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Biden Opens up about Possible Run; Family Poisoned on Vacation; NY Seals Deal on Fast Food Pay Raise; Serena Williams Set to Begin Semifinal Match. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired September 11, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:41] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're going to step away and move on to politics now.

"I'd be lying if I said that I knew I was there." That's Vice President Joe Biden on "The Late Show" with Stephen Colbert when asked whether he's decided to run for the country's highest office. During an emotional interview, Biden opened up about the death of his son Beau and why his decision to run for president depends on family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A couple months before he died I was at his house, and he said dad, sit down. I want to talk to you, with Halley his wife. Incredible kid.

He said, dad, I know how much you love me. You have to promise me something, promise me you're going to be all right because no matter what happens, dad, I'm going to be all right. Promise me. This is a kid who -- I don't know what it was about him. He had this enormous sense of empathy, and I'm not making this up. I know I maybe sound like a father. Anyway, but --

STEPHEN COLBERT, TALK SHOW HOST: It sounds like you love him.

You said recently, you said this weekend that you don't know if you are emotionally prepared to run for president.

BIDEN: Look, I don't think any man or woman should run for president unless, number one, they know exactly why they would want to be president and, two, they can look at the folks out there and say, I promise you, you have my whole heart, my whole soul, my energy, and my passion to do this, and I'd be lying if I said that I knew I was there.

I went out to Denver, and I landed on a military base and I met a whole group of military families, which is not unusual, on a rope line about 100 yards from the aircraft. And about two-thirds were in uniform, the other were family members, and I was thanking them, and I really meant it. This 1 percent is fighting for 99 percent of the rest of us, and I was talking about them being the backbone and sinew of this country and all of a sudden it was going great.

And a guy in the back yells, "Major Beau Biden, Bronze Star, sir. Served with him in Iraq." And all of a sudden I lost it. How could you -- that's not -- I shouldn't be saying this, but that --

COLBERT: You know --

BIDEN: You can't do that. You can't do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Joe Biden struggling there. Joining me to talk about this, Larry Sabato. He's the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. And Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign adviser Steve Schale. He's also part of the Draft Biden effort. Welcome to you both.

So, Steve, when you hear the Vice President talk on that late show like that, what goes through your mind?

STEVE SCHALE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think for those of us that have been encouraging him to get in the race it really confirms why we feel so strongly about the man. What we saw yesterday is a guy who is as genuine of a father, of a husband, of a person as there is in public service. And frankly, just the kind of guy we need more of in politics.

And so, you know, we're going to keep doing our job which is to get out there and organize people, raise money, build infrastructure in the early states and make it clear to the Vice President as he works this intensely personal decision we have his back if he gets in.

COSTELLO: But on the other hand, Larry, you can certainly understand why Joe Biden is concerned that emotion might take over if he runs for president of the United States and if he's elected into office.

LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Carol, he has said the same thing several times recently, and watching that clip and watching the whole interview last night, which was an emotional experience for the audience, not just for the Vice President or Stephen Colbert, it just -- it sounded as though he was not going to run.

On the other hand, politicians can turn on a dime. We see that every day. So we'll just have to wait and be patient and see what he actually says, what he actually decides in the end.

COSTELLO: Steve, is there any effort within Joe Biden's office to indicate that they're thinking seriously about him running?

SCHALE: Well, I think that all of us are really in the same spot. I mean what's interesting is this is such a different kind of conversation. It's not really a political calculus. Nobody is having the conversation can he win or is there a path. I think this really is an issue of the Vice President coming to terms with his own grief.

As he said, previously talking about grief, does he have more good days than bad days. And frankly, I think if he can get there in his own heart, he'll probably run. That's my hunch and if he can't, he won't. In the end our job is just to be ready regardless and support him in whatever way he ends up going.

COSTELLO: So Larry, Joe Biden always shows up -- he's at 12 percent on the polls and he's not even running. Is there a possibility he could beat Hillary Clinton if he decides to run?

[10:34:51] SABATO: Sure, it's possible. I don't think it's likely but it's possible. After all, Hillary Clinton in some polls, in some states has been dropping like a rock. But she also has an enormous lead in money, in organization, in endorsements. I have heard senior Democrats say very directly they hope Biden gets in as stand-by equipment, and after all that's what a vice president is, he's stand-by equipment.

So he has some experience there, in case Hillary Clinton falters, seriously falters and cannot be the nominee. They want someone from the establishment side to substitute for her, and they don't believe Bernie Sanders or the other candidates currently in the Democratic race will suffice and be able to win a general election.

COSTELLO: Steve, what do you think is -- why do you think Hillary Clinton, her poll numbers have been tanking lately? What is her problem?

SCHALE: Well, I think in fairness to her, she had a tough month of August. I worked for a guy as Larry knows who has really bad Augusts. Certainly his August 2007 was one that left many people thinking he didn't have much chance of winning. That being said, I think to the Biden question, though, I think there's definitely room for him to grow.

I mean you've seen this in, you know, the poll that came out yesterday, 20 points. He's gone up six points in just a month. He had some of the highest favorables of anybody considering or --

COSTELLO: All right, Steve. But let's go back to Hillary Clinton. I like how you turned the corner on me there. Let's go back to Hillary Clinton. What is her stumbling block? Where does she need to improve? What does she need to do?

SCHALE: Well, I mean, listen, Carol, I don't work for the Clintons. I'm here to help the Vice President. I will say to her credit I think some of the things they did this week, going on Andrea Mitchell, for example, and just sort of answering questions, she's going to have to keep doing that until it goes away.

COSTELLO: Do you agree, Larry?

SABATO: Well, that's certainly true, but I'd have to say this. For all of her positives and all of her experience and the rest of it, it is stunning how bad a candidate she has been. To take six months to stop the drip, drip, drip on the e-mail server, and it may still not be stopped, but to take six months to do what some of her senior team thought and urged her to do in the very beginning is remarkable.

Look, she's got plenty of time to recover. She could easily come back and be a very strong candidate, but I have to say over the past six months, she has bombed, bombed as a candidate.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Larry Sabato, Steve Schale -- thank you so much for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's been six months since an American family was poisoned on vacation. New details about the botched fumigation that have left two teenage boys unable to walk or eat on their own.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:42:00] COSTELLO: New details emerging from the investigation of an American family poisoned while on vacation. It's been six months since Steve Esmond, Theresa Devine and their two teenage sons fell gravely ill. You might remember they were poisoned by a pesticide during a family vacation to this resort on St. John. Today the family's lawyer telling us the teenagers still cannot eat or walk alone.

Sara Ganim has been following this story. This is just awful.

SARA GAMIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's devastating for this family. The two boys they can't sit up, they can't walk, they can't feed themselves. The father who had similar symptoms and seems to have made a little bit better of a recovery and one of his sons, they can talk but it's very labored, it's very difficult.

These boys were in comas for weeks, Carol, and doctors tell us this may be, unfortunately, as good as it gets for them. That when the symptoms persist for so long there's very little chance that they will get better.

The worst part really is the lawyer told me that neurologically it's like a torture chamber. They know what's going on, they just can't translate that to movement.

COSTELLO: So how is the mother doing and why is the father recovering more quickly than the boys?

GANIM: You know, presumably they were on vacation in this tropical island. The mom was outside a little bit more. She had more fresh air, less exposure. I want to show you some pictures, Carol, that come from inside the villa. These are newly released by the EPA, and it showed the canisters, the toxins and really gives you a picture of how intensive, how dangerous this gas is.

Six weeks after they fell ill, the EPA was still finding dangerous levels of toxins inside their villa. We have also learned -- this is a restricted gas. So when someone buys it, they're supposed to tell the EPA -- what they're going to use it for to make sure it's not used for a purpose like this one. And we've learned that those forms were left blank and no one caught it.

We've also learned that there's supposed to be a warning agent attached to this gas when it's sprayed. So similar to a natural gas where an artificial odor has been (INAUDIBLE) when you're breathing it in you know it's something dangerous and the lawyer for this family tells us in this case --

COSTELLO: Was this pesticide being sprayed outside and they --

GANIM: No, it was inside.

COSTELLO: Inside.

GANIM: It was inside. It was kitchen cabinets. There's a wood boring beetle that's very prevalent down there, very hard to kill. And they were using this pesticide even though it's not supposed to be used indoors, they were using it to kill this beetle.

COSTELLO: OK. So what does Terminix say?

GANIM: Well, Terminix says -- they've given us a statement. They say this. They say "All of us continue to have this family in our thoughts and prayers. We are cooperating with the authorities and conducting our own thorough investigation."

The person who actually sprayed this was the branch manager of the Terminix down there. He's on administrative lead. Terminix also says that they've halted fumigations down there on the islands and are retraining their employees.

Of course the Department of Justice also investigating. And the next step, quite frankly, for this family is going to be a lawsuit. They're entering into mediation later this month and they've brought in the big guns. They've brought in Ken Feinberg who --

[10:45:01] COSTELLO: Oh, wow.

GANIM: -- right, negotiated settlements for all the 9/11 victims' families. So this is something that's being taken very seriously as it should. I mean these boys' lives are ruined. This family has been ruined. It's been absolutely devastating.

COSTELLO: Sara Ganim -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, good news for millions of fast food workers. They're going to get a raise. Up next we'll tell you which state, which city actually just approved a pay hike.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:49:55] COSTELLO: A big win for millions of fast food workers in New York. They're going to get a raise, and a big one. The state just approved a controversial minimum wage hike requiring large franchises to pay workers $15 an hour. But employees may have to wait to see some of that extra cash in their paycheck.

CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here to tell us why.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They're going to phase that in -- Carol. It won't be right now. It will be $9 will be the minimum wage for fast food workers by the end of the year. And, you know, $15 an hour, that's a bold move by Andrew Cuomo. It's the first time you have seen something like that in a city the size of New York and a state the size of New York. So that will be a lot of people who will be getting a pay raise.

The $7.25 is the federal minimum wage. $8.75 is the New York minimum wage. By the end of the year it will be $9 for those fast food workers and eventually $15 an hour. And here is the kicker. Governor Cuomo wants to make it $15 an hour for all workers in New York -- construction workers, retail workers, not just fast food workers. And that would be bold and it would be unprecedented.

He was yesterday with Joe Biden, the Vice President, someone who has really been a champion of raising the federal minimum wage. Of course, that hasn't really moved forward. But listen to the Vice President on the minimum wage issue -- Carol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: It's reasonable. It's rational. It's the right thing to do, and the federal minimum wage needs to be raised. It's been ten years since Congress has increased it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So the argument, of course, against raising it, higher menu prices, maybe some job cuts. That's what we've always heard from people who say it's not a good idea. The case for it, the current wages are just too low -- Carol. The taxpayers in some cases are subsidizing these big companies because low wage workers get earned income tax credits. They get other kinds of tax credits, food stamps in many cases and the minimum wage has not kept up with inflation. There's really still a big debate over this.

COSTELLO: OK. So recently Walmart raised wages for workers, but then they laid a bunch of workers off.

ROMANS: And it's hurting their profit this year. I mean it's hurting their profit growth but they say it's the right thing to do because they are also adding hours in some of their stores to improve the customer experience. But they laid people off in other stores where it just -- they just didn't need the extra hours.

The issue of layoffs is something that's really important, Carol, because there was a Congressional Budget Office report to congress that said a $10.10 minimum wage on the federal level would end 500,000 job cuts but it would pull 900,000 people out of poverty. So it would cut jobs but lift more people out poverty. There's a trade-off there.

What you're hearing about $15 for a minimum wage, there's just really no research or no background on it. This is uncharted territory for New York. It will be really interesting to see how that turns out. And, of course, New York would like to lead the rest of the country and see other people do it, too. Some cities have but not a big state. COSTELLO: All right. Christine Romans -- many things.

ROMANS: Welcome.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Serena William's quest for a grand slam back on course this morning. We'll take you live to the U.S. Open.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:57:12] COSTELLO: Serena Williams will close in on the grand slam history today. The tennis star is set to begin her semi-final match at the U.S. Open just after rain postponed the match.

CNN's Andy Scholes is live at Flushing Meadows to tell us more. Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Good morning, Carol. It looks like Mother Nature is the only thing right now that can slow down Serena Williams and keep her from winning an match. She's on an absolute roll right now. She's won 33 straight matches at grand slam tournaments. This weekend she's looking for her fourth straight U.S. Open title, it will be the seventh of her career.

And of course, if she gets it done, she would be the first player to win the calendar year grand slam since Steffi Graf did that 27 years ago. And I'll tell you what the fans here, they want to see some history. I just came from where Serena was warming up over on the side courts. And I'll tell you what -- there are hundreds of fans gathered around just to watch Serena practice.

And for the first time ever this year Carol, the women's final for tomorrow sold out before the men's. And as Serena continues to win at the U.S. Open, the prices keep going up and up and up. It's going to cost you about $50 more if you want to go to that women's final tomorrow as opposed to the men's on Sunday.

So yesterday, it was a downer here because of all the rain here at Flushing Meadows -- Carol. Today very exciting. The fans continue to file in as we're going to have four great semi-final match-ups. Serena in the afternoon and then it's going to cap off tonight with an all Swiss affair, Roger Federer taking on Stan Wawrinka which should be another great match.

COSTELLO: Who will Serena face first?

SCHOLES: She's taking on Roberta Vinci. She's actually been the surprise of the tournament so far -- Carol. She's ranked 43rd in the world. No one expected her to make it to a semifinals match up. And, you know, I don't know her mindset right now but she might be kind of just the happy to be here coming into this semifinals against Serena. Not many people were giving her a very good chance in this match. So It could be a quick affair. If you want to see Serena in action, you might want to tune in pretty quickly. COSTELLO: I know but can you imagine if you're her and you're

facing Serena Williams? That would have to be difficult.

SCHOLES: I imagine she didn't think that was going to happen when this thing started a couple of weeks ago.

COSTELLO: So were you going to get a front seat at the match?

SCHOLES: I'm going to try, Carol. There's so many people already filing in wanting to see this match. Of course, everyone wants to get up and close to Serena as much as possible. As I said over there at the practice court, I couldn't even get to the rail to see who was practicing. I just assumed it was Serena and I did get a glimpse of her practicing. She looked pretty good. I'll tell you what.

I'm going to try though. I'll tell you. I'm going to try to get as close as I can and see the match.

COSTELLO: I know you can be pretty aggressive so I'm rooting for you -- Andy. Thanks so much -- Andy Scholes reporting live from the U.S. Open.

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

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: So did Joe Biden just tell us he is not running for president? Remarkably candid, deeply emotional revelations that could change the entire presidential race.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: And as Biden rises in the polls, Hillary Clinton is