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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin
Paul Ryan Gives Conditions on Running for Speaker; The Race for President: Biden Taking Veiled Shots at Clinton?; Kerry to Meet Israeli and Palestinian Leaders. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired October 21, 2015 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:14] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight: Paul Ryan says, sure, he'll be speaker of the House. But there is a big if -- actually, a bunch of big ifs. A stunning political power play on Capitol Hill.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden still not saying whether he will run for president, but his campaign against Hillary Clinton may have already begun.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.
BERMAN: Nice to see you. I'm John Berman. It is Wednesday, October 21st. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.
And breaking overnight, Paul Ryan says he will do it. After saying no, no thanks, no way, the Republican congressman from Wisconsin, who was the party's last nominee to be vice president says now, he is willing to be speaker of the House. But he says, it is my way or go have fun imploding on your own.
Ryan is essentially demanding unanimity support from all the unruly fashions in the House Republican caucus, including lawmakers who effectively force out the current speaker, John Boehner, and block his heir apparent, Kevin McCarthy. And Ryan is setting a deadline, Friday, for everyone to see his way.
Let's get the latest, senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine.
Congressman Paul Ryan, the Republican from Wisconsin, who served as Mitt Romney's running mate in 2012, has now agreed to serve as the next House speaker, but only under the condition that fractured congressional Republicans come together and present a unified front.
Now, Ryan met last night with Republicans on Capitol Hill and issued what could be described as a political prenuptial agreement. He said it's time for House Republicans to be visionaries, not obstructionists.
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: We need to move from an opposition party to being a proposition party. Because 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.
ZELENY: Now, Ryan agreed to be speaker, but only if they agree to a set of rules. Ryan has a bright future and did not want to accept this position, but he was under considerable pressure to do so.
Ryan said he wants to know by Friday if all 247 House Republicans will support him. Now, this could be a heavy lift. He wants support from all the divided Republican groups, ranging from the Tea Party supporters, to the moderates. He'll find out on Friday if he gets their backing or not.
If not, for House Republicans, it's back to square one to replace Speaker Boehner, who is essentially driven out by House conservatives late last month -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. Jeff, thanks for that.
Joe Biden, sharpening the contrast between Hillary Clinton and himself. The vice president still giving no definite word on his presidential intentions. But Biden is now straining to one up the Democratic front runner. He's now praising Clinton as secretary of state, but nothing that he was sent in as a closer with foreign leaders, claiming he spends upwards of seven hours a day with President Obama. And most notably, the vice president repeatedly taking barely veiled shots at Clinton's debate answer in which she counted Republicans among the enemies she is making -- she is proud of making.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It is possible. It is necessary to end this notion, to end this notion that the enemy is the other party. End this notion that it's naive to think we can speak well of the other party cooperating. What is naive is to think it's remotely possible to govern this country unless we can. That is what is naive.
It's mostly important that everybody in this room understand the other team is not the enemy. If you treat it as the enemy, there is no way we can ever, ever, ever resolve the problems we have to and you end up with the dysfunction we are experiencing here in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: So, there was that.
And the vice president also opened tons of eyes, seeming to dramatically alter his account of the advice he gave on the night that President Obama ordered the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Now, the vice president says he was in favor of the attack on Bin Laden's compound.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Since he walked out of the room and walked upstairs, I said -- I told him my opinion, I thought he should go and follow his own instincts. But it would have been a mistake, imagine if I had said if front of everyone, don't go or go, and his decision was a different decision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: But, but, listen to what Joe Biden said in 2012 about his advice to the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[04:05:00] BIDEN: We owe the man a direct answer. Mr. President, my suggestion is don't go. We have to do two more things to see if he's there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: He also did not include Hillary Clinton when listing officials who supported the raid. That is a notable omission to say the least.
As for Hillary Clinton, her campaign has been celebrating the backing of officials all over the country, including rising Democratic star, HUD Secretary Julian Castro. But there are some reports that officials he is listing, including mayors from Willington, Delaware, and San Antonio, that they have not actually endorsed her.
ROMANS: New volleys in the ongoing feud between Jeb Bush and Donald Trump over the September 11th attacks and whether George W. Bush bears some responsibility for them, as Trump has suggested. Jeb Bush writing this scathing this op-ed in "The National Journal", "Let's be clear, Donald Trump simply doesn't know what he is talking about, his bluster overcompensates for a shocking lack of knowledge on the complex security challenges that will confront the next president of the United States."
Donald Trump's uncharacteristic response softening his tone if an interview with Sean Hannity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I respect the fact that Jeb is defending his brother, I think that's good. I would do the same.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: If Jeb wins the nomination, will you support him?
TRUMP: Absolutely, yes. I would absolutely support him. He's a good person. He's a good man. I would support him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: A good person and good man, until now, he's called him weak and soft and not tough enough.
Today, Trump is in -- is campaigning in Iowa, ahead of next week's Republican debate.
BERMAN: New this morning, Democrats on the House Benghazi committee say they are considering resigning after their posts after Hillary Clinton testifies this week. Congressman Adam Schiff of California says by staying on, he and other Democrats would only lend legitimacy to a committee that in his words really had none.
Schiff and fellow Democrats on the Benghazi panel say they do plan to attend the questioning. That is tomorrow. Hillary Clinton appears before that committee. Schiff and Democrats say they are going to ensure the proceedings are fair.
ROMANS: Canada's new prime minister, Justin Trudeau says he will honor a campaign pledge and end his country's participation in the bombing campaign against ISIS. Trudeau informing President Obama of his decision to pull six Canadian fighter jets from the battlefield. Canada will continue providing humanitarian and training aid in Syria and Iraq.
BERMAN: Breaking news this morning, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Moscow overnight, meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Russian state media reported the two talked about military action against what a Kremlin spokesperson called terrorist extremist groups. The U.S. has expressed concern that Russian's main interest in putting troops and military planes in Syria is defending the Assad regime against Syrian rebel fighters. The goal worries the U.S. is not just going after ISIS.
ROMANS: New details emerging about that American airstrike on a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that killed 22 staff members and patients earlier this month. "The New York Times" reporting military investigators believe American and Afghan forces unfamiliar with the area and with no experience working together may have directly contributed to mistaken decision leading to that attack.
BERMAN: President Obama traveled to West Virginia today, where he will address a critical issue for that state, many states, substance abuse. Drug overdose death in West Virginia are more than twice the national average. The president is set to announce federal, state and private sector commitments to ensure people struggling with addiction get the medical help they need, instead of ending up in prison.
ROMANS: All right. Eight minutes past the hour. Time for an early start on your money this morning.
Not a great morning for stocks so far, Chinese stocks fell more than 3 percent, a snapping of recent winning streak. European shares, U.S. stocks futures are down. Stocks flipped a bit yesterday, dragged down by the health care sector. The Dow down 3.4 percent now this year.
Donald Trump maybe leading in the polls, but gamblers have money on Marco Rubio for 2016. Rubio now has a substantial lead over his GOP rivals on Predictit. It's an online platform where people actually put down money for who will win the primary. Rubio surged above Jeb Bush at the end of September and has led ever since.
Trump is a distant third place, a sign that insiders at least don't believe Trump or Ben Carson can win despite the strong poll winnings.
It's always this time of the election cycle people start to look at those online betting. And futures markets, they're the futures markets for political --
BERMAN: See, the future markets, they have a political establishment types. There's been some writing the last day or two that some of the Republican insiders are considering spending big money to block Donald Trump because they are worried he's for real and he's not going anywhere on his own.
ROMANS: Interesting.
BERMAN: All right. New questions this morning surrounding the shooting death of a Florida musician by a plain clothes police officer. We will tell you new information gathered overnight, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:12:46] BERMAN: Breaking overnight, a veteran New York police officer is dead in the hospital after he was shot in the head while chasing a suspect Tuesday night. The officer identified as 33-year- old Randolph Holder was responding to reports of a man with a gun when he was shot. Police say the suspect was arrested several blocks away. Holder is the fourth New York City police officer killed in the line of duty during the past year.
This morning, the family of a popular drummer who was shot to death Sunday morning by a Palm Beach Gardens police officer is pleading for help. Authority say 31-year-old Corey Jones was stuck in his car when he was approached by an officer who thought the vehicle was empty. That officer when police say he was, quote, "confronted" by an armed suspect -- subject I should say.
Jones family is asking witnesses to step forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYLVESTER BANKS, SR., COREY JONES' GRANDFATHER: I would like to plead to the public for help concerning my grandson, things that whichever occurred or took place -- I would just like the appeal to them for help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: The officer who shot and killed Jones was not wearing a body camera. His car was not equipped with a dash cam.
Let's get more from CNN's Alina Machado in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, those who knew Corey Jones say they are struggling to understand how it is that this 31-year-old man ends up dead following an encounter with a police officer. This all happened early Sunday morning at around 3:15. Jones was on the side of Interstate 95 after having car trouble.
Police say Officer Nouman Raja was on duty that night but dressed in plain clothes and driving an unmarked car. Officer Raja had stopped to investigate what he thought was an abandoned car on the exit ramp when police say the officer was suddenly confronted by an armed subject. So, he discharged his firearm killing Jones.
Police say a handgun was recovered at the scene. They say Jones bought it just three days before the confrontation, but we still don't know if that handgun was fired during the shooting.
[04:15:01] The officer involved in the shooting joined the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department earlier this year in April. He is now on paid administrative leave while this investigation continues -- John and Christine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right, Alina. Thank you.
A policeman manhunt in New Mexico for the suspect in a deadly road rage shooting on a freeway in Albuquerque, authorities say two cars were traveling westbound on Interstate 40 Tuesday when the suspects pulled up to the other vehicle and started firing, hitting a 4-year- old girl.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAY SCHULTZ, ALBUQUERQUE POLICE: We will confirm the four-year-old child has passed away. And, again, we are begging for the community's help. This should have never happened. This is a complete disrespect of human life. And we are starting to see this throughout our nation. And this is something that should not be happening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The child's parents were not injured. Still not clear what led to the attack. Police have a description of the car driven by the shooter. The car has not yet been found.
BERMAN: Federal officials are offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest following a rash of arson fire of six predominately black churches in St. Louis over the last two weeks. Investigators say each of the fires was set at the front doors. The six churches are within 3 miles of each other. No one luckily has been injured in any of these fires.
ROMANS: Police chiefs and prosecutors from across the country pushing for a reduction in the nation's prison population. A group of law enforcement leaders includes New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton will release a report today, pushing for alternatives to arrest and an end to mandatory minimum prison sentences. They say too many people are behind bars and don't belong there. Members of the group are scheduled to meet with President Obama on Thursday.
BERMAN: A Texas teenager who was detained, handcuffed after his school made a mistake and said the clock he made for -- a clock he brought in to his school was bomb is moving with his family. That boy is moving with his family to Qatar. Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed has been in Washington the last couple of days. He was honored by the Council on American Islamic Relations.
And most prominently, the picture you're seeing right there. He was at the White House where he met President Obama at the end of an astronomy night. Reports say Mohamed was offered a scholarship by a foundation. Actually, his father put out a statement he was offered a scholarship from a foundation in Qatar as a part of the young innovator's program.
ROMANS: All right. A touch of Indian summer across the east today. Nice, nice morning, if you call it morning when we get up.
Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the latest forecast.
PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: John and Christine, good Wednesday morning to you guys.
Certainly an Indian summer, at least it feels like it for a lot of people across the Midwest and Northeast. Look at these temps, 60 in the morning hours around Chicago, New York, also sitting in the 60s in the early morning hours. Certainly not something you would see in the middle to later portion of October. And when you think about what we started from.
Earlier in the week, on Monday, New York City was down to 36 degrees in the morning hours. We'll warm up to the mid-70s by Wednesday afternoon over this region. High pressure, flow over the area. Gorgeous, gorgeous setup.
Atlanta, 76, Washington will make it up to the mid-70s, even Chicago had 76 degrees. You work to the south. You have big changes in the forecast as far as rainfall around the state of Texas, a trough coming in, some tropical moisture, potentially, interacting with it as we head into this weekend.
Certainly, drought relief for this region, but some of the models indicating possibilities of ten inches for parts of north Texas and then work your way to the south in excess of 10 inches possible in the next five days around say, Corpus Christi. So, certainly, a flood event we are watching carefully there.
Back to the north we go. Look at the temperature trend, it will cool off. Enjoy it, John and Christine. The mid-70s go bye, bye. You bring the 60s, the low 60s back, which is more in line you expect this time of year -- guys.
ROMANS: All right. Pedram Javaheri, thanks for that, Pedram.
A few guidelines for mammograms from the American Cancer Society. They are now telling women to have them later and less often. The society's new recommendation calls for annual mammograms starting at age 45 instead of 40, and at age 55, women are now advised to cut back on mammograms to once every two years. The society does acknowledge one recommendation does not one size fit all, insisting any woman who wants to abide by the old guidelines should be free to do so.
And, John, it's really important for women to know, a lot of people talking about this the last 12, 18 hours. If you have a family history of breast cancer, it's incredibly important to continue those screenings. But one thing that's so interesting this too, these screenings you have in your doctor's office, that your doctor performs, might not be necessary for all women, which is interesting.
BERMAN: Well, that mean, in general, that's what they're saying now. They're looking at this on the broad scale epidemiology. Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of cases, not just your own family. Yes, talk to your doctor.
ROMANS: Talk to your doctor is the bottom line.
BERMAN: New violence in Jerusalem overnight. Israel takes new action to stop the spate of stabbings, hit-and-runs, attacks on soldiers. We are live there next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Secretary of State John Kerry takes off for Europe and the Middle East today. He plans to meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestinian President Abbas to somehow ease tensions between the sides.
Israeli Defense Forces announcing the arrest of high ranking Hamas leader Hassan Yousef, accusing him of actively instigating terrorism and encouraging the execution of Israelis. All this as U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrives in Jerusalem, calling for an end to the violence.
Let's go to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's Phil Black for the very latest -- Phil.
PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, good morning.
It was the only early hours of this morning local time when we heard about the latest example of violence that is taking place in this region. It was in the West Bank, that disputed territory where according to Israeli officials, a 15-year-old approached a Jewish settlement, who said to be carrying a knife.
She was warned away, fire -- warning shots were fired. They were ignored. And then she was shot, injured in the shoulder.
But as I say, a 15-year-old girl involved in that most recent visit, and it is just a continuation of a cycle that has been going on for three weeks now. For that period of time, we have seen Palestinian, individually, sometimes in pairs, taking their own initiative, not following any central leadership, usually using knives and other cutting implements to try to harm Jews, either they be civilians here in Israel or soldiers, police and eight Israelis we understand have been killed since the start of the month. Palestinian officials say more than 40 Palestinians have been killed either as a direct result or a response to those attacks, or all the clashes they have inspired between Palestinians and Israeli forces.
[04:25:10] So, it continues. That is the new normal it would seem. But there is no diplomatic effort to try to break this cycle.
The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has met with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, he meets with the leadership of the Palestinian Authority. His goal is to try and bring them back. Dial back the language, restore some sense of calm that would at least break the cycle that we have been seeing here.
And as you mentioned, the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be pursuing that same goal in Germany where he will meet the Israeli prime minister at some point we believe within the next 24 hours or so, Christine.
ROMANS: All right. Phil Black for us this morning, live in Jerusalem, thank you for that, Phil.
BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, Paul Ryan says, sure, I'll do it, but my way and only my way. And if you don't do it my way, good luck.
Will he be the next speaker of the House? New details, new developments overnight, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Paul Ryan sets new conditions Republicans need to meet if they want him to be the next speaker of the House.
BERMAN: Is he going to announce he is running today? Joe Biden, the clock is ticking. He is saying a lot of stuff about Hillary Clinton that's making people go, hmm, what is he up to?
Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.
ROMANS: What is he up to? I'm Christine Romans. It is 29, almost 30 minutes after the hour.
Let's start with Paul Ryan. Breaking overnight, Representative Paul Ryan now says he is willing to serve as speaker of the House.
