Alleged Hostage Taker Arrested at Clinton Office

November 30, 2007 2:09 PM

A suspect was arrested at a Hillary Clinton campaign office in Rochester, N.H., hours after he allegedly claimed he had a bomb strapped to his body and took several hostages, then apparently released them.

Sources identified the suspect as Leeland Eisenberg. He is a well-known local man with a history of emotional issues who allegedly told his son to "watch the news," a well-placed law enforcement source told ABC News' Pierre Thomas.

The man with the apparent pipe bomb asked to speak to Clinton, a source added. He appeared to be in his 40s or older.

After the arrest, Clinton said she was "very grateful" the emergency ended with her campaign staff safe. She thanked law enforcement and New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch for their handling of the standoff.

Clinton was not at the New Hampshire office during the emergency. Amid the hostage situation, she canceled a scheduled appearance at a Democratic National Committee meeting in Northern Virginia outside of Washington, D.C., DNC Chairman Howard Dean said, because of "a hostage situation involving a Clinton staffer."

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley was already at the DNC meeting in Virginia, and remained there in the early stages of the New Hampshire emergency.  He listened to a live Web stream by ABC News affiliate WMUR, but was not immediately in touch with colleagues on the ground in Rochester.

Amid the emergency at the Clinton office, rival campaign offices nearby -- for Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards -- were evacuated as a precaution.

At Clinton's Senate office on Capitol Hill in Washington, staff closed and locked the doors. The main door at her office, as with most senators' doors, is usually propped open during business hours. But this afternoon there was a uniformed Capitol Police officer stationed outside the door.

ABC News' Pierre Thomas, Jack Date, Michael Bicks, Jason Ryan, David Wright, Sunlen Miller, Zachary Wolf and Michael S. James contributed to this report.

November 30, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (239) | TrackBack (0)

Exclusive: A First Glimpse at Communications Between US Coast Guard and San Fran Ship

November 13, 2007 2:33 PM

ABC News' Lisa Stark Reports: A person close to the investigation of a cargo ship collision and oil spill in San Francisco that killed hundreds of birds tells ABC News that the U.S. Coast Guard called out to the ship a few minutes before it collided with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Wednesday.

"We show you at a 235 heading, what is your intention," an unidentified U.S. Coast Guard official reportedly said. An official close to the investigation says that 'heading' put the ship right on a collision course with the bridge.

"I am coming around. I am steering 280 now, " was the response from the local pilot was brought on board the cargo ship to steer it through the San Francisco Bay waters.

When the ship hits the bridge, the pilot then radio's: "Traffic, we just touched the Delta span. I am going to go to anchor."

The Delta span is one of the four supports for the impacted section of the San Francisco Bay Bridge. The official close to the investigation said the pilot should have known it was a major hit, but certainly did not communicate that at the time.

The audio tape recordings of the conversation between the cargo ship and the U.S. Coast Guard have been transferred to the National Transportation Safety Board, the body leading the investigation of the collision and oil spill. 

The container ship MV Cosco Busan was bound for South Korea in dense fog when it hit the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Wednesday, spilling gallons of heavy-duty bunker oil into the water.

The official tells ABC News there was only 300 feet visibility at the time of the collision. The investigation is trying to determine how fast the vessel was going.  It may have been going round 14 knots at the time of the collision, the official said, faster than would have been acceptable given the fog. However it's unclear whether the pilot simply sped up right before the collision in an attempt to avoid hitting the bridge.

The pilot was given alcohol and drug tests after the incident but the alcohol test came back negative, according to the official.  Investigators are still awaiting drug test results.

November 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

Companies Ring Up $7.7 Million in Fines for 'Do Not Call' Violations

November 07, 2007 11:14 AM

ABC News' Brian Hartman, Lisa Chinn and Theresa Cook Report:  It might be the national Do Not Call list, but several major companies have been fined for allegedly violating the registry's rules and making unwanted contact with consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission announced settlements totaling $7.7 million with companies accused of violating the Do Not Call rules, for allegations including companies making calls to individuals on the registry to apparently using promotions to circumvent the rules.

Companies that have settled with the FTC include Craftmatic beds, Ameriquest, Guardian Communications, and three private security companies.  Another company, Global Mortgage Funding, has not settled, so the Justice Department is pursuing action against it.

Bed maker Craftmatic will pay a $4.4 million civil penalty, for complaints accusing the company of running a "win a bed" sweepstakes promotion that did not adequately inform tens of thousands of consumers that by entering they would start receiving sales calls.

The company also placed millions of "abandoned calls" to consumers, where picking up the phone just results in dead air. Also, the company allegedly ignored consumer requests to be taken off the company's call list.

Ameriquest will pay a $1 million fine for allegedly calling consumers on the registry after buying numbers from a "lead generator."  The lead generator is said to have lured consumers to provide contact information on web sites under the guise of being a benign source of information. In the future, Ameriquest must guarantee lead generators get their numbers in a more straightforward manner. Ameriquest was also accused of ignoring consumer requests to be taken off the company's call list.

Guardian Communications allegedly "blasted" phone numbers with prerecorded telemarketing pitches "immediately terminating calls when a live consumer answered leaving dead air." The calls allegedly sent misleading caller ID information, so consumers were unaware of the true source of the call.  Guardian also did not offer consumers the opportunity to opt off the company's call list.

The company settled for $150,000, with a $7.8 million civil penalty suspended based on Guardian’s "inability to pay."

Security companies ADT, Alarm King and Direct Security Services will pay $2 million, $20,000 and $25,000 respectively for allegedly calling consumers that were on the registry.

As for Global Mortgage Funding, the Justice Department is pursuing charges in federal court against the company for "making hundreds of thousands of calls" to consumers on the Do Not Call registry to sell financial products. The company allegedly transmitted misleading caller ID information and left consumers with dead air. 

All fined companies were turned in by consumers.  According to the FTC, fines determined by number of violations and severity of those alleged abuses.  The FTC looked at allegations of dead air calls, fraudulent sweepstakes, prerecorded messages or blasting when determining severity.

November 7, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (11) | TrackBack (0)

Women Risk Heart Disease Even After They Stop Taking Birth Control Pill

November 06, 2007 1:12 PM

ABC News' Dan Childs and Roger Sergel Report: Using the birth control pill may lead to an increased risk of heart disease not only for women who use it, but also for women who have stopped taking it, new research suggests.

In a study of 2,524 apparently healthy women aged 35 to 55 who had previously used oral contraceptives, most of whom used them for 13 years or more, researchers from Ghent University in Belgium found that women who had used the pills had an unexpected increase of artery-clogging plaque in key blood vessels in the heart and legs.

On average, the women had a 20 to 30 percent increase in plaque for every 10 years they had taken oral contraceptives. The researchers said this was the first time use of oral contraceptives has been associated with the risk of heart disease after women stop taking the pill.

The findings, which researchers presented at the American Heart Association scientific sessions in Orlando on Tuesday, could have implications for millions of women. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), oral contraceptives are the most common type of birth control, used by 11.7 million women.

"The implications could be that you have higher stroke or heart attack rate," said lead study investigator Dr. Ernst Rietzschel of Ghent University, who noted that he was surprised at the findings.

"What we knew was that there was a risk of forming clots from taking the pill, but once you stopped you had no residual risk," he said. "Our data shows that if you take pill for long time you have accumulation of damage that gives you risk even after stopping."

November 6, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (16) | TrackBack (0)

Judge Rules to Suppress Lisa Nowak’s Confession

November 02, 2007 4:56 PM

Gina Sunseri reports:

Former astronaut Lisa Nowak won a legal victory in her criminal court case Friday when Judge Marc Lubet granted motions to suppress the evidence seized from her car, along with the 72-page statement to police the night she was arrested in Florida.

“It is incumbent upon this court that every citizen,  whether a prince or a pauper,  be treated equally . ... Having considered the totality of the circumstances, [the court]  finds the defendant's admission obtained by Detective Becton and the evidence obtained from the search of her vehicle must be suppressed," Judge Lubet said in his ruling.

The judge criticized Detective Chris Becton’s failure to answer Nowak’s questions about a lawyer and her rights, his refusal to allow her make phone calls and his failure to obtain written consent to search her car.

So what is left in the case against Lisa Nowak? Defense attorney Chris Tritico says the prosecution still has a classic everyday case.

“Ninety-nine percent of the cases that go to trial are tried without confessions. They still go to court," he said. "This ruling says the manner in which police took the statement violated Lisa Nowak’s rights under the  Fourth and Fifth amendment. That doesn’t mean the case is over, because they have an abundance of other evidence. They have a victim who is willing to testify, and they still have the airport surveillance tape.”

Nowak is accused of attempting to kidnap Colleen Shipman, a woman she perceived as a rival for the affections of fellow astronaut Bill Oefelein. Orlando police say Nowak drove more than 900 miles from her home in Houston to stake out Shipman  at the Orlando Airport as she returned from a trip. Nowak dressed in a trench coat, wore a wig and sprayed a chemical in Shipman’s face, police allege. The details of her drive to Orlando were so bizarre the incident quickly became the focus of late-night shows.

Nowak’s arrest was followed by a release of evidence  that  outlined the incident at the airport in great detail. The 72-page statement to police was stunning. The evidence seized from her car included steamy e-mails exchanged between shipman and Oefelein, some written while he was in space last December. 

Since Nowak's arrest, she has been terminated as an astronaut by NASA, as was her former boyfriend Bill Oefelein. She is working on flight software for the Navy and keeping a very low profile.

Nowak is still scheduled to go to trial in April, but the dynamics of that trial have changed dramatically with this latest ruling from the court.

November 2, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (32) | TrackBack (0)

White House Edits ABC News Then Takes it Back

November 02, 2007 12:21 PM

ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: News flash -- The White House has selectively edited a report on Iraq, taking out negative information and distorting the report's meaning.

This isn't about intelligence or weapons of mass destruction. It's my report on Thursday's evening on World News with Charles Gibson. 

WATCH THE FULL REPORT HERE.

The report noted "violence in Iraq is down and down considerably" in virtually every category, but my report also noted that "there has been almost no political progress on the national level" and that "U.S. officials know military gains won't mean much if the Iraqi government doesn't get its act together."

The White House sent out an edited version of my report in an official White House publication called "White House Iraq Update." 

Iraq Update is put together by the National Security Council and distributed by the White House via email to government officials, Congressional staffers, radio & television talk show hosts, journalists and foreign policy experts.

As edited by the White House, my report looked like an unqualified declaration of success in Iraq. The White House e-mail publication is headlined: "In Case You Missed It:  "Violence Is Down in Iraq and Down Considerably." 

Here's is what it included from my report:

CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS: "At the Pentagon today, military officials gave one of the most upbeat assessments of the security situation in Iraq that we have heard since the opening months of the war.  Jonathan Karl is at the Pentagon tonight. Jon?"

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS: "Charlie, nobody over here is anywhere near ready to declare victory.  But the military statistics tell an unmistakable story.  Violence in Iraq is down. And down considerably.

"Baghdad's marketplaces are slowly coming back to life, as violent attacks in Iraq have fallen to less than half of what they were a year ago.  Until recently, the trends had been deadly and consistent, violence steadily increasing to an all-time high in June.  Since then, however, attacks have fallen four straight months -- in every category." 

LT. GEN. RAY ODIERNO: "What I'm confident about, is the progress we're making I think is real." 

KARL: "Roadside bombs fell in October to an average of 20 a day.  Still high, but the lowest level since October 2004.  Iraqi civilian deaths have fallen to a third of where they were a year ago.  And after the deadliest summer ever for US forces in Iraq, US combat deaths fell to 29 last month, the lowest level in more than 3 years." 

MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION:  "The fact that we're seeing a durable trend over half a year time period tells us something real is going on.  It doesn't mean, however, that it's guaranteed to last. …" 

Here is what the White House left out:

O'HANLON:   ... and it doesn't answer the questions about political progress.

KARL:  In fact, there's been almost no political progress on the national level, and U.S. officials know military gains won't mean much if the Iraqi government doesn't get its act together, which is one reason the Pentagon doesn't even want to use the word "winning."

[To Defense Secretary]  You're not ready to say we're winning, that the surge is working --

ROBERT GATES [Defense Secretary]:  (From tape.)  I think – I think that those end up being loaded words.  I think we have been very successful.  We need to continue being successful.

KARL:  Today, Defense Secretary Gates said that the reduction in violence would not have been possible without the surge of 30,000 additional troops into Iraq, but, Charlie, those troops are going home in the coming months, raising the question of whether the violence will go up when they leave.

GIBSON:  Jonathan Karl tonight reporting from the Pentagon, thanks.

After ABC News expressed concern about the selective editing of the report, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe acknowledged it was inappropriate and agreed to sent out the full text of the ABC report. 

"The White House understands your concern and the full text of your report will be released to the same distribution list so that recipients have a chance to see what the entire report was about."

November 2, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (102) | TrackBack (0)