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Biden Kids off Diplomatic Trip; Infighting Continues on Capitol Hill; Kate Bedingfield is Interviewed about Biden's Agenda; Biden Met with Pope. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired October 29, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:00:41]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning. I'm Erica Hill in New York.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto, live in Rome, just yards from the border of Vatican City. And, of course, in front of the beautiful, the majestic St. Peter's Basilica.

Just moments ago, President Biden and his motorcade left St. Peter's after meeting with Pope Francis. This on the first day of a critical five-day diplomatic mission across Europe.

This, of course, his second international trip as president, as commander in chief. The president has a challenge here to convince allies that the U.S. can still lead, that the U.S. is truly back and ready to lead on the world stage on climate change, the world economy, the pandemic response, and the growing threat from authoritarian regimes around the world.

This morning, we should note, a deeply personal moment for this president, meeting with Pope Francis. Of course, President Biden, the second U.S. president to be a Catholic, but someone who has a deep and long relationship with Pope Francis. This is the moment before they sat down for a closed-door meeting. The two men kept it light with smiles as they greeted each other, both laughing and joking.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And with your permission, I'd like to be able to give you a coin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language).

BIDEN: It has the U.S. seal on the front.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language).

BIDEN: What's different with this coin, usually, but I know my son would want me to give this to you because on the back of it I have the state of Delaware, the 261st unit my son served with.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language).

BIDEN: Now the tradition is, I'm only kidding about this, if next time I see you, you don't have it, you have to buy the drinks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, boy.

BIDEN: I'm -- I'm the only Irishman you've ever met who's never had a (ph) drink.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language).

POPE FRANCIS: (speaking in foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BIDEN: I know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Lots of laughs. Many smiles. Of course, those who served in the military, have family who served in the military, will be familiar with those challenge coins given by units and Biden giving one there to the pontiff, noting that it notes the unit that his son, his late son, Beau, served on.

This is quite a moment because they have a long history going back. The president, as vice president, met with Pope Francis a number of times. We should note this meeting unusually long, 90 minutes long, the longest for a world leader, including U.S. presidents in recent memory. Obama met with Pope Francis for about 50 minutes. We saw President Trump meet for about 30 minutes.

We just have a statement from the White House noting what they discussed, climate change, very close to the heart of this pope, but also the global pandemic. We know this pope has been pushing the U.S., pushing the president to share vaccines with the developing world more broadly now.

Moments from now, President Biden will sit down with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and next hour a crucial moment, a long awaited, perhaps tense face to face with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. This follows a very public spat with France after the U.S. replaced, in effect, France's deal for nuclear submarines, for submarines with Australia, with its own U.S.-led nuclear deal, to sell nuclear submarines there. Essentially undercutting France's relationship.

It was quite a moment this morning. You saw it, Erica, in the rapport that they had. The White House said they had great rapport and a very warm 90 minutes between the U.S. president and Pope Francis.

HILL: Yes, and you could see some of that warmth in those moments that we just saw there as well.

SCIUTTO: Yes. HILL: Of course, meantime, here at home, Jim, despite President Biden's big final push on Capitol Hill, just about 24 hours ago, the president clearly saying to the Democratic caucus not only are there majorities on the line, but his presidency was on the line as well. Here we are, again, Friday morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of course, warned her party not to embarrass the president.

[09:05:04]

Democratic lawmakers, though, again, delaying that vote on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Progressives holding firm, they will not vote for infrastructure unless the larger social safety net package moves in tandem, saying just a framework for that spending bill is not enough.

SCIUTTO: Joining us now, CNN chief White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who's also with me here in Rome. Also CNN congressional correspondent Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill.

Kaitlan, if I could begin with you. Of course events back home in Washington, the failure to get that spending deal over the finish line, making big headlines here. But the fact is, this president, and these world leaders, have a lot of things on their list for the G-20. Top of that list, climate change, also the pandemic response. Tell us the latest with the president's morning and going forward this weekend.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he's basically kicking off a marathon of diplomacy and diplomatic meetings that he has got over the next several days as he is on this six-day trip, his second trip abroad.

And we should also note, this is the first time the G-20 has actually met in person since 2019. Obviously disrupted by the pandemic. This was the first time you're seeing all of these world leaders come together.

So, President Biden is far from the only world leader who has some issues on his plate. All of them are dealing with their nations and the state of coming out of the pandemic, dealing with the aftermath of it, of course, ranging from vaccinations to the economy in their own nation. So it's not like these issues that President Biden is having are unique to him.

But, of course, he is having these issues back at home within his own party as he was trying to kind of mend that ideological divide within his party over his agenda. And really the standards that have been set here of what this means and the impact it could have on the president's trip here have been set either by the president, by his top aides or by Democratic leaders because, Jim, you noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has -- had warned her caucus not to embarrass the president by voting down his agenda as he was on his way here to Rome. Of course we know that vote ultimately did not happen last night as some Democrats had hoped that it would.

But President Biden himself has set the stage here to have a high standard that he is coming into this without a firm agreement from Democrats on his climate agenda because he was the one telling lawmakers privately the prestige of the United States was on the line when it came to that. And so what you heard from one of his top advisers today, Gina McCarthy, a top climate adviser to the president, was saying that what the president laid out yesterday with those hundreds of billions of dollars to help curb climate change, that shows where the United States is headed in their view.

But, of course, the question is whether or not other world leaders questioned the commitment to that given we already know in the bigger picture they are looking at how quickly the U.S. presidency can come and go. And, of course, as we saw with former President Trump, how it can often -- or at times disrupt those alliances that they all rely on.

SCIUTTO: To be fair, and you mentioned it, $550 billion, more than half a trillion dollars to climate measures, which the U.S., the administration believes could cut U.S. emissions by some 50 percent by the year 2030. Does a framework commitment to that, though not a signed deal, signed legislation with the letter of the law, is that enough to convince world leaders that the U.S. can meet its commitments at this summit?

COLLINS: I think that's a big question that's facing these world leaders. And we'll see what they have to say about it when they're at this international climate conversation conference because what the White House wanted to do with that is say, this is the standard that the United States is setting and we want other nations to follow suit because they have wanted other nations to not just move in that direction, but move more aggressively and faster in that direction.

And so the question, you know, whether or not it's something that's clear remains to be seen because it's kind of an issue that we saw on a domestic level in the United States where the president was often on the road talking about this proposal, talking about things like a federal paid leave system, two years of free community college, things that ultimately did not make it into the final framework of this bill. And so you could see how world leaders would see it in that sense of, well, this isn't final until the deal is actually passed through Congress. And so that could be part of that skepticism.

But you're seeing the White House say, these world leaders understand domestic politics. They understand what's happening back in the United States. They deal with similar things.

But, Jim, they are the ones who set the standard here, saying that the president needed to have this deal on his hands when he got to Rome and, of course, when he arrived overnight he did not have that deal in his hands.

HILL: Yes. And I just want to point out now, live pictures there, President Biden arriving to meet with Italian leaders. As Kaitlan just laid out, of course, the White House is doing it's best to spin this as a positive.

But the reality, Lauren, is that we did not see an infrastructure vote yesterday. What we're seeing is another delay. We are seeing further confirmation of the -- of the infighting and in many ways mistrust within the Democratic Party. So, this morning, where do things stand on The Hill?

[09:10:00]

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they are delayed once again, Erica, in this negotiation that has gone on now for several weeks, several months, between moderates and progressives. And the battle lines are really the same as they were just two weeks ago.

What you are seeing right now is moderates arguing that the moment to pass the bipartisan infrastructure bill is now. Progressives arguing they want a fuller commitment from moderates that they are going to back that bigger social safety net package and they want more than just a framework.

The House speaker did try to give them legislative text yesterday, but that was not enough to satisfy the leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Pramila Jayapal. She even had a private meeting with moderate Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema for about a half an hour where they discussed exactly where Sinema stood. She came out of that meeting. That was not enough.

What progressives are arguing is they want a bill and they want not just legislative text, but they want a vote on that bigger social safety net bill, as well as the infrastructure bill.

Now, these things do take time. There are complicated policies. There are negotiations that still have to continue. Yes, the president laid out a framework. Yes, the House speaker tried to write out this legislative text. But there are still changes potentially that could get made and there are senators openly talking about what those changes might need to look like. So, there's a lot of moving parts here right now, but Democrats are going to take the weekend, come back next week and keep negotiating. That's really the only option they have at this point.

SCIUTTO: Lauren Fox on The Hill, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much.

We're watching live pictures there from Rome. President Biden now meeting with the Italian leader, Mario Draghi. This, of course, follows his meeting earlier with Pope Francis.

There's the secretary of state, Italian President Mario Draghi. That's the secretary of state, Antony Blinken. Jake Sullivan, national security adviser. As a -- sorry, that is the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella. Mario Draghi, the prime minister.

This, one of several official meetings that President Biden has this morning. Soon after this, he'll meet with the French president.

So much to talk about today and the days coming ahead. I want to bring in White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield to discuss.

Kate, thanks so much for taking the time this morning. KATE BEDINGFIELD, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Sure. Thanks

for having me, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, Kate, first on the budget plan. You got a framework, you got the Progressive Caucus late last night to endorse that framework. The administration did not get what the president and what the speaker were seeking, which was a vote on the infrastructure deal and an agreement on that framework to move it forward.

Did Democrats undermine the president's position as he's arrived here in Rome by not delivering what he asked for?

BEDINGFIELD: No, absolutely not. Look, we made enormous progress yesterday. The president laid out a framework that he believes, based on, remember, months and months of consultation and work with members in the House and the Senate, he believes it is going to pass the Congress. It is transformative. It is going to cut childcare costs for families across this country. It is going to create universal pre-k. It's going to tackle the climate crisis in an unprecedented way. It's an incredibly historic framework.

We saw enormous support from across the board last night. As you mentioned, the Progressive Caucus endorsed it. Congresswoman Jayapal was on your air yesterday talking about what a transformative deal it is. So we are going to get it done and the president is pushing it forward.

SCIUTTO: When will that vote be? I hesitate to hear a new deadline because so many have been broken. But you have pressure coming up. You have a vote to lift -- the necessity of a vote to lift the debt ceiling coming up in a few weeks' time. When will you have a vote on infrastructure and the budget deal?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, I'm not going to set any new deadlines here, but, obviously, you've heard the president say he believes we need votes on both as soon as possible. He's working very closely with leadership in the House and the Senate on it. And we're seeing tremendous momentum and we're moving toward a vote. We'll, obviously, let the Congress determine how it wants to play this out, but we are moving toward a vote and the president believes they should vote as soon as possible.

SCIUTTO: Can you avoid having to do it all at once, both pass the infrastructure, the budget deal and the debt ceiling, that is -- that's a possibility that you know congressional leaders want to avoid. Can you get this part done before you face up against that deadline?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, we'll see. Look, again, I'm not going to set a new deadline here, but you've heard the president address this. He believes that they should vote as soon as possible. And he wants to see votes on the twin pillars of his economic agenda, the bipartisan infrastructure deal that's going to build roads and bridges and connect people to broadband and get lead pipes out of communities where kids are drinking tainted water, and the Build Back Better plan that's going to create universal pre-k and make child care less expensive and tackle the climate crisis. [09:15:03]

These are twin pillars of his economic agenda and he wants to see votes on both as soon as possible.

SCIUTTO: As we continue to watch live pictures there of the official visit, President Biden with the Italian president here in Rome today, Kate, I do want to talk about G-20. This, of course, his first, President Biden's first as commander in chief, as president. A big question since the climate summit immediately follows is, will G-20 leaders make some sort of commitment here prior to Scotland to reduce emissions? Is that the plan? Is that what the president's seeking? And does he believe he'll be able to -- they and he will be able to achieve that?

BEDINGFIELD: Well, look, I think what you're going to see is President Biden and the United States continuing to lead on the world stage on climate. Obviously, they know where President Biden stands on this. They're seeing him push forward at home, an unprecedented domestic agenda, and they've also seen him take action since he took office to tackle the climate crisis through executive order and things that he can do without the Congress.

So they know his commitment. He's going to be there to push forward. And I think we've seen examples -- we've seen concrete examples of President Biden leading on the world stage. Look at the global minimum tax. I mean we're able to get over 100 countries to sign on to a 15 percent minimum tax to prevent companies here in the United States from moving their profits around and avoiding paying taxes here. That's something President Biden and this administration were able to lead on.

SCIUTTO: OK.

BEDINGFIELD: So there have been concrete examples of his ability to lead.

SCIUTTO: But fact is, as you know, there have also been concrete examples that have caused great concern and disappointment among America's closest allies, including how the Afghan withdraw, how quickly it happened, and how messy that Afghan withdraw was. I've spoken to diplomats from several European nations just in the last couple of weeks who question America's leadership going forward. And you hear this in public comments as well, from, for instance, the French leader saying that European nations have to take more on their own shoulders because they can't depend as much on the U.S.

I wonder, what does President Biden's response to that? Does he believe he can win back that trust?

BEDINGFIELD: I think that trust is strong and is continuing to grow. Absolutely. He spends a tremendous amount of time engaged with European leaders. He, as you've noted, is going to meet with President Macron today. He's spoken to him on the phone multiple times over the last couple of months. He believes -- he has a fundamental world view that America cannot and should not go it alone and that we work closely with our allies on issues like counterterrorism, and issues of trade and economics, issues of vaccinating the world, another place where the United States has led and has committed more doses to the world than anyone else and has worked, worked with our G-7 partners to get them to make similar commitments.

So he believes firmly that we are stronger when we work with our allies and partners. You're going to see that on display when he's here at the -- or I shouldn't' say, I guess you're there, I'm here, when he's at the G-20 and overseas on this trip.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I got you on that one, Kate, today to be in Rome today. It's not a bad place to be.

BEDINGFIELD: Yes. It's cold and rainy here.

SCIUTTO: But we do appreciate you joining the broadcast this morning.

BEDINGFIELD: Of course. Happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

SCIUTTO: Well, still ahead this hour, the president set to meet separately with, as we noted, the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. This after meeting with the Italian president. We're going to bring you live coverage of that from here in Rome.

And I will speak to the former U.S. ambassador to The Holy See, as it's known, about President Biden's symbolic and historically lengthy meeting with the pope.

HILL: Also ahead this hour, the FDA is expected to grant Emergency Use Authorization today to Pfizer for its vaccine for five to 11-year- olds. What could that mean? When could shots actually be available to kids? We'll take a look at that as well as what's happening here in New York City where employees have just hours left to comply with a vaccine mandate.

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[09:23:27]

SCIUTTO: Right now, President Biden is meeting with Italian leaders here in Rome, just a few of the high profile sit-downs the president has on his schedule today.

Hours ago, President Biden became just the second Catholic president in U.S. history to meet with a sitting pope. Biden spent about 90 minutes with Pope Francis, which historically quite a long meeting between a U.S. president or frankly any world leader with the pontiff.

I'm joined now by Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for "The National Catholic Reporter," as well as former U.S. Ambassador to The Holy See, as it's known, the Vatican, Miguel Diaz. Diaz currently serves as public service chair at Loyola University, Chicago.

Thanks so much to both of you.

Christopher, if I could begin with you. I mean you look at the moments of this 90-minute meeting that the

Vatican shared. And they only shared clips of it, but that was quite a warm moment. They're smiling. They're laughing. A very personal moment where Biden shares a challenge coin, one of these military challenge coins tied to his son Beau's unit, his late son Beau's unit. And we know that one thing that has built a basis of the personal relationship he has with Francis is that Francis consoled him and his family following the death of Beau Biden.

Tell us how deep the relationship is.

CHRISTOPHER WHITE, VATICAN CORRESPONDENT, "NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER": It's a relationship where the two men sort of understand each other. You have the 78-year-old president, the 84-year-old pope, elected in similar ways on a mandate of healing, I'd say. Biden comes into the office, 500,000 American lives have been lost to COVID, you know, a divisive four years under President Trump. You know, Pope Francis elected in 2013 under a mandate it clean up the church after financial scandals and abuse.

[09:25:03]

They share that understanding and I think it's a very personal connection.

Of course, they're heads of state, but this was very personal, as we see in those images today.

SCIUTTO: They even made a joke about their ages there, both imagining themselves much younger than they are.

And, Ambassador Diaz, we know from the White House readout of this, and we were -- we expected this to some degree, that Pope Francis would want to talk about climate change. This is an issue extremely close to the hearts of Pope Francis. He's described often how one of his deepest concerns about the planet today is that people have indifference really for the state of the planet.

Might you expect in that meeting that Francis would push the U.S. president a bit given the deep -- the depth of their relationship to say, we really need action on this, or on other issues close to his heart, which is sharing more vaccine doses with developing countries?

MIGUEL DIAZ, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE HOLY SEE: Well, the context is one that needs to be taken into account here, Jim. You know, we are just getting off of, you know, of -- we're barely getting off this pandemic that we're trying to bring under control. This is a -- really a time of viruses, viruses that are hitting not just the United States, but the world. We are facing this biological virus, in terms of COVID-19. We are facing social viruses that are threatening our human family in terms of racism, in terms of nationalism, in terms of xenophobia. We are also facing this ecological virus that is threatening the very life of our planet.

And so I think what you have here is the meeting of two persons that have a deep concern for the planet, deep concern for human beings, and a deep, you know, concern to really do something about this. And so this, for me, is a tremendous opportunity of the second Catholic president in our nation that has been shaped by the Catholic ethos, of care for the poor, care for neighbor, care for the marginalized, to come together with the pope and do something on behalf of our human family and the -- and address the great concerns that we have as a human family.

SCIUTTO: Christopher, that description there is an important one because Francis and Biden share, if you want to put it in political terms, sort of a liberal political view, right? And that's been part of their rapport. You've seen that in messages about helping the poor, helping developing countries, even during the Trump years when Trump was talking about building walls, both Biden and Francis oppose. They said, let's bring down walls rather than put up new walls.

Are they a formidable partnership on these issues? Because, at the end of the day, these issues require global action. If you're talking about climate change, if you're talking about the pandemic response, can that make a difference, if you know what I mean?

WHITE: I think so. These are two world leaders at the top of their game, you know, with huge bully pulpits, if you will.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

WHITE: And I think one of the things that the pope is trying to consistently say is, you know, there's a moral vocabulary that we share, not just if you're Catholic , but if you're any person of faith or no faith at all, you know, when you hear the president, he talks about human dignity, solidarity. These are sort of big idea concepts. And I think they're trying to see where they can find some synergy and work together on that front.

SCIUTTO: Ambassador Diaz, you have, well, Pope Francis has differences within the church, right? There are more conservative wings. You might say that he comes from the liberal wing of the Catholic Church on many issues, just as Biden himself has personal disagreements with the U.S. bishops, particularly over the question of reproductive rights, and there's a key meeting of U.S. bishops coming up in a couple of weeks when they're going to discuss this very issue.

Tell us about the contrast, a good point you've made between Biden's private faith and his public faith as a politician who's a Catholic.

DIAZ: Well, you know, the way that I see this as a -- as a -- as a theologian, I see that the fundamental teaching of Christian faith is the love of God and neighbor. And to the degree that that love of God and neighbor is not an abstract concept, but a concrete reality that invites us to address human needs, to address the challenges that are before us, to care for the most vulnerable, to that agree are we, as Christians, practicing that faith? And so sometimes we may say that while there's a separation between Biden's private life, private faith and his public faith, I don't see it that way.

To the degree that Biden's policies are able to address the care of our most vulnerable neighbors, to the degree that they're able to enact policies in terms of healthcare, in terms of global health, in terms of conflict resolution, in terms of addressing racism, xenophobia, and all the isms that playing our world, to that degree will Biden translate his faith into practice in a way that speaks not just to Christians, not just to Catholics, but really to our human family.

[09:30:07]

And, you know, I might add that the pope has called.