeli sources late tonight do confirm that if Colin Powell, later in the week, wants to meet with Yasser Arafat, they say they will not stand in his way, but as far as Israel is concerned again today they reiterated and they were adamant about it, they will not talk with the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. And if you want to truly gauge how the Israeli people are feeling these days, Aaron, take a look at the latest polling numbers that came out this weekend.

Here in Israeli, they say, well over 70 percent of the people do support the military operation and do support their government. Right now they're in lockstep with Ariel Sharon -- Aaron.

BROWN: Bill, thank you. On to Andrea Koppel who's traveling with Secretary of State Powell. That trip has taken her tonight to Casablanca. Andrea joins us on the phone, so Andrea the audio headline please.

ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (by telephone): Good evening, Aaron. Well it may not be mission impossible that Secretary Powell's trip through this Middle East has more hurdles than an Olympic track event. There could be an Israeli withdrawal from a couple of West Bank towns, which appears to have just begun, but Israelis and Palestinians are still a long way off from a cease-fire -- Aaron.

BROWN: Andrea, back to you shortly, and we now go to Cleveland. The jury has had quite a show in the trial of Congressman James Traficant. His fate is in the jury's hands tonight. Kate Snow has been following the trial for us, so Kate the headline I have not yet stolen.

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aaron, closing arguments today in the eight-week trial that's been rather bizarre of Congressman Traficant. Traficant today delivering a 90-minute rather free form stream of consciousness closing argument, but many lawyers saying he made a lot of good points, but so did prosecutors. They pointed to six huge binders full of documentation. They pointed to 55 witnesses that they had called. They said all that evidence points to the fact that this Congressman is not only colorful, they say he's corrupt -- Aaron.

BROWN: Kate, back with you in a little while. Among the things not on the program tonight, though we promoted it much of the day and talked about it in our afternoon e-mail is Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Prime Minister was scheduled to join us this evening, and about a half hour or so ago, he canceled because, he said or they said he was tired. So we won't be doing that. But here are some of the other things we will be doing.

A story that dominated the talk at our afternoon meeting today was fascinating around the table. It's about a book that is causing quite a stir, arguing that women who think they can wait until they are 40 or older to have a child are fooling themselves. This is a very touchy topic for some, as we found out today. We'll talk with the author tonight.

Also, a new more colorful Wall Street Journal is set to hit the newsstands tomorrow. Any color in the Journal would make it more colorful, wouldn't it? I think so. Our colleague, Jeff Greenfield, is here with his own editorial on the new Journal, all of that to come in the hour ahead.

We begin the program and the week with what feels like the start of something different in the Middle East, which also comes with a reminder, different in the region doesn't necessarily mean better, and even on a day that saw many developments, it's impossible to say which, if any of them, will lead to real progress in stopping the bloodshed.

So sometimes the best we can do is note that another page has been turned and tally up the developments. As we mentioned, Israeli forces have begun pulling back from two cities in the West Bank. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer called that a start. So did Secretary of State Powell, but made it clear, it is not enough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice over): The Israeli withdrawal late today seems to be the smallest of steps. Soldiers in two West Bank cities will leave, but they will maintain a security cordon not far away.

Elsewhere, on Day 11 of the Israeli offensive against Palestinian strongholds, there was no sign of pullback. Clouds of smoke triggered by Israeli helicopter attacks could be seen coming from the huge refugee camp at Jenin.

In Nablus, signs of destruction are everywhere. The Israeli Defense Forces patrolling most of the streets in the city, reeling from dozens of firefights. Palestinian gunmen, whom the Israelis said were at the heart of the resistance, surrendered. The Israeli Defense Force said Ariel Sharon will not stop.

ARIEL SHARON, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The IDF will continue with the operation as quickly as possible until the mission is completed, until Arafat's terrorist infrastructure is disassembled and until the killers that are hiding in various places, like in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, until they are captured.

BROWN: Sharon did not have an entirely friendly audience in the Israeli Knesset. Hecklers from the Palestinian delegates tried to drown him out.

At the Church of the Nativity itself, the Israelis claim some of the Palestinians inside threw a smoke grenade into the courtyard setting it afire. Senior Palestinian officials later scoffed at what he had to say. HANAN ASHRAWN, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: The Sharon speech is absolutely dangerous and alarming, because very clearly he's not only being vindictive and venomous, but he's also closing off all doors for genuine peace by insisting on carrying out his brutal policies of targeting the Palestinians, of continuing the massacres and the bloodshed.

BROWN: At a speech in Knoxville, Tennessee, President Bush hinted that he was tired of waiting for the fighting to end.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I meant what I said to the Prime Minister of Israel. I expect there to be a withdrawal without delay. And I also meant what I said to the Arab world, that in order for there to be peace, nations must stand up, leaders must stand up and condemn terrorism.

BROWN: Late in the day, Sharon spoke at a Holocaust remembrance ceremony in Jerusalem, telling his audience that a strong, independent Jewish state will always exist. And in Ramallah, where Yasser Arafat is still holed up at his headquarters, more food and medicine were delivered to the compound, while soldiers were still rounding up those they suspected of being Palestinian terrorists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (on camera): That's the overview of the day. Here's a tighter look at some of the developments. The Vatican today called for Israeli troops to leave the city of Bethlehem, warned it was following the events at the Church of the Nativity with "extreme apprehension," one church official going further, accusing Israel of provoking the violence there today.

He was referring to this morning gun battle and fire in the church compound we mentioned briefly a moment ago. There continues to be some sort of controversy surrounding it. Palestinians call it a part of a deliberate Israeli attack on the church, but it all in that historic city, right now at least, it's not about gun battles. Like most places on the planet, most people are just trying to figure out a way to make living, to feed a family, to raise a child.

On any day in Bethlehem, that can be tough work. These days it is especially so. So tonight, trying to survive is reported by Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is one man's escape from a city at war. Yusef Butta (ph) plays his ude (ph) to forget, and there is plenty from the last week he'd like to forget. For 20 years, he made a living playing in Israeli bars.

"Jews and Arabs used to eat and drink together" he says, "and I wish it could be like that again."

If only it could. But he need only step out his door to see why, for now, it can't. Journalists crunched down narrow glass-strewn allies, running into Israeli soldiers who don't want the attention. They say they're here looking for terrorists.

Much of the time, the streets of the old city are deserted, but inside these ancient homes are thousands of people, trying to live ordinary lives in these more unordinary of times.

WEDEMAN (on camera): Bethlehem's old city is a heavily populated area, heavily populated with civilians. We have yet to see, in the six days we've spent here, one armed Palestinian.

WEDEMAN (voice over): They are out there, according to the Israeli army, as many as 200 in the Church of the Nativity, others scattered around town. Mid afternoon, people venture out to salvage what they can from a shop, to get some fresh air. Some strolled in from other parts of town, like American Cyril Meteki (ph) who works at Bethlehem University. He's astounded by the wreckage in the old city.

CYRIL METEKI: And it seems to me that Sharon feels that he's above the law, above any international legality or U.N. resolutions, and that he can do whatever he pleases. And it seems to me that he's getting away with it.

WEDEMAN: Then the shooting began. A sniper targets a rubble- strewn square. Residents must cross the square to buy food, the need to survive overcoming the fear of sudden death. For some, it was a spectator sport, almost.

Also waiting to cross, a convoy of Red Cross cars, come to deliver food. The shooting subsides. They rush across to cover. They brought 200 bags of food to an area where the curfew has never been lifted, where food is running out, as is patience, until that patience turns to anger, then into violence. A week of anxiety and fear has brought the people here to this. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Bethlehem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Like in Bethlehem today, so far the Israeli operation is focused only on the West Bank, not on Gaza and Gaza's home to more than a million Palestinians. Their story has gone largely unreported in the last few weeks. It is reported now by CNN's John Vause.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Midnight in Gaza, the streets are deserted. After a day of negotiations, members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade agree to meet us. Our driver negotiates the sand barricades.

They've been built by the Palestinians, on city roads and side streets, intended to slow the Israeli tanks. We've been warned that many have been booby-trapped with explosives. On the outskirts of the city, we see them, a group of young men they won't say how old. They've been in position for a week now, not far from the Israeli border, and it's here they expect to confront the tanks and troops.

Overhead, the sound of an unmanned Israeli spy plane. It's been circling all night. At another checkpoint, more member of Al Aqsa, identified by their white headbands. This is the group connected with Yasser Arafat's Fatah organization, responsible for many suicide bombings. Armed with M-16s and Kalashnikovs, they're not match for a superior Israeli military, but they say they're willing to die fighting.

"We are ready to resist this attack" he told me, "as our President Yasser Arafat said we used to be refugees. Now we are fighters."

But they also talk of surprises. The surprises are in this room, five men and many more we're told, willing to strap explosives to their bodies and throw themselves under the tanks and armored personnel carriers, more effective they say than a single land mine, because a bomb with legs can choose its target.

"We don't have the weapons so our bodies will be in front of the tanks" he told me. "My body has no value. What do I want more than heaven? Heaven is waiting for me."

At night, the only people on the streets, gangs of young men, some gather in spontaneous demonstrations, adding insult to the Arab League leaders for not doing enough to help.

In the past, the people of Gaza have put up fierce resistance, 1.2 million Palestinians in a small area, well-organized militant groups. The tanks and heavy armor find it difficult to negotiate the narrow streets and allies. Last month, the Israelis lost two tanks here, the first time the Palestinians struck such a blow.

VAUSE (on camera): There's so much tension here that even our arrival caused a small panic within the ranks of the Palestinian Security Forces, and it quickly spread to the streets. "If CNN is here" they said, "surely the Israeli army must not be far behind."

Others believe there will be no fighting because they say the Israeli forces are already stretched, and they hope the visit by Secretary of State Colin Powell may stall the Israeli advance. Nobody knows, but still everyone waits. John Vause, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: A lot more ahead tonight, including the trial that ended with the defense attorney waving a roll of toilet paper. The attorney happens to be the defendant in the case, and a U.S. Congressman to boot. That's a little later.

Up next, a bit more on the Mid East tonight, a look at how Secretary of State Powell's peace mission is going, and the children of Israel too. This is NEWSNIGHT on a Monday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: This should give you an idea of how much work Secretary of State Powell faces as he heads toward the Middle East. In Morocco, King Mohammed today, wanting to know why the Secretary made Casablanca and not Jerusalem his first stop. The king was echoing what many Arab leaders believe, that the Secretary's itinerary is designed to allow the Israeli military more time to operate.

After stops in Egypt and Spain and Jordan, the Secretary expected to arrive in Jerusalem on Friday. Timing aside, serious questions remain. Will this visit include a meeting with Yasser Arafat? The Israeli will allow it. It is hard to imagine them to do otherwise.

But will the Secretary want that meeting? And will, most importantly, the Secretary be able to draw the two sides into a cease- fire and some sort of scheduled resumption of the peace talks? Once again, on the Secretary's trip our State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KOPPEL (voice over): Powell's third Middle East peacemaking mission began in Morocco on a rather chilly note, not the weather but the atmosphere. After leaving Powell to cool his heels for two hours, Morocco's young King Mohammed VI, with the media present and cameras rolling, asked his guest didn't Powell think it was more important for him to go to Jerusalem first? Powell isn't expected in Israel until the end of the week, as he travels across the region to build Arab support for a cease-fire.

COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: I spoke to His Majesty today about the kinds of statements we want Arab leaders to make with respect to this kind of terrorist activity. His Majesty is in touch with Chairman Arafat.

KOPPEL: Like most of the Arab world, Morocco too has been overwhelmed by the anger of hundreds of thousands of its citizens who've taken to the streets to protest Israel's military operations in the West Bank, and the ongoing siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

It's a highly volatile and embarrassing situation for the Bush Administration, which has put its clout and credibility in the Middle East on display by publicly calling on Israel to withdraw without delay.

News some troops had finally begun to pull out of the West Bank reached Powell shortly before his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, also in Morocco at his vacation home.

POWELL: We hope that this is the start of the pullback and we'll just see what happens in the days ahead, but it is an encouraging sign and I'm pleased that the Prime Minister has made this decision, and I hope it is the beginning of more withdrawals.

KOPPEL (on camera): If Powell's mission here in Morocco is any indication as to what he can expect elsewhere in the Middle East, he is in for a long rough week. Expectations may not have been high for a breakthrough on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, but Powell can't afford his mission to break down either, with Arab anger rapidly on the rise, and U.S. interests on the line. Andrea Koppel, CNN, Casablanca, Morocco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: You know, last segment Ben Wedeman reported on the day- to-day hardships Palestinians are facing under the military occupation in Bethlehem. Israelis face a different kind of strain.

It is a strain that comes from not knowing who the enemy is and having no clue where he or she will strike again. This fear is most crippling, as you might imagine, among parents who can no longer take their children's safety as a given, whether it's at a cafe with their friends or in the classroom. Here's CNN's Chris Burns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): At this K-12 school in Jerusalem, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict hangs like a dark cloud. Kids have one eye on the ball and the other watching out for the next attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was ones in my schools that's bad but I think (inaudible) and then like the police came and stuff, and we all got scared and we all went into the school. But then it was nothing and we (inaudible) for those kind of things.

BURNS: Teachers try to stay upbeat but it's not easy. Those with gun licenses are encouraged to wear their weapons.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were told to keep happy and to try and not make the children any more nervous than they are, to try and stay normal.

BURNS: How do you do that? How do you try and do that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. We do.

BURNS: What do you do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We force ourselves to smile.

BURNS: It's the first day of class after Passover, a week after the Palestinian uprising's bloodiest suicide attack that killed more than two dozen people in a hotel restaurant. Parents are increasingly fearful a school could be the next target.

BURNS (on camera): Bade Hakirim (ph) is one of the more fortunate schools. Parents here have agreed to pay for an extra guard, about $20 per student per year. But not all schools have that kind of funding, which nearly sparked a solidarity strike among parents groups.

BURNS (voice over): Adding to the two-school watchmen, authorities stationed a police guard in recent days to reassure the parents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope it's enough but I know it's not enough.

BURNS: Officials argue over how many more millions to spend amid a budget crunch.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you put one man in a school and a suicide bomber comes in, he will (inaudible).

BURNS: At least you have some last line of defense though, don't you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, but I think that the chances it will catch the suicide bomber is more near the borders or near the cities on the way to school.

BURNS: Is that enough to reassure parents (inaudible)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not enough but when you have no choice and you have no people and you have no money, then we have to do what's good.

BURNS: Meanwhile, a children's show warns kids to tell a grownup about anything strange, like someone in a heavy coat on a warm day, a sign of these troubled times, children teachers and parents are struggling to cope with, trying to establish a sense of security that's as elusive as the peace that both sides in this conflict yearn for. Chris Burns, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: That's a really interesting look tonight at both sides of this and how people are trying to cope. One more piece of business on the Middle East tonight, up next a daughter's revenge, but it is revenge unlike any you have heard before. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Laura Blumenfeld, the author in an interview over the weekend mentioned a line that we think sums up pretty well her book, "love your enemies. It really drives them crazy." The book is called "Revenge," a story of hope, her story of tracking down the Palestinian man who shot and injured her dad, getting to know him and his family.

She eventually confronts him, gets them to see the pain her family has had to endure, revenge in the best possible sense. Ms. Blumenfeld joins us now from Boston. It's nice to see you.

LAURA BLUMENFELD, AUTHOR, "REVENGE": Good evening. Thank you.

BROWN: Just start with a quick, you know 20 seconds on the incident involving your dad and we'll go from there.

BLUMENFELD: Well, the winter of 1986 was a quiet time in Jerusalem, until a death gang, backed by Syria, decided they were going to shoot and kill foreign tourists, British, Americans, Germans. My father was shot in the tourist market, in the souvenir market, as he was walking home. A gunman stepped out of an ally, raised a Beretta to his head and fired one bullet.

BROWN: And your dad recovered and that didn't alter your desire for revenge. What did revenge mean to you at first?

BLUMENFELD: Well, you know, my father got lucky but the other people got killed and I thought about it and I thought what is this kind of mindset, where it's OK to kill people to make a political point?

For me, revenge was a sort of -- at the time I was angry, but I was also quite frightened. Because I thought where people can act and think this way, none of us are safe. I don't have an army. I have to figure out some way to challenge this terrorist mindset.

BROWN: And the book, there are lots of actually interesting twists and turns in the book. I won't give it all away. But it is, in a sense, two stories in one, because it's a look at the whole idea of revenge culturally, and how it's different from one culture to another. Americans have a very different view of revenge than the rest of the world?

BLUMENFELD: That's right. In America, the word itself revenge is a taboo. When I would tell people I'm researching a book on revenge, there's this little pinch that would appear between their brows. And they would sort of step back. The word itself is one that you don't utter in America.

I went around the world to places where revenge was much more in the surface. Where -- I went to Sicily where vendetta is practically a national anthem. Where even the priests I interviewed would say to me, well, you have to get revenge, otherwise you're like a coward, you're like a woman.

BROWN: And so America, in that regard, is somewhat unique in the way it views revenge. Well, I want to go back to the question. When you started this, did revenge mean getting the guy who did it?

BLUMENFELD: You know, there were two competing impulses for me. One was to find this guy, track down that bullet to its source, grab him, and just kind of shake him up. I was angry. I had the same kind of feelings that, you know, that Sylvester Stallone might feel. But I had to be realistic about who I was and what I could do.

And so, I thought about a different kind of revenge, where I could somehow find this person, reach inside, and shake him from the inside. He denied my father his humanity when he shot him. And I thought perhaps the best revenge would be to restore my father's humanity.

BROWN: Now I'm going to let you decide how much of this you want to tell, OK, because it's your book.

BLUMENFELD: OK.

BROWN: And I don't want to blow it. But you eventually meet the family. And you eventually meet him. How much of that do you want to talk about?

BLUMENFELD: Well, what I did, actually, was I went undercover. I thought to myself, you know, I bet you these people, if I could somehow just almost trick them into seeing me as a human being, if I could erase myself, make myself invisible in order to be seen for who I am, they're going to end up liking me and they're going to be sorry that they supported and laughed at, and you know, made light of my father's shooting.

So I introduced myself as journalist, simply as Laura, interesting in writing a book about revenge in the Middle East. And that was my way, that I kept up a relationship with them for over a year.

BROWN: And he was, when you found him, he was in prison already.

BLUMENFELD: He was in prison, that's right. So I carried out a correspondence, actually a secret correspondence with him. His brother smuggled letters back and forth, sealed in tiny plastic capsules and folded up. And they would put them in their mouths and spit them out during visits because no one's allowed to have any communication with these Palestinian prisoners, other than immediate relatives.

BROWN: I'll let people read the book to find out how it comes out to be that he finally figures out, and that you finally let him know who you really are, and what it is. Let me ask, as a final question though, who do you think was changed more by this experience, the shooter or you?

BLUMENFELD: Well, I think we were both transformed in a way. I do believe, though, that he was the one who was changed more. He started off the first time he referred to the shooting, he said that he fired at a chosen military target. But when it was all over, when I had my revenge, he wrote me a letter, and he said, "Laura, you made me feel so stupid that I ever caused you or your mother any pain." And more importantly, he wrote my father a letter, where he said Laura was a mirror that made me see your face as a human being, deserved to be respected and admired. I'm sorry I missed her point from the beginning.

BROWN: Yes. Congratulations on the book.

BLUMENFELD: Thank you.

BROWN: It's terrific read. And it was nice to have you in the program.

BLUMENFELD: Thanks a lot. It was great to be here.

BROWN: Thank you. Come back again. Thank you.

BLUMENFELD: Thanks. All right. That takes care of Middle East tonight. Up next, the maverick of Youngstown, Ohio. His fate in a jury's hands tonight. In Cleveland, Congressman Jim Traficant. His story is next on NEWSNIGHT on a Monday. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: New victims today of the Enron mess. Remember the Enron mess? About 7,000 of them, that's the number of people that Andersen, Enron's former auditor, laid off today.

To help understand those numbers, consider a few others. Andersen has lost 150 clients this year because of the scandal, 14 of them last Friday alone. The Justice Department, you'll recall last month, charged the entire firm with obstruction of justice for destroying, shredding Enron documents. At the time, Andersen said the indictment was a death sentence. Nothing that has happened since suggests otherwise.

On to Cleveland now, where a jury is deliberating bribery charges against Congressman James Traficant. Traficant, you may recall, is acting as his own attorney, and by all accounts is putting on quite a show.

If you've ever seen him on C-Span you probably have a feel for this. Loud hair, loud suit, a lot of arm-waving and a lot to say about how the government is out to get him. And me apparently, too. Especially the IRS. Whether that's enough for him to prevail is an open question. But it did work once before in 1983, when the congressman, who was then the county sheriff, defended himself against similar charges and won. A key difference this time around, the trial is not taking place on the congressman's home turf exactly.

So here again, CNN's Kate Snow.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Traficant's one prop for the closing argument, a roll of toilet paper. "Fingerprints don't stick to porous toilet paper," he told the jury. "but they should stick to paper and envelopes."

So why, he asked, didn't the FBI find his fingerprints on key government evidence? Things like envelopes prosecutors said were used to deliver kickbacks? Traficant questioned the credibility of several prosecution witnesses who'd been given plea bargains in exchange for their testimony. And he wanted to know why the government never tried to catch him on video or audiotape surveillance. It was, some said, his peak performance.

RICHARD LILLIE, FMR. ASST. U.S. ATTORNEY: We know that he's capable of giving good speeches. I mean, he gives these really witty and incisive speeches on the House floor. So we know that when he's prepared or when his staff has assisted him in preparing, he can do it. Well, he was prepared today.

SNOW: Much of the time, Traficant yelled at jurors, ranting about the FBI. "They've gotten so powerful, they can put a case up on you and scare you and scare your wife and scare your kids and take your property. My response," he said, "Take this. This is one American who doesn't want to hear it." Through it all, the judge smiled patiently, only occasionally reprimanding the congressman. As usual, his arguments were laced with profanity, like his comments to reporters afterward.

REP JAMES TRAFICANT (D), OHIO: Everybody has a style. I'm just a son of a truck driver. And quite frankly, I'm tired of the [expletive]. And I brought it forward.

SNOW: In contrast, the lead prosecutor was calm, precise. Offering six binders filled with documentation, he reminded the jury of one former aide who testified he gave $2,500 bucks a month to Traficant out of his $60,000 salary. Other congressional staffers said they were sent to work on Traficant's horse farm. Businessmen testified they did free construction at the farm in exchange for political favors.

"Are all of these witnesses," Morford asked jurors. "Could the documents be lying? And then look at the pattern that's repeated again and again."

Traficant has repeatedly belittled Morford, once saying in court he had the testicles of an ant.

MORFORD: I haven't responded up until now. I'm not going to respond.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you glad to have it done?

MORFORD: Yes.

SNOW: Although Cleveland may miss the daily spectacle.

TRAFICANT: I'm not a normal congressman, am I?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SNOW: Not a typical congressman, that's for sure. And today, actually Aaron, wasn't exactly a typical performance for Mr. Traficant. He has repeatedly said that he thinks the courtroom is a theater. And today, while he was dramatic at times, he was often rather sullen. He sort of sat in his seat very quietly at times, looking up at the ceiling.

At one point, Aaron, he sits there all by himself at that table. He's alone. He doesn't have any family, no aides and certainly no counsel. One reporter asked him, after the trial today, did he wish now that he had a lawyer. His response? "Hell, no" -- Aaron.

BROWN: I would have expected no other response. Is there -- tell me what time the jury got the case?

SNOW: They got the case around 1:00 this afternoon Eastern time. They deliberated for about five or six hours, wrapped it up this evening. They're going to come back again tomorrow morning at 9:00. You know, the judge had asked hem to pack three days worth of clothes. They're being sequestered. So we don't know how long it's going to take. She'd asked them to really be careful, deliberate through the evidence. So we expect, you know, they could come back tomorrow. They could spend a couple more days deliberating.

BROWN: Well, it's a jury. They could come back tomorrow or they could come back a week from Thursday. You never know.

SNOW: Next week, exactly.

BROWN: And you'll be in Cleveland, no matter what, right?

SNOW: Until then. Until then.

BROWN: Until then, until whenever. Thank you Kate. Kate Snow in Cleveland down by the water in the river, on the lake tonight.

Coming up on NEWSNIGHT, are women waiting too long to have a child? One author wades directly into this controversy. And we join her in just a moment.

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BROWN: I thought Mid East coverage was dangerous. We could easily be walking through a mine field with this one. Telling women they're waiting too long to have a child is bound to cause a bit of a ruckus. And it has.

It's a book called "Creating a Life." And it argues, among other things, that women with careers, there is with women with careers, there's an "epidemic of childlessness." And that many women regret that they put off motherhood until it was too late.

Some feminists aren't happy with this. Talk about that a bit. The author joins us now. Sylvia Ann Hewlett, nice to meet you again. Actually, we ran to each other earlier today. It's nice to see you.

Well, I just want to get through this without my wife hating me. The argument essentially is that many women, bright, thoughtful women have an overly optimistic view of fertility?

SYLVIA ANN HEWLETT, ECONOMIST, AUTHOR: That's part of the argument.

Let's start with perhaps the main findings, Aaron, because there's some very distressing figures out there that come out of my new book. Somewhere between a third and a half of all professional women are childless at age 40. But perhaps more importantly, for most of those women, this isn't a choice. Only 14 percent of them planned it that way. In other words, there's all kinds of pain and regret wrapped with these figures.

BROWN: So you found lots of women who said, if I could do it again?

HEWLETT: Yes. And they have lots of very concrete advice for younger women, because they are eager, that the next generation not pay such a big price. And the group that seems to be suffering the worst is actually African-American women. I was very interested in how women of color were dealing with this set of challenges. And we have a very significant number of African-American women now in the professions. And I think in that group you see almost an exaggeration of what's going on.

BROWN: I wonder they feel doubly pressure to stay on the job?

HEWLETT: Well, they do and they also have a particularly deep regard for family. And therefore, I think it's particularly painful. So what I did discover is a lot of I think poignant, sense of loss in some very accomplished women, who feel that they were given some very bad advice along the way.

BROWN: And the bad advice was was what?

HEWLETT: Well, I think we all set off, you know, 20 years ago to clone the male competitive model. And yet the family story for women is so different.

BROWN: You know, when I was thinking about this day, one of the things I thought was, this notion that any of us could have it all.

HEWLETT: I know.

BROWN: I find sort of silly. I mean, I don't know many men who actually believe they have it all. Most of us, particularly if you get home at midnight, as one of us does here.

You know, you don't see your kid enough. You don't get to be dad nearly enough.

HEWLETT: I know.

BROWN: And this notion of having it all while appealing, I'm not sure how realistic it is in any case, in any gender?

HEWLETT: Well, I want to call you on that little bit, because when I talk about having it all, I'm not talking about the bells and the whistles, all the fancy stuff.

BROWN: Right.

HEWLETT: I'm talking about the basic right to have work and a life, to have some kind of career and some kind of family. Now obviously we all know that there are compromises at the edges. But if men were in a position where half of them could have no family life, I think we would be in deep trouble here.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're all struggling with a culture which worships a long work week. And men are suffering as well. I mean, one very interesting thing is that I did a little survey of men, just to see how they were feeling. And to reflect your sentiment, you know, only seven percent of the men thought they were having it all.

I mean on paper, you know, they were biological dads and they certainly had careers. But one man said that he was so tethered to his career, that he didn't even know whether his two daughters, what kind of music they liked or whether they fear death, because he was so out of touch with their feelings.

BROWN: I don't know why any one would aspire to that.

HEWLETT: Yes.

BROWN: The feminist, I think I'm going to get this right. The feminist argument on the book is, and I think it's been sort of gentle at least that which I've read, is that you are encouraging women to do something before they're ready. I think that's the argument, isn't it?

HEWLETT: Well, you know I don't want to put words...

BROWN: I understand, I did.

HEWLETT: I think that what I'm saying is that a young woman should figure out what it takes to make her happy, to look forward 20 years when she's, you know, 45, and figure out what she wants in life. Now if she doesn't want children, she's in a sense off the hook. There's no particular time pressure.

BROWN: Right.

HEWLETT: But if she wants children, and what I find is that about 85% of women do want children, she needs to be somewhat strategic, somewhat intentional about her private life. She can't just leave it on automatic pilot as men do and have it work out. Not that men end up super satisfied, but they do end up with some basic ingredients at life.

And if your intentional about your private life, it means that you've got to get pretty serious about having kids before 35.

BROWN: Right. And that's sort of argument you make, what can he call in the business back timing, figure out the end and back time. And figure out that by 28, I better have found the right person, and by whatever the numbers are. I mean, you guys can figure out the numbers.

HEWLETT: Right. And one young woman called it backward mapping. You know, she figured that if she wanted two kids and she get them under the wire by 40, she was, I think 28, when I interviewed her, you know, it's pretty serious. She has to at least make time in her life so she can maintain a relationship. I mean, she worked 70 hours a week. And she said I don't even have time to wash my hair.

BROWN: I'm fascinated by -- and the book is interesting to me. What was fascinating mostly to me today was how women and men in our meeting reacted to it. It was wonderful conversation. I thank you for that and for joining us tonight.

HEWLETT: Thank you. BROWN: Thank you very much. When we come back, the new "Wall Street Journal." And then the "Wall Street Journal" as Jeff Greenfield (UNINTELLIGIBLE). We'll be right back.

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BROWN: Segment 7 tonight's been called the "gray-faced bible of U.S. commerce." We're talking about the "Wall Street Journal," of course, a paper that will have an article about pork bellies on one page, and some obscure economic theory on the next.

Pork bellies are pretty obscure. In recent years, the "Journal" has tried to shed its slightly stodgy image. Yes. And tomorrow will be the biggest break with the past to date. Because the "Journal" is in color. Well, I guess that's color, but it's kind of muted color, isn't it?

Anyway, that's the front page of tomorrow's journal. There will be more color, more breaking news. There actually was some breaking news on the front page today. Also a new section called "personal journal" three days a week. Next thing you know, they'll be adding pictures to "The Wall Street Journal," and won't those stodgy investment bankers go absolutely crazy?

Well, you notice on the front page of the journal that the "Journal" won a Pulitzer Prize tonight. We're delighted to hear that.

Our colleague Jeff Greenfield has been following the "Journal's" makeover, but he's been wondering if they considered making one more change: fixing something that has confused him as a daily "Journal" reader for years.

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JEFF GREENFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Big news on the journalism front. "The Wall Street Journal" is putting on makeup. A splash of color in the front page. A little more pizazz to draw the readers eye. No more sense you might pick up the paper and read headline that says "Lindburgh Makes It."

But if this new look is designed to draw new readers, here's a question. Will it mean that the people who put the "Journal's" editorial page and the people who put out the "Journal's" front page will actually start reading each other?

The "Journal's" editorial page may be the most provocative in the land provides an unswerving conservative outlook. Taxes are for cuting in boom and bust, surpluses and deficits. Big business is the engine of prosperity. Attacking the rich and the powerful, class warfare. Environmentalists and consumer advocates, no nothings are worse. Campaign finance reform, an unconstitutional fraud.

Okay, now look at the "Journal's" front page. Day after day, stories to warm a lefties's heart. How the ordinary worker is coping after big business layoffs. How top executive enrich themselves, even if their companies fail. How special interests with political pull manipulate the rules. It's enough to send the blood pressure of Rush Limbaugh through the roof.

RUSH LIMBAUGH: When is the stuff going to be responded to?

GREENFIELD: One of the favorite targets of the "Journal's" editorial page, of course, the liberal news media. But I wonder, instead of attacking all those liberals in print, why don't they just open the door of the editorial office and shout down the hall to the news room?

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BROWN: Jeff Greenfield tonight. On the "Journal" tomorrow, by the way, an article about magic fingers, you know, in cheap motels. Got to love that. We'll see you tomorrow at 10:00. Good night for all of us.

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