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Tussle Between President Bush and His Former Treasury Secretary
Aired January 13, 2004 - 05:01 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more now on that tussle between President Bush and his former treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill. The Treasury Department is investigating O'Neill's interview on "60 Minutes." They're trying to find out how a secret document showed up on the air. O'Neill was on the show to promote "The Price of Loyalty" by Ron Suskind. The book, critical of the Bush administration, comes out today.
As for White House reaction, our John King reports officials feel the less said, the better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Mexico, the president would not say whether he feels betrayed by his former treasury secretary, but strongly defended his decision to go to war in Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: September 11 made me realize that America was no longer protected by oceans and we had to take the threats very seriously.
KING: The White House says it will not engage in a public, point by point rebuttal of this new book, "The Price of Loyalty," in which Paul O'Neill not only questions the war, but says the president leading a cabinet meeting is like a blind man in a room full of deaf people.
Back in Washington, the Treasury Department launched a preliminary investigation into whether O'Neill broke the law in taking classified memos he is now using to help make his case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CBS NEWS "60 MINUTES")
PAUL O'NEILL, TREASURY SECRETARY: In the very beginning there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: O'Neill discussed the memos with "60 Minutes," including this one, 10 days into the Bush presidency, designated "secret," that discussed planning for post-Saddam Iraq. Now Treasury officials want to know if O'Neill took classified materials not meant to leave government files. O'Neill's access to such memos came from his seat on the National Security Council. He told "Time" magazine he never saw anything in the intelligence "that I would characterize as real evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction."
Countering O'Neill, senior Bush aides say the former secretary did not see the most sensitive intelligence, that regime change in Iraq became government policy in the Clinton administration and that from the bombing Mr. Bush and top aides made no secret they wanted to turn up the heat.
Some Democrats say O'Neill's account is proof Mr. Bush exaggerated the case for war.
In better days, the president called O'Neill a straight shooter. Now, White House allies are trying to limit the political fallout.
VIN WEBER, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Most people will understand that a big element of this is sour grapes and a desire to get back at the guy that sacked you, really.
KING (on camera): The president wouldn't say so, but inside the Bush White House, O'Neill's account is viewed as a backstabbing betrayal. But the hope here is the less said publicly, the faster what is at minimum an embarrassing chapter of the Bush presidency, comes to a close.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Secretary>
Aired January 13, 2004 - 05:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get more now on that tussle between President Bush and his former treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill. The Treasury Department is investigating O'Neill's interview on "60 Minutes." They're trying to find out how a secret document showed up on the air. O'Neill was on the show to promote "The Price of Loyalty" by Ron Suskind. The book, critical of the Bush administration, comes out today.
As for White House reaction, our John King reports officials feel the less said, the better.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Mexico, the president would not say whether he feels betrayed by his former treasury secretary, but strongly defended his decision to go to war in Iraq.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: September 11 made me realize that America was no longer protected by oceans and we had to take the threats very seriously.
KING: The White House says it will not engage in a public, point by point rebuttal of this new book, "The Price of Loyalty," in which Paul O'Neill not only questions the war, but says the president leading a cabinet meeting is like a blind man in a room full of deaf people.
Back in Washington, the Treasury Department launched a preliminary investigation into whether O'Neill broke the law in taking classified memos he is now using to help make his case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM CBS NEWS "60 MINUTES")
PAUL O'NEILL, TREASURY SECRETARY: In the very beginning there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: O'Neill discussed the memos with "60 Minutes," including this one, 10 days into the Bush presidency, designated "secret," that discussed planning for post-Saddam Iraq. Now Treasury officials want to know if O'Neill took classified materials not meant to leave government files. O'Neill's access to such memos came from his seat on the National Security Council. He told "Time" magazine he never saw anything in the intelligence "that I would characterize as real evidence Iraq had weapons of mass destruction."
Countering O'Neill, senior Bush aides say the former secretary did not see the most sensitive intelligence, that regime change in Iraq became government policy in the Clinton administration and that from the bombing Mr. Bush and top aides made no secret they wanted to turn up the heat.
Some Democrats say O'Neill's account is proof Mr. Bush exaggerated the case for war.
In better days, the president called O'Neill a straight shooter. Now, White House allies are trying to limit the political fallout.
VIN WEBER, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Most people will understand that a big element of this is sour grapes and a desire to get back at the guy that sacked you, really.
KING (on camera): The president wouldn't say so, but inside the Bush White House, O'Neill's account is viewed as a backstabbing betrayal. But the hope here is the less said publicly, the faster what is at minimum an embarrassing chapter of the Bush presidency, comes to a close.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Secretary>
