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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Attorney General Delays McVeigh Execution After FBI Admits Mistake

Aired May 11, 2001 - 20:00   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.
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight, the Justice Department stops the clock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have made a decision to postpone the execution of Timothy McVeigh for one month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The move follows the FBI's withholding of documents in the Oklahoma City bombing trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT NIGH, MCVEIGH'S ATTORNEY: Not only is a stay appropriate in Mr. McVeigh's case, I believe that a moratorium on all federal executions is on order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll go live to our correspondents: in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Timothy McVeigh sits in prison; in Denver, where a federal court has jurisdiction in the case; and in Oklahoma City where families of victims watch and wait. I'll discuss Timothy McVeigh's options with his former defense attorney, Christopher Tritico. And with the FBI under fire, I'll speak with an author who looked inside the FBI, Ronald Kessler.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from the CNN center in Atlanta.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that Wednesday's scheduled execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh would be postponed until June 11. He cited the startling disclosure that the FBI had withheld some 3,000 pages of documents from McVeigh's attorneys.

McVeigh had earlier insisted he was prepared to die next week, but his attorneys now say he may be rethinking his position. And that's our top story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER (voice-over): The 11th-hour delay came along with an order from the attorney general to investigate how the FBI foul-up could have occurred. But John Ashcroft says he does not believe the contents of the interview notes, photographs and tapes will affect McVeigh's conviction. So, why the delay?

ASHCROFT: If any questions or doubts remain about this case, it would cast a permanent cloud over justice, diminishing its value and questioning its integrity.

BLITZER: McVeigh's attorney says his client, who has decided to stop the appeals process, is now apparently willing to re-evaluate his situation.

NATHAN CHAMBERS, MCVEIGH'S ATTORNEY: Mr. McVeigh intends to consider all of the legal options that might be available to him and will make a decision as to how he wants to proceed.

BLITZER: Six years after the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, this development has the potential to become a major headache for federal prosecutors. An attorney for Terry Nichols, serving a life sentence for conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the bombing, says he now plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

MICHAEL TIGAR, TERRY NICHOLS' ATTORNEY: This is what the FBI does. They lie to the prosecutors. We caught them doing it again and again and again. They decide what their own prosecutors need.

BLITZER: President Bush who, as governor of Texas, signed off on 152 executions, says he supports Ashcroft's decision.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The very foundation of our democracy depends on our ability to assure citizens that in all criminal cases, and especially in the death penalty, defendants have been treated fairly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: As criticism is directed against the FBI, Timothy McVeigh's father has added his voice, saying defense attorneys had long suspected they were given incomplete records.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MCVEIGH, TIMOTHY MCVEIGH'S FATHER: It could have been just an accidental mistake. They claim that's what it is, but I don't know if it is or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if it weren't an accident, what would it be? Why would they do it?

MCVEIGH: Well, Mr. Jones and Mr. Tigar both were refused many times, were told to -- went to the judge many times and told them that there were records missing, documents that they didn't have, that there were pieces missing, and... (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As Timothy McVeigh considers his legal options, let's begin our live coverage with CNN national correspondent Bob Franken. He's outside the U.S. federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Bob, first of all, this notion -- you were at that news conference when Rob Nigh announced that McVeigh may be reconsidering his legal options, perhaps even thinking about an appeal, how serious is this notion?

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Robert Nigh, of course, is somebody who is just as adamant in opposition to the death penalty, so he's obviously giving advice to that extent.

But the first thing they have to do, and kept saying this over and over, they have to look at the thousands of pages of documents. Have to look and see if, in fact, the Justice Department is being fair and candid when it says there's nothing that would have affected the outcome of the trial, nothing that, in fact, would be appealable.

He's going to look at it as a lawyer. His client, Timothy McVeigh is going to look at it. But instead of this absolute no opposition to the execution, now what we're hearing is that if, in fact, there's something in there which provides a legal basis for an appeal, they are going to look.

Meanwhile, Nigh spent over five hours with him today, and there was a long discussion about what all of this has -- what all of this has meant, and Nigh came out saying that the best way to describe his client, Timothy McVeigh, is that he's distressed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIGH: Mr. McVeigh had made the mental and psychological preparation for death. He had said his good-byes to his family and to his friends. He is distressed that he has had to put these people that he cares about through this process, and may only have to put them through it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: And Wolf, among those who he said he was distressed, that he was causing some grievance for, were the families of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bob, I understand the warden at the federal penitentiary there has just issued some new guidelines, some new announcements about how he's planning for this execution?

FRANKEN: Well, he's going to next week, according to the statement that came out, tell McVeigh when exactly is the date and time of the execution. The same statement, by the way, said that where we are right now, we are going to have to vacate these premises, temporarily at least, starting at Sunday at noon, that's 1:00 Eastern.

BLITZER: All right, Bob Franken in Terre Haute, thank you very much

Meanwhile, McVeigh was tried, convicted and sentenced at a U.S. federal court in Denver, which could again be the setting for any new legal moves. CNN's Susan Candiotti covered those events in Denver, and she is there for us once again right now.

Susan, the federal judge, Richard Matsch, how's he expected to do accept these latest developments?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well so far, Judge Matsch has not received any filings from Mr. McVeigh's lawyers, and it's expected that that's one venue where they could go.

I can tell you this: the FBI is very, very worried and not looking forward to appearing before Judge Matsch, because does not suffer fools lightly, he does not like it when people break his rules, break court orders, and they expect, fully expect, a dressing-down if they have to appear before him.

BLITZER: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much in Denver, Colorado.

Meanwhile, the execution delay is another emotional challenge for survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and for relatives of the victims. CNN national correspondent Martin Savidge is gathering their reactions. He joins us now live from Oklahoma City.

Marty, tell us how they are reacting over there?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, word began spreading last night that something may have gone wrong with the McVeigh execution. That fear was confirmed when it was announced that there would, in fact, be a delay on the part of the Justice Department. Anger, fear, frustration and even some anguish was felt by many of the victims' family members and many people here.

Kathleen Treanor lost a mother (sic) in that explosion. She speaks for many of the victims' families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN TREANOR, MOTHER OF BOMBING VICTIM: There's a lot of emotional preparation that goes into, you know, preparing for what we were going to do next Wednesday. And now, it looks as if that is going to be delayed, and God only knows when that is going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: At the memorial today, it was another busy day. It is often crowded here. A number of people said that they had timed their visit to coincide with they thought was going to be next week's execution. They believe the delay now is only protracting the suffering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARY ANDERSON, BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA: I feel a real peace here, which is one reason why I would have really liked to have seen Mr. McVeigh executed soon, so that all the victims' families could have closure. We need to have closure of this thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Like McVeigh, many of the people in Oklahoma City had been preparing for his death. A number of the victims' families had set the day aside especially, some to witness his execution, others simply to note it in a different way.

Now, they have to reschedule. There is, in a few minds, that fear that that date may now never come at all, but most believe the justice they seek has only been delayed, that it will come soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Martin Savidge in Oklahoma City, thank you very much.

Would the FBI documents have made a difference in the bombing trial? What is Timothy McVeigh likely to do next? I'll speak with his former attorney, Chris Tritico.

And another black eye for the FBI. I'll look at the world's most powerful law enforcement agency with author Ronald Kessler. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Tonight, the Justice Department stops the clock.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ASHCROFT, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have made a decision to postpone the execution of Timothy McVeigh for one month.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The move follows the FBI's withholding of documents in the Oklahoma City bombing trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT NIGH, MCVEIGH'S ATTORNEY: Not only is a stay appropriate in Mr. McVeigh's case, I believe that a moratorium on all federal executions is on order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We'll go live to our correspondents: in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Timothy McVeigh sits in prison; in Denver, where a federal court has jurisdiction in the case; and in Oklahoma City where families of victims watch and wait. I'll discuss Timothy McVeigh's options with his former defense attorney, Christopher Tritico. And with the FBI under fire, I'll speak with an author who looked inside the FBI, Ronald Kessler.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from the CNN center in Atlanta.

Attorney General John Ashcroft announced today that Wednesday's scheduled execution of convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh would be postponed until June 11. He cited the startling disclosure that the FBI had withheld some 3,000 pages of documents from McVeigh's attorneys.

McVeigh had earlier insisted he was prepared to die next week, but his attorneys now say he may be rethinking his position. And that's our top story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER (voice-over): The 11th-hour delay came along with an order from the attorney general to investigate how the FBI foul-up could have occurred. But John Ashcroft says he does not believe the contents of the interview notes, photographs and tapes will affect McVeigh's conviction. So, why the delay?

ASHCROFT: If any questions or doubts remain about this case, it would cast a permanent cloud over justice, diminishing its value and questioning its integrity.

BLITZER: McVeigh's attorney says his client, who has decided to stop the appeals process, is now apparently willing to re-evaluate his situation.

NATHAN CHAMBERS, MCVEIGH'S ATTORNEY: Mr. McVeigh intends to consider all of the legal options that might be available to him and will make a decision as to how he wants to proceed.

BLITZER: Six years after the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people, this development has the potential to become a major headache for federal prosecutors. An attorney for Terry Nichols, serving a life sentence for conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter in the bombing, says he now plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

MICHAEL TIGAR, TERRY NICHOLS' ATTORNEY: This is what the FBI does. They lie to the prosecutors. We caught them doing it again and again and again. They decide what their own prosecutors need.

BLITZER: President Bush who, as governor of Texas, signed off on 152 executions, says he supports Ashcroft's decision.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The very foundation of our democracy depends on our ability to assure citizens that in all criminal cases, and especially in the death penalty, defendants have been treated fairly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: As criticism is directed against the FBI, Timothy McVeigh's father has added his voice, saying defense attorneys had long suspected they were given incomplete records.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL MCVEIGH, TIMOTHY MCVEIGH'S FATHER: It could have been just an accidental mistake. They claim that's what it is, but I don't know if it is or not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if it weren't an accident, what would it be? Why would they do it?

MCVEIGH: Well, Mr. Jones and Mr. Tigar both were refused many times, were told to -- went to the judge many times and told them that there were records missing, documents that they didn't have, that there were pieces missing, and...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As Timothy McVeigh considers his legal options, let's begin our live coverage with CNN national correspondent Bob Franken. He's outside the U.S. federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Bob, first of all, this notion -- you were at that news conference when Rob Nigh announced that McVeigh may be reconsidering his legal options, perhaps even thinking about an appeal, how serious is this notion?

FRANKEN: Well, Robert Nigh, of course, is somebody who is just as adamant in opposition to the death penalty, so he's obviously giving advice to that extent.

But the first thing they have to do, and kept saying this over and over, they have to look at the thousands of pages of documents. Have to look and see if, in fact, the Justice Department is being fair and candid when it says there's nothing that would have affected the outcome of the trial, nothing that, in fact, would be appealable.

He's going to look at it as a lawyer. His client, Timothy McVeigh is going to look at it. But instead of this absolute no opposition to the execution, now what we're hearing is that if, in fact, there's something in there which provides a legal basis for an appeal, they are going to look.

Meanwhile, Nigh spent over five hours with him today, and there was a long discussion about what all of this has -- what all of this has meant, and Nigh came out saying that the best way to describe his client, Timothy McVeigh, is that he's distressed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIGH: Mr. McVeigh had made the mental and psychological preparation for death. He had said his good-byes to his family and to his friends. He is distressed that he has had to put these people that he cares about through this process, and may only have to put them through it again.

(END VIDEO CLIP) FRANKEN: And Wolf, among those who he said he was distressed, that he was causing some grievance for, were the families of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Bob, I understand the warden at the federal penitentiary there has just issued some new guidelines, some new announcements about how he's planning for this execution?

FRANKEN: Well, he's going to next week, according to the statement that came out, tell McVeigh when exactly is the date and time of the execution. The same statement, by the way, said that where we are right now, we are going to have to vacate these premises, temporarily at least, starting at Sunday at noon, that's 1:00 Eastern.

BLITZER: All right, Bob Franken in Terre Haute, thank you very much

Meanwhile, McVeigh was tried, convicted and sentenced at a U.S. federal court in Denver, which could again be the setting for any new legal moves. CNN's Susan Candiotti covered those events in Denver, and she is there for us once again right now.

Susan, the federal judge, Richard Matsch, how's he expected to do accept these latest developments?

CANDIOTTI: Well so far, Judge Matsch has not received any filings from Mr. McVeigh's lawyers, and it's expected that that's one venue where they could go.

I can tell you this: the FBI is very, very worried and not looking forward to appearing before Judge Matsch, because does not suffer fools lightly, he does not like it when people break his rules, break court orders, and they expect, fully expect, a dressing-down if they have to appear before him.

BLITZER: Susan Candiotti, thank you very much in Denver, Colorado.

Meanwhile, the execution delay is another emotional challenge for survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing and for relatives of the victims. CNN national correspondent Martin Savidge is gathering their reactions. He joins us now live from Oklahoma City.

Marty, tell us how they are reacting over there?

SAVIDGE: Well, Wolf, word began spreading last night that something may have gone wrong with the McVeigh execution. That fear was confirmed when it was announced that there would, in fact, be a delay on the part of the Justice Department. Anger, fear, frustration and even some anguish was felt by many of the victims' family members and many people here.

Kathleen Treanor lost a mother (sic) in that explosion. She speaks for many of the victims' families.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KATHLEEN TREANOR, MOTHER OF BOMBING VICTIM: There's a lot of emotional preparation that goes into, you know, preparing for what we were going to do next Wednesday. And now, it looks as if that is going to be delayed, and God only knows when that is going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: At the memorial today, it was another busy day. It is often crowded here. A number of people said that they had timed their visit to coincide with they thought was going to be next week's execution. They believe the delay now is only protracting the suffering.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY ANDERSON, BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA: I feel a real peace here, which is one reason why I would have really liked to have seen Mr. McVeigh executed soon, so that all the victims' families could have closure. We need to have closure of this thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Like McVeigh, many of the people in Oklahoma City had been preparing for his death. A number of the victims' families had set the day aside especially, some to witness his execution, others simply to note it in a different way.

Now, they have to reschedule. There is, in a few minds, that fear that that date may now never come at all, but most believe the justice they seek has only been delayed, that it will come soon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Martin Savidge in Oklahoma City, thank you very much.

Would the FBI documents have made a difference in the bombing trial? What is Timothy McVeigh likely to do next? I'll speak with his former attorney, Chris Tritico.

And another black eye for the FBI. I'll look at the world's most powerful law enforcement agency with author Ronald Kessler. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: Welcome back. Timothy McVeigh had previously ruled out any appeals. But his lawyers say he'll now reconsider his legal options in light of the FBI's failure to provide his trial defense with thousands of pages of documents.

Joining me now from Houston, a former member of McVeigh's defense team, Chris Tritico.

Chris, thank you for joining us. You know Timothy McVeigh. What do you think he's now going to do, in light of what has happened?

CHRIS TRITICO, FORMER MCVEIGH ATTORNEY: Well, I think that Tim's probably going to listen very closely to what Rob is telling him. And I'm pretty sure that what Rob's telling him is: Let's get our hands on these documents, review them thoroughly, analyze them with respect to the other evidence in the case, and then let's decide if we need to ask for a evidentiary hearing on this, and possibly even a new trial or a new punishment hearing.

BLITZER: Well, as you know, the lawyer, Rob Nigh, is strongly opposed to the death penalty. Do you think he'll try to talk McVeigh into accepting additional appeals?

TRITICO: Well, Rob was there when Tim waived his appeal last time. I think that Rob will follow Tim's wishes, but I know that Rob is -- if the evidence warrants some evidentiary hearing, or a new trial, Rob is going top very strongly urge Tim to take that route.

BLITZER: Do you believe this was an honest mistake by the FBI?

TRITICO: No, I don't. There's been too many documented case, dating back years, where the FBI, in cases of this magnitude, comes up late in the game, and: Oh, here, we didn't have this stuff. We never turned it over.

No, I don't believe this was an honest mistake.

BLITZER: So what was the motivation, if you believe that this was a deliberate decision on the part of someone in the FBI, to withhold evidence?

TRITICO: Well, I have to look at the documents before I can really answer that question fully. But let's assume that there's information in there leading to this mysterious John Doe No. 2. What the government did was they actively looked for this man up until about a month or six weeks before trial, and then announced: No, there is no John Doe No. 2. There never was.

And that could be the type of stuff that they suppressed.

BLITZER: The attorney general insists that career Justice Department lawyers have looked through the documents and have found nothing significant, that any information there is nonmaterial to the conviction and the death penalty that was given to Timothy McVeigh. I take it you don't accept that at face value.

TRITICO: No, I don't. I can imagine that would be their response today -- that six years after the fact we're turning over some documents. It's no big deal, here it is. If it was no big deal won't have turned it over.

BLITZER: The other point that Attorney General Ashcroft makes is that the Justice Department, the prosecution was really under no obligation to provide these documents in the first place. It was only because they were providing a lot more than is normal in these kinds of cases that this has become an issue at all.

TRITICO: Not true. We signed an agreement with Justice early on in the case, that they would give us everything that they had. In exchange for that, we gave them a bunch of information that we had. It WATERS: an agreement and it was -- it was an agreement that was sanctioned by the court.

They did, in this case, have an obligation to turn over this material.

BLITZER: All right, so just button this up for us. Looking ahead, Timothy McVeigh in the next 30 days, June 11, looking forward to that date. What do you think he's going to do?

TRITICO: I see that date coming and going with Tim McVeigh still living, because what I think's going to happen is Rob Nigh is going to ask for an additional stay of execution from Judge Matsch, based on what we're learning now. And I see Judge Matsch giving Tim McVeigh enough time to do an adequate investigation of this.

BLITZER: All right. Chris Tritico, it was kind of you to join us. Thank you very much.

TRITICO: You bet.

BLITZER: The FBI had been drawing scrutiny from Congress, before these latest revelations arose, over the age and capabilities of its computer system. One senior Congressional aide tells CNN the system is, in his words "horribly antiquated" with "ancient hardware and software from the late '80s." Officials blame the document mix-up in part on the Bureau's aging computers.

The oversight in the McVeigh case is just the latest point of controversy for the FBI. Ronald Kessler, the author of "The FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency" joins us now live from our Washington bureau. He's covered the FBI as a reporter as well for "The Washington Post."

Ron Kessler, thank you for joining us. The FBI has been embarrassed with a series of problems over these past few years. Is this an isolated incident or part of a pattern?

RONALD KESSLER, AUTHOR: It's part of a pattern. It's been happening almost every six months ever since Louis Freeh took over. And you can say, well, if all these things happen under this director, maybe the director's at fault. But actually, if you look at the particular cases, he was actively involved, and actually contributed in many cases to the problems and the misjudgments.

In this case, he has been totally disinterested in the computer system. Three or four years ago the people in the computer area were complaining that he didn't even want to be briefed on the computer problems and what should be done about them. And now we see the result in this problem with the McVeigh documents.

He's been very fixated on his own image. He likes to micromanage the top cases because they'll be in the paper the next day. But when it comes to the more important, or equally important operations of the FBI, he just has not been interested.

BLITZER: But if the FBI field agents out there in Dallas or Oklahoma City and elsewhere, simply didn't pass along these documents to the defense attorneys as they were supposed to do, isn't it sort of a stretch to say that Louis Freeh should have been micromanaging that kind of operation? Handing over these 3,000 pages, making sure that every single page goes?

KESSLER: Well, of course not. But it's well-known within the FBI, and Freeh has been aware of it for some time, that the computer system is not reliable, that it does not index documents properly. So given that fact, A, you want to get a new computer system and focus on that, which he has not done. And B, you want to do a manual search, which they finally did, belatedly, just before the execution, to make sure that you do get those documents. And that's something, again, that Freeh should have ordered and did not do.

BLITZER: You heard Chris Tritico, the former defense attorney for Timothy McVeigh, say he doesn't believe this was an honest mistake on the part of the FBI. Do you?

KESSLER: Oh, yeah, I do. Unfortunately, the FBI has been making a lot of these honest mistakes lately, and it's getting to the point where their credibility is vanishing. They did a wonderful job on this case. They caught the convicted killer in this case. And the agents themselves are very talented and very dedicated. But over and over again, you see the director making misjudgements.

For example, in the laboratory case, where you had the errors, he had decided that he was going to move out 150 experienced examiners, over the protest of the laboratory director, John Hicks. And the result was that you had this backlog and you had these errors.

The same thing happened with the Wen Ho Lee case. He decided to move out all the experienced Chinese counterintelligence supervisors at headquarters, and the result was he had an investigation that didn't know where it was going. And then, of course, he recommended the indictment of Wen Ho Lee, when in fact it was clear that the evidence was very flimsy.

In the Robert Hanssen spy case, in 1994 a proposal was made within the Bureau to Freeh to polygraph counterintelligence agents on a regular basis, just the way officers are polygraphed at the CIA. And I think if he had accepted that proposal, and he didn't, that very likely, Hanssen would have been caught many years ago.

BLITZER: Very briefly, Ronald Kessler, Louis Freeh stepping down next month. What should President Bush be looking for in a new director?

KESSLER: Well, you know, people say: What can you do about the FBI?

And the answer is just what you said. Let's get a good director. Someone, I think, who does have experience with the FBI, someone who has experience with management, which Louis Freeh never had: hopefully, someone who doesn't think that he's a case agent, which is what Louis Freeh has thought even though he was only in the FBI five years handling very minor cases, and someone who's balanced, who's not fixated on this -- on his image and his appearance in the press. BLITZER: All right, Ronald Kessler, the author of "The FBI," thanks for joining us for your insight.

KESSLER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Sticker shock at the gas pump? President Bush says he has the solution to that pain in your wallet. We'll tell you what he wants from Congress.

And it may get a little easier to treat your allergies. We'll show you how.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. In other news tonight, President Bush says his tax-cut plan is the quickest way to help Americans deal with the nationwide energy crunch. Gasoline prices in some areas have topped $2 a gallon. While in California, high demand and low energy supply have caused rolling power blackouts.

In New York, jurors deciding the fate of four men in the twin embassy bombings trial will resume deliberations Monday. The suspects are accused of carrying out the 1998 attacks in Kenya and Tanzania which killed 224 people. Today, the jury asked to review more evidence, including photos of the bombing aftermath.

Updating a story we first told you about last week: Democratic Representative James Traficant of Ohio today plead not guilty to bribery and corruption charges. Traficant, known for his brash and outspoken demeanor, won permission to represent himself. The judge set back the trial to February to give Traficant time to prepare. If convicted, he could get 63 years in prison.

Tonight, on "The Leading Edge," three popular allergy drugs soon could be available over the counter. An FDA advisory is recommending Claritin, Zyrtec, and Allegra be sold without a prescription. The move would force many patients to shell out more money because the drugs would not be covered by insurance.

Just weeks after the Space Shuttle Endeavor returned home, preparations are moving full speed ahead for NASA's launch next month of the shuttle Atlantis. Our space correspondent Miles O'Brien will have an incredible behind-the-scenes look at NASA this weekend. His special, "Terminal Count: What It Takes to Make the Space Shuttle Fly" airs Sunday, 10:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 Pacific, as part of our "CNN PRESENTS" documentary series.

CNN has a lot more coverage ahead about the delay in Timothy McVeigh's execution. I'll be back with a programming note in just a minute. Please stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Please stay with CNN throughout the night. Much more on the Timothy McVeigh story at the top of the hour on "LARRY KING LIVE." Up next, Greta Van Susteren. She's standing by to tell us what she has -- Greta.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST, CNN'S "THE POINT": Wolf, how did this happen? Well, I'm going to ask one of the prosecutors from the team that prosecuted Timothy McVeigh. Plus, we're going to go to Oklahoma and talk to the lieutenant governor, and I'm going to talk to Steve Bright, who knows more about the death penalty than 10 lawyers put together, and Jerry Spence, who needs no introduction -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Thanks, Greta, sounds good. Coming up on "CNN TONIGHT" at 1:00 a.m. Eastern/10:00 p.m. Pacific, a CNN exclusive: a series of tape recordings provided by actor Robert Blake's attorneys to Los Angeles police, recordings of Bonny Bakley's phone calls, recordings she made herself, conversations that help paint a portrait of the woman at the center of the murder investigation.

CNN's Charles Feldman with the exclusive on "CNN TONIGHT" 1:00 a.m. Eastern.

I'll see you Sunday on LATE EDITION: We'll have the latest on the McVeigh execution. Plus, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and senators Joe Lieberman and Mitch McConnell Sunday noon Eastern. Until then, thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Atlanta.

"THE POINT" with Greta Van Susteren begins right now.

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