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CNN Live At Daybreak

America Strikes Back: Talk with Senate Minority Leader Lott; Attacks Brought Not Only Death and Destruction, But Dislocation

Aired October 10, 2001 - 08:31   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.
JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It used to be after these briefings between the president and congressional leadership, we would bring you one side and then the other side. We just had Democrat, Dick Gephardt of Missouri. Now we have here the Senate minority leader Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, a great deal of bipartisan spirit at the moment. Now tell us first about the details of this new arrangement. The president was furious over what he believed inappropriate leaks of classified information.

Do we have a deal now?

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R-MS), MINORITY LEADER: I think the president made his point, and all senators and congressman are on notice to be careful about what you say after a briefing, particularly if it's classified. You may agree or not agree about how sensitive it is, but you have a responsibility, particularly if there is a ongoing operation, or there is about to be one, to not to talk about it.

The president made it clear that he is going to continue to brief, as the law requires, the top four elected leaders and the heads of the Intelligence Committee. He's going to make sure that Secretary Powell, Secretary Rumsfeld, continue to brief the defense committees, the Appropriations committee, foreign relations committees. He will do that.

And we will continue to have briefings sort of after the fact about how things have gone in Afghanistan. How did the equipment work that we provided. What more do they need? What new intelligence sources? So you know, that will continue, but I do think that there will be a little bit more sensitivity about how broad that information is disseminated and when. But also Congress is going to have to be more on guard about how much we talk about things we have been told is classified.

KING: Everyone says that the president is justified in his anger. Should anyone be disciplined here?

LOTT: I don't know. I don't think so at this point. Because frankly, I have not, you know, asked to be told who did what, with what information, but obviously, there was great concern about it. I think in the future, if you have a classified leak, Congress is going to have to be prepared to investigate it and take action. But I think the president again has made his point. I think this is beginning to get overblown. I think we're going to continue to get information that we need, certainly after the fact, and as the law requires, before the fact, certain members of leadership on certain committees.

KING: Without revealing any classified information, how detailed was the president in offering an assessment, his view of the damage done so far?

LOTT: The president each morning at his breakfast takes the first half of the hour sort of going over what has happened, what the results have been, what they are thinking about. He goes into pretty good detail. And I must say that the speaker, and Senator Daschle, Congressman Gephardt and I are very careful not to talk about it, but he goes into pretty good detail. He basically said this morning, I guess he could have gone on more, but you know, for the most part, what I know.

KING: And what is the sense of how much damage has been gone to the Taliban? Are they out of power in Afghanistan, too?

LOTT: Well, they are obviously not out now, but they are having certainly some confusion in their ranks. Some damage has been done. I mean, you're reporting that on CNN, and there are indications that they are having difficulties. The job is not done, and as the president said all along, this is not going to be one surgical strike; this is going to be sort of an ongoing thing, and it will continue to go on until we get Hussein, and until those terrorists leaders there are dealt with, and the Taliban government does what the president made clear they had to do. He made it very clear, and they have not complied, and that's why he's acting the way that we are.

KING: And did he tell you that the United States knows where Osama bin Laden is?

LOTT: He didn't tell us that specifically.

KING: And you're going now to a meeting on economic stimulus. We focused a lot on this classified controversy over the impact of the war. You're hoping to get checks in the hands of consumers, tax breaks to businesses before the holiday season. What are the major disagreements, and how fast, and what will be in this package?

LOTT: There are some people that think that the thing to do is to spend a lot more money, and in some ways, it might not even immediately affect the economy. We have already committed some $55 billion, and probably much more, in terms of spending for the cleanup, disaster assistance, and assistance to the airlines, and transportation assistance and so on. We think now it's very important also we balance it with tax proposals that will help stimulate the economy, cause growth, create jobs, that can have a quick impact, and particularly, if you do it in the right way, like on spending, so that companies can go out and buy equipment, which creates jobs, and provide better service. That does have a quick effect on the economy. But I think we need to be careful that what we do has an immediate impact. We have to be careful that it does not have a long- term negative effect, and that it have a growth effect, and if it doesn't, we shouldn't do it. There are some tax provisions that I would like to see us do, but they wouldn't necessarily have quick stimulative effect.

And I think we can work through this. Right now, the Democrats are coming at it from a different direction than the Republicans, but we will work through that, and important thing is to do what's necessary to get a good strong recovery in the economy.

KING: You are being very polite in the current spirit of bipartisanship about the disagreements with the Democrats over economic stimulus. Senate Minority leader Trent Lott, thank you for your time this morning. Obviously an agreement to try to reach the stimulus deal within the next week or two in the Congress, and a tentative truce at least in the fight with Congress between the president and Congress over sharing classified information.

Back to you now, Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, John.

The devastating attacks almost a month ago brought not only death and destruction, but also dislocation for thousands of people who lived in the neighborhood of the World Trade Center. Now comes word from a private toxicology company that the asbestos contamination inside the buildings near ground zero may be far worse than government officials have reported. But that is not changing the plans of one couple, who's wedding toast actually referred to the twin towers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These two buildings, the Trade Center, one and two, and they called them one and two for some odd reason, I'd like to think that they are building man and building woman, or building husband or building wife, or building he or building she.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Wow, the past weekend we got to go with Dawn and Stan Zolek as they toured their apartment to actually see the impact of the September 11th attack, and they are with us now to talk about going home.

Good to see you all.

STAN ZOLEK, DISPLACED NEW YORKER: How are you doing.

DAWN ZOLEK, DISPLACED NEW YORKER: Hi, .

ZAHN: I'm OK. How are you guys after you had your first opportunity over the weekend and go in to remove some of your belongings? S. ZOLEK: Our lives have definitely been more stable now. You know, the first Saturday after the incident, we went into to get some belongings, but the apartment was completely filled with dust, so we couldn't get in there for a while, so actually this Saturday was the first time we were allowed in to get some clothes, so it's definitely getting better, but its been a struggle.

ZAHN: We just heard that touching toast, where I think it was your father referred to the power and the majesty of the Twin Towers imagine cities of the twin towers and on a emotional level, what was it like for you to go back to the apartment that stood in the shadows of the enormous towers.

Here you are going home.

D. ZOLEK: It's very difficult to pinpoint. There is a lot of mixed emotions that we are experiencing, so to say that there is just one thing to explain it would be kind of difficult, because we've lived this for over six years. My husband works there. My parents have a apartment in the same building as well, and we were married there, so it's...

ZAHN: And there you're looking at a wedding photo there again with the towers behind you.

S. ZOLEK: Yes, you know, it's difficult to set aside that 6,300 people that aren't here with us that died in this incident, you know, to set aside that, you know, this has been difficult, because that's a home, you now, that's a home; that's where we grew up, that's where we are establishing our lives, and just imagine it just getting taken away from you, so you know, like I said, when we left, I was like, we will be back.

ZAHN: When will you be back, do you know?

D. ZOLEK: No, we don't know. We actually called the owner of the building yesterday, and they still did not have a answer for us. They said maybe next week.

ZAHN: Are you still paying rent on the apartment?

D. ZOLEK: No.

ZAHN: So the owner of the or the management company decided for the month of the October you do not have to pay anything and the month of September.

D. ZOLEK: Yes.

ZAHN: Well, that's pretty nice, because, I mean, there are stories of people being forced to pay rent for apartments they can't live in.

So where are you living now, and who is paying for that?

D. ZOLEK: We are actually staying in the West Village at a temporary apartment that we found through a friend, ask we've staying there for the past two weeks. We'll be there through the end of the month.

ZAHN: Is the government supplementing that?

D. ZOLEK: Yes, they are, and they've been wonderful.

ZAHN: Yes, so what's happened, because we've heard some nightmare stories about people not being able to hook up with the right officials from FEMA? You're had no problem at all.

S. ZOLEK: We had no problem. We had no problem getting funding from FEMA, or even from the Red Cross. You know, these people, they have been so nice to us, and you know, we can't thing them enough for what they have done. And when we went there Saturday, the whole area, it's so much cleaner. They are really working around the clock to try to get this place up and running for us, so they are definitely working on it, and we felt good walking away from the apartment this weekend.

ZAHN: It may be cleaner, but you got to be -- well, I don't want to be put words in your mouth -- but how nervous does it make you when you hear these toxicology reports that say that the levels of asbestos are much higher than originally calculated?

S. ZOLEK: Yes, we are definitely concerned, because we have no children, but we are planning to have children within the next year, so you know, that's in the back of our mind, you know, breathing all of the air in, and also I work down there, my family is down there, so you know, we are very concerned. So I believe that they need to do more additional testing before they let all these people into the budding.

ZAHN: Describe to us what it was like, the whole neighborhood, as you returned home over the weekend. I mean, obviously, you have great admiration for the cleanup crews who are still working and all those rescue workers who worked in this very bad air for many, many weeks. What are your thoughts about that?

D. ZOLEK: It's definitely different. It's not what it used to be. It's going to take a while to build it back. I'm sure it will eventually come to the level that it once was, but it's going to take a few years. And it's heartbreaking to see that the area that we lived and we have created a life for ourselves has been completely turned around.

ZAHN: We saw that picture of you, Stan, leaning out your window looking at the Statue of Liberty. I don't think we can get that back up yet. But does that have a newfound meaning for you? That was the direction that your apartment faced actually?

S. ZOLEK: Yes, that means it's the same meaning like it had before. You know, we have a beautiful view outside of our place.

ZAHN: There you go. That's exactly what you see. S. ZOLEK: I wake up to that every morning, and I am still planning to wake up to that every morning, and this is something that -- we believe Manhattan, we live in the greatest city in the world with the greatest opportunities, and I think the people of Bowdy (ph) Park City should just join together and stay down there, and let's all work together to build this part of Manhattan, because it's a really special place.

ZAHN: Well, we know it wasn't easy for you all to go home, but we appreciate you letting us tag along with our cameras and showing the audience -- I mean, the pictures did not capture all of the dust and the grime that's on your clothes, but hopefully you can get all that stuff cleaned up and use it all over again.

D. ZOLEK: Yes, that's replaceable.

ZAHN: Good luck. Thank you for sharing your story with us this morning.

D. ZOLEK: Thank you. Thank you very much.

S. ZOLEK: Thank you.

ZAHN: Dawn and Stan Zolek.

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