Nightline (ABC) - 2002-01-15
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Read a transcript preview of “Nightline (ABC) - 2002-01-15” from malgent, uploaded on 2026-01-19.
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Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] K2 News, the station more and more
[0:03] people are watching.
[0:07] >> January 15th, 2002.
[0:10] The president's campaign took his money.
[0:13] >> I have never discussed uh with Mr. Lei
[0:16] the financial problems of the uh
[0:19] company.
[0:20] >> Essentially, the president said, "I did
[0:22] not have political relations with that
[0:24] man."
[0:25] >> Given the obvious,
[0:26] >> the Washington press corps took the
[0:28] bait. When did the president learn of
[0:32] the financial straits of MI to like call
[0:35] um Mr. Evans the same day he called
[0:37] Secretary?
[0:38] >> So it sounds like he was asking for a
[0:40] bailout
[0:40] >> and the stockholders
[0:42] took the fall.
[0:43] >> It went from being a respected company
[0:46] to being a dog in a span of about 6
[0:49] weeks. Tonight, taking care of business,
[0:53] the fall of Enron
[1:00] from ABC News.
[1:05] This is Night Line
[1:07] reporting from Washington, Ted CP.
[1:11] Last year around mid August, some
[1:14] interesting things happened within a few
[1:16] days of one another. Enron's chief
[1:18] executive officer, a man by the name of
[1:20] Jeff Skielling, resigned, citing
[1:22] personal reasons. Enron's board of
[1:25] directors asked Ken Lei, the company's
[1:27] former chairman and CEO, to resume that
[1:29] role, which he agreed to do. One of Mr.
[1:32] Lay's first acts was to issue a
[1:34] companywide memo in which he wrote,
[1:36] among other things, I want to assure you
[1:39] that I have never felt better about the
[1:41] prospects for the company. Our
[1:43] performance has never been stronger. Our
[1:45] business model has never been more
[1:46] robust. Our growth has never been more
[1:50] certain. Right about the same time,
[1:52] probably a few days after Lei's memo,
[1:54] Sharon Watkins, one o