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Biden Nearing Decision on White House Bid; Clinton's Top Aide To Appear Before Benghazi Panel; U.S. Believes Downed Drone in Turkey is Russian; Flash Floods, Mudslides Near Los Angeles; What is Putin's Playbook in Syria? Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired October 16, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:01] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The sun comes up in New York City and we say good morning to you. Welcome to your NEW DAY.

I have Brooke Baldwin by my side.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Good morning.

CUOMO: Good to have you my friend. Don't leave me hanging.

Alisyn and Mick are off on this Friday.

So, here is the big question. It is not going to be long before Hillary Clinton finds out if she has a new rival of different proportion for the Democratic nomination. Joe Biden is expected to makes a decision within the next three days.

BALDWIN: So, here's what we know. CNN is learning this morning that the vice president's family supports a run. Biden is busy calling top Democratic strategists to see if they want to potentially join the team and hints at what his campaign message could be coming from this e-mail from a top aide.

So, let's begin our coverage with our senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny live in London.

Jeff Zeleny, good morning. Tell us what you know.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brooke.

You're right. Vice President Biden has been calling these top Democratic strategists in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, those three critical early voting states, to ask them if they would come on board if he decides to run. He said he would run an unscripted campaign, he said he would run on a middle class message. His family signed off on this. Now he has to side if there is still room for him in the race.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REPORTER: Have you made your decision yet?

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I can't hear you.

ZELENY (voice-over): As Vice President Joe Biden continues to evade the big question, this morning, it appears that he's closer to answering that.

REPORTER: Is there still an opening for you in the race, sir?

BIDEN: I'll tell you what, good to see you all.

ZELENY: Sources telling CNN that Biden's family supports a presidential run. The vice president personally making calls this week to Democratic strategists from Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina this week. The conversation how, not whether, he'll launch a campaign.

STEVE SCHALE: With the stature he would bring to the race, the minute he got in the race, the entire narrative would change and we start talking about the first debate in Iowa in November.

ZELENY: New this morning, a look inside his possible 2016 run. A close advisor to Biden, former Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman, sent an e-mail obtained by CNN, to his former staffers, asking for their help if the vice president decides to run.

In it, Kaufman says it will be a campaign from the heart, "A campaign consistent his values, our values and the values of the American people."

Kaufman went on to say, if he runs he'll run because of his burning conviction that we need to fundamentally change the balance of our economy and the political structure to restore the ability of the middle class to get ahead.

Kaufman also writing in the email, "Biden believes we must win this election. Or in the hands of the Republicans, everything that he and the president have worked for and care about is at stake."

Friends of Biden who have spoken to him say he's not afraid to lose, even in the wake of a strong debate performance this week by Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

BIDEN: Hey, how are you? Nice to see you.

ZELENY: The vice president has asked several Democratic strategists in early states to work for him if he decides to run. Fundraisers and supporters are also waiting in the wings to join his campaign if he moves forward.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZELENY: Now, Biden has run for president twice before and of course he lost in 1988 and again in 2008. But he's taking concrete steps here. He is getting close to making that decision.

But someone I just talked to in the Clinton campaign just a short time ago said they actually now are planning and expect the vice president will get in. But they're not sure. But the Biden aides believe that he is leaning toward a run. Again, we will know in the next coming days -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Jeff Zeleny, making an appearance on his vacation for this important reporting -- Jeff, thank you so much.

The 2016 candidates reporting fundraising numbers Thursday. So, who's winning in the money race? Who's building the most momentum coming out of those debates?

CNN chief business correspondent Christine Romans has been looking at the numbers.

It is crazy how much money is out there.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Let's take a look inside these bank accounts because we have the third quarter figures now. And these third quarter figures are pretty interesting. We can show you year to date where we are right now, $142 million for the Republicans, $121 million for the Democrats.

This does not include super PACs. This is not the super PAC money. This is the money the candidates are raising. This is the money they'll use to pay their rent, to charter their jets and to pay their people on the ground.

So, these are the numbers that are super important for the staying power of these candidates.

Let's talk about the number one Republican here. It is Ben Carson, $20.8 million in the quarter. And look at the momentum from the second to the third quarter here for Dr. Carson.

Here is Jeb Bush, $13 million. That is a number that is making a lot of his supporters breathe a sigh of relief. He's only got $10 million in the bank you guys. He has a huge expansive ground game. He's paying out a lot every day for his campaign infrastructure. So, he's still bringing in big money.

Don't forget he has the biggest super PAC money of everybody. That is money that will come in handy for TV buys and later on in the game.

Ted Cruz, number three here in the Republicans, $12 million here. They are happy about this number. Supporters are happy about the number and they say he's being very careful with his spending.

[08:05:00] Donald Trump not even soliciting donations and the trump factor is here with $3.9 million.

I want to look at the Democrats, because this also reflects what I think is sort of the theme of the money raising part and that is the outsiders are disrupting the money game. Look at Bernie sanders, second quarter a little more than $15 million. Look how much momentum he picked up in the third quarter.

You know, overall, Hillary Clinton bringing in an awful lot of money. I think she's got $77 million year to date she's brought in here from this kind of fundraising, $29.4 more than Bernie Sanders but he's certainly closing the gap here you guys.

So, money makes the world go around and at least in politics sure makes the campaign to get the bills paid.

CUOMO: Well, no question about it. That and a lot more, right? It can completely overwhelm a message. And there is plenty of it to go around. Thanks, Christine. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

CUOMO: So, here this morning to discuss all the latest political headlines is friend of show, Hugh Hewitt, the host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show".

How are you doing?

HUGH HEWITT, THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW: I'm good, Chris. I love that "friend of show" moniker. I'll take that.

CUOMO: FOS, friend of show. That is what we call you.

All right. Let's go through the issues one at a time. First, money, why does it matter and what is the message behind the totals from yesterday?

HEWITT: The message is Carly got liftoff money. She raised $7 million in Q3. Marco Rubio raised $6 million. Ted Cruz doubled him at $12.

And then you add Kasich and Christie who got late starts into this, Kasich at least, they raised about $4 million each.

So, they all have a lot of dough. Staffers have to eat. Staffers got to stay at hotels. Staffer have got to travel on airplanes. You need hard money for a campaign it.

So, tells me that everyone is at 4 and above. Rand Paul raised about $2.5 million has got certainly the ability to get through Iowa and New Hampshire.

And then the super packs come in on the television side. But you need hard money for a ground game. And so, those people have got it.

Ben Carson has got a very high burn rate, Chris. He raised 20. He spent 11. That's not a very good number for sustainability through Super Tuesday.

And, of course, Donald Trump, of course, doesn't need any of this. He can self-fund a staff and organization.

It tells me that we are going to have a debate on CNN on December 15th at the Venetian Hotel, and I'm going to be back with the CNN team doing that.

And whoever wins that debate or does very well is going to take the money they have got in the bank and really spread that Iowa ground game and that New Hampshire media game into a couple of wins to propel them to the Super Tuesday on March 1.

CUOMO: What does it mean that Jeb's numbers are so low? What does it mean that Fiorina raised money but we haven't seen her in a while?

HEWITT: Jeb's numbers are good on the super PAC side. They're very good. In fact, they're number one ahead of ahead of Hillary. He'll have all the money he needs for the air war run by Michael Murphy, who's probably the best in the business right now since (INAUDIBLE) just on the sideline.

Carly just got takeoff money. Seven million bucks is a lot of dough for her to get. She'll build that ground game out now and I think that will be very much to her advantage.

CUOMO: I feel like she hasn't opinion on TV, Hugh. Have you noticed that?

HEWITT: She has not. She did a couple of Sunday shows after the last debate, and then she's laying back. Look for her in Boulder. I'm in Denver this morning. She'll be at Boulder in a week or so in the CNBC debate.

And, again, she's get another. She's very good on television, Chris. You know that. She'll get another pop out of that.

So, I think we're narrowing down to 7 or 8 candidates who have got enough money and visibility to keep going through March 1.

CUOMO: CNBC just agreed, we understand, to the terms that Donald Trump put out there. Carson had his own. They only wanted it to be two hours. They teamed up on this, and must include opening and closing statements.

What did you see behind these demands and the fact that they made them at all?

HEWITT: Well, "The Art of the Deal", Chris, right? Donald Trump, "The Art of the Deal". He wanted to make an opening statement because of course he does very well with his fixed opening statement. So he made a demand, he was able to back it up. And, of course, nobody wants a debate without Donald. And no one wants to have a debate without Ben Carson, the two front runners. They account for 40 percent of the field.

So, it's sort of looking at the Democratic field. I'm praying Biden gets in. Honestly I am. First of all, the "Run Joe" ad that ran during the CNN debate on Tuesday night was the best ad I've seen in the season, by far. By far, by like a mile.

CUOMO: Why?

HEWITT: Number two -- I can't because it hit the heart. Did you see it? Did you happen to watch it, Chris? Or you inside the media rooms and couldn't see the ads.

CUOMO: Both. I saw it and I was in the media room.

HEWITT: Both. I was watching in my living room and I said, wow, I don't want to run against that.

I'm a Republican. I want our nominee, whether it's Donald Trump or Ben Carson or John Kasich or Ted Cruz, I want the Republican to win, and I don't want to run against that ad. I'd rather run against the former secretary of state who's got Libya and Benghazi and Syria and Egypt and the Russian reset button, and fatigue and I'm so tired of Hillary and I think the rest of the country will be.

[08:10:00] But Joe Biden, everybody likes him. Don't you like -- you were just talking to Darrell Strawberry about baseball. I bet you that Joe Biden can talk baseball with you better than any other candidate in the field. I bet you --

CUOMO: My father used to say Joe Biden is one of those guys, Papa used to say, Joe Biden is one of those guys that if you don't like him, there's something wrong with you.

But, you know, that doesn't mean he'd be the best candidate out there.

HEWITT: So perfect.

CUOMO: The question becomes -- you know, the plus on it coming out of the debate was Democrats insiders were saying imagine if you can combine Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, then you would have head and heart. And some say, well, that's Biden.

But that being said on the negative side, how long before Hugh Hewitt strips away the empathy for what Joe Biden was going through personally and starts looking at his ownership of the last eight years and his past and what he said before?

HEWITT: Well, of course, we'll go after him on policy, but I'll tell you this, Chris. I've only met the vice president once at an AIPAC deal. I interviewed him. And I instantly liked him. So, your dad, an icon in American politics, is absolutely right. I don't know that anyone can dislike the vice president.

That first debate was a false positive for the former secretary of state though, because she was playing against the Washington generals. Remember the Hollywood brothers, the touring team?

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: That's not nice to Bernie Sanders.

HEWITT: I'm sorry, they were. She was a 7-footer in the zone against a bunch of 5'6" people.

So Joe Biden comes on to that stage watching the vice president and Mrs. Clinton argue about Libya would be a fascinating. And Anderson Cooper or Wolf or Jake asking hardball or you, asking them hardball questions about how they blew Libya so that it's disaster now, how they blew Syria so there are now 7 million refugees, four headed to Europe. How they blew the Russian reset.

You know, that would be worth watching. I'd be riveted. But if I had to watch more CNN or any other debates with Lincoln Chafee and Martin O'Malley, God help me. It is going to take all sorts of coffee, Chris, because that's going to be dull.

CUOMO: (INAUDIBLE) didn't resonate with you, Hugh. I'm very surprised. I've often see you that way as the block of granite when it comes to policy.

Hugh Hewitt, thank you very much. Love having you on the show. Have a good weekend. I'll see you soon, OK?

Brooke?

HEWITT: Thank you, Chris.

BALDWIN: That was great. That was great.

Hillary Clinton, her top aid expected to be grilled behind closed doors by the House Benghazi Committee. Huma Abedin, the third Clinton ally to speak to this panel, coming just six days before Clinton's public testimony.

CNN's senior political reporter Manu Raju live on Capitol Hill with what we can speak today.

Manu, good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning, Brooke.

Right behind me is where the House Benghazi Committee will be meeting with Huma Abedin in just a couple of hours. Now, this, of course, is being done in private. So, we're not going to get a real readout of what is said unless they come out and talk to us. Of course, we hope they do.

But what the committee is trying to figure out is what Ms. Abedin knew before, during and after the 2012 attacks in Benghazi. They say they do not want to dive deeply into her role at the State Department, as well as her controversial role at the strategic consulting firm at the time. But they're trying to get her on the record about what she knew and how Hillary Clinton responded to the attacks.

And, of course, Brooke, this is really a run up and preview to next week's big event when Hillary does come before the Benghazi committee in public for a very lengthy testimony about the Benghazi attacks. And, of course, Republicans will have to tread very carefully. They are going to push her very hard but at the same time they don't want to look like they are on a political witch hunt -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Manu Raju, thank you so much.

And great timing for our Jake Tapper, he today will be speaking in this exclusive interview with Hillary Clinton herself on the lead 4:00 Eastern here on CNN. Do not miss that.

CUOMO: We have breaking news this morning you are going to want to hear out of Turkey. The military there shot down an aircraft in its airspace right near the Syrian border. You know what that means.

There are already concerns about aircraft from too many countries flying in a dangerous zone.

We have CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh live in Istanbul with breaking details.

So, Nick, you raised the right questions earlier. They said "aircraft." But could that mean a drone? Is it a fighter plane? Who's it? Anymore context?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We know now this was a drone. And according to a U.S. official speaking to my colleagues at the Pentagon they believe it was in fact a Russian drone. That would make sense, although a statement from the Russian military through their state media has said that after today's missions jets returned to base and quotes their unmanned vehicles were functioning according to the planned regime.

Now, you could pass that statement and suggest maybe the planned regime was to fly into Turkey and get shot down, but there is the capacity for this to have been a Russian drone and they happen literally 24 hours after one of they're senior defense officials was here in Turkey to try to smooth over with Turkish counterparts what happened about ten days ago when a Russian jet did stray into the Turkish air space.

[08:15:04] The Russians said it was bad weather. But really that raised fears about what you mentioned.

So many different people were fighting on the grounds here for years. Different militia extremists, moderates, you name it.

Now in the skies above Syria, we have the Russians flying occasionally in the same area as the Americans hitting ISIS and extremists. We have the Israelis who the Russians have been talking to to make sure they have a hot line to remove understands. And now, we have this incident which seems to have violated Turkish air space. And after three warnings, the Turkish say they had to shoot it down, a grave geopolitically tense military situation above Syria now -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much. We'll stay on that through the day here.

In the meantime, let me tell you about this Kosovo man under arrest, accused of handing over U.S. military data to ISIS. Federal investigators say Ardit Ferizi allegedly hacked into the computer system (AUDIO GAP) personal information of at least 1,300 military members and federal employees. That list later posted online by a group calling itself the Islamic State hacking division.

Ferizi is being held in Malaysia where he had gone to study computer science. U.S. authorities and asked for his extradition.

CUOMO: So, parts of southern California are cleaning up and hopefully drying out this morning following torrential rain and mudslides that buried one of the state's busiest freeways. That's what you're looking at. That is a freeway. That is a tractor-trailer stuck in the middle of I-5.

A 30 mile stretch remains closed. Mixed blessing basically for California. Remember, it was such a severe drought but this is not the way to get rehydrated.

BALDWIN: It's an 18-wheeler stuck in the mud in the middle of the highway. Awful.

The U.N. Security Council meeting on Israeli/Palestinian violence. Is there a way to ease the tension? To end the blood shed?

You are watching NEW DAY. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:27] CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. We do have breaking news that a drone was shot down by Turkish authorities. Could have been a Russian drone. We're waiting for confirmation.

What does that mean? We know Russia is flying plenty of missions there. We know they are on the ground. We know they are allegedly helping the Assad regime.

What does that mean for the United States? Why does it seem that Russia can do whatever it wants to matter what the United States says?

Also there, Iran. Also there, Israel maybe working somewhat in coordination with Russia?

What does all this mean? It is a complicated world.

We have a man to clarify for it. His name is Aaron David Miller, vice president for New Initiatives and distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. HE worked on the Mideast peace process under several presidents.

I refer to him as professor. He doesn't like it. And that's too damn bad.

So, let's look at this situation. In Syria, Russia, certainly there, certainly doing things that the United States does not want them to be doing. They do not care. Now, their drone gets shot down.

What is Putin's play here?

AARON DAVID MILLER, V.P. FOR NEW INITIATIVES, WOODROW WILSON INTL. CTR.: You know you have a very risk ready Vladimir Putin who's demonstrated already in Crimea and Ukraine that he's prepared to protect traditional Russian interests.

And frankly, the end game is less important than the game itself to Putin than the game itself and he knows he's involved at the other end of the table with a risk averse president. He's risk ready. Our president is risk averse when it comes to Syria. The Russians have a 40-year history with the Assad family. They have allies on the ground.

And they have time. A year and change, you are going to have a new president. There is going to be a transition. There'll be more debate and deliberation.

So, Putin I think sees a moment I think to act boldly. And the truth is, it may be a trap as the president says. But in the meantime, Putin looks pretty strong and he's emboldening and strengthening the Assad regime. So, we have a very weak hand to play here.

The situation, I think the options, Chris, is between bad for us and worse.

CUOMO: Bad and worse. The optics that the United States is weak and Russia is strong. Is that accurate?

MILLER: I mean, I think by and large it is, in the sense that when you are on the ground and you can actually act, you have street cred. And your allies and adversaries in some respects respect that.

I mean, we're really not admired, feared or respected in this region as much as we need to be. And a compelling case can be made that the president, the extricator in chief, his prime directive, to use a "Star Trek" image, is to basically get America out of unwinnable wars and avoid getting them into new ones. And I think there is an inherent logic there.

But when it comes to this neighborhood when our opponents have allies, they have time, they have a strategy, and we don't have any of these things, the perception becomes the reality. And yes, you know, without doing a Republican or a Democratic endorsement, we don't look good here.

CUOMO: I don't understand. How do we not have a plan when it seems like this is all we do is talk about this and how much we're in Iraq and how much we're out of it? How much we're in Afghanistan and not? With Syria which rebels to help and which not.

Doesn't all that reflect a plan? What are we missing there?

MILLER: Well, we do have a plan. And it's extrication. And you see -- look, think about it. We're emerging from the two longest wars in American history, which is in itself a stunning fact --

CUOMO: You made a great point in a recent article that President Obama will leave his administration as having had the longest tenure as a president at war without resolution.

MILLER: I mean, there have been other presidents. Lincoln was one and he came in and his entire presidency was defined by war. The problem is even when Barack Obama leaves the White House, the Middle East is going to look at lot worse than when he arrived.

CUOMO: Is that his fault?

MILLER: Well, fairly or not, again, image becomes reality. And the fact of the matter, you can blame George W. Bush for creating the problem by invading Iraq, you can blame Barack Obama for heading to the exits too quickly in 2011, but we're dealing with a region of the world that is angry, broken, dysfunctional. You have a couple of humpty-dumpties in Syria and Iraq that will not be put back together, certainly not easily, and the most importantly thing, not by us.

And those are certain realities that any president -- I betcha, I mean, I hate making predictions, but I don't care if it's an R or a D in the White House in 2017.

[08:25:03] The options for that president, the he or the she, are not going to be great.

And I would also wager that the next president is going to end up following a policy which isn't going to be all that dissimilar from our current president.

CUOMO: I'm going to put online on my Twitter site the recent article you explain why that is -- why it's not so easy to change policies.

Quickly, what is going on in Israel right now the new rush of violence, you argue that it is an extension of 50 years of trouble. This notion how it's being handled by Israel, is it fair criticism to say this is what's excessive or is this just what's mandatory in the situation?

MILLER: I mean, I stopped judging a long time ago. I live in Chevy Chase Circle. I didn't encounter knife wielding Palestinians on the way to work.

We had a spate of shootings in this country by police feeling threatened or not unarmed suspects. And the Israelis are essentially confronting Palestinians with the knives. Of course there is overreaction. The blood is up on both sides.

But one thing the fundamentally clear -- unless you end up dealing with the sources and the roots of this problem and we will not in the near term do that, this tragic movie and play is going to play on. And that's the real problem here.

You want a two-state solution? I'll give you two-state solution. You give me three things.

Give me leaders who are masters of their political houses, give me ownership that is to say Israelis and Palestinians really believing in a process. You know, nobody in the history of the world ever washed a rental car, Chris, because you care only about what you own. And there is insufficient ownership of a peace process by Israelis and Palestinians.

And finally with all due respect to the Obama administration, you give me an effective third party mediator with the will and the skill to build on the raw material that the Israelis and Palestinians offer us, give me those three things, I'll at least guarantee you a negotiation that has a chance of producing two states.

CUOMO: Aaron David Miller, thank you for helping us understand the situation better.

MILLER: Always a pleasure, Chris. Always.

CUOMO: Pleasure is mine.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: The path to leave Afghanistan getting more complicated by the day. The drawdown slowing once again. Can it ever be complete? We'll discuss, next.

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