Return to Transcripts main page

At This Hour

Is Biden In or Out of Presidential Race; Dow Recovering Today After Yesterday's Wild Ride; Should You Worry about Your Investments; Suspect Believed to Have Shot Louisiana Trooper, Suspect's Roommate; Officer Talks about Colleague, Trooper Steven Vincent. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired August 25, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Poppy Harlow, in for Carol Costello. She's back tomorrow.

AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Another wild ride on Wall Street. This time investors shrugging off problems overseas and head back into the market big time.

And Jeb Bush is trying to clarify his comments about so-called "anchor babies." In doing so, he finds himself in even more of a mess. Presidential hopeful, Senator Lindsey Graham, is here to weigh in on that and some surprising new poll numbers.

And also new this morning, chilling details about the final moments of a Louisiana state trooper's life and the Good Samaritans who tackled the suspect as he tried to flee. I'm going to speak to a friend and colleague of that trooper this hour.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. John Berman is off this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

We begin with the presidential blessing and the prospect that Joe Biden may soon jump into the race for the White House. The vice president last night reportedly holding -- had close friends and political operatives over to his home at the Naval Observatory to chat about what a campaign might look like if he decided to seek the Democratic nominations. A lot of caveats there. CNN has learned that talk came hours after President Obama gave Biden his blessing of sorts. A senior Democrat saying that the president made clear he would not stand in Biden's way if he chose to run and he wouldn't advise him against a run. Biden, of course, doesn't need the president's permission, and the president's blessing should not be read as an endorsement we're told.

At the White House briefing, Press Secretary Josh Earnest was asked about Biden. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I think the president's view about Vice President Biden's performance as the vice president of the United States should give you a sense of the president's belief in his aptitude for the top job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: There you have it, I guess.

So is Biden in? Is Biden out? What does it mean for President Obama who may be stuck in the middle?

Joining me is CNN political analyst, John Avlon; and CNN political commentator, Margaret Hoover.

I have the better half with me in studio.

(LAUGHTER)

Margaret, what do you make of the presidential blessing?

MARGARET HOOVER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: While Obama's sort of blessing is important, Joe Biden, in my view, has two women to thank for this moment. One is Hillary Clinton and the second is Elizabeth Warren. If it were not for her softening poll numbers, this question about her trustworthiness, fundamental question about her integrity in office, we wouldn't be here right now, he wouldn't be here right now, he wouldn't even be having these thoughts. If it weren't for the possibility that Elizabeth Warren might endorse him or join his campaign or effort in some way that could really change the dynamics of the Democratic race, this wouldn't be serious either. This is more than Joe Biden has been able to do for himself as a candidate the times he's run. Remember in 1988, he backed out because of plagiarism charges. In 2008, he only won 1 percent of Iowa and had to step down himself. So really he has not just President Obama but Hillary Clinton herself and Elizabeth Warren to thank.

BOLDUAN: Sometimes, often times it is better to be lucky than good, at least in the news business.

John, the blessing should not be read as an endorsement, we're told, but he has said, being the president, that picking Biden was the best political decision that he has made. Of course, in that implicitly is he's not saying that his appointment of Hillary Clinton for secretary of state was the best decision he has made. Should people are reading into that?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I would not read too much into that. Of course he's going to say that. Of course he feels that way. The president is in sort of a double blind here. The party has been previously very united around Hillary Clinton. I think Margaret makes great points about the circumstances. Some of them which have led to Joe Biden's rise. I think the other factor frankly is Donald Trump. Joe Biden has always been considered a bit gaffe-tastic but he's triangulated between Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton seems inauthentic, but he likes positively presidential next to Donald Trump. The president and the White House are in a double blind here because they're not going to stand in anyone's way. They're not going to throw Joe Biden under the bus. Of course, he's a valuable partner in the administration. But the numbers show Joe Biden is not as compelling a general election candidate as Hillary Clinton, and that's got to weigh heavily on Democrats' minds as well as they view this possible. The fight could be fun. It could be invigorating but will it lead to an outcome that has the most competitive nominee come the fall of 2016?

BOLDUAN: But, Margaret, let's continue to focus on President Obama then. What position does this put him in if Biden jumps in? The first word that comes to mind is awkward.

HOOVER: I actually think for President Obama, look, he's on his way out, thinking about his legacy, who is going to carry on his legacy. Right now he has one choice, Hillary Clinton. She's the only person in the race that sort of viably could win and she does have this argument of a historic candidacy behind her. But if, for example, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren were to get in, and they were to shake up the field, then actually if you're President Obama looking at who is best to carry on my legacy, who is going to fight for Obamacare, the middle class, the little guy, gives him a choice at least.

[11:05:30] BOLDUAN: Do you give any credence to the fact that the press secretary yesterday said it is possible that the president could endorse in the primary. Do you think that's possible?

HOOVER: Anything is possible. Look, I think more than anything that says that Mr. Earnest has been in a terrible position having to defend the Hillary e-mail situation behind the podium every day for the last two weeks. I think he would be delighted to not have to answer those questions.

(CROSSTALK)

BOLDUAN: One thing I find fascinating, and I think you will as well, John, he's huddling with key Obama advisers, he's meeting with fund- raisers, he has this meeting with Senator Elizabeth Warren. Yes, Washington is leaking like a sieve. But why are we learning so many details of what is considered to be a secret process when you're considering it?

(LAUGHTER)

AVLON: I wonder how that's happening because the Biden team obviously is leaking. It's part of the drum beat of speculation they've benefited from and, you know, really in the wake of his son's tragic passing, there's an additional halo effect. But obviously, this is being pushed out as a way of increasing speculation. I would just say that the people most excited about this are Republicans because they recognize that if Hillary Clinton is not the nominee, their chances of winning a general election goes up whether it's Biden or not. The ultimate legacy for any president is being succeeded by a president of your own party. But Republicans have a real interest in both weakening Hillary Clinton through investigations and innuendo and then seeing a vibrant fight that could possibly leave her damaged or not the nominee. They realize that, too. Where you stand is a matter of where you sit on this one. BOLDUAN: That's right. And I sit right in the studio, which means

nothing.

Great to see you, John.

(LAUGHTER)

Great to see you, Margaret.

Thank you so much.

AVLON: Sure.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, another wild ride on Wall Street, but today things are looking up. The Dow surging after a day of really what a lot of folks described as sheer panic. So what should we make of it this time?

And risking their lives. Two heroes jump in and wrestle a shotgun from an armed man just after he shoots a state trooper during a traffic stop. The latest on that investigation ahead.

And dramatic escape. We'll take up inside the tunnel two killers used to make their brazen break out of prison. How they inched their way underground to freedom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:11:07] BOLDUAN: AT THIS HOUR, U.S. stocks are rebounding. We'll put it in the category of, like crazy, recovering from yesterday's huge losses.

Alison Kosik is on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, what are you seeing and, more importantly, what are you hearing there?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Certainly calmer after one of the wildest days on Wall Street, talking about yesterday. We are seeing a nice, healthy comeback for stock. We're seeing the Dow up 366 points, but, you know, the Dow gets all the love. We should really focus on the S&P 500 up 2.33 percent. You should really be watching that because your 401K most likely tracks that. So this is good news if you are an investor in this market. However, for the year the S&P 500 is still down about 6 percent. So there's still a ways to go.

Why are we seeing this bounce back? Well, a lot of it is just normal after seeing what some traders say was an overreaction over the past couple days. The other part of it is some renewed confidence has come back into the market after China's central bank cut an interest rate there and also poured billions of dollars into the financial system, but the reality remains that the underlying problems in China are still there. The point being that China's economy is growing too slowly and that is really a great concern here on Wall Street. So do expect to see more volatility as the days continue to go on

because even today we are seeing green arrows. Don't be fooled. The trade is known as choppy, meaning it's sort of moving, if you sort of graph it out, it's moving kind of in a sort of tattered way. It is still choppy. It is still volatile. This is how it's going to be, Kate, until you see stocks kind of recalibrate or reset to where investors feel stocks should be based on what the global environment looks like at this point -- Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. The question on everyone's minds, though, how long is it going to last, how long should everyone be shutting their eyes.

KOSIK: We don't have a crystal ball.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. You find that and we'll talk in a few minutes.

(LAUGHTER)

Alison, great to see you. Thanks so much.

The big question is, should you be worrying about your 401K, about your investments, or is this just more of a financial panic attack we're all living through at the moment?

Joining me to discuss, CNN global economic analyst, Rana Foroohar.

Rana, we heard from Alison giving good perspective from the floor, but what should people make of these wild swings in the market right now?

RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Well, let me just say we knew this was coming. People who follow the markets have been waiting for this for some time. We've really been in a period of incredibly low volatile for the last couple years. Everybody was kind of expecting this. We thought it would happen around about the time the fed was planning to raise interest rates. Everyone has thought that would be September. The fall of the Chinese market may put a little bit of a spammer in that and it may mean that rate hike gets delayed and you may see more volatile for the next few months, but this is not kind of a 2008-style permanent market crash I don't believe.

BOLDUAN: So a lot of folks say should I take comfort in that?

FOROOHAR: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: As Alison pointed out, it seems a little bit of what happened yesterday was an overreaction.

FOROOHAR: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: A little bit of what happened -- a lot of it what's going on in China, but there isn't a real explanation it seems for exactly why there is so much volatility. Should people take comfort in the fact that they don't know?

FOROOHAR: They can take comfort in the fact that there is an explanation. In some way what is you're hearing is the echo of 2008. When we all stopped spending and buttoned up our wallets and had the great recession we z somebody had to pick up that slack and that somebody was China. They started brewing up a big debt bubble, which is now popping, similar to our subprime bubble, and there will be a fallout. China has been the biggest contributor to global growth in the last 10 years, so it's playing this driving role that it didn't used to, and it has an effect.

[11:15:00] BOLDUAN: Actually, it dawned on me the last time you were in here we were talking about China --

(CROSSTALK)

FOROOHAR: That's right and the U.S. markets went down.

(LAUGHTER)

BOLDUAN: And then that blip that -- dear lord, let's not even bring that up again. With what's going on in China, the Chinese government moved in today to try to boost the economy in taking down the interest rates, but how do we expect, in the long term, in the United States, what's going on in China, how it's going to affect the global economy and drip down to here?

FOROOHAR: Well, it's a huge shift. I would say China's at the most important political and economic moment in 20 years. They're basically trying to become an economy that's more like the U.S. Or more like Europe, a consumption-led economy, an economy in which the government isn't the major driver of spending like it is right now.

BOLDUAN: But isn't that also -- isn't there also a big problem of how little transparency there is in China?

FOROOHAR: It's a black box. I spent a lot of time in China and anybody who tells you they know exactly what's going on is lying. China is at a very sensitive moment. There's a big corruption purge going on. There's a lot of political uncertainty. One of the things that's actually rattled the markets is the fact that the policy decisions over the last couple months have been really schizophrenic. You saw the authorities spending $4 billion to prop up the currency and then saying we can't do this and letting them fall.

BOLDUAN: Finally, I wanted to get your take on a lot of the president candidates are weighing in, but Donald Trump has been tweeting about this like crazy. One of the things he said is, "I have long stated we're so tied in with China and Asia that the market are now taking the U.S. market down. Get smart, USA." I mean, what role does the U.S. government have in this situation?

(LAUGHTER)

FOROOHAR: For starters, that's not a news flash.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

FOROOHAR: It's been happening for 40 years, Donald. (LAUGHTER)

But, you know, we're in a dysfunctional marriage in a way with China. You know, we spend, we buy their stuff, they buy our T-bills. That's how it goes. In the 2008 crisis, everyone was hoping that would change and there would be a rebalancing and the U.S. would have more real growth in our own export sector and that the Chinese would start consuming more. That hasn't happened yet and that has to happen for the volatility to ultimately go away.

BOLDUAN: I said it yesterday, I'll say it again, we shall see.

(LAUGHTER)

Rana Foroohar, thanks so much.

FOROOHAR: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Coming up, Louisiana mourns the loss of a veteran state trooper shot in the head and left to die. Up next, what authorities say the suspect in this case said to the trooper right before he shot him.

And Trump on Twitter again in a different aspect. Last night, ranting about FOX News host, Megyn Kelly, and so much more. The presidential hopeful re-tweeting very unflattering comments about her. That is coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:21:07] BOLDUAN: Right now, in Louisiana, authorities are working to connect the dots between two killings. Veteran Louisiana State Trooper Steven Vincent, he was shot and killed in cold blood trying to help a man whose pickup was stuck in a ditch on the side of the road. The suspect is 54-year-old Kevin Daigle. He's in custody after people stopped to help, disarming Daigle and also taking him down. Now police believe that he is linked to another death, his roommate.

In a moment, we'll talk to Sergeant James Anderson, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police, and also a friend and colleague of Trooper Vincent.

But first, let me bring in Rosa Flores who has been following the latest in this case.

Rosa, what new details are you learning?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Kate, investigators are back in Calcasieu Parish right now sifting through evidence, gathering evidence. Hear this, in the killing of Daigle's roommate. Authorities also releasing his name. He's 54-year-old Blake Brewer, is what authorities are telling us.

Here's how these cases connect. So authorities tell us that Blake Brewer is the registered owner of the vehicle that Daigle was driving when he confronted the Louisiana state trooper and, according to authorities, pulled out a shotgun and hit that trooper in the head. Now, of course, investigators are interviewing Daigle trying to get more information, and that's where the information about his roommate comes from. Authorities say that they believe that Daigle had a confrontation with his roommate, it escalated and resulted in Brewer's death. Authorities say they're expecting the charges that Daigle is facing at this time to grow. Right now, he's facing first-degree murder charges. Now, as for the case of the state trooper who was shot, it was all caught on dash cam, Kate, but authorities are not releasing that tape just yet.

However, Colonel Mike Edmonson, from Louisiana State Police watched that tape and he describes the chilling details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL MIKE EDMONSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE: I watched that shotgun blast in that tape. I saw my trooper go backwards and go back towards his unit where he was going to try to get some help out there. Kevin Daigle walked from his pickup truck, just wandering in the roadway, and made it over to the trooper talking to him, asking him if he's alive. You could hear him breathing in there and telling him, "Boy, you're lucky, you're lucky, you're going to die soon."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Some chilling details there.

Now, here is the rest of the story. Good Samaritans stopped by and wrestled, tussled with Daigle, subdued him and handcuffed him with the trooper's handcuffs.

Of course, hearts are very heavy in Louisiana right now for that state trooper and his family. Kate, he's survived by a wife and a 9-year- old son.

BOLDUAN: It's a horrible tragedy. And there's still a lot of questions to be answered here, no question.

Rosa, thanks so much.

Let me bring in Sergeant James Anderson, a spokesman for the Louisiana State Police.

And as we mentioned earlier, Sergeant, Trooper Vincent was not only a colleague of yours, but he is a friend. What do you make of this horrible loss as we're now learning more about what happened that day?

SGT. JAMES ANDERSON, LOUISIANA STATE POLICE (voice-over): Good morning, Kate. It's so senseless. It still hasn't fully set in.

Steven was an approachable individual, very friendly, always smiling, the kind of guy you really liked to have around and have as a friend, and to have this happen is just totally senseless.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. He's survived by his wife and young son. How are they doing? ANDERSON: You know, they're hanging in there as well as can be

expected. You know, Katherine is a strong person. 9-year-old Ethan, a great kid. He still hasn't come to grips with the fact that his dad will not be around, and that's a hard thing for us to see.

[11:25:18] BOLDUAN: It's hard for anyone to even hear about, not even knowing the trooper.

There are so many questions right now about this situation, Sergeant. The biggest one being, why? We just heard there from the colonel who said that Daigle in his confrontation with the trooper said that you're lucky you're going to die soon before he shot him. Are you all getting any closer to answers why here?

ANDERSON: Not specifically. What I can tell you is that he has a lengthy criminal background and that he just has an evil personality. This isn't his first run-in with the law. He has many criminal offenses in his past, and this is just the culmination of his criminal career.

BOLDUAN: And now it's very likely suspected in the death of his roommate also. Now, Daigle, he tried to run, and Rosa was pointing this out. This is really amazing, this element of this horrible story. Other motorists, they stop, they take Daigle down until more help could arrive even using the trooper's own handcuffs to subdue Kevin Daigle. That is truly amazing. So few people would do that. What more can you tell me about them?

ANDERSON: You know, I can tell you this, we're very fortunate here in southwest Louisiana. We have strong support in our community for law enforcement. You know, there's some good, god-fearing, honest, hard- working people in this part of the state and all over our state. We have quite a few, and, you know, they stepped in where some other folks may not have. They were exceedingly brave. They placed the welfare of Trooper Vincent ahead of their own. It was a selfless act, a brave act, and we're eternally grateful for what each of these men did.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And we are so sorry for your loss and the loss of the community.

Sergeant, thank you so much for joining us though.

ANDERSON: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

Coming up for us, a new surprising poll from the home state of our next guest, Republican presidential candidate, Senator Lindsey Graham.

And then this. They crawled through underground tunnels, a steam pipe, and popped out of a manhole. Ahead, we're going to trace the path the two killers took when they escaped from that prison in Upstate New York.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)