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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing Lasts 11 Hours; Paul Ryan to Run for House Speaker; Kerry Meeting with Lavrov in Vienna; Tough Night for 49ers' Kaepernick. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired October 23, 2015 - 05:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hillary Clinton on the hot seat for hours, hours and hours -- an 11-hour hearing on the Benghazi terror attack.

[05:00:05] This went late, folks. There were big emotional moments. We have new reaction this morning, coming up.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans. It is Friday, October 23rd. It's 5:00 a.m. exactly in the East.

This morning, Hillary Clinton is back on the campaign trail. She's in Virginia after that exhausting and exhaustive 11-hour grilling by the House Benghazi Committee.

Again and again, Republicans pressed the former Secretary of State about her response to security concerns at the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya. They drilled into her actions on the night of the attack on that compound, the attack in 2012, an attack that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, foreign service officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods.

At times, Clinton's testimony was emotional.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: I wonder if you would like to comment on what it's like to be the subject of an allegation that you deliberately interfered with security that cost the life of a friend.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Congressman, it's a very personally painful accusation. It has been rejected and disproven by nonpartisan dispassionate investigators. But nevertheless, having it continued to be bandied around is deeply distressing to me.

You know, I would imagine I thought more about what happened than all of you put together. I've lost more sleep than all of you put together. I have been wracking my brain about what more could have been done or should have been done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: In other moments in this contentious hearings, Hillary Clinton almost sat back and allowed others to do the shouting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: Would the gentleman yield?

REP. TREY GOWDY (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: I'd be happy to, but you need to make sure the entire record's correct.

CUMMINGS: That's exactly what I want to do.

GOWDY: Well, then go ahead.

CUMMINGS: That's what I'm about to tell you. I move that we put into the record the entire transcript of Sidney Blumenthal. We're going to release the emails, let's do the transcript. That way, the world can see it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Second in motion.

CUMMINGS: Motion has been seconded.

GOWDY: Well, we're not going to take that up at a hearing. We'll take that up --

CUMMINGS: Mr. Chairman, I consulted with the parliamentarian and they have informed us we have a right to record a vote on that motion. You know --

GOWDY: Well, I'll tell you what --

CUMMINGS: You want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Well, that's what we want to have. Let the world see it.

SCHIFF: I think the core theory is this. That you deliberately interfered with security in Benghazi and that resulted in people dying. I think that is the case they want to make.

GOWDY: There's no theory of the prosecution, Mr. Schiff, because there is no prosecution. There's a very big difference between a prosecution, where you already have reached a conclusion and you're just trying to prove it to people. This is an investigation.

CLINTON: No one ever recommended closing the post in Benghazi.

REP. PETER ROSKAM (R), ILLINOIS: No one recommended closing, but you had two ambassadors that made several requests. Here's basically what happened to their requests. They were torn up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. So, after all of this, after all the stacks of e-mails and shredding of papers, did anything new emerge? And what effect might it all have on the 2016 race?

Let's get that from chief political correspondent Dana Bash.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, we are still standing after 11 hours from start to finish. That is how long this marathon hearing took.

And so, the big question at the end of the day is what new did we learn?

Well, the answer to that from the Republican chairman himself was effectively not much -- not much compared to other testimony a that Hillary Clinton has given, which is not exactly what Republicans wanted out there to know or Americans who wanted their taxpayer dollars spent wisely.

However, I spoke to another Republican on the committee, Susan Brooks, who had some interesting exchanges, good questions for Hillary Clinton during the many hours of that hearing. And I asked her what she learned new. She thought she did. Take a listen.

REP. SUSAN BROOKS (R), INDIANA: She led the agency where our Americans died and so, it was very important to ask her about who, what, why, when and where. We asked those types of questions. Some she had obviously testified previously.

But I think we went into much greater detail and much greater depth in getting an understanding of how -- who she took advice from, who was involved in decision making and what happened actually on the night of the incident. I think we went into much greater detail.

So, I think it was insightful. I think it was productive. I know that we have more important witnesses to go.

[05:05:02] This is not the end of the investigation.

BASH: Now, for people who watched some or all of this very, very long hearing, you can see that the Democrats, for the most part, weren't trying very hard to probe exactly what happened, when and why. Some were asking security questions, but most of them used their time to try to call this out as a political partisan witch hunt effectively.

And so, afterwards in these hallways talking to reporters, they felt that they were vindicated by the way that it went, that it was partisan. And at the end of the day, they insist that they are not sure that this whole select committee is going to come up with anything that we didn't know beforehand.

So, we'll see what's next. The chairman says he does have other witnesses he's going to call. They do have more work to do. They are still waiting for some more documents from the State Department.

So, Hillary Clinton's portion of this drama might be over at least publicly, but the investigation continues -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: All right. Thanks, Dana.

The Republican presidential candidates, a lot of them immediately jumped on Clinton's testimony, blaming her for security lapses in Benghazi, and they spotlighted the controversy over her e- mail. Overnight, we heard from Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: She has always felt and Clintons have always felt that they operate above the law. That there's a set of rules for one group of people and a set of rules for them.

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I didn't see much of it, but she's not accepting responsibility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. Let's get more on the Republican response now from senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, as Hillary Clinton testified in that marathon session on Benghazi on Capitol Hill, some of the Republican presidential candidates were following the proceedings with interest and weighing in on Twitter, including South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham who tweeted, "As threats increase, security decreased. Hillary Clinton is responsible above all others for this dynamic."

Graham also expressing support for Congressman Trey Gowdy, the Republican chairman of the committee. He tweeted, "For those who want to avoid responsibility for their actions regarding Benghazi, Trey Gowdy has become their worst nightmare."

Senator Rand Paul tweeted a parody picture of a computer hard drive, writing, "We need liberty, not Hillary."

A Donald Trump retweet claimed, quote, "Hillary is doing a horrible job suggesting she was reading from a script."

And Dr. Ben Carson, leading in Iowa in the latest Quinnipiac poll, answered a question about the hearing. Listen.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I'm glad she's gotten around to it. It's a good thing. Benghazi is a very serious issue because it goes to the core of who we are as Americans.

REPORTER: Do you think the committee has been delegitimized at all?

CARSON: I think a lot of people who tried to say it's been legitimatized because they don't want to get to the bottom of the situation. But we have to get to the bottom of it because it's very important.

JOHNS: Democrats have said the Benghazi committee investigation was undermined by recent statements from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, suggesting Hillary Clinton's poll numbers were reduced due to the committee's work -- John and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Joe Johns, thanks for that, Joe.

Joining us to talk about this hearing is CNN politics reporter Eric Bradner.

Eric, I got to tell you, the last time I've seen somebody sit there for so long in a hearing room, I think it was Lloyd Blankfein, up against Carl Levin, and it was -- wow. And yesterday, it was also wow, a lot there.

I want to -- I want to bring in this exchange between Indiana Congresswoman Susan Brooks and Clinton about whether Hillary Clinton on the night that Benghazi happened had talked to Chris Stevens. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKS: Did you ever talk to Ambassador Stevens when all of this was going on in the hotbed of Libya? That is a yes or no question, Madam Secretary. I'm sorry.

Did you ever personally speak to Ambassador Stevens after -- we don't know the answer. Did you ever personally speak to him after you swore him in in May? Yes or no, please.

CLINTON: Yes, I believe I did.

BROOKS: And when was that?

CLINTON: I don't recall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That was a tense -- a tense exchange between the two.

BERMAN: And to be clear, it wasn't while events were happening in Benghazi. Representative Brooks was asking if you had ever spoken to Chris Stevens by phone after he was appointed by ambassador.

ERIC BRADNER, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Right, right. This is maybe the worst exchange for Hillary Clinton of the entire day. She's giving this sort of heartfelt explanation for why this was a terrible period in her life, everything that she did to try to get to the bottom of what had happened and she's admitting that she perhaps didn't speak to this ambassador for months.

Now, obviously, Hillary Clinton can't remember every conversation she had three years ago and she oversaw more than 200 ambassadors. She surely spoke with many of them at the time.

But Republicans are going to see that as sort of an admission -- you know, if they want to read into this that Hillary Clinton was disengaged, that will probably be the moment that they're going to point to.

[05:10:06] BERMAN: Yes. It was interesting, too, one of the reasons they focused so much on Sidney Blumenthal the journalist associated working with the Clintons for decades right now, one of the things she pointed out she interacted a lot with the Sidney Blumenthal so why wasn't she talking to her Ambassador Chris Stevens, a man she also called a friend?

BRADNER: Right.

BERMAN: There was another exchange, got some laughs from some people, though, not everyone, it was when Alabama Representative Martha Roby was asking Clinton about the night of the attack, who she had been speaking with, where she was, and whom she was with.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARTHA ROBY (R), ALABAMA: Who else was at your home? Were you alone?

CLINTON: I was alone, yes.

ROBY: The whole night?

CLINTON: Well, yes, the whole night.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBY: I don't know why that's funny. Did you have any in- person briefings? I don't find it funny at all.

CLINTON: I'm sorry. A little note of levity at 7:15.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, what Roby was suggesting she didn't stay at the State Department to oversee personally what was going on in Benghazi, the attacks in Libya, but net result was a moment where a lot of people just out and out laughed, Eric.

BRADNER: Right. I was in the room and I think literally everyone sort of chuckled at that because like Hillary Clinton, I think everyone was sort of taken off guard, wasn't really sure what the congresswoman was getting at.

But -- but, yes, she was really pressing Hillary Clinton on the details of is that night, who she talked to, where she was where and what her staff was doing, and -- and so, yes. This is Hillary Clinton is at that point more than nine hours into this hearing, and -- and really frankly didn't see where the congresswoman was going with that exchange. So --

BERMAN: No, it seemed like a natural thing to laugh at frankly. If you're watching, it we all were.

ROMANS: Hours and hours and hours of testimony, too. So in the end, I mean, let's talk about where it goes from here.

She's on the campaign trail today in Virginia. Trey Gowdy after the hearing on Clinton, I think we have that sound. Let's listen to what Trey Gowdy said after that hearing was concluded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOWDY: I think some of Jimmy Jordan's questioning -- well, when you say new today, I mean, we knew some of that already. We knew about the e-mails. In terms of her testimony? I don't know that she testified that much differently today than she has the previous time she testified.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: So, he was asked if there was anything new. Was there anything new to you? Is there a thing that jumped out to you that this hearing revealed that we did not know before about Benghazi?

BRADNER: You know, it was only small stuff, like perhaps that exchange with Susan Brooks, about when she talked to Chris Stevens or whether she talked to Chris Stevens. There is nothing big, no major bombshell.

And for Hillary Clinton that's a great thing. She's coming off, you know, a couple of highs here, a great Democratic debate and Joe Biden deciding not to get in the race, and this was the third of three big challenges this month, and for her to emerge from it without any news or bombshell, new piece of information emerging is tremendous. This will be a really helpful sort of injection of energy into her campaign.

So -- so, no, this hearing went about as Clinton would have wanted it to. She got a little snippy perhaps naturally towards the end of those 11 hours, both Trey Gowdy and Hillary Clinton and Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat who were sort of sniping at each other, but there were no bad moments, no, new pieces of information that are going to damage her politically that appeared to be revealed yesterday

ROMANS: She mostly kept her cool and the Democrats lined up around her and were able to attack Republicans on her behalf, as her proxy and the Republicans kept up very aggressive questioning the whole time.

BERMAN: Yes, it's hard to see how minds were changed which may be the ultimate barometer here.

All right. Eric, great to have you with us.

ROMANS: Have a great weekend.

BERMAN: Thanks so much, Eric Bradner, CNN Politics.

BRADNER: Thanks.

ROMANS: All right. Happening now, a high stakes meeting between Russia and the U.S. over the crisis in Syria. We're live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:03] BERMAN: All right. Secretary of State John Kerry meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Vienna right now, an important meeting happening this morning.

What they are looking for is common ground in the crisis in Syria. The Russians have been propping up the Syrian leader Bashar al Assad with air strikes against his enemy. The U.S. insists he cannot be part -- Assad cannot be part of a future Syrian regime.

CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson watching this development.

Sergey Lavrov and John Kerry, they have friendly, they have constructive dialogue often, but they have very seldom been able to move United States and Russia together on key international crises points, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. I mean, look, they have had a great track record in Vienna if you look back to the Iran nuclear talks this summer.

But, right now, this is wholly different. This is Syria. So as Lavrov coming with from Moscow, that could be attractive to the United States, OK. What the Russian president is saying, and he met earlier this week with the Syrian president, is that Bashar al Assad, the Syrian president is willing to back rebel groups that will take on ISIS. Well, the United States is doing that already.

But here's the rub on all of that: Bashar al Assad and the Russians are attacking some of those rebel groups that the United States is supporting, so they seem to be on opposite sides of the table, even thought the rhetoric might side kind of attractive.

So, Lavrov is coming into a situation here, not just meeting with Secretary Kerry so you have the two big international world powers that are directly involved in Syria at table but also going to be there as well. The Turkish and Saudi foreign ministers, two big regional powers works definitely have a lot of influence and a lot at take in what's happening inside Syria.

And right now, Turkey, Saudi Arabia on the same side of the table as John Kerry. So, it seems that Sergey Lavrov is, A, going to have a really hard sell and, B, it's going to be a really, really hard sell.

It seems unlikely that we're going to see a lot of progress out of this meeting, but they are meeting, and these are four big, big players involved in Syria. That itself has got to be a good thing -- John.

BERMAN: That's a good point. All right. Nic Robertson for us in London, thanks so much, Nic.

ROMANS: This morning, Pentagon officials are trying to explain U.S. involvement in a raid on an ISIS-controlled prison in northern Iraq, a raid that left one American service member dead. The U.S. joined the raid in a support role at request of the Kurdish regional government, but the Pentagon says that when the Kurdish forces came under heavy fire, commanders decided to enter the firefight. That's when the U.S. soldier was fatally wounded. It's the first time an American has been killed in action in Iraq since the U.S. renewed military intervention there a year ago.

BERMAN: All right. Paul Ryan made it official while so many people were watching the Benghazi hearing, he officially announced he will run for House speaker. He wrote a note to his Republican colleagues saying he's ready and eager to lead and unite party. He jumped in after two influential Republican groups followed the House Freedom Caucus pledging support to Ryan.

[05:20:05] He's now the consensus candidate. A vote for speaker is scheduled for next week.

ROMANS: All right. Time for an early start on your Monday. A great morning for stocks around the world. European and Asian stocks and hopes of more stimulus from the European Central Bank.

U.S. stock futures are up after that big surge yesterday. The Dow 321 points, almost 2 percent. Solid earnings from big players like McDonald's, Google, Amazon, Microsoft.

One looming threat though to stocks, the debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has warned the impasse in Washington is already increasing borrowing costs. Congress must act as soon as possible, and the Treasury, this got a lot of people by surprise yesterday, John, the Treasury cancelled the sale of two-year notes. That auction of debt was scheduled for next week.

The cancelling is because the fears Congress won't raise the debt ceiling in time. The sale, the auction scheduled for October 27th, set to go through on November 2nd, just the day before Jack Lew and the Treasury think that they will have exhaust their measures to keep country below the debt limit.

BERMAN: Yes. Welcome to the next two weeks of your life, folks. Serious fight, may not be a resolution.

ROMANS: Down to the wire.

BERMAN: All right. You may have been watching the hearings on Capitol Hill, but there was a different game, Thursday night football. The Seattle Seahawks, and there was another time barely on the field as well. Depends on who came out on top.

Andy Scholes has the details in the bleacher report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:25:04] BERMAN: The 49ers and Seahawks, they used to be good football teams. They met on Thursday night football. And even though we're not even halfway through the season, this was a really big game for both of these teams.

ROMANS: Andy Scholes has more in this morning's bleacher report.

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, guys.

Yes, both the Seahawks and Niners a disappointing 2-4 coming into last night's game and if you fall to 2-5 in the NFL, you've got only about a 3 percent chance of making the playoffs. Both of these teams knew how important this game was.

The 49ers Colin Kaepernick, well -- I mean, he had a real rough night. He was sacked six times and only completed 13 passes in the game, and you've got to check out this incomplete pass right here. It's going to drill one of the trainers right in the head on the 49ers sideline. Hopefully, he is OK. The Seahawks go on to win this game pretty easily. The final score, 20-3.

Louisville head coach Rick Pitino telling cardinal fans he will not be going anywhere as investigators look at allegations that one of his former staffers hired an escort at other dancers to strip and have sex with recruits. Pitino said, quote, "I will not resign and let you down. Some day, I will walk away in celebration of many memorable years, but that time is not now."

A great news for John Ferrell and the Boston Red Sox. The team announcing on Thursday that Ferrell's cancer is in remission. The 53- year-old has been on medical leave since August after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Ferrell will return as Boston's manager next year and is expected to be ready to go for spring training.

Finally, a homecoming queen in Alabama giving roll tide a whole new meaning last weekend to. To honor her dad's last game coaching at West Blocton High School, Jodie Farnetti, she wanted to go out and make a field goal in the third quarter, went out there and nailed it. The first person she runs and hugs on the sideline is, of course, her dad.

Earlier in the night, Jodie had been named homecoming queen while rocking the football uniform. So pretty cool and awesome moment for her and her dad right there.

And, Christine, it's interesting. Jodie's got the same nickname that Berman had in high school, Miss Friday night.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: Well done. Andy Scholes, I just concede, I concede, you win. I can't beat that.

SCHOLES: How you doing, guys.

BERMAN: Thanks, Andy. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: Twenty-seven minutes past the hour.

BERMAN: All right. It was a long night, as can you tell by my non-response from my Andy Scholes beat-town.

Hillary Clinton, she faced the House Select Benghazi Committee, 11 hours there. What more did we learn? Did she should any light on the e-mail controversy? All that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)