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Baby, Mother Released by Kidnapper; Suspicious Man Arrested at Capitol, Bags Blown Up

Aired April 11, 2005 - 15:00   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: More than three hours later an armed standoff involving a baby drags on in New Jersey.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Here's the situation right now. Hundreds of police have surrounded a silver Honda that's cornered in the park lot. It's believed to be -- or believed to be inside the car is a father, probably armed, a mother, apparently taken at gunpoint, and the couple's infant girl, 4-month-old.

Joining us live from the scene now, Cynthia Scott of CNN affiliate News-12 in New Jersey. Cynthia, what do you know at this point?

CYNTHIA SCOTT, NEWS-12 REPORTER: Well, we are at Overlook at Lapatcong, and some very, very tense moments here. We have been here for a couple of hours, and just up the hill inside the complex is where police have suspect Almutah Saunders's car surrounded.

He is apparently holding his 4-month-old daughter and her mother hostage. Now again, this has been going on for several hours and we're told police gave the suspect some water as well as a cell phone. We're told that he called his sister from that cell phone.

Now initially, police thought that Almutah ended up here because there were roadblocks and the bridge to Pennsylvania was closed. However, they then told us a few hours later that Almutah has a relative that lives inside the complex, possibly a sister, no confirmation on that, but a news conference is expected to get under way.

Just to give you an idea what the community is like. It's a very rural area, 50 miles west of Irvington. Irvington is where the initial Amber Alert took place, and the suspect traveled on Route 78 to Route 22. Ended up here. And is very quiet community about, 220 units here at Overlook.

Some people were evacuated, including the elderly, and others are being asked to stay inside, not open their doors for anyone, because it could be a very dangerous situation.

PHILLIPS: All right, Cynthia Scott there of affiliate News-12 out of New Jersey. We'll continue to check in with you and follow that story. As negotiators, we are told, have established contact with that armed suspect. We'll let you know new developments as they happen. Well, today's standoff on Capitol Hill was silent, surreal and swiftly concluded except for those suitcases we've been talking about. The suspect wore black, as did the members of the SWAT team who surrounded him on the Capitol's western front, facing the National Mall. Suspicions were raised in large part by the man's luggage. The context of which, like his motives, remain a bit of a mystery.

A perimeter of sorts was established. Some officers evacuated, assault rifles poised and then came the tackle that led to the suspect's capture and arrest.

Still, those suitcases remain where they were while police try to figure out what to do with them and how. We're going to keep you posted on further developments from the hazmat team. They have been called in and they have X-rayed those suitcases. We'll let you know.

O'BRIEN: All right, and as we are told, within the next couple of minutes, those two suitcases, Kyra, will in fact be destroyed by the bomb squad. We're going to stay with this for a moment and just watch this occur.

CNN's Bob Franken is hopefully not too close to the scene right now. Safe distance away, but nevertheless on the scene. Bob, what can you tell us?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, enforced safety by the police, who have moved everybody back, and as we can see, the hazmat people are making their determination what it is that they want to do. The possibilities would be moving it or, just as likely, that they would decide to put a charge in it and destroy the packages. Remember, there are two of them, themselves.

The thing that they'd have to be, of course, very careful about is the building itself, a building that the windows facing the bags, where can you see them, had been evacuated earlier.

The offices that included the Senate majority leader, the Senate minority leader and the speaker of the House. All those offices were evacuated. The entire Capitol was not evacuated. They moved tourists back but not before several of them were close enough that they could take their own pictures of what was going on.

And what was going is shortly after noon, a man wearing black stood there with the two suitcases and just stood there very stoic. Now of course, in the wake of September 11, there is a tremendous amount of an increase in security at Capitol, and so as we watched, the security forces did not take very much time before they rushed the man and were able to slam him to the ground and drag him away.

They initially put him in an ambulance, but then quickly thereafter, walked him away. We don't have an id on the man yet nor any suggestion as to what his motives are. But now comes what they hope is the final act this very, very difficult drama, and that is disposing of the material that he left behind -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Bob Franken on the scene there. We're going -- we've been told it could be as long as five minutes before this occurs. So we're going to break away and we're going to watch it very closely as the bomb squad there prepares to destroy those two bags to render them harmless.

Republican ranks apparently holding firm around the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. The lone Republican calling on DeLay to abandon his leadership post is still alone today.

DeLay's political problems include three rebukes by the House Ethics Committee and ongoing suspicions of additional wrongdoing. Connecticut's Christopher Shays says the only Republican -- or is the only Republican breaking ranks now. He repeated his case today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: I'm not asking him to step down. You're asking me if I think he should? Yes, I think he should. That's just an honest answer to a question. But I'm not arguing and demanding that he step down. He's still the leader, but if I think -- but that's what I think. I think he should step down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: In addition to Shays, the Republican Whip in the Senate, Rick Santorum is calling on DeLay to explain some of his actions. For his part, DeLay has said he's a victim of attacks by what he calls the liberal media.

Judy Woodruff will have more on DeLay's situation at the bottom of the hour on "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS." Stay tuned for that.

PHILLIPS: Well, at his ranch in Texas today, President Bush spent several hours with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Some problems have developed between the two men on peace moves toward the Palestinians. Despite U.S. praise for Israel's Gaza pullout withdrawal, an Israeli plans to enlarge its biggest West Bank settlement is causing some friction.

Here's Mr. Bush just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... obligations under the road map. The road map clearly says no expansion of settlements, and we'll continue to work with Israel on their obligations. And the Palestinians have got obligations.

And it seems like an important role for the United States is to remind people of the obligations and to work with people and continue to work with people, so that we can achieve the peace, and we have a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Well, on the Palestinian side, Mr. Bush says that he's convinced that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants to live in peace with the Israelis.

Well, the Pentagon reportedly is considering significant troop reductions in Iraq by early next year. "The New York Times" quotes senior commanders and Pentagon officials as saying the U.S. led campaign making enough progress to consider cutting troop levels by then.

Newly elected Iraqi president Jalal Talabani told CNN yesterday that he expects U.S. troops to be gone within two years.

A tough talking diplomat is explaining some of his juicier quotes to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It's the confirmation hearing for John Bolton, selected by President Bush to plead America's case before the United Nations.

Some of Bolton's past remarks have sounded to some like U.N. bashing. He says that's not the case. Bolton also denied accusations that he had two analysts removed from their jobs because he didn't agree with their intelligence conclusions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: Did you ask for these two people to be removed from their jobs?

JOHN BOLTON, U.N. AMBASSADOR NOMINEE: No, I said that I wanted the -- in the case of Mr. Westerman, that I had lost trust in him and thought he should work on other accounts.

DODD: What other portfolio did he have?

BOLTON: In the case within INR, I think there...

DODD: What's his portfolio? What's his...

BOLTON: I don't know what his portfolio was.

DODD: He has one portfolio, biological weapons and chemical weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Today's hearing was briefly interrupted by three demonstrators who made some loud remarks about the nominee and held aloft signs suggesting that he's a bully.

O'BRIEN: A former president launches a new campaign against HIV and AIDS. Bill Clinton says his foundation will spend $10 million to help deliver needed medicines to 10,000 affected children in at least 10 countries by the end of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a long way to go in the fight against AIDS. But I'm hopeful that steps like the ones we announce today will make a difference. Together, we can save millions of lives and help bring quality health care to the world's children and to people living in poor rural areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: With the help of UNICEF, the Clinton Foundation hopes to reach more than 60,000 children by the end of next year.

As the cardinals gather in Rome to select a new pope, controversy surrounds one of their own. Up net on LIVE FROM, protesting Cardinal Bernard Law. A member from the group opposing him will tell us why.

PHILLIPS: Plus the champs finally get to boast with their own banner. A celebration of sorts at Fenway Park.

And he may be the most heavily guard duck in the world. We'll tell you why a little later.

Now we want to take you straight to Capitol Hill. Those two suitcases we've been telling you about, Bob Franken on the line with us right now. It wasn't long ago that a man was taken down right there by the SWAT team on Capitol Hill. A suspicious man, not quite sure why he was there.

But these two suitcases, one on each side, they've been x-rayed, and now we're being told that the bomb squad is going to blow them up.

Bob Franken, this is what you thought was going to happen. It looks like it's going to any second now. What do you know at this point?

FRANKEN: Well, we're told that within the minute or so that they're going to blow up these suitcases. One at a time is what the officers here are saying. They're getting their information indirectly by telling us that at about 10 minutes after the hour, which we're approaching, they're going to dispose of the bags in the way that they oftentimes do.

Once they decide that there's nothing that would be noxious or dangerous if it is in the air, this is oftentimes the procedure that they follow after moving people back, exactly following the routine to that they normally follow. As I said, this should happen at any second. That being the case, I think that I just want to sit here with you and watch for just a second to see whether we can watch this happening.

PHILLIPS: Bob, sure, and do we even know what's inside those suitcases? I mean, did they x-ray them and consider them a threat? That there was something in there that might -- you know, an explosive device or something that was so suspicious that they decided to make this move?

FRANKEN: Normally, the opposite is true. If they decide that there is nothing in there that would be dangerous in some way, then this is the way that they would dispose of it.

If there was something that they considered exceedingly dangerous inside, they would probably bring in one of their bomb proof containers and put it in that and take it away.

Remember, also, they have to pay attention to the building itself, the United States Capitol building. And of course, the reason we're here is of all the attention that's being paid because of all the anxiety about the Capitol building and the other government buildings in Washington that has never abated since September 11.

But again, because they're doing it this way, it suggests that they've decided that there's in all probability nothing of a highly dangerous matter inside the bags. They just want to dispose of them to settle the question once and for all.

PHILLIPS: And do we know anything about the man who brought the suitcases here? During question and answering with the suspect they took down, did the suspect tell authorities what might be inside those suitcases?

FRANKEN: We don't know that. There has been no information about the identification of the man, no information about his motivations. That would all come later.

The police sort of operate on priorities, and I'm sure we all understand that, where the first thing they want to do is just to end the problem. And the remnant of the problem is that those two bags that are sitting up there at west front of the Capitol that we're watching, we're waiting for them to be -- how shall we say delicately...

PHILLIPS: All right. We still have you with us, right, Bob?

FRANKEN: That's correct.

PHILLIPS: OK. We lost the signal there for a second. But we still have that live shot going right now.

Sort of put in perspective for us where we are, where we're looking at these suitcases. Where on -- exactly on Capitol Hill, and of course, if the offices behind where these suitcase are going to be blown up. I'm assuming that everyone has been evacuated from those offices in that area?

FRANKEN: They've been -- they've been warned in those offices to expect an explosion. Not been evacuated, just being told to stay away from the windows, which, of course, would be the big problem right now.

The offices include those that face out on the west side of the Capitol where the bags are. It is a side that is normally populated, particularly this time of year, by any number of tourists who are taking in the splendor.

By the way, we've just been told by the police officer who's being remarkably cooperative with us, that we have about a minute. So I'm going to stop talking in about 15 seconds.

In any case, the offices include the Senate minority leader, majority leader and the speaker of the House. They are the ones that face this part of the building.

I think right now we just have to wait and see now whether they explode both of them at once or just one at a time.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll slowly watch. If you're just tuning in, live pictures right now of the situation that happened a couple hours ago, a bit of a bizarre and brief standoff. A man walked onto Capitol Hill property with these two suitcases. He was -- authorities thought that he was suspicious.

He stood there and the SWAT team came in and took him down, left the suitcases there, but those suitcases evidently have been X-rayed by the bomb squad, Bob Franken saying that the determination, there you go. Looks like they both, Bob...

FRANKEN: Looks like they blew up both of them.

PHILLIPS: Both of them. OK. I didn't know if one hit the other.

FRANKEN: One or both? One or both? I'm talking to the police officer.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead and ask them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like both of them are laying on their side right now. I said both of them are laying on their side right now.

FRANKEN: OK. Both of them are lying on their side right now. The police officer who is operating with binoculars next to me, the one who gave me the information, says it looks like they may have blown both of them up. I believe I heard two blasts.

So now the next thing would be, of course, that the hazmat people would slowly make their way in there and take them away.

PHILLIPS: Are they going to move in -- so they will move in slowly and take them away and find out what's inside. I mean, obviously, they didn't completely destroy the suitcases. So was this sort of to take an extra precaution, in case there might have been something there they didn't expect? And now are they going to open them up and look at the contacts, because they're not obliterated?

FRANKEN: No, no, first of all, we're now being told that they only blew up one of them, although it sounded to me from here like two blasts. So we're waiting for the second one. Am I correct, just one of them?

I'm getting a shrug right now from one of the police officers here. But in any case, the original plan, we were told, was to blow up one of them and then the other one. I emphasize that the reason to do that would be that a decision had been made that there was nothing of a lethal or dangerous nature inside the bags that could, if it got airborne for instance, cause harm to the people around or that could explode and cause more severe damage than just the small charge that was in the bags itself.

As you can see the explosion, that little blast that they had caused no further result. But again, they want to move very closely. There are just so many possibilities that there could be a booby trap or anything like that. I think probably the most singular characteristic of a hazmat team as it does nothing very quickly. It does everything extremely deliberately. So now we just have to wait for them to deal with the second package.

PHILLIPS: We're going to look at -- look at that explosion in slow-mo once again, Bob. Explain to me why -- why blow them up? If they -- if the bomb squad determined that there was nothing in there that was dangerous, then why -- why blow them up?

FRANKEN: An abundance of caution. They're not particularly interested in saving the bags. They've decided that they need to be completely destroyed so there's no chance at all that there is anything remaining that they didn't know about. So that's why they do it. It's just another way of disposing of them, and quite a final way.

Now, by the way, the sound of the second blast that we thought we heard was really just an echo of the first one. So now we're being told only one was blown up, and we'll wait to see if we get a cue about when the second one is disposed of. But you tell looking at the bags.

PHILLIPS: Sure. Well...

FRANKEN: That they're not -- that they're not -- go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Yes, no, you're right, because we were watching it. It looks like the other one just got knocked over by the first one.

Now let me ask you this, Bob. If -- now let's say that this man -- what deemed this man a threat in the first place? Because let's say he just looked bizarre. He rolled out here with these two suitcases. And what if there's nothing in the suitcases and by blowing them up, does that hurt or help his case? You would think you want to see what's inside in there in order to even have a case against this man.

And what charges are pressing against him? Is it trespassing? Is it -- kind of recap a little bit from the very beginning about how they thought he was a threat in the first place.

FRANKEN: First of all, let's not forget the security level here at Capitol. They do not mess around here for reasons we can all understand. The United States Capitol is one of the most prominent buildings in the world, and in the wake of September 11, and some fears, by the way, that maybe it was targeted, the security here is incredibly tight. So No. 1.

No. 2, the moment you hear the terms "suspicious package," that will immediately bring the police in, and they will treat this suspicious package as if it's a dangerous package.

In this particular case, they saw the man with the two suitcases. He had no real reason under normal circumstances to be standing at that fountain with the packages. And he just stood there.

Obviously, the police felt that he was intentionally looking menacing and they wanted to take no chances. So while they gave an impression of wanting to talk to him, what they were really doing, as we've seen from the video, was sneaking up behind him.

And they wasted no time. They tackled him to the ground in ways that probably would make the NFL proud and dragged him away to an ambulance at first. Quickly determined that he wasn't injured and then took him on his way to the jail that they have here. They have their own jail in the Capitol.

And they're processing him now. I don't want to speculate on what the charges would be, but obviously, this is something they take very seriously.

What follows after that is that they need to make sure that there is nothing in those packages -- there's nothing in those packages or those suitcases that would be dangerous. So in any case what they've done, what they've done is is they've begun the process -- begun the process of disposing of them.

PHILLIPS: All right.

FRANKEN: Kyra, I'm not sure that I'm able to hear you right now.

PHILLIPS: OK, can you hear me, Bob? Can you hear me all right, Bob?

OK. We'll try and establish contact with Bob. But at this point, what you're seeing is basically everything has come to an end there in front of the U.S. Capitol.

A suspicious man with two suitcases were in front of this fountain here at the Capitol. He has been taken down by the SWAT team. He's now in custody being questioned by authorities.

The two suitcases that were checked out by the bomb squad, X- rayed, decided they weren't of a legitimate threat. They blew them up. That's standard operating procedure.

There's sort of an idea where the fountain is with regard to the front entrance there of the U.S. Capitol and where this all happened. We'll bring you more on this suspect, why he was there, why he had the suitcases and if indeed it was a simple protest with nothing inside those suitcases.

But as Bob Franken said since 9/11, they don't just can't take any chances there. If indeed there could have been bombs inside those suitcases, it could have become a bigger threat or a bigger problem. We're following the story for you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Keeping track of a lot of things today. We've been watching New Jersey, about 50 miles outside of Irvington, New Jersey, a particular parking lot, a particular car. A silver vehicle that has been the focus of police attention.

Some news to tell you about it, in essence, the two hostages in this case have been released.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick -- Feyerick has been watching this for us from our New York news room, as we look at live pictures from our affiliate, WABC.

Deborah, as best you know, one person is in there, and that would be Almutah Saunders, correct?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct. And that is the man who abducted the woman and the child early this morning, about nine hours ago. So this isn't over just yet. But at least what we do know is that the woman and a baby girl did get out of that car after about a nine-hour ordeal.

The mom came from the back seat. She walked towards the police vehicles. Her shoulders were hunched. She was cradling the baby on her shoulder. She did not look back at the car, but she just sort of went to the police cruiser, scrambled into the seat, and that police cruiser took out -- took off out of that complex. That's what we heard.

But again the suspect there, Almutah Saunders, he is in the driver's seat. He is still there. Our understanding is that he still has a pistol with him, and so police still negotiating. It's not over just yet. But the woman and the child are safe. So at least that part this drama has ended -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Deborah, we have no idea what made the break there, what persuaded Saunders to release his 4-month-old child and the mother of that child, I presume at this point. But obviously this changes the equation very much as far as how you handle this situation?

FEYERICK: Well, absolutely, because now even members of the SWAT team, if he came out of the car firing, for example, they could rush the car, you know, very easily. That is not likely to happen.

However, now that the mom and the child are out of there, and they're safe, now it takes it to a whole new level. And that suspect has to make a decision as to what he wants to do.

He does have a criminal record. We don't know what the details of that criminal record are, and whether he expected this to be blown into the proportion that it got into. He's certainly probably thinking what his options are at this time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: But to underscore, the woman and the 4-month-old child safe and sound. All right. Thank you, Deborah Feyerick.

Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Good news to tell you about in that standoff in New Jersey. You are seeing pictures here from not long ago. The mother and the 4-month-old baby that were being held hostage by the baby's father have been released. The negotiation, obviously, went forward, good news to report.

Negotiator did his job well. Able to make contact with that suspect, and Jada Saunders and her mother, Erika Turner, released from that silver Honda where they were being held hostage for about four hours after the father of that child shot the grandfather, allegedly shot grandfather and took off, causing an Amber Alert which turned into a police chase, and then this standoff, police right now dealing with the suspect there at scene. Meanwhile, mom and baby have been released. Good news.

O'BRIEN: Glad to report that, and on that note, let's call it a day. Shall we? That's all the time we have from LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: A lot going on today.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It's been a wild day.

PHILLIPS: Judy Woodruff is going to pick it up from here with "INSIDE POLITICS." Hopefully it will be a little more calm for you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Thank you very much, Kyra and Miles. Thank you.

Well, the House majority leader continues to come under fire, this time from a member of his own party. We'll look at the battle facing Congressman Tom DeLay.

Also today, could those involved learn a thing or two from past congressional ethical problems? Our Bruce Morton looks back at other leaders who have faced political peril.

Plus the president sits down with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. We'll look at what's in store for the Middle East peace process when "INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: New heat on the House majority leader. A fellow Republican says Tom DeLay should step down. Is he a lone GOP voice or the first to open a floodgate?

The president's choice for U.N. ambassador faces senators and gets his own words thrown back at him. SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I'm surprised that the nominee wants the job that he's been nominated for, given his many negative things he had to say about the U.N.

ANNOUNCER: Can Democrats doom John Bolton's nomination?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the next great president of the United States of America, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

ANNOUNCER: Democrats build up the buzz about Hillary Clinton in 2008, while some Republicans work to stop her sooner rather than later.

Now, live from Washington, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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Aired April 11, 2005 - 15:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CO-HOST: More than three hours later an armed standoff involving a baby drags on in New Jersey.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CO-HOST: Here's the situation right now. Hundreds of police have surrounded a silver Honda that's cornered in the park lot. It's believed to be -- or believed to be inside the car is a father, probably armed, a mother, apparently taken at gunpoint, and the couple's infant girl, 4-month-old.

Joining us live from the scene now, Cynthia Scott of CNN affiliate News-12 in New Jersey. Cynthia, what do you know at this point?

CYNTHIA SCOTT, NEWS-12 REPORTER: Well, we are at Overlook at Lapatcong, and some very, very tense moments here. We have been here for a couple of hours, and just up the hill inside the complex is where police have suspect Almutah Saunders's car surrounded.

He is apparently holding his 4-month-old daughter and her mother hostage. Now again, this has been going on for several hours and we're told police gave the suspect some water as well as a cell phone. We're told that he called his sister from that cell phone.

Now initially, police thought that Almutah ended up here because there were roadblocks and the bridge to Pennsylvania was closed. However, they then told us a few hours later that Almutah has a relative that lives inside the complex, possibly a sister, no confirmation on that, but a news conference is expected to get under way.

Just to give you an idea what the community is like. It's a very rural area, 50 miles west of Irvington. Irvington is where the initial Amber Alert took place, and the suspect traveled on Route 78 to Route 22. Ended up here. And is very quiet community about, 220 units here at Overlook.

Some people were evacuated, including the elderly, and others are being asked to stay inside, not open their doors for anyone, because it could be a very dangerous situation.

PHILLIPS: All right, Cynthia Scott there of affiliate News-12 out of New Jersey. We'll continue to check in with you and follow that story. As negotiators, we are told, have established contact with that armed suspect. We'll let you know new developments as they happen. Well, today's standoff on Capitol Hill was silent, surreal and swiftly concluded except for those suitcases we've been talking about. The suspect wore black, as did the members of the SWAT team who surrounded him on the Capitol's western front, facing the National Mall. Suspicions were raised in large part by the man's luggage. The context of which, like his motives, remain a bit of a mystery.

A perimeter of sorts was established. Some officers evacuated, assault rifles poised and then came the tackle that led to the suspect's capture and arrest.

Still, those suitcases remain where they were while police try to figure out what to do with them and how. We're going to keep you posted on further developments from the hazmat team. They have been called in and they have X-rayed those suitcases. We'll let you know.

O'BRIEN: All right, and as we are told, within the next couple of minutes, those two suitcases, Kyra, will in fact be destroyed by the bomb squad. We're going to stay with this for a moment and just watch this occur.

CNN's Bob Franken is hopefully not too close to the scene right now. Safe distance away, but nevertheless on the scene. Bob, what can you tell us?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, enforced safety by the police, who have moved everybody back, and as we can see, the hazmat people are making their determination what it is that they want to do. The possibilities would be moving it or, just as likely, that they would decide to put a charge in it and destroy the packages. Remember, there are two of them, themselves.

The thing that they'd have to be, of course, very careful about is the building itself, a building that the windows facing the bags, where can you see them, had been evacuated earlier.

The offices that included the Senate majority leader, the Senate minority leader and the speaker of the House. All those offices were evacuated. The entire Capitol was not evacuated. They moved tourists back but not before several of them were close enough that they could take their own pictures of what was going on.

And what was going is shortly after noon, a man wearing black stood there with the two suitcases and just stood there very stoic. Now of course, in the wake of September 11, there is a tremendous amount of an increase in security at Capitol, and so as we watched, the security forces did not take very much time before they rushed the man and were able to slam him to the ground and drag him away.

They initially put him in an ambulance, but then quickly thereafter, walked him away. We don't have an id on the man yet nor any suggestion as to what his motives are. But now comes what they hope is the final act this very, very difficult drama, and that is disposing of the material that he left behind -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: CNN's Bob Franken on the scene there. We're going -- we've been told it could be as long as five minutes before this occurs. So we're going to break away and we're going to watch it very closely as the bomb squad there prepares to destroy those two bags to render them harmless.

Republican ranks apparently holding firm around the House majority leader, Tom DeLay. The lone Republican calling on DeLay to abandon his leadership post is still alone today.

DeLay's political problems include three rebukes by the House Ethics Committee and ongoing suspicions of additional wrongdoing. Connecticut's Christopher Shays says the only Republican -- or is the only Republican breaking ranks now. He repeated his case today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHRISTOPHER SHAYS (R), CONNECTICUT: I'm not asking him to step down. You're asking me if I think he should? Yes, I think he should. That's just an honest answer to a question. But I'm not arguing and demanding that he step down. He's still the leader, but if I think -- but that's what I think. I think he should step down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: In addition to Shays, the Republican Whip in the Senate, Rick Santorum is calling on DeLay to explain some of his actions. For his part, DeLay has said he's a victim of attacks by what he calls the liberal media.

Judy Woodruff will have more on DeLay's situation at the bottom of the hour on "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS." Stay tuned for that.

PHILLIPS: Well, at his ranch in Texas today, President Bush spent several hours with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Some problems have developed between the two men on peace moves toward the Palestinians. Despite U.S. praise for Israel's Gaza pullout withdrawal, an Israeli plans to enlarge its biggest West Bank settlement is causing some friction.

Here's Mr. Bush just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... obligations under the road map. The road map clearly says no expansion of settlements, and we'll continue to work with Israel on their obligations. And the Palestinians have got obligations.

And it seems like an important role for the United States is to remind people of the obligations and to work with people and continue to work with people, so that we can achieve the peace, and we have a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: Well, on the Palestinian side, Mr. Bush says that he's convinced that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas wants to live in peace with the Israelis.

Well, the Pentagon reportedly is considering significant troop reductions in Iraq by early next year. "The New York Times" quotes senior commanders and Pentagon officials as saying the U.S. led campaign making enough progress to consider cutting troop levels by then.

Newly elected Iraqi president Jalal Talabani told CNN yesterday that he expects U.S. troops to be gone within two years.

A tough talking diplomat is explaining some of his juicier quotes to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. It's the confirmation hearing for John Bolton, selected by President Bush to plead America's case before the United Nations.

Some of Bolton's past remarks have sounded to some like U.N. bashing. He says that's not the case. Bolton also denied accusations that he had two analysts removed from their jobs because he didn't agree with their intelligence conclusions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD (D), CONNECTICUT: Did you ask for these two people to be removed from their jobs?

JOHN BOLTON, U.N. AMBASSADOR NOMINEE: No, I said that I wanted the -- in the case of Mr. Westerman, that I had lost trust in him and thought he should work on other accounts.

DODD: What other portfolio did he have?

BOLTON: In the case within INR, I think there...

DODD: What's his portfolio? What's his...

BOLTON: I don't know what his portfolio was.

DODD: He has one portfolio, biological weapons and chemical weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Today's hearing was briefly interrupted by three demonstrators who made some loud remarks about the nominee and held aloft signs suggesting that he's a bully.

O'BRIEN: A former president launches a new campaign against HIV and AIDS. Bill Clinton says his foundation will spend $10 million to help deliver needed medicines to 10,000 affected children in at least 10 countries by the end of the year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've got a long way to go in the fight against AIDS. But I'm hopeful that steps like the ones we announce today will make a difference. Together, we can save millions of lives and help bring quality health care to the world's children and to people living in poor rural areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: With the help of UNICEF, the Clinton Foundation hopes to reach more than 60,000 children by the end of next year.

As the cardinals gather in Rome to select a new pope, controversy surrounds one of their own. Up net on LIVE FROM, protesting Cardinal Bernard Law. A member from the group opposing him will tell us why.

PHILLIPS: Plus the champs finally get to boast with their own banner. A celebration of sorts at Fenway Park.

And he may be the most heavily guard duck in the world. We'll tell you why a little later.

Now we want to take you straight to Capitol Hill. Those two suitcases we've been telling you about, Bob Franken on the line with us right now. It wasn't long ago that a man was taken down right there by the SWAT team on Capitol Hill. A suspicious man, not quite sure why he was there.

But these two suitcases, one on each side, they've been x-rayed, and now we're being told that the bomb squad is going to blow them up.

Bob Franken, this is what you thought was going to happen. It looks like it's going to any second now. What do you know at this point?

FRANKEN: Well, we're told that within the minute or so that they're going to blow up these suitcases. One at a time is what the officers here are saying. They're getting their information indirectly by telling us that at about 10 minutes after the hour, which we're approaching, they're going to dispose of the bags in the way that they oftentimes do.

Once they decide that there's nothing that would be noxious or dangerous if it is in the air, this is oftentimes the procedure that they follow after moving people back, exactly following the routine to that they normally follow. As I said, this should happen at any second. That being the case, I think that I just want to sit here with you and watch for just a second to see whether we can watch this happening.

PHILLIPS: Bob, sure, and do we even know what's inside those suitcases? I mean, did they x-ray them and consider them a threat? That there was something in there that might -- you know, an explosive device or something that was so suspicious that they decided to make this move?

FRANKEN: Normally, the opposite is true. If they decide that there is nothing in there that would be dangerous in some way, then this is the way that they would dispose of it.

If there was something that they considered exceedingly dangerous inside, they would probably bring in one of their bomb proof containers and put it in that and take it away.

Remember, also, they have to pay attention to the building itself, the United States Capitol building. And of course, the reason we're here is of all the attention that's being paid because of all the anxiety about the Capitol building and the other government buildings in Washington that has never abated since September 11.

But again, because they're doing it this way, it suggests that they've decided that there's in all probability nothing of a highly dangerous matter inside the bags. They just want to dispose of them to settle the question once and for all.

PHILLIPS: And do we know anything about the man who brought the suitcases here? During question and answering with the suspect they took down, did the suspect tell authorities what might be inside those suitcases?

FRANKEN: We don't know that. There has been no information about the identification of the man, no information about his motivations. That would all come later.

The police sort of operate on priorities, and I'm sure we all understand that, where the first thing they want to do is just to end the problem. And the remnant of the problem is that those two bags that are sitting up there at west front of the Capitol that we're watching, we're waiting for them to be -- how shall we say delicately...

PHILLIPS: All right. We still have you with us, right, Bob?

FRANKEN: That's correct.

PHILLIPS: OK. We lost the signal there for a second. But we still have that live shot going right now.

Sort of put in perspective for us where we are, where we're looking at these suitcases. Where on -- exactly on Capitol Hill, and of course, if the offices behind where these suitcase are going to be blown up. I'm assuming that everyone has been evacuated from those offices in that area?

FRANKEN: They've been -- they've been warned in those offices to expect an explosion. Not been evacuated, just being told to stay away from the windows, which, of course, would be the big problem right now.

The offices include those that face out on the west side of the Capitol where the bags are. It is a side that is normally populated, particularly this time of year, by any number of tourists who are taking in the splendor.

By the way, we've just been told by the police officer who's being remarkably cooperative with us, that we have about a minute. So I'm going to stop talking in about 15 seconds.

In any case, the offices include the Senate minority leader, majority leader and the speaker of the House. They are the ones that face this part of the building.

I think right now we just have to wait and see now whether they explode both of them at once or just one at a time.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll slowly watch. If you're just tuning in, live pictures right now of the situation that happened a couple hours ago, a bit of a bizarre and brief standoff. A man walked onto Capitol Hill property with these two suitcases. He was -- authorities thought that he was suspicious.

He stood there and the SWAT team came in and took him down, left the suitcases there, but those suitcases evidently have been X-rayed by the bomb squad, Bob Franken saying that the determination, there you go. Looks like they both, Bob...

FRANKEN: Looks like they blew up both of them.

PHILLIPS: Both of them. OK. I didn't know if one hit the other.

FRANKEN: One or both? One or both? I'm talking to the police officer.

PHILLIPS: Go ahead and ask them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Looks like both of them are laying on their side right now. I said both of them are laying on their side right now.

FRANKEN: OK. Both of them are lying on their side right now. The police officer who is operating with binoculars next to me, the one who gave me the information, says it looks like they may have blown both of them up. I believe I heard two blasts.

So now the next thing would be, of course, that the hazmat people would slowly make their way in there and take them away.

PHILLIPS: Are they going to move in -- so they will move in slowly and take them away and find out what's inside. I mean, obviously, they didn't completely destroy the suitcases. So was this sort of to take an extra precaution, in case there might have been something there they didn't expect? And now are they going to open them up and look at the contacts, because they're not obliterated?

FRANKEN: No, no, first of all, we're now being told that they only blew up one of them, although it sounded to me from here like two blasts. So we're waiting for the second one. Am I correct, just one of them?

I'm getting a shrug right now from one of the police officers here. But in any case, the original plan, we were told, was to blow up one of them and then the other one. I emphasize that the reason to do that would be that a decision had been made that there was nothing of a lethal or dangerous nature inside the bags that could, if it got airborne for instance, cause harm to the people around or that could explode and cause more severe damage than just the small charge that was in the bags itself.

As you can see the explosion, that little blast that they had caused no further result. But again, they want to move very closely. There are just so many possibilities that there could be a booby trap or anything like that. I think probably the most singular characteristic of a hazmat team as it does nothing very quickly. It does everything extremely deliberately. So now we just have to wait for them to deal with the second package.

PHILLIPS: We're going to look at -- look at that explosion in slow-mo once again, Bob. Explain to me why -- why blow them up? If they -- if the bomb squad determined that there was nothing in there that was dangerous, then why -- why blow them up?

FRANKEN: An abundance of caution. They're not particularly interested in saving the bags. They've decided that they need to be completely destroyed so there's no chance at all that there is anything remaining that they didn't know about. So that's why they do it. It's just another way of disposing of them, and quite a final way.

Now, by the way, the sound of the second blast that we thought we heard was really just an echo of the first one. So now we're being told only one was blown up, and we'll wait to see if we get a cue about when the second one is disposed of. But you tell looking at the bags.

PHILLIPS: Sure. Well...

FRANKEN: That they're not -- that they're not -- go ahead.

PHILLIPS: Yes, no, you're right, because we were watching it. It looks like the other one just got knocked over by the first one.

Now let me ask you this, Bob. If -- now let's say that this man -- what deemed this man a threat in the first place? Because let's say he just looked bizarre. He rolled out here with these two suitcases. And what if there's nothing in the suitcases and by blowing them up, does that hurt or help his case? You would think you want to see what's inside in there in order to even have a case against this man.

And what charges are pressing against him? Is it trespassing? Is it -- kind of recap a little bit from the very beginning about how they thought he was a threat in the first place.

FRANKEN: First of all, let's not forget the security level here at Capitol. They do not mess around here for reasons we can all understand. The United States Capitol is one of the most prominent buildings in the world, and in the wake of September 11, and some fears, by the way, that maybe it was targeted, the security here is incredibly tight. So No. 1.

No. 2, the moment you hear the terms "suspicious package," that will immediately bring the police in, and they will treat this suspicious package as if it's a dangerous package.

In this particular case, they saw the man with the two suitcases. He had no real reason under normal circumstances to be standing at that fountain with the packages. And he just stood there.

Obviously, the police felt that he was intentionally looking menacing and they wanted to take no chances. So while they gave an impression of wanting to talk to him, what they were really doing, as we've seen from the video, was sneaking up behind him.

And they wasted no time. They tackled him to the ground in ways that probably would make the NFL proud and dragged him away to an ambulance at first. Quickly determined that he wasn't injured and then took him on his way to the jail that they have here. They have their own jail in the Capitol.

And they're processing him now. I don't want to speculate on what the charges would be, but obviously, this is something they take very seriously.

What follows after that is that they need to make sure that there is nothing in those packages -- there's nothing in those packages or those suitcases that would be dangerous. So in any case what they've done, what they've done is is they've begun the process -- begun the process of disposing of them.

PHILLIPS: All right.

FRANKEN: Kyra, I'm not sure that I'm able to hear you right now.

PHILLIPS: OK, can you hear me, Bob? Can you hear me all right, Bob?

OK. We'll try and establish contact with Bob. But at this point, what you're seeing is basically everything has come to an end there in front of the U.S. Capitol.

A suspicious man with two suitcases were in front of this fountain here at the Capitol. He has been taken down by the SWAT team. He's now in custody being questioned by authorities.

The two suitcases that were checked out by the bomb squad, X- rayed, decided they weren't of a legitimate threat. They blew them up. That's standard operating procedure.

There's sort of an idea where the fountain is with regard to the front entrance there of the U.S. Capitol and where this all happened. We'll bring you more on this suspect, why he was there, why he had the suitcases and if indeed it was a simple protest with nothing inside those suitcases.

But as Bob Franken said since 9/11, they don't just can't take any chances there. If indeed there could have been bombs inside those suitcases, it could have become a bigger threat or a bigger problem. We're following the story for you -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Keeping track of a lot of things today. We've been watching New Jersey, about 50 miles outside of Irvington, New Jersey, a particular parking lot, a particular car. A silver vehicle that has been the focus of police attention.

Some news to tell you about it, in essence, the two hostages in this case have been released.

CNN's Deborah Feyerick -- Feyerick has been watching this for us from our New York news room, as we look at live pictures from our affiliate, WABC.

Deborah, as best you know, one person is in there, and that would be Almutah Saunders, correct?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Correct. And that is the man who abducted the woman and the child early this morning, about nine hours ago. So this isn't over just yet. But at least what we do know is that the woman and a baby girl did get out of that car after about a nine-hour ordeal.

The mom came from the back seat. She walked towards the police vehicles. Her shoulders were hunched. She was cradling the baby on her shoulder. She did not look back at the car, but she just sort of went to the police cruiser, scrambled into the seat, and that police cruiser took out -- took off out of that complex. That's what we heard.

But again the suspect there, Almutah Saunders, he is in the driver's seat. He is still there. Our understanding is that he still has a pistol with him, and so police still negotiating. It's not over just yet. But the woman and the child are safe. So at least that part this drama has ended -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: Deborah, we have no idea what made the break there, what persuaded Saunders to release his 4-month-old child and the mother of that child, I presume at this point. But obviously this changes the equation very much as far as how you handle this situation?

FEYERICK: Well, absolutely, because now even members of the SWAT team, if he came out of the car firing, for example, they could rush the car, you know, very easily. That is not likely to happen.

However, now that the mom and the child are out of there, and they're safe, now it takes it to a whole new level. And that suspect has to make a decision as to what he wants to do.

He does have a criminal record. We don't know what the details of that criminal record are, and whether he expected this to be blown into the proportion that it got into. He's certainly probably thinking what his options are at this time -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: But to underscore, the woman and the 4-month-old child safe and sound. All right. Thank you, Deborah Feyerick.

Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Good news to tell you about in that standoff in New Jersey. You are seeing pictures here from not long ago. The mother and the 4-month-old baby that were being held hostage by the baby's father have been released. The negotiation, obviously, went forward, good news to report.

Negotiator did his job well. Able to make contact with that suspect, and Jada Saunders and her mother, Erika Turner, released from that silver Honda where they were being held hostage for about four hours after the father of that child shot the grandfather, allegedly shot grandfather and took off, causing an Amber Alert which turned into a police chase, and then this standoff, police right now dealing with the suspect there at scene. Meanwhile, mom and baby have been released. Good news.

O'BRIEN: Glad to report that, and on that note, let's call it a day. Shall we? That's all the time we have from LIVE FROM.

PHILLIPS: A lot going on today.

O'BRIEN: Yes. It's been a wild day.

PHILLIPS: Judy Woodruff is going to pick it up from here with "INSIDE POLITICS." Hopefully it will be a little more calm for you, Judy.

JUDY WOODRUFF, HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Thank you very much, Kyra and Miles. Thank you.

Well, the House majority leader continues to come under fire, this time from a member of his own party. We'll look at the battle facing Congressman Tom DeLay.

Also today, could those involved learn a thing or two from past congressional ethical problems? Our Bruce Morton looks back at other leaders who have faced political peril.

Plus the president sits down with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. We'll look at what's in store for the Middle East peace process when "INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: New heat on the House majority leader. A fellow Republican says Tom DeLay should step down. Is he a lone GOP voice or the first to open a floodgate?

The president's choice for U.N. ambassador faces senators and gets his own words thrown back at him. SEN. JOE BIDEN (D), DELAWARE: I'm surprised that the nominee wants the job that he's been nominated for, given his many negative things he had to say about the U.N.

ANNOUNCER: Can Democrats doom John Bolton's nomination?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the next great president of the United States of America, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

ANNOUNCER: Democrats build up the buzz about Hillary Clinton in 2008, while some Republicans work to stop her sooner rather than later.

Now, live from Washington, "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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