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U.S.: Russian Strikes A "Fundamental Mistake"; IDF: Palestinian Stabs Israeli Soldier; Families, Communities Praying for Missing Crew. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 07, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:13] ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and thanks for joining me. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello. Great to have you with us and the countdown is on this morning.

We are now just days away from the first Democratic presidential debate. And this morning new poll numbers from Quinnipiac University show Hillary Clinton with a double-digit lead in three key swing states. Clinton now ahead of rival Bernie Sanders in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Now when it comes to Republican challengers, Donald Trump still on top gaining traction in Florida and Ohio. And remember, Florida, of course, is home turf for Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush. Rubio is surging somewhat there but right now both are trailing behind Trump and Ben Carson in that state.

Let's bring in CNN's Athena Jones, she is in Waterloo, Iowa, where Trump has campaign stops today.

And, Athena, Trump has to be pleased with these new poll numbers.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Good morning. I can tell you that as much as we've heard Trump talk about polls, we know he follows them very, very closely, surely he's going to be pleased and I bet we're going to hear him mention these latest poll numbers today at this event.

I've got to tell you, these latest polls will give some pause to people who thought that Trump was fading. His numbers had slipped a bit in some recent national polls and his lead has come down to just five points in recent polls out of New Hampshire and right here in Iowa. But now you have these three other states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, where he's clearly out on top and of course as you mentioned, he's leading both Rubio and Bush in their own states in Florida. They are not even in second place. They are in third and fourth. So these are certainly a good numbers as far as Trump is concerned, Ana.

CABRERA: And let's focus on Florida for just a moment because it seems like Jeb Bush is now going after Rubio on his voting record. I want you to listen to something he said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We should cut the pay of elected officials that don't show up to work. I don't know about you, but this idea -- this idea that somehow voting isn't important? I mean, what are they supposed to do? They should go to the committee hearings. They should vote.

The idea that somehow the private sector, when you don't show up to work you get a pay cut. Why shouldn't that exist in state capitals as it does and why shouldn't it exist in Washington, D.C.?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So the truth of the matter is, Athena, Rubio has been absent for a lot of votes, more so than the majority of his other Senate colleagues. Do you think part of Jeb Bush now going after him with this is because he's falling behind in Florida?

JONES: It very well could be. I mean, this is, I guess, you could say it's embarrassing but for both Rubio and Bush to be so far behind Donald Trump in Florida, in their own state. And of course many people thought that Bush would be in frontrunner status at this point. So he's got to do something.

We've heard him mentioning this more and more without mentioning Senator Rubio by name. It's clear that it is a reference to him because as you mentioned Rubio has the highest absentee rate of all senators. He's missed the most votes. So this could certainly be a way to go after him, arguing that he's not doing a good job of representing the people of his state.

I'll tell you, though, that one of our producers, Cassie Spodak, caught up with Senator Rubio in New Hampshire yesterday and trying to ask him about this. I believe we have that clip. Let's go ahead and play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIE SPODAK, CNN PRODUCER: Senator, you said that you wouldn't miss any close race in the Senate but there is a vote on the Defense Bill today that you missed. It was kind of close.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thank you.

SPODAK: Is that your response? Was that a risk to take?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: So there you see Senator Rubio not eager to answer that question. And I should remind our viewers here, Ana, that in the past Rubio has talked about the importance of doing the job as senator and saying, you know, he's got to still do a good job in his current role in order to continue to represent the people of Florida well. So there seems to be a change in tune there and he is not so far answering questions about that. He's probably going to have to answer it and acknowledge at some point soon -- Ana. CABRERA: Definitely Interesting. All right, Athena, thank you very

much.

Let's talk more about this with CNN political commentators, Maria Cardona and Tara Setmayer.

Thanks for being here, ladies.

ANA CABRERA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Ana.

CABRERA: Maria, you can read a lot into the poll numbers and I want to put those back up for our viewers to show these latest numbers from those three key swing states. What you do make of Trump and Clinton leading and by fairly large margins in all three of these states?

CARDONA: Well, it's interesting. It doesn't surprise me that Hillary Clinton is leading because I think she has very strong fundamentals. She has really come into this race. You know, she had come in as a frontrunner but she has never taken anything for granted. She is really working to earn every single vote and that is what she's going to continue to do.

[09:05:07] On the Republican side it's interesting because yes, Trump does continue to lead. But that race seems to be still very much up in the air. I mean, if you talk to a lot of Republican strategists, and I don't know if this is hope more than anything else, but they still say they don't think that Trump is going to be the nominee.

What struck me in these polls most, though, Ana, is that on the Democratic side Clinton and Biden are seen as the ones with the best temperament to be president and to handle an international crisis. That doesn't surprise given their experience. But on the Republican side two-thirds said that Trump does not have that temperament and they don't think that he would be the best one to handle an international crisis.

So again I think that underscores the fact that this is still way up in the air on the Republican side. People are -- when they answer pollsters, they know that they are not choosing their nominee that day. And so that -- what they answer is really all not that consequential at this moment in time. So it's going to move and I think it's going to continue to move.

CABRERA: Tara?

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I found a couple of things interesting about this. The fact that Hillary Clinton gets trounced by Ben Carson by nine points in both Ohio and Pennsylvania. That is fascinating. I think that Clinton campaign -- that's in a general election. The Clinton campaign cannot be happy about that. No presidential candidate has won the presidency without winning two out of the three swing states that were in this, which is Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. And to see that Hillary Clinton lose by double -- almost double digits to Ben Carson is unbelievable. I don't think anyone expected that.

(CROSSTALK)

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Right now Ben Carson is not the frontrunner on that --

SETMAYER: That's right.

CABRERA: You have to get through the primaries before you get to the general.

SETMAYER: True. Absolutely. And Trump, even though he's still leading in those state does not fair as well in the general election. He actually loses to Hillary in -- a bit by small margins. Biden comes in and he actually beats Trump in a couple of places but then when you start looking at Ohio, which is also fascinating to me, that John Kasich, who was supposed to be the favored guy there in Ohio, he's very popular, I think about 65 percent popularity in Ohio. He's way down in his own state and losing. So it is -- as Maria has said, the dynamics of what's going on here in these swing states with Rubio and Bush losing in their own home states, Kasich losing in his home state, to Trump and Carson.

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: It speaks to that conversation we've been having --

SETMAYER: There's a lot of room with outsiders --

CABRERA: That's right.

SETMAYER: They're fed up and they want the outsiders in there. And -- but there is still room. And Trump still has unfavorable, 29 percent of Republican voters said they will absolutely not vote for Donald Trump in both Florida and Ohio.

CABRERA: Yes. He does do well in the category of leadership as does Hillary Clinton.

CARDONA: But let's not --

CABRERA: Maria, just a second. Let me move this conversation forward because I want to talk about a comment that Ben Carson made recently that's ignited a new controversy. Talking about the Oregon shooting. And he said basically he wouldn't have just stood there. Many felt like he was victim blaming. And today he tried to clarify his comments in CBS. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you believe the victims in Oregon just stood there?

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: From the indications that I got they did not rush the shooter. The shooter can only shoot one person at a time. He cannot shoot a whole group of people. And so the ideal is overwhelm him so that not everybody gets killed. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you know who Chris Mintz is?

CARSON: No.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So Chris Mintz is an army veteran. And he was shot several times. He did actually rush the shooter. And he's being hailed as a hero. He actually blocked the door. He saved people's lives so someone in that instance did actually act heroically.

CARSON: And that verifies what I'm saying. That's exactly what should be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now Trump defended Carson on Twitter. Surprisingly Trump coming to the defense of one of his competitors. He says that, you know, Carson was speaking in general terms, not criticizing the victims.

Tara, has the criticism been unfair?

SETMAYER: I think it's been a little overblown. I mean, Ben Carson makes mistakes like this a lot. I think that he was just being honest on how he would feel in that situation. But if I were on his campaign I would have not suggested that he go down this road. The feelings are still too raw. No one knows what they would have done in a situation like that. And in fact you did have an army hero in Chris Mintz.

And Ben Carson should have known his name. If he was going to go down that road he should have been prepared to know Chris Mintz was. He was the guy that actually did go after the shooter, unarmed, took seven shots and lived, and he probably saved many lives as a result of that.

CABRERA: That's his picture there.

SETMAYER: So -- right. And so I think the media is taking it a little bit too far. I don't think Ben Carson was victim blaming by any means. He was speaking in a hypothetical but I don't think it was a responsible way to go. There are a lot of other ways he could have gone down, different road he could have gone down discussing this issue as opposed to that one.

[09:10:01] CABRERA: And Maria, what is your response to those comments we heard from Carson?

CARDONA: And that's exactly the point. When you're running for president you need to realize that you're running for president and that everything that you say is going to be looked at through that lens. What he said was completely unpresidential, and by way, any law enforcement officer would tell you that is exactly not what you should be doing. It did sound like he was victim blaming. So even though yes, none of us really know how we would react in that situation he needs to take a step back and be a little bit more responsible with what he's saying. And I do want to just mention something for on the general election

match-ups because it goes to what Ben Carson was saying. You know, people might like my -- he might make people feel good about these kind of situations when he says things like that, but again, people are not focused on what their vote really means. Let's remember in 2012 in the general election match-up, Mitt Romney at this point was beating Barack Obama. Look how that turned out.

CABRERA: Every word is scrutinized and can really make a difference.

Maria Cardona, Tara Setmayer, we got to leave it there. Thanks to both of you.

CARDONA: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: We appreciate it.

SETMAYER: Thanks.

CABRERA: Let's turn now to the other big political contest happening right now. Who's going to be the next speaker of the House? And for Kevin McCarthy and Jason Chaffetz, along with their fellow House Republicans, their wait is almost over. Tomorrow the party members will make their choice for the next speaker of the 246 Republicans, a simple majority. Just 125 are needed to be the party's speaker nominee.

But then the threshold increases on October 29th and that's when the full House will vote on the next speaker. And 218 votes are needed to win. Chaffetz says Republicans want a fresh face. He says McCarthy, the current majority leader, shouldn't be automatically promoted.

Meantime, McCarthy, he did meet with conservatives last night to tamp down any concerns about his ties to John Boehner. And one attendee telling CNN McCarthy told the group he is his own man and he will run things differently. So we'll continue to follow those developments.

Still to come here today, Russia ramping up airstrikes in Syria and now Defense Secretary Ash Carter is firing back. Why he's calling these strikes a fundamental mistake.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:23] CABRERA: The United States slamming the military action in Syria by Russia. And just moments ago, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter calling Russia's airstrike campaign a, quote, "fundamental mistake."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASH CARTER, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Russia has a wrong strategy. They continue to hit targets that are not ISIL. We believe this is a fundamental mistake.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is now joining us following the story.

Barbara, I understand Russia is not just attacking from the air, but from the water now as well.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Ana. Good morning.

The defense secretary went on to say that the U.S. military would not be cooperating with the Russian military because of what the Russians are doing. Carter wants to have a second round of technical talks with the Russians about keeping that air space safe when they are both flying so there's no inadvertent accidents. But not military cooperation.

Why is he saying this? Well, today, the Russians said that they are beginning naval attacks from the Caspian Sea into Syria. What the U.S. is able to tell us, U.S. officials is the Russians have moved four surface warships into the Caspian. And that gives them a missile path over Iran, Iraq and into western Syria. So, the U.S. watching that naval bombardment very closely. The Russians are also in ground action.

The Russians several days ago moved artillery and rocket launchers on the ground also into western Syria. U.S. officials tell me that now they are beginning to see the Russians fire those weapons in support of Syrian ground action. So, the Russians and the Syrians very much linked up in their ground campaign in western Syria.

Where does this leave the United States? No indication of a change in U.S. military strategy. The U.S. still going after ISIS targets. But a lot of concern, you know, where does it go from here? Because every day the Pentagon is seeing the Russians take one more step forward -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right. Barbara Starr, keep on top of it for us.

And really that whole region is having trouble right now. Tensions flaring in the old city of Jerusalem, as Palestinian and Israeli forces clash over a disputed territory both sides hold sacred. Just a short time ago, two Palestinians were hospitalized, according to a Palestinian group. They were hit with both live and rubber bullets.

And this comes on the news earlier this morning that an Israeli soldier was attacked by a Palestinian who tried to grab his gun. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called off a trip to Germany today because of the violence. He is expected to meet with Jerusalem's mayor Nir Barkat later today.

Earlier, I spoke with the mayor about their meeting and the recent escalating violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

MAYOR NIR BARKAT, JERUSALEM: Well, I've been meeting with the prime minister regularly the last few weeks and we will probably meet again later today. We're going through a period where incitements and using lies, as if though Israel is trying to change the status quo in the Temple Mount, which is not the truth, nothing to do with the truth. Using the incitements to have independent people take naive, butcher knives, kitchen knives and stab people and hurt people.

And this is all coming from the incitement side, from the Palestinian Authority and from other leading -- unfortunately, other leading Arab leaders.

[09:20:06] This has to stop. We have to stop this. Both through discussions in telling the people the truth and security, making sure that our security is upgraded and this is exactly what we've been discussing and doing.

CABRERA: You talk about this wild incitement by the Palestinian side in this conflict. But we have seen some recent photos published that appear to be you carrying a weapon out in open public. What is the thought process behind that?

BARKAT: Well, it is very simply. Many Israelis like me, an ex-combat paratrooper, have a permit, license to carry guns. We know how to use them. And in this case, last night when I sent to see a delicate place where violence occurred, you know, and this is also showing -- showing other residents that -- the ones that do have license and know how to use the guns, you carry your gun for safety and security, for me and for the benefit of people around me. It is very standard --

CABRERA: Does that not incite more violence?

BARKAT: Well, how could that incite more violence? It is self defense pistol. And you use it god forbid if you come into situation that people attack it. It is not used for attack. It is used for security and defense.

This is what Israeli security forces do. And this is what I as many, many other Israelis do.

And just today we had a similar incident where a civilian, well- trained, armed with a pistol, was stabbed in the back. He turned around, used his pistol and eliminated the stabber.

So, I think that unlike -- in many, many places in the world, one of our advantages in Israel, that we have many, many ex-military, like myself, that know how to use guns and know how to use them in a wise way and eliminate terror, eliminate, and defend ourselves. I got to tell you, this is one of the best advantages Israel has, because we know how to help each other and use guns for security and eliminate challenges when they happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Our thanks to Nir Barkat, again, the mayor of Jerusalem on those ongoing tensions and the rising violence.

Still to come, new clues and search for survivors on board missing cargo ship El Faro as loved ones cling to hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This isn't a memorial for anyone, because they are still out there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is more the community to keep that hope to show that we're rooting for them and they are going to get home safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:26:55] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be with them by night and day. For merchant mariners we pray.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Families and communities not giving up hope as Coast Guard crews continue their desperate search for survivors of the missing cargo ship El Faro that is presumed to have sunk. New debris surfacing in the Caribbean overnight.

An update on the investigation in just a moment but first we are learning more this morning about some of those missing. These seven crew members and 26 others were aboard. They road that ship right into a hurricane and among the missing, 34-year-old Danielle Rudolph, a second mate. She emailed her mom ahead of the storm writing, quote, "We are heading right into a category 3 last we checked. Winds are super bad. Love to everyone."

And this is Keith Griffith, a soon-to-be-dad. His wife expecting twins in fact. The couple planned to find out their baby's genders when he returned home.

And Dylan Meklin's family says they are simply trying to remain resilient in the face of such uncertainty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH DYER, DYLAN MELKIN'S AUNT: We're not giving up. We can't. We can't. We have to -- I don't know if it will ever be clear in our minds but no. Nobody's given up yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The NTSB trying to figure out what happened and why.

Alexander Field is with me for the latest on the investigation.

And, Alexandra, I understand the black box or black boxes are really key to try to get some of those answers.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They will be. But at this point they are devoting so many of the resources to finding any possible survivors that we're going to have to wait a bit it seems for them to move these resources and turn the attention to finding the ship and recovering those voice data recorders.

But in the interim, we are learning more about what was going in the days before the ship sank, El Faro. We have heard from the company that owns El Faro, that is TOTE Maritime, and they're now saying that on Wednesday, they heard from were aware of the weather conditions ahead. But he was reporting that the conditions in the area the ship was in were favorable.

The company has said they leave it to the judgment, to the discretion of their captain, to use their judgment in their scenarios. They said the captain had planned to bypass the storm but we know that on Thursday he reported that the ship has lost propulsion. It disabled the vessel in the middle of the storm.

Why did that happen? That's one of the questions that the NTSB says it is on site to try to get an answer to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

T. BELLA DINH-ZARR, NTSB VICE CHAIRWOMAN: Our investigative team expecting to be on scene from 7-10 days. Our mission is to understand not just what happened but why it happened, and to issue recommendations and findings to prevent this from happening again.

We will not be determined the probable cause of the accident while we're here on scene and we will not be speculating about what may have caused this accident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: Ana, as you point out those voice data recorders could be a big part of the picture here in terms of finding answers that the NTSB is looking for. We know the voice data recorder does have a 30-day battery life.