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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Baltimore Man Shoots Priest Questioned for Child Abuse; Carter Visits Cuba

Aired May 14, 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.
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: To all of you, good evening again.

You know we've heard no one say they are surprised that it came to this, so many cases of abuse going back so many years, so many victims telling their stories in barely contained rage at both the abusers and at the church hierarchy that protected them.

Last night in Baltimore, a young man's rage apparently boiled over. Tonight, that young man is in jail, charged with attempted murder. The priest he confronted is in the hospital with multiple bullet wounds and the sexual abuse scandal gets wider and deeper and sadder.

And that is where we begin the whip around the world, beginning with Jeanne Meserve. She's covering the priest shooting from Baltimore, Jeanne the headline.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, nine years after he first made allegations of sexual abuse against a priest, police say a young Baltimore man picked up a gun and shot the priest in question. The priest is in the hospital, the young man in jail. Judy.

WOODRUFF: Thanks, Jeanne, and we'll see you in a moment. Connie Chung has been speaking with the family of Dontee Stokes, Connie a headline.

CONNIE CHUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, tonight I have a live exclusive interview with the mother of Dontee Stokes, the young man who confessed to shooting a Baltimore priest, and I'll also have an interview with the pastor to whom he confessed. Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Connie, and we'll see you shortly. A very different crime story in a pivotal moment in the struggle for civil rights, opening statements in the trial of a man accused of bombing a Birmingham church in 1963. Brian Cabell was there today, Brian a headline.

BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, 39 years ago there was a church bombing here in Birmingham, killing four girls, now another trial in that case, perhaps the very last trial in that case. Prosecutors say that Bobby Frank Cherry was involved in the case. He boasted of being involved in the case. His defense attorney says anybody who says he was involved is lying. Judy. WOODRUFF: All right, more in a moment from Brian. And now to Havana, where former President Jimmy Carter delivered a speech to Cubans tonight uncensored. Lucia Newman was listening, Lucia a headline.

LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Judy, former President Jimmy Carter indeed made history this evening. It wasn't just what the first president that has visited Cuba since the revolution had to say, but how he said it, where he said it, and in front of whom he said it. Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, and Lucia we'll be hearing that story too. We'll be back with all of you in just a moment. Also coming up on NEWSNIGHT, the latest from the Skakel trial, prosecutors made a surprise decision today. CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin is here. My talk with one of the most powerful women in the White House, Mary Madeleine on trying to close the gender gap that hurt the President during the 2000 race, and her take on a fundraising flap over a photo taken on September the 11th.

It is inspiring and sobering for anyone who takes a free and fair election for granted, a small step closer to democracy in Sierra Leone from Ben Wedeman.

Well all that is to come but we begin in Baltimore with the shooting of Father Maurice Blackwell, who is in serious condition tonight at a local hospital. It stopped us for a moment when we first heard the news, but it is also fair to say and sad to say it was not a surprise. Again, here's CNN's Jeanne Meserve with the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (voice over): Revenge, the oldest of motives, apparently brought 26-year-old Dontee Stokes to this Baltimore neighborhood Monday night. Police say he has confessed to shooting Father Maurice Blackwell, 56, several times with a .357 Smith & Wesson.

REGINA AVERELLA, BALTIMORE POLICE: Mr. Stokes has alleged that he was the victim of a sexual assault several years ago involving Mr. Blackwell.

MESERVE: Dontee Stokes first made his allegations against Father Blackwell in 1993, when Blackwell was pastor of St. Edward's Church in West Baltimore. The priest was suspended and put in mental health treatment, but when police and church investigators failed to substantiate Stokes' charges, Blackwell was reinstated, despite the protests of an independent review board.

TAMARA STOKES, ALLEGED SHOOTER'S MOTHER: The nuns knew about it. The priests knew about it. They did not address me. The archdiocese did not address me. The only person that addressed me was the police and nothing was done.

MESERVE: Only in 1998, when Blackwell confessed to having had a sexual relationship with a minor in the 70s, was he suspended. Now he lies wounded in a Baltimore hospital. CARDINAL WILLIAM KEELER, ARCHDIOCESE OF BALTIMORE: I am appalled that another act of violence has occurred in the City of Baltimore.

MESERVE: But did Keeler himself make a mistaken when he, as then archbishop, reinstated Blackwell in 1993?

RAYMOND KEMPISTY, ARCHDIOCESE OF BALTIMORE: It's very difficult to make an assessment of that in hindsight. Of course, last night's event casts a new light on 1993.

MESERVE: Cardinal Keeler met today with his priest to discuss the broad issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. They prayed for victims and for Father Blackwell's recovery.

But what about Dontee Stokes, who asked the church to address his complaints nine years ago, nine years before police say he picked up a gun and used it?

KEELER: We must pray. We must repent. We must make it very clear that we can not tolerate any kind of behavior that would cause this kind of damage to a young person that would be with that person through life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MESERVE (on camera): Tonight, Father Blackwell is in the Maryland Shock Trauma Center in serious but stable condition. Dontee Stokes is in jail, charged with Attempted Murder, First and Second Degree Assault, and handgun violations. He will have a bail hearing in the morning. Judy.

WOODRUFF: Jeanne, Baltimore a very Catholic city, what are people there saying about this?

MESERVE: They are, of course, astounded but many people are saying with all that's been going on with the sexual abuse allegations against the Catholic Church, they aren't completely surprised that sooner or later somewhere it was going to come to something like this. Judy.

WOODRUFF: All right, Jeanne Meserve reporting. And there is little doubt that we'll be hearing much more in the coming days, as Dontee Stokes is taken through the legal process and we learn more about Father Blackwell. Little doubt either that no matter what happens next, this is already a tragedy for everyone concerned.

Let's go back to CNN's Connie Chung. She's also in Baltimore now with that side of things. Connie.

CHUNG: Judy, I'm with the family and friends of Dontee Stokes. I can tell you that in talking to them, they are a deeply religious family and they are shocked at what's happened.

I'll talk with his mother first, Tamara. Mrs. Stokes, thank you so much for joining us. Did your son ever talk about harming Father Blackwell? STOKES: No, he did not.

CHUNG: Well how did he handle this alleged molestation?

T. BLACKWELL: He read the Bible and he just prayed and looked over newspapers.

CHUNG: You mean the newspaper accounts of accusations against him including his?

STOKES: Yes. He had his family for support behind him.

CHUNG: When he'd read those articles, what would happen to him?

STOKES: He would get very upset and he would sometimes get out of control whereas though he was left in a different state of mind.

CHUNG: What do you think he wanted from Father Blackwell, because he went there last night, went to his home?

STOKES: He wanted an apology from him. That's all he wanted. That's what he asked for.

CHUNG: Do you know what happened when he asked him for an apology?

STOKES: From my hearing was that he was brushed off and laughed at that night. That evening he was brushed off.

CHUNG: Was he concerned about an apology for himself?

STOKES: He was concerned for an apology for himself.

CHUNG: But was there any other reason why he wanted to confront Father Blackwell?

STOKES: None that I know of, just for an apology.

CHUNG: Was he concerned about other children?

STOKES: He was very much concerned about other children. He was in a youth group when he was 13. He was the president of the youth group at St. Edward's and he remained with St. Edward's up until he was 17, dealing with the church and the organizations dealing with kids.

CHUNG: Right after the shooting occurred, he walked to a church and he came in, Pastor Russell Johnson, just as you were delivering a sermon, correct?

PASTOR RUSSELL JOHNSON: Correct.

CHUNG: And when he did - after he came up to the altar, he confessed to you. What exactly did he say?

JOHNSON: After he came down to the altar, he asked that we might lead him in prayer because he decided to accept Christ as his personal savior. The things that transpired was as a result of the statement that I told him that was recorded in the Bible: "If any man be in Christ, he's a new preacher. The old things are passed away and all things become new."

CHUNG: That's when he cried?

JOHNSON: This is when he began to cry.

CHUNG: So then what did he say to you?

JOHNSON: He just said, "I wish to confess my sins and I wish Christ to come into my life." And so it was then I told him, "whatever you do, whatever you have done, whatever you said, wherever you have been, everything if you confess your sins (UNINTELLIGIBLE).

CHUNG: Did he actually tell you that he had shot someone?

JOHNSON: He did not tell me that at the altar. He asked for a private consultation.

CHUNG: And at that time?

JOHNSON: And at that particular time, he divulged the information as to the crime that he had committed.

CHUNG: Did you encourage him to go to the police? Did you ask him to do that?

JOHNSON: No, he volunteered and said that he desired to go to the police. The only thing that I did was I accompanied him, but he had already purposed it in his mind that that was where he was going to travel.

CHUNG: What was his state of mind, would you say? How would you describe him?

JOHNSON: He was very calm. He was very well within his mind, and he valiantly and courageously said, "I must give an account for what I've done."

CHUNG: Was he at all remorseful?

JOHNSON: He did say "I am sorry that this has happened and I'm sorry that it had to come to this," and so as a result of that, he desired to turn himself in and he did nothing but give the greatest of cooperation to our police department of Baltimore city.

CHUNG: Finally, Mrs. Stokes, did Father Blackwell deserve to be shot?

STOKES: No, Father Blackwell did not deserve to be shot, but from the outrage of my son and the anger that he felt, I just can't say what was going on through my son's mind at that time. So, what happened, happened due to a reason because God brought it forth.

CHUNG: What do you think will happen to your son now?

STOKES: With the prayers and love of those that know what is going on and support, he will make it through and he will come clear from all these charges and the charges that have been brought against him will be dropped because he just wasn't in his right state of mind when this had happened, due to all the publication that was going on throughout the weeks.

CHUNG: What do you mean? I'm sure people are wondering why did it happen now?

STOKES: Dontee had heard so much news confrontation about nothing had happened in Baltimore concerning any priests being - doing any molestation to any children, anybody, which I think triggered him and I think this had, you know, just the news media, just opened up everything really strong within his mind.

CHUNG: Tell me, you had confronted the parishioners because you were upset that Father Blackwell was still the head of that ministry but the parishioners didn't respond. They wanted him back, despite various allegations against him.

STOKES: That is correct. I went up to the church. I wore a black and white ribbon, the ribbon stands for, white stands for purity and black stands for the darkness when a child gets molested. He goes into hiding. I went up there and stressed it and I confronted the parishioners and said "this church does not need this priest back in here, you know.

You need to look at the facts. People need to come forward." It's a crime to hide when a pastor is supposed to be Holy and pure when he takes a vow and he is supposed to live by that vow. He's just supposed to live by that vow.

CHUNG: Thank you so much, Mrs. Stokes, and Pastor Johnson. Tomorrow, there will be a bail hearing.

STOKES: Right.

CHUNG: Will your son get out on bail, do you think? Will you be able to bring him home?

STOKES: I hope that I will bring him home. With positive attitude, he is coming home. He is coming home.

CHUNG: Thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it. Father Blackwell is apparently stable at this moment.

STOKES: I don't know the condition of Father Blackwell. The only condition that I am concerned with is the condition of my son at this time.

CHUNG: Thank you so much for being with us. Judy, this story will continue on and I know all of us will continue following it, back to you. WOODRUFF: All right, Connie Chung reporting for us from Baltimore. Thank you, Connie, and you are right. This is a tragedy for everyone involved.

Coming up next on NEWSNIGHT the echoes of a September day that gripped the nation in 1963 and continues to haunt it even now, a church, a bombing, and now a trial. This is NEWSNIGHT from Washington.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: We want to look now at the legacy of one day in September, a day of terror on a city and a nation. We're not talking about September the 11, but September 15, 1963, the day the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama founded by former slaves was bombed, four young girls killed.

Today, there were opening statement in the trial of former Ku Klux Klansman Bobby Frank Cherry. He's the last living suspect out of four in that case that became a milestone, one of the bloodiest in the story of civil rights. Once again, here's Brian Cabell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABELL (voice over): Seventy-one-year-old Bobby Frank Cherry, a former Ku Klux Klansman, has publicly insisted for years that he had nothing to do with the 1963 church bombing, but prosecutor Robert Posey told jurors that for years Cherry had privately boasted to family and friends of his involvement with the bombing. "He wore the crime on his chest like a badge of honor" Posey said. "He said he only regret was that more people hadn't died in the blast."

CABELL: Prosecutors say that Cherry knew how to use explosives and he had a motive for the bombing. He was a rabid segregationist. Cherry's attorney Mickey Johnson claims the bombing investigation is too old and too flawed.

MICKEY JOHNSON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: The investigation for what it was worth had been done in the 60s. Everything since then has depended upon and revolved around a statement that was made in December of '64, and was proven to be a lie.

CABELL: Eunice Davis has followed the case with particular interest. Her sister, Cynthia Wesley, was one of the four girls killed in the bombing. She remembers the girls' funeral vividly.

EUNICE MORRIS DAVIS, SISTER OF BOMB VICTIM: And I remember the caskets, all of them was pretty, flowers was everywhere.

CABELL: She couldn't make sense of it. The nation couldn't either. Four girls killed as they had prepared for a church service.

DAVIS: A lot of crying, a lot of people crying.

CABELL: Eunice and Cynthia were part of a large family, eight children in all, but when Cynthia was seven, her mother struggling with money, let her go live with another, better off family in Birmingham, but the sisters remained close until September 15th, 1963.

The bomb exploded. Bricks and mortar and glass flew. Four girls including Cynthia were murdered. Now 39 years later, the victims' families and Bobby Frank Cherry get their day in court. When you look in his eyes on TV or in the newspaper, what do you see?

DAVIS: Cold-hearted, cruel, no conscience about nothing he did.

CABELL: Eunice Davis doesn't know, of course, whether Cherry is guilty but she suspects it, and after all this time, she says she needs resolution and justice long overdue for her loss, the loss of her smiling sister who was struck down at the age of 14.

DAVIS: I know that she's OK in my heart, but I'm still missing her.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABELL (on camera): The jury in this case consists of 12 Whites and 4 Blacks. Four of those are alternates. We don't know which are which at this point. The trial expected to last about two weeks. If Cherry's convicted he would face life in prison. He is now 71, almost 72 years old. Among the witnesses expected to testify against him, former friends and some relatives including, Judy, his very own son. Judy.

WOODRUFF: And, Brian, we assume a lot of interest in the community there in the trial.

CABELL: I'll tell you it's not as great as you might think. In fact, the courtroom this morning was probably about three-quarters full and half of them were media. We saw this last year in a very similar case. This case is 39 years old. Probably half the people in Birmingham weren't even around at that time. That might account for it. But not as much interest in this case as you might think.

WOODRUFF: Very interesting. All right, Brian Cabell in Birmingham, thanks. And we want to get some more perspective on the Birmingham church bombing from a native of that city.

Diane McWhorter was about the same age as the girls killed in September of 1963, but as she herself admits, her family was on the "wrong side of the revolution," brought up to believe that Martin Luther King was a bad man. McWhorter won a Pulitzer Prize for her history of the year in Birmingham, the city's history and her own, a book called "Carry Me Home." She was also in the courtroom today. Diane McWhorter, welcome.

DIANE MCWHORTER, JOURNALIST, AUTHOR: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: What is the significance of this trial do you believe, not just for Birmingham but for the country?

MCWHORTER: I think that there's an urge among a civilized community to find meaning and to give sacred significance to death of this magnitude. Sacred significance was the term that Frederick Douglass used to describe the meaning that should come out of the Civil War dead, and I think there's a similar need to find meaning in deaths like these that were really the result of a political crime, not just a crime of passion.

And I think that the international and national interest in this case is a reflection of that and some attempt to find some regeneration and renewal from this sacrifice.

WOODRUFF: The word "closure" is heavily overused, but perhaps some closure from this?

MCWHORTER: Well, you know, I think it's a sign of progress. I really haven't heard the word closure today. I think that closure should not be a dull. I think that it should be a - that there should be constant recognition of this, making the secrets conscious because otherwise if we keep acting them out as a society in unconscious ways.

And in one of the - in the opening statement, the prosecution said that he wanted to remove the shroud of secrecy to lift the white robes that had covered this crime for so long.

Martin Luther King said that there was redemptive power in unearned suffering, and I think that closure is an attempt to find redemption without really earning it. It's a cheap form of redemption and I think people are kind of you know moving beyond closure right now.

WOODRUFF: Diane McWhorter, two other former Klansmen have already been convicted in connection with this bombing. As much as can be told about this case so far, is the case against Frank Cherry as strong as the cases were against them?

MCWHORTER: No, all the cases have been fairly weak. The case against Cherry was the weakest, but because of the conviction of his alleged co-conspirator Tommy Blanton (ph) last year, I think the case against Cherry will be stronger now because his association with Blanton, instead of being an association with a suspect, will now be an association with a convicted church bomber.

WOODRUFF: I read that the prosecution is planning to call members of Cherry's own family. Are they expected to testify against him, and if they are, are they believable?

MCWHORTER: Yes, well there's a granddaughter who Cherry was accused of fondling when she was a young child. I'm sure this will become an issue for the defense, you know that she's acting on sour grapes, I guess. But she said that he heard him boast about this at a family reunion, so she's expected to testify.

WOODRUFF: And any other family members?

MCWHORTER: Not that I know of. You know there was a movie made about his son, which implied that he had given damaging evidence to the Grand Jury about his father, but that's really not the case. The son has never said that his father claimed any responsibility for the crime. So I don't really think we're going to hear from him. There was another case of a stepdaughter of his accused him of molesting her when she was a young child under ten years old, but she has disappeared and she was never really connected with the church bombing case. That was a separate case, the sexual molestation case.

WOODRUFF: Sad story all the way around.

MCWHORTER: He's not a nice man.

WOODRUFF: Diane McWhorter last question, you heard perhaps Brian Cabell say there weren't as many people in the courtroom. It didn't seem to be stirring as much interest in the city of Birmingham as one might expect. Why do you think that is?

MCWHORTER: Well, I think it may be sort of a Statue of Liberty phenomenon where people in New York don't visit the Statue of Liberty. The city has lived with this case for so long that there's a sense that it's always there. It's always been there, and that it's just part of a cellular structure in a way.

I think that - I know in the Blanton case, some civic groups became embarrassed that there was bad publicity about Birmingham not turning out for this trial. There's also - and so I expect to see more people as the word gets out that nobody is showing up.

I think there's also this post September 11th feel too that, you know, that there's a certain wistfulness, sadness. To the reporters here, it feels like a kind of sad reunion. You know life has gone on. One of the reporters for NPR, who covered it last year, is pregnant now and there's not the kind of (UNINTELLIGIBLE) atmosphere that there had been among the media at the first trial.

And I think part of the September 11th connection is that there's this grave realization that the unthinkable had to happen here in the country almost 40 years ago and that the terrorists then were homegrown and they were excessing the accepted values of the community. So I think, you know, that there is that sense of gravity.

WOODRUFF: Terrorism in 1963 and terrorism in 2001. All right, Diane McWhorter, journalist and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Thank you very much.

MCWHORTER: Thank you.

WOODRUFF: And later on NEWSNIGHT, the latest of former President Jimmy Carter's trip to Cuba, and up next, the latest from the Skakel trial, where a key witness for the prosecution was suddenly dropped.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: Legal experts say it and sometimes it's even true, real life murder trials are nothing like what you see in the movies or on TV. And then, there's the trial of Michael Skakel. This one seems to be half "Perry Mason" and half "Twilight Zone." And today, yet another strange twist, a prosecution witness, Michael Skakel's brother, is no longer a prosecution witness. Well if anybody can make sense out of it all, CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin can. He's with us tonight in New York.

Jeffrey, I don't know if I should repeat this on the air, but you just told me this is one of the wackiest trials you've ever seen.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Boy, this is a strange case. And it seems to get stranger by the day. You know, as you pointed out, the big news today was that the prosecution decided it would not call Tommy Skakel, the brother of Michael Skakel. Tommy, as the jury learned earlier last week, was actually the main suspect in the case for many years. In fact, in 1976, the Greenwich police went to prosecutors and said we got our man. We have an arrest warrant prepared for Tommy Skakel. We think he killed Martha Moxley.

Now the prosecutors in '76 said no, we don't think you have enough evidence. But the jury has heard a great deal about Tommy Skakel. The jury is, I think, obviously wondering well, what he's got to say about all this. But today, we learned that the prosecution will not be calling him.

WOODRUFF: Do we know why?

TOOBIN: Well, what they told us was -- is that he has not cooperated with them since 1976. And one of the old adages about trial lawyers is you never ask a question to which you don't know an answer already. And they don't know what he would say. They are worried that he, as he is still close to his brother and would go out of his way to help his brother. So...

WOODRUFF: But they knew that all along, didn't they?

TOOBIN: They knew that all along. I guess they hoped that he would cooperate, that he would agree to witness preparation sessions, but he didn't. And now they are left with a big hole in their case. Someone who's obviously a very important suspect, who the jury will not hear from during the government's case.

WOODRUFF: Now this comes on the heels of another witness, Kenneth Littleton, who was in the stand. But you've been reporting that he gave contradictory or conflicting testimony?

TOOBIN: Well, when you mentioned the Twilight Zone, I think you must have had Ken Littleton in mind, because his testimony often seemed to be beamed from somewhere around Neptune. He, as you recall, was the tutor to the Skakel family household, to the many children there. His first day of work was October 30th, 1975, the day of the murder. And he, too, was a major suspect in the case.

He has suffered from all sorts of problems, mental illness. He admitted he was taking six medications when he was on the witness stand. And he testified that he had -- he not confessed to the murder at any point, but in testimony yesterday and today, the defense and prosecution played tapes of conversations between him and his ex-wife. At various points on those tapes, which were made in 1992, he did say that he had said previously he did it.

He also said on the tapes that he never killed Martha Moxley. And he denied committing the crime. But it was an extremely confusing and perplexing bit of testimony.

WOODRUFF: Jeffrey, before I let you go, what does the prosecution have left?

TOOBIN: Well, I think the only thing left that they really have, their hope, is that they have purported confessions on the part of Michael Skakel, that he said that in later years that he had committed the crime. We haven't heard that evidence. It's their best hope.

WOODRUFF: All right, Jeffrey Toobin. And I know we'll be talking to you again about this trial. Thank you very much.

Coming up next on NEWSNIGHT, President Jimmy Carter's message to the Cuban people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: In the years since Jimmy Carter left the White House, the former president has always lived by the words of one of his favorite poets and taken the road less traveled. well, this week, the road took him to Fidel Castro's Cuba, making him the first president, former or otherwise to make the journey. Tonight, he became the first to address the Cuban people.

CNN's Lucia Newman was there for it all. And she joins us once again from Havana.

Lucia?

NEWMAN: Good evening, Judy. Well, former President Jimmy Carter has been in Cuba now for three days, and already "The Star Spangled Banner" has been played here twice. The first time when he arrived, and the second time just a few hours ago when Jimmy Carter made an extraordinary address at the University of Havana, delivered in Spanish and broadcast all over Cuba to the Cuban people.

In his address, Mr. Carter started by saying that he'd come here as a friend of the Cuban people to share with them his vision of how relations between the United States and Cuba could be improved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY CARTER, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.: (through translator) For 42 years, our two nations have been trapped in a harmful state of belligerence. Time has come though, in which we must change our relations and the form in which we talk, and think about one -- one about the other. The United States is the most powerful nation. We are the ones that should take the first step forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWMAN: That first step, he indicated, would be an easing of the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba and the prohibition for Americans -- most Americans to come here. But he also said that Cuba had to take steps, major steps, to become what he considered a true democracy. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: I did not use the definition of democracy that the United States uses. The term is consecrated in the universal declaration of human rights, which was signed by Cuba in 1948. And that has been defined in a very precise manner by other countries in the Americas in the democratic charter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWMAN: Mr. Carter called on the government to allow a unique opposition initiative called Project Varela to go forward. It's a referendum, a petition that's signed by more than 10,000 Cubans, calling for sweeping political changes. And until Mr. Carter mentioned it tonight, the majority of Cubans haven't even heard of it before.

Now if Fidel Castro was offended by all this, he sat by and said nothing in the front row. He wasn't showing it. He took Jimmy Carter later to a baseball game. In fact, they are there right now at this all-star game, where Jimmy Carter was allowed to throw the first pitch, while President Castro coached him on his technique. Something they can both agree about, baseball. And whether or not Mr. Castro will listen to everything else Mr. Carter had to say is yet to be seen, Judy.

WOODRUFF: Every aspect of this story is fascinating. Watching a U.S. president speak and be translated from Spanish into English, among the rest of it.

Lucia Newman, thanks very much. We'll talk to you tomorrow.

And a little later at NEWSNIGHT, we will look at a place where voting can be a deadly exercise. And next, we will talk with White House adviser Mary Matalin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: For those out there who follow politics, it is Sharp James over Cory Booker. It's an update on that political battle we talked about last night, the race for Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, between two African-American Democrats. Long time Mayor Sharp James, backed by the old school of Newark establishment, was running against a young councilman named Cory Booker. This is look at Sharp Jame's campaign headquarters right now. You see Al Sharpton, the New York Democratic political activist there talking. Sharp James there on the left.

With the results in just a short time ago, that he is the winner in that Newark contest. As we reported last night, donations came into the younger Cory Booker from high-profile Democrats all over the country. And going into today's vote, it looked like a dead heat. But results from the Associated Press show that the mayor fended off his young challenger, getting 53 percent to Booker's 46 percent. That's with 99 percent of the vote counted. Well, tonight here in Washington, the Republican National Committee is holding a black-tie gala, the kind of lavish event that campaign finance reformers like to criticize. But the party today is facing criticism for a different part of its fundraising strategy. The question, whether the GOP is exploiting September 11 in a quest for campaign cash.

John King has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A record fund-raising night for the Republican party. A $30 million take, thanks, in large part to a popular president.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much for that warm welcome.

KING: The black tie gala makes this fund-raising appeal seem a lot more modest, a collection of presidential photos for those who give just $150 to the Republican Congressional Campaign Committees. But look more closely. This is the president aboard Air Force One, calling the vice president on September 11, a day the Democrats say should have no place in politics.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe called using the September 11 photo for political gain "grotesque." And went on to say, "I call on the White House to cease and desist from any further political use of this photograph." Former Vice President Al Gore also joined the debate. He called it "disgraceful" and said, "I cannot imagine that the families of those who lost their lives on September 11th condone this -- and neither should the President of the United States."

SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: I think that clearly there would be a very serious ethical violation, were White House photographers or any government property involved in this affair.

KING: This is an official White House photograph. It was released to the news media months ago. And the White House says there's nothing wrong because the Republican fund-raising committees bought it from a commercial broker.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The White House was generally aware of the fact that they wanted to use pictures for fund- raising purposes. And no objections were raised.

KING: Aides say the president sees nothing wrong with using the September 11 photo in a fund-raising appeal. The White House press secretary says Democrats are raising a big stink because in his words "they're having a difficult time coming to grips with the fact that the president is so popular." But the Democrats, of course disagree, and say that in the rush to raise money, the president and his party are showing both bad judgment and poor taste.

John King, CNN, the White House. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Earlier today, I spoke with assistant to the president Mary Matalin about the fundraising controversy, about her role in the White House, and her play in getting more women to vote Republican.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: Mary Matalin, thank you very much for joining us.

MARY MATALIN, ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT BUSH: Thanks, Judy, good to see you.

WOODRUFF: You are speaking today at this Republican women's event in Washington. I want to ask you about the women in the Republican party, the president doing very well among women. He's pulling in something like 75 percent of the vote of women. But when you ask people about congressional races this year, by 50 percent to 43 percent, more men are saying they're going to vote Republican than are women. Are you and others in the White House concerned about women, more of them, preferring Democrats for Congress?

MATALIN: So you're really saying that men love us at exponential rates. This is, first of all, it wasn't a Republican event It was a bipartisan event. And this White House has flung open its doors to women, particularly women entrepreneurs. And that's who -- that's the message I wanted to convey, and talk about some of those programs. Women are creating small businesses, new businesses at twice the rate of men. And they now employ more than all the Fortune 500 companies together.

So women care about issues like deregulation, tax relief and depreciation. And that's what we wanted to talk about. And I have always thought, and you and I have talked about this, that there's no such thing as women issues. And all issues are gender free. So that's what that was about. And that's how we discuss all issues. We're not -- we don't really break it down in a demographic way in which the punditry likes to analyze it.

WOODRUFF: Well, you know how we are in the press, Mary. Mary, a story that came up today at the White House briefing. A Republican party, sending out fund-raising material with a picture of President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The president calling the vice president, that is, from Air Force One on September the 11th, and using it as a way to raise money for the party, charging $150 a picture. Is this an appropriate way to raise money, do you think?

MATALIN: I don't think that's an accurate portrayal of what happened. And it was a public picture. And I don't know the particulars of it, but it wasn't -- it didn't come out of here. It was a public picture.

WOODRUFF: It was a picture of the president on Air Force One.

MATALIN: It was a public picture. It was a public picture, Judy. It is not -- and it is absolutely fine and appropriate. And the president and the vice president have been, and will continue fund-raising to raise money for people who believe like they do and for the party. The particulars of this letter, I don't have, but I know that those photos were public photos and not part of the original letter.

WOODRUFF: All right, well, let me ask you about -- you mentioned fund-raising. The president, the vice president are doing a good deal of traveling around the country this year. The president's been to something like 15 states. He's raised $70 million for the Republican party since he came into office. He's got 40 more fund- raisers scheduled this year. Some people are asking, you know, your administration was critical of Bill Clinton, but is this pretty much a permanent campaign season going on?

MATALIN: We were not critical of our predecessors for raising money and campaigning. That's part of democratic process. And we will participate fully in the democratic process, and try to elect more like-minded people, so we can get -- and we would like to absolutely have a critical goal of retaking the senate. There's been too many things that have been obstructed in the senate that affect people's daily lives.

So that was not the criticism of the previous administration. And what this one day flap, that's being raised here, is in no way comparable or analogous to anything that went on in that administration. And yes, the vice president, president, the administration, and some of us whoever, wherever we're asked to go to help support and promote the president's agenda. We'll be doing it, loudly and proudly. And we hope to do that on IP. And Aaron Brown and everywhere else.

WOODRUFF: Last question, Mary Matalin, we know your White House colleague, Karen Hughes, going back to Texas at the end of the summer. Does this mean Mary Matalin is going to have a great deal more influence there?

MATALIN: No, Mary Matalin has zero influence as it is. And I barely have any influence at home, and I came to work for Dick Cheney. And I don't want to do anything else to -- but work for Dick Cheney. And Karen is not going anywhere, so let's start there. And has put together a great team. So I don't think you'll see any differences, other than Dan Bartlett, who's a superstar, picking up some of those day to day tasks.

WOODRUFF: So your job definition won't change in anyway?

MATALIN: Zero. Zero. I'm not doing anymore. I'm not doing any less. I'm going to do whatever Dick Cheney tells me to do and whatever the vice president is doing. And it goes to supporting and promoting the president's agenda.

WOODRUFF: All right, Mary Matalin, adviser to the vice president and assistant to the president. Thanks very much. Good to see you.

MATALIN: Thank you, Judy. Good to see you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOODRUFF: We saw the results of a tough political battle a moment ago in Newark. Sharp James hanging on to being the mayor so far. The struggle you're about to see is worlds away and worlds tougher. So are the pictures you're about to see. But it is a triumph for democracy. Election day in Sierra Leone from Ben Wedeman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Freetown's amputee camp, the simple act of dropping a ballot in the ballot box isn't so simple. And it's an act with the darkest of associations. After the last election in 1996, rebel fighters cut off hundreds of peoples' hands. Punishment, they said, for taking part in an election the rebels had boycotted.

During the war, rebels and renegade soldiers hacked off not only hands, but also arms, legs and ears. In Tuesday's voting, a toeprint sufficed to mark the ballot for those without hands, toes marked with indelible ink as proof of voting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here, in this camp, we have 230 amputees now. All of them, they are coming out for vote. They are here.

WEDEMAN: In this camp, and across the country, turnout was reported to be high.

(on camera): Some of these people arrived here almost three hours before the polls opened. Voter apathy is not a problem here.

(voice-over): Voter enthusiasm did pose a problem. Some couldn't wait to cast their ballots.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please, I am trying to create a line for you people, here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are already standing in a cue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. I have that instructions. I've been told. So I'm trying to create a line for you, but perhaps, it seems you are forcing the issue.

WEDEMAN: For one man the wait was too long. United Nations peacekeepers stood by in the event of trouble at a beachside polling station. There wasn't any. Election staff explained the necessary steps to vote. It was a new experience for many. In a Freetown suburb, the process slowed to a trickle. The problem, too many voters, not enough ballot boxes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we are supposed to have four ballot boxes. But as for now, we have only two.

WEDEMAN: So they just had to stuff them in. Minor complications, but here they see the bigger picture.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So everybody wants to contribute. Everybody wants to have a say.

WEDEMAN: Tuesday's vote is seen as a test for this country's ability to cement the peace in place since January. Many of those who cast their ballots believe they have passed that test with flying colors.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Freetown.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOODRUFF: And in the United States, voter turnout is just 50 percent.

That's NEWSNIGHT for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff. Thanks for watching. I'll see you tomorrow.

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