justice department prosecutors in an effort to understand what wendt wrong in the prosecution of ted stevens. the government's prosecution of senator stevens was arguably the highest profile case ever brought by the justice department's washington, d.c. based public integrity section. it had consequences far beyond the jury's guilty verdict and impacted the senate election in 2008. while all criminal cases should be handled with the jut most professionalism, cases of of this level of importance and publicity where elections can be swayed should be shining examples of the best of the justice department. they should have the best prosecutors, best agents and should be the centerpiece of america's criminal justice system. unfortunately, this case appears to be the opposite of the ideal. according to our witness today, the prosecution of senator ted stevens was "permeated by the systemic concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated his defense and his testimony and seriously damaged the testimony and credibility of the government's key witnesses." t

he oversaw the corruption trial of the late ted stevens in 2008. stevens was convicted of failing to report some improper gifts of more than 2$250,000 of gifts. he lost that election the following year. after the conviction, there was an fbi agent that came forward and said prosecutors failed to provide exculpatory evidence into the case. that eric holder asked to have the convictions set aside in a stunning development in 2009. then the judge sullivan agreed to do that. he appointed schultz to lead the investigation. we knew the outlines of the findings since last november. we knew that there were major, major problems inside the prosecution over the stevens case. i think what was stunning yesterday and the developments is when you go through the report into law, it is over 500 pages. there are responses from the prosecutors and some of the folks involved in the case from the justice department side that has a lengthy response. it is stunning that how much was held and how there were serious doubts within the justice department or their should have

and the gross misconduct that led to the prosecution of ted stevens. he was found guilty in 2008.ling to report hundreds of thousands in improper gifts. weeks later he lost a close race to democratic challenger. attorney general eric holder moved to have it thrown out citing evidence of prosecutorial misduct and the 500 page report this week showed how widespread that misconduct was. james freeman has been looking at the case and the report. what do you think about the conduct? how bad was it? >> it's appalling. a systemic concealment of evidence was the phrase used by the report to judge sullivan and you don't have to be a constitutional lawyer, anybody who saw the movie "my cousin vinny", marisa torme. and misleading, what evidence there was, misleading the defense about what evidence there was. >> paul: would that have changed the outcome of the case? >> definitely. the key to the case is a guy named bill alan and his tomorrow that convinced the jury to convict him. and it would have destroyed his credibility. it wasn't just ted stevens wrongly convicted. there were two alaska

ted stevens was the longest serving republican in senate history. he was a legendary figure. he was a very direct man. you know, his job was he sought to bring federal dollars back to alaska. he was a powerful man. it's hard to overstate how important that case was. they raided his home more than a year before he was indicted. they had a long time to look at this case. and it was a huge conviction. at the time it was seen as a huge victory for the justice department. now, you know, years later, it's become -- and it is still a political issue in alaska and a political issue here. you have some of stevens' former colleagues bashing the justice department and senator patrick leahy, chairman of the judiciary committee says he may have a hearing on what happened here. it shattered morale. and it is still playing out. doj pulled back from some cases that you would prior to stevens case you would have think they would go after, for instance, the allegations against former senator john ensign. they didn't bring criminal charges. they're still loogiking at it. but the shocking develo

what do i remember of ted stevens? that he was a terrific senator, an honest man. did a lot for his state alaska and did a lot for america. and when he was being persecuted, which is what was happening, not prosecuted, i urge the attorney general to take a look at the case because i followed it very closely. i got the documents, took a look at them, and thought the case was being handled improperly. and as i mentioned earlier, i used to be the district attorney of philadelphia. so i've obviously had a lot of experience in that field. when eric holder was up for confirmation and i was the ranking republican, and i had some questions for eric holder about some of the things he had done when he was deputy attorney general and he came in to see me. and we had a long talk, and i ultimately supported him. i got an agreement from eric holder that he would take a fresh review of the ted stevens case. i couldn't get the republican attorney general to do that, but eric holder to review it and look at what has happened. they have found that there was terrible concealing of ev

and a new report out today of 525 page report into the investigation in the case against senator ted steven'sho passed away in a plane crash in 2010, he was convicted in 2008. that conviction was overturned. this art showing evidence that prosecutors failed to disclose seriously damaging testimony and credibility of the government's key witness in that case. a response from the chair of the senate judiciary committee patrick leahy this afternoon. in a statement i expressed at the time to a number of people involved in the trial i had some real concerns that prosecutors were not meeting their discovery obligations. he went on to say i believe everybody before a court should have a fair trial. he and senator grassley will join me in having a hearing on this matter. that statement from senator patrick leahy just a short while ago on the investigation in this new government report into trial against the late senator ted steven's. >>> let's begin with our lead story and that's gas prices something we're feeling every time we go fumble. the president cycling through familiar themes promoting his re

this was not humorous to maria cantwell or to ted stevens, by the way. i would say there's probably some recourse. let me get back to you on that. but the biggest problem is that most of the people who do this, they either can't be reached because, you know, they're in romania or in southeast asia and they're registering a domain name for $3, or even if they're an american registering a domain name for $3 with inaccurate information, they'll be hard to track down. then they registered it for a legitimate person and want some money for it. if we could -- i wasn't involved in this when they started the domain name -- the internet corporation for assigned names & numbers nu numbers. if i -- in retrospect, there are somethings we should have done differently. and we're hoping that one of the areas where we have been involved -- just because we saw so many problems -- is trying to encourage reforms within the process. but i'll get back to you on your specific question. >> thanks. no more? many graves? >> i guess the fs the equal rights floated out there, and

alaska and america watched the trial of ted stevens play out in the fall of 2008. we watched it unravel ever since. she talked about the troubling tendency over to years of prosecutors to bend, twifrt and break the rules of their case. and in this editorial she brought up the case of brady versus maryland a 1963 case. it's been re-interpreted. it required the disclosure of any evidence to both the prosecution and the defense for a fuel and fair trial. senator murkowski says over the years there's been 97 different brady rules in federal districts across the nation. she points out in this piece that she will introduce legislation to restore what she calls just toys our judicial system. with that back ground tissue coming up today is senator murkowski questioning fbi director robert mueller at this subcommittee hearing. >> this morning the investigative report that details the prosecutorial misconduct in the case against senator ted steven's was released. it was precipitated almost that the brady violations came about but it was not until five months after that trial

in the prosecution of ted stevens. by court order, it is publicly available two weeks ago on march 15, by the prosecutors who were the subject of this investigation. he practiced in 1977 -- 1979. he served three years as a military judge. he served three years in the district of columbia. >> please go ahead serrie. >> thank you, sir. chairman leahy and senator grassley, senator feinstein, senator cornyn, good morning. i appeared this morning at your indication to address whatever questions you might have concerning our report to judge sullivan on the subject of our investigation conducted pursuant of april 7, 2009. we were ordered to investigate and to prosecute such criminal contempt proceedings is may be appropriate against william welch, brendan marrs, nicholas marsh, edward sullivan, joseph rotini, and james goeke. the department of justice attorneys responsible for the prosecution of the united states versus senator theodore stevens in the united states district court for the district of colombia. i come before yo

justice department prosecutors in an effort to understand what went wrong in the prosecution of ted stevens. the government's prosecution of senator stevens was arguably the highest profile case ever brought by the justice department in d.c.-based public integrity section -- section. it had consequences far beyond the jury's guilty verdict and impacted the senate election in 2008. while all criminal cases should be handled with the utmost professionalism, cases of this level of importance and implicitly were elections can be swayed should be shining examples of the best of the justice department. they should have the best prosecutors, best agents, and should be the centerpiece of america's criminal-justice system. unfortunately this case appears to be the opposite of the ideal. according to our witness today the prosecutor the -- prosecution of senator ted stevens was both permeated by this is to make concealment of significant exculpatory evidence which would have independently corroborated his defense in this testimony him and seriously damage the testimony and credibility of the governme

court, a federal judge here in washington who oversaw the corruption trial of the late senator ted stevens in 2008. that is senator stevens was convicted of failing to report some improper gifts more than $250,000 worth of gift. he lost his re-election that year. in the following spring -- well, after the conviction there started, there was an fi agent came forward and said prosecutors failed to provide evidence to stevens defense attorney. they would have called in the validity of the case. the attorney general eric holder in early 2009 asked to have the convictions set aside. a naturally stunning development. and the judge agreed to do that. and then he appointed this gentleman to lead this investigation. i mean, we knew basically the outlines of the findings since last november. and we knew that there were major, major problems inside the prosecution over the steens case. i think what was stunning yesterday and yesterday's development is when you go through the report, it's a lengthy report. it's over 500 pages. then there's responses from the prosecutors. and so the folks involved in t

intentional misconduct on behalf of prosecutors in the corruption case against the late senator ted stevens times, visibly angry the late senator's attorney cast gated the prosecutors. >> their actions recalled in an illegal verdict, caused a grieveous injustice which can never be rectified. >> the case against stevens came down to allegations that he failed to report gifts, including a renovation to his alaska home from bill allen, a wealthy oil executive. the investigation found that federal prosecutors allowed false testimony to be made in court and they did not turn over evidence that would have helped the defense and undermined allen's credibility. stevens was charged in july 2008 and convicted three months later on corruption charges. that november, the longest serving republican in the senate lost his bid for reelection by a mere 3,000 votes. while the misconduct did not occur on his watch, in april 2009, attorney general holder moved to dismiss the case. following year with a full investigation underway, stevens was killed in a plane crash. >> senator stevens was a very decent man.

other area that i will ask you about is the fbi ajejts that were involved in the prosecution of ted stevens. we had a disturbing hearing with mr. holder last week in which we talked about the department of justice employees who apparently are still prosecuting at the department of justice even after the report was leased and the attorney general himself excused it on the part of the misconduct of the prosecutors. so i want to know if there are people still at the fbi -- i think there were just two agents that were accused of being involved in it. so i'd like to know your opinion of that as well. so i thank you for all that you're doing in the other areas that the senator mentioned, but especially knowing the role of the fbi now and international intelligence and law enforcement. so that expansion has been on your watch, and i appreciate that you have been able to handle it and work with the intelligence agencies so well. thank you. >> director mueller, please proceed. >> thank you, madam chairwoman. let me also join others on the committee in congratulating you on the tenure. far longer tha

i'in credit for dismissing the case against senator ted stevens when you learned of the corruption withinhat division of your department. m because the report will be public within days, and if there is as your major responsibility, it is that the public corruption unit and the department of and clearly that was not the case in the prosecution of a great friend to many of us and a great patriot for our country who unfortunately was very badly abused by the department of justice. but i will say you did dismiss the case when you learned of the misbehavior, and i gave you credit on the senate floor for doing that and will again. but i do want to ask you about k questions. thank you. >> mr. attorney general. chairwoman mikulski, ranking member hutchison, other distinguished members of the subcommittee, i thank you for the opportunitfor ur continued support of the justice depant i look forward to discussing the president's fiscal year 2013 budget for the department and build on what i think is our extraordinary record of success. now, the president's budget proposal demonstrates a clear commit

not the least of which i knew ted stevens. in my more than 30 years of knowing him, i never knew him to break his word. i never knew him to tell me something that wasn't accurate and true. and for full disclosure, i had what kind of a personal relationship with him. i thought the world of him and assumed that i would -- for whatever time i would be in the senate would be serving with him. we traveled together. we had -- in fact, i told his attorney that i would be willing to testify. while i could not testify to the facts of the case, i could testify to the fact that he was always totally honest with me. as chairman of this committee, 000, and one of the oversight of the department of justice, i realize this happened with the last department of justice, not the current one, i do agree with your assessment and your statement, approval attorney general holder in dismissing this case. we both have known him for a lot of years before he was attorney general. and i have a great deal of respect for his ability. i'm concerned about w

[applause] >> [inaudible conversations] former senators ted stevens was convicted on ethics charges in 2008. the conviction was later thrown out because of prosecutorial misconduct. today, the senate judiciary committee holds a hearing on what was wrong in the justice department investigation. you can watch it live beginning at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span3. >> follow c-span's local content vehicles throughout the weekend as booktv and american history tv explore the history and literary culture of little rock, arkansas. saturday at noon eastern on book tv on c-span2, the little-known rights and killing of at least 20 african-american sharecroppers. >> you had calls going all up and down the mississippi delta and saying that blacks were now in revolt, and the next morning between 601,000 men, white men, pour into the county to begin shooting down blocks. >> on american history tv on c-span3, sunday at 5 p.m. former student bruce lindsey on integration and north little rock high school. >> they know what's going to happen but we don't know what's going to happen. we don't realize what's go

. >>> also new developments in the corruption of case of late alaska senator ted stevens.ng new report says about our justice department. >>> plus critics are up in arms in one state as lawmakers push to require dna samples from all convicts no matter what the crime is. jon: more fallout from problems on hbo's horse racing drama, "luck". we told you yesterday that filming for the serious was suspended after three thorough breads died during production of the show. now hbo is pulling the plug on it all together. rick folbaum has more, rick? >> reporter: you asked a question yesterday how do you a show about horse racing without any horses after my report that hbo was keeping horses off the set of the show after a third horse has died. now we know the entire show is being shut down. canceled. the network, alongwith the show's producers releasing a statement saying while we maintain the highest safety standards possible, accidents unfortunately happen and it's impossible to guaranty they won't happen in the future. accordingly we have reached this difficult decision. the most

to me the tragedy is that ted stevens died before he knew thisis to a new low -- a new height. so i think this investigation is really important, and i think that actions have to be taken, that. what -- i wanted to follow-up on it's my understanding that available in the united states than demand calls for. and as a matter of fact, surplus is being sold outside. this, i think, would bring to special attention the issue of study that you're doing is going to take a good look at the financial marketplace regard to its ability to impact price in this way. >> well, as i said, the oil and last year as part of the prrcement task force has been meeting. it just happens that they are having a call today, meeting, either tomorrow or on, the full committee will be getting together to look at the full issues you've raised a >> good. thank you. as you know, title 7 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act expires at the end of the year. thisets outside of the united states. senator mikulski and i both serve on the senator intelligence committee, and of the government's use of these sur

the investigative report that details the prosecutorial misconduct in the case against senator ted stevens was released. it was -- it was, i guess, precipitated almost that the brady violations came about, but not until five months after that trial was complete d that we learned of these violations and it came about because of a kpleent that was filed complaint that was filed by an fbi agent that alleged the prosecutorial and our law enforcement misconduct in that case. in my opinion that was sepexcep good work by that agent and judge sullivan suggested that wereno

at i want to follow on to senator hutchison's questions regarding the prosecution of senator ted stevens. i think so many of us were absolutely shocked. we were -- i was horrified as a friend and as an alaskan to read judge sullivan's comments that this ill-gotten verdict not only resulted in the loss of senator stevens losing his seat, but in his words, tipped the balance of power in the united states senate. pretty powerful in terms of what the department of justice did to a great man. i appreciate and i recognize and i thank you for your actions in dismissing that case and in your decision to not attempt to retry, and i join senator hutchison with that.you know th. i have a long series of them. what i would like to do is submit them to you today and ask that you respond to them prior to the release of the report which is due to come out next wednesday, the 15th of march. i would appreciate your attention to that. i have a question regarding what is happening now with the release of this report. the "usa today" reported that the department of justice has spent $1.8 million in defending

and that's in sharp contrast to what happened to senator ted stevens.e ted stevens case where there was lots of suppression of excouple paer to evidence and a special prosecutor was appointed just the other week, the special prosecutor says, i think they did wrong but there was no specific order. therefore, i can't charge him criminally. >> i guess the question is, too, you know, this is a lot for someone to take in, it's a very moving story in this particular case, but as we look at what else has happened, what's to prevent this from happening again? >> well, this -- those kinds of thing -- i don't want to suggest there's an epidemic of this, but it does happen. the issue is when you have prosecutors hiding exculpatory evidence, as lara and the "60 minutes" team showed, when they hide it you have to show it can be enforced. prosecutors have what's called ab sew lute immunity. the only thing they can do is criminally prosecute them or bring them up on bar charges. >> lara, you had firsthand opportunity to talk to someone who's experienced this and had t

. >> also, new developments on the corruption conviction of the late senator ted stevens, why he may's a secret report just unsealed. but first -- >> we need mitt! we need mitt! we need mitt! bill: if crowd gets their way and mitt romney is the nominee, what is in it for you, hurricane? mitt romney is in studio, the governor due in just a moment to take on that and many other things. >> hello, governor, good to meet you. >> thank you. >> talk to you soon. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] help brazil reduce its overall reliance on foreign imports with the launch of the country's largest petrochemical operation. ♪ when emerson takes up the challenge, "it's never been done before" simply bemes consider it solved. emerson. ♪ bill: mitt romney leading the pack of republican candidates, so if he can keep it going, eventually becoming the nominee, what will he do with it? here to talk about the issues of the day, former massachusetts governor and republican presidential candidate mitt romney. how are you and good morning? >> terrific. thanks, bill. bill: you look relaxed. >> i feel relaxed, i'm here

. >> logan: cases like the corruption trial of former alaska senator ted stevens.r found "systemic concealment" of evidence that would have helped the senator's case. in north carolina, this man spent eight years in prison even though someone else had confessed to the crime. his lawyers say the prosecutor never told them. in louisiana, this man discovered a few weeks before his scheduled execution that prosecutors hadn't disclosed a blood test that exonerated him. >> morton: if you did those things, if you did the sort of stuff where you were hiding evidence from a homicide investigation, they'd lock you up in a minute. >> logan: that's the first time i've sensed any kind of anger in you. >> morton: i try to be very forgiving. but i'll be honest-- not only the actual murderer responsible for this, but the people who put me there, i wanted to get back at them. and when i finally let that go and put it away, it's like i dropped 25 pounds. i just felt... ahh! >> logan: michael morton was recently reunited with his son. he's received nearly $2 million under a texas law

former alaska senator ted stevens promised -- [applause] he promised not one drop of oil would be spilled into prince william town. not one drop is the title of my book and it is about the trail and courage in the wake of the exxon valdez spill. this spans 40 years. of a really the end of this story is the beginning of another, and it's one that i hope we all worked together on to finish. my goddaughter was 4-years-old on march 24th, 1989 when the exxon valdez ran aground in prince william sound. ten years later, when she was 14, she composed this song that you are about to hear for the memorial. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we realize what the exxon means ♪ >> cordova sits on the eastern side of prince william sound. the community was ground zero for the exxon valdez oil spill. cordova is a fishing town, half its population of 2500 people is directly involved in the commercial fishing industry. a boat captains, fishermen, processors, this house supports the other half, the businesses, the grocery stores, hotels, restaurants. when the fishing harvest is good, the entire town prospers. i arrived in cor

. >>> a new report shows federal prosecutors in the ted stevens corruption case intentionally hid evidence from his defense team. back in 2008, stevens was convicted of seven counts of lying about his financial disclosure statements. the report shows it prosecutors lied to the defense about pressuring their key witness. in 2009 a federal judge threw out stevens' conviction. the former alaska senator died in a 2010 plane crash. >>> a news4 scam alert this morning. crooks are using caller i.d. to hack into your bank account. a new report shows scammers are luring cell phone users into giving account information by using automated calls or text messages that appear to come from the user's bank. once they have the account information, they call the bank using the victim's phone number and transfer cash or issue credit cards for themselves. more than a million fraudulent calls were detected in the second half of 2011. >>> in the day ahead, a judge will consider whether to accept a class-action settlement regarding honda civic's hybrid fuel efficiency. the settlement would give owners $100 to $2

and this was not humerous to maria can't well or to ted stevens by the way. i would say there's probably some recourse. let me get back to you on that. but the biggest problem is that most of the people who do this, they either can't be reached because after they're in romania or in southeast asia and they're registering a dome main name for $3 areven if they're in america if they're registering with inaccurate information. or they've registered it before a more legitimate person and then they just want some money for it. so it is -- if we could -- i wasn't involved in this when they started the dome main name, the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers. i think -- i worked on the senate side then. if i had been a little -- in retro spekt there are things we should have done differently and we're hoping that we can one of the areas where we have been involved just baw we saw so many problems is trying to encourage reforms within the process. but i'll get back to you on your specific question. >> thanks. no more. mr. graves. >> followup on the i g

what do i remember of ted stevens? he was a terrific senator, an honest man.id a lot for his state of alaska and did a lot for america. when he was being persecuted, which is what was happening, not prosecuted, i urged the attorney general to take a look at the case, because i followed it very closely. i got the documents and took a look i used to be district attorney in philadelphia. i have a lot of experience in that field. when eric holder was up for nomination and i was the ranking republican, ahead some questions about some of the things he had done. i alternately supported him. i got an agreement from eric holder that he would take a fresh review. i could not get the republican attorney general to do that, but eric holder agreed to do that. look at what has happened. they have found that there was terrible concealing of evidence that would have led to stevens going. he then lost his life in a plane crash. now, the independent investigation has shown that chicanery. there is a demand in the morning newspapers that is not sufficient. a number of senators a

thank you agents that were involved in the prosecution of ted stevens. we had the disturbing hearing with mr. holder last week in which we talk about the department of justice employees who appear me are still prosecuting that the department of justice, even after the report was released in the attorney general himself dismissed the case against senator stevens because of misconduct on the part of the prosecutors. so i want to know if there are people still at the fbi. i think there just to agents that were accused of being involved in it. so i'd like to know your opinion of that as well. of being involved in it. so i would like to know your opinion of that as well. for all that in it. so i would like to know your opinion of that as well. for all that you are doing in the other areas that senator mikulski mentioned, but especially knowing the role of the fbi now and international intelligence and law enforcement for that expansion has been on your watch and i appreciate that you have been able to handle it and work with the intelligence agencies so well.

never been a huge fan of ted stevens, but talks about how the justice department screwed this man.oral process and prosecutors intentionally subverted justice and ted stevens died with a cloud over his head. that cloud is now over the justice department. if it's way too early what time is it? >> it's "morning joe." stick around after the break. it's chuck todd. >>> business travel forecast, heavy rain in the middle of the country causing problems at a lot of the airports into areas in louisiana. the mid-atlantic, great lakes, incredible warm weather continues on the first day of spring. out west, chilly in the rockies. a chance of thunderstorms areas in texas near dallas. omnipotent of opportunity. you know how to mix business... with business. and you...rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i could get used to this. [ male announcer ] yes, you could business pro. yes, you could. go national. go like a pro. and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend

to meet the tragedy is that ted stevens died before he knew this was a faulty prosecution. that elevates this to a new height. i think this investigation is really important, and i think that actions have to be taken. i just wanted to express that. i wanted to follow-up on senator brown's comment. it is my understanding that there is more oil available in the united states than demand calls for, and as a matter of fact, surplusage being sold outside. i think this would bring to special attention the issue of speculation, and i hope the study you are doing is going to take a good look at the financial marketplace with regard to its ability to impact price in this way. >> as i said, the oil and gas working group we formed last year as part of the president's financial fraud enforcement task force has been meeting. it just happens that they are having a call today at a meeting either tomorrow or on monday. the full committee will be getting together to look at the issues you have raised. >> thank you. as you know, title 7 of the foreign intelligence surveillance act expires at