Miami Terror Plot

June 23, 2006

AMERICAN MORNING

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For more now on that indictment that John mentioned, Kendall Coffey is the former U.S. attorney in South Florida. He joins us now by phone from Vero Beach, Florida.
Good morning, Kendall.

KENDALL COFFEY, FMR. U.S. ATTY.: Hey, good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: You heard John Zarrella talking about this indictment. I know that you've gotten a chance to read it. Investigators say they found this evidence that goes beyond just discussions of criminal wrongdoing. And John mentioned that there was an informant who posed as a member of al Qaeda. As a prosecutor, as a defense attorney, how might that play into things? Because sometimes that isn't a good thing.

COFFEY: Well, I think the key to this, Carol, is going to be not just what the informant heard, but the tapes that he almost undoubtedly has of the conversations because sort of studying this indictment the way it's structured, it relies heavily on the informant. In some instances he's with numerous defendants. So I've got to think the government has got some pretty compelling tapes, because the indictment is very specific as to the conversations that took place and when they took place.

COSTELLO: But does it make a difference, Kendall, who this informant is and how they recruited him?

COFFEY: Well, of course one of the big defense strategies is always to focus on the informant. But assuming, and let's assume that there are tapes, then it doesn't really matter what his motives were, how he got there; the voices of the defendants themselves on the tapes are going to speak louder than anything a defense lawyer or anyone else can say, and that's going to be key to this case.

COSTELLO: OK. We've heard descriptions of the seven men taken into custody, that they appeared brainwashed, that they tried to recruit other members, that they were just kind of crazy, and we all know how that can go down in court?

COFFEY: Exactly. And I think the defense is going to be that these were kind of goofy, trash-talking wannabes. much more delusional than dangerous. On the other hand, dangerous wannabes are the heart of combating terrorism, because the whole focus is to get folks like this at the talking stage, where maybe all they are doing is talking and sort of fantasizing long before they actually get to the bomb- making stage.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about Florida itself, because several terrorism groups have trained in Florida, the 9/11 hijackers, some of them trained there. Jose Padilla once lived there. He's in custody now. Is it something about Florida, or am I exaggerating that?

COFFEY: Well, I think what's extraordinary about South Florida is in many ways it is a community of new commerce. People can come and go and there's just not a lot of close monitoring. So for example Muhammad Atta and some of his colleagues operated invisibly as they were getting flight training leading up to 9/11. And of course, as you just mentioned, Jose Padilla, the so-called enemy combatant, who has been a major source of controversy as well, was based for a significant period of time in south Florida.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Kendall Coffey, thanks for joining us this morning.

COFFEY: Thank you so much, Carol.

COFFEY: A reminder for you, too, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and top FBI officials will discuss the plot as a news conference in Washington at 10:30 Eastern. At 11:30 the United States attorney's office in Miami is scheduled to hold their own news conference on the terror raids. Let's stay tuned to CNN day and night for the most reliable news about your security.