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CNN

SHOW: LIVE FROM... 13:00

HEADLINE: Haitian Rebels Declare Victory; Police: Profound Development in Missing Family Case; Kobe Bryant Accuser in Court Today; U.N. Works to Stabilize Haiti; Closing Arguments Given in Martha Stewart Case

GUESTS: Maxine Waters

BYLINE: Gary Tuchman, Carlos Watson, Danile Sieberg, Miles O'Brien, Kyra Phillips, Lucia Newman, Mike Brooks, Adrian Baschuk, Richard Roth, Allan Chernoff, Ken Robinson, Jamie McIntyre, Susan Candiotti, Adora Udoji, Bruce Morton, Kathleen Koch, Mike Brooks, Nic Robertson, Allan Chernoff

HIGHLIGHT:
Haitian rebels take over the capital and send Aristide into exile; Police announce a "profound" development in the case of a missing Mississippi family; Kobe Bryant to meet accuser in court today; United Nations works to create stability in Haiti; The closing arguments are head in the Martha Stewart trial.

BODY:
MILES O'BRIEN, ANCHOR: From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Miles O'Brien.

KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: I'm Kyra Phillips. It's Monday, March 1. CNN's LIVE FROM starts right now.

O'BRIEN: Aristide in exile. Marines on the march. Haitian rebels on a role through a jubilant Port-au-Prince.

-BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT-

(INTERRUPTED BY LIVE EVENT)

O'BRIEN: We're going to leave the live coverage of the briefing for just a moment.

On the line with us now from California is Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of that state.

And Congressman Waters, were you able to listen to the briefing at all?

REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: I heard some of the briefing, yes.

I heard a reporter tell a lie and said that I said that Aristide had been led away in handcuffs. I did not say that. And I made it clear that I had asked him and he said he had not been led away in handcuffs.

O'BRIEN: All right.

WATERS: So that needs to be cleared up right away.

O'BRIEN: Let's backtrack then. Let's-For those who haven't heard you say it right from your mouth, what exactly have you heard and did you hear it directly from Aristide?

WATERS: Yes. As a matter of fact, I was called this morning a little after 6 a.m. and Mildred Aristide was on the line and she said to me, "Maxine, the coup d'etat has been completed." She repeated it twice.

And I asked her how was she doing, how worried we were about them. We didn't know where they were.

And she said they were fine, they were OK. But she wanted me to know that the coup d'etat had been completed. And she put the president on the line.

The president said that he had been forced to leave his home, that Mr. Moreno, who is the DCM or the chief of staff of the American embassy in Port-au-Prince, had come to his home with other diplomats and Marines.

And they had told him he had to go, and he had to go now. That if he did not go, he would be killed, and lots of other Haitians would be killed.

They said that Guy Phillipe, the ex-military guy from France (ph), the old military machine under Sadres and the Duvaliers were coming to Port-au-Prince, and they would be coming with American Marines. And a lot of people were going to be killed. And he's got to go now.

He said he was forced to go, to get on the airplane, along with Mildred, his wife, his brother, and two other security officers. And I have their names here somewhere.

O'BRIEN: Well...

WATERS: They were first taken to Antigua, and then they were taken to a military base.

They would not tell them exactly where they were going and that they have ended up in the Central African Republic.

They were met by five ministers of government. They were taken to the palace of the Renaissance; that's the name of the building. They don't know whether it's a hotel or some other kind of building. And that they were under guard by a combination of French and African officers.

They also told me that African military was on the plane with them, along with American military.

The other two gentlemen are from the Steel Foundation (ph), the two security people. One is named France Gabriel (ph), and the other one is Mr. Bartiome (ph).

O'BRIEN: Is it your understanding that it is the impression of Mr. and Mrs. Aristide that they're under some sort of house arrest where they're at right now?

WATERS: Yes. He said he felt like he was in jail and that they could see out of the window and they were being guarded by the military there. Yes, he felt like he was under arrest and in jail.

O'BRIEN: Congressman Waters, there is any number of reasons why the Aristides would want to portray this as the story. A little bit of early revisionist history, if you will, writing it on the fly, quite literally.

Do you have reason to take this at face value, or is it quite possible that they're trying to fabricate some sort of myth here in the wake of their rule?

WATERS: I'm not trying to interpret anything. I'm simply giving you the facts. He told me this information as he did Congressman Rangle, who was also told...

O'BRIEN: Do you believe what they said?

WATERS: Well, just a moment. He told not only me and Congressman Rangle, but he also told other people: Randall Robinson.

Now, what you need to ask is this. Would he call three different people, two members of the United States Congress, and tell us that he had been kidnapped, that a coup had taken place, unless he believed that?

And do you think that we would make this information up? We're members of Congress, elected by the people. We have to be very careful about what we say and what we do. We don't make up things to tell anybody that were told to us by what was a head of state.

O'BRIEN: Congressman Waters, no, no, no. You misunderstand me. I don't doubt that you had this phone call, and I don't doubt that that's what you heard on the phone.

The question I'm asking you is, do you doubt their veracity in any way?

WATERS: Listen, I tend to doubt the State Department, and I tend to doubt Mr. Noriega and people who have been in charge of advancing this policy.

I find that I've been lied to over and over again. And I raise significant question if his country, the country of Haiti, was invaded by the people who were in exile, who were known killers, members of the old regime, if they invaded his country, why didn't they try to get the invaders out?

Why did they not send in people to help secure that country? Why did they wait until after they had gotten Mr. Aristide out?

And why are these so-called rebels, who are really criminals and thugs, riding up and down the streets of Port-au-Prince in their old military dress after they have come in to invade the man's country?

So I have a lot of questions of my own government at this point.

O'BRIEN: So just to sum up here, what you're alleging is fairly serious. You're saying this was somewhat a coup that was engineered by the U.S. in some fashion?

WATERS: Well, absolutely. President Aristide said it was coup. And I do know that it was participated in by the United States.

Mr. Noriega at the State Department, who you guys never talk to. He's not on record a lot, but he is behind the whole plan. He's the one that has been talking with everybody.

He's the ex-chief of staff to Jesse Helm. He's on record for years of putting-undermining Haiti, of denying them funding. He is known as a Haiti hater. And he's in charge of this policy.

And you guys ought to find out his history and who he is and what his connection is to Mr. Andy Archade (ph) Jr., who led the so-called protest that was joined by the thugs and rebels and how they got back into the country.

You really need to dig us up some information here.

O'BRIEN: Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, thank you very much-Kyra.

WATERS: You're welcome.