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CNN Live At Daybreak

What's on Tap for D.C. Today?

Aired August 19, 2002 - 06:09   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to go to our phone lines now, because our Washington deputy bureau chief, Steve Redisch, is on the line with a look at what's happening in D.C. today.
Good morning -- Steve.

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

COSTELLO: Is President Bush back from Crawford?

REDISCH: President Bush will stay in Crawford, at least for the next several weeks. This week, he has very little on his schedule, up until Thursday, when he takes off for the West Coast.

COSTELLO: And let's talk about -- I should ask you more about President Bush. What does he have on tap while he's still on vacation?

REDISCH: He's still on vacation. He receives his intelligence briefings daily. He receives updates from various -- different parts of the government daily. And other than that, there is not much else to say about his vacation.

COSTELLO: These are the dog days of August, aren't they?

REDISCH: It's -- you know, one of the things about working in Washington is everybody takes vacation in August, both Capitol Hill and the president usually go out, and this is no different than any other August I have worked here.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's like a ghost town in D.C. in August.

Let's talk about the Smithsonian, though, something exciting on tap there -- Julia Child's kitchen?

REDISCH: They're going to unveil it at the Museum of American History. It's one of my favorite museums, because it's the keeper of all of the pop culture of the United States from the birth of the United States. It's got Archie Bunker's sofa -- I'm sorry -- his armchair. It's got all kinds of different political buttons and campaign slogans, and it shows you how people lived in the early times in log cabins. And now, today, Julia Child's kitchen, just yet another thing for my favorite museum.

COSTELLO: Yes, it's a really cool place to visit. We have to talk about these videotapes that our Nic Robertson was able to obtain, al Qaeda tapes. Surely, you have reporters going out, getting reaction to those tapes.

REDISCH: All of our beat reporters from the Pentagon, from the White House -- John King in Crawford, Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, David Ensor who covers our intelligence community for us -- all of our beat reporters will be out today, trying to gather any kind of reaction, any kind of insight as to what the government is thinking, as they watch these tapes, as we watch these tapes as well. And we should have a lot of that reaction, whatever that reaction is, for you throughout the day.

COSTELLO: Very disturbing images from those tapes. Thank you very much, Steve Redisch. We'll let you get back to work. Thank you for joining us live by phone from Washington, D.C.

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