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President Obama to Make Afghanistan Forces Announcement; GOP Congressman: Benghazi Panel Created to Target Clinton; Trump, Carson Respond to Dems Debate; Customs Computer Glitch Causes Airport Delays; Israeli Police Encourage Civilians to Arm Themselves. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired October 15, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. RICHARD HANNA (R), NEW YORK (via phone): It was designed to go after people and individuals, Hillary Clinton.

[05:58:13] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A bombshell admission from another Republican congressman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the Benghazi committee created to take down Hillary Clinton?

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL: This committee is basically an arm of the Republican National Committee.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And Donald Trump holding a double-digit lead.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary and Bernie Sanders, they just couldn't give things away fast enough. What we saw from the Democrats was a serious debate.

CLINTON: People finally got a chance to compare the Democrats to the Republicans.

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: Look, my father's very blunt. He's very direct.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What would a President Trump do for women in this country?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good to be home. Good morning, welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Thursday, October 15, 6 a.m. in the East. And we do begin with breaking news. This just in to CNN.

President Obama will announce this morning that U.S. troops are remaining in Afghanistan longer than planned. Now, for weeks, we've been reporting on the significant advance that the Taliban is making on the ground. The situation there is fragile, at best. The life- and-death concern will be what is the mission now for U.S. troops?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Now, of course, in 2014, the president promised to get U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. So what does this turnaround mean for that drawdown?

Let's get right to CNN's Joe Johns. He's live at the White House with all of the breaking details. What have you learned, Joe?

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, this is an admission that the terror threat in Afghanistan remains and is likely not to be diminished that much, by the time President Obama leaves office in 2017.

He had planned to reduce the force there to as much as just 1,000 military personnel. But apparently, that is not going to happen.

The plan, we're expecting to hear from the White House later today, is that the force in Afghanistan, around 9,800 military personnel, expected to stay there through 2016. And then in 2017, around the time President Obama is leaving office, down to just about half of that.

A number of reasons for that, including the training and equipping of friendly forces on the ground in Afghanistan. NATO forces there in that country, as well as simply the threat that we've seen more and more of, of the Taliban in Afghanistan raising its head, as it were, in that country.

That announcement expected to come from the White House, sometime today. This is a big reversal for the White House. But it is a tacit admission that the mission is not finished in Afghanistan.

Back to you.

CUOMO: Not finished. That's putting it gently, Joe, isn't it? We'll have to hear what they say the mission actually is and what it will cost in blood and treasure of the United States.

The Benghazi commission, the provocation here is whether or not it's a political setup, right? Well, now a second Republican congressman says, yes, Benghazi committee was designed to go after Hillary Clinton. Is this a revelation. Well, that's what it's being called just a week before Hillary Clinton is expected to testify before that very panel.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live with the latest.

Sunlen, why would a Republican Congressperson say this?

SUNLEN SERFATY CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly, Chris, what the Clinton campaign is highlighting this morning. They really wasted no time to jump right in there and really capitalize on these comments, these new comments from Congressman Richard Hanna of New York. Here's first what he said in a radio interview Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNA (via phone): I think that there was a big part of this investigation that it was designed to go after people. And an individual, Hillary Clinton. And, you know, I think there's also a lot of that's important that we need to get to the bottom of this. But this has been the longest investigation, longer than Watergate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, the Clinton campaign already responding, saying that they believe, in their words, this is further proof that the Benghazi committee, they say, has zero credibility.

Now keep in mind, it was Representative Kevin McCarthy's original comments about the Benghazi committee that really set off this firestorm when he insinuated that the committee's main goal was to sink Clinton's poll numbers. Here's what he originally said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), MAJORITY LEADER: Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would have known any of that had happened had we...

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST, "HANNITY": I agree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now, that certainly sets the stage for what will likely be a very fiery testimony by Secretary Clinton next week. One week from today on Capitol Hill. And she's already given big hints about how she intends to really bring that line of attack against the committee herself in the debate, saying that she believes it is an arm of the Republican National Committee -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: And you can bet that she is prepping for that. Stay with CNN. We'll be watching that committee hearing when it happens next week, as well. Sunlen, thank you so much.

We have Donald Trump back on the attack and on a roll in the latest CNN/ORC poll. The GOP frontrunner targeting Democrats and Republicans in a raucous campaign event in Richmond, Virginia. He has opened double-digit leads now over Ben Carson in two key states. Athena Jones joins us live from Washington with all of our campaign highlights.

Good morning to you, Athena.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Raucous event indeed. While Trump was targeting his rivals last night, protesters targeted him. We've seen almost since the moment he launched his campaign. Last week in Iowa, a climate change protester briefly interrupted his speech, but the latest protests went farther.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (voice-over): What started out as the standard chanting and fanfare for Donald Trump...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dump Trump! Dump Trump!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dump Trump! Dump Trump!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dump Trump! Dump Trump!

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: That's OK.

JONES: ... quickly turned heated Wednesday night, with nearly 20 protesters shouting "Dump Trump."

TRUMP: That's why we have freedom of speech, folks, you know.

JONES: One protester getting into an altercation with a Trump supporter, while being escorted out before a crowd of nearly 5,000. The protesters against his "a wall will fix it" stance on illegal immigration. A stance he reiterated while lambasting the Democratic debate.

TRUMP: Hillary and Bernie Sanders, they just couldn't give things away fast enough, and they're giving them to illegal immigrants.

JONES: Trump suggesting Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders are far too easy on undocumented immigrants.

TRUMP: They want health care for illegal immigrants. They want driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

JONES: The billionaire even calling Sanders a maniac and a communist.

TRUMP: I call him a socialist/communist, OK, because that's what he is.

[06:05:06] JONES: This as new polls show Trump still out front, and with a possible challenge looming. He leads Ben Carson by double digits in South Carolina and Nevada in the new CNN/ORC poll.

But he and his chief rival are neck and neck in this FOX News poll. At least the third national poll in as many weeks to show Carson inching closer.

DR. BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I kept falling asleep.

JONES: Carson on FOX News Wednesday night, making his own snide remarks about Tuesday's debate.

CARSON: When people come around and start talking about free college and free phones and free this and fee that, it is not free. But unless you're not very bright, you'll be able to see what's going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES: So Carson not holding back there.

Meanwhile, Jeb Bush plans to release his third-quarter fundraising numbers, his 2014 tax return and his health record today -- Alisyn, Chris.

CAMEROTA: OK. Thanks so much for that, Athena.

Joining us now to talk about all of this, CNN political commentator and political anchor at New York One, Errol Louis. And political reporter for "TIME," Zeke Miller.

Guys, thanks so much for being here. Errol, let's just talk about what this congressman, Richard Hanna, has said. We should play it again, to talk about what he said about the Benghazi committee. Because it's so off-message. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANNA (via phone): Sometimes, the biggest thing you can commit in D.C. is to tell the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes.

HANNA: I -- you know, this may not be politically correct, but I think that there was a big part of this investigation that it was designed to go after people, an individual, Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: What is he doing, Errol?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATORS: He is telling the truth. And it becomes news. It becomes national news.

Look, let's remember back to when Benghazi happened. I mean, when it was completely unclear what was going on, the Republican candidates for president rushed to the cameras and started making accusations.

I mean, this is not news that there was a segment of the conservative populists of the Republican Party that thought right from the very beginning that this was a problem that should laid at the feet of the administration in general and Hillary Clinton in particular.

And they believed that before we knew anything about it.

CUOMO: So not wrong to do -- about the culpability involved, if you're going to target a situation, you're going to target the person who's in charge of the situation. If Errol Louis is in charge of the situation, then I say, I'm forming this committee. I want to find out what happened. And I'm coming after Errol Louis. Does that mean that it is inherently wrong and politically motivated, or is this about practicality as much as it is anything else.

LOUIS: Look, accountability means something. Transparency, you're in charge of the State Department.

CUOMO: But it's spun like it's nefarious. Is that a fair spin?

LOUIS: I think this one was -- what Representative Hanna said, I think, was much different than what we heard from McCarthy just a few days ago in which he sort of really sort of said this is really all about a political strategy, you know, the investigation itself once it had started.

I think what Representative Hanna says is, as you suggest, you know, initially at least. Yes, this is supposed to get to the bottom of it and find out what was going on in the State Department when this tragedy happened.

CUOMO: The big pivot on it seems to seek the duration. Representative Hanna says something that has been said a lot. This is longer than Watergate. There's been many iterations of it. It seems repetitive. It seems not to be about drilling down as much as it is about just spreading out the message on Benghazi as being wrong and mysterious. What do you make of it?

ZEKE MILLER, POLITICAL REPORTER, "TIME": I think you're right, Chris. In terms of, you know, this is longer than Watergate. The leaks that we've seen coming out of the committee are not the types of things you normally see coming out of an investigative committee.

You didn't even see that, in particular, after the 9/11 Commission. Obviously, different baggage of the investigation. But sort of the clearly politically motivated leaks, selected and selectively edited e-mails linked to the press. And in addition, also the commission right now by its own admission by many of the members, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy in a statement a couple of weeks ago, this is no longer just about the Benghazi committee or about the Benghazi attack. It's now about the e-mails and one person, about Hillary Clinton and her close circle of aids. And that has nothing to do with the attack. It's about, you know, maintaining Congress oversight.

CAMEROTA: Well, sort of. But they believe that there might be some information about Benghazi on those e-mails. I mean, that's what first prompted them to want to see them. They thought that perhaps there was some smoking gun or some instructions given about that.

But of course, it has morphed into whether or not she broke the rules. But what does all of this mean for next week when she testifies and goes in front of the Benghazi committee?

LOUIS: Well, we know that it will be a media circus, as it always was. I think in this case, though, they've given Secretary Clinton, former Secretary Clinton plenty of ammunition to fight back with. And she'll be able to talk to -- she'll be able to reference this statement, prior statements. She'll be able to reference the whole thing about Susan Rice.

I mean, this began to sprawl very early on about what word was used, and who was briefed to say what on the Sunday morning shows, you know, just a few days after the attack and so forth.

[10:09:59] And once you get into that realm, it becomes Clinton's sort of sweet spot, so to speak. It's completely polarized and that people will either believe that she's telling the truth or she's not without any reference to any of the actual facts. And I think that's what we're going to see play out in the hearing next week.

PEREIRA: All right. Zeke, let's talk about some new polls just out. This is the new CNN/RNC poll talked about is how the Republicans are doing. Trump is way ahead. Look at these two battleground states. Nevada and South Carolina. Trump has 38 percent to his closest runner-up, Carson at 22 percent. That's in Nevada. South Carolina, 36 to half of that, 18 percent.

Zeke, what do you make of Trump's continued dominance?

MILLER: Donald Trump isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Even in the national polls he's seemed to have slipped a little bit or at least, you know, retrenched, giving Ben Carson more of an opening.

But in those early states a little bit lower information than, say, Iowa or New Hampshire. Voters there are a little bit more attuned to sort of what's on TV, there are fewer candidates in this.

Donald Trump is still a powerhouse in this race. You know, we saw him just yesterday in Richmond, as he showed earlier in the show. He's still the entertainer. He's still able to make those controversial remarks, go after Democrats, Republicans, get his point across. And people like what they're hearing. At least say they're saying no to the Republican populists. And that hasn't changed yet. And that's -- you know, unpredictable force in the 2016 race. When does it stop? And it might not.

CUOMO: I'm smiling, because you know, I've always felt that you pay pollsters to tell you what you want to hear. It's a great business. You get whatever you want when you look at numbers, Errol.

What I'm fascinated by here is, one, the qualification of still not going anywhere soon, we've got to stop it with this. Because the guy is a prohibitive favorite of the party. The only thing that's going to make him leave this race logically right now is his decision to go become, like, the king of another country or something like that.

You know, there is no reason to forecast any type of political demise to a man who has shown complete resilience to anything that supposedly would have knocked him out, you know. Why for that, you can deal with it. He's been in the lead for too long. He's like some type of a one-trick pony or he's going to be gone. This is a huge flash in the pan. And this is a huge pan. There's too much flash. LOUIS: There are a couple of reasons to think that this will

have an end, whether it's coming sooner or not. I said there's reason to believe.

CUOMO: ... with him getting the nomination at the Republican convention.

LOUIS: Well, I mean, I said there was reason to believe.

CUOMO: What would that end be? Give me a potential end, other than his saying, "I'm losing too much money."

LOUIS: There are a couple of interesting end. That the voters, once they start to vote, once you get closer to the actual primary date, we're about 109 days out. At this point in the cycle until 2012, it was not Mitt Romney who was in the lead. It was, I think, Gingrich was in the lead. And Herman Cain was on his way down. Terry was still very much a player at this point.

CUOMO: Do you really think it's apparent with what we're seeing right now with Trump and Carson?

LOUIS: Things can change quickly, I think, is the point. And the other issue is, I went back and looked at all 44 presidents, and we've never elected someone who has either never been elected or been a war hero or been a cabinet secretary. Those are all the categories.

CUOMO: People were saying a lot of those things about Senator Obama, also.

LOUIS: Yes, but he had at least run for state senate. You know, he'd at least run for U.S. Senate. You know, I mean, there just is no history of this. So when people go to the polls, it's reasonable to assume that somewhere between now and the next 100-odd days, people are going to say, OK, here's what I'm going to really do, as opposed to who I like and who I support.

CUOMO: The best proof of what Errol's saying, I think, and I've been reading this from a lot of big brains like Errol, is that Carson catching Trump the way he is, is indicative of this being a mood; and how that mood gets translated over time is a big question.

LOUIS: Absolutely. I'll give you that.

CAMEROTA: Zeke, Errol, thank you so much for all of that insight. Great to talk to you this morning.

Also stick around. Because later in this hour, CNN's Poppy Harlow sat down exclusively with Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka. What she reveals about her father and what she thinks about the controversial comments about women. All of that is ahead -- Michaela.

PEREIRA: Looking into news overseas, a series of knife attacks continue to grip Jerusalem's Old City, despite heightened security. Israeli police locking down Palestinian neighborhoods, encouraging Israeli civilians to take every precaution to defend themselves, including carrying guns.

There were several stabbing incidents Wednesday. Israeli police responding by shooting and killing the alleged attackers. Israeli police have been unable to link the attackers to any organized groups, leaving some experts to say they may be lone wolves.

CUOMO: Some of the nation's biggest airports are getting back to normal this morning after this customs computer glitch that caused tie-ups all over the place.

Let's go to CNN's aviation correspondent, Rene Marsh, live in Washington with the latest. And this wasn't just about delays. This was about security and terror, right?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It certainly was. We're talking about two problems for two Department of Homeland Security systems -- computer systems, I should say, at airports across the country, causing delays, and thousands and thousands, and thousands and thousands of passengers, many of them stranded, still trying to get to their destination.

[06:15:13] So some of the major airports affected, JFK, Newark, Seattle Airport, Reagan and Dulles International here in the D.C. area. Essentially, passengers couldn't get through customs, because those computer systems and the kiosks were down. The CBC (ph) computer systems, they are used to doing a very extensive checks of passengers entering the United States. They are able to check whether there were any issues the last time the passenger came into the United States, and are they required to undergo secondary screening during entry?

Now, that outage of that system also triggered problems for TSA's secure flight system, which enables airlines to electronically check passengers against a no-fly list -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Rene. Thanks so much for that update.

Also violence increasing in Israel. We will speak to a top Israeli official about what's going on on the ground.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:20:11] MICKY ROSENFELD, ISRAELI POLICE SPOKESMAN: What I'm saying is that people who have -- who have pistols and who can walk around in the streets with weapons, there's no problem with that whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: All right, now, you can look at this two ways. You can look at this as the police spokesperson for -- in Israel, saying if you are allowed to carry, now is a good time to do it.

Or you can look at it as a general admonition, that Israelis should start arming themselves because of the stabbing incidents that have happened in Jerusalem. It has been a very provocative statement.

Let's try and get some context and discuss it now with Mark Regev, the spokesman for the Israeli government.

Mr. Regev, good to have you on NEW DAY. Would you like to walk back the statements of the police spokesperson and provide some context or is it what it sounds like?

MARK REGEV, SPOKESMAN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT: In Israel, we have tough gun ownership rules, and only people with licenses can have a firearm. And so if you pass those tests and you legally have a firearm, the police are suggesting that you carry that firearm, because of the security situation. That's not for every member of the public. That's for people who have those licenses.

And I'd remind you, Chris, we, of course, have compulsory military service in Israel. A lot of those people with licenses if not all of them, have had military training and know how to use that weapon effectively.

CUOMO: I guess the point of context is to make it make sense to the American ears. Because as you well know, Mr. Regev, nobody loves their guns more than Americans do. But the idea of the police saying to civilians, "Arm yourselves, that's how big the threat is, that's how imminent violence is," seems to be, you know, a very severe sentiment. How do you see it?

REGEV: It's not "arm yourself." It's the part of the population, those who have legal licenses to carry a firearm, we're asking them to do so, and that's because of these ongoing attacks.

I mean, over the last month, we've had more than 30 attacks. We've had eight people murdered. We've had more than 75 injured. And part of dealing with this threat is, of course, beefing up the security presence; beefing up the police presence and sort forth to terror attacks and to dealing with attacks effectively if they do occur; to neutralize the attacker.

But here, the responsible civilian population, in the framework of the rule of law has a part to play, and we urge Israelis to be vigilant, to look out for something suspicious. Having the civilian population work closely with law enforcement is one of the keys in defeating this threat.

CUOMO: Let's look at why you think the threat is ratcheting up again. And is there a concern that, by locking down Palestinian neighborhoods, are you, in effect, creating more pressure instead of relieving that pressure?

REGEV: Well, obviously, we're going to be very fluid in our response. But when you've had rioting or violence in American cities. You've also imposed curfews for short periods of time. And obviously, we've had a difficult time here in Jerusalem and in other parts of the country. So it's important to get on top of this.

And so part of the solution is, of course, beefing up the security presence to make Israeli citizens feel safer, to make the country and our civilian population more stronger to deal with these sort of terror threats.

But also what has to be done, is we need the Palestinian leadership to act to help quell the violence. Now, we have no, of course, no illusions about Hamas and the other extremist groups who are interested in this -- this sort of confrontation, interested in seeing more terrorism, but we're calling on the Palestinian Authority to play a positive role.

Now up until now, the Palestinian leadership has unfortunately refused to condemn any of these attacks. As I've said, we've had more than 30 of these deadly attacks, and they haven't condemned, not even once.

And they parade themselves as they're responsible. They say they're mainstream leadership. They say they want to be part of a political process, though they refuse to negotiate. And here's the test. There is this violence against innocent civilians, people going and just, you know, using knives against innocent members of the public. Condemn it. If you can't condemn it, you're showing yourself for what you are.

CUOMO: Does it mean anything that many of these are alleged to have been perpetrated by younger individuals without direction from above, responding to the madness of social media that we've seen here in the United States and other places, as well? Is that something that works as somewhat of an excuse to the Palestinian Authority that this is something that is not about them; it's about a mood that is just overtaking people all over this world?

REGEV: They have no excuse. When a Palestinian is committing this sort of crime, when he's coming in with a knife to kill innocent people, it must be condemned. And if you can't condemn it, there's a problem with you.

[06:25:01] And let me just make sure the American viewer understands that it's not only that they refuse to condemn, but in many cases they've actually praised the people who commit these attacks. And that's a real problem, because once again, the Islamists praise terrorism, that we understand why is the Palestinian Authority praising the perpetrators of these deadly attacks?

If I can answer the second part of your question.

CUOMO: Please.

REGEV: We are seeing a new phenomena which is this radical Islamism which is -- wants to take us back to the medieval period, working with 21st Century social media. And we're seeing them recruiting through social media, through Facebook, through Twitter, through other mechanisms, recruiting young people to do these terrible crimes, to become terrorists.

It's a challenge for Israel. But it's also a challenge for the United States and many other countries where you've seen something similar, where you've seen the radicalization of young people through social media. It's a challenge for us all.

CUOMO: And certainly, we will be very interested her to see how you and Israel come up with ways to combat this phenomena. Because certainly, it has us with our hands up in the air here in the United States right now.

Mr. Regev, as always, good to have you on the show. Sorry that it is in this context. We'll continue to follow the

REGEV: Thanks for having me, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Chris, the numbers are in for the first Democratic debate, and it was record-breaking, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders scoring rave reviews from Democrats for their performances. So is there still room for Joe Biden to get in? We're going to take a closer look at his decision process.

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