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What Has Hillary Clinton Done for the 9/11 Families?

Wednesday, November 28, 2001

This is a transcript of one segment from the O'Reilly Factor, November 27, 2001. Click here to order the complete transcript of the entire broadcast.

BILL O'REILLY, HOST: In the second Personal Story segment tonight, Tip O'Neill once said, "All politics are local." And since 9/11, there have been thousands of funerals and memorial services held in the state of New York for the victims of the terror attack. Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki have attended scores of them.

But we noticed that Senator Hillary Clinton was not around very much. So we sent both Senator Clinton and Senator Chuck Schumer letters asking them which services they attended and which families they visited.

Predictably, Senator Clinton's office ignored the letter and our repeated phone calls, most likely because the only events we know she attended were three highly publicized memorial services.

Senator Schumer's office said he attended about 10 funerals and they would provide a list for us.

With us now is Anthony Gardner, who lost his brother, Harvey, at the World Trade Center and who has started a Web site for the families who have lost loved ones. And writer Beth Harpaz covered Mrs. Clinton for the Associated Press and authored the book The Girls in the Van.

All right, Mr. Gardner, I want to start with you, because I know you're very active in a number of the things regarding the families of the victims. Did you contact Hillary Clinton?

ANTHONY GARDNER, LOST BROTHER AT WORLD TRADE CENTER: I did. On several occasions I left voicemail on her general mailbox, just with the far-fetched hope that she would hear the message. I invited her to come and be on our board of advisers to help us with the nonprofit support group that we created, WTC United Family Group, in the hope to unite all the families, to bring them together, to provide emotional support.

I've never had any feedback back from her office, not even from an assistant of an assistant or anyone.

O'REILLY: All right, so you've left it how many voicemails?

GARDNER: Only about two, just because...

O'REILLY: All right, two voicemails in her New York office, right?

GARDNER: In her New York office.

O'REILLY: OK, and you didn't hear back.

GARDNER: Never heard back.

O'REILLY: That's not unusual. And I want to be fair. And you know how these politicians are...

GARDNER: Oh, I understand that.

O'REILLY: ... and, you know, we don't hear back from them, and we...

GARDNER: I knew it was a far-fetched thing...

O'REILLY: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) every day.

GARDNER: ... I just thought that she might be eager to help us.

O'REILLY: Mrs. Clinton attended three memorials, as far as we know, and all three were major media events. You attended one of them, wasn't it?

GARDNER: Yes, I was at the one at the actual site, and I was standing right up by the front of the stage. And when she proceeded to take her seat, she was booed by many people. And I was kind of surprised by that. I thought, What did she do that outraged so many families that at this solemn occasion, solemn time, that they would make the effort to boo her?

O'REILLY: This was at ground zero.

GARDNER: This was at the ground zero site. I don't really remember time-wise right now.

O'REILLY: No, it was in early October...

GARDNER: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

O'REILLY: ... and then subsequently she went to the concert in Madison Square Garden and got booed there.

I'm not so sure that we're being fair to her right now, Beth. But we must tell the audience that she is impossible to deal with as far as the press is concerned, won't answer questions, staff is as arrogant as I've ever seen any staff in 25 years of reporting, send them a letter, send them a nah (ph). As Mr. Gardner said, totally say hey (ph). And I'm not using the two words, but that's basically what they say. Am I wrong here?

BETH HARPAZ, AUTHOR, COVERING HILLARY: She can be difficult to get access to, there's no question about it. I mean, for one thing, she -- her staff and she are overwhelmed with media requests. I mean, she is, you know, the most famous woman in the country.

O'REILLY: But isn't this pretty important? When you send a letter saying, "Mrs. Clinton, would you tell us what families you visited and what funerals and memorial services you attended?" that's a pretty easy question to answer, is it not?

HARPAZ: Yes, I mean, I'm not here to defend Hillary Clinton, but I will say that her -- you know, her core supporters and the main victim groups of 9/11 are pretty -- pretty much two distinct groups. You know, we have a lot of male-dominated professions here, firefighters, cops, Wall Street, a lot of suburbanites, a lot of political conservatives in, you know, the Wall Street culture...

O'REILLY: So what? What difference does that make?

(CROSSTALK)

HARPAZ: Well, if she's going to go someplace and get booed, why would you choose to go to a funeral and perhaps cause people to have...

O'REILLY: Surely out of...

HARPAZ: ... more bad feelings than they already have?

O'REILLY: All right. I understand. But surely out of the thousands of people who were put in the ground in New York State, there wasn't one family that her staff could come up with that she could lend some support? She couldn't go to visit one family? Not a single? This is the worst political mistake I have ever seen in 25 years of covering politics.

Senator Hillary Clinton, just elected in New York State, ignored every single funeral and every single memorial service that was held unless it was a median (ph) event. Am I wrong?

HARPAZ: As far as I know, she didn't publicly attend any of these funerals, but you say we...

O'REILLY: She didn't go.

HARPAZ: ... haven't had any evidence of it. On the other hand...

O'REILLY: No. If you were the new senator, wouldn't you...

HARPAZ: ... she...

O'REILLY: ... have gone?

HARPAZ: Well, on the other hand, she's been busy in Washington doing what senators do...

O'REILLY: She's been busy in Washington.

HARPAZ: ... she's been introducing a lot of legislation that's related to 9/11.

O'REILLY: Yes, we're all busy.

HARPAZ: She (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

O'REILLY: You know, I mean, I think Mayor Giuliani's pretty busy.

HARPAZ: Well, she's met with small-business people downtown...

O'REILLY: Well, you know (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

HARPAZ: ... she's been appropriating money...

O'REILLY: ... you say you're not an apologist for her, you know how you sound? It's ridiculous. She's met with small-business people? What do you think, Mr. Gardner? You lost your brother.

GARDNER: I really have no thoughts on Hillary Clinton, aside from the fact that, you know, no one has ever made an effort to contact us or...

O'REILLY: But you're a New Yorker, right?

GARDNER: Actually we live in New Jersey.

O'REILLY: Oh, you're in Jersey, I see.

GARDNER: And one of the aims of our organization is to make sure that every person, every family lost a hero that day, and everyone, every family deserves to be treated equally, and families aren't treated equally. And, you know, for Hillary Clinton to just attend the high-profile memorials, I mean, that, I mean, that just, you know, lessens my opinion of her in my mind, because she obviously...

O'REILLY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

GARDNER: ... doesn't really care.

O'REILLY: Your family, have they been contacted by any politicians in New Jersey?

GARDNER: No politicians...

O'REILLY: No one.

GARDNER: ... in terms of aid, we haven't received any aid, charitable contributions, nothing. And, I mean, and we're an active family, we're going out there and...

O'REILLY: The United Way hasn't contacted you?

GARDNER: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) -- United Way has not con -- the only organization that contacted us was the Red Cross. My brother was -- lived with my other brother, Mark. They shared the expenses. Mark was the person to go in and fill out the forms. He wasn't emotionally able to do it, so we haven't received anything.

O'REILLY: All right.

GARDNER: And (UNINTELLIGIBLE)...

O'REILLY: Well, we know that story, we don't have to pound that again. Just...

GARDNER: But the point is that...

O'REILLY: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)

GARDNER: ... every -- my feeling is, every family deserves to be treated equally...

O'REILLY: With dignity, right?

GARDNER: ... and politicians -- with dignity. Every family lost a hero. Politicians shouldn't try to, you know, propel their career by, you know, by capitalizing on this tragedy.

O'REILLY: And some of them have, unfortunately.

Mr., Miss Harpaz, I'm going to give you the last word on this. You know this woman. I have never met Hillary Clinton, and I obviously am not a fan of hers, I mean, I just think if I were the senator of New York, OK, I would have tried to attend as many of those funerals and memorial services I could. And if they booed me, they booed me. I'd get down on my knees and say a prayer for that dead person, and then I would go and leave.

HARPAZ: Well, what senators do is, they get money from Washington for their constituents. And a lot of the legislation that she's introduced on children and bioterrorism, on increased security for nuclear facilities, you know, money...

O'REILLY: So there's no humanity in politics any more, I guess.

HARPAZ: ... for businesses -- Well, it has to do with getting money out of Washington...

O'REILLY: And you can't do both, though...

HARPAZ: ... for the victims.

O'REILLY: ... you couldn't go to a funeral on a Saturday and still get the bill done, I guess.

HARPAZ: Like you said, I'm not here to defend her, I just deal in the facts.

O'REILLY: All right. I think everybody's got it. Mr. Gardner, Miss Harpaz, thank you very much.

HARPAZ: Thank you.

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-- Anonymous, November 28, 2001