Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Top Presidential Aide Announces Resignation

Aired April 23, 2002 - 14:35   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the White House and a personnel change of presidential proportions. Karen Hughes, one of President Bush's most trusted aides, says she's resigning. CNN's senior White House correspondent John King is standing by with more on this -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, resigning, but Karen Hughes insists and the president himself insists, not leaving his inner circle of trusted advisers. Karen Hughes is 45 years old. She has been at the president's side dating back to when he first ran for governor of Texas. She served with him in the Bush administration in Texas. She has been at his side here in the White House for more than a year now.

You see Karen Hughes there to the president's right, to the left on your picture there. Karen Hughes has a hand in every major presidential speech, every major domestic policy announcement. Every major event the president does, she is, in the words of one top aide, "the most influential person in his political life."

She told the president last week and reporters today that she will head back to Texas at the end of the summer. Her son is 15 years old. He has been going to school here in the Washington area this past year. But she said she decided to return back to Texas with her son and her husband, to be back home with her family.

Now, she insists she will continue to play a close role in advising the president. And Mr. Bush himself said Karen Hughes might be moving, but that he will continue to rely on her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Karen Hughes will be changing her address. But she will still be in my inner circle. I value her judgment and I will have her judgment. I value her advice. I have her advice. And I value her friendship and I will have her friendship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: She has been a counselor to the president, the highest- ranking woman ever to serve in a White House. She leaves here early every Wednesday to go home and spend some time with her son. Again, she says her resignation from he White House job will take effect sometime late this summer. So she'll be here a few more months.

And they're still working on the details as to just how she will continue to advise the president in Texas -- whether she will be on the payroll, perhaps, of a political committee of the Republican Party. But she said she does not expect to be a government employee -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: John, you were saying how much the president has relied on Karen Hughes, probably more so than anybody else. And President Bush is definitely a creature of habit. And he feels very comfortable with certain individuals -- very comfortable with her. Who would be the next person most likely, that he would he depend on most once she leaves?

KING: Well, the president's two most trusted aides are Karen Hughes and Carl Rove. Karen, more on the communications side. Carl is the top political strategist. But Karen's depute here at the White House, Dan Bartlett, just like Karen Hughes, goes back to day one of the Bush administration in Texas as governor.

Dan Bartlett became the communications director a few months back. He has already assumed many of the day-to-day responsibilities and strategic planning roles that Karen Hughes played during the campaign and in the early days here at the White House. So Dan Bartlett comes to mind.

There are other Texans here on the White House staff as well. This is a president who is known to be very loyal to those who are loyal to him. So Karen Hughes will be missed.

This will be a test of an old Washington axiom. They say that you have to have proximity to the president to have power in a White House. She will be far away now in Austin, Texas. But everyone here, including the president himself, says she will continue to play a key role.

PHILLIPS: CNN senior White House correspondent, John King. Thank you, John.

And Karen Hughes talks with CNN's Judy Woodruff. That's at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on "INSIDE POLITICS."

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com