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CNN Live Today

Hearing Underway for Bomber Eric Rudolph; Rumsfeld Meets Commanders in Afghanistan; Senate Panel Holds Identity Theft Hearing

Aired April 13, 2005 - 10:00   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Let's get started by seeing what's happening now in the news.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is moving on in his globetrotting tour of U.S. military operations. Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan today to meet with U.S. commanders and troops fighting the war on terror. The secretary also held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Rumsfeld's visit follows yesterday's stop in Iraq.

President Karzai wants U.S. troops to be in Afghanistan for a long time. Mr. Karzai says he is preparing a formal request to President Bush. The Afghan president is seeking a long-term security partnership that could include a permanent U.S. military presence.

And a large-scale search resumes this morning for a missing Florida girl. Police aren't sure if 13-year-old Sara Lunde is a run away or has been abducted. She was last seen Saturday night. Authorities have been checking on registered sex offenders who live near the girl's home. One sex offender knows the girl's mother and has been to their home. Investigators say he is cooperating with them.

And a panel of FDA advisers is listening to arguments about silicone breast implants this morning. A live picture there from Washington D.C. Mentor Corporation is trying to convince the panel its implants are safe enough to return to the market for all women. Yesterday, the panel upheld a 13-year ban on implants made by another corporation.

And another live picture for you. Identity theft is on the agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee at this hour. There are new concerns about stolen personal information. LexisNexis says data on 310,000 people nationwide may have been stolen. The company says it's notifying all potential victims.

Good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Another American held hostage in Iraq. We are following this developing story out of the Middle East. Al Jazeera television is airing video of a kidnapped American. The U.S. Embassy in Iraq confirmed he is the American abducted Monday from a Baghdad construction site. According to al Jazeera, the man on the tape asked the U.S. government to talk with insurgents to gain his freedom. The man also reportedly asked for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.

Focusing right now here on the U.S. At this moment, Eric Robert Rudolph is in between the two most important commitments of his life. Just minutes ago, he appeared in federal courtroom in Birmingham, Alabama to plead guilty to a deadly 1998 bombing at a local abortion clinic. Later today, he'll enter the same plea in an Atlanta courtroom. Those please will spare him the threat of the death penalty. It's a plea bargain that many say is undeserved for such cold-blooded attacks.

Here now, CNN's Sara Dorsey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eric Rudolph agreed to plead guilty to a string of deadly bombings. But some of his victims say that's not enough. Emily Lyons lost an eye during one of the explosions in Birmingham, Alabama.

EMILY LYONS, BOMBING VICTIM: I felt that the crimes he had committed deserved the death penalty. And so it was major disappointment for me.

DORSEY: Rudolph worked out a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty. But he still faces four life sentences for a series of bombings, which left two people dead and more than 100 injured. The first attack came during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The following year, two more bombings at a women's clinic and a gay nightclub also in the Atlanta area. The final bombing came in 1998 at a clinic that performed abortions in Birmingham.

Emily Lyons' husband says she wanted to address her attacker face to face.

JEFFREY LYONS, HUSBAND OF BOMBING VICTIM: Emily was very much looking forward to testifying at the hearing. So we kind of feel not cheated because we agreed to this, but kind of feel that we missed our day in court, so to speak.

DORSEY: Eric Rudolph alluded authorities for more than five years before a rookie police officer spotted him digging through a dumpster in Murphy, North Carolina, a small town near where he used to live. As part of his plea agreement, he led authorities to a stash of explosives he had hidden in the North Carolina Mountains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY: Court officials say a sentencing will likely be held within three months of today's guilty pleas -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Sara Dorsey in downtown Atlanta, thank you for that.

Eric Rudolph's attacks in Atlanta and Birmingham might have seen unconnected. But someone who watched Rudolph grow up does see a pattern.

CNN's Paula Zahn spoke to Rudolph's former sister-in-law.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (EXPLOSIONS)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): January 16, 1997, two bombs explode at a women's clinic in an Atlanta suburb, an abortion clinic. Seven people are injured.

(EXPLOSIONS)

ZAHN: February 21, 1997, another bombing attack on a gay nightclub in Atlanta injuries four people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A filed explosion at the New Women's Abortion Clinic.

ZAHN: January 29, 1998, a bomb explodes outside a Birmingham Alabama abortion clinic. A security guard is killed. A nurse seriously injured. A suspect is spotted. A witness captures his license plate. It's traced back to this man, Eric Robert Rudolph.

While searching Rudolph's trailer home in North Carolina, police make a startling discovery. Bomb making material they say is linked to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic terrorist bombing that killed one person and injured more than 100. But why did Eric Rudolph choose these targets? He's not saying but someone who knows him well paints a portrait of an extremist filled with hate.

(on camera): Who does Eric Rudolph hate and why?

DEBORAH RUDOLPH, FORMER SISTER-IN-LAW: The government would be one.

ZAHN: And why?

RUDOLPH: They control everything. And I think that he has issues with control.

ZAHN (voice-over): Deborah Rudolph was married to Eric's brother Joel for six years. She watched Eric grow up, and saw him harden into a man with very strong opinions.

RUDOLPH: A lot of people say that he's a racist. I wouldn't classify him as a racist. Knowing him personally, he's more of a separatist. He believes that every -- each race should be true to themselves. He's not one that likes weak people. He does like strong people. He thinks that the stronger having to defend and support the weak. He believes that the Bible is a history of the white race. And that the other races in the Bible, you know, are just -- he would call them "mud people."

ZAHN: Eric was raised by his mother a former nun, who eventually turned the family to darker beliefs.

RUDOLPH: There were always mercenary magazines laying around the house, philosophy books, newspapers. Controversial newspapers, like the "The Lightning Bolt" or "The Thunder Bolt," different kind of papers like that. I would always see them laying around when we would go to the mountains.

ZAHN (on camera): Who bought those?

RUDOLPH: I would assume it was something that, you know, the family subscribed to.

ZAHN (voice-over): After Eric's father was diagnosed with cancer, the family's attitudes towards the government turned to hate. Mrs. Rudolph wanted to treat her husband with an illegal substance called laetrile.

RUDOLPH: They thought it was natural way to cure or slow down cancer, made from apricot pits. They were a very self-sufficient family. And I think that really was the topping on the cake.

ZAHN (on camera): The tipping point for him?

RUDOLPH: Yes.

ZAHN: His father got sick. He wanted to bring laetrile into the country. He couldn't because the FDA told him it was illegal.

RUDOLPH: His mother wanted to treat him with laetrile. They wouldn't allow it. And she was very outspoken about it. And the children, of course, pick up on that.

ZAHN (voice-over): So the family hunkered down in the North Carolina Mountains, generating their own electricity and filtering their own water. Eric loved to smoke marijuana and watch movies, but not TV. Deborah says he thought that was controlled by Jews.

RUDOLPH: He would actually watch the TV and watch the credits rolled. "See. See, Steinberg." This and that. And he would just go on this -- he would become animated and go off on a tyrant. You know, just a fit about, you know, all these Jews that are in the media and on the news, and their producers and directors, and they run Hollywood, and publish. And so they control the information we, as a people, are receiving.

ZAHN: As Eric Rudolph got older, he turned into man willing to use terror to make his point. CNN senior investigative reporter Henry Schuster has written a new book about Eric Rudolph.

HENRY SCHUSTER CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Friends who saw Eric up to the time of the Olympic games said that increasingly, he would sit in his house with the curtains drawn. He would be ranting against the government. He'd be watching TV and going into these terrific rages. He was increasingly paranoid about surveillance from the government.

ZAHN: So why did Eric Rudolph choose the Olympics and abortion clinics as his targets? Deborah Rudolph thinks she knows.

RUDOLPH: And I think it goes back to a race thing. Again, back to this idea that the majority of abortions performed in this country are performed on white women. But yet black women, Hispanic women are allowed to have all these kids and the government is going to support them. So I think that was the issue with that.

The Olympics, I think, it's matter of all these people coming from all different countries and cultures, and colors and races, and religions all coming together in one place.

ZAHN: But Debra Rudolph also says she saw something in her former brother-in-law that perhaps the world will never see, an intelligence that was wasted.

RUDOLPH: I've always said that he was either going to be famous for something or infamous for something. Eric could have been a great leader of people; he could have been a great leader of men. That's how smart he was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That was Paula Zahn reporting.

An attorney for Eric Rudolph says that Rudolph intends to release a written statement about the bombings. That statement is expected sometime after today's hearing.

So, we're standing by for the hearing in Birmingham, Alabama. To wrap up, we have our David Mattingly and our Henry Schuster in the courtroom. Will go to them as soon as they come out.

Meanwhile, at 10 minutes past the hour, let's go on to other news of the morning.

A federal hearing is scheduled today for Steven Stanko. He is the South Carolina murder suspect who was the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," we spoke to a U.S. marshal who arrested Stanko as he left a shopping center in Augusta, Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: How did he react when he was apprehended?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very surprised. I don't think he realized that he was captured until after he was handcuffed.

HEMMER: Hmm. I understand you drove him to the courthouse in your car. Describe his behavior at that point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very quiet, very sullen.

HEMMER: Did he say anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very quiet. He didn't have anything to say. Once he got to the courthouse, he told one of the investigators that he was in Augusta to see the Masters but he couldn't get in.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Stanko faces charges of murdering his live-in girlfriend, as well as a 74-year-old acquaintance, and raping a teenager.

A victim of last month's Atlanta courthouse shooting spree is expected to leave for treatment of spinal and brain injuries. Fulton county Sheriff Deputy Cynthia Hall is allegedly the first victim of suspect Brian Nichols. Police say he viciously beat her before taking her gun. He's charged in four killings. No word if any of Hall's injuries will be permanent.

Well, is someone posing as you? Now that thousands of possible identity thefts have been reported, Congress is getting involved in this. Find out what they plan to do to help keep you safe.

Plus, a 48-year-old flu strain triggers a scare. Now scientists are scrambling to destroy it. We will tell you why.

And try walking a mile in his shoes. Our gas prices forced this mule back into business. We'll get to the bottom of it right ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So let's talk about your personal I.D. A Senate panel right now addressing concerns about the theft of personal information. Today's hearing comes after the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of possible identity theft.

Our Allan Chernoff is going to pick up the story for us in New York City. Allan, good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN-FN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Good morning, Daryn. And in fact, this is perfect timing for the Senate Judiciary Committee to be addressing this very issue. The first panel just started about 20 minutes ago. They will continue through the morning.

And this happens just after yesterday's announcement from LexisNexis that data for 310,000 Americans had been compromised. Names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, all stolen from the database that LexisNexis does have. It is one of the many data brokers in the country. And it does sell this information to financial institutions, to law enforcement agencies.

This is also the type of data that can be used to open a credit card account in somebody else's name, also take out a loan in somebody else's name. And it is a growing problem, a very big problem. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission estimates in 2003, 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft, and that it cost them about $5 billion.

Right now, there is no law overseeing these data brokers, no federal law overseeing them, so members of the committee are talking about legislation. The ideas range from banning the sale of Social Security Numbers, all the way to fining these companies if they do not identify the victims of I.D. theft -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Clearly the companies are not happy with the idea that they might be regulated. They're saying to ban that, the idea that you couldn't sell Social Security Numbers that would really hurt them. How would it hurt? How would it help, Allen?

CHERNOFF: well, obviously it would hurt the business that they're in, this growing data brokerage business. But everything in America depends on I.D. checks, your financial institutions, brokerage firms; even law enforcement agencies. They all need to have this data somehow. And these companies have been very entrepreneurial.

What the companies are saying is really the legislation should be tougher in terms of how you permit people to open credit cards accounts, how you allow financial institutions to give out loans. They're saying that the financial companies are simply too loose in giving out credit and giving out loans. And that has to be tightened up.

KAGAN: Ah. Meanwhile, while they let all these people in their front door. Very interesting. Allan Chernoff, thank you for that.

Other news in the morning, the World Health Organization is calling on laboratories to destroy test samples of a deadly flu virus. The samples were distributed to more than 3,700 labs. Almost all of those labs are in the U.S. or Canada.

A Canadian lab identified the virus as an Asian flu strain that killed more than a million people worldwide in 1957. A CDC spokesman says there is no public health threat at this time.

Let's see if there's any threat in the weather department.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, babies are listed as big spenders. OK, but they can't walk. And they can't talk. How is it their credit is in the tank? Parents you're not going to want to miss this story.

Plus, Gerri Willis. You never want to miss Gerri Willis, especially with tax day right around the corner.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN-FN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I'm telling you two days away. Two days until your due date, you have got to file those taxes by Friday. We have some tips when CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: So two, we've got two days. If you haven't filed your tax return, that is all the time you have left. Don't worry, though, our personal correspondent Gerri Willis coming over to do at all your taxes for you. Well, maybe not that...

WILLIS: Well, not so much.

KAGAN: But she will give you the "Top Five Tips" on the biggest tax mistakes you can make. WILLIS: That's right, the biggest mistake people make. And Daryn, the first one is not e-filing. You have got to file online. There are lots benefits to it. Benefit No. 1, you get your refund faster, which is always good news.

Advantage No. 2 is that you make fewer mistakes. Check out these numbers. Of the 20 million paper returns that were filed by March 25, a million of them had errors. But of the electronic filings, 44 million, much more, there were just 30,000 errors. So you can see you make fewer mistakes when you file online.

If you want details about how to do it for free, yes, I said free, go to www.irs.gov.

KAGAN: Let's talk about some of those mistakes people make when they are filing their taxes. No. 1, get your Social Security correct.

WILLIS: Yes. That is a very big one indeed. As a matter of fact, Daryn, we decided to go to somebody from the IRS to tell us the biggest mistakes people make when they file on paper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BURKE, IRS SPOKESMAN: Make sure those Social Security Numbers are correct. Make sure that you've signed the return. Make sure that you have carried the number from the tax table over to your return correctly. Those are some of the major ones that taxpayers can do to make sure that they've -- that they've filed a correct return.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: And remember, Daryn, mistakes delay your refund.

KAGAN: Ah, OK. That's good to know. Also, you don't want to short good old Uncle Sam. Not a good idea.

WILLIS: Absolutely not. Bad idea. But if you find out that you did, here's what's in store for you. You're going to pay a fee. A point zero -- 0.5 percent of what you owed and did not pay. Plus, you're going to be on the hook for interest and that's 6 percent. So that can really add up quickly.

Now, if there's a big gap between what you should have paid and what you paid, really big, you can have a fine of 20 percent. So this adds up really quickly. If you figured out that you didn't quite pay the right amount, get Form 1040-X on the IRS Web site. That's 1040-X.

KAGAN: If you're getting a refund, get it fast and use direct deposit, like your paycheck.

WILLIS: Absolutely. Three quarters of tax filers out there are going to get a refund. I know you want yours pronto. So have the direct deposit. It's the easiest way to go. And what's more, you know, you make yourself safe from people stealing these checks out of mailboxes, which is a very big problem these days.

KAGAN: And meanwhile, of course, you don't want to get audited. Does the IRS give us any tips on how to avoid that?

WILLIS: Well, you know, Daryn, they really weren't showing their hand but they did have some advice. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: I wouldn't worry about whether this is going to send a red flag or that's going to send a red flag. If you claim the deductions that you're entitled to and file an honest return, then even if you're audited, that shouldn't change. And in fact, on some audits, we actually find that the taxpayer is due back more money. And we cut the taxpayer a refund.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: Believe it or not, Daryn, of the million people who were audited last year, 36,000 of them were actually due a refund. Believe it or not, the total amount, 548 million. On average they were getting back 15,000. The lesson here is not go get audited. But the lesson is make sure you take everything you're owed in terms of deductions. Because a lot of people are afraid they're going to get audited. They don't take the home office. Take what's due you.

KAGAN: I will do that. Thank you, Ger.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: We're talking babies straight ahead. Babies have more to worry about than just wet diapers and not enough sleep these days. Still to come why some parents may need to keep an eye, get this, on your kids' identity. Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDOLPH: A lot of people say that he's a racist. I wouldn't classify him as a racist. Knowing him personally, he's more of a separatist. He believes that every -- each race should be true to themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: We are standing by to hear the latest for the first federal hearing for Eric Robert Rudolph today, taking place in Birmingham Alabama. We will hear from our David Mattingly and Eric Schuster as soon as that hearing is over.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired April 13, 2005 - 10:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN CO-ANCHOR: Let's get started by seeing what's happening now in the news.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is moving on in his globetrotting tour of U.S. military operations. Rumsfeld is in Afghanistan today to meet with U.S. commanders and troops fighting the war on terror. The secretary also held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Rumsfeld's visit follows yesterday's stop in Iraq.

President Karzai wants U.S. troops to be in Afghanistan for a long time. Mr. Karzai says he is preparing a formal request to President Bush. The Afghan president is seeking a long-term security partnership that could include a permanent U.S. military presence.

And a large-scale search resumes this morning for a missing Florida girl. Police aren't sure if 13-year-old Sara Lunde is a run away or has been abducted. She was last seen Saturday night. Authorities have been checking on registered sex offenders who live near the girl's home. One sex offender knows the girl's mother and has been to their home. Investigators say he is cooperating with them.

And a panel of FDA advisers is listening to arguments about silicone breast implants this morning. A live picture there from Washington D.C. Mentor Corporation is trying to convince the panel its implants are safe enough to return to the market for all women. Yesterday, the panel upheld a 13-year ban on implants made by another corporation.

And another live picture for you. Identity theft is on the agenda of the Senate Judiciary Committee at this hour. There are new concerns about stolen personal information. LexisNexis says data on 310,000 people nationwide may have been stolen. The company says it's notifying all potential victims.

Good morning. I'm Daryn Kagan.

Another American held hostage in Iraq. We are following this developing story out of the Middle East. Al Jazeera television is airing video of a kidnapped American. The U.S. Embassy in Iraq confirmed he is the American abducted Monday from a Baghdad construction site. According to al Jazeera, the man on the tape asked the U.S. government to talk with insurgents to gain his freedom. The man also reportedly asked for U.S. troops to leave Iraq.

Focusing right now here on the U.S. At this moment, Eric Robert Rudolph is in between the two most important commitments of his life. Just minutes ago, he appeared in federal courtroom in Birmingham, Alabama to plead guilty to a deadly 1998 bombing at a local abortion clinic. Later today, he'll enter the same plea in an Atlanta courtroom. Those please will spare him the threat of the death penalty. It's a plea bargain that many say is undeserved for such cold-blooded attacks.

Here now, CNN's Sara Dorsey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA DORSEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Eric Rudolph agreed to plead guilty to a string of deadly bombings. But some of his victims say that's not enough. Emily Lyons lost an eye during one of the explosions in Birmingham, Alabama.

EMILY LYONS, BOMBING VICTIM: I felt that the crimes he had committed deserved the death penalty. And so it was major disappointment for me.

DORSEY: Rudolph worked out a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty. But he still faces four life sentences for a series of bombings, which left two people dead and more than 100 injured. The first attack came during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. The following year, two more bombings at a women's clinic and a gay nightclub also in the Atlanta area. The final bombing came in 1998 at a clinic that performed abortions in Birmingham.

Emily Lyons' husband says she wanted to address her attacker face to face.

JEFFREY LYONS, HUSBAND OF BOMBING VICTIM: Emily was very much looking forward to testifying at the hearing. So we kind of feel not cheated because we agreed to this, but kind of feel that we missed our day in court, so to speak.

DORSEY: Eric Rudolph alluded authorities for more than five years before a rookie police officer spotted him digging through a dumpster in Murphy, North Carolina, a small town near where he used to live. As part of his plea agreement, he led authorities to a stash of explosives he had hidden in the North Carolina Mountains.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DORSEY: Court officials say a sentencing will likely be held within three months of today's guilty pleas -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Sara Dorsey in downtown Atlanta, thank you for that.

Eric Rudolph's attacks in Atlanta and Birmingham might have seen unconnected. But someone who watched Rudolph grow up does see a pattern.

CNN's Paula Zahn spoke to Rudolph's former sister-in-law.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) (EXPLOSIONS)

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): January 16, 1997, two bombs explode at a women's clinic in an Atlanta suburb, an abortion clinic. Seven people are injured.

(EXPLOSIONS)

ZAHN: February 21, 1997, another bombing attack on a gay nightclub in Atlanta injuries four people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A filed explosion at the New Women's Abortion Clinic.

ZAHN: January 29, 1998, a bomb explodes outside a Birmingham Alabama abortion clinic. A security guard is killed. A nurse seriously injured. A suspect is spotted. A witness captures his license plate. It's traced back to this man, Eric Robert Rudolph.

While searching Rudolph's trailer home in North Carolina, police make a startling discovery. Bomb making material they say is linked to the 1996 Atlanta Olympic terrorist bombing that killed one person and injured more than 100. But why did Eric Rudolph choose these targets? He's not saying but someone who knows him well paints a portrait of an extremist filled with hate.

(on camera): Who does Eric Rudolph hate and why?

DEBORAH RUDOLPH, FORMER SISTER-IN-LAW: The government would be one.

ZAHN: And why?

RUDOLPH: They control everything. And I think that he has issues with control.

ZAHN (voice-over): Deborah Rudolph was married to Eric's brother Joel for six years. She watched Eric grow up, and saw him harden into a man with very strong opinions.

RUDOLPH: A lot of people say that he's a racist. I wouldn't classify him as a racist. Knowing him personally, he's more of a separatist. He believes that every -- each race should be true to themselves. He's not one that likes weak people. He does like strong people. He thinks that the stronger having to defend and support the weak. He believes that the Bible is a history of the white race. And that the other races in the Bible, you know, are just -- he would call them "mud people."

ZAHN: Eric was raised by his mother a former nun, who eventually turned the family to darker beliefs.

RUDOLPH: There were always mercenary magazines laying around the house, philosophy books, newspapers. Controversial newspapers, like the "The Lightning Bolt" or "The Thunder Bolt," different kind of papers like that. I would always see them laying around when we would go to the mountains.

ZAHN (on camera): Who bought those?

RUDOLPH: I would assume it was something that, you know, the family subscribed to.

ZAHN (voice-over): After Eric's father was diagnosed with cancer, the family's attitudes towards the government turned to hate. Mrs. Rudolph wanted to treat her husband with an illegal substance called laetrile.

RUDOLPH: They thought it was natural way to cure or slow down cancer, made from apricot pits. They were a very self-sufficient family. And I think that really was the topping on the cake.

ZAHN (on camera): The tipping point for him?

RUDOLPH: Yes.

ZAHN: His father got sick. He wanted to bring laetrile into the country. He couldn't because the FDA told him it was illegal.

RUDOLPH: His mother wanted to treat him with laetrile. They wouldn't allow it. And she was very outspoken about it. And the children, of course, pick up on that.

ZAHN (voice-over): So the family hunkered down in the North Carolina Mountains, generating their own electricity and filtering their own water. Eric loved to smoke marijuana and watch movies, but not TV. Deborah says he thought that was controlled by Jews.

RUDOLPH: He would actually watch the TV and watch the credits rolled. "See. See, Steinberg." This and that. And he would just go on this -- he would become animated and go off on a tyrant. You know, just a fit about, you know, all these Jews that are in the media and on the news, and their producers and directors, and they run Hollywood, and publish. And so they control the information we, as a people, are receiving.

ZAHN: As Eric Rudolph got older, he turned into man willing to use terror to make his point. CNN senior investigative reporter Henry Schuster has written a new book about Eric Rudolph.

HENRY SCHUSTER CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Friends who saw Eric up to the time of the Olympic games said that increasingly, he would sit in his house with the curtains drawn. He would be ranting against the government. He'd be watching TV and going into these terrific rages. He was increasingly paranoid about surveillance from the government.

ZAHN: So why did Eric Rudolph choose the Olympics and abortion clinics as his targets? Deborah Rudolph thinks she knows.

RUDOLPH: And I think it goes back to a race thing. Again, back to this idea that the majority of abortions performed in this country are performed on white women. But yet black women, Hispanic women are allowed to have all these kids and the government is going to support them. So I think that was the issue with that.

The Olympics, I think, it's matter of all these people coming from all different countries and cultures, and colors and races, and religions all coming together in one place.

ZAHN: But Debra Rudolph also says she saw something in her former brother-in-law that perhaps the world will never see, an intelligence that was wasted.

RUDOLPH: I've always said that he was either going to be famous for something or infamous for something. Eric could have been a great leader of people; he could have been a great leader of men. That's how smart he was.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: That was Paula Zahn reporting.

An attorney for Eric Rudolph says that Rudolph intends to release a written statement about the bombings. That statement is expected sometime after today's hearing.

So, we're standing by for the hearing in Birmingham, Alabama. To wrap up, we have our David Mattingly and our Henry Schuster in the courtroom. Will go to them as soon as they come out.

Meanwhile, at 10 minutes past the hour, let's go on to other news of the morning.

A federal hearing is scheduled today for Steven Stanko. He is the South Carolina murder suspect who was the subject of a nationwide manhunt. Earlier on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING," we spoke to a U.S. marshal who arrested Stanko as he left a shopping center in Augusta, Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: How did he react when he was apprehended?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very surprised. I don't think he realized that he was captured until after he was handcuffed.

HEMMER: Hmm. I understand you drove him to the courthouse in your car. Describe his behavior at that point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very quiet, very sullen.

HEMMER: Did he say anything?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was very quiet. He didn't have anything to say. Once he got to the courthouse, he told one of the investigators that he was in Augusta to see the Masters but he couldn't get in.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Stanko faces charges of murdering his live-in girlfriend, as well as a 74-year-old acquaintance, and raping a teenager.

A victim of last month's Atlanta courthouse shooting spree is expected to leave for treatment of spinal and brain injuries. Fulton county Sheriff Deputy Cynthia Hall is allegedly the first victim of suspect Brian Nichols. Police say he viciously beat her before taking her gun. He's charged in four killings. No word if any of Hall's injuries will be permanent.

Well, is someone posing as you? Now that thousands of possible identity thefts have been reported, Congress is getting involved in this. Find out what they plan to do to help keep you safe.

Plus, a 48-year-old flu strain triggers a scare. Now scientists are scrambling to destroy it. We will tell you why.

And try walking a mile in his shoes. Our gas prices forced this mule back into business. We'll get to the bottom of it right ahead.

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KAGAN: So let's talk about your personal I.D. A Senate panel right now addressing concerns about the theft of personal information. Today's hearing comes after the disclosure of hundreds of thousands of possible identity theft.

Our Allan Chernoff is going to pick up the story for us in New York City. Allan, good morning.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN-FN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Good morning, Daryn. And in fact, this is perfect timing for the Senate Judiciary Committee to be addressing this very issue. The first panel just started about 20 minutes ago. They will continue through the morning.

And this happens just after yesterday's announcement from LexisNexis that data for 310,000 Americans had been compromised. Names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, all stolen from the database that LexisNexis does have. It is one of the many data brokers in the country. And it does sell this information to financial institutions, to law enforcement agencies.

This is also the type of data that can be used to open a credit card account in somebody else's name, also take out a loan in somebody else's name. And it is a growing problem, a very big problem. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission estimates in 2003, 10 million Americans were victims of identity theft, and that it cost them about $5 billion.

Right now, there is no law overseeing these data brokers, no federal law overseeing them, so members of the committee are talking about legislation. The ideas range from banning the sale of Social Security Numbers, all the way to fining these companies if they do not identify the victims of I.D. theft -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Clearly the companies are not happy with the idea that they might be regulated. They're saying to ban that, the idea that you couldn't sell Social Security Numbers that would really hurt them. How would it hurt? How would it help, Allen?

CHERNOFF: well, obviously it would hurt the business that they're in, this growing data brokerage business. But everything in America depends on I.D. checks, your financial institutions, brokerage firms; even law enforcement agencies. They all need to have this data somehow. And these companies have been very entrepreneurial.

What the companies are saying is really the legislation should be tougher in terms of how you permit people to open credit cards accounts, how you allow financial institutions to give out loans. They're saying that the financial companies are simply too loose in giving out credit and giving out loans. And that has to be tightened up.

KAGAN: Ah. Meanwhile, while they let all these people in their front door. Very interesting. Allan Chernoff, thank you for that.

Other news in the morning, the World Health Organization is calling on laboratories to destroy test samples of a deadly flu virus. The samples were distributed to more than 3,700 labs. Almost all of those labs are in the U.S. or Canada.

A Canadian lab identified the virus as an Asian flu strain that killed more than a million people worldwide in 1957. A CDC spokesman says there is no public health threat at this time.

Let's see if there's any threat in the weather department.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: Still to come on CNN LIVE TODAY, babies are listed as big spenders. OK, but they can't walk. And they can't talk. How is it their credit is in the tank? Parents you're not going to want to miss this story.

Plus, Gerri Willis. You never want to miss Gerri Willis, especially with tax day right around the corner.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN-FN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: I'm telling you two days away. Two days until your due date, you have got to file those taxes by Friday. We have some tips when CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

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KAGAN: So two, we've got two days. If you haven't filed your tax return, that is all the time you have left. Don't worry, though, our personal correspondent Gerri Willis coming over to do at all your taxes for you. Well, maybe not that...

WILLIS: Well, not so much.

KAGAN: But she will give you the "Top Five Tips" on the biggest tax mistakes you can make. WILLIS: That's right, the biggest mistake people make. And Daryn, the first one is not e-filing. You have got to file online. There are lots benefits to it. Benefit No. 1, you get your refund faster, which is always good news.

Advantage No. 2 is that you make fewer mistakes. Check out these numbers. Of the 20 million paper returns that were filed by March 25, a million of them had errors. But of the electronic filings, 44 million, much more, there were just 30,000 errors. So you can see you make fewer mistakes when you file online.

If you want details about how to do it for free, yes, I said free, go to www.irs.gov.

KAGAN: Let's talk about some of those mistakes people make when they are filing their taxes. No. 1, get your Social Security correct.

WILLIS: Yes. That is a very big one indeed. As a matter of fact, Daryn, we decided to go to somebody from the IRS to tell us the biggest mistakes people make when they file on paper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BURKE, IRS SPOKESMAN: Make sure those Social Security Numbers are correct. Make sure that you've signed the return. Make sure that you have carried the number from the tax table over to your return correctly. Those are some of the major ones that taxpayers can do to make sure that they've -- that they've filed a correct return.

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WILLIS: And remember, Daryn, mistakes delay your refund.

KAGAN: Ah, OK. That's good to know. Also, you don't want to short good old Uncle Sam. Not a good idea.

WILLIS: Absolutely not. Bad idea. But if you find out that you did, here's what's in store for you. You're going to pay a fee. A point zero -- 0.5 percent of what you owed and did not pay. Plus, you're going to be on the hook for interest and that's 6 percent. So that can really add up quickly.

Now, if there's a big gap between what you should have paid and what you paid, really big, you can have a fine of 20 percent. So this adds up really quickly. If you figured out that you didn't quite pay the right amount, get Form 1040-X on the IRS Web site. That's 1040-X.

KAGAN: If you're getting a refund, get it fast and use direct deposit, like your paycheck.

WILLIS: Absolutely. Three quarters of tax filers out there are going to get a refund. I know you want yours pronto. So have the direct deposit. It's the easiest way to go. And what's more, you know, you make yourself safe from people stealing these checks out of mailboxes, which is a very big problem these days.

KAGAN: And meanwhile, of course, you don't want to get audited. Does the IRS give us any tips on how to avoid that?

WILLIS: Well, you know, Daryn, they really weren't showing their hand but they did have some advice. Listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURKE: I wouldn't worry about whether this is going to send a red flag or that's going to send a red flag. If you claim the deductions that you're entitled to and file an honest return, then even if you're audited, that shouldn't change. And in fact, on some audits, we actually find that the taxpayer is due back more money. And we cut the taxpayer a refund.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: Believe it or not, Daryn, of the million people who were audited last year, 36,000 of them were actually due a refund. Believe it or not, the total amount, 548 million. On average they were getting back 15,000. The lesson here is not go get audited. But the lesson is make sure you take everything you're owed in terms of deductions. Because a lot of people are afraid they're going to get audited. They don't take the home office. Take what's due you.

KAGAN: I will do that. Thank you, Ger.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

KAGAN: We're talking babies straight ahead. Babies have more to worry about than just wet diapers and not enough sleep these days. Still to come why some parents may need to keep an eye, get this, on your kids' identity. Plus...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDOLPH: A lot of people say that he's a racist. I wouldn't classify him as a racist. Knowing him personally, he's more of a separatist. He believes that every -- each race should be true to themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: We are standing by to hear the latest for the first federal hearing for Eric Robert Rudolph today, taking place in Birmingham Alabama. We will hear from our David Mattingly and Eric Schuster as soon as that hearing is over.

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