Judge Throws Out Martha Stewart Fraud Charge; Powell Talks Frankly About Iraq, Personal Life
PAUL ZAHN, HOST: I'm Paula Zahn. The world, the news, the names, the faces and where we go from here on this Friday, February 27, 2004.</s>ZAHN (voice-over): In focus tonight, a charge dismissed. Martha Stewart's judge tosses out the most serious count against her. Will the rest of the case fold up? Also, part two of my exclusive interview with Colin Powell. Tonight, the secretary of state on the case he made for war and his future. If President Bush is re-elected, do you see yourself playing a role in a second administration? And the most money: the annual list of the world's richest people. Some familiar names and some surprising new faces.</s>ZAHN: All that and more ahead. First, though, here are some headlines you need to know right now. Anarchy. That is what the situation in Haiti is being called tonight. Rebels are advancing on Port-au-Prince, and CNN is reporting armed gangs are now patrolling the streets. People are being killed execution style. The Associated Press is reporting that that FBI is reviewing part of the investigation in the Oklahoma City bombing. That has reopened the question of whether bomber Timothy McVeigh had more accomplices. The A.P. says the FBI wants to find out why some documents related to the 1995 bombing never reached the agency. A special prosecutor has been named to investigate accusations of sexual misconduct at the University of Colorado and its football team. Colorado State Attorney General Ken Salazar will lead the inquiry. There have been six allegations of rape against C.U. football players since 2000. In focus tonight, the victory for Martha Stewart, at least an initial victory, heading into Monday's closing arguments. The judge today dismissed, that is, the most serious charge against her, securities fraud. Joining us now, senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and "People" magazine's Sharon Cotliar. Welcome back.</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hi.</s>ZAHN: Were you surprised?</s>TOOBIN: Yes, basically. I mean, I think it was a close call. The judge obviously was uncomfortable with this charge from the beginning. She called it novel in an initial discussion about it. But I thought she would let the jury get the case, this charge. But she didn't, so one charge down, the only charge that came with a five -- a 10-year penalty, and four to go.</s>ZAHN: What else does she face?</s>TOOBIN: Conspiracy, two counts of making false statements, and obstruction of justice. Very serious charges, all felonies, all carrying five-year jail time. But you know, you've got to get rid of one at a time, and she's got one gone.</s>ZAHN: You spoke with members of Martha's camp after this ruling today. What was their reaction?</s>SHARON COTLIAR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: They're very happy. They went out to lunch in Chinatown. They actually walked there from the courthouse. And people were cheering her, saying, "You go, girl!" And "Go, Martha." And then they dined on Peking Duck and chicken dumplings. So this was good news to them.</s>ZAHN: Any news on whether it met her standards? The meal?</s>COTLIAR: That I did not hear.</s>ZAHN: Let's talk a little bit more about how this jury -- decision might affect the jury. Was the jury aware that the judge was going to dismiss, or potentially dismiss, this other charge?</s>TOOBIN: Almost certainly not. They would have to remember the opening arguments in extreme detail to be able to compare it to this -- to what they hear in the jury instructions. I doubt it. So I don't think the jury will care. In a funny way, I could see this helping the government. Because the government now can concentrate entirely on its strongest evidence.</s>ZAHN: It's a less cluttered case.</s>TOOBIN: It's a less cluttered case. The securities fraud was always a bizarre charge. Remember, the charge there was did Martha Stewart lie in order to prop up the stock of Martha Stewart Living. Very tangential to the heart of the case, which is did Martha Stewart lie to investigators about why she sold ImClone stock? Very simple case now. Up or down decision. I think it will shorten jury deliberations. I don't know what they'll decide, but I think it will be simpler.</s>ZAHN: What are you looking for to happen next week?</s>COTLIAR: Monday and Tuesday we'll hear closing arguments from everybody involved, and then it will go to the jury on Wednesday.</s>ZAHN: Any predictions, Jeffrey?</s>TOOBIN: I don't do predictions.</s>ZAHN: Oh, yes.</s>TOOBIN: Because I'm always wrong when I do.</s>ZAHN: You're a former prosecutor.</s>TOOBIN: You know what? Going into this case, I thought it was weak. I really would have bet on an acquittal before I heard the evidence. After hearing the evidence, this is a much stronger case than I anticipated. Bacanovic, in particular, has a lot of problems.</s>ZAHN: What should Martha be most worried about?</s>TOOBIN: Going to jail.</s>ZAHN: Besides that?</s>TOOBIN: I think she has to be worried that the accumulation of evidence -- she has no sort of smoking gun against her. But whether it's Douglas Faneuil or her assistant, Annie Armstrong or her friend Mariana Pasternak, the combination of circumstantial evidence is really her biggest problem.</s>ZAHN: Guess we'll see you same time, same place next week, you two.</s>COTLIAR: Thank you. Have a good weekend.</s>TOOBIN: I can't wait.</s>ZAHN: Now to part two of my exclusive interview with Secretary of State Colin Powell. Tonight, we'll talk about Saddam and Iraq. And the secretary of state also talks about his personal side, his life and his future.</s>ZAHN: Let's review some of what you said in your speech on February 5, 2003, before the general assembly in the run up to war, which has now proven to be false. Let me read you part of that preamble. Quote, "My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we're giving you are facts." How difficult is it for you to deal with having said that?</s>COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: The fact of the matter is, when I said that, it was backed up by the facts as the intelligence community knew them and believed in them. And so what I said on that day reflected the best judgment, not the cooked judgment, the best honest, well-sourced judgment of the intelligence community. Intelligence work is not perfect. Sometimes you get it right. Sometimes you do make mistakes. Clearly there were some errors that were made. What I think is clearly also the case, and what I think I put forward to the world on the 5th of February of 2003, was that Saddam Hussein and his regime had the intention to have nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, had used chemical weapons against its neighbors and its own people, had kept the capability to have such weapons, programs to develop such weapons, delivery means to deliver such weapons. The only area that has become seriously in question, really, is why weren't there stockpiles there? I can't really answer that question so far. We're still looking. We're still examining documentation. The fact of the matter is, President Clinton in his administration believed there were stockpiles there. All of our friends around the world who had intelligence capability believed it. The U.N. believed it, by passing resolution after resolution. Dr. Kay, who was the, you know, the chief inspector on our side, he believed there were stockpiles there when he went in to look. He looked for eight months, couldn't find any, and said, "I don't think they're there." But he said we still did the right thing. This was a dangerous regime. So even though we will get to the bottom of what was right and what was not right in my presentation. The fact of the matter is we were dealing with a dangerous regime that had the intention, the capability, the programs and the means to deliver weapons of mass destruction. We will get to the answer as to whether or not there were or were not stockpiles just before the time of the war. But I have no questions in my mind that we did or did not do the right thing. We did the right thing. A terrible regime has been removed, and the American people should be proud of that.</s>ZAHN: You also said, quote, "It was the stockpiles that presented the final little piece that made it more of a real and present danger and threat to the region and to the world." So are we to understand that without these stockpiles there was no clear and present danger from Iraq?</s>POWELL: No, I didn't say that. What I said was -- I didn't say what you -- the last part of your sentence. What I said was, if we had known at the time we were considering all this, that there were no stockpiles there, then we would have had to consider that. I didn't think it was a particularly startling statement when I said it. Whenever people give me new information, my training as a soldier tells me how does that affect the conclusion I have come to? And that's all I was saying in that reference. And so if we had known at the time we were going through the run up to the war, that there are no stockpiles, we would have taken that into account. Might we still have gone ahead? Perhaps. Would we have seen it as serious or present danger? Maybe, maybe not. All I was saying was that reasonable people, when faced with new information, should put that into their calculation and think it through again.</s>ZAHN: But knowing what you know today about the lack of stockpiles in Iraq, would you have supported the prosecution of the war?</s>POWELL: See, I'm not sure that we know everything there is to know about the stockpiles in Iraq. That's why we have got hundreds of inspectors still over there. Charlie Duelfer, who replaced Dr. Kay, is still over there. There are many, many documents that have to be gone through. There are many, many people who have to be interviewed, and there are many, many facilities that have yet to be looked at. It is still a dangerous regime, with or without the stockpiles. Whether I would have come to the same conclusion or not, that was the question I was asked. And the answer was I don't know. Because I would have had to take the whole situation, once again, into account. And I think the president would have as well. The fact of the matter is we did the right thing, and this regime is no longer a danger, whether it had stockpiles or not. It will never have stockpiles in the future.</s>ZAHN: Have any of your expectations coming into this job not been met? In terms of foreign policy and your imprint on it.</s>POWELL: Well, you can never get on top of every issue, but we've done one heck of a job. I mean, just in the past two weeks, we have brought into fruition two of the most important programs of foreign policy in the last 30 years. One is the Millennium Challenge Account, where we will be upping the amount of money we make available to the needy nations of the world to a tune of $5 billion a year of additional money to those nations that believe in democracy, believe in the rule of law. The second initiative is the HIV-AIDS program that the president chartered for the nation. Fifteen billion dollars in money to go after the greatest killer on the face of the earth right now. I'm proud of those two programs. I'm proud of the fact that we have best relationship in China that we've had -- with China that we've had in 30 years, solid relationship with Russia. The two enemies that I knew for most of my military career are now solid partners and friends. I'm pleased that we helped the Georgian people bring in a new president, who was here this week. I'm pleased that we're getting rid of weapons of mass destruction out of Libya. I'm pleased that we've got Iran starting to realize they'd better move in the right direction. I'm pleased that we helped ECOWAS help liberate Liberia. And I was co-chair of the meeting last month that got $500 million in donations for Liberia. I'm pleased at all the things that we're doing to strengthen our partnership and alliances around the world. I'm pleased that I've had the opportunity to do this as a senior foreign policy adviser to President George Bush. And in the name of President Bush, I try to do everything I can to achieve foreign policy goals of the American people.</s>ZAHN: If President Bush is reelected, do you see yourself playing a role in a second administration?</s>POWELL: I always say I only serve at the pleasure of the president.</s>ZAHN: Does he like you?</s>POWELL: We're great buddies.</s>ZAHN: A chain of unsolved murders, victim after victim across half a dozen states, most of them last seen at truck stops along a busy interstate. Is it the work of yet another serial killer? And if you have to ask, you're probably not on the list. Only the world's wealthiest make it to the "Forbes" list of billionaires. Not only are they getting richer, we're going to tell you about surprising newcomers to the billionaire's club. And will hobbits lord over the Academy Awards? Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper give us their predictions for Sunday's Academy Awards.