Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

First Lady's Trip

Aired October 01, 2003 - 09:19   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 other half of the first couple in Moscow today. First lady Laura Bush, another event there.
Soledad is traveling with the first lady and joins us now live from the Russian capital with more.

Hello, Soledad. How goes it?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill. It's going pretty well so far, another busy day for the first lady. She's in town for the Festival of School Libraries, and she brought with her three American authors who were very nicely received by the school children who have been brought to attend parts of this festival.

But of course, as we have just heard, there's lots of news going back on at the White House, and I asked the first lady when I will to chance to sit down with her this afternoon, I asked her her reaction to news now of this investigation by the Justice Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: My reaction is the same that I know the president's was, which is, he certainly doesn't want to think there are any leaks out of the White House, and I know they're cooperating fully with any sort of investigation. They're expecting anyone who might have done that, if they did, to come forward, and my husband wants the very highest ethics in the White House, and so I suspect that whenever this washes out, we'll see who did it, if anyone did.

O'BRIEN: We are a long way out from the election, but there are some polls that suggest a relative newcomer, General Clark, theoretically, could beat your husband if the election were held today. And, again, we're a long way out. But are you concerned about General Clark?

BUSH: Not really. Not really. I'm not really that concerned about anyone on the other side right now, until we actually know who that candidate is going to be. I think the polls will go up and down as various candidates light up a little bit and then move on. So we'll see what happens.

But right now, I'm really glad to be here, a world away from Washington and politics, and I have this chance to represent the United States in Russia and in France this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: And, of course, Bill, the question is, exactly what kind of an impact has she had? Her goal was to act as an ambassador for the United States, and maybe particularly her husband, who has had some difficult relations in the past with both France and Russia. And so far, she's getting relatively high marks on that. Of course, she's very much in her element when she's talking and dealing with children and talking about education and literacy. They are truly issues that are very close to her heart. Of course, she was not really there to be interviewed, she said, about anything other than her book festival, which is going to be in the United States on October 4th, and she talked about some of the authors that are going to be participating in that. That's the next thing that she's working on, and she says she's looking forward to gearing up for more travel as the election gets a little bit closer.

Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Listen, Soledad, quickly, on that same note here, many have said this is a goodwill tour for the first lady, trying to mend these fences. Has she acknowledged that in any way on this tour so far this week?

O'BRIEN: She hasn't used the word mending fences, but has absolutely said she feels that she is an ambassador of the U.S., and if she can smooth over any issues in the past, well then, I'm sure she'd be happy to do that. She said that she feels that her visits have gone very well, especially in Paris with the French President Jacques Chirac, and he valiantly kissed her hand before he whisking her in for their brief meeting. And White House officials very shortly after that meeting came out to tell us that he was friendly, he was charming, a very positive spin on that meeting in some ways.

Of course I think analysts will say a meeting with the first lady -- in between the first lady and Jacques Chirac, will that really go a long way to any kind of real diplomacy between the two nations or diplomatic fixes? I think they would say probably not, but it couldn't hurt, right?

HEMMER: Thanks, Soledad. Good to see you again. Live in Moscow with the first lady.

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 October 1, 2003 - 09:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The other half of the first couple in Moscow today. First lady Laura Bush, another event there.
Soledad is traveling with the first lady and joins us now live from the Russian capital with more.

Hello, Soledad. How goes it?

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, Bill. It's going pretty well so far, another busy day for the first lady. She's in town for the Festival of School Libraries, and she brought with her three American authors who were very nicely received by the school children who have been brought to attend parts of this festival.

But of course, as we have just heard, there's lots of news going back on at the White House, and I asked the first lady when I will to chance to sit down with her this afternoon, I asked her her reaction to news now of this investigation by the Justice Department.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURA BUSH, FIRST LADY: My reaction is the same that I know the president's was, which is, he certainly doesn't want to think there are any leaks out of the White House, and I know they're cooperating fully with any sort of investigation. They're expecting anyone who might have done that, if they did, to come forward, and my husband wants the very highest ethics in the White House, and so I suspect that whenever this washes out, we'll see who did it, if anyone did.

O'BRIEN: We are a long way out from the election, but there are some polls that suggest a relative newcomer, General Clark, theoretically, could beat your husband if the election were held today. And, again, we're a long way out. But are you concerned about General Clark?

BUSH: Not really. Not really. I'm not really that concerned about anyone on the other side right now, until we actually know who that candidate is going to be. I think the polls will go up and down as various candidates light up a little bit and then move on. So we'll see what happens.

But right now, I'm really glad to be here, a world away from Washington and politics, and I have this chance to represent the United States in Russia and in France this week.

(END VIDEO CLIP) O'BRIEN: And, of course, Bill, the question is, exactly what kind of an impact has she had? Her goal was to act as an ambassador for the United States, and maybe particularly her husband, who has had some difficult relations in the past with both France and Russia. And so far, she's getting relatively high marks on that. Of course, she's very much in her element when she's talking and dealing with children and talking about education and literacy. They are truly issues that are very close to her heart. Of course, she was not really there to be interviewed, she said, about anything other than her book festival, which is going to be in the United States on October 4th, and she talked about some of the authors that are going to be participating in that. That's the next thing that she's working on, and she says she's looking forward to gearing up for more travel as the election gets a little bit closer.

Bill, back to you.

HEMMER: Listen, Soledad, quickly, on that same note here, many have said this is a goodwill tour for the first lady, trying to mend these fences. Has she acknowledged that in any way on this tour so far this week?

O'BRIEN: She hasn't used the word mending fences, but has absolutely said she feels that she is an ambassador of the U.S., and if she can smooth over any issues in the past, well then, I'm sure she'd be happy to do that. She said that she feels that her visits have gone very well, especially in Paris with the French President Jacques Chirac, and he valiantly kissed her hand before he whisking her in for their brief meeting. And White House officials very shortly after that meeting came out to tell us that he was friendly, he was charming, a very positive spin on that meeting in some ways.

Of course I think analysts will say a meeting with the first lady -- in between the first lady and Jacques Chirac, will that really go a long way to any kind of real diplomacy between the two nations or diplomatic fixes? I think they would say probably not, but it couldn't hurt, right?

HEMMER: Thanks, Soledad. Good to see you again. Live in Moscow with the first lady.

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