Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Who Will Be Next Speaker of the House?; Clinton Breaks From Obama on Trade Deal; Greg Hardy Returns From Suspension, Makes Controversial Comments. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 08, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:05] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Assuming that this moves forward, on October 29th, will you continue to unite as a block and try to prevent Kevin McCarthy from getting 218 votes on the House floor?

REP. JOHN FLEMING (R), LOUISIANA: Well, the House Freedom Caucus voted last night to get behind Dan Webster for today's vote. Then we'll meet after that vote depending on the outcome. But certainly, simply winning the Republican nomination is not enough to win the speakership on the floor of the House on the 29th. So there's still more work to be done from today's vote all the way to the 29th.

RAJU: What does Kevin McCarthy need to do to convince you -- to convince members of the Freedom Caucus to support him on the House floor?

FLEMING: Well, the Freedom Caucus, like many of the members, feel like that we have too much of a top-heavy, power-based type of leadership program where the decisions are made exclusively at the top and that members voices are not heard,. which means that our constituents voices are not heard, those that we represent. And so we need to be convinced that this is going change. We don't want promised. We want tangible results.

RAJU: What does that mean, tangible results? Concrete? Can you be more specific on what Mr. McCarthy needs to do to change things?

FLEMING: Well, I'll just give you some examples and I'm not certain what all we really need to do. But, for instance, the steering committee, which determines who the committee chairman are and what committees people serve on, that's completely under the control of the speaker. That power should be diffused to many other members and it should be merit based rather than what you do for the speaker and how you specifically vote.

Also, many members are frustrated that they have bills that are very popular, have a lot of co-sponsors and they never get a hearing. They never get a vote. So we need to see a structural change so that it's much more from the ground up. That is better representation for our members back home.

RAJU: What has Mr. McCarthy said when you asked him specifically about these things? FLEMING: Well, he -- he promises more representation from the base,

but there hasn't been any tangible changes yet. And that's what we're going to be looking at for the next three weeks. What is he going to do in our rules, in the structure of leadership that would make us fall in support of him so that we can see that it would be a new day, a new sheriff in town?

RAJU: So if he does makes those changes, will you support him on the House floor?

FLEMING: Well, it all depends on what those changes are and how permanent those changes appear to be, how tangible they are. I'm open- minded, but I'm also skeptical.

RAJU: So you are not ruling out the possibility of backing him?

FLEMING: I don't rule out anything.

RAJU: Well, there you have it, Ana. It looks like Kevin McCarthy has his work cut out, assuming that he does get the votes today, which we expect. Later today, he's probably going to get that 125 vote threshold. The big question is whether or not he can get 218 votes on the House floor. And he's going the need the support of conservatives like Mr. Fleming here in order to get over that 218 vote threshold. You heard here what Mr. Fleming wants Mr. McCarthy to lay out in order to become the next speaker. So it's clear, Kevin McCarthy has some work to do in order to become the next house speaker.

Ana.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Sounds like it's going to be a battle in the next few weeks.

All right, Manu Raju, thanks for the update.

And coming up, Hillary Clinton splits with the president again. Is this a winning strategy for the Democratic presidential frontrunner?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:37:59] CABRERA: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We just heard live on our air Representative John Fleming from the House Freedom Caucus talking about this upcoming vote that's going to happen among Republicans in the House today as they elect a nominee to put forward for the next speaker position after John Boehner vacates on October 30th. Now, the speaker question is after today moving forward. There will be a vote on October 29th. That's with the full house. So who's going to be the guy -- or gal -- but right now all guys are the nominees potentially. These three men, here you can see in front of you, Jason Chaffetz. We also have McCarthy, Kevin McCarthy, and now Daniel Webster.

And I want to bring in our Jeff Zeleny. He's joining us from Washington for some analysis on what we're seeing play out. We just heard from Representative Fleming say he is not convinced

McCarthy's their guy, although he still seems to be the leading candidate.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: No question, Ana. I mean there is a lot of angst going around inside the Capitol right now. Republicans are -- some of the hardline conservatives say, look, Kevin McCarthy is not necessarily our guy. But, Ana, he -- support is coalescing for Kevin McCarthy from outside the Capitol. We saw former Vice President Dick Cheney, just one example, weighed in, urging House Republicans to support Kevin McCarthy's bid for the speakership.

By I can tell you, all eyes in the Republican Party are on what's happening in the Capitol right now because this answers a central question about, can the Republican Party actually govern? Are they setting up a leadership structure that will actually work going forward to govern in some difficult challenges, you know, facing them and the country? Just because John Boehner stepped aside, that does not mean that any of the issues sort of that gave him problems are going away here. So just in a one month's time, the -- this House of Representatives is going to have to decide, are they going to vote to raise the nation's debt ceiling? Are they going to work on a budget? Is the -- are they going to prevent another government shutdown here? So those are the central questions facing this.

But there are forces inside the Capitol that want to give Kevin McCarthy a bit of a run for his money here. A test here. They're asking, you know, is he conservative enough for this conference? We expect him to get enough votes, the majority of votes, but the next three weeks going into that vote on October 29th are certainly risky and tricky for him.

[09:40:19] CABRERA: Kevin McCarthy's been in the House, elected back in 2006. So he's been there almost a decade. How good of a negotiator might he be should he become the next speaker? Because, like you said, voters want to see their elected officials get things done and that really requires getting people on board and being willing to compromise.

ZELENY: No doubt. He has a very good relationship with a lot of individual members of the House Republican conference. You're right, he was elected in 2006. So he's relatively new to the House. He's part of this sort of new brand of Republicans, this new brand of conservatives. He really got to know a lot of these Republican members in 2010 when he was the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is the arm that's responsible for recruiting candidates to run for office. So he has a very good relationship with a lot of these Republican members. He is going to be seen as more of a deal cutter, more of a negotiator, trying to sort of placate the hard right conservatives, as well as holding the rest of the conference in line.

But the question is, it used to be that the speakership was sort of a long-term position. You could hold it for a long time in Washington. We'll see if that's true in this case if he wins because the forces at hand really don't allow for a lot of compromise here. So he'll have to work with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, also a Republican of Kentucky here, and keep those forces at bay within his own party here. So he, if he wins, has a very, very, very big challenge ahead of him.

And, of course, he is front and center in the Democratic presidential campaign right now because of those comments he made on the Benghazi committee. So what happens between now and October 29th, that House speaker vote, Hillary Clinton is going to be appearing before the Benghazi committee. So this is one of the challenges for Kevin McCarthy to try and not make any more missteps like he did last week saying the Benghazi committee was essentially political.

CABRERA: All right, Jeff Zeleny, we appreciate the insight. Thank you so much.

ZELENY: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Hillary Clinton, by the way, is making another big break from President Obama, and this time it's on one of the cornerstones of his presidency, the Transpacific Trade Partnership, which, among other things, aims to create a free trade zone and to impose labor and environmental stands. But Clinton, who now opposes the deal, once called it the gold standard when she was secretary of state. She also pushed for this agreement more than 40 times between 2010 and 2013. That was before the deal was finalized. But listen to what she now told PBS "NewsHour" just yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I have been trying to learn as much as I can about the agreement. But I'm worried. I'm worried about currency manipulation not being part of the agreement. We've lost American jobs to the manipulations that countries, particularly in Asia, have engaged in. What I know about it as of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Clinton, obviously, singing a much different tune five days before that first Democratic debate.

Rival Bernie Sanders taking this opportunity to point out that he was right, first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'm glad that she reached that conclusion. This is a conclusion that I reached from day one. I believe that the Transpacific Partnership is nothing more than a continuation of disastrous trade policies, which we have experienced for the last 30 or so years, which have led to the loss of millions of decent paying jobs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Meantime, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus, attacked Clinton a little more directly saying, "Hillary Clinton's painful waffling on TPP has been a case study in political expediency and is precisely why an overwhelming majority of Americans don't trust her."

Joining me now, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Larry Sabato. I'm also joined by Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis.

Thanks, gentlemen, for being here.

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good to be here.

CABRERA: Chris, we'll start with you. Clinton is being called a flip- flopper again by her critics because of this issue. And, as we mentioned, back in 2012, she called the trade deal a gold standard as it was being worked out. So how can she justify her change in position?

KOFINIS: Well, I think there -- one way to look at it is when you're -- when you're a member of a cabinet, you're kind of -- you are basically a prisoner to the president's agenda. So I think there's some extent you can give, you know, you can give Secretary Clinton the benefit of the doubt that when she was obviously in the Obama administration, she couldn't really be critical of a plan that was being pushed by the president.

I think the challenge is going to be -- and, you know, I think you're going to say this -- you're going to see this play out in glowing colors in that first debate, is, she's going to get pushed on this obviously by the moderator but also in particular from, you know, from Governor O'Malley, from, you know, Senator Sanders.

[09:45:07] They are going to push her hard on this and it's got to be I think a more detailed explanation than what we've seen to help explain why you've made a change. But I think -- I'm not sure that people hold her to a different standard that she changes her mind. As long as she's changing her mind for what they believe is the right reasons, then I think people, voters especially on the Democratic side, will be open to supporting that.

CABRERA: And Larry, does this change in her position, in your opinion, help or hurt her?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS AT THE UNIV. OF VIRGINIA: Well, first of all, the change is transparentally political. This is part of the presidential campaign's panderama. She's pandering. As I think your CNN has showed, she essentially endorsed and encouraged this new trade agreement 45 times. Her husband was known for NAFTA, pushing and getting the NAFTA adopted, another trade agreement in the 1990s.

It's perfectly obvious why she did this. It's because organized labor is strongly opposed to these trade agreements. They believe that it costs Americans jobs and depresses wages, and she needs those votes, and she needs those volunteers while campaigning. And of course her opponents, like Sanders and O'Malley, had already come out against this new trade agreement. And she wants to box in Joe Biden, who if he jumps in, will have to defend President Obama's decision to support it. CABRERA: Let's talk about her opponents. Because we heard from

Bernie Sanders. He basically said, well, good for Hillary. She finally came around, but I had the position first. Are you surprised, Chris, that Sanders didn't go on the attack?

KOFINIS: You know, I was fortunate to meet Senator Sanders when I worked on the Hill. And it's just not his style. I think if people are expecting a kind of rock em-sock em debate on Tuesday with Senator Sanders coming out on the offensive in a personal way, I think they're going to be sorely disappointed.

I think he's going to make very clear and distinct distinctions between his positions and Secretary Clinton's and everyone else's, and I think those may be pointed, but they're not going to be personal or what you have seen play out in the Republican debate. You may see a little bit more of a punch from Governor O'Malley. I mean, if you looked at his statement today about TPP, it was much more pointed than Senator Sanders.

But it's just not his style. And I think that is part of his appeal, to be honest, that he is touching and tapping this chord amongst the progressive wing of the Democratic Party that likes someone who goes out there and is really passionate about what he believes and makes it very clear that this is where he stands.

CABRERA: All right, we'll have to leave there. Chris Kofinis, Larry Sabato, thanks both of you.

Now, also happening on the Hill right now, General John Campbell is back there to testify this time in front of another Senate committee, addressing the bombing of the Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan and how that fight in Afghanistan is going. We will monitor this and bring you any news that comes from it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:52:39] CABRERA: After a four-game suspension for domestic abuse, no signs of being sorry from Dallas Cowboys player Greg Hardy. Hardy was punished after the allegations that he assaulted and threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend. Now the case was dismissed after the victim declined to cooperate with authorities during the appeal process.

Hardy has dodged the reporter questions about this incident since he's returned to the field. He went on to spark even more controversy ahead of his debut against the New England Patriots, the defensive end saying this, "I love seeing Tom Brady. He's cool as crap. Have you seen his wife? I hope she comes to the game. I hope her sister comes to the game. All her friends come to the game."

I don't know what to say. CNN sports anchor Rachel Nichols joins us. And, Rachel, I'm kind of speechless, honestly. I mean, who says that?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That's not all Greg Hardy said. That's what's so amazing. Let's review how Greg Hardy got to this point to begin with. Greg Hardy was convicted by a judge of throwing his then-girlfriend onto a couch that had piles of assault rifles on it while threatening to kill her. Then taking her by the hair, dragging her into the bathroom, and banging her head against the floor.

He started that news availability that you just saw on your screen by talking about he wanted to come out against the Patriots guns blazing. Guns blazing. So not only with that poor choice of words, maybe let's give him a little bit of a break on that, then went on to talk about how hot Tom Brady's wife is as a reason to want to play the Patriots, to have her sitting there for him to look at.

And then later when another reporter -- and, by the way, that's a whole other issue -- a reporter brought up that Blake Bortles, the quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, well, gee, his girlfriend's really hot, Greg Hardy then on went on to say that he votes for other players to come to the Pro Bowl based on how hot their wives are, so that he would have other nice things to look at as well.

The issue here, what is so disgusting, are not just the comments themselves, but the fact that this is a guy who has show he doesn't think women are really people, right? Anybody that you knock their head against the concrete doesn't think that this is a real person, with feelings and, I don't know, blood coursing through their veins. And here he is, after the suspension, showing he hasn't learned anything.

And the NFL doesn't have a responsibility for Greg Hardy not to say stupid things. They can't be in front of every player's locker every day, but they do have a responsibility to educate these players.

[09:55:02] And especially someone who is at the center of the domestic violence issue over the past year, right alongside Ray Rice. That guy -- that guy should be more educated than anyone, and zero has been done is what it looks like.

CABRERA: Well, in fact, Roger Goodell did come out and have a press conference yesterday. Not about this issue specifically, but you did ask him about these comments by Greg Hardy. What did he say?

NICHOLS: Well, I absolutely did. The comments that happened 24 hours earlier, and Roger Goodell said he was unaware of them. So, either he was slightly aware of them and wasn't directly saying that to us, or he really was unaware of them, in which case, that's disturbing too. Shouldn't the league be keeping a better track on something like this, someone somebody who has just come off a suspension this week, one of their most high-profile stories -- that's not making had to his desk? That's disturbing.

And then listen to the rest of the answer that he gave me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: There's a very, very, very small percentage of men who don't follow policies, and when they don't, they have to be held accountable. And we'll do everything we can to prevent that, to intervene, and to try to make sure we get them to follow policies and see the way the NFL does things, the standards that we hope to uphold. And we won't compromise on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: And just to wrap one thing up here. Jerry Jones, owner of Cowboys, was asked by "Sports Illustrated" at these owners meetings yesterday what he thought of Greg Hardy and he seemed to brush it off as well. He said, hey, my estimation of Tom Brady went up 100 percent when he married Gisele.

CABRERA: He added on to the comments.

NICHOLS: Jerry Jones, the Cowboys owner, says, hey, he's got a good looking wife so he must be a better player.

(CROSSTSALK)

NICHOLS: What's a trophy wife or two.

CABRERA: Right, oh my.

Rachel Nichols, thanks so much.

The next hour of NEWSROOM starts after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)