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American Morning

Rudolph Giuliani Discusses Last Day as Mayor

Aired December 31, 2001 - 07:56   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We are joined now by the guest of honor, the mayor, Rudy Giuliani is with us, again.

And we thank you very much for bearing with us. We appreciate your patience, your honor, this morning.

MAYOR RUDOLPH GIULIANI (R), NEW YORK CITY: Thank you.

HARRIS: We had some audio problems earlier that messed us up, interrupted our talk this morning. We thank you very much for sticking around and giving us some more time today.

GIULIANI: Thank you.

HARRIS: First of all, let's go right to the report we just saw here about your dropping the ball tonight on the celebration. Do you expect that to be a rather emotional moment for you?

GIULIANI: Yes, sure it will be. This will be my eighth year that I've done it and the last year that I get to do it as the mayor of New York City, so I'm sure there will be a tremendous amount of emotion attached to this. I mean, you don't do this job of mayor of New York City without a great deal of passion and love for the people in the city, so.

HARRIS: You know, but there was a point during this year when you, at one point, didn't consider yourself to be mayor, you wanted to be Senator Giuliani. Can you believe that? And I'm sure you didn't think about this at the time, but if you had been Senator Giuliani, you wouldn't have been here for this city on September 11 when all that happened.

GIULIANI: I have thought about that in the wake of what happened. You know, there's no way, after an event like that, when so many people have been lost and so many of your friends and people you care about, you don't think about what-if and what if I had been elected to the Senate? What if my cancer had been diagnosed later and I was going through cancer treatment at the time, would I have had the energy to do it? I was very fortunate to have had it over with, you know, for at least enough time, so I was very healthy when it occurred, so.

HARRIS: But you have to think that, you know, as they say, funny how things work out sometime, and this is proof that you were a man of destiny in this particular case.

And the question I was asking you before we had the audio problem was about, you know, it's been written about you that you had been -- you jumped in and seized the day, September 11, as if you had been waiting for that day all your life -- you'd been preparing for that day all of your life. Do you think that, perhaps, in some way on some subliminal level or whatever that you had been?

GIULIANI: I think there is something to that. I think that in a way being mayor of this city for seven and three-quarter years prepares you for almost anything. You know, we had been through 100 emergencies, 20 significant ones -- air crashes and terrible natural disasters and collapses. So you get used to how to deal with an emergency, obviously, not one of that kind of scope and dimension, but at least the small ones get you used to it.

So in a way, from my point of view, I said to myself, if it had to happen -- of course, you don't want any of this to ever happen -- it was better that it happened after seven and three-quarters years, having the experience of dealing with emergencies and disasters.

HARRIS: And you know that we in the press have been marveling at the transformation of your image in the wake of that event, and how, you know, people have warmed up to you and how you've warmed up to people. And your image changed, almost overnight to one that...

(CROSSTALK)

GIULIANI: (OFF-MIKE)

HARRIS: ... everyone's embraced.

GIULIANI: You know, human relationships are all mutual. You all warm up to someone; they warm up to you. The more you open yourself up, the more they open themselves up. If you think about the relationship between a mayor and a city, or a person in a large group, it's the same as human relations.

HARRIS: I agree with you 100 percent on that. But let me ask you...

GIULIANI: Amazing. And this is a particularly individual kind of job. I mean, I've been on the radio every week talking to people for eight years. People come up to me in the street and tell me, you know, what they think I'm doing right and wrong, and they're quite open about it, and you end up finding that you do the same thing. It's a very, very personal relationship.

HARRIS: Well, let me ask you this, and this is not about any regrets. I'm not asking about that, but, you know, in light of the way that you've been embraced, you know, if you can say, go back to, say, June or whenever, and say, you know, if I knew then what I know now, do you think you would have done something differently or anything?

GIULIANI: Maybe. You really don't know if you would have done things differently when you go back into the past. All you can do is keep learning from your experiences, your mistakes, the things you did right, and try to grow and take advantage of where you are at a particular time.

HARRIS: You know, the hottest handicapping job right now is figuring out what you're going to do now, and now that you're walking away from this office.

I'm not sure if you watched earlier this morning, but we had the Amazing Kreskin on. He made a prediction. He says that he is -- in his mind -- he sees you running for president.

GIULIANI: Well, that's very flattering. But right now, you know, I'm thinking about how to work on my putting and I'm still thinking about, you know, playing right field for the Yankees -- still an opening.

(LAUGHTER)

They haven't, you know, called on the old, retired. And I'm trying to work on my throw.

HARRIS: Listen, considering what you've been through, they'd give you a tryout, too.

(LAUGHTER)

But do you really think you'll know how to slow down? You've been on the go, I mean, constantly for at least the last eight years now.

GIULIANI: No. I'll have to find a number of things to do. I'm going to start a new business with a lot of friends of mine, doing consulting and trying to...

(AUDIO GAP)

GIULIANI: ... Towers Fund, so that we make sure that we repay our debt to the families of the people that lost loved ones -- uniformed offices at the World Trade Center.

HARRIS: Yes, that story is not over, and we will continue to follow you and that story.

I'll make one suggestion. You know, we're still looking for a host for "Talk Back Live," so you might want to put that one on the list, too, as well, Mayor Giuliani.

(LAUGHTER)

GIULIANI: Thank you.

HARRIS: Thank you very much.

GIULIANI: Happy New Year.

HARRIS: It's been a pleasure. Thanks.

GIULIANI: Thank you very much for your coverage all throughout this. The media has been enormously helpful to the city's recovery, and I appreciate it. Thank you.

HARRIS: IT's been a pleasure covering it and you, as well. Take care and best of luck to you.

GIULIANI: Thank you very much.

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