Transcript for July 2

MS. MITCHELL: Well, let me turn to another controversy, which is the battle over national security leaks. The House voted this week on a resolution condemning the publication by The New York Times and several other newspapers—particularly, though, The New York Times. Now, the resolution said, “The House of Representatives ... expects the cooperation of all news media organizations in protecting the lives of Americans and the capability of the government to identify, disrupt, and capture terrorists by not disclosing classified intelligence programs such as the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.” Representative Peter King, a Republican of New York, said, “If there is another terror attack, the blood will be on their hands,” meaning on the editors and reporters of The New York Times and elsewhere. The president expressed anger over this. Let’s give a listen to that.

(Videotape, Monday):

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: The disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America. And for people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America.

(End videotape)

MS. MITCHELL: Senator Schumer, on January 1, you said that—about an earlier leak regarding the NSA surveillance...

SEN. SCHUMER: Right.

MS. MITCHELL: ...that “Whenever classified information is leaked, there ought to be an investigation, because it could endanger our security.” So I would presume you now would agree with the president that this leak should also be investigated.

SEN. SCHUMER: Well, it certainly should be investigated, but the president and others have gone way overboard.

MS. MITCHELL: How so?

SEN. SCHUMER: How so? Look, we believe in a free press in this country. The press is often antagonistic or probing of people in power. We all don’t like that, but it’s part of America, and as a founding father said when they first wrote the Constitution, true to this day, that’s a good thing for America.

The—there are exceptions. One is if it harms national security. Now all of these statements by the president and others are jumping the gun. We don’t know if it’s harmed national security. In fact, I’ve been on the Banking Committee for six years. It is broad public knowledge, stated by administration officials...

MS. MITCHELL: Have you been briefed on this?

SEN. SCHUMER: I have not been briefed privately on this program, but we’ve had people come before the Banking Committee, publicly, from Treasury and other departments. And this is—the White House has made statements, others have made statements, that we monitor and track terrorist financing.

MS. MITCHELL: Well...

SEN. SCHUMER: It’s been successful, so that you look at the reports, the terrorists don’t use the banks as much. So to jump out front and just blast a newspaper that they may not like, that, to me, is totally wrong. It’s, it’s the guilty verdict first and then the trial. Mitch—Pat Roberts has called for an investigation, fine, let it be a fair...

MS. MITCHELL: The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

SEN. SCHUMER: Yeah. Let it be a fair and down-the-middle investigation. My guess: It will find that national security was not compromised a jot.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, let me pick up on that, because Treasury Secretary Snow took a group of reporters on a trip to Afghanistan and other parts of the world to show off how they were tracking terror financing. So, Senator McConnell, do they want to have it both ways? Do they want to brag about their success record in tracking this financing, and at the same time yell and scream about the reporters when they print the stories?

SEN. McCONNELL: Well, look, I think the leaks are abominable and printing of the leaks is certainly troubling. You can talk in general about what we’re doing without revealing the specifics. And I think we all regret that the, that the Times and other publications chose to do that. And I think the president essentially had it correctly.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, let me show you a joint statement that was on the op-ed pages of both The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times yesterday. The editors of those newspapers wrote, “... the banking articles ... did not dwell on the operational or technical aspects of the program, but on its sweep, the questions about its legal basis and the issues of oversight. We understand that honorable people may disagree with any of these choices - to publish or not to publish. But making those decisions is the responsibility that falls to editors, a corollary to the great gift of our independence. It is not a responsibility we take lightly. And it is not one we can surrender to the government.”

After that, in fact, The Wall Street Journal attacked The New York Times on its editorial pages Friday, so this was clearly a response to that, even though the Journal had itself published the same story about terror financing in its news columns, which is separate from its editorial pages. Senator McConnell, has the administration and its conservative supporters now embarked on a calculated campaign to demonize The New York Times and other newspapers, but particularly The New York Times, as a political calculus because it’ll help in the midterm elections?

SEN. McCONNELL: Look, newspapers are very, very important in our, in our country. The media’s important, and we have a free press, but the press is not responsible for our national security. That’s the responsibility of the president and the Department of Defense and the other agencies that look after us. And I think it’s important for the leaders of the principle outlets in the press in this country to be responsible. And I don’t this publishing of this kind of information is helpful, and nor do I think it is necessary in doing their job.

MS. MITCHELL: Senator Schumer?

SEN. SCHUMER: Andrea, let me say a couple of things. First, you asked about a double standard. There clearly is a double standard; it’s with the administration. They leak things they want to leak. And when the Plame leak came out, there was no outrage, there was no high dudgeon. In fact, regardless of the criminal standard which special prosecutor Fitzgerald is handling, it’s clear that there were leaks. There’s been no punishment, no outcry, etc. You can’t have it both ways and use leaks when you want to and don’t use leaks when you don’t.

But there’s a second point here. When it comes to difficult situations, and clearly Iraq now is one, and this administration has a penchant for diversion and scapegoating. And here’s the good news—the good news for America and, I think, the good news in many ways—they’re going to have to solve the problem in Iraq, they’re going to have to solve the problem in the war on terrorism where Afghanistan is deteriorating right now. And I think the American people are tired and see through these diversions. They want real solutions, they want real progress.

MS. MITCHELL: Well, let’s talk about real solutions, Senator, because Democrats are sharply divided over Iraq. Two weeks ago, only 13 Senate Democrats supported the Kerry-Feingold amendment by Senators Kerry and Feingold calling for an immediate withdrawal. You were not one of them.

SEN. SCHUMER: Correct.

MS. MITCHELL: But as the party’s campaign chairman for the Senate campaign, doesn’t that amendment make Democrats look weak?

SEN. SCHUMER: Not at all. You know what our job is? Look, the president is commander in chief. The president, by the Constitution and everything else, is in charge of Iraq. He got us in there, he’s got to figure a way out. Our job, our job is oversight, our job is holding people accountable. So...

MS. MITCHELL: Wait a second, you’re going to the election...

SEN. SCHUMER: Right.

MS. MITCHELL: ...to, to the voters in November. Don’t you also have the job as campaign chairman for Democrats of presenting an alternative?

SEN. SCHUMER: Let me say this. I think what the American people want is for the Congress to hold the president’s feet to the fire. Now, we did present an alternative, the one that a vast majority of Democrats voted for, including some who voted for the other one, which said—it was drafted by Senator Levin and Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and it basically said we’re going to tell the Iraqis in a period of time—not public, you don’t want to set a specific deadline, that’s what the resolution didn’t like—that we are not go—this commitment is not open-ended and they better get their act together or they’re not going to keep us there.

But make no mistake about it, Andrea, a minority party in the Congress has a job. The job is one of oversight and accountability. We are not the commander in chief, we are not in charge of all of those things...

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