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American Morning

FBI Discovers More McVeigh Documents

Aired May 15, 2001 - 11:06   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In the Timothy McVeigh case, there are reports today more FBI documents have been found and delivered to attorneys for the Oklahoma City bomber, this after similar revelations last week prompted a delay in McVeigh's execution. The latest now from CNN's Kelli Arena standing by at the Justice Department this morning -- Kelli.

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Leon, the Baltimore field office of the FBI found an additional seven files that were forwarded to McVeigh's attorneys last week. Now, these documents were not included in the original batch of more than 3,100 documents that were first sent over last week. The revelation has sparked further criticism of the FBI's handling of the investigation. And field offices around the country have been instructed to keep searching for any and all McVeigh-related material.

A large part of blame continues to be placed on the FBI's outdated computer system, which critics contend should have been fixed long ago.

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SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), ALABAMA: The FBI and the agencies rely on these computer systems. But it is their responsibility to have one that works. You simply can't allow documents of significant numbers not to be produced in a case. But a good computer system should identify every lead that's run in every city in the United States, identify the documents produced as result of that so that there would be a much less likelihood of that being failed to be produced.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARENA: he FBI says new documents do not in any way contradict McVeigh's guilt. That is exactly what they said about the last batch.

McVeigh's attorneys, of course are, poring through all of the information to determine that for themselves. And meanwhile, FBI Director Louis Freeh is testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee today. That hearing is closed, meaning there will be no press allowed. But we are on the scene. And if he has anything to say, we will report that for you, Leon.

HARRIS: Well, Kelli, what's the latest information about these newest documents that have been revealed? And is there any indication that they might actually -- revelation might actually result in a further delay in the execution?

ARENA: Well, Attorney General John Ashcroft said over the weekend that the June 11 date, the new date for Timothy McVeigh's execution, would not be changed. And don't forget, these documents were in the hands of McVeigh's defense attorneys by last week. So they are going through that.

If there is any delay, any stay of execution, from here on out, that would be from a court order, Leon.

HARRIS: OK, what about this word we're getting about the lead FBI agent in Dallas now being in Washington? What's that about?

ARENA: Well, he is here. Danny Defenbaugh, who was the last director of the Oklahoma City task force, who is now working out of Dallas, was the man who basically led the evaluation of all of these documents to find out which had been entered into databases, which hadn't, and whether or not they had indeed been turned over to defense attorneys.

He is here at headquarters basically answering to superiors. He will be here for the week. They want to know exactly when he first discovered that there could be problem, why he didn't alert headquarters until last week. That is a big question arousing much suspicion here as to exactly why he didn't let anyone at headquarters know until last Tuesday. Lou Freeh himself did not know until Thursday.

There's very, very low morale as you could guess here at the FBI, around field offices around the country. And I will tell you that many agents say that they feel left out on limb here, that they do not feel that they are getting the support that they need from the bureau on this case. They contend there was no cover-up, that this was not done deliberately, that this is the result of a very outdated computer system that no one has any confidence in, Leon.

HARRIS: Understood. Kelli Arena reporting live for us from Washington, thank you.

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