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CNN Live At Daybreak
CIA Director George Tenet to Testify Today
Aired July 16, 2003 - 06:33 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: The CIA director in the hot seat. Of course, we won't get to see George Tenet testify, because the drama will be played out behind closed doors. The whole scenario has the White House on the defensive.
Live to the White House now and Dana Bash.
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, the White House is really trying to put this issue behind them. The president has said that the CIA cleared his State of the Union speech. CIA Director George Tenet has essentially taken responsibility, but the Democrats aren't letting this go. As a matter of fact, their criticism is growing, not only about pre-war intelligence, but about the post-war effort in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Its a disgrace that the case for war seems to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence. All of the evidence points to the conclusion that they put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And it's not just the Ted Kennedys of the world criticizing the president, it's also some Democrats who voted for the Iraq resolution when it came up for a vote in Congress in the fall, especially those Democratic presidential candidates, those that want Mr. Bush's job. They see an opening here, because they are calling this over and over again a credibility issue.
But the RNC is fighting back. They have launched a campaign to try to say that they believe that the Democrats are simply trying to politicize this, that they believe that they see an opening here, and that this is all about politics. They are doing this with e-mail campaigns and interviews, both on a national and local level.
And as much as the president wants to let this go and the White House does, there is going to be a visitor at the White House tomorrow, and that is Tony Blair, the British prime minister, and he was, of course, the president's No. 1 ally in this. And it is the British that the president referred to in terms of his State of the Union address, and it is their intelligence that he relied on in terms of Iraq potentially getting uranium from Africa -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting live from the White House this morning.
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 July 16, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: The CIA director in the hot seat. Of course, we won't get to see George Tenet testify, because the drama will be played out behind closed doors. The whole scenario has the White House on the defensive.
Live to the White House now and Dana Bash.
Good morning -- Dana.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
Well, the White House is really trying to put this issue behind them. The president has said that the CIA cleared his State of the Union speech. CIA Director George Tenet has essentially taken responsibility, but the Democrats aren't letting this go. As a matter of fact, their criticism is growing, not only about pre-war intelligence, but about the post-war effort in Iraq.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Its a disgrace that the case for war seems to have been based on shoddy intelligence, hyped intelligence and even false intelligence. All of the evidence points to the conclusion that they put a spin on the intelligence and a spin on the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And it's not just the Ted Kennedys of the world criticizing the president, it's also some Democrats who voted for the Iraq resolution when it came up for a vote in Congress in the fall, especially those Democratic presidential candidates, those that want Mr. Bush's job. They see an opening here, because they are calling this over and over again a credibility issue.
But the RNC is fighting back. They have launched a campaign to try to say that they believe that the Democrats are simply trying to politicize this, that they believe that they see an opening here, and that this is all about politics. They are doing this with e-mail campaigns and interviews, both on a national and local level.
And as much as the president wants to let this go and the White House does, there is going to be a visitor at the White House tomorrow, and that is Tony Blair, the British prime minister, and he was, of course, the president's No. 1 ally in this. And it is the British that the president referred to in terms of his State of the Union address, and it is their intelligence that he relied on in terms of Iraq potentially getting uranium from Africa -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Dana Bash reporting live from the White House this morning.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
