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American Morning
Criticizing Bush
Aired January 12, 2004 - 07:07 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.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some members of the Bush administration are firing back at one of their former teammates -- that's because former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is criticizing President Bush in a book titled, "The Price of Loyalty." It's due to be released tomorrow.
Among other things, O'Neill charges that the administration was planning for the war with Iraq months before the September 11th attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CBS NEWS "60 MINUTES")
PAUL O'NEILL, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning with more on this.
Suzanne -- good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
For an administration that really puts a premium on loyalty, this is a potential bombshell for this administration -- O'Neill going for the jugular. The very heart of the president's case for war -- that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat to the U.S. -- O'Neill saying in the very first meeting of the National Security Council saying that the president was determined to go after Saddam Hussein before September 11th.
He said -- and I'm quoting here in "TIME" magazine -- "In the 23 months I was there, I never saw anything that I would characterize as evidence of weapons of mass destruction."
Now, senior administration officials say that O'Neill was not privy to all of the intelligence; that also, of course, that regime change, when it comes to Iraq, had been policy since the Clinton administration in 1998. And finally, they say, that war, of course, was the last option.
O'Neill also criticized the Bush administration, saying that they did not agree with the tax cut proposal. And it was just yesterday that two secretaries actually defended the administration and the tax cut policy.
The really big question here, Soledad, is: What is the political fallout? The White House does not really want to respond too much, because they don't want to give a lot of credence to this. But senior administration officials are saying that the president was notified of some of these comments.
And some officials are really outright dismissing this, calling this ridiculous, outrageous. One of them saying that we didn't listen to his wacky ideas when he was in the White House, why should we listen now? The big question is: Who is going to be listening to these comments -- Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Interesting to see, Suzanne, if this thing has legs, as you political folks like to say.
Let's turn and talk a little bit about the summit that the president is heading to. It's very important. What's on the agenda?
MALVEAUX: Well, certainly today he's going to be meeting with the president of Mexico, Vicente Fox. As you know, they had a turbulent relationship, because Fox was against the war with Iraq. Since then, we are told, that they've repaired things.
As you know, two top priorities, of course, are immigration as well as trade. President Bush just last week really kind of smoothing over those rough relations by introducing the fact that he would go ahead and temporarily legalize some of those illegal immigrants who are seeking work. Vicente Fox wants to open up the borders completely.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House for us. Suzanne, thanks.
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 January 12, 2004 - 07:07 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Some members of the Bush administration are firing back at one of their former teammates -- that's because former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is criticizing President Bush in a book titled, "The Price of Loyalty." It's due to be released tomorrow.
Among other things, O'Neill charges that the administration was planning for the war with Iraq months before the September 11th attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CBS NEWS "60 MINUTES")
PAUL O'NEILL, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY: From the very beginning, there was a conviction that Saddam Hussein was a bad person and that he needed to go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux at the White House for us this morning with more on this.
Suzanne -- good morning.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
For an administration that really puts a premium on loyalty, this is a potential bombshell for this administration -- O'Neill going for the jugular. The very heart of the president's case for war -- that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that posed an imminent threat to the U.S. -- O'Neill saying in the very first meeting of the National Security Council saying that the president was determined to go after Saddam Hussein before September 11th.
He said -- and I'm quoting here in "TIME" magazine -- "In the 23 months I was there, I never saw anything that I would characterize as evidence of weapons of mass destruction."
Now, senior administration officials say that O'Neill was not privy to all of the intelligence; that also, of course, that regime change, when it comes to Iraq, had been policy since the Clinton administration in 1998. And finally, they say, that war, of course, was the last option.
O'Neill also criticized the Bush administration, saying that they did not agree with the tax cut proposal. And it was just yesterday that two secretaries actually defended the administration and the tax cut policy.
The really big question here, Soledad, is: What is the political fallout? The White House does not really want to respond too much, because they don't want to give a lot of credence to this. But senior administration officials are saying that the president was notified of some of these comments.
And some officials are really outright dismissing this, calling this ridiculous, outrageous. One of them saying that we didn't listen to his wacky ideas when he was in the White House, why should we listen now? The big question is: Who is going to be listening to these comments -- Soledad?
O'BRIEN: Interesting to see, Suzanne, if this thing has legs, as you political folks like to say.
Let's turn and talk a little bit about the summit that the president is heading to. It's very important. What's on the agenda?
MALVEAUX: Well, certainly today he's going to be meeting with the president of Mexico, Vicente Fox. As you know, they had a turbulent relationship, because Fox was against the war with Iraq. Since then, we are told, that they've repaired things.
As you know, two top priorities, of course, are immigration as well as trade. President Bush just last week really kind of smoothing over those rough relations by introducing the fact that he would go ahead and temporarily legalize some of those illegal immigrants who are seeking work. Vicente Fox wants to open up the borders completely.
O'BRIEN: Suzanne Malveaux is at the White House for us. Suzanne, thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF thIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
