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Short-Term Debt Ceiling Plan; Interview with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota; Libya PM Abducted & Released; Deadline For Action In Salmonella Outbreak; Hanna Anderson Speaks Out; Interview with Robi Ludwig

Aired October 10, 2013 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Anderson Cooper joining us to announce this year's CNN Heroes.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER: What you need to know --

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody's explained to me so far why you have to shut down the government to have a negotiation.

ANNOUNCER: What you just have to see.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Citizens are the stewards of the memorial.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome back to NEW DAY. It is Thursday, October 10th, 8:00 in the East.

In just moments, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will, excuse me, testify before a Senate committee about the dangers of hitting the debt ceiling. These you're looking at here live pictures inside the room where the hearing will be taking place. Lew already said Congress is playing with fire in his words if they don't reach a deal to avoid hitting the debt ceiling.

Could a proposal that's in the works now save the U.S. from this crisis? We're going to talk more about it with Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in just minutes.

CUOMO: And new overnight: Libya's prime minister kidnapped by armed gunmen in Tripoli and just released just a few hours later. What was this bizarre event about? Is it retaliation for the U.S. raid that captured the suspected al Qaeda leader? What does this mean about the Libyan government? We'll give you the details ahead. PERIERA: And she pretended to be dead in order to avoid being killed. An American woman who lived through the terror attack in a Nairobi mall last month speaking out about her terrifying ordeal, she spoke with our Anderson Cooper, he'll join us live with her incredible story of survival, a heart-shopping one to be sure.

BOLDUAN: First this hour though, there might -- might -- be a move within Congress to avoid hitting the debt ceiling. CNN has learned short term plan to raise the borrowing limit is in the works, at least being discussed.

A Democratic lawmaker telling CNN the president could get on board. President Obama expected to meet with House Republican leaders later today. You can be sure that will be a topic of conversation.

Let's get to senior White House correspondent Brianna Keilar with the latest.

Good morning, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, good morning to you. Senate Democrats will be coming here to the White House to meet with President Obama as will House Republicans, this comes on the heels of President Obama meeting with House Democrats giving them the clearest indication that he would go ahead on this stop gap measure to increase the debt ceiling if Republicans are on board with it.

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KEILAR (voice-over): Finally, they are talking. House Democrats met the president at the White House last night.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), MINORITY LEADER: We just had a very positive meeting with the president of the United States.

KEILAR: President Obama's message, he is open to a short-term deal to increase the debt ceiling for six weeks, according to a lawmaker in the meeting.

Republicans are warming to the idea of a shorter deal, followed by negotiations with the president on reducing the debt and deficit. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan penned an op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" that did not mention GOP demands to delay or fund Obamacare.

But Tea Party-backed Republicans still want that fight after a brief debt ceiling increase and they're arguing against ending the government shutdown.

REP. RAUL LABRADOR (R), IDAHO: I would do a debt ceiling for six weeks so the president would negotiate with John Boehner and keep the fight on the continuing resolution and Obamacare.

KEILAR: In interviews with local news stations, President Obama was asked to explain his own vote against raising the debt ceiling in 2006.

OBAMA: I voted against a debt ceiling increase at the time because I had some concerns about what President Bush was doing.

KEILAR: Specifically, the Bush tax cuts. And he argued it's OK for certain Republicans to protest policies with a no vote, but he said there must be a vote.

OBAMA: There should never be a proposition where the speaker of the House is not willing to put those votes to the floor right now.

KEILAR: Congress isn't faring well in this budget fight. A new Gallup Poll shows Republicans with a 28 percent favorable rate, down 10 points since last month, the lowest for any party since 1992. Democrats slid four points to 43 percent.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: One White House official I spoke with said President Obama wanted to make his case to all House Republicans at the White House but Republican leaders decided to pare it down to about a dozen and a half members. Just those in leadership and key committees saying, Chris, they want to have a negotiation and having so many people in the room really wouldn't go to that end but imagine the drama if you had President Obama in the same room with some of these Tea Party Republicans that he blames for this whole mess.

CUOMO: Interesting question. Thank you, Brianna, for the reporting.

In fact, let's follow on that question by bringing in Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, Ms. Michele Bachmann.

Hey, Congresswoman. Thank you so much for joining us on NEW DAY.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: Good morning, Chris. Great to be with you.

CUOMO: Let's take a look at the polls quickly. You said previously that the House GOP is happy about the position they're in. When you look at the polls, you still feel happy about the position you're in?

BACHMANN: What I said is that I was very happy that we were unified. We were completely unified around the idea that we need to have two parties come together. That's our form of government. The president, the Senate, and also the House need to come together and negotiate.

And we as a House were completely unified from the moderates to the Tea Party Republicans. We were unified in standing together that we need to represent the interests of the people, that we have a problem with debt, a problem with spending, and we need to get our economic house back in order.

CUOMO: So, it comes down to tactics when you talk about unity. Many in your party are saying, I'm not worried about the deadline with the debt ceiling. We'll be OK. Not you, though. You are worried about the deadline, you don't want to join what a lot of Republicans are suggesting, which is to let's blow off this deadline and keep fighting and see what happens.

You're saying you don't want to do that. Isn't that true?

BACHMANN: Well, I think that all of us agree that it wouldn't be good for our economy if we were to blow through the debt ceiling. I think that that's something we all understand. And so, what we want to do is again make sure that we deal with the economic problems we have right now.

And President Obama voted against raising the debt ceiling that was looking at a $9 trillion debt. Today, we're looking at a $17 trillion debt.

And I know you have the counter on your screen right now that talks about how many hours we've been in the shutdown. I would suggest that CNN also put up a counter of the debt clock, about how quickly we're accumulating debt. It's frightening when people see how fast that's accumulating.

That's what we want to do is really come together, both Democrats and Republicans, and deal with this very serious issue that the next generation will have to face, and that's the accumulating debt that's hurting growth in the United States.

CUOMO: But it still does take us back to tactics, doesn't it, Congresswoman? Because while few would disagree about the need to address the national debt and the deficit connected thereto, it comes down to what do you to address it. We had a senator on, a Republican senator, who came on and said, I'm OK with a managed catastrophe involving the debt limit if it allows us to fight through to what we believe in.

What about that, a managed catastrophe? Doesn't that sound dangerous as a way of dealing with politics?

BACHMANN: What Republicans have been trying to do from the beginning is put offer after offer after offer on the table to get to yes. That's what we want to do. We didn't want the shutdown. We don't want to see the debt ceiling have a problem.

What we want to do is solve this and that's why you've seen so many different offers on the table.

This is a good move that today, there will be leadership members from the Republican Party meeting with the president of the United States, perhaps we can move this ball down the court and actually get this settled. I think that we can.

We found this week alone that the American people -- only 7 percent of the American people think the Obamacare rollout has been successful, and I think this is something that we need to face while the whole goal of Obamacare was to give health insurance options to Americans that didn't have health insurance, maybe we should take a different tact and allow people to opt in to Obamacare rather than forcing 100 percent of all Americans to buy a product that they're not interested in buying from a Web site that doesn't work.

It may be a good idea to let Americans just opt in and offer some sort of a fund for pre-existing conditions where people can get the help and assistance they need.

I think it's time to re-look at this. That's all Republicans are saying. Let's actually have a system that works for the majority of the American people.

CUOMO: But aren't Republicans also saying, and if you don't let us do that right now, we will continue to keep the government shut down. We will go through the deadline of the debt ceiling and see what happens next until you negotiate with us about Obamacare, and is that reckless?

BACHMANN: Well, remember that the mainstream media really has given a false narrative. Over and over and over again, the mainstream media has blamed the Republicans for this, and yet the only party that has put offer after offer after offer on the table has been the Republicans.

The only position, unfortunately, of the president and Harry Reid, the Democrats in the senate, has been we're going to hold our breath until we turn blue. In other words, we're not negotiating. That's not a reasonable, tenable position.

So, we're seeing some movement now the president being willing to look at a short term debt ceiling increase, and by meeting with the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives. I'm excited. I think that we're going to get there.

But again, I think the president has to recognize that while maybe his intentions were good with health care, it's costing a lot more. We're getting a lot less. Let's do what works for the American people.

And let people opt into Obamacare. Don't force people to buy a product they don't want from a Web site that doesn't work.

CUOMO: I get the idea. The question is, at what cost?

What I'd like to ask and see what your answer is on it, is if your leadership comes back to you and says forget it, they're not going to give us what we want on Obamacare, let's keep going, forget about the debt ceiling, we'll be OK. Will you stand with your leadership if they say, we're going to blow the deadline, let's see what happens?

BACHMANN: I think what our leadership is going to do is make sure that we're being responsible, that the American economy is going to move forward. Right now, we don't want to put the American economy at risk. There's -- we haven't had a growth economy, we haven't had a job producing economy, that's what we want to have.

So we want to be responsible, but at the same time again like I would suggest to CNN, put the debt ceiling clock to be fair also on your screen so people can see the breathtaking, stunning increase in debt every single day, and I think then people realize what's at stake and why Republicans are trying to get a grip so that our children and grandchildren will have the same chance at a great life that you and I have enjoyed, Chris.

CUOMO: Right.

But the question is still, even with that goal, whether or not you're going to risk that security for these families in the furtherance of that goal. You said yourself that you signed onto the bill for the Full Faith and Credit Act to make sure we never ever default, that the markets need to know that under no circumstances will the U.S. government default.

You know as well as anybody that that is exactly the situation you put the U.S. economy into if you blow the deadline and start letting the dominos fall. Don't you have to stand against it if that winds up being the choice?

BACHMANN: I don't think that's what's going to happen. That's the point.

This isn't just the House Republicans. This is a three-sided triangle. The president and Harry Reid have had one position.

Don't forget -- it's people in the White House that said they were willing to risk blowing the debt ceiling if it meant they could win. We don't see this as a political gain. We see this as trying to get America's house back in order.

So, that's why we will see Republican leadership at the White House today and we want to be able to get this solved. This is very real. This is about the next generation.

And that's why we've got to make sure that our answer isn't bringing the American economy down because remember the credit rating agencies when they lowered America's credit rating, they said that Congress and the president are not serious about tackling our debt. We in the house Republicans are serious about tackling the debt problem. We need to have the president as a part of that conversation.

That's why I'm encouraging CNN, put your debt clock on the screen so people can see the very real problem that we're accumulating every single day and let's get it done.

CUOMO: I'm going to put a third clock on there, that is the countdown to the middle of next week when we hit the deadline because I'd love to have you back on, Congresswoman, if we wind up --

BACHMANN: I'll be on.

CUOMO: If we wind up blowing that deadline, you know what it means and I'm going to be very interested in where the leadership is and where your head is on that decision.

BACHMANN: I'll take that date. Thanks, Chris. CUOMO: Thank you very much for joining NEW DAY. Appreciate it.

Kate, over to you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Chris.

We want to get you up-to-date now our breaking news from overnight -- the abduction of Libya's prime minister, Ali Zeidan was taken in an early morning raid at a Tripoli hotel. A group of armed rebels say they are responsible. Was it retribution, though, for the American capture of an alleged terrorist in Libya?

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has the latest from Tripoli.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eight hours the prime minister was held by this militia, the 100 heavily armed gunmen that kidnapped him from his hotel in the early hours of the morning, sanctioned by Libyan lawmakers to act as an armed -- law enforcing arm of the government, if you will.

It really does tell you all you need to know about Tripoli at the moment that the government is not fully in control. This is a weak government and underscores what Libyan ministers have been telling me, they're concerned that the arrest of al Libi over the weekend would lead to a backlash from Islamists. This is realizing their worse fears.

The prime minister is free, and underscoring as well the importance of moving those 200 marines from their base in Spain to Italy to be much closer to support the U.S. embassy here on the realization many of the armed militias close to al Qaeda.

Back to you -- Kate, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Nic, thank you for that. We'll keep following that story, a lot of other stories as well. So, let's get to Michaela.

PEREIRA: Let's bring you up-to-date on the headlines.

A car bomb detonating overnight in the Sinai Peninsula, killing four Egyptian soldiers and wounding five others. This following an announcement by the Obama administration that a temporary freeze has been put in place on some military aid to Egypt, because of the military coup that ousted President Mohamed Morsy, the U.S. will not deliver some key big ticket items to Cairo, including Apache attack helicopters, F-16 warplanes and $260 million in cash assistance.

Two men are suffering severe burns after an accident during the annual hot air balloon festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Police say they crashed into power lines. The balloon caught fire and then plunged more than 40 feet to the ground. One of the balloonist, 59-year-old pilot, Mark Kilgore (ph), was released from the hospital. The other, 66-year-old crew chief, Daniel Lovato (ph), is still hospitalized. The USDA is now threatening to close three California chicken processing plants connected with Salmonella outbreak. The plan's owner foster farms has until today to explain how that will fix the problems at that plant. The outbreak has sickened hundreds, so far, in 18 states. Some of the strains are showing resistance to antibiotics.

Apparently, the year 2047 could be a real scorcher. A new study on global warming pinpointing probable dates for extreme climate change. Take a look, it says Kingston, Jamaica will be off the (INAUDIBLE) permanently starting in a decade, Singapore following suit in 2028, Mexico City in 2031, and Phoenix and Honolulu in 2043.

I've been quickly doing the math to figure out how old I'd be. The study published in the Journal Nature concludes the whole world will experience unprecedented permanently hotter environments by the year 2047. Concerning when they actually put the numbers and the dates on the calendar.

BOLDUAN: Gets you thinking.

PEREIRA: Makes you think.

CUOMO: Now it's real, once it's on the calendar.

PEREIRA: Right.

BOLDUAN: Speaking of weather, let's get over to Indra to get a quick check of the forecast this morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, yes. We're definitely still talking about the storm that's expected to really linger all weekend long if you're in the mid-Atlantic or the northeast. Currently, you kind of see it right now right around D.C. moving in through Philly and even now in through New York.

And again, the big story will not just be how much rain you're going to be getting but also the winds. We're seeing some strong winds really coming it out of the northeast, gusting even as high as up 45 miles per hour. So, cold, wet, and windy as we go through the weekend. As long as you see this pattern here, that high and low close to each other, you're going to be talking about those winds. And look at the timing of this, I mean, we're really going to be looking at those pattern for the next several days.

Let me show you how much rain is expected. I know it's on a lot of people's minds here. Anywhere from even three to five inches of rain possible into the mid-Atlantic. It looks like starting to kind of make its way out of the Carolinas today. It should start to clear up by the end of the week, but meanwhile, of course, we're going to start to see that pulling in to the northeast.

If you want to see it day by day, here it goes, this is what it looks like for you on Thursday. Say already into the mid-Atlantic by Friday, moving a little bit farther north but not much. We're still looking at this even by the time it takes you in through Saturday pretty much in the same region.

So, that's going to be the biggest concern. Again, we're talking about temperatures also well below normal, but looking a lot of 50s as your highs whereas a few days ago, those were overnight lows. It looks like we're pretty much have the same temperature overnight and during the day.

BOLDUAN: Flip flopped. All right. Thanks, Indra.

CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, Hannah Anderson's stunning story. She is talking about being drugged, forced to play Russian roulette, and why she didn't try to escape. More on that coming up.

BOLDUAN: Plus, a hospital mystery we've been following. A patient disappears and then is found dead in a stairwell days later. We have new details this morning.

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PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Kidnapped survivor, Hannah Anderson is speaking out this morning. She is revealing startling new details about that week long ordeal. If you recall, the California teen was kidnapped back in August by a family friend after her mother and brother were murdered. Here is what she had to say just moments ago on NBC's "Today" show.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNAH ANDERSON, KIDNAPPING SURVIVOR: In the hospital, when I got there, the next night they came in and told me that they died and that Jim was dead, too, and it kind of just didn't seem real, And i just thought about it for a second and then I just broke down. I miss them so much that sometimes it's like I wait for them to get home and then they're not there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: To break this down, let's talk with Dr. Robi Ludwig, psychotherapist and author of "Til Death Do Us Part." Sobering to hear speech. She's such a young girl.

ROBI LUDWIG, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Yes.

PEREIRA: We're so acutely aware of the trauma that she's experienced. How real can it be for her? She says it doesn't seem real.

LUDWIG: Well, I think that's what happens when something that's so traumatic and unimaginable. You're in denial, and the body breaks down in a way to deal with it psychologically. So, I think we see the real 16-year-old girl here who's struggling understandably so. What she went through is horrible because also her trust was betrayed.

This was not some random stranger. This, as she said during the interview, was her father's best friend. This was a trusted family member. So, not only is she dealing with the loss of her mother and brother, but it was at the hands of somebody who she trusted. PEREIRA: Suffering multiple traumas along the way, as you mentioned, sort of breaking them down and then the fact that she was also victimized, traumatizing in its own right.

LUDWIG: Traumatizing in its own right and Hannah has put herself out there. So, she's had to deal with doubters. People saying, hey, why didn't you just run away, which is a common question.

PEREIRA: So, let's asked about that. She's on the "Today" show today. We know that she's taken to social media. A lot of people different generations might say why is this child not just at home with her loving family and not sort of grieving out loud?

LUDWIG: What i like about Hannah is she's a connector.

PEREIRA: Yes, she is.

LUDWIG: And what they do say when you are traumatized, talk about it, process it, because anything you can talk about then can get healed. So, she's using social media like many 16-year-olds do, and this trauma happened very publicly. So, she's using the media also as a way to validate her story and to gain control over what happened to her by telling her story.

PEREIRA: Is there a concern, though, about how fragile she is to have -- you know, we know the hateration exists out there in the Twittersphere?

LUDWIG: Right.

PEREIRA: Is that dangerous given how fragile she could be?

LUDWIG: As a mental health professional, I would be helping Hannah understand, talk to the media while you can, but understand the media may not always be there. It might feel nurturing now, but you have to take responsibility for the healing process which is lifelong. But if she can use the media as a way to tell her story and to somehow in the future advocate for future victims, then she can really turn this around for herself and other people.

PEREIRA: We also heard her speak of some letters that were discovered showing there was communication between her and Dimaggio. Let's listen to that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: A year ago, my mom and dad split up and me and my mom really didn't get along a year ago. So, when I was having problems with her and I wouldn't have really anyone to talk about it with, me and him instead of talking face-to-face, if we didn't have time or like calling, we just write letters back and forth talking about like the situation and how to get through it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Might have seemed healthy then but chilling now to know of that relationship.

LUDWIG: Right. Well, hindsight is always 20/20, but here was a young girl reaching out to an adult who really abused his power. Even if Hannah had a crush on this man. Basically, James Dimaggio abused his position of trust, and he might have been attracted to her, I'm sure that he was and didn't know what to do with those feelings and really turned out to be an unhealthy man and handled it in a very lethal way.

PEREIRA: We know that she had a chance to meet some of the rescuers, the horseback riders who ultimately alerted police about her and I know that's been a very healing thing and you agree that's been a healing thing for her.

LUDWIG: I think that this is very positive. She gets to meet the people who saw something wrong, who saw that she was not in a good place, and that there was something not right about the picture. So, it's nice to know that people in the community can observe and notice when something's not right, say something, do something, see something, do something.

PEREIRA: Exactly.

LUDWIG: They did that and they basically are responsible for her survival.

PEREIRA: She's a very young girl. It's important to remember that. Dr. Robi Ludwig, we appreciate you here to talk to us about sort of what we're hearing and what we're seeing --

LUDWIG: But she has a long road ahead --

(CROSSTALK)

LUDWIG: She has a lot of strength there, so we wish her luck.

PEREIRA: We sure do. All right. Kate, Chris, over to you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Michaela.

Coming up next on NEW DAY, she played dead in order to live. Now, a woman who survived the mall massacre in Kenya talks to CNN's Anderson Cooper about the terrifying experience and where she goes from here. Anderson is going to be joining us live ahead.

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