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House Voting on Paul Ryan as Speaker; GOP Rivals Unleash Attacks on Media; Bush, Rubio Spar During Debate Showdown; China Ends One-Child Policy; Trump Denies Criticizing Rubio on Immigration; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired October 29, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:18] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

We begin this hour on Capitol Hill where the House of Representatives is preparing for a new era. A vote now under way to elect Paul Ryan as speaker of the House. The man he's slated to replace, John Boehner, gave an emotional speech just a short time ago, reflecting on his time as speaker and the first time he came to know a young man named Paul Ryan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I'm especially thankful to all my constituents and the volunteers over the years. That includes a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1990. He was putting up campaign signs for me. His name was Paul Ryan. I didn't think he could pronounce my name back in 1990. He was putting yard signs up for me but us Cincinnatus understood there's a difference between being asked to do something and being called to do something.

Paul is being called. I know he'll serve with grace and with energy, and I wish him and his family all the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Our senior political reporter, Manu Raju, and senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, both covering this bit of history in America.

So, Manu, John Boehner's speech was short and it was emotional. We expected more tears. He had the Kleenex nearby, but like I said, it was emotional and it was effective. What will he do now?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, he doesn't really know. He thinks -- as he noted, this is the first time he has not had a job since he's been about 8 or 9 years old. This is a 65- year-old man. We've asked him that. I had a chance to talk to him about it, too. And he said, look, I don't know. I'm going to take some time off. He's an avid golfer. He's going to hit the links, that's for certain. Actually Republicans gave him a gift -- a parting gift as a golf cart and also a bag of golf clubs. And -- so he's certainly going to do that. But, you know, today is really a ceremonial day. I mean, we're

talking about a changing of the guard, a passing of the torch, if you will. Paul Ryan will get that vote, the 218 votes to become the next speaker of the House.

What was interesting on the House floor just now is that Daniel Webster, who is the conservative from that House Freedom Caucus who was backed by that conservative bloc, the House Freedom Caucus, was not nominated to become the next speaker. He could have been nominated on the House floor, which would have really shown that there was this contingent that was dissatisfied with Mr. Ryan, but they did not nominate him.

So it suggests that this vote that's taking place right now will be very strong in favor of Paul Ryan. He can actually present himself as sort of the unity candidate that he wanted to be when he put his hat in the ring for this job. But I should say, today is probably the best day for him in the speakership. It's going to get very, very hard, very soon, when he's going to have to make key decisions as early as December to figure out how to spend money to keep the government operating past December 11th in addition to things like replenishing the Highway Trust Fund.

Big issues on Capitol Hill. And he's going to have to manage expectations from House Republicans who want to get a lot done but also the realities of governing here in Congress where it's hard to get things through the Senate and also having a Democrat in the White House. So things are going to get pretty choppy from here on out for Mr. Ryan.

COSTELLO: Well, I did want to ask you about that, Jeff, because, you know, as many Americans -- as many of our viewers are watching this today, they're hoping that with Paul Ryan's election as speaker of the House, that things will change, that things will get done, that bills will pass, that there will be more cooperation among lawmakers. Will that happen?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, I hate to sort of be a downer here on this morning of pomp and circumstance here, but no, the short answer is, no, it won't happen at least in the short term. I mean, the reality is, as Manu just said, there is a Democrat in the White House, Republicans now control Congress, of course. So in the short term, I do not expect a lot of bipartisan agreement.

We're in the waning days of President Obama's time in the White House. And do not expect any big deals, any big agreements to come in this final period. Of course, this is happening in the middle of a raucous presidential candidate as we saw last night in the debate here. So Paul Ryan is going to impact, have some time to chart a course on his own as the White House campaign works itself out here.

But I do think that governing will be different. He's a very serious legislator. I do think that he will try and tackle some of those entitlement reforms. You know, some of those things that really are breaking the budget here. So he is a very, very serious legislator, at 45 years old, becoming

the 54th House speaker. But there are going to be some differences. He has a harder conservative edge than John Boehner had. He is not going to be willing to sort of work across party lines nearly as much at least at the beginning.

[10:05:03] But we had a chance to talk to Speaker Boehner just a couple of days ago about his biggest regrets. And he said one of his biggest regrets is not being able to pass comprehensive immigration reform. He tried that, of course, when President George W. Bush was in office, and then when President Obama was in office. He was unable to do that. But Paul Ryan has said that he will not even consider comprehensive immigration reform until there's a new president in the White House.

So that's just one sign of things that things are not going to be all that harmonious between both parties here in Washington -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jeff Zeleny, Manu Raju, reporting, thanks so much.

Let's talk about the big debate last night. Republican rivals came out swinging, unleashing a wave of attacks against each other. Senator Marco Rubio shines while Jeb Bush falls flat.

One of the biggest showdowns of the night, when Bush slammed Rubio's voting record. Rubio scoring major points after fending off that attack.

But the GOP's biggest target may have been the media. Here are some of last night's highlights.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Just resign. And let someone else take the job.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The only reason why you're doing it now is because we're running for the same position. And someone has convinced you that attacking me was going to help.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He was so nice. He was such a nice guy. And he said, I'm never going to attack. But then his poll numbers tanked. He's got -- that's why he's on the end.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNBC DEBATE MODERATOR: The leading Republican candidate when you look at the average of national polls right now is Donald Trump. When you look at him, do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country?

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know, there's few questions I've got, the last one I need is to give him some more time. I love Donald Trump. He is a good man. I'm wearing a Trump tie tonight. Get over that one. CARL QUINTANILLA, CNBC DEBATE MODERATOR: To be fair, you were on the

home page of their Web site with the logo over your shoulder.

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If somebody put me on their home page, they did it without my permission.

QUINTANILLA: Does that not speak to your vetting process or judgment in any way?

CARSON: No, it speaks to the fact that I don't know those --

(AUDIENCE BOOS)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We had $19 trillion in debt. We have people out of work. We have ISIS and al Qaeda attacking us and we're talking about fantasy football? Can we stop?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is not a cage match. And if you look at the questions, Donald Trump, are you a comic book villain? Ben Carson, can you do math? John Kasich, will you insult two people over here? Marco Rubio, why don't you resign? Jeb Bush, why have your numbers fallen? How about talking about the substantive issue people care about?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As you heard there, Senator Ted Cruz ripped into moderators for setting up what he described as a cage match. In the meantime, many pundits actually agree. Senator Marco Rubio was the big winner while Jeb Bush lacked stamina and seemed a little rusty.

CNN's Dana Bash had a chance to ask Bush about his debate performance during an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Your friend and mine, Ana Navarro, just said on our air that she's feeling glum tonight because of the performance that you had and the performance that Marco --

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: I'm running for president of the United States.

BASH: How do you win them back?

BUSH: I'm running for president of the United States. I'm running with heart. I'm not a performer. If they are looking for entertainer-in-chief, I'm probably not the guy. If they're looking for someone that has a proven record of results, 32 years in the business sector and eight years in the most reform oriented, conservative probably in the last 30 years in the country, I'm their guy. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: It was chilly from the start between Bush and Rubio. Notice they did not shake hands before the debate. There they are coming out. Just before the debate. And to think at one time Bush mentored Rubio. They were good friends. But I guess politics -- politics ain't so good for friendship, right?

With me now Ana Navarro, a supporter of Jeb Bush, a friend of Marco Rubio, and a CNN political commentator, and SE Cupp, conservative columnist and CNN political commentator.

Ana, I'll begin with you. What do you make of the relationship between the two men now and does it really matter in the big picture?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I don't know, Carol. If there's anything I hate is psychoanalyzing the relationship between Marco and Jeb. I have known them for a long time, both of them. I've known them both to be friends. I've known Marco to, you know, be a protege of Jeb's. I know that they've supported each other in the past. They're now running for president.

It's getting more intense, it's getting more heated, it's getting more awkward for all of us. But, you know, I'm -- frankly, you know, I have a degree in political science and a law degree. I don't have a degree in psychology.

COSTELLO: I hear you, Ana, I do. So, SE, I'm wondering, though, so Bush is the mentor, Rubio the mentee, did the mentee just kind of dash the hopes of his mention at becoming president of the United States?

SE CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I wouldn't go that far. It's only October. You know, Jeb Bush has a big war chest and can probably go a lot longer in this race than people are sort of hyperventilating about now. But I think last night Marco Rubio certainly not only revealed one of his biggest strengths but did it while pointing out one of Jeb Bush's biggest weaknesses.

[10:10:03] Marco Rubio last night showed that no matter what the attacks, whether they were valid in some cases, valid criticisms or completely illegitimate criticisms, he's not only ready for them, prepared for them, he's going to win the point. Jeb Bush has shown over the course of this campaign occasionally that he's both unready for coming attacks, even things that he should probably have been prepared for, you know, months if not years ago, and has a real difficult time winning the point.

And last night's sparring between Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush over Marco Rubio's voting record was a perfect example. Marco Rubio got the biggest applause line of the night in defending his voting record against the moderators. And inexplicably Jeb Bush decided that was the moment to then go after him on it. So I mean, it was just bad political timing and, frankly, Jeb is just not great in the debates. He's much better on the campaign trail and much better at, frankly, governing. But these moments have to get better for him if he's going to go up in the polls and calm his voters -- his donors down. COSTELLO: Right. And, Ana, you said last night you were glum after

Bush's performance in the debate. Dana Bash asked him about your comment. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You friend and mine, Ana Navarro, just said on our air that she's feeling glum tonight because of the performance that you had and the performance that Marco --

(CROSSTALK)

BUSH: I'm running for president of the United States.

BASH: How do you win them back?

BUSH: I'm running for president of the United States. I'm running with heart. I'm not a performer. If they are looking for entertainer-in-chief, I'm probably not the guy. If they're looking for someone that has a proven record of results, 32 years in the business sector and eight years in the most reform oriented, conservative probably in the last 30 years in the country, I'm their guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ana?

NAVARRO: Well, first of all, he doesn't have to win me back. I am with Jeb Bush and I'm going to be with Jeb Bush. But you know, I think we need both. Yes, the guy I'm looking for is the guy I knew as governor. The guy who was a strong governor, who has the metal, the backbone of steel, who wasn't afraid of disrupting Tallahassee, of changing things, of taking on opponents, of taking on the teachers' unions. That's the guy I want to see on that debate.

When I see that debate, I don't know who that guy is. That's not the man I've known for 25 years. So, you know, yes, the process includes some performance. Yes, the process includes some entertainment.

So, you know what, Jeb, we need to get through the process in order for you to actually get the nomination. So let's just be like a tennis shoe. Just do it.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: OK. SE, I want to switch gears for just a bit and I want you to take a look at what Hillary Clinton tweeted out during the debate. It's actually a giff of her during the Benghazi hearing. Let's put that up on the screen. That's what she tweeted out.

Marco Rubio was not happy about this. Here's what he had to say on ABC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUBIO: First of all, I find it outrageous that she's using video from a Benghazi hearing, a hearing about the loss of four American lives, to put up something trivial like her brushing something off her shoulder. That was a serious hearing about a serious issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: SE, thoughts?

CUPP: I agree. Look, you can't argue that Hillary, you know, didn't have a good day that day. I thought the hearing revealed her to be a liar, but at the same time, she got through it pretty well. I have found the spiking the football after what should be a hearing over a very serious issue to be really offensive. She didn't only do it there. She's done on it -- she did it on the "Rachel Maddow" show, talking about how afterwards she went home, she had Indian food with her family.

I mean, it's a little -- it's not a little, it's a lot glib considering the serious nature of what that hearing was about. Whether you think it was partisan in nature or not, at the root of the hearing is a very serious investigation about very serious charges and failures over which she was overseeing.

So, if I were her, I would take, I would take small win, the small W win off the Benghazi hearing and shut up about it because this kind of stuff is really offensive and she's at risk at turning more people off.

COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. SE Cupp, Ana Navarro, thanks to both of you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a major shift in government policy could lead to a baby boom in China.

[10:14:35]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Chinese couples now have official permission to have more babies. The government today got rid of its highly unpopular one- child policy and said couples can now have two children. The change is in response to China's aging population and not enough younger people to take their place.

CNN's chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour is covering this remarkable shift. Good morning.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And it is absolutely remarkable, though not entirely unexpected because this has been sort of unofficially shifting for the last couple of years. And as you said, it's in response to the aging population, but most importantly, in response to a lack of employment- age population. They need to boost the population that can work in order to keep their engine of growth going ahead. And that is why this is very important. But as you know, this is such an Orwellian situation, that social

engineering that demanded -- you know, in the 1970s just one child per couple. Now it's only two children per couple. You have to apply for it. It's a very, very, you know, different social atmosphere in China than it is around the rest of the world, even in countries that need to, you know, get population growth under control.

[10:20:04] COSTELLO: And you would think, Christiane, that China would have realized that, you know, when you kind artificially govern things, sometimes it doesn't work out right, which is why they're changing the policy. But they're still controlling it with couples only allowed to have two babies now.

AMANPOUR: Well, that's right. I think they're waiting to see the generational impact of what will happen on society and on the economy if couples now get two children, doubling the number of children, obviously, in the country. And, you know, they have realized that this has not been going well over the last several years because a lot of people just simply did not abide by the one-child policy certainly, in the early days, despite the propaganda, and they had to be forcibly sterilized and many women as you know were forcibly underwent abortions.

And there have been really draconian acts that have been committed against women, against families, and now you see the result in dollars and cents. And sad though it is always to say, nothing really changes or moves unless it is measurable in dollars and cents. And now China sees its growth somewhat sputtering and they need a whole new workforce. And they realized they just don't have it. Not to mention, they have all these elderly people, this massive elderly population, that also wears the health care, where are the people to care for this elderly population?

So it's sort of a social economic conundrum that they find themselves in and they are betting now that adding just one child per family might make a difference. But interestingly, many families have not taken advantage of the ability to have one more child. So will it actually work? How long will it take to work? We don't know that.

COSTELLO: Christiane Amanpour, thanks so much.

Checking some other top stories for you this morning at 21 minutes past.

Russian submarines off the East Coast of United States are causing a lot of concern in the intelligence community. It's not clear what the subs are up to, but they've been lurking near sensitive undersea data cables. U.S. officials say they haven't seen this level of Russian naval operations near the U.S. in more than a decade.

A Syrian family marooned inside the Moscow airport for more than 50 days is hoping their attorney can clear the way for them to join relatives already living in Russia. The parents and their four children have been stranded in the terminal after Russia declared their documents were fake. Only recently was the family allowed to sleep at a hotel, inside the terminal. Disgraced former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky in

court this morning to find out if he'll again stand trial for sexual assault. He's already serving at least 30 years for child sex abuse. Today's court appearance revolves around a 43-year-old Boston man who claims Sandusky sexually assaulted him back in the 1980s.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, many pundits agree it was a great debate night for Senator Marco Rubio, but how did the GOP frontrunners fare?

We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:09] COSTELLO: During last night's Republican debate, several candidates made questionable claims, including Donald Trump, who denied attacking another candidate over his stance on immigration.

CNN's Tom Foreman did a fact-check to see if he was telling the truth.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What happened in this moment in this whole debate was that the -- Trump issued a couple of denials of some statements that were made by Becky Quick, the moderator. She asked him specifically about his attacks on Marco Rubio over these special visas for immigrants to come in and work. And he denied ever attacking Rubio, not once, but twice. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY QUICK, CNBC DEBATE MODERATOR: You have been very critical of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, who has wanted to increase the number of these --

TRUMP: I was not -- I was not at all critical of him. I was not at all. In fact, frankly, he's complaining about the fact that we're losing some of the most talented people. They go to Harvard, they go to Yale, they go to Princeton, they come from another country, and they're immediately sent out.

I am all in favor of keeping these talented people here so they can go to work in Silicon Valley.

QUICK: So you're in favor of increasing --

TRUMP: I was not at all critical of him.

QUICK: Where did I read this and come up with this that you were --

TRUMP: Probably -- I don't know. You people write this stuff. I don't know where you --

QUICK: You had talked a little bit about Marco Rubio. I think you called him Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator because he was in favor of the h1-b --

TRUMP: I never said that. I never said that. QUICK: So this was an erroneous article all the way around?

TRUMP: He's got another gentleman in Florida who happens to be a very nice guy. But not --

QUICK: My apologies. I'm sorry.

TRUMP: I bet he's really doing some bad fact-checking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOREMAN: Really doing some bad fact-checking. Twice here he's saying, no, didn't attack Rubio, I didn't attack Mark Zuckerberg. I never said anything about this. So where on earth did she get this idea?

Funny enough, you know where she got it? She got it from Donald Trump's Web site, where he says, "Mark Zuckerberg's personal senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple h1-b," those are the visas we're talking about, that would decimate women and minorities.

The bottom line is Trump tried to bluff her, he tried to do it twice, she called him on the bluff. And she was right. His claim was false.

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

It was a critical test for the Republican presidential candidates. GOP rivals facing off during the third debate in Colorado. The candidates wasting no time taking swipes at one another. This morning many pundits agree Senators Rubio and Ted Cruz shined. Others, though, left something to be desired.

It was a relatively tame night for Donald Trump, but he tells CNN he was happy with his performance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I was very happy with my performance and everybody seems to be very happy with what I did. I think it was much different than the Hillary debate. They were all softballs. This was much different. But I actually enjoyed it. I mean, I had a good time. It was tougher than probably the other debates in a certain way, but I loved it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As for Ben Carson who's leading the pack, listen to how he responds when a reporter asked him about --

(END)