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CNN Live Today

Frist: Fresh GOP Face

Aired December 23, 2002 - 11:47   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.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the fresh face of GOP leadership in the Senate. Republican senators today will choose Bill Frist of Tennessee to replace Trent Lott, who resigned last week amid a political fire storm.
CNN's Jason Carroll checks in now live from Nashville with more details -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you again, Leon.

We are waiting for the senator to arrive. He's expected to arrive shortly after 1:00 and expected to give a statement shortly after the vote takes place, which is expected to happen at about 2:00.

Now, we want you to take a look right now inside of his state office building where you can see a podium has been set up, a number of journalists have started to gather waiting to hear what the senator has to say. Yesterday, I spoking with Senator Frist and asked him what he thought about being majority leader. He said he didn't want to get into a lot of specific details, but he did say this is something that I didn't go out and seek and when I asked him what the whole ordeal has been like, he said the whole thing has been really interesting.

Just a quick biographical fact about the senator, he is a native of Nashville. He is a heart and lung transplant surgeon. He's very popular here in his homestate. People seem to like him for his bedside manner. He's been keeping a low profile for the past three weeks, and hopefully, later on this afternoon, when he gives his statement, we'll get some more insight into what he thinks of being the new Senate majority leader.

HARRIS: All right, thank you, Jason.

In the meantime, let's get some more insights into Frist's future and what all this means for the Republican Party and perhaps for Senator Frist.

Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now live from Los Angeles.

Good morning, Bill. How are you doing?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Leon. HARRIS: All right, listen, along with the position comes increased scrutiny, and there's already reports coming out that are putting Senator Frist in a critical light here, specifically his relationship with Eli Lily. What do we know about that.

SCHNEIDER: Well, there are allegations that he did in fact defend a provision in the homeland security bill that protected Eli Lily and some other drug makers from legal liability for some vaccine additives that Eli Lily manufactures. He defended that provision. He said it was necessary for homeland security, to protect other vaccine makers whose products might be used to vaccinate the entire country to prevent smallpox. So he said it was important for homeland security, but there are a number of senators who voted for that, only reluctantly, because you may remember, the White House demanded a homeland security bill in the lame duck session of Congress after the election. They said that was their top priority.

So some moderate Republican senators voted for it, on the condition that it be revisited later, because they didn't like it, and Frist was a big defender of that. He has a close relationship with the Eli Lily company. They bought about 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism, although I should add, the proceeds of that sale went to a charitable organization.

HARRIS: That's not the only company he's got very close ties with. His family's company, HCA, also is a very big and influential health care-related company.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. He's never managed the company, but he's a major investor in it. His father and his brother helped organize it. It's a big health care provider, and they recently reached a settlement with the federal government over some accusations of health care fraud, including Medicare overbilling. The settlement entailed about $1.7 billion, but most of his own personal investments and holdings he has placed in blind trust. He has not been actively involved in the management of that company, but it's still a bit of an embarrassment.

HARRIS: From his relationships with outsiders, how about his relationship with President George W. Bush? There's already talk about how this may end up being a benefit and perhaps as well, a problem for Senator Frist.

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, the Senate jealously protects its prerogatives. It doesn't like to be told what to do by the president of the United States. On the other hand, the president of the United States helped them gain their majority when they gained two seats. And in that election in November, Bill Frist was the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee working closely in collaboration with the White House, and a lot of people think it was President Bush's relentless campaigning, and enthusiasm and pep rallies that delivered the Senate back to the Republicans.

Frist was clearly the White House man. The White House tried to keep its fingerprints off the -- quote -- "assassination" -- unquote -- of Trent Lott, but it was known that Frist was the guy they wanted in this job, which raises all kinds of speculation all over Washington these days, is he the guy next in line for the GOP presidential nomination? what about Jeb Bush?

HARRIS: Yes, what about Jeb Bush?

SCHNEIDER: He was handsomely re-elected, and a lot of people think, well, Frist might be a favorite candidate. Is the president going to play a role in this? That's a long way down the road. We'll see how Frist does in his job as majority leader. Frist came into politics in 1994 as an outsider. He beat a longtime incumbent Jim Sasser (ph) in Tennessee, but the majority leader's position is an insider's game. It's a deal maker's game, and you know the last time a majority leader became president was back in Lyndon Johnson's day, and he had he to become vice president first, and succeed to the position only on the Kennedy assassination.

Being majority leader involves a lot of skills that aren't the skills of an outsider.

HARRIS: Very interesting. As always, Bill Schneider in L.A. this morning. Thanks very much, Bill. Have a happy holiday, all right, friend?

SCHNEIDER: Same to you.

HARRIS: All right, 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 December 23, 2002 - 11:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the fresh face of GOP leadership in the Senate. Republican senators today will choose Bill Frist of Tennessee to replace Trent Lott, who resigned last week amid a political fire storm.
CNN's Jason Carroll checks in now live from Nashville with more details -- Jason.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you again, Leon.

We are waiting for the senator to arrive. He's expected to arrive shortly after 1:00 and expected to give a statement shortly after the vote takes place, which is expected to happen at about 2:00.

Now, we want you to take a look right now inside of his state office building where you can see a podium has been set up, a number of journalists have started to gather waiting to hear what the senator has to say. Yesterday, I spoking with Senator Frist and asked him what he thought about being majority leader. He said he didn't want to get into a lot of specific details, but he did say this is something that I didn't go out and seek and when I asked him what the whole ordeal has been like, he said the whole thing has been really interesting.

Just a quick biographical fact about the senator, he is a native of Nashville. He is a heart and lung transplant surgeon. He's very popular here in his homestate. People seem to like him for his bedside manner. He's been keeping a low profile for the past three weeks, and hopefully, later on this afternoon, when he gives his statement, we'll get some more insight into what he thinks of being the new Senate majority leader.

HARRIS: All right, thank you, Jason.

In the meantime, let's get some more insights into Frist's future and what all this means for the Republican Party and perhaps for Senator Frist.

Our senior political analyst Bill Schneider joins us now live from Los Angeles.

Good morning, Bill. How are you doing?

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Leon. HARRIS: All right, listen, along with the position comes increased scrutiny, and there's already reports coming out that are putting Senator Frist in a critical light here, specifically his relationship with Eli Lily. What do we know about that.

SCHNEIDER: Well, there are allegations that he did in fact defend a provision in the homeland security bill that protected Eli Lily and some other drug makers from legal liability for some vaccine additives that Eli Lily manufactures. He defended that provision. He said it was necessary for homeland security, to protect other vaccine makers whose products might be used to vaccinate the entire country to prevent smallpox. So he said it was important for homeland security, but there are a number of senators who voted for that, only reluctantly, because you may remember, the White House demanded a homeland security bill in the lame duck session of Congress after the election. They said that was their top priority.

So some moderate Republican senators voted for it, on the condition that it be revisited later, because they didn't like it, and Frist was a big defender of that. He has a close relationship with the Eli Lily company. They bought about 5,000 copies of his book on bioterrorism, although I should add, the proceeds of that sale went to a charitable organization.

HARRIS: That's not the only company he's got very close ties with. His family's company, HCA, also is a very big and influential health care-related company.

SCHNEIDER: That's right. He's never managed the company, but he's a major investor in it. His father and his brother helped organize it. It's a big health care provider, and they recently reached a settlement with the federal government over some accusations of health care fraud, including Medicare overbilling. The settlement entailed about $1.7 billion, but most of his own personal investments and holdings he has placed in blind trust. He has not been actively involved in the management of that company, but it's still a bit of an embarrassment.

HARRIS: From his relationships with outsiders, how about his relationship with President George W. Bush? There's already talk about how this may end up being a benefit and perhaps as well, a problem for Senator Frist.

SCHNEIDER: Well, of course, the Senate jealously protects its prerogatives. It doesn't like to be told what to do by the president of the United States. On the other hand, the president of the United States helped them gain their majority when they gained two seats. And in that election in November, Bill Frist was the chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee working closely in collaboration with the White House, and a lot of people think it was President Bush's relentless campaigning, and enthusiasm and pep rallies that delivered the Senate back to the Republicans.

Frist was clearly the White House man. The White House tried to keep its fingerprints off the -- quote -- "assassination" -- unquote -- of Trent Lott, but it was known that Frist was the guy they wanted in this job, which raises all kinds of speculation all over Washington these days, is he the guy next in line for the GOP presidential nomination? what about Jeb Bush?

HARRIS: Yes, what about Jeb Bush?

SCHNEIDER: He was handsomely re-elected, and a lot of people think, well, Frist might be a favorite candidate. Is the president going to play a role in this? That's a long way down the road. We'll see how Frist does in his job as majority leader. Frist came into politics in 1994 as an outsider. He beat a longtime incumbent Jim Sasser (ph) in Tennessee, but the majority leader's position is an insider's game. It's a deal maker's game, and you know the last time a majority leader became president was back in Lyndon Johnson's day, and he had he to become vice president first, and succeed to the position only on the Kennedy assassination.

Being majority leader involves a lot of skills that aren't the skills of an outsider.

HARRIS: Very interesting. As always, Bill Schneider in L.A. this morning. Thanks very much, Bill. Have a happy holiday, all right, friend?

SCHNEIDER: Same to you.

HARRIS: All right, 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