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American Morning
Interview with Orrin Hatch
Aired October 23, 2002 - 08:12 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: I wanted to reintroduce you to Jonathan Karl, a guy you often see covering Congress, who is good enough to join us in the studios this morning, as Bill Hemmer moves from Atlanta to New York -- good morning.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: It's good to have you with us.
KARL: Good morning.
And we've got here a guest, one of the most powerful figures in the United States Senate. But to hear Orrin Hatch tell it, being a major player on Capitol Hill has never been a perfect fit for him. No surprise, then, that he's calling his political memoir "Square Peg: Confessions of A Citizen Senator."
Senator Orrin Hatch is here in New York to talk about his new book and the critical midterm elections that are now just 13 days away.
Senator Hatch, welcome to New York.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, AUTHOR, "SQUARE PEG": Glad to be you, Jon.
KARL: Last time I interviewed you we were on the subway in the Capitol building. This is a much different environment. You've got your book here. You're one of Washington's great storytellers, so I'm looking forward to talking about that. But first, this sniper case. I want to ask you a question. We've got a situation where he has struck in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. His target range is several hundred square miles, multi jurisdictional. This is clearly no longer a local crime. Isn't it time to take this out of the hands of a local police chief or local police chiefs in counties in Maryland and Virginia and have the FBI take over?
HATCH: Well, the federal investigators are already in it and they should be in it because, you know, this fellow is clearly very, very skilled, diabolical, somebody who literally is having a lot of fun for himself at the expense of killing others and, you know, they've got to do everything they can, both the federal and the state law enforcement people, and I'm going to back them every way.
KARL: Well, you know, there's somebody, there's an unnamed FBI official quoted in the "New York Times" today saying, "I don't have a clue what's going on." HATCH: I don't think, I'm not sure they have many clues. To be honest with you, this fellow is very clever. He certainly knows how to handle that rifle and I really doubt that it's just one person. I don't see how he can get away without having some sort of a driver or some sort of accomplice in this matter.
KARL: But at some point do we consider taking this to the federal level? I mean with the FBI...
HATCH: Well, I think it's already there. I think the FBI is already working on it.
KARL: But they're not in control.
HATCH: Well, they may not be in control, but they're certainly working on it and they're in control over their investigation and I suspect that we're going to have the very best FBI agents in the world on it.
KARL: Now, we are 13 days out from, I mean, you've been in politics for a long time. This is the most competitive midterm election in modern political history and nobody's talking about it. I mean everybody's talking about the sniper. Certainly Washington is virtually paralyzed with this. Have you ever seen an election like this?
HATCH: It's really been strange. But they're talking about it in their individual states. And, you know, it's an election that really is going to make a difference. You know, whether or not President Bush is going to be able to get the judges that he's picked through. He's picked some of the best in history. I've been there 26 years and I've never seen any better judgeship nominees. But it's like a slow walk all the way through. Every time we turn around, they're slowing down another person or stopping one. Some of the original circuit court of appeals nominees, really the best I've ever seen, they're now still sitting there a year and a half later.
KARL: One issue that's been revisited as a result of the sniper situation is this question of ballistic fingerprinting. As you know, you talk to a lot of law enforcement, a lot of people in law enforcement think that ballistic fingerprinting would help in a case like the sniper case.
HATCH: Well, it might. But a lot also think that it's not yet perfected, it's not yet something that's as accurate as they would like it to be and it's pretty costly to implement. So we need to really follow that and look at it and see what can be done but do it in the right way.
KARL: Would you be willing to look at it again, though, because you know the NRA's has been opposed to it, Republicans generally have been very opposed to this idea. Is it time to at least look at it again?
HATCH: Well, the reason they're opposed to it is they're afraid it'll be misused and used against honest, decent, law abiding citizens. Of course it has to be looked at.
KARL: OK, now I want to get to your book. You've got many great stories in here and we don't have a lot of time. Can you tell me the story about the day that Bill Clinton called you during the lowest point in his presidency during that impeachment trial?
HATCH: Well I had just pulled into the downtown Washington, D.C. CBS parking lot to go on "Face The Nation." And my staff member came running out saying senator, senator, the president's been calling the studio all morning trying to get hold of you and they're all up in arms and they want to know what's happening.
And so I stayed in my car. I called the president and we had an interesting conversation, but you're going to have to read the book to find out about it. People have wanted to know what happened in that conversation, and -- because, you know, I was trying to get the president to just tell the truth. I said the American people are very forgiving and if you do that, it will be all right.
KARL: So did he want advice? Did he want advice from your or was he just trying to butter you up so that you would come out against, you know, the guilty (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
HATCH: Well, I'm not going to go into his mind. But I do think that he was afraid I was going to go on "Face The Nation" and call for his impeachment when I wasn't going to do that. But he wanted to chat and certainly he wanted to neutralize me, that's for sure. But he didn't have to. I was, I wanted to help him if I could.
KARL: All right, well, Senator Orrin Hatch...
HATCH: Great to be with you.
KARL: Thanks for coming on the show. I really appreciate it.
HATCH: Thanks, Jonathan.
KARL: Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 23, 2002 - 08:12 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: I wanted to reintroduce you to Jonathan Karl, a guy you often see covering Congress, who is good enough to join us in the studios this morning, as Bill Hemmer moves from Atlanta to New York -- good morning.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
ZAHN: It's good to have you with us.
KARL: Good morning.
And we've got here a guest, one of the most powerful figures in the United States Senate. But to hear Orrin Hatch tell it, being a major player on Capitol Hill has never been a perfect fit for him. No surprise, then, that he's calling his political memoir "Square Peg: Confessions of A Citizen Senator."
Senator Orrin Hatch is here in New York to talk about his new book and the critical midterm elections that are now just 13 days away.
Senator Hatch, welcome to New York.
SEN. ORRIN HATCH (R-UT), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, AUTHOR, "SQUARE PEG": Glad to be you, Jon.
KARL: Last time I interviewed you we were on the subway in the Capitol building. This is a much different environment. You've got your book here. You're one of Washington's great storytellers, so I'm looking forward to talking about that. But first, this sniper case. I want to ask you a question. We've got a situation where he has struck in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. His target range is several hundred square miles, multi jurisdictional. This is clearly no longer a local crime. Isn't it time to take this out of the hands of a local police chief or local police chiefs in counties in Maryland and Virginia and have the FBI take over?
HATCH: Well, the federal investigators are already in it and they should be in it because, you know, this fellow is clearly very, very skilled, diabolical, somebody who literally is having a lot of fun for himself at the expense of killing others and, you know, they've got to do everything they can, both the federal and the state law enforcement people, and I'm going to back them every way.
KARL: Well, you know, there's somebody, there's an unnamed FBI official quoted in the "New York Times" today saying, "I don't have a clue what's going on." HATCH: I don't think, I'm not sure they have many clues. To be honest with you, this fellow is very clever. He certainly knows how to handle that rifle and I really doubt that it's just one person. I don't see how he can get away without having some sort of a driver or some sort of accomplice in this matter.
KARL: But at some point do we consider taking this to the federal level? I mean with the FBI...
HATCH: Well, I think it's already there. I think the FBI is already working on it.
KARL: But they're not in control.
HATCH: Well, they may not be in control, but they're certainly working on it and they're in control over their investigation and I suspect that we're going to have the very best FBI agents in the world on it.
KARL: Now, we are 13 days out from, I mean, you've been in politics for a long time. This is the most competitive midterm election in modern political history and nobody's talking about it. I mean everybody's talking about the sniper. Certainly Washington is virtually paralyzed with this. Have you ever seen an election like this?
HATCH: It's really been strange. But they're talking about it in their individual states. And, you know, it's an election that really is going to make a difference. You know, whether or not President Bush is going to be able to get the judges that he's picked through. He's picked some of the best in history. I've been there 26 years and I've never seen any better judgeship nominees. But it's like a slow walk all the way through. Every time we turn around, they're slowing down another person or stopping one. Some of the original circuit court of appeals nominees, really the best I've ever seen, they're now still sitting there a year and a half later.
KARL: One issue that's been revisited as a result of the sniper situation is this question of ballistic fingerprinting. As you know, you talk to a lot of law enforcement, a lot of people in law enforcement think that ballistic fingerprinting would help in a case like the sniper case.
HATCH: Well, it might. But a lot also think that it's not yet perfected, it's not yet something that's as accurate as they would like it to be and it's pretty costly to implement. So we need to really follow that and look at it and see what can be done but do it in the right way.
KARL: Would you be willing to look at it again, though, because you know the NRA's has been opposed to it, Republicans generally have been very opposed to this idea. Is it time to at least look at it again?
HATCH: Well, the reason they're opposed to it is they're afraid it'll be misused and used against honest, decent, law abiding citizens. Of course it has to be looked at.
KARL: OK, now I want to get to your book. You've got many great stories in here and we don't have a lot of time. Can you tell me the story about the day that Bill Clinton called you during the lowest point in his presidency during that impeachment trial?
HATCH: Well I had just pulled into the downtown Washington, D.C. CBS parking lot to go on "Face The Nation." And my staff member came running out saying senator, senator, the president's been calling the studio all morning trying to get hold of you and they're all up in arms and they want to know what's happening.
And so I stayed in my car. I called the president and we had an interesting conversation, but you're going to have to read the book to find out about it. People have wanted to know what happened in that conversation, and -- because, you know, I was trying to get the president to just tell the truth. I said the American people are very forgiving and if you do that, it will be all right.
KARL: So did he want advice? Did he want advice from your or was he just trying to butter you up so that you would come out against, you know, the guilty (UNINTELLIGIBLE)?
HATCH: Well, I'm not going to go into his mind. But I do think that he was afraid I was going to go on "Face The Nation" and call for his impeachment when I wasn't going to do that. But he wanted to chat and certainly he wanted to neutralize me, that's for sure. But he didn't have to. I was, I wanted to help him if I could.
KARL: All right, well, Senator Orrin Hatch...
HATCH: Great to be with you.
KARL: Thanks for coming on the show. I really appreciate it.
HATCH: Thanks, Jonathan.
KARL: Take care.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
