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American Morning

Defending Clinton

Aired May 20, 2003 - 08:34   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: When Bill Clinton was fighting for his political life a few years ago, Sidney Blumenthal was on the front lines in the White House. Now the former presidential has written a book, 800-plus pages, is an insider's history to the Clinton presidency, complete with Monica Lewinsky's scandal there at the White House, and also what's been called the vast right wing conspiracy. It's called "The Clinton Wars." The author, Sidney Blumenthal, is with us on AMERICAN MORNING. One of the first interviews you have done.
Good morning to you.

Reviewers are saying this is a defense of the Clinton years. Did you intend it that way, to defend the Clinton presidency?

SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL, AUTHOR, "THE CLINTON WARS": This is a full inside history, as clearly and as accurately and as factually as I can present it. I was on the inside with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton all the way through, from beginning to end, and this is the total, honest story of what happened.

HEMMER: Let me talk about one of the reviewers, presidential historian Robert Dallek, who in fact was on our show last week and broke this story about the JFK book that just came out. He says, "The book is partly an exercise in score settling. Kenneth Starr, Dick Morris, Christopher Hitchens, just a few of the tormenters who got the back of his hand" -- saying your hand. A slap back? Is this your attempt?

BLUMENTHAL: No, Robert Dallek also says this is the place to begin if you're interested in the history of the Clinton years and the Clinton administration, which is really what you need to understand if you're going to understand where we are today. If you're thinking about Ken Starr, and President Kennedy, the subject of this great historian's work, think about this -- would America have been better off if Ken Starr had been investigating President Kennedy and an intern during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

HEMMER: Here's what a lot of people want to know. You talk about understanding. Take us back to January 21, 1998, the day that news rooms across the country were buzzing. The Monica Lewinsky story had broken, you were at the White House, called into the president's office, and he says as you write in this book now, he said that she made a sexual demand on him and he rebuffed her. You believed him that day, I'm sure, right?

BLUMENTHAL: I did believe him. I wanted to believe him. All of us in the White house wanted to believe him. And certainly, the first lady believed him.

HEMMER: When it turned out to be a lie, your reaction was what then?

BLUMENTHAL: I told him on the day of the impeachment, we were alone in the Oval Office, and I reveal it in the book. I told him I thought that his foolishness had given -- the worst thing it had done was give ammunition to our enemies, and he agreed with me, and no one felt more regret than Bill Clinton.

But let me add, when it came to a private relationship, which is really about the Clintons' marriage and nothing else and an attempt to overthrow this presidency been an out of control prosecutor who was politically driven and was undermining the Constitution as I saw it, for me, as the aide to the president, as a senior adviser to the president, I had no qualms about where I stood. I would stand and fight for this presidency and his progressive power.

HEMMER: So here's what people on the outside of the White House want to know, how can you respect a man and work for a man as president who lies to your face and you come out and defend him more?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, he was in a state of denial about something that was private, and he was in a state of denial to the whole country.

But let me tell you why I respected Bill Clinton and why I think he was a very good president for the American people, and I'm going to tell you just an anecdote. A small group of us, about six, top aides, came into his office one day to brief him on a very important policy issue. We gave him all of the options, policy and politics. And when we finished, the president paused and he said, I just want you to know that you're the dumbest bunch of white guys who have ever come into the Oval White House.

HEMMER: Why did he say that?

BLUMENTHAL: It's a very good question. We didn't know. He said, don't ever come in here without minorities and women as part of your group again. That's why I respect Bill Clinton.

HEMMER: Back to your book, Ron Brownstein, "L.A. Times," he reviewed it. Ultimately, he said, he is too much the believer, meaning you, to be believed. When people say you'd drank the cool aid and followed in lock step with everything, how do you defend that?

BLUMENTHAL: I did believe what we were doing and what we accomplished to the American people. We had the greatest prosperity ever in the country's history. And that was the result of tough decisions. We had 22 million new jobs. We had full employment. That's better than the 3 million jobs lost since March 2001. Bill Clinton was also a peacemaker, and in the middle of this terrible partisan assault on him, he was the one who brought about the Good Friday Accord in Northern Ireland and was making peace in the Middle East, as well as beginning the war against terrorism.

HEMMER: Listen, I'm almost out of time here. All these names are coming back and flooding back into our minds from five years ago.

Hillary Clinton, when does she run for the White House, do you think?

BLUMENTHAL: I believe she's not running this time. I think that she is so capable, so intelligent, so knowledgeable she certainly could be an excellent president. But she's not running this time, and we don't know what events will bring.

HEMMER: Maybe '08. "The Clinton Wars" -- Sidney Blumenthal thanks for coming by.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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 May 20, 2003 - 08:34   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: When Bill Clinton was fighting for his political life a few years ago, Sidney Blumenthal was on the front lines in the White House. Now the former presidential has written a book, 800-plus pages, is an insider's history to the Clinton presidency, complete with Monica Lewinsky's scandal there at the White House, and also what's been called the vast right wing conspiracy. It's called "The Clinton Wars." The author, Sidney Blumenthal, is with us on AMERICAN MORNING. One of the first interviews you have done.
Good morning to you.

Reviewers are saying this is a defense of the Clinton years. Did you intend it that way, to defend the Clinton presidency?

SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL, AUTHOR, "THE CLINTON WARS": This is a full inside history, as clearly and as accurately and as factually as I can present it. I was on the inside with Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton all the way through, from beginning to end, and this is the total, honest story of what happened.

HEMMER: Let me talk about one of the reviewers, presidential historian Robert Dallek, who in fact was on our show last week and broke this story about the JFK book that just came out. He says, "The book is partly an exercise in score settling. Kenneth Starr, Dick Morris, Christopher Hitchens, just a few of the tormenters who got the back of his hand" -- saying your hand. A slap back? Is this your attempt?

BLUMENTHAL: No, Robert Dallek also says this is the place to begin if you're interested in the history of the Clinton years and the Clinton administration, which is really what you need to understand if you're going to understand where we are today. If you're thinking about Ken Starr, and President Kennedy, the subject of this great historian's work, think about this -- would America have been better off if Ken Starr had been investigating President Kennedy and an intern during the Cuban Missile Crisis?

HEMMER: Here's what a lot of people want to know. You talk about understanding. Take us back to January 21, 1998, the day that news rooms across the country were buzzing. The Monica Lewinsky story had broken, you were at the White House, called into the president's office, and he says as you write in this book now, he said that she made a sexual demand on him and he rebuffed her. You believed him that day, I'm sure, right?

BLUMENTHAL: I did believe him. I wanted to believe him. All of us in the White house wanted to believe him. And certainly, the first lady believed him.

HEMMER: When it turned out to be a lie, your reaction was what then?

BLUMENTHAL: I told him on the day of the impeachment, we were alone in the Oval Office, and I reveal it in the book. I told him I thought that his foolishness had given -- the worst thing it had done was give ammunition to our enemies, and he agreed with me, and no one felt more regret than Bill Clinton.

But let me add, when it came to a private relationship, which is really about the Clintons' marriage and nothing else and an attempt to overthrow this presidency been an out of control prosecutor who was politically driven and was undermining the Constitution as I saw it, for me, as the aide to the president, as a senior adviser to the president, I had no qualms about where I stood. I would stand and fight for this presidency and his progressive power.

HEMMER: So here's what people on the outside of the White House want to know, how can you respect a man and work for a man as president who lies to your face and you come out and defend him more?

BLUMENTHAL: Well, he was in a state of denial about something that was private, and he was in a state of denial to the whole country.

But let me tell you why I respected Bill Clinton and why I think he was a very good president for the American people, and I'm going to tell you just an anecdote. A small group of us, about six, top aides, came into his office one day to brief him on a very important policy issue. We gave him all of the options, policy and politics. And when we finished, the president paused and he said, I just want you to know that you're the dumbest bunch of white guys who have ever come into the Oval White House.

HEMMER: Why did he say that?

BLUMENTHAL: It's a very good question. We didn't know. He said, don't ever come in here without minorities and women as part of your group again. That's why I respect Bill Clinton.

HEMMER: Back to your book, Ron Brownstein, "L.A. Times," he reviewed it. Ultimately, he said, he is too much the believer, meaning you, to be believed. When people say you'd drank the cool aid and followed in lock step with everything, how do you defend that?

BLUMENTHAL: I did believe what we were doing and what we accomplished to the American people. We had the greatest prosperity ever in the country's history. And that was the result of tough decisions. We had 22 million new jobs. We had full employment. That's better than the 3 million jobs lost since March 2001. Bill Clinton was also a peacemaker, and in the middle of this terrible partisan assault on him, he was the one who brought about the Good Friday Accord in Northern Ireland and was making peace in the Middle East, as well as beginning the war against terrorism.

HEMMER: Listen, I'm almost out of time here. All these names are coming back and flooding back into our minds from five years ago.

Hillary Clinton, when does she run for the White House, do you think?

BLUMENTHAL: I believe she's not running this time. I think that she is so capable, so intelligent, so knowledgeable she certainly could be an excellent president. But she's not running this time, and we don't know what events will bring.

HEMMER: Maybe '08. "The Clinton Wars" -- Sidney Blumenthal thanks for coming by.

BLUMENTHAL: Thank you.

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