CNN Larry King Live - Transcript

CNN

SHOW: CNN LARRY KING LIVE 21:00

HEADLINE: Interview With Tom Ridge; Interview With Rudy Giuliani; Interview With Charles Schumer, Hillary Rodham Clinton

GUESTS: Tom Ridge, Rudy Giuliani, Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Lee Hamilton, Thomas Kean.

BYLINE: Larry King

HIGHLIGHT:
Interviews with Rudy Giuliani and Tom Ridge.

BODY:
KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING LIVE. We now turn our attention to the 2 high elected representatives, the two Senators from the state of New York, the senior Senator Charles Schumer and junior Senator, Hillary Rodham Clinton. They are both Democrats.

Senator Schumer, what's your follow-up tonight from what we heard from Governor Ridge and Mayor Giuliani, and the whole hearing this morning?

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: Well, the bottom line is I think the commission's doing a very good job. They're getting at the bottom of this. And we have to learn what went wrong, not to point fingers of blame, but rather to figure it out in the future and make it less likely to happen.

Both Kean and Hamilton, particularly, are leaders. I know them both well. They're nonpartisan, they're not interested in being nasty or finger-pointing or political. They just want the truth so we can move forward. So, overall, I give the commission very high marks.

KING: Senator Clinton, what did you make of the emotional reaction of some of the people in the audience there this morning?

SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, (D) NEW YORK: Oh Larry, I think we all understand the emotion. Chuck and I have been together on this so many times meeting with so many people who lost loved, who were injured. And there's a lot of grief and anger and distress, which is totally understandable.

I think the commission has taken exactly the right tone. They're going at this, not only in a nonpartisan independent way, but in a very calm way, that I think builds a lot of confidence. So that when they come out with their report, they will be able to give us some insight into what happened. But I hope, even more than that, they can give us some suggestions from their investigation, about what we all should be doing to get better prepared for the future.

KING: Senator Schumer, do you agree with Ridge and Giuliani, when and if it happens again, reaction will be better?

SCHUMER: Yes. I think-look, I think we're considerably better prepared than we were before 9/11 on two fronts. On offense, I think we know more about al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. We're able to thwart some of the things they are doing. We have a ways to go there. And on defense, we're better, too. That's not to say we're where we want to be, but we're better off.

One caveat I would give here. The terrorists are smart. And when they hit us again, if they do, god forbid, they'll probably do it in a different way than they did it before. And so to just say, well, how are we going to prevent planes from flying into buildings and evacuate buildings is not going to be good enough.

Tom Ridge, I think, said it well earlier tonight. You have to look for every front, because they look for our weak pressure point, the place we're doing the least-and they learn that from the Internet-and then they strike.

KING: Senator Clinton, is there something you're more fearful of?

CLINTON: Larry, I spent a lot of time on the Armed Services Committee, with respect to homeland security, trying to think of every way that we remain vulnerable. We have made a lot of progress. But I agree with Chuck, we can't ever let our guard down. We have to keep asking, what more do we need to do? We've got to have the right strategies, both on offense and defense to protect ourselves.

I think we've learned a lot since September 11. I'm not sure we've implemented, yet, everything we've learned, or that we have thought creatively enough, unfortunately, like the terrorists. I mean, we have to get inside their minds to predict what they might do to us, in order to prevent that from happening.

KING: Senator Schumer, Mayor Bloomberg says that New York received only $5.47 per capita in homeland security grants this year, second lowest in the nation. He said the grant distribution is pork barrel politics at its worst. Do you agree?

SCHUMER: Yes, I think the mayor has a point here. We should not, sort of, take the homeland security dollars in an airplane and just spread them randomly in the country on a per capita basis, or even worse. And that's because certain areas have higher vulnerability. We have to focus on the highest need areas.

In the first year, the formula was pretty good. Hillary and I worked on that and we were able to get the high needs areas to get the dollars they need. But I guess as you go forward from 9/11, and it is true, each area thinks they have their own needs, it got spread out now. Something good may have happened. I was with Tom Ridge right in the anteroom here, as he came out, and I was ready to come on, and we had a five minute conversation about getting that formula back to the way it was two years ago.

KING: What did he say?

SCHUMER: He said he would do it. And he's-I believe he wants to do it. I just hope others in the White House don't overrule him. Last year, I think he also wanted to do it, but we didn't-we didn't get the kind of cooperation we needed. But it should be done on need, not simply on per capita.

KING: Senator Clinton, what's your input?

CLINTON: Oh, I agree with that completely. You know, Chuck and I have been beating this drum for three years now. We have said over and over again we that don't have enough money and we haven't allocated the money in a way that reflects what the real threat is.

Every piece of intelligence I see, with respect to threats always mentioned two cities, New York and Washington. There are other places mentioned, but it's a continuous drumbeat of intelligence with respect to both of these cities. So, we have to do a better job.

I have spoken with Secretary Ridge numerous times. I saw him also as he was leaving the set. And he does want to do the right thing, but the president and the Office of Management and Budget all have to weigh in with our colleagues. It's just the nature of legislating that people feel like they've to get their piece of the pie.

The problem is that the most important areas to protect need more help. And I hope that this year, we get the kind of results that we've been promised in the past.

You know, I spoke at the Conference On Mayors back in February. Before I spoke, the president came. And he said, I know that the homeland security aid, has been stuck, we're going to get it unstuck. Because we have a second problem, it's not only that we don't get enough money targeted where it's most needed, lots of times it gets stuck in the pipeline, it doesn't get out of Washington fast enough, it doesn't get out of a state Capitol fast enough. It doesn't get into the hands of the first responders, the police and the fire departments that are really the people on the front line.

So, Chuck and I have been sort of sounding this alarm now. I hope that finally, we're going to be able to get the kind of reaction that will give us the money we need in New York, Washington and in the high threat areas.

KING: Senator Schumer, how do you assess the security for New York City this summer, Republican Convention?

SCHUMER: You know, New York City has been doing a great job. Our police, our fire, our emergency people-people learned on 9/11 how phenomenal they are. Hillary and I knew how good they were long before that, and we see it now. And they're doing a great job.

New York City is going to spend, you know, over these few years, probably close to a billion dollars on its own security. It is really not fair for the taxpayers of New York City, this is a national and international problem. We're a national city in so many ways, to do it.

But given that constraint, New York City, both under Mayor Giuliani and Mayor Bloomberg, I give them both credit, said, look, even if we're not getting the federal dollars we need, we're going to spend them.

I think the convention is going to go really well. I think that New York has a great robust tradition of protest. And we're going to see a lot of protest, but it's going to be safe, it's going to be secure. And I have a lot of confidence. I've told people. A lot of people asked me, they say, well, should I go away? Should I close my business down? I said, nope, you watch, New York is going to do a very fine job.

KING: But Senator Clinton, are you worried?

CLINTON: Well, I think you always have to be worried. We live in very difficult, dangerous times with respect to global terrorism. But just because you're worried, doesn't mean you can't go about your ordinary, daily life. You have to keep things in the back of your mind. We need every New Yorker, every American to be more vigilant. If you see an unaccompanied bag, or backpack, you need to report it. So, we do need people to be, you know, a little more alert, but not alarmed.

And I agree with Chuck, I think the convention is a great event for New York. I want the Republicans to have terrific time. I want everybody to appreciate the greatest city in the world. And we have the finest police and fire department and emergency response team that you could find anywhere in the world. Everything that can humanly be done, will be done.

But I just want to underscore what Chuck said, we're reaching really deep into the pocket of the New York citizen in order to pay for the extra security and everything that goes along with protecting and preparing for New York. And we need some more help from the federal government in order to be able to do everything we know needs to be done, and to be able to afford to do it.

KING: We'll take a break. We'll be back with some more moments with our 2 Senators. And we'll close it out with Governor Kean and Lee Hamilton, the chairman and vice-chairman of the 9/11 commission. Don't go away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I said, that's going to go down, like the first one. And it came down, and it was just this sound, this rumble and this mass cloud coming at us. It's intense.

(SCREAMING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KING: We start with Senator Clinton this go around. The 9/11 commission report is due July 26, Senator Clinton. Do you expect the White House to vet it right away and let it out?

CLINTON: I hope so. I don't want this to be part of the political process. I think the sooner that it's out will be better for everybody. As I say from my observation of the commission, I think they have conducted themselves admirably, really above politics. Obviously, they have strong-willed opinionated commissioners. That's the American way, they have opinions about things. As a group, I really believe they've tried to just focus on the issues that they could address to try to come up with some facts about what happened and some recommendations about where we go here. So I hope it gets out as soon as possible.

KING: What do you think, Chuck?

SCHUMER: I agree with Hillary completely. One point here. The White House has gotten the ability to look at the report and redact certain items. I hope those redactions, you know, where they block things out are as few as possible. I think one thing I hope they learned is, in a sense, the truth will set you free, you can't win on something as cosmic, as important as this, hide things, hold things back. That's been the history, when they tried not to cooperate in the early days, they basically had to, and it was frankly the will of the families, the families you heard earlier, you had earlier on your show and we heard today, who just pushed this, and they are sort of the beacon of this report. They've had such passion to get the truth for the right motivations completely. Instead of just cursing the darkness with a hole in their hearts because of the loved ones they lost. They're trying to do some good here. So the White House ought to just put it out quickly and redact anything that has a national security purpose but nothing else.

KING: And off track just a minute for a moment. We have about three minutes left. Senator Clinton, do you think New York City should get the Olympics?

CLINTON: Of course. It's not even a close call.

KING: As busy as that city is, you need that?

CLINTON: You know what, if you want something done, give it to a busy person. If you want something done really well, give it to New York. I just feel like it would be such a great tribute to the courage and resilience of New Yorkers, to bring the Olympics to a city that deserves it and can really give the world a great time.

SCHUMER: If we have the Olympics here, Larry, the Olympiads and the people performing and the people who come, they've not seen nothing like this yet. It will be just the greatest. There's a little bit of anti-American sentiment on the IOC, from what we've been told, especially among the European nations. We hope they can overcome that. New York is not only a national city, we are a universal city. Everyone abhorred what happened on 9/11. There would be no better way to repudiate the terrorists and back up New York than choose New York to be the center for the Olympics.

KING: But Senator Clinton, look at how much money-you've talked about money already, how much you're laying out in security, what you would have to lay out for this would be enormous. Of course, you would get a lot back.

CLINTON: Well, part of the plan for attracting the Olympics is to make some very important investments in our infrastructure. There are so many people excited about bringing the Olympics to New York that there will be so much private money that will go into developing the infrastructure that we need. I'm confident that New York can pull it off in a world-class way. I hope that the world will give us this opportunity to do just that.

KING: You think you got a shot, Senator Schumer?

SCHUMER: I do. I think that we have an indomitable fellow there, Dan Doctoroff, who's had this idea. He's sort of-you know, you say one person can't make a difference. He went to an international soccer game in New York City, he's a native of Michigan like so many people, came from somewhere else. He loved it and it hit him as he was at the soccer game, why don't we try to get the Olympics here. He's pushing and pushing. He will be lobbying every one of those IOC commissioners. I think he'll win them over. It's the right decision to come to New York. I have hope, maybe faith, but certainly hope that the IOC, the commission will do the right thing and bring it here. And again, we'll have the greatest-it will be the greatest time for the world, a unifying factor for a world that's now so divided.

KING: And finally, for both of you. Senator Clinton, do you have a favorite for John Kerry to select as a running mate?

CLINTON: Larry, it's such a personal decision. I'm going to support whoever John picks, I have a lot of confidence in his judgment. I think he's doing a terrific job on the campaign trail, he's gaining ground every single day. This is a big and important decision for him but he's going to make one that he feels good about. I think it will be a terrific ticket and a winning ticket in November.

KING: Senator Schumer, do you have anyone you particularly would favor?

SCHUMER: I have my own thoughts. I think we're best to leave this to the presidential nominee. The chemistry is important. He has to feel right about it. If he feels right about it, I think everyone will feel right about it. So I will not impose my-if he asks me privately, I'll tell him my view. I'm not going to shout it out to tens of millions of Americans here. Let him decide and we'll back who he chooses.

KING: Both of you will campaign extensively?

CLINTON: Absolutely.

SCHUMER: No question about it.

KING: Thank you both very much for sharing this time with us. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Chuck Schumer.