All language subtitles for Death Of A President.en

President Bush is
in Chicago tonight

for a speech to
city business leaders.

Organizers
of an antiwar rally

timed to coincide
with his visit

are expecting one of
the biggest turnouts

since before the
invasion of lraq.

Experts put the cost
of policing the President's visit

at $1.5 million.

l remember the president
said something to me like,

''Here goes, Larry,''
and he stepped out.

There he is.

For most people,

When a plane touches down
and taxis, there is a feeling of relief.

But for us in the detail, it's a time
when we know we're on,

and... the tension
starts to build.

A million things you have to
worry about come into your head.

You get ready
to do your job.

l had a team of agents that arrived
there two weeks in advance,

And they'd been liaising with
the Chicago Police Department.

Our intelligence had been
communicating with the FBl.

We had gone over
survey reports.

We all have one in our pocket.
We study it constantly for each site.

We'd gone over
evacuation routes,

Building security,
backup, medical,

Everything at least
a dozen times.

Chicago could be a tough city
in terms of protests,

Just like Portland
or Seattle.

l was just focused on getting him
in and out as quick as we could.

We planned to get him to
the Sheraton. He'd make the speech.

Then we'd leave from O'hare
again at 8:40 that night.

When we arrived
in Chicago,

l rode in the limo
with President Bush.

We were still doing a
little work, which was unusual.

He was in Chicago
to talk about the economy.

l had made a pass--
what l thought a final pass--

at the speech
the night before.

He had reread it,
and he said,

''Ellie, we need to work
on this some more.''

Our economy
was struggling.

Oil prices were
through the roof.

We were facing a lot
of opposition on all fronts

ln terms of our
policy in lraq.

But, as always,
he was confident

that our policies
were correct.

lt was just
a matter of time.

Chicago hates Bush!
Chicago hates Bush!

Chicago hates Bush!
Chicago hates Bush!

Chicago hates Bush!
Chicago hates Bush!

Chicago hates Bush!
Chicago hates Bush!

Chicago hates Bush!

Chicago hates Bush!

You can't keep
a presidential visit

to a city the size
of Chicago a secret.

These various activist groups had
plenty of time to organize as well.

Shame on you!

lt's their constitutional right
to assemble and protest.

l mean, regardless
of what l feel about it,

it's their right to do that,
and l expect that to happen.

ln this particular instance,
what was a big concern to me

was that within
the larger organizations

there were some more militant groups
that were completely underground--

violent individuals that would
pose a threat to security.

No more Bush!
No more Bush!

l had just been rotated
into the press pool.

My vehicle was,
l believe,

three vehicles behind
the president's limo.

And even with the White House
escort, it got ugly.

Everywhere l ever
went with Bush,

we would run
into protesters,

but this time
was different.

l mean, this time it seemed
to me there was real hate.

There was a lot
on the White House plate--

lraq, Korea, lran,
plus all the domestic stuff.

lt was like
everybody held Bush

personably responsible
for all of it.

When we
turned onto La Salle,

And l saw the number of protesters
and the number of cops,

l thought, ''there is no way they're
going to be able to keep control.''

The two operative words
in the First Amendment

are to be peaceful
and law-abiding.

These people broke
barrier lines.

They became violent.

They put the welfare of themselves,
the people around them,

and more importantly the
president of the United States

in jeopardy by exhibiting
this kind of behavior.

So when that happened,
basically we were in a situation

where the gloves
had to come off.

That's what had to
happen at that point.

Get off me!

l certainly respect
everyone's right to protest,

but if someone anytime gets
that close to the president,

that's not a demonstration
anymore, that's a threat.

When that
motorcade stopped,

that was
an emergency situation.

ln fact, l had my agents in the backup
car make their weapons ready.

l had never seen
anything like that--

people actually
making contact

With the presidential car.

l mean, that was a major,
major security breach.

lt was the angriest
group of protesters

l've ever seen
in my entire experience

of working
with the president.

l was terrified.
And l looked over,

and the president was
as calm as he could be.

And he said,
''you know, Ellie,

l don't mind them
having their opinions.

l just wish they could
demonstrate peacefully.''

We were stretched out
personnel-wise

along the entire
motorcade route.

And at this particular point
in time we were just outmanned.

To me it's like
a heart surgeon--

when a major
artery is clogged,

you have to find
another artery A.S.A.P.

or there's going to be
some serious trouble.

And that's what we did.

We do have five alternate
routes in play if need be.

We did exercise one of those routes.
We contacted the motorcade.

We had to break up
the protesters

and get that route going,
and we did do that.

l was very relieved
to get him into the hotel,

which was a secure environment
compared to outside.

The building
was well covered.

lt did have an elevation
which concerned me slightly,

but we'd, of course,
secured all the buildings

in the surrounding area,
the adjacent buildings.

We also had multiple
l.D. checks in place

in case any protesters
tried to pose

as G.O.P. volunteers
or media

so they could get inside
and cause a disruption.

We say stop the killing,

stop the bombing,
stop the torture,

And stop bankrupting our
neighborhoods and communities

to pay for a war
based on lies.

All right, we want two groups

At Monroe and La Salle
by 5:00 P.M.

No later,
or we'll miss it.

What the fuck, man?

After what happened
with the motorcade,

we sent some officers
in among the protesters

to try and identify
the ringleaders.

An individual was stopped
in Federal Plaza.

Our undercover officers
did stop him.

We detained him because he had
an unusual amount of information

about the president's
movement that day.

Unfortunately, we had no grounds
to detain him at that point,

but we were concerned
that he was one of several people

planning to breach
the security cordon.

How many kids
did you kill today?

Hey, Bush,
what do you say?

How many kids did you kill today?
Hey, Bush--

We won't take it no more.

- We want money for housing.
- Not for war.

We won't take it no more.
We want money for testing.

Not for war.

No blood for oil!
No blood for oil!

There were four
main rallying points

for demonstrators
throughout the city.

My worry was that they
were all now planning

to converge
on the Sheraton.

We'd issued permits
for the demonstrators

which would allow them
to come within three blocks.

After what was going on, there was
no way l was going to let that happen.

We had to get
the protesters pushed back

a significantly further distance
away from the Sheraton

to basically keep
the president secure.

The speech was
about the economy,

but, really,
in the speech

was another warning
to North Korea.

We'd had this wonderful
glimmer of hope,

And then the Sea
of Japan incident

put our relations with Kim ll-Jong
back into the deep freeze.

We had intelligence
at the time

that they were
about 18 months

from being able to direct
nuclear warheads at American Cities.

They defied the U.N.

Along with lran.

And the president
wanted to make sure

that he was not
misunderstood,

that all options
were on the table,

that we would use
force if necessary.

And we had
to somehow find

the language for that
in the speech.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome to this
very special meeting

Of the Economic Club
of Chicago.

l'd like to alert you that, because
of the large number of protesters,

Chicago P.D. have forbidden
anyone to be outside

ln the streets
around the hotel

for 20 minutes after the president
leaves the room.

All cars and taxis
will be prohibited

from being in the area,

and foot traffic only
will be allowed.

What does a police state
look like?

This is what a police
state looks like!

What does a police state
look like?

This is what a police
state looks like!

What does a police state
look like?

This is what a police
state looks like!

What does a police state
look like?

This is what a police
state looks like!

What does a police state
look like?

Film them!

We'd transitioned a lot
of officers into riot gear;

that showed the protesters
that we did mean business.

When that motorcade
was compromised,

they were very happy
with themselves.

l think it actually
empowered them more,

and that made them
all the more unruly.

Again, this put a lot
of tension in the air.

l knew we would need to
exercise a lot of restraint,

and...

we just felt that...

it was a very
delicate situation.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The president
of the United States.

Thank you all very much.

lt's, uh...

it's a windy day
out there, which is a...

good day
for a windy speaker.

l-- l'm honored
to be your guest

here at the Economic
Club of Chicago...

lt was a very warm room,

and the crowd loved him.

President Bush was at his best
in front of a live audience.

This is one of America's
great cities.

And one of the reasons why

ls because you have a great
mayor in Richard Daley.

We're from different
political parties,

but we have some
things in common.

We both married
above ourselves.

You know, l don't
think my...

best jokes made it
into that speech.

Uh...

Karl Rove always said the president
shouldn't appear to be too funny,

But l disagree
with that.

l think that it
doesn't demean

The office of
the Commander ln Chief

to have a good punch line
now and then.

We both have famous

and influential...
brothers.

Our dads spent a little
time in politics.

And we love our country more
than we love our political parties.

Whenever Bush
would give a speech,

he would do this down-home,
kind of a country-boy thing,

and he was
really good at that,

which is kind of strange considering
that he's the son of a president.

He knew what people thought
of him on some level,

and l think he knew
how to work that.

He...

he was very skilled

at using the fact that
people underestimated him.

We have a responsibility

We have a responsibility

to meet great dangers
to our country

wherever they gather.

One by one

we're showing
these merciless killers

the meaning of justice.

Bring the war home!

- lraq, lraq is not alone!
- Bring the war home!

lraq, lraq
is not alone!

Bring the war home!

- lraq, lraq is not alone!
- Bring the war home!

When the president
was making his speech,

l was seriously concerned that the
sheer weight and numbers of protesters

meant that we'd be looking
at a siege-type situation.

We had over 1 2,000
people on the streets,

and a lot of them were starting
to converge around the hotel.

l think there's
a new breed of anarchist.

These are the people that have
the mentality that anything goes.

And it's a sad fact,
but the only way

to deal with this kind of
individual is with brute force.

No justice, no peace.

Fuck the police.

No justice,
no peace.

Fuck the police.
No justice, no peace.

And we're dealing
with North Korea as well.

lt's a regime that has expelled
international inspectors...

and is attempting
to defy the world

through its nuclear
weapons program.

The United States

and other nations

will confront
this threat as well.

We have
no aggressive intent...

no argument with
the North Korean people.

We're interested
in peace...

on the Korean peninsula.

As we deal with
the dangers of our time,

different circumstances
require different strategies.

Yet, our resolve
in each case will be clear.

We will not permit
any regime

to threaten the freedom
and security

of the American people

or our allies and friends
around the world.

When you're writing
speeches for the president,

it's kind of like
playing tennis

with a really
gigantic racket, you know?

You have all this power
in your hand.

You just have to be sure
to hit the ball softly.

We're meeting
the challenges to America.

We're strengthening
our economy,

and we're taking
the battle to our enemies.

By the courage
and by the enterprise

of the American people,

this great nation
will prosper.

And there's
no doubt in my mind

this great nation
will prevail.

May God bless you all,

And may God
bless America.

Stop the war!
Burn it down!

Move back
from the barricade!

We're not going to move!

Move back beyond
lllinois street!

You have to understand, we asked
these people to move back.

They did not. Not only
did they not move back,

they were spitting
at our officers.

They were doing every
single thing they could

to push their buttons
and to incite them.

l... absolutely not.

We took
the appropriate action.

On my command,
push and spray!

Push and spray!

He was in a good mood.
His speech went well

and he had a sort of
informal meet and greet

with some of the guests
that were there.

as soon as we could,
we took the president

to a holding area,
which is the norm.

lt gives us
a chance to check in

and address any
last-minute security issues.

lt also gives
the president some time

to make any phone calls
he needs to make

and check in with members
of his staff.

l was very uncomfortable

with the president
doing the rope line

that he was scheduled
to do on the way out,

probably because of the
events earlier in the day--

the motorcade
being stopped.

l thought we should
pass on this one

and l made
my feelings known.

He told me that l was
the only person around him

that ever told him no.

But...

he was determined
to do it.

The speech had gone well.
He was in a good mood.

He did not want to disappoint the people
who had showed up to meet him.

l checked ahead with my agents
on the main entrance.

Everyone there had been
searched and ''magged.''

They'd been through the magnetometer,
which means no one had a weapon.

Everything that we, the Secret
Service, could do had been done.

But sometimes you
just have a feeling.

Not necessarily a...

rational feeling that you could
base on anything concrete,

but l just...

had a bad feeling
about that rope line.

l reiterated
my concerns to him,

and he looked
at me and said,

''Larry, is there
a problem?''

l remember saying...

''No, sir, there's no--
there's no problem.''

Good to see you.

Howdy.
How are you?

Very inspiring,
Mr. President.

Thanks.
Nice to see ya.

- Gonna sing in a minute.
- That's what l heard.

Thank you.
Hey there.

Nice to see you all.

- Hey there.
- God bless.

- l'm praying for you.
- Thank you. Thanks.

When the president looks you
in the eye and shakes your hand,

there is no one else
in the world.

He devotes himself
to you 100o/.

And that's where
he was that night.

He was shaking hands
with the people of Chicago.

Good to see you all.

Good to see you.
Hi there.

What's your name?
Nice to meet you.

What do you think?

l look for anything
that seems out of place,

Anything that
looks wrong.

Some agents
look at hands.

l look at eyes,

and l look for that stare,
for that look that says,

''l'm not a big fan
of the president.''

- Good to see you.
- Good morning.

Hey there.
Thank you.

- President Bush.
- Hi. Thanks for wearing that shirt.

- Good to see you, sir.
- Good luck to you, sir.

Thank you.
How are you all doing?

And then l saw
Danny Williams.

Danny Williams was a guy
who'd been following the president.

He showed up to any event
that he could afford to get to.

He was one of these
environmental nuts.

This guy had
a screw loose.

He should never have been
allowed on the rope line.

So l felt very relieved
when we dealt with him

before he had a chance
to make a scene.

Thank you.

Get down!

Shots fired!
Shots fired!

Here he is!
He's here!

Gotta get out of here.
Somebody shot him.

l moved my hands along his body
to see where he had been hit.

He was bleeding from his chest,
and he was having trouble breathing.

So l tried keep
the airway passage open,

And l was just praying
that he would keep breathing

until we got to the hospital.

Stay calm.
Stay calm.

This guy is 7-0!
This guy is 7-0!

Stay back!
Stay right here!

Nobody leave!
No one leaves till l say it's clear!

Nobody move!
Nobody move!

Stay back!
Everybody stay back!

Hit the ground.

Nobody leave!
Nobody leave!

We're just getting reports
of a shooting incident

at the Chicago Sheraton

where President Bush
has been speaking.

lt's not clear if the president
himself has been hit,

but apparently
there are casualties.

The Secret Service's job
is to protect the president.

The moment they fail
at that, it comes to me.

My job,
and the Bureau's job,

is to find the attacker
and bring him to justice.

As far as l was concerned,
the gunman was there somewhere.

And the odds of catching the person
or persons responsible for this

were going down
by the second.

The Secret Service
believed initially

that the shots had been fired
from within the rope line...

but all the guests
had been searched.

And soon it emerged that several
of the witnesses on the rope line

indicated that
the shots had come

from one of the tall buildings
overlooking the Sheraton.

Every available officer was out
searching the area for a suspect,

but we had no idea what
he or she looked like.

then, three minutes
after the shooting,

officers saw
an individual run

from one of the buildings
overlooking the hotel

and into the building
next door-- 420 North Park.

The SWAT team
was sent over,

and the individual
was detained at gunpoint.

We'd run him out by the
time they got him back

to Metropolitan
Correctional Center.

He'd actually been stopped
by Chicago P.D. earlier in the day.

His name was Frank Molini.
He was 28,

pretty much
a full-time activist.

He had been kicked out of the University
of lllinois in Chicago after a year.

He was part of a group
of protesters

that were subject
of an NSA wiretap

back in 2004,

kids who had planned
a break-in

during the Republican National
Convention in New York in 2004.

He broke through the cordon
into a restricted area

when the president
was speaking.

Right there we had
something to charge him with.

They cuff me
and throw me in a van,

take me down
to the detention center.

l just sat silent,

let 'em ask all the questions
in the world they wanted.

l wasn't going
to help 'em out.

l just didn't
want to cooperate.

lf you believe
in the death penalty,

he was a candidate.

You know, he...

he had been responsible
for over 100,000 deaths,

and if he had
been... tried

in a war crimes tribunal
and found guilty...

then... he would have
been a candidate.

Okay, move it through here.
move it through.

l didn't know if he
could hear me or not,

but l tried willing him
to stay alive,

to keep breathing, keep breathing
until we got to the hospital.

we were there so quick that the
hospital had not completely finished

clearing out an area,
securing it for the president.

And we got him
inside the hospital,

and... the medical
staff took over.

And l just... just...

kept... saying,

''please, please...
please don't let him die.''

Who's been injured?

- Can you tell us anything?
- Anything you got.

Basically, we have
this information:

he's been hit twice. He's being
treated for his injuries.

That's literally all l can tell you
about the president at this time.

- lt's the president?
- The president.

Did he say anything?

We was all
in the emergency room,

and the Secret Service people came in
and said, ''get out, get out.''

And then they said,
''get the hell out.''

So that's when
l got up out of there.

What is the state of the president?
ls he conscious?

- ls he bleeding?
- They brought the president in.

That's when l seen him.
He was on a stretcher

and he was unconscious.
He wasn't talking a lot.

They shot Bush.
They shot the president!

- They shot Bush!
- Bush has been shot!

We determined
that the shots were fired

from the 20th floor
of 422 North Park.

lmmediately, we locked
that building down.

We seized
the surveillance footage

from both the building
and the city cameras.

We got the employee list
from the building.

We wanted to know the names
of everyone who worked there,

or who had been in and out
of the building within the past week.

Like at any crime scene,
you'll have

the local law enforcement,
your first responders.

ln this case, you had
the Chicago field office

of the FBl
on the scene immediately.

The E.R.T. from D.C.--

that's the Evidence
Response Team--

they fly in.

They get there
in about 90 minutes,

and they start going through
the evidence.

And then they start
sending stuff

to their forensic lab

at Quantico,
which is where l was.

So we started getting stuff
within a few hours.

They identified the room
that the shooting took place in.

And so there was a lot of
forensic evidence in that room.

You know, a sniper
is in a hurry.

He's acting fast, and he's
going to make mistakes.

And those mistakes
are what you want

because those
are evidence.

lt was a very promising
scene forensically,

because you had
a lot of evidence.

You had...

hair and fiber

and... literally shell casings.
You had an open window.

There were a couple hundred
fingerprints from that room.

Then what you're trying
to do is match that

with what they call
a ''person of interest.''

l was going back
to my car

down on lake,

and these cops just, like,
came out of nowhere,

jumped out of the car,
threw me up against this gate,

you know, being all aggressive,
asking me for my l.D.

l showed it to 'em,
and they put me in cuffs,

threw me in the back
of the car

and took me in and started
asking me all these questions.

They saw l was a vet.

They assumed l was
there for the protest.

l told them l wasn't.

Told them these people had a right
to protest if they wanted to.

My dad did, right after
David got killed.

But l just never chose to
get caught up in that stuff.

lt didn't make no sense
to me to be out there

screaming and yelling at Bush
when he wasn't going to listen no way.

The last time
l saw the First Lady,

we were speaking
about how eager she was

for the president
to leave office very soon,

and their time
together after.

When she arrived
at the hospital,

she had her...

ever-present dignity,

but you could tell, of course,
that she was devastated.

l was being constantly
informed by the doctors.

l knew it was
quite grave.

l knew that his chances
were slim at that time.

We stepped
into the elevator,

and l felt Mrs. Bush
scanning my face

for any clue,

any sign of how
things were going.

And l couldn't speak.

Okay, l have
a short statement.

The president suffered
two bullet wounds.

The first entered just
under the right armpit.

lt traversed about three
inches of the chest wall,

then ricocheted off
the fifth rib and exited.

The second
damaged the aorta

and passed into the left
lower lobe of the lung.

That bullet has
now been removed.

The president is about
to undergo a surgical procedure

to repair some
of the inferior aorta.

Although his injuries
are very serious,

Dr. Wu has said he's never
seen such a strong heart

in a man
of the president's age.

So the outlook
is good, very good.

That's all.

The gun was found
in the bottom

of a garbage chute
in the building.

lt was a US-made
sniper rifle,

which is certainly an extremely
strong piece of evidence,

although there
were problems.

lt's very tricky,
actually,

to find fingerprints
on a gun,

because a gun
is very oily,

the handle of a gun
is often textured,

and fingerprints just...

aren't easily
found on guns,

even though you might think
they are, from the movies.

The serial number of the gun
had been removed.

So this suggested
that this was done

by someone who was
very professional.

4:00 A.M., we had about
300 people in custody.

The truth is, the sheer
volume of detainees

that we had as a result of the
material-witness statutes

made the task
very very difficult.

You know, in a normal
homicide investigation

motive is very helpful

in narrowing down a list
of potential suspects.

But... in this case,
two hours before the shooting,

we... saw over
10,000 protesters,

displaying what,
in many cases,

was overt hatred
for the president himself.

Sure, the vast majority
of those were peaceful protesters

exercising their rights
under the constitution,

but among them were also some
much more militant individuals--

people like Frank Molini who
somehow got hold of information

about the president's
schedule,

which should not have been
out in the public domain.

The Bush administration
had tried

to trash
civil liberties.

So as a protest movement,
we had to get smarter.

We had to go
for what we called

''intelligence-led
protests.''

We had...

to get information
like this,

because Bush had
made it so impossible

to have
a meaningful protest,

that having this
information allowed us

to make ourselves seen.

l saw some Secret Service
guys talking to the cops.

And then,
all of a sudden,

it seems like the cordon
was too close to the hotel.

This was just the pattern
that always happens in Chicago.

You have a permit
to protest,

and Bush just stomps
all over them.

As the fight started,

l ran through
the police line,

and nobody stopped me.

l was trying to get in any
building opposite the Sheraton,

and l tried a few doors
that were locked.

And then finally
l found this revolving door

that was open,
and l went in.

And the minute l got in,
l just completely lost my nerve

'cause there was
this guy coming at me.

So l just turned around and
went right back out and ran.

l had the banner on me,

and l planned on going
to a building opposite

and hanging this banner
so that Bush would be forced to see

how we feel
as a people.

When we realized Molini
couldn't have pulled the trigger,

we turned our attention
to another man

who broke through the cordon
within seconds of Molini.

We'd identified the man in the
white baseball cap as Samir Masri.

He was picked up
at a vehicle checkpoint,

trying to leave the downtown area
about an hour after the shooting.

l knew, right when they
looked at my lD, they knew.

My family's from Yemen,
but l'm an American citizen.

l was born in Detroit.

l'm a Lions fan.

They didn't read me my rights.
They didn't offer me a lawyer.

They didn't tell me anything about
why they were questioning me.

They told me that they knew
my father was a terrorist as well.

He was arrested after 9/11 because,
when he came here from Yemen,

it was on a tourist visa,
and he decided to stay.

Millions of people overstay
on their tourist visa.

Millions. l mean,
that doesn't make it right,

but it also doesn't
make them a terrorist.

Bush and Ashcroft
deported

my mother, my father
and my brother,

and that's why
l was here protesting.

They said that
if l didn't cooperate,

l could be declared
an enemy combatant.

l could lose my rights
to a civil trial.

We weren't just
rounding up people.

We had probable cause
every single time.

Also many of the suspects
were detained

due to the description of a
non-white male seen on the 20th floor

of 422 North Park
earlier in the day.

We needed to establish
if this was the same man

seen leaving the service area
under the building

three minutes
after the shooting

or the man who was seen
leaving the building

as Molini tried
to go in;

or if it was
Casey Claybon,

seen crossing lake street a couple
of minutes prior to his arrest.

That day l'd been
looking for work.

l went down to the veteran
one-stop center.

l was a mess.

l broke up
with my wife.

Couldn't stand to be
around my parents.

Caught back up
using drugs again.

Biggest conversation we had
when l first got to lraq

was, ''how are we going to be
looked at when we get back home?''

You know, are we going
to be looked at as heroes,

or these fools over there
fighting for Bush?

You know, that's what was
going on through my mind that day.

You know, these people are not
looking at us as heroes.

We look like
fools to them.

l was being informed
in the course of the evening,

along with Mrs. Bush...

but l don't think
l really understood

the extent
of the injuries

until about 1 :30
in the morning

when l called up and said,
''how's my boss doing?''

And the nurse started crying,
and l think that was when l knew.

l immediately went
to the chapel

to talk to Mrs. Bush
and to pray with her.

The country entrusts us
to protect our president.

That's our job.

You don't do ''a pretty good job''
of protecting the president.

You either do it,
or you don't.

And the Secret Service
failed that day,

and l failed.

This is not official,
but a source

inside the hospital
has confirmed--

We are hearing from a source
inside the hospital that--

The word from
Northwestern Hospital...

...is that the 43rd president,
George W. Bush...

- ...is dead.
- ...died.

- ...died.
- ...died a short while ago.

He was 61.

Vice President Cheney
is in a secure location.

We don't know
where he is,

but will presumably take
the oath of office shortly

to become the 44th president
of the United States.

The word from Chicago
is that--

...to become the 44th
president...

We did manage to question
most of the people

who left 422 North Park around
the time of the shooting.

But there were a few people
who didn't come forward,

including the man
seen leaving

at the time Molini tried
to get into the building.

We showed the tapes
to the security guards,

but they didn't
recognize him.

So we searched
through the employee list.

lt's true that we did start
to look at lslamic names first,

but, as we see it, it's not
racial profiling as some have suggested.

lt's just a common sense approach
to a situation of this kind.

Turned out this man
had recently got a job

with an l.T. firm
on the 18th floor.

We identified him
as Jamal Abu Zikri.

The forensics guys went
to work on Zikri's apartment,

basically recovering
anything that could contain

fibers or a trace
that could link Zikri

to 422 North Park
or to the weapon.

But my main focus was
how Zikri did at interview.

ln what was obviously

a very tense atmosphere--

going into the Metro
Correctional Center,

up to the fourth floor,

into the ''A''
interrogation room--

everyone was
rather distraught,

rather tense.

And there in the room
sat a man

who appeared to have

no emotional turbulence
whatsoever.

Conspicuously cool.

l went in with the intention of having
just a pleasant conversation with him,

just to get
a measure of him,

to get a feel for him.

And my immediate
impression

was that this was a man
with no conscience whatsoever.

He read as a sociopath,
essentially--

no identifiable emotion

behind what
he was saying,

no visible
state of mind.

He seemed completely
unaffected by my questions.

We might have been talking
about wallpaper samples

rather than the shooting
of a president.

he didn't seem
to be too concerned

with being singled out
for questioning.

l think he understood

that his proximity
to the event

was the reason
he was there.

But he seemed baffled
by the idea

that we would consider him
an actual suspect.

l found that he was--
if anything,

he was overacting
his innocence.

l didn't believe
a word he said.

After we had just
sort of established

what l took to be the timbre
of the conversation,

l went ahead and just sort of
tried to blindside him with that,

and just asked him
as casually as l could,

you know,
''So, you good with guns?''

and he said, ''No.''

and l said,
''You ever used a gun?''

he said, no,
he never had.

and l said,
''Listen, Jamal...

you're not doing yourself
any favors here.

We have photos at your home
of you holding a rifle.''

and he said,
''Oh, that.

That's from my military
service back in Syria.

Everyone had to do it,''

as if, oh, that slipped
his mind.

My impression is
that the Syrian draft

is not something that one
would forget quite so easily.

A source with the FBl
here in Chicago tells us

the suspected assassin is,
in fact, a Syrian man--

Jamal Abu Zikri.

We don't know for a fact
where exactly he's being held

at this particular
point in time,

but we do know that he has
been taken into custody,

and we have gotten confirmation
that he is of Syrian descent.

We also know
that authorities are...

The pressure
on every journalist

to find out just who
the hell they had arrested,

and who the prime suspect was,
was intense.

and l think whoever
ultimately leaked it,

whether it was an FBl guy or a cop
or whoever, l don't know--

whoever leaked it
probably did it

because they were so angry
that Bush had died.

Minutes after it got out
that he was Syrian,

l went into a teleconference
with the ClA director of domestic intel,

and he told me that
Mike Haydon had called.

He wanted an urgent review
of all Syrian intelligence.

He wanted us to take a look
at every Syrian national

who'd been back to Damascus
within the last six months.

Now, l come out
of this teleconference

and l'm pinching myself

'cause this is not
the way l want to go.

And one of our agents,
Ted Fenzell, runs up to me,

and he says, ''Rob...
the president's on the line.''

l'm thinking this is
some kind of a sick joke.

l'm ready to punch him
in the face, and he says to me,

''No, Rob, President Cheney's
on the line.''

And President Cheney says,

''Rob, l know you
got a lot to do,

but take another
look at Assad.

Go over this again.
See if it links to him in any way.''

And l say to him,
''Mr. President,

we have nothing that
points in this direction.

This is just the media
jumping to conclusions.''

And he says,
''l know, l know,

but take another
look at it,

and if you see any
obstruction from Damascus,

l want to be
the first to know.''

Publicly, the Syrians were
saying they were cooperating,

they were doing all they could,

but privately they
were stonewalling.

that morning,
l had had a request

for Zikri's military
service detail

flatly refused by the Syrian
Defense Ministry.

Of course, the White House
guys were all over this.

Even Cheney was down
in the weeds on this one.

So when the Syrians
turned down our request,

l knew that they were really
going to feel the heat.

The Secretary has
decided to recall

the US ambassador to Syria,
Margaret Scobie

for urgent consultations

following the brutal murder
of President Bush.

Ambassador Scobie delivered
a message to the Syrian government

expressing our deep concern
as well as our profound outrage

over this heinous
act of terrorism.

President Cheney has
ordered the USS Nimitz

back to the eastern
Mediterranean.

State and Defense
Department officials

refused to rule out air strikes against
Damascus. Likely targets include--

Joining me now
is Tariq Khoudry,

one of the most
outspoken critics

against
the Ba'athist regime

of the Syrian dictator
Bashar Assad.

Mr. Khoudry, are
you not surprised

that a Syrian national
may actually have been involved

in this assassination?

Oh, not at all. This is a
state-sponsored assassination--

Syrian state-sponsored
assassination--

just like they did
with Rafiq Al-Hariri,

the prime minister
of Lebanon.

That's a strong
statement, sir.

What kind of specific information
do you have on which to base it?

l've seen official documents
that back this up,

such as the Syrian
intelligence hit list.

And l've seen it
with my own eyes,

and Al-Hariri's name
was there.

A hit list
including politicians

from not only the Middle East
but the United States?

l believe so.

There were many names
beside the Lebanese officials.

There were names
of Sharon,

President Bush,
Vice President Cheney.

And l know this was done with
the blessing of Bashar Al-Assad himself.

He had an agenda.
Everybody knew it.

He would have said that
the Syrian secret service

was responsible
for fixing the Super Bowl

if he thought that that would
get Assad kicked out sooner.

Cheney had been
obsessed with Syria

and getting rid
of Assad for years.

l think that the Syrian
secret service

did assassinate
the Lebanese prime minister.

l don't think there's
much question about that.

But to then say

that they are responsible
for killing Bush, that's quite a leap.

And after a couple of days,

l think Cheney realized
he was never going to sell

the Syrian story to Congress,

so he turned his attention
closer to home.

ln an emergency closed
session this morning,

Congress voted
unanimously

to approve a series of
amendments to the Patriot Act.

President Cheney said the
new measures, dubbed ''Patriot lll,''

will give the FBl
more powers

to predict and prevent
acts of terrorism

and improve security
for federal officials.

Patriot lll gave us
better tools

to go after suspected
terrorist organizations,

homegrown radical groups,

which might harm
our national interests.

lt broadened the definition
of terrorism.

There are those who would
criticize the Patriot Act.

But, frankly, the president of
the United States was assassinated.

So...

in my view we weren't
doing enough.

Fellow citizens,

in this national
vigil of mourning

we show how much America
loved this good man

and how greatly
we will miss him.

there was a kindness,
simplicity,

and goodness of character

that marked all
the years of his life.

The cheerful spirit
that carried him forward

was more than
a disposition.

lt was the optimism
of a faithful soul

who trusted
in God's purposes

and knew those purposes
to be right and true.

And it was the vision
and the will of George Bush

that gave hope
to the oppressed,

shamed the oppressors,

and overcame evil
with good.

He was a providential man

who came along just when
our nation and the world

most needed him.

Fellow Americans,

here lies a graceful
and a gallant man.

l was honored to be asked

to write the eulogy
for President Cheney.

l wanted to convey

President Bush's
moral commitment.

He had...

that power,

that strength
of leadership

that l believe was
invested in him by God.

We received an anonymous
letter pre-9/11

from someone
in the Bridgeview community,

Chicago's Palestinian
neighborhood.

lt suggested that several
members of the local mosque

had attended terrorist
training camps in Afghanistan.

After 9/11,
they were interviewed

and put under intensive
surveillance for two full years.

But all we had were the original
flights to Pakistan.

We could find no proof
that any of them

had ever crossed
into Afghanistan,

no evidence
of any kind to suggest

that this was
some kind of a plot,

and nothing to connect either
one of them with Al-Qaeda.

But then, just into the third week
of the investigation,

one of my agents,
Kate Nicholls,

came running down the corridor
with a photograph

from the time of the
Bridgeview investigation.

ln the photograph
was Zikri

with a Yemeni national
named Khaled Leqawi

who we believe was in Chicago
on a recruiting mission

in the spring of 2001.

And, sure enough,

Zikri was on a plane
to Pakistan

in April of 2001.

ln the second week
of questioning,

l mentioned Leqawi,

and... he gave me

that same stonewall,
blank shrug.

Didn't know the man,
wasn't familiar with the name.

l pressed harder.
''Leqawi--

you're sure you don't
know that name?''

''No, never heard
it before.''

Then l showed him
the photograph,

and...

he froze a moment.

and then there was this...

sudden collapse
of confidence.

l said,
''Listen, Jamal...

l know you were
in Afghanistan, you know?

l just want you
to tell us.''

And he sat there
for a moment,

perhaps considering
his options,

and then he said,
''Okay.

All right,
l was there.''

l first heard from a guy

in the Trace and Fiber
Department down the hall,

and they had found

gunshot residue
on his jacket.

Gunshot residue
is what we call...

associative evidence.

lt's not
discriminating evidence,

meaning that it's...

you can't really
convict somebody of...

firing a gun
based on gunshot residue.

lt's only
sort of a backup.

And then, it got
to my department,

and a colleague of mine

said he had a match,
a fingerprint match.

and what he had
was a partial print

from the crime scene.

and... he found

nine points of comparison

to Zikri's print
from the database.

So l thought
it was promising,

but not
the sure-fire evidence

that we needed.

lt was...

nine points
of comparison.

Uh...

people have been
convicted on less.

The Attorney General's
office in D.C. was ready

to charge Zikri as soon as they
heard about the trip to Afghanistan.

So when the forensics evidence
came in, that was it.

There were still other
lines of inquiry, yeah,

other suspects that
we were following up,

but they immediately
diminished in importance

in the face of such
compelling forensic evidence.

Earlier today,

an indictment was unsealed
in Federal Court

in the Northern
District of lllinois,

charging
Jamal Abu Zikri

with the assassination

of the president of the United States
with a rifle.

As outlined
in the indictment,

Mr. Zikri took part in Al-Qaeda
training in Afghanistan,

and conspired with others
to commit this brutal act.

This case is being
brought in part

because prosecutors
and law enforcement agents

were able to share
information

from a multiagency
investigation

under the provisions
of the USA Patriot Act.

The link between
Jamal Abu Zikri and Al-Qaeda

shows once again
the nature of the enemy

that we're facing
in the War on Terror.

The last thing we need
is to convey the impression

that terrorists
can change our policies

through violence
and intimidation,

that they can force the government
of the United States to change course

if they inflict
enough violence.

The FBl was desperate
to link Zikri with others

because it was an embarrassment
for them if they couldn't link him.

lf they couldn't make it
part of a conspiracy,

then it was more difficult to prove
the terrorism motive,

which they deeply
needed to do.

Even if my client
had been to Afghanistan,

it may not be irrelevant, but it's
certainly not material.

What it was really useful for
was to propel forward

this conveyor belt
of terrorism

that they needed
to convince people

that this was the motive
for the case.

l think the weight
they gave it

is testimony itself to how weak
the forensic case was.

Gunshot residue is
notoriously unreliable.

And, in fact,

the prosecution
witnesses admitted

that the GSR that was found
on Jamal's jacket

could have been
contamination--

someone else could
have picked it up.

lt's very easy
to contaminate

gunshot residue evidence.

That means
that the whole case

boiled down
to one partial print.

Madam Foreperson,
has the jury reached

a unanimous verdict
on the case presented to you?

Yes.

Have you signed
and printed your names?

Yes.

All right, if you will give
the sheet to the bailiff.

Ms. Clerk, if you will read
the verdict, please.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,
you have returned the following verdict:

''The people of the United
States of America

versus Jamal
Mohammed Abu Zikri,

file number 02CRS281.

We, the 1 2 members
of the jury,

unanimously find
the defendant

guilty of
the assassination

of President
George Walker Bush,

with a rifle, this the
10th day of May 2008.''

Signed by the foreperson,
Cheryl Jones.

ls this your verdict,
so say you all?

Yes.

Jamal is devastated by the
outcome of this trial

and obviously we're all
dismayed by the verdict.

But he wants
to continue to fight.

And so, on Monday, l will be filing
an appeal on behalf of my client.

My client's destiny
in this case

was sealed from the minute
that Brock stood up

at that DOJ
press conference in October

and said the words,
''Al-Qaeda assassin,''

and they knew that.

l mean, Al-Qaeda
equals guilty.

And there was not one
citizen in this country

that was going to

come to the proceedings

with an open mind
after that.

l mean, they knew
what they were doing.

Juries love
forensic evidence,

and it's popularly
believed to be

100o/ accurate

and free of bias.

People lie.
Everyone knows that.

But a fingerprint match

is a great
silent witness.

lt's...
it's definitive.

The reality

is a little different.

there isn't a forensics
examiner in history

who hasn't somehow
been compromised

by that pressure
to get results.

They seemed to be working
backwards in this case.

They had a hypothesis
of guilt,

and then they tried to fit
the evidence to prove that.

And that's not science.

l did my own analysis of
the print from the crime scene.

l did it
several times.

And it was reasonable,

but reasonable isn't
good enough in this situation.

l was told
that this case was

too big to...

leave unsolved
in the lab,

and too big
to lose in court,

and that basically
l should...

put up or shut up.

My skepticism and...

objectivity
wasn't needed,

it wasn't helping.

And that's what made
my position untenable.

l resigned under protest

because l couldn't do
my job properly.

Right up to the start
of the trial, we had

over 300 investigators trying
to identify, or find a link to,

any fellow
coconspirators.

We didn't find
any evidence

that he'd ever planned
to do anything,

commit any acts of terrorism
when he got back from Afghanistan.

At the time, politically,
it was very difficult

for anyone in the agency
or the administration

to accept that Zikri
had acted alone,

that...

any one man could have planned
and carried out this assassination.

But...

that was when we still believed
that Zikri was the assassin.

Here in Rock lsland,
there's not a person

that doesn't have
some connection to the war,

that doesn't have somebody
in active service--

A father,
son, daughter.

So when our boys
go off to war,

they know that they
have our support.

My father was
in the Army.

l'm considered
an Army brat.

My...

and l married...

a man that my father
would be proud of.

He served in the first
Gulf War, Desert Storm.

Was a decorated major.

And my sons followed
in their father's footsteps.

Of course
a parent worries.

Who wouldn't?

But it was the best thing
that happened to Casey.

He was going
down the wrong path,

experimenting with drugs,

and... the Army
whipped him into shape.

l'm proud of my son.

l'm proud that he did

what was needed
to protect us.

He had the guts and
the courage to serve his country.

My experience in lraq
was slaughter.

We were fighting arrows
with guns over there.

Once you take a life...

you know, you lose
a piece of yourself.

You're basically just sitting
around waiting for your turn.

When we left, we thought we was
going over there because of 9/11,

and to look for these weapons of
mass destruction, which we never found.

You know, so we had to tell
ourselves something--

we were fighting
for freedom,

freedom of
the lraqi people.

lt was obvious that they
didn't want us there.

No, they didn't
want us there at all.

Casey had just gotten
back from his tour,

and... That's when we got

our knock on the door--

that David had...

been hit
by a roadside bomb

just outside of Mosul.

They said his Humvee
turned over...

and...

that was it.

lt's the hardest thing
l'd ever dealt with.

We all dealt with it
in our own way.

My husband and l
tried to...

tried to console each other
and be there for each other.

Casey just went off
to himself.

l wanted him to come home
so we could take care of him,

because l was not
going to lose Casey

like l--

like l lost David.

My husband Al woke up
early that morning,

told me he was going
to Chicago to bring Casey back.

Casey said he was
in Chicago looking for work,

but l knew he'd
gone back on drugs.

l knew the president was
going to be visiting that night,

but l didn't know anything about
any protesters or anything like that.

l knew Casey didn't--
wouldn't have anything to do

with any Cindy Sheehan
kind of protesting,

or anything
like that going on.

He didn't believe in it.

l'd heard on the news
that Bush had been shot.

My heart just...

dropped...

and all l could do
was pray.

l was trying to call
my husband on his cell phone,

but l never got
an answer.

l just wanted to know
that our son was okay.

l was upset when
l was locked up,

but it kind of ended up
being a good thing.

lt was a wake-up
call for me.

Made me realize, like...

l had to get my shit together
'cause this wasn't me.

Everything that was going on
in my life, that wasn't me.

l was sitting
in the room by myself,

and they came in that morning
and told me l could go.

First thing l did was

l went to a phone
and called my mom.

She was crying
like crazy.

l didn't really understand
at first what was going on.

l thought maybe she had
heard that l was...

you know, locked up.

Maybe she was scared
for me or something.

Or l thought
she was upset by,

you know, what happened
to the president.

Then l realized
it was my father.

l found out
that morning...

some people
walking their dogs

found my father
in his car.

Felt like somebody's just,
like, ripped my heart out.

There was so much shit
l wanted to say to him, you know?

My dad had been sick
for a long time--

for a long time, at least since
he had got back from the--

You know,
from the Gulf War,

when l was
a little kid.

Then what happened
to David,

that just pushed him
right on over the edge.

'Cause he never
talked about David.

He never once
mentioned David.

He left me a note.

They gave me a copy.

He said,
''Everything l stood for

and raised you to stand for
has turned bad.

There is no honor in dying
for an immoral cause...

for lies.

l love my country
but l love God...

and the sons
he gave me even more.

l must do the right thing
by you and by David.

George Bush
killed our David,

and l cannot
forgive him for that.''

l never read it.

The man who wrote that note
was not my husband.

That was an act
of a desperate man...

who felt helpless,
who felt powerless.

They told me,

''Don't worry, son.

We know it's not
your father.

We already have
the guy who...

who did it.
He's Al-Qaeda.''

Casey Claybon
was described

as a very troubled
lraq War vet

who probably had P.T.S.D.,

who had a long history
of drug use.

And there were a couple of paragraphs
on the third or the fourth page

of the ''Chicago Sun-Times,''
and then that was it.

lt all kind
of got buried

with all of the talk
of Syria and Al-Qaeda,

and it just kind of got
swept under the rug.

And by then,
we were into the trial.

You have to understand
the context.

Casey Claybon was not
the only person

trying to tell us
who killed the president.

The United States is the home
of the conspiracy theorist.

We received literally thousands
of tips from within the US.

We investigated...

radical environmentalists,
pro-choice groups,

the Revolutionary
Communist Party of America.

Virtually every
radical lslamic group

was posting claims
of responsibility on their websites,

not to mention all the Bush-hating
lunatics who were out that day.

We even had a white
supremacist from Alabama

who tried to claim
responsibility for it.

Turns out he wasn't
even in Chicago that day.

lt's true that we
didn't prioritize

Aloysius Claybon
as a potential suspect.

But in any investigation you have
to look at what's in front of you

and decide where
to direct your resources.

By the time we
found Claybon,

Zikri was already
in custody,

a guy who'd
basically admitted

that he had provided
material support for terrorism.

He fit the profile.

There was compelling
forensic evidence

linking him
to the crime scene.

And l'm fairly confident
that any other investigator

would have drawn
the same conclusions.

On July 4th,
l received a phone call

from a special agent from the
lllinois State Police.

He told me that
Casey had found,

amongst his father's
belongings,

a detailed map
of downtown Chicago

marked up military-style.

He read for me

one specific paper

that he'd found
amongst Aloysius's things.

And l recall, as he...

read it to me, l started
to get a sick feeling

in the pit
of my stomach.

Basically,

the document that Aloysius
had was a survey report.

lt detailed the exact
motorcade route,

all the president's movements
and security arrangements that day.

So it was like,

''Trailblazer
onstage at 19:15.

Trailblazer exits Sheraton
west entrance at 20:10,''

and so on.

The minute l read
the note he left me,

l knew my father
had killed bush.

l knew it.

Then when l found the map, l thought
people would finally listen to me,

and l had to
tell the truth.

That's what
my father stood for--

truth and honesty.

You know, to try
to do the right thing.

And l felt like this was
the right thing to do,

even though l know it would
cut right through my mom.

l knew the man they had
convicted was innocent,

so l had to do it.

Aloysius Claybon knew
where the Secret Service

was deployed. He knew
the entrances, the exits.

He could work out
where Bush was exposed,

and therefore where
the vantage point would be.

For a long time we
were unable to identify

the man seen crossing
the service area beneath 422.

Now we believe
the identity of this male

is probably
Aloysius Claybon.

Now the survey report is not something
that many people get to see.

There were 107
administration officials

or Secret Service
personnel,

who either saw it
or had access to it

up to 10 days
ahead of the visit.

We have interviewed
every individual

with access
to this schedule.

Finding the source
of the leak

is the focus of a massive
investigation.

ln my opinion, someone
leaked it to the protest community,

including Molini,

and someone from there
passed it on to Al Claybon.

People have said that the hatred
on display that day

somehow gave the killer
license to shoot Bush.

That's not really
for me to comment on.

What l'm interested in
as a federal investigator

is finding exactly
who furnished the killer

with the information that allowed him
to commit this crime.

Under the powers
afforded us by Patriot lll,

we have kept
a constant scrutiny

of e-mail traffic
and telephone communications

of every protest group
in relation to this matter.

And l remain confident that we
will find the persons involved.

l think maybe
because Al's dead

the authorities have just felt
they can sit on the Zikri appeal.

l mean,
let's face it--

They were unable to link
Zikri to any accomplices.

All they had on him
was that he had traveled

and taken some vacations
to exotic locales,

and had attended
the wrong summer camp.

But as far as most people
are concerned,

either he's still guilty, or, if not,
he at least flirted with terrorism.

So who cares
if he's locked up?

My dad, he lived
for the Army.

You know, he was proud
of serving, proud of America.

And he lived
for me and David.

l just think he felt...

he felt like Bush
destroyed all that.