GMA Exclusive: Clinton Hostages Speak

Dec. 4, 2007 — -- The workday continued normally for three young staff members who worked at a Hillary Clinton's Rochester, N.H., campaign office late last week. As they awaited a volunteer's arrival, a man walked into the office and claimed he had a bomb strapped to himself shortly before 1 p.m.

"The three of us were meeting to go over what we do for the day," said field organizer Katherine, who along with the other hostages, asked that her last name be withheld. "Lee walked in. I approached him. That's when he showed me what he said was a bomb. That's kind of how it all began."

Katherine, Morgan and Graeme said accused hostage taker Leeland Eisenberg, who was arraigned in court Monday on kidnapping charges, was very specific about his goal.

"I mean it was a very complex situation, but he clearly was there to seek attention from someone who could help him," Morgan said. "He thought Hillary could do that and that's why he was there — to speak with her."

As the drama unfolded, the three awaited resolution. The minutes soon turned to hours as 46-year-old Eisenberg held the group.

The hostages soon found themselves in the role of negotiator, as they acted as an arbitrator between Eisenberg and police.

"We served as mediator with the negotiator to keep him calm," Morgan said.

"We were very involved in that dialogue," Graeme added

Eisenberg began to release hostages and Katherine was the first to go.

"I really don't know why it was me," Katherine said. "I was closest to the door. I don't think it was anything specific, at least to my knowledge."

After she left, Graeme and Morgan said they were more positive about their situation.

"It was definitely a shift in the turn of events knowing someone was out there in contact with authorities, who could describe the room," Morgan said.

Still, nothing was immediate. Morgan said she wasn't even sure how long she had been held before she was released.

"To be completely honest, I have no idea in terms of time. It was several hours," Morgan said.

With Morgan and Katherine gone, Graeme would be the last of the group to be released, as the standoff ended peacefully, but without Clinton speaking or meeting with Eisenberg.

But Graeme said he didn't believe he did or said anything to help expedite Eisenberg's surrender to police.

"I think that once we were removed from the situation, once both Morgan and Katherine had escaped, he went through his own process that none of us will know," Graeme said. "But [he] chose to surrender after I was able to escape."

The troubling event hasn't deterred Katherine, Morgan or Graeme from wanting to continue their Clinton campaign work and said the Democratic senator from New York met with them when the ordeal was over.

"We are ready to do the same job we were doing prior to this incident. We are doing everything we can to understand what happened and how we feel. We are just anxious to return to our sense of normalcy and our jobs," Graeme said.

"If anything, we are just motivated by helping even more so than we were already," Morgan added.

As for Eisenberg, whom prosecutors described as a manipulative career criminal who is "hiding behind phantom mental health issues," he was ordered by a judge to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Eisenberg, who faces charges including kidnapping, criminal threatening and fraudulent use of a bomblike device, is being held on $500,000 bond.