Return to Transcripts main page

Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

House Benghazi Committee to Grill Clinton; Paul Ryan Wins New Support for Speaker Role; The Race for President: Inside Biden's Decision; Mets Sweep Cubs in NLCS; Kerry Meeting Netanyahu in Germany. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 22, 2015 - 04:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:31:19] JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Huge day on Capitol Hill. Hillary Clinton face to face with the select committee on Benghazi, answering questions they have been waiting months to ask, answers she's been waiting a long time to give.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. Paul Ryan moves closer to becoming speaker of the House. The new support he's receiving.

BERMAN: All right. Inside the big decision from Joe Biden not to run for president. Details you have not heard from insiders about why and how and how late he made that decision.

ROMANS: Fascinating.

BERMAN: Welcome back to EARLY START, everyone. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. Thirty-one minutes past the hour. So nice to see you all happen this is morning.

And it all happens this morning. In just hours, Hillary Clinton goes before the House Benghazi committee, questions and answers that could last all day. Eight hours. The committee says the focus will be the 2012 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya, those attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The Republican-led committee is expected to ask then-Secretary of State Clinton about what she knew about reported security problems at the compound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SUSAN BROOKS (R), INDIANA: I'm particularly focused on the security incidents and the posture of the State Department with respect to the security requests we have learned through emails and through documents. But there were hundreds of mentions about security incidents particularly in 2012. So, we have questions for the secretary about what she did with respect to those security requests.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ROMANS: The political stakes are huge. Hillary Clinton is running for president. And many Democrats say this is all about the campaign.

CNN's Elise Labott has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, Christine, after months of anticipation, the day is finally here. It's going to be a long day. We understand there will be four two- hour rounds of questioning of Secretary Clinton, with breaks.

Aides to Clinton say she's ready. She's spent the week preparing with policy and legal teams, going over potential questions and studying up on the events leading up to and following the Benghazi attacks. It was a long time ago, after all.

Now, there have been more than a half dozen congressional investigations following the attacks. But there has been a greater political tone to this one. Democrats, of course, maintain it was designed as a takedown of Clinton. And you have a string of comments recently by Republicans almost backing up those accusations.

But Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy says he will prove the committee is not about politics with a hearing that is respectful of Clinton and focuses on the facts surrounding the Benghazi attacks. Democrats, Republicans, the State Department, all will be watching this hearing, putting out their own spin, or their own talking points. But for Secretary Clinton, this is really a chance to defend her record at secretary of state and argue that this committee is retreading old ground here.

And, you know, in some ways, it's a chance to lay out her foreign policy as she campaigns to be commander in chief. So, clearly, this hearing a key moment for the presidential campaign the future of this committee -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Elise.

Breaking overnight: Congressman Paul Ryan, he cleared a major hurdle in his bid to become speaker of the house. Last night, a supermajority of the House Freedom Caucus, that's the group of conservative Republicans, they voted to support Ryan, though they did not give him quite enough votes for a formal endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: The Freedom Caucus supports him but didn't fully endorse him. What does that mean in practical terms?

REP. MICK MULVANEY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Well, practical terms means we couldn't get 80 percent as our rules require. But we got more than two-thirds of our group saying they want to support Paul for speaker. [04:35:02] So, if Paul really has the votes that we all think that he

has in the other portions of our conference, he's got enough votes to be the speaker of the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Ryan had earlier said a formal endorsement as a condition for his bid. But by last night 2/3 was enough for him. He tweeted, "I'm grateful for the support of a supermajority of the House Freedom Caucus. I look forward to hearing from the other two caucuses by the end of the week. But I believe this is a positive step toward a unified Republican team. The other two groups are pretty much a done deal. That was the big one that he cleared or at least he now cleared on his new terms last night.

ROMANS: His financial condition also for considering this job was work/life balance. Does the speaker of the House ever have work/life balance?

BERMAN: You're never off the job. But he's made clear he is going to spend time with this family. He did it when he was running for vice president. He was home in Wisconsin on a lot of Sundays watching the Packers, you know, late into the campaign. So, you know, maybe he can do it.

ROMANS: Maybe he can. All right. Certainly, he's stirred up a conversation.

BERMAN: It's 2015.

ROMANS: It's 2015. Gen-X men and women, they share their responsibilities pretty equally and that's a tough job.

All right. Let's talk about Joe Biden, another tough job. His decision not the run for president. The vice president ended months of intense speculation. Much of it wrong, with an announcement in the White House Rose Garden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But while I will not be a candidate, I will not be silent. I intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as I can where we stand as a party, and where we need to go as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Biden's decision is big news for Hillary Clinton. Polls show she's likely to benefit the most from his absence.

More now from senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John and Christine. In the end, Joe Biden followed his head not his heart, as he decided

to back away from what surely is his last chance at the presidency. In closing the doors to weeks of self-induced speculation about joining the 2016 presidential race, he opens the door to the rest of the Democratic campaign.

So, was he ever serious at all? Several advisers and friends insist that he was. I'm told the more he knew about the race, the more exploring he did in calls of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the more daunting his path to victory actually seemed.

So, over the past several days, when he was out calling Hillary Clinton for saying Republicans are the biggest enemies, he wasn't firing a warning shot as much as offering a lesson in bipartisanship for how he thinks Washington should actually work.

Now, Hillary Clinton is surely relieved. Bernie Sanders is now the leading alternative if Democrats are still looking for one.

Now, Biden made clear he would not remain silent in the race going forward, urging Democrats to embrace President Obama and his legacy tightly. But his endorsement may depend on which candidate listens -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Thanks, Jeff. Also notable, Christine Romans said she liked Jeff Zeleny's tie. Never once said that to me.

Other presidential candidates, Democrat and Republican, quickly weighed in on the vice president's decision. Hillary Clinton tweeted, "The VP is a good friend and a great man, today and always, inspired by his optimism and commitment to change the world for the better."

Bernie Sanders and others expressed their sentiments on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He made a difficult decision, based on the needs of his family and his view of his future. And I respect the decision that he made.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was actually -- I'm kind of surprised. I thought he was going to run. I thought he would have been a competitive candidate in the Democratic nomination.

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It pretty much guarantees that Hillary will be the person that we're running against.

REPORTER: What about Bernie Sanders?

CARSON: It pretty much guarantees that Hillary will be the one we're running against.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think I -- given the field, it looks like Hillary Clinton is on her way as I always felt would be the case. And, you know, the Democrats have a candidate under extraordinary scrutiny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: As for Donald Trump, you want no know what he thinks about all this, right? Well, he managed to compliment Joe Biden for the decision and take a shot at Hillary Clinton at he same time. Trump is also marking a personal milestone in his presidential campaign.

And our Sara Murray has more on that from Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Good morning, John and Christine.

Donald Trump took the stage here in Burlington, Iowa, last night, celebrating his 100th day leading the GOP field. You can count on Trump to give the people what they want, a dose of conservative red meat delivered in entirely unscripted manner.

But, first, he had a message for Vice President Joe Biden. You did the right thing in deciding not to run for the presidency.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So -- we had some news today. That Biden is not running.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And I think he did the smart thing because frankly, I don't know that he would have won. He wouldn't have gotten the nomination. I don't think he probably would have.

And frankly, I really want to run against Hillary. I really do.

MURRAY: And, of course, there's a reason Donald Trump would prefer to run against Hillary Clinton. Polls show that in a head-to-head matchup, he faces a much tougher fight if he's up against Joe Biden than if he's up against the Democratic front-runner, Clinton.

[04:40:07] But, of course, that's a matchup that will never come to pass.

Back to you, John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: OK. So, interesting. Sara Murray, thank you for that.

Time for an early start of your money this morning.

BERMAN: My money.

ROMANS: You're money.

BERMAN: You pointed at me.

ROMANS: Every $2 in your pocket. Stocks around the world mixed ahead of a monetary policy decision from the European Central Bank. U.S. stock futures, you can see up a little bit.

Watch pharmaceuticals this morning. Valeant pharmaceuticals tanked 20 percent yesterday after a research firm accused the drugmaker of extensive fraud. This research firm even comparing Valeant to Enron. The report cites a web of deception and fake invoices created to deceive. Valeant said the report is untrue and simply intended to manipulate the market. In fact, the whole industry bracing for trouble.

Yesterday, Biogen announced plans to slash 11 percent of its workforce. Stocks in the sector have crumbled lately on fears they are too expensive. Plus, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and others have slammed the industry for produce gouging. So, that is a place to watch this morning in Wall Street.

BERMAN: All right. One place not the watch this morning -- Chicago.

ROMANS: Oh.

BERMAN: 1908 just got one year further away. The New York Mets swept the Chicago Cubs. That means the Cubs did not win a single game in the National League Championship Series.

ROMANS: You don't have to say it like that.

BERMAN: The New York Mets won the pennant. It was the first time since 2000.

It wasn't hard. It didn't take long. They were up 4-0 after one inning, 6-0 after two. The final score was 8-3. And it wasn't even that close. In the four games, the Chicago Cubs, they never led.

The planet's best baseball player right now is Daniel Murphy, who is normally a good player. Nice guy. Plays baseball pretty well.

Now, he's playing out of his freaking mind. He's set a record with home runs in six straight post-season games. That has never been done before.

ROMANS: Wow.

BERMAN: The Mets, they will now play the winner of the American League Championship Series. Toronto, they stay alive with a 7-1 win over Kansas City. The Royals, though, they live that series 3-2. Game six tomorrow.

Hello to a lot of people from Toronto watching us this morning. I happen to know that for a fact because of Twitter.

ROMANS: Good morning, Toronto. Good morning, Toronto.

Let me ask you. What happened to Chicago? Is the team too young? Good hitters? They didn't have the leadership on the field? BERMAN: No, no, I mean, the young people a little bit rattled, made

some defensive errors. And the lights-out pitching they had from some of their starters did not show up for the series. Plus, the Mets pitching was crazy good. And Daniel Murphy hits like a million and a half home runs.

ROMANS: Yes. And the ever optimistic Chicago fans, what now, they're hoping to build on this team in the future.

BERMAN: Yes, you can maybe win one game in the National League Championship Series next year.

ROMANS: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: All right. There is breaking news this morning, a meeting, an urgent meeting to stop the violence in Israel at this moment. John Kerry set to meet with Israel's prime minister. We're going to go there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Secretary of State John Kerry in Germany at this hour. He's holding talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The secretary is hoping to bring an end to a wave of violence that's claimed dozens of lives, Israeli and Palestinian lives this month.

Now, the prime minister, he raised a lot of eyebrows, to say the least, even among his supporters. He publicly claimed it was a Palestinian who gave Adolf Hitler the idea for the Holocaust.

I want to go live to Berlin and bring in CNN's Atika Shubert.

Atika, the important thing today is the meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is the important thing. And his statements were easily dismissed by the German chancellor yesterday, saying that Germany takes responsibility for the holocaust and there's though need to revise history.

Now, that sets the stage for the meeting today. The meeting is under way. There were some brief remarks before the meeting got started with the prime minister stating it was Palestinian incitement that was triggering these latest wave of attacks. With Secretary Kerry saying that all rhetoric on both sides needs to be dialed down.

Now, what exactly is going to come out of this meeting? We're not sure yet. We do know however that Secretary Kerry may be working on a diplomatic solution, which is essentially trying to get the so-called status quo agreement in writing.

Now, this is an agreement that was made in 1967. And it really governs access to the disputed area of the old city known as the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif. Muslims are allowed to pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque and Jewish visitors from Israel can actually visit the site but they can't pray at the site. They can may at the adjacent western wall next to it.

So, getting this down in writing may be one of the objectives of Secretary Kerry, because then it means it can be enforced. Everybody can stick to the positions set down in this document. That may be one way of deescalating the situation -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Atika Shubert for us in Berlin. It's a situation that needs some help, but no proof yet that either side is willing to deescalate. Thanks, Atika.

ROMANS: All right.

New details this morning inside the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Syria's embattled president. We are live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:13] BERMAN: All right. This morning, the White House slamming Russia for what it calls a red carpet welcome for Syrian President Bashar al Assad. The embattled Syrian leader, he went to Moscow to meet secretly with Vladimir Putin. A White House official said the administration views the meeting as at odds with the stated goal by the Russians for a political transition in Syria.

Let's get the latest. CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance live from Moscow.

Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.

An extraordinary meeting here in Moscow. It was kept top secret. It happened overnight. Bashar al Assad, the Syrian president flown in to Moscow, had a meeting, face to face, with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. They sat down. They smiled at each other.

Bashar al Assad thanked Vladimir Putin for the campaign of air strikes Russia has been carrying out against his enemies on the ground in Syria. They also had a light snack, according to the video that was broadcast on Russian state television.

Vladimir Putin saying that he wants to see a political settlement as well in Syria. And I think that was one of the main messages that came out of this very strange visit indeed. Russia saying to the rest of the world, look, you know, we are standing strongly behind Bashar al Assad. The West, the United States, in particular, believes he doesn't have a role in the future, but any diplomatic solution is going through Moscow.

We're going to be the power brokers in all of this, and we're standing behind Bashar al Assad. So, that was a message that I think was communicated very strongly by the images. It was reaffirmed on the telephone to the Turkish and Egyptian presidents and the Saudi Arabian and Jordanian kings as well by Vladimir Putin. Russia starting something of a diplomatic offensive to push for a

political settlement in Syria now that it has military planes bombing the targets in the country.

ROMANS: Yes, we'll see where that goes if there hasn't been a settlement in the offing, because there hasn't been one to date. Matthew Chance for us in Moscow -- thanks so much.

ROMANS: No, four years of war. Amnesty International says 200,000 people lost in that war.

Fifty-four minutes past the hour.

OK. So, we know the government can track our phones. Now the long- awaited answer for exactly how they do it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:58:16] ROMANS: All right. Just about the top of the hour. I'm Christine Romans. Let's get an early start on your money this morning.

U.S. stock futures pointing higher. Earnings reports from McDonald's, Southwest, United Continental and others. Stock fell yesterday, the Dow down about 50 points. Investors cautious as those company profits are expected to fall in the third quarter.

New details about how the government can track our phones. In testimony on Capitol Hill, law enforcement officials gave some long- awaited answers about the use of "Stingray" machines. These "Stingrays" mimic an actual cell phone tower and trick your phone into connecting.

Police nationwide have been using them for years. Officials say the devices are programmed to track cell phone locations, not gather calls or messages. Still unclear how many "Stingrays" exist and how often they're used. But pulling the veil back a little bit in that testimony yesterday.

Your boss is probably putting more money into your 401(k) than ever before. More than 40 percent of companies match their workers' 401(k) contribution dollar for dollar. Now, that's almost double the number in 2012. So, don't leave that free money on the table. The maximum amount people with put away in a 401(k) is $18,000 a year. That amount will changing next year thanks to low inflation.

BERMAN: Also not changing next year, Social Security, right?

ROMANS: Yes, yes, but Social Security checks will be flat next year. There will not be a pay rise in there for cost of living.

BERMAN: That's a big deal for a lot of seniors in this country, because a lot of other costs are going up.

ROMANS: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

BERMAN: We are just hours away from a huge day on Capitol Hill. Hillary Clinton faces the House Select Committee on Benghazi. Facing tough questions about what happened on that compound, facing questions about her e-mail. What will her strategy be?

ROMANS: Paul Ryan could be speaker of the House if he wants it.