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McCarthy's Controversial Comments; Vatican Confirms Pope Francis Met with Kim Davis; Jeb Bush on the Campaign Trail; The Bush and Rubio Relationship. Aired 06:30-7a ET

Aired October 01, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

CHIRS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Let's hear the comments, Jeff, so we'll know what they're talking about. Let's hear what McCarthy said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:30:03] REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we not.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: I agree, that's something good. I give you credit for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, so, Errol, that -- is there any other way to interpret what he said, than that that was a political move that has proved defective?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh no, no. Look, kudos to Fox News. They got him to talk the way people talk at a bar over drinks when they think the cameras aren't rolling. And he really just sort of came clean about what the whole game was.

Unfortunately, if he wants to be Speaker of the House, Speaker of the House is a constitutional position. It is of enormous importance. You're second in line to become the President of the United States.

CAMEROTA: Third.

LOUIS: You are supposed to be somebody who is thinking about more than just being a political partisan attack dog.

You know, it's possible he'll survive this. He's sort of in transition from one job to the next. But there can't be any more statements like that as speaker, unless you want to see a really gridlocked, really divisive situation in Washington.

CUOMO: What I think what we'll hear him is a today is I was saying what we've had come out already through just objective ferreting of the facts has shown that she can't be trusted. Not that we put it together just to bring her down (ph).

CAMEROTA: I'm sure there will be a spin of some kind coming out today. Errol, Jeff, thanks so much.

And of course the first Democratic debate hosted by CNN and Facebook is just days away. Be sure to watch on Tuesday, October 13th, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the Vatican is confirming that Pope Francis did indeed meet with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis during his visit to Washington. Church officials, however, will not say why the pontiff requested a meeting or why the Vatican kept it a secret. We're going to try and get some answers ahead for you on NEW DAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:10] PEREIRA: Hurricane Joaquin quickly gaining strength, now a Category 3 hurricane heading north with sustained winds at 120 miles an hour. Some 80 million people along the East Coast could feel an impact. Federal preparations are under way. Parts of the East Coast already seeing record rainfall. In fact, Virginia declaring a state of emergency overnight.

CUOMO: U.S. officials say they have grave concerns about what whether Russia is trying to help in Syria. Because it seems they didn't bomb where ISIS is located. Moscow says they had hit eight ISIS locations but Defense Secretary Ash Carter says no ISIS fighters are in those areas, raising fears Russia is just attacking the enemies of Syrian President Assad. The problem with that, thoose enemies would include rebel fighters supported by the United States.

CAMEROTA: Well, it will be business as usual for federal employees. A government shutdown was averted when the House passed and the president signed a short-term spending bill, keeping the government up and running for another ten weeks. And to the dismay of many Republicans, funding for Planned Parenthood remains in place.

CUOMO: Pope Francis met in Washington, D.C., with Kim Davis. Fact, she's of course the Christian clerk who refuses to own her oath to enforce the laws specifically allowing same sex marriage. Did the Vatican try to keep the meeting secret? That's one question. Why was the pontiff so determined to talk to Davis? That's another question.

We have answers next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:41:28] MATHEW STAVER, ATTORNEY FOR KIM DAVIS: Pope Francis was very kind and generous to spend time with Kim Davis and her husband Joe last Thursday afternoon at the Vatican embassy in Washington, D.C. He did hug her, as Kim Davis said. He did encourage her for standing. He said that -- his words were, "Stay strong." (END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: People had questioned Kim Davis' counsel as to whether or not a meeting actually happened. That was silly. Yes, a private meeting between Pope Francis and Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, did happen.

Some say, great. Others say what! Let's discuss. Father Edward Beck, CNN religion commentator. And in Rome, Delia Gallagher, CNN Vatican correspondent. First question to you Delia, did the Vatican try to hide this meeting, and if so, why?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, I don't think it's a question of hiding it. I think they don't want to draw undue attention and make a banner case out of Kim Davis and what they see as an internal U.S. question. But I do think they want to draw broad attention and support to the issue that she represents.

Look, the upset over this meeting is because Kim Davis is a government employee. People think that she should just do her job. And, because what she's opposing, gay marriage. And on those two points, the pope has been very clear. He said that government officials have the right to be conscientious objectors. It is a right that should be protected by the law. He said that just a few days on the plane returning from the United States. And the pope is against gay marriage.

I mean, there's a mistaken narrative about Pope Francis, that because he's pro environment, because he's pro welcoming immigrants, that he therefore embraces all liberal causes as we understand them in the United States. But of course, he's also against abortion and against gay marriage. And, in part, this caused by Pope Francis when he said he didn't want to talk so much about abortion and gay marriage, and when he said the infamous, "Who am I to judge?" By which he meant I don't judge you personally, but I am the head of a church which does judge not the person but the behavior, and which has definite ideas about right and wrong.

FATHER EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION COMMENTATOR: Right, right, right.

GALLAGHER: So I think they want to just give the broad to those issues without making a case out of Kim Davis and the particulars of her case.

CUOMO: Right, but they did exactly the opposite. Because they met with Kim Davis. He didn't give broad support. And now he is, tacitly at least, giving support, Father Beck, to the idea that an elected official who takes an oath to uphold the law does not have to do that if he or she feels it is against their faith.

BECK: Not true. He supported conscientious objection. He said nothing about whether she should lose her job.

We have a long history of conscientious objection in the Catholic Church. People get jailed for it. You disobey the law; you pay the consequences. Pope Francis did not opine on that. He did not opine on anything. We do not even know how clued in or not clued in he was as to who Kim Davis is. He gave her a rosary -- an apostolic Christian with anti-Papist, anti-Catholic, a rosary, not too swift, I would say.

So as to how clued in was Pope Francis as to who Kim Davis is, all of the issues surrounding it, he meets with a lot of people. Who set this up? Vatican official. Who is the Vatican official? Would they come forward? Would they give us the reason why they set it up?

CUOMO: Who would put Pope Francis in this kind of situation without clueing him into it?

BECK: Someone maybe felt he didn't talk enough about what they wanted him to talk about? So her's a great opportunity, maybe a photo op. We haven't seen any photos yet either. She and her husband, the only ones in the room, no translator, speaking in English. Pope Francis's English is not that great. There's a lot of mystery around this meeting as far as I'm concerned.

CUOMO: Very Dan Brown of you.

Delia, is there a chance that someone in the Vatican would kind of set up the pope to take a meeting that he didn't really know about and wasn't necessarily the best thing?

[06:45:07] BECK: Come on, Delia.

GALLAGHER: Well, look, I don't think the Vatican is so naive. I mean, I think that they've got plenty of advisers on the ground in the U.S. who are well aware that it is a hot issue. And I think what they wanted to be able to do was be able to make -- send a message -- and the pope sent it very, very blatantly on the plane. I mean, he said conscientious objection should be allowed.

They don't want to get involved in the particulars of a case. That is true. But they do, I think, want to send the message that -- I mean, the pope said it himself. Conscientious objection should be allowed for government officials. So what more information do we need? That's what his position is.

CUOMO: Well, we need to know whether or not he knew he was meeting with Kim Davis, and if so, why? But I guess we'll have to try and get on best information. For that, Delia Gallagher, thank you very much. Father Beck, very intriguing angle you put in there. Kind of set me back on my heels a little bit.

BECK: I do my best for you.

CUOMO: That was very good. Appreciate it.

Well, what do you think? What do you think about everything that was just said here, mostly by Father Beck? Tweet us using the #newdayCNN or post your comment on Facebook.com/newday. Mick.

PEREIRA: You can deflect all you want, but they know your Twitter handle, too, hon.

All right, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio -- political rivals and good friends. Rubio was Bush's protege in Florida. Why his presence in the Republican race may be a drag on the Bush campaign. We're going to take a look at that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:37] PEREIRA: Good to have you back with us on NEW DAY.

Jeb Bush was the 2016 Republican candidate to beat until Donald Trump stole his thunder. But there's another reason why Bush is struggling now -- Marco Rubio, a friend who has become a political foe. Can Jeb Bush turn it around?

CNN's chief political correspondent Dana Bash joins us live from Manchester, New Hampshire. You had a sitdown with Bush. Interesting conversation, I'm sure.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Very interesting, Michaela. And he told me that he's just going to keep doing what he did last night. I was with him at a town hall, trying to meet in small settings, explain to people why he is his own man. He is not a typical Bush. He is the kind of outsider that voters on the Republican side are really looking for. Listen to our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: You entered this race as a frontrunner. And in just three months you've lost more than 15 percent of your support. You went from double digits to single digits.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes.

BASH: What do you think changed?

BUSH: First of all I never considered myself a frontrunner.

BASH: But you were in the polls.

BUSH: I knew I had to overcome perceptions related to people that don't know me. So if you're in New Hampshire, if there's a television on, hopefully you'll see this -- an ad that we've put up, and the Right to Rise PAC has currently put ads up as well -- talking about my record.

So as I get to talk about how I cut taxes, reduced the size of government, created the most ambitious school choice programs in the country, turned the whole system upside down as a disruptor, I can tell that story and lay out my plans for what I would do in Washington.

And over time I think that's what people are going to decide. They're going to decide this -- who they're going to want to nominate as the party's nominee based on who has the leadership skills to fix a few big things. Who can take it to the Democrats in the general election. And who can do the job.

I mean, ultimately this is not about the loudest, you know -- it's not entertainment. We're not auditioning for some kind of show here. We're running for President of the United States and who sits behind the big desk matters as you get closer to February in these early states. Not October.

BASH: You talk often about the fact that this is a marathon. This isn't a sprint.

BUSH: I've changed it. It's a triathlon now.

BASH: It's a triathlon. OK. So I'm not sure...

BUSH: Longer.

BASH: Exactly. I'm not sure what part of the triathlon we are now. But...

BUSH: We're swimming.

BASH: Yes. Slow and steady wins the race, you say.

BUSH: Yes.

BASH: One of your significant donors told me, "It's as if we keep investing in a company and as a shareholder we're not seeing any sales."

BUSH: Who is that?

BASH: What do you say?

BUSH: Who is that person?

BASH: I don't want to say.

BUSH: Yes, he doesn't either, I guess. I'm convinced I'm going to win the Republican nomination, and I'm going to do it in a way that will actually make it possible to win the general election, as well.

And I am who I am. I think people want authenticity. They want -- they want someone who has the leadership skills to turn ideas into reality. I got to do that as governor of Florida. I can do it as president of the United States. And I'll convince people of that.

BASH: And why do you think that there is kind of a feeling of a little bit of trepidation there?

BUSH: This is the way campaigns work.

I told the story this morning on a radio interview here about seeing John McCain in October the year before he won the nomination in 2007. He was alone in the Atlanta airport, holding a bag over his shoulder that he could not raise his arm up because of being tortured in a P.O.W. camp, by himself, and he won the nomination. And he did it because he's a good man. He had -- people knew that he could lead. And over time that's what people in New Hampshire knew. They decide who their presidents going to be.

BASH: Let's talk about one of your friends, Marco Rubio.

BUSH: Yes.

BASH: He's also kind of taking a slow and steady approach, not unlike yours. Some Republicans I talk to think that he would just be a better alternative for Republicans to Hillary Clinton or even a Democrat, because people looking for a fresh face, a new name, a new generation might go to him. Why -- talking to voters out there, why should they choose Jeb Bush and not Marco Rubio?

BUSH: Because I'm a proven leader. I disrupted the old order in Tallahassee. I relied on people like Marco Rubio and many others to follow my leadership. And we moved the needle: led the nation in job growth; reduced the role of government; reformed the things that were broken; took on some very powerful interests; and we won. And I can be that disruptor in Washington, D.C.

[06:55:02] Look, we've had a president who came in and said the same kind of thing: new and improved, hope and change. And he didn't have the leadership skills to fix things. In fact, he's been the greatest, most divisive president in modern history. What we need is someone with proven leadership to fix things. And I believe I have those skills.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: So that was pretty harsh, comparing his former protege to Barack Obama. That's about as bad as it gets when you're a Republican and you want to make a point.

But while he was speaking at that town hall I mentioned, Michaela, last night, Donald Trump was just down the road here in New Hampshire. He was giving a speech and he was making the point that the relationship between Rubio and Jeb Bush isn't real. That they're not really friends. And he used a pretty salty word. He said it was political bull rhymes with Mitt.

So, after that event, we had a chance to have some time with Jeb Bush again. And I asked about Trimp's comments. This is how it unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: I will not answer that question until I hear exactly what he said and the terminology he used.

BASH: We can read it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, all right..

BUSH: I'm not going to answer it until you --

BASH: Political -- political --

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: No, you have to say it. If you want me to --

BASH: OK, he said he was political (EXPLETIVE DELETED). BUSH: OK. (INAUDIBLE) question, I just wanted to -- I wanted to hear it.

BASH: I know. I'm from New Jersey, I can (INAUDIBLE).

Between you and Marco Rubio, that it's not a real friendship. You don't have a real relationship. You really hate each other.

(LAUGHTER)

BUSH: Well, first of all, I'm pretty sure Marco can put his big boy pants on. I know I can. And I don't like -- we're friends. And I can take criticism. He can as well.

Donald seems to have a harder time taking criticism, and he probably needs to put on his big boy pants, too. He's running for President of the United States. He ought to take a little income. He's great at giving it out.

But we're close friends and I admire him greatly. And it's a little awkward, as I've always said, that he's running for the same spot as I am. But he has every right to do it. And I'm a friend. And, every debate we have, it turns out we're going to the same church to pray at noon. And I love this family. I love his kids. Jeannette's a great person. Donald Trump has no knowledge about my relationship with Marco Rubio.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So, Dana, I'll leave the B-word conversation for offline between you and I. But drilling down on that a little bit more, you hear him talk about Marco Rubio as a friend, as a protege. We know that he -- Marco Rubio saw Jeb Bush as a mentor for a long time and it's been a complex conversation the two of them have to have. Why is Jeb starting to go after Marco Rubio now?

BASH: It's pretty simple -- the Bush campaign sees Rubio as a threat. All you have to do is look at the polls. But it's even deeper than that, because the Bush world sort of understands Rubio, who he is, what kind of candidate he can become. They've, I've been told, been worried about him from the beginning. So that's on the political side.

But then of course it's the personal side. There were a lot of hard feelings when Jeb Bush made pretty clear he was going to run for president and Rubio didn't step back and just wait his terms. Those are the terms that I've heard from the Bush campaign. So it's political; it's also personal.

PEREIRA: And complicated to say the least. Dana Bash, thanks so much.

We should point out to you, that for almost two months now, we've invited Senator Rubio to join us here on NEW DAY. Those invitations however continue to be declined.

All right, we're following a whole lot of news. Let's get to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: 80 million people up and down the east coast on high alert this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parts of Virginia bracing for Joaquin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it comes, it comes, and if it don't, it don't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Russia says it's started ISIS, but ISIS wasn't near the strikes.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Putin's ambitions are blindingly obvious, my friends.

ASH CARTER, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: This is not the time of behavior we should expect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be a confrontation between United States and Russia over who controls that airspace.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump released a tax plan this week.

BUSH: I can't wait to hear, see what his plans are about all the other things.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Putin doesn't respect our president, it's a real problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

CAMEROTA: A beautiful sunrise out there over Central Park. Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY.

Hurricane Joaquin gaining strength and posing a threat to the East Coast. The storm intensifying into a Category 3 hurricane, that means packing 120-mile-per-hour winds as it approaches the Bahamas.

CUOMO: The problem is where those winds are going and whom they will affect. Millions up and down the East Coast now on high alert. Flooding already an issue for several states in the path of the hurricane. Will the storm make landfall here in the U.S. or will it go out to sea? It's very tough to know right now, but you got Chad Myers.

[07:0003] It's so tough, Chad, I can't even say a it.