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Perjury Charged in Martha Case
Aired May 21, 2004 - 14:26 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.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: The beheading investigation. Two men in custody, two let go. More details in the killing of American Nick Berg.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of fingerprints on file. A high profile terror case raises the question, how effective are they really at pointing the finger with the right suspect?
GRIFFIN: A bitter pill to swallow, some surprising discoveries about what's really in your multivitamins.
O'BRIEN: And conquering Everest. A speedy and determined climber proves it's all in one day's work, because it's there.
From CNN's Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien, Kyra Phillips off today.
GRIFFIN: And I'm Drew Griffin. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.
O'BRIEN: We begin this hour with a glimpse into the search of the killers of Nicholas Berg. U.S. officials in Baghdad confirming four have been picked up and questioned in the young Pennsylvania man's cold-blooded and very public decapitation earlier this month. Two suspects have since been released.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: We have two persons still in custody in detention. We're questioning them. We may find out that they have no association with the murder, but we will continue to question them for some period of time until we're convinced they're innocent. Who they are, where they come from, all I was informed of is that we had four suspects. I don't know their prior affiliations or their prior organizations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: You may recall the hooded speaker in that infamous video invoked the name of the known terror instigator Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. The CIA concluded al-Zarqawi probably is in fact responsible.
More gruesome video and photographs have found that their way from Abu Ghraib Prison apparently to the "The Washington Post," photos such as this one of an Iraqi prisoner seemingly being threatened with an attack dog, accompanied by firsthand accounts by some alleged victims.
The Pentagon says it is scrutinizing these and hundreds of other images for purposes of identifying and possibly prosecutes more abusive GIs. What we want to know, is there a reason to make all those pictures and videos public? And if so, how and when? We'll debate those questions at the bottom of this hour right here on LIVE FROM...
(INTERRUPTED FOR COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
O'BRIEN: Drew.
GRIFFIN: Miles, we go back to Iraq, hundreds more Abu Ghraib inmates got their freedom back today, 472, to be exact, let go in accordance with coalition plans to trim the prison's population by almost half in the next few weeks.
The war itself is focused largely in and around the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. Dozens of Mehdi militia members are dead, we're hearing, after multiple attacks on U.S. forces who had been laying back in favor of politics and diplomacy. For his part, renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is urging his supporters to keep fighting.
The war is officially over for the Spanish troops who had played a substantial role in the U.S.-led coalition. Madrid says the last of its Iraq contingent is now home and so ordered by Spain's newly elected prime minister.
Iraq's Governing Council is condemning yesterday's raid on the offices and home of Ahmed Chalabi's. Iraqi police forces, accompanied by U.S. troops, searched his compound in Baghdad yesterday. And on Capitol Hill today, one lawmaker wants to know why Chalabi, once the darling of the Pentagon, apparently now has fallen out of favor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM COOPER (D), TENNESSEE: If this man was on the U.S. payroll until last week, what has changed in the last few days to make him the subject of a raid of this type?
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHMN., JOINT CHIEFS: That I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that the organization that he is associated with has provided intelligence to our intelligence unit there in Baghdad that has saved soldiers' lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress has received millions of dollars from the U.S. government.
President Bush's approval rating has taken a hit from a string of negative news out of Iraq. Mr. Bush will try to reassure Americans about the mission in Iraq in a prime time speech, it will happen Monday. The White House says it will be the first in a series of speeches on Iraq. O'BRIEN: Two weeks of terrifying uncertainty, and then suddenly an Oregon man held in connection with the Madrid train bombings is set free. CNN's Kelli Arena reports on what appears to be a case of bad fingerprints.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brandon Mayfield, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert who has been sitting in a Portland detention center for two weeks is a free man. Just after being released, he joined his lawyers for a brief press conference.
BRANDON MAYFIELD, RELEASED FROM CUSTODY: I just want to say thank God, everybody who was praying for me.
ARENA: Grand jury rules of secrecy stopping Mayfield and his lawyers from saying more at this time, but Mayfield's brother promises the family will not go away silently.
KENT MAYFIELD, BRANDON MAYFIELD'S BROTHER: I think there is going to be a major review about why they detained him. This is obviously proves that this was a complete witch-hunt, and we are going to follow up as much as I can.
ARENA: U.S. law enforcement officials say Mayfield was taken into custody as a material witness in connection to the March train bombing in Madrid. Those officials say the FBI matched his fingerprint to a print found near the scene on a bag containing explosive materials similar to those used in the attack. They say agents were conducting surveillance on a Mayfield, but a decision was made to detain him when the media got a hold of the story and the FBI feared its cover was blown.
STEVE WAX, MAYFIELD'S ATTORNEY: He was maintained at the outset that he's had no involvement in the horrible bombing that occurred in Spain in March, and he's maintained from the outset that he has no knowledge about that.
ARENA: Spanish officials disputed the FBI's findings, telling CNN they did not believe the FBI had a print match. Spanish now tells CNN they matched the print found near the scene of the bombing to another man, an Algerian named Onani Doud (ph).
(on camera): The Justice Department, FBI, and prosecutors in Portland all had no comment, at least not yet.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So how can you make a mistake in fingerprints? Everyone comes with a unique set or so they say. CNN's Mike Brooks has many years in law enforcement, knows a lot about the science, it is a science, of fingerprints and how to match them up. He joins us for some expert advice and insight on all of this.
Mike, good to have you with us.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be with you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, first of all, before we get too deep into this, mistakes rarely happen when it comes to fingerprints, right?.
BROOKS: Rarely happen. My sources and CNN sources, Kelli Arena has also spoken to some of her sources, the FBI is standing firm behind their assessment that the fingerprint on that bag found in Madrid was in fact Mayfield's. And now they say there's -- Spanish authorities say that there's an Algerian that they have that has now matched that fingerprint. The FBI is saying, bring that guy on, let us see his fingerprints, see if it makes a match, but they still say it's Mayfield's.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's, first of all, give you a little primer on this, so you can understand what this is all about. We went to the FBI site. There are three broad categories of fingerprints, loops, whorls, and arches. Let's talk about these first, Mike.
BROOKS: Right. The loops -- different kind of loops, you have a radial loop, alder (ph) loop, a central pocket loop, usually in those, the distinguishing marks in the loops are usually one core and one delta in those.
O'BRIEN: All right.
BROOKS: And then you have the whorls.
O'BRIEN: Now the delta is there.
BROOKS: Right.
O'BRIEN: And I'm pointing to that there. And there is the core.
BROOKS: There is the core, exactly.
O'BRIEN: OK. Whorls. Tell me about those.
BROOKS: Whorls, basically you have double-loop whorls, which as yours -- which we'll see in a second here, plain whorls and accidental whorls. Usually you will have two deltas that are specific in the whorls. They have arches. They have basically no delta, no cores, but they can still have distinguishing marks within the different deltas that are individual to that particular person whose fingerprint it belongs to. And they can also wear on somebody's hand, what kind of work they do, if they've worked with acid ever, lacerations. When you take someone's fingerprints, you take all of this into consideration, because you also may have amputated fingers, you might have somebody trying to surgically alter. You go back in the '20s, and you had John Dillinger and those folks, they were trying to actually sand down their fingerprints.
O'BRIEN: Really?
BROOKS: Yes. You can't do it, can't do it. O'BRIEN: That's not just in the movies, but they tried anyhow.
BROOKS: They actually did try.
O'BRIEN: All right now, a little bit earlier, we had a chance to get me fingerprinted. Let's take a look at the pictures here. It's fairly straightforward. We did it the old-fashioned way. These days much more likely the ink pad is replaced directly by some kind of optical scanner, puts it straight into a computer.
BROOKS: Right. But there are some small departments and some security departments. In fact, we used the security department here at Turner Broadcasting, borrowed their set. And because I've done a lot of prints when I was in Africa, I did 16 in one day of major case prints, which are even more extensive prints than the prints I took from you. But we did look at some of your prints.
O'BRIEN: Would you characterize me as a cooperative witness, first of all.
BROOKS: Yes, I did, I did. We didn't have to hold you down or anything like that.
O'BRIEN: All right. That's good, now tell me about this, this is my what, forefinger, right?
BROOKS: This is your middle finger of your right-hand. Now if you look at this, it's actually an alder loop, if you put it into a category. Right, and then you can look at and see your delta, you can at least one core and one delta. If you look over here on the side here, and then over there there's a core right there, and then another core, so there's at least two of them on your hand. And on this one, also, when you're taking a fingerprint, you try to get the top part and at least part of the middle, just below the knuckle.
O'BRIEN: Right in that area.
BROOKS: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Now let's move on and we'll show you two thumb prints, left and right.
BROOKS: Right. Now these are thumb prints that you take just the thumb down. Now on an identification card you do four fingers at once which the other one is from, and this is from your right and your left thumb. Now if you look at your right thumb, look at all the swirling and whorling there. That's a double loop whorl.
Again, I'm, not a fingerprint expert. I did go through the FBI fingerprint school, but I'm not an expert and the evidence -- and team leader on their evidence response team. But these are the basics. You do have a double loop whorl and you do see some deltas within there. And in two cores within the different loops, you do have different cores, and those would be identifying marks on your particular print. Now, on your left, it's kind of a combination double loop whorl and kind of attendant arch, if you will. And you do have cores and deltas all through there.
O'BRIEN: Arches. There's a delta there, right, there's a delta there.
BROOKS: Right. And core right in the middle, so these would all be different identifying marks of your particular fingerprint.
O'BRIEN: What are the chances someone has something similar to me, and when you look, you compare this to 80 million fingerprints in the database that the FBI has.
BROOKS: Right. Exactly. Approximately 41 million in the criminal database, approximately 40 million in the civil database, 7000 are added each and every day. Not one person will have the same kind of fingerprint that you have.
O'BRIEN: But will it be similar and can there be perhaps a mistake?
BROOKS: The biggest mistake that could come, Miles, would be a misclassification. I have never heard of it, fingerprint experts I've spoken to today, people at the FBI lab, sources that I have said that they have never heard of it, either.
O'BRIEN: Just to button it up, the FBI still insists they have got a match.
BROOKS: Yes, they do.
O'BRIEN: All right. We'll leave it at that. Mike Brooks, thanks a lot. That was very informative, we appreciate it.
BROOKS: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Drew.
GRIFFIN: Miles, thank you. An American Muslim becomes a target.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt a punch, it took my breath away and somebody is yelling "terrorist pig."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: She says she's the victim of a hate crime even though her son is fighting in the war on terror.
And last-minute preparations for a royal wedding where security will be very tight. We have got something borrows, something blue, all ahead on LIVE FROM...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: News around the world now. The Israeli army pulling back from parts of Gaza, but the military insists its search for militants and smuggling tunnels in Rafah not over. Forty Palestinians died, more than 100 injured in the crackdown that began on Tuesday.
In Amsterdam, just about two hours ago, a passenger train collided with a freight train at the city's central station. Emergency crews trying to free passengers trapped in damaged rail cars.
And m Madrid, a royal wedding. Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and former TV anchorwoman Letizia Ortiz will exchange vows under tight security tomorrow. The March 11 train attacks still haunt that city of course. Heads of state from all over the world will attend nonetheless, 20,000 police will be on alert.
Back with more LIVE FROM... in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Are the multivitamins you take really effective? There's a new report out today and the news there is not all that good. Medical correspondent Christy Feig joins us from Washington with more on the latest findings -- Christy.
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Drew. Yes, the group that did this study, Consumerlabs.com, is an independent lab that tests a lot of dietary supplements. In this case they took 40 multivitamins and they tested them to see if what was in them is actually what the label says is in them.
Thirteen of them failed this test, one of them, a very popular adult vitamin, Theragram M Advanced Formula, they found that it was very high in lead. Now the company that makes this vitamin said recently the amount of lead in Theragram M was reduced to be in compliance with the state California regulation with a max of 0.5 micrograms of lead per recommended daily dose. Minerals are mined from the ground and purified to produce vitamins, and lead is a naturally occurring element in two active ingredients.
Another product that failed their testing is a prenatal vitamin made by New Chapter. And it, they said that it was high in folate (ph) and that it didn't disintegrate properly in the body, meaning that it might not disintegrate properly in the body of a pregnant woman and she might not get all the nutrients that she thinks she is getting. In this case, the company says, look, our product is not made of chemicals like many vitamins are, instead it is actually made from whole food.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM MEWMARK, NEW CHAPTER VITAMINS: To look at our product and compare it to another vitamin is to compare apples to artificial sweetener. We dissolve, differently, we disintegrate differently, and maybe that their laboratories were unfamiliar with the nuances and the complexities of whole food. But you know what, expectant mothers know how to deal with whole food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEIG: Now they say that high levels of folate is not the same thing as high levels of folic acid, that you could conceivably get high levels of folate if you ate too much of foods that are high in folate, and that it's not going to hurt the body the way too much folic acid might.
Now the FDA actually oversees these types of products. They fall in the same category as dietary supplements like ginseng and St. John's Wort and the other popular things like that. They cannot pre- approve these before they get on the shelf, but they can pull them if they prove to be dangerous once they're on the shelf. Now the FDA says as soon as they get this report, they will review it -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Christy, thank you for that report -- Miles.
(INTERRUPTED FOR COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
(MARKET REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And this has just come in to CNN, dramatic development potentially in the case against Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart, as you recall, convicted some months ago, still has not been sentenced, and there is word today, there are reports that one of the people who testified against her, a Secret Service agent specifically, may be brought up on perjury charges.
Mary Snow joining us from the stock exchange with details on that -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Miles, we are just getting word from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York that two perjury counts have been filed against Larry Stewart, a Secret Service agent who testified at the trial of Martha Stewart. A news conference is getting under way at this hour. The U.S. Attorney's Office had said a short while ago that it planned to announce the filing of these charges against a government official for having committed perjury in this major prosecution.
The big question now is, what will happen in this case? Larry Stewart was called to testify about the ink used on a work sheet that had a notation "at 60." This was a worksheet that belonged to Peter Bacanovic who was Martha Stewart's former stockbroker. He too was convicted along with Stewart, and Larry Stewart had testified that different inks were used on that page.
Now Miles, this world is just coming in, in terms of an immediate reaction, I can tell you here on Wall Street, shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia right now are soaring, they're up almost 20 percent, which is more than $1 higher.
I had spoken just a short time ago with representatives from both of the legal teams for Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic. Both of the teams were unaware of these developments. So still not quite certain as to what happens to the case. As I said, this press conference is set to get under way any minute now and do we expect further developments -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Mary Snow, at the stock exchange. The stock has gone up, as I understand it, quite dramatically, is that right?
SNOW: Yes. It really has. It has spiked in the last hour. And that is certainly -- there had been some reports that these charges were going to be brought, and that it had to do with the Martha Stewart case. And really the stock just started moving right after those reports came out. So it's up about 20 percent.
O'BRIEN: All right. Mary Stewart (sic) at the New York Stock Exchange. On the line with us right now is our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeff, can you hear me OK?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I can, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, first of all, remind us of the significance of this particular piece of testimony. It was important, wasn't it?
TOOBIN: It was important testimony. Remember, the defense of both defendants was that the reason Martha Stewart sold her stock in the ImClone company was that they had a preexisting agreement to sell the stock when it hit $60 a share. The documents seemed to back up that story, because the document had "at 60" written by ImClone.
The government called Mr. Stewart as a witness to say that the ink on the words "at 60" was different from the ink of the other markings on that piece of paper, suggesting that it had been put on later as a kind of attempt to bolster their false story. That was the significance of Stewart's testimony. O'BRIEN: All right. And just to help our viewers here, Secret Service agents, in addition to protecting the president and others in the government, are experts in counterfeiting issues and issues along these lines. So that would be the reason he would be testifying along these lines.
TOOBIN: Correct. And he was actually a figure of some amusement at the trial, because he testified that he was essentially the greatest ink expert in the world, and Robert Morvillo, Martha Stewart's lawyer, sort of mocked him later, calling him the greatest expert in the universe. But he was in fact an important -- not the critical witness, but an important witness. And Miles, just to cut to the chase here, this is an absolute bombshell development and very, very well may lead to a new trial for Martha Stewart.
O'BRIEN: OK. And so that's big news, and when you say "very well," can you give us a sense of how quickly this might occur, because her sentencing is coming up?
TOOBIN: Well, I expect that what will happen is that the sentencing will be postponed and the parties will have the opportunity to write briefs to Judge Cedarbaum explaining why this development should or should not lead to a new trial. But I would be very surprised, given this development, to see the sentencing go forward on June 17. And in fact, at least there will be legal arguments about whether a new trial should be held.
O'BRIEN: A bombshell indeed. Jeffrey Toobin, thanks for your instant analysis, appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Federal prosecutors announcing about 30 minutes ago a pair of perjury charges against a key witness in the Martha Stewart trial. It's a big bombshell, could mean a new trial for Ms. Stewart. Joining us with details on that and the rest of the business news, CNN's Mary Snow at the New York Stock Exchange.
Hello, Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Yes., another dramatic turn in the Martha Stewart case. As you mentioned, U.S. Attorney David Kelley announcing just a short time ago that two perjury charges have been brought against a government witness who testified at the trial of Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic.
That witness is Larry Stewart, no relation, works for the Secret Service. However, while U.S. Attorney David Kelley said that while these charges relate to testimony that Larry Stewart gave during his testimony while he was called to the witness stand in the trial, that the conclusions of his testimony are still valid, and that this will have, in his words, "no impact" on the convictions of both Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic. Both were convicted on obstruction of justice charges in a stock sale of ImClone.
At stake is a work sheet that belong to Bacanovic. On that work sheet was the notation "at 60." Larry Stewart is an ink expert, he examined the ink to testify that there was one pen used for the notations on that worksheet, and that a different ink was used on that "at 60" notation.
Now in terms of the immediate reaction to this, as soon as word came out that there was going to be a news conference and that perhaps was related to Martha Stewart, shares in her company started flying. Right now, they're up about 14 percent, which is a climb of more than $1. Stewart was convicted in March for lying about why she sold those 4000 shares of ImClone stock. Peter Bacanovic also convicted, and their sentencing has been scheduled for June 17.
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 May 21, 2004 - 14:26 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: The beheading investigation. Two men in custody, two let go. More details in the killing of American Nick Berg.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Millions of fingerprints on file. A high profile terror case raises the question, how effective are they really at pointing the finger with the right suspect?
GRIFFIN: A bitter pill to swallow, some surprising discoveries about what's really in your multivitamins.
O'BRIEN: And conquering Everest. A speedy and determined climber proves it's all in one day's work, because it's there.
From CNN's Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien, Kyra Phillips off today.
GRIFFIN: And I'm Drew Griffin. This hour of CNN's LIVE FROM... starts right now.
O'BRIEN: We begin this hour with a glimpse into the search of the killers of Nicholas Berg. U.S. officials in Baghdad confirming four have been picked up and questioned in the young Pennsylvania man's cold-blooded and very public decapitation earlier this month. Two suspects have since been released.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: We have two persons still in custody in detention. We're questioning them. We may find out that they have no association with the murder, but we will continue to question them for some period of time until we're convinced they're innocent. Who they are, where they come from, all I was informed of is that we had four suspects. I don't know their prior affiliations or their prior organizations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: You may recall the hooded speaker in that infamous video invoked the name of the known terror instigator Abu Musab al- Zarqawi. The CIA concluded al-Zarqawi probably is in fact responsible.
More gruesome video and photographs have found that their way from Abu Ghraib Prison apparently to the "The Washington Post," photos such as this one of an Iraqi prisoner seemingly being threatened with an attack dog, accompanied by firsthand accounts by some alleged victims.
The Pentagon says it is scrutinizing these and hundreds of other images for purposes of identifying and possibly prosecutes more abusive GIs. What we want to know, is there a reason to make all those pictures and videos public? And if so, how and when? We'll debate those questions at the bottom of this hour right here on LIVE FROM...
(INTERRUPTED FOR COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
O'BRIEN: Drew.
GRIFFIN: Miles, we go back to Iraq, hundreds more Abu Ghraib inmates got their freedom back today, 472, to be exact, let go in accordance with coalition plans to trim the prison's population by almost half in the next few weeks.
The war itself is focused largely in and around the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. Dozens of Mehdi militia members are dead, we're hearing, after multiple attacks on U.S. forces who had been laying back in favor of politics and diplomacy. For his part, renegade cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is urging his supporters to keep fighting.
The war is officially over for the Spanish troops who had played a substantial role in the U.S.-led coalition. Madrid says the last of its Iraq contingent is now home and so ordered by Spain's newly elected prime minister.
Iraq's Governing Council is condemning yesterday's raid on the offices and home of Ahmed Chalabi's. Iraqi police forces, accompanied by U.S. troops, searched his compound in Baghdad yesterday. And on Capitol Hill today, one lawmaker wants to know why Chalabi, once the darling of the Pentagon, apparently now has fallen out of favor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM COOPER (D), TENNESSEE: If this man was on the U.S. payroll until last week, what has changed in the last few days to make him the subject of a raid of this type?
GEN. RICHARD MYERS, CHMN., JOINT CHIEFS: That I can't tell you. What I can tell you is that the organization that he is associated with has provided intelligence to our intelligence unit there in Baghdad that has saved soldiers' lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress has received millions of dollars from the U.S. government.
President Bush's approval rating has taken a hit from a string of negative news out of Iraq. Mr. Bush will try to reassure Americans about the mission in Iraq in a prime time speech, it will happen Monday. The White House says it will be the first in a series of speeches on Iraq. O'BRIEN: Two weeks of terrifying uncertainty, and then suddenly an Oregon man held in connection with the Madrid train bombings is set free. CNN's Kelli Arena reports on what appears to be a case of bad fingerprints.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Brandon Mayfield, a U.S. citizen and Muslim convert who has been sitting in a Portland detention center for two weeks is a free man. Just after being released, he joined his lawyers for a brief press conference.
BRANDON MAYFIELD, RELEASED FROM CUSTODY: I just want to say thank God, everybody who was praying for me.
ARENA: Grand jury rules of secrecy stopping Mayfield and his lawyers from saying more at this time, but Mayfield's brother promises the family will not go away silently.
KENT MAYFIELD, BRANDON MAYFIELD'S BROTHER: I think there is going to be a major review about why they detained him. This is obviously proves that this was a complete witch-hunt, and we are going to follow up as much as I can.
ARENA: U.S. law enforcement officials say Mayfield was taken into custody as a material witness in connection to the March train bombing in Madrid. Those officials say the FBI matched his fingerprint to a print found near the scene on a bag containing explosive materials similar to those used in the attack. They say agents were conducting surveillance on a Mayfield, but a decision was made to detain him when the media got a hold of the story and the FBI feared its cover was blown.
STEVE WAX, MAYFIELD'S ATTORNEY: He was maintained at the outset that he's had no involvement in the horrible bombing that occurred in Spain in March, and he's maintained from the outset that he has no knowledge about that.
ARENA: Spanish officials disputed the FBI's findings, telling CNN they did not believe the FBI had a print match. Spanish now tells CNN they matched the print found near the scene of the bombing to another man, an Algerian named Onani Doud (ph).
(on camera): The Justice Department, FBI, and prosecutors in Portland all had no comment, at least not yet.
Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: So how can you make a mistake in fingerprints? Everyone comes with a unique set or so they say. CNN's Mike Brooks has many years in law enforcement, knows a lot about the science, it is a science, of fingerprints and how to match them up. He joins us for some expert advice and insight on all of this.
Mike, good to have you with us.
MIKE BROOKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good to be with you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right, first of all, before we get too deep into this, mistakes rarely happen when it comes to fingerprints, right?.
BROOKS: Rarely happen. My sources and CNN sources, Kelli Arena has also spoken to some of her sources, the FBI is standing firm behind their assessment that the fingerprint on that bag found in Madrid was in fact Mayfield's. And now they say there's -- Spanish authorities say that there's an Algerian that they have that has now matched that fingerprint. The FBI is saying, bring that guy on, let us see his fingerprints, see if it makes a match, but they still say it's Mayfield's.
O'BRIEN: All right. Let's, first of all, give you a little primer on this, so you can understand what this is all about. We went to the FBI site. There are three broad categories of fingerprints, loops, whorls, and arches. Let's talk about these first, Mike.
BROOKS: Right. The loops -- different kind of loops, you have a radial loop, alder (ph) loop, a central pocket loop, usually in those, the distinguishing marks in the loops are usually one core and one delta in those.
O'BRIEN: All right.
BROOKS: And then you have the whorls.
O'BRIEN: Now the delta is there.
BROOKS: Right.
O'BRIEN: And I'm pointing to that there. And there is the core.
BROOKS: There is the core, exactly.
O'BRIEN: OK. Whorls. Tell me about those.
BROOKS: Whorls, basically you have double-loop whorls, which as yours -- which we'll see in a second here, plain whorls and accidental whorls. Usually you will have two deltas that are specific in the whorls. They have arches. They have basically no delta, no cores, but they can still have distinguishing marks within the different deltas that are individual to that particular person whose fingerprint it belongs to. And they can also wear on somebody's hand, what kind of work they do, if they've worked with acid ever, lacerations. When you take someone's fingerprints, you take all of this into consideration, because you also may have amputated fingers, you might have somebody trying to surgically alter. You go back in the '20s, and you had John Dillinger and those folks, they were trying to actually sand down their fingerprints.
O'BRIEN: Really?
BROOKS: Yes. You can't do it, can't do it. O'BRIEN: That's not just in the movies, but they tried anyhow.
BROOKS: They actually did try.
O'BRIEN: All right now, a little bit earlier, we had a chance to get me fingerprinted. Let's take a look at the pictures here. It's fairly straightforward. We did it the old-fashioned way. These days much more likely the ink pad is replaced directly by some kind of optical scanner, puts it straight into a computer.
BROOKS: Right. But there are some small departments and some security departments. In fact, we used the security department here at Turner Broadcasting, borrowed their set. And because I've done a lot of prints when I was in Africa, I did 16 in one day of major case prints, which are even more extensive prints than the prints I took from you. But we did look at some of your prints.
O'BRIEN: Would you characterize me as a cooperative witness, first of all.
BROOKS: Yes, I did, I did. We didn't have to hold you down or anything like that.
O'BRIEN: All right. That's good, now tell me about this, this is my what, forefinger, right?
BROOKS: This is your middle finger of your right-hand. Now if you look at this, it's actually an alder loop, if you put it into a category. Right, and then you can look at and see your delta, you can at least one core and one delta. If you look over here on the side here, and then over there there's a core right there, and then another core, so there's at least two of them on your hand. And on this one, also, when you're taking a fingerprint, you try to get the top part and at least part of the middle, just below the knuckle.
O'BRIEN: Right in that area.
BROOKS: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Now let's move on and we'll show you two thumb prints, left and right.
BROOKS: Right. Now these are thumb prints that you take just the thumb down. Now on an identification card you do four fingers at once which the other one is from, and this is from your right and your left thumb. Now if you look at your right thumb, look at all the swirling and whorling there. That's a double loop whorl.
Again, I'm, not a fingerprint expert. I did go through the FBI fingerprint school, but I'm not an expert and the evidence -- and team leader on their evidence response team. But these are the basics. You do have a double loop whorl and you do see some deltas within there. And in two cores within the different loops, you do have different cores, and those would be identifying marks on your particular print. Now, on your left, it's kind of a combination double loop whorl and kind of attendant arch, if you will. And you do have cores and deltas all through there.
O'BRIEN: Arches. There's a delta there, right, there's a delta there.
BROOKS: Right. And core right in the middle, so these would all be different identifying marks of your particular fingerprint.
O'BRIEN: What are the chances someone has something similar to me, and when you look, you compare this to 80 million fingerprints in the database that the FBI has.
BROOKS: Right. Exactly. Approximately 41 million in the criminal database, approximately 40 million in the civil database, 7000 are added each and every day. Not one person will have the same kind of fingerprint that you have.
O'BRIEN: But will it be similar and can there be perhaps a mistake?
BROOKS: The biggest mistake that could come, Miles, would be a misclassification. I have never heard of it, fingerprint experts I've spoken to today, people at the FBI lab, sources that I have said that they have never heard of it, either.
O'BRIEN: Just to button it up, the FBI still insists they have got a match.
BROOKS: Yes, they do.
O'BRIEN: All right. We'll leave it at that. Mike Brooks, thanks a lot. That was very informative, we appreciate it.
BROOKS: Thank you.
O'BRIEN: Drew.
GRIFFIN: Miles, thank you. An American Muslim becomes a target.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt a punch, it took my breath away and somebody is yelling "terrorist pig."
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GRIFFIN: She says she's the victim of a hate crime even though her son is fighting in the war on terror.
And last-minute preparations for a royal wedding where security will be very tight. We have got something borrows, something blue, all ahead on LIVE FROM...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) O'BRIEN: News around the world now. The Israeli army pulling back from parts of Gaza, but the military insists its search for militants and smuggling tunnels in Rafah not over. Forty Palestinians died, more than 100 injured in the crackdown that began on Tuesday.
In Amsterdam, just about two hours ago, a passenger train collided with a freight train at the city's central station. Emergency crews trying to free passengers trapped in damaged rail cars.
And m Madrid, a royal wedding. Spain's Crown Prince Felipe and former TV anchorwoman Letizia Ortiz will exchange vows under tight security tomorrow. The March 11 train attacks still haunt that city of course. Heads of state from all over the world will attend nonetheless, 20,000 police will be on alert.
Back with more LIVE FROM... in a moment.
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GRIFFIN: Are the multivitamins you take really effective? There's a new report out today and the news there is not all that good. Medical correspondent Christy Feig joins us from Washington with more on the latest findings -- Christy.
CHRISTY FEIG, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Drew. Yes, the group that did this study, Consumerlabs.com, is an independent lab that tests a lot of dietary supplements. In this case they took 40 multivitamins and they tested them to see if what was in them is actually what the label says is in them.
Thirteen of them failed this test, one of them, a very popular adult vitamin, Theragram M Advanced Formula, they found that it was very high in lead. Now the company that makes this vitamin said recently the amount of lead in Theragram M was reduced to be in compliance with the state California regulation with a max of 0.5 micrograms of lead per recommended daily dose. Minerals are mined from the ground and purified to produce vitamins, and lead is a naturally occurring element in two active ingredients.
Another product that failed their testing is a prenatal vitamin made by New Chapter. And it, they said that it was high in folate (ph) and that it didn't disintegrate properly in the body, meaning that it might not disintegrate properly in the body of a pregnant woman and she might not get all the nutrients that she thinks she is getting. In this case, the company says, look, our product is not made of chemicals like many vitamins are, instead it is actually made from whole food.
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TOM MEWMARK, NEW CHAPTER VITAMINS: To look at our product and compare it to another vitamin is to compare apples to artificial sweetener. We dissolve, differently, we disintegrate differently, and maybe that their laboratories were unfamiliar with the nuances and the complexities of whole food. But you know what, expectant mothers know how to deal with whole food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FEIG: Now they say that high levels of folate is not the same thing as high levels of folic acid, that you could conceivably get high levels of folate if you ate too much of foods that are high in folate, and that it's not going to hurt the body the way too much folic acid might.
Now the FDA actually oversees these types of products. They fall in the same category as dietary supplements like ginseng and St. John's Wort and the other popular things like that. They cannot pre- approve these before they get on the shelf, but they can pull them if they prove to be dangerous once they're on the shelf. Now the FDA says as soon as they get this report, they will review it -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Christy, thank you for that report -- Miles.
(INTERRUPTED FOR COVERAGE OF BREAKING NEWS)
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And this has just come in to CNN, dramatic development potentially in the case against Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart, as you recall, convicted some months ago, still has not been sentenced, and there is word today, there are reports that one of the people who testified against her, a Secret Service agent specifically, may be brought up on perjury charges.
Mary Snow joining us from the stock exchange with details on that -- Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Miles, we are just getting word from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York that two perjury counts have been filed against Larry Stewart, a Secret Service agent who testified at the trial of Martha Stewart. A news conference is getting under way at this hour. The U.S. Attorney's Office had said a short while ago that it planned to announce the filing of these charges against a government official for having committed perjury in this major prosecution.
The big question now is, what will happen in this case? Larry Stewart was called to testify about the ink used on a work sheet that had a notation "at 60." This was a worksheet that belonged to Peter Bacanovic who was Martha Stewart's former stockbroker. He too was convicted along with Stewart, and Larry Stewart had testified that different inks were used on that page.
Now Miles, this world is just coming in, in terms of an immediate reaction, I can tell you here on Wall Street, shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia right now are soaring, they're up almost 20 percent, which is more than $1 higher.
I had spoken just a short time ago with representatives from both of the legal teams for Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic. Both of the teams were unaware of these developments. So still not quite certain as to what happens to the case. As I said, this press conference is set to get under way any minute now and do we expect further developments -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: CNN's Mary Snow, at the stock exchange. The stock has gone up, as I understand it, quite dramatically, is that right?
SNOW: Yes. It really has. It has spiked in the last hour. And that is certainly -- there had been some reports that these charges were going to be brought, and that it had to do with the Martha Stewart case. And really the stock just started moving right after those reports came out. So it's up about 20 percent.
O'BRIEN: All right. Mary Stewart (sic) at the New York Stock Exchange. On the line with us right now is our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin.
Jeff, can you hear me OK?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I can, Miles.
O'BRIEN: All right. Well, first of all, remind us of the significance of this particular piece of testimony. It was important, wasn't it?
TOOBIN: It was important testimony. Remember, the defense of both defendants was that the reason Martha Stewart sold her stock in the ImClone company was that they had a preexisting agreement to sell the stock when it hit $60 a share. The documents seemed to back up that story, because the document had "at 60" written by ImClone.
The government called Mr. Stewart as a witness to say that the ink on the words "at 60" was different from the ink of the other markings on that piece of paper, suggesting that it had been put on later as a kind of attempt to bolster their false story. That was the significance of Stewart's testimony. O'BRIEN: All right. And just to help our viewers here, Secret Service agents, in addition to protecting the president and others in the government, are experts in counterfeiting issues and issues along these lines. So that would be the reason he would be testifying along these lines.
TOOBIN: Correct. And he was actually a figure of some amusement at the trial, because he testified that he was essentially the greatest ink expert in the world, and Robert Morvillo, Martha Stewart's lawyer, sort of mocked him later, calling him the greatest expert in the universe. But he was in fact an important -- not the critical witness, but an important witness. And Miles, just to cut to the chase here, this is an absolute bombshell development and very, very well may lead to a new trial for Martha Stewart.
O'BRIEN: OK. And so that's big news, and when you say "very well," can you give us a sense of how quickly this might occur, because her sentencing is coming up?
TOOBIN: Well, I expect that what will happen is that the sentencing will be postponed and the parties will have the opportunity to write briefs to Judge Cedarbaum explaining why this development should or should not lead to a new trial. But I would be very surprised, given this development, to see the sentencing go forward on June 17. And in fact, at least there will be legal arguments about whether a new trial should be held.
O'BRIEN: A bombshell indeed. Jeffrey Toobin, thanks for your instant analysis, appreciate it.
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MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Federal prosecutors announcing about 30 minutes ago a pair of perjury charges against a key witness in the Martha Stewart trial. It's a big bombshell, could mean a new trial for Ms. Stewart. Joining us with details on that and the rest of the business news, CNN's Mary Snow at the New York Stock Exchange.
Hello, Mary.
MARY SNOW, CNN FINANCIAL NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Miles. Yes., another dramatic turn in the Martha Stewart case. As you mentioned, U.S. Attorney David Kelley announcing just a short time ago that two perjury charges have been brought against a government witness who testified at the trial of Martha Stewart and her former stockbroker, Peter Bacanovic.
That witness is Larry Stewart, no relation, works for the Secret Service. However, while U.S. Attorney David Kelley said that while these charges relate to testimony that Larry Stewart gave during his testimony while he was called to the witness stand in the trial, that the conclusions of his testimony are still valid, and that this will have, in his words, "no impact" on the convictions of both Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic. Both were convicted on obstruction of justice charges in a stock sale of ImClone.
At stake is a work sheet that belong to Bacanovic. On that work sheet was the notation "at 60." Larry Stewart is an ink expert, he examined the ink to testify that there was one pen used for the notations on that worksheet, and that a different ink was used on that "at 60" notation.
Now in terms of the immediate reaction to this, as soon as word came out that there was going to be a news conference and that perhaps was related to Martha Stewart, shares in her company started flying. Right now, they're up about 14 percent, which is a climb of more than $1. Stewart was convicted in March for lying about why she sold those 4000 shares of ImClone stock. Peter Bacanovic also convicted, and their sentencing has been scheduled for June 17.
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