Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Putin Calls for Regional 'Co-Coordinating Structure' Against ISIS; Obama, Putin to Address U.N. General Assembly; Pope Francis Returns to Rome after Historic U.S. Visit. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 28, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. wants Assad out. Russia, certainly at this point, seems to be playing the ground to prop him up to perhaps set up his own proxy replacement if Assad were to fall.

[07:00:17] Just look at the military equipment that Russia has put into Syria in the last couple of weeks. Planes, aircraft, tanks, armored personnel carriers. A list of things that is growing every day. The last one on that list, fuel tanks underground. Sounds very odd. That is an indication they are setting this airfield up for long-term operations. You refuel most safely by having your fuel underground.

This is not something just for a few days. This is a long-term effort by the Russians. And President Obama, the Pentagon, the intelligence community struggling to figure out what Putin may really be up to.

One of the key questions here: Does Putin perhaps see Assad very weak right now, has to prop him up? But again, if the Russians are going to put themselves at the table, that gives them a vote on a replacement, a potential proxy, if Assad were to go -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Barbara. Thanks so much for all that background. That's very helpful.

Well, before their face-to-face meeting, both President Obama and President Putin speaking to the United Nations General Assembly. Let's get right to CNN's Michelle Kosinski. She's live at the U.N.

What are we expecting, Michelle?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they will. President Obama is going to deliver this big speech, focusing on diplomacy, on trying to work together to find solutions in Syria and against ISIS.

But leave it to Russian President Vladimir Putin to shake things up. I mean, he's supposed to deliver this kind of dueling speech, criticizing America and its sanctions regime and possibly urging countries to back Syria's president, Bashar al Assad. He thinks that that is the best way to fight ISIS. But the White House feels like President Putin is wrong and that is a big and potentially very dangerous mistake.

But after these speeches, these two leaders are going to sit down and talk for the first time in about two years. Talk over these differences. The White House says it wants clarity on what exactly Russia's intentions are and because Putin is, quote, "so desperate" to talk to President Obama, the White House says that, at this point, with everything that's going on, it would be irresponsible not to at least give it a shot. They say President Obama is going to be very direct with Putin on these issues of Ukraine and Syria.

But what good could come out of this. Possibly some cooperation against ISIS but behind the scenes at the White House, the feeling is skeptical -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right, Michelle, thanks so much.

Meanwhile, the battle for the new House speaker is heating up just days after John Boehner's surprise resignation. Boehner himself generated more buzz Sunday, blasting some of his more conservative Republican colleagues, in fact, calling them false prophets. CNN's Manu Raju live in Washington with the details.

Strong language from him, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It really was. And it was only the latest in a long-running civil war between these Tea Party outside groups, as well as the Republican Party leadership, who John Boehner believed that those groups and those conservative hard-liners in his caucus had made his job a lot harder, had made himself a liability to a lot of his Republican members when they had gone back home and they had to answer questions about him.

And he also made mention of his friend and former colleague, Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, who lost a very surprising primary last year in his Virginia district. Here's what he had to say about Eric Cantor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), OUTGOING HOUSE SPEAKER: I was planning on leaving at the end of last year. When my friend Eric Cantor lost his primary election in July of last year, it was clear to me that I just couldn't leave. That I had to provide a transition for the next leaders. So I planned on serving through this year. And on November 17, I was going to make an announcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Yes, well, now that he's made that announcement, there is a scramble to succeed him.

The leading candidate right now is Kevin McCarthy, the current House majority leader from California. I've been told he's been making calls through the weekend and has enough commitments to get the job to succeed John Boehner. And that has prompted a big fight for the people underneath him.

Watch for the battle for House majority leader to really shape up. There are a number of candidates vying for that. And one of the things they're all talking about, is to take a much

tougher line on this leadership team. Not with just the White House, but the Republicans in the Senate, who they view has been an impediment to enacting a conservative agenda. So this will be a huge thing we'll have to watch in the coming weeks. You know, major implications for the president in his final year and a half in office.

CAMEROTA: Manu, thanks so much for all of that. We have a lot to talk about.

So let's bring in White House press secretary Josh Earnest.

Great to have you here in studio.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good to see you, Alisyn. It's nice to be here and not via satellite.

[07:05:04] CAMEROTA: Right. It's great to see that you actually wear pants.

Let's talk...

CUOMO: Took a line from me.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what's going on in the United Nations. What does President Obama want out of this meeting with President Putin?

EARNEST: Look, this is an opportunity for the two leaders to sit down. They haven't actually sat down in person in quite some time. And it is an opportunity for President Obama to reiterate how important it is that Russia not interfere with the 62-member anti-ISIL coalition that the United States has been leading for more than a year now.

CAMEROTA: Aren't they already doing that? I mean, this surprise announcement, as we're calling it, a surprise announcement that they have now -- they're now sharing intelligence with three countries that are not U.S. allies: Russia, Syria, Iran? Aren't they already interfering?

EARNEST: Well, what they are doing is they're actually doubling down on the military presence that they've had in Syria for quite some time. The fact is, Russia has treated Syria as essentially a client state for a number of years now. And as they see Assad losing his grip on power even more, they feel like they need to double down and try to shore up their investment there.

So the truth is, this has been styled as Russia taking this bold action inside of Syria. The truth is, they're actually trying to shore up an investment. They're responding from a position of weakness to try to salvage what remains there.

What we want to make sure of is that those efforts don't come into conflict and don't interfere with the very important efforts that our 62-member coalition is engaged in right now to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL.

CUOMO: That takes us to what is happening right now, which seems to be doing exactly what you don't want to have happen. And the idea of this accord, I hoped from your guys' perspective that it would have been a surprise. Because if it's not a surprise, which is the spin coming out of the White House, why would you let this deal happen? And it's -- well, Iraq's a sovereign. Please. You have a heavy hand in what Iraq decides to do. Why would you let them do an intelligence deal with Russia and Iran?

EARNEST: Well, look, these are individual sovereign countries that are out there representing their own interests. The fact is, this is true in Iraq.

CUOMO: Have we lost that much control as the United States over Iraq and what's best for them to have them do this deal?

EARNEST: Chris, we have gone down the path of the United States trying to control exactly what happens inside of Iraq. That didn't serve our interests very well.

CUOMO: Does this?

EARNEST: Ultimately what we want to do is -- well, it's certainly better than the United States committing a certain number of ground troops into Iraq and in Syria.

In fact, what we want to try to do is we want to continue to work with the Iraqis and with the rest of the international community to keep the fight focused on ISIL. And there has been a lot of talk about Bashar al-Assad of late. It is the view of the United States, as it has been for quite some time, that it's a result of his failed leadership that ISIL was able to establish a foothold inside of Syria, to project power into places like Iraq and capitalize on some of the political instability in that country that has led to this terrible humanitarian refugee crisis that's reverberating, not just across the Middle East but now into Europe.

The root of all of this is the failed leadership of Bashar al-Assad. It's why we've made the case that he's lost the legitimacy to lead that country. And we'd like to work with other countries to facilitate the kind of political transition that's necessary to ultimately solve this problem.

CAMEROTA: So is the White House nervous about this intelligence sharing deal between the Iraqi military and Syria and Russia and Iran?

EARNEST: I wouldn't describe it as nervous. I think what we want to do is we want to give Russia the opportunity to contribute constructively to the ongoing efforts of our coalition to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL. And that's -- that will be part of the conversation that President Obama has with President Putin today.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about ISIS for a second. Because the White House said that we're winning against ISIS or that we're making great strides. How is that illustrated? EARNEST: Well, there's no denying that we've made a lot of important

progress against ISIL, both in Iraq and in Syria. When you consider in Iraq, just looking at the area that Iraq -- that ISIS used to control inside of Iraq, about 30 percent of the territory that they previously controlled, they now can no longer operate freely there.

Inside of Syria, based on our efforts to support opposition forces that are fighting on the ground -- these are Syrian Kurds, Syrian Arabs, Turkmen and others, who have actually succeeded at driving ISIL away from the border between Turkey and in Syria. There's now a very narrow corridor that they're operating on. And, you know, we're continuing to make progress there.

So this kind of -- these gains on the ground are important. And they do represent some tangible success. We're very mindful of the fact, however, that these military efforts are important, but ultimately, we're going to need a political solution.

And tat's why this political transition that removes Assad from power, puts in place more stable leadership that reflects the will and admission of the Syrian people. That's what will ultimately be required to address this issue.

CUOMO: And obviously, the concern is you're not going to get Assad out of power with any kind of transition if Russia or Iran are involved. Because that's not in their interest.

Let me pivot here for a second. Boehner.

EARNEST: Yes.

CUOMO: You say the Russia deal wasn't a surprise. But this had to be a surprise, didn't have -- what is your understanding of the timing? I just -- I can't get why he did it the day he did it.

EARNEST: Well, listen, I don't have much more insight into this than you guys do, based on the conversations that he's had publicly. And it sounds like he made a prayerful decision. And there's no denying how, even from the outside, how frustrating it appeared his job was to try to coral a Republican conference that, in recent years, had grown, again, a testament to his political abilities.

[07:10:18] CUOMO: But why -- anything that's coming his way, we don't know about, that -- you know, for him to do it during the shining moment -- you know, he tried to get two popes before this one. This one comes here. He blows everybody out of the water. He's alone with Boehner. He gets the credit for having him before Congress.

And then not only does he kind of, you know, elbow in on the pope's moment, but he could have waited and done it today. Why? Is this about his emotional impulsiveness?

EARNEST: I'm -- again, I'm not really sure exactly.

CUOMO: You talk to each other all the time. Like a big fraternity down there. EARNEST: I think this does point out -- point to some more difficult

challenges the Republican Party really has to face. And we've seen so many of those challenges manifested in the rather divisive, polarizing debate that's taking place in the Republican primary right now.

But the fact is, some of those fissures inside the Republican Party are now being felt in the House of Representatives. The difference is, is that has real consequences for governing our country.

CUOMO: Yes.

EARNEST: We can avoid a big government shutdown or we can make sure that we adequately fund our economic and national security investments. We're going to make sure that we don't risk the full faith and credit of the United States. They're going to have to raise the debt limit, probably before the end of the year. So there are going to be some real consequences for the ability of the Republican Party to set aside sort of the ideological nature of their rhetoric and actually focus on doing what's right for the country.

CAMEROTA: You know, John Boehner didn't say that was his biggest frustration. He says that his biggest frustration in his job, of late, was the grand bargain with President Obama fell apart. He said that it was with -- that he just felt that the sense of failure when President Obama walked away from the table, he said, was what he counts as his greatest disappointment. What's the White House response to that?

EARNEST: Yes. We've been having this argument for four years. That, you know, we put a deal on the table that you'll recall that the president at his news conference in the White House briefing room when he walked in there and said I can't get my phone call returned from the speaker of the House. And that was the speaker of the House who was unwilling to take what I think would have been a good deal for the country.

But the fact is, even since that time -- and I think there were certainly some frustrations on our side, and we have some differing accounts of how that played out.

But the fact is, since that time, we have been able to make -- take some important steps. We did succeed in following through on the promise that the president made to raise taxes on the most wealthy Americans.

We have succeeded since the president took office in 2009 in reducing the deficit by two-thirds. We have been able to make some important investments in our economy. Two years ago, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill did get together and reach a budget agreement that did adequately fund our economic priorities. We have made important progress, and some of that is a testament to John Boehner's willingness to stand up to the more extreme elements in this party and actually work with Democrats to get something done, all focused on the best interests of the country. That -- that made him a good speaker. And we'll see if the next one chosen by the Republican colleagues is up to the challenge. CAMEROTA: Josh Earnest, great to have you here on NEW DAY.

EARNEST: You, too, Alisyn. Thanks for having me here in person.

CAMEROTA: Yes, a pleasure.

PEREIRA: I like that he does wear pants. Fascinating.

CAMEROTA: It is fascinating.

PEREIRA: All right. Pope Francis returning to Rome after the whirlwind U.S. tour still making some headlines.

On the flight back, he spoke out on religious freedom cases and the sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. CNN's Rosa Flores was traveling with the pope every step of the way. She was on the plane with him. She joins us live from Rome.

And Rosa, it's not easy to keep up with the 78-year-old pontiff. You did it.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't know where he gets the energy, Michaela, but Pope Francis making news as soon as he hopped on the plane from Philadelphia to Rome, expanding who could be held accountable for child abuse cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Pope Francis back at the Vatican this morning. After holding a press conference on the plane following his historic U.S. visit. Speaking in Italian and Spanish about sexual abuse.

The pope calling his visit to Philadelphia, quote, "very demonstrative," after a meeting with five victims of sexual abuse. He expanded those who could be held accountable, saying, quote, "We know the abuses are everywhere: in families, in the neighborhoods, in schools, in the gyms, but when a priest abuses, it is very serious. Those that covered this up are guilty, even some bishops who covered this up."

God weeps for the victims, he said in a chapel full of bishops Sunday. On the plane, he said he forgives the priests that have committed sexual abuse because, quote, "We must forgive, because we were all forgiven. It is another thing to receive that forgiveness."

The pope also says about the sex abuse victims who can't forgive their abusers and have lost their faith, quote, "I don't judge someone who can't forgive."

The pope also saying conscientious objections, like not issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, citing religious liberty is a, quote, "human right."

Pope Francis says he does not know all of the cases on this issue, which may include Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis. But the pontiff saying, quote, "If a government official is a human person, he has that right. About his whirlwind five-day U.S. tour, he says, quote, "What surprised me was the warmth, the warmth of the people so loveable. He said Washington was warm but more formal, and New York was a bit exuberant."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLORES: Now remember, most recently Pope Francis making annulments easier and cheaper. Well, he said don't get it confused, Chris. There is no such thing as a Catholic divorce.

CUOMO: Yes, yes, we're well aware. Well aware. Rosa, thank you very much.

All right. So now that the pope's trip is over, it's up to us to keep this goodwill going or not. That's the question.

CAMEROTA: No, it is. We should do that, Chris.

CUOMO: What will happen now that the pope is gone? Was it just a moment in time? Was it just a great thing to see?

PEREIRA: Not here on NEW DAY.

CAMEROTA: Oh, no. We do reconciliation every day.

CUOMO: Well, I guess you have your answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Il Papa is back in the Vatican this morning after wowing Americans of every shade of belief. Now what? Any real effect on the church, let alone the rest of us? Let's discuss. Michael Smerconish, CNN political commentator, host of CNN's "SMERCONISH," as well as Bruce Filer, a CNN contributor.

[07:20:13] Let's look. Let's start inside the church. Then we'll move outside the church. Bruce, the type of message of inclusion wasn't just news or welcome to the ears of the people in the pews or the people who don't go. It should have been very instructive to those who stand behind the altar and stand at the offices of control.

How does that message of stop spending all your time fighting political fights that really aren't yours, stop all your time excluding, how does that become action?

BRUCE FILER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I heard a story that someone was saying that we saw the pope driving around in that Fiat. And the story was that there was a church official needing to get out, into a car. Someone offered him a Cadillac. And he said, "I can't get out of a Cadillac. The pope is getting into a Fiat, how can I get into a fancy car?"

So I think that this idea, get out of her gilded cage and get out into the field, I for sure think back you just want to get through to all levels of the church. I think that the challenge the church has gets to the church sex abuse scandal that you just were discussing over at the desk.

And that is, I think -- if I could be critical a little bit about this spectacular trip that you and I witnessed, a lot of it firsthand, if there had been women involved in planning this trip, would the first thing the pope had said on the sex abuse scandal be encouraged in front of the bishops? Someone tweeted me last night, look at all the scenes. You have the men sitting up front and the women sitting behind.

I think that this shows the critical need to get women involved. It's not going to be the priesthood. We all know that. But in significant leadership positions, because ultimately, women are more involved in religion. And if they're not getting the message that they're welcome, young women especially are going to turn away in droves.

CUOMO: John Paul II saying women can't be priests. That was not ex cathaeter (Ph). That was not -- ex cathaeter (ph) is Latin. It means out of the chair. That's papal infallibility. The pope is not infallible unless he says he is ex cathaeter (ph), which means this is a direct doctrinal word from the pope. That is not, right? So when Francis says, no, that's already been decided, that's still just momentary?

FILER: That's right. The whole notion of fallibility is only 130 years old. He can begin a dialogue. We have married priests. We have episcopal priests who became Catholics and who are married.

CUOMO: So they could change it if they wanted to. That's the point.

FILER: They could for sure initiate a discussion. I don't think that's actually what will happen.

CUOMO: Michael Smerconish, what do you think the effect of the trip is long term on anybody?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I'm still caught up in it, being here in Philadelphia. Can I show you the headline today from the "Philadelphia Inquirer"?

CUOMO: Please. Sure.

SMERCONISH: "An Epic Show of Faith." And you know how I feel today, Chris. I feel in a good way how I felt post-September 11, and by that I mean, beyond the tragedy that the nation suffered, there came this time when you could merge into traffic, because people would let you.

And we all held doors for one another. And please and thank you became a part of the lexicon in a way that they should have been, but they hadn't been. It didn't last, unfortunately. I hope that this feeling lasts, and you know I'm a political junky. I'm looking at the way that the events of 2016 are now playing out.

I would like to think that one individual was calling another individual stupid or a loser or there's an ostentatious show of wealth, that with Pope Francis on the brain we're going to look at it a little differently now. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm naive, but I hope it lasts.

CUOMO: Well, look, what would the rub be? The rub would be that the pope, even if you were not a Catholic or you don't believe in God, he could have a Nelson Mandela-like impression on people.

But that cuts two ways. One is that, wow, you know, he really makes me realize about the dignity of humanity and my role in preserving that. The other is, Mandela is better than I am. Pope Francis is better than I am. It's nice to know they exist in the world, but I'm going to go get back into the way it's played by the rest of us. Which do you think it is?

SMERCONISH: Right. Well, he is better than I am. For sure, he is better than I am. I am much more a sinner than he has ever been, I am sure. But I aspire to be a better person, having just listened for the last six days. I paid close attention to every one of those homilies, to every one of the public events.

And I'd like to think that Catholic and non-Catholic, and atheist, you know what was most instructive on the airplane on the way home? The pope, in response to that question about the sin that had taken place within the church spoke of a victim who said to him, "My mother died an atheist, because she knew that I was a victim." And he said to her, "I'm sure that God welcomed your mother into the kingdom of heaven." I'm paraphrasing, but I found that to be pretty remarkable.

CUOMO: It is, certainly is. And also, you know, another thing, Bruce, that got a lot of attention was the pope saying, you know, if your faith says that you can't do something, you're a conscientious objector; and that's fine.

He never said that what that clerk did was right or legal as an elected official. He says that "Sure, you can do that. You can conscientiously object." But he never talked about the implications. And that's a big distinction between Pope Francis and how the rest of us run society.

FILER: Well, I think that he's bee proving himself very deft, politically, so that he can get his message out without actually getting into the weeds. I think that this idea of, he is promoting faith. That's in some ways what his role is.

But I think another significant, you mentioned inclusion at the outset. I just want to mention briefly the fact that he shared his stage with people of so many different faiths. And we saw that, at every step of the way, that image of nine -- under the 9/11 destruction site, right, the great scar on America, that he brought those faiths together, a balm of healing on a source of pain in America. I think that's another legacy of inclusion that we're going to see remembered from this trip.

CUOMO: I saw it yesterday. Bruce, Smerconish, thank you very much.

Alisyn, to see the pope embracing that imam there with the Weeping Wall down at the 9/11 Memorial behind him. And you juxtapose that to what we have going on in the presidential race, where they're saying all Muslims have to, you know, reject Sharia outright. Otherwise they're not like the rest of us.

CAMEROTA: Right.

CUOMO: Big difference.

CAMEROTA: I mean, that split screen that you pointed out all week between what the pope was doing, what was happening on the campaign trail, was really striking. So let's do more of it, because we have some news about Republican front-runner Donald trump. He is releasing his tax plan today. His plan would eliminate income taxes for a large chunk of the country.

Will Republicans go for that? We'll speak with the Trump camp, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)