Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Bush to speak to Birmingham Business Leaders

Aired July 15, 2002 - 07:09   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: There was a lot of talk over the weekend about what the president might say today. He is expected to mention that the economy is strong and recovering when he speaks to business leaders in Birmingham, Alabama a little bit later on this morning. But more information about the president's own past business practices may draw attention away from today's message.

Senior White House Correspondent John King joins us now from the White House -- good morning, John. A lot of attention over the weekend focused on the president's trade of the Harken Energy stock back in 1990. We even had a Republican senator, Senator Orrin Hatch, coming out and saying it might be a good idea for the president to ask the SEC to release his whole file on this. What is the likelihood of that happening?

JOHN KING, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House so far, Paula, has resisted that. Chairman Harvey Pitt of the Securities and Exchange Commission over the weekend said he did not believe it was appropriate to release the file of the investigation into the president's -- in the investigation into the president's stock trading more than a decade ago.

All of this, though, certainly complicates the president's task. He spent some time up at Camp David over the weekend. As you noted, he travels to Birmingham, Alabama later today. He wants to sit down with local business leaders to try to inspire some new confidence in the economy and in the stock market by saying that even despite Enron, WorldCom, all of the turmoil in recent weeks and months, that the U.S. economy continues to grow, and is in his view quite strong.

But over the weekend, you are right. Again, some new documents released, at least re-released from the investigation into the president's trading more than a decade ago. They show that, yes, Mr. Bush was warned that there were some problems at Harken Energy, that it was about to report a loss back when he sold a sizable chunk of stock in 1991. Bush aides say he knew a loss was coming, but that in the end, that loss was three times what the president thought when he sold this stock.

Another memo released over the weekend says that Mr. Bush initially, at least in the view of one SEC investigator, was not cooperative in the investigation. The White House says after that memo, the president waived attorney-client privilege, that he fully cooperated, that he was cleared of any wrongdoing. Still, Senator Orrin Hatch, a Republican, among those saying the president should release the file. Another person also, Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, he says the president would be best -- this would all be behind him, Senator Lieberman says, if he would just ask the SEC to release the entire file on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE LIEBERMAN (D), CHAIRMAN, GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: The fact is that the only way to clear the air is full disclosure, and that has not happened. The president can ask the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission, to open up the files. He can ask Harken Energy to open up the files.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, the White House says most of the relevant documents are in the public domain. The White House complaining a bit, if you will, that most of this was covered in news reports back when then private-citizen George W. Bush first ran for Texas governor in 1994. But this is the third week now, people focusing on the president's own past business dealings. Like it or not to this White House, it is complicating the president's efforts to inspire some confidence in the economy, and certainly to lead the charge for corporate reform, although Senate action on that legislation continues today -- Paula.

ZAHN: John, you have this organization called the Center for Public Integrity pushing for the release of these documents, actually providing some documents in some cases. Help us understand, even though they define themselves as a nonpartisan organization, what you think their motivation really is here.

KING: Well, it is a watchdog group here in Washington, and those who are on the receiving end of the critical reports, as this White House is now, often complain that these groups are selective in what they release. There are some of these groups that monitor campaign finance. The Center for Public Integrity has used the Freedom of Information Act, has obtained a lot of these documents. It is -- it leads the champions here in Washington, if you will, against special interests having too much power in the government, and the White House complained that what it is doing now is selectively leaking day after day after day some of these documents that it has obtained to keep the story going.

So the White House thinks this group certainly has an agenda; that it is trying to stir up dust against the president. The organization simply says that it is fulfilling its job as a watchdog organization. And again, though -- the chief White House complaint is that most of this was covered back in 1994 when Mr. Bush was running for governor, but we have a very different political environment here in Washington, because, of course, of all of the focus on things like Enron and WorldCom.

ZAHN: John, very quickly here, you talk about the release of some of these documents. What's really new here then? KING: Well, there are some new details and new quotes from the records. The bottom line for this -- what frustrates the White House is the bottom line is first -- in the first Bush administration -- and that's why some have raised questions, because Mr. Bush's father was president at the time. In the first Bush administration, and then in the Clinton administration, there were SEC documents filed that said Mr. Bush -- that no charges would be filed, certainly. And one said flatly that they did not believe there was any evidence at all of insider trading.

So the Bush White House complains that we are looking at one document in a stack of 100 that might say something critical of the president. But then, the critics then say, well, if that's the case, then release all of the documents. And the White House says it does not want to do that. As long as the White House position is we will not ask the SEC to release the entire file, look for this tug-of-war to continue.

ZAHN: Well, we'll be counting on your eyes and ears in the days to come to help us better understand this and put this into perspective. John King, thanks so much for that report.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.