Scott McClellan Speaks Out About his Tell-All Book
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind close doors in Arizona. No cameras, no reporters and we all know why. Senator McCain doesn't want to be seen hand-in-hand with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years.</s>KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Why don't we see President Bush and John McCain arm-in-arm, hand-in-hand like in past years coming out together, speaking engagements? Why not?</s>RUDY GIULIANI, MCCAIN SUPPORTER: Well, first of all, fundraisers are often done in private. Barack Obama has had dozens, if not hundreds of fundraisers in private. Sometimes, the people that are raising the money want to have a certain degree of privacy. Sometimes, they don't want their home invaded. The thing about John McCain that's very, very clear, you know when he agrees with President Bush and you know when he disagrees. He's been the strongest supporter of the war in Iraq. He's been the strongest critic in the way in which it was conducted until the surge. This is a man who nobody is going to be able to legitimately criticize as not being independent.</s>PHILLIPS: But why have we not seen them together more?</s>GIULIANI: We have seen them together. And you're not going to see them together all the time. Here's the thing. When a person is running, either as a vice president or party in power, you've got to show yourself as your own person. The American people expect to see it. George Bush had to do this when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. This is what happened. Al Gore had to do this when Bill Clinton was in the White House. In fact, they thought Al Gore did it too much and he distanced himself too much from Bill Clinton because of Bill Clinton's problems at the time. This is incumbent in -- or part of what happens when you run with a president in the White House of your party.</s>PHILLIPS: We'll be talking again. Good to see you, mayor. All right. John?</s>JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: One minute after the hour now. Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell is losing faith in Hillary Clinton saying that he doesn't expect her to win the nomination. The staunch Clinton supporter says he believes that Clinton is a far better choice, but it's, quote, "very likely that she'll be -- very unlikely, rather, that she'll be the Democratic nominee this fall." So, is Senator Clinton done or is there one more chance for her to salvage her campaign. Coming up in about half an hour, another long-time Clinton supporter, James Carville, weighs in when he joins us live. As of today, just five days left now until final two contests in South Dakota and Montana, we have got the countdown clock rolling. Coming up next, Puerto Rico on June the 1st. And then on June the 3rd -- those last two primaries -- Montana and South Dakota. 31 delegates there. We've got 55 delegates at stake in Puerto Rico. Breaking news this morning. For first time, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan is speaking out about his tell-all book that blasts the Bush White House. In the book, McClellan said the administration sold the Iraq war with propaganda and explained why on NBC's "Today" show.</s>SCOTT MCCLELLAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Much of that information was based in what could be substantiated. But at the same time, as we accelerated the build-up to the war, the information that we were talking about became a little more certain than it was. The caveats were dropped. Contradictory intelligence was ignored. Intelligence that had a high level of confidence was combined and packaged with intelligence that had a low level of confidence. And together, that made it sound like the threat was more urgent and more grave and gathering that it really turned out to be.</s>ROBERTS: McClellan also said President Bush's idealistic vision of spreading democracy in the Middle East pushed him forward on Iraq. It's total crap. That's what a fellow former White House insider calls some of the allegations in McClellan's book. Former White House Counselor Dan Bartlett also asked, why now?</s>DAN BARTLETT, FORMER COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT: In the most private of moments within the west wing of the White House, with his closest colleagues, he never raised these concerns that he's now airing in this book. And that, I think, is why it's so troubling to see this type of tell-all book that we're now reading about.</s>ROBERTS: Bartlett was a fellow Texas original in the Bush White House. The current White House press secretary Dana Perino called the disclosures in the book, quote, "sad and puzzling." Well, just hours ago, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice waded on the controversy. During an international conference on Iraq, she said the administration never misled the public.</s>CONDOLEEZZA RICE, SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm not going to comment on a book that I haven't read. But I will say that the concerns about weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein's Iraq were the fundamental reason for tense effort for dozens of resolutions within the Security Council from the time that Saddam Hussein was expelled from Kuwait in 1991 up until 2003.</s>ROBERTS: Rice also said she remains convinced toppling Saddam Hussein was right and necessary.</s>PHILLIPS: Breaking news this morning. A suspected terrorist attack in the southern Philippines. Three people killed, at least 18 injured, when a bomb went off just outside an Air Force base. This video came into CNN just minutes ago. Officials said the bomb was hidden in a bag and detonated by remote control using a cell phone.</s>ROBERTS: Breaking news out of China today. Officials preparing for a massive evacuation. They say a dam formed by the quake -- if a dam formed by the quake gives way, they'll have only four hours to move more than 1 million people. The death toll already topping 65,000 people there. We're also following breaking weather news. A tropical depression brewing in the eastern Pacific off of the western coast of Costa Rica right now. Rob Marciano is following the developments for us this morning. And the hurricane season doesn't start for another few days, right?</s>ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not the in the Atlantic, John. You're right about that. But in the Pacific, eastern Pacific, it starts May 15th. So, we're off to a quick one here. Tropical depression number 1-E meaning eastern Pacific. It's about 75 miles south, southwest of Managua, Nicaragua. You can kind of see the satellite picture getting a little bit better organized. It is forecast to strengthen to a tropical storm status. If it does so in the next 24 hours, it would become tropical storm Alma. And the forecast track is for it to head up towards El Salvador and the Honduras with drenching rains, probably going to be the biggest issue with the storm. Could see 10 to 15 inches of rain over the next 36 to 48 hours. So our hurricane season in the Atlantic starts 2008 and June 1. These are the names that have been picked -- Arthur, Bertha, Christobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, and Gustav. Hopefully, none of those will be too terrible. John, Kyra, back up to you.</s>ROBERTS: Rob, thanks very much.</s>PHILLIPS: Well, the Atlantic hurricane season starts on Sunday. But a new survey says that people along the East Coast are not prepared. CNN's John Zarrella takes a look at why, in our next half hour. One city's new plan to clean up its streets and feed the homeless at the same time. We'll have that coming up.</s>ROBERTS: Is Hillary Clinton a presidential short-timer? We'll ask Clinton supporter James Carville. What it will take for her to keep the Democratic race going.</s>PHILLIPS: Rachael Ray's specialty is food, not fashion. But is this scarf really a fashion faux pas or much ado about nothing? We'll tell you what's it all about, coming up.