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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Is The First Family Safe?; ISIS Advancing Despite Airstrikes; Hong Kong Executive: Don't Cross Police Lines; Will Hillary Clinton Run For President?

Aired October 02, 2014 - 16:30   ET

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

BASHAM: Joe has a great opportunity here or whomever becomes the department director. He sort of got the wind at his back and with these revelations about some of the vulnerabilities that we have at the White House.

And things that the Secret Service for years have been trying to fix, this is a great advantage for him now to be able to go forward and get those kinds of improvements to the White House security department.

First thing he needs to do is he needs to tell that entire workforce, I absolutely support you 100 percent. This mission is too critical that we're not sharing information. We're not coming forward with these things.

He needs to sit down and give him his phone number and e-mail. If they can't go to their supervisors, if they can't go to those people that are in management positions, he needs to tell them right away, you know, I've got your back on this thing.

TAPPER: As always, we should note, most of the people at the U.S. Secret Service are honorable, work hard, and put their lives at risk every day. Thank you so much, Ralph Basham. Appreciate it.

The U.S. can basically strike where it wants when it wants. So why is ISIS so close to yet another country? A key member of the Senate Armed Services Committee will weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. We're going turn now to our World Lead, the fight against ISIS. The Pentagon says it is ready to lead a long-term series of air attacks against the group's positions in Iraq and Syria and the allied coalition is growing with Britain and Belgium contributing planes in recent days.

But while the air forces are able to strike almost at will, on the ground, ISIS seems on the offensive and reportedly is closing in on the Syrian town of Kobani near the Turkish border despite ongoing coalition air strikes in that area.

The London based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that ISIS forces recently beheaded ten prisoners near Kobani. Joining us to discuss the war is Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire, who is on both the Armed Services and Homeland Security Committee.

Senator, good to see you, as always. ISIS has reportedly captured some --

SENATOR KELLY AYOTTE (R), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Good to see you, Jake.

TAPPER: ISIS has reportedly captured some 350 villages in the last two weeks alone and we now have pictures of the group seemingly at the edge of the Syrian town of Kobani right near the Turkish border. Why do you think the coalition airstrikes have had such a limited effect so far?

AYOTTE: Well, Jake, I think that you have a situation, if you look at Kobani, we had a positive development this afternoon with the Turkish parliament voting to send Turkish troops into Syria.

And I would argue that where Kobani is located, on the Turkish border, the Turks really need to send individuals in right away, their troops because we're facing a huge humanitarian disaster.

I think one of the challenges is having partners on the ground that you can rely on from the beginning. Airstrikes can only do so much. And so there's a partner that we can have now with the Turkish government approving sending in their troops just this afternoon, as I understand it.

And this is really important because that is on the border of Turkey. That will assist, when you think about the Kurds that are in Kobani, we could have a humanitarian disaster there that the Turks would not want and they will see an influx of refugees from that if they do not stop that on the ground.

TAPPER: Are you concerned at all about the Turkish government's relationship with the Kurdish community? Obviously they both have an enemy in ISIS, but the Turks and the Kurds have also been at odds for quite some time. Are you concerned that the Turks getting involved might end up hurting the Kurds as well?

AYOTTE: Well, this is clearly the challenge there. But right now, you already have many Kurds who have gone to Turkey as refugees. So I believe that Turkey will get a big part of the influx of refugees.

And you've got a position where the Turks are in the best position to ensure that Kobani does not fall to ISIS right near its border and I think that, yes, we have challenges that are underlying it with the relationship between the Turks and the Kurds.

But if the Turks do not step up here, I think that will make that relationship even more difficult because you will see Kurds get slaughtered there. We've already seen the beheadings, which have been horrific, including as I understand it some women who have been beheaded by ISIS in Kobani.

TAPPER: You've been pushing the U.S. Treasury Department to cut off funding to ISIS. You wrote to them last week. Have you heard back? Is the U.S. doing enough to cut off funding to ISIS?

AYOTTE: So I have not heard back yet. The U.S. is taking steps. I think we need to do more. I will also add that I believe that the Turks need to do more because the reports have been that oil has been going -- oil revenue -- ISIS has been obtaining through transporting it through Turkey.

So I think the Turks need to step up, also, and ensure that they are not allowing the ISIS to get funds. And so this has to be more than the United States here. We need to do more, but countries like Turkey do as well.

TAPPER: Senator Kelly Ayotte, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

AYOTTE: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: Massive crowds are still rallying in the streets of Hong Kong demanding democracy. Will they heed the government's warning to not cross police lines? We'll go live next to the tense standoff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Turning to the standoff in Hong Kong as a new day is set to dawn. The Chinese-backed chief executive in Hong Kong is vowing he will certainly not step down, though he says he is willing to have his administration engage in talks with the student-led protesters who are packing the streets and demanding their right to select their own leaders.

But he's also warning them, do not cross police lines, he says. CNN senior international correspondent, Ivan Watson is in Hong Kong. Ivan, do you think the students will take him up on his offer and meet with his administration?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They will. And this is and remarkable concession, Jake, because the students were requesting for a week meeting with this government. That's before the sit-in even began.

And now finally after five days of occupying downtown Hong Kong, finally the Hong Kong government has basically acknowledged them beyond saying that what they are doing is illegal, finally the Hong Kong government has said, you know what, our number two official will sit down to talk with the student leaders.

It's taken all of this to get a meeting between this government and this student protest movement. It's a bit of a concession by the Hong Kong government.

TAPPER: And we should point out, of course, it's 4:45 in the morning there, which is why so many of those students are lying down in the streets. Ivan, have the police changed their approach to the protesters?

It was over the weekend, they were tear gassing them and now it seems to be at least from where I sit it doesn't seem like there's much of a threat of violence at all, at least now.

WATSON: Yes. I mean, the police tear gassed and pepper sprayed the protesters last weekend and I think that tactic failed and, if anything, it gave a lot of popular sympathy to the demonstrators who had been unarmed.

It was clear for everybody to see when it happened. Now, what's been interesting in the last 24 to 36 hours is the protesters have threatened to escalate their civil disobedience and occupy buildings. These created some tension.

For example, there have been students camped out outside the entrance to the office of the number one man here in Hong Kong, the top official. And there's been some tension there along the barriers there.

But still, fortunately, no violence and the police have stuck to their position that they have kind of retreated, pulled back their riot police so it's allowed basically this encampment to grow. There are more tents now than there used to be.

There's a lot of art exploding everywhere. A lot of idealism here. So the police have kind of seeded ground and the danger is, if the students do get more confrontational, they could lose some of the public's sympathy and they could lose that moral high ground that they've enjoyed for a couple of days.

TAPPER: Ivan, earlier this week, one of the protesters told me that they were terrified because there were all of these rumors that Chinese troops based in Hong Kong were moving towards them. Has there been any movement at all from the Chinese troops?

WATSON: No. We haven't seen any movement of that sort and government officials have denied that the Chinese people's liberation army would come into play. One reason why that's a worry, there's a historical specter hanging all over this.

And that's the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing and the Tiananmen Square massacre when China brought in troops to crush that student protest movement.

And that is -- that is -- these are very different protests, 1989 to today. But that is the specter, that hard-line crackdown that does hang over everybody. Even though many of the sleeping protesters were born after the 1989 incident -- Jake.

TAPPER: Ivan Watson on the streets of Hong Kong, thank you so much. Stay safe.

With us now from Hong Kong is Yidi Tsao, she is a freelance writer who has joined the protests. Yidi, thanks for joining us. You've lived in Hong Kong for six years, but you're originally from Mainland China. What drew you out into the streets?

YIDI TSAO, HONG KONG PROTESTER: Yes. I think it's the fact that, like everyone is helping out each other and I'm really touched by whatever I saw on the streets. People are really, really helpful and peaceful and I'm not really politically active before, but whatever I saw for the last few days really moved me into tears. I feel like I cannot keep away.

TAPPER: The chief executive of Hong Kong says that the protesters might remain, but may not cross police lines. They may not occupy buildings. What do you think is going to happen? Are protesters going to cross police lines or try to occupy government buildings?

TSAO: I don't think so. So far, from what I just saw and people are still very calm and there are no at all going on in there, so from my prediction, people would stay there until the government responds to the request.

TAPPER: I'm wondering if the protesters there have seen what some of us in America have seen on what appears to be the Facebook page of the daughter of the chief executive of Hong Kong, she brags that her necklace, shoes --

TSAO: Yes, I saw that.

TAPPER: -- are paid for by Hong Kong taxpayers. How is that playing among the protesters?

TSAO: I think people are leaving comments. I'm not sure if it was taken down already, but it's really stupid of her to say things like that. Obviously, she's been posting posts before. So I don't think the facts to protest in whatever way that is obviously not to post anything like that.

TAPPER: Yidi Tsao, thank you so much for joining us. Please stay safe.

TSAO: Thank you.

TAPPER: Turning to our Politics Lead, Hillary Clinton may have the adorable grandchild, but she is missing three key things that Bill Clinton did have when he ran for president. What is she lacking and why does it matter? Coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. The Politics Lead, she still has not said if she's definitively running for president in 2016. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is hitting the midterm election circuit in full force.

Traveling country, stomping for Democratic candidates, a move routinely made by presidential hopefuls. After canceling several events because of the birth of her first grandchild, the former secretary of state is in Florida, a pivotal state today.

Fundraising for gubernatorial candidate, Charlie Crist, you might remember him, he used to a Republican governor now he's running to be a Democratic governor. She's also slipping in a paid keynote speech and a book signing while she is in the sunshine state. With their years in the public eye, the Clintons have become a real household name, a brand.

And while everyone assumes Hillary Clinton will be the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, given that she actually eventually enters the race, can the Hillary Clinton of today actually win the general election?

Joining me now to discuss Clinton's path to the presidency or hurdles to go down that path, senior writer for "Politico" and CNN analyst, Maggie Haberman. Maggie, so good to see you. Thank you for being here.

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you.

TAPPER: So let's start off with the fact that she said -- Secretary Clinton said that being a grandma might impact whether or not she runs for president.

She said in fact, told "People" magazine, I know I have a decision to make, but part of what I've been thinking about is everything I'm interested in and everything I enjoy doing and with the extra added joy of I'm about to become a grandmother, I want to live in the moment."

Now the baby was born last week and we should point out that she has done campaigning since then. She's done an event in New York. She's now in Florida. Mitt Romney was on the campaign trail.

Should we not read from her statement that she was going to take in the grandma thing, whether or not she decides and so soon after the grand kid is born she's out on the campaign trail as a possible indication that, you know what, she can do both?

HABERMAN: I absolutely take it that way. When you listen to that statement she gave to "People" magazine, this is very important to me, I'm going to live in the moment. She didn't then say, and it's going to be so important to me that it may prevent me from wanting to go do something else.

It's just essentially, I'm taking this all in. A lot of her supporters have been very clear that there have been men that are grandfathers, the presidents and so forth.

I think that she is almost certain to run. I'd be very surprised at this point if she decided not to run for president. Everything that she's doing is indicating that's where this is going.

TAPPER: Absolutely. But while we are on the subject of Baby Charlotte's coronation, some entertainment magazines are comparing Chelsea Clinton's baby reveal with another one, Kate Middleton, blue dresses, posed on the steps. Husbands by their sides.

Now I don't want to be too cynical about any of this, but this is a very political family and very little just happens by accident. The announcement of the pregnancy, et cetera, did you see any shades of the royal family's announcement with that?

HABERMAN: I did not. I think there certainly was that moment when they left the hospital. There was the big picture. I think the Clintons are in a bit of a bind. They are dammed if they do, they are dammed if they don't.

If they left the hospital through the basement, they would be criticized for that. I think that the Clintons have become American royalty overall and that is irrespective of it all.

TAPPER: You said there are three things and I'm sorry we're almost out of time. There are three things that wrote about in your story in "Politico" that could be hurdles for them. What is it? Things that the brand doesn't have.

HABERMAN: Sure. There were things that the brand had when Bill Clinton declared his campaign. The 23rd anniversary is tomorrow, Friday. It was generational change. She does not have that. It was centrist populism and it was sweeping new ideas.

She has ideas that tend to be smaller board, more technocratic. It does not, in terms of age, have a claim on generational change and in terms of her economic message, she's still figuring that out but she would be the first woman president and that is certainly something new.

TAPPER: Maggie Haberman, thank you so much. Appreciate it as always. That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. I now turn you over to Wolf Blitzer. He's in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- Wolf.