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Significant Development in Case of Zacharias Moussaoui
Aired October 02, 2003 - 13:28 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A significant development to tell you about in the case of Zacharias Moussaoui. He is the only person who faces criminal charges in connection with the 9/11 attacks.
For more on this, we turn now to our Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena in Washington -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, if you remember, the government and the lawyers who are representing Moussaoui asked the district court judge overseeing the case to drop the charges against Moussaoui. The government's argument was that it wanted to get this case to the appeals court as quickly as possible. Well, the judge did not grant that request.
Instead, what the judge has ordered is that the government may not seek the death penalty against Moussaoui. She also ordered that the government may not present any evidence at trial that Moussaoui was involved in or had any knowledge of the planning or pulling off the attacks on September 11.
To take you back a little bit, Moussaoui had asked for access to three high-level Al Qaeda detainees, who are in U.S. custody, being interrogated overseas. The United States argued vehemently against that, saying interrupting those interrogations would jeopardize national security, and they said the judge has no business telling the president how to conduct a war and those interrogations are part of his ability to conduct a war.
Well, the judge disagreed, said that the government had to present those detainees, because, in her opinion, they had information that could possibly help clear Moussaoui of any involvement in the September 11 attacks. The government refused to do it. They had to be punished or sanctioned, so this is the sanction that the judge came up with. Again, no death penalty charge, and no information presented in that courtroom that Moussaoui had knowledge of the planning or the execution of the September 11 attacks. We fully expect that the government will take this to the appeals court.
The ruling, the judge also has held this ruling, she stayed this in order until the government can get its act together, get it to an appeals court and have the appellate court rule on the issue.
Back to you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. And is there any discussion when you talk to your sources of allowing Moussaoui -- or his attorneys -- to engage in any of these interviews with these people who are being held, or is that just off the table?
ARENA: That is completely off the table. The government had suggested that they might ask these detainees questions and then have Moussaoui watch that through a video hookup. But then the judge said no, that that wasn't adequate, that he needed -- that the lawyers, Moussaoui, needed to get information that they wanted, that it couldn't be edited or, you know, what the government wanted them to say at all. The government says no, we're not interrupting those interrogations. This is a matter of national security. They could -- they argue they could be at a point of getting crucial information about a possible other attack here in the United States, or the whereabouts of other al Qaeda operatives, that they feel that interrupting that interrogation at anytime would be a grave mistake.
O'BRIEN: All right, tough decisions there. Thank you very much, Kelli Arena in Washington.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 2, 2003 - 13:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A significant development to tell you about in the case of Zacharias Moussaoui. He is the only person who faces criminal charges in connection with the 9/11 attacks.
For more on this, we turn now to our Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena in Washington -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, if you remember, the government and the lawyers who are representing Moussaoui asked the district court judge overseeing the case to drop the charges against Moussaoui. The government's argument was that it wanted to get this case to the appeals court as quickly as possible. Well, the judge did not grant that request.
Instead, what the judge has ordered is that the government may not seek the death penalty against Moussaoui. She also ordered that the government may not present any evidence at trial that Moussaoui was involved in or had any knowledge of the planning or pulling off the attacks on September 11.
To take you back a little bit, Moussaoui had asked for access to three high-level Al Qaeda detainees, who are in U.S. custody, being interrogated overseas. The United States argued vehemently against that, saying interrupting those interrogations would jeopardize national security, and they said the judge has no business telling the president how to conduct a war and those interrogations are part of his ability to conduct a war.
Well, the judge disagreed, said that the government had to present those detainees, because, in her opinion, they had information that could possibly help clear Moussaoui of any involvement in the September 11 attacks. The government refused to do it. They had to be punished or sanctioned, so this is the sanction that the judge came up with. Again, no death penalty charge, and no information presented in that courtroom that Moussaoui had knowledge of the planning or the execution of the September 11 attacks. We fully expect that the government will take this to the appeals court.
The ruling, the judge also has held this ruling, she stayed this in order until the government can get its act together, get it to an appeals court and have the appellate court rule on the issue.
Back to you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. And is there any discussion when you talk to your sources of allowing Moussaoui -- or his attorneys -- to engage in any of these interviews with these people who are being held, or is that just off the table?
ARENA: That is completely off the table. The government had suggested that they might ask these detainees questions and then have Moussaoui watch that through a video hookup. But then the judge said no, that that wasn't adequate, that he needed -- that the lawyers, Moussaoui, needed to get information that they wanted, that it couldn't be edited or, you know, what the government wanted them to say at all. The government says no, we're not interrupting those interrogations. This is a matter of national security. They could -- they argue they could be at a point of getting crucial information about a possible other attack here in the United States, or the whereabouts of other al Qaeda operatives, that they feel that interrupting that interrogation at anytime would be a grave mistake.
O'BRIEN: All right, tough decisions there. Thank you very much, Kelli Arena in Washington.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
