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Arrest Made in JonBenet Ramsey Murder; Bush Signs Pension Protection Act; Judge Rules Against NSA Wiretapping

Aired August 17, 2006 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, HOST: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
It's one of the most notorious cold cases, and it's hot again. An arrest in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. The suspect, the leads and the main question now. Is it the right man?

LIVE FROM starts right now.

From Boulder to Bangkok, a sudden arrest, a stunning admission and still more questions about the killing of JonBenet Ramsey and the man who says he was there.

Here's what we know right now. A 41-year-old American, John Mark Karr, is under arrest in Thailand. He tells reporters the death of JonBenet the day after Christmas 1996 was an accident.

The woman who's leading the latest investigation emphasizes Karr has not been charged and cautions there's much more work to be done. Police in Thailand announced the arrest of John Mark Karr and led him into a throng of reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN MARK KARR, ACCUSED OF MURDERING JONBENET RAMSEY: I loved JonBenet very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you just give us a brief statement, please?

KARR: I love JonBenet and she died accidentally.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you an innocent man? Are you an innocent man?

KARR: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened?

KARR: Her death was -- was an accident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you were in the basement?

KARR: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you tell us about your connection to the Ramsey family?

KARR: No comment on that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did you get into the basement to play with her?

KARR: No comment on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how -- how do you feel now? How are you being treated?

KARR: I'm being treated OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long had you known JonBenet?

KARR: No comment on that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, obsession, confession and now confusion. Has the 10-year-old murder of JonBenet Ramsey finally been solved? Not so fast. Even JonBenet's father is warning everybody not to get ahead of the legal process. Our Ed Lavandera is in Boulder where a cold case is hot news once again -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

Well, prosecutors here just a short while ago given ample opportunity to say that they were confident they had their man. They've arrested here, in the case of JonBenet Ramsey, a 10-year-old mystery.

But as you mentioned, prosecutors here being very, very cautious, repeatedly saying that they couldn't answer any questions about details of the evidence in this case. Not really going into much specifics outside of saying that John Karr had been arrested in Thailand. In fact, they say the investigation is still an ongoing process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY LACY, BOULDER, COLORADO, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I'm asking you, this morning, let us do our job thoroughly and carefully. The analysis of the evidence in this case continues on a day by day -- on an hour by hour basis, as we speak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: A couple of other important notes that I thought came out of this press conference a short while ago. The search warrant affidavit, the arrest warrant affidavit, usually those are documents that contain a lot of the details that really set up exactly what brought authorities to a particular person and evidence in the case.

Those documents, under seal. So perhaps that could change in the days ahead, as we wait for John Karr to be returned here to Colorado. But those -- it's hard to say at this point what will happen with those documents. And it doesn't appear that any kind of details coming from this prosecutor office, at least officially, will be coming our way any time soon -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed, a number of questions have been raised to whether this man is telling the truth or not. Are investigators or anybody there in that city on the scene, involved in this investigation, questioning that he may not have been involved at all?

LAVANDERA: You know, we -- you pose that question to folks who are here. And they just won't even get into it. So, yes, there's that kind of -- that questioning kind of starting to grow out of all this, with prosecutors here not being willing to answer many of the questions surrounding this case so far. So, you know, that's one of the thins that still lingers out there.

And of course if you're a defense attorney, that's exactly the kind of thing that you'd be saying.

PHILLIPS: Ed Lavandera, thanks so much.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of questions swirling around who this man is, what's his past been like, does he have a past record? And little by little, we've been learning more about him.

We want to get straight to Petaluma, California where John Mark Karr once lived. And our Dan Simon is there with actually new developments, possibly, on this man's sketchy background -- Dan.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, hi there, Kyra.

We are at the Santa Rosa courthouse, where I just received numerous court documents relating to John Karr's divorce back in 1991. And it has a declaration by his ex-wife, named Laura Karr. And one of the things she talked about, she mentioned that the reason why she filed for divorce back in 2001 is because she learned that her husband at the time was being investigated for possessing child pornography.

In the declaration, she also mentions that she married John Karr when she was only 16 years old and that he purposefully got her pregnant so they wouldn't have to get parental consent when they married in Georgia. That's an interesting detail right there.

It also mentions that, in 1997 or 1998, according to her own words in this declaration, that John Karr was asked, and I quote, "He was asked not to serve as a substitute teacher because he had a tendency to be too affectionate with the children."

She goes on to say, "I thought nothing of that statement until I was apprised of the current criminal proceedings."

And to put that in context this is back in 2001 when he was being investigated for possessing child pornography. She says, quote, "I had no idea of his Internet activities as they related to pornography. And certainly not his propensity to," quote, "kiddie porn." So we are learning some more details in terms of his background and his divorce, his divorce back in 2001 provides some additional information in terms of -- in terms of his background. We hope to get a lot more a bit later on for you, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And Dan, sort of an interesting twist. Petaluma, California, I mean, this was the hometown of Polly Klaas, remember, the young girl that was raped and murdered by Richard Allen Davis. Is there some sort of tie to why Karr might have been in this area? Do you know if he read up on that case? Was he interested in that at all?

SIMON: Well, I have heard some reports, and these are all unconfirmed, that he was interested in that case, along, of course, with the JonBenet Ramsey case. But in terms of why he was living here in Petaluma, I just can't speculate on that.

Of course, there was this criminal matter back in 2001, waiting for some more court documents relating to that. But we can also tell you that John Karr has three children. At the time, back in 2001, his wife got a restraining order so that he was no -- he was not allowed to visit his children, couldn't see them. Not sure if that's still in place or not, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Dan Simon, Petaluma, California, appreciate it, Dan. Now right now, John Mark Karr is being held in a Thai immigration center. His transfer back to the U.S. possibly as early as next week.

CNN international correspondent Atika Shubert is in Bangkok.

What are you hearing from there, Atika?

ATIKA SCHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Karr is actually being held in the detention center right behind me. He's being held under immigration custody here, not police custody, because they're trying to get him extradited to the U.S. as soon as possible.

You saw video earlier of that news conference he had. He also made a few other comments to Associated Press where he made some chilling remarks on how he tried to contact the Ramsey family. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARR: I contacted the Ramsey family, especially before Patricia passed away. And I conveyed to her many things, among them, that I am so very sorry for what happened to JonBenet.

It's very important for me that everyone knows that I love her very much and that her death was unintentional and it was an accident.

And I made several efforts to communicate with Patricia before she passed away. And it's my understanding that she did read my letters and she was aware of me before she passed away.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happened in the basement? KARR: It's -- it would take several hours to describe -- to describe that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you could be brief.

KARR: There's no way that I could be brief about -- there's no way I could be brief about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now, authorities say that he has not resisted the detention and that he is cooperating with officials. They are hoping to get him back to the U.S. as soon as possible. That could happen within the next few days. At the latest, within a week, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Atika, from what you know about the court, the system there, the jail system, the court system, whether he was tried there or back here in the United States. I'm assuming he would want to get back to the U.S., considering how things are handled.

SHUBERT: Well, in this case, what's been very interesting is that Thai authorities have cooperated very closely with American authorities. The American side tipped off Thai authorities here two months ago. And that's when they began their 24-hour surveillance of Karr.

When he was arrested yesterday, FBI officials were actually present at his arrest. And what's interesting to note is that they revoked his visa before the arrest. That puts it under the custody of immigration. And hat's an important thing to note, because all of the arrest warrant would have brought up on charges from Colorado, not from Thailand.

So there will be no prosecution of him here. They're really trying to get him back to the U.S. as soon as possible. And that comes from both governments.

PHILLIPS: Atika Shubert, thanks so much.

Well, John Mark Karr claims he's who done it, but a million "how dunnits" remain. How did he know JonBenet? How did he get into and out of the Ramseys' house? Did he act alone? Was he even in Boulder, Colorado, when the murder took place? CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin joins me now from New York.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I hope you weren't going to ask me to answer those questions.

PHILLIPS: Well, I was hoping that you would, knowing your background and your legal background. I'm looking for all the answers from you, Jeffrey Toobin.

TOOBIN: Well, Kyra, about the facts of the case, I mean it remains a tremendous mystery. There was this press conference if you could call it that, which the district attorney just held, where she said over and over again she couldn't discuss the facts of the case.

What she did say -- and I did think was interesting -- was why they brought the case down now, even though they still have more investigating to do. One, they knew he was in a job in Thailand where he was exposed to children, so they didn't want to have him abuse anyone else.

And second, they were afraid -- afraid he was going to flee. That was the strong implication of her statement.

So that's why they made the arrest. But in terms of what the evidence is that led them to bring this case now, I'm in the dark I've got to admit.

PHILLIPS: But why wouldn't they want to talk about specifics? I mean, you would -- there are so many things that have already leaked out, have been talked about, about these e-mails that he was writing to this professor who had done a documentary. And according to the e- mails, there were things that Karr knew that only somebody who was right there or involved would know.

Yet he admits to doing it. Then he backs off and says "no comment." You tend to wonder, was he really involved or could he be just someone who is dreaming of being involved?

TOOBIN: One reason why Mary Lacy didn't answer those questions, because she is worried about a motion, if and when this case goes to trial, a motion by the defense that says too much pretrial publicity. She doesn't want to have that problem.

PHILLIPS: Jeffrey Toobin, we'll be talking more.

TOOBIN: Sure.

PHILLIPS: We have to get straight to the president signing the Pension Protection Act. Let's listen in.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... while expanding opportunities for Americans to build their own nest eggs for retirement, and I'm really pleased to sign this bill into law.

I want to thank two members of my -- three members of my cabinet who have joined us today: Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, and the director of the OMB, Rob Portman. As an aside, while Portman served in Congress, he was the principal author of some of the important provisions of this bill.

I also want to thank members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives here. I welcome Senator Mike Enzi, who's the chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. I welcome Senator Blanche Lincoln from Arkansas.

I welcome Congressman John Boehner, House majority leader, who was instrumental in getting this bill passed, along with Buck McKeon, who's the chairman of the education and workforce committee; Congressman Bill Thomas, chairman of the ways and means committee, Congressman John Klein of Minnesota. Thank you all for coming. Thanks for coming back from your vacation.

Many Americans work for private companies that offer traditional pensions. And most of those companies are meeting their obligations to their employees and their retirees.

Yet some businesses are not putting away the cash they need to fund the pensions they promise to their workers. These companies get into financial trouble and go bankrupt. Their underfunded pension plans can leave some retirees with checks much smaller than the ones they were promised.

The federal government has created an insurance system for businesses offering private pensions. And that insurance is funded by premiums collected from these employers.

When some businesses fail to fund their pension plans and are unable to meet their obligations to their employees, it puts a strain on the entire system. If there's not enough money in the system to cover all the extra costs, American taxpayers could be called on to make up the shortfall.

Every American has an interest in seeing this system fixed, whether you're a worker at a company with an underfunded pension or a taxpayer who might get stuck with the bill.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 will help shore up our pension insurance system in several key ways. It requires companies who underfund their pension plans to pay additional premiums. It extends the requirement that companies who terminate their pensions must provide extra funding for the system.

This legislation insists that companies measure their obligations of their pension plans more accurately. It closes loopholes that allow underfunded plans to skip pension payments. It raises caps on the amounts that employers can put into their pension plans so they can add more money during good times and build up a cushion that can keep pensions solvent in lean times.

Finally, this legislation prevents companies with underfunded pension plans from digging the hole deeper by promising extra benefits to workers without paying those promises up front. The problem of underfunded pensions will not be eliminated overnight.

This bill establishes sound standards for pension funding. Yet, in the end, the primary responsibility rests with employers to fund the pension promises as soon as they can.

The message from this administration, from those of us up here today, is this. You should keep the promises you make to your workers. If you offer a private pension plan to your employees, you have a duty to set aside enough money now, so your workers will get what they've been promised when they retire.

In addition to reforming the laws governing traditional private pensions, the bill I sign today also contains provisions to help workers who save for retirement through defined contribution plans like IRAs and 401(k)s. These savings plans are helping Americans build a society of ownership and financial independence, and this legislation will make it easier for workers to participate in these plans.

It will remove barriers that prevent companies from automatically enrolling employees in these savings plans, ensure that workers have more information about the performance of their accounts, provide greater access to professional advice about investing safely for retirement, and give workers greater control over how their accounts are invested.

Finally, this bill makes permanent the higher contribution limits for IRAs and 401ks that we passed in 2001. And that will enable more workers to build larger nest eggs for retirement.

To ensure more secure retirement for all Americans, we've got more work to do. We must also prepare for the impact of the Baby Boomer generation's retirement and that -- what that impact will have on federal entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. As more Baby Boomers stop contributing payroll taxes and start collecting benefits -- people like me -- it will create an enormous strain on our programs.

Entitlement programs are projected to grow faster than the economy, faster than the population and faster than the rate of inflation. If we fail to act, spending on Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid will be almost 60 percent of the entire federal budget in the year 2030. And that's going to leave future generations with impossible choices: staggering tax increases, immense deficits or deep cuts in benefits.

We have an obligation to confront this problem now. The secretary of treasure understands what I'm telling the Congress. Now's the time to move. Now's the time to do our duty.

I'm going to continue to work with the Congress and call on the Congress to work with the administration to reform these programs so we can ensure a secure retirement for all Americans.

Today, we've taken an important step it toward assuring greater security for millions of American workers. I want to thank the House and the Senate for their good work on this vital legislation. It's been hard work. It took a lot of pages to write that bill, as you can see. But the members did good work. And now I'd ask them to join me as I sign into law the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

Thank you. Thank you, all.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's definitely not summer reading, but the pension law signed by President Bush, as you saw right there, could tell the story of your retirement. Will you live happily ever after or face one financial cliffhanger after another?

CNN personal finance editor Gerri Willis joins me now from New York.

Where should we start? What does it mean for our 401(k)s?

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Well, you know, Kyra, the bottom line here, I should say, first, is it puts more responsibility on you to save for your retirement, rather than on the government or your employer. And to those 401(k)s, you know, under the term of this bill, your company can automatically enroll you in a 401(k). Your contributions can be increased automatically every year by your employer, and you'll be able to increase how much you contribute to your 401(k)s and IRAs.

But one of the most controversial aspects of this bill is that it lets the plan provider chosen by your company to give investment advice to you. Now, many experts say that's a conflict of interest -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: What about traditional pension plans?

WILLIS: Well, this bill requires companies to put money into their pension plans so that these plans will be funded 100 percent. Bottom line here, more and more companies will have to freeze their pension plans.

The bill also lets companies change traditional pension plans into cash balance plans that inherently favor younger workers. Now, in cash balance plans, the employee has a set amount of money set aside by the employer every year.

In the traditional plan, your benefit is based on your age at retirement, your rate of pay, and the number of years you work. So the longer you worked at a company, the bigger the payout you had.

PHILLIPS: How about 529s and saving money for college?

WILLIS: That's a big goal of so many people. If you used 529 plans to save for college, these earnings will grow tax-free. The money can also be withdrawn tax-free.

This provision was set to expire in 2008. The pension bill also lets you contribute up to $2,000 to the Coverdell education savings account. Plus, you can now use Coverdell to pay for kindergarten and high school, not just college.

PHILLIPS: Gerri Willis, thanks so much.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

PHILLIPS: Well, it was a crime that shocked the nation. We're going to take a look back at the murder of JonBenet Ramsey and update you on the investigation.

Stay with CNN, the most trusted name in news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Warrantless and apparently unwarranted. A federal judge in Detroit today pulled the plug on those controversial government wiretaps of certain international phone calls and e-mails.

CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry joins me now with the latest on the decision -- Ed.

ED HENRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. In fact, this federal judge in Detroit declaring and ordering an immediate stop to the National Security Agency surveillance program.

This came out of Detroit, because the American Civil Liberties Union had filed a lawsuit there on behalf of journalists and scholars who had raised sharp questions, privacy concerns, about the program.

The ruling coming down from U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor. Republicans already pointing out this is a Carter appointee, an appointee back from a Democratic administration.

Nonetheless, the significance is clear. This is the second major slap directly at President Bush in terms of how he's conducting the war on terror in recent months.

Of course, you remember recently the U.S. Supreme Court declaring, in fact, the president does not have a blank check in conducting that war specifically on the issue of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

No official reaction yet from the White House. But just this past Monday, President Bush gave a full-throated defense of this terrorist surveillance program, the warrantless wiretapping, et cetera. The president connecting it directly to the British terror plot that was foiled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: Any time we get a hint that there might be a terror cell in the United States we move on it. And we -- we're listening. We're looking. And one thing that's important is for us to make sure that those people who are trying to disrupt terror cells in the United States have the tools necessary to do so within the Constitution of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: And, Kyra, we're just now getting reaction from the Republican speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, putting out a statement urging Democrats to support him in potentially finding, if necessary, a legislative fix so that the White House, the Congress, does not have to deal with all these various lawsuits scattered around and so that there's a clear direction moving forward on whether or not this program is legal.

Hastert saying, quote, "We stop terrorists by watching them, following them, listening in on their plans and then arresting them before they strike."

Obviously, to state the obvious, this is an election year. You're going to see Republicans coming out there, trying to get Democrats on board in favor of this program. This is a hotly contested political issue, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And back to why this became so controversial, Ed. A lot of people, mainly of Middle Eastern descent, sitting back, thinking, "Wow, just because of my last name or because of e-mails I'm sending overseas, I have to worry about the wiretaps."

So are those people able to sit back now and say, "Good, this is going to stop"? And when could it stop?

HENRY: Well, I think obviously the judge is ordering an immediate stop, but it's very doubtful that that's actually going to go through. I think it's very likely you'll see a stay.

Clearly, right now, I can tell you White House officials saying that Justice Department lawyers, the solicitor general's office, scouring this some 43-page ruling by the federal judge, trying to respond officially, probably by the end of the day.

And you can bet that a stay will eventually be ordered while this is sorted out. Very likely by the end of all of this it will wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. So it's doubtful it will be shut down in the short term, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Ed Henry, thanks.

After almost a decade, an arrest in the JonBenet Ramsey case. What led authorities to John Mark Karr? A closer look, straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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