Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Obama: "Make-Or-Break Moment" For The Middle Class; Fired Syracuse Coach Facing Lawsuit; Cordray Nomination Blocked; Holder In The Hot Seat; 14 Years For Bagojevich; Corzine: I Don't Know Where Money Went
Aired December 08, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Washington, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed for this Thursday, December 8th.
We're going to begin live in Pittsburgh. That is where attorneys are about to announce a civil lawsuit against Bernie Fine.
He is the fired Syracuse assistant basketball coach. Zach Tomaselli claims that Fine fondled him in a Pittsburgh hotel room back in 2002 when he was 13 years old. Now, Tomaselli plans to discuss these allegations very shortly. We're going to bring you his remarks live.
We should also note, however, that authorities are questioning Tomaselli's credibility based on records from the Syracuse basketball team's travel, as well as hotel. Also, Tomaselli announced this week he is going to plead guilty to sexually assaulting a boy in Maine.
Well, the Syracuse district attorney says he can't prosecute Bernie Fine for allegedly molesting two former ball boys. That is because the statute of limitations has now expired.
Bobby Davis and Mike Lang claim that they were sexually abused during the 1980s. The D.A. does say that he believes both of these guys are telling the truth. He told our Gary Tuchman a nanny who worked in the Fine home had suspicions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL FITZPATRICK, ONONDAGA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: She didn't physically witness any molestation, but clearly body language, affect, the way they talked to each other, the way they acted around each other, the conversation she had with Laurie Fine, there's no question that --
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Like, for example, when it came to Bernie, what did she say about the way Bernie Fine acted that made her know that they were having a sexual --
FITZPATRICK: The way they would do things, the way they would watch TV, the way they would eat food together, the way they would suddenly disappear together.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MALVEAUX: Now, Bernie Fine's attorneys have not yet responded to the accusations allegedly made by the nanny.
Meanwhile, Jerry Sandusky could be getting out of jail this afternoon. The former Penn State assistant football coach was arrested again yesterday after two more young men came forward to accuse him of sexual abuse. Now, this brings the total number of alleged victims to 10. Sandusky could be released on a $250,000 cash bail.
Attorney General Eric Holder, he is in the hot seat on Capitol Hill this morning. A House committee is investigating possible wrongdoing in a gun sting operation known as Fast & Furious. It allowed illegally purchased firearms to be taken from Arizona to drug cartels in Mexico. Some House Republicans say that Holder should resign, but the A.G. is now standing his ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The use of this misguided tactic is inexcusable and it must never happen again. Soon after learning about the allegations raised by ATF agents involved with Fast & Furious, I took action designed to ensure accountability.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: So, also set to take some heat on Capitol Hill, former U.S. senator and governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine. He was chief executive officer of the investment firm MF Global when it collapsed in the eighth largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. So, lawmakers want to know what happened and why an estimated $1.2 billion -- that's billions -- in client funds are now unaccounted for. In prepared testimony today, Corzine apologized for his firm's failure, but says he doesn't know where the missing money went.
Politics, all about momentum, mojo. Well, Newt Gingrich, clearly, he's got his wind at the back right it in the race for the Republican nomination.
A new CNN polling shows the former House Speaker surging now to the front of the pack in critical first primary states. What are we talking about? Iowa, South Carolina, Florida, all by double-digits leads. And he is nipping at Mitt Romney's heels in New Hampshire.
As Gingrich tells our Wolf Blitzer, this is quickly becoming what he says is a two-man race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Too early to say that it's yours to lose?
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Yes. Well, I mean, it's either Romney or mine. Those are the two -- in a sense, the two front-runners.
BLITZER: What about the other candidates? GINGRICH: We're the two front-runners. I think it's a fair thing to say without diminishing anybody. Both of us have different kinds of strengths, but Romney's a very formidable opponent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: All right. He's going from governor to inmate. Rod Blagojevich has 90 days to report to prison.
The former Illinois governor was sentenced yesterday to 14 years for corruption that included trying to sell President Obama's old Senate seat. In court, Blagojevich said he was unbelievably sorry. But the judge said the apology came too late.
So, Rod Blagojevich just got sentenced to 14 years in prison, but does the time fit the crime?
Carol Costello joining us from New York with today's "Talk Back" question.
Hey, Carol. A lot of people are raising their eyebrows about this one.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fourteen years is say long time, right? It's safe to say, Suzanne, the judge threw the book at Rod Blagojevich.
Fourteen years for, among other things, selling a Senate seat for personal political gain. Make no mistake, U.S. District Judge James Zagel made an example of the man of a million hair jokes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK FITZGERALD, U.S. ATTORNEY: Today's sentenced of 14 years on former governor Blagojevich sends a strong message that the public has had enough and judges have had enough. This needs to stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Not many would disagree with that, but 14 years? Dr. Conrad Murray only got four years for causing Michael Jackson's death. DePaul law professor Len Cavise told "The Chicago Sun-Times," "I think it's outrageous."
Cavise likened the sentence to cruel and unusual punishment. He says, "I think it's outrageous. The judge and the prosecution went off the deep end on this one."
After all, former congressman and majority leader Tom DeLay appeared on "Dancing With the Stars" while charges of money laundering swirled around him. Congressman Bob Ney got 30 months for conspiracy. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham got eight years for accepting bribes and tax evasion. Richard Nixon, he got zero time.
Clearly, Mr. Blagojevich is not happy to be the example the public has had enough. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), FMR. ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: We're going to keep fighting on through this adversity and see you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Yet, he and many other politicians have violated something that ought to be sacred -- your trust.
So we want to take the conversation one step further. The "Talk Back" question today: Should politicians be subject to harsher punishments for wrongdoing?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.
MALVEAUX: All right. Great question, Carol. Thanks.
Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we are covering.
First, a former assistant coach at Syracuse University avoids criminal sex abuse charges. Well, now an alleged victim is finding a new way to seek justice.
And the families of dozens of women who took this birth control pill say they died because of it. Now the company stands accused of hiding evidence.
Then, New Jersey's former governor tells Congress he doesn't know where the money went. Jon Corzine forced to talk about the millions of investor dollars that his company lost.
And later, rare, amazing video of a Marine firefight in Afghanistan captured by the lens of a Marine photographer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear about people being battle-tested. This one tested the voice (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A reminder. We are waiting to hear live from Zach Tomaselli. The 23-year-old is filing a lawsuit in Pittsburgh today against Bernie Fine, the fired Syracuse basketball coach.
Now, Tomaselli claims that Fine molested him at a hotel in Pittsburgh back in 2002, when he was a 13-year-old boy. We're going to have his remarks live when they happen.
Now, Tomaselli, on the right of the screen, one of the three men who have publicly accused Fine of molestation. Bobby Davis and Mike Lang claim that they were abused during the '80s, when they were Syracuse team ball boys. Well, the Syracuse district attorney says he can't bring against Fine. That is because the statute of limitations has expired now for Davis and Lang. And Tomaselli's case, not in his jurisdiction. Now, the D.A. does have and does believe that he -- he actually believes their story. He told our Gary Tuchman that the Fines' former nanny backs up these abuse allegations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN: Is it your impression that the au pair is convinced that Bernie Fine had a sexual relationship with Bobby Davis while she was at the House?
FITZPATRICK: No question about it. All kinds of things that -- I mean, she didn't physically witness any molestation, but clearly body language, affect, the way they talked to each other, the way they acted around each other, the conversation she had with Laurie Fine, there's no question that --
TUCHMAN: Like, for example, when it came to Bernie, what did she say about the way Bernie Fine acted that made her know that they were having a sexual --
FITZPATRICK: The way they would do things, the way they would watch TV, the way they would eat food together, the way they would suddenly disappear together.
TUCHMAN: And what did Laurie Fine say to her?
FITZPATRICK: Laurie Fine had numerous conversations with her. And the gist of the conversations were, I don't have the right parts for Bernie. And clearly indicating -- and you recognize that the hearsay implications of this are clearly recognizing that Laurie Fine was of the opinion that Bernie Fine was gay and that they were leading two separate lives in the same House.
TUCHMAN: So, the au pair that worked there said that Laurie Fine talked to her, a 16-year-old girl, about how she didn't have the parts for her husband.
FITZPATRICK: You know, it was difficult to listen to, but that's exactly right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: And you'll remember Fine's wife, Laurie, discussed her husband in a telephone call. ESPN says the conversation was secretly recorded by accuser Bobby Davis back in 2002. Fine is heard saying her husband has issues.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
LAURIE FINE, BERNIE FINE'S WIFE: I know some things about you that if you keep pushing are going to be let out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. That's what I'm saying. FINE: He says let him go ahead. Sure. Let him go right ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He says that they can (INAUDIBLE).
FINE: I think he thinks he's above the law.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: We should point out that Laurie Fine claims that that phone call was creatively edited.
And our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, he is joining us by phone to talk about all of these things.
Jeff, first, let's focus on Zach Tomaselli's lawsuit here. What does it tell us? What do we know about his credibility and his story?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the first thing we know is that his lawyer is Jeff Anderson, who is a very successful, very aggressive lawyer from St. Paul, Minnesota, who has been -- sued many Catholic archdiocese because of the priest abuse scandal. So he is familiar with this general area of the law and he's been very successful.
We also know that this case is in Pennsylvania, even though the whole focus of the investigation has been Syracuse, and that's because there was allegedly an event that took place, an abuse -- an act of abuse took place in Pittsburgh, and Pennsylvania has a much more favorable statute of limitations than New York does. So they are in better shape on those legal grounds.
Tomaselli has a lot of problems. He is, himself, currently being accused of engaging in sexual abuse. He's estranged from his family. Some family members have said he's lying about the situation.
So, obviously, it's important for everyone to keep an open mind about what happened here, what's going to happen with this lawsuit, but he's got a very serious lawyer. And it's going to be a major issue for Syracuse to have to deal with.
MALVEAUX: And Jeff, with the Syracuse case, the Syracuse D.A. can't prosecute Fine because of the statute of limitations. So what do those guys do, Bobby Davis and Mark Lang? Should they bring about a civil lawsuit at this point?
TOOBIN: Well, I can't claim to know every possible avenue, but I think they may be well out of luck if all they have is events that took place allegedly in New York State. They would have no option to bring a case in any other jurisdiction, so they may have no criminal or civil remedy because so much time has passed.
MALVEAUX: Even though the judge says he believes their stories, that they're credible?
TOOBIN: That's what statute of limitations is. It is a bar to bringing a case after a certain point even if you can prove your case. A statute of limitations, if it is applied strictly, as it usually is, is that after a certain date, even valid claims are extinguished.
Now, the theory behind it is everyone should have a certain period of time. It's just very hard to prove things after a number of years.
And the theory of the legal system has been, it's unreasonable to expect defendants to be able to come up with explanations for their whereabouts 10, 20 years ago, when records have disappeared, witnesses have disappeared. And that's the idea behind statute of limitations. And that's why cases are simply barred after a certain number of years.
MALVEAUX: And Jeff, we should let our audience know that Fine's attorneys, they spoke to CNN on Wednesday, and they said that evidence is going to show that Tomaselli's claims, the third person, in their words, are fabricated. Now, we know that Tomaselli's lawsuit says it names Bernie Fine as the defendant here, but they don't go after Syracuse University.
Why not? Should they?
TOOBIN: You know, I have to say, I don't know all the ins and outs of the legal strategy here. And as you point out, it is very important for everyone to remember that, you know, we're dealing here with a swirl of accusations, different plaintiffs, all with different stories, and it is entirely possible that Coach Fine is innocent and that these allegations simply did not take place -- Tomaselli, Davis, any of them.
And here you have some conflict among the various accusers. It all just underlines the fact that accusations aren't proof. And we don't know what, if anything, happened in terms of abuse at Syracuse.
MALVEAUX: All right. Jeffrey Toobin, thank you. We're going to be following this very closely.
Well, a billion-dollar question for Jon Corzine. Lawmakers want to know what happened to his clients' money. The former U.S. senator and New Jersey governor is on Capitol Hill to answer for his defunct investment firm. We're going to have a live report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The Senate failed to confirm President Obama's nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and now President Obama is getting ready to make a statement on Richard Cordray's failed confirmation in just a few minutes.
I want to bring in CNN's Athena Jones. She's live at the White House.
Athena, this is surprising, that the president is going to come out to the Briefing Room and discuss this. This must be pretty significant, pretty important.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly. This has been something that the White House has been pushing for several days. It's important to mention that it's not surprising that they didn't manage to get cloture in the Senate to get Richard Cordray's nomination through to the next level of debate. That part is not surprising. But here you have the president just really reiterating how important this is to this Obama administration.
They have been pushing it for several days. Yesterday, there were several state attorneys general here also pushing this nomination. Back several weeks ago, 37 state attorneys general, a bipartisan group all around the country, sent a letter talking about how Richard Cordray, who was a former state attorney general for Ohio, how he's qualified for the job.
The White House argues that Cordray is important -- it's important to have a leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau because you need someone. Without a leader, the bureau can't do its job, which is to help level the playing field between banks and other parts of the financial services industry like mortgage lenders, like pay day lenders, mortgage brokers, the kind of organizations that have at some times hurt ordinary people, hurt middle class families, and caused them to, for instance, take out money that they couldn't pay back, loans they couldn't pay back, and at high interest rates, that sort of thing.
And so, this is all part of the White House's argument that they are behind protecting the middle class against unsavory practices. And they need someone like Richard Cordray in place as the head of this bureau in order to do that -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Athena, why does the Senate object to his nomination? What do they say?
JONES: Well, some on the Republican side, some say this is creating another level of bureaucracy. And so they're against putting this in place.
They want to have -- they believe that the Consumer Protection Bureau has too much power. They said that maybe there should be a committee in charge instead of one person in charge. So there are various ideas, but the issue here for the moment is that this nomination is not going forward.
So the president wants to come out and really put the pressure on, keep the pressure on to try to make this case again to the American people, certainly to the middle class, that the White House has their back, whereas Republicans don't. It's part of the larger theme that we've been hearing from the president and from the White House the last several days and weeks -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: And Athena, tell us who this guy is for people who have never heard of him before. What is his background? What is the significance of the president picking him as his nominee?
JONES: Well, certainly most recently he was the attorney general for the state of Ohio. And so that's one of the things that they've been focusing on most the last several days, is that he has a history of fighting for middle class families.
And so you had, as I mentioned, these 37 state attorneys general from around the country, both sides of the aisle, a bipartisan group coming out in support of his credentials. And so that's really been the focus of the last few days, saying that the Republicans are not opposed to Cordray because he's not qualified, they're opposed to him for their own political reasons, they want to protect the big banks and that sort of thing.
MALVEAUX: And Athena, when you talk about the politics of all of this, the president's message, clearly, he is trying to move forward, talking about he's fighting for the middle class, that he's dealing with the economic crisis, trying to turn things around.
How important is it right now that he gets this nominee through?
JONES: Well, it's certainly very important to the White House, because it's in line with their larger agenda, which has been their agenda since -- certainly leading up to the last presidential election, all about fighting for middle class families. And so, to them, this is important. This is one of the chief accomplishments of the presidency, apart from health care.
The Dodd-Frank efforts to reform the financial regulatory system, this is certainly what helped get America into this deep economic crisis. And so without these reforms and these changes put in place, this administration thinks that you're not going to be able to avoid this kind of problem in the future. It's not just the big banks that are dealing with mortgages and brokers, there are a lot of other lenders. And so those also need to be regulated because of how interlaced the system is these days -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: OK. Athena Jones, thank you very much.
Obviously, we're going to take the president's remarks as soon as he goes to the podium in the Briefing Room about this controversial situation that is takings place, his nominee, trying to push it through and the Senate rejecting it. Obviously, looking at the economic impact that that will have as well.
We're going to take a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Want to go directly to the White House, inside the Briefing Room. This is where our own Brianna Keilar is. We are waiting to hear from the president, who is going to be taking to the podium to make some remarks.
Brianna, break this down for us. Why is he making this kind of surprise appearance here? And what is the significance of this?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, specifically, what he'll be pressing for, Suzanne, is the importance of the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to be in place, Richard Cordray, who, his nomination failed in the Senate. And obviously, this is a bureau that was created to protect consumers.
So, specifically, that's what he's pushing for in response to this vote in the Senate that failed. But there's a much bigger picture going on here, and that is that it's not every week that you see President Obama come out to the Briefing Room twice, which is what he's done.
We saw him earlier this week. Then, on Wednesday, we saw him give a major economic speech in Kansas, and now we're seeing him today.
This is very significant. He's very much flexing his muscle and really using the bully pulpit in trying to frame a smaller, more specific argument here, but something larger that we are going to be seeing going into the whole next year, really framing the argument that will characterize his campaign. And that is a message that he is for the middle class, and that it's Republicans who are not helping the middle class as much as he is.
We heard him earlier this week pushing for the payroll tax cut extension, saying that Republicans essentially need to get on board and make sure that taxes do not rise. Well, at the same time, you'll hear Republican sources on the Hill say ultimately that payroll tax cut will be extended. Then you're hearing him today talk about the need for the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau be in place. This fits into a much larger argument and campaign message -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: Brianna, I think that's an excellent point. The timing of all of this, that the president is aggressively starting his campaigning, if you will. Tell us a little bit about whether or not he has any recourse. Can he nominate somebody else? Should he nominate somebody else? Does he have to really fight this fight or is he just doing it to make that broader point that you talked about?
KEILAR: I think at this point, it's sort of a broader fight and it's this political message. In terms of the next steps, we haven't really seen what those are going to be, Suzanne. If you look at the timing here, we're a couple weeks away from Christmas. We're going to see this big push for the payroll tax cut extension that's already underway. And obviously, Congress needs to wrap that up before the holiday. The president will be going on vacation to Hawaii. We'll be seeing the campaign season for Republicans starting in earnest at the very beginning of January. So this is sort of this push. The timing, make no mistake about it, it's no coincidence -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: The fact that this is the second time we've seen him in the briefing room that you had mentioned before, this is a very important time for him. This message, trying to hone in here that he is for the middle class, he is trying to bring jobs back, I assume that that is critical to his campaign and to moving forward. He has a limited window to prove to the American people that he is addressing their concerns.
KEILAR: Yes, it is critical obviously to his messaging going into this election year, especially as we'll be turning so much attention to Republicans as that battle really heats up. This is the message that he's been trying to frame for sure, that he is fighting for the middle class.
This is something that you'll hear Republicans call class warfare.
(CROSSTALK)
KEILAR: But President Obama and Democrats really feel like they have a winning message. They feel like they've kind of painted Republicans into a corner, really starting with the Senate failure to pass a payroll tax cut extension that would have kept that payroll tax cut in place for 160 million Americans, working class Americans, and paying for it by increasing taxes on people who make $1 million or more a year.
Republicans say this hits small businesses. Democrats say that Republicans are protecting the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. This is really a message that President Obama is going to continue to hammer. He feels obviously that he has momentum. Democrats feel that they have momentum. This is what they're using at this point to try to get Republicans back on their heels. Ultimately, the expectation, Suzanne, is that that payroll tax cut will be extended, which would be a victory for President Obama.
MALVEAUX: Sure.
KEILAR: He's continuing it today with his push about Richard Cordray's nomination.
MALVEAUX: All right, Brianna, thanks.
I want to give our viewers -- we are following another breaking news story here. We have just learned that former Penn State football coach, Jerry Sandusky, has now posted the $250,000 bail. That is according to his attorney, Joe Amandola. Sandusky spent the night in jail after being arrested again for the alleged sexual assault, this of two new victims. The former Penn State assistant football coach, he was arrested, this is after two young men came forward accusing him of sexual abuse. This brings the total number of alleged victims now to ten.
So, again, Sandusky now out on bail. We understand the terms of that is that he would be monitored, that he would not be allowed to speak or reach out to any of the alleged victims, and that clearly they'll be watching him very closely. So that is the latest out of Sandusky.
Want to go back to the other breaking news story. We have John King in Washington here to talk a little bit about the significance here of the president coming out here to the briefing room, as Brianna said, he wants to make a point. He wants his guy in place. The Senate says, no, we're not having it. This is part of a bigger messaging that is going on, moving forward, looking at the months in the campaign.
JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Suzanne. Remember, this agency, this consumer protection agency was created under the Dodd-Frank financial legislation. Republicans didn't like that legislation. They continued to complain that it puts too much government oversight, government regulation over the financial industry. They don't know the rules. They don't know the transparency.
What you'll see the president say is here is the former Ohio attorney general, Richard Cordray. He has backing of Republicans all over the country, fellow attorneys general all across the country, saying put him in there. We need this agency.
What the president is going to say is you have Republicans that won't raise taxes on millionaires, they'd rather defend them. Now they won't let me have a consumer watchdog to go in and oversee the banks, credit card fees, mortgage fees. We want someone to protect the middle class against the big banks. And Republicans are saying no.
It is an important policy narrative here in Washington over the role of government, the reach of government, how strong should regulation be over the financial agency, a credit and consumer watchdog. But as you noted, it's also part of a much bigger narrative heading into the campaign where the president is essentially, if you boil it all down, trying to make the case, I'm on your side.
The Democratic incumbent, I'm on your side, to the American people, the consumer, the middle class, and making the case that it is the Republicans, he will argue, defending the special interest, defending the Wall Street, defending the big banks, defending the greedy against the little guy. It is a significant policy dispute. We shouldn't make it all about the politics, but it plays.
You know, Suzanne, from your years covering the White House, what you see in the briefing room, you will see the president outdoors sometimes in warmer weather, you will see him on the road constantly. He right now is in a very competitive re-election climate. Right now, if you run the historical statistical models, most say of them say he's likely to lose. We have to wait and see who the Republicans nominate. At a minimum, we will have a very, very competitive presidential election.
In that election, we have begun to see, as Brianna noted, over the last several days, the White House deciding now is the time to begin to use more and more the resources that only the president has. We call it the bully pulpit. You can call it the Air Force One strategy. A president has resources, even a struggling incumbent president has resources that no challenger, no challenger can match -- Suzanne?
MALVEAUX: You really can't overstate that, the fact that when the president speaks, people pay attention. They listen. They want to hear what he's got to say. Obviously, he's using taking advantage of this messaging, if you will.
If this fight -- if he doesn't get his guy through, how far does he push this? Is it even necessary or does he let it die? The fight in him, and some people have said we've seen a little bit more fight in this president now, is what so many Democrats and moderates and people have been looking for from this president.
KING: I would not expect the president to back down on this one at all because he believes, particularly with this agency, that it's T- ball. He can go to the American people, he's going to the podium in a minute and a half, and say this agency was created to protect you. I have a nominee that has broad Republican support across the country. It is Republicans in the United States Senate, Republicans in Washington who want to block me, denying you a consumer watchdog you need. The Democratic base would revolt against it.
Remember, the initial consensus pick among Democrats for this was Elizabeth Warren. The president didn't nominate her because she was so controversial. The one Republican who did not vote yes with his party, Olympia Snowe, of Maine, voted present.
The Republican who did not support the Republicans in blocking confirmation today was Scott Brown. He is in a Senate race. Guess who his likely opponent is going to be in Massachusetts? Elizabeth Warren. This issue, this fight is going to play out not only here in Washington but out on the campaign trail.
You're going to see, in Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, some of the Republicans who have to go home to or run for re-election in more moderate states, states the president is likely to carry in next year's election, getting a tad nervous sometimes at what they view is overly confrontational, overly obstructionist tactics by the Senate Republican majority -- but -- I mean the Senate Republican minority. But the Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, has used these tactics throughout the Obama presidency and, if you talk to him and his staff, he will tell you he thinks he's succeeding.
MALVEAUX: John, you had a chance to talk to Michele Bachmann just yesterday. How are the Republicans countering what they're seeing from the president now, a more aggressive stance, if you will, on fighting for the middle class?
KING: Well, they want to make the argument that any tax increases are wrong right now. The bigger argument -- is the president's speech in Kansas was quite interesting. It's up to the American people to decide who is right or wrong about the policy descriptions.
The president laid down a marker that's hard for anyone to disagree with, that the prospect of the American dream, the struggles of the middle class, the gap, the growing gap in income inequality is what the president called the defining challenge of our time. It will be the defining issue in the campaign.
The debate is, the president says the government has to use its powers, use the levers of government to try to decrease, close the income gap between the haves and the have-notes, between the upper 1 percent and the bottom especially 20 percent, but you could say the other 99 percent, if you want to take the Occupy language and use that.
The Republicans say, no, the government should not be doing that. Let the market do that. Get government out of way and the rising tide lifts all boats, if you will. There is a huge philosophical debate about the role of government. And in this struggling economy, as the economy tries to recover, then sputters from time to time, that is going to be a big part of the debate. Yes, it's taxes and spending. Yes, it's raising taxes on millionaires or not, the Republicans will argue. The bigger picture is what role does government have? Should the government be pulling levers to fix this or should it get out of the way and leave it to the market?
MALVEAUX: It may be a little too soon to know this, John, but where do you think voters are going on this? Our latest polling, what does it show in terms of do folks feel like now they want more government, more effective government, or they want less?
KING: You see the negatives of the Tea Party on the rise. There's the president.
(BEGIN LIVE SPEECH)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A couple of days ago, I said that we are in a make-or-break moment when it comes to America's middle class. We either have a country where everybody fends for themselves or we create a country where everybody does their fair share, everybody's got a fair chance, and we ensure that there's fair play out there.
To ensure fair play, one of the things that I talked about was the importance of making sure we implement financial reform, Wall Street reform that was passed last year. A key component of that was making sure that we have a consumer watchdog in place who can police what mortgage brokers and pay-day lenders and other non-bank financial entities are able to do when it comes to consumers.
This is a big deal. About one in five people use these kinds of mechanisms to finance everything from buying a house to cashing their checks. And we passed a law last year that said we need this consumer watchdog in place to make sure the people aren't taken advantage of.
Now we have nominated somebody, Richard Cordray, former attorney general and treasurer of Ohio, who everybody says is highly qualified. The majority of attorney generals, Republican and Democrat, from across the country have said this is somebody who can do the job with integrity, who has a tradition of being a bipartisan individual who looks out for the public interest, and is ready to go. He actually helped set up the Consumer Finance Protection Board. This morning Senate Republicans blocked his nomination, refusing to let the Senate even go forward with an up-or-down vote on Mr. Cordray. This makes absolutely no sense.
Consumers across the country understand that part of the reason we got into the financial mess that we did was because regulators were not doing their jobs. People were not paying attention to what was happening in the housing market. People weren't paying attention to who was being taken advantage of. There were folks who were making a lot of money, taking advantage of American consumers.
This individual's job is to make sure that the individual consumers are protected, everybody from seniors, to young people who are looking for student loans, to members of our armed services who are probably more vulnerable than just about anybody when it comes to unscrupulous financial practices. There is no reason why Mr. Cordray should not be nominated and should not be confirmed by the Senate and should not be doing his job right away in order to carry out his mandate and his mission.
So I just want to send a message to the Senate, we are not giving up on this. We are going to keep on going at it. We are not going to allow politics as usual on Capitol Hill to stand in the way of American consumers being protected by unscrupulous financial operators. We're going to keep on pushing on this issue.
Now, the second thing I want to make clear about is that, with respect to the payroll tax, you guys have all seen our countdown clock behind us. This is about doing -- making sure that everybody is doing their fair share and that the middle class does not see their taxes go up by $1,000 in 23 days.
We've heard recently some intonations from the Senate majority leader and from the speaker of the House -- or the Senate minority leader and the speaker of the House that they think we should do a payroll tax but the question is what price will they extract from the president in order to get it done. I just want to make clear, this is not about me. They shouldn't extend the payroll tax cut for me. They shouldn't extend unemployment insurance for me.
This is for 160 million people who in 23 days are going to see their taxes go up if Congress doesn't act. This is for five million individuals who are out there looking for a job and can't find a job right now in a tough economy who could end up not being able to pay their bills or keep their house if Congress doesn't act.
So rather than trying to figure out what can they extract politically from me in order to get this thing done, what they need to do is be focused on what's good for the economy, what's good for jobs, and what's good for the American people. And I made very clear, I do not expect Congress to go home unless the payroll tax cut is extended and unless unemployment insurance is extended. It would be wrong for families, but it would also be wrong for the economy as a whole.
With that, I'm going to take a couple of questions.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. Very busy time. I'd like to ask you about two other important items in the news. Republican candidates have taken aim at your approach to foreign policy, particularly the Middle East and Israel and the issue of a peace, I want to get your reaction to that. And also I'm wondering, if you personally intervened in any way in halting the sale of the morning after pill to people under 17 and whether you think politics trumped science in this case.
OBAMA: Ask Osama bin Laden and the 22 out of 30 top al Qaeda leaders who have been taken off the field whether I engage in appeasement -- or whoever's left out there, ask them about that. With respect to the Plan "B," I did not get involved in the process. This was a decision that was made by Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of HHS. I will say this. As the father of two daughters, I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine.
As I understand it, the reason Kathleen made this decision was she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going to a drugstore should be able, alongside bubble gum or batteries, be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could end up having an adverse effect. I think most parents would probably feel the same way.
So the expectation here, I think it's very important to understand for women, for those over 17 this continues to be something that you can go in and purchase from a drugstore. It has been deemed safe by the FDA. Nobody's challenging that. When it comes to 12-year-olds or 13- year-olds, the question is, can we have confidence that they would potentially use Plan "B" properly. And her judgment was that there was not enough evidence that this potentially could be used improperly, in a way that had adverse health effects on those young people.
REPORTER: Do you support that decision?
OBAMA: I do.
REPORTER: Mr. President, is recess appointment for Richard Cordray on the table, number one. Number two, the Italian prime minister, the new prime minister indicated today he may be coming to the White House next months. Do you think he and other European leaders are stepping up in the way you've urged them to sort of clear up the debt crisis.
OBAMA: I will not take any options off the table when it comes to getting Richard Cordray in as director of the Consumer Finance Protection Board. And I want to repeat what I said earlier. This is a law that was passed by Congress that I signed into law that is designed solely to protect American consumers.
I don't think there's any consumer out there, I don't think there's any American out there who thinks that the reason we got into the big financial mess that we did was because of too much regulation of Wall Street or the financial services industry. I take it back. I'm sure there are some folks in the financial service industry who make that argument, although I'm not sure they make it with a straight face.
So, you know, let's take a very specific example. All the families out there who have now lost their home after having paid their mortgage over and over again because they were told that they could afford this home, they didn't understand all the documentation that was involved. This was peddled deliberately to them, even though a mortgage broker might have known that there was no way that they could keep up with these payments. And now they're out on the street because nobody was making sure that there's fair play and fair dealing in the mortgage industry. Now why wouldn't we want to have somebody just to make sure that people are being treated fairly? Especially when not only that family is affected but our whole economy is affected.
This is part of what I was talking about a couple days ago. We have a Congress right now, Republicans in Congress, right now, who seem to have entirely forgotten how we got into this mess. And part of the reason was because we did not empower our regulators to make sure that they were ensuring fair play.
That's what the Consumer Finance Protection Board is designed to do. We had Holly Petraeus, wife of General Petraeus, she's been working to make sure that our armed services personnel aren't taken advantage of. They get transferred to a base, and next thing they know, they're taking out loans that they think are a good deal but it turns out that they're paying 100, 150, 200 percent interest rates. Why wouldn't we want somebody in place to make sure that doesn't happen? It doesn't make any sense.
So bottom line is you asked about the recessed appointment? We're going to look at all our options. My hope and expectation is that the Republicans who blocked this nomination come to their senses. And I know that some of them have made an argument, well, we just want to sort of make some modifications in the law. Well, they're free to introduce a bill and get that passed.
But part of what's happened over on Capitol Hill, not just on this issue, but on every issue, they will hold up nominations. Well qualified judges aren't getting a vote. I've got assistant secretaries to the treasury who get held up for no reason just because they're trying to see if they can use that to reverse some sort of law that's already been passed. And that's part of what gets the American people so frustrated, because they don't feel like this thing is on the level.
(CROSSTALK)
OBAMA: Yes. On the European debt crisis, I am obviously very concerned about what's happening in Europe. I've expressed those concerns repeatedly to President Sarkozy, Chancellor Merkel, all the key leaders involved. I think they now recognize the urgency of doing something serious and bold. The question is whether they can muster the political will to get it done.
Look, Europe is wealthy enough that there's no reason why they can't solve this problem. It's not as if we're talking about some impoverished country that doesn't have any resources and is being buffeted by the world markets and they need so co to come hat in hand to get help.
This is Europe with some of the wealthiest countries on earth, collectively, one of the largest markets on earth, if not the largest. And so if they muster the political will, they have the capacity to settle markets down, make sure that they are acting responsibly and that governments, like Italy, are able to finance their debt.
And I think Chancellor Merkel has made some progress with other European leaders in trying to move towards a fiscal compact where everybody is playing by the same rules and nobody's acting irresponsibly. I think that's all for the good. But there's a short- term crisis that has to be resolved to make sure markets have confidence, that Europe stands behind the euro.
We're going to do everything we can to push them in a good direction on this because it has a huge impact on what happens here in the United States. They are our largest trading partner. And we're seeing some positive signs in our economy, but if we see Europe tank, that obviously could have a big impact on our ability to generate the jobs that we need here in the United States.
I'm going to answer one last question.
Christopher?
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, thank you. You just called on Congress not to leave until they resolve this issue over the payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance benefits. Can you say definitively that you will postpone your own vacation until these two matters are resolved? And also, on Iran, we've heard some sharper language from members of your administration about Iran recently. Are you intentionally trying to ramp up some pressure on Iran? And given you've stated that no options are off the table, do we take that to mean that you are considering some other options?
OBAMA: No options off the table means I'm considering all options.
REPORTER: Can you tell us what those options might be?
OBAMA: No.
(LAUGHTER)
But what I can say with respect to Iran, I think it's very important to remember, particularly given some of the political noise out there, that this administration has systematically imposed the toughest sanctions on Iran ever. When we came into office, the world was divided. Iran was unified and moving aggressively on its own agenda. Today, Iran is isolated and the world is unified and applying the toughest sanctions that Iran's ever experienced and is having an impact inside of Iran. And that's as a consequence of the extraordinary work that's been done by our national security team.
Now, Iran understands that they have a choice. They can break that isolation by acting responsibly and foreswearing the development of nuclear weapons, which would still allow them to pursue peaceful nuclear power, like every other country that's a member of the non- proliferation treaty, or they can continue to operate in a fashion that isolates them from the entire world. And if they are pursuing nuclear weapons, then I have said very clearly that is contrary to the national security interests of the United States. It is contrary to the national security interests of our allies, including Israel. And we are going to work with the world community to prevent that.
With respect to my vacation, I would not ask anybody to do something I'm not willing to do myself. So I know some of you might have been looking forward to a little sun and sand.
(LAUGHTER)
But the bottom line is that we are going to stay here as long as it takes to make sure that the American people's taxes don't go up on January 1st and to make sure that folks who desperately need unemployment insurance get that help. And there's absolutely no excuse for us not getting it done.
Keep in mind, on the payroll tax cut, this is something that Democrats and Republicans agreed to last year with little fanfare. And it was good for the economy. And independent economists estimate that for us to not extend it right now, to not extend payroll tax cut, not extend unemployment insurance, would have a significant adverse impact on our economy, right at a time when we're supposed to be growing the economy. So when I hear the speaker or the Senate Republican leader wanting to dicker, wanting to see what can they extract from us in order to get this done, my response to them is -- just do the right thing. Focus on the American people. Focus on the economy right now.
I know the suggestion right now is that somehow, well, this Keystone issue will create jobs. That's being determined by the State Department right now and there is a process. But here is what I know. However many jobs might be generated by a Keystone Pipeline, there are going to be a lot fewer than the jobs that are created by extending the payroll tax cut and extending unemployment insurance. Get it done. And if not, you know, maybe we'll have a white Christmas here in Washington. And I look forward to spending a lot of time with you guys between now and the new year.
All right?
Thank you, guys.
