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Tom DeLay Steps Aside After Indictment

Aired September 28, 2005 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle just moments ago talking to reporters about the Tom DeLay indictment. Let's listen in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RONALD EARLE, TRAVIS CO., TEXAS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: ... eight years in the state jail a fine of up to $10,000. Thus far, in this investigation that began following the November 2002 Texas state elections, there have been 41 indictments carrying a total of 81 counts returned.

The Texas Association of Business, Texans for Republican Majority Political Action Committee, eight corporations and four individuals have been indicted. Four of those cases have been resolved.

Be happy to answer any questions.

QUESTION: Is this the last resort because you couldn't connect into the day-to-day operations at TRMPAC?

EARLE: I can't comment on matters that will later be matters of evidence.

QUESTION: Will there be any other indictments against Mr. DeLay or anyone else? Or is this the end of it?

EARLE: We are -- the investigation is continuing.

This grand jury, the grand jury that issued these indictments, leaves office today.

QUESTION: You're not expecting anything else from them before?

EARLE: I beg your pardon?

QUESTION: Before they actually leave, do you expect anything else from them?

EARLE: No. I think this grand jury's left the building.

QUESTION: Will another grand jury be looking into these matters?

EARLE: That's entirely possible.

QUESTION: Mr. Brittain has said this is a (INAUDIBLE) indictment. EARLE: Well, I don't have any comment on that.

QUESTION: The indictments of Colyandro and Ellis are very specific about the actions they took in making this money exchange. What role did Mr. DeLay actually have in facilitating that money exchange?

EARLE: Well -- and this is all in the indictment -- criminal conspiracy in this context means that a person with the intent that a felony be committed agree with two or more persons that, like in this case, the corporate contributions be made, and one or more of them performs an overt act in pursuance of the agreement.

QUESTION: What proof do you have that Mr. DeLay communicated with these guys or made any kind of conspiracy with them? I'm reading the indictment; I don't see it.

EARLE: You wouldn't see that because those are issues of evidence that will be presented at the trial.

QUESTION: So it hasn't been proved yet?

EARLE: Well, the indictment is an allegation; it's not proof.

QUESTION: Mr. Eagle, you've had, kind of, a mixed record with regards to indictments against political figures in the past. What do you feel about this time around? Are you confident or not confident or?

EARLE: Well, the law says that the duty of the prosecuting attorney is not to convict but to see that justice is done.

We have over the years prosecuted a number of elected officials. At last count, that total stood at 15, 12 of whom were Democrats and three of whom were Republicans.

Our job is to prosecute against abuses power. And our job is to bring those abuses to the attention of the public through juries. And that's what we do when we find a violation of the law.

QUESTION: How many convictions out of that 15?

EARLE: I don't know off the top of my head. Most of them were convicted. There have only been a couple of cases where convictions were not obtained. Those were high-profile cases, but only a couple of cases where convictions were not obtained.

QUESTION: Did you seek money-laundering charges or an indictment on money-laundering charges against Mr. DeLay? And if not, why?

EARLE: The grand jury returned the indictments that the grand jury felt were appropriate to the evidence that was presented in this case.

QUESTION: Earlier, you had been quoted talking about whether or not you had jurisdiction against Mr. DeLay. For those people who don't get to read (INAUDIBLE) locally can you just, kind of, explain for us (INAUDIBLE) to where we are now?

EARLE: Well, I'll make this very brief. The election code places jurisdiction in the county of the residence of the accused. Criminal conspiracy is a penal code offense. It has a different jurisdictional requirement. That requirement provides this office with jurisdiction.

QUESTION: So did you not have evidence before that you might have gotten in last week to allow the grand jury to (OFF-MIKE)?

EARLE: As I've said, I can't get into evidentiary matters.

QUESTION: There have been commentaries on television (INAUDIBLE) that a conspiracy charge is sort of a last resort charge for a prosecutor. Any comments on that?

EARLE: Our job is to enforce the law as written.

QUESTION: Based on what you know about how the money was raised and how it was used, if these allegations prove to eventually be true, will the Republican leadership in the House and the congressional delegation that came from redistricting be illegitimate?

EARLE: That is an issue that I think another court has either ruled on or may rule on in the future, and I would have not have any comment on that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Travis County D.A. Ronnie Earle, addressing reporters there just a few moments ago. He's talking about Representative Tom DeLay. As you know, he has stepped aside as House majority leader following his indictment today by a Texas grand jury over allegations that he broke state campaign finance laws by steering corporate contributions to legislative candidates back in 2002.

We want to bring in chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. Candy, maybe we should give a little context to the D.A. here. A Democrat. He's been investigating whether donations to this organization has been going on for sometime. And, of course, DeLay's spokesperson coming forward saying he is basically on a witchhunt. Why don't you lay it all out for us here after you listen to this?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very hard to take the politics out of this. You do have a very outspoken Democratic prosecutor. He has, however, also prosecuted Democrats, and we should say that. He has been looking into this for sometime.

Essentially, the conspiracy charge stems from an organization that DeLay helped set up in Texas. In Texas, corporations are not allowed to give money to state people who are running for the state legislature. The charges that DeLay was involved in a conspiracy which took money from corporations, the Senate to Washington to the RNC, which then sent back an equal amount in individual donations, which DeLay then gave to the state lawmakers. That's the conspiracy charge.

What's really interesting, the back story on this is that Tom DeLay is an enormously successful politician. He -- if not single- handedly, he has been the spearhead in a movement which began in Texas, which was a very Democratic state with when Tom DeLay was first elected to the state legislature there. Over time, he has able to give money to Republican candidates in the state. The state legislature turns Republican, with a Republican legislature. They then draw up new jurisdictions. With those new jurisdictions become -- the congressional delegation here in Washington, becomes Republican. Tom DeLay picks up six more seats as a result of this. And guess what? He becomes majority leader eventually. So

he has been -- it's really hard to underestimate Tom DeLay's role in Texas politics and in national politics and all of this stems from early on, when he was funding those state lawmakers, trying to help the Texas legislature turn Republican.

PHILLIPS: All right, now let's address this conspiracy charge, and, you know, D.A. Ronnie Earle coming forward, saying look, my job is to prosecute abuses of power. Then he was asked about evidence. He didn't want to answer that question. So what do we know, Candy, about Tom DeLay and evidence that exists that led to this indictment?

CROWLEY: Well, you know, very little about it, as a matter of fact. And that's -- thus, the questions. We do know that the DeLay people are pushing back very hard. Tom DeLay's lawyer has said, you know, already there's sort of a skunk of an indictment. They haven't seen the evidence.

Conspiracy, as I -- and Jeffrey Toobin is a lot better at this than I am -- is one of those charges that is a little easier to make and is a lot of legal people tell me this is what you do, it's kind of, you know, when you don't get them on direct -- on a direct charge, such as you personally did this. But you were part of a plan to do something illegal.

Both of these things involve Tom DeLay's fundraising mechanisms that he launched in Texas. So as for the exact evidence of the conspiracy, perhaps they have flipped someone that used to be with Tom DeLay. It's one of those things we're going to have to wait and see what the grand jury indicted him on.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. And Jeff Toobin did point that out, Candy, absolutely. It will be interesting to see what happens. Candy Crowley, our chief political correspondent. Thanks so much.

Straight ahead, relief and extremely high-priced cruise ships brought in to house evacuees, but costing millions of dollars. Is the government being overcharged? We're going to talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: I'm Brooke Anderson in Hollywood. The Dixie Chicks are joining the long list of celebrities pitching in on to help hurricane survivors. And "Will and Grace" live. I'll have all the entertainment news from Hollywood, when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: I'm Brooke Anderson with the entertainment news.

Well, she's been on daytime and late night talk shows, but this is the first time the first lady will be on a reality TV show. First Lady Laura Bush is making her debut on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Mrs. Bush flew to Biloxi, Mississippi, yesterday -- you see her there -- to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina. As the film crew followed to capture her every moment, she joined "Extreme Makeover" designer Preston Sharp at relief shelters. They handed out hugs, of course, and supplies, including clothes and mattresses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Debris, the amount of debris that you know includes people's -- all of the items that people own. Their scrapbooks, their pictures, the things that really meant something to them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: That episode of "Home Edition" will air sometime in November.

(MUSIC)

ANDERSON: The Dixie Chicks are crooning for a good cause. They have a new tune called "I Hope." It's available online to benefit hurricane relief charities, including Habitat for Humanity. This song was performed earlier this month on the shelter from the storm telethon.

Also involved in that telethon, actress Jennifer Garner. She fielded phone calls. And last night on "The Tonight Show," Garner was telling Jay Leno about that experience. But she slipped up and gave a secret about whether she and her husband Ben Affleck are expecting a boy or a girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER GARNER, ACTRESS: The camera is on, and I have never felt so pregnant! And I sat there and first I felt bad, just because I wasn't helping. And then I felt just bigger and bigger like she - oops.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: She handled it well. Got a great sense of humor. The baby girl is reportedly due around Christmas.

And the stars of "Will and Grace" are ready to give birth to their eighth and final season, with a show first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What -- what do you guys have planned for Thursday night?

DEBRA MESSING, ACTRESS: Live!

WILL MCCORMACK, ACTOR: It's really, really live. It's live like an awards show, which is exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: That's right. For this Thursday' premiere, "Will and Grace" will be live on both coasts. The cast says they'll just laugh through any mistakes, and are looking toward to making a few changes for the West Coast performance. And we will look forward to that.

And that's a wrap for entertainment news. More LIVE FROM coming up right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Just got the two minute warning. Tom DeLay did make a statement. We're going to have that for you, obviously, in just about two minutes. As you know, the House majority leader is accused of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws in his home state of Texas. That single-count indictment, the latest product of a long investigation swirling around DeLay's political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority.

Chief political correspondent, Candy Crowley, of course, following this. I wonder if his statement will be as juicy as his attorney. You heard Bill White come forward saying that this indictment is like a dead skunk in the middle of the road. It stinks to high heaven, Candy.

CROWLEY: No, but I'm told via Ted Barrett (ph) anyway that he will call it a sham. It is very clear that Republicans, those who will stand up behind Tom DeLay and Tom DeLay himself are going to say this is a political indictment, this is about politics, this is about success. It's not about any criminality. So I expect the totality of the statement will be along those lines saying look, this is a sham and here is why.

PHILLIPS: And you said, of course, politics cannot be taken out of this. Travis County D.A. Ronnie Earle saying he's got the evidence. Didn't go into detail, but he says he has it. Here comes the statement. Candy, is this the statement? Is he stepping up to the mic? No, he's not. OK. The lack thereof, I guess we should say, of evidence or at least we haven't heard about the evidence to this point?

CROWLEY: Not to this point, and that is certainly the line or those around DeLay is that there can be no evidence of this because this did not happen, that everything they did was legal -- I mean, I don't know if you've ever seen campaign finance laws, but they are many.

PHILLIPS: They're very complicated.

CROWLEY: They are a multitude.

PHILLIPS: Yes, very complicated.

CROWLEY: They are loopholed. There is all kinds of things in campaign finance laws. And we're talking about state campaign finance laws. So this will be interesting, probably not your big, sexy trial but one very closely watched.

PHILLIPS: Here we go, Candy. Let's listen to the statement.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Great (ph) news today. Just another day at the office. Good afternoon. Thank you all for attending.

This morning, in an act of blatant, political partisanship, a rogue district attorney in Travis County, Texas, named Ronnie Earle, charged me with one count of criminal conspiracy a reckless charge wholly unsupported by the facts. This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham and Mr. Earle knows it.

It's a charge that cannot hold up even under the most glancing scrutiny. This act is the product of a coordinated, premeditated campaign of political retribution, the all too predictable results of a vengeful investigation led by a partisan fanatic.

Mr. Earle is abusing the power of his office to exact personal revenge for the role I played in the Texas Republican legislative campaign in 2002, and my advocacy for a new, fair, and constitutional congressional map for our state in 2003.

As it turned out, those efforts were successful. Texas Republicans did, indeed, win a legislative majority. A fair and representative congressional map was drawn and it was approved by the legislature.

And the Texas Congressional delegation Now, after the 2004 elections, fairly represents the values and attitudes of the people of the State of Texas. Over the course of this long and bitter political battle, it became clear that the retribution for our success would be ferocious. Today, that retribution is being exacted.

Mr. Earle, an unabashed partisan zealot, with a well documented history of launching baseless investigations and indictments against his political enemies, has been targeting a political action committee on whose advisory board I once served.

During his investigation, he has gone out of his way to give several media interviews in his office, the only days he actually comes to the office, I'm told. In which he has singled me out for personal attacks in direct violation of his public responsibility to conduct an impartial inquiry. Despite his long-standing animosity toward me, and the abusive investigation that animosity has unfortunately rendered, as recently as two weeks ago, Mr. Earle, himself, publicly admitted I had never been a focus or target of his inquiry.

Soon, thereafter, Mr. Earle's hometown newspaper ran a biting editorial about his investigation, rhetorically asking what the point had been after all, if I wasn't to be indicted. It was this renewed political pressure in the waning days of his hollow investigation that led to this morning's action, political pressure that also came from Democrat leaders.

In accordance with the rules of the House, -- in accordance with the rules of the House Republican Conference, I will temporarily step aside as fore leader in order to win exoneration from these baseless charges.

Now, let me be very, very clear. I have done nothing wrong. I have violated no -- I have violated no law, no regulation, no rule of the House. I have done nothing unlawful, unethical or, I might add, unprecedented, even in the political ...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Apologize for that. We were actually listening at a taped statement that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay had put together. Not quite sure what happened there with our connection. We'll work on that.

But we'll bring in Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley once again. She was listening also. And, Candy, I just was making a list here. He was not holding back -- reckless charge, a sham, premeditated abuse of power, calling the D.A. "an unabashed partisan zealot." All right, I'm told we have the connection back. I apologize.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DELAY: ... committed to major legislature reforming our border security and immigration laws, alleviating the rising costs of gasoline and heating fuel before the winter and saving tens of billions of dollars through reforming federal entitlement programs.

My job right now is to serve my constituents and our nation in support of this ambitious and needed agenda. As for the charges, I have the facts, the law, and the truth on my side, just as I have against -- just as I have against every false allegation my opponents have flung at me over the last ten years.

Once exposed to the light of objective scrutiny, every one of their frivolous accusations against me has been dismissed and so will Mr. Earle's. Thank you very much for this opportunity to speak to you guys today. Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right. No Q&A there. Candy, bring you back in. Not holding back, that's for sure.

CROWLEY: No, no love lost I think we can say between Ronnie Earle and Tom DeLay. And this is clearly not just a legal defense here. This is a political defense. This is a huge hole that Tom DeLay is leaving here.

He's a Republican majority leader. He has really been the point man for the Bush administration. If the Bush administration wanted something, Tom DeLay was the guy that they went to get it done in passing legislation.

We know via our Hill reporters there will be a meeting at 3:00 Eastern time this afternoon, Kyra, of Republicans to vote for a replacement, a temporary replacement if Tom DeLay gets his way, for Tom DeLay. We know that there are a number of names out there, Congressman David Dreier of California apparently the choice for the speaker of the House.

But in many cases the Republican caucus has to vote on that. This is a huge -- right now, both a legal problem for Tom DeLay but a political problem for Republicans which they're going to have to grapple with, perhaps even into the 2006 campaign.

PHILLIPS: According to the indictment, Candy, $190,000 in corporate contributions to DeLay's organization were sent to national Republican party committees. Those committees were sent to GOP candidates in the 2002 legislative races which solidified Republican control of the legislature. That's according to the indictment. But Tom DeLay coming forward, plain and simple. I have done nothing wrong.

CROWLEY: But he doesn't deny that he in fact did do every -- I mean, the bottom line is that Tom DeLay was instrumental in getting the Republican legislature in Texas to turn Republican which then helped Republicans gain the majority here in Congress. So that part of it is agreed to by both sides. It's whether or not anything illegal was done.

PHILLIPS: Candy Crowley, thank you so much. No doubt you'll be talking about some more with Wolf Blitzer. That wraps up this Wednesday edition of LIVE FROM. I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Now, Wolf Blitzer live in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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