Andy Card, White House Chief Of Staff, Hands In Resignation; Josh Bolten To replace Andy Card; President Bush Interview
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: To our viewers, you're in THE SITUATION ROOM, where news and information from around the world arrive at one place at the same time. Standing by, CNN reporters across the United States and around the world ready to bring you today's top stories. Happening right now, it's 5:00 p.m. here in Washington, where we have an exclusive interview with the president of the United States. He speaks his mind about the situation in Iraq, immigration, and a White House under siege from fellow Republicans. A big change at the White House. The president's chief of staff steps down as worried Republicans step up calls for a shakeup. Can new blood pump life into the president's poll numbers? And at the Supreme Court, the man said to be bin Laden's bodyguard challenges the president's wartime powers. Are some justices inclined to agree with him? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM. We're going to get to our exclusive interview, our CNN interview with the president, momentarily. But you also have to know we're following an important story over at the White House; namely, a shakeup. A new White House chief of staff is in, the old chief of staff is out. Let's go to the White House. Our Suzanne Malveaux is standing by with today's details -- Suzanne.</s>SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, it was three weeks ago that Andy Card approached the president saying he wanted to leave, but the president did not accept his resignation. He had made his views known some time ago around 2004. After the reelection, President Bush wanted him to stay, but it was this weekend at Camp David the president finally accepted his resignation. These two men are very close. You may recall that it was Andy Card who whispered in the president's ear on September 11 that the country was under attack. It was Andy Card today who shed some tears. The big question, of course, Wolf, is whether or not this is really going to be able to jump-start the administration's ability to move forward on the agenda.</s>MALVEAUX (voice over): A turnover at the highest levels in the West Wing.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Andy Card has served me and our country in historic times.</s>MALVEAUX: Chief of Staff Andy Card out.</s>ANDY CARD, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: And there is a new season.</s>MALVEAUX: Budget chief Josh Bolten in.</s>JOSH BOLTEN, BUDGET DIRECTOR: Andy cannot be replaced.</s>MALVEAUX: A shakeup at the White house? Hardly.</s>CHARLIE BLACK, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think what's occurred today is a very fine public servant decided to retire and was replaced by another Bush insider.</s>MALVEAUX: And that's the way the president likes it. Despite strikes by terrorists and hurricanes, bruising legislative battles, war and sagging poll numbers, President Bush's team continues to defy history by remaining almost entirely intact five years after the president first took office.</s>BLACK: This White House staff has been more unified and had less infighting and less freelancing than any White House in modern history.</s>MALVEAUX: But critics, now including some top Republicans on the Hill, believe the president's leadership style has ultimately hurt him, isolating him from fresh ideas and bad news.</s>RON BROWNSTEIN, POLITICAL ANALYST: The president leaves himself very little margin for error.</s>MALVEAUX: The president's inner circle remains small. Aides say his Oval Office door is open to just a handful who have been with him since he came to Washington in 2001. Among those, Vice President Dick Cheney, political guru Karl Rove, White House counsel Harriet Miers and others.</s>BLACK: If he has no suspicion whatsoever that they have their own agenda, then it allows him to trust them and become completely comfortable with them.</s>MALVEAUX: And those who have departed generally have not.</s>BLACK: If there is a common denominator, it seems to me that this sense of loyalty and team work that the president demands, that folks who left might not have adhered to that, or at least he didn't perceive them to be complete team players.</s>MALVEAUX: And Wolf, of course Bush aides say that that was not the case when it came to Andy Card. The big question is whether or not they're going to be able to turn things around, the struggling agenda. And the president and this White House, there are many Republican strategists who we've been speaking with who are somewhat skeptical about this. They believe that perhaps someone who is a little bit more removed from the White House would be more effective. As one person put it, they said that "Changing the staff will not bring about victory in Iraq anytime sooner" -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Suzanne, thanks very much. And just a little while ago, the president gave an exclusive interview to CNN en Espanol's Juan Carlos Lopez. They discussed immigration and lots of other issues as well. Listen to this.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, it's a sign of fellow who's worked five -- five and a quarter years. He's here every morning early in the morning and stays late, and he put his heart and soul in the job. And came to me about two and a half weeks ago, or two weeks ago, and said, "I think it may be time for me to go on." You know, "I've given it my all." And I thank him for his service. I consider him an incredibly close friend. And obviously, I have picked Joshua Bolten to take his place. And now Josh's job is to design a White House staff that meets the needs of the president, which is one of the key -- the most important needs is to make sure I get information in a timely fashion so I can make decisions.</s>LOPEZ: Any more changes coming up?</s>BUSH: Well, Josh has just begun to take a look at the White House structure. And I haven't had a chance to talk to him about the future yet. But right now I'm honoring and celebrating the service of Andy Card.</s>LOPEZ: Let's talk about Cancun. You will meet with President Fox, the prime minister -- the prime minister of Canada. What do you expect to accomplish?</s>BUSH: Well, I think it's very important for the three of us to continue to commit ourselves to a relationship that -- that -- a commercial relationship based upon trade, free and fair trade, a security relationship based upon a kind of mutual understanding of how we can cooperate. And we're going to have a cultural event. We're going to go to the ruins, which will be fantastic, the Mayan ruins. And the point is, is that the three of us need to be interconnected and work closely together for the good of our respective peoples. I will remind people that -- that we're not starting anything new. We're really building on what our predecessors left behind. In 2005, there was, you know, enormous trade between Mexico and the United States, much more significant than it was, you know, 10 years ago. And I believe both countries benefit from that trade. But it is also not a given that people in both our countries accept trade. And therefore, one of the jobs of leadership is to remind people about the benefits, that trade equals jobs and jobs makes people have a chance to realize, you know, hopeful dreams.</s>LOPEZ: The government of Mexico recently placed ads in U.S. papers...</s>BUSH: Yes.</s>LOPEZ: Acknowledging their responsibility on the border problem and saying they should have a role in the way the guest worker program is shaped. Should Mexico have that role? Is that appropriate?</s>BUSH: Well, I think, first of all, the fact that they put those ads in the papers talking about joint responsibility and the border makes it easier for those of us who believe in comprehensive migration or immigration reform to get something done. And I appreciate the government's stand there. The truth of the matter is, the laws of the United States will be written inside the Congress. Of course, you know -- you know, thoughtful suggestions may help, but the job is really to get a bill out of -- out of the Senate and eventually out of the House, out of a conference committee that I can sign. And I'm interested in comprehensive immigration reform that includes not only border security but also a temporary worker plan that recognizes there are hard-working people here doing jobs Americans won't do and they ought to be here in such a way so they don't have to hide in the shadows of our society. And the fundamental issue, by the way, it seems like to me on the guest worker plan, is somebody gets ahead of the line when it comes to citizenship. And my answer is, no, they ought to -- they ought to get in line, but they don't get to get to the head of the line. And that's where some of the tension about the debate is taking place right now.</s>LOPEZ: The debate is taking place in the Senate. They are discussing a plan and they're including your guest worker program that you've requested. But the House said no. The Sensenbrenner bill doesn't include...</s>BUSH: Well, I wouldn't give up on it yet. We're just starting. It's a -- for your listeners, this is a process. The House has passed a bill, the Senate hopefully will pass a bill. And then they'll get to conference and work something out in conference. And I've called upon both the House and the Senate to pass a comprehensive bill. And a comprehensive bill means to make sure you include a guest worker program as part of the comprehensive bill. I happen to believe a guest worker program recognizes reality here -- what's taking place in our economy today. But it also -- a guest worker program is part of border security. I mean, rather than have people sneaking across the border to come and do jobs that Americans won't do, it seems like it makes sense for people to be given an identification card that they can come and use to do a job on a temporary basis so they can go back and forth freely with this tamper-proof ID card and not have to sneak across, so that our border patrol agents on both sides of the border are really dealing with, you know, drug smuggling or gun smuggling or terrorists trying to sneak into the country.</s>LOPEZ: So the question is, after those six years, if they get the six years in this program, how will you enforce sending people back who have to go back who have been living here?</s>BUSH: Well, you will have to have a tamper-proof card in order to work. In other words, there will be -- it will make it much easier to have employer enforcement in place when there is a card that you know is tamper-proof. In other words, one that can't be forged. Right now there's a whole, you know, document forging industry that has evolved. There are people sneaking across in 18-wheelers, there are people risking their lives. And the system is inhumane, as far as I'm concerned. And it needs to be reformed.</s>LOPEZ: The White House supported (ph) the Sensenbrenner bill in the House, making the exception that you were going to pursue a temporary guest worker program. Now, that bill includes the construction of 700 miles of border, and that is seen not only in Mexico but in many Latin America countries as a sign that the U.S. wants to isolate itself from the region. Is that...</s>BUSH: No. I don't think people ought to read that into it. I think people -- first of all, the House is the beginning of the process, as you know. But people shouldn't -- it's impractical to fence off the border. But it is also realistic to give our border patrol agents tools to be able to do their job. We ought to enforce our borders. That's what the American people expect. You know, I have talked to President Fox about Mexico enforcing our southern border. And he agrees there ought to be border enforcement down there. But he, like I understand, it's difficult to enforce large borders. And I don't think anybody believes that you could totally fence off the border and be effective, but I do think we ought to be in a position to give our border patrol agents, you know, better tools, more effective ways to prevent people from something people and/or drugs across our border.</s>LOPEZ: I want to ask you about Venezuela. President Chavez, he refers to you in very strong terms. He does the same about Secretary Rice. What is your reaction to that, and where do you see -- how do you see that affecting the relationship between the two countries?</s>BUSH: I judge the president based upon his honoring of the institutions that make democracy sound in Venezuela. I think it's very important for leaders to honor the freedom to worship, the freedom of the press, contracts, legal -- to honor legal contracts, to allow people to express their opinion without fear. And it's very important for leaders throughout the hemisphere, whether they agree with America or not, to honor the -- you know, the tenets of democracy. And to the extent he doesn't do that, I believe he should be subject to criticism.</s>LOPEZ: The president -- Iraq, you've been telling people the U.S. is going the right way. But the polls -- and you've said you don't follow the polls -- the polls say people don't agree with you. Could it be that they're right and you're wrong?</s>BUSH: You know, history will prove whether I'm right. I think I'll be right because I do believe freedom is universal. I remember it wasn't all that long ago that 11 million Iraqis went to the polls in the face of terrorist threats, in the face of potential assassination, and said, we want to be free. That was last December. That sentiment still exists in Iraq. The enemy has -- those who want to stop democracy, they've got one weapon, and that is the ability to kill innocent live to get on the TV to shake our will. And my will's not going to be shaken. You cannot have a president make decisions based upon yesterday's polls. You must have a president who believes in certain principles and is willing to lead based upon a vision for a better future. And I believe my vision for a better future entails having a democratic Iraq as a friend and an ally, and to prevent the stated goals of the enemy from taking place. They want us to leave Iraq so they can establish a safe haven from which to launch attacks on our -- on our people again. And I take their -- I take their goals seriously, and I will use all resources at my disposal in order to protect the American people.</s>BLITZER: The president speaking with CNN en Espanol's Juan Carlos Lopez over at the White House earlier today. Let's go up to New York. Jack Cafferty is standing by again with "The Cafferty File" -- Jack.</s>JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: "If the White House it looking to change course, they picked the wrong person to toss overboard." That's a quote from Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin on staff changes at the White House earlier today. Chief of Staff Andy Card is leaving. He will be replaced by Budget Director Josh Bolten. Bolten isn't exactly new blood. He's been with the president for all five years, serving as deputy chief of staff before becoming director of the Office of Management and Budget. Some Republicans say it's not nearly enough and they want the president to bring in someone from the outside to serve as a sort of unofficial ambassador to the Congress. So here's the question: If White House Chief of Staff Andy Card isn't the only one to go, who should be next? E-mail your thoughts to caffertyfile@cnn.com or go to CNN.com/caffertyfile.</s>BLITZER: Jack, thanks very much. Senator Durbin, by the way, is going to be here live in THE SITUATION ROOM coming up this hour. Also coming up, police using water cannons, tear gas as hundreds of thousands of people protest across France. We're going to have details of what's going on, the unrest in Paris. Also, he was allegedly Osama bin Laden's driver. Now his case is before the U.S. Supreme Court. We'll show you why it could affect the course of the war on terror. And this note. Coming up in our 7:00 p.m. Eastern hour, Justice Scalia unplugged. We're going to show you the recent speech he gave that's raising lots of controversy. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.