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American Morning

Jury Deliberates Case of Congressman Traficant

Aired April 09, 2002 - 09:33   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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We turn now to the trial of one of the most colorful and controversial members of Congress. A federal jury in Cleveland today has the case of Ohio Congressman James Traficant, who is accused of taking bribes for political favors. And we are not exaggerating when we say it has also been a colorful and controversial trial, to say the least.

CNN congressional correspondent Kate Snow joins us now from Cleveland.

Kate, has the court ever seen anything like this?

KATE SNOW, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm sure they haven't, Anderson. It really has been interesting to be here in person and watch the action.

Ten women and two men are deliberating right now. They started again about a half hour ago. They are went into deliberations yesterday, after closing arguments.

And as you said, if you have not been following this trial, I think that the best word for it is "bizarre." It has been Traficant defending himself, the congressman a Democrat from Ohio, from Youngstown. Yesterday, he sported a bit of a change: He was not wearing his typical leisure suit. He usually wears polyester or denim leisure suits; yesterday, he had on a blue blazer, a little more conservative in the courtroom for his closing arguments. But he frequently would yell at the jury -- I'm not exaggerating when I say that -- and he would also use some profanity. In his closing argument, he said that they have no damn bit of evidence against me. He also questioned why they had not found any fingerprints of his on key documents. He also questioned why they had not taped any of his conversations either on audio or video surveillance. The congressman said that several prosecution witnesses who had taken plea bargain agreement, were simply folding and caving in. He said that they were not credible witnesses.

The prosecution, on the other hand, made their case in a rather calm, straightforward way. They laid out six binders filled with documentation. They referred back to 55 witnesses, only five of whom, they pointed out, were witnesses that had taken plea agreements. They say, as you mentioned, Anderson, that Traficant forced congressional aides to work on his horse farm. They say that he forced aids to work on his houseboat in Washington, D.C. They also allege that he took kickbacks out of the salaries of his employees, and that he asked businessmen from Ohio to trade political favors -- he would do them political favors and they would do construction for him on his horse farm.,

Traficant has said all along that he hasn't even looked at the boxes of evidence, the folders of evidence against them. He doesn't even want to see the evidence. He believes the government simply has a vendetta against him, and he said again yesterday if he is found guilty, the chances he thinks for appeal are not so good.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES TRAFICANT (D), OHIO: I feel that I would have no shot on any appeal because I have been targeted for many years due to the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) case, my strong opposition to the Waco/Ruby Ridge, Chinese Red Army money to come into the Democratic National Committee, and that is the way it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNOW: Anderson, no telling how long a jury is going to take with this, but one interesting point: It's going to be up to the judge to sentence Traficant. Judge Wells has been enormously patient with him as he has been yelling at her. Yesterday he interrupted her several times, and at one point during this trial, Anderson, he called her comments asinine.

Anderson, back to you.

COOOER: How has the jury been reacting to all of this?

SNOW: Yesterday, inside the courtroom, you could see that they looked like they were sort of bored, to be honest. A lot of them were closing their eyes. A lot of them had their hands up to their faces. I got the sense that they are ready to be done with this, they are sort of sick of the trial and want to move on. So some people thinking that could indicate they may come back quickly with a verdict.

COOPER: Thanks, Kate Snow. We will be waiting for the verdict. Thanks a lot.

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