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President Obama Speaks To Police Chiefs On Root Of Violence; Potential Deal Hammered Out On Budget And Debt Limit On Capitol Hill; Who Will Be The Next James Bond? Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired October 27, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:00] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's get you back to Chicago and President Obama.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Launching anti-ambush training programs to help keep officers safe. Vice president Joe Biden, a lifelong friend of law enforcement, has an expression he likes to offer. He has an expression for everything. Show me your budget and I tell you what you value.

Well, I tell you what. In my budget proposal, I have asked Congress to increase funding for the cops programs so we can hire even more police officers and make sure you have the training and equipment you need. That's what I value.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: It's in my budget. And I will be honest with you. In the past some Republicans in Congress have tried to cut funding for the cops program to zero. And I have argued that's wrong. It won't make us safer. It's time more folks in Washington started valuing our cops. Not just giving lip service to them.

Now, the good news is the cops program and other programs that your departments rely on to do your jobs may get some relief from the harmful spending cuts that Congress imposed a couple years ago because last night Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together around a long-term budget agreement. I'm pretty happy about that because it reflects our values. Growing the economy and middle class by investing in education and job training that are needed and it keeps us safe by investing in national security. It's paid for responsibly. In part, with a measure to make sure hedge funds pay what they owe in taxes just like everybody else. It's the right thing to do.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And it's an actual bipartisan compromise, which hasn't been happening a lot lately. It locks in two years of funding for budgets that finally free us from this cycle of shutdown threats and last minute patch work fixes. It allows us to plan for the future. And as a consequence will allow your departments to plan for the future. So that's good news for everybody. It's a step forward. And I hope both parties come together to pass this agreement without delay. They have a few days to do it. And then I hope Congress gets right to work on spending bills to invest in America's priorities and they don't get sidetracked by provisions that have no place in America's budget process.

Now, I believe that valuing law enforcement starts with making sure it provides you the resources you need. But I also think it means more than just funding our priorities. Money helps, more police officers help, but we have to do more.

So the second thing you want to focus on is reforming our criminal justice system to make it smarter and fairer and easier for your officers to do their jobs safely and effectively.

Now this is not an easy conversation to have. First of all, we all care about keeping crime rates low and things have been working and so a lot of folks say, what's the problem? But for generations, we have had African-American and Latino communities who pointed to racial disparities in the application of criminal justice from arrest rates to sentencing to incarceration rates and all too often those concerns, no matter how well documented have been brushed aside. And we can't have a situation in which a big chunk of the population feels like maybe the system isn't working as well for them.

At the same time, too often, law enforcement gets scapegoated for the broader failures of our society and our criminal justice system.

(APPLAUSE)

[15:35:15] OBAMA: And I know you do your job with distinction no matter what the problem. That's part of wearing a badge. But we can't expect you to contain and control problems that the rest of us aren't willing to face or do anything about. Problems ranging from substandard education to a shortage of jobs and opportunity. An absence of drug treatment programs and laws that result in it easier in too many neighborhoods for a young person to purchase a gun than a book.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So if we're serious about in protecting our communities and supporting our police departments, then let's invest in more opportunity and let's try to stop more crime before it starts. Let's go after the racial disparities at the root.

One study found that every dollar we invest in pre-K, in universal early childhood education we save at least twice that down the road in reduced crime. Getting a teenager a job for the summer may cost some money, but it costs a fraction of what it will cost to lock him up for 15 years.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: It's not enough to tell our young people that crime doesn't pay if they had no prospects at all. We have to make sure they grow up knowing that hard work and responsibility pay off. And that they have other paths available to them. For those who do break the law, we do have to take a hard look at whether in all circumstances, punishment fits the crime.

I want to be clear about this. Right now America is home to less than five percent of the world's population, but about 25 percent of its prisoners. Now plenty of them belong there. I don't have sympathy for dangerous, violent offenders. I don't have sympathy for folks preying on children. I have two daughters. I care about making sure these streets are safe.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So this is not some bleeding heart attitude here. Violence is real, in this this city and around the country. And I have seen firsthand the devastation the drug trade has brought on to communities and I believe those who pedal drugs need to be pun you punished. I don't think decriminalization is (INAUDIBLE). You know, down in West Virginia you would hear stories of families where these are good folks whose children were getting caught up in drugs and young people suddenly overdosing three or four times, getting caught up in the criminal justice system themselves because they were hooked.

But it's also important for us to acknowledge that our prisons are crowded with not only hardcore violent offenders, but also some non- violent offenders serving very long sentences for drug crimes at taxpayers' expense. And it's important to acknowledge that having millions of black and Latino men in the criminal justice system without any ability for most of them to find a job after release and most of them will be released, that's not a sustainable situation. It is possible for us to come up with strategies that effectively reduce the damage of the drug trade without relying solely on incarceration. We have seen states and local police departments and law enforcement do it. States from Texas to South Carolina --

BALDWIN: We heard a bit from President Obama again speaking on police chiefs both focusing in, you know, on root of violence. We heard him talk before about, you know, mass incarceration, drug abuse, all these issues. He's addressing here talking to law enforcement. You know, no scapegoating, so you can continue watching this at CNN.com.

But I want to move along. He swiped at what's been happening on Capitol Hill and the lack of agreement. Let's talk about that. Just a day before Paul Ryan is expected to win one of the most popular jobs in America, speaker of the house John Boehner gives him essentially a parting gift. A gift that Ryan says, his words, stinks. Many Republicans are livid. We'll get you to Capitol Hill, coming up.

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[15:44:36] BALDWIN: A potential deal on Capitol Hill on the budget and debt limit. Not at the 11th hour, maybe the 10th hour, but at least not totally, entirely last minute. You just heard the president speaking there in Chicago saying he is pretty happy about the deal. Democrats and Republicans getting together. But really, the bigger question is this. Will it pass with some Republicans expressing their anger over this?

So straight to Capitol Hill, we go to our CNN senior political reporter Manu Raju.

What's the latest on the deal? How are the numbers all working out, Manu?

[15:45:04] MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, Republicans are frantically trying to lock down the votes as we speak on the house floor just moments ago during a key vote. A number of Republican leaders are trying to ensure that their members would vote tomorrow in order to pass this bill of the chamber. But they are having a hard time for a variety of reasons.

We're hearing there are some concerns about the policy. There are concerns about this issue of raising the national debt ceiling into March of 2017. A lot of Republicans do not feel like they got enough in return for that. An addition higher spending levels, about $80 billion worth of domestic and defense spending. Folks are not necessarily pleased on this on the right, particularly as they have really pushed to cut spending over the last several years.

We're hearing new concerns about agriculture from a rural lawmaker over the cuts of the crop insurance program. Leaders of the agriculture committee are vowing and threatening to vote against it if that crop insurance program cuts are not removed. And we're also hearing a lot of concerns about the process. And one person who raised concerns about the process, the way this was cut behind closed doors was Paul Ryan. Here's what he had to say earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE: I think this process stinks. This is not the way to do the people's business. And under new management, we are not going to do the people's business this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Yes. And Paul Ryan, of course, distancing himself from this deal. He has not said whether or not he's going to support this on the eve of his speaker's election tomorrow. The Republicans are going to nominate him for the speaker's job, but he wants to make clear this is not his deal. This is John Boehner's deal.

So actually right now, I just saw Ryan walking towards John Boehner's office. He is discussing this issue. But he has not said publically what he's going to do, Booke.

BALDWIN: OK. Manu Raju, on the lookout, thank you.

RAJU: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next, we have seen a lot of actors playing Bond, James Bond. And it might be time for yet another. Could the iconic role change as well? Maybe a gay man, an American perhaps. We'll explore that, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:51:22] BALDWIN: James Bond is back. The epic movie franchise has released its 24th, 24th? That's crazy, installment called "Specter."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Magnificent, isn't she? Zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds. A few little tricks up her sleeve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do one more thing for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you have in mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe disappear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The world premiere was in London last night. The stars were all on the red carpet, including the presiding James Bond himself, actor Daniel Craig. Also there, there you go, the British royals. Can this film top the last, and will it be Daniel Craig's final performance?

Joining me now, Kim Serafin, she is the senior editor of "In-Touch Weekly." It is so great to have you on. Nice to see you.

KIM SERAFIN, SENIOR EDITOR, IN-TOUCH WEEKLY: Yes. Thanks so much.

BALDWIN: Listen, love a good Bond movie. Can't believe there have been so many versions of them through the years. How does bond survive in a post-Daniel Craig era?

SEFARIN: That's the question, obviously. We've been talking about whether Daniel Craig would continue. Even he made some comments around "Skyfall" whether he would come back now for "Spectre." And then obviously, this is just heightened because he made comments about he'd rather slash his wrists than he come back and play Bond again because it's so tough.

BALDWIN: Right. So difficult.

SEFARIN: Making millions of dollars and driving all those awesome cars. But he is now, everyone is kind of just wondering if he will come back. So this started the speculation about who could be the next James Bond.

BALDWIN: And that's what I wanted to talk about with you. Because we've heard from Roger Moore who played Bond seven times and he's been very outspoken being, you know, saying, listen, Ian Fleming wrote a role like this. Let me quote him, "it's not about being because it's been floated a gay man." He says "it's not about being homo phobic or for that matter racist, it's simply about being true to the character."

SEFARIN: Right. And then he just -- his name has been brought up and people were wondering could a black actor play James Bond? Was he too street as the author had mentioned, and that was just a lot of controversy. No, not at all.

And there have been some names, other names floated around, Danian Lewis from "Homeland," Cuba Gooding Jr., Tom Hardy. Even Hugh Jackman made some comments that he had been approached way back, kind of sort of approached.

BALDWIN: Why not? I mean, do people get all funny about, you know, not having someone like a Daniel Craig playing the role?

SEFARIN: There was -- I think on twitter people were kind of starting a movement they wanted David Beckham. I don't think that was serious. But you know, there has been this talk now about could James Bond be played by a woman. If we're really talking about, you know, let's really reach out there, there's this trend now, Sandra Bullock and her new movie is playing a role that was written for a man. You have the new "Ghostbusters" movie with an all-female cast. So this kind of --

BALDWIN: I feel like James Bond -- listen, I'm all for female bad assiveness, can I say that on television? But I feel like female Ghostbusters and James Bond, it is like two different lanes.

SEFARIN: Yes. I don't think people are ready for a female James Bond. Let's have a female writer come up with our own female version of James Bond and we will create that as the legacy. But, yes, I think James Bond needs to be a man. But yes, there's so much speculation about who could be the next James Bond and it could still be Daniel Craig. He's kind of left this floating out there.

BALDWIN: Even though he doesn't want to do it.

SEFARIN: Right.

BALDWIN: I'm sure many, many people would take his place.

SEFARIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Kim Serafin, thank you so much for coming by. I appreciate it.

And next here, quote, "playing" -- here we go, I'm going to say the show again. "Playing like a girl means playing like a bad ass." Who said that? President Obama today about whom? We'll tell you, next.

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[15:59:10] BALDWIN: All right, before I let you go today, I want to read a quote. This is from the president of the United States. It's all part of this big ceremony at the White House today and he said this. He said quote "playing like a girl means playing like a bad ass." Why was he saying this? Well, this is happening, as I said, at the White House during a ceremony for the U.S. women's soccer team that, of course, as you well know fought their way to the world cup title this summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Playing like a girl means you're a bad ass. And perhaps I shouldn't have used that phrase.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You and me both, Mr. President, but it's kind of fun, nonetheless. And he ended with this one, there he is in the middle, massive selfie. Awesome. Congrats again to those ladies.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for being with me. "THE LEAD with Jake Tapper" starts now.