Reply #88: CNN Armstrong Williams interview transcript here... [View All]

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http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0501/07/ltm.05.html

HEMMER: There's a TV commentator reportedly admitting accepting money to promote President Bush's education policy.

According to "USA Today" today, Armstrong Williams was paid $240,000 to plug the "no child left behind" act in his syndicated broadcast. Some are now suggesting this deal raises ethical questions and possibly a congressional investigation.

Armstrong Williams with me from D.C., and good morning to you.

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, TV COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Bill. How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing fine. What did you do in return for the money?

WILLIAMS: Well, Bill, the -- we were subcontracted to Catch Em (ph). And what we were doing, they used our media. We own our syndication, the rights side, where we syndicate our shows all of the country.

And with many of the affiliates, we have to pay them. And especially, in particular markets that they wanted this "no child left behind" to be on their airwaves, they paid for advertising time is what they paid for.

And in addition to that, which is what our contract called for -- I made it clear because it's something that really believed in as a commentator, something I wrote often about -- that I would use my contacts with people that I knew in different media outlets from time to time to get them to talk about "no child left behind"...

HEMMER: OK. Stop there. A couple of questions here.

Did you disclose to your readers, did you disclose to your viewers about the transaction?

WILLIAMS: Listen, I disclosed to different people whose airwaves that we use. I disclosed it to different commentators. I don't -- I can't recall whether I disclosed it to the audience or not.

HEMMER: All right. But part of your job is to persuade people, right? And part of your job is to present arguments that you believe in. And if you did present those arguments and were getting money in return for it, why not tell people?

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, it's not as if it was an issue that I did not want to tell them. If issue did come up on the air, I made a very clear that we had a professional relationship where "no child left behind" was using our media as advertising.

It was advertising. It's not as if we were paid. People look at the article and say we were paid $240,000. It was in advertising. They used our media.

We taped a one minute commercial with Secretary Paige where we produced -- we did for about 20 minutes. We produced a one minute commercial. He had two, one minute commercial spots in our shows, on our commercial reel.

HEMMER: Stop again. Sorry.

You made money off this, right?

WILLIAMS: Our company did. We made money, yes.

HEMMER: In turn, you did because you are employed by the company. How often would you...

WILLIAMS: No, no, no -- not employed by the company, I own the company. There's a difference. HEMMER: OK, well, even better.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

HEMMER: How often did you come here on CNN and promote what you talked about, or wrote about or, in turn, were paid for?

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, I can't recall that because when I'm on CNN, we talk about issues of Iraq, when I'm on Wolf Blitzer's show, when I'm on "CNN MORNING."

I can't even recall if there is ever the time that we talked about "no child left behind." But certainly if the issue arises, it's very possible. I'm certainly going to talk about it because I'm an advocate for it.

HEMMER: Through our research, it appears back in October, on the 18th of October, you came on and talked about that very thing. Do you recall that discussion? Do you recall that conversation?

WILLIAMS: I wouldn't recall it, but it's quite possible. I mean, I appear on your broadcast quite often. And "no child left behind" is an issue that was consistently in the media for the last two years.

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