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American Morning
Power Play?
Aired November 24, 2003 - 09:36 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is designed to give the federal government more ways to track down suspected terrorists. But are law enforcement officials now abusing the powers granted by the Patriot Act? In the current issue of "Newsweek" magazine, Michael Isikoff writes that the anti-terror laws being used in some cases with no ties to terrorism.
Michael Isikoff is back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING, live in D.C.
Good morning to you.
MICHAEL ISIKOFF, "NEWSWEEK": Good morning.
HEMMER: Operation G-String in Vegas. What happened, quickly?
ISIKOFF: Investigation into local political corruption, alleged payoffs from the biggest strip club owner in Vegas to local county officials to get favors from the Clark County Commission restricting, loosening of a proposed lap dance ordinance.
HEMMER: So ultimately, though, that man was found guilty, right?
ISIKOFF: He pled guilty and implicated a whole bunch of local officials who he claimed were getting -- he was paying bribes to.
HEMMER: So then they use this terrorism law, they use the Patriot Act.
ISIKOFF: Yes, the wrinkle here is they used the USA Patriot Act, which was passed in the wake of September 11th, supposedly to help the justice department crackdown on terrorists. They used the Patriot Act to more easily get financial records on the public officials who were being investigated by the FBI in Las Vegas.
HEMMER: So based on the story you wrote, Michael, and based on the investigation you've conducted, is the Patriot Act being abused? Or is this just one case where you found?
ISIKOFF: Well, no actually if you look at the figures in the story, the particular provision that the FBI used in that -- in G- String is being used widely throughout the country.
HEMMER: How so?
ISIKOFF: I actually identified something like 6,000 financial records that had been pulled by law enforcement -- federal law enforcement agencies under this provision of the Patriot Act. The law said terrorism or money laundering.
And money laundering is the catch. Because money laundering is actually a federal crime that can be stretched to apply to 200 other federal crimes from health care fraud to tax fraud to food stamp fraud. You name it, you can find a money laundering component in it. And the figures that we reported in the story show that two-thirds of the cases that law enforcement has used this Patriot Act provision in, is for money laundering, and among the agencies requesting the documents are everything from the Postal Service to the Agricultural Department. These are clearly agencies who are investigating terrorism. And what I think members of Congress are a little perturbed about here is, hey, this law, this provision, in it was sold to us as a need to urgently get records to track down terrorists. And, in fact, they're being used routinely by law enforcement agencies to get records on anybody.
HEMMER: And, Michael, proponents would say if you're taking criminals off the street it's a good thing.
ISIKOFF: Exactly, that is the other side of the coin. But, in fact, what I think is this particular provision that we write about, which really hasn't gotten any attention before, is a rather breathtaking provision that essentially allows law enforcement agencies to put any name of anybody they suspect of committing a federal crime on this list to the Treasury Department, every financial institution in the country, over 25,000 gets these lists regularly from law enforcement agencies. They have to match their records and then cough up those once if there's any match. It much more easily allows the feds to get, you know, anybody's financial records who they suspect of a crime. Some people might think that's a good thing. But it is a major law enforcement power that has been given to the federal government as a result of the patriot act in September 11th.
HEMMER: It's an interesting read. Thanks for sharing, Michael Isikoff, "Newsweek" magazine, in D.C.
ISIKOFF: Thank you, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 24, 2003 - 09:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is designed to give the federal government more ways to track down suspected terrorists. But are law enforcement officials now abusing the powers granted by the Patriot Act? In the current issue of "Newsweek" magazine, Michael Isikoff writes that the anti-terror laws being used in some cases with no ties to terrorism.
Michael Isikoff is back with us here on AMERICAN MORNING, live in D.C.
Good morning to you.
MICHAEL ISIKOFF, "NEWSWEEK": Good morning.
HEMMER: Operation G-String in Vegas. What happened, quickly?
ISIKOFF: Investigation into local political corruption, alleged payoffs from the biggest strip club owner in Vegas to local county officials to get favors from the Clark County Commission restricting, loosening of a proposed lap dance ordinance.
HEMMER: So ultimately, though, that man was found guilty, right?
ISIKOFF: He pled guilty and implicated a whole bunch of local officials who he claimed were getting -- he was paying bribes to.
HEMMER: So then they use this terrorism law, they use the Patriot Act.
ISIKOFF: Yes, the wrinkle here is they used the USA Patriot Act, which was passed in the wake of September 11th, supposedly to help the justice department crackdown on terrorists. They used the Patriot Act to more easily get financial records on the public officials who were being investigated by the FBI in Las Vegas.
HEMMER: So based on the story you wrote, Michael, and based on the investigation you've conducted, is the Patriot Act being abused? Or is this just one case where you found?
ISIKOFF: Well, no actually if you look at the figures in the story, the particular provision that the FBI used in that -- in G- String is being used widely throughout the country.
HEMMER: How so?
ISIKOFF: I actually identified something like 6,000 financial records that had been pulled by law enforcement -- federal law enforcement agencies under this provision of the Patriot Act. The law said terrorism or money laundering.
And money laundering is the catch. Because money laundering is actually a federal crime that can be stretched to apply to 200 other federal crimes from health care fraud to tax fraud to food stamp fraud. You name it, you can find a money laundering component in it. And the figures that we reported in the story show that two-thirds of the cases that law enforcement has used this Patriot Act provision in, is for money laundering, and among the agencies requesting the documents are everything from the Postal Service to the Agricultural Department. These are clearly agencies who are investigating terrorism. And what I think members of Congress are a little perturbed about here is, hey, this law, this provision, in it was sold to us as a need to urgently get records to track down terrorists. And, in fact, they're being used routinely by law enforcement agencies to get records on anybody.
HEMMER: And, Michael, proponents would say if you're taking criminals off the street it's a good thing.
ISIKOFF: Exactly, that is the other side of the coin. But, in fact, what I think is this particular provision that we write about, which really hasn't gotten any attention before, is a rather breathtaking provision that essentially allows law enforcement agencies to put any name of anybody they suspect of committing a federal crime on this list to the Treasury Department, every financial institution in the country, over 25,000 gets these lists regularly from law enforcement agencies. They have to match their records and then cough up those once if there's any match. It much more easily allows the feds to get, you know, anybody's financial records who they suspect of a crime. Some people might think that's a good thing. But it is a major law enforcement power that has been given to the federal government as a result of the patriot act in September 11th.
HEMMER: It's an interesting read. Thanks for sharing, Michael Isikoff, "Newsweek" magazine, in D.C.
ISIKOFF: Thank you, Bill.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
