Tom DeLay Faces Criminal Indictment for Alleged Conspiracy in Campaign Finance Scheme
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, everybody. Tonight, one of this country's most powerful politicians, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, faces a criminal indictment for alleged conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme. DeLay immediately and strongly announced he's temporarily stepping aside as leader of the House and denied all charges. DeLay declared he didn't break any laws and said today's indictment is part of a political vendetta. DeLay was indicted by a grand jury on one conspiracy charge after a three-year investigation by a Democratic district attorney in Texas, Ronnie Earle. The indictment accuses DeLay of breaking Texas campaign finance laws by steering corporate money to political candidates, a charge DeLay angrily denied.</s>REP. TOM DELAY (R),TEXAS: This is one of the weakest, most baseless indictments in American history. It's a sham, and Mr. Earle knows it. This act is the product of a coordinated, premeditated campaign of political retribution. The all-too-predictable result of a vengeful investigation led by a partisan fanatic. I am innocent.</s>DOBBS: Joe Johns tonight reports on today's fast moving developments on Capitol Hill. Bill Schneider reports on the huge political fallout expected as a result of this indictment. And Jeffrey Toobin reports on the legal battle now facing DeLay as he tries to clear his name. And Suzanne Malveaux reports on White House reaction to the loss of a key ally of the president, if only temporarily. We begin with Joe Johns on Capitol Hill. Joe?</s>JOE JOHNS, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Lou, the bottom line is prosecutor Ronnie Earle says Tom DeLay conspired to use campaign funds to violate Texas law. It all started back in 2002. This was a time when a political action committee set up by Tom DeLay got about $190,000 and funneled that money from Texas up here to the Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C., and back to candidates for the Texas legislature. As we all know, those candidates in the Texas legislature won big for Republicans in 2002. The next year, those numbers in the legislature were used to redraw congressional lines, effectively giving Tom DeLay more power up here on Capitol Hill. Tom DeLay says everything he did was legal. He accuses Ronnie Earle of a political vendetta.</s>DELAY: Over the course of this long and bitter political battle, it became clear that the retribution for our success would be ferocious. Today, that retribution is being exacted. Mr. Earle, an unabashed partisan zealot, with a well-documented history of launching baseless investigations and indictments against his political enemies.</s>JOHNS: Ronnie Earle says he's been on this investigation for years. He also says he's prosecuted a lot of politicians, and says most of them were Democrats.</s>RONNIE EARLE, TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We have over the years prosecuted a number of elected officials. At last count, that total stood at 15, 12 of whom were Democrats and 3 of whom were Republicans. Our job is to prosecute abuses of power. And we -- our job is to bring those abuses to the attention of the public through juries. And that's what we do when we find a violation of the law.</s>JOHNS: So tonight, Tom DeLay has stepped down, at least temporarily, from his position as the majority leader of the United States House of Representatives. The temporary majority leader is Roy Blunt of Missouri. Sorry. Back to you, Lou.</s>DOBBS: Joe Johns. Thank you. The White House today declared DeLay is a good ally of President Bush, as Majority Leader DeLay pushed through key elements of the president's legislative agenda. Those elements including the tax cuts, trade agreements and Medicare prescription plan. Suzanne Malveaux reports from the White House. Suzanne?</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Lou, it really can't be overstated just how important tom DeLay is to this president and to this White House. One official saying that he was the one who really pushed forward the Republicans to vote with the president even when they didn't want to. He is central when it comes to the president's Social Security reform agenda as well. And if you look at the votes, just how close they have been when it comes to Medicare, Head Start, school vouchers for D.C., CAFTA, all of these passing by just one or two votes. Tom DeLay being critical in moving that forward. Now, there was a moment here, of course, back in April, the big question whether or not the president was going to stand by his man. Well, that took place in Galveston, Texas, when the two of them stood side by side. The president praising him when there was first criticism that came out. Also at that time as well, he gave him a ride back on Air Force One, back to Washington, making the point very clear that he has Tom DeLay by his side, he is sticking by him. That is the same message the White House is sending today.</s>SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Yes. Congressman DeLay is a good ally, a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the American people.</s>MALVEAUX: Of course, Lou, the big question now is whether or not it is going to cripple the president's ability to move forward on his legislative agenda. The White House does not believe so, but that really is an unanswered question. This is already, in at least some people's view, a weakened president, one who looks at a percentage approval of 40 percent -- also weakened by the hurricanes, as well as those high gas prices, a Social Security agenda that was already somewhat received lukewarm by many lawmakers. The big question here is just what is going to be the impact now that Tom DeLay is temporarily out of that position.</s>DOBBS: With the indictment, Suzanne, of top lobbyist Abramoff, and the top federal procurement officer in this administration, his resignation, Bill Frist's problems now in terms of selling HCA stock, and now Tom DeLay, how concerned is the White House right now about the momentum of these -- these developments?</s>MALVEAUX: Well, Lou, you certainly see the Democrats are already taking advantage of that. What they are trying to do is paint a broad brush stroke, if you will, of the president's party, the Republican Party, as being tainted by corruption here. The White House is trying to make sure that that doesn't happen. They have moved forward. They are working very closely with the Republicans to put them out front and center, to give this message that this is not going to affect their legislative agenda. But Lou, I can tell you, there are people who are concerned, who are worried here. When you look at those poll numbers and you look at what the president is up against before this even happened, there is reason to be concerned.</s>DOBBS: Suzanne Malveaux from the White House. Thank you, Suzanne. Joining me now for more on the implications of the DeLay indictment, our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, and our senior political analyst Bill Schneider. Let me turn to you first, Jeffrey. This -- this indictment three years in the making. Isn't that an extraordinarily long process for an investigation of such a prominent political figure?</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: White collar investigations traditionally take a long time. This is a very long time. And there have been other charges, but it has been a slow moving investigation. And -- bad news for Tom DeLay -- it's going to be a slow move to trial. So he's going to be in suspended animation for many months.</s>DOBBS: And Bill Schneider, DeLay says categorically this is politically motivated. He declares that he is innocent, categorically, he says, not relying, he says, in his defense on any sort of nuance or gamesmanship or parsing of language. He says he's absolutely in the clear. What does he do facing now what looks to be, as Jeffrey said, a protracted legal process?</s>WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think he worries about it, and the legal system will have its say. It is up to a judge, it's up to possibly up to a jury, to see if the charge that this is all partisan politics will hold up or whether they'll take this more seriously. That's the question. Is this going to be considered partisan? That's a legal question now, not a political question.</s>DOBBS: Well, let's -- let's explore the legal and the political issues here. Jeffrey, this is a conspiracy charge. It is not a direct charge of wrongdoing against DeLay, just a participation charge. That's considered to be a very weak approach for a prosecutor, isn't it?</s>TOOBIN: And it's only one count. Many indictments are multiple counts. I mean, here you have a very narrow crime charged in what -- in almost an abstract charge. They don't even accuse DeLay of violating the campaign finance laws. They accuse him of agreeing to violate the laws. It looks like a thin charge, but it's a real charge. And all that matters now is what a judge thinks and what a jury thinks.</s>DOBBS: All right. It is a weaker charge, if you will. Is it also at the same time possibly an easier charge for the prosecutor to prove?</s>TOOBIN: That's why prosecutors like conspiracy charges, because all you need to prove is that there's an agreement to do something illegal, and one act in furtherance of the conspiracy. That's easier than proving an out-and-out crime.</s>DOBBS: Bill Schneider, the politics of this? Travis County, Texas, Ronnie Earle, a longtime Democrat. Today he had a -- he had pretty good list of names that he's prosecuted -- not names, but numbers. Fifteen, he said. Thirteen of them -- 12 of them Democrat, three Republicans. But those Republicans included Kay Bailey Hutchison, the senator from Texas, back in 1993.</s>SCHNEIDER: And that was thrown out fairly quickly as an insubstantial case. So, you know, you've got arguments on both sides. He is a Democrat, he's indicted Democrats, as well as Republicans. Some of the cases he's put forward haven't really been able to go very far. Look, you know, you don't need an ironclad case to matter politically. Remember the House banking scandal back in 1992? Nobody really violated a law. There was -- members of Congress were writing bad checks. They were overdrawing their accounts at the House Post Office...</s>DOBBS: Right.</s>SCHNEIDER: ... which was allowed under the law. But you know what? Fifty-four of them resigned.</s>DOBBS: Fifty-four resigned. Also -- it's also interesting to put in context here, Tom DeLay stepping down as the leader in the House because of rules that require anyone accused of a felony to step down from leadership positions, Bill Schneider. People may not remember that less than a year ago Republicans returned home from a Christmas recess with every idea, anticipating just what happened today, of removing that requirement for the leadership to step down, faced -- just because they faced an indictment. They backed away from that quickly. What will be the reaction here?</s>SCHNEIDER: I think the reaction will be public interest, public anger. Tom DeLay is a very controversial figure. You say Tom DeLay's name to most Americans and you know what image comes forward most quickly? Terri Schiavo. He was the leader of the effort to keep Terri Schiavo alive. Very, very controversial. Very divisive in this country. A lot of people disagreed with that effort, but that's what most Americans remember.</s>DOBBS: Right. And you say Tom DeLay and Texas, and most Democrats will say gerrymandering.</s>SCHNEIDER: Yes.</s>DOBBS: The prospects from here, can a judge at this point move this indictment aside? Or is this now moving to trial?</s>TOOBIN: He can get it thrown out by a judge, but even that will take several months. And he will fight very hard to get rid of it before it ever gets anywhere near a jury.</s>DOBBS: Jeffrey Toobin, Bill Schneider, thank you both.</s>SCHNEIDER: Sure.</s>DOBBS: Coming up next here, is New Orleans ready? Mayor Ray Nagin is urging more residents to return, again. Critics say New Orleans is still not livable. We'll have a live report for you from New Orleans. And more Americans are falling seriously behind on credit card debt. More than ever before, in fact. The rising cost of gasoline partly to blame. We'll have a special report for you on this latest assault against our middle class, and a great deal more. Stay with us.