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American Morning

President Leaves for Tour After Pretzel Incident

Aired January 14, 2002 - 09:05   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: Up front this morning, the president has just left for a three-state tour, but not before he was checked out by his doctors. As we have been reporting this morning, the president fainted and then, as he said, he "hit the deck," falling to the floor, while watching a football game last night. He suffered a cut on his cheek and a bruised lip, but was given a clean bill of health.

CNN Senior White House Correspondent John King continues to stand by at the White House -- John, you got much better look than we did on videotape. How bad was that bruise?

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He has got a pretty big bruise under his left eye. We'll show it to you in just a second. Next time we hear from the president, he will be in Moline, Illinois at the John Deere factory. He is now trying to talk about his proposals to get the economy going.

Some thought he might have to cancel this trip because of fainting spell last night, but you see the president here, walking out of the Oval Office. He made some jokes to reporters on the way out. He was tested last night by the White House doctors and again this morning. The doctors determined he was okay for him to travel. Let's listen to the president as he tried to put this incident behind him with a bit of humor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My mother always said when you're eating pretzels, chew before you swallow. Listen to your mother. I feel great. Looking forward to a good trip.

QUESTION: What happened?

BUSH: I was -- I hit the deck, and -- woke up, and there was Barney and Spot, showing a lot of concern. I didn't realize what happened until I looked in the mirror, and my glasses cut my side of my face. But, I feel great. Had good blood pressure last night. Good blood pressure this morning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

President says he feels great, but if you look here at this still photo, you can see the large bruise under his left eye. It is a scrape about the size of half dollar, but a much larger bruise around it. Also, a bruise on the president's lower lip.

This because he fainted while watching an NFL play-off game yesterday. He was alone in his bedroom except for his two dogs, which we heard the president mention there. Watching and eating pretzels. He ate a pretzel, said it didn't go down the right.

Doctors speculating it put pressure on a nerve that somehow caused him to faint, decreased his heart rate. President believes he was unconscious for only for a few seconds. He was checked out at the White House last night, again -- checked out again this morning. Doctors say it was okay for the president to travel. They say they don't expect this to happen again. Obviously they will keep in close contact with the president in the days ahead -- Paula.

ZAHN: So Jack Cafferty had an idea for the administration to help diffuse some of the concern over the president's condition. He thought the president should have come out and handed you all pretzels.

KING: Okay. Jack has got a better sense of humor than I, but the president -- aides say he is a little embarrassed about all this. He has tried to make light of it with jokes. He says when he woke up on the floor, he looked up and there were the dogs looking down at him a little funny.

Obviously, the president believes he is in good health. His physical a few months back, the doctor said he was remarkably good health, but whenever there is an incident like this, the president in the White House, at a time of war, obviously there's some concern. You saw the president this morning -- perhaps Jack should have called the White House directly. The president is trying to put all this away with humor, a few pretzels wouldn't hurt.

ZAHN: All right. The president certainly has an ambitious agenda over the next several days, and we'll continue to track his movements as he continues this tri-state tour. Thanks John. Take care.

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