Crime and the Justice Department.

0:00 Speaker 1 What is today is Congressman Peter King, and he had some great week. I understand that this was the twenty fifth anniversary of the Irish Accords. We’re putting Ireland and the rest of the world. And well, I’m gonna let Congressman Peter King talk about tell us about the twenty fifth year anniversary. And I understand you spoke to Bill Clinton,

0:26 President Bill Clinton, and he’s on his way to Ireland, and he’s in Ireland, and you were invited to go to for the twenty fifth anniversary. Give us the big picture.

0:36 Speaker 2 Yeah, John, thank you very much. Yeah, this is the twenty fifth anniversary. It was in April nineteen ninety eight that the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Belfast. It was among the included the Republic of Irelands at about Great Britain, and it involved all of the political leaders in Northern Irelands, including representatives of the paramilitary forces that’d

0:57 be the IRA on one side the UV on the other side. And this ended, you to say, eight hundred years of fighting, three hundred years of fighting, sixty years of fighting, a quarter century of fighting. They’ve been fighting on the island of Island between the Irish and British for centuries, and it would have gone on for much longer.

1:15 The person who broke the logjam was Bill Clinton. He realized when he came to office in nineteen ninety three, the Iron Curtain was down, and this was the only battle any of our allies was involved in. I mean, Britain is our closest ally. The Irish people are incredibly close the United States. And he saw the United States

1:36 being in the position of being an honest broker where they could bring all sides together, let each side know that he would not allow the other side to take advantage of any kind of a ceasefire, of any type of negotiations going on. And he did it. I mean, the IRA called a ceasefire in nineteen ninety four and

1:54 then frozen. Clinton gave Gerry Adams, who was head of Finfine, which was affiliated with the he gave him a visa to visit the United States. He did over the objections of the British government as his own State Department. He took it away from the State Department, the whole Irish in issue, and brought it into the White House. We

2:12 handled it personally, and then over the next several years negotiations started. Talks began under the leadership of George Mitchell, the former Senator. He was the chairman of the talks, and around Saint Patrick’s Day of nineteen ninety eight, Mitchell said this has gone on long enough. We have to do it and not do it, and he put Holy

2:30 Thursday down as the deadline, and things really speed it up then. But on Holy Thursday it almost came unraveled. I was in New York and I flew to Washington that day. I was talking to the British Secretary of State from Northern Ireland. I was talking to the representatives of the Irish Prime Minister, the representatives of Trimfrain, and

2:49 in constant contact with the White House. And suddenly, at the last minute, I’ve seen people on the side of the Union is They’re the ones who basically wanted to stay directly connected to Britain, with no connection at all to Islands. The other side wanted a united Islands. But suddenly they started to renee. Those who did not really

3:07 want an agreement to go forward, who did not who wanted to stay totally under British control, they started to renee. So I was on the phone that night with the parties in Belfast, with the State Department, with British media actually doing live interviews on the British media carrying messages that some of the parties wanted to get out, which

3:27 they couldn’t give, but I was able to give it a fact to one stage, I said, I was being interviewed by a British radio station and I was watching a live feed of television coverage of what was going on, and I said on the radio program, I said, my understanding is that if this isn’t resolved soonin Hinfain party

3:48 is actually going to walk out. And just as I said that, I’m watching on television, the two leaders of Shinfain walk out the door. They said, oh my god, I caused this whole thing to collapse. My heart side of the skip a few beats turned out they were just going out to get a smoke break. Anyway, I

4:04 went to bed that night. I was on the phone continually about one fifteen or similar agreement when now went’s a good Friday, And then sixth and the morning I got a call from the White House say there was an agreement. And then when I spoke to Gerry Adams, who saving the tin Femee party. He called me and

4:18 I thanked him to what they’d done and he goes, No, all the congratulations goes to Bill Clinton. He’s the guy that did. He was on the phone with all of the parties during the night and he basically said if they signed the agreement, he would basically guarantee that NIA side would take advantage of it, that the US would

4:37 put its full diplomatic force behind the agreement. So this is the twenty fifth anniversary of Bill Clinton. I discussed this on Catching Coisby the other night and Bill Clinton heard about that and he called me on Tuesday evening and we had a forty minute conversation and he was saying great things about you, John and with a good

4:57 friend you and Margot have been to him and what the show was doing. But he was really gratified that it was discussed audio show and they were were on the phone again a good forty minutes. But he’s been He’s going over this week for the commemoration ceremonies. I’ve been invited, but I can’t make it. And it’s a

5:15 moment in history, and again it would not have happened without Bill Clinton having the guts to get in there and really break the log gem, taking on his own state department, taking on the British government, and also warning the Irish rebels, hey, I’ve gone out on Limpield, don’t screw me on this. We got to make this work.

5:31 And he kept everyone together and it worked.

5:34 Speaker 1 That Peter King, that is part of history. Now. Tell me, has there been any problems over the the last twenty five years.

5:46 Speaker 2 Yeah, there have been problems, primarily the Union is anyones who would be considered pro British, they have a few times walked away from the government. Right now, the government in Northern Island is not functioning. It’s actually been run by civil servant. But the key thing is there’s been no outbreak of violence. And each time in the past

6:04 one one side has walked away from the agreement, there’s been no outbreak of violence. They negotiate and they come back in. That’s what I hope happens now, especially with the Bill Clinton going over the next week and having such a large turnout of people at the twenty fifth anniversary, that that can be an impetus, that can be a

6:23 inspiration or direction almost to all the parties to come back into those talks again and to get the agreement working. But again it’s definitely working to the excent. There’s no fighting. I was there first time in nineteen eighty and about thirty times after that, and that’s where I got to meet Jerry Adams a number of times. So when he

6:42 came to the US, I was the only person in Congress had a relationship with him, which got me very involved in the peace process over the next five to six years. But having said that, I mean it was terrible yet armored cars, tanks, babwei as soldiers the street.

6:57 You had actually separate taxi cabs and Catholics. If you got the wrong taxicab you might get killed. It’s just an example of how it was downtown Belfast with no bars or restaurants opened at night. People wouldn’t dare go near it. It was really it was a wartime situation with thousands of people would kill kids, adults, older people.

7:17 There were trials without jewry when all this was going on. And now it’s a normal society. They have a big hockey arena over there, you have restaurants are booming. Hotel it was a hotel Corle Europa, which was the most bombed out hotel in Western Europe since World War Two.

7:33 Now it’s called I think the Grand Central and it’s like a total luxury hotel. That’s where President Biden stayed. So again the world was changed and there were a number of people involved. Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, took guts for him to come forward, Bertie A. Hearn, the Irish Prime Minister, Jerry Adams ahead of him, Fain.

7:50 They all made the step, but it wouldn’t have worked if Bill Clinton wasn’t there coordinating it and holding it together.

7:56 Speaker 1 Well, thank you so much, Congressman King Uh and Uh. I wish you would have been there with them, because you would deserve to be there, and but we’d love you to be here back in New York and staying with us and uh and we’ll catch up again real soon.

8:13 Speaker 2 Well, I told him, listen, I can’t leave catching Crosby. I got to be there.

8:16 Speaker 1 So there you go, thank you, and we’ll we’ll see you soon.