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CNN Live At Daybreak

Mayor Rudy Giuliani Speaks about the Crash of Flight 587

Aired November 13, 2001 - 07:37   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with the latest on the New York plane crash investigation. Federal crash investigators say so far there is no evidence of criminal activity in the American Airlines crash that killed at least 265 people yesterday. The investigation is focusing on an engine which apparently broke away from the Airbus A- 300 shortly before the crash. Among the possibilities, some sort of catastrophic, uncontained failure of the engine. The plane, as you probably already know, went down in a neighborhood that lost 60 people in the World Trade Center attacks.

Still another blow to New York. Can New Yorkers, still reeling from September 11th, cope with this latest tragedy?

Mayor Rudy Giuliani says yes. He's with us this morning.

Thank you very much for being with us, sir.

RUDY GIULIANI, MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: Good morning, Paula, how are you?

ZAHN: Is there any -- I'm OK, as I'm sure that's about all you can say this morning as you face...

GIULIANI: Right. We'll be -- we're okay.

ZAHN: ... yet another crisis here.

Any information you can share with us about the investigation that you're privy to this morning?

GIULIANI: Well, I can tell you that we recovered 262 bodies yesterday -- the police department and the fire department did. We think there are five people missing on the ground, in addition to the people on the airplane, and that number could grow. Those are the numbers that are official.

And other than that, I -- you know the fact is that the response to this was about as quick and about as sure and about as professional as it possibly could be. So that if anyone has any doubts about the morale of the police and fire personnel in New York City, the NYPD and the FDNY did a magnificent job yesterday of containing what could have been an even worse tragedy, if that's even possible to contemplate. Much worse than what happened, which was pretty bad.

ZAHN: I know this big chill went through the air here when we learned that you had...

GIULIANI: Sure.

ZAHN: ... called for a Level 1 Alert. Walk us through where you were yesterday and what went through your mind when you had heard that this plane had gone down.

GIULIANI: I was in my office. I was having a meeting in my office. I got a call that a plane had crashed into the Rockaways. I immediately called the police commissioner and said we'd better head out there. And while we were in the car, we called -- we called the White House, talked to the president's Chief of Staff Andy Card, talked to the president, talked to Governor Pataki and organized a -- organized a response and preceded on the assumption, although you know at that point we didn't know, but we proceeded on the assumption that it would -- it would be part of a group of attacks and therefore closed down different parts of the city and sent out police personnel to areas of the city where we anticipate something like that might happen.

And then after a couple of hours after we were -- we were pretty certain that it was not part of a coordinated effort, we were able to reduce those efforts somewhat, you know, although the city is on high alert day in and day out now, so it just means stepping it up in a situation like that.

ZAHN: And that was the reason why you had a partial lockdown of the UN yesterday as well, right?

GIULIANI: Well, yes, that happened -- that some -- it's like I talked to one of the police officers that was assigned there. That happened -- that happened within minutes. We go back after one of these things and check, to make sure it actually all worked out the way it was supposed to, and it did. And you know, listen, it was the right thing to do, and we're -- and we're fortunate that it wasn't part of that. And it may turn out that this was not a terrorist act, that it was an accident. But at the time that it happens, that's the way in which I think nowadays you have to proceed.

ZAHN: I know yesterday when you got on the scene in one of your first interviews, because we had a mike poked in your face at that moment, where you talked about this community being so devastated by the World Trade Center, a community that had lost a number of firefighters,...

GIULIANI: Yes.

ZAHN: ... 60 folks in all, many parents who had worked at the World Trade Center, describe to us what it was like to see so many families on the street because kids, of course, were home because of Veteran's Day...

GIULIANI: And some of the -- their...

ZAHN: ... and sort of how the community dealt with this. GIULIANI: Well, I know this community really well. I mean I spent a lot of time there, I know a lot of the people there, and to go -- to go back there, I've been there for I think about 10 funerals in the last -- in the last two months. In fact, many of them in the church that was just two blocks away from where this happened.

So my first thought, when I reflected on that was it can't be that it's happened to this community again. I mean they were hit so hard by the World Trade Center, so many police officers, firefighters, people that worked at the World Trade Center, and then to have a plane to the Dominican Republic, where that's another one of our very, very strong and beautiful communities, the Dominican community. And when you know a lot of the people involved, it makes it -- makes it even worse.

But, this is also a beautiful and very, very good community. I mean they -- this -- these -- this is a community of families, of religious faith, in both cases, and I think you're going to see a very, very strong response by them.

ZAHN: I know you have focused so much on the human toll this crash has taken, and appropriately so, and the head of American Airlines coming in and trying to interface with some of the family members affected by this. But have you had a chance to even begin to understand what the economic impact of this crash will have on the city?

GIULIANI: Well, you know we're working our way through that. We're coming back. I think we are back, and I think we will continue to. I don't think this is going to deter people. I think they're just going to move right ahead, continue with their lives and not let these things psychologically play with their minds, you know, in quite the way that I guess some of our enemies would like to see this happen.

I mean if in fact it's correct that this is an accident, then what would have happened is because the terrorists attacked us back on the 11th, that other things that happen, if we allow that to affect us, we really give them a big victory, and I don't want to see that happen.

I think you're going to see New York City move right ahead -- forward. And we're going to help the people of Rockaway, they deserve it, they're very strong and good people. We're going to help the Dominican community. It's one of our strong and most important communities in the city. We're all going to pull together and we're going to be even stronger.

That's -- when I talked to President Bush on the telephone right -- I was right in the middle of Rockaway then, when the fire was going on, he said New York City is being tested again. And I said "that's right, Mr. President, and we'll pass the test." And I'm quite convinced that we will. These are extraordinarily strong people, people of religious faith, people who have a lot of determination and a real dedication to democracy. ZAHN: I can't think of a worse nightmare to live through as you wrap up your mayoralship. Just in closing this morning, have you given any thought to what you want your legacy to be as having...

GIULIANI: No.

ZAHN: ... served this city...

GIULIANI: No.

ZAHN: ... during a horrible, horrible time...

GIULIANI: No, I'm not...

ZAHN: ... in our history?

GIULIANI: I give no thought to my legacy. I think legacies happen after you're dead, and I don't intend to die, so I don't give any thought to legacy. I think that's one of the silly things that goes on among politicians when they start thinking about legacies. You do the best you can, you do it with all the energy you have and then you, you know, you let -- you let history and the future take care of however they view you. It's not my job to figure out my legacy.

ZAHN: Given the pace you move around at, I expect that we'll be talking about you for many years to come.

GIULIANI: Well, thank you.

ZAHN: Mayor Giuliani,...

GIULIANI: All right.

ZAHN: ... best of luck to you as you...

GIULIANI: Thank you.

ZAHN: ... continue to try to comfort the poor folks out there in Rockaway whose community has once again been subjected...

GIULIANI: Yes, a great community.

ZAHN: ... to such enormous pain.

GIULIANI: God bless it.

ZAHN: Thank you, Mayor.

GIULIANI: Thank you.

ZAHN: Good luck.

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