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On the Story
Should Government Have Announced Padilla's Capture?; Why Is Elizabeth Smart in Media Spotlight?; Paul McCartney's Big Day
Aired June 15, 2002 - 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have disrupted an unfolding terrorist plot to attack the United States by exploding a radioactive dirty bomb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KATE SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Did the government scare us more than inform us about the arrest of suspect Jose Padilla? What is the risk, and is the U.S. ready for the worst? And what can individuals and families do to prepare for terrorism? We'll get the scoop from CNN correspondents covering these stories. What did they learn this week that you may have missed?
We'll talk about the mystery of the missing girl in Salt Lake City, Utah, the police strategy and why this case is in the national spotlight.
And Paul McCartney's big day, the billion-dollar Beatle, the wedding picture up for sale.
All just ahead on CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.
Good morning to Washington state, the rest of the West and all of you across North America. I'm Kate Snow in Washington, D.C. And with me today, CNN's senior political correspondent Candy Crowley; CNN medical correspondent Rea Blakey; down from our New York bureau, CNN correspondent Deborah Feyerick; from Crawford, Texas, travelling with the president, White House correspondent Kelly Wallace; and reporting on the missing girl story from Salt Lake City, Utah, our Jeanne Meserve.
And that's where we begin our news alert.
(NEWSBREAK)
SNOW: Now we begin our roundtable discussion as we await President Bush's weekly radio address. We're going to start it out with Kelly Wallace out in Crawford.
Kelly, we heard a few moments ago from Attorney General John Ashcroft, giving his warning from Moscow, on Monday, announcing the arrest of Jose Padilla. A lot of people thought that he went a little overboard. He scared the pants off people. Did the White House react that way too, internally?
KELLY WALLACE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, the White House is admitting this could've been handled a whole lot better. They say that the message coming from the attorney general in a kind of dark studio in Russia may have scared people a little bit more than necessary.
They do say this. They say the attorney general really wanted to be the first one to get this out there, that it's a controversial issue, that he should sort of take the hits, if you will, for any controversy that does come about with this administration.
And they do say that the deputies -- the deputy defense secretary and the deputy attorney general -- were coming out and answering questions in context.
So in hindsight, if they could do it over again, they probably would've had the deputies out there at the briefing taking questions. They do feel it probably wasn't handled as well.
They are sort of taking issue with people who say that the attorney general sort of exaggerated things a bit. They say, if you look at everything he said, he was putting it in context. But again, they do say this was not their best move when it comes to a communication of an important issue, Kate.
SNOW: You know, from my perch on Capitol Hill, Senator Tom Daschle, the majority leader, came out and said pretty clearly that he questioned the timing. He said, you know, well, maybe there's some reason that they wanted to come out when there's all this criticism of the FBI and the CIA. What about the timing?
WALLACE: Well, you know, the White House angry about any suggestion that this was sort of orchestrated, the timing of this orchestrated to try to deflect attention from questions about the coordination between the FBI and the CIA.
They say the timing was dictated by a legal matter, a deadline, Tuesday morning, a hearing for Jose Padilla. The president had to decide by that time whether to declare him an enemy combatant and then put him in the custody of the United States military. So they get incredibly angry about any suggestion of the timing.
But at the same time, we have heard Tom Ridge, the homeland security director, even the attorney general and others, look at the case to say, "Look, look how well the FBI and the CIA are now working together." So they clearly used it in a way to try and say these agencies are now communicating much better than before -- Kate.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the White House, you know, is probably right on this one, that the staging was really terrible. I mean, he looked like Dr. Death. You know, he's got this big, sort of dark thing behind him. And then he just disappears. It's like, "Run for your lives" and then off. You know, and it would have been so much better, even if he'd said, "I'm sorry, I can't answer questions because I'm here in Moscow," and then they would have had the deputies sitting there to answer questions. But the fact that he just made this, you know, announcement was very ominous.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And I think, also, the FBI stepped in right afterwards, about an hour later, and said, "You know, OK, it wasn't exactly a plot. We didn't derail anything. He wasn't packing up a bomb and putting it in the back of a truck. But what we did do was stop him from scouting locations.
SNOW: Let's take a listen to President Bush's weekly radio address.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good morning.
Owning a home lies at the heart of the American dream. The home is a foundation for families and a source of stability for communities. It serves as the foundation of many Americans' financial security.
Yet, today while nearly three-quarters of all white Americans own their homes, less than a half of all African-Americans and Hispanic Americans are home owners. We must begin to close this home ownership gap by dismantling the barriers that prevent minorities from owning a piece of the American dream.
The single greatest hurdle to first-time home ownership is a high down-payment requirement that can put a home out of reach. So my administration is proposing the American Dream Down-Payment Fund.
When a low-income family has qualified to buy a home but comes up short on the down payment, the American Dream Down-Payment Fund will help provide the needed funds. We estimate that this fund will open the door to home ownership for 40,000 low-income families annually.
A second obstacle to minority home ownership is a lack of affordable housing. To encourage the production of single-family homes for sale in neighborhoods where affordable housing is scarce, my administration is proposing a single-family affordable-housing credit. Over the next five years this will provide developers nearly $2.4 billion in tax credits for building affordable single-family housing in distressed areas. These credits will make 200,000 new homes available over its first five years to low-income purchasers.
A third major obstacle to minority home ownership is the complexity and difficulty of the purchasing process. So we're stepping up our efforts to better educate first-time home buyers. Consumers need to know their rights and responsibilities as home buyers. Education is the best protection for families against abusive and unscrupulous lenders. Financial education and housing counseling can help protect home buyers against abuses, greatly improve the loan terms they are offered and help families get through tough times with their homes intact. Through these important initiatives, we can help thousands of American families live the kinds of lives they had once only dreamed about.
But government action isn't enough. We need to energize and engage the private sector as well. That is why I've challenged the real-estate industry leaders to join with the government, with non- profit organizations and with private-sector financial institutions in a major nationwide effort to increase minority home ownership.
My approach to broadening home ownership focuses on empowering people to help themselves and to help one another. These important initiatives will accomplish their purpose because Americans, working together and taking responsibility for one another, will make this great country even greater.
The strength of America lies in the honor and the character and goodwill of its people. When we tap into that strength, we discover there is no problem that cannot be solved in this wonderful land of liberty.
Thank you for listing.
WALLACE: President Bush there in his radio address, trying to help minorities purchase their first home.
And, you know, you guys, everything must be viewed through a political prism. The election just months away. This administration definitely trying to reach out to Hispanics, African-Americans, other minorities, to help the Republicans in those elections in November -- Kate.
SNOW: Kelly, quick question for you. We hear that the president is trying to get his staff literally into shape. He's trying to get them to work out a little bit. Tell us about that. Is it voluntary?
WALLACE: I guess it's voluntary.
(LAUGHTER)
But when the commander-in-chief says, "I want everyone to sign up next Saturday and take part in a three-mile run or walk," I don't know if you call that voluntary.
(LAUGHTER)
But, yes, he's trying to get people up and active. He's a very active president, as we know, so he's launching this initiative, several days long, to try and combat obesity. And he's getting his staff members out next Saturday for a three-mile run or walk, and I'm told many people will be participating -- Kate.
SNOW: And, Rea, I mean, you're the medical correspondent. Good idea, I suppose.
REA BLAKEY, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, it's a great idea.
SNOW: Get everybody active.
BLAKEY: Yes, particularly if people want to be involved.
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: ... enough to do in their day. Then, all of a sudden, their boss tells them to run around.
BLAKEY: But that's the thing. Exactly.
FEYERICK: You can just see, you know, us having to go around the news room about 80, 90 times, which we do anyway.
BLAKEY: Well, and on a serious note, keep in mind that we're still waiting for the surgeon general's nomination to go through. There hasn't been a confirmation yet. The hearings haven't started. There's been a big stall tactic there. And here's a guy who, you know, basically is all about exercise and fitness. And that was going to be part of his motivation in the administration, is really getting people energized, to get people out there to exercise. But since that hasn't come about yet, somebody has got to take charge. So obviously, it's the commander-in-chief.
CROWLEY: Yes, so it's a great idea. I'm all for it. But, you know, if the commander-in-chief is going to tell you to do it, then do it on his time. You know, fine, don't do it on a Saturday when you're supposed to be out getting your dry cleaning.
(LAUGHTER)
You know? Do it on, you know, a press briefing.
(LAUGHTER)
Friday at noon, right, Kelly?
WALLACE: Exactly. I think lots of the White House senior staffers would agree with you there. They would say, "Hey, Mr. President, let's do it Friday at noon."
FEYERICK: Or come in late anyway.
Well, coming up on CNN's SATURDAY EDITION, how terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui got what he wanted from a federal judge.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FEYERICK: We're going to be talking a little more about terrorism.
Welcome back to SATURDAY EDITION. I'm Deborah Feyerick.
A very dramatic day in court this week for terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui. He's the only person charged in the 9/11 attacks. Moussaoui won the right to represent himself after some fascinating exchanges regarding his sanity.
Outside the court, Moussaoui's mother spoke to reporters about her need as a mother to stand by her son, saying, "A mother's job is never done."
And the story that you didn't hear, and this is kind of interesting, after the judge told Moussaoui he could act as his own lawyer, basically he started saying that he had secret information that would set him free. And he wanted to tell the judge exactly what that was. And he kept trying to introduce an address, a London address, saying that the British officials had raided the apartment soon after the 9/11 hijackings and that his own lawyers had information that would essentially set him free.
Well, the judge said, "No, you cannot introduce that information right now. You have won your motion to act as your own lawyer." As his own lawyer, he says, "Well, fine. Now I want to petition for my own release." And the judge said, "You're going to have to file a motion."
So Zacarias Moussaoui looks around the courtroom and says, "That's fine, give me a pen and paper." And the judge kept saying, "You cannot do this now. This is not what we are here for. You are here to be your own lawyer. You've got to start acting like your own lawyer."
Now, his legal defense team, which now is basically sidelined until he can get somebody else to help him, one of his attorneys stood up and basically said, "Look, we are begging you, Judge. Please, please let us get off this case."
BLAKEY: Don't let him represent...
FEYERICK: Well, they said that. They said, "Don't let him represent himself," but then they said, "Let us get off this case," because they do think that he suffers from some form of mental disease.
And they said, "Look, if you...
CROWLEY: Does his mom, by the way?
(CROSSTALK)
FEYERICK: I'm going to get to the mom in a second, but you have to -- the lawyer was hysterical because the lawyer said, "Look, if you keep us on here, he already thinks we're trying to kill him. So if you keep us on here -- if he doesn't suffer from mental illness now, he's definitely going to be suffering from mental illness later."
SNOW: She said keep them on, right? She said, "You're going to be the standby people until -- standby lawyer, legal team, until he gets..."
FEYERICK: Exactly. And the reason for that is, they have done an enormous amount of work and enormous amount of research putting this case together. This is a very tight time line in terms of when this is actually going to go to trial. So to get another lawyer up to speed is going to be almost impossible in the amount of time that the court actually has. So they are there. They're going to provide whatever information they can to him, but he does not want them doing anything on this particular trial because he really -- he's completely convinced that they're part of a government conspiracy to basically knock him off. So...
CROWLEY: The word "circus" comes to mind.
FEYERICK: It definitely does. Because, sure, the judge may have said "You're mentally competent, no problem, you know, do what you want," but at the same time, he doesn't understand the law. The fact that he would ask for a pen and paper to file some sort of a motion is a bit ludicrous, you know, on it.
His mom was also there, and this was a very interesting moment. When he walked into the court, she stood up, and she was dressed all in black. Security was extremely tight in that courtroom, and usually nobody stands up because a marshal will come and they'll basically push you back into the seat.
The mom stood up, and she was desperately trying to make eye contact with her son. But it wasn't until later that the judge actually pointed out that the mom was in the court, that Zacarias Moussaoui saw her. He gave her a little wave, a little smile. And then throughout the rest of the proceeding, he continued to look at her.
WALLACE: Deborah, I wanted to jump in, Deborah. I wonder, what are the federal prosecutors saying about this? You know, they probably obviously don't want this to turn into sort of a side show, with Moussaoui representing himself. I mean, are they concerned at all about what this can turn into and about the government's ability to get a conviction here? Of course, if he's representing himself that will be easier.
But I mean, are they concerned about this sort of turning into a side show, the fact that he won't be represented by a defense lawyer and this could be challenged down the road?
FEYERICK: The prosecutors are definitely concerned about that. Again, you could just sort of see how this was spiraling out of control at one point.
But even though they think it was a very bad decision on his part, they're for it. They say, "OK, you want to represent yourself, represent yourself. But what you do have to understand is that you're not going to be able to walk around freely around this courtroom. You're not going to be able to approach witnesses. You're not going to be able to approach the jury. And not only that, but you're not going to get full access to the material that your lawyers have access to, because they have clearance. You do not, and there's not way you're going to get it."
CROWLEY: Can we talk about the mom a second here?
FEYERICK: Sure. CROWLEY: So she brought him a lawyer, right?
FEYERICK: She brought him a lawyer.
CROWLEY: And so, she clearly thinks he's a little off, yes, no?
FEYERICK: I think she...
(LAUGHTER)
BLAKEY: She thinks he needs help, that much is obvious.
FEYERICK: Yes, well, apparently, according to his own people, the other children have sort of some mental problems, some mental illness problems. And she brought this lawyer but, you know, Moussaoui said, "OK, my mother doesn't speak English. This lawyer doesn't speak French. There's no possibly way they could have communicated. And so I'm not going to use this man, because I don't trust him." He's extremely, extremely paranoid about who is around him and who is representing him.
BLAKEY: Let me ask this question about this secret information. Obviously, a lot of this was not disclosed in court because the judge said this is not the time or the place.
But do you get the impression that he really doesn't understand not only the procedures of the court, but whether or not this information is even applicable? Do you think this is just sort of a pipe dream?
FEYERICK: There's no question about that, because in his perception, he basically said, "Judge, look, when you see what I have to show you, I'm out of here. You're going to let me walk out. I'm going to go home with my mother, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, but this is going to set me free." And it clearly just doesn't work that way.
What he didn't address, though, and on a much more serious note, is that he's been charged with very, very serious charges, conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals. He was taking flying lessons. He did have things on him that were very similar to what some of the hijackers had.
So it is no laughing matter, but the whole court situation took on almost an element of bafoonery.
BLAKEY: All right, Deb.
Well, as we hear the news of this week, many people wonder what they need to pull together for a worst-case scenario. In two minutes, I'll show you what you should have ready to go to be prepared.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION. I'm Kate Snow.
A little bit of breaking news coming in. CNN has learned that there is a verdict in the trial of Arthur Andersen, that trial under way in Houston. The jury has been working on this for better than a week now in its deliberations. This morning they met again, and we have learned there has been a verdict. We're going to get more in about 15 minutes' time. We'll, of course, bring it to you as soon as we have it.
But for now, let's take a little look at what this trial has been all about. We have some reporting that was done a little earlier by our CNN financial news correspondent Peter Viles, with more on the trial that's under way charging Andersen with obstructing justice by destroying documents when it was involved with Enron.
OK, apparently we don't have the package ready to go right now, the story that we were going to show you, ready to go right now. But we'll bring that to you just as soon as we do.
And of course, we'll bring you the verdict in the Andersen trial as soon as we learn it. We expect that to come in about 15 minutes, so for now, while we're waiting for that, we'll go back to our panel here.
You were speaking before the break...
BLAKEY: We promised some information.
SNOW: ... about what to do to get ready, just in case, of all these things, these terrible things we're hearing, these threats that are out there.
BLAKEY: Right. And the idea is, you know, a lot of people feel as if they have no sense of control over this. We hear about a dirty bomb announcement, and they think, "Oh, man, I'm panicking. What do I do?" The best thing to do is, A, not panic, which is easy for me to say right now when nothing is going on.
However, to get prepared so that you have a sense of control -- because that's really the thing that most of us miss. A couple of different items here. On your person, you want to make sure to have a cell phone. That will be key if there is some terrible, horrific incident, so that you can contact other people. This is something that's -- a small flashlight. A lot of people wouldn't think to carry that, like, in their purse. But say you're in a stairwell and there's some issue someplace and all the lights go out, you need some way to be able to see. Obviously a larger flashlight at home would be good.
If you have room in your bag, a first-aid kit would be great. I know, most of us don't.
(LAUGHTER)
We've got enough junk in there.
(CROSSTALK)
BLAKEY: We've got enough junk in our own bags. But in the idea being that, if you don't have one in your bag, on your person, put one in your trunk, put one, certainly, in your house. And get the most effective one you can find. Actually, they tend to be the more expensive ones, have more things in them. And you just want to make sure that everything is in there.
This pack, actually, by the AMA, doesn't have eyewash in it. So I grabbed eyewash. Because if there is some, you know, dust or cloud or something, you know, you want to be able to administer the best aid you can.
Now, keep in mind that, in your trunk -- you know how we get prepared for the wintertime, and we always have, you know, an extra set of clothing. You know, as reporters, oftentimes we have boots, hats, gloves, you know, anything we might need. That's how you should try to prepare in case of some kind of event, just so you have anything that you could potentially -- and that would include, oddly enough, trash bags, plastic trash bags. You never know when you're going to be a situation -- I know Candy's giving me this strange eyeball here.
CROWLEY: Just what are we going to do with a trash bag exactly?
BLAKEY: Well, the idea -- if there's something that's contaminated and you need to get rid of it, all right, you need to put it in several trash bags.
CROWLEY: To take your clothes off?
BLAKEY: You may need to take your -- the dirty bomb scenario.
CROWLEY: Right.
BLAKEY: Let's keep that in mind. If you...
FEYERICK: It's almost as if you need to have a backpack, an emergency backpack, that you would take with you.
BLAKEY: You need to have an...
FEYERICK: Because truthfully...
BLAKEY: And a duffel bag at home.
FEYERICK: ... it's got to be packed before you even -- before anything ever happens...
BLAKEY: Absolutely.
FEYERICK: ... because there's going to be such chaos if, God forbid, there is another attack.
CROWLEY: We don't have to bring the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) suit in the backpack, do we?
BLAKEY: ... a suit. You need canned goods. You need at least a gallon of water for every person in your household for at least two weeks. And this would be split for sanitation, half of it. The other half for drinking for each person. That's a gallon per person. That takes planning. That's something you should keep in mind.
Obviously, if you have canned goods, you want to make sure that you can get into them. A lot of us don't have these manual openers.
(LAUGHTER)
SNOW: Pounding it open with a rock.
BLAKEY: I'm telling you, people are going to look around their house and say, you know, I don't have one of those.
CROWLEY: I can't find my can opener with the lights on.
BLAKEY: Precisely. So you get some candles, you get some matches that are waterproof. You also want to make sure to have -- this is a neat little item. This will purify water.
SNOW: I have that in my backpack.
BLAKEY: You have one of these?
SNOW: In my backpack.
BLAKEY: A lot of hikers use them.
SNOW: Hikers use them, yes.
BLAKEY: Precisely. So, I mean, that's -- you can find a lot of these things at surplus stores, that kind of thing, Army-Navy stores.
SNOW: It's to clean the water.
BLAKEY: Will clean the water, but you have to be careful to wait the allotted amount of time. And speaking of time, I know I'm running out, so I want to show you this thing. This is one of those cool little gadgets that a lot of guys carry, you know, on their belt, that's got everything...
CROWLEY: Just take it on a plane anymore.
FEYERICK: Yes, right, that's the only problem.
(LAUGHTER)
BLAKEY: Don't take it on a plane, but if you have it in your emergency home duffel bag, something goes wrong.
Last thing, make sure you have a safe room in your house. Someplace where you've talked with your family members that you're all going to meet. And by a safe room, I mean a place that does not have outdoor ventilation.
SNOW: And an escape plan.
BLAKEY: Because if there is radiation or something outside, you want to make sure that you're in an area...
SNOW: In the interior.
BLAKEY: ... an interior room, yes.
SNOW: We've been chuckling at some of this, but it's all -- it's very serious stuff.
BLAKEY: It's important.
SNOW: And it is important. So thank you for bringing this in today and enlightening us a little bit.
BLAKEY: Sure. All in my purse.
(LAUGHTER)
SNOW: Want to remind you all that we do have a verdict in the Arthur Andersen trial that's been under way in Houston, Texas. We're going to take you there as soon as we have more information or know what that verdict is, and we expect that rather shortly. So stay with CNN for that.
And also, coming up, more discussion from us here on our panel. We're going to talk about the care in Utah, in Salt Lake City, of the missing girl. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(NEWSBREAK)
SNOW: We're coming back with you now with our panel of -- we like to say our panel of correspondents. And we're going to talk a little bit about Anderson since this is coming up.
One thing I found interesting, yesterday, the judge told the jury in instructions that the jury doesn't -- they came up with a question saying, "Well, do we have to figure out -- do each of us have to agree that one particular person within the Andersen company obstructed justice, or can we all think that it was somebody different but that there was obstruction?" And the judge said, "Yes, you can all think it's somebody different."
Now, the defense, Andersen's team has said that was a ridiculous ruling and that it clearly could be appealed, I gather, down the road.
FEYERICK: What's interesting, I think, also is just the charges that were brought against Andersen as a company. And that is they didn't go after the top people. They didn't go after the specific shredders. They didn't go after just a small group of people. They went after the entire firm, all 8,000 employees.
And so I think that's what's going to be a very interesting issue for the jury. Can they decide that, you know, based on this whole firm, that everybody was guilty of obstruction of justice? And if I had to think of any sticking point, I would think that that would be the one. Do you condemn the whole firm for the actions of the top people or for a few people, anyway?
CROWLEY: Doesn't sound like, from -- I mean, you know how everybody tries to read into the jury questions back to the judge. Sounds to me like they've got -- and they definitely think Anderson did something they weren't supposed to be doing, and what they can't figure out is who to blame.
SNOW: At least some of them do.
CROWLEY: Yes, absolutely.
FEYERICK: You know, the other thing about this story though -- I don't know if you all know anybody that works for Anderson. I have two relatives that did work for Andersen. I mean, this is really a very personal story on one level.
I mean, this company is already going down, and if this happens, if they're convicted right now...
SNOW: It's over.
FEYERICK: ... it's pretty much over.
CROWLEY: Yes, it is. And what's also I think is interesting to, you know, people that aren't involved in other Enron and Andersen is, it had such a ripple effect, you know, on consumer confidence, on...
BLAKEY: And do you think you going back to see your 401(k) and say, "All right, well, you know, what are my financial resources like...
CROWLEY: Absolutely.
BLAKEY: ... and where am I vested and not vested?" I mean, that's one of those things that really shook everybody in the country, I think, to say, "Hey, are we protected?"
CROWLEY: You have to take a look at your company. Absolutely, no question.
SNOW: Not to even mention the political and the politics, which Candy and I could probably talk for hours about. It's definitely getting some play on Capitol Hill.
But we're going to take a break right now. When we come back, of course, we've said that verdict expected about 10:45. That's very shortly. CNN will bring you coverage of that.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SNOW: Welcome back to CNN's SATURDAY EDITION. I'm Kate Snow. We're standing by for a verdict in the trial in Houston of Andersen. That trial on obstruction of justice charges related to Enron. As soon as we have that, we'll bring it to you.
But for now, we want to go to another big story out of this week, in Utah, Salt Lake City. Jeanne Meserve is in Salt Lake City. She's covering the missing girl mystery out there.
Jeanne, start by giving us an update. Last night there was great hope that perhaps they had spotted a man who might have had some real clues, and that seems to have fizzled.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. A big sigh of disappointment here in Salt Lake last night. All day long, there had been reports that a man fitting the description of Brett Michael Edmunds, who's wanted for questioning in this case, had been sighted down in Texas.
Hopes went even higher when there reports that this man had been picked up by authorities in Texas. But then all of those hopes were dashed when it was discovered this wasn't Edmunds. There was no fingerprint match. And so the search for him continues. Police saying he not a suspect, just someone they want to talk to.
The search also continues for Elizabeth, and it is massive. Eighty-five hundred volunteers involved in that effort so far. And of course, the investigation continues. Police, at this point, being very tight-lipped about whatever evidence they have found and whatever suspects they might have developed -- Kate.
SNOW: There was something I found curious, Jeanne, in the reading that we were doing, that the -- I believe the police are no longer searching, it's just the volunteers. Correct me if I'm wrong. Or are the police also looking?
MESERVE: I'm sure the police are involved in some part of this investigation and search effort, but they have really capitalized on the volunteer effort here. This is a community here in Salt Lake. As I said, thousands of people have showed up to try and help. And it has been a very focused search effort. It's been very interesting to watch. You might have heard of the Laura Foundation. This a group in Texas, founded by a man whose own daughter had been abducted and later was murdered. And it came in and sort of gave them a template, showed them how to organize these volunteers in a way that would really make them effective.
We were watching a briefing here in the command center yesterday, where they had these fresh volunteers in there. They were saying, "These are the kinds of pajamas she was wearing. These is what the footprint of her shoe would look like. If you're out there, if you see something, back off, don't touch anything, immediately call 911." So it appears to have been a very effective sort of effort.
An interesting thing they're doing today, they're trying to go a step further. They are saying, "People know their own neighborhoods, their own communities best. We want this to go down into the local level. We want you to go out and look in that shed in your backyard that maybe you haven't looked in for six months, look around. Send you kids up to check out that cave in the ravine up the way that maybe your family alone knows about." In that way, they're hoping they'll get even more clues as to what might have happened to this young girl.
FEYERICK: I want to ask you something about this man that they're looking for. Initially, they said he was a suspect and then they said he wasn't a suspect. Here is somebody who was in a neighborhood he shouldn't have been in. And now they have found his license plates on the side of the road. I mean, if that's not suspicious behavior, trying to, you know, change the appearance of your car in some way, then what is? I mean, they have to have ticked him up a notch as far as, you know, wanting to talk to him.
MESERVE: Well, this guy is wanted on a couple of other warrants. So it is logical that he would not want to step into the police station and talk to them.
As for changing license plates, that's something that happens all the time. We asked yesterday about other reports of stolen plates. We're told there have been many. They are checking out to see if there might be any connection to this case.
The key point is that they haven't found his car, a green Saturn. They're still looking for that right now and, of course, looking for him.
BLAKEY: Jeanne, let me ask you this question about the family because we keep hearing that is somewhat of a two-pronged investigation. We've got this guy Edmunds, and then we've got other questions about family members and whether or not polygraphs came out the way they should have, whether or not people were in the room or visited the crime scene before the police arrived. Are you hearing more on that?
MESERVE: We aren't hearing a great deal about that. As I mentioned, police are being very tight-lipped. This is a huge family. They are clearly looking at members of the family. At least two members have been polygraphed. But they say they're looking at a broader community, as well, of people who may have been in the neighborhood, who might have been friends, who could have come in some sort of contact with this girl. So it isn't limited exclusively to the family.
As to the timing of what happened the night of the abduction, there are some question about that. We do know the younger sister who witnessed this abduction was scared out of her wits and did not tell her parents what had happened for some period of time.
The police said yesterday that they were called in fairly short order after the parents heard from the younger daughter what had happened, but the police also said that when they got to the house there were other people there, neighbors and so forth, who had come over.
Now, it may have been the neighbors were called first. It may have been the neighbors were called second. They were in close proximity. They might have just been able to get to the house sooner than the police were.
Now, whether that could have contaminated the crime scene is, of course, an interesting question, one I'm sure they're looking at very closely here.
SNOW: As we continue to talk about this story, Jeanne, I just want to remind our viewers that we're also waiting for that verdict in the Andersen obstruction-of-justice trial. A completely different story, but we're waiting for that. We'll bring you that as soon as we have it.
But we're going to continue talking about this. I think this has really fascinated -- I mean, it's captured the attention of the nation.
You had something you wanted to ask.
CROWLEY: I just wanted to get back to the Edmunds thing, Jeanne. And I may be asking you something you can't answer, and that is, is there some legal reason...
MESERVE: Thanks, Candy.
(LAUGHTER)
CROWLEY: ... because I love to do that. It happens to me all of the time, so here you go.
You know, you've got this guy who has a record, who's wanted on some outstanding warrants. The milkman sees him trolling the neighborhood and they say, "Well, we just want to question him."
Is there some legal reason for that? I mean, does anybody in the world not think this guy isn't a suspect?
MESERVE: You know, you were right, Candy.
(LAUGHTER)
That's one of those questions I just...
CROWLEY: I mean, it just seems -- there must be some sort of reason that they don't. He clearly knows, you know, he's a suspect. We sort of draw that conclusion. And so I don't really get why they -- is there some reason?
FEYERICK: Part of it also is, I think...
MESERVE: It could, I suppose, be tactical.
FEYERICK: Exactly.
MESERVE: I mean, it may have been that the police realized they went out a little too far on the limb the other day when they said, "We know who you are, and we think we may have even questioned you, and we think we're going to solve this quickly," and they described this guy as a suspect. They may have realized they went out a little bit too far.
CROWLEY: So maybe it's the Atlanta bomber worry?
MESERVE: Yes, exactly. Jewel, yes.
FEYERICK: Jeanne, one thing I also want to ask you, you know, the point of entry has been a huge question. How does this man walk into a house, get up to the second floor, chose one of seven bedrooms, the exact one she's sleeping in, allow her to put on her sneakers and then bring her downstairs. She doesn't make a noise...
BLAKEY: And her sister just happens to be in the same bedroom.
FEYERICK: Yes. She doesn't make a noise. Then they're talking about this little screen possibly, but it's too small for anybody to have walked in.
Well, you know, if the shoe doesn't fit, then it wasn't the screen. Somebody may have walked right into the front door...
BLAKEY: Who had access.
FEYERICK: ... which leads to a family member. They've taken polygraph tests. Have they found inconsistencies?
SNOW: Jeanne, stay with us and hold your thought for a second. I know you want to respond to that, but we want to just take a quick break. We've got to pay the bills.
We're still waiting for that verdict in the Andersen trial, and we'll talk more when we come back. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SNOW: Back with more of CNN's SATURDAY EDITION this morning. We are talking about a number of things.
Right now we're waiting for a verdict in the Andersen trial in Houston. Our Fred Katayama standing by right outside the courtroom. Just as soon as we have that verdict, we will bring that to you live.
But right before the break, we were talking with our Jeanne Meserve, who is out in Salt Lake City covering the disappearance of Elizabeth Smart.
Jeanne, you were asked a question and I had to cut you off, so let's let you answer that.
Deborah was asking about, why wouldn't there be a trail? Why wouldn't there be some evidence by the person who went into the house, walked up to the second floor? You know, it just seems like there should be more clues. MESERVE: Well, there may be more, and we simply don't know about them. That's one possibility. There certainly are questions, though, about exactly how this person into the house, how they got out.
As to found where she was, it's possible that they had cases the house for some time. I was up in the neighborhood last night. You can hike on a path right into their backyard and look at all of the windows in the back of their house. If someone had been sitting up there for some period of time, they probably could have discerned which bedroom this young girl would have been in.
But on the issue of polygraphs, which Deborah also asked about, there have been reports that there were inconclusive results. Police aren't talking much about that of course. But experts say, "Don't put too much weight on that, that 45 percent of the time there can be inconclusive results to a test like that. Also, they mentioned that polygraphs aren't admitted in many places in court. Utah is one of those places.
SNOW: You're talking about the polygraphs of the family members, too, just to be clear.
CROWLEY: You mentioned that they do not -- I mean, I'm sort of hearing two different things. It seems to me that out there the authorities said, "Oh, we routinely give polygraphs to members of the family, you know, just to get that out of the way." But you said it's not that routine.
FEYERICK: My experience with law enforcement is just that they will give a polygraph when they have questioned somebody and inconsistent statements have come up. It's not as if they just sort of give it to somebody to see what they're going to say. It's not a diagnostic tool right at the start.
BLAKEY: They're not using it necessarily to rule out groups.
FEYERICK: You've got to have a reason to give it to somebody.
BLAKEY: Right.
FEYERICK: And that's sort of my experience with law enforcement.
MESERVE: And as to how many people they have given them to, we just don't know. We know at least two family members have gotten them. There may be many more. We don't know. There may be people outside the family who have been given these tests. And we just don't know who they are, and we certainly don't know what the results are.
SNOW: Jeanne, one of the first things -- I was saying during the commercial break, one of the first things I thought when I heard this story was surely she was surfing the Internet -- I mean, this was just me making this up in my own head, but thinking maybe she was surfing the Internet and had gotten in contact with a older gentleman.
Do we know whether she was on the Internet at all? MESERVE: We do know that they've looked at a computer in the house. We have been told that she is not a child who had access to the Internet, that was a kid who wrote papers and that sort of thing on the computer, but didn't surf the Net. That's what we've been told. What the truth of the matter is, again, we just don't have a clue at this point.
FEYERICK: Jeanne, something -- it's Deb -- something about the dogs, apparently they brought in dogs just a couple of days ago. And it just seems a bit bizarre to me that they would wait more than, you know, close to two weeks to actually bring in dogs to search the perimeter. Why that late? I mean, they may have missed something critical.
MESERVE: Well, I'm not sure exactly when the dogs came in. I spoke to someone in Washington earlier this week with a federal law enforcement agency who indicated to me the dogs had come in earlier than that. However, I also have heard that there are dog handlers here -- and there are a lot of them, I should say -- and some of them are upset that they were not brought in to this case earlier, that they feel, of course, it's harder to trace the trail after a period of time.
BLAKEY: Jeanne, it's Rea. I'm just curious, is there any further word -- obviously the 9-year-old sister who may have witnessed some of this was quite distraught by the whole thing, and we're told that she kind of held on to the information for a couple of hours before she disclosed it to her parents.
SNOW: She thought her sister would be trouble or would be in danger...
BLAKEY: Would be in danger, precisely. But is there any further word on whether or not we will see a sketch artist with some kind of, you know, physical description of who this person is based on the 9- year old's account?
MESERVE: You know, the police were quizzed about that yesterday. They didn't want to answer whether or not they had a facial description of this guy, but they did say a sketch artist is not coming in, which would seem to indicate that they do not have a tremendously good snapshot of this guy's face.
We don't know exactly what the lighting situation was in the room, and of course it was the middle of the night. So it's unclear exactly what she saw.
FEYERICK: One of the images that I just can't get out of my mind is the pictures, the home videos of her. She's such a beautiful little girl. She just seems so lovely and so sweet. And I'll tell you, just any wacko who might be out there, it just -- I don't know, I think I would almost feel more comfortable if they just had one photograph of her, because there are just too many things.
BLAKEY: It's like a potential magnet. FEYERICK: I think people looking at those pictures, you know, if your intentions are good, it's one thing, if they're bad, it's another.
SNOW: I want to thank our panel for being with us and hanging with us through the breaking news today, all of our CNN correspondents, Deborah Feyerick, Candy Crowley, Jeanne Meserve out in Salt Lake, Rea Blakey right next to me, and Kelly Wallace who was with us earlier.
That wraps up CNN's SATURDAY EDITION.
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