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Obama Issues New Immigration Ultimatum; Jeb 2016? Brother George Says It's A Toss-Up; Is the Ebola Scare Over?; Virgin Galactic Pushing Ahead After Crash

Aired November 10, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": The Monday after the election, we're supposed to having to talk about, right? But it's a very busy, packed day to go "Inside Politics". See you guys in just a few minutes.

With me this morning to share their reporting and their insights, Jackie Kucinich of "The Washington Post", Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times."

Let's start with the president. He's overseas in Asia. Tough trip there, talkign to the Chinese and others about some difficult global challenges, but let's focus. Before he left, he sat down with Bob Schieffer of CBS "Face The Nation." We all know the president has poised the issue sweeping executive action on immigration reform, providing legal status to millions of the undocumented.

But he says he wants to give the House Speaker John Boehner a little bit of time. Listen to this. The president gives them a little more than a month even.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, John, I'm going to give you some time, if you can't get it done before the end of the year, I'm going to have to take the steps that I can to improve the system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Eventually six, seven weeks, for the House Republicans, that's not an offer I think will be accepted.

JACKIE KUCINICH, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Ultimatums from the president don't really work for House Republicans or any Republicans. They really don't have any incentives to do so. The Republicans just won the Senate. They feel like I don't have to listen to you, but thanks.

KING: There were several reports that during this White House meeting, the president and a dozen or so of the congressional leadership that Vice President Biden leaned over to the speaker and said how much time do you need? The president kind of shut that one down, shut the vice president a bit of a glare. JONATHAN MARTIN, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Joe Biden isn't willing to cut a deal, that's sort of his native habitat. Well, right, the idea that Republican expanded House majority would come back in the lame duck session take up an amnesty bill is unlikely I should say.

Now, John Boehner couldn't do that. It might be hard for him in January to be a speaker again, but it seems very unlikely. I think Obama is doing that, in part, because it gives him a measure, I gave him one last chance here.

KING: I also think he knows he is stoking. When he does that, he's stoking the Republican base hoping that they overreact. In the election, he somehow gets his mojo back because they overstepped.

MARTIN: That's totally a part of the calculation here, if you do that, hounding more folks to impeach him. You raise that possibility, John, as you said of overreach.

KING: We'll see how that one plays out now. The campaign ends and you think that means the campaign ends, right? In our campaign, it's not just all of the politicians some specifically are going to look at here. Elizabeth Warren, remember, she is not running for president, right.

She told us that repeatedly that she campaigned in 2014, yet she writes a big op-ed over the weekend going after the Republicans, saying watch them, they're in the back pockets of the lobbyist, watch their agenda.

Scott Walker, the newly re-elected governor of Wisconsin, he is also writing some advice for Republicans in Congress, saying for all the governors here, pass an agenda, are we supposed to read into that?

KUCINICH: You know, wasn't Wednesday, the first day of 2016, the day after the midterm elections? You see a lot of these people coming out, not only Elizabeth Warren and Scott Walker, Rand Paul has been around. Chris Christie was on every single Sunday show known anywhere.

KING: Rick Perry is in New Hampshire.

KUCINICH: Yes, exactly. These guys are ready they're putting together their campaigns, both publicly and privately, you see a lot of movement with Rand Paul and several of these guys.

KING: But in the case specifically, Jonathan, of Elizabeth Warren, a lot of liberals want her to run. She said repeatedly she was not. When she stays in the middle of the mix, does that raise some suspension or am I overreacting?

MARTIN: It definitely raises questions as to whether or not she still intends to stay on the sidelines in 2016, but from talking to people around her, I can't find any possibility that she wants to actually do. I think she very much, John, wants to be in the conversation. I just don't think she actually wants to run for president. KUCINICH: But how many times has someone been dragged into this when they really don't want to be. I think with Warren, I think part of it is what if Hillary doesn't run? What is going to happen?

MARTIN: Holding that space. She has that space I think if Hillary doesn't run.

MARTIN: Yes. Look, there is definitely an opening for her on the left. I just think on a personal level, it just seems very unlikely.

KING: Interesting even she is not running, she is clearly planting a flag here that she is going to be part of the Democratic agenda conversations going forward. Even though she is a freshman senator just like Ted Cruz is a freshman senator.

It used to be the freshmen senators were supposed to behave like freshmen senators, but not anymore, not in the new rules. One more on this one, it is basketball season.

Maybe that's why George W. Bush uses this analogy. He is talking about his brother, Jeb, the former governor of Florida, who we all know thinking about running for president. George W. Bush scores it for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: I think it's 50-50. He is agonizing about the decision. He knows exactly, the ramifications on family, for example, he has seen his dad and his brother go through the presidency. I would give it a tossup.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: For those of you wondering if that interview was shot six years ago when George W. Bush had the oval office? That's the oval office replica at the George W. Bush Presidential Library. It's actually fascinating. It is a dead ringer. They could shoot "Scandal" or some TV show.

But a toss-up, you know, during the campaign, it seemed like he was leaning forward a little bit. Is the brother pulling it back or just leaving it out there?

KUCINICH: I think a lot of establishment Republicans in particular hope that it tips toward him running because he embodies a lot of things, particularly on immigration that establishment Republicans would like to see happen, would like to see Bush in this next election.

MARTIN: I think George W. Bush wants him to run. I think he probably got out a little bit aggressively, more so than his brother would actually appreciate. As did Jeb's son, by the way, and so I think he is trying to recalibrate that a little bit to be respectful.

KING: Give a little space through the holidays, so one more on this, Rand Paul, we all know is leading the way and he meets with his top advisers this week. He is planning on running for president. The only thing would be if somebody talks him out of it.

Listen to this, repeatedly, you ask him what time of day it is, he blames Hillary Clinton for something. You ask him did President Obama have a bad election night, he says Hillary Clinton had a worse election night.

Listen to this in "Politico," "I think all the polls show, if she does run, she will win the Democrat nomination. I don't think it's for certain. It's a very taxing undertaking to go through. It's a rigorous physical ordeal. I think to be able to campaign for the presidency."

Is Rand Paul trying to suggest that Hillary Clinton, Jackie, is too old for the challenge? That's what I see.

KUCINICH: Very careful, very careful. Remember when Karl Rove did this, said she looked tired. Anyone who runs against Hillary Clinton, should she run, should she win the nomination, they will have to tread very lightly on issues like this on her health, on her age. It doesn't look good.

MARTIN: It will be a central theme here. Some will do it subtly. Some will do it less subtly, but that is that she is yesterday. It worked tomorrow. I think that is a part of that statement you see right there.

Again, there is little about Hillary. This is more about Rand trying to establish himself as a serious candidate in his own right and trying to push back from some of the problems he has in his own party making it about me and Hillary.

KING: Not afraid to take on the Clintons. Watch for the establishment now that Rand Paul is so serious. Thank you for that on a Monday morning. You guys mentioned before you came to me that Led Zeppelin won't do this $800 million tour. Maybe President Obama and Willie Nelson and John Fogarty will hit the road in their place.

(VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, that is the greatest of all causes, a concert paying tribute to our veterans. So we salute the cause. I'm not sure the president will fill many arenas if he hits the road singing. He can do it with politics, but I'm not sure about singing.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Right. But I'd pay a good money to see Willy Nelson, that's a great gig.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: I would pay good money, John King, here's the proposition, for Willie Nelson to be hired or appointed as cannabis consultant to Congress because it is now legal in Washington, D.C.

CAMEROTA: I like it, a Canada czar.

KING: I am staying out of this conversation. No good in the Twitter verse, joining this conversation does you no good in the Twitter verse.

CUOMO: What does you any good in the Twitter verse?

CAMEROTA: He's making high roads.

CUOMO: Strong, Camerota.

CAMEROTA: Thank you very much, Cuomo. Well, Ebola is not in the top headlines anymore. Does that mean the epidemic is over? We will get you a status report on the spread of the disease.

CUOMO: And despite that deadly crash the race for commercial space flight in full swing. We are going to take you somewhere that otherwise you would not be able to go, the factory where the next ship is almost built. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. We are going to talk about Ebola. It has been out of the headlines a bit, the Ebola scare in Texas seems to be a thing of the past at least for now.

The last person being monitored for the virus is past their 21-day observation period. Does this mean the watch is really over? With one, one case remaining in the U.S., how can prevent another flare-up.

Let's bring in CNN medical analyst, Dr. Alexander Van Tullekan. Dr. Zan as we like to call you. It's really interesting. I don't want to talk about it being out of the headlines as if that makes it seem like it's not an issue because it really still is.

While we only have one case in the United States, that doesn't mean we should let down our guard.

DR. ALEXANDER VAN TULLEKEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I think that's right. We have good news. So, everyone from the observation period from the Nina Pham, Thomas Eric Duncan era is not being observed anymore. Kaci Hickox's period finishes today.

We just have Craig Spencer right now. There is still real reason to be worried about Ebola in the U.S.

PEREIRA: Let's break that down and talk to me about why? Because I don't want this part of the conversation, I don't want people to gloss over it. This is still a concern. Why?

TULLEKEN: It's absolutely right because we still have the same set of agencies that failed to deliver good technical advice and good technical assistance to the hospitals. The CDC and NIH were well, well behind the curve.

They failed to respond to the epidemic early. They failed to communicate the risk of the public. The thing that should concern us most is nobody should die in America of Ebola for us to feel the effects of Ebola. PEREIRA: So despite the fact that we have a so-called Ebola czar, the fact that the CDC has updated guidelines and is making sure that hospitals and medical facilities around the U.S. have those updated facilities.

That people are being trained in our medical facilities. That they are being watch in the buddy system if and when they have to take on or take off the gear, that doesn't seem enough for you?

TULLEKEN: We have definitely learned a lot. The CDC has definitely altered its process, but what we still have is the central problem of a fractured central command. So with the Ebola czar, when you look at what Ron Klain has been up to, you don't find anything.

That the one bit of good news is that the president has asked for a lot of money to roll back the disease worldwide, but we still have a lot of central concern over a set of agencies that cannot respond to infectious disease or global pandemic disease worldwide.

And in the states, effectively, I'm not it's really worse because we are seeing irrational policies. We are seeing Kaci Hickox, the nurse in Maine, protesting that.

I think rightly so, you have a government, who wants to lock her in her House for no good reason. We have irrational policies agencies that aren't keeping us safer.

We have agencies that have demonstrated an inability to control communicable disease. Even if you are not worried about Ebola, I don't think anyone in America is at risk of catching Ebola any time soon.

PEREIRA: But the panic has subsided.

TULLEKEN: At the moment in New York State, we have 357 people under observation at the moment, who have been at some rick and therefore are under observation.

PEREIRA: So essentially the waters have receded, but the levies that were meant to protect us are still broken?

TULLEKEN: We haven't reformed them substantially enough. Globally, the WHO, and all the resident agencies are still taking a long time to respond. The U.S. military has taken a good lead, but we are still not doing enough in West Africa.

PEREIRA: You have been very vocal about saying the not for profit, doctors without medicine has been at the forefront --

TULLEKEN: Doctors Without Borders.

PEREIRA: -- doctors without medicine -- thank goodness they do, and also Samaritans Purse and these other NGOs that are there, they have been doing such a great job.

TULLEKEN: They have shouldered the entire burden of this response so far. The U.S. military is still building these hospitals that are under construction. You are seeing a good gear of that response in one of the West African countries, the case numbers are falling.

We don't know if that will continue, but overall, we still have a global system that does not protect us well from pandemic disease.

PEREIRA: For example, in our government, bureaucracy taking over?

TULLEKEN: I think we have a real difficulty with the structure of this. The CDC, we don't have centralized command and control. We have the U.S. military responding overseas.

We have the CDC with the mandate to keep us all healthy. The CDC is basically a $6 billion risk management agency, who demonstrated a lack of ability to communicate about risk and to analyze risk effectively.

They made poor decisions early on globally manning, responding to the epidemic. They then made poor decisions in terms of providing leadership and getting hospitals on board before we had cases and then subsequently made mistakes after that.

So now they've reformed, but we still have the basic structures that make poor decisions in place.

PEREIRA: Kaci Hickox is leaving Maine, she and her boyfriend are said to be wanting to start over in a new state, get away from all of this. But you say that you sort of feel that the whole situation was bungled?

TULLEKEN: It's so interesting because she has been really widely crystalized this. There are other health care providers who come back to their communities and said you know what, 21 days is fine. I'll order pizza. I'll relax at home. They have been lauded as heroes.

And she's been widely criticized for this, but what I'd say is I would want to leave Maine. If I had a governor that wanted to lock me in my house for demonstrably no reason, just simply to score political points because he says I'm a risk.

She's had a negative Ebola test. She wants to go for a bike ride and the government was seeking a court order to prevent her from doing that. The judge said, no, you don't pose a risk.

There will be a 3-feet separation, but you can leave your House. That to me is quite sinister. Regardless of her behavior, we have the governors making irrational policies.

PEREIRA: Her as you said, her quarantine period ends today. We'll see what happens there. Dr. Zan, always a pleasure, thanks for coming in. Keep this conversation going with us -- Chris.

CUOMO: To space or not. Virgin Galactic is pressing forward on commercial space flight despite that deadly space flight. You want to see how those crafts get made? We will take you inside the factory where the next spacecraft is already coming off the line. The question, can they make it safe? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. We all know about the horrible test flight. Here's the latest. Virgin Galactic says it's regrouping, reflecting and pushing forward. It's still full speed ahead for commercial spaceflight despite what happened a week ago.

Let's bring in Rachel Crane. She got to speak with Virgin Galactic CEO and more importantly got a look at their latest spacecraft, which is about to roll out of the factory. This is important. I know why they want us there, but what did you see and what did you think?

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So I was actually there a couple of months ago and it was remarkable to see the progress that has been made on Spaceship Two Serial Two. Now this was the latest edition to the fleet of Virgin Galactic for the sub- orbital flights.

And it's about 90 percent structurally complete, 65 percent completely finished. They were working away on the spaceship just a couple days after this accident. They really are full speed ahead, dedicated to getting this ship completed and dedicated to getting these flights off the ground.

CAMEROTA: What are they changing now that there's been this accident?

CRANE: Well, the investigation is still ongoing. They don't know exactly what the cause of the accident is. They know that the engine was found intact as well as the fuel tanks, which there was initial speculation that that was perhaps the cause of the crash. That has now been ruled out.

They're now looking at this premature launching of the feathering system. So they don't know what safety precautions will have to be adjusted for this new spaceship. But if and when they find that out, they will certainly be making those adjustments.

CUOMO: The unknown in something like this when if it goes wrong you die. How big of an impact that crash is having on their pre-sales and people wanting to go.

CRANE: So initially they had some people rescinding their tickets, but actually George Whiteside, the CEO of Virgin Galactic, when I spoke with him, he mentions that after the accident they've actually spoken to some of those passengers who were concerned, and they've in fact swayed them back. So they are back and going full speed ahead, looking to get back into space.

PEREIRA: Full speed ahead, I mean, we know that this is what test flights are for, right, to find out before you send up a big payload, humans et cetera. We know one man lost his life here. Is there a sense that it rattled them?

CRANE: Well, certainly. You know, this test flight was run by Scales Composites. It was actually not run by Virgin Galactic. It was Virgin Galactic spaceship, but Scaled Composites, was the company that was running this test flight. You know, certainly there is concern surrounding this. They want to perfect this technology. But at least most of the passengers, there's still 680 passengers that are not afraid that are looking to get on this flight. They're not swayed by this.

They know that this is what these test flights are for and this technology will in fact be perfected.

CAMEROTA: Rachel Crane, thanks so much for coming on with the information.

CRANE: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you. All right, there are questions this morning surrounding the unexpected release of two Americans held captive in North Korea. What prompted Kim Jong-Un to free the men and how will this affect the U.S. relationship with the North going forward? We're talking live with the State Department's Jen Psaki.

CUOMO: And cutting the head off the snake, a U.S. airstrike goes after the leader of ISIS. Did they get him? Is he alive? Was he even there? We're going to bring you the latest in a live report. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)