CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Carlos Gimenez

Interview

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ACOSTA: As New York City buildings disintegrated on 9/11, it was clear, the scope of the rescue and recovery effort would be unprecedented. All told, it took three million hours of labor to clean up nearly two million tons of debris.

I want to bring in Florida Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez. He is a former Fire Chief and worked search and rescue operations at Ground Zero with the Florida Emergency Task Force that rushed to New York City after the attacks.

Congressman, I'm so glad you're able to talk to us about your experience because people may forget or may not know all these firefighters, all these rescuers who came across the country to help out.

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Yes, there was a number -- there were hundreds of firefighters from all around the country that came. Florida Task Force 2, which is a team I created was called upon by F.E.M.A. to go up along with Florida Task Force 1, I guess all the Florida -- all of the task forces from F.E.M.A. were called there to search for the victims initially, search, and then recover, you know, afterwards.

[18:20:19]

GIMENEZ: And so it was my -- it was my honor to be with them on September 21st, 10, days after the attack, we were on the pile and they were working. And I was there, at the time I was actually the City Manager of the City of Miami, and I was there along with my Fire Chief to show our support and work with them and make sure that they had everything they needed to get the job done.

ACOSTA: And we're looking at some pictures that you sent along of your crew there at the scene. What was that work like? What do people need to understand about what that work was like?

GIMENEZ: That work was incredibly dangerous. You know, you don't get the scale of this -- of the site and the disaster, unless you were actually there. I mean, there were voids that if you took a wrong step, you're going to fall about 60 feet and seriously injure yourself and not kill yourself, and so it was incredibly dangerous.

I also recall telling the Fire Chief, me and my friends said, hey, there's really some bad stuff in the air here and we need to make sure that our people are protected as much as possible. You know, little did we know that years later, you know, they have over 250 New York City firefighters that were working on that site that died subsequent to it, because of all the things that they breathed in, and all the different cancers that have sprung from all those people that actually were trying to, you know, work on that site.

And so, you know, there's more than just 343 firefighters that died. There's another 250 firefighters who have died subsequent to that. There are also victims of 9/11 we can never forget the sacrifices they made also.

ACOSTA: And tell me why? Why did you go? Why did you and the men that you work with pick up and just go to help?

GIMENEZ: Well, that's what firefighters do. You know, firefighters go in. When people are running out, firefighters go in. And as I was watching, you know, the events unfold, and I was watching those towers fall, you know, I turned over to again, the Fire Chief, my Fire Chief who was there with me, and I said, a lot of firefighters just lost their lives.

And you know, all those firefighters knew what they were getting into. They all knew what the chances were, that there was a good chance they would not come out alive if they all went in.

And so when we were called upon to help those firefighters try to find some of them, find the people that are caught in the rubble and then later recover them, that's what firefighters do, not just in New York, they'll do it, all firefighters across the nation.

We are about the same breed. It's a brotherhood and a sisterhood, and that's what we do. And we respond to -- when people are running out, we run in, and we do our duty.

ACOSTA: Yes, when I was down at Ground Zero this week, I ran into a big tall firefighter named Dennis, who -- he was up there helping pay tribute to the firefighters and the other first responders who lost their lives that day.

Can we talk about this issue of unity in the United States? This is something that several of our guests today have talked about, Congressman. How do we get back? And I know you know this, because you were there. How do we get back to that day?

Maybe we won't get back. But how can we recapture that spirit of a country coming together like we did in the days after 9/11? Or is that too -- is that too naive to think that that could happen? That that only occurs after a catastrophic event? What do you think?

GIMENEZ: Look what happened on 9/11 and 9/12, we were all Americans. We were all united as one, and that's the difference between then and now. Right now, we have too many forces trying to accentuate the differences among us, instead of saying, hey, these are some of the shared values that we have as Americans and there's more than unites us than pulls us apart.

But unfortunately, we have way too many people and way too many entities that really want to accentuate the negatives and also -- not the negatives, just the differences, instead of, you know, what unites us as a nation.

You know, this nation always comes together in times just like, you know, 9/11. Just like, you know, the day after Pearl Harbor. You know, 85 percent of the people back in World War II did not want to enter World War II on December 6th. On December 7th, we all united and we had a common cause and that's the same thing that happened on September 11th.

I hope that we don't need such an event to get back to being a more unified country. We'll never be completely unified, but a more unified country. But you know, unfortunately, there are folks and forces that are trying to separate us.

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ACOSTA: You know, former President George W. Bush made some comments that jumped out to a lot of folks today. He was comparing domestic extremists with foreign extremists. Let's play a little bit of that, and I'll just get your quick thought on that on the other side.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders, but from violence that gathers within.

There's little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home, but in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit, and it is our continuing duty to confront them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I know you are greatly concerned about what you saw and experienced on January 6. Your thoughts on what the former President had to say today that message that he chose to put into that speech?

GIMENEZ: Well, I think, look, we have extremists on both sides, an extremism on either side should be condemned. All acts of violence need to be condemned. And so, I think that the President is right. We have extremists that are inside our country, you know, right now.

What their ideology is, is really, to me not that important. It is what they are trying to do to this country, and again, what they're trying to do to this country is trying to tear us apart, which is what I spoke to, you know, before.

We have to remember, as a nation that we are one nation, that we are all Americans, and that we have a shared, you know, set of values and that's what we need to focus in on and then reject those extremes from the right or the left that are trying to tear us apart.

ACOSTA: Congressman Carlos Gimenez, thank you so much for your time. Thanks for sharing your experience about 9/11. It's an important lesson for everybody to see the nation coming together. We appreciate it. Thanks for your time.

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

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