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CNN Live At Daybreak
Enron Scandal Continues To Shadow Bush Administration
Aired January 23, 2002 - 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: Some cabinet secretaries say they took no action to help Enron when they got phone calls from company executives before it went bankrupt.
But as CNN's Senior White House Correspondent John King reports, Enron still casts a long shadow over the Bush administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Flashback, April 2000, a front row show of power -- the cheers for opening day at Houston's Enron field and the ceremonial first pitch by Enron Chairman and CEO Ken Lay. "Kenny boy" was the nickname used by then Governor Bush in those days. Things are a bit more formal now.
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have never discussed with Mr. Lay the financial problems of the company.
KING: Lay did call two Bush cabinet secretaries in the weeks before Enron filed for bankruptcy late last year. The administration says it would have been inappropriate to help.
BUSH: There's been a couple of contacts with people in my cabinet and my cabinet officers said no help here.
KING: But the story line is not so simple, in part because of a fight for internal administration documents that predates Enron's bankruptcy filing, but is getting more attention now.
JOHN PODESTA, FORMER CLINTON CHIEF OF STAFF: Every president, every White House needs the ability to have candid conversations. There's an appropriate role for executive privilege. But when you start having to use the term executive privilege in public when you're in a big dispute with Congress, it immediately conjures up Richard Nixon stiffing Congress on legitimate inquiries, and that's treacherous ground for a White House.
KING: Government e-mails show the vice president did try last summer to help Enron collect a multi-million dollar debt on a project in India. But the request for Cheney's help came from a government agency that insured the project, not Enron.
Team Bush, without question, has a remarkable number of Enron connections. (on camera): The president and vice president are friends of the Enron chairman and CEO. The attorney general and energy secretary received campaign contributions from Enron when they served in the Senate. The president's top economic adviser was a paid Enron consultant; Army secretary Thomas White a top Enron executive. And the president's choice to lead the Republican National Committee, former Montana Governor Mark Rosco, is a former Enron lobbyist.
(voice-over): Vice President Cheney this month detailed six meetings between Enron officials and the task force he headed while developing the administration's energy policy. In this letter to Congress, the vice president's office said Enron did not communicate information about its financial position in any of the meetings. But the White House still is refusing to offer a full accounting of the energy task force deliberations or a full accounting of administration contacts with Enron officials.
This defense of executive privilege goes well beyond the energy task force and Enron. The Bush White House also is refusing to turn over to Congress documents it wants for continuing investigations of Clinton Administration fundraising.
MARY MATLIN, COUNSELOR TO THE VICE PRESIDENT: The president and the vice president believe that over the last several decades the prerogatives of the executive branch and the presidency have been eroded by what are sometimes, unfortunately, politically motivated and meaningless investigations that waste taxpayers' dollars. We wanted to stop the madness, if you will.
KING: It seems all too familiar to veterans of the Clinton White House.
PODESTA: I think we sort of set the standard for doing nothing wrong and seeming like maybe we had because of our attitude. You'd think they'd learn from our mistakes. But I guess they have to make the mistakes all over again.
KING: Enron's White House access hardly began with the Bush Inauguration. The company had close ties in the Clinton Administration and was a big supporter of the Kyoto Global Climate Change Treaty that President Bush abandoned.
MATLIN: So what if it's good for Enron? It was bad for the economy and bad for America.
KING: If nothing else, some Democrats believe all the attention on Enron will feed a perception that hurts Mr. Bush with some key voting blocs.
STANLEY GREENBERG, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: When it comes to energy, they still quite can't escape the fact that they are oil industry guys. And maybe they won't be able to escape being Enron people guys.
KING: In the end, top Bush advisers insist any investigation will show a major supporter asked for help and the answer was no. (on camera): But some top White House aides increasingly are worried that, at a minimum, months of congressional inquiries will prove to be a political headache and perhaps a distraction from the president's second year agenda.
John King, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And we've got more on Enron. At the bottom of the hour, we'll have a report on how Enron's collapse has left some charities in the lurch.
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