Transcript: Rob Ford's Interview With CNN's Bill Weir

CNN’s Bill Weir spoke with Toronto mayor Rob Ford in an interview that aired tonight on "Anderson Cooper 360°." Ford talked about his plan to remain in office and insisted that he never lied to reporters who asked about his drug use.

Here is the complete transcript of the segment, courtesy of CNN:

COOPER:  We begin, though, with Rob Ford, who sat down for a remarkable interview with CNN's Bill Weir.  Mayor Ford is already North America's poster child for bad behavior in politics.  He acted out again on the floor of Toronto City Council.  A short time later, the council took action stripping most of his powers, handing control over to city's deputy mayor. 

That is the breaking news.  And here's the outburst which happened while his brother, Doug, a city councilor, was in a middle of an argument with other members. 

He later apologized for knocking the woman over. 

There was that today.  There was the "Saturday Night Live" routine over the weekend, the cocaine and vodka at St. Patrick's Day bender allegations last week, the sexual harassment claims and the news conference P bombs, and of course the "I was too drunk to remember smoking crack" moment.  Call it the full four.  

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO:  I did not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine. 

Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine.  But no -- do I?  Am I an addict?  No.  Have I tried it?  Probably in one of my drunken stupors. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years? 

R. FORD:  Yes, I have. 

I'm not perp.  Maybe you are, but I'm not, OK? 

(CROSSTALK)

R. FORD:  None of you guys have ever, ever had a drink and gotten behind the wheel, I know that.  Have I drunk?  Have I done drugs?  Yes, I have. 

I'll do a drug test and alcohol test right now. 

Olivia Gondek says that I wanted to eat (EXPLETIVE DELETED).  I have never said that in my life to her. 

There is nothing else to say, guys, I really effed up.  And that's it. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER:  And given all that you might wonder why is he still in office?  You might also ask why anyone still supports him, the fact that some still do, though many are embarrassed he represents a great city like Toronto. 

CNN's Bill Weir spent time with the mayor and his brother Doug this weekend. 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT:  Wow, from the outside, it seems like you are a man under tremendous burdens this week.  Well, how has it been?  How has this week been for you? 

R. FORD:  It is all self-inflicted.  You know?  It's my fault.  It's -- I made mistakes and you own up to it.  You move on. 

WEIR (voice-over):  And so in his very next breath, Rob Ford moves on. 

R. FORD:  I went down to city hall, I cleaned it up.  These people just aren't happy, these councilors want me out.  The media wants me out.  I told the chief of police I want (INAUDIBLE).  You know, obviously he wants me out.  I'm not going anywhere. 

WEIR:  The setting for this interview is more than a little surreal.  This is the rec room of a suburban Toronto housing project and it is filled with loyal and vocal members of "Ford Nation." 

(On camera):  These folks love you, but do you realize how you're perceived around the rest of the country?  Around the rest of the continent?  Have you seen the late-night comics at all? 

R. FORD:  That's right, they can make fun of me.  The people here.  You know, they can laugh at me all they want.  They don't -- they don't know Rob Ford. 

WEIR (voice-over):  Things start relatively sedate, but when I ask why he decided to admit his crack use after months of denial, he gets so angry he forgets who's in the room. 

R. FORD:  I just had enough.  I was just sick and tired of all these allegations and all this (EXPLETIVE DELETED).  Excuse my words.  And that's all it is, sorry, I shouldn't swear in front of the kids but after all, I know what I'm doing is right.  I'm serving the people.  I'm saving taxpayers money.  And you know what?  I made mistakes.  I drank too much.  I smoke some cracks sometimes.  I -- what can I say?  I made a mistake.  I'm human. 

WEIR (on camera):  But can't you see why some would question your judgment? 

R. FORD:  So what?  So lie about it?  Just hide? 

(CROSSTALK)

WEIR:  No, no -- 

R. FORD:  I'll say -- 

WEIR:  You said you didn't do it in the first place.  That shows -- 

R. FORD:  No, no, I didn't say that.  No, I didn't say that.  You're wrong.  You're absolutely wrong what they said.  They said, do you smoke crack and are you a crack addict?  No, I don't smoke crack and I'm not a crack addict, have I?  Yes, I have.  So that's what -- I didn’t lie, I don't -- I don't smoke crack.  I haven't smoked crack in over a year.  But did I?  Come on. 

WEIR:  But that is semantics, Mayor. 

R. FORD:  Talk semantics. 

WEIR:  Come on.  Totally semantics. 

R. FORD:  It's typical media.  You guys are the same.  You're all cut from the same cloth. 

WEIR (voice-over):  But if we're hoping for any moment of contrition here, we're out of luck. 

R. FORD:  I'm not a thief.  I'm not -- I'm the most honest guy ever -- 

WEIR:  How do we find ourselves in the middle of a Rob Ford rant in the middle of the projects? 

Interesting story, it actually started right here on AC 360 Friday night. 

(On camera):  Explain to us why anyone in their right mind would vote for your brother -- 

(Voice-over):  After some give and take with the mayor's council brother, Doug, we're about say goodbye when he floated an offer. 

DOUG FORD, MAYOR ROB FORD'S BROTHER:  And we look forward to having you by Toronto one day. 

WEIR (on camera):  I'll take you up on that. 

(Voice-over):  And 18 hours later I found myself unloading toys from Doug Ford's SUV, outside the Queen's Plate Housing Projects in the heart of their war.  Now coming from America, it is a little disconcerting to see wealthy, fiscal conservatives treated like heroes in a project filled with people living on government assistance, after all, they rose to power by vowing to end the gravy train. 

The word conservative has a different definition up here.  

D. FORD:  Everyone keeps saying Rob is a conservative.  He is a huge, massive social liberal.  He loves Obama. 

WEIR:  Now a week before I visited the "Ford Nation" neighborhood where this photograph was taken.  Here I met a community organizer, who tries to use his humble computer lab to keep these kids out of trouble.  He described his disgust for Mayor Ford. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  I never see bad help or good help, I never see it at all. 

WEIR:  But out here at Queen's Plate with Doug at my side, different story.  People line up to voice their devotion to the brothers, and there are real moments of emotion.  But as we wait for the mayor, Doug's unscripted style of public relation takes a turn when a long-time resident named Ken wanders over to complain about a threatened eviction and a run-in with the cops, and as the councilor politely tries to nudge him to the door, he says this. 

D. FORD:  I know a lot of friends that bought hash from you actually. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Yes.  OK.  Well, that's good.  That's good.  That's good. 

WEIR:  Awkward, because he has been fighting those allegations since May when the "Toronto Globe and Mail" dug into the Ford family's checkered past, and reported that Doug spent much of the '80s as mid-level hashish dealer. 

(On camera):  That's not the first time I've heard the allegations of your youth, you slung a little hash. 

D. FORD:  No, I wasn't slinging any hash.  I said it very clearly 30 years ago, 31 years ago.  I smoked marijuana and I didn't deal marijuana.  If you want to go -- calling, you know, going to your buddy, and says there is a joint for 10 bucks, if that's what you want to call it? 

WEIR (voice-over):  Much of Doug's damage control strategy has been to paint their critics and foes as hypocrites.  Even on the floor of council. 

D. FORD:  Have you ever smoked marijuana? 

WEIR (on camera):  I'm curious about it.  When I saw you make that comparison. 

D. FORD:  Yes. 

WEIR:  Marijuana.  I wonder, are you a libertarian?  Do you think street drugs should be legal? 

D. FORD:  Medical marijuana should be.  I definitely think if someone's dying -- 

WEIR:  Not recreational? 

D. FORD:  No.  I don't think so. 

WEIR:  Why not? 

D. FORD:  I don’t know.  I just don't think any reason.  I don't think -- all is good.  We'll put it this way.  If you're going to compare alcohol to someone smoking a joint, if someone is going to drink and get hammered, or some guy smokes a joint, and you're going out with them, you're -- in my opinion, I'm going out with the guy who's nice and calm. 

WEIR:  Same argument can be made comparing marijuana and crack. 

D. FORD:  Yes.  That's nasty stuff.  Absolutely nasty.  

WEIR:  So asking your fellow councilors how many of you smoked marijuana?  Kind of a leap in there to smoking crack. 

D. FORD:  No.  But I asked them cocaine, too. 

WEIR:  Yes. 

D. FORD:  They were silent, they were silent.  And I thought OK, you asshole, you were sitting there criticizing Rob, meanwhile, I've had three phone calls that you almost got fired because you were wired on cocaine back in the '80s. 

WEIR (voice-over):  Back inside, Rose, who sums up a sentiment of many here. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  He is very smart.  He's a very smart man, and a man who's in charge of what they said, don't talk like that.  I think maybe he drank.  But crack, I don't know. 

WEIR (on camera):  Yes. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  People can set him up, too.  You know that. 

WEIR:  Oh, you think he might have been set up? 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Yes. 

WEIR:  Well, he admitted to smoking crack. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Well, maybe he just got fed up with everything. 

WEIR:  Yes.  But what kind of message does that send to the kids who live around here? 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  You make just a little mistake, you can get forgiveness. 

WEIR (voice-over):  An hour passes, we're afraid he may not show but then comes an excited commotion.  Here's here, there are hugs and photographs and the most controversial politician on the continent is back among the people who love him.  But his smile will disappear when the questions come.  And things will get tense. 

(CROSSTALK)

R. FORD:  Talk semantics.  To you -- it's typical media.  

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER:  Bill Weir joins me now.  And  I -- kind of stunned that he told you that basically, he never denied smoking crack, the reporters just didn't ask him the right questions and the right wording. 

WEIR:  Yes, it is interesting, because he misheard my question.  I asked -- I said this indicates a lack of judgment, you know the fact that you did it in the first place.  But he went to that talking point which he's been hammering for a while, which is, I never denied I didn't do it, you just didn't ask me the right question.  And whether it was past tense or present tense or what -- 

COOPER:  Just ridiculous. 

WEIR:  It's completely ridiculous.  And I think a lot of specialists would say that's a symptom of denial.  A pure sign of denial.  But, you know, we had a little technical difficulty there with the piece.  We wanted to show you the number of times people had asked him specifically, have you done drugs, have you done illegal drugs while in office, and he never went anywhere near that question. 

COOPER:  Well, just fascinating stuff.  There's more of the interview ahead. 

The breaking news, of course, Toronto City Council, making Mayor Ford essentially a figurehead.  And part two of Bill's interview is ahead.  How the mayor plans to mobilize the so-called "Ford Nation," his supporters, to regain power and the power some would say of denial. 

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

R. FORD:  I'm not an addict.  Why go see an addict when I'm not an addict?  I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not a drug addict. 

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER:  Let us know what you think.  He's denying that he's a drug addict.  Follow me on Twitter @Andersoncooper.  Tweet using hash tag ac360. 

Later, other breaking news story, George Zimmerman back in jail after an alleged armed confrontation with his girlfriend.  And now both 911 calls, his and hers.  Listen to each so you can decide for yourself who to believe. 

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER:  Hey, welcome back.  Breaking news tonight.  Toronto Mayor Rob Ford stripped of the bulk of his powers.  The city council, obviously, fed up.  Mayor Ford calling the vote a coup d'etat, vowing outright war in response.  He's nothing if not combative.  Here's part two of Bill Weir's interview with Rob and his brother Doug Ford. 

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEIR (voice-over):  In downtown Toronto, Mayor Rob Ford is the target of almost daily protests.  On the council floor of city hall, he is a political pariah. 

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Have you purchased illegal drugs in the last two years? 

R. FORD:  Yes, I have. 

WEIR:  And on "Saturday Night Live," he is an opening sketch punch line.  But in the Queen's Plate Housing Project in the heart of the suburban "Ford Nation," he is the greatest public servant they have ever known. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  Don't step down. 

R. FORD:  I'm not stepping down.  Don't worry. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  And we are praying for you every day.  You got to stay. 

R. FORD:  What I always say is more poor people than there are rich people, and I stick up for the poor people.  And that's the bottom line, so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  That's right. 

WEIR:  His brother invited us here to witness this love, a counterweight to the gauntlet of political foes downtown, doing all they can to strip away his power to lead. 

I'm interested what happened this week about the vote.  It was 41-2 to strip you of your emergency powers.  From the outside, that seems like you guys are political outcasts? 

R. FORD:  OK, sure, because I am not -- you know how you want to make friends at city hall?  Just keep spending their money, spend taxpayers' money, let them go on their free trips, let them have their free food, let them do whatever you want.  Do what you want with your money, not with taxpayers' money and then turn around and cry poor, and say, oh, we don't have any money.  BS, we don't have any, we have more than enough money. 

WEIR:  Do you have any political allies left?  Did you ever have any?  

D. FORD:  No, we never had any in the beginning.  We're the power of the people.  I'll tell you one thing, I'll work day in and day out to knock these councillors off, we're going to target their areas, and we'll work day in and day out to knock them off.

WEIR:  Really? 

D. FORD:  Oh, yes, I'm going to bring Ford Nation live just right across the city.  

WEIR:  So you have other candidates that you're going to foster in these wards to try to repeat what you guys have done? 

D. FORD:  Absolutely, 100 percent.  

WEIR:  Really? 

D. FORD:  Yes.  We're going to hit them hard, everything we got.  We make Chicago politics look like a tea party.  It is vicious. 

R. FORD:  Bill, you show me one other major city I've saved (ph) a billion dollars, that has turned around like I have.  Our roads are getting done now, it's clean, it's safe. The crime is down, things are happening.  We have more cranes in the sky, we have more jobs, we've created over 50,000 jobs in one year last year. 

WEIR:  But take all of that, given all of that, couldn't you be even more effective if you were a little healthier in your lifestyle? 

R. FORD:  Look, I'm trying to lose some weight, I'm working out.  I'm not perfect.

WEIR:  But why not see some addiction specialists?  Just to make sure.

R. FORD:  I'm not an addict.   Why go see an addict when I'm not an addict?  I'm not an alcoholic, I'm not a drug addict. 

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE:  How much do you want him to do?  

R. FORD:  No, why do see an addiction specialist when I'm not an addict?  You guys can spin it.  You can tell me whatever you want.  These people know that I'm not.  I show up every day to work.  Yes, you know what, sure, I have gone to, you know, gone to a party and I got a couple of drinks in me, yes, some good times.  Like I'm only human.  Have you ever got drunk before, Bill? 

WEIR:  Of course. 

R. FORD:  Sure. 

WEIR:  But I'm not running the biggest city in Canada.  

R. FORD:  It doesn't matter -- this is this thing, I don't look at myself as the mayor, I look at myself as just a normal, regular person. 

(CROSSTALK)

D. FORD:  It is not going to be about us anymore. 

R. FORD:  It is enough, guys, so I'm passionate (ph), sorry, sorry.

WEIR:  Just one more question, Mayor.  One more question, and this is the one that really gets it for me.  I know a lot of people who would party their brains out, but they're parents.  And they dial it back because of their kids. 

R. FORD:  Yes, I don't do that.  Absolutely I dial it back.

WEIR:  But here is the thing, here is my question, I mean, I'm sure you're insulting your children from what is going on now? 

R. FORD:  Absolutely, I'm the best father around. 

WEIR:  But there's going to come a day when they Google their dad.

R. FORD:  Absolutely, and I'm going to explain what they're hearing.  I'm straightforward with my kids.  I take my kids out, and I bring them to my daughter's dance lesson, I'm teaching my son how to skate.  I'm away supportive.  And my wife's had some issues.  Well, you just dismiss them, you just walk away?  I don't walk away from anyone, Bill, in life.  I'm sitting here and support people that are down and out.  All these rich, elitist people, I'm sick of them, I'm sick of them.  No, they're perfect, they don't do nothing.  Get out of here they don't do nothing.  They're the biggest crooks around. 

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  Just don't take it personal, Bill.  

WEIR:  There are so many questions to ask about the investigation into the murder of the man in this photo, why he dropped the p bomb on live television, and brought his wife to the apology.  But on this night, Rob Ford is done explaining.  And as one more example of his emotional pendulum, he stops to laugh and chat football with Cassius (ph), our producer. 

R. FORD:  49'ers, you're really -- your heart is back in California, eh? 

I have never been there, but all these guys want (ph) me (ph) to go down to California so--

UNIDENTIFIED MALE:  (inaudible) these guys will be able to hook you up.

R. FORD:  No, Charlie Sheen, all these guys want me to go down there. 

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER:  Bill Weir joins me again.  Charlie Sheen wants him to go down there. 

Does he have no self-control?  I mean, yelling expletives in front of kids -- what is it like to be with? 

WEIR:  That's it.  Like I said, he sort of has the impulse control of I think a young boy, and we saw the emotional swing from anger to jocularity.  He is real, you know, that is the one thing you can say for this guy.  We complain about politicians who are media managed, who have their personalities surgically extracted, complain about this, he is the diametric opposite of that, and that's why a lot of the reason these people love him. 

COOPER:  He does not think he is an alcoholic, even though he says he's had multiple drunken stupors, and that smoking crack was probably just during one of his drunken stupors. 

WEIR:  Right, right.  And it is very much the idea that yes, I work 60 hour weeks.  If I want to get hammered on a Friday night, that shouldn't affect how I am judged doing my job.  A lot of supporters feel that way, as well.  And even though his sister has battled addiction and publicly acknowledged that, as well.  His other brother, actually was convicted for drug-related offenses, as well.  Doug is a teetotaler.  He claims he had a few beers, you know, and he likes to be in control, although he let go of that, although in the first piece you saw the accusation that he