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Funeral Held for Vice President Joe Biden's Son Beau Biden; President Obama to Give Eulogy for Beau Biden; GOP Presidential Candidates Gather in Iowa to Campaign; Protestors Gather to Demonstrate at G-7 Summit; President Obama to Urge EU to Continue Sanctions Against Russia. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired June 06, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00] MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for joining me. Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter if you can spell "SMERCONISH." I'll see you next week.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this morning with the funeral for beloved son of Delaware, Beau Biden.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Take a look at the screen here for you. The funeral mass for Vice President Joe Biden's son scheduled to begin in just about a half-hour. You can hear the music, though, that they're playing, as we have heard of long lines, lines five blocks long, outside the church waiting to be seated. They're entering St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church, there, in Wilmington. And also we need to take a look at this. The American flag at half-staff at White House right now in honor of Beau Biden.

BLACKWELL: President Obama will deliver a eulogy this morning. Just a short time ago h\He and the first lady boarded air force one to go to Wilmington. The White House says Mr. Obama will honor Delaware's former attorney general as a remarkable son, father and public servant.

PAUL: CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is going to be with us in a bit. But we do want to get right now to Douglas Brinkley and talk to you, Douglas, if we could, please, about Beau Biden and the legacy that he leaves.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, in some ways it's fitting that today's D-Day, because it's a day we think of as a great day of military service. And Beau Biden, who had an opportunity to stay in politics, stay in Delaware, make money, work in a law firm, decided to dedicate his life to public service. In his mind that meant joining the National Guard, and that meant becoming a major in the armed forces and serving overseas duty in Iraq.

So today's funeral will have a military feel to it. But it's also, he was a religious man, a child of Roman Catholicism, somebody who believed in God and Jesus Christ. And so it's, it's really a very sad loss. And you have to feel for the vice president losing a child, while he has the pressures of the world on your shoulders, and having to kind of soldier on. And at previous moments in American history sitting presidents

or vice presidents have lost children. But it's always the darkest moment. So today's a very sad day.

PAUL: In fact I was reading some of the comments that are online. One person wrote "Even though I don't agree with Vice President Biden's politics, my heart breaks for him. God bless this man and his family and give them strength."

When you read about how people are embracing this family. Not just people in Delaware, but people all over the country, possibly all over the world, what is it do you think about this family that makes people care so much?

BRINKLEY: Well, Joe Biden has been in American politics for a while. He's our vice president. He's beloved. And the fact of the matter is, we always think of the Kennedy family, as being surrounded with tragedy. But if you look at what Joe Biden has had to go through, and, you know, and what Beau had. Beau had lost his mother in an automobile accident which he was injured along with his brother, Hunter. And, you know, they lost, he lost a sister.

And so the vice president is not new to loss. But he was so incredibly close to Beau, so proud of him. And Beau Biden was a bit of what we used to call in America a Boy Scout. He wanted everything to be right. He believed in old-fashioned public service. He joined the Justice Department to get bad people out of the public sphere. As I mentioned, he served in our armed forces and was a very shining light in Delaware politics. I mean, beloved as attorney general, was going to be almost a shoo-in to become governor. And his political potential was just sky-less. I mean, he was going to be going far.

And any time you lose somebody that's in their 40s to cancer, in this case brain cancer, I think it reminds everybody watching, we're all, cancer has, touches all of us and just how heinous it is and how deeply the Bidens and the Obamas are in the Bidens extended family, and all of America are feeling right now. There's a lot of love going towards the Biden family this afternoon.

BLACKWELL: A tremendous loss. Douglas Brinkley, stand by for us. We want to bring in CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty. She's outside the church in Wilmington. OK, we'll have to go back to Sunlen in just a moment. We'll get Sunlen her in just a moment, so I'll stay with you, Douglas. And put it into a larger context, the role and of the president coming, not just to eulogize a friend he had in Beau Biden but to support his vice president. And we've seen this throughout history.

[10:05:10] BRINKLEY: Well, you know what, President Obama loves Joe Biden. It's not a word we often talk about in the political sphere, the love, but there is a huge amount of love. And this is a president and vice president who get along exceedingly well. Joe Biden is somebody who usually brings comic relief to the president. He has a great sense of humor and is usually somebody that helps the president kind of laugh through some of the day. In this case, you see President Obama coming to really probably give

one of the most stunning eulogies imaginable. And the very fact that he's arriving there and honoring Beau Biden and Beau's service is very meaningful.

Remember, Beau Biden was the one who introduced his father at the Democratic convention. That whole family narrative of how Joe Biden when his first wife was killed, how Joe Biden would take the train back to Delaware to make sure he was raising Beau and Hunter Biden and his children properly.

And I think we have to think of Beau Biden's children, his two kids who now are fatherless suddenly. And so it's a very important funeral I think in American history today. The last time you had a death of a sitting president or vice president was John F. Kennedy back in August of 1963 when they lost Patrick. Patrick was only born for two days, was born premature, weighed five pounds, and died. So we really haven't had since '63 a sitting president or vice president that lost a family member like this.

PAUL: You know, you mentioned how he used to take the train back and forth. In his Yale University commencement address just this past year, I want to read you something that Joe said, Joe Biden said. He said "Looking back on it, the truth be told, the reason I went home every night was that I needed my children more than they needed me." And he was saying this about pundits who suggested his absence from Washington would wreck his political career. And then he went on to say "I realized I didn't miss a thing. Ambition is really important. You

need it. I certainly never lacked having ambition, but ambition without perspective can be a killer" is what he said.

And they're such profound words that come from Joe Biden. I want to go to Sunlen Serfaty now, because she is, we're looking here at what's happening inside the church, but she's got a perspective outside the church. Sunlen we had heard at one point the lines to get in from five blocks long. What are you seeing there at this hour?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christi. And today is no exception to those long lines we saw at the public viewing here yesterday. Today at this funeral people started lining up at 4:30 a.m. and the line really stretched around the block. You can see behind me some people still making their way inside the church, which as you've been looking at, live pictures inside the church, that church is packed, holding hundreds.

President Obama and the first family, including the first grandmother, Marian Robinson, they have landed here in Wilmington, Delaware. They're making their way to this church in the little Italy part of Wilmington, Delaware.

We know that President Obama is feeling this loss very personally. That's according to his press secretary. We know that President Obama is taking a personal role in writing his eulogy that he will deliver here later today. And in addition to President Obama, though, we'll also hear from members of the Biden family. Beau Biden's sister, Ashley, and Beau Biden's brother, Hunter, will also give an address, as well as General Ray Odierno. He was the commanding in Iraq when Beau Biden served there, who certainly has some emotional remarks to come. Christi?

BLACKWELL: We understand, Sunlen, that you have the program now that attendees of the ceremony will receive.

SERFATY: That's right. We do have the program which they are of course giving to everyone as they come in here. And I want to make reference to just this picture that's on the cover of the program. As you can see, a very casual photo of Beau Biden. It looks like he's on a fishing trip. I imagine this is probably how the family wants to remember him, not in any formal picture from when he was attorney general or perhaps when he was serving in Iraq, but a casual picture of him enjoying life. And certainly we will hear many details of that life today. We know that among the pall bearers are his uncle, the younger brother to the vice president. And some of the readers are three of Beau Biden's nieces, daughters to his brother. Back to you.

BLACKWELL: All right, Sunlen Serfaty outside the church there in Wilmington, Delaware. Thank you, and also our thanks to Douglas Brinkley for putting much of this into context for us.

Let's switch gears now and turn to Dana Bash, with Republicans who are now -- running another lap in 2016.

[08:10:05] GOP candidates are in Iowa this morning. Are we going to that? OK, all right, taking part in the first annual roast and ride in the city of Boone. It's part of a memorial motorcycle ride. And it's also conservative campaigning. CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash is in the mix. Dana, tell us what's going on there?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're still actually in Des Moines because this is where the ride part of the roast and ride is going to begin. You see behind me, this is a Harley barn, and what Joni Ernst, who is the freshman center from Iowa, and, as you can imagine, a Harley rider herself, decided what she wanted to do is to make this, perhaps, the first annual tradition of making this kind of fun day for Harley riders but also a very political day for would-be Republican presidential candidates. And of course this is a presidential year, actual presidential candidates.

Let's just start here. There' going to be a gathering of a lot of Harley riders, and there are groups who have been gathered from police officer groups from veteran groups. They are going to be riding from here 38 miles to the town of Boone, Iowa. And it is there that the presidential candidates are going to be speaking. We're told that they are only going to have eight minutes each to speak. Seven of them are going to come.

But there actually is going to be one presidential candidate who is going to take the ride along with Joni Ernst. Actually, he's not officially a candidate, but we expect him to be soon, and that's Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin. He is a Harley rider, a Harley lover we're told. And he is been talking with his aides. He's very excited to be riding in the race, not just speaking at the event later. Victor and Christi?

BLACKWELL: So, Dana, we've been talking about the debates that are coming and the attempt to crack into the top 10. And what does, does a candidate have to do, specifically, to get into that top 10, to get into the debate?

BASH: It's very difficult and there's a lot of angst here frankly, among Republicans and among the supporters of those like Lindsey Graham, for example, like Carly Fiorina, like Ben Carson, all of whom will actually be at this event today who are barely more than asterisks in the polls right now. And because of that and because there is such a huge field, and the first debate at FOX is saying only 10 people on the stage and it will depend where you are. There is so much effort right now going into getting support early to bump themselves up.

And this particular event is, is a very good forum for a lot of these candidates, or potential candidates, to get themselves noticed, to get themselves more support so they can be on the national stage.

But you know what, the thing about places like Iowa is that it really is still about one-on-one campaigning, and a lot of the candidates who are kind of at the bottom of the polling totem pole, they say that even if they don't get on the stage nationally that they are hoping that by spending a lot of time here gripping and grinning and going to house parties and meeting people one-on-one, that when it comes to the caucuses, which is really kind of a personal and organizing experience, then that may be at least in the short-term will matter more than the debate stage. But the debate stage is important for those donors where they look at the candidates and say this is somebody who I can put my money behind, and that matters when there are so many people in the race, and this is going to be a long slog. Victor and Christi?

BLACKWELL: Indeed. Dana Bash in Des Moines for us this morning, Dana, thanks.

PAUL: There's another revelation in the Dennis Hastert scandal, a third victim now accusing the former House speaker of sexual abuse. This of course after a woman reveals her brother was molested, she says, by Hastert during high school. We have some of the new details for you coming up. Stay close.

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[08:17:08] BLACKWELL: Beau Biden's funeral is expected to begin in just about 12 minutes from now. Mourners lined up for blocks in Wilmington, Delaware, to pay their respects to the former Delaware attorney general yesterday, for the wake today, for the funeral as well. We know the President Obama will eulogize Beau Biden this morning.

And look at the right side of your screen here. The American flag at the White House is at half-staff in honor of the vice president's son who died last week after a battle with brain cancer. PAUL: After the president is actually there at the funeral, he's

going to be leaving for Germany to attend a G-7 summit tomorrow. And this, take a look at this, is what he may be greeted with. We're talking thousands of protesters demonstrating against the gathering of these world leaders. The say the global leaders have failed to act on pressing issues. CNN's international correspondent Karl Penhaul is there. Karl, Help us understand what's going on right now. Are we still talking about thousands strong in terms of the protesters?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. Absolutely, Christi. I mean, here right now the demonstrators are taking a little bit of a breather, but they're not letting their guard down. Thousands of people are out here on the streets in one common aim, and that is to try to disrupt or shut down the G-7 summit. That includes when President Obama tries to come here to the south of Germany and meet up with the leaders of the other richest, most industrialized nations on earth.

Why do the protesters want to do that? Because they say the group of seven is a club of elite fat cats intent on dividing up world politics and the world economy for their own benefits and not the benefit of the citizens or the global community.

Now, if you look around, you look at the signs, you talk to people, it's quite clear there are many different groups. There are greens, there are leftists of different stripes. There are anarchists, and simply concerned citizens. Some want tougher action on global warming. Others want an end to the refugee crisis. Some want tougher measures to combat the divisions between rich and poor in the world. So many ideas are motivating these demonstrations. But as I say, their first goal is to close down or disrupt the G-7 if they can do that. And they say this system is broken. It needs to be changed. They have a common dream, and that is building a better future that includes everybody. Christi?

PAUL: All Karl Penhaul, I really appreciate that look. Thank you so much for giving us the idea of what's happening there.

Now listen, I want to also tell you and share with you something that was said earlier today. Now President Obama, as we said, is getting ready to ask EU to maintain sanctions against Russia over its aggression in Ukraine.

[10:20:00] Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin said this today -- "There is no need to fear Russia. The world has changed so drastically that people with some common sense cannot even imagine such a large-scale military conflict today. We have other things to think about, I assure you," unquote.

BLACKWELL: This morning, thousands turned out in Sarajevo to see the Pope. We've got a report straight ahead on his urgent message to Bosnians.

Plus a CNN report on the deaths of nine infants at a Florida hospital prompts a federal investigation. Why did these babies die after surgery at that hospital? A legal expert weighs in on the hospital's potential liabilities.

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BLACKWELL: It's 24 minutes after the hour now. Here's some of the stories we're following this morning.

PAUL: Beau Biden's funeral expected to begin in just six minutes. Mourners were lined up for blocks. Here's a live picture inside the church there as we wait for things to get started there. But President Obama we know is going to deliver the eulogy, and we understand that he took special care with this, writing good portions of it himself.

And look at the right-hand side of your screen there, the American flag at the White House half-staff in honor of the vice president's son. Remember, he died last week after a battle with brain cancer. We're going to continue to follow this obviously throughout the morning, and certainly as thoughts and prayers are sent to the Biden family.

[10:25:09] Pope Francis is in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. And look at the thousands of people who came out to mass to listen to him and his message of global peace, as we're told. His visit comes 18 years after Pope John Paul II travelled to the city.

In Minnesota, prosecutors have filed criminal charges against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. They say church leaders failed to address several charges of sexual misconduct against a priest and did not do enough to protect children. The priest was convicted, by the way, in 2013 on charges of sexual abuse against minors.

BLACKWELL: Tough weekend for Colorado, people there being slammed by major tornadoes, a lot of rain as well. Flood emergencies have been issued, homes have been damaged. Some people say they've seen parts of a house flying by. So we'll of course be following the weather there.

PAUL: CNN's sources reveal there are three possible sex assault victims involved in the Dennis Hastert scandal now. A family member for one of the victims is speaking out about the former House speaker. Hear what she has to say, coming up.

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BLACKWELL: Back live into St. Anthony's, this is in Wilmington, Delaware. This is where the funeral mass for Beau Biden is expected to start in just a couple of seconds, actually. Again, St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church. It's been a week since the vice president's son died of brain cancer. He was just 46 years old. Among the mourners at the church this morning, the president and first lady. President Obama will deliver one of the eulogies this morning.

[10:30:02] PAUL: CNN national correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is outside that church in Wilmington. Sunlen, what have you learned about the proceedings today? SERFATY: Well, Christi, certainly one of the emotional moments that

will likely come up in the next few minutes is that we are, have word now that we'll hear from Chris Martin of Coldplay. He will sing a song during the funeral procession inside in just a few minutes. Now, we know that he was a favorite musician of Beau Biden. His children knew about his love for Chris Martin's music. And apparently Chris Martin found out through a family friend and volunteered to come here today. So certainly that will be one of the emotional points of the ceremony in addition to President Obama's own eulogy. He's grown very close to the Biden family over the years and had a personal relationship with Beau Biden himself. We know that he worked a good deal yesterday on the speech, taking a very personal hand in the writing of this eulogy. So certainly that will be one of the other emotional moments of the day, Christi, Victor.

BLACKWELL: Sunlen, we know that there will be several members of the president's cabinet who will be in attendance or are in attendance this morning, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Secretary Julian Castro, Anthony Foxx, several members of Congress including some Republicans. We know that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expected in attendance this morning. We've seen a big outpouring not only from Washington, but an outpouring of support from the people of Delaware as well.

SERFATY: That's right. It really, Victor, it's a good point to make that it's really not hard to find someone who was not moved or affected by the Biden family in some way when you talk to the people in the streets here in Wilmington.

We spent a significant amount of time yesterday going through the long line that stretched down the block here outside this church of the public viewing, people waiting in line five hours to get inside just to see Beau Biden's casket, meet with the vice president.

And we heard stories, many people who had worked on multiple campaigns, not only Joe Biden's, but Beau Biden's over the years and talked about the personal touch that they felt this family had on them, influenced them. So it was just definitely moving to a lot of people, seeing the family come out here. There were two viewings yesterday three hours each. They said Vice President Joe Biden stood in the front of the church yesterday and greeted each person one by one as they passed his son's casket, thanking them for coming, also apologizing for how long the wait was. That certainly has moved a lot of people. Here outside the church today, we are waiting for the Biden family to arrive. The Obamas arrived not long ago with the first daughters, Malia and Sasha, as well as the grandmother, Marian Robinson.

BLACKWELL: Sunlen Serfaty outside the church there in Delaware. Of course we'll continue to follow all that's happening this morning and bring you the president's remarks live. Again the president will eulogize Beau Biden later this morning. We'll be right back.

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[10:36:45] BLACKWELL: Welcome back. On the last side of your screen, you're looking inside live pictures here of St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church, where the services for Beau Biden are just about to begin. On the right side of your screen just outside the church, awaiting the arrival of Vice President Joe Biden, Second lady Dr. Jill Biden. We know that President Obama, Mrs. Obama, the first lady, and the first family have arrived. We have been told that former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton are in attendance this morning.

As you know, Vice President Biden spent 36 years in the Senate and many of his Senate comrades also from the other chamber, from the House, they are in attendance this morning. There has been a lengthy list. I mean, it takes quite some time to read the list of members of Congress who are in attendance this morning. But some of the most notable names, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader in the House Nancy Pelosi, also Minority Leader in the Senate Harry Reid are there, as well as more than a dozen, maybe two dozen members of Congress and several members of the president's cabinet.

We learned just a few moments ago from Sunlen Serfaty who is there outside the church that Chris Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, will be performing a selection this morning. There are several musical selections, several readings, as this is a formal Christian mass burial. Again, you see on the right side the Bidens are arriving here. And as their car pulls up, we will take just a break to listen and watch what's happening there.

Again, a tremendous loss for the vice president, not the first, unfortunately, for the vice president. Back in 1972, December 18th, when his first wife and daughter were killed in a crash while out Christmas shopping. Beau Biden and Hunter Biden were both injured in that crash. And you may remember that it was in 1973 as the now-vice president was entering the Senate. He took the oath of office standing there next to Beau Biden there at his hospital bed, vowing not to leave his son's side.

PAUL: And you know that he has talked about Beau Biden over the years in his speeches and how proud he was of him. In the fact that the 2008 Democratic National Convention, and I want to say this here, Joe Biden said "You know, folks, my dad used to have an expression. He would say a father knows he's a success when he turns and looks at his son or daughter and knows that they turned out better than he did. I'm a success, I'm a hell of a success. Beau, I love you. I'm so proud of you, I'm so proud of the son you've become and the father that you are." Let's listen in.

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[10:57:34] PAUL: You are looking at Beau Biden's funeral as it had has just begun, and some really profound moments we were able to witness when they were carrying Beau Biden's casket into the church. Joe Biden took his wife's hand and put it over his heart. And you saw this family holding hands, walking down the aisle. You can see the strength of the family in each and every one of them, including the children of Beau Biden, which I think some of the hardest to see.

BLACKWELL: Two young children, Natalie and Hunter Biden. In lieu of flowers, we know that the family is asking, requesting that people make donations to the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children that w. set up by his wife earlier this week.

That's going to do it for us today. We'll continue to bring you what's happening here in Wilmington, Delaware, as the state, the country says goodbye to Beau Biden. We'll hand it over to Martin Savidge now for the next hour of CNN Newsroom. Martin?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, thank you, Christi and Victor.

It is 11:00 on the east coast. I'm Martin Savidge, as you heard, in for Fredricka Whitfield. Newsroom starts right now.

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