Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports

Timothy McVeigh Abandons Further Appeals; President Signs Tax Cut Legislation

Aired June 07, 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, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight: Timothy McVeigh throws in the towel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT NIGH, MCVEIGH ATTORNEY: Mr. McVeigh does not want to proceed any further in legal actions in order to try to stop his execution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The legal maneuvering is finally over. We'll get a live report from Denver, and legal analysis from CNN's Roger Cossack.

President Bush signs the first major bill of his presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tax relief is now on the way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Your rebate checks will soon be in the mail. Meantime, the president picks up the check for dinner with new Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. We'll go to the White House.

Aircraft sabotage at a Boeing assembly plant? The FBI is investigating.

Good evening. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting tonight from Washington.

Timothy McVeigh says he's had enough. With the U.S. Court of Appeals tonight denying his request for a delay in his execution, the Oklahoma City bomber is instructing his attorneys to drop any more appeals. The execution is scheduled for Monday morning, and that's our top story.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is outside the federal courthouse in Denver and she joins us once again live. Susan, tell us about this remarkable day. SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Wolf. Well, over the objections of his attorneys who wanted to battle to the U.S. Supreme Court, Timothy McVeigh said enough. No more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIGH: I would like to tell you that he intends to petition for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, but I cannot. Mr. McVeigh does not want to proceed any further in legal actions in order to try to stop his execution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: McVeigh's lawyers said he was already leaning in that direction have Wednesday's rejection by the District Court of Appeals for a stay of execution, and this day the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, no stay of execution. After that, McVeigh said it wasn't worth fighting on, and he said that he wanted to use the time between now and then to prepare to die. The Appeals Court said that McVeigh simply had not proven that there was any fraud upon the court, that the actions of the FBI were not so egregious, that it would not have made any difference in his conviction. And that after all, Timothy McVeigh had made no claim of innocence.

McVeigh's lawyer said that was never the point, that they wanted to hold the FBI -- that McVeigh wanted to hold the FBI accountable for its actions. I asked them whether there was anybody else involved in the bombing. Was McVeigh holding back?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIGH: I don't think it was a weak argument at all. Anybody who has ever represented somebody who has loyalties to other people knows that we represent human beings. We don't represent defendants. We represent people who are complex, emotional beings, who have relationships with others, who care about others, and who are not necessarily willing to give them up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: McVeigh's lawyers said they themselves didn't really know if McVeigh was holding back. They think the FBI is holding being. Well, to that, the FBI has consistently said that they have all the people responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, and tonight this reaction from U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, he calls the day's decision -- quote -- "a ruling in favor of justice."

Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Susan, what are the attorneys for Timothy McVeigh -- what are they saying about his demeanor in prison at this late hour?

CANDIOTTI: They're saying that his resolve is clear, that he is making preparations to die. What does he mean by that? Well, they that he's getting into the correct mindset, the same mindset that he was in before his original execution date of May 16th -- that's he's going to be calling his family, that he's -- he's already sent his things back to his family, like letters and mail and books that people have been sending, and he simply wants to take the time between now and then to get ready to walk into the death chamber -- Wolf.

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

For more on the 11th-hour legal maneuvering, I'm joined by CNN legal analyst Roger Cossack. Roger, let's talk about "what ifs." What if they had decided -- Timothy McVeigh had decided to go to the Supreme Court? I take it, it was always a long shot, wasn't it?

ROGER COSSACK, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Oh, very much so. Once Judge Matsch made up his mind, at that point it was pretty effectively over. The rules are that an appellate court would have to find that Judge Matsch either abused his discretion, the legal phrase, or just relied simply on the wrong law, in other words, to overturn Judge Matsch's decision. And the 10th Circuit wasn't going to bite it, and he probably didn't. I mean, you may disagree with the decision, but he was well within his reason in coming up with it.

BLITZER: So even if it had gone to the Supreme Court, it was unlikely they were going to overturn the Court of Appeals and Judge Matsch?

COSSACK: Very much so. To describe it as a long shot is probably to understate it. Very much so, that once Matsch made his decision, the dye was cast.

BLITZER: Even a 30-day or 60-day stay? There was some speculation that Justice Breyer, who oversees the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, he could have issued a stay, even on his own?

COSSACK: Highly unlikely. In this kind of a situation, in a capital case, what happens is there's a great deal of collegiality between the Supreme Court. He would have canvassed his fellow members to see whether or not there were five votes rather than he go ahead and do it on his own. So it was just highly unlikely, Wolf.

BLITZER: I know you were surprised. A lot of people were surprised. I was surprised by Judge Matsch's decision, yet he made it forcefully and it's been upheld.

COSSACK: You know, what surprised was that he came to the end, almost by saying, look, you can investigate this forever, but you're never going to find that kind of evidence that does anything to change the knowledge that we have, which is you drove the truck, you exploded the truck and you killed all those people and you did it by yourself. At least that act, that act will never change. What's the point of continuing?

BLITZER: Roger Cossack, our legal analyst, thanks for joining us.

COSSACK: Sure.

BLITZER: Thank you. And to find out how survivors and relatives of the bombing victims are reacting to this development, let's go live to Oklahoma City and CNN national correspondent, Gary Tuchman.

Gary, what's the reaction tonight in Oklahoma City?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, for the relatives of the victims and the survivors who favored the death penalty, this is the moment they have been waiting for. The man who killed 149 adults, 19 children an three unborn children will be executed 3 1/2 days from now. Just minutes after the announcement that McVeigh was ready to die, the mother of one of the victims came outside here, outside the Oklahoma City Bombing Museum, and hugged one the prosecutors in the McVeigh case, the former U.S. attorney from Oklahoma City who was one of the four prosecutors in the case.

Doris Jones lost her daughter, Carrie, who was 6 months pregnant. I asked the mother what she would say to her daughter if she could.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DORIS JONES, MOTHER OF VICTIM: I just talked to her. I just went to her chair and I said, "It's almost over." So I just did talk to her.

TUCHMAN (on camera): It's a very emotional time right now, isn't it?

JONES: It is. I haven't done this for a while. You know, I fought a long time, and hard, for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: The chair she's referring to is one of the 168 chairs that sits in at this memorial, each chair symbolizing a victim.

Now, the McVeigh prosecutor, Patrick Ryan, who is now in private practice here in Oklahoma City says he's very gratified by this late development.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK RYAN, MCVEIGH PROSECUTOR: I'm Not surprised, because this is a man who gave up his last appellate rights on his habeas appeal, so he's obviously someone who is not inclined to always follow his lawyer's advice, And in this case, I think that he's done a favor, finally, to the nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TUCHMAN: So Oklahoma City will now get ready for the execution of the man who changed the city forever. Very early Monday morning, roughly 300 Oklahomans will board buses for a ride to a jail facility near the Oklahoma City airport, to watch the execution via closed- circuit television. One of those 300 will be Doris Jones. Wolf, back to you.

BLITZER: Gary Tuchman in Oklahoma City, thank you very much. Meanwhile, President Bush signs the tax cut bill and the U.S. treasurer will soon be signing your tax rebate check. Today -- other news is coming up.

Also, sabotage in an aircraft assembly plant -- who's tampering with the wiring of Boeing 737s? And new questions raised about a missing intern and a Congressman. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. Another sign today the economy is still in a deep slump. The Labor Department reports that new jobless claims jumped last week to 432,000, the highest level in almost nine years. President Bush, who's long argued that the economy needs a huge tax cut, today signed the tax cut bill, the so-called crown jewel of his political agenda.

But if he wants to check off more agenda items, he'll need the cooperation of the new Senate majority leader, Democrat Tom Daschle. He happens to be at the White House right now, having dinner with the president. Let's go live to the White House and CNN senior White House correspondent John King. John, tell us what's going on.

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that dinner tonight, part of the administration's strategy of dealing with the very difficult challenge ahead, pushing the agenda of this Republican president through the Senate now controlled by the Democrats. But, as the president looks ahead, still he took a moment earlier today here for a bit of a celebration.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KING (voice-over): President's signature locked in the first major tax cut in 20 years, and the first of what he hopes will be a string of legislative victories, even now that the Senate is in Democratic hands.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is a great day for America. It is the first major achievement of a new era, an era of steady cooperation.

KING: The measure provides $1.3 trillion in tax relief over the next 10 years. This year, single taxpayers get a $300 rebate check, married couples, $600. Other major changes are phased in over the next decade. Lower marginal tax rates, including a drop from 39.6 percent to 35 percent in the rate paid by the wealthiest Americans.

The child credit goes from $500 to $600 next year, and to $1,000 by 2010. There is a gradual easing of the so-called marriage penalty on two-earner couples, a phase-out of the estate tax, and new incentives to save for education costs and retirement.

BUSH: We recognize loud and clear the surplus is not the government's money. The surplus is the people's money, and we ought to trust them with their own money.

KING: Mr. Bush called it a bipartisan triumph, but only a modest number of Democrats voted yes, and the rest have a long list of complaints. To make it fit within budget projections, all the tax breaks expire in 2010, unless renewed by Congress.

Tax cuts leave the government with less money, forcing tough spending choices. And working-class Americans in the 15 percent tax bracket get no rate reduction.

REP. RICHARD GEPHARDT (D-MO), MINORITY LEADER: We want tax cuts that leave enough room in the budget for the priorities people most care about: health care, education, Social Security, energy, the environment. This bill does not do that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: So, the Bush tax plan is now the law of the land, but the debate over spending priorities, as you could see from Mr. Gephardt's comments continues, and indeed is sure to intensify now that the Democrats run the Senate -- Wolf.

BLITZER: John, what does the White House want tonight from Tom Daschle?

KING: Well, Wolf, Senator Daschle arrived here a short time ago. This is a one-on-one dinner in the White House residence. Most of all, they want to establish a line of communication with the man who presumably, at least through the 2002 elections, and perhaps for the rest of the president's first term, would have a lot to say about how much of the president's agenda gets through the Congress.

In the short-term, they want a commitment to vote on Bush nominees, especially judicial nominees and major administration appointees, and they want a commitment to put that education bill now before the Senate on a fast track.

The president signed the tax cut today. He wants to sign that education bill soon. He believes the best way to keep his poll numbers up, amid all this turmoil in Washington, is to show that no matter who runs the Congress, he can get things done.

BLITZER: John King at the White House, thank you very much.

Incidentally, the tax rebate checks that John referred to will be sent out over 10 weeks, beginning July 20. For the date your check will be mailed, go to my Web site, cnn.com/wolf.

Also here in Washington, the nation's top airline executives say they're making a voluntary effort to improve customer service, a move they say removes any need for Congress to pass a so-called passenger bill of rights. These new commitments will be printed on all airline tickets and are legally binding.

They include a promise to offer the lowest fair available, a promise to notify the passengers of known delays, cancellations and diversions, and a promise to deliver baggage in a timely manner.

In other news tonight, Boeing is asking the FBI to investigate what it says were deliberate damage done to the wiring of at least seven 737s at an assembly plant in Renton, Washington. We get more from Rick Price of our affiliate KIRO in Seattle.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICK PRICE, KIRO CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Boeing says it has now increased uniform security presence on the factory floor, as part of the investigation into the cut wires. The company says that while it's not unheard of for wires to get damaged in manufacturing, too many were turning up cut in too many different parts of the planes to be a coincidence. So, the company launched an internal investigation.

Boeing found such damage on seven planes in the factory or on the flight line. Inspectors believe their normal repetitive tests have caught all the damage so far.

This has happened before. In 1990, KIRO TV broke the story of a 737 in the factory that had many wires cut, detailed in these documents that KIRO obtained. That investigation included the FBI. It is a federal crime to damage or disable an aircraft.

While Boeing is a victim here, it is also at least in an embarrassing circumstance. The company confirms that a whistle-blower told the FAA about the damage before Boeing reported it. A spokesperson told me: "It was a timing issue," that the company wanted to be sure before reporting it. In the mean time, an employee called the FAA.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: That was our reporter Rick Price of our affiliate KIRO in Seattle.

Overseas, voting has ended in Britain, and exit polls indicate a landslide victory for Prime Minister Tony Blair. Numbers show Mr. Blair's Labour Party will retain its commanding majority in Parliament over the rival Conservative Party. Labour ended the Conservatives' 18-year hold on power in 1997.

And in other news overseas, a week after Nepal's royal family was massacred, a survivor has come forward to clear up conflicting accounts of precisely what happened. According to this witness, the drunken crown prince was escorted to his room. Minutes later, he returned wearing military fatigues and gunned down his father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RAJIV RAJ SHAHI, PRINCE DIPENDRA'S SON-IN-LAW: But then, crown prince Dipendra, who committed this murder -- anybody who touches the thing, is no more what he used to be. He is just a murderer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The witness says the prince then fatally shot his mother and seven others, some repeatedly and at close range before turning the gun on himself. Up next: new developments in the story we've been tracking, that of a missing Washington intern and allegations of her relationship with a U.S. congressman. The story is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Welcome back. New reports are surfacing tonight about the relationship between a missing Washington intern and her U.S. congressman from California.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken joins us live from our Washington bureau with more -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And Wolf, there are almost 100,000 cases of missing persons in the United States each year according to the FBI, but this one has gained particular attention, partially because of questions about a role of a member of Congress.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN (voice-over): Congressman Gary Condit was at the White House attending the signing of the tax bill. But questions continued to be raised about his relationship with Chandra Levy, the Washington intern who disappeared at the end of April.

According to law enforcement sources, Condit has told investigators Chandra Levy had spent the night at his Washington apartment. Condit's office has repeatedly denied that the California Democrat had a romantic relationship with the intern. A Condit staff member, who would not discuss whether Levy had in fact spent the night at Condit's apartment, told CNN he did not tell police that she had spent the night at his apartment, he did not say that.

D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who in the past has publicly contradicted published reports about the case, was noncommittal this time as he appeared on a local radio program.

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, METROPOLITAN D.C. POLICE: We don't talk specifically about any information we get from people who are interviewing regarding this. I can say this: We don't have anything that connects the congressman with her disappearance.

FRANKEN: Chandra Levy has been the subject of an intensive nationwide search since she disappeared, just as she was preparing to return to California following an internship with the Bureau of Prisons. While she was in Washington, Levy was a frequent visitor to the office of the congressman from back home in Modesto, California, Gary Condit. This picture shows her with the congressman, along with her good friend from Modesto, Jennifer Baker. Baker was an intern in Condit's office.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Condit's office has put out a statement saying that he's retained a California law firm to press for a retraction of, quote, "recently published false and misleading statements from the media." And Condit goes on to complain about, quote, "unidentified sources, including anonymous police sources" -- Wolf.

BLITZER: But, is Congressman Condit threatening any other action?

FRANKEN: Well, he is implying that if this reporting continues he would consider defamation lawsuits against the media.

BLITZER: Bob Franken in Washington, thank you very much.

The temperature, meanwhile, is going up. A new report says that global warming is for real and the president is listening. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight on "The Leading Edge," a report commissioned by the White House is providing a clearer picture of global warming: how bad it is and what kind of implications it could have in the future.

With more on the findings, here's CNN environmental correspondent Natalie Pawelski.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The idea that human activity could be warming the planet isn't new. The first scientific paper on global warming was published 105 years ago. But a National Academy of Sciences panel took a big step toward confirming that global warming theory is potentially dangerous fact.

JOHN WALLACE, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: We certainly do know that the Earth is warming and that that warming has been particularly dramatic during the past 20 years. We know that greenhouse warming -- we know that greenhouse gases cause the Earth to be warmer than it would otherwise be.

PAWELSKI: A sharp increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and other atmospheric gases traps heat near the Earth's surface, warming the air and water, and potentially changing weather patterns, raising sea levels and altering forests and crop lands.

Other risks could include wider-ranging tropical diseases, more frequent and intense storms, and flooding of low-lying coastal areas, from Florida to Bangladesh. The NAS report stops short of endorsing the alarming numbers cited in a United Nations-sponsored report last year. The U.N.'s intergovernmental panel on climate change said human activity could warm the Earth by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century. To put that into perspective, the last Ice Age was only nine degrees less than current temperatures.

Natalie Pawelski, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Please stay with CNN throughout the night. Larry King looks back at the life of Rock Hudson at the top of the hour. 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, I'm going to show the viewers an interview I had with former Attorney General Janet Reno. We talked about everything: election 2000, President Bush, former President Clinton, her future plans, and more -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Sounds good. Thank you very much, Greta.

Tomorrow night, we'll continue our coverage of the countdown to the Timothy McVeigh execution with a special interview with McVeigh attorney Richard Burr.

Remember, you can always read my online column. Just go to cnn.com/wolf.

Thanks very much for watching. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. "THE POINT WITH GRETA VAN SUSTEREN" begins right now.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com