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CIA's 'Dusty' Foggo's Home and Office Searched by Law Enforcement
Aired May 12, 2006 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now investigators at this home, the home of CIA's outgoing executive director Kyle Dusty Foggo. It's a developing story that we've been following about CIA's third ranging official being investigated.
Carol Lin, what do we know to this point?
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We know right now that is a live picture. You see the van outside. There were people, law enforcement agents, loading up things in this van. There was a trash can present there at the scene. Investigators are going both to Dusty Foggo's home here in Virginia. They are also going to be serving field search warrants on Dusty Foggo's CIA office. The is a man who was appointed to his office, the third-ranking guy at the CIA. He was appointed by Porter Goss, who was resigned last week, and subsequently, this past Monday, Foggo resigned his position.
The reason why there is a criminal investigation going on right now. He's being investigated by the CIA, and the IRS and the CIA inspector general. There is a question about whether he awarded a very lucrative contract to one of his high school bodies, Brent Wilkes, who's been implicated in a case where -- a bribery scandal that involved a U.S. Congressman, who is now serving prison time, Kyra. So they want to see what involvement there is in awarding illegal contracts.
PHILLIPS: All right, Carol, we're of course going to follow these live pictures and indeed see if we can get any information about what those investigators get from his home. Meanwhile, you mentioned a number of names, from Foggo to Cunningham to Wilkes. These are names known in Washington, but not necessarily to the rest of America. So who are they? and why should you care what they're up to?
CNN's John Roberts is on that case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first investigation was launched by the CIA's inspector general, looking into whether Dusty Foggo did anything wrong in awarding a contract to his longtime friend, defense contractor Brent Wilkes. The deal, to provide water and other household item for CIA personnel in war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, was worth some $2.4 million.
Foggo and Wilkes were also poker buddies, attending games that Wilkes had set up in hospital suites at the Watergate Hotel and Westin Grand in Washington.
Clark Kent Irvin was an inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, FMR. DHS INSPECTOR GENERAL: Often where there's smoke, there's fire. And certainly I think we've seen over the course of the last few years a lot of corruption in Washington, needless to say, and because we're talking about, not just any departments, but intelligence communities, particularly important that we take this seriously and investigate it thoroughly.
ROBERTS: Through the CIA spokeswoman, Foggo insists he did nothing wrong, that government contracts for which he was responsible were properly awarded and administered. Foggo added that if he attended occasional card games with friends over the years, they were that and nothing more.
But Foggo's problems don't end there. The FBI is also interested in him as it investigates outstanding issues in the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal. The feds want to know what Foggo's former relationship was with Wilkes, who is described as an unindicted coconspirator in the case of the disgraced Congressman.
According to another suspect in the investigation, Mitchell Wade, who was cooperating with the FBI, Wilkes hired a car service to pick up prostitutes for Cunningham and drive them to the Watergate or the Westin hospitality suites. An attorney for Wilkes Told "The Wall Steet Journal," his client had nothing to do with the prostitutes.
Foggo says he never witnessed any prostitutes at the poker games he attended, and that any suggestions to the contrary would be quote, "false, outrageous and irresponsible."
The car service, Shirlington Limousine, which shows this Virginia townhouse as its address, also denies any involvement with prostitutes. That point is significant, because any wrongdoing could jeopardize a $1.2 million contract Shirlington holds with the Department of Homeland Security to provide employee shuttle busses and executive limousines. It got the contract despite the fact its CEO, Chris Baker, has a criminal record.
Does that surprise the former inspector general of DHS.
ERVIN: It surprises me in the sense that this kind of thing shouldn't happen in any department, especially the Department of Homeland Security. On the other hand, the record of that department is very lax when it comes to vetting backgrounds, so in a way I'm not surprised.
ROBERTS: But DHS officials insist it's nothing out of the ordinary. They checked the background of drivers, but not company officials. And they praised Shirlington for performing with, quote, "utmost professionalism."
And this investigation may go beyond the FBI and CIA. There are allegations that other members of Congress attended poker games and used hospitality suites and hookers. With ethics a potent election- year issue, house Democrats are pushing their Republican colleagues to open up a wider...
ROBERTS: that other members of Congress attended poker games and used the hospitality suites and hookers. With ethics a potent election year issue, House Democrats are pushing their Republican colleagues to open up a wider probe into what they call the, quote, "unparalleled corruption of Duke Cunningham."
John Roberts, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Want to show you those live pictures once again. Authorities right there at the home of Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. These live pictures coming to us from our affiliate WTTG, Vienna, Virginia, not far from his office there at the CIA in Langley, Virginia.
Right now under a sealed warrant officials are searching his home and his office as he is -- or he remains under investigation by the FBI, the IRS, the Defense Criminal Investigation Service and, of course, the CIA's inspector general. We will stay on top of this story throughout day.
Now another top story, terrible but not terrorism. Authorities in Nigeria say it doesn't appear today's catastrophic pipeline explosion was deliberate. Between 150 and 200 people may be dead now in that blast just outside the main city of Lagos.
Poor people often tap into Nigeria's pipelines to get fuel for cooking or to sell on the black market. Well, those ruptures can ignite and that's what has believed to have happened there today.
They were born during the last big oil crisis in the 1970s. Today the Strategic Petroleum Reserves are a mostly unseen insurance policy against future supply problems. So why are you still paying $2.95 for gas? Our Sean Callebs digs around on the Louisiana coast.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With the amount of money we're paying for a gallon of gasoline, some consumers may be looking toward the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to perhaps bring the prices down a bit. Well, experts say, think again.
The SPR was started back in 1975 after the Arab oil embargo. At that time, gas prices were skyrocketing out of control. Now, the SPR was established for a crisis and the experts say today's prices really don't measure up, do not constitute an emergency.
Now, the four Strategic Petroleum Reserves are actually set up along the Gulf states and they're built over salt domes, and the engineering involved is brilliant in its simplicity. Manmade caverns are carved into those salt domes and then as much as 10 million barrels of oil can be stored inside those domes.
Now all told, before SPR sites store about 700 million barrels of oil. It may seem like an awful lot, but the experts tell us that's only enough to keep the U.S. operating for a little more than a month.
Sean Callebs, CNN, in New Orleans.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: You don't know who they are, and unless you are famous, you don't even notice they exist -- in restaurants, on highways in unmarked cars. Just ahead, we'll give you a peek inside the world the Hollywood paparazzi as they go "Chasing Angelina."
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PHILLIPS: Right now, live pictures once again from our affiliate WTTG out of Washington, D.C. This is actually Vienna, Virginia, the home of this man that you see on your screen. The CIA's outgoing executive director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, under a sealed warrant. Officials right now are searching his home, in addition to his office at the CIA's Langley, Virginia headquarters.
As you know, if you have been watching CNN, he's been under investigation by the FBI, the IRS, Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the CIA's inspector general, being tied to Duke Cunningham. You know that Congressman out of San Diego that had been arrested for corruption now showing ties to this man, the third ranking individual in the CIA, outgoing executive director.
As you know Porter Goss, his boss, resigned just a week ago. So we're on the story. We have a producer, actually, that has just arrived there, Eric Feagel (ph), and we'll get him on the phone as soon as he gets new details for us.
Meanwhile the manhunt in the mountains, the Great Smoky Mountains of east Tennessee where police hope that they are closing in on a man who is suspected of killing a cop. Roane County Deputy Bill Jones died last night along with a friend who was riding in the police car.
Both men were shot to death, supposedly, allegedly by two brothers, one of whom is in custody. The other, identified as Leon Houston, is still out there. Police say he's probably armed and we're keeping an eye out for developments.
Another legal tangle on the sidelines of the Duke University rape case. A key defense witness has been arrested on an outstanding warrant that's not related to the alleged sexual assault that has polarized the city of Durham, North Carolina.
Moez Mostafa is a taxi driver who supports one suspect's alibi. That warrant is for shoplifting back in 2003. He says the shoplifter was a woman in his cab whom he helped police track down and who eventually pleaded guilt to larceny.
Well, paid to pound the pavement, sometimes at high speeds in search of stars. There's an underground world that most of us are barely aware of as we move through our noncelebrity lives: the paparazzi. They're fast, they're sly and they're in perpetual pursuit of famous faces.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A couple of the guys were doing the stakeout at Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's house in Malibu, and apparently Jolie is on the move.
PHILLIPS (voice-over): The hunt is on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to get on the 405 and go 405 south.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you still south PCH?
PHILLIPS: The prey? Red-hot actress Angelina Jolie.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'll be there. Just keep me updated.
PHILLIPS: Then, a 26-year-old photographer who works for one of the biggest paparazzi agencies in Hollywood, Bauer-Griffin. He's asked us not to use his last name.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Probably nothing. There's absolutely nothing. I'm coming behind you. No cops anywhere.
The 405 is right here. The 10 is going to be right here. And she's like right here on the 10 going this way.
I'm trying to catch up as fast as I can, Ralph (ph). Give me your location. You guys pass West Channel yet?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No we're on 18th (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Copy that.
PHILLIPS: Ben is coordinating with two other paparazzi from his agency hot on Angelina's tail. He finally catches up, but he's on the wrong side of the freeway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's all the competition right there.
Copy that. I just saw you guys go by.
That is funny.
PHILLIPS: Paparazzi aren't the only ones desperately seeking Angelina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's not fitting into her clothes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not fitting into her clothes. PHILLIPS: Well, that happens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her body. She hates the hormones ranging. She's very uncomfortable.
PHILLIPS: "Star" magazine's Bonnie Fuller is chasing down any salacious tidbits on the actress, her Hollywood hunk boyfriend and the girl next door she left behind.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like, this Jennifer is turning into hypnosis.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Therapy to get over Brad? That's fabulous.
I mean, how can you not be nosy about people that are fascinating to look at, as A Jen, a Brad and an Angelina. How can you not?
PHILLIPS: Over at "People" magazine, managing editor, Larry Hackett is salivating over a scoop Jolie's camp is promising.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the call in the morning that something was going to be discussed, and then I got the call about what was being discussed. I was thrilled.
PHILLIPS: And Mark Lisanti, the blogger behind the Internet gossip site, defamer.com, is snarking about official word that Angelina is pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But once you get a publicist real name on something, you know, it then becomes reality and we could all rejoice and start knitting the baby booties.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Well, the celebrity is on, and the target is Angelina Jolie. As the world awaits the birth of baby Brangelina, "CNN PRESENTS" takes viewers on a wild ride during the paparazzi's pursuit of the red-hot actress. Tune in this Saturday and Sunday 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. Eastern.
The news keeps coming. We'll keep bringing it to you. More LIVE FROM coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
PHILLIPS: Federal agents searching the office and home of the man who just resigned his post as the CIA's number-three guy. We have a producer on the scene, the latest information as our LIVE FROM continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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