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CNN Saturday Morning News
More Controversy Over Contracts Given to Vice President Dick Cheney's Former Workplace Halliburton
Aired May 10, 2003 - 07:28 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.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A Democratic senator wants a Senate committee to investigate a government contract given to a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation. And that, of course, is the former workplace of Vice President Dick Cheney. The contract includes a provision which allows the company to distribute Iraq's oil.
Suzanne Malveaux joins us from Washington with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it seems to be just more controversy when it comes to Halliburton. This is Senator Frank Lautenberg. He is the senator, a Democrat, from New Jersey. Now, he is asking for an official investigation by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on just how Halliburton got its contract. He is asking for more information. He is asking for transparency in the process.
This coming after a week of criticism and questions from other Democrats, namely Congressman Henry Waxman, who is claiming and accusing the administration of favoritism because of its ties with Halliburton in receiving this contract. It was a no-bid contract. As you know, Vice President Dick Cheney was a CEO of that company between 1995 and 2000.
Well, the vice president's office says that he has long since severed his ties with the company, also saying that the vice president has nothing to do with the bidding process. The White House echoing that as well. The company, Halliburton, saying that it got that contract because it was uniquely qualified.
But also I should mention as well, Anderson, there's additional criticism. There's an article from the "L.A. Times" that is citing a logistics contract. This is one that was won competitively, but saying that so far that the Pentagon has paid Halliburton some $90 million to Americans working for Halliburton but has yielded very little significant results when it comes to work for the Iraqi citizens.
So stay tuned, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. No doubt we have not heard the last of this. So we're, in fact, we're going to have a little bit more on this later on in the program with our own Bill Schneider, political analyst, about the political implications of all of this.
Suzanne Malveaux, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A Democratic senator wants a Senate committee to investigate a government contract given to a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation. And that, of course, is the former workplace of Vice President Dick Cheney.>
Aired May 10, 2003 - 07:28 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A Democratic senator wants a Senate committee to investigate a government contract given to a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation. And that, of course, is the former workplace of Vice President Dick Cheney. The contract includes a provision which allows the company to distribute Iraq's oil.
Suzanne Malveaux joins us from Washington with more -- Suzanne.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, it seems to be just more controversy when it comes to Halliburton. This is Senator Frank Lautenberg. He is the senator, a Democrat, from New Jersey. Now, he is asking for an official investigation by the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on just how Halliburton got its contract. He is asking for more information. He is asking for transparency in the process.
This coming after a week of criticism and questions from other Democrats, namely Congressman Henry Waxman, who is claiming and accusing the administration of favoritism because of its ties with Halliburton in receiving this contract. It was a no-bid contract. As you know, Vice President Dick Cheney was a CEO of that company between 1995 and 2000.
Well, the vice president's office says that he has long since severed his ties with the company, also saying that the vice president has nothing to do with the bidding process. The White House echoing that as well. The company, Halliburton, saying that it got that contract because it was uniquely qualified.
But also I should mention as well, Anderson, there's additional criticism. There's an article from the "L.A. Times" that is citing a logistics contract. This is one that was won competitively, but saying that so far that the Pentagon has paid Halliburton some $90 million to Americans working for Halliburton but has yielded very little significant results when it comes to work for the Iraqi citizens.
So stay tuned, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. No doubt we have not heard the last of this. So we're, in fact, we're going to have a little bit more on this later on in the program with our own Bill Schneider, political analyst, about the political implications of all of this.
Suzanne Malveaux, thanks very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A Democratic senator wants a Senate committee to investigate a government contract given to a subsidiary of the Halliburton Corporation. And that, of course, is the former workplace of Vice President Dick Cheney.>
