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CNN Live At Daybreak

What's on Tap for Washington?

Aired August 15, 2002 - 06:14   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush continues his road trip today.
Washington deputy bureau chief Steve Redisch joins us on the phone with a look at that and more from D.C. today.

Good morning -- Steve.

STEVE REDISCH, CNN WASHINGTON DEPUTY BUREAU CHIEF: Good morning -- Anderson.

COOPER: Did you just wake up?

REDISCH: No, I've been up for about an hour or so.

COOPER: All right. That's good. What's -- so what's going on in Washington today -- President Bush?

REDISCH: Most of it is -- some of it is going on outside of Washington.

COOPER: OK.

REDISCH: As you said, the president is on the road. South Dakota is his stop today after waking up in Des Moines. And there he'll participate in some closed round table discussions on spending, you know make some remarks on homeland security and the budget at Mt. Rushmore. And as you know, the --South Dakota is the hot spot of the Senate races this year with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle going up against Congressman Tim Johnson, and President Bush's presence there will no doubt help the Republicans there.

COOPER: No doubt.

Also, a lot of the news coming out of the Pentagon this morning, Marine Corp General Council Office...

REDISCH: It's a real -- it's a real emotion day here at the Pentagon where several offices reopen on the outer ring. People moving from their temporary offices to the outer ring, what they call the E ring, which is the very last ring at the Pentagon where the plane hit. People moving back into their offices that are -- that have been rebuilt. It's going to be an emotional day there. People very, very tied to what happened on 9/11.

COOPER: Is there any ceremony scheduled for that or? REDISCH: No real ceremonies. We're going to -- we're going to go in with some cameras and try and get and talk to some of the people who are moving back. They've been told that they can cooperate with the media. They don't have to cooperate with the media. We're going to try and get some of the thoughts of some of the people there today.

COOPER: We also had a report earlier about this new lawsuit aimed at Saudi Arabia regarding 9/11. Can you tell us any more about that?

REDISCH: It's a very interesting concept going after some of the businesses in Saudi Arabia that are believed to be funding Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. These people are not going after the government, per se, but the businesses that channel the money to the terrorists. Some very prominent people are going to be at this news conference today that -- to announce the lawsuit, former Ambassadors Jean Kirkpatrick and Vernon Walters, along with some very prominent attorneys and litigators. So we'll be covering that today and following up later in the -- later in the day.

COOPER: All right. Steve Redisch, thanks very much for joining us this morning, and we'll check in with you later today. Thanks a lot, Steve.

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