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CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports
Martha Stewart Speaks to Shareholders; Bush Charts Path to Mideast Peace; How Did Rudolph Survive for Five Years in the Woods?
Aired June 03, 2003 - 17:00 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 VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Prosecutors ready to pounce.
Will the queen of the kitchen hang up her apron? This afternoon Martha speaks out to shareholders.
President Bush charts a path to peace.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Achieving these goals will require courage and moral vision on every side from every leader.
BLITZER: Can he get them to their destination?
Turkey bones and a bear. How accused bomber Eric Rudolph says he survived five years in the wilderness.
Could Laci Peterson's missing shoes be key to her husband's murder trial?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please return the shoes that have been taken out of Laci's house.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world.
WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Tuesday, June 3, 2003.
Hello from Washington. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
We're following dramatic developments in the case of Martha Stewart.
Despite rumors to the contrary, an official with her company says Stewart is not stepping down...
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A few months ago Martha Stewart said her legal problems would soon be resolved. Instead, things have only gotten worse for the woman idealized as the perfect homemaker. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): What first appeared to be an awkward step in mud for Martha Stewart has turned into legal quicksand. Federal prosecutors have warned they are going to ask a grand jury to indict her as early as this week. And the Securities and Exchange Commission has warned it will bring a civil complaint. Her lawyer released a statement saying Stewart would hang tough. "If Martha Stewart is indicted, she intends to declare her innocence and proceed to trial." This is not what Martha Stewart expected when she unloaded nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems, a company founded by her friend, Sam Waksal. Stewart sold the stock one day before the Food and Drug Administration rejected ImClone's application for review of its cancer drug. After Waksal was charged with insider trading in the stock, Stewart said, I had no improper information. My transaction was entirely lawful. And on a CBS television segment she brushed the issue off.
MARTHA STEWART, CEO, LIVING OMNIMEDIA: As I said, I think this will all be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated of this ridiculousness.
CHERNOFF: Instead prosecutors kept digging. They gain the cooperation of Doug Thanniel, former assistant to the Merrill Lynch broker that Stewart and Waksal shared. Legal experts say prosecutors may be trying to make an example of Martha Stewart.
JOHN COFFEE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: This is very atypical. In this case, the government is pushing the envelope on what constitutes insider trading further than they've ever pushed it before. I think it's partly because they have the kind of high- profile person who in this post-Enron world the government wants to clearly communicate is not above the law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: There still is the possibility of a plea bargain between the two sides, but increasingly, it appears that Martha Stewart soon will be fighting criminal charges. Her friend Sam Waksal plead guilty to insider trading and he is scheduled to be sentenced a week from today -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Allan, do you have any sense why this appears to be coming to a head right now?
CHERNOFF: Well, this has been a very tough tango between the two sides, between the prosecutors and the attorney for Martha Stewart. And there is no question that these people, the prosecutors brought the news right out just before the annual meeting. They are trying to put maximum heat right now on Martha Stewart trying to get her to plea.
BLITZER: Allan Chernoff, thanks for that reporting. Word of the expected indictment comes as Stewart's company is holding a shareholders' meeting in New York. Stewart was a no-show, but she did send a videotaped message. CNN Fred Katayama is picking up that part of the story -- Fred.
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that message was played at the meeting which end a little over two hours ago. We have learned Martha Stewart is staying put, she'll fight it out. Board Director Arthur Martin said the board and senior executives expressed their confidence in the company's future. And he added Martha Stewart will remain as chief executive officer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARTHUR MARTINEZ, MARTHA STEWART DIRECTOR: The shareholder asked in the meeting if it was true that Martha had resigned as chairman and chief executive of the company. I responded that this was categorically untrue. Martha remains the chairman and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KATAYAMA: Seventy to 80 shareholders attended a quiet session. Martha Stewart herself played hooky. She only appeared in a video that had been taped just hours earlier in the morning. In it she apologized to shareholders for her absence saying she didn't want to be a distraction and she also expressed her gratitude for their support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was beleaguered and tired. It would have put a damper on the meeting I must say, because there was a lot of emotional feelings for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KATAYAMA: The meeting serves as a magnet for supporters, like the one you just saw coming amid news that Martha Stewart is likely to be indicted. Just about every consumer, every shareholder we spoke to on the streets of New York expressed their support for here product as well as for here stock. But it was an all together different story out on Wall Street. The stock of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia fell 15 percent. It was one of the biggest losers on the New York Stock Exchange today. The stock is trading at half the levels at what it was this time last year. The company has lost money for two straight quarters -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Do you get a sense that if she is formally indicted the corporation might have a change of heart?
KATAYAMA: Possibly. We spoke to several analysts on Wall Street. And they say what they were hoping to hear at this meeting would be news about any possible changes of leadership, including possibly Martha Stewart. I happen to walk into one of Martha Stewart's neighbors out in Westport, Connecticut, who also is a shareholders and who attended today's meet. But she says she supports Martha Stewart, but she as a shareholder, she felt the company may be better off if Martha Stewart were to step down.
BLITZER: CNN's Fred Katayama reporting for us. Thanks, Fred very much.
Coincidentally, all of these developments are coming just days after a British study confirmed some of the initial results of Erbitux, the ImClone colon cancer drug at the center of this entire scandal. This new study, which is much larger and more independent from the one rejected earlier by the FDA had effectively the same results. Namely this, 23 percent of the patents showed improvement when taking Erbitux combined with chemotherapy. Stewart sold her stock in ImClone the day before the FDA rejection.
Meanwhile, the scandal continues to take a serious toll on Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia stock. It lost 15 percent today, closing at $9.52 a share, less than half of what it was worth just a year ago.
Joining me now to get a little more perspective on what is in store for Martha Stewart is Laurie Levenson. She is a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
Laurie, thanks much for joining us.
How hard is it normally for a prosecutor in this particular case to get a criminal indictment against Martha Stewart out of a grand jury?
LAURIE LEVENSON, LOYOLA LAW PROFESSOR: It's not very hard at all to get an indictment out of a grand jury. In fact, some people say the grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. The hard part comes at proving beyond a reasonable doubt at the time of trial. But I think the reason this has taken so long is they had to get some insider cooperation, and they've been wonder if whether Martha Stewart will make some kind of deal.
So your sense is that she'll be indicted, probably in the next day or two?
LEVENSON: Well, that's certainly the information that's being put out. You know, up to the last minute, some deal can be reached. But there is a lot of pressure in this case. You have a Congressional committee that sent a letter to the attorney general saying we think Martha Stewart and a representatives have lied, have covered this up, have obstructed justice. With something like that it's very hard for the Justice Department to walk away from the case.
BLITZER: It would easier to indict her an obstruction of justice charge than insider trading, which is very hard to prove is that right?
LEVENSON: I think that's the thought here. Because the insider trading really depends on conversations where they're going to need cooperation from Waksal and from the brokers and others, that it might actually be easier using the e-mails and telephone calls to make some type of obstruction charge. But coming in they may try to charge both and see what works out down the road.
BLITZER: If they do indict her, will we see her arrested in handcuffs thrown in jail? LEVENSON: That is the $64,000 question. Because the southern district of New York, when they've arrested other white collar criminals, have made them do the perp walk. They've put them in handcuff's and marched them out there. On the other hand they have been criticized for that. And I'm sure that Martha Stewart's lawyers have been in regular contact saying that's not necessary. If she is indited.
BLITZER: A lot of us remember when Rudy Giuliani was the U.S. attorney went after Michael Milken in that high profile case, with the handcuffs and all of that. And a lot of people remember that.
Your bottom-line assessment, how much legal trouble does Martha Stewart face?
LEVENSON: Any indictment is a huge amount of legal trouble. Even if you proclaim your innocence and say you're going to fight it, it can have tremendous short-term cost to your career, to your company, to your reputation.
BLITZER: Laurie Levenson, law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles, thanks very much. I'm sure we'll be talking to you down the road.
Here's your turn to weigh in on the story. Our Web question of the day is this -- is Martha Stewart getting a bad rap? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. You can vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
Arm twisting and sweet talking. President Bush on a Middle East peace mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We see the potential for the birth of a new Palestinian state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Bold steps and big dreams. Can the president make them happen? We'll take you on the road with him to Egypt.
Plus, Laci Peterson's mystery shoe. Is someone holding on to a key piece of evidence?
And survival of a fugitive. We'll take you inside accused bomber Eric Rudolph's mountain hideaway. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. At a seaside summit today, President Bush asked Arab leaders to follow his road map for peace. Next he'll try to put the Israelis and the Palestinians on track. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is following the story in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The meeting convened in a spirit of cautious optimism, and the president quickly addressed a top concern of the Arab leaders around the table.
BUSH: Israel must deal with the settlements. Israel must make sure there's a continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home.
KING: It was the first time Mr. Bush met face-to-face with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and one goal here at the edge of the Red Sea is to establish Mr. Abbas, not Yasser Arafat, as the point man in peace talks.
BUSH: We seek true peace, not just a pause between more wars and intifadahs, but a permanent reconciliation among the peoples of the Middle East.
KING: The leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain were on hand to endorse the Bush road map, and to promise to do more to choke off political and financial help to Palestinian militants and other terrorist groups.
PRES. HOSNI MUBARAK, EGYPT (through translator): We will continue to fight the scourge of terrorism against humanity, and reject the culture of extremism and violence in any form or shape.
KING: Round two is a three-way summit on Wednesday with Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Administration sources tell CNN Mr. Sharon is poised to make a public commitment to dismantle some settlements. The president was happy to take the wheel on an upbeat day here but also says he'll dedicate whatever time and energy it takes when things turn tough in the challenging days ahead.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This president will not back away. This is a president who's known for his determination, who's known for keeping his word.
KING: Officials tell CNN a new U.S. special Mideast envoy will soon be dispatched, Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf. The White House also envisions a more active role for National Security Adviser Rice in the new push for peace. This is hardly the first summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, but the White House hopes this one will be different, because Yasser Arafat is not at the table, found only on the walls.
(on camera): But the president told Prime Minister Abbas, he must rise to the challenge of the moment, and, as Mr. Bush put it bluntly, not allow a few killers, a few terrorists to derail this new hope and fragile new momentum for peace.
John King, CNN, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Israel today took a step to implement the president's road map, freeing some 100 Palestinian prisoners. Most have been held without charges at a military prison. One exception, a 68-year-old man who is serving a life term for a 1975 bombing in Jerusalem, which killed 13 people. Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas had asked Israel's Ariel Sharon to make such a gesture ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Aqaba, Jordan.
The Middle East has long been plagued by problems that seem to have no solutions, and U.S. leaders have long been weary of getting too involved.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Going back to Israel's creation in 1948, U.S. presidents have had a tendency to get deeply sucked into the Middle East conflict, often despite their initial instincts, and President Bush is clearly no exception.
BUSH: We see the potential for unity against terror. We see the potential for the birth of a new and Palestinian state. We see the potential for broader peace among the peoples of this region.
BLITZER: The president is now investing a great deal of his personal time, energy and prestige in jump-starting a new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the creation of a new state of Palestine.
In part, that's a payback to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his number one ally in the war against Iraq, and those other European and Arab allies who also backed the war, but wanted to see Israeli- Palestinian peace negotiations resumed in the process.
Early in his administration, the president took a much more hands-off approach, letting his aides, especially Secretary of State Colin Powell, do most of the heavy diplomatic lifting. But those efforts led nowhere, as the violence continued. Now Mr. Bush is taking direct charge of the so-called road map toward peace. How far will he go?
KEN POLLACK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think it's unlikely that President Bush will choose to involve himself as deeply in Middle East peace negotiations as, say, President Clinton or President Carter did before him.
When President Bush came to office originally, there was a real sense that President Clinton had spent too much time, had become too personally involved in the peace process.
BLITZER: Whichever direction he takes, what is very clear is that President Bush has moved far away from his 2000 campaign declarations, opposing so-called "nation building." Since 9/11, the U.S. has become deeply involved in nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the Palestinians appear to be next on his agenda.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: "New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman, a Middle East veteran, says there is a real opportunity for peace right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS FRIEDMAN, "NEW YORK TIMES": First of all, we have an American administration that's committed to pushing this process forward. And a lot of that is a result of the war in Iraq and the need for the United States, I think, to prove that it's committed to a better Middle East all around.
Secondly, we have a new Palestinian leader we're negotiating with. Yasser Arafat has really been shunted aside for the time being. We have a new Palestinian prime minister, who most importantly, the Israelis are ready to deal with, and lastly we have an Israeli government that's ready, I think, at this stage, to take a little different approach to these negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Tom Friedman spoke with our Judy Woodruff earlier today here on CNN. Of course, stay with CNN throughout the day tomorrow for this historic meeting in Aqaba, the president's summit with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.
On the run for five years. How did an accused bomber survive in the woods? We'll take you to Eric Rudolph's hideout.
Also, Laci Peterson and the mystery shoe. Is a key piece of evidence missing? We're live in Modesto.
And cell phone car culture. Is it driving you and me up the wall? We'll take a closer look at talking and driving. How dangerous is it?
First, today's news quiz.
What's the leading cause of car accidents in the United States? Mechanical failure, driver distraction, road design, aggressive driving? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Just a short while ago, Eric Rudolph appeared in an Alabama courthouse and pleaded not guilty to the deadly bombings of a woman's clinic in Birmingham. CNN's Brian Cabell is on the scene for us with the latest developments -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it occurred in the last hour of the arraignment. It took all of 20 minutes, and the bottom line is, as you said, no surprise, he pleaded not guilty.
He walked into the court in a red jump-suit with Jefferson County jail on the back of it. He was in shackles on his feet. The shackles were taken off of his hands. He sat down, he stared intently at the judge the entire time, he responded politely to the judge. He stood up when the judge walked in, as a matter of fact. He didn't say anything, as far as we could see, to his attorneys, one on each side of him. He simply responded to the judge, "yes your honor," "no your honor," that sort of thing.
Afterward, one of his attorneys came outside and said two things, that number one, we only had a day on this case, we need a lot more time. Number two, he said, please reserve judgment on our client.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD JAFFE, RUDOLPH'S ATTORNEY: I think it's only fair for all of us to suspend judgment and allow the courtroom to test whether the proof is really proof, or whether it's more speculation and hearsay. And that's something, I think, again that we should suspend in terms of the fundamental fairness and the constitutional guarantees that he has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Rudolph's next scheduled appearance in court will be next Tuesday, a week from today. That's a detention hearing to determine whether he'll be given bond or not. That seems unlikely. The trial has technically been set for August 4, but the judge says that's almost certainly not going to happen. More likely it's going to be at least six months from now -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, I'm hearing the court appointed some experienced, highly regarded criminal defense attorneys to represent him. But what are the chances, if any, that he could be out on bail?
CABELL: It seems highly, highly unlikely in a case like this. He's certainly a risk of flight after five years of being on the lam, and, of course, we're talking about a murder here of an off-duty cop who was murdered. So it seems highly, highly unlikely. We'll find out on Tuesday, though, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brian Cabell reporting for us. Thanks, Brian, very much.
Hiding from the law in the rugged mountains of North Carolina, officials tell CNN Eric Rudolph spent his five years on the run in the wilderness, hunting bear and other wild game, and foraging for supplies. CNN investigative correspondent Art Harris is in Murphy, North Carolina. He has more on how Rudolph managed to live over these past five years. This is an amazing story, Art. Tell us what you've learned.
ART HARRIS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. As the saying now goes around Murphy, North Carolina, it's the local cops who always get their man, and get their man to talk. CNN has learned that it was local and state police, not federal agents, who got Eric Rudolph to reveal his secret camp site and the secrets of how he survived in his own backyard for five years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SGT. LESTER WHITE, CHEROKEE COUNTY, N.C.: He said he survived in these woods for five years, that he had not left this area. And then I asked him how could he handle being in the woods that long? And he said, well, you just have to make it like a basically a long camping trip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A long camping trip indeed, Wolf, a camping trip that involved a steady diet of acorns and salamander. Some call it the Carolina sushi. Bear, shooting turkey, dear. Some he ate and cooked, he told jailers, others he dried and used as jerky during the winter, and when he was raiding, or dumpster-diving in the back of this grocery store, he told the people who were very hospitable to him in the jail that he was trying to get fresh fruits and vegetables he couldn't get in the woods, and that he planned to dry them for the winter -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Any more word, Art, on whether or not there were individuals in that area, around Murphy, in the wilderness, perhaps, who were helping him, who knew who he was but still wanted to help him?
HARRIS: No evidence of that yet, Wolf. Federal agents are mighty interested in that, but Rudolph in his jail talk didn't talk about the bombing, and took credit for really relying on his own wits. He -- the profiles of him say that he takes pride in his outdoor skills, his knowledge of herbs, his knowledge of what is found and harvested in the woods, animals and wildlife. And that this is what fuels him. So far no connection. Some sources believe he had to have had it, but according to his diet and what he described, it was him and the woods alone -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Art Harris, doing some good reporting for us. Art, thanks very much.
Scott Peterson is fighting back. Does Laci's shoes, do they hold the key clue to the murder? We'll go live to Modesto.
Plus, suppression of evidence. A September 11 suspect fights for a fair trial, while the government tries to keep some things secret.
And cell phones. Are they driving you crazy on the road? The government may step in. We have new details. That story and much more still to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world.
Here now is Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN.
Laci Peterson's mystery shoe. Will it get Scott Peterson off the hook for murder? We're live in Modesto. That's coming up.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: Wiretaps, autopsy reports and missing shoes, all issues today at a hearing in the Scott Peterson murder case.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is covering all of this for us. She's joining us now live from Modesto.
Sounds like a very busy day your end, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is and actually Friday is shaping up to be quite a busy day as well. We'll get to that in just a moment.
But first I can tell you, Wolf, that a judge here today effectively postponed a decision on a media request to unseal eight search warrants that were obtained before Scott Peterson was arrested back in April. Essentially the judge saying that he would like to hear more arguments in a closed hearing. That is set to take place on Friday.
Now in court today, defense attorneys argued that making that information public could compromise its own investigation. Prosecutors say they don't want that information released either because they feel it could affect Scott Peterson's ability to get a fair trial.
Now after the hearing itself, an attorney for Scott Peterson actually indicated that the defense is now interested in locating a pair of shoes. Now the defense claims that shoes similar to ones that Laci Peterson would have worn to walk her dog were found, they say, by a neighbor. Now it's not clear exactly when those shoes were found or where those shoes are now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT DALTON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What we want is for whoever took the shoes out of Laci's house to please return them. Please return shoes that were taken out of Laci's house.
(CROSSTALK)
DALTON: It's important evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now we do know that Scott and Laci's families have been at odds over items that were taken Friday out of the home that the couple shared on Covina Avenue.
An attorney for Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, says that shoes were taken out of the house. His lawyer, though, says that all items have been catalogued and according to this lawyer, he says Scott Peterson's lead defense attorney, Mark Geragos, has been made aware of that list. And as I mentioned, on Friday, a number of items to come up, including whether or not the judge in the criminal case should impose a gag order as well as the issue of wiretaps. The defense says that they believe those wiretaps violated attorney/client privilege. And finally, the judge will consider a prosecution motion to unseal all of the autopsy results on both Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Connor -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Elaine Quijano for us once again in Modesto. Thanks, Elaine, very much.
Let's get a little bit more perspective now and analysis on today's dramatic developments.
Joining us, Court TV's Lisa Bloom.
Lisa, thanks so much as usual. What did you make of this prosecution -- excuse me, the defense raising this issue of shoes that were taken from the house on Friday that could be key evidence?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Well, it sounds to me like this defense team has as many theories as Scott Peterson has hairstyles.
First we heard about Satanic cults, a mystery woman, a brown van and now shoes. Surely if there was some relevant evidence on Laci Peterson's shoes it would have already been tested by now by defense experts. Those shoes would be in evidence bag; they would be sealed off somewhere. They wouldn't be sitting around in the Petersons' home.
BLITZER: But if you were the defense attorney, couldn't you say that the law enforcement authorities screwed up? They didn't get the right evidence because they weren't looking for all the evidence in that house.
BLOOM: Well, of course the defense can say that. They are free to say that, But if shoes are simply sitting around in a closet and they're important evidence in a case, they're going to be contaminated just by virtue of the things in the air, and the fibers in the carpet, people handling them.
You know, there are particular protocols that forensic scientists follow. I can't believe that they would leave important evidence simply lying around in a home -- in a home, by the way, that is really a gray area legally. Of course, once Laci died her property all passed to her husband, Scott Peterson. If he's her murderer, he gets nothing and her property belongs to her family. So no wonder they're skirmishing over these items. It's not really clear who owns them.
BLITZER: But were they authorized, the Rocha family, to go in and take those items out of the house? Did the Peterson family -- Scott Peterson has not been proven guilty of anything. Presumably, he's still the owner of that house.
BLOOM: Well, that is correct, Wolf. We don't know what agreements were made between Mark Geragos on behalf of Scott Peterson and the Rocha's attorneys. That hasn't been made public. Both sides say that they were complying with their end of the agreement and it was the other one who was violating the agreement.
Clearly, there's a lot of emotional issues involved, too, in some of the items that were taken, a crib that the baby would have laid in, the rocking chair that Laci would have nursed her baby in. I think that's just the beginning of the civil skirmishing between the Rocha and the Peterson families.
BLITZER: And that's probably going to continue.
What do you make of this motion filed by the defense attorneys yesterday that the wiretap conversations between Scott Peterson during the investigation and his then attorneys, that they should be -- that the prosecuting team -- the prosecutors -- should simply be thrown out because of those so-called illegal wiretaps?
BLOOM: Well, you put your finger right on it, Wolf. I think that is a bombshell. I have the motion here. I think it's the most significant thing that's happened in the case so far.
The defense is saying no prosecutor from the Stanislaus County prosecutor's office should be involved in this case. It should be kicked over to some other prosecution team. They say the prosecution orchestrated the eavesdropping in knowing violation of California law. They say it started at the top, that the prosecutors ordered the cops to listen in on privileged attorney/client communications.
If they can prove that, that's a big allegation and there's going to be some serious questions about what's going on in that prosecution office, if, in fact, that's true.
BLITZER: A huge day shaping up Friday in this case.
BLOOM: Yes.
BLITZER: Lisa Bloom, thanks, as usual, for joining us.
Raging court battles over Zacarias Moussaoui. Should lawyers for the September 11 terror suspect be allowed to question a top al Qaeda member?
And cellphones, the latest on whether they interfere with your driving.
First let's take a quick look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Iran's nuclear program. Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that Tehran's nuclear program must come under stricter international control. But he says Moscow will continue building a nuclear power station for Iran. His remarks come the day after G-8 members declared they will not allow Iran or North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons.
Death by stoning. An Islamic court in Nigeria has postponed the appeal of a woman condemned to death by stoning, citing a lack of a quorum by judges. The 31-year-old single mother was convicted last year of having sex outside marriage. The hearing is rescheduled for August.
More strikes hit France. Empty airports, fewer buses and trains crammed with commuters, all the result of the second general walkout by state employees in less than a month. Workers are irate over the government's plans to make people work longer for state pension.
Back to McDonald's. With reports that SARS cases are sharply declining in China, more and more Chinese are making a beeline to the fast-food eateries like the home of the Big Mac or other favorite restaurants.
Party time. More than 3,000 Colombian dancers set a Guinness World Book of Records for the longest and largest party in the world. Contestants showed their stuff by dancing for 50 hours.
And that's our look "Around the World."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. A key day in a Virginia courtroom today for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in this country with conspiracy in the September 11 attacks. The issue -- can Moussaoui's lawyers question a senior al Qaeda leader suspected of coordinating the attacks? Our Justice correspondent Kelli Arena's covering this important case. She's in Richmond, Virginia -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the issues were hashed out before a three-panel appeals court. The ultimate decision is expected to dictate how the case against Zacarias Moussaoui proceeds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): The government sent one of it's top guns, Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, to argue it's being forced to make an unfair choice between defending the country or prosecuting terrorists. The Justice Department is trying to block a trial court ruling requiring the government to produce an al Qaeda captive for questioning in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui.
Chertoff said if the government was forced to do so the damage to the United States would be immediate and irreparable, compromising national security by disrupting the interrogation of this man, Ramzi Binalshibh, who was undergoing questioning by the U.S. in an overseas location. Moussaoui believes Binalshibh, an accused coordinator of the 9/11 attacks, can clear him of any involvement. His attorney, Frank Dunham, told the court a jury should be able to hear for itself what Binalshibh has to say and it does not matter where in the world he is. He said declaring a witness unavailable who is alive and kicking in their custody should not be a freebie.
FRANK DUNHAM, MOUSSAOUI'S ATTORNEY: And my view is is that if you can't have the witness the case should be dismissed.
ARENA: It was revealed in court that Attorney General John Ashcroft has said in an affidavit that he will not produce Binalshibh. The government's argument is this: the Constitutional right to call witnesses in your defense does not extend to foreign nationals overseas. And even if it did, the testimony would force the American military to compromise or alter its operations overseas.
Moussaoui himself was not present in the courtroom but was listening to the argument by phone from his jail in Alexandria, nearly 100 miles away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: The appeals court may not rule for weeks, if not months, Wolf. And I happen to be joined by the two lawyers who represented Zacarias Moussaoui today, Frank Dunham and Ed MacMahon.
Frank, let's start with you. If the appeals court panel does uphold the district court's decision, but the government still refuses to produce the witness that Moussaoui would like to talk to, then what do you see as options going forward?
DUNHAM: Well, at that point, the district court would have the option of imposing sanctions on the government, which could range anywhere from striking certain counts of the indictment all the way up to dismissal of the case, depending upon how serious the district court believes the loss of the evidence was.
ARENA: The government argued that they're being forced to make a choice between protecting Americans, providing national security and prosecuting terrorists who are guilty of the most horrible crimes. What do you say to that?
DUNHAM: I say it's a tough choice and it's one that the executive branch might have to make in this case. But it's not an unusual choice. It happens in many other circumstances where the government has to choose between a couple of unpalatable options. But that's the nature of our system. The solution is not to simply deny Mr. Moussaoui his Constitutional rights because it's convenient under the circumstances.
ARENA: Ed, you said this a lot about this case that you just cannot talk about. And we had to fight -- CNN had to fight to even get into part of this hearing today. Has that shroud of secrecy complicated matters? EDWARD MACMAHON, MOUSSAOUI'S ATTORNEY: Well it makes it very difficult to deal with reporters, first of all. But it hasn't made our work that difficult except for fact that we have restrictions on where we have to work and what we have to do. Mr. Dunham and I don't generally talk much about our cases to other people anyways. So, it hasn't been much of a...
(CROSSTALK)
ARENA: ... it has not been a problem?
MACMAHON: It say problem in the terms of -- it would be under the Classified Information Act. But these are the kind of problems that can be dealt with under the statute.
ARENA: Fair enough.
Wolf, that's it for now. Back to you.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Kelli Arena, following an important case for us, Kelli Arena, in Richmond, Virginia.
Meanwhile, the failure so far to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction beyond those two alleged bioterror trucks is having reverberations in this country and in Britain.
In an interview earlier today with CNN's Jonathan Karl, Republican Senator John McCain said it's very appropriate indeed for Congress to hold hearings on why no Iraqi banned weapons have been discovered. And a British parliamentary committee says it will hold an inquiry into the decision to go to war, and specifically allegations that Prime Minister Tony Blair misled the country on the issue.
Meantime, the American administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, says he thinks it's just a matter of time before more weapons are uncovered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. IRAQ CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATOR: I think we will find something at some point. It seems very hard to believe that Saddam Hussein would have put his people through the misery he put them through for 12 years, given up billions and billions of dollars of revenue, if he didn't have something to hide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Meanwhile the former secretary of the U.S. Army, Thomas White, is taking aim at the Defense Department's strategy in the war, at least in part. Our senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre spoke with him just a little while ago. What did he say, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this controversy started back in February when the Army chief Eric Shinseki told Congress he thought it would take several hundred thousand troops to secure Iraq. The Pentagon rejected that estimate as way off the mark. But now with 150,000 troops in Iraq and U.S. commanders complaining it's hard to keep order, former Army Secretary Tom White, who was fired by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, tells CNN in an interview he believes that Rumsfeld's rebuke was Shinseki was unfair.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
THOMAS WHITE, FORMER ARMY SECRETARY: In retrospect, I think Shinseki was right. The facts bear out that he was pretty accurate in his estimate.
Obviously the size of force you need or you are trying to predict that you need is based upon a whole series of assumptions. And I just think we got the assumptions wrong. I just think we misestimated. And I think the sooner we come to that realization and set ourselves up for the long term, I think the better off everybody will be.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: White told CNN it was only logical it would take more troops to secure the peace than to win the war, but that's exactly the opposite of what Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said before the war-- Wolf.
BLITZER: Are some at the Pentagon discounting his remarks simply as a disgruntled, fired, former official?
MCINTYRE: Well we haven't heard too many direct reactions. But the main argument we've heard here is that Shinseki said several hundred thousand. The pentagon says several hundred thousand would be 300,000. They claim 150,000 isn't close to that.
BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre, thanks very much for that.
Much more news coming up, including cell phones. Are they driving you off the road? The federal government considers stepping in to keep hands on the steering wheel. If you're a cell phone driver or just can't stand them, you'll want to see this. I know I will. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked, what's the leading cause of accidents in the United States. The answer, driver distraction. Rubber necking, cell phones, putting on makeup, playing with the radio, and eating in the car all add up to the number one cause of crashes. And the national Transportation Safety Board wants states to ban young drivers from using cell phones. It's the latest effort targeting what some studies say is a very deadly distraction.
CNN's Kathleen Koch reports that while cell phones are the most obvious problem, they are not the only one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music, eating, chatting with friends -- potentially deadly distractions to teenagers who make up less than 7 percent of the driving population, but have more than 14 percent of the fatal accidents. So federal safety officials say they don't need another distraction. The National Transportation Safety Board recommending states drive those with learning permits from using cell phones.
MICHELLE MCMURTRY, NTSB: Young, inexperienced drivers are particularly vulnerable to accidents, are easily distracted and are known to engage in risk-taking behavior.
KOCH: As to more experienced drivers, the NTSB says the jury is still out on whether cell phones are worse than anything else that takes drivers' eyes and mind off the road.
JOE OSTERMAN, NTSB OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY: The bottom is that all though cell phones are distracting, relative to other distractions, we can not rank that or the others as to which are the most severe.
KOCH: California is considering banning hand-held cell phones after studies show it was linked to 11 percent of collisions caused by inattention. New York state, and 22 municipalities already have such laws. But the cell phone industry argue such bans won't solve the problem.
TOM WHEELER, CELLULAR TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET ASSN.: The studies have shown that accidents related to wireless phone use are way down the list below drinking coffee, below worrying about the kids, below the radio, below the CD and these sort of things.
KOCH: The NTSB wants the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to do a comprehensive study on just which types of activities are most distracting and dangerous. To help collect data, the safety board also told states to make sure their accident investigation forms have a place where police can note distractions as a factor. Only 16 states now do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: The NTSB also investigated a deadly 2002 railroad collision in Texas caused by an engineer distracted while using his cell phone. So the board also recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration propose new regulations to limit the use of cell phones by rail workers.
BLITZER: Cell phones potentially could cause a lot of problems but also help a lot of people at the same time. You have to balance all of that.
Kathleen Koch, thanks very much.
Our web question of the day, lets remind you, is this, "Is Martha Stewart get getting a bad rap?" You can still vote cnn.com/wolf, the results when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Now here's how you are weighing in on our web question of the day. We have been asking you this question, "Is Martha Stewart getting a bad rap?"
Look at this 53 percent of you say, yes, 47 percent of you say, no. As always, we remind you this is not a scientific poll. You can still vote, though.
Time to hear directly from you. Let's get to some of your e- mail.
In regard to the location of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Carolyn writes, "I believe we were lied to, and they used scare tactics for the reason to go to war. Iraq was no threat to the United States."
Lisa has a different point of view. "It may take years to find the WMD in the deserts of Iraq. Regardless, I feel safer with Saddam's government dissolved."
Let's take a quick look at headlines right now this hour.
(NEWS BREAK)
BLITZER: A reminder, you can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays this time 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you again tomorrow, noon Eastern.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Mideast Peace; How Did Rudolph Survive for Five Years in the Woods?>
Aired June 3, 2003 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF BLITZER, HOST: Prosecutors ready to pounce.
Will the queen of the kitchen hang up her apron? This afternoon Martha speaks out to shareholders.
President Bush charts a path to peace.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Achieving these goals will require courage and moral vision on every side from every leader.
BLITZER: Can he get them to their destination?
Turkey bones and a bear. How accused bomber Eric Rudolph says he survived five years in the wilderness.
Could Laci Peterson's missing shoes be key to her husband's murder trial?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please return the shoes that have been taken out of Laci's house.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour, WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world.
WOLF BLITZER REPORTS starts now.
BLITZER: It's Tuesday, June 3, 2003.
Hello from Washington. I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting.
We're following dramatic developments in the case of Martha Stewart.
Despite rumors to the contrary, an official with her company says Stewart is not stepping down...
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A few months ago Martha Stewart said her legal problems would soon be resolved. Instead, things have only gotten worse for the woman idealized as the perfect homemaker. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): What first appeared to be an awkward step in mud for Martha Stewart has turned into legal quicksand. Federal prosecutors have warned they are going to ask a grand jury to indict her as early as this week. And the Securities and Exchange Commission has warned it will bring a civil complaint. Her lawyer released a statement saying Stewart would hang tough. "If Martha Stewart is indicted, she intends to declare her innocence and proceed to trial." This is not what Martha Stewart expected when she unloaded nearly 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems, a company founded by her friend, Sam Waksal. Stewart sold the stock one day before the Food and Drug Administration rejected ImClone's application for review of its cancer drug. After Waksal was charged with insider trading in the stock, Stewart said, I had no improper information. My transaction was entirely lawful. And on a CBS television segment she brushed the issue off.
MARTHA STEWART, CEO, LIVING OMNIMEDIA: As I said, I think this will all be resolved in the very near future and I will be exonerated of this ridiculousness.
CHERNOFF: Instead prosecutors kept digging. They gain the cooperation of Doug Thanniel, former assistant to the Merrill Lynch broker that Stewart and Waksal shared. Legal experts say prosecutors may be trying to make an example of Martha Stewart.
JOHN COFFEE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: This is very atypical. In this case, the government is pushing the envelope on what constitutes insider trading further than they've ever pushed it before. I think it's partly because they have the kind of high- profile person who in this post-Enron world the government wants to clearly communicate is not above the law.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: There still is the possibility of a plea bargain between the two sides, but increasingly, it appears that Martha Stewart soon will be fighting criminal charges. Her friend Sam Waksal plead guilty to insider trading and he is scheduled to be sentenced a week from today -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Allan, do you have any sense why this appears to be coming to a head right now?
CHERNOFF: Well, this has been a very tough tango between the two sides, between the prosecutors and the attorney for Martha Stewart. And there is no question that these people, the prosecutors brought the news right out just before the annual meeting. They are trying to put maximum heat right now on Martha Stewart trying to get her to plea.
BLITZER: Allan Chernoff, thanks for that reporting. Word of the expected indictment comes as Stewart's company is holding a shareholders' meeting in New York. Stewart was a no-show, but she did send a videotaped message. CNN Fred Katayama is picking up that part of the story -- Fred.
FRED KATAYAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that message was played at the meeting which end a little over two hours ago. We have learned Martha Stewart is staying put, she'll fight it out. Board Director Arthur Martin said the board and senior executives expressed their confidence in the company's future. And he added Martha Stewart will remain as chief executive officer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARTHUR MARTINEZ, MARTHA STEWART DIRECTOR: The shareholder asked in the meeting if it was true that Martha had resigned as chairman and chief executive of the company. I responded that this was categorically untrue. Martha remains the chairman and chief executive of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KATAYAMA: Seventy to 80 shareholders attended a quiet session. Martha Stewart herself played hooky. She only appeared in a video that had been taped just hours earlier in the morning. In it she apologized to shareholders for her absence saying she didn't want to be a distraction and she also expressed her gratitude for their support.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was beleaguered and tired. It would have put a damper on the meeting I must say, because there was a lot of emotional feelings for her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KATAYAMA: The meeting serves as a magnet for supporters, like the one you just saw coming amid news that Martha Stewart is likely to be indicted. Just about every consumer, every shareholder we spoke to on the streets of New York expressed their support for here product as well as for here stock. But it was an all together different story out on Wall Street. The stock of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia fell 15 percent. It was one of the biggest losers on the New York Stock Exchange today. The stock is trading at half the levels at what it was this time last year. The company has lost money for two straight quarters -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Do you get a sense that if she is formally indicted the corporation might have a change of heart?
KATAYAMA: Possibly. We spoke to several analysts on Wall Street. And they say what they were hoping to hear at this meeting would be news about any possible changes of leadership, including possibly Martha Stewart. I happen to walk into one of Martha Stewart's neighbors out in Westport, Connecticut, who also is a shareholders and who attended today's meet. But she says she supports Martha Stewart, but she as a shareholder, she felt the company may be better off if Martha Stewart were to step down.
BLITZER: CNN's Fred Katayama reporting for us. Thanks, Fred very much.
Coincidentally, all of these developments are coming just days after a British study confirmed some of the initial results of Erbitux, the ImClone colon cancer drug at the center of this entire scandal. This new study, which is much larger and more independent from the one rejected earlier by the FDA had effectively the same results. Namely this, 23 percent of the patents showed improvement when taking Erbitux combined with chemotherapy. Stewart sold her stock in ImClone the day before the FDA rejection.
Meanwhile, the scandal continues to take a serious toll on Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia stock. It lost 15 percent today, closing at $9.52 a share, less than half of what it was worth just a year ago.
Joining me now to get a little more perspective on what is in store for Martha Stewart is Laurie Levenson. She is a law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles.
Laurie, thanks much for joining us.
How hard is it normally for a prosecutor in this particular case to get a criminal indictment against Martha Stewart out of a grand jury?
LAURIE LEVENSON, LOYOLA LAW PROFESSOR: It's not very hard at all to get an indictment out of a grand jury. In fact, some people say the grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. The hard part comes at proving beyond a reasonable doubt at the time of trial. But I think the reason this has taken so long is they had to get some insider cooperation, and they've been wonder if whether Martha Stewart will make some kind of deal.
So your sense is that she'll be indicted, probably in the next day or two?
LEVENSON: Well, that's certainly the information that's being put out. You know, up to the last minute, some deal can be reached. But there is a lot of pressure in this case. You have a Congressional committee that sent a letter to the attorney general saying we think Martha Stewart and a representatives have lied, have covered this up, have obstructed justice. With something like that it's very hard for the Justice Department to walk away from the case.
BLITZER: It would easier to indict her an obstruction of justice charge than insider trading, which is very hard to prove is that right?
LEVENSON: I think that's the thought here. Because the insider trading really depends on conversations where they're going to need cooperation from Waksal and from the brokers and others, that it might actually be easier using the e-mails and telephone calls to make some type of obstruction charge. But coming in they may try to charge both and see what works out down the road.
BLITZER: If they do indict her, will we see her arrested in handcuffs thrown in jail? LEVENSON: That is the $64,000 question. Because the southern district of New York, when they've arrested other white collar criminals, have made them do the perp walk. They've put them in handcuff's and marched them out there. On the other hand they have been criticized for that. And I'm sure that Martha Stewart's lawyers have been in regular contact saying that's not necessary. If she is indited.
BLITZER: A lot of us remember when Rudy Giuliani was the U.S. attorney went after Michael Milken in that high profile case, with the handcuffs and all of that. And a lot of people remember that.
Your bottom-line assessment, how much legal trouble does Martha Stewart face?
LEVENSON: Any indictment is a huge amount of legal trouble. Even if you proclaim your innocence and say you're going to fight it, it can have tremendous short-term cost to your career, to your company, to your reputation.
BLITZER: Laurie Levenson, law professor at Loyola University in Los Angeles, thanks very much. I'm sure we'll be talking to you down the road.
Here's your turn to weigh in on the story. Our Web question of the day is this -- is Martha Stewart getting a bad rap? We'll have the results later in this broadcast. You can vote at cnn.com/wolf. While you're there, I'd love to hear from you. Send me your comments. I'll try to read some of them on the air each day at the end of this program. That's also where you can read my daily online column, cnn.com/wolf.
Arm twisting and sweet talking. President Bush on a Middle East peace mission.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: We see the potential for the birth of a new Palestinian state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Bold steps and big dreams. Can the president make them happen? We'll take you on the road with him to Egypt.
Plus, Laci Peterson's mystery shoe. Is someone holding on to a key piece of evidence?
And survival of a fugitive. We'll take you inside accused bomber Eric Rudolph's mountain hideaway. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. At a seaside summit today, President Bush asked Arab leaders to follow his road map for peace. Next he'll try to put the Israelis and the Palestinians on track. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is following the story in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The meeting convened in a spirit of cautious optimism, and the president quickly addressed a top concern of the Arab leaders around the table.
BUSH: Israel must deal with the settlements. Israel must make sure there's a continuous territory that the Palestinians can call home.
KING: It was the first time Mr. Bush met face-to-face with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, and one goal here at the edge of the Red Sea is to establish Mr. Abbas, not Yasser Arafat, as the point man in peace talks.
BUSH: We seek true peace, not just a pause between more wars and intifadahs, but a permanent reconciliation among the peoples of the Middle East.
KING: The leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Bahrain were on hand to endorse the Bush road map, and to promise to do more to choke off political and financial help to Palestinian militants and other terrorist groups.
PRES. HOSNI MUBARAK, EGYPT (through translator): We will continue to fight the scourge of terrorism against humanity, and reject the culture of extremism and violence in any form or shape.
KING: Round two is a three-way summit on Wednesday with Mr. Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Administration sources tell CNN Mr. Sharon is poised to make a public commitment to dismantle some settlements. The president was happy to take the wheel on an upbeat day here but also says he'll dedicate whatever time and energy it takes when things turn tough in the challenging days ahead.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: This president will not back away. This is a president who's known for his determination, who's known for keeping his word.
KING: Officials tell CNN a new U.S. special Mideast envoy will soon be dispatched, Assistant Secretary of State John Wolf. The White House also envisions a more active role for National Security Adviser Rice in the new push for peace. This is hardly the first summit at Sharm el-Sheikh, but the White House hopes this one will be different, because Yasser Arafat is not at the table, found only on the walls.
(on camera): But the president told Prime Minister Abbas, he must rise to the challenge of the moment, and, as Mr. Bush put it bluntly, not allow a few killers, a few terrorists to derail this new hope and fragile new momentum for peace.
John King, CNN, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Israel today took a step to implement the president's road map, freeing some 100 Palestinian prisoners. Most have been held without charges at a military prison. One exception, a 68-year-old man who is serving a life term for a 1975 bombing in Jerusalem, which killed 13 people. Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas had asked Israel's Ariel Sharon to make such a gesture ahead of tomorrow's meeting in Aqaba, Jordan.
The Middle East has long been plagued by problems that seem to have no solutions, and U.S. leaders have long been weary of getting too involved.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Going back to Israel's creation in 1948, U.S. presidents have had a tendency to get deeply sucked into the Middle East conflict, often despite their initial instincts, and President Bush is clearly no exception.
BUSH: We see the potential for unity against terror. We see the potential for the birth of a new and Palestinian state. We see the potential for broader peace among the peoples of this region.
BLITZER: The president is now investing a great deal of his personal time, energy and prestige in jump-starting a new round of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and the creation of a new state of Palestine.
In part, that's a payback to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, his number one ally in the war against Iraq, and those other European and Arab allies who also backed the war, but wanted to see Israeli- Palestinian peace negotiations resumed in the process.
Early in his administration, the president took a much more hands-off approach, letting his aides, especially Secretary of State Colin Powell, do most of the heavy diplomatic lifting. But those efforts led nowhere, as the violence continued. Now Mr. Bush is taking direct charge of the so-called road map toward peace. How far will he go?
KEN POLLACK, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think it's unlikely that President Bush will choose to involve himself as deeply in Middle East peace negotiations as, say, President Clinton or President Carter did before him.
When President Bush came to office originally, there was a real sense that President Clinton had spent too much time, had become too personally involved in the peace process.
BLITZER: Whichever direction he takes, what is very clear is that President Bush has moved far away from his 2000 campaign declarations, opposing so-called "nation building." Since 9/11, the U.S. has become deeply involved in nation-building in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the Palestinians appear to be next on his agenda.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: "New York Times" columnist Thomas Friedman, a Middle East veteran, says there is a real opportunity for peace right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS FRIEDMAN, "NEW YORK TIMES": First of all, we have an American administration that's committed to pushing this process forward. And a lot of that is a result of the war in Iraq and the need for the United States, I think, to prove that it's committed to a better Middle East all around.
Secondly, we have a new Palestinian leader we're negotiating with. Yasser Arafat has really been shunted aside for the time being. We have a new Palestinian prime minister, who most importantly, the Israelis are ready to deal with, and lastly we have an Israeli government that's ready, I think, at this stage, to take a little different approach to these negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Tom Friedman spoke with our Judy Woodruff earlier today here on CNN. Of course, stay with CNN throughout the day tomorrow for this historic meeting in Aqaba, the president's summit with the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers.
On the run for five years. How did an accused bomber survive in the woods? We'll take you to Eric Rudolph's hideout.
Also, Laci Peterson and the mystery shoe. Is a key piece of evidence missing? We're live in Modesto.
And cell phone car culture. Is it driving you and me up the wall? We'll take a closer look at talking and driving. How dangerous is it?
First, today's news quiz.
What's the leading cause of car accidents in the United States? Mechanical failure, driver distraction, road design, aggressive driving? The answer coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. Just a short while ago, Eric Rudolph appeared in an Alabama courthouse and pleaded not guilty to the deadly bombings of a woman's clinic in Birmingham. CNN's Brian Cabell is on the scene for us with the latest developments -- Brian.
BRIAN CABELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it occurred in the last hour of the arraignment. It took all of 20 minutes, and the bottom line is, as you said, no surprise, he pleaded not guilty.
He walked into the court in a red jump-suit with Jefferson County jail on the back of it. He was in shackles on his feet. The shackles were taken off of his hands. He sat down, he stared intently at the judge the entire time, he responded politely to the judge. He stood up when the judge walked in, as a matter of fact. He didn't say anything, as far as we could see, to his attorneys, one on each side of him. He simply responded to the judge, "yes your honor," "no your honor," that sort of thing.
Afterward, one of his attorneys came outside and said two things, that number one, we only had a day on this case, we need a lot more time. Number two, he said, please reserve judgment on our client.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD JAFFE, RUDOLPH'S ATTORNEY: I think it's only fair for all of us to suspend judgment and allow the courtroom to test whether the proof is really proof, or whether it's more speculation and hearsay. And that's something, I think, again that we should suspend in terms of the fundamental fairness and the constitutional guarantees that he has.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABELL: Rudolph's next scheduled appearance in court will be next Tuesday, a week from today. That's a detention hearing to determine whether he'll be given bond or not. That seems unlikely. The trial has technically been set for August 4, but the judge says that's almost certainly not going to happen. More likely it's going to be at least six months from now -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Brian, I'm hearing the court appointed some experienced, highly regarded criminal defense attorneys to represent him. But what are the chances, if any, that he could be out on bail?
CABELL: It seems highly, highly unlikely in a case like this. He's certainly a risk of flight after five years of being on the lam, and, of course, we're talking about a murder here of an off-duty cop who was murdered. So it seems highly, highly unlikely. We'll find out on Tuesday, though, Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Brian Cabell reporting for us. Thanks, Brian, very much.
Hiding from the law in the rugged mountains of North Carolina, officials tell CNN Eric Rudolph spent his five years on the run in the wilderness, hunting bear and other wild game, and foraging for supplies. CNN investigative correspondent Art Harris is in Murphy, North Carolina. He has more on how Rudolph managed to live over these past five years. This is an amazing story, Art. Tell us what you've learned.
ART HARRIS, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Wolf. As the saying now goes around Murphy, North Carolina, it's the local cops who always get their man, and get their man to talk. CNN has learned that it was local and state police, not federal agents, who got Eric Rudolph to reveal his secret camp site and the secrets of how he survived in his own backyard for five years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SGT. LESTER WHITE, CHEROKEE COUNTY, N.C.: He said he survived in these woods for five years, that he had not left this area. And then I asked him how could he handle being in the woods that long? And he said, well, you just have to make it like a basically a long camping trip.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: A long camping trip indeed, Wolf, a camping trip that involved a steady diet of acorns and salamander. Some call it the Carolina sushi. Bear, shooting turkey, dear. Some he ate and cooked, he told jailers, others he dried and used as jerky during the winter, and when he was raiding, or dumpster-diving in the back of this grocery store, he told the people who were very hospitable to him in the jail that he was trying to get fresh fruits and vegetables he couldn't get in the woods, and that he planned to dry them for the winter -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Any more word, Art, on whether or not there were individuals in that area, around Murphy, in the wilderness, perhaps, who were helping him, who knew who he was but still wanted to help him?
HARRIS: No evidence of that yet, Wolf. Federal agents are mighty interested in that, but Rudolph in his jail talk didn't talk about the bombing, and took credit for really relying on his own wits. He -- the profiles of him say that he takes pride in his outdoor skills, his knowledge of herbs, his knowledge of what is found and harvested in the woods, animals and wildlife. And that this is what fuels him. So far no connection. Some sources believe he had to have had it, but according to his diet and what he described, it was him and the woods alone -- Wolf.
BLITZER: CNN's Art Harris, doing some good reporting for us. Art, thanks very much.
Scott Peterson is fighting back. Does Laci's shoes, do they hold the key clue to the murder? We'll go live to Modesto.
Plus, suppression of evidence. A September 11 suspect fights for a fair trial, while the government tries to keep some things secret.
And cell phones. Are they driving you crazy on the road? The government may step in. We have new details. That story and much more still to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: CNN live this hour: WOLF BLITZER REPORTS, live from the nation's capital, with correspondents from around the world.
Here now is Wolf Blitzer.
BLITZER: Welcome back to CNN.
Laci Peterson's mystery shoe. Will it get Scott Peterson off the hook for murder? We're live in Modesto. That's coming up.
(NEWSBREAK)
BLITZER: Wiretaps, autopsy reports and missing shoes, all issues today at a hearing in the Scott Peterson murder case.
CNN's Elaine Quijano is covering all of this for us. She's joining us now live from Modesto.
Sounds like a very busy day your end, Elaine.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is and actually Friday is shaping up to be quite a busy day as well. We'll get to that in just a moment.
But first I can tell you, Wolf, that a judge here today effectively postponed a decision on a media request to unseal eight search warrants that were obtained before Scott Peterson was arrested back in April. Essentially the judge saying that he would like to hear more arguments in a closed hearing. That is set to take place on Friday.
Now in court today, defense attorneys argued that making that information public could compromise its own investigation. Prosecutors say they don't want that information released either because they feel it could affect Scott Peterson's ability to get a fair trial.
Now after the hearing itself, an attorney for Scott Peterson actually indicated that the defense is now interested in locating a pair of shoes. Now the defense claims that shoes similar to ones that Laci Peterson would have worn to walk her dog were found, they say, by a neighbor. Now it's not clear exactly when those shoes were found or where those shoes are now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT DALTON, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What we want is for whoever took the shoes out of Laci's house to please return them. Please return shoes that were taken out of Laci's house.
(CROSSTALK)
DALTON: It's important evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now we do know that Scott and Laci's families have been at odds over items that were taken Friday out of the home that the couple shared on Covina Avenue.
An attorney for Laci's mother, Sharon Rocha, says that shoes were taken out of the house. His lawyer, though, says that all items have been catalogued and according to this lawyer, he says Scott Peterson's lead defense attorney, Mark Geragos, has been made aware of that list. And as I mentioned, on Friday, a number of items to come up, including whether or not the judge in the criminal case should impose a gag order as well as the issue of wiretaps. The defense says that they believe those wiretaps violated attorney/client privilege. And finally, the judge will consider a prosecution motion to unseal all of the autopsy results on both Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Connor -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Elaine Quijano for us once again in Modesto. Thanks, Elaine, very much.
Let's get a little bit more perspective now and analysis on today's dramatic developments.
Joining us, Court TV's Lisa Bloom.
Lisa, thanks so much as usual. What did you make of this prosecution -- excuse me, the defense raising this issue of shoes that were taken from the house on Friday that could be key evidence?
LISA BLOOM, COURT TV: Well, it sounds to me like this defense team has as many theories as Scott Peterson has hairstyles.
First we heard about Satanic cults, a mystery woman, a brown van and now shoes. Surely if there was some relevant evidence on Laci Peterson's shoes it would have already been tested by now by defense experts. Those shoes would be in evidence bag; they would be sealed off somewhere. They wouldn't be sitting around in the Petersons' home.
BLITZER: But if you were the defense attorney, couldn't you say that the law enforcement authorities screwed up? They didn't get the right evidence because they weren't looking for all the evidence in that house.
BLOOM: Well, of course the defense can say that. They are free to say that, But if shoes are simply sitting around in a closet and they're important evidence in a case, they're going to be contaminated just by virtue of the things in the air, and the fibers in the carpet, people handling them.
You know, there are particular protocols that forensic scientists follow. I can't believe that they would leave important evidence simply lying around in a home -- in a home, by the way, that is really a gray area legally. Of course, once Laci died her property all passed to her husband, Scott Peterson. If he's her murderer, he gets nothing and her property belongs to her family. So no wonder they're skirmishing over these items. It's not really clear who owns them.
BLITZER: But were they authorized, the Rocha family, to go in and take those items out of the house? Did the Peterson family -- Scott Peterson has not been proven guilty of anything. Presumably, he's still the owner of that house.
BLOOM: Well, that is correct, Wolf. We don't know what agreements were made between Mark Geragos on behalf of Scott Peterson and the Rocha's attorneys. That hasn't been made public. Both sides say that they were complying with their end of the agreement and it was the other one who was violating the agreement.
Clearly, there's a lot of emotional issues involved, too, in some of the items that were taken, a crib that the baby would have laid in, the rocking chair that Laci would have nursed her baby in. I think that's just the beginning of the civil skirmishing between the Rocha and the Peterson families.
BLITZER: And that's probably going to continue.
What do you make of this motion filed by the defense attorneys yesterday that the wiretap conversations between Scott Peterson during the investigation and his then attorneys, that they should be -- that the prosecuting team -- the prosecutors -- should simply be thrown out because of those so-called illegal wiretaps?
BLOOM: Well, you put your finger right on it, Wolf. I think that is a bombshell. I have the motion here. I think it's the most significant thing that's happened in the case so far.
The defense is saying no prosecutor from the Stanislaus County prosecutor's office should be involved in this case. It should be kicked over to some other prosecution team. They say the prosecution orchestrated the eavesdropping in knowing violation of California law. They say it started at the top, that the prosecutors ordered the cops to listen in on privileged attorney/client communications.
If they can prove that, that's a big allegation and there's going to be some serious questions about what's going on in that prosecution office, if, in fact, that's true.
BLITZER: A huge day shaping up Friday in this case.
BLOOM: Yes.
BLITZER: Lisa Bloom, thanks, as usual, for joining us.
Raging court battles over Zacarias Moussaoui. Should lawyers for the September 11 terror suspect be allowed to question a top al Qaeda member?
And cellphones, the latest on whether they interfere with your driving.
First let's take a quick look at some other news making headlines "Around the World."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Iran's nuclear program. Russian President Vladimir Putin insists that Tehran's nuclear program must come under stricter international control. But he says Moscow will continue building a nuclear power station for Iran. His remarks come the day after G-8 members declared they will not allow Iran or North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons.
Death by stoning. An Islamic court in Nigeria has postponed the appeal of a woman condemned to death by stoning, citing a lack of a quorum by judges. The 31-year-old single mother was convicted last year of having sex outside marriage. The hearing is rescheduled for August.
More strikes hit France. Empty airports, fewer buses and trains crammed with commuters, all the result of the second general walkout by state employees in less than a month. Workers are irate over the government's plans to make people work longer for state pension.
Back to McDonald's. With reports that SARS cases are sharply declining in China, more and more Chinese are making a beeline to the fast-food eateries like the home of the Big Mac or other favorite restaurants.
Party time. More than 3,000 Colombian dancers set a Guinness World Book of Records for the longest and largest party in the world. Contestants showed their stuff by dancing for 50 hours.
And that's our look "Around the World."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Welcome back. A key day in a Virginia courtroom today for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in this country with conspiracy in the September 11 attacks. The issue -- can Moussaoui's lawyers question a senior al Qaeda leader suspected of coordinating the attacks? Our Justice correspondent Kelli Arena's covering this important case. She's in Richmond, Virginia -- Kelli.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, the issues were hashed out before a three-panel appeals court. The ultimate decision is expected to dictate how the case against Zacarias Moussaoui proceeds.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA (voice-over): The government sent one of it's top guns, Assistant Attorney General Michael Chertoff, to argue it's being forced to make an unfair choice between defending the country or prosecuting terrorists. The Justice Department is trying to block a trial court ruling requiring the government to produce an al Qaeda captive for questioning in the case of Zacarias Moussaoui.
Chertoff said if the government was forced to do so the damage to the United States would be immediate and irreparable, compromising national security by disrupting the interrogation of this man, Ramzi Binalshibh, who was undergoing questioning by the U.S. in an overseas location. Moussaoui believes Binalshibh, an accused coordinator of the 9/11 attacks, can clear him of any involvement. His attorney, Frank Dunham, told the court a jury should be able to hear for itself what Binalshibh has to say and it does not matter where in the world he is. He said declaring a witness unavailable who is alive and kicking in their custody should not be a freebie.
FRANK DUNHAM, MOUSSAOUI'S ATTORNEY: And my view is is that if you can't have the witness the case should be dismissed.
ARENA: It was revealed in court that Attorney General John Ashcroft has said in an affidavit that he will not produce Binalshibh. The government's argument is this: the Constitutional right to call witnesses in your defense does not extend to foreign nationals overseas. And even if it did, the testimony would force the American military to compromise or alter its operations overseas.
Moussaoui himself was not present in the courtroom but was listening to the argument by phone from his jail in Alexandria, nearly 100 miles away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ARENA: The appeals court may not rule for weeks, if not months, Wolf. And I happen to be joined by the two lawyers who represented Zacarias Moussaoui today, Frank Dunham and Ed MacMahon.
Frank, let's start with you. If the appeals court panel does uphold the district court's decision, but the government still refuses to produce the witness that Moussaoui would like to talk to, then what do you see as options going forward?
DUNHAM: Well, at that point, the district court would have the option of imposing sanctions on the government, which could range anywhere from striking certain counts of the indictment all the way up to dismissal of the case, depending upon how serious the district court believes the loss of the evidence was.
ARENA: The government argued that they're being forced to make a choice between protecting Americans, providing national security and prosecuting terrorists who are guilty of the most horrible crimes. What do you say to that?
DUNHAM: I say it's a tough choice and it's one that the executive branch might have to make in this case. But it's not an unusual choice. It happens in many other circumstances where the government has to choose between a couple of unpalatable options. But that's the nature of our system. The solution is not to simply deny Mr. Moussaoui his Constitutional rights because it's convenient under the circumstances.
ARENA: Ed, you said this a lot about this case that you just cannot talk about. And we had to fight -- CNN had to fight to even get into part of this hearing today. Has that shroud of secrecy complicated matters? EDWARD MACMAHON, MOUSSAOUI'S ATTORNEY: Well it makes it very difficult to deal with reporters, first of all. But it hasn't made our work that difficult except for fact that we have restrictions on where we have to work and what we have to do. Mr. Dunham and I don't generally talk much about our cases to other people anyways. So, it hasn't been much of a...
(CROSSTALK)
ARENA: ... it has not been a problem?
MACMAHON: It say problem in the terms of -- it would be under the Classified Information Act. But these are the kind of problems that can be dealt with under the statute.
ARENA: Fair enough.
Wolf, that's it for now. Back to you.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, Kelli Arena, following an important case for us, Kelli Arena, in Richmond, Virginia.
Meanwhile, the failure so far to find Iraqi weapons of mass destruction beyond those two alleged bioterror trucks is having reverberations in this country and in Britain.
In an interview earlier today with CNN's Jonathan Karl, Republican Senator John McCain said it's very appropriate indeed for Congress to hold hearings on why no Iraqi banned weapons have been discovered. And a British parliamentary committee says it will hold an inquiry into the decision to go to war, and specifically allegations that Prime Minister Tony Blair misled the country on the issue.
Meantime, the American administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, says he thinks it's just a matter of time before more weapons are uncovered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL BREMER, U.S. IRAQ CONSTRUCTION ADMINISTRATOR: I think we will find something at some point. It seems very hard to believe that Saddam Hussein would have put his people through the misery he put them through for 12 years, given up billions and billions of dollars of revenue, if he didn't have something to hide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Meanwhile the former secretary of the U.S. Army, Thomas White, is taking aim at the Defense Department's strategy in the war, at least in part. Our senior Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre spoke with him just a little while ago. What did he say, Jamie?
JAMIE MCINTYRE, CNN SENIOR PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this controversy started back in February when the Army chief Eric Shinseki told Congress he thought it would take several hundred thousand troops to secure Iraq. The Pentagon rejected that estimate as way off the mark. But now with 150,000 troops in Iraq and U.S. commanders complaining it's hard to keep order, former Army Secretary Tom White, who was fired by Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, tells CNN in an interview he believes that Rumsfeld's rebuke was Shinseki was unfair.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
THOMAS WHITE, FORMER ARMY SECRETARY: In retrospect, I think Shinseki was right. The facts bear out that he was pretty accurate in his estimate.
Obviously the size of force you need or you are trying to predict that you need is based upon a whole series of assumptions. And I just think we got the assumptions wrong. I just think we misestimated. And I think the sooner we come to that realization and set ourselves up for the long term, I think the better off everybody will be.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MCINTYRE: White told CNN it was only logical it would take more troops to secure the peace than to win the war, but that's exactly the opposite of what Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said before the war-- Wolf.
BLITZER: Are some at the Pentagon discounting his remarks simply as a disgruntled, fired, former official?
MCINTYRE: Well we haven't heard too many direct reactions. But the main argument we've heard here is that Shinseki said several hundred thousand. The pentagon says several hundred thousand would be 300,000. They claim 150,000 isn't close to that.
BLITZER: All right, Jamie McIntyre, thanks very much for that.
Much more news coming up, including cell phones. Are they driving you off the road? The federal government considers stepping in to keep hands on the steering wheel. If you're a cell phone driver or just can't stand them, you'll want to see this. I know I will. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Earlier we asked, what's the leading cause of accidents in the United States. The answer, driver distraction. Rubber necking, cell phones, putting on makeup, playing with the radio, and eating in the car all add up to the number one cause of crashes. And the national Transportation Safety Board wants states to ban young drivers from using cell phones. It's the latest effort targeting what some studies say is a very deadly distraction.
CNN's Kathleen Koch reports that while cell phones are the most obvious problem, they are not the only one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Music, eating, chatting with friends -- potentially deadly distractions to teenagers who make up less than 7 percent of the driving population, but have more than 14 percent of the fatal accidents. So federal safety officials say they don't need another distraction. The National Transportation Safety Board recommending states drive those with learning permits from using cell phones.
MICHELLE MCMURTRY, NTSB: Young, inexperienced drivers are particularly vulnerable to accidents, are easily distracted and are known to engage in risk-taking behavior.
KOCH: As to more experienced drivers, the NTSB says the jury is still out on whether cell phones are worse than anything else that takes drivers' eyes and mind off the road.
JOE OSTERMAN, NTSB OFFICE OF HIGHWAY SAFETY: The bottom is that all though cell phones are distracting, relative to other distractions, we can not rank that or the others as to which are the most severe.
KOCH: California is considering banning hand-held cell phones after studies show it was linked to 11 percent of collisions caused by inattention. New York state, and 22 municipalities already have such laws. But the cell phone industry argue such bans won't solve the problem.
TOM WHEELER, CELLULAR TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND INTERNET ASSN.: The studies have shown that accidents related to wireless phone use are way down the list below drinking coffee, below worrying about the kids, below the radio, below the CD and these sort of things.
KOCH: The NTSB wants the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to do a comprehensive study on just which types of activities are most distracting and dangerous. To help collect data, the safety board also told states to make sure their accident investigation forms have a place where police can note distractions as a factor. Only 16 states now do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOCH: The NTSB also investigated a deadly 2002 railroad collision in Texas caused by an engineer distracted while using his cell phone. So the board also recommended that the Federal Railroad Administration propose new regulations to limit the use of cell phones by rail workers.
BLITZER: Cell phones potentially could cause a lot of problems but also help a lot of people at the same time. You have to balance all of that.
Kathleen Koch, thanks very much.
Our web question of the day, lets remind you, is this, "Is Martha Stewart get getting a bad rap?" You can still vote cnn.com/wolf, the results when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Now here's how you are weighing in on our web question of the day. We have been asking you this question, "Is Martha Stewart getting a bad rap?"
Look at this 53 percent of you say, yes, 47 percent of you say, no. As always, we remind you this is not a scientific poll. You can still vote, though.
Time to hear directly from you. Let's get to some of your e- mail.
In regard to the location of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, Carolyn writes, "I believe we were lied to, and they used scare tactics for the reason to go to war. Iraq was no threat to the United States."
Lisa has a different point of view. "It may take years to find the WMD in the deserts of Iraq. Regardless, I feel safer with Saddam's government dissolved."
Let's take a quick look at headlines right now this hour.
(NEWS BREAK)
BLITZER: A reminder, you can always catch WOLF BLITZER REPORTS weekdays this time 5:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you again tomorrow, noon Eastern.
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Mideast Peace; How Did Rudolph Survive for Five Years in the Woods?>
