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Biden Attends Labor Day Parade Rally; Migrant Crisis in Europe; Muslim Flight Attendant Claims Discrimination; Jailed Kentucky Clerk Files Appeal. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 07, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:51] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: He talked about community college being free. He railed against trust fund babies, his words, and he talked about eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy in order to pay for community college for middle class Americans.

This was a very passionate Joe Biden. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But here is the bottom line. I'm hot, I acknowledge that. I'm mad. I'm angry. How many people in your old neighborhoods, how many people in your old neighborhoods are in trouble? Can look their kids in the eye and say with heart, honey, it's going to be OK? It's going to be OK. Not enough because the level playing field doesn't exist.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So, Carol, that's a very different Vice President Joe Biden than we saw last week when he spoke in Florida. He was very emotional. You can see the toll that the death of his son Beau Biden back in May has been taking on him as he decides whether it's best for him and for his family for him to throw his hat into the ring for 2016 -- very different here today as he was really preaching this populist message.

Politically there is some good news for Joe Biden as he looks at this NBC News/Marist poll. Obviously the big story is about the rise of Bernie Sanders, but when you also look at the general election match- ups and you compare Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire Biden does better than Hillary Clinton against Jeb Bush and against Donald Trump. So no doubt that is on his mind as he makes what is really a very personal, emotional decision about whether or not to run -- Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Brianna Keilar -- reporting live from Pittsburgh. Thanks so much.

I want to bring in Errol Lewis right now. He's a CNN political commentator and political anchor at New York One News. Hi -- Errol. So what do you think --

ERROL LEWIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Hi, Carol. How are you? COSTELLO: I'm good. Joe Biden kind of sounding like a candidate there in Pittsburgh, didn't he?

LEWIS: Absolutely. I mean you don't go out and talk to union members on Labor Day unless you really, really love unions or you might like to talk about some of the issues that would be very much front and center in a race for president.

COSTELLO: Can he possibly win though? He's what -- he's 71 years old. He's going -- if he enters the race, he's going to enter very late, and he hasn't raised any money at all. I mean is it feasible that he could do well?

LEWIS: I think it is feasible because in the age of Citizens United, you only need one billionaire who has decided to maybe put $100 million or so behind you, and you're competitive. And as you know very well, Carol, once the first few early states happen everything can change.

I mean Obama in 2008 wasn't supposed to have a chance in that world and he made that surprise move and won in Iowa and everything changed. The polls started doing an incredible dance, and a lot of the support that nobody thought he would have went right to Obama and, of course, the rest is history.

So Joe Biden is very well aware of that history. A lot of the same Obama people surround him and just as you say, nobody this old has done it, nobody this late has done it in recent years, but that doesn't mean we can't make history again.

COSTELLO: But wait a minute. Hasn't President Obama thrown his support behind Hillary Clinton? Although he hasn't come out and said that in any way or endorsed her.

LEWIS: I'm not so sure about that to tell you the truth. I mean he hasn't come out and endorsed her and so it's not done until it's done. That's number one.

Number two, if he wanted to really put any kind of speculation to rest, if he wanted to shut this whole thing down, he could have by now, but what we have seen is that he's met with Joe Biden. He's made a lot of very favorable statements about what Joe Biden has meant to his political career, the President has. And a number of his advisers are still talking with very seriously with Joe Biden and there again, all it would take would be a raised eyebrow, so to speak, from the President to put all of that to bed, and he has not raised that eyebrow.

So I think we've got the beginnings of at least a conversation about whether or not the field is closed on the Democratic nomination for president.

COSTELLO: Interesting. I want to talk about this Harvard professor, his name is Lawrence Lessig. I guess he's sort of, kind of running for president. He crowd-sourced $1 million and he's actually running because he wants to call attention to campaign finance reform. He was on "NEW DAY" earlier. Let's listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAWRENCE LESSIG, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR: The core of the problem is how we fund campaigns and Congress could fix that problem tomorrow if it just had the political will. And it will only have the political will if we have a campaign that focuses America on the fundamental fact. There is no connection between what our government does and what the average voter wants.

And we've got to restore that connection if we're going to call ourselves a representative democracy. We are in no sense right now a representative democracy. So what this campaign would say is let's focus on that problem and fix it first.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:35:01] COSTELLO: In fact, the professor says if he wins the presidency, he'll just like leave office and leave it to his vice president. Now, it's easy to dismiss him, right, but he did crowd source $1 million.

LEWIS: Well, not just that, Carol. I mean in the last cycle he created something called a May Day PAC, May Day being an emergency call to citizens to try and take back government and get money out of politics. He crowd sourced $11 million from about 50,000 donors.

So this is not somebody who I think should just be written off as a crazy voice in the wilderness. This is somebody who I think has aimed at a very important problem. He's established some credibility with tens of thousands of Americans who have been willing to sort of vote with their pocketbooks. And we'll see where it goes.

I mean clearly it's a protest campaign. It's a symbolic campaign to a certain extent, but it's a symbol and a protest that a lot of Americans at least what they've told the pollsters is they very closely identify with.

COSTELLO: All right. Errol Lewis -- interesting as always -- thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the desperate journey of thousands of refugees and migrants now streaming toward Europe with only the clothes on their backs. A live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: While many Americans take a day off from their jobs to celebrate Labor Day, a stark reminder of what people halfway around the world are willing to suffer to enjoy even a fraction of what westerners have. Thousands upon thousands of desperate men, women, and children from all corners of the Middle East are now on a mass migration to Europe all for the slim possibility of something better.

CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon has been documenting their difficult journey. She joins us from the border of Serbia and Hungary -- Arwa.

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Carol -- this is what greets them when they actually cross from Serbia into Hungary. This filth of the holding area that they are expected to wait in in many cases for a night, in some instances up to three nights living with little to no shelter and at night when it gets dark here, Carol, it gets incredibly cold.

In terms of aid, you have one of the Hungarian nonprofits here, a very small organization but really doing all that it can, that is, distributing some foodstuffs, waters, everything that you see here has come to be by way of donations. There is no government assistance at this location. The government has, in fact, refused UNHCR's offers to help.

People can't take it anymore. I mean these are the toilets for the thousands that have been going through. They are filthy. Women we were talking to say they cringe, they just can't deal with it anymore. Because of this, people have decided to stage a sit-in because they can't wait for the buses to come and pick them up anymore. They can't keep living like that anymore, and so they have decided they are going to sit and block the street until the Hungarians either send them the buses they need or finally let them through.

From here they still do have to go to those transit camps. They still have to register. Everyone is anticipating that it is going to be a highly unpleasant process, but at the same time they just want to get moving. Having come this far, they do not want to be held up any longer. They have absolutely had it, and they especially don't want to be held up in conditions like that.

One of the little boys who came across the border, many of the kids are getting very sick, one of the little boys was actually in the medical tent, Carol, because he had collapsed from exhaustion and dehydration. It just goes to show you the impact that this journey is having on these people, especially, Carol, on the children.

COSTELLO: All right. Arwa Damon reporting, live from the Serbia/Hungary border.

Just moments ago the British Prime Minister David Cameron says his country will resettle up to 20,000 Syrian refugees.

In other news this morning, a flight attendant says she's been suspended from her job for refusing to serve alcohol. She says it's against her Muslim faith.

Nick Valencia is following her story -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol.

40-year-old Charee Stanley says that she was suspended for her Muslim beliefs. Her critics saying that she knew the responsibilities before taking the job and now that she's converted to Islam it shouldn't matter. Her attorney says that she's the victim of discrimination.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Charee Stanley says she was suspended from her job as a flight attendant because of her religious beliefs. This week the 40- year-old Michigan woman filed a charge of discrimination against regional airline Express Jet. The issue, Stanley converted to Islam two years ago. She says she only learned recently that her faith prohibits her from serving alcohol.

She and the airline did work out an accommodation for two months until she says one of her co-workers filed a complaint against her saying, quote, "She was not fulfilling her duties as a flight attendant by refusing to serve alcohol." Four weeks later Stanley's religious accommodation, excluding her from serving alcohol, was revoked by the airline. She was suspended.

LENA MASRI, CHAREE STANLEY'S ATTORNEY: What we're asking for is that her employment be reinstated and her reasonable accommodation be reinstated as well.

VALENCIA: Her lawyer says her client's, quote, "sincerely held religious beliefs" should not keep her from being a flight attendant.

[10:45:03] MASRI: In this situation the law requires that the employer accommodate her beliefs. And she really -- she's not required to search for another job in order to have her beliefs accommodated.

VALENCIA: A spokesman for Express Jet declined to discuss Stanley's complaint but in a statement to CNN said, quote, "We embrace and respect the values of all of our team members. We are an equal opportunity employer with a long history of diversity in our workforce."

CNN aviation analyst Mary Schiavo says a reasonable accommodation for Stanley may be difficult given she works for a small airline.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: In the case of the airlines where you have just one flight attendant on a flight of 50 seats or less, the pilot can't come out of the cockpit and serve the drinks.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Now, this all hinges on reasonable accommodation. According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Express Jet doesn't have to fulfill every request that Stanley is asking for. We asked her attorney if perhaps her client would be willing to compromise, perhaps take another job within that airline. She told us, Carol, it's not up to her client to make the adjustments. It's up to the employer -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Valencia reporting, live this morning -- thanks so much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

COSTELLO: Checking some other top stories for you at 46 minutes past. Two brothers in an Atlanta suburb are behind bars accused of trying to kill their parents. Police say a woman called 911 saying she and her husband were being attacked by their 17 and 22-year-old sons. When authorities arrived they found the father badly injured and bleeding. They say a gas line at the home was also cut. The couple is now in the hospital.

Lots of speculation as to what this mystery fireball that exploded in the sky over Bangkok was this morning -- it was caught on dash-cam from various locations during the morning rush hour. Look at that. As you can imagine, social media has quite a few theories, but experts say this is likely an asteroid.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a Kentucky clerk who refuses to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples hopes to get out of jail, and she's getting support from the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:19] COSTELLO: Day four and counting. The Kentucky county clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples remains behind bars, but attorneys for Kim Davis are filing an appeal in last week's contempt of court ruling that landed her in jail. A federal judge says Davis will stay there though until she agrees to hand out marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

In the meantime the case is making its way into the 2016 presidential race as a candidate plans to pay Davis a jailhouse visit.

Alexandra Field joins me with who that candidate is. Do you want to start with the appeal first?

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Look, Kim Davis doesn't have a whole lot of options other than this appeal right now because the Rowan County clerk has already said she's not going to resign from her position, she's not going to back down on her fight, and she's not going to consent to the judge's order which is to authorize these marriage licenses or to allow her deputy clerks to do it.

So, therefore, in order to get her out of jail or at least in order to try to, her attorneys are appealing this order from the judge and her attorney says Mrs. Davis is entitled to proper notice and due process when she's threatened with the loss of her freedom. There was no indication that she would be incarcerated. We will be presenting our arguments on appeal and asking for an expedited ruling.

And Carol -- I'll remind you that Kim Davis was put in the custody of the U.S. Marshals after a judge found her in contempt of court for refusing to issue the marriage licenses.

COSTELLO: What did they think would happen to her, her attorneys?

FIELD: Well, there is a possibility that the judge would say simply that a fine would be levied, but we listened to the judge, it's about a two-hour-long hearing, and at one point he said the point of the contempt order was to force compliance. That's really the only point of it. And he decided that because of the number of supporters she had that raising the funds for a fine might not be a heavy enough price to pay in order to force her to comply with this order to issue the licenses.

So he put her in jail and then her deputy clerks had to pledge to the judge whether or not they agreed personally that they would go ahead and issue these licenses which they have been doing.

COSTELLO: OK. So a presidential candidate is going to visit her in jail tomorrow. Tell us about that.

FIELD: That's right. The fact that she went to jail has really garnered so much attention now and her supporters have been showing up at the jail. Tomorrow she gets one more supporter making a visit. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee will travel to Kentucky. He will visit her inside the jail and then hold a rally with her supporters.

These are supporters who are of a like mind to Kim Davis. They all feel that her religious rights are being trampled, that she's a woman who says that she cannot physically or factually issue these licenses because of her religious beliefs. Here is Mike Huckabee coming to her defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The ruling class has thumbed their nose at the very constitution. When is it that liberals get to choose which laws they support but a county clerk in Kentucky who, acting on her Christian faith, is criminalized, jailed without bail because she acted on her conscience.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: We'll see what happens with the appeal of the contempt order, but there's a whole other judicial process playing out here, which is the initial order from the federal district judge in Kentucky forcing Kim Davis to issue these licenses is something that is being appealed in a higher court right now. So you have that appeal process going on and then you also have the contempt order being appealed as she tries to get out of jail.

COSTELLO: And just one other point because Huckabee accused liberals of having it their way but the judge in this case is not liberal.

FIELD: No. There has certainly been a lot that has been written about this judge in the past saying that this is not necessarily a judge who would have supported the Supreme Court decision.

COSTELLO: He's a Bush appointee.

FIELD: Yes. And this is a judge who has taken a lot of time it seems and reflected pretty carefully on this case and he has referred a lot of these decisions to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals saying he's going to issue his decision but he wants the appeals process to play out which is why he did not grant the stay that she was asking for. [10:55:07] She wanted to wait to have to deliver these licenses until a decision had been made in the appeals court. But the judge says the appeals court has to handle this now.

COSTELLO: All right. And you'll be back in Kentucky tomorrow. We look forward to that.

Alexandra Field -- thanks so much.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Dramatic developments in the race for president. Hillary Clinton is now the underdog in New Hampshire. Does that mean her campaign is in trouble?

Hungry, tired, and desperate for shelter: thousands of migrants, refugees waiting for help as their crisis pushes Europe to a tipping point.