Transcript: Smith Timeline Controversy

This is a partial transcript from "On the Record," February 10, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Who is telling the truth about George Smith's final hours? The newlywed disappeared from his honeymoon cruise on July 5th. The night he vanished he was with four young men but the story they told police does not match up with what eyewitnesses are reporting.

Joining us from Miami is Brett Rivkind, the lawyer for George Smith's family, welcome Bret.

BRETT RIVKIND, ATTORNEY FOR GEORGE SMITH'S FAMILY: Hello, how are you?

VAN SUSTEREN: Very well. All right, Brett, let's talk about the timeline. Now, the lawyer for one of them was on our show recently and he set forth a timeline, which included his assertion that they received room service at about 4:20 a.m., which of course would put them out of the window of opportunity probably to be responsible for George Smith's disappearance. How do you respond?

RIVKIND: Well, as soon as we heard that, Greta, we said it just doesn't add up, you know. Clete Hyman made a complaint of noise at 4:05 and as we know so far there's been a lot of testimony from Clete.

And then we heard also from the passenger who was in the cabin on the other side of George Smith that from 4:05 thereafter there were descriptions such as loud noise, partying, arguing, furniture moving. I think the people on one side described it as trashing the room and all that took some time, Greta and then a loud thud.

And now we are hearing a timeline that these four passengers ordered room service at 4 a.m. and had it delivered by 4:20 when these other passengers in the cabin on each side of George Smith's cabin are hearing all this going on over about a 20, 25 minute time period. It just doesn't add up.

VAN SUSTEREN: And I should add that Clete Hyman, who is a high-ranking law enforcement officer in the State of California has been on our show and he was quite certain, at least it seemed, about those particular times.

All right, it seems to me though that this can be reconciled or resolved pretty easily. Doesn't the cruise ship keep track of when orders come in for room service and aren't there some sort of computer-generated receipts, anything like that at all which would either corroborate or disprove what's being said?

RIVKIND: Well, we have to believe that those kind of records do exist. Have I seen them, no. I think that if they existed, Greta, and they were consistent with this story about the room service and what time it was delivered, you know, we would have had something or we would have heard something already that these four passengers weren't being talked anymore or the FBI wouldn't be investigating as actively as they still are.

I have to think, although I don't know Greta because the FBI hasn't told us that either the records that we think exist do not exist of, if they do exist, they don't support that timeline.

VAN SUSTEREN: Brett, are you in constant communication or are you clients, which are George Smith's family in communication with the FBI so that you can make a statement whether this is an aggressive, you know, full throttle investigation or whether it's sort of a cold case put on the back burner?

RIVKIND: The answer is yes, Greta, as far as being in contact with the FBI, both my client and myself. My client keeps more in touch with the FBI. I attend scheduled meetings with the FBI and the U.S. attorney and we're quite confident, Greta, from my meetings that they are aggressively investigating this case.

They've got a great team assigned to it. I've spoken to the U.S. attorney. I continue to speak with him who's handling the case. They're quite committed to it. He has told me they are still very active in the investigation.

This is not a cold case. They are on top of it. In fact, we've held off with any kind of civil lawsuit in deference to the fact that we have been told that they're aggressively investigating.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, we only have about a minute left. Were all key parts of the ship searched in the early morning hours of July 5th or actually about eight o'clock in the morning when it became apparent George was missing or there was some blood there?

RIVKIND: We don't think so, Greta, and we've said that from the very beginning. Now these four passengers who are, you know, being interviewed and talked to, we think that their cabin should have been checked. Forensics should have been done of their cabins, maybe of their clothes.

And that all goes to what we said from the very beginning. We don't understand why that ship had to leave Turkey so quickly, Greta, before a thorough, complete investigation was done, including statements.

You know we're hearing inconsistent statements at this period of time. Two of these passengers weren't even -- statements weren't taken at the beginning. The FBI didn't contact people until a week or two after the cruise ended and the Turkish police didn't even interview Clete Hyman or the person on the other side of George Smith's cabin.

VAN SUSTEREN: And, Brett, I'm regrettably going to take the last word on this but the one thing is that once the Turks released it, I mean if it was a shabby investigation, it seems to me that it was the police, the Turks. I know that you hold the cruise line accountable but, you know, I still don't see that but there will be much more on this. And, Brett, hope you'll come back.

RIVKIND: Thank you, Greta.

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