Fox Hannity & Colmes - Transcript

Fox News Network

SHOW: FOX HANNITY & COLMES

HEADLINE: Credibility of Bush Accuser Questioned

GUESTS: John Cornyn

BYLINE: Sean Hannity, Alan Colmes

BODY:
COLMES: But there are breaking developments in the story. The CBS report also included documents that allegedly proved that George W. Bush failed to meet some of his National Guard requirements.

But tonight the Associated Press is reporting that the son of the man who wrote the documents is questioning the authenticity of at least one of them, saying that they are a mixture of fact and fiction.

At the same time others are also questioning Barnes' motives, citing several sworn statements that he has made in the past saying that e never had contact with the Bush family.

Joining us now is a fellow Texan who knows Barnes from his days in state politics, Republican Senator John Cornyn.

Senator, thank you for being with us.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN ®, TEXAS: And it was nice to see you at the convention, by the way. But you know, he did say under oath-he signed documents saying he did not have contact with the Bush family.

He subsequently said he acted on behalf of the Bush family, not that he had contact with the Bush family. So I'm not sure he exactly contradicted himself.

Is Ben Barnes a liar?

CORNYN: Well, Ben Barnes is a former Democratic office holder. And he said he was an office holder. Didn't point out that he was a partisan Democrat, one of the chief Democratic fundraisers in Texas, and now a wealthy lawyer/lobbyist.

COLMES: So what...

CORNYN: Plainly, he's got a conflict of interest here. He's trying to help Senator Kerry out in an act of desperation.

COLMES: But Senator, many of the people involved besmirching John Kerry, some of the swift boat vets, some people involved with them were involved with the Bush campaign. We know there's cross pollenization here on both parties. We know that happens. Because he happens to be a partisan Democrat doesn't mean he's lying, does it?

CORNYN: Well, it means he has an interest in trying to help Senator Kerry at a time when he's dropping like a rock in the polls and the president is doing very well, coming off of a very strong convention.

I just think that anybody looking at this with any kind of fair view of this would conclude that he's just simply not credible.

COLMES: Some of the documents not being questioned and one that was shown on CBS last night is one that says-Killian's document, that Bush would be suspended for not showing up for his medical exam.

Other documents not questioned are documents obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act that talked about Bush signing, and obtained by "the Boston Globe," with George W. Bush signing documents in 1968 and 1972, having to do with assigning himself to a post in the Boston area, which he did not do, and how many hours he would put in as a commitment to the National Guard, which he did not live up to. Those are not being questioned.

CORNYN: Well, you know this-all this happened 35 years ago, and Senator Kerry seems to be fixated on talking about the past, when President Bush is talking about the future.

Look, the president was honorably discharged from the National Guard. But really, what I think we ought to be talking about and I think Senator Kerry would be doing himself a favor if he quit talking about Vietnam and the past and started talking about issues that the American people care about, like how are we going to increase access to health care, how are we going to reduce our dependence on imported energy and how are we going to increase jobs in this country.

HANNITY: Hey, Senator, welcome back to the program. Sean Hannity here.

CORNYN: Thank you, Sean.

HANNITY: Let's just get a few facts on the table. Because this is very important, because these are very serious charges, by the way, that are brought up in every campaign George Bush has been involved in.

But the fact is, in the fall of 1999, Barnes himself said the Bush family never asked to get President Bush into the guard. His words.

Under oath, he testified he had had no contact at all with the Bush family concerning the National Guard. He said reports that he helped the now President Bush at his father's urging were absolutely positively false.

Isn't that all correct, sir?

CORNYN: What you said is correct. He's saying the opposite now. And I'll just tell you as a matter of my own personal knowledge, I just cannot believe that the Bush family would actually request Ben Barnes, a Democrat office holder at the time to do something like this. It just doesn't make sense.

HANNITY: But now we also know that he has raised over $100,000 and is the vice chair of the Kerry for president campaign. I mean, it's actually funny. A hundred thousand dollars. Vice chair.

He is quoted in the "San Antonio Express" that he is a close personal friend with John Kerry, had a house next to his or near his in Nantucket. And he-it was in the "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" piece that said that he was a definite in the Kerry administration.

What else do we need to know that this is political motivations here?

CORNYN: Well, I realize we're talking about national politics, but everybody in Texas politics knows Ben Barnes as a partisan Democrat, somebody who Tom Daschle at one time called the 51st Democratic Senator.

HANNITY: Pretty amazing.

CORNYN: It's just incredible.

HANNITY: Let me ask two other questions.

Now CBS news is-they're looking into the type as it relates to the documents that were on "60 Minutes." We're monitoring the story, and we're going to find out more, probably by airtime tomorrow night as to whether or not these are authentic letters. And I don't want to speculate about it.

And I have not been able to confirm in fact that this girl, Amy, is the daughter of this guy, but apparently there was a call to WBAP in Dallas where a woman claims to be Ben Barnes daughter, saying he fabricated this because he wants to advance his political career and write a book.

Do you know anything about that? Have you been able to corroborate that?

CORNYN: No, all I can tell you is that I think there's more to the story. And I think when people find out the entire story, they're going to find that Ben Barnes is just what I tried to describe him to be and something everybody in Texas politics knows him to be, is a partisan Democrat trying to help Senator Kerry when he's dropping like a rock.

COLMES: Senator-some of them gave the Republicans-they're selling a book. You know, it cuts both ways.

CORNYN: I wish Senator Kerry would decry the spin.

COLMES: He did decry the moveon.org ad. OK, he did, actually, specifically. We thank you very much for being with us.