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Biden's Jabs at Clinton May Be Sign of 2016 Presidential Bid; EL Chapo Narrowly Escapes Capture by Mexican Special Ops; Assad and Putin Meet in Moscow. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 21, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[10:00:03] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: 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 claims of escorts, strippers and parties. I'm not talking about just any wild night out. Former players say it's the Louisville basketball program. Was the coach in the dark?

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.

Joe Biden hasn't formally entered the ring, but that formality aside, he's popping some pretty good jabs at Hillary Clinton. And as critical -- and as critical deadlines inch closer, some Biden allies are already lining up to help.

Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has more on that.

Good morning, Jim.

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 a couple of times over the last few days and that the vice president is, in his words, still thoughtfully weighing a bid for the White House. Schaitberger told us earlier this morning his group is mobilizing to

support Biden. We talked to him just a few moments ago, and here's what he said about how Biden's entry into the race would shake things up. Here's what he had to say.

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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. Last night Biden was at a tribute for former vice president Walter Mondale and for the third time in two days, Biden returned to the subtle criticism of Clinton's comment last week at the CNN debate that she considers Republicans among her biggest enemies.

Now he did not directly attack Hillary Clinton, but he did say talk like that from the former secretary of state is, quote, "naive and will not fix Washington." Here's what Biden had to say.

(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 tried to clear up his role on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden, saying yesterday that he supported the president's decision to go after the al Qaeda leader. That is in contrast with what he has said in the past. He has said in the past that he had advised against that operation.

And Carol, interesting, he was also drawing a contrast with Hillary Clinton saying she was not that clear in the situation room as to what to do about Osama bin Laden. No word from the Clinton campaign as to what the vice president is up to these days. And he still has to make that decision. We are hearing from the vice president's office at this point, no decision has been made -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll keep waiting.

Jim Acosta reporting live from the White House. Over on Capitol Hill, the date has been set to elect a new speaker.

Next Thursday, October 29th. But exactly which names will be on the ballot is far from set. Paul Ryan says he is ready to throw his hat into the ring but only if House Republicans agree to a few demands.

Our senior political reporter Manu Raju is following that story in Washington.

Good morning, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I'm standing right outside where Republicans just met. They had a conference meeting. Paul Ryan did not address that conference, but Boehner did announce that next Wednesday, the Republicans would vote to nominate who they want to put up for speaker. And then they also need to put -- that nominee will be on the floor next Thursday where they need to get 218 votes in order to get elected as speaker.

Now Paul Ryan has said by this Friday he needs to know whether the various factions within the Republican Party, within their conference, will get behind him. And that is not clear yet because a number of conservatives, particularly from that House Freedom Caucus, about roughly 40 conservatives or so, are still wary about some of Paul Ryan's demands, particularly one in which he says that he wants to get rid of the idea of eliminating -- of the possibility of introducing a resolution in which you can eject the speaker from the speakership.

Now this is called vacating the chair on Capitol Hill. And a number of Republicans spoke out against Paul Ryan's call to eliminate that resolution and that rule. And here's what a couple of them said, just to me, just a few minutes ago, Carol.

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[10:05:05] RAJU: What do you think of the demands that Paul Ryan is laying out right now?

REP. WALTER JONES (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Well, for many in the conference, particularly conservatives, I think we were very concerned by what he was asking or what he was saying he wanted to do. And I think it's going to create some problems. We'll see as we move forward, but this thing about well, we need to take off the table vacating the chair, that's going to upset a lot of conservatives who quite frankly believe in the Constitution. So we'll see where it goes.

REP. RAUL LABRADOR (R), IDAHO: That's a nonstarter. I mean, that's something that's in the Jefferson's Rules. You know, this is something, if it was good enough for Jefferson, it's got to be good enough for Paul Ryan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now other conservatives in that Freedom Caucus made similar claims saying that, look, you know, the speaker candidate should not be setting preconditions. That's what Justin Amage said to me. He's a Michigan Republican and a leader of that conservative caucus.

Now there are other members who do not lead that caucus who we'll see more supportive of Paul Ryan. They are meeting with him later today, I'm told. They're setting up a time to discuss these various issues. So the question will be whether or not Paul Ryan continues his speakership. If a number of these candidates -- a number of these Republicans refuse to support him because right now they're backing a rival candidate, Daniel Webster of Florida, who's showing no indications as of yet that he's getting out of the race -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju, we'll check back. Thanks so much.

You could characterize Ryan's list of demands as gutsy or protective. I say protective because it seems if he accepts the job, he is determined not to be undermined, although I will say one of Ryan's conditions really stood out.

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RYAN: The last point is personal. I cannot and I will not give up my family time. I may not be on the road as often as previous speakers, but I pledge to try and make up for it with more time communicating our vision, our message.

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COSTELLO: OK. So you can look at that in two ways. You can go awesome, Paul Ryan values family and that means he has his priorities straight. On the other hand, some are rolling their eyes this morning. After all, he works 132 days a year, no five-day weeks, a month's vacation in August, and he holds a powerful position as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee which means he can say those things and suffer no consequences.

With me now, Errol Louis, CNN political commentator, and Christine Romans, CNN chief business correspondent.

Thanks to both of you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome.

COSTELLO: Errol, I can certainly understand why Paul Ryan is saying these things. He lost his father at an early age and he swore to himself he'd be with his kids growing up.

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's right. And as you were describing what his demand was, I saw a lot of heads nodding here in the NEWSROOM. We all have young kids. I have a young kid. And you know, and you really have to -- I mean, literally I'm thinking, I was like, gee, I want to go to Iowa to see what's going on but my kid has music lessons. You know. Paul Ryan is not immune to that.

He's asked to travel not just for fundraising purposes to help some of the members of his caucus, and he is -- he would be asked to do that as speaker. But also to sort of see their districts and to learn about it. You know, what he's saying is, I'm not really ready for that. I don't really want to do that. I didn't take this job expecting to do all of that, and it's a pretty reasonable demand from an employee level sort of perspective.

On the other hand, you know, the people who are the bosses of the speaker, meaning the members who elect the speaker, they're saying now, you're going to have to work a little harder than that.

COSTELLO: But he was going to run for vice president. What about his kids then? I couldn't escape that. But let's put that aside for just a second.

LOUIS: Well, you're going to detail, you get the Naval Observatory.

ROMANS: I think he doesn't want to be stabbed in the back and not have homework time with his kids. There's a lot of conditions on his list. That personal condition, though, really struck me. And here's why. You've got Marissa Meyer, a woman who is in business, a little bit younger than him, this Gen X people at work, right? And she's having her second baby. She's going to work all the way through, maybe take a week off or two weeks off, and she's powering through.

So on the one hand, you have Paul Ryan who suddenly is the face of work-life balance in America where there's a woman of a similar age, who some of us are looking at her going oh, my gosh, is that the standard we have to live up to?

COSTELLO: She actually has a nursery next to her office.

ROMANS: I know. But the thing about Paul Ryan I think that's so interesting is it's a Gen X man who was saying work-life balance has to be key here for me. You mentioned his personal life, that his father died when he was young. He wants to be around for his kids and he wants to be a part of his kids' lives. But I think this is the first generation in Washington that has really been like that.

Can you imagine a greatest generation or a baby boomer man or a woman saying by the way, I would like one of the most powerful jobs in America, except, except I have to be there on back-to-school night?

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Exactly. OK. So he does have a powerful job right now. So that makes me think maybe he'll do something about the childcare issue in this country, right? Or family leave. I'm just going to go over his voting record and I'll ask you about it afterwards, Errol. In 2013 Paul Ryan voted yes on the Working Families Flexibility Act but voted no on paid paternal leave for federal employees.

So if Ryan does get the speaker's job, will he pay attention to such matters, or will he be kind of conflicted?

[10:10:04] LOUIS: I think he'll be very busy trying to hold the Republican caucus together, trying to pass debt ceiling bills and other kind of routine legislation because that's really what this is about.

ROMANS: Yes.

LOUIS: And just a few days after next week's vote, however it goes, we're going to be up against the debt ceiling. And you know, he's already sort of signaled -- you know, honestly, the real problem here is that he's trying to adhere to the Hastert Rule. He will not cross the aisle to try and get the remaining votes that he needs to become the speaker. Unless he's willing to do that over and over again on important legislation, you know, you've got to pull the caucus together. They show no signs of doing that for paternal leave or any other reason.

COSTELLO: OK. So Paul Ryan doesn't have time to think about that. But other lawmakers certainly do. So why, Christine, haven't we seen anyone come forward with some plan that might help women in the workplace?

ROMANS: Sometimes --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Or men in the workplace, too?

ROMANS: Sometimes they argue about how you're going to pay for it when it's federal workers, for example. They are going to -- it's something the White House has wanted but Congress has been really hard to come up to, I think, modern standards. Companies are doing it, though, because it's a pretension.

I mean, look at Paul Ryan, for example. He comes in with a skill set at a time when maybe his party and his country needs him. He goes out there and masterfully says, this is what I want. This is what you -- women and men are doing that right now at the workplace and companies are stepping up.

How many companies have we talked about that have started saying they're going to give paternal leave, paternal leave, they're going to give more time off, flex time off. I think that this move from Ryan with all its political ramifications is just a sign of the times. This is Gen X, they're the grown-ups now.

COSTELLO: I hope so. I hope so.

Errol Louis, Christine Romans, thanks for an interesting conversation.

Happening right now on Capitol Hill, the House Homeland Security Committee is holding a meeting on threats around the world that the U.S. faces from ISIS and other terrorist groups. Scheduled to testify, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and FBI director James Comey.

We'll keep an eye on the testimony and we'll keep you updated if anything happens.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a notorious drug lord hurt while trying to escape. Details on his close call with special ops.

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[10:16:35] COSTELLO: All right. A quick check on Capitol Hill. Republicans are meeting behind closed doors to discuss the speakership role. We're expecting the current House speaker, John Boehner, to pop behind that podium with some sort of statement. Of course, when he does that, we'll bring you back live to Capitol Hill.

In other news this morning, the Mexican drug king known as El Chapo is back on the run. Officials say El Chapo, real name Joaquin Guzman, fell from a clip trying to escape special ops. It's been more than three months since the notorious drug lord broke out of prison. Authorities have since been hot on his heels. It was October 9th in the mountainous regions of Cosala where officials say he fell off that cliff, breaking his leg.

Martin Savidge is in Sinaloa. He joins me now with the latest. Hi, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol. We actually are in a town that I cannot name just for security reasons, both for our own safety and for the security of the operation that's under way.

It is a massive operation to try to find Guzman, by the way. It's being conducted by both the military and by the National Police of Mexico. As you report, they feel they've come close a couple of times. There are many, many checkpoints throughout this area. And that's part of the problem. It's disrupting local life. And then on top of that, there is just the level of general fear.

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SAVIDGE (voice-over): He's Mexico's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and authorities say they're close to recapturing him. We've come to Mexico to try to get a sense of just how close. But it's not easy.

(On camera): For security reasons, we have to keep a low profile because the risk we face include everything from corrupt cops to an army of drug cartel informants who are really looking out for just about everything we do. So sometimes the video or the audio may not be quite as good as you're accustomed to because we're using less than traditional means.

(Voice-over): The danger here is real. Last week officials said they nearly had Guzman, cornering him near a town in the mountains of Sinaloa state in northwest Mexico. Exactly what happened isn't clear, but it was definitely violent. Reportedly Mexican Marines swooped in from the air, getting so close to Guzman, he was injured in the frantic dash to get away. But he got away, much to government embarrassment.

Locals tell a different story. They describe a less precise military strike with helicopters raining gunfire indiscriminately down on homes, vehicles and people. Guzman escaped from a Mexican maximum security prison last July,

literally under the guard's feet through a mile-long tunnel. That isn't out of character for Guzman. Part of his drug lord success is due to his extensive use of tunnels to smuggle drugs into the United States.

(On camera): There's a reason this search is so focused on the state of Sinoloa. It's a place where Guzman obviously feels comfortable and it's where he was arrested before.

In a house not that far away from here and then brought to that high- rise beachfront hotel and kept there for a couple of days until authorities could arrange a safe transport back to Mexico City.

(Voice-over): So for all these reasons, authorities believe they are close, and the area remains on edge.

Everyone here knows it is an all-out effort to find the man called the most dangerous criminal in the world who may be injured, desperate, and possibly cornered. There is a lot that could go wrong.

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[10:20:05] SAVIDGE: And to that end, the new day of searching has begun here. We've got word of one area where it appears that the authorities are focused, and we're going to check that out today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Martin Savidge reporting live for us, thank you.

A surprise meeting in Moscow. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, shaking hands. Officials say the two men sat down to discuss military strategy in Syria.

CNN contributor Jill Dougherty is following the latest developments from Moscow.

So, Jill, this was kind of an odd meeting, a surprise meeting. How did it come about?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: President Putin invited President Assad to come to Moscow, and he accepted. And surprise, surprise, overnight, last night actually, they sat down and they talked. Nobody talked about yesterday, but the news came out this morning complete with the video. So it was a surprise visit. And it's quite high profile as very interesting. So, you know, you have to ask, what are the lessons drawn from this?

President Assad was very thankful for what President Putin was doing. President Putin was talking a lot about some type of political solution. And I think that's the message to get out of it. That what the Russians are trying to show by this visit is the Russian military, the army -- the air force has done a very good job. They have moved ahead. They've helped the Syrian forces against the terrorists, and now you can move forward to something else. That something else, a political solution.

But the question that wasn't answered, and we're not quite sure was even discussed, is what happens to President Assad? Because we all know that that has been the sticking point all along. Does he leave? Does he go? Does he stay? And that was not resolved -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Interesting. I'm just surprised he was able to get out of Syria to go meet Vladimir Putin.

DOUGHERTY: Yes. And that is one of the questions. But don't forget, you know, the Russians now control the Latakia Air Base. Not clear exactly which plane he took, but that part of the country, at least to get out and get to Moscow, apparently is secure enough.

COSTELLO: Sorry to interrupt you, Jill, Speaker Boehner is at the podium on Capitol Hill talking about the speakership. Let's listen.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: And it meets the funding levels that the president requested. Yet the president has vowed to veto it. Why? Because he wants to stop and spend more money on his domestic agenda. It's time to put our troops first. It's time to stop playing political games.

Iranian terrorists soon are going to have access to billions of dollars as a result of the president's nuclear deal. It is no time to block funding for our troops in the critical mission that they have ahead.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), MAJORITY LEADER: Good morning, all. I'll quickly give you a little snapshot of what we have this week. I know we've got a lot going on. A lot of other issues you probably want to talk about. But there's a couple of bills I want to highlight. First, I want to highlight one of the bills that the speaker has fought his entire career for.

Many of you have children and others. It's no longer what you become. It's the opportunity your children have. And there's one unique thing about America that every generation has improved on the generation before it. That we care for those that maybe have less than us. An idea that you have a low-income student doesn't get held back. Has the opportunity, the choice, maybe to go to a private school, somebody else that have income could.

We used to have that here in D.C., something that the -- something that the speaker had worked on. When the president came in, he changed that. So we will pass that bill this week. We'll also take up Tom McClintock's bill to make sure a default prevention act that we do not default on any of the principal or interest payments that we know as America we'd never want to do that.

But there was one bill that you're going to have the chairman come up here from Armed Services, Mack Thornberry. This is a bipartisan bill. It's the National Defense Authorization Act. It has a history of being bipartisan. The speaker did an enrollment sign sending it to the president. Never in the history have where we had a president say he wants to veto a bill of this nature on something that's not even in the bill.

We should never get to the point in this country where we play politics with our troops. This deals with the future. It deals with the security. It also deals with the payment of how we treat them. I know there's problems in Washington. But it should never get that low. I hope the president reconsiders.