Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Abducted Wal-Mart Employee Found Dead in Texas; Bush Completes Inaugural Ceremonies with Prayer Service; Tracking Down Long Wolf Terrorists

Aired January 21, 2005 - 13:00   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.


TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: An abduction caught on tape within the past hour. Major developments: the case of a Texas woman snatched from a parking lot. We're live from Tyler, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: It's not only Osama bin Laden out there. It's not only people with turbans on who are capable of blowing you and your family up. There are actual, you know, real life Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: Enemies within. What is being done to track the lone wolf terrorists?

HARRIS: Polls and politics. President Bush begins the first day of his second term. This hour, a look ahead to his ambitious agenda.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. Miles O'Brien and Kyra Phillips, they are off today. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

HARRIS: It is anyone's worst nightmare: a dark, empty parking lot, a solitary walk to the car, and a criminal lurking in the shadows. It's what we see in chilling detail on a surveillance video from a Wal-Mart in Tyler, Texas.

Now, a woman is dead, and her suspected kidnappers has turned up hundreds of miles away and in need of medical condition.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Tyler, Texas, with the latest on the investigation.

Ed, what can you tell us?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can tell you that 19- year-old Megan Holden has been found dead in the west Texas town of Stanton around 8:45 Central Time this morning. I'm told by officials there that a couple of oil field workers along Interstate 20 in that part of Texas discovered the body and phoned it in to authorities.

The last time that this 19-year-old girl was seen was in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart where she worked. She had just finished working a cashier's shift at the Wal-Mart and was leaving the store on her way out to the car when, on the surveillance videotape, you can see that the suspect, who the police say is Johnny Williams, approaches the woman from behind. He pushed her into her own pickup truck and then fled the scene.

Thirty-six hours later, he turns up in Arizona. She is in west Texas. In fact, authorities say that Johnny Williams had been loitering around that Wal-Mart, perhaps looking for someone to attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF GARY SWINDLE, TYLER, TEXAS, POLICE: We do think there was probably -- he did potentially make several other attempts that evening before he picked Megan. So there -- we believe he was looking for a ride. And you know, so we're looking at that. But we do believe there were several other possible victims before this happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: As I mentioned, 19-year-old Megan Holden was working as a cashier at the Wal-Mart. Authorities are not saying how she was killed, that that's part of the investigation.

They're still waiting to question Johnny Williams, who turned up in a hospital in the town of Wilcox, Arizona, around 6 a.m. this morning. We understand that he went to the hospital there after he had gotten into an altercation in an R.V. park near that -- near that town, where police say that he was in the process of making an attempted robbery and was shot in that process.

He walked into the hospital to get attention for those wounds, but we understand that those are not life threatening. Authorities from Tyler are on their way to Arizona to try to interview the suspect.

In the meantime here, police have notified the family of 19-year- old Megan Holden about what has happened, and the morning begins for them in Tyler -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Ed, is this strictly a stranger abduction case? No evidence to this point to suggest that these two knew one another?

LAVANDERA: Absolutely not. Officials here in Tyler say that there was no indication at this point that the suspect knew the victim. In fact, that's why they point to the videotape as one of the -- one of the stronger pieces of evidence they say in that logic, describing in the two hours before she was abducted, they say that they can see Johnny Williams just loitering around the Wal-Mart parking lot, going in and out of the store, even, they say, following other women out of the store and giving up for whatever reason and then heading back into the store. And it wasn't until he came across Megan Holden that he decided to do what police say he did.

HARRIS: Yes. Ed Lavandera. Ed, we appreciate it. Thank you. NGUYEN: Now to the day after in Washington. President Bush's second and final term is under way. But even after the swearing in, the speeches and the balls, there was one more big inaugural week event on the agenda today.

Now, the work begins on the president's ambitious plans for the next four years. And for that, we turn to CNN senior White House correspondent, John King, who joins us with those details.

Hi there, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Betty.

That final event, a tradition, a prayer service at the National Cathedral. This -- in this case, the newly reelected president and the newly inaugurated president receiving prayers from a number of ministers from different faiths coming in from around the country for this service.

The president most pleased, his aides say, by the presence of the Reverend Billy Graham. He is a long-time counsel to the Bush family, not only to this president but to his father, the former president, as well. He was unable to attend four years ago because he was ill at the time. Billy Graham leading a prayer, as you see here, at the National Cathedral, a majestic ceremony earlier today. Mr. Bush attending that ceremony.

No more public events today. The president reflecting, perhaps relaxing after the inaugural ceremonies and celebrations.

In that speech yesterday, of course, he laid out what many say would be an ambitious new course in American foreign policy. The president saying in his second term he will make the top priority of all American foreign policy promoting democracy and liberty. Ending tyranny around the world, the president said, is his goal.

It is an ambitious goal. And many are asking just what tools of the federal government, the power and prestige of the United States, will he use. Mr. Bush saying such a change in the world does not necessarily have to come through the use of force. And aides here say he hopes through diplomatic means to encourage nations, friendly nations and not so friendly nations, to move toward Democratic reforms.

Of course, the person at the forefront of that effort, will be the president's new secretary of state. Now all expect that to be Condoleezza Rice. She will be easily confirmed, both Democrats and Republicans, say, by the United States Senate. But Mr. Bush had hoped to have that confirmation prize yesterday to coincide with his inauguration. You see Dr. Rice at the inaugural ceremonies here.

Instead, Senate Democrats objected and they not confirm Dr. Rice until, most likely, Wednesday of next week. White House officials calling that petty politics. They know the president will have his new secretary of state in place first. But again, what the White House calls petty politics, Betty, a sign that Mr. Bush may have spoken of bipartisanship in his inaugural address. Most expect Washington to get pretty quickly down to partisan bickering.

NGUYEN: We'll see how these signs play out. John King, thank you for that -- Tony.

HARRIS: The trouble apparently started with one man's problem with the expansion of a state road, but it ended like this. A shootout with police. Ahead on LIVE FROM, a look at efforts to find so-called lone wolf activists who might snap.

And attorneys for pop star Michael Jackson in court today. We'll have details on what they're hashing out.

And later on LIVE FROM, CNN's Carlos Watson finds out why desperate housewife Eva Longoria once had the nickname Ugly Duckling?

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Since the 9/11 attacks al Qaeda has had a firm grip on America's attention. But before that fateful day, there was Oklahoma City and the Olympic Park bombing.

NGUYEN: Now in today's "Defending America," CNN's Rick Sanchez looks into homegrown terror and so-called lone wolves. It is a chilling reminder that terrorists don't always need to worry about a passport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abbeville, South Carolina, a town that prides itself as the birthplace of the Confederacy.

CRAIG GAGNON, CHIROPRACTOR: There you go.

SANCHEZ: Chiropractor Craig Gagnon is called "Doc" in Abbeville. He got a strange phone call one morning from one of his patients.

(on camera) And she says what?

GAGNON: She says, "Craig, this is Rita Bixby. I just wanted to let you know that it's begun and Steven has shot a deputy."

And I said, "Well, when did this happen?"

She said, "About 15 minutes ago. He came into the house, and Steven shot him."

And I said, "Well, how is the deputy?"

She goes, "Well, I don't suppose he's doing too good right about now, seeing how Steven shot him with a seven millimeter."

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Hell was about to break loose in Abbeville that day, and it wouldn't be just a shootout. It would be a family's declaration of war against the government. And Gagnon would find himself right smack in the middle of it.

Because after the call from Rita Bixby, Gagnon and his partner raced to the scene, where they found a car with the engine still running, a deputy's car. So when they saw another officer arrive, they tried to warn him.

"Don't go toward the house," Gagnon's partner shouted. It was too late.

GAGNON: Then I saw -- when I heard an explosion from the house and instantly knew it was a shot. And I heard the glass hit the front porch after the shot. It was just a weird -- it was almost like it was in slow motion almost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got shots fired.

SANCHEZ: What he heard was a second shot, a second officer down. Constable Donnie Ouzts now lay dying just steps from the Bixbys' front door, while his fellow officer, Danny Wilson, lay dying inside the Bixby home.

Police, even Gagnon, tried talking Steven and Arthur Bixby out of the house. It didn't work. They were headed for a showdown, a massive gunfight.

GAGNON: When they started finally exchanging gunfire, you could hear the service revolvers of the agents, "Bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap." And then you hear Steven in the house, "Boom, boom, boom." So it would be an exchange: bap, bap, bap, bap, boom, boom, boom! Bap, bap, bap, boom, boom!

SANCHEZ: Hundreds, maybe thousands of rounds were exchanged, and it took all that, as well as countless canisters of tear gas, over 13 hours to get the Bixbys to give themselves up to be charged with first degree murder in the deaths of the two officers.

(on camera) And what was this all about? This small chunk of land. The government wanted to expand Highway 72 onto their property. How much property? We'll count it for you. One, two, three steps.

(voice-over) It was government surveyors preparing that piece of land three days earlier that had apparently set off the Bixbys, but local law enforcement officials are convinced there was more to it. They call it an ambush, a setup against anyone wearing a uniform.

CHIEF NEAL HENDERSON, ABBEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Whether it was the UPS man, the mailman, a meter reader, whatever, the first person who stepped foot on that property that day was going to get it.

SANCHEZ: In fact, in court the day after the shootout, Steven Bixby revealed what touched off the family's rage.

STEVEN BIXBY, MURDER SUSPECT: Why did I do it? We didn't do it. They started it. They started it. And if we can't be any freer than that in this country, I'd just as soon die. SANCHEZ: Even though the Bixbys would actually have gained, not lost land, Bixby referred to the government as communist bureaucratic dictators and claimed that he had a constitutional right to revolution.

BIXBY: Ruby Ridge, Waco. This country has shown what it is. I love this country. I just can't stand the bastards in it.

SANCHEZ: The Bixbys brought their defiant anti-government and pro-property rights stance with them when they moved to South Carolina.

BIXBY: I'm originally from New Hampshire, where the motto is "live free or die." They brought the hostile aggression on.

SANCHEZ: Back in New Hampshire, a superior court judge had feared the Bixbys so much she asked for and received around the clock law police protection.

In law enforcement terms, Steven Bixby is a lone wolf, driven to act by his anti-government views. And he's not the only one. Even though the nation's attention has shifted since 9/11 to the threat from al Qaeda, the danger here at home remains enormous.

POTOK: Luckily for all of us, up to this point they have not been as organized or nearly as sophisticated as al Qaeda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, the Oklahoma City bombing, the anthrax killer. Are there other lone wolves ready to act? Meet the people trying to track them down after the break.

Later on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Secret Service is more physical. We make sure that he doesn't get poisoned with food or water or dessert.

NGUYEN: Protecting the president. You'll meet the men and women who make sure there is no weak link in the food chain.

Monday on LIVE FROM, will Iraq be ready for its upcoming election? We'll go in-depth on violence, the vote, and America's involvement in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now, just before that break, we saw the results of a bloody shoot out in the small town of Abbeville, South Carolina, where a man is accused of killing two police officers. Now Steven Bixby says he had a constitutional right to revolution. HARRIS: So the question is, how many others like Bixby are out there? Homegrown terrorists may not show up on law enforcement screens until it is too late.

Rick Sanchez continues our "Defending America" report with more on the challenges of tracking these lone wolves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Investigator Joe Roy watches things that would make your stomach turn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There isn't a Jew on this earth that deserves to live for the thing they've done to our race.

SANCHEZ: On this day, he's monitoring a speech from Reverend James Wigstrom (ph) at a neo-Nazi rally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... would go away because they're all going to die. I say that with my heart. What you do with it and how you handle it is strictly going to be between you and...

SANCHEZ (on camera): A lone wolf?

(voice-over) At the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, Roy and others keep a constant watch on people who may be driven to act after hearing such hateful language, people who evolve from hate-filled to violent, like Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh and, quite possibly, Steven Bixby.

However, since 9/11, the hunt for these types has not been the top priority for U.S. law enforcement.

(on camera) Do they ignore domestic terrorism at their own peril?

JOE ROY, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: Well, sure. I think anybody who ignores it, it's at their own peril.

POTOK: It's not only Osama bin Laden out there. It's not only people with turbans on who are capable of blowing you and your family up. That there are actual, you know, real life Americans, people from -- you know, people who are our neighbors.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): People like William Krar, arrested in Texas with enough sodium cyanide to potentially kill thousands. He's now in a federal prison.

And Steven Geordi (ph), arrested and convicted for planning to firebomb abortion clinics.

And what about the anthrax killer? Remember him? The one who terrorized all of us after 9/11, but still hasn't been caught.

(on camera) Do you think that person -- that person out there, the anthrax killer, is a lone wolf?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I don't think there's any question.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Mark Potok was a newspaper reporter who joined the center after seeing the carnage that Tim McVeigh wrought on Oklahoma City.

Now he runs "The Intelligence Report," the center's magazine, which exposes extremists groups on both right and the left.

POTOK: What is our aim? Our aim is to destroy these groups, if possible.

SANCHEZ: And they've had success by working with law enforcement and brining civil suits against groups like the neo-Nazi National Alliance, whose former leader wrote the book that inspired Tim McVeigh.

POTOK: Two year ago, these people were all staff at the National Alliance. Every one of these people is now gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone.

SANCHEZ: Security here is tight for good reason. They've made lots of enemies, even been fire bombed.

(on camera) Do you worry about your own safety? Or the safety of this building and the people who work inside here?

POTOK: The reality is that there are close to 30 people in federal prison for various plots over the last 20 years to blow this place up or to assassinate its founder.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): There's something else that worries Potok and Roy these days, and it may be a byproduct of their own success. While they've managed to splinter or eliminate large well-organized hate groups, they may have made it harder to keep track of their former members, who could be spurred to act after hearing speeches like this one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And give them the holocaust that they rightly deserve.

SANCHEZ (on camera): Whether it's a small town in the South like Abbeville or a big city in the Midwest, the question that remains is how many others? How many others, living perhaps in communities like our own, could have an ax to grind against the government?

(voice-over) And are willing to act on it, as Steven Bixby is now accused of?

POTOK: It's inevitable that we'll see another Bixby shootout. There will be something more like this. There's something like it almost every year.

SANCHEZ: But how do you stop it? How do you stop the lone wolf?

In Abbeville, the chief of police knew Steven Bixby, even drove him around town; thought he was loud, strange, but capable of murdering two police officers on that day, in December 2003?

HENDERSON: You never would think nothing like this would happen in a town of 6,000 people. This guy here, you never saw it coming. I never saw anything like this coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Very interesting. Rick Sanchez joins me now with more on this story.

I guess the first question that comes to mind is what are the charges in the Bixby case?

SANCHEZ: Well, it's interesting. We've talked to prosecutors, and we've also talked to the attorneys, three different sets of attorneys representing all three of them, the mother, the father, and the son, Steven Bixby.

According to authorities that we talked to there in Abbeville, they say they believed he may have been the shooter. But that's not really nailed down. We do know this. Arthur Bixby and Steven Bixby were inside the house. Rita Bixby, the mother, was not.

Yet the government is asking for the death penalty in all three of their cases. The reason they're asking for it in terms of the mother is because they believe that she was the one who actually planned these murders, even though it was the son and the father who executed it.

NGUYEN: You know, you pose a really good question within the piece. Where are these groups? Where do you find them? I guess that's still my question. Where do you find them?

SANCHEZ: Yes, Betty, that's part of the problem that we find out, that because they're fragmented, because you saw in their piece like the National Alliance, which is a powerful organization that's really been cut into, we're still left with all the people that adhere to those specific principles, the principles of Christian Identity and the National Alliance and the militia movement. And they're still out there, and it's harder to be able to nail down and find out where those individuals are and, maybe even more importantly, when they're going to pop.

NGUYEN: Because they're acting as lone wolves now.

SANCHEZ: That's where the term comes from.

NGUYEN: All right. Rick Sanchez, very interesting. Thank you for that report.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

NGUYEN: And you want to be sure to stay with CNN for continuing coverage on "Defending America." Now this Sunday, join us for a comprehensive look at the issues facing America in the continuing war on terror. You'll want to tune in for "DEFENDING AMERICA" on Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: You know, we're talking about more chilling news. But at least we're not talking about lone wolves this time. It's a pretty mighty blast of winter coming.

NGUYEN: Yes. Mother Nature packing another freezing punch. Have we had enough yet, Rob?

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Thank you, Rob.

Well, a family feud at Cablevision. The son has defeated the father in the boardroom.

HARRIS: What is this all about? David Haffenreffer joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange with more on this story.

Hi, David.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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 January 21, 2005 - 13:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CO-HOST: An abduction caught on tape within the past hour. Major developments: the case of a Texas woman snatched from a parking lot. We're live from Tyler, Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK POTOK, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: It's not only Osama bin Laden out there. It's not only people with turbans on who are capable of blowing you and your family up. There are actual, you know, real life Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BETTY NGUYEN, CO-HOST: Enemies within. What is being done to track the lone wolf terrorists?

HARRIS: Polls and politics. President Bush begins the first day of his second term. This hour, a look ahead to his ambitious agenda.

From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris.

NGUYEN: And I'm Betty Nguyen. Miles O'Brien and Kyra Phillips, they are off today. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

HARRIS: It is anyone's worst nightmare: a dark, empty parking lot, a solitary walk to the car, and a criminal lurking in the shadows. It's what we see in chilling detail on a surveillance video from a Wal-Mart in Tyler, Texas.

Now, a woman is dead, and her suspected kidnappers has turned up hundreds of miles away and in need of medical condition.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Tyler, Texas, with the latest on the investigation.

Ed, what can you tell us?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can tell you that 19- year-old Megan Holden has been found dead in the west Texas town of Stanton around 8:45 Central Time this morning. I'm told by officials there that a couple of oil field workers along Interstate 20 in that part of Texas discovered the body and phoned it in to authorities.

The last time that this 19-year-old girl was seen was in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart where she worked. She had just finished working a cashier's shift at the Wal-Mart and was leaving the store on her way out to the car when, on the surveillance videotape, you can see that the suspect, who the police say is Johnny Williams, approaches the woman from behind. He pushed her into her own pickup truck and then fled the scene.

Thirty-six hours later, he turns up in Arizona. She is in west Texas. In fact, authorities say that Johnny Williams had been loitering around that Wal-Mart, perhaps looking for someone to attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF GARY SWINDLE, TYLER, TEXAS, POLICE: We do think there was probably -- he did potentially make several other attempts that evening before he picked Megan. So there -- we believe he was looking for a ride. And you know, so we're looking at that. But we do believe there were several other possible victims before this happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: As I mentioned, 19-year-old Megan Holden was working as a cashier at the Wal-Mart. Authorities are not saying how she was killed, that that's part of the investigation.

They're still waiting to question Johnny Williams, who turned up in a hospital in the town of Wilcox, Arizona, around 6 a.m. this morning. We understand that he went to the hospital there after he had gotten into an altercation in an R.V. park near that -- near that town, where police say that he was in the process of making an attempted robbery and was shot in that process.

He walked into the hospital to get attention for those wounds, but we understand that those are not life threatening. Authorities from Tyler are on their way to Arizona to try to interview the suspect.

In the meantime here, police have notified the family of 19-year- old Megan Holden about what has happened, and the morning begins for them in Tyler -- Tony.

HARRIS: And Ed, is this strictly a stranger abduction case? No evidence to this point to suggest that these two knew one another?

LAVANDERA: Absolutely not. Officials here in Tyler say that there was no indication at this point that the suspect knew the victim. In fact, that's why they point to the videotape as one of the -- one of the stronger pieces of evidence they say in that logic, describing in the two hours before she was abducted, they say that they can see Johnny Williams just loitering around the Wal-Mart parking lot, going in and out of the store, even, they say, following other women out of the store and giving up for whatever reason and then heading back into the store. And it wasn't until he came across Megan Holden that he decided to do what police say he did.

HARRIS: Yes. Ed Lavandera. Ed, we appreciate it. Thank you. NGUYEN: Now to the day after in Washington. President Bush's second and final term is under way. But even after the swearing in, the speeches and the balls, there was one more big inaugural week event on the agenda today.

Now, the work begins on the president's ambitious plans for the next four years. And for that, we turn to CNN senior White House correspondent, John King, who joins us with those details.

Hi there, John.

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello to you, Betty.

That final event, a tradition, a prayer service at the National Cathedral. This -- in this case, the newly reelected president and the newly inaugurated president receiving prayers from a number of ministers from different faiths coming in from around the country for this service.

The president most pleased, his aides say, by the presence of the Reverend Billy Graham. He is a long-time counsel to the Bush family, not only to this president but to his father, the former president, as well. He was unable to attend four years ago because he was ill at the time. Billy Graham leading a prayer, as you see here, at the National Cathedral, a majestic ceremony earlier today. Mr. Bush attending that ceremony.

No more public events today. The president reflecting, perhaps relaxing after the inaugural ceremonies and celebrations.

In that speech yesterday, of course, he laid out what many say would be an ambitious new course in American foreign policy. The president saying in his second term he will make the top priority of all American foreign policy promoting democracy and liberty. Ending tyranny around the world, the president said, is his goal.

It is an ambitious goal. And many are asking just what tools of the federal government, the power and prestige of the United States, will he use. Mr. Bush saying such a change in the world does not necessarily have to come through the use of force. And aides here say he hopes through diplomatic means to encourage nations, friendly nations and not so friendly nations, to move toward Democratic reforms.

Of course, the person at the forefront of that effort, will be the president's new secretary of state. Now all expect that to be Condoleezza Rice. She will be easily confirmed, both Democrats and Republicans, say, by the United States Senate. But Mr. Bush had hoped to have that confirmation prize yesterday to coincide with his inauguration. You see Dr. Rice at the inaugural ceremonies here.

Instead, Senate Democrats objected and they not confirm Dr. Rice until, most likely, Wednesday of next week. White House officials calling that petty politics. They know the president will have his new secretary of state in place first. But again, what the White House calls petty politics, Betty, a sign that Mr. Bush may have spoken of bipartisanship in his inaugural address. Most expect Washington to get pretty quickly down to partisan bickering.

NGUYEN: We'll see how these signs play out. John King, thank you for that -- Tony.

HARRIS: The trouble apparently started with one man's problem with the expansion of a state road, but it ended like this. A shootout with police. Ahead on LIVE FROM, a look at efforts to find so-called lone wolf activists who might snap.

And attorneys for pop star Michael Jackson in court today. We'll have details on what they're hashing out.

And later on LIVE FROM, CNN's Carlos Watson finds out why desperate housewife Eva Longoria once had the nickname Ugly Duckling?

ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Since the 9/11 attacks al Qaeda has had a firm grip on America's attention. But before that fateful day, there was Oklahoma City and the Olympic Park bombing.

NGUYEN: Now in today's "Defending America," CNN's Rick Sanchez looks into homegrown terror and so-called lone wolves. It is a chilling reminder that terrorists don't always need to worry about a passport.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Abbeville, South Carolina, a town that prides itself as the birthplace of the Confederacy.

CRAIG GAGNON, CHIROPRACTOR: There you go.

SANCHEZ: Chiropractor Craig Gagnon is called "Doc" in Abbeville. He got a strange phone call one morning from one of his patients.

(on camera) And she says what?

GAGNON: She says, "Craig, this is Rita Bixby. I just wanted to let you know that it's begun and Steven has shot a deputy."

And I said, "Well, when did this happen?"

She said, "About 15 minutes ago. He came into the house, and Steven shot him."

And I said, "Well, how is the deputy?"

She goes, "Well, I don't suppose he's doing too good right about now, seeing how Steven shot him with a seven millimeter."

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Hell was about to break loose in Abbeville that day, and it wouldn't be just a shootout. It would be a family's declaration of war against the government. And Gagnon would find himself right smack in the middle of it.

Because after the call from Rita Bixby, Gagnon and his partner raced to the scene, where they found a car with the engine still running, a deputy's car. So when they saw another officer arrive, they tried to warn him.

"Don't go toward the house," Gagnon's partner shouted. It was too late.

GAGNON: Then I saw -- when I heard an explosion from the house and instantly knew it was a shot. And I heard the glass hit the front porch after the shot. It was just a weird -- it was almost like it was in slow motion almost.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got shots fired.

SANCHEZ: What he heard was a second shot, a second officer down. Constable Donnie Ouzts now lay dying just steps from the Bixbys' front door, while his fellow officer, Danny Wilson, lay dying inside the Bixby home.

Police, even Gagnon, tried talking Steven and Arthur Bixby out of the house. It didn't work. They were headed for a showdown, a massive gunfight.

GAGNON: When they started finally exchanging gunfire, you could hear the service revolvers of the agents, "Bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap, bap." And then you hear Steven in the house, "Boom, boom, boom." So it would be an exchange: bap, bap, bap, bap, boom, boom, boom! Bap, bap, bap, boom, boom!

SANCHEZ: Hundreds, maybe thousands of rounds were exchanged, and it took all that, as well as countless canisters of tear gas, over 13 hours to get the Bixbys to give themselves up to be charged with first degree murder in the deaths of the two officers.

(on camera) And what was this all about? This small chunk of land. The government wanted to expand Highway 72 onto their property. How much property? We'll count it for you. One, two, three steps.

(voice-over) It was government surveyors preparing that piece of land three days earlier that had apparently set off the Bixbys, but local law enforcement officials are convinced there was more to it. They call it an ambush, a setup against anyone wearing a uniform.

CHIEF NEAL HENDERSON, ABBEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Whether it was the UPS man, the mailman, a meter reader, whatever, the first person who stepped foot on that property that day was going to get it.

SANCHEZ: In fact, in court the day after the shootout, Steven Bixby revealed what touched off the family's rage.

STEVEN BIXBY, MURDER SUSPECT: Why did I do it? We didn't do it. They started it. They started it. And if we can't be any freer than that in this country, I'd just as soon die. SANCHEZ: Even though the Bixbys would actually have gained, not lost land, Bixby referred to the government as communist bureaucratic dictators and claimed that he had a constitutional right to revolution.

BIXBY: Ruby Ridge, Waco. This country has shown what it is. I love this country. I just can't stand the bastards in it.

SANCHEZ: The Bixbys brought their defiant anti-government and pro-property rights stance with them when they moved to South Carolina.

BIXBY: I'm originally from New Hampshire, where the motto is "live free or die." They brought the hostile aggression on.

SANCHEZ: Back in New Hampshire, a superior court judge had feared the Bixbys so much she asked for and received around the clock law police protection.

In law enforcement terms, Steven Bixby is a lone wolf, driven to act by his anti-government views. And he's not the only one. Even though the nation's attention has shifted since 9/11 to the threat from al Qaeda, the danger here at home remains enormous.

POTOK: Luckily for all of us, up to this point they have not been as organized or nearly as sophisticated as al Qaeda.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN (voice-over): Next on LIVE FROM, the Oklahoma City bombing, the anthrax killer. Are there other lone wolves ready to act? Meet the people trying to track them down after the break.

Later on LIVE FROM...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Secret Service is more physical. We make sure that he doesn't get poisoned with food or water or dessert.

NGUYEN: Protecting the president. You'll meet the men and women who make sure there is no weak link in the food chain.

Monday on LIVE FROM, will Iraq be ready for its upcoming election? We'll go in-depth on violence, the vote, and America's involvement in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NGUYEN: Now, just before that break, we saw the results of a bloody shoot out in the small town of Abbeville, South Carolina, where a man is accused of killing two police officers. Now Steven Bixby says he had a constitutional right to revolution. HARRIS: So the question is, how many others like Bixby are out there? Homegrown terrorists may not show up on law enforcement screens until it is too late.

Rick Sanchez continues our "Defending America" report with more on the challenges of tracking these lone wolves.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Investigator Joe Roy watches things that would make your stomach turn.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There isn't a Jew on this earth that deserves to live for the thing they've done to our race.

SANCHEZ: On this day, he's monitoring a speech from Reverend James Wigstrom (ph) at a neo-Nazi rally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... would go away because they're all going to die. I say that with my heart. What you do with it and how you handle it is strictly going to be between you and...

SANCHEZ (on camera): A lone wolf?

(voice-over) At the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Alabama, Roy and others keep a constant watch on people who may be driven to act after hearing such hateful language, people who evolve from hate-filled to violent, like Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh and, quite possibly, Steven Bixby.

However, since 9/11, the hunt for these types has not been the top priority for U.S. law enforcement.

(on camera) Do they ignore domestic terrorism at their own peril?

JOE ROY, SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: Well, sure. I think anybody who ignores it, it's at their own peril.

POTOK: It's not only Osama bin Laden out there. It's not only people with turbans on who are capable of blowing you and your family up. That there are actual, you know, real life Americans, people from -- you know, people who are our neighbors.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): People like William Krar, arrested in Texas with enough sodium cyanide to potentially kill thousands. He's now in a federal prison.

And Steven Geordi (ph), arrested and convicted for planning to firebomb abortion clinics.

And what about the anthrax killer? Remember him? The one who terrorized all of us after 9/11, but still hasn't been caught.

(on camera) Do you think that person -- that person out there, the anthrax killer, is a lone wolf?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I don't think there's any question.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): Mark Potok was a newspaper reporter who joined the center after seeing the carnage that Tim McVeigh wrought on Oklahoma City.

Now he runs "The Intelligence Report," the center's magazine, which exposes extremists groups on both right and the left.

POTOK: What is our aim? Our aim is to destroy these groups, if possible.

SANCHEZ: And they've had success by working with law enforcement and brining civil suits against groups like the neo-Nazi National Alliance, whose former leader wrote the book that inspired Tim McVeigh.

POTOK: Two year ago, these people were all staff at the National Alliance. Every one of these people is now gone. Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone.

SANCHEZ: Security here is tight for good reason. They've made lots of enemies, even been fire bombed.

(on camera) Do you worry about your own safety? Or the safety of this building and the people who work inside here?

POTOK: The reality is that there are close to 30 people in federal prison for various plots over the last 20 years to blow this place up or to assassinate its founder.

SANCHEZ (voice-over): There's something else that worries Potok and Roy these days, and it may be a byproduct of their own success. While they've managed to splinter or eliminate large well-organized hate groups, they may have made it harder to keep track of their former members, who could be spurred to act after hearing speeches like this one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And give them the holocaust that they rightly deserve.

SANCHEZ (on camera): Whether it's a small town in the South like Abbeville or a big city in the Midwest, the question that remains is how many others? How many others, living perhaps in communities like our own, could have an ax to grind against the government?

(voice-over) And are willing to act on it, as Steven Bixby is now accused of?

POTOK: It's inevitable that we'll see another Bixby shootout. There will be something more like this. There's something like it almost every year.

SANCHEZ: But how do you stop it? How do you stop the lone wolf?

In Abbeville, the chief of police knew Steven Bixby, even drove him around town; thought he was loud, strange, but capable of murdering two police officers on that day, in December 2003?

HENDERSON: You never would think nothing like this would happen in a town of 6,000 people. This guy here, you never saw it coming. I never saw anything like this coming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: Very interesting. Rick Sanchez joins me now with more on this story.

I guess the first question that comes to mind is what are the charges in the Bixby case?

SANCHEZ: Well, it's interesting. We've talked to prosecutors, and we've also talked to the attorneys, three different sets of attorneys representing all three of them, the mother, the father, and the son, Steven Bixby.

According to authorities that we talked to there in Abbeville, they say they believed he may have been the shooter. But that's not really nailed down. We do know this. Arthur Bixby and Steven Bixby were inside the house. Rita Bixby, the mother, was not.

Yet the government is asking for the death penalty in all three of their cases. The reason they're asking for it in terms of the mother is because they believe that she was the one who actually planned these murders, even though it was the son and the father who executed it.

NGUYEN: You know, you pose a really good question within the piece. Where are these groups? Where do you find them? I guess that's still my question. Where do you find them?

SANCHEZ: Yes, Betty, that's part of the problem that we find out, that because they're fragmented, because you saw in their piece like the National Alliance, which is a powerful organization that's really been cut into, we're still left with all the people that adhere to those specific principles, the principles of Christian Identity and the National Alliance and the militia movement. And they're still out there, and it's harder to be able to nail down and find out where those individuals are and, maybe even more importantly, when they're going to pop.

NGUYEN: Because they're acting as lone wolves now.

SANCHEZ: That's where the term comes from.

NGUYEN: All right. Rick Sanchez, very interesting. Thank you for that report.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

NGUYEN: And you want to be sure to stay with CNN for continuing coverage on "Defending America." Now this Sunday, join us for a comprehensive look at the issues facing America in the continuing war on terror. You'll want to tune in for "DEFENDING AMERICA" on Sunday at 5 p.m. Eastern.

HARRIS: You know, we're talking about more chilling news. But at least we're not talking about lone wolves this time. It's a pretty mighty blast of winter coming.

NGUYEN: Yes. Mother Nature packing another freezing punch. Have we had enough yet, Rob?

(WEATHER REPORT)

NGUYEN: Thank you, Rob.

Well, a family feud at Cablevision. The son has defeated the father in the boardroom.

HARRIS: What is this all about? David Haffenreffer joins us now from the New York Stock Exchange with more on this story.

Hi, David.

(STOCK REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com