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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Joe Biden Announces that He's Not Running for President. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired October 21, 2015 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like Benjamin Netanyahu. She has the experience and the expertise and the conviction and the intellect that make her an incredible leader, an incredible voice and will make her a great president.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: She'll have a chance to show it again on a debate stage next week. Nan Hayworth, great to see you again. Thanks for coming in.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great to see you both.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And, again, any time she wants to come on here as well. and you as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I will tell her. Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Great to see you.

Thanks so much for joining us "AT THIS HOUR," everybody.

BERMAN: LEGAL VIEW with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Instead of campaign speeches tomorrow, she's going to be under oath answering questions about Benghazi. Could this be Hillary Clinton's make or break moment?

Also this hour, he was on his way home from church when his car broke down on I-95. Soon after, a plain clothed policemen pulled up and Corey Jones was dead. Both men had guns, but was there any reason to pull the trigger?

And also officer down in New York. Randolph Holder, the city's forth policemen killed in the line of duty in less than a year.

Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Will he or won't he? Is he in or is he out? America wants to know. And we're not talking Joe Biden. We're now talk Paul Ryan. And Paul Ryan isn't saying. Paul Ryan, yes, Joe Biden, no. He's not the only politician keeping everybody guessing on his plans for higher office. Instead, this Wisconsin congressman, and very reluctant candidate for speaker of the House, has now put the onus on his fellow Republicans, touche, declaring that he will stand for election as long as a few major conditions can be met, and they are this. He said very House Republican has to support him, moderates all the

way up to the ultraconservatives. He says he wants to make it much harder to bring a so-called "vacate the chair" motion, which is sort of a no-confidence vote. That was what threatened to oust John Boehner. And still having young kids at work, she says, I'm not going to work, and traveling and raise money every hour of every single day as a modern House speaker generally is obliged to do. I want some work/life balance here, folks.

Speaking of the outgoing speaker, John Boehner, today, he set a new date for the full House to vote on his replacement. It's going to be October 29th, one week from tomorrow, so get your popcorn. Republican are going to vote among themselves the day before.

If it's any consolation for whomever gets that job, he or she can hardly be less popular with the rest of the country right now. A brand new CNN poll shows just 21 percent of Americans actually approve of what the Republican leaders of Congress have done this year, 74 percent disapprove.

Got some breaking news that I want to bring to you right now. At 12:10, about eight minutes from now, we are now learning that the vice president, Joe Biden, plans to make an announcement. How is that that only two and a half minutes ago I opened this show by saying, he's not the only politician keeping a secret right now. Turns out, in about seven minutes and 50 seconds, that may no longer be a secret. So we're working at getting a few more details about the wheres, the whens and, without question, the what with regard to what Joe Biden plans to do.

I want to bring in our senior guy on all things Joe Biden and above, and that's Wolf Blitzer. He joins me now live from Washington.

Why is it that out of the blue, out of the blue within seconds we just find out there's going to be this announcement. Isn't there usually some more planning to this? A little bit more rollout?

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN'S "THE SITUATION ROOM": Well, there's been a lot of speculation, as we all know, for weeks, if not months, whether or not the vice president, Joe Biden, will decide to run for president of the United States. And there's been a lot of speculation he would do it within the next few days. So, presumably, he's going to let us know whether he's going in or staying out. And that's what all of us have been waiting for.

There's been a lot of speculation over these past few days that it could be as early as this week. And even yesterday we were speculating he might want to make the announcement either in or out before Hillary Clinton testifies before the select committee on Benghazi tomorrow. So today is presumably the day. In the next few minutes, we're going to learn whether or not he decides to stay out of this race for now or to jump into the race.

Given the fact that he wants to make this statement inside of the Rose Garden, it would give a certain indication that maybe he's not going to get into the race because he wouldn't want to necessarily do a political statement inside the White House. But, you know, that's all pure speculation right now. We're just waiting to see what he decides, and we'll know soon enough.

BANFIELD: Can I just ask, off the top of your head, what else might he need to hold a news conference for just say within 24 hours of the Benghazi hearings starting? What else could be so newsworthy that the vice president would hold an announcement in the Rose Garden?

[12:05:03] BLITZER: The fact that his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, is now at the White House, we saw her arrive a little while ago, the fact that one of his close friends, former Senator Ted Kauffman of Delaware, is over there at the White House, we saw him arrive just a little while ago, indicates that this is the - this is the moment he's going to make his decision. I don't know what else he might want to be doing with a previously unscheduled appearance in the Rose Garden other than telling the American people whether he has decided to run for president or decided not to run for president. Presumably that's going to be the word that we're getting.

It's a very hastily organized event. This is not something that he was planning on doing for a long time, like his appearance yesterday at George Washington University where he was honoring the former vice president, Walter Mondale, at an event. This is something that's just been announced only literally moments ago. So presumably he's made up his mind and he's going to let us know.

BANFIELD: Best kept secret when you're planning these kinds of things, either he is incredible at keeping us in the dark about it, or what you just said rings true, that this was hastily organized, although I hardly see that to be easy at a place like the White House.

BLITZER: Well, it wasn't necessarily hastily organized, it was just quickly announced and now all of the sudden reporters have gathered, the media there, the cameras are there. He'll walk out and he'll make his statement. I assume it will be a statement on whether or not he's going to run, but let's - let's see. It's - you know, he's been under enormous pressure, as you know, Ashleigh, to let the American people know what he's going to do. It's been a lot of stress, I'm sure, on him, on his family. They've gone through a lot over these past several months, still mourning the loss of their son, Beau Biden, the attorney general of Delaware, who was such a great son and a great public servant, an Iraq War veteran. The family has really suffered through that entire period and they needed some time to heal, understandably so. But presumably he's now made up his mind and he's going to let us know.

And a lot of people were beginning to say, all right, Vice President Biden, tell us, are you in or are you out, because a lot's at stake right now, obviously, in the Democratic Party and the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and in the country as a whole.

BANFIELD: I don't want to suggest for a moment that a hastily organized news conference in the Rose Garden means that he's going to announce he's running, but do you often see this happen, Wolf, whereby a candidate who's let it run for a while before making his or her intentions known holds a big news conference to say, no, I'm not running? Could this be that message coming in a few minutes? BLITZER: It could be. It could be. It could be, in fact, that he's

going to tell us he's not running and it could be that he is running. You know, we - we've heard all of the back and forth from all of his associates. Some people who have spoken to him over the past few days have emerged from those conversations convinced he will run for president of the United States and others are saying he's still on the fence. So this is a very personal decision that he has to make, together with his wife, Jill Biden. So, you know, it's obviously a very, very tough decision.

You know, I think Brianna Keilar is with us as well.

Brianna, you're getting some more information as well. What are you learning?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are waiting hear to see, obviously, what the vice president is going to say, Wolf. But to the point that you just made about whether we - whether we are aware what he is going to say, his - he and those close to him, his closest confidants and friends, have been playing this very close to the vest. A lot of people somewhat close to that circle have been reading the tea leaves, reading what sort of the tone of what the vice president has been saying. And a lot of them believe that he is going to get in the race. Many other observers have been looking at some of the things that he's been saying in recent days and taking that as an indication that he may get in the race.

For instance, the last couple of days he has really drawn a contrast with Hillary Clinton on everything from the decision to go in and get Osama bin Laden and even a relationship with Republicans. You know, Wolf, Hillary Clinton described Republicans as one of her political enemies at the CNN debate last week. Very pointed, multiple times, the vice president said that Republicans are not his enemy. he even sort of seemed to ding Hillary Clinton on the number of miles that she traveled while secretary of state. He described the number that he had traveled, which was more, than what she did. So I think a lot of people looking at that are wondering why would he have done that if he's not getting in the race. But, of course, it's really, at this point, impossible to know until we see the vice president come out in the Rose Garden and tell us what he has decided.

BLITZER: It's interesting when you think about it, this is one of those historic moments. We're going to find out whether or not Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley are going to have another major challenger in this race for the Democratic presidential nomination, or whether or not the vice president has decided, you know, I took a very close look at it, I looked at all of the considerations, the family considerations, all the political considerations, would I really have a chance. Remember, remember, he's run for president of the United States twice already and he didn't do so well either time, including eight years ago when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. He spent, what, more than 30 years in the United States Senate, and now seven years as the vice president of the United States.

[12:10:18] I know from my conversations, Brianna, and I know you know from your conversations, you know, he always felt that maybe this was his last chance. He's 72 years old. Maybe this was his last chance to seek the presidency, and if he didn't do it now, he might always, you know, regret that moment where he had that shot. And there's also been all of these reports, Brianna, that over these past few months, just before his son, Beau Biden, passed away, his son suggested to him, said to him, dad, you should run for president of the United States.

I think Jim Acosta is with us from the White House as well.

Jim, what are you hearing over there?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, we do believe that the vice president will be coming out in just a few minutes to announce his intentions about whether or not he will run for president in 2016. Just to paint the picture here, Wolf, and I don't need to paint it, you can just see it behind me, some of the vice president's closest advisers are gathered here. Ted Kaufman, his former Senate chief of staff, his sister, Valerie Biden, his current chief of staff, Steve Ricchetti, other political advisers, other advisers from the vice president's office. The vice president's spokeswoman, Kendra Barkoff, is also here. I asked her a few moments ago, what is the vice president going to say. You have - she said, you have to wait to find out.

But, Wolf, just to add to the drama of this situation, President Obama will also be coming out with the vice president to make this statement in just a few moments. We were tipped off, just within the last half hour, that something big was about to take place when we saw Ted Kauffman come into the White House. He's been having meetings with the vice president over the last several weeks to try to go through this process, this deliberative process of trying to decide whether or not Biden will get into this race. We saw Dr. Jill Biden, the president's wife - the vice president's wife, go into the West Wing. Dr. Biden, it is almost certain she will be walking out here in just a few moments as well.

But, Wolf, just to - just to give you a sense as to how big a deal this is at the White House, the White House gave no indication that this was happening. I was coming out of the pen/pad (ph) session with the environmental adviser, Brian Deese, who was talking about climate change. I happened to just take a peek in - you know, into the Rose Garden and saw this being set up and said - you know, we started to ask sources here at the White House, what is going on here. And then, within minutes, we were getting e-mails saying - an announcement saying, come out to the Rose Garden, the vice president is going to make a statement. So this is extremely unusual to see Vice President Joe Biden and the president come out here at a moment's notice like this.

But, Wolf, just to add to what I'm seeing here, we're also seeing Denis McDonough, the chief of staff, we're seeing Susan Rice, the national security advisers, we're seeing Lisa Monica, the president's counter terrorism advisor, just about every senior official from this administration has raced out here into the Rose Garden, as well as the national news media, all the other networks have raced out here as well, Wolf, all trying to establish these live shots at a moment's notice because we know what is about to take place is going to be a very big deal, and that is we're finally going to find out, after weeks and weeks of waiting from Vice President Joe Biden what his intentions are for 2016.

As you have noted over the last several minutes, this has been a very difficult and painful process for Vice President Biden. His family has been grieving the loss of his son, Beau Biden. And all throughout this process, we've been told by the vice president's team, you know, listen, this is something that is going to take time. The vice president, it was thought was going to decide by the end of the summer, then the first week of October. But now with other looming dates on this calendar that are very, very important to presidential candidates, we're now finally going to hear a final answer from the vice president, Wolf.

BLITZER: The fact that the president of the United States is going to be walking into the Rose Garden with the vice president it would suggest, presumably, Jim Acosta, that the vice president had decided maybe not to run for president because you - the president is not going to get involved in the battle among Democrats, between Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden necessarily from the White House. The fact that he's making this statement in the Rose Garden, as I said a few moments ago, would seem to indicate it's not necessarily going to be a decision that he's going to jump into this race because you don't necessarily want to do politics from the Rose Garden of the White House.

ACOSTA: Right.

BLITZER: That's almost sacred ground, if you will. So the assumption is, at least the assumption as a former White House correspondent I would make is that maybe he has decided against running, at least for now. He can always change his mind in the months the come if something were to change. But the fact that he's doing it in the Rose Garden with the president, who doesn't want to get involved in partisan politics among the Democrats right now -

ACOSTA: That's right.

BLITZER: Would seem to indicate that the vice president has decided maybe that is not a good time for him to jump into the race.

ACOSTA: That's right, Wolf. And I just want to mention, we just received the two-minute warning. And a few moments ago I did see some words flash on a screen. I think the vice president will be using a teleprompter here. And there were some words and prepared text that indicated that he has been preparing some comments to make out here, talking about his deliberative process.

[12:15:05] But just to go back to what you're saying, Wolf, that's right, presidents conduct Rose Garden campaigns, not vice presidents. And so for the vice president to come out into the Rose Garden and make an announcement that he's running for president would be highly, highly unusual (INAUDIBLE) use of government property for a campaign announcement. BLITZER: I - that's what I think. All right, Jim, hold on for a

second. The president and the vice president about to walk into the Rose Garden.

Dana Bash is getting some information up on Capitol Hill. What are you picking up, Dana?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, that the vice president did make some calls to key players here on Capitol Hill today. And although those people are keeping their cards very close to their vest, it certainly does seem that he is leaning more towards not running. Not running. That that was sort of the vibe that the key players here on Capitol Hill were getting for lots of reasons, not the least of which is what you and Jim were just talking about. It's very unusual for a vice president to announce in the Rose Garden, not to mention that fact that all of those players, never mind the president himself, all of those players from the administration who have sort of split loyalties on the Democratic primary process, would be sitting in the Rose Garden to be a part of this. If he were running, it would be hard to imagine that all of those senior Obama administration officials would endorse him, you know, sort of in a split decision like that.

BLITZER: Yes, it would be awkward for him to make an announce that he's running for president in the United States in the Rose Garden, with the president there.

BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: All those top national security officials there as well. Normally when you make an announcement that you're running for president, you go out to some event, you go to a rally, you do it in a different way. So it could be pretty awkward if he were to make the announcement there and it could put the president in an awkward position at the same time. The president, presumably, is not going to necessarily endorse the vice president to succeed him or Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state, to succeed him. He's going to stay out of it, at least for the time being. He'll want a Democrat to replace him, but not necessarily get directly involved.

BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: So the indications would be that the vice president, at least for now, is going to say, this is not the time. Here he comes with Dr. Jill Biden, and the president. So let's listen in.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Please, please, sit down.

Mr. President, thank you for lending me the Rose Garden for a minute.

BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a pretty nice place.

BIDEN: As my family and I have worked through the -- the grieving process, I've said all along what I've said time and again to others: that it may very well be that that process, by the time we get through it, closes the window on mounting a realistic campaign for president. That it might close.

I've concluded it has closed. I know from previous experience that there's no timetable for this process. The process doesn't respect or much care about things like filing deadlines or debates and primaries and caucuses.

But I also know that I could do this if the -- I couldn't do this if the family wasn't ready. The good news is the family has reached that point, but as I've said many times, my family has suffered loss, and -- and I -- I hope there would come a time -- and I've said this to many other families -- that, sooner rather than later, when -- when you think of your loved one, it brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes.

Well, that's where the Bidens are today. Thank god. Beau -- Beau is our inspiration.

Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination. But while I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent.

I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully, to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party and where we need to go as a nation. And this is what I believe.

I believe that President Obama has led this nation from crisis to recovery, and we're now on the cusp of resurgence. I'm proud to have played a part in that. This party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the Obama legacy.

The American people have worked too hard, and we have have come too far for that. Democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record. They should run on the record.

[12:19:56] We have a lot of work to get done over to the next 15 months, and there is a lot of -- the president -- there's a lot that the president will -- will have to get done, but let me be clear that we'll be building on a really solid foundation.

But it all starts with giving the middle-class a fighting chance. I know that you in the press love to call me "Middle-Class Joe," and I know in Washington that's not really meant a compliment; it means you're not that sophisticated, but it is about the middle class. It isn't just a matter of fairness or economic growth, it's a matter of social stability for this nation. We cannot sustain the current levels of inequality that exist in this country.

I believe the huge sums of unlimited and often secret money pouring into our politics is a fundamental threat to our Democracy, and I really believe that. I think it's a fundamental threat, because the middle class will never have a fighting chance in this country as long as just several hundred families, the wealthiest families, control the process. It's just that simple. And I believe that we have to level the playing field for the American people. And that's going to take access to education and opportunity to work.

We need to commit. We are fighting for 14 years -- we need to commit to 16 years of free public education for all of our children. We all know that 12 years of public education is not enough. As a nation, let's make the same commitment to a college education today that we made to a high school education 100 years ago.

Children and child care is the one biggest barrier for working families. We need as the president proposed a triple child care tax credit. That alone will lead to dramatic increase in the number of women able to be in the workforce, and will raise our economic standards.

There are many equitable ways to pay for this. I often hear, well, how do you pay for this? There are many equitable ways to pay for this. We can pay for all of this with one simple step, by limiting the deductions in the tax code to 28 percent of income. Wealthy folks will end up paying a little bit more, but it's my guess -- and I mean this sincerely -- it's my guess they'll be happy to help build a stronger economy and a better educated America. I believe we need to lead more by the power of our example, as the president has, than merely by the example of our power.

We have learned some very hard lessons from more than a decade of large scale, open-ended military invasions. We have to accept the fact that we can't solve all of the world's problems. We can't solve many of them alone.

The argument that we just have to do something when bad people do bad things isn't good enough. It's not a good enough reason for American intervention and to put our sons and daughters' lives on the line, put them at risk.

I believe that we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart. And I think we can. It's mean spirited, it's petty, and it's gone on for much too long. I don't believe, like some do, that it's naive to talk to Republicans. I don't think we should look at Republicans as our enemies. They are our opposition. They're not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together.

As the president has said many times, compromise is not a dirty word. But look at it this way folks, how does this country function without consensus? How can we move forward without being able to arrive at consensus? Four more years of this kind of pitched battle may be more than this country can take. We have to change it. We have to change it.

And I believe that we need a moon shot in this country to cure cancer. It's personal. But I know we can do this. The president and I have already been working hard on increasing funding for research and development, because there are so many breakthroughs just on the horizon in science and medicine, the things that are just about to happen. And we can make them real with an absolute national commitment to end cancer, as we know it today.

And I'm going to spend the next 15 months in this office pushing as hard as I can to accomplish this, because I know there are Democrats and Republicans on the Hill who share our passion, our passion to silence this deadly disease.

[12:25:06] If I could be anything, I would have wanted to be the president that ended cancer, because it's possible.

I also believe we need to keep moving forward in the arc of this nation toward justice: the rights of the LGBT community, immigration reform, equal pay for women and protecting their safety from violence, rooting out institutional racism.

At their core, every one of these things -- every one of these things is about the same thing. It's about equality, it's about fairness, it's about respect. As my dad used to say, it's about affording every single person dignity. It's not complicated.

Every single one of the issues is about dignity. And the ugly forces of hate and division -- they won't let up, but they do not represent the American people. They do not represent the heart of this country. They represent a small fraction of the political elite, and the next president is going to have to take it on.

Most of all I believe there's unlimited possibilities for this country. I don't know how many of the White House staff and personnel have heard me say repeatedly that we are so much better positioned than any country the world.

We are so -- I've been doing this for a long time. When I got elected as a 29-year-old kid, I was called "the optimist". I am more optimistic about the possibilities -- the incredibly possibilities -- to leap forward than I have been any time in my career.

And I believe to my core that there is no country on the face of the Earth better positioned to lead the world in the 21st century than the United States of America.

Washington, though, has to begin to function again. Instead of being the problem, it has to become part of the solution again. We have to be one America again. And at our core, I've always believed that what sets America apart from every other nation is that we -- ordinary Americans -- believe in possibilities. Unlimited possibilities.

The possibilities for a kid growing up in a poor inner-city neighborhood or the -- a Spanish-speaking home, or a kid from Mayfield in Delaware, Willow Grove in Pennsylvania like Jill and I, to be able to be anything we wanted to be, to do anything -- anything -- that we want.

That's what we were both taught, that's what the president was taught. It was real. That's what I grew up believing. And you know, it's always been true in this country, and if we ever lose that, we've lost something very special. We'll have lost the very soul of this country.

When I was growing up, my parents, in tough times, looked at me and would say to me and my brothers and sister, "honey, it's gonna be OK." And they meant it. They meant it. It was gonna be OK.

But some of you cover me, I say, go back to your old neighborhoods. Talk to your contemporaries who aren't as successful as you've been. There are too many people in America -- there are too many parents who don't believe they can look their kid in the eye and say with certitude, "honey, it's gonna be OK."

That's what we need to change. It's not complicated. That will be the true measure of our success, and we'll not have met it until every parent out there can look at their kid in tough times and say, "honey, it's gonna be OK," and mean it.

That's our responsibility. And I believe it's totally within our power. The nation has done it before in difficult times.

I have had the very (ph) great good fortune and privilege of being in public service most of my adult life -- since I've been 25 years old. And through personal triumphs and tragedies, my entire family -- son Beau, my son Hunter, my daughter Ashley, Jill -- our whole family -- and this sounds corny, but we found purpose in public life. We found purpose in public life.

[12:29:57] So we intend -- the whole family, not just me -- we intend to spend the next 15 months fighting for what we've always cared about -- what my family's always cared about -- with every ounce of our being, and working alongside the president and members of Congress and our future nominee