CNN "Anderson Cooper 360" - Transcript

Interview

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COOPER: Senator, have you had a chance to express your concerns directly to the Secretary of State?

SEN. MARIA CANTWELL (D), WASHINGTON: I have not. We have put in a call. We hope to meet with her and we hope that she will advocate for what we believe is the need for a fair trial by an impartial tribunal. That's a standard that we think you should be for, whether there's a trial in the United States or a trial in Italy.

COOPER: So you don't think that Amanda Knox got a fair trial?

CANTWELL: I don't.

I think the issue is that to have a fair trial by an impartial tribunal there was so much information, false information that was leaked, that was unsubstantiated, and there were a system where the jury was not sequestered. And it had so much media attention I advocated early on that I didn't think that she could even get a fair trial in Perugia, given the enormous amount of media attention and information about her that was there in the media.

COOPER: That seems to contradict what Ian Kelly at the State Department said. The State Department spokesman said that he didn't have any indication that Amanda Knox had been treated unfairly.

CANTWELL: Well, I'm not sure if he's familiar as the State Department spokesperson with the details of this case. So we plan to make sure the State Department and the Secretary of State understand that it's important to make sure when there is a U.S. citizen abroad and they're in legal trouble that we advocate for a fair trial by an impartial tribunal.

I would hope that the Italian government would advocate for the same things if one of their residents was here in the United States.

COOPER: There are a lot of our legal experts on Friday night when this case broke when the verdict came down said, you know, they thought she was innocent, but said that she was convicted on evidence which frankly many people in the United States would have been convicted on as well. Do you buy that?

CANTWELL: I did not hear that from the Friday night experts. I heard a lot of Friday night experts questioning the process and you know, the United States and the European Union do want to have a rule of law, and that rule of law should be for a fair trial. And that fair trial needs to have an impartial jury.

We know in the Amanda Knox case, the jurors weren't sequestered. We know that the process is different in Italy. But the amount of information of tainted evidence, the fact that there was misinformation about Amanda Knox that was leaked to the press and out there in a very pervasive way, makes it very hard for a jury to have that kind of impartiality in this case.

So we suggested a long time ago that they move to a different venue, that the jury be sequestered, that information that was false information not be allowed into the court testimony. And we're going to continue to advocate for that.

COOPER: Do you believe Amanda Knox is innocent?

CANTWELL: I think the issue is that Americans traveling abroad if gotten into legal problems should have access to a fair trial and an impartial tribunal. And that's what we need to make sure happens in this case.

COOPER: So you're not taking a stand one way or the other on her actual guilt or innocence?

CANTWELL: I am making the point about the process.

COOPER: What's the next step for you?

CANTWELL: Well, we are sending letters to the European Union about this and we are hoping to meet with Secretary Clinton.

COOPER: Senator Maria Cantwell, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

CANTWELL: Thank you.

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