WEBVTT - Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:05.160 Two of the best known individuals in the United States 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.680 over the last forty years have been Bill and Hillary Clinton. 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:10.840 Bill served as President of the United States for eight years. 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:13.520 Hillary Clinton served as First Lady for eight years, but 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.040 also as a United States Senator and Secretary of State. 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.280 I had a rare chance to interview both of them 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:20.520 together at the ninety second Street Why and I think 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:23.400 their insights are quite interesting for current affairs, not only 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:29.120 about what they've done before, but what they're working on now. So, 0:00:29.400 --> 0:00:32.280 President Clinton, let's talk about some current affairs for a moment. 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.240 What do you think is the likely outcome of Ukraine? 0:00:35.280 --> 0:00:38.520 Do you see any resolution of that in the near term? 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:43.280 And obviously, Secretary Clinton, what your views are as well. 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:45.560 I don't expect it to be resolved in the near 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:51.000 term unless Putin had some sort of change of heart, 0:00:53.560 --> 0:00:56.440 or unless the United States and others walk away from 0:00:56.600 --> 0:01:01.480 Ukraine and they can't get enough arms nomination to continue. 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:05.520 I mean, they've been amazing, you know, they fought and 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:09.200 fought and fought. They haven't asked any Americans to come 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:13.479 and fight with them. But I think we I think 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:15.560 they have a chance to win. I think they will 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:16.960 win if we stay with them. 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:19.560 What do you think is there any way out of 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:21.640 this that a face saving way out of this that 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:23.080 you can think of, or what is your view on 0:01:23.120 --> 0:01:24.520 how this might be resolved? 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.280 Well, David, first, I think it's imperative that we continue, 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:33.240 and I would even argue increase our support for Ukraine because, 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:38.600 as Bill just said, the Russians are back to indiscriminate 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:46.880 bombing in cities, aiming at apartment buildings, hospitals, other civilian sites. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:53.920 They have committed war crimes, they are in the midst 0:01:53.960 --> 0:01:58.520 of committing genocide, particularly with respect of how they're kidnapping 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:04.480 children and forcing Ukrainians into Russia. So the bottom line 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:09.760 for me is the only potential possible end to the 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:15.839 hostilities is either a victory by Ukraine, including them being 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:19.600 able to take back the property the territory seized in 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.920 twenty fourteen, or pushing Russia out of what they have 0:02:24.000 --> 0:02:27.679 seized since February of last year, and so that could 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:32.360 give give us a breathing space to perhaps have some 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:38.360 kind of opportunity to protect Ukraine's legitimate borders with the 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.280 exception of what they didn't get back from twenty fourteen, 0:02:42.080 --> 0:02:46.840 and to move them forward in reconstruction and rebuilding in 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:48.320 the face of such devastation. 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.640 Are you surprised that the US China relationship now is 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.359 as bad as it's been since Tieneman Square, it seems, 0:02:54.360 --> 0:02:55.800 And what do you think could be done about that 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:56.440 to improve it? 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.840 I think it's difficult, and. 0:03:04.560 --> 0:03:08.919 I think it'll get harder if we walk away from Ukraine, 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:12.040 because I think it will increase the willingness of Russia 0:03:12.120 --> 0:03:16.720 of China to attack Taiwan. It's a real dilemma for 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.200 me because I worked hard with China and I tried 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:22.799 to build a relationship, and we desperately need a cooperative 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:28.280 relationship with them to deal with things like COVID, climate change, 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.720 North Korea. There's a whole lot of things that we 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.800 ought to be doing together, but they make it virtually impossible. 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:43.800 Because again, if you decide to stay for life, whether 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:50.440 your name is putin she or Smith, your number one 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:55.440 priority has got to be crushing all the scent, eliminating 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:59.960 any source of alternative power in your country, and then 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.200 keeping people lathered up by being angry. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:04.160 At somebody somewhere else. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:11.000 And so I believe the best thing to do is 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:14.160 to keep talking to them, even while we have to 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.360 disagree with them publicly. 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.760 Secretary Clinton, are you worried about a possible invasion by 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:20.640 China Taiwan? 0:04:21.200 --> 0:04:25.400 When she saw that Putin's invasion number one didn't work 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:30.320 as fast and smoothly as Putin apparently thought it would, 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:34.080 and that the world literally united, with a few exceptions 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.160 to impose sanctions that are taking a toll on the 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.880 Russian economy, not as fast as I would like, because 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:43.880 I think that could change the power dynamic inside. But 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:49.039 she saw that, and I think before the Russian invasion 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:53.040 there was a good chance he would have moved on 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:54.880 Taiwan within two to three years. 0:04:54.960 --> 0:04:57.000 I think that timetable has been pushed back. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:01.400 So since you've left Washington, there's been an increase in 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.800 what i'll call the divisiveness in Washington. I'm sure you've noticed. 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.880 And what do you think accounts for this? It's much 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:10.760 worse than it was even when you were there, and 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:13.839 it wasn't great then, but now the Democrats Republicans don't 0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:15.800 even want to talk to each other, let alone think 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.919 about bipartisan legislation. What do you think causes this and 0:05:18.960 --> 0:05:21.240 you see any solution in the near term. 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:23.240 Well, if I say it. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.440 You'll say I'm being a partisan Democrat, but I'm going 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:29.600 to say it anyway. It's because the Republicans have been 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:35.599 rewarded for being divisive, and it's it, and it's it's 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:38.880 great for them because they're great branders, they're really good 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:42.640 at they're better at than we are, and they convince 0:05:42.720 --> 0:05:46.480 people that are most left wing members about ten percent 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:50.640 of our caucus represent one hundred percent of us, and 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:52.919 cause people that get scared in the middle who are 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:56.560 swing voters, to forget that their most right wing members 0:05:56.640 --> 0:06:00.360 represent over ninety percent of them in the House and 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.600 about sixty percent in the Senate. I have a lot 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:07.600 of Republican friends still who just pretend it's not going on, 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:10.800 or who don't like it and don't support it. But 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:15.240 you can't blame people in politics who covert power for 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.520 doing what works, and it's been working for them. 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:24.240 So, President Clinton today, if you were to say we 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.920 should change the way the presidents are elected, obviously you 0:06:26.960 --> 0:06:29.960 were elected twice, you probably are reasonably happy with the method. 0:06:30.040 --> 0:06:33.719 But do you think direct election of the president popular 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.400 vote would be preferable to the electoral college method? 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.080 I do. I think. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:46.359 First of all, we adopted the electoral college when we 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:51.280 were thirteen states, and we had a couple of. 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.040 Really big states and. 0:06:57.200 --> 0:07:04.000 Some really really small states that had distinct differences. But 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:09.440 it also helped to load up the electoral votes of 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:17.600 the southern states that had slaves. And now we know 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.840 that the effect of the electoral college is to give 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:28.840 about thirty six extra votes to the most culturally conservative 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:36.880 and furthest right American states. And I have no objection 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.000 to them voting. I want them all to vote. I 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.360 would not unlike some of them. I'd never try to 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:43.040 make it harder for him to vote. I'd make it 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:45.760 easier for him to vote. I want the votes counted, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:47.880 and I want them all to count. But I just 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:53.360 don't think you can justify that today. Now, if you 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.760 did it, the first question you got to ask yourself 0:07:55.800 --> 0:08:00.960 is would we have more or a three party or 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:05.720 fourth party national elections? And if so, would we have 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:07.880 to have a runoff? That is, should you at least 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:12.120 require a president to have I don't know, forty percent 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.880 of the vote, forty five percent of the vote. Lincoln 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:18.760 got elected with like thirty nine percent. A lot of 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:21.200 countries have this, by the way, they have you know, 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:22.960 you have to get a majority, or you have to 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:28.200 get something over a minimal amount to be president. If 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:31.239 you're not going to go to a parliamentary system which 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:34.400 has a lot of coalition governments, you have to have 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.559 I think at least some sort of threshold. 0:08:37.760 --> 0:08:40.080 I assume you prefer direct election as well. 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:40.920 Well. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:42.959 I definitely prefer direct election. 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:46.800 So let me ask you. There's a famous passage in 0:08:46.840 --> 0:08:49.280 your life where you are at Yale Law School library 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:54.640 and you're seeing Bill Clinton looking at you, and you're 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:56.240 looking at him, and finally you go over to him 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:58.200 and say, well, stop looking at me, let's have a 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:01.600 conversation or something like that. So, had you not been 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.320 in the same yet law school class or there at 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:06.920 the same time, how do you think your life would 0:09:06.960 --> 0:09:09.040 be different? You think you would have been president of 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.560 United States sooner? Or would you have gone in the 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:14.440 public service, or how do you think your life would 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:16.080 be different if the two of you had not married? 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:22.520 Wow, I think it would have been more boring. 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.720 When you told your parents you're moving to Arkansas, what 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.320 did they say, Well. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:34.480 You know my father, You know, when I was growing up, 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:40.520 my father was a very big supporter of Republicans, He 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:42.080 loved Dwight Eisenhower. 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:45.920 You know, he was you know, World War two vet. 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:47.760 He really loved that. 0:09:48.160 --> 0:09:51.720 And so when I brought Bill home the first time, 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.320 it wasn't so much that he was from Arkansas, was 0:09:54.320 --> 0:09:55.719 that he was a Democrat. 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:01.760 So Hillary came from the town Park Ridge, Illinois where 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:06.240 Goldwater beat Johnson eighty to twenty and the other twenty 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:12.800 percent Goldwater to Liberal. But I loved her father and 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.520 her mother, who was a liberal Democrat. She was more 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:18.280 liberal and iller than I were. And it was interesting 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.400 how they're listened to their marriage unfold in terms of 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.160 raising their children and advice and everything was different. But 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:29.960 he was a really good guy and smart, and he 0:10:30.040 --> 0:10:34.080 wound up, you know, working as a volunteer in my 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.240 campaign for Congress in nineteen seventy four. 0:10:36.360 --> 0:10:37.080 I ruined him. 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.319 President Clinton, when you were president three times, we had 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:44.520 a budget surplus. A surplus is when you have more 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:48.080 money than you spend. And at one point it was 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:50.400 thought that maybe we would run out of having any 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:53.680 federal treasury bills because we weren't going to have any debt. 0:10:54.520 --> 0:10:56.600 Any ideas about how we can get back to that 0:10:56.679 --> 0:10:57.400 kind of situation. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.560 Well, first of all, I did have a big argument 0:11:00.559 --> 0:11:03.960 with Alan Greenspan. Alan Greenspan was to my left. 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.600 He said, we're not going to be able to have 0:11:07.679 --> 0:11:10.480 interest we can how do we set interest rates on 0:11:10.559 --> 0:11:15.040 federal securities if we have no debt? I said, Alan, 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:17.280 that's a high class problem. Let's deal with that. We 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:17.720 get to it. 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:24.120 But let me say I also supported. 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:30.160 President obama stimulus program, and I supported the build President 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:32.880 Trump passed, and I supported the bill President Obama path. 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:37.640 When you have zero to negative interest rates, you can't 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.079 run a balance budget and you can't start cutting spending 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:45.240 without making the economy worse. But when you do have 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:49.520 interest rates, then you have to deal with your debt issue, 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.880 or otherwise you spend more and more of your money 0:11:52.400 --> 0:11:54.160 pay an interest on the debt, and you don't have 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:59.480 anything left for education and health and all the science research. 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.839 So I think, first, here's what I think. First of all, 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.920 I think it's nuts to make a big issue of 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:11.440 this debt limit thing. And because that's simply it's a 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.880 stupid rule we have in America that that Congress has 0:12:15.920 --> 0:12:21.520 to approve twice paying for something they've already voted to 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.199 spend on. I mean a lot of these people who 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:27.560 were opposing raising the debt ceiling. 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:32.199 Voted for most of the debt that is embedded there. 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:38.120 So bottom line, we should bring the depth sit down 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.160 as much as we can, but we ought to pay 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.959 our debts. You can't spend money, borrow it, and then 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:48.040 refuse to pay the people that loan it to you, 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:50.680 not if you want to be a great country. 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:55.640 So you ran for the presidential nomination. Barack Obama became 0:12:55.679 --> 0:12:59.040 the nominee, and to your surprise, he offered you the 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:02.680 position of secretaries and you turned that down initially. Why 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:03.600 did you turn it down? 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:06.840 She turns everything down. She turned me down three times 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:07.880 when I asked her to marry it. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.199 Hard. The false answer is no. 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:18.240 Well there is some truth to that, but eventually, you know, 0:13:18.600 --> 0:13:21.040 I do say yes to these charming men like Bill 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:22.160 Clinton and Barack Obama. 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.880 For Parry Clinton, there's a very famous photo of you 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:29.520 sitting in the situation room looking at the Osama bin 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:33.360 laden effort to capture him. What were you all looking at? 0:13:33.440 --> 0:13:36.000 And everybody's mouth is open. What were you afraid it 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:37.680 wasn't going to work? And when did you realize it 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:38.520 actually did work? 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:39.920 Well? 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.920 Yeah, we were all afraid something would go wrong. You know, 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:48.080 I was part of the small group that studied all 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:53.599 of the intelligence that had been gathered to make recommendations 0:13:53.600 --> 0:13:56.920 to the president about whether to do something and if so, 0:13:57.040 --> 0:14:01.320 what And it was a It was the most intense 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:06.760 public deliberation, public service deliberation I've ever been part of. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:08.800 And it was also you know, it was secret. 0:14:08.840 --> 0:14:11.800 I couldn't tell Bill, I couldn't talk to anybody because 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:15.840 how closely held it was. But we were in that 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:19.800 small situation room off the big one, and we were 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:26.720 watching a screen because we had video from a drone above. 0:14:27.360 --> 0:14:30.720 We had video of what was happening as the helicopters 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.240 came into land and one of the helicopters, its tail 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:43.000 clipped the wire on the wall surrounding a little area 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:47.640 where animals were kept. And so once the helicopter tail 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.600 hit we knew it was disabled. And that was the 0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:53.520 moment I think that the picture was taken because we 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:56.760 all had flashbacks to what happened when you know, President 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:01.000 Carter tried to rescue the hostages in Iran. It also 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.240 meant that we'd have to send in another helicopter that 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.800 was in waiting in hiding to get it in there 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:08.680 quickly enough. 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:11.400 We had to do all of this literally. 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.920 You know, within twenty thirty minutes, because when people were 0:15:13.960 --> 0:15:16.360 starting to wake up, I mean, we had helicopters landing. 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.760 You know, there was obviously noise. People were living in 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:23.240 homes around the compound. It was a hot night, people 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.800 were sleeping out on their roofs, and we were you 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:28.600 aware that people were waking up and starting. 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:29.520 To wonder what the heck was going on. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:36.360 So when the helicopters landed and the Navy Seals Seal 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:39.120 Team six got out to go into the compound, we 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:41.520 couldn't see that there was there was no video of that, 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:44.320 so we were all holding our breasts. So then we 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.520 had to wait till we got news from inside the compound. 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:50.640 And there was a you know, there was a firefight. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:56.120 The guards and one of bin Laden's adult sons were 0:15:56.280 --> 0:16:01.920 you know, you know, shooting, and then eventually bin Laden 0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:05.240 was shot, and then his body had to be taken 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:08.000 out of the compound loaded onto one of the helicopters 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:11.760 because we had to be sure about identification to have 0:16:11.840 --> 0:16:14.720 credibility with the world, and we had to blow up 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.520 the helicopter because it was an advanced helicopter with a 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.040 lot of advanced electronics that we didn't want the Pakistanis 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:24.520 to get because we thought the Pakistanis might very well 0:16:24.560 --> 0:16:27.280 give it to either of the Russians, most likely the Chinese. 0:16:27.520 --> 0:16:30.120 So all this was going on, and so. 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:33.120 Yeah, I think we were all holding our breath for you, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:38.640 like twenty minutes. It was just so intense, and thankfully, 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.760 you know, President Obama made the right decision and it worked. 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:45.680 When something like that's happening, you can't and you know 0:16:45.760 --> 0:16:48.800 about this, you can't say to your husband, Bill, I 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.560 have a secret. I just can't tell you. You can't do that. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:53.760 So he called me as soon as it was over, 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:56.840 and he said, Bill, we got him. 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:04.199 And I said who? Because he knew how hard I. 0:17:04.320 --> 0:17:07.200 Tried to get him when I was president and nearly 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:11.480 did once, so he's been lauden. Hillary didn't tell you, 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.240 I said, now, mister President, didn't you tell her not 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:15.119 to tell anybody? 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:18.440 He said sure, But I said she didn't tell anybody. 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:20.679 Final question for both of you were just about out 0:17:20.720 --> 0:17:24.960 of time. So Secretary Clinton, in your long distinguished career, 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.960 what would you say you're most proud of having accomplished you. 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:32.040 Know, I'd been Senator from New York for you know, 0:17:32.080 --> 0:17:36.040 about eight months when nine to eleven happened, and it 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:41.879 was the most devastating, horrible experience for our city and 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:42.560 our country. 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:45.679 But it was also. 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:52.960 A absolute mandate to act to help people who'd been 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:57.200 directly affected, to help victims' families, to help rebuild New York, 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:00.879 and it was so bipartisan. David, you started with a 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:03.280 question about that at the very beginning. You know, I 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.320 just want to tell a little story here, because you know, 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.280 Chuck Schumer and I literally were the only plane in 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:12.600 the sky on September twelfth, because we were flown down 0:18:12.640 --> 0:18:15.760 to New York to meet with then Governor Pataki and 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:20.960 Mayor Giuliani to survey what had happened. And it was 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.800 just overwhelming to have seen it firsthand like that that 0:18:25.920 --> 0:18:29.640 television could not capture it. And we spent the day 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:31.879 in meetings talking. 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:32.520 About what we were going to do. 0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:39.160 And that night, around eight nine o'clock, Schumer and I were, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:41.040 you know, we're Chuck and I were in a meeting 0:18:41.640 --> 0:18:45.520 with everybody, all these state, local, federal officials, and we 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:47.600 were each handed a note from our staffs who were 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.440 with us, and the note said, the White House has 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:55.040 just sent a budget request to deal with nine eleven 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:57.679 for twenty billion dollars and there's not a penny for 0:18:57.720 --> 0:18:59.960 New York in it. So I took the last train 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.720 out of Grand Central back to Washington. 0:19:03.200 --> 0:19:05.320 Then that afternoon we go to the White House. 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:10.080 And so it's the two senators from Virginia, Senator Allen 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:12.439 and Senator John Warner, and Chuck and I were in 0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:16.280 with the President, and you know, I could see on 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.160 his face. I mean, this was you know, a devastating, 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:23.880 obviously you know, crisis that had to be dealt with. 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.879 And he says, he says to us, so, you know, 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:30.600 I'm with you, what do you need? And I said, 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:33.040 we need twenty billion dollars, mister President, and he said, 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.560 you got it, and his staff nearly fell off their chairs. 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.800 And so then we were going into the Cabinet room, 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:40.560 which is next to the Oval Office, and we got 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:42.919 up to leaving. John Warner, who was one of my 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:47.719 favorite colleagues of all time. He stopped me and he goes, Hillary, 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:53.200 have him make that commitment in public in this meeting. 0:19:54.800 --> 0:19:55.720 I said, okay, John. 0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.160 So we go in all the members of Congress from 0:19:58.160 --> 0:20:01.400 New York, canad Get New Jersey, a couple of them, 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:05.760 but mostly New York and Virginia. And the President's talking 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:07.800 about how, you know, we're going to you know, protect 0:20:07.800 --> 0:20:09.480 the country and we're going to do this and all that. 0:20:10.240 --> 0:20:12.479 So he finishes talking and then I say, and I 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:15.359 just want to thank you, mister President, for committing twenty 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:21.840 billion dollars to New York. And literally, by the time 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:26.119 Chuck and I got back to the Senate, his staff 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:30.040 was trying to undo that and telling, you know, the 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:32.800 Republican leaders, you know, don't don't put it in the 0:20:32.840 --> 0:20:35.520 appropriations bill, don't do it. And so we just kept 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:37.359 calling the White House and Bush that I gave my 0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.600 word and you know I'm going to follow through. 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:42.439 That was an amazing moment for me. 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:47.640 So wow. So President Clinton, you look back on your 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:49.960 distinguished and long service to our country. What are you 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:52.480 most proud of having achieved? 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:54.040 Well? 0:20:54.320 --> 0:20:56.359 Can I just add one thing to earn what he said? 0:20:58.440 --> 0:20:59.360 One thing I like. 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:02.399 About George W. Bush. 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.680 We have fought, we had disagreed. He started out more 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:11.000 conservative than his father. We do speeches together that are 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:14.439 really funny now because we bad mouthed each other in 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:16.360 a funny way. 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:18.119 But he will listen. 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.880 And if he will listen, and if he thinks you're right, 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:28.480 he'll switch. And if he thinks you're wrong, he'll argue. 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:30.960 That's all you can ever ask. And I think that's 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:33.960 what you should remember. And that's when you asked me 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:38.080 in the beginning, and I said that the polarization was 0:21:38.160 --> 0:21:40.840 partly because the right had been rewarded. It's also caused 0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.200 the left too easily gives. 0:21:42.960 --> 0:21:43.679 Up on people. 0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:47.359 We should We shouldn't talk down about people. 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:48.040 We shouldn't. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:48.800 You know. 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:52.040 The one thing I loved about Elijah Cummings and John 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:56.119 Lewis was they treated people respectfully and they just kept trying. 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:59.439 They kept knocking on the door. There's some other people 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:01.320 out there that you can knock on the door. 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.280 No regrets about not having going into the higher calling 0:22:04.280 --> 0:22:07.280 of private equity, right, neither of you don't regret that. 0:22:07.400 --> 0:22:11.560 So on, behalf of everybody at the ninety second Street. 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:13.560 Why oh, that's cause you take care of all the 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:15.439 stuff that requires real money to do you. 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:19.840 He gives a lot of that money away. Don't don't 0:22:19.920 --> 0:22:20.960 let him play the rosko on. 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:22.600 Behalf of the ninety second Street why. I want to 0:22:22.600 --> 0:22:24.919 thank you for coming here again. You've been here before 0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:27.119 and you're always welcome back. And thank you for a 0:22:27.160 --> 0:22:27.760 great evening. 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:29.840 Thank you, thank you, thank you, Gavin. 0:22:32.960 --> 0:22:35.479 Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.639 can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:40.480 wherever you listen.