Informant: Governor Jeb Bush Target of Assassination Plot
JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: In Florida, investigators are weighing the credibility of an informant who told them that Governor Jeb Bush, the president's brother, was the target of an assassination plot. CNN's Mark Potter joins us from Miami. Hello, Mark.</s>MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Judy. Well, while there are some doubts, in fact I would say major doubts about the credibility of the informant, investigators say they are still taking the allegations seriously, and they are conducting a large-scale investigation. Now this all began in December, when an inmate in the Broward County jail, north of Miami, wrote a letter to the governor's office in Tallahassee. He told investigators that he knew of four men of Middle Eastern background who were plotting to take a van loaded with explosives up to Tallahassee, the state capital, where they intended to blow up the governor. Now there are some problems with the story, according to investigators. They say the informant has failed a number of lie- detector tests. One investigator told me this morning that on a scale of one to 10, he would give this informant about a three, and that was being generous. Nevertheless, this informant has provided some information that does seem to be credible. He told the investigators to look out for a particular van. They found it yesterday in Ft. Lauderdale. They searched it. They found no bombs or bomb-making material, but bomb- sniffing dogs did alert to something in this van, warranting further investigation, and the van was taken away for that purpose -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: Mark, in a situation like this, where do they go next?</s>POTTER: Well obviously, they are going to be concentrating on these four individuals. One has been arrested already on INS charges unrelated to this. And one was stopped last night. The investigation will be ratcheted up, as investigators focus on these individuals. Right now, no arrests related to this, and none may come, either because there is nothing there or because the investigation has been hampered now by the fact it has gone public. Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, is out and about. He has a public schedule today. He is said to be safe and secure, and the capital building is open today, although security, we are told by our colleagues in Tallahassee, is much tighter today than it has been in the recent past -- Judy.</s>WOODRUFF: All right, Mark Potter reporting on that announcement out of Florida that they do have some credible reports of an assassination plot against Florida Governor Jeb Bush. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com