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CNN Newsnight Aaron Brown

Security Scare at White House; Violence in Middle East Intensifies

Aired June 20, 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.

There's no fear quite like the fear of looking at this page in the computer when it's blank. Staring out the window of my office around 8:00 tonight wondering what to write and all I could think about was it's summer.

Well, tomorrow is summer, but let's not get technical here. How different the summer is going to be for all of us. A year ago, we were sweating out the summer of sharks. It said a lot about where we were as a country at the time.

Yes, the economy was struggling, a new administration was getting its feet wet, Congress was debating a tax cut and the fairness of it. But those were the routine matters of American life. It's what we call slow news. Thank goodness there were the sharks.

Today, we deal with real terror. The Director of Homeland Security, last summer he was the Governor of Pennsylvania, was on the Hill today discussing the need for a huge new cabinet-level department to protect the homeland and few disagreed.

The president is safe and well tonight, but last night at this time, his home was being evacuated because a small plane was too close for comfort and we are skittish about planes this summer, large or small.

Last summer we worried about sharks. This summer we worry about the balance between civil liberties and national security, about the possibility of a wider war or a neverending one. We worry about our servicemen and women and the dangers they face, and we worry about our children in ways different than we did a year ago.

We just plain worry more on this almost summer night. School is ending or over, kids are heading off to camp or swimming pools. Summer life is going on. It's just different. Everything is.

We begin the whip now with a follow-up on last night's White House evacuation and how the military responded to what was seen as a possible threat. Jamie McIntyre from the Pentagon tonight, Jamie the headline please.

JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, a month ago or back in April when the Pentagon ended round-the-clock combat air patrols, they said they could get the job done with planes on the ground on alert. Well last night, a wayward Cessna pilot, trying to avoid a thunderstorm, proved that they were wrong.

BROWN: Jamie, back to you in a moment. Once again more bloodshed more death in Israel. Christiane Amanpour is in Jerusalem. Christiane a headline please.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The third attack in three days, this time against settlers in a West Bank settlement, but also splits emerging between the prime minister and the defense minister about just how to respond.

BROWN: Christiane. Now to a ruling by the Supreme Court on the death penalty. Bob Franken has been reporting that story for us, Bob the headline from you please.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the term is called "stare decisis," already decided, and it's the legal version of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but the Supreme Court Justices decided that the laws on capital punishment needed fixing. We'll report on that.

BROWN: Bob, thank you very much. In a court appearance today for a Forest Service worker accused of starting one of the Colorado wildfires, Mark Potter is now in Colorado for us. So, Mark, the headline from you.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Aaron, prosecutors argued that Terry Lynn Barton should remain behind bars until her trial, but a federal magistrate has agreed to let her out on bond, under strict conditions, one of them tailor-made for her case. Aaron.

BROWN: Mark, thank you, back to all of you in a moment.

Also coming up on the program, their news, or should we say tonight at least, their sports. From Germany, as the Germans face the underdog Americans in the morning in the World Cup Quarter Finals, we'll take a look at how German TV looks at this great battle.

A look too at the trouble with Martha Stewart, the queen of domestic perfection whose image is everything, caught up in an insider trading scandal. We'll talk with one of her biographers tonight.

And, a great New York story to close the program, the musicians who try to make New York subways bearable debut above ground tonight at one of the most famous concert halls in the world, yet another reward for staying to the bitter end of the hour.

All of that to come, but we begin feeling a bit less safe than we did 24 hours ago. When we left the air last night, we did so with a sigh of relief. The White House, which had been evacuated, was safe. A small plane that strayed too close had been intercepted. The system worked. That's what we thought and that's what we reported and today we learn otherwise. Again from the Pentagon, CNN's Jamie McIntyre.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (voice over): This single-engine Cessna 182, which strayed into restricted airspace near the White House, put the Pentagon's fighter jet intercept procedures to the test and they failed, some Pentagon officials admit. The White House, though, insists the president was never in danger and, in fact, wasn't told until the next morning.

ARI FLEISCHER, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Suffice it to say there are multiple levels of protection for the president that are somewhat redundant, that are overlapping. I'm not going to be able to discuss each and every one of those.

MCINTYRE: But the first line of defense against terrorist attack by air, U.S. fighter jets on 15-minute strip alert, proved unable to intercept the wayward plane in time to act if it had been a threat, as this timeline shows.

At 7:59, the Cessna entered restricted airspace, a 15-mile circle around Washington, off limits since September 11th to most small private planes.

Four minutes later at 8:03, the FAA notifies NORAD. Two minutes after that at 8:06, as the Cessna passes within a few miles of the prohibited airspace around the White House, two Air National Guard F- 16s get orders to scramble from nearby Andrews Air Force Base.

The F-16s take off at 8:17, within their designated 15-minute response time, but they don't intercept the plane until it's 50 miles south of Washington, much too late if the plane had been a terrorist weapon.

The pilot was interviewed by the FBI after landing in Richmond, Virginia and may face sanctions from the FAA for his mistake, but no criminal charges.

LAWRENCE BARRY, FBI: Both the pilot and the passenger were interviewed thoroughly and both were very cooperative.

MCINTYRE: Round-the-clock air patrols would have made a difference, but last April when the Pentagon ended them over New York and Washington to save money and rest air crews, officials promised the nation would still be protected.

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have radar that enables us to keep track of a great deal. We have aircraft on strip alert that enables us to respond within reasonable periods of time to threats as they are analyzed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCINTYRE (on camera): Pentagon officials won't say that they're reconsidering the policy, but they do say they're examining the lessons learned from last night's episode. One military official here said frankly, if the U.S. military wants to be able to respond to these kind of events, they either have to have a bigger buffer zone around the nation's capitol or they're going to have to go back to having planes in the sky 24 hours a day. That is very expensive and wearisome for the crews -- Aaron.

BROWN: I hope this is directed to the right correspondent on this. Other than these planes scrambling, are there other air defenses that protect the White House?

MCINTYRE: Well, there are other air defenses that protect the White House. The White House doesn't like to talk about them. But you know the White House is not the only potential target in Washington. Of course, the Capitol Building, many other government buildings, even the Smithsonian on the mall or perhaps the Air and Space Museum, all would make inviting terrorist targets.

So, it's not just a question of protecting the White House, but protecting the nation's capitol and the lawmakers who are here, and the bottom line is the Pentagon said they could do this with planes on strip alert and what this pilot showed was essentially no they can't.

BROWN: Hard to argue with that. Jamie, thank you. Jamie McIntyre at the Pentagon tonight.

On to a series of Supreme Court decisions. We take note of one in particular on the death penalty today. In a 6-3 decision, the Court ruled that the execution of the mentally retarded is cruel and unusual and therefore unconstitutional.

Although many find it unthinkable to put someone to death, someone who might not fully comprehend their crime, there was no law against it. Indeed, the practice has gone on with the Supreme Court's approval since 1989, gone on under two presidents, Democrat and Republican, who presided over such executions when they were governors of their states, President Clinton and President Bush.

People opposed to the death penalty in this country rarely get a victory to celebrate, but clearly they have one tonight, and we go back to CNN's Bob Franken for the details. Bob, good evening.

FRANKEN: And good evening, and what we are seeing is that the law about capital punishment is beginning to evolve, so there is this change now from a ruling that was made 13 years ago, where the mentally retarded no longer can be executed says the Supreme Court majority; in the words of the man who wrote the opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens: "because of their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of their impulses."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice over): "Because" wrote Justice John Paul Stevens, "of their disabilities in areas of reasoning, judgment, and control of their impulses."

DARYL ATKINS, DEFENDANT: I didn't like how it was going down.

FRANKEN: The defendant was Daryl Atkins, sentenced to death in Virginia for a 1996 robbery/murder. His I.Q. tested at 59, mentally between nine and 12 years of age. The question before the Court: Is there now a national consensus against executing the mentally retarded?

Compared to 1989 when only two states prohibited the practice, now 18 do. Twelve more ban capital punishment entirely, a total of 30. "It is fair to say" Stevens wrote for the majority, "that a national consensus has developed against it."

STEVEN HAWKINS, NATIONAL COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY: This opinion, I think, represents really where the American people have gone in terms of concern about how the death penalty is being applied in the country.

FRANKEN: But in a particularly biting dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by the two other most conservative justices, Rehnquist and Thomas, complained that: "Seldom has an opinion of this Court rested so obviously upon nothing but the personal views of its members."

KEVIN WATSON, LAW ENFORCEMENT ALLIANCE: It's our basic position that if someone is found by the courts fit to stand trial, then they're fit to receive the sentence that the court and jury gives them.

FRANKEN: President Bush has spoken out against capital punishment of the mentally retarded, but as Governor of Texas, he allowed two men, said to be retarded, to be executed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (on camera): We can expect even more capital punishment cases to confront this court of last resort in the United States, Aaron, and with new technology, new issues like DNA technology, the cases are going to become not only more numerous but more complicated.

BROWN: They are indeed, Bob thank you, Bob Franken on the Supreme Court. A little bit later in the program, we'll talk with James Ellis who is one of the lawyers that argued the case before the Court today, argued on behalf of the death row defendant.

On to the Middle East next, the bloodshed there goes on, but the government appears, the government of Israel that is, torn over how precisely to respond to it.

Two days ago, after the first suicide bombing of the week, Israeli troops began reoccupying portions of the West Bank, a new formula in so many words, no peace for Israeli, less land for the Palestinians.

Today, after another deadly attack, the leader of the opposition party in Israel expressed his opposition to that policy, which might be academic except for this. The opposition leader also happens to be the defense minister.

So, we go back to Jerusalem and CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Christiane, in your case, good morning. AMANPOUR: Aaron, indeed, and indeed the defense minister and his colleague in the cabinet the Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, are saying there is no policy. No policy was declared in their last cabinet meeting to reoccupy land.

But let's first go to the bloodshed that happened tonight in a settlement near Nablus. This was the third attack in as many days in Israel. A Palestinian gunman infiltrated this settlement near Nablus. It's a settlement called Itamar, and it's known to be the home of some of the more militant Israeli settlers.

He went into a house, opened fire, killing five people in one house, including four members of the same family, a mother and three children. After the army was called and there was a shootout, the gunman himself was killed.

Prime Minister Sharon was at a session, a conference this evening. He was called out of it. He met with his advisers and his spokesman then labeled this a "horrendous attack that will not doubt provoke a strong response."

Now this response is what's causing splits within the Israeli Government as we've mentioned. Nonetheless, the Israeli Government is sending in troops and military force into various towns and cities in the West Bank, those under Palestinian control, in order to try to search out and arrest people, which they have been doing, and try to as they have put it dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.

At the same time, Israel continues to bury its dead. Today, there was a funeral for two victims of the suicide bombing in Jerusalem last night. One of those victims was a five-year-old girl, also her grandmother, a 59-year-old woman.

AMANPOUR (voice over): We're going to show you some pictures that were taken at the Kindergarten where the five-year-old girl and her Kindergarten classmates were having a celebration at the end of their school year, a celebration that took place just before the suicide bombing in Jerusalem last night that left seven people dead and more than 40 people wounded.

At the same time, let's talk again about the Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. He has given an extraordinary interview to an Israeli newspaper that will be published, is being published today. What he said was that he went to an Israeli jail to talk to two suicide bombers whose missions were aborted and who have been arrested and are now in Israel jails.

He went to visit these suicide bombers, potential suicide bombers, to try he said to determine their motives and he has come away with the view that they, at least one of them he said was motivated by despair, a despair that is not going to be alleviated until there is more hope of a better life for the Palestinian people.

He said that while suicide bombings can not in any way be justified, nor is he trying to explain or even understand suicide bombings, he said that some of Israel's military maneuvers in the West Bank and military policies are creating some of this despair that he called an incubator for future terror.

Israeli police have confirmed that many towns and cities, particularly some coastal areas north of Tel Aviv, are on high alert for fear of future suicide bombings. Aaron.

BROWN: So, do we have yet another governmental crisis at this point in Israel, or are the two Labor Party ministers pretty much standing alone?

AMANPOUR: Well it doesn't seem to be a crisis. It's a definite difference of interpretation as to what exactly was decided as policy. What's clear is that they are sending military into these areas to try to stem this state of attacks in Israel itself.

But what the Israeli government, the Israeli prime minister's office declared as a major new policy is being denied by the defense minister and his colleagues. Probably politics is being played, but essentially this is what's going on right now, not a crisis at this moment though.

BROWN: Christiane, thank you, Christiane Amanpour in Jerusalem on the state of play in the Middle East tonight. When NEWSNIGHT continues after a short break, we'll talk with the lawyer who won today's death penalty case before the U.S. Supreme Court. This is NEWSNIGHT on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: For a variety of reasons, today's decision by the Supreme Court on executing the mentally retarded or now denying states the right to do so is intriguing. So we spent a little more time on it. We're joined from Albuquerque by one of the lawyers in the case, James Ellis. Professor Ellis teaches law, among other things, at the University of New Mexico. Nice to see you, sir, thanks for joining us. Have you talked to your client?

JAMES ELLIS, PROFESSOR OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO: Good evening. I have not, but my co-counsel in Virginia, Rob Lee (ph) has done so.

BROWN: And, can you tell us anything about his reaction? Did he understand what had happened today?

ELLIS: It's my understanding second-hand that he had some difficulty understanding it, but I haven't spoken with him directly.

BROWN: OK. Let's talk about the implications of this. Is there a precise enough definition of what retardation is and precise enough testing to determine that we will not get involved in the kind of battle of psychiatrists that we end up in all the time in insanity cases?

ELLIS: Yes. In a number of states, we now have 18 states that have statutes, a number of those states have had those statutes for 10, 12 years.

In those states, there has not proven to be a difficulty with the definition. They all use the same definition, which is the one that the Supreme Court endorsed today, and it's the same definition that states use for other purposes in their laws for guardianship or civil commitment or other purposes, so there's nothing novel about the definition.

BROWN: And, the testing of any individual, the testing method is clear enough so that there won't be a dispute about the results or there shouldn't be a dispute about the results?

ELLIS: There is seldom a dispute. The testing is objective and tends to be clear. There will obviously be cases at the margin that will need to be looked into. But in addition to the testing, it's also required under the definition the Court adopted today that this have a real world disabling effect on the person, not just bad test taking, and also that it have manifested itself at birth or when the person was a child.

So there's also a track record, a paper trail of the person's disability that can be discovered and used in determining how these evaluations are to take place, and that has worked in the states that have done this up to now.

BROWN: When you took the case to the Supreme Court, did you say to yourselves, look we have to pick off Justices O'Connor and Kennedy, that's key to winning this case?

ELLIS: Well anyone who appears before the Court in a case like this one knows that the center of the Court is occupied by Justices O'Connor and Kennedy. The mathematics are such that one or the other of them is likely to be necessary to produce a majority. In this instance, both of them agreed fully with Justice Stevens' opinion.

BROWN: Did you find it - I assume you found it encouraging. Were you surprised that Justice O'Connor, who wrote the '89 decision upholding executing people who are retarded, joined the majority in this case?

ELLIS: I wasn't totally surprised. Questions that she asked me at argument indicated that she was, at least, open to the possibility of revisiting the question because of the developments of the last 13 years, because of the many states that have passed statutes and Congress has also passed a statute in that period of time. So that wasn't a surprise.

BROWN: And, just a final question, were you at all surprised and what do you make of the spirited, some even said angry dissent by the three justices who lost out in the vote?

ELLIS: Well, in a sense that's fairly commonly experienced, especially in death penalty cases on both side, in fairness, that the justices who lose those cases, because the stakes are so high, often become quite involved with them, as I think any of us would be.

Here what is remarkable is the degree of consensus within the Court, not only six justices joining the result, but all six of them joining the entirety of the opinion and agreeing on the rationale that the people of the country have rejected this practice and therefore it's unconstitutional.

BROWN: All right, Professor Ellis, I'm sure this is a satisfying, happy day for you. Thanks for joining us tonight and congratulations.

ELLIS: It is. Thank you so much.

BROWN: Thank you, sir. We have much more coming up still tonight. Martha Stewart a little bit later whips up a heap of trouble for herself, pretty clever that, wasn't it?

Up next, "you'll be mad at me," the words of a woman who allegedly set the fire that is burning up parts of Colorado. This is NEWSNIGHT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Colorado now and the wildfires and what suspect Terry Lynn Barton reportedly told her boss about the fire she admits to setting. "You're going to be mad at me," almost childlike to our ear.

This came out at Barton's bail hearing today and ranks as the understatement of the week. More than 130,000 acres have now been burned, thousands of people forced from their homes, and Terry Lynn Barton, whose job was preventing fires, now faces a lifetime in prison if convicted. Here again, CNN's Mark Potter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

POTTER (voice over): For most of the four-hour detention hearing, 38-year-old Terry Lynn Barton sat quietly looking downward. The prosecution argued she should remain behind bars until her trial because she is a flight risk, but seven defense witnesses said she would never flee and still enjoys support from friends and coworkers.

In his ruling, Federal Magistrate Michael Watanabi (ph) agreed to release Barton on a $600,000 bond. She must live in a halfway house. Barton has admitted setting the huge Hayman wildfire but claims it occurred accidentally after she lit a match to a letter from her estranged husband, an account supported by one of her friends.

SCOTT RIEBEL, BARTON'S FRIEND: Because I don't believe it was intentional. I believe that she was overwrought with emotion of what was going on in her personal life, and I think that letter symbolically meant something, burning that thing was a symbolic gesture on her part.

POTTER: Prosecutors argue Barton set the wildfire intentionally and staged the scene to make it look accidental. A fire investigator testified that so far, no evidence of the letter has been found, and that her husband denies sending it. As for the 136,000-acre Hayman fire itself, officials say firefighters finally got a break from the weather.

BOBBY KITCHEN, FIRE INFORMATION OFFICER: The day was a great day. You know, our incident commander said we really needed to hit it a good lick and we did. All the reports that we've gotten in from all divisions show great progress, and you can look out there and you don't see the smoke column so we know it's been working.

POTTER: Throughout Colorado, five major fires have now consumed 220,000 acres and have destroyed more than 100 homes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

POTTER (on camera): Now back here at the Denver Courthouse, in agreeing to set Barton free on bond, the judge imposed a number of conditions. In addition to living in the halfway house, she must stay away from firearms and alcohol, and per the judge's order, she can never set foot in a forest area. Aaron.

BROWN: Mark, thank you, Mark Potter in Denver tonight on the fires and the courts. Another huge fire leads our national roundup tonight. This one is burning in the eastern part of Arizona, about 100 miles northeast of Phoenix. More than 60,000 acres have been consumed so far, thousands of people forced to flee their homes, thousands more waiting tonight for the word to leave.

A government panel today recommended against a nationwide campaign to vaccinate against smallpox. Their report cited potentially life-threatening side effects and called instead for a program to vaccinate doctors and emergency workers who would be the first on the scene of an outbreak.

And at Bush Stadium in St. Louis today, fans said goodbye to the great Cardinal baseball and sports announcer Jack Buck. They streamed by his casket, many of them in Cardinal red. They turned the stadium into a shrine, complete with cards and caps and photos of Mr. Buck. Of Jack Buck's voice and timing. Cardinal hall-of-famer (UNINTELLIGIBLE) said: "If he was a ballplayer, he would have been a 400 hitter." I think he'd have done even better than that.

Still to come on NEWSNIGHT, does Martha Stewart have a recipe for getting out of hot water? Man, the word plays never stops.

And up next, how the Germans are preparing for the big World Cup match with the United States tomorrow. It's their sports when NEWSNIGHT continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Last night right here on this little program, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger was at his diplomatic best when we asked whether the United States had a chance against Germany tomorrow in the World Cup quarter-finals.

What the Americans do have against the Germans, Mr. Kissinger said, is inspiration.

We submit they have something else. If they lose tomorrow, they come home and we're still really happy with them, because they did great. If the Germans lose tomorrow, they might want to move to France. It's pretty serious stuff. So tonight, a preview as the Germans are seeing it, their predictions ahead of the game, their amazement that the United States is just getting around to an interest in the world's most popular sport.

Their sports tonight, from CNN's sister broadcaster in Germany, NTV.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, "THE EVENING WITH NTV")

UNIDENTIFIED NTV ANCHOR (through translator): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the quarterfinals, your guess.

ARNDT KLINGENBURG, NTV CORRESPONDENT (through translator): Two- zero, Germany.

UNIDENTIFIED ANCHOR: Well, we hope so.

KLINGENBURG: Well, we have to.

(voice-over): For many people, the World Cup really starts with the quarter-finals. The German team, however, is glad to have made it this far at all, because many experts and a few self-proclaimed ones didn't believe they would. Tomorrow they face the U.S.

The quarterfinals are an anniversary of sorts for him. Captain Oliver Kahn is working on his 50th international game, this one against the USA. With this 2001 world-class goalie, the German team only lost eight international games, and a ninth loss against the U.S. lineup should not add itself to those.

Head coach Rudi Voeller is going into the quarterfinals with full resources. Christoph Metzelder (ph), who had to sit out with an ankle injury, and Michael Balach (ph) are available for the USA game. Balach may not be at 100 percent, but he is indispensable on the team, according to Fuller.

Before the game, Pele will help out with some moral support. The Brazilian soccer legend believes the Germans to be finalists.

(on camera): The USA has nothing to lose against Germany. They've reached the quarterfinals, met all expectations, and are the underdogs.

(voice-over): For the first time in the history of the World Cup, Germany and the USA come head to head. The biggest difference between the two teams must be height, according to U.S. coach Bruce Arena.

Depending upon their starters, they have nine or 10 players who are larger than six feet. The average height is probably about six- two. That's very large for soccer. And besides that, they also have a comparable weight advantage. That means the long goal passes, corner balls, et cetera, are the Germans' strengths.

Do we have a problem with that? Yes. U.S. forward Clint Mathis wants to make a particularly good impression, since he's dreaming of a career at Bayern Munchen.

(on camera): You can see the highlights of the match, Germany versus USA, on Friday, starting at 7:00 p.m. More info on our Web site.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: It's incredible, isn't it, that they have a guy on NTV who looks exactly like me.

Here we go. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) little moment, folks. Before the U.S.-Germany match, England and Brazil face off. And we're pretty sure none of these people will be down at the pub watching with pints of lager in their hand. This is race day at Royal Ascot in England. Someone threw a fashion show, and a horse race broke out. That's an old hockey joke, isn't it?

Royal Rebel, in case you are a sports fan and not a fashion buff, won going away.

Nice hat.

And yes, he wears those glasses everywhere.

It was another Bono moment. U2's Bono met today with the French President Chirac. He urged the president to be a champion for Africa when he meets with world leaders next week. They'll be talking about a new development plan for African continent.

How did that happen?

Ahead on NEWSNIGHT, taking stock of a marketing powerhouse's troubles. This has got to be the Martha Stewart story, when NEWSNIGHT continues from New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Tough questions these days for Martha Stewart. And if you've been following this at all, you know they have nothing to do with a deliciously light and airy lemon mousse she whipped up on her program yesterday.

No, this has to do with money and stock and a cancer drug that isn't. It's about a close friend, perhaps too close, and it's about a possible crime. So Congress is investigating, including Louisiana's own Billy Tauzin, who, oddly enough, appeared in a repeat of "Martha Stewart Living" this morning, this very morning, sharing his favorite Cajun recipes.

This is a story where the scandal is all tangled up in the mythology of Martha, something she's cultivated with remarkable success over the years. We'll talk with one of her biographers in a moment.

But first, a little background on the controversy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MARTHA STEWART, MARTHA STEWART LIVING OMNIMEDIA: The media focus surrounding ImClone has generated an enormous amount of misinformation and confusion.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BROWN (voice-over): If she'd been talking about gift wrap or a pot roast, it would all make sense, but she wasn't. Martha Stewart, in a Webcast yesterday, was explaining a stock transaction that both members of Congress and the SEC are quite interested in.

Did the woman famous for giving all the rest of us decorating tips get a tip herself, of an entirely different sort?

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STEWART: Many have speculated about what might have happened.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BROWN: Here are the facts. It is a fact that Martha Stewart sold about 4,000 shares of a biotech company called ImClone before those shares plummeted in value. At issue is when exactly she sold them.

And the date matters, because Sam Waksal, the CEO of ImClone, has already been arrested and is awaiting trial on insider trading charges. Waksal and members of his family sold their shares on the 27th of December, one day before an announcement Waksal allegedly knew was coming, an announcement that the FDA would not consider for approval a cancer drug ImClone was developing.

It also happens that Waksal is a good friend of Martha Stewart's, and they use the same broker. So when were Martha Stewart's shares sold?

At first, Miss Stewart said the deal was done in mid-November by prearrangement, that there was a standing sell order should the shares go below a certain price. And the stock did dip, but then rose, and her broker has said he thinks the sale went through sometime in December, but precisely when in December?

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STEWART: Earlier this year, I spoke with the SEC and...

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BROWN: A House subcommittee now has Miss Stewart's cell phone records provided by her lawyer for the period from December 22 to January 6. She says she's cooperating fully with that subcommittee, with the U.S. attorney's office, and the SEC, and she says, moreover, as she has all along, that the sale was entirely proper and lawful and that she did nothing wrong.

But the stock of her company is also suffering, and so all in all -- and you'd never expect to use this phrase in a sentence containing the name Martha Stewart, it is a bit of a mess.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEWART: These keep my fingers clean and my manicure safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, we guess it's no surprise that someone who considers ribbon storage racks a life necessity would be a bit of a handful for a biographer. And Martha Stewart was certainly a handful for author Christopher Byron. He began writing Martha's business biography with her cooperation, and then apparently started to people she didn't want him talking to.

The result is the unauthorized biography, "Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Omnimedia."

Christopher Byron joins us now. That's a mouthful of a title, but it's nice to see you.

CHRISTOPHER BYRON, AUTHOR, "MARTHA INC.": Thank you for having me on the show.

BROWN: Well, let's see how cynical we can get in the first question. Did you find it an odd coincidence that the congressman -- the rerun of the congressman was aired today with this problem before?

BYRON: Sure, sure. This is sort of an intergalactic coincidence. She had over 1,000 episodes to choose from to run today, and she chose the one that happened to be with the congressman who is the co-head of the committee that's investigating her.

You know, what you say at a minimum is, this is really bad choice, and maybe she's just got a tin ear for this kind of thing.

BROWN: Or maybe she had nothing to do with the decision. I'm not sure -- I mean, we'll get onto this...

BYRON: Yes, it's possible.

BROWN: But I'm not precisely sure why this -- why Martha Stewart's sale of 4,000 shares of stock, which, given her enormous wealth, it's not -- I mean, it's a lot of money to all the rest of us, but it's not a ton of dough to her -- why Congress cares about this anyway.

BYRON: Why it should make such a difference.

BROWN: Yes.

BYRON: Look, maybe she's just gotten caught in the crosshairs of a bad moment in American history. She's a very easy target of opportunity. She's in a business -- she's in the CEO business, and this is, like, the worst business in the world to be in this year. We're all looking for a dog to kick, and she's an easy target of opportunity.

BROWN: And there is -- and I'm never sure what this is with people -- but there is something about her that elicits a visceral reaction. People either feel really strongly they like her a lot, or she -- they -- she just drives you nuts.

BYRON: Oh, you can polarize any cocktail party, just say, Let's go for five on Martha, and you'll divide the room. Half the people love her, half the people hate her. She represents a really important unresolved debate in American domestic life, what is the proper role for the American woman, the American housewife?

And millions of women adore her, millions more say she marginalizes the role of the woman in the American home. So she's a real polarizing influence in many respects. But she's always, always in the spotlight, and she's turned 4,000 shares of ImClone stock into a national soap opera drama.

BROWN: Yes, and she's been great fodder for the tabloids here in New York, who can always spot one when they see one.

She is this company. I mean, absent...

BYRON: Yes.

BROWN: ... it -- I mean, there are a lot of companies named after people. But in a different way, she seems to be her company.

BYRON: She had -- look, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, that title, sells dishwear and towels and lawn furniture and all that kind of stuff. But ultimately what she's selling is her brand identification with it. She's selling the image and all the moral qualities that are infused in the name Martha Stewart. That's what's for sale.

This is the only company I know of in the country where there's -- the company is selling the moral qualities and image of the CEO. And that's why this -- the stock has taken such a big hit, because who would have thunk, I mean, two weeks ago, that the head of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Martha Stewart, would be in the headlines on an insider trading scandal? Nobody.

BROWN: This -- the -- the shoe guy...

BYRON: Oh, Steve Madden.

BROWN: And did his -- he -- he had legal problems...

BYRON: Yes, he's in prison right now. BROWN: That would be considered a legal problem where I sit. And did his company take a hit...

BYRON: No.

BROWN: ... in the same way?

BYRON: No, and the reason is that the Steve Madden shoe company sells shoes, and there's no sort of moral dimension to buying a pair of Steve Madden shoes. Nobody's selling the image and personality, lifestyle qualities of Steve Madden in the Steve Madden Company. He just happens to have his name on the door. Like the Ford Motor Company.

BROWN: This is one of those, I suppose, questions where opinions are a dime a dozen, but what the heck, I've got a dime. How big a hit do you think she's taking?

BYRON: In what?

BROWN: Right now...

BYRON: You mean, like, emotionally?

BROWN: And I don't mean in the stock -- no, no, because who knows?

BYRON: Exactly, I have no idea.

BROWN: I have no idea. No, I mean to her image. How lasting a hit is this sort of thing?

BYRON: Well, I can tell you that the stock fell a lot, cost her personally $150 million since this thing began, to save what looks to me to be somewhere around $50,000 if she did what is being inferred.

So, you know, bad phone call, very expensive one. But...

BROWN: She's lost $150 million on paper?

BYRON: Well, the stock came back yesterday.

BROWN: Yes.

BYRON: So now she's only down -- she's in the hole maybe $50 million.

BROWN: Oh, so I don't feel so bad.

BYRON: Well, good. But look, the bottom line is, nobody knows how bad a hit she's taken.

BROWN: Yes.

BYRON: And it -- the real question is, does this last? Will this roll off her back? And right now, I mean, I should say that the entire issue sort of revolves around her broker, who has exited himself from the country, and he's now in London, and he's supposedly going to come back next week and tell congressional investigators what they want to hear.

BROWN: I just think -- it's nice to meet you. I think it's fascinating that in some respects I think you're exactly right, that she has become, in an odd way, the embodiment of this season of the CEO...

BYRON: Yes.

BROWN: ... and greed and all of that, whether she did anything wrong or not...

BYRON: Sure.

BROWN: ... and I have no idea whether she did. It's nice to meet you.

BYRON: Well, thank you very much. Same here.

BROWN: Good luck to you. Thank you.

Our wrap-up story tonight is a terrific little piece of business, subway musicians get their big night in a famous concert hall. Do not go to bed yet, please. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Finally from us tonight, the hottest underground musicians in New York. No, this isn't about a downtown avant-garde type. These musicians are literally underground, they perform in a subterranean concert hall better known to the rest of us as the New York City subways.

As one aspiring opera singer put it, "If you can concentrate here, you can concentrate anywhere."

Tonight, some of them took the escalator up to play at a fancier place with far better acoustics. There are live pictures from Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center on the upper West Side, a benefit for a volunteer group, New York Cares, organized by concert promoter Peter Gross after the terrorist attacks of September 11.

Some of the performances in a moment, live. But first, we'll show you what they do for a living, entertaining commuters deep in the heart of the Big Apple.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

PETER GROSS, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, EAGLE ROCK INTERNATIONAL: Well, I think music adds a lot to the experience, not only of the subways but of being a New Yorker or being a visitor to New York. LORENZO LAROC, ELECTRIC VIOLINIST: You know, there's thousands and thousands of people who take the subway. I never see the same crowd twice. So if there's millions of people here in New York, eventually I'll get to each and every one of them.

For creative expression, it's a wonderful venue to expose yourself to -- expose your music as a composer.

GROSS: I've been a commuter for a number of years using the subways of New York. And for a long time, I thought it would be really a fitting tribute to these musicians and a fitting expression of the city to put them on a major stage such as Avery Fisher Hall.

SEAN GRISSOM, CAJUN CELLO: Bach to me now is instead of -- Got to add some gumbo power to it and some chili peppers to it, and you get this. You got Cajun Bach now.

I don't think there is such a thing as being too good to play in the subway. I feel if I'm ever too proud or think I'm too good to play down here, I'll quit. I will walk away.

CAMILA BENSON, BRAZILIAN ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND VOCALS: Music is life, and music are healing people, you know. Music of the New York, and music for the poor, for the rich, for the health, for the sick, you know, for the land of the free, you know. This is New York, and I am the free one to play. So that's why in New York, you can play anywhere. New York, I think, without the musician on the subway is not the same you know.

GROSS: When September 11 happened, I became more convinced than ever that the response to violence and terrorism, the most effective response, probably does involve humanity reaching out, being part of this world. And our goal with the concert is to create a sense of community again in the city.

(MUSIC)

ARLETHIA, GOSPEL VOCALIST: I believe more than ever, this is the time to hear inspirational music, because many people today feel -- they don't feel so much security as they used to.

(MUSIC)

GROSS: The kind of music we have in the subways, it reflects the rhythms and beats of the city, and it reflects the languages we hear in the city. And music, I think, has the capacity in the way that almost no other medium does to touch our humanity.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And these are live pictures from Lincoln Center tonight. We can listen a bit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... fantastic gentleman organizing all sorts of musicians (ph) every single week and gives our schedules and...

BROWN: It's one of the rules of television, you go to something live, they're not singing.

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICIAN: ... how wonderful it is to be a subway performer. It humbles me...

BROWN: This is tape, just a few bits -- minutes ago.

Certainly got a range of music on the program this week, Lang Lang the other night, and subway musicians tonight.

Have a great night. We'll see you again tomorrow. Good night from all of us at NEWSNIGHT.

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