Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Republicans Slam Senator Rand Paul on ISIS; What Bobby Jindal Would Do as Commander-in-Chief against ISIS; George Pataki Announces Run for President; Officials: Drunk Pilot Had Son on Plane. Aired 1:3- 2p ET

Aired May 28, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:31:37] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world, I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Republicans, at least some of them, they're slamming Senator Rand Paul for his latest comments on ISIS. The Republican presidential hopeful took square aim at his own party, blaming at least some of them for the rise of the radical ISIS group. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST, MORNING JOE: Lindsey Graham would say ISIS exists because of people like Rand Paul who said let's not go into Syria. What do you say to that?

SEN. RAND PAUL, (R), KENTUCKY & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would say it's exactly the opposite. ISIS exists and is stronger because of the hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately, and most of the arms were snatched up by ISIS. These hawks also wanted to bomb Assad, which would have made ISIS's job even easier. They created these people. ISIS is all over Libya because these same hawks in my party loved -- they loved Hillary Clinton's in Libya, they wanted more of it. Libya is a failed state and it's a disaster. Iraq really is a failed state or a vassal state now of Iran. So, everything that they have talked about in foreign policy they have been wrong about for 20 years, and yet they have somehow the gall to keep saying and pointing fingers otherwise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Republican Governor Bobby Jindal is joining us now from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Governor, thanks very much for joining us.

Following that statement from Senator Rand Paul, you said, and I'm quoting you now, you said, in your words, "unsuited to be commander- in-chief." Unsuited to be commander-in-chief. Very strong words. Tell our viewers why you believe that.

BOBBY JINDAL, (R), LOUISIANA GOVERNOR: Well, first of all, Wolf, thank you again for having me back on your show. A couple of things. One, you listen to the outrageous comments he made. You just played this He said that ISIS exists because of the foreign policy hawks in the Republican Party. If President Obama had said that, Wolf, you'd hear every Republican, Senator, and governor criticizing and condemning him for that. There shouldn't be a double standard because a Senator is a Republican. ISIS is evil. It's ridiculous to blame America first, to blame Americans for the fact that ISIS exists. Republicans, Democrats, we didn't create ISIS. ISIS a problem -- that not only does ISIS oppose America, this is pure evil. Radical Islam, radical Islamic terrorism is my first concern. But my first concern with what the Senator said was, we've had more than six years of blaming America, criticizing America. We would not have allowed President Obama to say this. This is a statement that's even left of what Secretary Clinton or President Obama would say. It needs to be condemned. It needs to be criticized.

But secondly, what also troubles me from the Senator's comments, we can't be evil through weakness. We've also had a foreign policy over six years now, trying to lead from behind. America needs to be strong. We will defeat evil through strength, not weakness. I think it's ridiculous to do anything other than to say we're going to hunt down and kill these terrorists and recognize that radical Islam is the real problem here, not foreign policy hawks in the Republican Party.

BLITZER: So, basically, what you're saying, the comment that he makes, Senator Rand Paul, and some of the positions that takes, that makes him unsuited to be president of the United States? You want to finesse that? Do you want to walk away, reinforce that? You believe he is not ready for the presidency?

JINDAL: I think when you listen to his views on foreign policy, it would be a continuation, even worst of the last six-plus years. Wolf, the world's become a more dangerous place. It's not just in the Middle East with Iran expanding their influence in Yemen, as well as in Iraq, as well as in Lebanon and Syria, you've also got Putin and the Ukraine. All over the world, we see rising challenges to America, to our interest, to our allies. For over six years, we've had a president who tried to lead from behind, who didn't understand that stronger America is safer America, who has not identified the threats we face in radical Islamic terrorism. Foreign policy is becoming an increasingly important issue to the American people. They want a commander-in-chief that's going to restore a peace-through-strength approach, where our friends trust us, our enemies fear and respect us. We don't have that today. Senator Paul's comments suggest to me he would be even to the left of President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: All right.

JINDAL: We need to say radical Islam is the real enemy here.

[13:35:38] BLITZER: Just to be precise, therefore, if Rand Paul were to get the Republican presidential nomination, and were running against Hillary Clinton for the presidency, you would not be able to vote for Senator Rand Paul because you believe he's unsuited to be commander-in-chief? JINDAL: Well, Wolf, two things. I don't think he's going to be the

nominee. And, I want to be very clear, this is not a personal -- this is about policy issues. Look, I want to commend the Senator for standing up and saying we need to be weary of spying on Americans here at home. There are many things he's done that I think are commendable. I just think when it comes to foreign policy, which is an increasingly important issue, his statements yesterday and some of his previous statements I think render him unsuitable. Anybody that's auditioning to be commander-in-chief, I believe, needs to spell out how they would keep America safe. We need a radical break from this president's policies. I didn't hear Senator Rand Paul describe that break.

BLITZER: So would you be able to be vote for him?

JINDAL: I don't think I'm going to be faced with that choice. I don't think he'll be the nominee. The Democrats are on their way to coronate Hillary Clinton. But I don't think Rand Paul will be the nominee. Not only for this, but other reasons, I don't think he'll be our nominee.

BLITZER: I want you to stand by, Governor. I'm going to talk about your intentions, your plans, what would you do as far as ISIS is concerned. And when will you announce, if you are going to announce, that you want to be a Republican presidential candidate?

Much more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:41] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're back with Republican Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana.

Governor, let's talk about what you would do as commander-in-chief as far as ISIS is concerned. Would you be with Lindsey Graham or John McCain and deploy maybe 10,000 U.S. troops to go fight ISIS in Iraq?

JINDAL: Wolf, a couple things. One, unlike President Obama, I wouldn't take options off the table. In his Authorization for the Use of Military Force, he's put a three-year deadline, also said he's put a ban on ground troops. I don't anyone should telegraph what we will or won't do. I think the commander-in-chief needs to sit down with military advisors and come up with a realistic plan to hunt down and kill these terrorists.

Secondly, I think today we need to be arming the Kurds and other allies in the region.

Third, I think if our allies thought we were serious about removing Assad and therefore not propping up an Iranian satellite, I think we'd see other allies more willing to commit ground troops and other resources as what you saw happen in Kobani, with Kurdish ground troops and American and allied air strikes successfully beating ISIS. That was a great model where question work more closely with allies in the region. So, I wouldn't take options off the table, but at the same time, we also need to listen to our military advisors, take the political handcuffs off, come up with a realistic plan to beat this enemy.

BLITZER: Back in 2013, you remember this well, you spoke before the Republican National Committee and you said, "Republicans must stop being the stupid party," and you said, "They must stop insulting the intelligence of voters." That was two years ago. Has that happened?

JINDAL: I think, Wolf, I think we've gotten better. What I was emphasizing is we need to be the party of solutions. It'll be very attempting in 2016 for Republican candidates simply to criticize President Obama. That's not enough. We need to be talking about the future of our country. I spent the last year and a half putting together detailed policies on energy, health care, education, foreign policy. I'm the only potential candidate with a detailed plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. The American people don't to want hear what we are against. They want to hear what we are for. How can we help their kids joins the middle class? I think we're making progress, still have more work to do.

BLITZER: More recently you said the Republicans must stop being the party of no, and you said, in February, you said, Republicans on Capitol Hill -- and I'm quoting you now -- "are Democrat-lite." Has that changed?

JINDAL: Well, I'm still -- I'm one of the Republican voters that's very frustrated. We were told if they got majority, we'd see all these big changes. We haven't seen those changes. I would like to see the Republicans fighting for school choice. I'd like to see them fighting for more domestic energy production on federal land, federal waters. I'd like to see them fighting harder to reign in the EPA. I'd like to see them fight harder to invest in our military and shrink the size of the federal government before it swallows our economy and turns the American dream into the European nightmare. So I'm one of those frustrated Republican voters who gave them the majority in the Senate. They kept the majority in the House. We'd like to see more results. You know, this is a Republican Party that told us, if we gave them a majority, they were going to stand up to amnesty, they were going to stand up to Obamacare, they were going to stand up to the out-of-control spending. I'd like to see more -- I'd like to see a more principled conservative approach in D.C.

BLITZER: As you know, Monday is the deadline for Congress to reauthorize what's called the Patriot Act which allowed this bulk collection of communications basically, telephone televisions, other communications here in the United States. Here's what you said back in July of 2013.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JINDAL: At the end of the day, one of the president's most solemn and first obligations is to keep us secure. All of us are I think conservative, small-government Republicans, but we all agree that our first responsibility is to protect the security of our -- the people we represent and we work for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So basically, you were supporting the program then. Do you still support it now, this bulk collection?

JINDAL: Well, Wolf, two things, one, I absolutely want to give our federal government the tools it needs to keep us safe from terrorists, to hunt them down, to protect us and prevent them from attacking. You saw the attack in Garland, Texas. We don't need to see ISIS continuing to have -- to grow their abilities to attack us here at home. So I absolutely want our agencies to have the tools to protect us.

Secondly, I think it's right to make sure that they are not sweeping up the records in innocent Americans, that are not doing that without a court warrant, they're not doing that without the proper oversight. The reality is we to want make sure they're going after the terrorists, those with ties to radical Islam, not innocent Americans. Even one of the original authors of the Patriot Act and other supports or the original Patriot Act saying that -- have said its being used in ways that weren't intended. So I think it's a good thing Congress is considering amendments and how to make sure they're not sweeping up the records of innocent, ordinary Americans while we still preserve the tools to go after terrorists.

[13:45:18] BLITZER: When will you announce you're running for the Republican presidential nomination?

JINDAL: Well, Wolf, we'll make our decision after our legislative session ends on June 11th. If I were to become a candidate, it'd be to bring big change in D.C. I want to see a Republican win in 2016. It's not enough just to elect a Republican. We need a Republican who will make big changes to help rescue the American dream for the next generation.

BLITZER: Which way are you leaning?

JINDAL: Well, you know, we've given this a lot of thought. We put together these policies through America Next. We have a couple more weeks in session. After that, we'll make our decision shortly. We won't keep you guessing for long. But the important thing is, on the Republican side, we have a number of candidates, and I think that's a good thing, unlike the Democratic side, who are in the process of crowning Hillary. I think it's a good thing we have competition on our side. Every politician says the next is the most important in our lifetime. Wolf, this time it really, really is. If we don't -- if we don't shrink the size of this government, balance our budget, get the economy growing again, we'll have a generation of Americans who will only know about the American dream from their history books. That's not acceptable.

BLITZER: Bobby Jindal is the governor of Louisiana. We'll be anxious to get your decision. Your family there on board, I take it though?

JINDAL: Well, we've been talking to the kids, and my wife, you know, we've been thinking and praying about this together as a family. They're great. They're very supportive. They've been wonderfully supportive as I've been governor these last two terms. So if we make a decision, we'll make it jointly as a family.

BLITZER: We'll hear what you have decided.

Thanks very much, Governor, for joining us.

JINDAL: Thanks, Wolf. Always great to talk to you.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Still ahead, another Republican enters the race.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE PATAKI, (R), FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: I announce I am a candidate for the Republican nomination --

(APPLAUSE)

PATAKI: -- for president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The field is getting pretty crowded right now. We're going to discuss what's going on. Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, she is standing by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:45] BLITZER: Lots of politics to discuss. Let's get right to it.

Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, joins us now.

You heard the governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, say he'll make his announcement one way or the other after June 11th. What struck you the most about what he said?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: What struck me, Wolf, is that this is a candidate who now is at 1 percent in the national polls, and there's a fight right now on kind of a subterranean fight in the Republican party, with candidates, would-be candidates, trying to get into that first debate that FOX is sponsoring, and also into the debates including ours that come afterwards. So they're looking for some kind of national name I.D. so they can start polling a little higher. So they're doing availabilities, interviews. And Jindal, what he's doing, is taking on Rand Paul, saying Rand Paul isn't qualified to be commander-in-chief. That's why you had him on the air today, right, to talk about that. He said it's ridiculous to blame America first. Charged Rand Paul with doing that. I think this is a way for Jindal to start getting that name recognition up so he can even have a shot at participating in some of those first debates, which is the oxygen for these candidates that are not as well funded to breathe.

BLITZER: Take a look at this Quinnipiac University poll that just came out. Because it shows there really isn't one Republican who's a front runner. Five of these Republican potential candidates are all at 10 percent right now. Why isn't there a front runner in the GOP contest?

BORGER: Because, Wolf, you've got a field that's, what, going to go up to, what, 15 candidates? We're the ones paying very close attention to this right now. I venture a lot of those people who are polling at 10 percent, which is high for this field, have either -- and you take a look at them. They've either been on television, been governors, they're well known to a certain degree. And the other candidates are trying to kind of get up there with them. The only way to do this now -- and it's kind of ironic, because we talk about the retail politics of the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire. That's all important, and it's all true, and it's why Hillary Clinton is in Iowa. But she doesn't have to get into a debate where she's got to compete to get into that debate. So while they're playing this retail game in the early states, they're also trying to play a national game to get their poll numbers up so they can get on that stage, which is so important to them.

BLITZER: The former New York Governor George Pataki declared his presidential candidacy today. What do you think? You listened to his speech.

BORGER: Yeah, I think -- look, George Pataki, former governor, very well known for working with Rudy Giuliani, 9/11. Although, they didn't get along very well, I might add. I think he's one of those candidates who took a look at the field and decided sort of, why not me, I've got as much experience as anybody else. And they all think they can beat Hillary Clinton.

BLITZER: Gloria, thanks very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BLITZER: We'll have much more on this coming up later today in "The Situation Room."

Still ahead, a Florida pilot accused of being under the influence when he crashed a small plane in a restricted area. Wait until you hear who was with him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:57:39] BLITZER: The pilot of a small plane is in serious trouble following a scare on a Florida runway. Officials say he was drunk while he crashed into an airport shed while taxiing. And he wasn't alone. His young son was on board with him at the time.

Our aviation and government regulation correspondent, Rene Marsh, is joining us.

Rene, it's fortunate the plane never got off the ground. But tell us what happened.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: It is fortunate it never got to take off. We're talking about a Cessna. It essentially ran off the runway, went through a ditch, before it crashed. You just saw that video there. Crashed into a satellite dish on the grounds of the Melbourne International Airport. The man at the controls here, 57-year-old Christopher Hall. We know he was arrested, and he has been charged.

Police say what happened was -- you're looking at his mug shot there. He asked for clearance to go on to the runway. Air traffic control denied that request. Then he proceeded to taxi the plane in that direction anyway.

Take a listen to air traffic control audio that captures what sounds like a very frustrated controller dealing with what sounds like a defiant pilot. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO FEED)

TOWER: OK, 32 Mike, where are you going, sir?

Sky Master 32, is everything all right, sir?

32 Mike, turn your engines off. 32 Mike, turn your engines off, sir. Kill your engines.

(END AUDIO FEED)

MARSH: All right. Well, Hall is charged with reckless operation of a vessel. That's a misdemeanor. And child abuse without great harm. That's a felony -- Wolf?

BLITZER: So when you say -- I mean, obviously, fortunate he didn't get off the ground, but do these private pilots have to undergo any testing?

MARSH: It's less strict when you compare general aviation pilots to commercial pilots. General aviation, they have to get a medical checkup every three years or two years if they're older than 40. Compare that to a commercial pilot, who must go through this medical check once a year.

But when it comes to drinking and flying, the FAA says that is not allowed. You cannot operate a plane if you have a blood alcohol level of 0.04 or higher -- Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Rene, thank you very much.

That's it for me. I'll see you 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Wolf, thank you so much.