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CNN Live Today

President Briefed on Possible Hijacking Plot in August

Aired May 16, 2002 - 10:06   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now we move onto another top story, and that is a White House disclosure that is sure to echo around the water cooler today. That apparently in the weeks before September 11 and the attacks, U.S. intelligence officials warned President Bush that al Qaeda might be planning to hijack U.S. airliners. The warning was not specific, but it was considered credible enough that the White House says various agencies were alerted.

More now from our senior White House correspondent, John King.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): In the days and weeks immediately after the September 11 attacks on the United States, President Bush repeatedly refused to answer when asked whether he received any warnings at all that such an attack was possible. But the White House now confirming to us that the president did receive in the days and weeks leading up to the September 11 attacks a warning in his daily intelligence report that it was possible that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network might try to hijack a U.S.- based airliner or airliners as part of some terrorist attack.

Now, the White House saying the warning was that bin Laden's network might attempt to hijack a U.S.-based, but that there was no speculation at all about using an airplane as a bomb or as a weapon, as obviously happened on September 11, and that there was no specific credible information about a hijacking of any sort, no target date, no target airline, nothing specific of the type at all.

The White House insisting the president acted appropriately, that this information was passed on to the relevant government agencies, including the Justice Department in the United States and the Transportation Department, which have oversight over the U.S. airports. All this happened, we are told, while the president was on vacation at his ranch in Crawford, Texas last August.

Now, again, the White House says it acted appropriately, but others, including some in the Congress, saying the government now had several clues that something was happening. There was the arrest in August of Zacarias Moussaoui, a man the government believes would have been the 20th hijacker had he not been in custody. There also are new disclosures about an FBI agent warning in July that he was worried that Middle East men perhaps linked to terrorist groups were attending flight schools in the United States. Add in this vague warning to the president, and some in Congress say the government should have known and perhaps should have done more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got a lot of things. You have closed some...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Well, apparently we lost that sound there. We do want you to know we heard John mention that there is criticism from Congress, and in fact, we are getting word that Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle plans on making a statement in about a half hour. And when Senator Daschle does speak, we will bring those comments for you live.

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