CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript

BLITZER: Let's talk about the news of the day, lots of news. But we'll start with Donald Rumsfeld. Bombshell announcement, only a few days ago the president said he was doing a fantastic job, together with the Vice President Dick Cheney. Is this what you wanted, Rumsfeld to step down?

PELOSI: Yes, well, there were two major interventions since the president's last reaffirmation of his support for Secretary Rumsfeld. One was, of course, the vote and voice of the American people yesterday, rejecting the stay the course policy of the president in Iraq. And just before that, the voice of the military in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Times, saying that "Rumsfeld must go," to use their words. The president got the message, thank heavens, and I think it signals a new change, I hope, for the better in Iraq.

BLITZER: What do you think of his designated successor, the former CIA Director Robert Gates?

PELOSI: Well, this is a matter for the Senate to deliberate on. And the president has proposed they will confirm. And I very much look forward to the hearings on that nomination.

BLITZER: But fundamentally, do you think there will be a real change in U.S. policy toward Iraq? Or this is simply changing the cast of characters? Will the president, in other words, do what you want him to do?

PELOSI: Well, first of all, the president is the commander-in- chief. Donald Rumsfeld and whoever the president appoints or is confirmed, Mr. Gates in this case, is an employee of the president. So the policy is the president's. The implementation of the policy is Mr. Rumsfeld. And that's why I think it was important for him to go.

BLITZER: If the president pursues the current policy, as you call it, stay the course -- which he no longer uses, that phrase -- one option would be, in the House of Representatives, the power of the first, to cut funding for the war in Iraq. Is that on the table?

PELOSI: Not really. We would never...

BLITZER: Why isn't it on the table?

PELOSI: Well, because our troops are in harm's way. They have been sent there, whether you agree with the policy or not. And I certainly did not agree with the resolution to go to war. We would not withhold our funding for the troops there.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

BLITZER: Thanks very much for joining us.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: My pleasure.

BLITZER: I don't know whether to call you Madam Speaker Designate, or what's the formal title until you're actually sworn in as speaker, what, January 3rd?

PELOSI: Well, this week, still Nancy.

BLITZER: No, I'm not going to call you Nancy, but the president, when he spoke with you on the phone this morning, he called you...

PELOSI: He called me speaker elect, but technically a caucus still has to act. Once they act, and then it's the speaker is a constitutional officer elected by the House of Representatives, so that happens in the first week of January. BLITZER: I'll call you congresswoman for the time being.

PELOSI: There we go.

BLITZER: But they'll be plenty of time later to call you speaker.

It's obviously an historic moment, a woman becoming speaker of the House of Representatives. What is the impact? What does that mean for you?

PELOSI: Well, what it means for our country, I think, is something very important. The Congress is, of the United States, as you know, Wolf, is an institution steeped in history and tradition. For a woman to break through what I call the marble ceiling here is something quite remarkable. It sends a message that women can do anything.

BLITZER: And do you feel a special responsibility knowing that, historically, this has never happened in our country before, that a woman becomes the speaker of the House?

PELOSI: I do. I feel a very special responsibility. I feel a responsibility to have the most honest and open Congress, to have a Congress that has civility as its hallmark, bipartisanship in our debate and our deliberations, and fiscal soundness as a woman would want to have, not heaping mountains of debt on future generations.

And as the first woman speaker, I would want to conduct myself, perform my duties, in a way that would be sure that it wouldn't be too long before we'd have another woman speaker of the House.

BLITZER: It puts a little added pressure on you, but we'll get back to that.

Let's talk about the news of the day. Lots of news, but we'll start with Donald Rumsfeld. A bombshell announcement. Only a few days ago, the president said he was doing a fantastic job, together with the Vice President Dick Cheney. Is this what you wanted, Rumsfeld to step down?

PELOSI: Yes, well, there were two major interventions since the president's last reaffirmation of his support for Secretary Rumsfeld. One was, of course, the vote and the voice of the American people yesterday, rejecting the stay the course policy of the president in Iraq.

And just before that, the voice of the military in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps Times, saying that "Rumsfeld must go," to use their words. The president got the message, thank heavens, and I think it signals a new change, I hope, for the better in Iraq.

BLITZER: What do you think of his designated successor, the former CIA director, Robert Gates? PELOSI: Well, this is a matter for the Senate to deliberate on, and the president has proposed, they will confirm, and I very much look forward to the hearings on that nomination.

BLITZER: But fundamentally, do you think there will be a real change in U.S. policy toward Iraq, or this is simply changing the cast of characters? Will the president, in other words, do what you want him to do?

PELOSI: Well, first of all, the president is the commander in chief. Donald Rumsfeld and whoever the president appoints are -- gets confirmed -- Mr. Gates, in this case -- is an employee of the president. So the policy is the president's. The implementation of the policy is Mr. Rumsfeld's, and that's why I think it was very important for him to go.

BLITZER: If the president pursues the current policy, as you call it, stay the course, which he no longer uses that phrase, one option would be, in the House of Representatives, the power of the purse, to cut funding for the war in Iraq. Is that on the table?

PELOSI: Not really. We would never...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Why isn't it on the table?

PELOSI: Well, because our troops are in harm's way. They have been sent there, whether you agree with the policy or not, and I certainly did not agree with the resolution to go to war. We would not withhold our funding for the troops there.

BLITZER: So what can the House of Representatives do, as you -- with you as speaker, if the president, over the next two years, continues the strategy, the policy as is?

PELOSI: Well, what we have done in the House and Senate now, with a majority -- a Democratic majority in the Senate, I anticipate, Senator Reid and I, the Democratic leader there, have put forth some principles for solving the problem in Iraq.

BLITZER: You can make recommendations, basically.

PELOSI: Yes.

BLITZER: But there's not much more if you're not going to use the power of the purse. There's not much more that you could do. You could do some oversight.

PELOSI: Well, the oversight will be very important because then the truth would be revealed. But remember that stay the course has with it -- whether it's the president changed the slogan, he hasn't changed the strategy or the approach. And on the -- stay the course also implies staying the course as having a one-party policy in Iraq. Even his own Republicans, in some cases, are deserting him on this. So I think in the interest of our national security and protecting the American people and bringing stability to the region, and to honoring our commitment to our troops, we need a different approach. And extending the hand of partnership to the president -- not partisanship, but partnership -- to say let's work together to come to some common ground where we can solve the problem in Iraq.

BLITZER: Can you work with this president?

PELOSI: Sure.

BLITZER: Because he was asked at the news conference earlier today about some things you've said of him. Our Suzanne Malveaux asked a very pointed question to the president, quoting some of the remarks, "a liar," and "misleading the country."

PELOSI: I never called the president a liar. I never called him that.

BLITZER: But do you have a problem working with this president? Is all that in the past now? Are you ready to start fresh in working as the incoming speaker?

PELOSI: Absolutely. You know, the campaign is over. Democrats are ready to lead, prepared to govern, and absolutely willing to work in a bipartisan way in partnership, not partisanship, with the Republicans in the Congress and with the president of the United States.

BLITZER: The vice president said the other day the president has made clear what his objective is. It's victory in Iraq and full speed ahead on that basis, and that's exactly what we're going to do. Do you consider that statement that was pre-election still operable?

PELOSI: I would say to the vice president that it's a little too late for full speed ahead. We've been in Iraq three-and-a-half years, longer than the U.S. was in Europe during World War II, so full speed ahead, I don't think so. Right now, again, we need a new direction that brings stability to the region and makes the American people safer.

BLITZER: The power that you will have as the majority is subpoena power, when you conduct your investigations, your oversight. You said on "Meet the Press" back on May 7th, "Well, we will have subpoena power. Investigation does not equate to impeachment. Investigation is the requirement of Congress. It's about checks and balances."

Tell us how you plan on pursuing using this subpoena power.

PELOSI: Well, first of all, others have said to us, do the Democrats want to get even now that we're in the majority? We're not about wanting to get even. What we want to do is to help the American people get ahead, not to get even with the Republicans.

And so, as we go forward with our hearing process and -- which is the normal checks and balance responsibility of Congress, it will be to what is in furtherance of passing legislation that makes the policy better, that improves the lives of the American people. In order to make important decisions, you have to base them on facts. That's the only way your judgment...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: So you'll use that subpoena power as appropriate?

PELOSI: Well, it's not a question -- well, subpoena power is a last resort. We would hope that there would be cooperation from the executive branch in terms of investigating the pre-war intelligence. I don't know -- those decisions will be made by our caucus with the wisdom of the committees of jurisdiction.

They may or may not be a priority. We're a brand-new caucus, we have many new, excellent members coming in and we will establish our priorities together. But we will not abdicate our responsibility as the first branch of government, Article I, the legislative branch and our checks and balances responsibilities.

BLITZER: I asked the question about subpoena power because the vice president once again made clear if you subpoena him, he's not necessarily going to play ball. "I have no idea that I'm going to be subpoenaed," he said the other day, "and obviously we'd sit down and look at it at the time, but probably not in the sense that the president and vice president are constitutional officers and don't appear before the Congress."

PELOSI: Well, as you know, President Ford did and he wasn't subpoenaed because he came without a subpoena, but why are we even talking about this? We're so far from that. We're at a place where we're here about the future.

Whatever information we need to make the future better, to go forward, whether it's to protect our country, to end our engagement in Iraq, to make our economy fair, whatever it is -- we need to move towards energy independence, I might add -- that's where our priorities are. Information is central to that. So we would have hearings to obtain information.

BLITZER: As we speak right now, the majority in the House will be the Democrats. Right now, it looks like the Democrats have an excellent chance in the Senate as well, assuming that Virginia goes to Jim Webb. It's still unclear, but if it does, the Democrats will be the majority in the Senate.

Here's what you said on "60 Minutes," back in October: "This election is about them. This is a referendum on them. Making them lame-ducks is good enough for me."

PELOSI: Well, that was an answer to their question about impeachment. I said impeachment is off the table, that making the president a lame-duck, that is to say not a president with total power where there is no Congressional questioning, oversight or hearings about his policy when there should be. So, we will now. We will work together. The campaign, as I said, is over. We're ready to lead, prepared to govern, and look forward to working with them.

BLITZER: We're almost out of time, but a couple of housekeeping questions -- the majority leader in the new Congress. We know Steny Hoyer wants it, John Murtha, an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, wants it. Who do you want to be the majority leader in the House?

PELOSI: I'm not -- I haven't finished counting the votes from last night. We don't even know how many Democrats we have. We know it's in the mid-to-high 20s. When we know who we are as a caucus, we can move forward with those races, but right now, right now we're not at a place where I would even talk about such things.

BLITZER: So you're not ready to endorse or support anyone at this point?

PELOSI: I don't even know completely who's running. All kinds of ambition emerges after you win a majority, as I am learning, and so when we see all of that we'll go forward. But I will say though, both of them have served our party very well.

Steny Hoyer I've known since we were interns in Senator Brewster's office here. I'm from Maryland, as you know. And then Jack Murtha performed a great service to the country in blowing the whistle on this war about a year ago.

BLITZER: And, finally, can we assume that the ranking members -- now the minority members -- of the various committees will automatically step up and become the chairmen of those committees?

PELOSI: Well, again, that will be a decision of the House Democratic Caucus. Merit, seniority, diversity, and the support of the caucus are some of the criteria that are spelled out in our own rules. Most of them, I think, will go forward, but I can't speak for the entire caucus.

BLITZER: What about the Intelligence Committee?

PELOSI: What about it?

BLITZER: Do you think Jane Harman would be the appropriate chair, Alcee Hastings would be the appropriate chairman?

PELOSI: What you have to understand about the Intelligence Committee is the speaker of the House and the minority leader, on the first day of Congress, appoint a whole new Intelligence Committee each term. Sometimes they reappoint the same people. Sometimes they don't, but there is no seniority on the Intelligence Committee.

BLITZER: Let me just congratulate you and wish you the best of luck. This is going to be an exciting ride. We started off that you are going to be the first woman to be the speaker of the House. So you have an enormous amount of responsibility that comes with the job, a little bit extra because you're making history.

PELOSI: Well, I appreciate your saying that and I think one of my first acts as -- post-election, will be to become a grandmother for the sixth time. We're anxiously awaiting the birth of our grandchild, who is due the first week in November, so a good omen. We get ready for our new grandbaby as we get ready for a new Congress.

BLITZER: Well, we'll wish you only the best on that front as well.

PELOSI: As well, thank you. Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Thank you.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0611/08/sitroom.02.html