CNN LARRY KING LIVE
Analysis of Michael Jackson Arrest
Aired November 24, 2003 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight: Michael Jackson goes on the offensive against child molestation charges, and his friend, Elizabeth Taylor, comes to his defense, while tabloids report on what they call "explicit love letters" from Michael to his accuser.
Here with all the latest, Diane Dimond, Court TV anchor and host of "Hollywood at Large," she's been on the top of this story since the first child molestation accusation against Michael 10 years ago; Court TV's Nancy Grace, the former prosecutor; high-profile defense attorney Chris Pixley; Jane Velez-Mitchell, correspondent with "Celebrity Justice"; Michael Jackson's one-time attorney, the famed Johnnie Cochran. And Dr. Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist who counsels victims of sexual abuse -- she'll be with us later. They're all next on LARRY KING LIVE.
I'm going to give you Michael Jackson's statement in just a moment, but I first want to go right Jane Velez-Mitchell, the correspondent with "Celebrity Justice," who broke a story tonight. Which is?
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": A major new development in this case. "Celebrity Justice" has learned that at the very same time authorities were raiding Neverland, they were also raiding the Beverly Hills offices of Bradley Miller, who is Michael Jackson's private investigator, hired, according to our sources, long before the molestation issue ever came up, way back in early spring, when, according to our sources, Michael Jackson heard that the mother of this boy at the center of this case heard that Michael Jackson allegedly gave her son wine and was outraged and extremely upset because her son is ill, recovering from cancer. So she gets upset, and Michael Jackson, in turn, hires a private investigator, and around the same time, attorney Mark Geragos, which is a pretty, pretty strong reaction...
KING: Are you saying Mark Geragos was hired long ago?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, this is our understanding.
KING: And the private investigator was hired long ago.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and I mean, either Michael Jackson is saying, Hey, I want to protect myself. I've been down this road before. I've got an upset mother. Or he may possibly have known that this was the tip of the iceberg and decided to make a preemptive strike.
KING: And Johnnie, you can raid a private investigator's office? You can get a warrant?
JOHNNIE COCHRAN, FORMER MICHAEL JACKSON ATTORNEY: Well, I suppose, if you have information that satisfies a judge, you can do that. And it's interesting that they do it. But Tom Sneddon, you know, is a give-no-quarter prosecutor, and he would do that. I mean, clearly, if that -- I'm not surprised by that. I'm surprised that Geragos was in the picture so long ago.
But I would choose to take the opposite tack. I would suspect, if there was an irate mother, that Michael would want to try to protect himself early on, having been down this road before. And I wonder whether or not there are any statements given by any of these parties. There may be a statement perhaps given by this young man, indicating, or...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: To the investigator?
COCHRAN: Yes, that he was never molested in any way (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that's one of the rumblings we've been hearing is that what happened between this private investigator and this young man during the course of this investigation -- did he get this young man to sign some sort of letter that says nothing untoward ever happened? We don't know that, but those are some of the rumblings we've heard.
KING: Before I read Michael's statement, I want comments from our panel. Diane, what do you think of this?
DIANE DIMOND, COURT TV: Well, I've heard that Michael Jackson did a two-pronged attack back in February, when he heard that this -- or when he felt that this mother might be taking some steps detrimental to him. No. 1, he hired Mark Geragos. And number two -- actually, he took three steps. No. 2, he brought in a videocamera into Neverland when the family was there, the young boy's mother and their two siblings, and he started the tape rolling and then had them talk about what a great guy he was. So now they have on video the complainants talking about how Michael Jackson was so generous, how they called him Daddy, how Neverland was wonderful and so was he.
And No. 3, I hear that he realized allegations were on the way. He remembered love letters -- that's how they're described, love letters -- that he had written to this 12-year-old boy that were in the boy's home. At the time, the boy, the mother, the family was up at Neverland. Someone somehow was dispatched, I'm told, by the Michael Jackson camp down to their Los Angeles-area apartment, and suddenly, those letters disappeared.
KING: Could that have been this...
DIMOND: That's what Mr. Sneddon and the sheriff were looking for when they went into Neverland, that stack of love letters.
KING: Nancy Grace, do you think that's what they're looking for at the private investigator's office?
NANCY GRACE, COURT TV: I think that is absolutely what they are looking for, along with any evidence the private investigator could dig up or make up about this boy and/or his mother. And you know, it just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, Larry, because this mother and this child, this cancer victim child, are no match to Michael Jackson and his fleet of private eyes and his lawyers.
Just let me ask you this, Larry. If somebody was angry because their child, their kid had wine at your home, I imagine the first thing you would do is call and say, No, that didn't happen or how sorry I am. What did he do? He hired a private eye to dig up dirt on this mother. And she is so unsophisticated, from what I understand, there's no way she probably even knew what was going on!
KING: We're assuming that. He may have hired the private eye just to find out what they're charging him with. I mean, why are you assuming he hired him to get dirt?
GRACE: This is over a glass of wine! When he found out the mother was upset the child had a glass of wine at his Neverland ranch, he hires a private eye? I don't think so! This is so clearly to dig up dirt. And we're seeing the fruits of it now, hearing the mom portrayed as a money-grabber, hearing reports that she had the boy lie in other legal proceedings, such as a divorce or custody proceeding. This is carefully orchestrated.
KING: Chris Pixley, how do we know what is true?
CHRIS PIXLEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, I have no idea right now how we know what's true. What we know about this case doesn't even include the charges that have been filed against him, Larry. And we don't know...
KING: We won't know that maybe until next week.
PIXLEY: We won't know that the DA has made a decision to file charges against him until next week. They sure are making noises as though they are. But you know, I couldn't disagree more with what Nancy's saying here simply because, at this point in time, what we know is that Michael Jackson is one of the most famous celebrities in the world. Of course, he has to comport himself differently than the rest of us do when somebody makes an allegation against him. It wouldn't be unusual at all to get a private eye involved when a mother is alleging that he acted improperly with her child. To me, what's interesting here...
GRACE: That's not even the headline!
PIXLEY: Well...
GRACE: The headline is...
PIXLEY: What's the headline, Nancy?
GRACE: ... the love letters. Love letters. A 45-year-old man...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Wait a minute! Hold it!
GRACE: ... love letters to a 10-year-old boy...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Do we -- hold it! Does anyone here -- does anyone here -- anyone -- know of the existence of these letters?
COCHRAN: I don't. I mean, I think that's...
DIMOND: Absolutely. I do.
COCHRAN: ... again, speculation.
DIMOND: I do!
COCHRAN: I don't know of this.
KING: Hold it!
COCHRAN: I've never seen them. The only...
DIMOND: I absolutely know of their existence!
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Diane, have you read them?
DIMOND: No, I have not read them, but I absolutely know that that...
COCHRAN: So how do we know?
DIMOND: ... was tops on the list of the DA and sheriff's department, things to look for inside Neverland. Listen, Larry...
KING: But you don't know what they say.
DIMOND: ... these are letters that are written in Michael Jackson's hand. They are said to be -- no, I've not read them, but...
KING: OK. Well, then...
DIMOND: ... they -- they went after them because they're said to be so sensational and so salacious in nature...
KING: Yes, but how...
DIMOND: ... that this could be a key to the prosecution...
KING: I see. Now, let me...
DIMOND: ... if and when this goes to trial.
KING: I want to get a break, but I want to hear what Michael had to say today. This is the Michael Jackson statement.
It's written, "To my fans, friends and family. As you know, the charges recently directed at me are terribly serious. They are, however, predicated on a big lie. This will be shown in court and we'll be able to put this horrible time behind us. Because the charges are so serious, I hope you'll understand, on the advice of my attorneys, I'll be limited in what I can say about the situation. There will be times when I cannot comment at all. No doubt, this will be frustrating for all of us. For that reason, I have set up this Web site to serve as a source of official communications on my case. Any statement that does not appear on this Web site must be considered unauthorized. You are right to be skeptical of some of the individuals who are being identified in the mass media as my friends, spokespeople and attorneys. With few exceptions, most of them are simply filling a desperate void in our culture that equates visibility with insight. We will not engage in speculation. We will not provide running commentary on every new development or allegation du jour. We intend to try our case in the courtroom, not in the public or the media. I thank you for all your support and understanding. God bless you. Michael Jackson."
KING: Comment?
COCHRAN: I think it's great. I think -- we talked last week -- Chris and I talked about -- they're making a statement and then leaving it at that point. There's a -- as you said, there's a statement or a rumor du jour, speculation du jour. And you can't respond to all those things. He's got to get ready...
KING: Now, how does he know...
COCHRAN: ... for these charges that are going to come.
KING: How does he know, Jane -- no one knows what's in the letter, right?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well...
KING: We haven't seen the letter, so we're speculating on the letter.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We know that they also raided another location, Michael Jackson's videographer, Hamid Moslehi, and they went into his West Hills suburban Los Angeles home and took seven or eight videotapes. He told "Celebrity Justice" they handcuffed him, they took the videotapes, but those videotapes he says, don't have anything incriminating on them.
But here's the interesting part. They even say the mother and the child apparently on one of these tapes says nothing untoward ever happened. But when was that tape shot? We believe it was shot before the alleged molestations took place. KING: I see. Let me get a break. And as we go to break, here is a clip from the "Celebrity Justice" story that Jane Velez-Mitchell did tonight. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP - "CELEBRITY JUSTICE")
VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): The evidence was taken from the home of Hamid Moslehi, Michael Jackson's former videographer, seen here on a February Fox TV special talking about working with the gloved one.
HAMID MOSLEHI, MICHAEL JACKSON'S PHOTOGRAPHER: Right now, they're saying that we were secretly videotaping him. But that's not the truth.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Neighbors tell us what they saw being hauled off from Hamid's home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw a computer. It looked like a silver- looking, like, suitcase-type thing. It looked like they were taking equipment.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hamid tells "CJ" he was cuffed, as investigators confiscated seven or eight videotapes. But he adds those tapes don't show Jackson doing anything wrong, and even showed the boy at the center of this case and his mom defending Jackson, saying nothing sexual ever happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Analysis of Michael Jackson Arrest
Aired November 24, 2003 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight: Michael Jackson goes on the offensive against child molestation charges, and his friend, Elizabeth Taylor, comes to his defense, while tabloids report on what they call "explicit love letters" from Michael to his accuser.
Here with all the latest, Diane Dimond, Court TV anchor and host of "Hollywood at Large," she's been on the top of this story since the first child molestation accusation against Michael 10 years ago; Court TV's Nancy Grace, the former prosecutor; high-profile defense attorney Chris Pixley; Jane Velez-Mitchell, correspondent with "Celebrity Justice"; Michael Jackson's one-time attorney, the famed Johnnie Cochran. And Dr. Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist who counsels victims of sexual abuse -- she'll be with us later. They're all next on LARRY KING LIVE.
I'm going to give you Michael Jackson's statement in just a moment, but I first want to go right Jane Velez-Mitchell, the correspondent with "Celebrity Justice," who broke a story tonight. Which is?
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, "CELEBRITY JUSTICE": A major new development in this case. "Celebrity Justice" has learned that at the very same time authorities were raiding Neverland, they were also raiding the Beverly Hills offices of Bradley Miller, who is Michael Jackson's private investigator, hired, according to our sources, long before the molestation issue ever came up, way back in early spring, when, according to our sources, Michael Jackson heard that the mother of this boy at the center of this case heard that Michael Jackson allegedly gave her son wine and was outraged and extremely upset because her son is ill, recovering from cancer. So she gets upset, and Michael Jackson, in turn, hires a private investigator, and around the same time, attorney Mark Geragos, which is a pretty, pretty strong reaction...
KING: Are you saying Mark Geragos was hired long ago?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, this is our understanding.
KING: And the private investigator was hired long ago.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, and I mean, either Michael Jackson is saying, Hey, I want to protect myself. I've been down this road before. I've got an upset mother. Or he may possibly have known that this was the tip of the iceberg and decided to make a preemptive strike.
KING: And Johnnie, you can raid a private investigator's office? You can get a warrant?
JOHNNIE COCHRAN, FORMER MICHAEL JACKSON ATTORNEY: Well, I suppose, if you have information that satisfies a judge, you can do that. And it's interesting that they do it. But Tom Sneddon, you know, is a give-no-quarter prosecutor, and he would do that. I mean, clearly, if that -- I'm not surprised by that. I'm surprised that Geragos was in the picture so long ago.
But I would choose to take the opposite tack. I would suspect, if there was an irate mother, that Michael would want to try to protect himself early on, having been down this road before. And I wonder whether or not there are any statements given by any of these parties. There may be a statement perhaps given by this young man, indicating, or...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: To the investigator?
COCHRAN: Yes, that he was never molested in any way (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, that's one of the rumblings we've been hearing is that what happened between this private investigator and this young man during the course of this investigation -- did he get this young man to sign some sort of letter that says nothing untoward ever happened? We don't know that, but those are some of the rumblings we've heard.
KING: Before I read Michael's statement, I want comments from our panel. Diane, what do you think of this?
DIANE DIMOND, COURT TV: Well, I've heard that Michael Jackson did a two-pronged attack back in February, when he heard that this -- or when he felt that this mother might be taking some steps detrimental to him. No. 1, he hired Mark Geragos. And number two -- actually, he took three steps. No. 2, he brought in a videocamera into Neverland when the family was there, the young boy's mother and their two siblings, and he started the tape rolling and then had them talk about what a great guy he was. So now they have on video the complainants talking about how Michael Jackson was so generous, how they called him Daddy, how Neverland was wonderful and so was he.
And No. 3, I hear that he realized allegations were on the way. He remembered love letters -- that's how they're described, love letters -- that he had written to this 12-year-old boy that were in the boy's home. At the time, the boy, the mother, the family was up at Neverland. Someone somehow was dispatched, I'm told, by the Michael Jackson camp down to their Los Angeles-area apartment, and suddenly, those letters disappeared.
KING: Could that have been this...
DIMOND: That's what Mr. Sneddon and the sheriff were looking for when they went into Neverland, that stack of love letters.
KING: Nancy Grace, do you think that's what they're looking for at the private investigator's office?
NANCY GRACE, COURT TV: I think that is absolutely what they are looking for, along with any evidence the private investigator could dig up or make up about this boy and/or his mother. And you know, it just leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth, Larry, because this mother and this child, this cancer victim child, are no match to Michael Jackson and his fleet of private eyes and his lawyers.
Just let me ask you this, Larry. If somebody was angry because their child, their kid had wine at your home, I imagine the first thing you would do is call and say, No, that didn't happen or how sorry I am. What did he do? He hired a private eye to dig up dirt on this mother. And she is so unsophisticated, from what I understand, there's no way she probably even knew what was going on!
KING: We're assuming that. He may have hired the private eye just to find out what they're charging him with. I mean, why are you assuming he hired him to get dirt?
GRACE: This is over a glass of wine! When he found out the mother was upset the child had a glass of wine at his Neverland ranch, he hires a private eye? I don't think so! This is so clearly to dig up dirt. And we're seeing the fruits of it now, hearing the mom portrayed as a money-grabber, hearing reports that she had the boy lie in other legal proceedings, such as a divorce or custody proceeding. This is carefully orchestrated.
KING: Chris Pixley, how do we know what is true?
CHRIS PIXLEY, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Oh, I have no idea right now how we know what's true. What we know about this case doesn't even include the charges that have been filed against him, Larry. And we don't know...
KING: We won't know that maybe until next week.
PIXLEY: We won't know that the DA has made a decision to file charges against him until next week. They sure are making noises as though they are. But you know, I couldn't disagree more with what Nancy's saying here simply because, at this point in time, what we know is that Michael Jackson is one of the most famous celebrities in the world. Of course, he has to comport himself differently than the rest of us do when somebody makes an allegation against him. It wouldn't be unusual at all to get a private eye involved when a mother is alleging that he acted improperly with her child. To me, what's interesting here...
GRACE: That's not even the headline!
PIXLEY: Well...
GRACE: The headline is...
PIXLEY: What's the headline, Nancy?
GRACE: ... the love letters. Love letters. A 45-year-old man...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Wait a minute! Hold it!
GRACE: ... love letters to a 10-year-old boy...
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Do we -- hold it! Does anyone here -- does anyone here -- anyone -- know of the existence of these letters?
COCHRAN: I don't. I mean, I think that's...
DIMOND: Absolutely. I do.
COCHRAN: ... again, speculation.
DIMOND: I do!
COCHRAN: I don't know of this.
KING: Hold it!
COCHRAN: I've never seen them. The only...
DIMOND: I absolutely know of their existence!
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Diane, have you read them?
DIMOND: No, I have not read them, but I absolutely know that that...
COCHRAN: So how do we know?
DIMOND: ... was tops on the list of the DA and sheriff's department, things to look for inside Neverland. Listen, Larry...
KING: But you don't know what they say.
DIMOND: ... these are letters that are written in Michael Jackson's hand. They are said to be -- no, I've not read them, but...
KING: OK. Well, then...
DIMOND: ... they -- they went after them because they're said to be so sensational and so salacious in nature...
KING: Yes, but how...
DIMOND: ... that this could be a key to the prosecution...
KING: I see. Now, let me...
DIMOND: ... if and when this goes to trial.
KING: I want to get a break, but I want to hear what Michael had to say today. This is the Michael Jackson statement.
It's written, "To my fans, friends and family. As you know, the charges recently directed at me are terribly serious. They are, however, predicated on a big lie. This will be shown in court and we'll be able to put this horrible time behind us. Because the charges are so serious, I hope you'll understand, on the advice of my attorneys, I'll be limited in what I can say about the situation. There will be times when I cannot comment at all. No doubt, this will be frustrating for all of us. For that reason, I have set up this Web site to serve as a source of official communications on my case. Any statement that does not appear on this Web site must be considered unauthorized. You are right to be skeptical of some of the individuals who are being identified in the mass media as my friends, spokespeople and attorneys. With few exceptions, most of them are simply filling a desperate void in our culture that equates visibility with insight. We will not engage in speculation. We will not provide running commentary on every new development or allegation du jour. We intend to try our case in the courtroom, not in the public or the media. I thank you for all your support and understanding. God bless you. Michael Jackson."
KING: Comment?
COCHRAN: I think it's great. I think -- we talked last week -- Chris and I talked about -- they're making a statement and then leaving it at that point. There's a -- as you said, there's a statement or a rumor du jour, speculation du jour. And you can't respond to all those things. He's got to get ready...
KING: Now, how does he know...
COCHRAN: ... for these charges that are going to come.
KING: How does he know, Jane -- no one knows what's in the letter, right?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well...
KING: We haven't seen the letter, so we're speculating on the letter.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We know that they also raided another location, Michael Jackson's videographer, Hamid Moslehi, and they went into his West Hills suburban Los Angeles home and took seven or eight videotapes. He told "Celebrity Justice" they handcuffed him, they took the videotapes, but those videotapes he says, don't have anything incriminating on them.
But here's the interesting part. They even say the mother and the child apparently on one of these tapes says nothing untoward ever happened. But when was that tape shot? We believe it was shot before the alleged molestations took place. KING: I see. Let me get a break. And as we go to break, here is a clip from the "Celebrity Justice" story that Jane Velez-Mitchell did tonight. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP - "CELEBRITY JUSTICE")
VELEZ-MITCHELL (voice-over): The evidence was taken from the home of Hamid Moslehi, Michael Jackson's former videographer, seen here on a February Fox TV special talking about working with the gloved one.
HAMID MOSLEHI, MICHAEL JACKSON'S PHOTOGRAPHER: Right now, they're saying that we were secretly videotaping him. But that's not the truth.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Neighbors tell us what they saw being hauled off from Hamid's home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw a computer. It looked like a silver- looking, like, suitcase-type thing. It looked like they were taking equipment.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hamid tells "CJ" he was cuffed, as investigators confiscated seven or eight videotapes. But he adds those tapes don't show Jackson doing anything wrong, and even showed the boy at the center of this case and his mom defending Jackson, saying nothing sexual ever happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)