CNN Mitchell interview. (UPDATED)

For more on that, let’s go straight to the source — the former U.S. senator, George Mitchell. He authored the report after conducting a 20-month investigation. Here’s joining us live from New York. Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

MITCHELL: Thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we just heard from Bud Selig, the baseball commissioner, saying he was going to take some steps. But let’s look back. How much responsibility does he share because of what has happened under his watch?

MITCHELL: The players who illegally used steroids and other substances obviously bear responsibility for their actions. But they didn’t act in a vacuum. The commissioners, the club officials, the players association and the players all share in the responsibility for the steroids era. They didn’t recognize the problem as it emerged and take steps to deal with it early on. The important thing now is to look to the future — to get everybody together ask come up with a meaningful, well executed program that will hopefully end this era and prevent a recurrence of another era in the future.

BLITZER: Well, if Bud Selig failed to do enough over these past several years when this was allegedly going on, why should fans have confidence in him now that he’s about to change his ways and will take charge and get enough done now?

MITCHELL: Well, first off, Wolf, I think you have to recognize that all of this is in collective bargaining. The commissioner does not have the authority to adopt any program he wants. He needs the agreement of the players association.

Secondly, they did adopt a program in 2002 — a mandatory random drug testing program that has been effective in reducing the use of detectable steroids.

Thirdly, they’ve made improvements in the program as they’ve gone along to deal with new problems and issues as they arose. Many of them occurred right while I was conducting this investigation. So I don’t think it’s quite fair not to recognize what they have done in the past.

BLITZER: So you have confidence in him? Should he — should he stay on the job?

MITCHELL: Yes.

BLITZER: And I ask you the question even though he appointed you, in effect, to go ahead with this commission.

MITCHELL: Yes.

BLITZER: You’re working, in effect, for major league baseball, this work that you’ve done for nearly two years.

MITCHELL: Yes. Yes, I do.

BLITZER: All right, so you say he should stay on the job. Let’s talk about this…

MITCHELL: And he’s already committed to implement the recommendations that I’ve made. And I hope he will carry through on that, as I expect that he will.

BLITZER: Let’s talk about the players themselves. You named dozens of players. They each — each and every one of them had a chance to respond to you. But I take it a lot of them didn’t want to come forward and talk to you. Is that right?

MITCHELL: That’s right. Almost without exception, current players refused my invitation to meet with me. We did talk with many former players.

BLITZER: You spoke with former players. But current players, by and large, said — you told them we’re going to go ahead and name names. We’re going to mention your names, allegedly linked to steroid use or other banned substances.

And they still declined to talk to you, to deny it or anything like that? Because some people are raising questions, why would George Mitchell, in this report, go ahead and name all these names knowing that, in effect, you’re going to ruin their careers and question marks are forever going to be asked about what they did as Major League players.

MITCHELL: That’s correct. I notified each player about whom I received an allegation through their bargaining representative, the players association, that I had received allegations and I invited each player to meet with me. I wanted to convey to them the information that I had received, give them a chance to hear the allegations, to see whatever documents I had and to give them a chance to respond.

Almost without exception, all current players declined my invitation and refused to meet or talk with me.

BLITZER: And the allegations that were forwarded to you from other players, from trainers, from people who worked in the clubhouses, how reliable did you feel those allegations were?

Because to name a name — a great baseball player, let’s say, like Roger Clemens, and to go forward with publicizing this allegation — and you, as a former judge, you make it clear that these are allegations. These are not necessarily the final word. It’s still a big deal because the average fan out there is going to say these guys are guilty.

MITCHELL: Well, we made every effort to corroborate the testimony that we received. Keep in mind, Wolf, that several of the witnesses came to us through federal law enforcement agencies. And they were warned by the federal agencies that if they did not tell the truth, they would face criminal prosecution for making false statements. We told them simply I we wanted the truth. That’s all I wanted. I said look, don’t exaggerate, don’t minimize, just tell us the truth. That’s all we want.

In that context, they have overwhelming incentives to tell the truth and overwhelming disincentives to not tell the truth, because if they didn’t tell the truth, they themselves are subject to criminal prosecution.

BLITZER: So what do we tell the children now? What do we tell them about their heroes? How do we go forward, Senator?

MITCHELL: Well, I think you touched on what is one of the most important issues that I learned through this investigation. And I hope the American people will now become concerned about. There are right now, Wolf, hundreds of thousands of American youth of high school age who are using steroids. And I think it’s a national problem — a very serious one — our children. And when a teenager uses steroids, they place themselves at a much greater risk than an adult, because their bodies are already going through serious hormonal changes, physical risks, psychological risks and others.

BLITZER: Senator, thanks for your work. Thanks very much for joining us.

MITCHELL: Thank you, Wolf.