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Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 9 in Turkey; Joe Biden Speaking Out About Son Beau; Donald Trump Predicts Record Turnout for Trump- Hillary Faceoff; New Images Show Sean Penn Landing in Mexico; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 12, 2016 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:06] ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. And Turkey's prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, currently still giving a press conference where he just said that this individual the authorities now do believe was a member of ISIS. So very much this seemed is that that terrorist organization behind yet another deadly and devastating terror attack in this country.

This attack happened a few hundred feet behind where we are standing right now, just outside of the police cordoned in what is the heart of Istanbul's historic district but also a favorite if not the favorite and main destination for tourists visiting this city. And we do know from earlier government statements that the vast majority, significant number among the nine who did perish in this attack were foreign nationals.

Now Turkey for quite some time has been struggling in this battle against ISIS. The prime minister also saying in that press conference that the country would remain resolute, making a promise, too, to the families of those who died on this day, saying that the country would not forget them. It would not allow their memories to be forgotten. And also calling for greater solidarity when it comes to the battle for ISIS and other terrorist groups, saying that they will only be defeated if people stood together.

Turkey has for quite some time now been pushing for greater cooperation between it and various European nations when it comes to battling the various different dynamics and challenges that ISIS does pose, given the sheer volume of foreigners, who do tend to flow through Turkey, trying to get to that battlefield in Syria. And some of them now beginning to reverse flow back.

And since pretty much this summer when ISIS was first blamed for one of the attacks that took place here in the border town of Suruc, along the Turkey-Syria border, and then also for that horrific attack that happened in Ankara where twin suicide bombers targeted a rally and killed more than 100 people. That was the single deadliest attack in Turkey's modern history. And since the authorities have really begun cracking down, launching numerous, nationwide massive sweeps detaining hundreds of individuals with alleged ties to terrorism.

But again, Turkey calling for and now reiterating its pledge that it will continue the battle against terrorism, wanting to see greater cooperation. But at the same time, today's tragic events an indication of how vulnerable this country continues to be.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Arwa Damon reporting live from Istanbul, Turkey, this morning.

Here at home, 12 hours from now, President Obama delivers his final State of the Union. He says, this one won't be like any of the others. We'll have more on that a little later this hour.

First, though, it is a family affair now. First Bill Clinton hit the trail to stump for his wife and now Chelsea Clinton, pregnant with her second child, is doing her part for mom. This morning she's in Concord, New Hampshire. She's speaking at a roundtable on early childhood education. Expect to see more of her on the trail because, frankly, Hillary Clinton is getting a run for her money from one Bernie Sanders.

Vice President Joe Biden sat down for a candid one-on-one interview with Gloria Borger. He talked Sanders, Clinton and more. One of the more moving moments came when Mr. Biden talked about losing his son Beau to brain cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: How are you?

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm good. Look, I miss him every day, for god's sake. I mean, he was my soul. Hunter's my heart. He was my soul. And my daughter's my comfort. I mean, it's interesting, you know, you have more than one child. They all -- you love them all equally but they all have a slightly different relationship. And Beau was -- Beau was my soul. Beau was my conscience. Beau was my -- Beau was like a -- he was the little boy who when he was 6 years old, he was 30 years old.

You know, I mean, and Hunt is my heart with his passion, and my -- so, you know, it's -- you know, I think about him all the time. But I try to focus on what we have. And by the way, his -- my two grandchildren, his two children, are beautiful and smart. You'd expect a grandpa to say that. But, you know, I see them all the time. And so everybody's -- everybody's -- his wife is incredible. Halle is like my daughter. I mean, so, you know, we're just focusing on the -- you know, Beau's -- anyway, we're -- I'm talking too much about Beau. I apologize.

BORGER: No. No, that's all right. Let me ask you about your next big thing.

BIDEN: Yes.

[10:05:01] BORGER: Which is the moon shot.

BIDEN: Yes.

BORGER: For cancer, as you call it. What did you learn as the parent of a cancer patient about how realistic and achievable this moon shot really is? BIDEN: I learned two things. First of all, when you have a son or

daughter, husband, wife, someone you adore, you become as educated as you can, as quickly as you can, particularly when you know it's a very serious form, et cetera. So I learned a lot about -- for lack of a better phrase, the mechanics of cancer and the delivery system. And there are so many -- so many changes that are just on the cusp.

Bu then as I got into it more deeply after Beau passed, I realized a lot of this is siloed. I have now met with over 200 oncologists and cancer research centers and philanthropists involved. And what everyone acknowledges privately, and what I hope I can do, they think I may be the convener. I may be able to bring them all together.

BORGER: Let me ask you as you -- we head into the State of the Union. Is there a moment you're going to remember with the president?

BIDEN: Well, yes, there is one. He may be embarrassed. My -- we were having lunch and it was pretty clear Beau was having trouble with his speech. And he still had three months to go, four months to go as attorney general. And my son, Beau Biden, was the most fastidious, honorable, straight guy. And I knew if my son thought he was losing his cognitive ability, he wouldn't stay on as attorney general. He'd resign.

Thank God he took all these tests. And there was no cognitive impact but his speech -- it was affecting his speech center. And so I was having lunch with the president. And he was the only other guy other than my family I confided all along in everything that was going on with Beau because I felt a responsibility to do that, so that he knew where I was, my thinking. And I said, you know, my concern is, I said if Beau resigns, there's no -- nothing to fall back on. His salary. And I said, but I worked it out. I said, but Jill and I will sell the house. We'll be in good shape.

And he got up, he said, don't sell that house. Promise me you won't sell the house. He's going to be mad at me saying this, he said, I'll give you the money. Whatever you need, I'll give you the money. Don't, Joe, promise me, promise me. I said, I don't think we're going to have to anyway. He said, promise me. And then I'll never forget the eulogy he delivered for Beau.

BORGER: Right.

BIDEN: And when Beau had his stroke, he had a stroke and I thought -- it turned out it was the beginning of the glioblastoma. And he came running down the hall in his shirt sleeves, and he said, Joe, Joe, is he OK? His love of family and my family, and my love of his family, you know, his two -- his two children and my granddaughters are best friends. His number two daughter, my number three granddaughter. They vacation together. They play on teams together, they sleep at each other's homes all the time. It's really -- it's personal. It's family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Gloria Borger joins me now, so does Larry Sabato, he's the director at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Marc Lamont Hill is here, too. He's a CNN political commentator.

Gloria, I think we forget sometimes that politicians are people with real problems. That was so touching from Mr. Biden. Tell us more.

BORGER: Well, I think it really tells you an awful lot about how his relationship with the president has evolved over the last seven years. You know, they've had their tough times. Remember when Joe Biden got out ahead of the president on the issue of gay marriage, for example. They've disagreed on Iraq policy, on Afghanistan. You know, they've had their differences which, by the way, they talk about. But I think that over the years -- you know, when you work down the hall from somebody every day, you kind of get to know them pretty well.

They're two very different people, right? I mean, Biden is a hot politician. Obama is a cool politician. But you can really sense from Joe Biden in this interview that after his son got sick, he had no better friend than the president. And he confided in the president. I'm sure he confided in the president about whether he was going to run for the presidency. And, you know, the idea that the president would have said to him, don't sell your house.

I mean, Joe Biden has spent the last 40 years in public service. He's not a multi, multimillionaire. The president is quite wealthy. And the notion that he would say to Joe Biden, don't sell your house so you can help your son's family. I'll help you out, is sort of a personal moment that everybody I think can kind of understand a personal moment between friends, or as he said, between family.

[10:10:16] COSTELLO: Well, I find it curious, though, because I always heard that President Obama kind of didn't want Joe Biden to run for president. Is that not true, Gloria?

BORGER: It's -- you know what, I don't know the answer to that, honestly, Carol. I think it would have complicated his life tremendously if you had Joe Biden out there, whom he likes and respects, and Hillary Clinton out there, whom he likes and respects. I don't think he would have wanted to make a choice. And by the way, I don't think he would have made a choice. But what I've always heard and reported is that what the president said to Biden is, this is your decision to make. Let me know what you decide.

I do not think the president tried to steer him in one direction or another nor should he do that. Biden's a big boy with a lot of political people around him who could help him make that decision. And nobody other than Joe Biden could make the decision about whether he was ready to run. He regrets not running, but he understands it wasn't the time for him. And he said to me, the door is closed. In fact, he said, there is no door.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So, Larry, what effect could Joe Biden have on the election coming up?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Well, Gloria just identified an important one. You can already hear quietly the calls for Joe Biden to re-enter the race if Hillary Clinton loses both Iowa and New Hampshire to Bernie Sanders. And I think Biden has anticipated that and basically said, as he admitted to Gloria, the door is closed. In other words, please don't come back to me. I've made my decision.

COSTELLO: Interesting. So, Marc, do you think -- I know what politicians say and I think Joe Biden is sincere. But, Marc, let's face it, politicians often change their minds.

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, they absolutely do. Oftentimes they change them before primary season starts, though. Joe Biden made a calculation. It was partly that he got into the race too late. But as he said during that press conference a few months ago, I can't win this thing. I simply don't think there's enough time.

I think he miscalculated. I think he didn't appreciate the power of 21st century -- organizing in the 21st century campaigning. And I think he didn't appreciate the fact that maybe Hillary Clinton's numbers would dip more than they -- than he predicted they would. All that said, if Joe Biden didn't think he could win an election in October, when not one state had been in play yet, when not one vote had been cast, I can imagine even if Bernie Sanders wins Iowa, even if he wins New Hampshire, even if he, you know, competes in South Carolina, winning is unlikely, I still don't see Joe Biden jumping in and making a bigger mess of the Democratic coalition than there would be if Bernie Sanders starts to win.

BORGER: And you know, you know, Carol, I think really he has another big thing he wants to do, as he spoke to me about, which is he calls it the moon shot for cancer. Clearly, he was so affected by what happened to Beau and living through it and educating himself on cancer and how close in certain cancers they are to getting a cure or turning it into a chronic disease. And I think that in talking to him, you can feel that this will be the next part of his life's work and that he will use the platform he has.

He won't be the vice president of the United States, but Joe Biden can still command an audience. And he called himself as the convener, getting people together, to sit around a table so they can actually make a difference in what happens with cancer. And I actually think that's something that -- he's going to miss the politics of everything, but as he said to me, there's a lot of politics in cancer and he -- you know, because institutions compete against each other. And what he wants to do is kind of take charge of that and make sure something happens on that front as a legacy to Beau Biden.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Gloria Borger, Larry Sabato, Marc Lamont Hill, thanks to all of you.

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump doesn't seem too concerned who the Democrats choose as their nominee. But he says a face-off between him and Hillary Clinton would drive crowds to the polls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I win and she wins, it's going to be the largest voter turnout in the history of the country. And that's a good thing because people don't vote that much in this country, so that would be an amazing thing.

I'm beating her easily and substantially, and I'm winning against Hillary one-on-one. So, you know, look, and I haven't even started on her yet, although last week I did a little bit of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Athena Jones is in Washington with more on this. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. A little humor Donald Trump is having there at Clinton's expense. We can expect more of that from him.

[10:15:04] And those points he made, on the first point he's probably right, a face-off between Clinton and Trump would spark a whole lot of interest. Could bring a whole lot of new voters to the polls in 2016. But on whether he could beat her easily is not so clear. The latest poll shows a hypothetical general election match-up between the two. It shows Clinton ahead by eight points in Iowa, about even in New Hampshire. But still Donald Trump supremely confident.

As you mentioned, he said similar things about Bernie Sanders just yesterday in New Hampshire. He would love to run against him. The main thing is, he'd like to be the nominee.

So in other GOP news, though, FOX Business Network has announced who's going to be on the main stage in their debate on Thursday night. I believe we have a graphic we can put up on the screen. You can see the seven candidates who will be included in the prime time debate. Who is not on that stage? Carly Fiorina and Rand Paul. Rand Paul, both of them, have been invited to the undercard debate.

But Rand Paul told our own Wolf Blitzer that he's not going to show up for any second-tier debate. He feels that his campaign is a first- tier campaign. So let's listen to what Rand Paul has to say followed by Ben Carson talking about what he expects to accomplish or hopes to accomplish on Thursday's main stage. Go ahead and play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We just announced that today we have 1,000 precinct chairs in Iowa. So we think it's a rotten thing to do to try to designate which candidates have a chance and don't. So we will not participate in anything that's not first- tier.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You're going to see, you know, me not being quite so polite as to never say anything unless somebody asks me something. I will insinuate myself where insinuation needs to be had. And I think you'll see a lot more energy behind the responses because, again, I don't have that weight on my shoulders now. I have a very vibrant organization that truly provides the kind of information and the help that is needed.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JONES: So, there, Ben Carson raising expectations for his own performance on Thursday night. What you have here, Carol, is two candidates who just aren't doing that well in polls right now. Rand Paul is hovering around 4 percent in most polling in Iowa and New Hampshire. Ben Carson is doing a little better in Iowa, high single digits but he's in the low single digits in New Hampshire, and this is despite having been a frontrunner for several months.

So we reached an inflexion point in these two races. We'll have to see if on Thursday night Ben Carson lives up to his own high bar that he set in that interview and if Rand Paul really does decide not to show up for that second-tier debate -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Athena Jones reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, I've got nothing to hide. Sean Penn now defending his secret interview with El Chapo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:22:27] COSTELLO: President Obama is commending Mexico's government this morning for recapturing Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to compliment the Mexican government because them capturing him and as we go through an extradition process, potentially, he's disabled and that affects their ability to -- the Mexican government's ability to crack down on the terrible crimes by these narco traffickers I think is important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Mr. Obama's message comes out as actor Sean Penn speaks out to his critics, writing in an e-mail to the Associated Press, "I've got nothing to hide."

Pictures surfaced overnight show Penn arriving at a Mexican airport, just before secretly meeting with El Chapo.

CNN's Nick Valencia is outside the prison where El Chapo remains behind bars to tell us more.

Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Those new pictures emerging, reportedly taken by Mexican intelligence team. They show among other things as you mentioned actor Sean Penn and Mexican actress Kate Del Castillo arriving at the Guadalajara Airport, apparently right before they met with El Chapo.

Mexican investigators have said all along they want to question Sean Penn and Del Castillo. Whether or not they're going to get that opportunity, that's still unclear. But in a brief e-mail exchange with the Associated Press, Sean Penn saying, quote, "He has nothing to hide." Meanwhile, Mexico's attorney general, Arely Gomez, gave an interview to a radio station here in Mexico, saying that the meeting with Sean Penn and the attorney of El Chapo to set up their eventual meeting in the Mexican jungle helped them gather even more intelligence as to where El Chapo was.

The extradition is looming of course for El Chapo. It could take at least a year before that happens. But it is likely that he will end up in a U.S. courtroom. There are at least seven states that have leveled charges against the drug kingpin everywhere from New Hampshire to west Texas. But it is more likely that the cartel leader will end up in one of three cities, including San Diego, New York and, perhaps, Chicago, where in recent years he was named public enemy number one. The first time that happened since Al Capone. Of course he was named that because of the role he played in supplying methamphetamines, heroin and marijuana to the city -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nick Valencia reporting live from Mexico, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, President Obama now just hours away from his last State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There is no next thing. This is it. And never in our lives again will we have the chance to do as much good as we do right now. I want to make sure that we maximize --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[10:25:02] COSTELLO: How the president's address may be different from all the rest. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 29 minutes past.

Tonya Couch is now out of jail. That's according to our affiliate KTVT. The so-called affluenza teenager's mom was released moments ago after posting a $75,000 bond. Could will now wear an ankle monitor, she'll be confined to her home. She'll also undergo a mental evaluation. She's charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon, that felon of course her son, Ethan Couch. He remains in Mexico pending deportation.

We're now hearing from the victim of the alleged gang rape in Brooklyn last week. Here's what the 18-year-old told WABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Put a gun in my face, tell me to run. All of them had their way with her.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you hope this video gets these guys?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When your dad left you, what were you thinking?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just was really scared. I don't know what to do. I was in panic mode.