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Biden Not Running For President; Beau's Death Has Part In Decision; Who Will Biden And Obama Endorse. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 21, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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


(COMMERICAL BREAK)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting from Washington. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with breaking news. The vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, announcing just moments ago he will not, repeat not, be running for president of the United States. He ended weeks of speculation with the surprise news conference, statement at the White House Rose Garden, explaining that the loss of his son, Beau, had factored into his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My family has suffered loss and I hope there would come a time, and I have said it to many other families, that sooner, rather than later, 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 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta. He's over at the north lawn of the White House. So, the timing, the circumstances of his announcement, we were all expecting an announcement today or tomorrow or in the coming days. But a lot of people were surprised that he decided, Jim, not to run.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. All indications heading into last weekend and early this week were all pointing us in the direction that Vice President Joe Biden might run for president, that he was going to run for president.

I can tell you, as of late last week, I talked to a couple of Democratic sources who were saying he's going to make a decision within 72 hours. Apparently, that is the time frame during which he made that decision.

And then, late last week and early this week, Wolf, I had conversations with Harold Schaitberger who is the president of the International Association of Firefighters, the firefighters union. And he said sounded very revved up. that the vice president was indicating to him in their private conversations that the vice president was very much considering this, that he was definitely leaning in that direction.

But I have to tell you, Wolf, I talked to Harold Schaitberger this morning. And I can tell by, you know, listening to his voice that things were not so quite set in stone and that, perhaps, the vice president was having some second thoughts about this. That union was saying they were preparing for a possible candidacy and now we know that that candidacy is not going to come.

Wolf, I think what Vice President Biden did is he looked reality in the face and realized that Hillary Clinton was way out in front, in terms of fund-raising, organizing, racking up endorsements. She basically has the Democratic Party behind her right now with the exception of the progressive base that is backing Bernie Sanders. And there just was no avenue for Joe Biden to pursue to get close to this nomination.

And I can also say, from talking to people here at the White House, Wolf, there are so many people at the White House here who are heavily invested in Hillary Clinton's campaign, you know, top former staffers who left here at the White House to go work for Hillary Clinton.

They also -- a lot of people here also just did not see a path to the nomination for Joe Biden. And even though he wanted to run and was feeling it in his heart, I think he just finally came to the realization that there just -- this wasn't going to happen. And so, he had to come out and make that statement that he made here today.

But quite extraordinary, I peeked out into the Rose Garden, at one point, coming out of a pen and pad session and saw them setting up for the Rose Garden. That was not on the schedule. Nobody realized what was happening here. But we saw Ted Kaufman, the vice president's advisor, walking in. We saw Dr. Jill Biden come in. We knew something big was about to happen, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, and certain -- something big did, in fact, happen. The vice president telling all of us --

ACOSTA: Right.

BLITZER: -- he was not going to seek the Democratic president nomination.

Jim Acosta, thanks very much.

I want to bring in Jake Tapper. He's the anchor of CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" and "THE LEAD," also our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and our Senior Political Correspondent Brianna Keilar. This was clearly a very difficult decision for the vice president, Jake. It was not an easy decision. I think his instinct was to go for it but, practically speaking, he, himself, acknowledged, unfortunately, he thought he was out of time.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It's very clear that he thinks that he would be the best president of everyone running. There is really no reason for him to take these kind of little dings that Hillary Clinton, saying at the Democratic debate that she's proudest of the enemies that are Republicans, which he did again today. He did it again today.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

TAPPER: He did it again today.

BLITZER: The fourth time.

[13:05:00] TAPPER: There's really no reason for him to it other than to contrast himself. He feels, in his gut, that he'd be a better president than Hillary Clinton or any of the other nominees, certainly more than any of the Republicans. And that Clinton values are not as good as Biden values. That Clinton's are divisive and he is not.

And yet, at the same time, there's no path for him. There's no path for him to the nomination. Shem in our latest CNN poll with Biden tested, with Biden, she was at 45 percent, Bernie Sanders 29 percent, Joe Biden, the Vice President, at 18 percent. Without him, she soars to 56 percent, goes up 11 points, Bernie Sanders goes up four points to 33 percent. He really wasn't going to be a factor, necessarily. It didn't look that way.

And I have to give credit to Hillary Clinton and her team because they really outmaneuvered him. They knew that he was going to be, potentially, her biggest threat. She got in the race early. She locked up endorsements. She was very clearly signaling that she was going to be the -- running for president. When Vice President Joe Biden talked about there's no time, it's not like if he had announced a month ago there would've been time or two months ago.

BLITZER: Right.

TAPPER: Like, she's been doing this for a long time. And, publicly, very polite, talking about the vice president, his needs as a grieving father. But also, outmaneuvering in other ways. (INAUDIBLE) Democratic Party (INAUDIBLE) tell me that the reason Hillary Clinton came out against the trade deal, that she had supported as secretary of state, has nothing to do with Bernie Sanders (INAUDIBLE) flank on that side. It had to do with out-maneuvering Joe Biden who has a very strong relationship with labor. And she didn't want to give him even the labor path to the nomination.

BLITZER: And, clearly, as Jake points out, Gloria, the decision by the vice president will help Hillary Clinton --

BORGER: Oh, yes. BLITZER: -- much more than it will help Bernie Sanders.

BORGER: Oh, as Jake points out, without Biden, she's up -- she's up 11 points. This -- in listening to Joe Biden today, it was like an announcement speech without a candidate. You know, it was almost as if he was announcing but then saying, sorry, the window is closed for me, because he's also pragmatic. He knows what it takes to run. Don't forget he's run twice before and lost.

TAPPER: One of those times to Hillary Clinton.

BORGER: One of those times to her.

And, you know, it's clear to me in looking at the man in full, as we say. This is a man in his early 70s who spent his entire life and found his purpose in life, as he said today, in public life. He had intended, I think, to live through his son who was in public life. And then, his son passed away at a very young age, 46. It's not the way Joe Biden thought life was going to be.

And so, he thought, momentarily or for a month, about taking that torch and running with it himself. And, in the end, he decided not to do it. He was getting conflicting advice, as we all know sitting around this table. Some of his close aides wanted to do it, some of his close aides didn't. And the others were, like, if you want to do it, we'll be with you. So, it was tough. It was very tough.

BLITZER: And, Brianna, the -- that "Wall Street Journal"-NBC News poll, when they asked, you -- Democrats, do you want Joe Biden to run, prefer he not run 38 percent, would like to see him run 30 percent, no opinion 31 percent. He's a practical politician, Joe Biden. He was a senator for decades, now the vice president for almost seven years. He reads those polls just like all politicians do.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, our recent poll showed that there was a lack of demand, that more people thought -- more Democrats, more voters who lean Democratic, thought that he shouldn't run than thought that he should run. But this was, I think, pardon me, the culmination of a couple blows that Biden was dealt, obviously on the personal side with the death of Beau Biden in May.

But even going all the way back to January of 2014 when Priorities USA, the big donor Super PAC, that is -- was aligned with President Obama in his 2012 election, made it clear that was going to back Hillary Clinton should she decide to run for the presidency. You saw a bunch of old Obama hands come over, including Jim Massina. And this was -- this was the arrow that stung so much for Joe Biden. Jim Massena, President Obama's 2012 campaign manager, coming over to this PAC. And it was really seen as this sign that Hillary Clinton and not Joe Biden had been anointed as the caretaker of President Obama's legacy.

What I thought was fascinating about what the vice president said today was, in a way -- he sort of addressed that, I thought. He said that the candidate needs to run on President Obama's legacy. And so, when we've been sort of trying to read the tea leaves in what Joe Biden had been saying in the last couple of days, really kind of dinging Hillary Clinton, I think he put that somewhat in context today when he said that he wants to influence, that he wants this to be about a candidate who is trying to be inclusive and not divisive. And also that he wants someone who isn't going to distance themselves too much from the Obama record.

TAPPER: And that's another way that Hillary Clinton has been very wise. She has embraced -- in terms of boxing out any path for Joe Biden, she has embraced Obama.

[13:10:04] And I have to say, what is the group that Joe Biden, in "Political Lore," appeals to? It's white working class voters. That's one of the things we heard in 2008. He's from Joe from Scranton. He appeals to the white working class voters. Hillary Clinton and the Clintons, she also reaches out to white working class voters. So, I don't know where, exactly, his support was going to come from.

BORGER: Well, can I just say, this speech today was not exactly an endorsement of Hillary Clinton, by the way.

TAPPER: No.

BORGER: I mean, he continued with the same themes he's been talking about for the last few days. He didn't -- you know, he didn't come out and say, well, OK, now --

BLITZER: Yes.

BORGER: -- we're all for Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: He's probably not going to endorse anybody, at least for the time being. And I don't think the president will either. But, eventually, they'll make it clear who they -- who they like and their aides, presumably, will as well.

All right, guys, stand by.

In his Rose Garden remarks, the vice president harkened back to his beginnings and the desire to be anything he wanted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: To be anything 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in the Senior Political Commentator David Axelrod, a former top adviser to President Obama. David, I assume this sets the stage, at some point down the road, maybe not the next few days or weeks, for the president and the vice president sending out the message they would like to see the former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, capture the Democratic presidential nomination. Is that your assumption as well?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I think that there -- first of all, I think the president has sent some pretty strong signals of friendship to Secretary Clinton before this. And one of the things -- and they may have been more robust had Biden not been contemplating a candidacy. I don't know that either of them are going to be rush to actually endorse a candidate, however. And I'm not sure that Secretary Clinton needs that. It seems to me she's in a pretty good position right now to seize control of this race.

And, you know, they have time to officially enter. And it seems pretty clear, from the vice president's remarks today and yesterday, that he's not racing out the door to make an endorsement in this race. He seems very content to poke and prod and play that kind of role within the party as these months go on.

BLITZER: He certainly did, once again mentioning the fact that Republicans are the opposition. They are not our enemies. His words, not our enemies. And Hillary Clinton at that Democratic debate the other day was asked about who she's proud to have as enemies, she mentioned Iranians and others. She also mentioned Republicans. It's, obviously, a sensitive subject right now.

What, if any -- the timing of the vice president's announcement today going into the Rose Garden, the timing coming a day before Hillary Clinton testifies before the Benghazi Select Committee. Do you see any connection there?

AXELROD: Well, I don't think -- there are two things that were coming up that probably prompted an announcement today. One is I don't think he wanted to appear to be reacting to whether she had a good or bad performance at the Benghazi Committee. I don't think he wanted to be seen as making a decision that was dependent on something that Hillary Clinton did.

The second thing is there is very important event coming up on Saturday in Iowa, the Jefferson Jackson dinner, where the candidates traditionally stand in an arena and speak without notes or prompter and make their case to the voters. And it's a must-do even in Iowa. And if you are a candidate, you got -- you have to be there. And I think he wanted to make his intentions clear before then so there wouldn't be pressure for him to come there.

So, I -- there were reasons to do it. I also think, honest, the string had run out. Just the other day -- you know, his strategy was partly predicated on the notion that he could overtake Hillary Clinton in South Carolina. That's what some of his folks were telling people. Just the other day, Jim Clyburn, who -- Congressman Clyburn who is a very powerful voice Democratic politics in South Carolina, African- American leader in South Carolina, urged the vice president not to run. That was a very strong signal that the South Carolina strategy was wanting.

And so, I think there are all kinds of things mounting up that added up to what everyone on -- has been saying which is it is just wasn't there for him.

My thought, though, is there was a moment in this campaign in the summer when Hillary Clinton seemed to be reeling and there was a lot of discontent among the Democrats when there was a market for a potential alternative. And there was something within the vice president that kept him from leaping in at that point.

[13:15:10] And my judgment was that ultimately he -- he never was going to run. That he was going to play out the string. I think it's very hard for a guy who's aspired to the presidency for his -- almost his entire adult life to say it's over, this is -- I'm done, my public career is going to end in 15 months, and I think he wanted to play the string out as long as he could. But his time was earlier in this campaign, not now.

BLITZER: Good point. David Axelrod, thanks very much.

Still ahead, much more on the breaking news here that the United States. The vice president, Joe Biden, deciding not to run for president. We're going to talk much more about this. our political commentators are saying by. We'll talk about what it means for the Democratic race, what it means potentially for the general race for the White House.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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. I am absolutely certain we are fully capable of accomplishing extraordinary things. We can do this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[13:20:27] BLITZER: We're following the breaking news here on CNN, the vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, has made his decision on the 2016 presidential race saying he's out of time and he will not seek the Democratic presidential nomination. Another Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, just reacting to the news, saying in part, and let me quote, "Joe Biden, a good friend, has made the decision that he feels is best for himself, his family and the country. I thank the vice president for a lifetime of public service and for all that he has done for our nation." That statement from Bernie Sanders.

Let's get some more on the announcement, the fallout from the vice president's decision. Here with us, our CNN political commentators Donna Brazile and S.E. Cupp.

Donna, you've been watching it, like all of us. I was pretty much convinced, based on what all of his friends were saying, he was going to run. You were always wondering, would he or wouldn't he. Were you surprised by his decision today? DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I was not surprised.

Look, this is a great American. He's someone who I believe took all of this information, listened to everybody, including his own heart, and came to the conclusion that, while the door was closing, the window was still open.

Look, Joe Biden is a good, strong American. He could have run. He could have run. He could have made this a more interesting race. I don't know if he would have won in the long term, but he would have been a competitive person, because Joe Biden is a man of ideas, who believes that the middle-class need a champion. He has a record of public service that I think would have given him the ability to attract the kind of support he needed.

That said, you know what, Joe Biden is going to be around for a long, long time. He's going to be making a difference, not just in making sure that the next president of the United States is a Democrat, Joe Biden is going to be along -- around a long time to continue to fight for the causes he deeply believes in.

BLITZER: And our most recent poll shows that this is good news for Hillary Clinton. She goes up by 11 points nationally among Democrats. With Biden running, she was at 45 percent to Bernie Sanders' 29 percent. Without Biden in the race, she goes up to 56 percent. He goes from 29 to 33 percent. So this is going to -- this is going to be welcome news for the Hillary Clinton campaign.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, yes and no. I mean this certainly makes things a little clean for her right now. But there's some detritus left after his decision not to run. The three months that he thought about it publicly, and sort of got a lot of Democratic voters excited about the prospect, and then just sort of said, sorry, it's not for me right now, there are still plenty of Democrats who are not satisfied with this -- the current field and want someone else to step in. Maybe they love Bernie Sanders, but they don't find him electable, or they don't think Hillary Clinton is trustworthy. So they've been looking for someone else. Without Joe, I think you're going to still hear that storyline follow Hillary around for a while. That's not good for her ultimately.

BRAZILE: I disagree, because clearly if you look at the polls, voters are really excited about the candidates who are running. Perhaps they want more debates, but then, you know, we're Democrats, we like to talk a lot. And we're -- we're -- we're sad that Donald Trump is taking up all the air time.

I just want to go back to Joe Biden. Joe Biden I've known for a long time, Wolf, I will never forget in the summer of 1987 when Joe Biden asked me if I would help him with his campaign. This is a man of principle. He understands what's at stake in this country. And the fact that he wants to continue to serve in this administration to spend -- and to devote his time over the next 15 months of working with President Obama on some big issues, this is a man that I think we should say today, thank you, Joe, we need you, stay involve and God knows he's going to make an impact. CUPP: Well, and it was interesting. This was a great presidential announcement speech without an actual presidential run behind it. And you --

BLITZER: Had he made the opposite decision, he could have delivered the exact same speech.

CUPP: The same exact speech. And you have to wonder, who was the audience for that speech? Was he saying, this is my legacy. Here's how I want you to remember me when I leave this office but continue on in public life. Or was it to Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders to say, these are the messages I want you to hear when you're on the campaign trail.

BRAZILE: Yes, I agree.

CUPP: This is what you should be saying. This is how you should be appealing to voter. Maybe it was a combination --

BRAZILE: I agree.

CUPP: But it certainly wasn't a, sorry, guys, I'm not going to run. Thank you for giving me this time. This was a moment that he wanted.

BRAZILE: And it wasn't just for the presidential candidates. I think Joe Biden was talking to those down valley (ph) Democrats who in 2014 ran away from this administration, ran away from 67 months of consecutive job growth, ran away from all of the great things that this president's doing on climate change to now criminal justice reform. I think Joe Biden's message today to Democrats is, if you want a fight in 2016, you better fight for what we've accomplished and then keep going.

[13:25:01] CUPP: Well then also, if you don't want to keep losing sort of blue collar --

BRAZILE: Yes.

CUPP: You know, older men, you've got to appeal to those guys in Scranton. You've got to appeal to those guys who want to tell their kids, "it's going to be all right, honey." I mean he does that better than anyone and he doesn't want to abandon that simply because he's not running.

BLITZER: All right, guys, stand by because we're going to continue the breaking news coverage here, the vice president, Joe Biden, just announcing in the Rose Garden over at the White House, with his wife, Jill Biden, and the president of the United States, President Obama, standing alongside of him, that he's not going to see the Democratic presidential nomination.

We just got a tweet, by the way. Hillary Clinton just tweeted this. You can see it up on the screen, "VP is a good friend and a great man, today and always, inspired by his optimism and commitment to change the world for the better." And she signed it "H," means she actually tweeted that as opposed to one of her staffers tweeting it. That's the reaction we're getting, immediate reaction, on Twitter from Hillary Clinton.

The vice president, once again, not running for president. That doesn't necessarily mean he will stop talking about the campaign. In fact, he specifically said while he will not seek the Democratic nomination, I will not be silent, he said. We're going to talk to someone who knows him well. What to expect in the weeks and months ahead.

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