Hardball Interview with Kirsten Breitwieser

posted by ewing2001 on Wednesday October 29, @10:01PM

Hardball with Chris Matthews' for Oct. 28

Hardball/MSNBC-Transcript

Guests: Trent Lott, Jay Rockefeller, Ralph Reed, Kristen Breitweiser, Raymond Tanter

MATTHEWS: The HARDBALL Debate tonight: Should the White House be forced to hand over classified intelligence briefings to the committee investigating the 9/11 attacks?

HARDBALL's David Shuster has the report. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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DAVID SHUSTER, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Increasing the likelihood of a showdown between the White House and the bipartisan panel investigating 9/11, President Bush today refused to commit his administration to turning over classified intelligence reports.

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's important for the writers of the presidential daily brief to feel comfortable that the documents will never be politicized and/or unnecessarily exposed for public purview.

SHUSTER: The chairman of the 9/11 commission is Thomas Keen, a Republican who is the former governor of New Jersey. For months this panel has been trying to review what the president was told about al Qaeda leading up to the attacks. The key documents include a CIA Intelligence summary prepared for Mr. Bush every morning. Last year the administration cited executive privilege in refusing to provide the reports to House and Senate investigators. But the 9/11 Commission is threatening to seek a federal court order, and that has the White House scrambling to try and work out a deal.

BUSH: And I believe we can reach a proper accord to protect the integrity of the daily brief process and at the same time allow them a chance to look and see what was in the-certain of the daily briefs that they would like to see.

SHUSTER: Administration officials say they are concerned that the bipartisan panel might mishandle the information. Furthermore, the administration fears establishing a precedent where intelligence reaching the Oval Office could be reviewed outside of the executive branch.

But the commission, the 9/11 families and some members of Congress say there's nothing more important than finding out how much or how little our government knew.

TIM RUSSERT, MEET THE PRESS HOUSE: Do you believe that the White House is stonewalling in providing information to your committee and to the 9/11 commission?

SEN. CHUCK HAGEL, NEBRASKA: I hope not. They have an opportunity to come forward with the requested documentation. It's there-definitely in their interests. Certainly in the interests of this country.

SHUSTER: Democratic presidential candidates are being more blunt. Joe Lieberman: If they continue to refuse, I will urge the independent commission to take the administration to court. (on camera) So the question in, should the intelligence reports be turned over or are they too sensitive to go beyond the White House?

I'm David Shuster for HARDBALL in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEWS: Kristen Breitweiser is a 9/11 widow who fought for the creation of the independent commission on the 9/11 attacks. And Raymond Tanter is a former National Security Council member in the Reagan administration. Kristen, let me ask you this. What is your reaction to the president's statement today that there are certain documents he will not release?

KRISTEN BREITWEISER, 9/11 WIDOW: Listen, I have a problem with it, obviously. There is nothing in what the commission is seeking that has not already been released to the public in the joint inquiry's report.

What was not released to public is what the joint inquiry was not allowed to get, which was what information exactly flowed into the president's hands. And that would be the information in the PDB.

And I have to say when you have a national security adviser opening the door by stating that they didn't know planes could be used as weapons, necessarily a commission that is charged with investigating how planes could be used as weapons and 3,000 people could die, that commission needs to walk through that door.

MATTHEWS: Raymond Tanter, why do you think the president is holding back on some of these documents that obviously people would like to know what's in them?

RAYMOND TANTER, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Well, Chris, as you well know, loose lips sink ships. And the best way to keep secrets in Washington is to narrow the circle of those who are, who have access to intelligence information.

So, I think the president is right on the money in trying to devise a method by which he can meet the needs of the commission on one hand, while protecting the national security on the other hand. And one way, Chris, I think, is for the commission panel members to come to the White House, rather than to release documents.

MATTHEWS: Do you believe the president had such specific information in his daily reports to him, so specific in terms of naming names or profiling particular people, that would expose them? Does he get that kind of particular information or does he get information like our sources in Baghdad tell us, that kind of thing?

TANTER: The president gets all sorts of briefings. But the specific names of the sources are not necessarily included in the...

MATTHEWS: Well, then why is he afraid of putting it out to the public, then, so we can see what he got?

TANTER: Because those in Guantanamo or those in Tehran or Damascus may be able to infer who the source might have been and...

BREITWEISER: If I can just butt in...

TANTER: Yes, Kristen.

BREITWEISER: None of this information that's going to be released has not already been released to the public in the joint inquiry's report. What has not been released to the public was what the joint inquiry could not access, was to settle the discrepancy as to Condoleezza Rice stating that they didn't know planes could be used as weapons and the information that they gained from an anonymous intelligence administration representative who accidentally blurted out to the joint inquiry that there was another story.

It's clearly stated in the joint inquiry report that that discrepancy needs to be solved, needs to be settled. And this commission needs to do that. We need to know what the president knew prior to 9/11 and why this nation failed to save or minimize the damage of 3,000 murdered people.

TANTER: But let's look at the situation for what it is. The president is not on trial. The issue is not what the president knew and when did he know it. The issue is how can we prevent future terrorist attacks against this country.

And what I don't want to see are additional widows created by the fact that those who write the president's daily brief would feel very circumscribed and hesitant to tell it like it is as a result of knowing that...

MATTHEWS: Mr. Tanter, just to be a referee here, I thought the purpose of the 9/11 commission was like the commission which was put to work after Pearl Harbor to find out how it could have happened. We are trying to find out what happened. It is not all prescriptive. We're trying to find out who made a mistake, if they did, aren't we?

TANTER: No, Chris, the president is not on trial. The president is charged with protecting the national security. And after serving Ronald Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush I've come to the conclusion that the best way to keep secrets is minimize the number of people who know about the information.

BREITWEISER: Look, but Chris, what goes to the very heart of the matter of why we need access to this information is because of the vital flow of intelligence information from the intel communities to the president. Somewhere along those lines prior to 9/11, on the morning of 9/11 there was a colossal breakdown.

That flow needs to be examined. It was invited into this commission's mandate when Condoleezza Rice stated to the nation that they had no idea planes could be used as weapons. They opened the door, and this commission through its mandate, a commission this president signed into law. He nominated the chair, Tom Kean.

MATTHEWS: Well, Kristen, you sound like you have already reached your conclusions. You are indicting already in the way you're making your case right now, this administration for failing to prevent 9/11. You believe they're guilty, don't you?

BREITWEISER: I believe this administration is holding back vital information that will make this nation safer. We are still a nation at risk and more time spent on holding back documents delays this commission and leaves us further at risk.

TANTER: Chris...

MATTHEWS: Last word from Mr. Tanter.

TANTER: Kristen's mentioned three times Condoleezza Rice's name as if intelligence indicated that planes could be used for the purpose of...

MATTHEWS: More on this later.

TANTER: ... knocking out. But there are more studies, not intelligence.

MATTHEWS: We will have more on this on later shows. Thank you both for joining us. Thank you, Kristen Breitweiser and thank you, Raymond Tanter.

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