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Presidents Assad, Putin Meet in Moscow; Report: GOP Braces as Trump Support Grow; Paul Ryan Sets Conditions on Speaker Run; Hillary Clinton Prepares for Critical Testimony; Joe Biden Takes Union Support. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired October 21, 2015 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:02] CUOMO: The bride and the mom went together.
CAMEROTA: That's it.
PEREIRA: Lemonade out of lemons.
CAMEROTA: Indeed.
PEREIRA: I love it.
CUOMO: Purpose out of pain.
PEREIRA: Yes.
CAMEROTA: Time now for "NEWSROOM" with Carol Costello.
Good morning, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much.
NEWSROOM starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: If I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve.
COSTELLO: Ryan's ready to run for House speaker. But only on his terms.
RYAN: I cannot and I will not give up my family time.
COSTELLO: Will the GOP agree to his list of conditions?
Also, Syria's president pays Putin a surprise visit. Assad's message, thanks for the airstrikes. But what's next for his war-torn country?
And --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just need justice. COSTELLO: A church musician shot by a plain clothed police officer on
the side of a road.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As the officer exited his vehicle he was suddenly confronted by an armed subject.
COSTELLO: But there is no dash cam, no body camera. So will Corey Jones' family get answers?
Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
Do you know what today is?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR, "BACK TO THE FUTURE": When are we?
CHRISTOPHER LLOYD, ACTOR, "BACK TO THE FUTURE": We're descending towards Hill Valley, Californian, on Wednesday October 21st, 2015.
FOX: 2015? The future. Unbelievable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Ah, October 21st, 2015. "Back to the Future" day. And I've got to say, I'm jealous of Marty McFly. He got to see the future. But what about us? If only we could hop into a DeLorean because right now the future for three Washington power players is in flux. Will Biden run? Will Clinton satisfy her critics in her Capitol Hill testimony? And will Paul Ryan be the next speaker of the House?
Our CNN team may not be able to see into the future but they've certainly got the present covered.
Let's look ahead to the speaker's race first and for that we turn to senior correspondent Manu Raju, he's in Washington. Good morning.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. I'm standing right outside the House Republican conference meeting where it's typically a regular meeting, the Republicans gather. But there's no more regular meeting after the disarray that we've seen in the last couple of weeks following John Boehner's sudden decision to resign.
Paul Ryan of course scrambled that calculus last night when he said he would run but he said he would do that under one condition, that the various factions of the Republican conference decide to ultimately get behind his candidacy.
Today all eyes are going to be on the House Freedom Caucus. A group of roughly 40 conservative who torpedoed Kevin McCarthy's bid to succeed John Boehner. The question is, will they do the same to Paul Ryan?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN: I have left this decision in their hands.
RAJU: The ultimatum is set this morning by Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan.
RYAN: This is not a job I've ever wanted.
RAJU: After days of the hand-wringing by House Republicans essentially backing him into a corner.
RYAN: I think our country is in desperate need of leadership.
RAJU: The 45-year-old former vice presidential nominee is stepping up, saying he's willing to replace House Speaker John Boehner. But not so fast. Ryan says if and only if the three largest coalitions in the GOP House back his candidacy and agree to the following conditions by Friday. Ryan demanding that first the Republican Party goes from, quote, "an opposition party to being a proposition party."
RYAN: We think the nation is on the wrong path. We have a duty to show the right one. Our next speaker has to be a visionary one.
RAJU: Second, Ryan appealing to the House Freedom Caucus, requested update to House rules making it harder to overthrow a sitting speaker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have the Freedom Caucus and where you have the grassroots, they are concerned about Paul Ryan's past.
RAJU: Alabama Republican Moe Brooks, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, says, quote, "There is growing concern in my district because of amnesty in open borders immigration position.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I think Paul would be a great speaker. I think he's got the skills to do the job.
RAJU: Still, time is running out as Boehner makes it clear he wants out soon.
BOEHNER: I expect to be out of there by the end of this month.
RAJU: Well aware of the hundred-hour workweek Boehner says he frequently clocks in as speaker, Ryan's last condition concerns his wife and three children.
RYAN: I cannot and I will not give up my family time.
RAJU: A family he does not want to let down.
RYAN: My greatest worry is the consequence of not stepping up. Of some day having my own kids ask me, when the stakes were so high, why didn't you do all you could do? (END VIDEOTAPE)
RAJU: Now the -- now the question is going to be right after this meeting whether or not any more members of the House Freedom Caucus are ready to get behind him. So far they are backing a rival candidate, Daniel Webster of Florida, who's been running in this race since the day Boehner resigned. Webster has signaled he is not going to drop out of this race even though Ryan is trying to get the conference behind him.
[09:05:13] These meetings will continue today, Carol. We'll see whether or not Ryan will move closer to announcing the speaker's bid or whether or not he may drop out by the end of this week -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back with you. Manu Raju, reporting live from Capitol Hill.
Today Hillary Clinton will be off the campaign trail and focusing on what could be the biggest threat to her presidential bid. She's preparing for tomorrow's all-important appearance before a House committee investigating the deadly Benghazi attacks. And one member of the panel says expect fireworks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARTHA ROBY (R), BENGHAZI SELECT COMMITTEE: Specifically, though, to your question is, what may we have learned? Well, I would say to you and everybody watching, stay tuned. Please watch the interview tomorrow with Secretary Clinton because I believe that you will see that there are documents that we will be able to ask her questions about for the first time. And that is very important to be able to fill in the gaps about the information that we currently do not have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar, live in Washington, with a new counteroffensive launched on Mrs. Clinton's behalf. Good morning.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, Carol. It really is this multi-front attack the Democrats are aiming at House Republicans who are on this Select Benghazi Committee. And actually today, this is really the latest volley in it. This is a book and it's called "The Complete Guide to the Benghazi Select Committee." This is put out by Correct the Record, which is -- it's a super PAC and the one that's really tasked with backing up Hillary Clinton when it comes to messaging.
It's helmed by David Brock, who is one of the chief defenders of Hillary Clinton, and in this it attacks the committee on really a number of areas. The cost that it has -- the cost to taxpayers. But also it even kind of digs up dirt on individual Republicans who are on this committee. So you have this.
Also we've learned that tomorrow as Hillary Clinton testifies before the committee, which is expected to take several hours, if her testimony back in 2013 before Congress is any indication. There is going to be a war room at the super PAC staffed by 30 employees who will be responding to any sort of attacks that may be happening in real time. We also understand that the anti-Hillary Clinton PACs will be doing something similar.
And then for the Clinton campaign, she right now is gearing up, getting ready preparing for this big day, because she's had a good couple of weeks here and her campaign is looking at this moment and they want to make sure that it doesn't stymie her momentum. The campaign enlisting surrogates trying to encourage them to say that this is just a partisan charade and that Hillary Clinton is testifying to honor the four Americans who were killed in Benghazi.
COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar reporting live from Washington.
Another potential challenge to Hillary Clinton's campaign -- Joe Biden. The vice president is showing new signs that he's ramping up to campaign against her. And as critical deadline looms, some Biden allies are already lining up to help.
Senior White House correspondent Jimmy Acosta has more on that. Good morning.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Vice President Joe Biden appears to be beefing up his potential ground operation by lining up the support of the International Firefighters Union. The group's president Harold Schaitberger says he has spoken to Biden in the last few days and that the vice president is in his words thoughtfully weighing a bid for the White House.
Schaitberger told us earlier this morning in an interview that his group is mobilizing to support Biden. Here is what he told us just a few moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAROLD SCHAITBERGER, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS UNION: We wouldn't be preparing to get into this campaign and to be prepared to support his candidacy unless we were operating on the assumption that he is preparing to offer his candidacy and himself to the American people. I think there is a long way to go. There is a lot to take place in the political arena. There will be a lot of movement up and down. And I don't think it is time for anybody to be counting their chickens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now Biden is also sharpening up his not-so-veiled criticism of Hillary Clinton, sounding more like a candidate every day. Take last night. Biden was at a tribute for former vice president Walter Mondale and for the third time in two days he returned to the subtle criticism of Clinton's comment last week at the CNN debate that she considers Republicans among her biggest enemies. Without attacking Clinton directly Biden said talk like that from the
former secretary of state is, quote, "naive and will not fix Washington." Here is what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The other team is not the enemy. If you treat it as the enemy there is no way we can ever, ever resolve the problems we have to --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now Biden also has tried to clean up his role in the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, saying yesterday that the president went ahead with a decision that he supported. That he supported the president's decision to go after the al Qaeda leader.
[09:10:12] Carol, that is different than what Joe Biden has said in the past. He has said in the past that he had advised against that operation. But it is interesting how he's trying to draw the contrast with Hillary Clinton. He said yesterday that Hillary Clinton was not so clear in a recommendation on Osama bin Laden. Hillary Clinton has said she supported that mission to take out the al Qaeda leader.
So interesting to see Joe Biden really sharpening his arrows just in case he jumps into this race -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right, Jim Acosta reporting live for us this morning.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a big thank you for Vladimir Putin? Syria's Assad makes a surprise visit to Moscow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Europe and the Middle East this week to discuss the violence in Israel.
[09:15:00] Kerry is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Germany and later have talks with the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
In the meantime, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon just met with both leaders and is urging them to reach a peaceful solution. All of this after officials say eight Israelis and more than 40 Palestinians have been killed in recent weeks.
Also, a surprise meeting in Moscow. Syrian President Bashar al Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin shaking hands overnight. Officials say the two sat down to discuss military action in Syria.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is following the story. He has more for us.
Hi, Nick.
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, remarkable symbolism really of Vladimir Putin's desire to stamp his authority on the Syrian war here. Russian forces behind advances of the Syrian regime. But have happened and maybe ongoing, particular towards the most populous city of Aleppo. That's causing havoc on the ground for civilians.
But that visit to Moscow, perhaps the first made by Bashar al-Assad since the unrest in Syria began back in 2011, all about showing how Moscow feels it has the upper hand here. The smiles, the thanking Vladimir Putin for the aide that Syria has got from Russian military here. it's Vladimir Putin's way of saying to the west, well, you don't want to get your hands dirty in Syria? Well I do. And I'm winning.
We don't know if perhaps during this meeting, Bashar al-Assad got a bit of bad news, perhaps he was brought there to be told he has to move aside, unlikely though because I think at this stage, the Kremlin feel their ally Mr. Assad is moving forward, is regaining territory. They have been very clear their strikes they feel are successful to what they refer to as terrorists, or the West will refer to many of those people they're hitting as, in fact, moderate rebels they're, in fact, backing.
It's an extraordinary seismic event for this four-year long war here. Russia intervention and this flight to Moscow with Bashar al-Assad extremely complex as it would have been for that Syrian president to leave Damascus and somehow get to Moscow. We don't know quite how it happened, high stakes, perilous journey indeed. It may actually only announce this when they got back safely to Damascus is that dangerous potentially. It's a big moment indeed in terms of Moscow showing how much in control they feel they are now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Fascinating.
Nick Paton Walsh reporting live for us. Thank you.
Checking some other top stories this morning at 17 minutes past.
In New Mexico, an apparent road rage incident ends with the death of A four-year-old girl. Police say the child was shot and killed on I-40 in Albuquerque. Conflicting witness statements about the other car involved have left police without any suspects.
El Chapo back on the run after falling from a cliff trying to escape special ops forces. Mexican officials say the fugitive drug lord broke his leg and bruised his face earlier this month. They say his bodyguards carried him away into a nearby force. He's been on the run since July after that daring escape from a Mexican prison.
COSTELLO: And a judge is calling it one glorious incident of screwing up. A Denver man sentenced to two years of probation after running onto the tarmac and trying to stop a plane from taking off. Get this -- he was late for his flight. He says the flight crew closed the door early so that's why he ran out onto the tarmac. He also faces 100 hours of community service and will have to pay an $11,000 fine.
Still to come on the NEWSROOM: are Republicans about to take one of their own? How the GOP is targeting Donald Trump. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:22:45] COSTELLO: Take a look at the headline on "The Washington Examiner", a conservative online newspaper. Here it is, "Panicked establishment gets ready for war against Trump". Yes, mainstream Republicans and even more conservatives are trying to figure out how to topple Trump?
"RedState", the conservative blog, asks this, quote, "It is a question every supporter of every candidate should be able to answer if they consider themselves a thinking voter instead of a mindless, drooling sports fan. The quest is this: what hypothetically would Trump have to do or say to cause you to stop supporting him?"
Here's a reminder of some of the things Trump has said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When Mexico sends its people. They are not sending their best. They are not sending you. They are not sending you. They are sending people that have lots of problems.
And they are bringing those problems with us. They are bringing drugs. They are bringing crime. They are rapists.
He's not a war hero.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK? I hate to tell you.
She gets out and starts asking me all sorts of the ridiculous questions, you know, and you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.
I have great friends that are Muslims. They're great people, amazing people. And most Muslims, like most everything, I mean, these are fabulous people. But we certainly do have a problem. I mean you have a problem throughout the world.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: What's the problem?
TRUMP: Well, you have radicals that are doing things. I mean, it wasn't people from Sweden that blew up the World Trade Center, Jake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So, Trump said all of that. And he's lived -- more than lived to see another day.
With me now, Jason Johnson, Hiram College political science professor, and John Avlon, CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast".
Welcome, gentlemen.
JASON JOHNSON, HIRAM COLLEGE: Good to be here, Carol.
JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: Nice to have you here.
So, John, "The Washington Examiner" says some of the GOP stalwarts are preparing to do whatever it takes to bring Trump down. What exactly does that mean?
AVLON: Well, I think it means you are going to see some of the big donors and the responsible Republicans and former Republicans trying to form a coalition that can topple Trump. But the reality is this: Donald Trump has been at the top of GOP polls for more than 90 days now.
So, it would be naive for anyone to think he doesn't have a shot at being the nominee anymore. Whether he can win the general election is a totally different story, and that obviously is a Titanic, a Hindenburg-type proposition.
So, some folks are going to try to stop that off of the pass. It makes sense.
COSTELLO: So, how would they do is that? Would they run negative ads against Trump, their own candidate?
AVLON: Well, you have already seen the Club for Growth, one conservative -- fiscal conservative activist group do that in Iowa and other places. I think you'll probably see more of that.
COSTELLO: OK.
So, Jason, I'm not sure any of that will work because supporters are behind trump 100 percent no matter what. Listen to what one supporter said just the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: How do you feel that he's making statements like that?
GARY LABOMBARD, TRUMP SUPPORTER: If Donald says it, I take it. That's how much I believe in him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So this man, this particular man, Jason, this particular man is 70 years old and he's never voted before. But he's going to cast a vote for the first time for Donald Trump. So, he's -- go ahead your thoughts.
JOHNSON: This is both the strength and the weakness of Donald Trump, right? He says great things. I don't think -- I sort of agree with John here, Carol. I don't think negative ads are necessarily going to hurt Trump that much. He's on TV so much. He's so witty, he's so good off the cuff that most negative ads he can counter them by getting on television the next morning.
But the issue is a lot of his voters are not traditional voters. They're not people who have come out on the regular basis. And ultimately, they're not the kind of people who go out and argue for six and a half hours in a empty church basement in a caucus. So, the question is going to be, not whether Trump can stay high in the polls, but whether or not he can get the kind of people who have to be dedicated to win a caucus, because it's completely different game than a primary.
COSTELLO: OK. So, well, consider this, John, David Gergen said the other day that right now, Americans are more interested in substance and that eventually, Trump's flip-flops on substantive issues could sink his candidacy. For example, Afghanistan, Trump told yesterday he approved of sending troops to Afghanistan to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda, which contradicted his earlier assertion that sending troops to Afghanistan was a mistake.
So, will those kind of things resonate louder with voters, John?
AVLON: I don't think so. Look, you know, as Jonathan Swift once said, you can't reason people out of something they weren't reasoned into. And the gentlemen you just had on air, clearly, it is this isn't about reason. It is about identification. It's about emotion.
I think, what's clear is that Republicans and indeed the country needs to take Donald Trump's candidacy seriously right now, even if some of his supporters aren't necessarily thinking their way through the process. And simply hoping or believing it will evaporate before the nomination certainly doesn't seem to be rooted in any trend we've seen.
Now, when it comes to general election debate at that point when people really start focusing and making "compared to what" decisions will that serial record of flip flops and complicated, confusing disturbing statements start to make an impact? You're damn right, it will.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I'm just laughing at the end of your statement there, John.
So, Jason, Donald Trump there is no doubt he's a serious candidate. So, is it time to consider whether he might indeed make a good president?
JOHNSON: Oh, well, I think we can consider that already. The answer would be no. Unequivocally no. He'd be a terrible president.
I mean, first off, if you spend the vast majority of your time insulting huge swaths of people, refusing to engage with other groups of people, having neo-Nazis and the Klansmen cheer at your rallies and you don't say anything about them, Trump has demonstrated that he lacks all of the soft skills necessary to actually be a functional president.
But since when have primary voters necessarily cared about that. That is something for the general election to worry about. And I think that is why Republicans are worried. I think they realize that Trump could actually win this nomination. But does he actually have the skills to do this job?
Many smarter, much more capable and nicer people have tried, and they failed and they don't see those skills in Donald Trump at all.
COSTELLO: OK, John, last word.
AVLON: Carol, let me just add though -- OK, listen, Trump's success to day though there are things to learn. In part his brashness, his unpolitical correctness is repudiation against inefficiency and ineffectiveness of Washington. That is something a reform candidate, a real candidate can learn from and tap into. He's also taken unorthodoxies like carried interest and other things and move the party massively on issues that seem to be sacrosanct.
There are things you can take from Donald Trump's campaign and take it seriously and translate to a credible candidate come a general election.
COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. John Avlon and Jason Johnson, thanks to both of you.
This just in to CNN: We have just heard that an election for the House speaker will be held on October 28th. As you know, Republicans are meeting right now to talk over the Paul Ryan thing because Paul Ryan laid out a list of requirements if he indeed will run for speaker of the House. We don't know how that turned out.
But we do know that there will be election for speaker of the house on October 28th. We'll continue to ferret out information and, of course, we'll pass it along.
