Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

House GOP to vote on Speaker Nominee Tomorrow; Divers Searching for Two Missing People; Doctors without Borders: Bombing is a War Machine; D.C. Weighs Generous Leave Policy. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired October 07, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:29:52] JASON JOHNSON, HIRAM COLLEGE: Well, what Bernie Sanders has to do is simply say, look, we need something new. Now, it's interesting because, you know, they're both fairly old candidates, but Bernie Sanders is going to say I am new. I'm going to bring something new to Washington. Hillary is old guard. She's been in Washington for 20 years. She's part of this disappointing administration.

But here's the catch. It's also going to be interesting to see what do the other three candidates do? Lincoln Chaffee, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley. Are they going to strike at Clinton? Are they going to strike at Bernie? Both of the two front-runners have to be careful as well.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You talked about Clinton really touting her accomplishments, but we've also noticed that in recent weeks she's gone out of her way to highlight her differences from the Obama administration in their current positions, things like issues of Syria. She says she supports a no-fly zone.

She's had differences in talking about immigration and deportations. You know, she came out recently with a stance on the Keystone Pipeline. We're still waiting to hear a specific stance from the Obama administration.

Do you expect her to try and play up her differences from President Obama, and is that a good strategy?

JOHNSON: I think that's a good strategy in a general election. It doesn't really matter now. Remember, it's a Democratic primary. Most Democrats actually like President Obama. So Hillary Clinton doesn't need to say I'm that much different than him.

But should she win the nomination next summer, if she's up against Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush or even Donald Trump, she's going to need to say, look. I'm my own woman, and I'm different from this administration. But right now, I don't think it's necessary.

CABRERA: When you look at these recent poll numbers from Quinnipiac University this morning, while Clinton does lead in all three key swing states -- Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, another thing we learned about in these numbers is that Joe Biden has much more favorable ratings overall when you look at the majorities there. He's looked like somebody who's more honest and trustworthy than

either Clinton or Sanders. He's looked at as somebody who has more empathy for the average person, that he cares about me. He, too, seen as a good leader. How is he going to throw a juggernaut in this race, should he enter?

JOHNSON: I am putting down my foot as the Joe Biden is not running campaign. Ok?

CABRERA: Really?

JOHNSON: Ana, I don't think he's running. And so I think to a certain extent, all of these numbers that show what a fantastic candidate he is, everybody loves the backup quarterback. I mean everybody loves Joe Biden because he's not running. I think if he actually had to run and was held under scrutiny and people look back at him putting together the crime bill in the 90s, what he did to Anita Hill, I think some of these numbers would drop.

So right now, you know, Hillary and Bernie have to focus on each other because Joe is probably not getting in this race.

CABRERA: All right. Jason Johnson -- you heard it here first. He's saying no Biden in the race. Thank you very much.

JOHNSON: No Biden. Thanks.

CABRERA: Just a quick programming note for our viewers. You can catch the first Democratic debate right here on CNN. Again, it's next Tuesday starting at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

Let's go to the Hill now, CNN senior political reporter Manu Raju has been tracking all the latest developments as Republicans are preparing to vote for their House Speaker nominee. He's joining me from Capitol Hill.

Manu, just moments ago, we know the Republican leadership just wrapped up their weekly news conference. They were talking Benghazi right?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: They were. It's really the comment that Kevin McCarthy made last week that shook up this House Speaker's race. In that comment, of course, he suggested that this Benghazi committee was a political committee to go after Hillary Clinton.

Since that time, he had walked that back. But he continues to face questions from Hillary Clinton and Democrats who are seizing on that to suggest that this is clearly an effort, a political witch hunt. But it's something that has given an opening to other candidates in this race. Jason Chaffetz has jumped in claiming that he's a conservative congressman from Utah and he's claimed that he's a candidate who could actually have a message that could deliver to the Republicans their vision for the future.

But what we're learning right now is that McCarthy has really moved behind the scenes to lock down a lot of support. He probably has enough support to be -- to win that critical nomination tomorrow. That doesn't mean, however, Ana, that Republicans are not still on damage control on this Benghazi comment.

Speaker Boehner, Kevin McCarthy were asked about those comments just moments ago. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The committee is about what happened before, during and after a terrorist attack in Libya where four Americans died. The American people deserve the truth about what happened -- period.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have to deal with the debt ceiling here by early November. With that consideration and the gravity of dealing with the debt ceiling and a lot of consternation whether or not we can successfully elect a speaker at the end month, if they are stymied at the end of the month, would you consider and/or commit to staying on?

RAJU: Ok. Now, a key development in the halls just now, we learned that the house freedom caucus of conservative voting bloc is telling us that they will not vote as a bloc tomorrow when that key vote happens to nominate a Republican house candidate for speaker.

[10:34:58] But there's a bigger vote on October 29th to actually elect that speaker where you need 218 votes on the house floor. Those conservatives have not decided how they're going to vote at that point.

So even though Thursday's a key day, this issue, this fight, is going to continue for the next couple of weeks -- Ana.

CABRERA: Very quickly, Manu, you bring that up it's the 29th is the vote with the full house. And if neither candidate has 218 votes and then Speaker Boehner leaves on the 30th, I mean what's going to happen?

RAJU: Well, he was asked at this press conference whether or not he would stay as speaker. And John Boehner said that -- he really dismissed that possibility. He said that, you know, I'm confident someone will get 218 votes, but it's really uncharted territory, Ana.

There could be multiple ballots but if nobody gets 218 votes, maybe they'll have to lead to some deal making on the house floor. It's going to lead to a very dramatic finish if that indeed happens which, of course, is uncertain at this time.

CABRERA: All right, Manu Raju -- thank you.

Still to come desperation in the search for two people missing in that South Carolina flood. We'll go there live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:25] CABRERA: Divers in South Carolina are frantically searching right now for two missing people. The pair apparently lost in the floodwaters after driving around a barricade.

Nick Valencia's in Columbia with the latest right now on the search for these two missing people -- Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana.

Tragic news to report this morning, according to Richland County Sheriff, they are actively searching for two people who are missing. According to the sheriff, they were part of five people who were in a truck -- workers in the area who he says had a reason to be there. They did, though, drive around a barricade and were overcome by some of those floodwaters. So that active search is under way by those dive teams in this area behind me.

Now this -- what you see behind me is the Army Corps of Engineers working actively to stabilize the Beaver Dam. And a short time ago, we heard from the fire chief here as well as the sheriff who says that they don't anticipate any more failure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Filling this dam with rock, and I believe the last count was probably about two tons of rock to just make sure that this dam stabilized and would not breach. And again, early this morning -- even late last night -- as of late last night, they were really concerned about that.

And that's why the release went out, and that's why the phone calls went out, and that's why information went out as far as alerting citizens about this dam.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Those voluntary evacuations have been lifted; there's no active evacuations in this area. We are joined by a resident whose home sits on the bank of this dam. Ryan Turley, how are you doing?

RYAN TURLEY, RESIDENT: I'm doing fine. It's very surprising to see all this in my backyard.

VALENCIA: How has the flood affected your home? Are you planning on leaving? Do you feel safe enough here right now?

TURLEY: I do feel safe because I do feel like we kind of have, like a sort of -- like geo-sort of kind of a bit on a slant on the house. So the water, if, like, you know, the dam goes or whatever's going on, it won't really affect us.

But probably the people that are maybe on the lower part of the bank over there probably might be affected. I'm guessing. But, I mean we've had deputy sheriffs come by and say, you know, you should probably think about evacuating. And, well, we kind of, you know, were kind of like --

VALENCIA: We wish you the best of luck. We hope that you stay safe. This has been a life-threatening storm -- Ana. 15 people have

lost their life throughout the state of South Carolina. Again those two people are missing. An active search is under way. The good news is the weather is much better than it has been in recent days. The sun is out but the locals here -- the government anyway, saying that it is still a volatile situation -- Ana.

CABRERA: It sure is nice to see that sunshine behind you. Nick Valencia -- thank you.

Let's check our top stories now.

An unexpectedly strong typhoon creating rare and deadly tornadoes in China, leaving at least 19 people dead and four more missing. The storm slammed into the southern coast and rapidly intensified, sending those twisters then spiraling into the region. The tornadoes hit houses and other buildings in two different cities.

Ahead of the 2016 Olympic Games, Rio de Janeiro is now boosting security along its beaches. Swarms of robbers have been attacking beachgoers recently, stealing wallets and cell phones. About 700 officers will be posted all along the beaches during the busy weekends.

Washington, D.C.'s council is trying to give families a break. They've proposed a new bill that would offer families up to 16 weeks paid leave, time to bond with a new child or even just take care of a family member while recovering from an illness or military leave. Now, if passed, this would be the country's most generous leave policy. CNN Money correspondent Cristina Alesci is following the story for us. This stuff really caught my attention given the time off.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN MONEY CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. No, this is great news and this is a big deal because we are the only developed country that does not have a federally mandated leave policy. So this is yet another example of cities and states taking matters into their own hands.

We've seen this with the minimum wage, right? That rate has not changed on a federal level, but on a state and city level, we've seen increases pretty much across the board.

Now, this particular proposal would work like this. If you're making $52,000 or less, you would get pretty much all of your salary for those 16 weeks. If you make more, you get a significant portion.

Now, no surprise, the Obama administration is definitely behind this. But here's the thing. How do you pay for something like this? And the only way to really do it is to tax businesses for it.

[10:44:57] And so the business community in D.C. is saying hold up. We can't afford this. This is going to make it harder for us to attract new companies or more expensive for us to operate in the municipality. So, obviously a lot of opposition from the business community. On the flipside, though, I would say that this makes D.C.

companies more attractive to talented workers, right? Because D.C.- based companies are competing with Netflix, with Apple and those companies have very generous leave policies.

CABRERA: When's the vote?

ALESCI: That's in a few weeks.

CABRERA: All right. We'll keep watching. Cristina Alesci -- thank you very much.

And still to come, the fallout from the U.S. airstrike of a hospital in Afghanistan. Why Doctors without Borders is calling it a war crime and what's next in the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:15] CABRERA: Welcome back.

Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has reacted now to the deadly U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan which officials say mistakenly struck a hospital during the fierce fighting in the northern city of Kunduz. Listen to what Secretary Carter said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: For the United States to take responsibility for any mistakes that resulted in the loss of innocent life in Kunduz in recent days. We're conducting a full and transparent investigation and will make the findings of that investigation known as they are found and we'll hold accountable any responsible for conduct that was improper in this connection.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to give you a better sense of this place. I mean, this hospital was there for about four years before the airstrike. These are some of the images of the hospital before the airstrike happened. The attack killed 12 medical staff, at least 10 patients.

Now, the president of Doctors without Borders has called the bombing a war crime and has requested an independent investigation. All this as a top U.S. commander has recommended the President go ahead and revise his plan for withdrawing U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The majority were set to come home at the end of this year. That may not happen now.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Kabul with more details -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ana, you have about 9,800 U.S. troops in country right now. By the end of 2016, that was supposed to be drawn down to about a thousand. But what General Campbell has said now is, look. There are many, many Taliban sort of areas of control and influence where they're contesting with the Afghan government around the country, more places than there were a few years ago. That's a change.

Plus you have al Qaeda coming into the country. You have ISIS coming into the country -- thousands of them. You have more militants coming in from Pakistan. The picture has changed, he says, since these sort of drawdown assessments were first made. So he is re- looking at that right now.

Of course, you have the situation in Kunduz where the hospital was struck. Doctors without Borders are saying that the strike against the hospital is essentially (inaudible) the Geneva Conventions. They believe that this amounts to a war crime.

It's not a mistake, they say, can't be swept under the carpet. This is how the president of Doctors without Borders explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JOANNE LIU, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: It is unacceptable that the bombing of a hospital and the killing of staff and patients can be dismissed as collateral damage or brushed aside as a mistake.

Today, we are fighting back for the respect of Geneva Convention. As doctors, we are fighting back for the sake of patients. We need you as members of the public to stand with us to insist that even wars have rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: What they want to do is to use the Geneva Convention, the international humanitarian fact-finding commission that was set in place by the Geneva Convention, to investigate situations like this to be the impartial international body to do the investigation because it's really quite simple, what they say.

It's not about a legal case. It's for them to know because they say they observe the rules of engagement. They go into conflict zones across the world with their eyes wide open but on the basis that they can do it in a safe way.

They say, you know, if the rules of engagement have changed, the United States' interpretation or the Afghan army's interpretation has changed. That's something they need to know and understand. So all that needs to come out. That needs to be put on the table. Then they say as Doctors without Borders, they can decide can they go into this situation, or do they need to reassess the way that they operate -- Ana.

[10:54:18] CABRERA: All right. Nic Robertson, thank you. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Let's get one last check of top stories.

Another scary incident involving a pilot getting sick midflight and this time a United Airlines co-pilot passed out about an hour after takeoff. Now, the plane was forced to make an emergency lending in New Mexico. It's still unclear exactly why the co-pilot got sick, but he is said to now be OK. The scare comes just after that American Airlines pilot died of an apparent heart attack midflight earlier this week.

Fiat Chrysler workers say they're planning to strike by midnight tonight. That threat comes after workers rejected a tentative deal over wages. Now, if the strike happens, it will be the first in the industry since 2007 and would affect around 40,000 workers.

It seems that a merger between the two biggest beer makers in the U.S. isn't going to happen after all. Miller has rejected a $104 billion offer from rival Anheuser-Busch. A Bud/Miller combination would have been the world's largest brewer by far.

And a New York state attorney general is now launching an investigation into two leading fantasy football sites, DraftKings and FanDuel. Now, this comes after allegations that the employees cheated by playing at each other's site essentially taking part in insider trading. Officials are looking into whether they gained an unfair financial advantage in a game known as daily fantasy football.

[10:59:58] That's going to do it for me today. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Is ISIS trying to build a nuclear bomb? A sting operation targeting gangsters raised as --