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Hillary Clinton Testifies before Benghazi Committee; Hurricane Patricia Headed for Mexico; L.A. Takes Sweeping Action against Earthquake Predictions; Interview with Kunal Nayyar on New Book. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired October 23, 2015 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
ISHA SESAY, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Ahead this hour, Joe Biden backs off the VP decision not to run for president. And what it means for his would-be rival, Hillary Clinton.
SESAY: Speaking of Secretary Clinton she heads to Capitol Hill on Thursday where she is expected to face another grilling on the Benghazi attack.
VAUSE: And we'll have reaction to controversial comments made by Israel's prime minister about Adolph Hitler and the holocaust.
SESAY: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and right around the world. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. Newsroom L.A. begins now.
SESAY: We begin with a shake-up in the U.S. presidential race, thanks to the man who wasn't even running.
VAUSE: That's right. Vice President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday he will not seek the presidency giving up a lifelong dream.
CNN's senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Joe Biden walked into the Rose Garden to extinguish a dream.
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Unfortunately, I believe we're out of time, the time necessary to mount a winning campaign for the nomination.
ZELENY: With those words today, the vice president closed the door to weeks of self-induced speculation about joining the 2016 presidential race. It turns out he wasn't firing a warning shot this week at Hillary Clinton over her suggestion that Republicans are the enemy. BIDEN: I don't believe, like some do, that it's naive to talk to Republicans.
ZELENY: He was offering an optimistic lesson to fix a broken Washington.
BIDEN: I believe we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart.
ZELENY: Of all the places to make his announcement --
BIDEN: Mr. President, thank you for lending me the Rose Garden for a minute.
ZELENY: The vice president picked a spot he strived to reach since arriving in Washington more than four decades ago with presidential aspirations.
BIDEN: That I will and --
ZELENY: Biden may never win the White House, but he's an elder statesman now. He made clear that's a role he intends to play.
BIDEN: 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.
ZELENY: He offered no endorsements, but said Democrats should embrace President Obama.
BIDEN: This party, our nation, will be making a tragic mistake if we walk away or attempt to undo the Obama legacy.
ZELENY: Another unspoken message to Clinton, the party's frontrunner, who's broken with the president on a few key issues.
BIDEN: Democrats should not only defend this record and protect this record. They should run on the record.
ZELENY: After the announcement, Clinton praised the vice president, saying in a statement, "I am confident that history isn't finished with Joe Biden. As he said today, there is more work to do. And if I know Joe, he will always be on the front lines always fighting for all of us."
This week, our CNN-ORC poll found, with Biden on the sidelines, Clinton's lead grew to 23 points over Bernie Sanders. She's the biggest beneficiary of his decision.
Hillary Clinton was one of first people who called the vice president after he left the Rose Garden. She didn't directly ask him for an endorsement, I'm told. And he didn't offer one, for now at least. Most Democrats are giving him his space but they privately worry that all of his swipes against Clinton are unhelpful. Yet with Biden out of the race, the Clinton campaign is breathing a sigh of relief that one of the biggest roadblocks to the nomination has been removed. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Let's bring in CNN presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley, he joins us now from Houston, Texas.
Douglas, it's great to have you with us. Now, back in 2013, you interviewed Joe Biden for "Rolling Stone" magazine and you wrote this about the vice president. Let's put up the quote for our viewers. "It could be a mistake to underestimate his populist appeal and it's hard to imagine that this highly ambitious man will choose not to pursue the office he has wanted all of his life.
So with that said, I've got to ask you how surprised were you by Joe Biden's announcement today?
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, I did that "Rolling Stone" piece before Beau died. And so, it was a little bit of a different Joe Biden. But he's always wanted to be president. If he ran, it would have been his third time. But it was a stunner today. I think many people thought that he was going to get his hat in the ring. There were a lot of indicators to it. But he decided, again, because of the death of Beau and the fact that the family is still healing that he needed to remain as vice president and not get entangled in what would have been a grueling campaign against Hillary Clinton, and then the Republican nominee come -- if he ran, it could have been a very different story. But he did that the -- you know, the vice president of the United States I think could have given Hillary Clinton a bit of a run for her money, or at least it would have been competitive. The real news story today with Biden getting out is that Hillary Clinton now has got a pretty much free run to get the nomination.
[01:05:24]
This is a day for the Clinton camp to really celebrate. Their only other rival, Bernie Sanders, says it seems very unlikely he could get the nomination. So it's all Hillary Clinton from this point on. The fact that Biden might enter was always there. But I think Secretary Clinton's performance in Las Vegas, she did a stellar job in the debate, may have also played in the fact that Joe Biden recognized that she wasn't hemorrhaging with the e-mail situation and the Benghazi problems. So I think that may have been a factor, too.
VAUSE: And Douglas, talking about Secretary Clinton, it was interesting that during Biden's announcement, he really went after Hillary. He didn't mention her by name, but it was clear who he was talking about, "My Republican colleagues are not my enemies, they're my friends." And he didn't say he didn't want to be president. He didn't say he didn't have the energy to be president. He just said his time for running for the nomination had passed. It seems to me he's left the door open just a little should Hillary implode, that he wants to be drafted, and that's what he wanted all along.
BRINKLEY: No, I don't think that's what he wanted all along. I really think we have to take the death of his son in a serious fashion and what that does to somebody. He went on the "Colbert Report" TV show and, you know, kind of spilled his heart of just how much agony he was in. So the timing just didn't quite work for him. He couldn't get it -- you couldn't -- you had to announce you were running soon because you would miss key dates to get -- be able to run in the primaries of Texas and Georgia very soon, and Alabama. Hence, it was either this week or next week he would have had to decide. And this is the decision that he made.
VAUSE: But you're watching that announcement in the Rose Garden? Did you get a little emotional? Because regardless of your politics, Biden is a very likable guy and to think that really this is the end of 43 years in public office. It seemed to be quite a sad moment.
BRINKLEY: Yes. I mean, I think it was a poignant moment. And there he was with Barack Obama on his side. And basically, Joe Biden was saying we need a third Obama term. And you know, that's one of the closest friendships between a president and a vice president we've had in American history. They are, you know, major league personal friends. And so, yes, it was bittersweet I would say.
But look, when you have a career as long as Joe Biden's, and the fact of the matter is he still has over a year -- well over a year as a sitting vice president, and the fact he says, I'm going to be an elder states person. I'm going to stay involved with political issues, doesn't mean he is disappearing from the scene. But we weren't -- aren't going to be hearing as much about him in the coming months. It's all going to be Hillary Clinton and who is her opponent.
VAUSE: And of course, Donald Trump, Hillary, Donald --
SESAY: Yes.
VAUSE: There is a lot of politics in the coming months. And we're very lucky to have you with us, Douglas.
Douglas Brinkley there, our presidential historian. Thank you so much.
SESAY: Thank you, Douglas.
BRINKLEY: Thank you. Appreciate it.
VAUSE: And Hillary Clinton will appear before the U.S. House Committee on Benghazi on Thursday. It's expected to be a grueling hearing about the deadly attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya in 2012 when Clinton was secretary of state.
SESAY: Republicans call it a fact-finding effort. Democrats believe it's a political witch-hunt. Either way, Clinton has plenty of experience testifying on Capitol Hill as our own Tom Foreman reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since the killing of four Americans in Benghazi in 2012, in all the congressional grilling, Hillary Clinton has let her frustration show in a big way only once.
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Was it because of a protest, was it because of guys out for a walk were now to decide they'd go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?
FOREMAN: Aside from that, her testimony has historically been marked by steady nerves even amid withering attacks.
JEFF DUNCAN, REPRESENTATIVE OF SOUTH CAROLINA: Madam Secretary, you let the consulate become a death trap. And that's national security malpractice.
FOREMAN: Malpractice, health care insurance what led her first to the witness chair.
JUDY WOODRUFF, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: In a starring role on Capitol Hill for the second straight day, Hillary Rodham Clinton.
FOREMAN: In 1993, she was the first, first lady to ever face Congress over massive pending legislation making the case for her husband's health care reform plan.
CLINTON: The benefits package is a fair one, particularly because it emphasizes primary and preventive health care, which is not --
FOREMAN: Her composure and command of the facts drew rave reviews even if the legislation did not.
DAN ROSTENKOWSKI, REPRESENTATIVE OF ILLINOIS: I think in the very near future, the president will be known as your husband. Who is that fellow? That's Hillary's husband.
[01:10:02]
FOREMAN: Since then she has been in congressional hearings dozens of times, often fielding the questions, sometimes as a senator asking them.
CLINTON: If 9/11 was a failure of imagination and Katrina was a failure of initiative, this process is a failure of judgment.
FOREMAN: In the Benghazi inquiry, even when sharply challenged, she has rarely been pushed off of her talking points.
CLINTON: With specific security requests, they didn't come to me. I had no knowledge of them.
FOREMAN: It all comes done to a simple fact. When Hillary Clinton walks into that room she will have more experience with congressional hearings than most of the people there. And that can make even a hot seat if not comfortable, at least cooler.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: The Benghazi hearing is the last of three big hurdles facing Hillary Clinton over the past few months. The first was the Democratic debate. A strong performance in Vegas has given her a significant lift in the polls and renewed energy to her campaign. Then there was Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday. He announced he would not be running for president. Again, another boost for Mrs. Clinton.
And now comes the Benghazi committee. And for more for what's at stake for Hillary Clinton, Josh Rogin, a CNN political analyst and columnist at "Bloomberg News," joins us now from Washington.
Josh, thanks for being here. It seems Mrs. Clinton is on a roll. She heads into this committee with the admission from senior Republican it's politically motivated. So with that in mind, does she go on the offensive here?
JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you're right. She has the momentum. Benghazi committee is on its heels and has one final chance to prove that it's relevant, substantial, and not just a political hit job against the Clinton campaign.
What Hillary Clinton's attitude is likely to be as indignant. She will make the point that this investigation is the eighth investigation into the events of the fateful night. She will largely stick to her previous testimony that she gave to the Senate in 2013, and she will try her best not to make a gaffe.
There will be eight hours of questioning, four rounds, ten minutes for each member for each round. It is a long time to be under the hot lights. And for Hillary Clinton, her main effort will be to not make a mistake.
VAUSE: Yes. And this is where scandals collide in a way. The new fresh meat for the committee is Clinton's use of her private e-mail server and the potential that classified information may have been exposed.
ROGIN: Right. Well, the e-mails that were revealed since the Benghazi committee discovered that she was using a personal e-mail server are really the only new pieces of evidence that this committee can bring to the table. Almost all of the rest of the evidence has been hashed out in public and private in multiple occasions.
So on the one hand, the committee can't look like it's focusing on the e-mail issue because that looks like a political hit job. On the other hand, they have to focus on the substance of what was in the e- mails and that relates to her conversations with outside experts including her friend Sydney Blumenthal about the situation in Benghazi, relates to the advice that she was given and relates to her overall frame of mind on Libya, before the attack on Libya, after the attack and ever since.
VAUSE: You know, Trey Gowdy who is the chair of the committee, he wrote in the "Washington Post" that Clinton is just one witness. He said even after she testifies, the investigation will continue. But if Clinton does have a strong performance on Thursday, she effectively shuts it down. Is this now over, at least, for her and her political campaign?
ROGIN: It will be hard for the Benghazi committee to continue its inquiry into the Clintons and their -- and her staffers if this testimony, if tomorrow's events don't produce any real revelations. The bottom line here is that Benghazi committee did have a very wide scope. They interviewed lots of witnesses from lots of different parts of the government. But recently they have narrowed on Clinton and her staff.
And after -- since the e-mail revelations there's been a focus on the actions of the secretary and her staff on that fateful night. And they can't get -- go back to their previous stance. So they're committed to this effort to find new information on the attacks from the secretary. They'll be hard pressed to do that. But we'll have to wait and see.
VAUSE: Josh, thanks for coming in. Good to speak with you.
ROGIN: Anytime.
VAUSE: Josh Rogin in Washington.
And we'll cover the hearing live on Thursday. Get your popcorn, the most comfortable chair, put your feet up. It all begins less than nine hours from now. 10:00 a.m. in Washington, that's 3:00 p.m. in London.
SESAY: You know, it's guaranteed to be quite a show.
VAUSE: Yes. Absolutely.
SESAY: Congressman Paul Ryan has cleared a key hurdle in his bid to be the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. More than 70 percent of a group of conservative lawmakers and the House Freedom Caucus voted Wednesday for Ryan's candidacy.
VAUSE: Ryan has said he wants to unite Republicans and is now waiting to hear if he has support from two other key Republican factions before officially declaring he will run for the position of speaker. One Freedom Caucus member says Ryan appears to have the backing he needs to win.
[01:15:06]
SESAY: Well, a stunning accusation by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His charge that an Arab leader, not Hitler, set the holocaust in motion. Triggers a firestorm of criticism.
VAUSE: Also ahead, the leaders of Russia and Syria underscore their close ties. It's a surprising one-on-one in Moscow.
SESAY: And later, the Chicago Cubs strike out on what feels like an endless quest for World Series. We'll take you right outside Wrigley Field. That's coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WORLD SPORTS)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: We have this just into CNN. U.S. police say they have a confession in the case of a killing of a 4-year-old girl. This was a road rage incident in New Mexico. They say an anonymous tip led them to 32-year-old Tony Torres.
SESAY: The young victim is Lilly Garcia, her father had just picked her up from school on Tuesday when this happened. Police say her dad and Torres had cut each other off on a highway and that's when Torres pulled up and opened fire. Albuquerque's mayor calls it a senseless murder.
[01:20:00]
VAUSE: During weeks of violence, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders have been hurling accusations and insults and now the Israeli prime minister is being roundly criticized for blaming the holocaust on a Palestinian Muslim leader.
SESAY: Israeli historians and politicians have condemned Mr. Netanyahu's remarks. And now, that he is in Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel made it clear that Germany was responsible for what happened in the Nazi years. Details from Phil Black.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When most people think of the holocaust, the final solution, the extermination of millions of Jews, they think of this man.
But the Israeli prime minister says it wasn't a Nazi idea. He says it came from a Palestinian Muslim. Hitler's companion in this photo, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, who he says passed on the suggestion when they met in 1941.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Hitler didn't want to exterminate the Jews at the time. He wanted to expel the Jews. And Haj Amin al-Husseini went to Hitler and said, if you expel them, they'll all come here. So what should I do with them, he asked. He said, "Burn them."
COLETTE AVITAL, HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR: Well, at first I didn't believe what I heard.
BLACK: Colette Avital was once Netanyahu's opponent in Israel's parliament. She's also a holocaust survivor.
AVITAL: It's belittling the role of the Nazi party of Hitler himself and of all his associates for the final solution.
BLACK: Some historians have also piled on the prime minister. MOSHE ZIMMERMAN, HISTORIAN, HEBREW UNIVERSITY: The killing of the Jews was already a fact.
BLACK: They view, Netanyahu got his facts wrong, absolved Hitler and gave support to those who denied the holocaust ever happened.
ZIMMERMAN: Hitler didn't need any kind of advice from somebody. And of course, not the advice of some small fry like the mufti of Jerusalem. So the whole dialogue that Netanyahu mentioned was invented.
BLACK: This is a violent time between Jews and Palestinians, which Netanyahu has repeatedly blamed on what he calls Palestinian incitement. He said it again in the same speech.
NETANYAHU: Stop lying. Stop inciting.
BLACK: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says the Israeli prime minister is inciting hatred at Palestinians by rewriting history. And some Israelis agree.
AVITAL: What exactly was Netanyahu saying? Leave it to him. Hitler didn't do that much. It's really the Arabs.
BLACK: But some believe there is more than a colonel of truth to Netanyahu's history lesson.
Eddy Cohen is a researcher from the Bar-Ilan University who says there is no doubt Hitler and the mufti shared great motivation to kill and destroy Jews. Netanyahu insists he is not trying to absolve Hitler.
NETANYAHU: These plans of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp --
BLACK: As he's shown before, he's not afraid to use the holocaust to make a point. Once again, this historian's son is using that extraordinarily defining, painful event to defend his people's interests. This time many of his people are offended by his methods.
Phil Black, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: Well, the United Nations chief is calling for Israelis and Palestinians to come to a resolution after weeks of violence. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah Wednesday. Ban says both sides need to move toward negotiations and away from violence.
VAUSE: But all this comes as Israeli forces shot and killed a man in Jerusalem. Police say he, the suspect, tried to grab a soldier's gun. The soldier and a security guard opened fire killing the suspect.
SESAY: Well, we turn now to CNN international correspondent Ben Wedeman in Jerusalem.
Ben, there's news of another stabbing attack west of Jerusalem. What more do we know?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand from the police that this incident took place at Beit Shemes, which is west of Jerusalem. In that incident, two attackers presumed to be Palestinian have been shot. We don't know their condition. One Israeli lightly injured in that incident.
Now, referring to the attack John was talking about, it turns out that in that attack, the -- it wasn't in -- it doesn't appear to have been an attack at all. But rather a case of mistaken identity that the man was in fact an Israeli Jew who was shot by these two soldiers on a bus.
And it's important to keep in mind that sort of in the heat of the moment, oftentimes the information that comes out is simply wrong. Day before yesterday, a Palestinian truck driver killed an Israeli south of Hebron, it turns out according to the Israeli media that it was indeed a traffic accident. So one must be very careful when these reports come out because oftentimes when the dust settles, it seems to be something quite to the contrary. Isha.
[01:25:15]
SESAY: Yeah, a very, very important point to note there. Ben, the U.N. secretary-general quoted as saying Wednesday that he's not optimistic following talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an attempt to diffuse these tensions.
At this stage, can anyone see a diplomatic path to ending this violence?
WEDEMAN: Well, we know, first, you have the U.N. secretary-general. He came here. It was a surprise visit. But nobody surprised if what comes out of his visit is very little. I think we need to be keeping our eyes on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who, today, meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu in Germany. And we keep -- well, later in the week be meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority.
What he's trying to do is work out some sort of arrangement whereby the status quo which is the informal, unwritten, arrangements on the Temple Mount or the Haram al-Sharif, as it's known to Muslims, he wants to put it in writing. He wants to get the three parties involved. We're talking about Israel, the Palestinian authority and Jordan, which has custodianship over the Temple Mount. He wants to put those -- that status quo arrangement in writing so that everybody has a clear understanding of the situation there to avoid the kind of tensions that have boiled over in recent weeks and to which are attributed these tensions. Isha.
SESAY: Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman joining us there from Jerusalem.
Ben, always appreciated. Thank you.
VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, a surprise meeting between the leaders of Russia and Syria. Syria's dictator heads abroad for the first time since the civil war began. And he went to Moscow and said thank you.
SESAY: Plus, covered in smog and struggling to breathe. Cities around the globe are struggling with pollution. We'll see how some have found effective ways to fight back.
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[01:31:02] SESAY: Hello, everyone. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM, live from Los Angeles. I'm Isha Sesay.
VAUSE: And I'm John Vause. Just past 10:30 on a Thursday night. Time to check the headlines.
(HEADLINES)
VAUSE: Politicians on both sides of the aisle had a lot to say, while Hillary Clinton remained mostly calm. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. TREY GOWDY, (R-SC), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI: We're going to write that final, definitive accounting of what happened in Benghazi. We would like to do it with your help and the help of our Democrat colleagues. But make no mistake, we are going to do it, nonetheless.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS, (D), MARYLAND: Last weekend, the chairman told the Republican colleagues to shut up and stop talking about the Select Committee. What I wanted to know is this -- and this is a key question. Why tell Republicans to shut up when they are telling the truth?
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm here. Despite all of the previous investigations and all the talk about partisan agendas, I'm here to honor those we lost, and to do what I can to aid those who serve us still.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: I get asked constantly, why has no one been held accountable? How come a single person did not lose a single paycheck? Connected to the fact we had the first ambassador killed since 1979. How come no one has been held accountable to date?
CLINTON: The personnel rules and the laws that govern those decisions were followed very carefully.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Yes, ma'am. I'm not asking what ARB did. I'm asking what you did.
CLINTON: I followed the law, Congressman. That was my responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: Libya was supposed to be -- and Mr. Roskam pointed out -- a great success story for the Obama White House and the Clinton State Department. And now, you have a terrorist attack. It's a terrorist attack in Libya. And just 56 days before an election. You can live with the protest about a video. That won't hurt you. But a terrorist attack will. So, you can't be square with the American people.
CLINTON: I thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I've lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done, or should have been done.
GOWDY: Madame Secretary, he had unfettered access to you. And he used that access, at least on one occasion, to ask you to intervene on behalf of a business venture. Do you recall that?
CLINTON: You know, Mr. Chairman, if you don't have friends who say unkind things privately, I congratulate you. But from my perspective --
(CROSSTALK)
GOWDY: I would like to think I don't correct them.
CUMMINGS: I move that we put into the record, the entire transcript of Sidney Blumenthal. We're going to release the e-mails, let's do the transcript. That way the world can see it.
GOWDY: Why is it that you only want Mr. Blumenthal's transcript released? Why don't you want --
(CROSSTALK)
GOWDY: The survivors, even their names? You want that released?
CUMMINGS: But let me tell you something Right now --
(CROSSTALK)
GOWDY: The only one you've asked for is Sidney Blumenthal. That and Miss Mills.
CUMMINGS: That's not true.
GOWDY: That's two out of 54.
UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN:
GOWDY: If you want to ask for some fact witnesses --
(CROSSTALK)
CUMMINGS: You said from the beginning, we want the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, why don't we put the entire transcript out there and let the world see it. What have you got to hide?
[01:35:11] UNIDENTIFIED CONGRESSMAN: No one recommended closing but you had two ambassadors making several requests. And here's what happened to their requests. They were torn up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Benghazi is more than just a dateline where four Americans were killed in a diplomatic mission in 2012. It is a city and a country, which is in chaos.
SESAY: Libya has two governments fighting for control.
Christopher Dickey, world affairs editor for "The Daily Beast," spoke to our own Fred Pleitgen about that earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTOPHER DICKEY, WORLD AFFAIRS EDITOR, THE DAILY BEAST: You watch something like this, and this is so inside the Beltway. This is so much a Washington affair. This is not about what happened on the ground in Libya. What happened then or what's happening now. It has to do with fine points and personalities. Sidney Blumenthal? Who has heard of him outside of Washington, D.C.? These are the kind of things they're discussing in the Congress right now with Hillary Clinton. And I think the people overseas, particularly the people in Libya, if they're watching it at all, they must be thinking they are crazy in Washington.
FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Before that incident, and since that incident, Libya has just been descending further into chaos. What's the state of the country today, when they can't seem to come up with unity government? And can it be considered a country at this point?
DICKEY: It's about as failed as a state can get, short of being Somalia. It has two competing governments. One, which is not internationally recognized, which is in what used to be the national capital. The other that's essentially holed up in a hotel in Tabruk, near the Egyptian border, which is the internationally recognized government. The U.S. has worked for months and years to bring these two governments together. It announced a few days ago, it thought it had established that. And now, both sides rejected the deal. There is no government. There's militias all over the place that have essentially criminal organizations. Some are running the massive flow of refugees across the Mediterranean, into Italy. So, it's an unmitigated disaster.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: You can find out much more about this story heading to CNN.com, including 11 takeaways from this hearing. That's one for each hour it lasted.
VAUSE: Thank goodness it didn't go longer.
Still to come on CNN NEWSROOM, Hurricane Patricia takes aim at western Mexico. We're tracking the storm details later.
SESAY: The actor who played Raj on "The Big Bang Theory" stops by the studio. Find out, is his accent real?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:41:02] SESAY: Welcome back, everyone. Hurricane Patricia strengthened to a category 5 storm on Thursday, as it approached Mexico in the eastern Pacific. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says the storm is expected to make landfall by midday Friday.
VAUSE: Mexico is preparing for the hurricane's arrival. And Patricia could grow even stronger before it hits the coast.
Let's go to Karen MaGinnis at the CNN Center with the forecast.
Karen, how strong could Patricia get?
KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We just got this information in. And this has really mushroomed. It is in the very warm waters of the Pacific. The wind supporting this at 165 miles per hour. It is now at 185 miles per hour. And just from the research that I've done, this may be the most powerful, as far as the winds are concerned, hurricane, for the West coast of Mexico, that we have seen in certainly decades, possibly going back to the 1950s. We'll check on that and give you updates. Clearly defined eye. The storm system is getting stronger.
Let's see what's happening. It is a category 5 hurricane right now. We had anticipated it might weaken a little bit before making landfall on Friday, about midway or towards the evening. Now, it looks like even some weakening will still keep it a category 5 hurricane. It looks like it's going to move towards the north-northeast. Very heavy rainfall. This is going to be the problem along with the wind. Let's check out the rainfall. We go through Saturday, the purple and the white shaded areas, 10 to 20 inches of rainfall. How about Acapulco? If you know people who are vacationing there, they are going to be on the periphery of this system. Most will be towards the north.
This is a massive system. John, Isha, we will carefully watch this. Get another update in about three hours. We'll keep you updated on that.
Back to you guys.
VAUSE: OK.
SESAY: Appreciate it.
VAUSE: Keep it here on CNN.
SESAY: Thank you.
A new study, co-authored by a NASA research scientist, makes the bold assertion that there's a 99.9 percent chance of a magnitude 5 earthquake in the L.A. area in the next three years.
VAUSE: Just a little bit of wiggle room on that one. The U.S. Geological Survey is disputing that, saying there's questions about the study. Their projections were modest, an 85 percent chance. But not reassuring for anyone who lives in southern California.
SESAY: With a possible disaster looming, Los Angeles city council is taking sweeping action to protect its residents. It's requiring retrofitting measures to brace more than 13,000 wood-frame buildings and 1,500 high-risk concrete buildings across the city.
VAUSE: The retrofitting will reinforce buildings to withstand the shaking of a violent quake. They have tried to get these measures passing over years, but they need to move. It will take some time.
SESAY: To find out what the retrofitting measures entail, and what they will entail, let's bring in John Wallace, engineering professor at UCLA.
Thank you so much for joining us, Mr. Wallace.
You just heard John mention the fact it's going to take some time to pull this off. The window is a pretty big one for the soft-story buildings. Seven years to comply. Concrete buildings, 25 years?
JOHN WALLACE, ENGINEERING PROFESSOR, UCLA: It takes time with this volume of buildings, to get engineers to look at it, do analyses, come up with economic solutions and implement them. With a large number of buildings, it doesn't include buildings in Santa Monica or Long Beach and other areas as well.
VAUSE: A lot came out of the lessons from the New Zealand earthquake in 2011. Concrete buildings were really dangerous during earthquakes. It wasn't even a recognition of that before.
[01:45:09] WALLACE: There was recognition of it. We've known it for a long time. There just wasn't enough energy behind the process to get people to do something about it. They always -- the issue of cost always comes up. In New Zealand, two older concrete buildings killed about 130 of about 185 people killed. They're very dangerous. They have higher occupancy. We really need to get at them.
VAUSE: They didn't have enough rebar in them. This was 2008 in the Sichuan quake.
WALLACE: It's about what type of rebar that's needed. You need to, for earthquakes, to hold the building together, when it moves back and forth. And the older buildings just don't have enough, you know, ties to tie things together so it can move back and forth and not break and fall apart.
SESAY: Are you satisfied that here in California, Los Angeles, has got the formula right in terms of the cost distribution? The cost is something that people are talking about and have concerns about.
WALLACE: I don't think they figured it out yet. It will take some time to figure out exactly. I know the governor vetoed the tax incentive program they were hoping for. It will take some time to figure it out. I'm happy that we move forward without having to figure everything out ahead of time. And so, we'll figure this out as we go. VAUSE: And hope that the big one doesn't happen.
SESAY: While we're figuring it out.
WALLACE: Yeah. We've got to do this as fast as we can. There is some history that once mandatory ordnances are passed that owners move faster than the 25 years or seven years. And whether it's 99.9 percent, or 85 percent --
VAUSE: Pretty good odds.
WALLACE: I looked at comments posted. And for real people, they go, I don't care, those numbers scare me.
SESAY: Yeah.
VAUSE: John, thanks for coming in.
SESAY: Thank you.
(CROSSTALK)
VAUSE: John Wallace. Appreciate it.
VAUSE: Now, "The Big Bang Theory" makes his book debut. Coming up on NEWSROOM, L.A., the hilarious actor joins us to talk about his accent, acting, and so much more.
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[01:49:46] MAGINNIS: Hello, everyone. I'm Meteorologist Karen MaGinnis.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VAUSE: "The Big Bang Theory" is one of the popular television programs, not just in the United States but around the world. And among the cast, is Kunal Nayyar. He plays astrophysicist, Raj. According to Forbes, he's one of the world's highest paid actors.
SESAY: He is adding author to his accomplishments with his new book, "Yes, My Accent Is Real."
Earlier, I spoke with him about the book, acting, and growing up in New Delhi.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SESAY: Kunal Nayyar, thank you for coming in to speak to us.
KUNAL NAYYAR, ACTOR: Thanks for having me.
SESAY: You are on record saying you tried to be private up until this point. And now, here you are, writing a book. What on earth possessed you to put your life on paper? NAYYAR: I wanted to distinguish two things. I wanted to be private.
I wanted to be private on my terms. If I'm going to public, I want to be on my terms. As opposed to someone's in the tabloids or life being stolen away by cameras. I chose to do it the way I wanted to do it, which is tell stories that hopefully would inspire young kids to quit doing what they're parents tell them to do and live out their dreams.
SESAY: It's a great book, "Yes, My Accent Is Real." And you make the point right off the bat, this is not a memoir.
NAYYAR: I'm 34 years old. It's difficult to say it's a memoir. It's a collection of stories from my life, that people want to know my journey -- I'm a kid from New Delhi, India. I came to America in '99. And I ended up on one of the biggest shows of the uniform. And I wanted to humanize that journey and tell everyone they can do what they want to do. I cleaned toilets for a living. I served tables, like all actors have to do. I've done a lot of things that were very humbling. And have led me to this place. If I share them, people will realize, no matter where they are, whatever they're doing, they can still, you know, hopefully establish what they want to.
SESAY: One of my favorite stories in the book is you telling what camaraderie in an all-boys school looks like, which seems to me, according to your writing, seems to involve dancing like a penguin to Diddy's "I'll Be Missing You." Explain.
NAYYAR: I went to an all-boy school in New Delhi, India. When the seniors are graduating, the juniors have to throw them a farewell party. I went to an all-boys school. This was 67 dudes and two girls came. And it's very emotional moment. And I told the deejay, play that song, "I'll Be Missing You." It had just come out. And the MTV Music Awards, Diddy was wearing that white suit. And imagine 67 dudes dancing to "I'll Be Missing You," doing this flapping of their wings. Like -- it was hilarious. That's us. That was the penguin dance.
SESAY: You tried anyway.
NAYYAR: I tried. And then, I love talking -- I love talking about the stories about, you know, working my way through college. And all of the people I met through the jobs I did. And all of the times I failed. All of the things I learned in life were from the times I failed. And going down memory lane was difficult at times. It was definitely worth it.
SESAY: You play a learned character on "The Big Bang Theory," Raj. You don't have the selective autism.
NAYYAR: I can talk to women without drinking. But I think that every actor has a little bit -- it's difficult to say what I'm doing that is Raj-like. I will say, that was like Raj.
SESAY: Do your friends call you out on it?
NAYYAR: I'm -- I don't know. There's parts that are similar. I think every actor will say that. And there's parts in Raj that I bring from Kunal. [01:55:04] SESAY: What are the best elements of being on an amazing
show?
NAYYAR: It's a wonderful show. It's wonderful we get to share the time together. It's -- the writing, to be honest, if you ask me, to get to say those words because the writers are so talented. And to be an actor in a position and gets to work with talented writers is really the dream.
SESAY: Congratulations on the book. It's wonderful.
NAYYAR: Thank you.
SESAY: The message you want people to take from this is anything is possible.
NAYYAR: Yeah. Anything is possible. And life is fun. I make a lot of fun of myself. You'd enjoy that. You'd enjoy the stories. I make fun of myself. I did some stupid things. You should read about them. They're hilarious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Nice guy.
SESAY: He's really very nice. And I liked his dance, his Diddy dance.
VAUSE: It was a bit of fun.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause.
SESAY: I'm Isha Sesay. Stay with us. The news continues with Natalie Allen and George Howell right after this.
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