[Announcer:] In focus tonight. Police issues an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson on multiply accounts of child molestation.
[Unidentified Male:] We would encourage him to turn himself in and cooperate with law enforcement.
[Announcer:] Al Qaeda's big shift in strategy and how it's pushing the threat level even higher all over the world. And the city of brotherly love and it's bid to be the next big gay travel mecca.
[Aaron Brown, Guest:] Good evening, again, I'm Aaron Brown, Paula is off tonight. Also ahead tonight, presidential politics. Joe Klein joins us to tell us why it is a miserable week for the Democratic candidates. And the insanity defense this week in one of the sniper trials and in John Hinckley's attempt to get unsupervised visits with his parents. We'll debate if the insanity defense in America needs fixing. Plus we'll talk to a man who has made medical history. The first person to take a vaccine against the Ebola virus, one of the deadly diseases on the planet. Also, are we witnessing a big change in the world of women's magazines? Is perky and happy replacing rail thin and sour. Who better to ask those questions. But first, here are some of the headlines you need to know right now. A royal toast for President Bush. Mr. Bush and the first lady took a meal at Buckingham Palace with the queen tonight. The dinner rounded out the first official day of the president's visit to Britain, which has been met with some protesting. U.S. Canadian task force lays most of the blame on an Ohio power company for this summer's massive North American blackout. The commission says the blackout began when three power lines in Ohio failed and operators at First Energy a company that's had problems didn't react properly to contain the problem. About 50 million people ended up in the dark. In West Virginia today, emergency crews are using boats to rescue people stranded by flooding. Dozen counties there under a state of emergency. The governor says more will be added to the list as the storm system moves through the region. Those are the headline's tonight. We lead with the case against the king of pop. Earlier today a warrant was issued for the arrest of Michael Jackson. He is facing multiple counts of child molestation, one child involved. Allegations Mr. Jackson says are false. CNN's Frank Buckley starts us off. He is live in Santa Barbara, California. Frank, good evening.
[Frank Buckley, Cnn Correspondent:] Good evening, Aaron, and we've been reporting based on some information from a knowledgeable source that's been shooting straight with us in the past that Michael Jackson will be arriving here in Santa Barbara tomorrow morning to turn himself in to authorities. But let me show you some live pictures right now provided by local television stations who are over the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport in
[Unidentified Male:] There is no civil case filed and there is no anticipation that there will be a civil case filed in this particular case. The victim will be required to testify, even if there were a civil settlement of some case.
[Buckley:] And we should tell you that a spokesman for Michael Jackson issued a statement today, the outrageous allegations against Michael Jackson are false. Michael would never harm a child in any way. These
[Brown:] He either is or is not on that plane, but obviously media in Southern California believe he is. Frank, thank you. We'll talk to you later tonight. Frank Buckley, on Santa Barbara. We turn now to three people who can shed some light on the details of all of this that has emerged over the last couple of days. First from Anaheim, California, Brian Oxman, a friend of the Jackson family and attorney, as well. From Santa Barbara tonight, we're joined by Court TV reporter Diane Dimond. Ms. Dimond has been working on this story really hard for a really long time and really well. She broke the news of the first allegations of child molestation against Michael Jackson 10 years ago. Also in Santa Barbara, Michael Bryant, the legal correspondent for the TV program "Extra." Mr. Bryant was at the Neverland Ranch yesterday when police searched the property. We're glad to all of you. Ms. Dimond, when did these allegations first emerge? How long has this been going on?
[Diane Dimond, Court Tv Reporter:] The allegations, I first heard about the allegations from my sources about three months ago, maybe not quite that long ago. These are very new allegations and it took them a while to get the family protected, to get the proper search warrants and arrest warrants and I'll make one correction to what you said. The arrest warrant was not issued today. When they knocked on the door at Neverland Ranch yesterday, they had the arrest warrant in their hand, according to Tom Steden, I got an interview with him. They were ready to arrest Michael Jackson on the spot, had he been there.
[Brown:] And just for our viewers, on the right side of our screen, that is a private jet that may or may not be holding Mr. Jackson. He was in Las Vegas doing a video of some sort and there is some thought he flew back to the Santa Barbara area. Mr. Bryant, what do you know about the young man making the allegation?
[Michael Bryant, Extra:] Well, it's interesting, and Diane mentioned her timeline which is sqaures somewhat with the timeline I have from my source suggesting a young man went into an L.A. lawfirm seeking representation two to three months ago. And although that firm did not take the case, that child and his family were refered to the district attorney's office to pursue the matter. If that time line is consistent with everything we have heard and everything we have heard, since I learned that yesterday morning is consistent, then we're talking about the same person. I'm more concerned we're talking about a different person. There may be another victim out there. And there was one statement made in the press conference today that I think is bit telling, it was Sheriff Anderson when virtually every question asked by the press that was not going to be touched was answered in this way. We can't say anything about that. We can't say anything about this. But one question answered differently, was are there other victims that are part of an investigation? He said, no comment.
[Dimond:] No that's not what the question was. That's not what the question was. It was, do you think there might be other victims out there to which this sheriff said, yes. Like, you know, there might be. I took that...
[Brown:] Hang on, guys.
[Unidentified Male:] I'm talking about the no comment remark.
[Brown:] I don't want to bog down on this point, OK. Let me just try to find a couple let me satisfy my own curiosity for a couple more minutes here. Do we know, Mr. Bryant, do we know how the young man ended up in proximity to Michael Jackson?
[Bryant:] Well, we know the theories that are out there, there are obviously no official confirmation, some say it was through a relationship that began as many have allegedly have where he invited the child to the property, he the parents were involved and they got to know one another and things devolved from there. We have already heard how wine might have been used to ply the young boy and basically a seduction took place. None of that is confirmed, though.
[Brown:] I understand. Ms. Dimond, can you add to that? Do you know anything about the circumstances about this young man who making the allegation to the ranch in the first place?
[Dimond:] I do, Aaron, I will tell you that I've covered this story for so long and covered a lot of child molesting stories and I want to say it does us absolutely no good to reveal this child's identity and, remember, this is a child. This child...
[Brown:] Diane, I'm not asking for his identity. I'm asking for the circumstances.
[Dimond:] I understand. It's out there, it's already on the Web site with other news organizations. And I don't want to go there, but, yes. What you just heard, I've heard, too. I get it from top law enforcement sources that there was alcohol involved. And that Neverland was used as a lure.
[Brown:] Got it. I'm not asking his name. I have no interest in his name. Thank you. Mr. Oxman, let's get you in here. Have you talked to the family at all? What's going on over the last 48 hours?
[Brian Oxman, Jackson Family Attorney:] The Jackson family is extremely upset by all this commotion and the storm which is going on. And there's no question about it that they view it with concern. But what we saw today is even of greater concern and that is a press conference where the District Attorney is really leaking information utilizing Ms. Dimond as the source. She tells us about alcohol, no one else knows about that...
[Dimond:] I resent that untruth.
[Brown:] Diane, we'll get to you, thank you.
[Oxman:] It is wrong. It's absolutely wrong. We're hearing about when this child is through Diane Diamond. We're hearing about the allegations.
[Dimond:] You are absolutely incorrect and you're embarrassing yourself by what you're saying.
[Oxman:] It is wrong. It is not the ethical way by which a prosecutor proceeds to have a journalist accompany them to a search of Neverland Ranch. The prosecutor has stars in their eyes of Hollywood. And when they have these kinds of stars of publicity, they are blinded by the light. And I think that's what is going to happen here and that's exactly what happened here.
[Brown:] Mr. Oxman, thank you. Just again for people just joining us. One of these private jets on the runway outside of Santa Barbara is believed to be carrying Mr. Jackson, perhaps it's even the one taxiing. Whether he will be arrested there or will surrender tomorrow morning as we anticipated, we don't yet know. We'll just keep an eye on it. Now, Ms. Dimond, let's get back to you. Since your name was thrown around a fair amount.
[Dimond:] You can just call me Diane.
[Brown:] Do you want to react to what Mr. Oxman said?
[Dimond:] Mr. Oxman said so many things that are incorrect, I don't even know where to start...
[Brown:] Well, pick one.
[Dimond:] I think he would be embarrassed to say some of these things. First of all, I did not go on the search with the district attorney. What is he talking about? Second, I'm not being used as a tool to reveal anything about this child. I condemn any reporter who puts this child's name or information about this child out there. It's unnecessary to this story. And it's hurtful and mean and I have read Michael Jackson's disclaimers all day long on my Court TV network. So, Mr. Oxman is engaging in exactly what the Jacksons always do. They attack the people who say things they don't like to hear. It happened in 1993, it happened in '94 and it's happening again and now I'm the target. How ridiculous is that?
[Brown:] Let me bring in one more voice because I guess that's probably what we need at this point, one more voice. Jeffrey Toobin is us with, our legal analyst. Just I'll get to some of these other issues that matter, but were you at all uncomfortable by the tone of that news conference today?
[Jeffrey Toobin, Cnn Legal Analyst:] It was weird. It was definitely weird. This laughter at times, this sort of jocular nature. There was a question at the end that both of them, that various people have referred to earlier about are there other people out there who have had their stories suppressed and the D.A., I believe, said, yes I think so. It's different being a D.A. than it is being a talk show guest. I mean you can't speculate. You can't be...
[Oxman:] Something we regretted for a long time.
[Toobin:] They are supposed to operate by different rules and I thought it was odd and inappropriate and I thought they would be better off with a different tone.
[Brown:] A more substantive legal question, since that's what we pay your around here to do, is a these things basically come down to he said he said?
[Toobin:] They don't, by and large. That is obviously a major part of the case, but the reason they're searching for, they're searching Neverland is they want cooperation. Are there videotapes or photographs, other witnesses? What about the people who worked at Neverland, what did they see, if anything? What about this kid, does he have any injuries? Who did he report it to first? How long after the first incident, if there is an incident, did he report it? Did he go back? Those are real practical legal, evidentiary questions that this case will turn on.
[Brown:] Mr. Bryant, do you know anything about what police either were looking for when they executed these warrants, or what they took away?
[Bryant:] We believe what they were looking for and what they found were computers, software, videotapes. We believe they took more than a million photos with them when they left, either in the form of hard photos or...
[Brown:] A million?
[Bryant:] A million, yes. Hard photos andor computer images and a computer can store, you know, a million photos without a whole lot of effort.
[Brown:] Michel, let me interrupt you for a second, because on the other side of our screen our viewers or now full screen our viewers can see that Gulfsteam taxiing down the runway outside at a private airport, a private airport outside of Santa Barbara. And it's taken off. And it's going somewhere. And truth be told, we don't know. And we don't know if Mr. Jackson is on it, or got off it. But we'll find out, or at least we'll try. Mr. Bryant, I interrupted you, I apologize.
[Bryant:] No problem. In addition to those items, we believe that there were maybe some drawings. Anything, I hate to put it this way, anything that would fit into a pedophile kit. I mean, we heard these stories many time: computer pornography, books, images, videotapes. I know, Brian Oxman, how are you, haven't talked to you in a bit, I know your position is this is all very innocent material.
[Oxman:] Michael maintains a library of his entire history going back to the time he was 8 years old, of literally a million photographs at his house at Neverland Ranch. He has thousands of videotape, not only of commercially prepared videos, but also of the family and his Christmas vacations, his Thanksgivings and the family coming together. It will take literally months and months for police to go through these things. They're extraordinarily entertaining and interesting, but we doubt whether there's going to be anything of interest to this prosecution in any of that material.
[Brown:] Mr. Oxman, let me ask you and Jeff Toobin a kind of practical legal question. In your case, you have a friend who has a reputation who, we all believe, went through these allegations one time before, who settled the case, who, I think, most people find it a bit odd, perhaps more than a bit odd. How difficult do you think it's going to be for him to get a fair trial once that happens?
[Oxman:] The question of fair trial really resolves around the kind of publicity that we have. This is promising to be the biggest case and the biggest story of the year 2003. And that means, as it develops, it could eclipse the Iraqi War as being the biggest story of the year. If it does...
[Brown:] I hope not.
[Oxman:] Count me on hoping not, as well. I absolutely hope not, too, but that's where it appears to me, it might be going. If that's the case, fair trial becomes a real serious issue.
[Brown:] I would think, Jeffrey, that even if it doesn't become bigger than war and bigger than all these other things, bigger than the one we did a few years back, Mr. Simpson, the question of fair trial in the case of Michael Jackson is a particularly knotty one because of some of the things they talked about. Even if you set aside the previous allegation, the fact that he strikes people as a little bit odd.
[Toobin:] As a little bit odd, what's especially odd and difficult about the Michael Jackson situation, it's not like the Laci Peterson case, where the attention was concentrated heavily in one place in Modesto. I don't think people in Santa Barbara have a significantly different attitude towards Michael Jackson than they do in Los Angeles. It is a nationwide, certainly statewide problem. That's why I don't think a change of venue would do much good at all here. I think it's just a big, big problem. You can be sure, if this case goes to trial, the jury selection will be an incredibly difficult, time- consuming task as jurors are studied for they're attitudes about Michael Jackson, because frankly, a lot of people have a lot of attitudes about him.
[Brown:] Thank you for coming in, Jeffrey and the rest. Thank you for joining us always interesting time. This will be interesting to watch play out. And Mr. Oxman, if you're right, it will be a heck of a story over the next year or so. Thank you, all, for joining us. Joe Klein coming up to talk about why it's been a tough week for the Democrats as they head towards the 2004 presidential election. Are they losing control of issues like energy and healthcare, gay rights and gay marriage? Also tonight, a debate, as John Hinckley the man who tried to kill president Reagan is in court fighting for some more freedom, is the insanity defense in the country broken?