NBC Good Morning America-Transcript

Interview

NBC Good Morning America-Transcript

MATT LAUER: On Close-up this morning: Major League Baseball's steroid scandal. Top leaders of the players' union are gathering today for their annual meeting, and Senator John McCain is pressuring them to step up to the plate and agree to tougher drug testing. Senator McCain is chairman of the Commerce Committee.

Senator McCain, good morning. Good to see you.

SEN. MCCAIN: Good morning, Matt.

MR. LAUER: Back in March, you held congressional hearings on the subject of steroid use in baseball, and you warned the head of the players' association, Donald Fehr, quote, "Your failure to commit to addressing this issue straight on and immediately will motivate this committee to search for legislative remedies," end quote. I believe he answered by saying something to the effect of, "We get it."

Nine months have passed. Another baseball season has passed. Do you think the people in baseball think you're just blowing smoke?

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, they may be. I think they have very strong allies here on the Hill who may not want to act, but I think American public opinion will drive us to act. But what I'm hopeful is that this week, as the players meet, that they will come up with a proposal that will be meaningful and satisfy the great concerns that people have about the legitimacy of major league baseball.

MR. LAUER: Well, how realistic is that, Senator? Do you really think there is the will existing right now within baseball, among the players and the owners, to change this?

SEN. MCCAIN: I hope so. I would like to point out that the owners are culpable here, too, because they did not insist in their last bargaining agreement that they have a strong testing regimen. They just gave up because they said it was the last item, so they didn't want to address it. So the owners have some culpability too.

But the fact is that they've got to act. Matt, what this is really all about is high school athletes who more and more believe that the only way they're going to make it to the major leagues is through the use of performance-enhancing drugs. That's what I'm hearing from high school choices all over the country. That's really what this is all about.

If one of these highly-paid athletes wants to destroy their body, that's a terrible thing. But what it's doing in motivating young people to indulge in this ruinous activity is what I'm worried about.

MR. LAUER: You called for Major League Baseball to adopt at least the standards that minor league baseball has, with three random drug tests throughout a year and tougher disciplinary action. If you think you've got kind of momentum here -- it's on the front pages of papers all across the country -- why not go for the works? Why not go for Olympic-style testing, where there are random tests throughout the year and up to a two-year suspension if someone's caught?

SEN. MCCAIN: I'd like to see that. I'd like to see some progress. But, of course, ideally I'd like to see that as well. I'd like to see all --

MR. LAUER: Well, go for the moon and then negotiate backwards. Wouldn't that be good?

SEN. MCCAIN: Not a bad idea. I think you should have my job. But I also believe that all professional sports should have a single standard of testing, and ideally it would be along the lines of the Olympics.

MR. LAUER: And isn't there another problem here? I mean, you can have testing as often as you want, but you've got labs that are producing more sophisticated steroids all the time that seem to be undetectable. So sooner or later it's going to come down to honor, and that seems hard to legislate.

SEN. MCCAIN: Well, it's going to come down to that. But also it's going to come down to funding for organizations such as USADA, the United States Anti-Doping Agency, and others, who tell me they can stay ahead of this if they have sufficient funding.

MR. LAUER: Barry Bonds says he did not know -- if he did take steroids, he wasn't aware of it; that when he took something called the Cream or the Clear, he was not told that anabolic steroids were in those substances. Do you believe him?

SEN. MCCAIN: I believe that he deserves the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. I think, in my role as chairman of the Commerce Committee and involved in this issue, it wouldn't be helpful for me to make a judgment. As a genuine sports fanatic -- I love sports; I love all sports; I love baseball -- I'm very angry and very upset, as baseball fans are all over America, because of this terrible cloud that now hovers over America's pastime.

MR. LAUER: Well, real quickly, as a sports fan, do you think there should be an asterisk next to his records in the record book?

SEN. MCCAIN: Matt, I don't often duck a question, but that's going to be like the Pete Rose issue. It's going to be a subject of debate and discussion. And now, fortunately, all these sports talk shows have plenty of time to fill in.

MR. LAUER: All right, Senator John McCain. Senator, as always, thanks very much.

SEN. MCCAIN: Thanks, Matt.

END.

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