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American Morning
Lott of Pressure
Aired December 20, 2002 - 07:17 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The playing field apparently has changed yet again for Senator Trent Lott, trying desperately right now to save his job as majority leader. Bill Frist of Tennessee, a strong ally of the White House, now stepping forward to challenge the embattled senator.
Jonathan Karl has been watching every move now for about two-and- a-half weeks running.
Jonathan -- good morning. What's the deal today?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, let me also add, Bill Frist is also somebody who, until now, has been a strong ally of Senator Trent Lott, one of his real friends and allies here in the United States Senate. This is a major development, the fact that Frist has jumped into this race, the fact that he already has some strong support from several senior senators, influential senators, including by the way Senator John Warner of Virginia, one of the -- they call him the "old boss" (ph) here on Capitol Hill, a committee chairman and somebody with a lot of influence. He came out very strongly last night for Bill Frist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: I'm pleased to join the Bill Frist team, and I can assure you the team is growing in numbers very quickly. And I think it is in the best interest of the caucus that the Republican caucus have a choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And we were told by aides to Senator Don Nickles, who you remember had been assumed to be a contender for the job against Trent Lott -- he's the No. 2 person here in the United States Senate for the Republicans. Don Nickles is also, according to sources, very strongly for Bill Frist and will be working very hard to get him elected majority leader.
Now, as for Senator Trent Lott, his spokesperson, not Senator Lott, but his spokesperson put out a statement last night in response to all of this, saying -- quote: "Senate Republican leader Trent Lott will be the majority leader in the next Congress. He has a track record of loyalty, dedication and experience in shepherding President Bush's agenda for all Americans through the Senate." That from Trent Lott's spokesperson. We have not yet heard from Trent Lott himself.
And I have spoken to two people very close to Senator Lott, two people that have been long-time allies of him, personal friends. They both tell me that they do not think that he will stay in this anymore, that now with Bill Frist coming in with such strong support, they expect very soon that Senator Lott will announce that he is stepping down as majority leader.
But still, the official word from Senator Lott's office is that he's still in this race, Bill, so this could be an interesting day, to say the least.
HEMMER: Jonathan, 36 hours ago, Wednesday night in Washington, talking with a lot of political analysts, that you talked to them as well, they still rated Lott's survivability rate at about 50/50. Are we nowhere near that anymore? Are we below that point right now, is that your read?
KARL: We are nowhere near that now. I have not spoken to anybody here, outside of Trent Lott's official spokesperson, who will say that they think that Trent Lott will survive this. They now -- I mean, the conventional wisdom here is to a person that Trent Lott now cannot stay in this. The question is: Who will be the leader once Trent Lott pulls out? And right now, we have only one candidate; that's Bill Frist.
But today, watch very carefully. Depending on what Senator Lott does, if he does pull out or if he pulls out soon, the question will be: Will one of his strong supporters, like a Mitch McConnell or a Rick Santorum, step up to challenge Bill Frist? That's a real possibly, Bill, because a lot of senators up here are actually upset that the White House has been so involved in this, and they see Bill Frist as somebody supported by the White House. That may be a problem for him -- Bill.
HEMMER: Very interesting. You talk almost as if he won't make it to Christmas time. We'll watch it. Thank you, Jonathan -- Jonathan Karl in D.C.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 20, 2002 - 07:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The playing field apparently has changed yet again for Senator Trent Lott, trying desperately right now to save his job as majority leader. Bill Frist of Tennessee, a strong ally of the White House, now stepping forward to challenge the embattled senator.
Jonathan Karl has been watching every move now for about two-and- a-half weeks running.
Jonathan -- good morning. What's the deal today?
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Bill, let me also add, Bill Frist is also somebody who, until now, has been a strong ally of Senator Trent Lott, one of his real friends and allies here in the United States Senate. This is a major development, the fact that Frist has jumped into this race, the fact that he already has some strong support from several senior senators, influential senators, including by the way Senator John Warner of Virginia, one of the -- they call him the "old boss" (ph) here on Capitol Hill, a committee chairman and somebody with a lot of influence. He came out very strongly last night for Bill Frist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN WARNER (R), VIRGINIA: I'm pleased to join the Bill Frist team, and I can assure you the team is growing in numbers very quickly. And I think it is in the best interest of the caucus that the Republican caucus have a choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KARL: And we were told by aides to Senator Don Nickles, who you remember had been assumed to be a contender for the job against Trent Lott -- he's the No. 2 person here in the United States Senate for the Republicans. Don Nickles is also, according to sources, very strongly for Bill Frist and will be working very hard to get him elected majority leader.
Now, as for Senator Trent Lott, his spokesperson, not Senator Lott, but his spokesperson put out a statement last night in response to all of this, saying -- quote: "Senate Republican leader Trent Lott will be the majority leader in the next Congress. He has a track record of loyalty, dedication and experience in shepherding President Bush's agenda for all Americans through the Senate." That from Trent Lott's spokesperson. We have not yet heard from Trent Lott himself.
And I have spoken to two people very close to Senator Lott, two people that have been long-time allies of him, personal friends. They both tell me that they do not think that he will stay in this anymore, that now with Bill Frist coming in with such strong support, they expect very soon that Senator Lott will announce that he is stepping down as majority leader.
But still, the official word from Senator Lott's office is that he's still in this race, Bill, so this could be an interesting day, to say the least.
HEMMER: Jonathan, 36 hours ago, Wednesday night in Washington, talking with a lot of political analysts, that you talked to them as well, they still rated Lott's survivability rate at about 50/50. Are we nowhere near that anymore? Are we below that point right now, is that your read?
KARL: We are nowhere near that now. I have not spoken to anybody here, outside of Trent Lott's official spokesperson, who will say that they think that Trent Lott will survive this. They now -- I mean, the conventional wisdom here is to a person that Trent Lott now cannot stay in this. The question is: Who will be the leader once Trent Lott pulls out? And right now, we have only one candidate; that's Bill Frist.
But today, watch very carefully. Depending on what Senator Lott does, if he does pull out or if he pulls out soon, the question will be: Will one of his strong supporters, like a Mitch McConnell or a Rick Santorum, step up to challenge Bill Frist? That's a real possibly, Bill, because a lot of senators up here are actually upset that the White House has been so involved in this, and they see Bill Frist as somebody supported by the White House. That may be a problem for him -- Bill.
HEMMER: Very interesting. You talk almost as if he won't make it to Christmas time. We'll watch it. Thank you, Jonathan -- Jonathan Karl in D.C.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
