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CNN Live Today
President Bush Hosting Bipartisan Gathering of Lawmakers at White House
Aired September 26, 2002 - 10:01 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: And as you saw, now we have the first on Iraq. Up first this hour on CNN, President Bush is hosting a bipartisan gathering of lawmakers at the White House. The showdown with Iraq and some Capitol Hill bickering are likely to be the topics of the session.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is at the executive mansion, and she joins us with the latest.
Suzanne, I would love to be a fly on the wall this morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So would I, Daryn, really.
This is going to be a very high-powered meeting this morning not only involving the president, as well as Republicans and Democrats from the House, but also Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney, as well as the joint chiefs, all here at the White House discussing Iraq. The real push now is to get a strong congressional resolution authorizing the president to use military force against Saddam Hussein. The president is going to be speaking after the meeting in less than an hour at the Rose Garden to give us kind of a layout of what was discussed in that meeting.
Now president, last night, extended an olive branch to Congress. This at a Republican dinner here in Washington when he praised both Republicans and Democrats, really, for taking a strong, tough stance against Saddam Hussein. But the president also expressing some frustration at the Senate's refusal to pass his version of homeland security, but again saying that not all senators are to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfortunately, some senators, not all senators, but some senators believe it is best to try to micromanage the process. Unfortunately, some in the Senate, not all in the Senate want to take away the power that the -- all presidents have had since Jimmy Carter. And I'm not going to stand for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And the administration also making its toughest argument yet, its strongest argument for a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein and the terrorist organization. It was just yesterday that the National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said on the "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" -- and I am quoting here -- "We know too -- we know too that several of the detainees, in particular some high ranking detainees, have said that Iraq provided some training to al Qaeda in chemical weapons development. So, yes, there are contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda. We know that Saddam Hussein has a long history with terrorism in general. And there are some al Qaeda personnel who found refuge in Baghdad."
That is a new argument that we have been hearing from the Bush administration. They have been focusing, saying that yes there have been al Qaeda in Iraq, namely northern Iraq, that is where the Kurds control that territory. But now, the national security adviser saying that there is some evidence that perhaps Iraq was training al Qaeda in chemical weapons in their program.
Now this is a message that the president is going to be taking on the road. He's going to be doing some campaigning, some fund raising for Republicans in Texas, Arizona and Colorado over the next couple of days, making the point. And again, this administration the next couple of days really pushing to get that congressional resolution passed -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. As you mentioned, this is going to be a very interesting morning for us. We're going to hear from the president, as you mentioned, and then we expect to hear from the Democratic leaders from Congress. Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt, they're going to come on the bottom of the hour. You'll see all that live here on CNN.
Suzanne, thank you.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And see if they kissed and made up this morning, huh?
KAGAN: Somehow I doubt that.
HARRIS: You and me both.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
at White House>
Aired September 26, 2002 - 10:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And as you saw, now we have the first on Iraq. Up first this hour on CNN, President Bush is hosting a bipartisan gathering of lawmakers at the White House. The showdown with Iraq and some Capitol Hill bickering are likely to be the topics of the session.
Our White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is at the executive mansion, and she joins us with the latest.
Suzanne, I would love to be a fly on the wall this morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So would I, Daryn, really.
This is going to be a very high-powered meeting this morning not only involving the president, as well as Republicans and Democrats from the House, but also Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Cheney, as well as the joint chiefs, all here at the White House discussing Iraq. The real push now is to get a strong congressional resolution authorizing the president to use military force against Saddam Hussein. The president is going to be speaking after the meeting in less than an hour at the Rose Garden to give us kind of a layout of what was discussed in that meeting.
Now president, last night, extended an olive branch to Congress. This at a Republican dinner here in Washington when he praised both Republicans and Democrats, really, for taking a strong, tough stance against Saddam Hussein. But the president also expressing some frustration at the Senate's refusal to pass his version of homeland security, but again saying that not all senators are to blame.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfortunately, some senators, not all senators, but some senators believe it is best to try to micromanage the process. Unfortunately, some in the Senate, not all in the Senate want to take away the power that the -- all presidents have had since Jimmy Carter. And I'm not going to stand for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And the administration also making its toughest argument yet, its strongest argument for a link between Iraq and al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein and the terrorist organization. It was just yesterday that the National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice said on the "News Hour with Jim Lehrer" -- and I am quoting here -- "We know too -- we know too that several of the detainees, in particular some high ranking detainees, have said that Iraq provided some training to al Qaeda in chemical weapons development. So, yes, there are contacts between Iraq and al Qaeda. We know that Saddam Hussein has a long history with terrorism in general. And there are some al Qaeda personnel who found refuge in Baghdad."
That is a new argument that we have been hearing from the Bush administration. They have been focusing, saying that yes there have been al Qaeda in Iraq, namely northern Iraq, that is where the Kurds control that territory. But now, the national security adviser saying that there is some evidence that perhaps Iraq was training al Qaeda in chemical weapons in their program.
Now this is a message that the president is going to be taking on the road. He's going to be doing some campaigning, some fund raising for Republicans in Texas, Arizona and Colorado over the next couple of days, making the point. And again, this administration the next couple of days really pushing to get that congressional resolution passed -- Daryn.
KAGAN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House. As you mentioned, this is going to be a very interesting morning for us. We're going to hear from the president, as you mentioned, and then we expect to hear from the Democratic leaders from Congress. Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt, they're going to come on the bottom of the hour. You'll see all that live here on CNN.
Suzanne, thank you.
MALVEAUX: Absolutely.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And see if they kissed and made up this morning, huh?
KAGAN: Somehow I doubt that.
HARRIS: You and me both.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
at White House>
