MSNBC "Hardball With Chris Matthews" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

MATTHEWS: Wow. Welcome back to HARDBALL. That was Michaele Salahi on the "Today Show" saying that she and her husband did not enter the White House illegally. U.S. Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi chairs the Homeland Security Committee, which is investigating the security breach itself.

Mr. Chairman, thank you for joining us. I want to show you something that happened on the hardball last night. We had the top "Washington Post" reporter last night who covers these kinds of events, Roxane Roberts on, and she told us on the record last night that she told early in the evening two white house staffers about those two crashers. Let‘s listen as she testifies to what she did to notify the white house, officially, of what was going wrong that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROXANE ROBERTS, WRITER FOR WASHINGTON POST: I said, can you tell me why they‘re not on the list? And she said, I don‘t know. But I‘ll try to find out. And I didn‘t hear anything for the rest of the evening. And the reason, I think, that‘s important is that even after they got inside the white house, the staff had two opportunities to go upstairs to the reception, discreetly pull this couple aside and verify that they were supposed to be there.

MATTHEWS: By the way, what were the staff members‘ names that you talked to?

ROBERTS: I talked to two members of the first lady‘s staff.

MATTHEWS: And who were they?

ROBERTS: Courtney O‘Donnell and Katy McCormack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Do you think that‘s important, Mr. Chairman that the white house staff was informed early in the evening that there‘d been this security breach?

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS.), CHAIR HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE:

Well, I think it‘s important when you look at the whole process. As you know, security is a responsibility of the secret service. So it‘s their job to determine who‘s legitimate and who‘s not.

MATTHEWS: Well, here‘s the question. The white house, not the secret service, prepares the list. They are the ones who know who comes and decide who should be there. Throughout the evening, the white house staff, not just those two staff members, were obviously aware that these two people were there and they were obviously aware of the list of those who were invited. Does it concern you that no action was taken at the fact of seeing these two strangers show up?

THOMPSON: Well, it concerns me, but, again, the process begins with the Secret Service. They have ...

MATTHEWS: Where does it end?

THOMPSON: It ends with the Secret Service. They are absolutely responsible for the security of the president. They‘re absolutely responsible for any activities that go on from a security nature at this particular event.

MATTHEWS: Well, then, does that mean that you‘re going to basically focus on the secret service and not the white house staff?

THOMPSON: Well, we have a member of the White House staff coming to the hearing, as well as the director of the Secret Service.

MATTHEWS: Who‘s coming from the White House?

THOMPSON: Melanie Barnes.

MATTHEWS: And who is that?

THOMPSON: She‘s head of White House liaison.

MATTHEWS: You‘re not going to get Desiree Rogers, the social secretary, to come? But didn‘t you invite Miss Rogers?

THOMPSON: Well, Miss Rogers is scheduled to come. That was an error on my part. She has been the person selected to come. So she will come, as far as we know.

MATTHEWS: Were you get any under any pressure, did you hear of any pressure from the White House not to hold these hearings, of any kind?

THOMPSON: Well, we‘ve had communications with White House personnel, but we have not tried in any respect to prevent us from holding the hearings.

MATTHEWS: Did you--I want to clarify your answer, sir. Did anybody at the White House say to you or do your staff people or anybody else around you that you shouldn‘t hold these hearings?

THOMPSON: No, the only concern is whether or not some of the security protocols could be compromised if some aspect of the hearing became public. I assured them that as chair, we would make sure that only those items in the public domain would be discussed. Anything of a classified nature, I‘m prepared as chair, to make sure that we go into a closed setting.

MATTHEWS: Well, here‘s the Salahi, the gate crashers, if you want to call it that. Here they are on the "Today Show." Let‘s listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, HOST, "TODAY SHOW": Who invited you?

M. SALAHI: And certainly not us.

TAREQ SALAHI, STATE DINNER CRASHER: Well, Matt, you know, one of the things that we‘re doing is we‘re working closely with the Secret Service and their internal investigation and --

M. SALAHI: Respect everything they do.

T. SALAHI: We‘re respecting their timeline and working on their timeline and we want to get through that process. We‘ve been very candid with them. We‘ve turned over documentation to them and we‘ll continue to work with the U.S. Secret Service completely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Well, that was just a meandering. They were asked by Matt Lauer, who knows how to ask a question, who invited you and they didn‘t give an answer. Did that impress you that they were gate crashers, sir?

THOMPSON: Well, I‘m concerned that somebody who‘s not on the list can come off the street into a state dinner at the White House. The protocol, which says they would have to be on the list. What our committee would do is see how that was compromised so it won‘t happen again.

Let‘s take a look at a scene from "In The Line of Fire," which I was reminded of in learning about this story. Let‘s watch a bit of this movie, because it talks about what could happen when the wrong person puts on a black tie and pretends to be invited to a gala involving the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(COLUMBIA PICTURES)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The bag, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you please empty your pockets?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You‘re from Texas, though, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEWS: Well, you‘re disadvantaged there, we were showing you a clip from "In The Line of Fire," the Clint Eastwood film. And you have John Malkovich playing the villain, and of course sneaking and paying his price sneaking into a fund-raising dinner and then putting together a gun under the table. Do you see this as a threat? I mean, this president has got a terrible amount of threat from people. And are you concerned that this is a real security issue or just a snafu? Where would you place it in terms of importance, sir?

THOMPSON: Well, it‘s a security issue. Anytime someone comes into the White House, has not been vetted, all those things, clearly, a security risk. We want to work with the Secret Service and the White House personnel to make sure that it doesn‘t happen again, but even if it was something contrived by a couple, it can‘t happen. This is our commander in chief‘s residence. He has guests there. So clearly we have to make sure that he‘s protected. So it‘s a vulnerability, whether it was a ruse or a lark, it still happened. We want to make sure from a committee perspective that it doesn‘t happen again.

MATTHEWS: I‘ll be watching your hearings, sir, Bennie Thompson, United States Congressman from Mississippi, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee of the Congress. Thank you for joining us.

President Obama set to announce his big troop increase in Afghanistan tonight at 8:00 eastern. We‘ll preview what the president will say in a moment and whether he can sell it politically. Especially to those on his left. This is Hardball on MSNBC.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source