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CNN Live At Daybreak
Senate Republican Leader Trying to Calm Firestorm
Aired December 17, 2002 - 05:02 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More now on Trent Lott and his apology for -- it's getting hard to keep track of just how many mea culpas there have been, four or five, we think. The Senate Republican leader is trying to calm a firestorm for making what he calls a horrible remark that seemed to endorse segregation.
Our Jonathan Karl has more on the Mississippi senator's campaign to save his leadership job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With his fate as majority leader hanging in the balance, still issued yet another mea culpa. This time in an interview on Black Entertainment Television he apologized and apologized not only for his words at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, but also for many things back in his, over the course of his career. He acknowledged that when he grew up and came of age in the segregated South that he, too, believed in segregation and was an advocate of segregation.
He also acknowledged the mistakes he said that he has made over the course of his career in Congress. One of those mistakes, he said, was his vote in 1983 against the making of a federal holiday for Martin Luther King's birthday. That vote, Trent Lott said, was a mistake. He said that at the time of that vote back in 1983, he did not fully appreciate the importance of Dr. King's place in American history. Now, he says, he clearly does and if he had an opportunity to make that vote again, he would vote in favor of the federal holiday.
But Trent Lott faces an uphill battle because his Republican colleagues have now agreed to convene a special conference in January to come together, all 51 Republicans, to decide whether or not they want Trent Lott to continue as their leader. The mere fact that they are holding this conference after Trent Lott was just last month elected majority leader, the mere fact that they're coming together to decide this yet again shows just how perilous his situation is.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Thank you very much.
And we're going to hear directly from Trent Lott and what he had to say on Black Entertainment Television a little later in this broadcast. 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 December 17, 2002 - 05:02 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: More now on Trent Lott and his apology for -- it's getting hard to keep track of just how many mea culpas there have been, four or five, we think. The Senate Republican leader is trying to calm a firestorm for making what he calls a horrible remark that seemed to endorse segregation.
Our Jonathan Karl has more on the Mississippi senator's campaign to save his leadership job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: With his fate as majority leader hanging in the balance, still issued yet another mea culpa. This time in an interview on Black Entertainment Television he apologized and apologized not only for his words at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, but also for many things back in his, over the course of his career. He acknowledged that when he grew up and came of age in the segregated South that he, too, believed in segregation and was an advocate of segregation.
He also acknowledged the mistakes he said that he has made over the course of his career in Congress. One of those mistakes, he said, was his vote in 1983 against the making of a federal holiday for Martin Luther King's birthday. That vote, Trent Lott said, was a mistake. He said that at the time of that vote back in 1983, he did not fully appreciate the importance of Dr. King's place in American history. Now, he says, he clearly does and if he had an opportunity to make that vote again, he would vote in favor of the federal holiday.
But Trent Lott faces an uphill battle because his Republican colleagues have now agreed to convene a special conference in January to come together, all 51 Republicans, to decide whether or not they want Trent Lott to continue as their leader. The mere fact that they are holding this conference after Trent Lott was just last month elected majority leader, the mere fact that they're coming together to decide this yet again shows just how perilous his situation is.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Thank you very much.
And we're going to hear directly from Trent Lott and what he had to say on Black Entertainment Television a little later in this broadcast. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
