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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Paul Ryan Will Be Speaker of the House If Conditions Met; Biden Taking New Veiled Shots at Hillary; New Volley in Trump/Bush Feud; Syrian President Meets with Putin; NYPD Officer Shot in Pursuit of Robber; Kerry to Visit Middle East. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired October 21, 2015 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:30:00] 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 whole bunch of big ifs, the stunning power play on Capitol Hill.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden taking new veiled shots at Hillary Clinton. The contrast he's now offering between himself and his possible 2016 rival.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: I'm John Berman, great to see you, 30 minutes past the hour.

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, he now says 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 factions in the house of publican caucus including those law makers who effectively forced out current speaker, John Boehner and blocked his heir apparent Kevin McCarthy.

What's more, Ryan has set a deadline Friday for everyone to see things his way. If life were only like this for me. Let's go to senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

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 a political pre-nuptial agreement. He said it's time for house Republicans to be visionaries, not obstructionists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) 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.

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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. 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 was essentially driven out by house Conservatives late last month. John and Christine.

ROMANS: All right, Jeff Zeleny 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.

Praising Clinton as Secretary of State, but noting 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 also repeatedly taking barely veiled shots at Clinton's debate answer in which she counted Republicans among the enemies she is proud of making.

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JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: It is possible. It is necessary, to end this notion. Let's 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 and co-operate. 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 if everybody in this room understands 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 that we're experiencing here in Washington.

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BERMAN: It sure seemed like some close descripted talking points there. Joe Biden 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 says he was in favor of the attack on Bin Laden's compound?

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BIDEN: Since we walked out of the room and walked upstairs, I said, I told him my opinion that I thought he should go but follow his own instincts. But it would have been a mistake, imagine if I had said in front of everyone, don't go or go, and his decision was a different decision.

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BERMAN: But listen to what Biden said in 2012 about his advice to the President.

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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.

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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 reports that some of the officials she is listing, including mayors in (INAUDIBLE) Delaware and San Antonio, that they have not actually endorsed her.

ROMANS: A new volley in the ongoing feud whether 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 op ed, in "The National Review".

Let's be clear, Donald trump simply doesn't know what he is talking about, and his bluster overcompensates for a shocking lack of knowledge on the complex national security challenges that will confront the next President of the United States.

Donald Trump's uncharacteristic response came last night, softening his tone in an interview with Sean Hannity.

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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 think.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: 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.

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ROMANS: He's a good person; he's a good man, who was soft, weak, low energy, a bunch of other things (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: He's a great guy, got a great sense of humor, I just want to be friends.

ROMANS: He just wants to be President. Today Trump is campaigning in Iowa ahead of next week's Republican debate.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, Democrats on the House Benghazi committee say that they might resign their posts after Hillary Clinton testifies this week.

Congressman Adam Schiff of California says by staying on, he and other Democrats would only what he says blend legitimacy to a committee that in his words really has none. Schiff and fellow Democrats on the Benghazi panel say they plan to attend the questioning that is tomorrow of Secretary Clinton. They're going they say to ensure the proceedings are fair.

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was in Moscow overnight meeting with Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.

Russian state media reported the two talked about a military action against what a Kremlin spokesman called terrorist extremist groups. The U.S. has expressed concern that Russia's main interest in putting troops and military planes in Syria is in defending the Assad regime against Syrian rebel fighters rather than attacking ISIS.

BERMAN: President Obama travels to West Virginia where he will address a critical issue for so many states, substance abuse.

Drug overdose deaths in West Virginia they 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. The goal the White House says is to give them help rather than end up in prison.

ROMANS: Now a time for an early start on your money; China stocks closed down 3%. European stocks up, making up for earlier losses. Right now U.S. stock features a little higher, too.

The Dow is down 3.4% now for the year.

And for investing icon Warren Buffet it's been -- well it's been worse than that. Buffet likes blue chip companies that are relatively easy to understand. He isn't going to buy shares in a company that he doesn't know how they work. Will that turn out to be kind of a bad strategy this year?

Look at some of his top investments, IBM disappointed Wall Street, shares down 12% this year. Coca-Cola stock is flat compared to its rivals which have done much better. And even worse, look at American express, it's down 17%, that's Buffet's fifth largest holding.

Number 7, Procter & Gamble is down 18% and Walmart, finally Walmart are down more than 30% this year the worst performer in the Dow. Those are some household names. If Warren Buffet's got them, you've probably got those stocks right there in your portfolio this year too, those are (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: The mattress? My portfolio.

ROMANS: In the portfolio.

All right, breaking news this morning, a New York City police officer shot and killed while chasing a suspected robber.

BERMAN: Plus, new guidelines for women to screen for breast cancer, causing new questions and new controversy.

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ROMANS: Breaking overnight, a veteran New York City police officer has died 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, he is in custody and hospitalized with injuries. Holder is now the fourth NYPD officer killed in the line of duty during the past year.

BERMAN: Here's breaking news, that an officer has been shot during a standoff with a gunman there. This is happening right now in the town of Prestonburg. A local station identifies the officer as Adam Dixon, and says he was shot in the chest. He is in the hospital. We do not know his condition right now.

Police say the man who shot Dixon has now barricaded himself inside a home. This is developing right now; we will bring you the latest information as it comes in.

ROMANS: A policeman hunt in New Mexico for the suspect in a deadly road rage shooting in on a freeway in Albuquerque.

Authorities say two cars were traveling westbound on interstate 40 Tuesday when the suspect pulled up to the other vehicle and started firing, hitting a four-year-old girl.

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GORDON EDEN, ALBUQUERQUE POLICE: And we will confirm that 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're starting to see this throughout our nation and this is something that should not be happening.

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ROMANS: The child's parents were not injured. It's still not clear what led to this attack. Police, they do have a description of the car driven by the shooter, but that car has not yet been found.

BERMAN: Police used some prosecutors from across the country and they are now pushing for a reduction in the nation's prison population.

A group of law enforcement leaders includes New York Police Commissioner, Bill Bratton. They will release a report today that pushes for alternatives to arrests and an end to mandatory prison -- mandatory minimum prison sentences.

They say too many people behind bars do not belong there. Members of the group are scheduled to meet with President Obama on Thursday.

ROMANS: All right, new guidelines for mammograms for Mammograms from the American Cancer Society. It's now telling women to have mammograms 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.

Also the old recommendations for routine manual breast exams by a doctor, now the new recommendation says everyone can skip those. The society does acknowledge that one recommendation does not fit all insisting any women who wants to abide by the old guidelines should be free to do so.

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And in fact if you have a family history of breast cancer, if you have the breast cancer gene.

If you have had any other you know concerns in screenings in the past, you're encouraged -- doctors have encouraged to continue the more aggressive screening for those women.

BERMAN: Very important here. All right, let's take a look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY" and Michaela Pereira joins us now. Good morning.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST, "NEW DAY": Hi team.

ROMANS: Hi there.

PEREIRA: We're going to talk a lot more about that mammogram guidelines change coming up on New Day today because a lot of women are talking about it and have very strong opinions about it as well.

But we also have the latest on Congressman Paul Ryan's announcement.

That he'll consider running for house speaker if his terms are met. We're going to breakdown just what those conditions are and if can congress will meet them? Can Ryan unite the Republican party and what could it mean for the 2016 GOP candidates?

Also, tomorrow Hillary Clinton will go before the House Benghazi committee. We're going to preview what her testimony could look like. We're going to talk with members of the committee from both sides of the aisle.

What Republicans want to hear and why Democrats call it all a political side show.

And I know my nerd friend John Berman; you know what day it is today?

BERMAN: Yes, it's the day we all pretend that anyone saw "Back to the Future 2." No one saw it. It was "Back to the Future 1" everyone remembers. Am I right, did I get it right?

PEREIRA: You're a terrible human being; I can't talk to you right now.

ROMANS: He is kind of a terrible human being. We've been actually arguing about this in the breaks all morning. I think it's kind of cool that you know...

PEREIRA: Thank you Christine. Thank you for playing with me and engaging me.

BERMAN: Very cool.

ROMANS: All right, thanks Michaela, we'll talk to you really soon, in about 14 minutes.

Can diplomacy stop the violence in Israel? The United Nations and the Secretary of State John Kerry now involved as new attacks, brand new attacks break out overnight. We will take you there live.

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ROMANS: Secretary of State, John Kerry takes off for Europe and the Middle East today. He plans to meet separately with the Israeli Prime Minister and the Palestinian President to somehow ease tensions between these two sides. Israeli defense force announcing the arrest of high ranking Hamas leader, Hassan Josef 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 this violence.

We're going to go live to Jerusalem and bring in CNN's Phil Black for the very latest.

Phil, any hope, I know there were new attacks overnight, own hope that diplomacy will pause the violence?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Christine, not a lot of optimism I would say from either side of this ongoing conflict. You are right, in the early hours of this morning we heard about a new

example of the sort of violence that has been hitting this region with such frequency over the last three weeks. In this case, according to Israeli officials, a Palestinian approached an Israeli settler community in the West Bank, that's that disputed territory. This person was apparently carrying a knife, ignored warning to walk away, warning shots were apparently fired, they were ignored as well and this Palestinian was struck in the shoulder.

This Palestinian, according to officials there was a 15-year-old girl. And so the cycle continues. This is the way it's been going for three weeks since the start of the month.

These regular attacks or attempts to harm Israelis here in Jerusalem, across Israel, the West Bank as well, citizens, soldiers, police, they have resulted in at least eight Israeli deaths. Palestinians say, more than 40 Palestinian people have been killed in clashes and as a direct result of these incidents as well. So a human cost that continues to mount. A violent cycle that continues with a number of these incidents, almost every single day. And so that is why we are seeing now this diplomatic effort to try and prevent it from escalating further.

That is the fear. That is the message that the United Nations Secretary General brought here to Israel when he met with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. In a short time we are going to hear from him again speaking next to the Palestinian leadership. And the message that attempt to try and dial back this tension is going to be carried further as well by the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

He hopes to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu. They will both be in Germany at some point in the next 24 hours. So there are diplomatic efforts to try and deescalate this. But on the ground here from either side, there is not a great deal of optimism that any real difference can be made in the near term, Christine.

ROMANS: Phil Black, thank you for that for us this morning from Jerusalem.

53 minutes past the hour. You've heard it before, millennials love Chipotle. But Wall Street well it's not so sure this morning. Is the burrito boom over? That's next.

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ROMANS: All right, good morning, everybody, welcome back, I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an EARLY START on your money this morning.

U.S. stock futures are up a bit right now. It is earnings season, though. So we've got to see how things will turn out, Boeing, Coca- Cola, General Motors among the companies reporting before the opening bell.

Chipotle's quarterly report sending its stock down. The burrito chain reported sales growth of 12%. 12% sales growth, most companies would love those numbers, but it is Chipotle's worst growth in two years. The change isn't growing at the rapid pace it once did that's because it already has a big foot print, almost doubling its number of restaurants in the last few years.

Tesla has reliability issues. That is the message from "Consumer Reports". The magazine yanked its highly coveted recommendation for the Tesla model S. Why? Well drivers complained about the charging equipment, the center console and squeaks and leaks in the sun roof. The bottom line the model S is fun to drive with great handling, great acceleration, but it also has some annoying technical glitches. Tesla stock down almost 7% yesterday.

All right, Paul Ryan says, sure, he'll be speaker of the house, but there is a big if. Actually several conditions before he'll consider that job. "NEW DAY" picks up that story now.

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REP. PAUL RYAN (R), WISCONSIN: My greatest worry is the consequence of not stepping up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Congressman Paul Ryan saying he is willing to serve as Speaker of the House, but there's a but.

BERMAN: He says it is my way or go have fun imploding on your own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He'll get enough votes and it will be a sign of unity.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I expect to be out of there by the end of this month.

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The other team is not the enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even though he's not yet a candidate, he's now getting candidate-level scrutiny from the press.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's trying to build this Obama coalition if he decides to run.

BIDEN: The best decision of my political career was to join the president.

ROMANS: New guidelines for mammograms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is very confusing and can be very frustrating for patients.

ROMANS: How could less screening actually help women?

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ANNOUNER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira. CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": Good morning. Welcome to your "NEW DAY". It is Wednesday, October 21, 6:00 in the East, and there has been a huge potential boost for the GOP. Congressman Paul Ryan saying he is willing to run for Speaker of the House, but there's a but. All factions of his party must unite behind him by Friday.

Now, despite all the concern about losing power and disarray within the party, unity seems unlikely at this point.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": And no matter who takes over as Speaker, Americans are not holding their breath for progress in Washington. There's a new CNN/ORC poll. It is out just this hour. And it shows support for Republicans in Congress now at 74% disapproval.

[06:00:05] Is Paul Ryan the guy to turn it around?

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's senior political reporter Manu Raju. Manu, what's the latest?