Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

White House Briefing; Coalition Hits Targets in Syria; Republican Congress; John Boehner Press Conference

Aired November 06, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Josh Earnest, the White House Press Secretary, now speaking out on ISIS, the war that's going on against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. I wanted to listen in quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (live): -- history about the AUMF that he's going to try to work on with Congress. Does he actually think that it's legally necessary to get a new authorization because of what he foresees about either the length or what the mission will entail going forward?

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president believes that Congress has already given him all of the authority that he needs to conduct this campaign against ISIL. That authority was conferred by Congress on the president when they passed the 2001 authorization to use military force. According to, you know, a wide variety of administration lawyers, the president has the authority that he needs based on that piece of legislation that Congress has already passed.

But what the president has said is that he believes that it is beneficial to the broader effort that if we send a very clear signal to the international community, both to our allies and to our enemies, that the executive branch and the legislative branch are on the same page when it comes to the strategy. And that's why the president believes that it would be very helpful for Congress to pass an authorization to use military force, to essentially right size and modernize the authority that Congress gives to the president to reflect the conflict that we're currently waging. And the president thinks that it would be good for the country and would be beneficial to our broader effort.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But even if lawmakers can't come to an agreement with the president about a new AUMF, he's still going to press forward with this mission. That doesn't change any plans.

EARNEST: That's correct because Congress has already given him the -- this authority in 2001 when they passed the authorization to use military force that year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) on one other thing. He talked on Keystone about letting the process play out, waiting for the Nebraska Supreme Court decision before completing the administration review. Does that mean that if Congress sends him a bill authorizing construction of the pipeline before that internal administration review is complete that he would veto that legislation?

EARNEST: Well, I -- we haven't seen sort of what Congress is prepared to do specifically on this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, lawmakers have said, McConnell and Boehner have said that is a top priority.

EARNEST: And the president has been clear that there is an established -- a firmly established precedent for dealing with these kinds of issues and that's one -- that's a process that we're committed to. That's a process that currently is winding its way through the State Department and one that, right now, is at least going to be influenced by the decision from a Nebraska judge about the proper route for that pipeline through that state.

So, you know, we'll consider any sort of proposals that are passed by Congress including a rider like this that, you're right, does seem to pretty directly contradict the position that's been adopted by this administration but also the position that's been taken by previous administrations as it -- as they've considered pipelines of this sort. OK?

BLITZER: All right. So, there he is, the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, answering reporters' questions on that Keystone Pipeline saying the administration no rush, at least not yet, to go ahead and authorize it, to approve it despite growing pressure from the new Republican majority in the House and Senate to go forward with that Keystone Pipeline from Canada through the United States to the Gulf of Mexico.

Earlier, he was making the point the president does not believe Congress needs to pass additional legislation authorizing the use of force against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The White House believing it already has that authorization, although there is now an effort under way to go ahead in Congress and try to pass some sort of legislation. The White House saying they would welcome legislation but they think the president already has that authority.

Let's go to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. She's working this story for us. Barbara, first of all, tell us about some new targets that the United States and its coalition partners in Iraq and Syria have launched strikes against. What are we learning?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, a very busy and important night for U.S. war planes over the skies of Syria last night. Five targets were struck that were targets associated with the Khorasan group. Now, you're going to remember, the Khorasan group is hard core Al Qaeda in Syria. These are operatives that moved from Pakistan to Syria a number of years ago. The U.S. said they are an imminent threat to the U.S. because these guys are capable of trying to make the bombs that can get past airport screening.

Last night, five targets were struck and the U.S. now believes it killed a key Khorasan operative, a French jihadist named David Drugeon, 24 years old, moved to Syria recently from Pakistan, knows how to make those bombs that can get past airport security. They had been looking for him for weeks. You'll remember, back on September 22nd, an initial round of strikes, missed the top Khorasan leaders. Now, today, they do believe they got this Khorasan operative as he was riding down a road in Syria in a vehicle -- Wolf.

BLITZER: So, this is still a very high priority for the U.S. to go after not only ISIS targets, other Al Qaeda targets, but this Al Qaeda split group -- this split group -- split off group, Khorasan. That's a major U.S. target, right?

STARR: It is, Wolf, for the very crucial reason that the threat they pose is the potential capability to reach out and get their weapons, their bombs, past airport security in Europe, possibly even the United States. Now, this guy, Drugeon, he's French and so he also had the capability to facilitate the movement of terrorists back and forth from Europe into Syria, back to Europe, possibly even back to the United States. People call the Khorasan right now Al Qaeda's A-Team. That's how serious a threat they pose. Getting Drugeon, a start, but the Khorasan group, U.S. officials say, still very much a threat to the United States.

BLITZER: President Obama clearly making it obvious that the U.S. is going to continue this policy of these targeted killings of what it regards as terrorist leaders, whether in Iraq, Syria, Pakistan or any place else, Yemen or Somalia come to mind as well.

All right. That's going to continue, probably will escalate in the coming weeks and months. Barbara, thanks very much.

Meanwhile, the U.S. also not only carried out those strikes against Khorasan but as part of a greater anti-ISIS coalition, they're launching other strikes in Syria as well.

Let's bring in Nick Paton Walsh. He's joining us from the border between Turkey and Syria. What are you picking up over there, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENBT: Well, as part of those air strikes around (INAUDIBLE), there was, perhaps, an unintended or, perhaps, intended, we don't know, consequence. One of the buildings hit as they went after Horazan (ph), who I should point out haven't figured much on the Syrian battlefield at all, in fact until they were first hit by the U.S. in the first round of strikes. There wasn't really a name particularly familiar to most of Syria. Part of those strikes overnight also hit a political headquarters for another organization known as Ahrar Al Sham. They are conservative Syrian rebels. They're not linked to Al Qaeda. They're not allies to Al Qaeda. And they're not described as a terror group by the United States.

But their building was certainly hit, according to monitors and activists and witnesses on the ground. And that may be because the U.S. was trying to get some Horazan members inside that building at the time. But the impact is pretty clear. There are a lot of quite confused and angry Syrians who, first of all, consider the U.S. targeting Nusra.

Yes, they're an Al Qaeda affiliate, but they do have some popularity among Syrians because they fight quite effectively against the Syrian regime in this civil war. Some Syrians think, well, they were targeting Nusra, now they're targeting Ahrar Al Sham, two groups who, effectively, protect us from the Syrian regime. And that's raising, I think, confusion, frustration, bewilderment about the U.S. intentions in the strikes they're making on non-ISIS targets like Nusra and contributing, I think, to a general sense of malaise about where the U.S. bombing campaign is actually going in Syria.

BLITZER: And, as you know, it gets so complicated, this war that's going on in Syria, Nick. Nusra is considered an Al Qaeda split off by the U.S. government. The State Department regards this Nusra front as a terrorist organization. Yet, as you correctly point out, moderate Syrian rebels have, from time to time, cooperated with these Nusra fighters, because they both are committed to going after the Bashar al Assad regime. And so, there is this unofficial alliance, shall we say, that deeply irritates U.S. officials, and it complicates what's going on the ground, right?

WALSH: Absolutely. It doesn't make things simple for U.S. policymakers. But you have a fundamental problem here, Ahrar Al Sham, a part of a large group called the Islamic Front, they are the only really effective moderate rebel force inside Syria. If you want to back somebody to fight back against ISIS or the regime, those are the guys you have to go to.

Now, it seems the U.S. have hit Ahrar Al Sham, and they claim, in their statement today, they weren't even really going after Nusra. They were going after Horazan, an elusive group. As I say, we haven't heard much from them until the U.S. decided to hit them. But by hitting Ahrar Al Sham, they're significantly damaging the U.S. image in the eyes of many Syrian moderate rebels and many Syrians, too. There are a lot of people saying, well, is the U.S. nearly all the Syrians leave inside Syria aggravated with them somehow -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And very quickly, Nick, what's the status now in the battle for Kobani?

WALSH: Peshmerga are inside. They are holding, they say, significantly more territory than they used to. They've pushed back to the east and the west. We are hearing from Kurdish officials that they're resupplying ammunition on a regular basis. But ISIS haven't given up the fight as yet. There is still a battle going on for that city and it's still vitally important as a symbolic city -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nick Paton Walsh on the border between Turkey and Syria, not far from Kobani itself. Thanks very much, Nick.

In just moments, the House speaker, John Boehner, expected to make his first address since the huge Republican victory on Tuesday. Is his party in the House of Representatives now to work -- ready to work with the White House, with the president? We'll hear from the House speaker. That's coming up momentarily.

Also coming up, the newly elect reelected governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper, he's talking about marijuana, politics, partisan gridlock and a whole lot more. And attacks on Israelis on the rise as tensions simmering near a boiling point in and around Jerusalem. Are we looking at the beginning of what potentially could be a third intifada?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: A new Republican dominate in Congress here in Washington. The president looking to secure his legacy during his final two years in office. Can they find common ground? Some possible areas of cooperation, tax reform, maybe some trade deals. Cooperation is less likely on climate change, on immigration reform. The president is sticking by his plan to issue an executive order unless Congress passes legislation. And on Obama Care, Republicans appear to be doubling down on their effort to try to repeal it.

Let's bring in our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger and our Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash. Dana is up on Capitol Hill where we're waiting for this news conference. The House speaker about to speak. Dana, set the scene for us. What does it look like over there? What are we going to hear from the speaker?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Capitol Hill Press Corps is back together again, the band is back together. I think that's a fun way to put it because we are all waiting to see what the speaker is going to say about how he's going to handle this expanded majority. A historic majority that Republicans are going to have coming back in January.

I'm told that he is going to say something that we've heard him a lot -- say a lot which is, where are the jobs? Talking about job growth and the need for Republicans to harness their new complete control of Congress by dealing with jobs. But I'm told that we can likely expect the speaker to tweak the president a little bit on what Republicans here on Capitol Hill thought was kind of a bit of a defiant tone that he had in his big press conference yesterday, not taking responsibility for some of the dysfunction here in Washington and the losses that Democrats felt. So, I think those are the kinds of things we're going to hear from the speaker.

BLITZER: Stand by for a moment, Dana. Gloria is here. Gloria, this article that the speaker, John Boehner, and the incoming majority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, wrote in "The Wall Street Journal" today. Among other things, they said what they need to do is renew our commitment to repeal Obama Care --

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BLITZER: -- which is hurting the job market along with Americans' health care. So, the president may be saying he's going to pass -- he's going to sign executive orders for immigration reform going around Congress. They're saying they're going to continue their fight to get rid of Obama Care.

BORGER: Right. And if they try and do it legislatively, he'll try and take out his veto pen and do it that way. But, you know, they have other ways they can try and fix or parts of Obamacare, and that is, you know, Mitch McConnell is a real tactician. He can attach things to the budget, Wolf, which only requires 51 votes. The president doesn't have to sign it. So if he wants to do some things that way, it wouldn't require the president's signature. So watch for that to happen.

Look, these Republicans ran on repealing Obamacare. They know that's not going to happen, but there are parts of it that they know that they can try and fix. They don't want to repeal -- lots of them don't want to repeal the things that people like, you know - you know, no penalty for preexisting condition, for example. Who wants to take that away? People don't want to do that and lots of Republicans don't want to do that either.

BLITZER: Dana, you know this better than most of us, there's no doubt that Mitch McConnell will be the next Senate majority leader. I don't think there's going to be any serious opposition on the Republican side. John Boehner, he - I assume he's going to remain as the speaker of the House, right?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He sure wants to and it doesn't look like there's any real opposition to him at this point. It would not be a surprise if you saw some token challenges from some of the more conservative members of the Republican Party. Maybe some others who just want to make a statement to the leadership and maybe to their constituencies back home that they're not entirely thrilled with the leadership here. But, at the end of the day, it is fully expected that the speaker will continue in his role as the speaker and then the leaders underneath him will as well.

But that kind of speaks to one of the questions that Gloria was just talking about, and you were too, Wolf, which is the fact that both he and Mitch McConnell in their op-ed in "The Wall Street Journal" this morning talked about repealing Obamacare. Something that they know is never going to happen in a veto-proof way while President Obama is in the White House, and yet they still put it in this op-ed. It sort of speaks to the whole issue of a restive, conservative caucus and the need that Republican leaders still feel to throw them a bone, frankly, and to make them feel that they understand what conservatives want, and that is to do full repeal of Obamacare, even though practically they know it's not going to happen.

BORGER: But, Dana, they're not going to do it, right? Yes.

BASH: Exactly. Exactly.

BLITZER: Yes. And even if the president were to veto any legislation repealing Obamacare, there's not enough votes. You need a two-thirds override in the House and the Senate.

BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: And the republicans don't have a two-thirds override to go ahead and repeal Obamacare, at least the numbers don't add up.

BORGER: Yo know, Wolf -

BLITZER: Yes?

BORGER: Obamacare was not the top issue in this election. The economy was. But Republicans used it as the underpinning for a narrative that said, this is a government that's too large, it's too out of control, and this is an administration that's so incompetent it couldn't manage the rollout of Obamacare. So in that sense, Obamacare became a much broader message for them than just the health care policy itself and it worked for them very well.

BLITZER: They're all going over to the White House tomorrow, Dana, the Republican leadership, the Democratic leadership. I think the president has invited 16, eight from the House, eight from the State, Democrats and Republicans, for lunch tomorrow. I guess they're going to try to set a new tone. I don't know how successful they might be, but they're both sort of in advance of that meeting laying out some tough positions.

BASH: They are. But, you know, you got to start somewhere and the whole rap on the dysfunction in Washington, the core of it at least, is that these guys don't know each other -

BORGER: Right.

BASH: And so you got to at least get together, break bread, which is what they're going to do tomorrow. Certainly don't expect anything big or even maybe small to be resolved there. But that isn't the point. It's to sit down and have -- have a conversation and do so in maybe a bit of a relaxed setting, although I guess I don't know how relaxed you can ever be at the White House.

But I'm also told that in addition to talking about how they can work together, both in the lame-duck session, which is going to start next week, but also in the next Congress, which is in January, there are some big issues that the administration and Congress are dealing with and have to deal with, Ebola, the threat of ISIS, the fact that the president is engaged in strikes in the Middle East, air strikes, which he will likely need some form of congressional approval for. So there are other major issues on the agenda at this lunch.

BLITZER: All right, stand by, Dana, Gloria, both of you stand by. Looks like the speaker running a few minutes late. We'll take a quick break. When we come back, we'll hear from the speaker of the House, John Boehner.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: All right, here's the speaker of the House, John Boehner.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I missed you all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what the president said yesterday.

BOEHNER: He did? (INAUDIBLE) - I hope you didn't believe it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).

BOEHNER: Good.

I'm going to start by congratulating my friend, Senator Mitch McConnell. As you know, Mitch and I have worked very closely together over the last eight years, and I don't think I could ask for a better partner or do I think the Senate could have a better majority leader than Mitch McConnell.

Also, I want to express my gratitude to the people of Ohio's eighth congressional district. You know, my mission is the same today as it was in 1990 when I was first elected to build a smaller, less costly and more accountable government here in Washington, D.C. And right now I believe that means continuing to listen, to make the American people's priorities our priorities and to confront the big challenges that face middle-class families starting with the economy.

You've heard me talk many times about the many jobs bills that the outgoing State majority has ignored. Those bills will offer the Congress, I think, a new start. We can act on the Keystone pipeline, restore the 40-hour work week that was gutted by Obamacare and pass the Hire More Heroes Act that would encourage our businesses to hire more of our veterans.

And again, this is just a start. I've been going around the country outlining my own personal vision for how we can re-set America's economic foundation.

The energy boom that's going on in America is real. And I think it provides us with a very big opportunity. But to maximize that opportunity, I believe that we need to do five things, and that is fix our broken tax code, address the debt that's hurting our economy and imprisoning the future of our kids and grandkids, reform our legal system, reshape our regulatory policy to make bureaucrats more accountable and to give parents more choices in a system that isn't educating enough of America's children.

Now, finding common ground is going to be hard work, but it will be even harder if the president isn't willing to work with us. Yesterday we heard him say that he may double down on his go it alone approach. Listen, I've told the president before, he needs to put politics aside and rebuild trust. And rebuilding trust, not only with the American people, but with the American people's representatives here in the United States Congress. This is the best way to deliver solutions, to get the economy going again, and to keep the American dream alive and well. This will be the focus of our new majority and I'm eager to get to work.

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker, as the president moves forward on immigration (INAUDIBLE), is that going to poison the well for him to pass some type of cooperation between this new Republican majority in the White House?

BOEHNER: Listen, you've all heard me say starting two years ago yesterday that our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. But I've made clear to the president that if he acts unilaterally on his own, outside of his authority, he will poison the well and there will be no chance for immigration reform moving in this Congress. It's as simple as that.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) the second paragraph of your op-ed with Mitch McConnell in "The Wall Street Journal" talked about Obamacare. How do you walk this balance without getting sucked back into that game of predominate (ph) issue with the Congress, or is it the predominant issue and you have new freshmen coming in who have never had the chance to vote no on Obama, vote for repeal on Obamacare, can you try to tweak this in some way or vote for a full repeal?

BOEHNER: Obamacare is hurting our economy. It's hurting middle-class families. And it's hurting the ability for employers to create more jobs. Now -- and so the House, I'm sure, at some point next year, we'll move to repeal Obamacare because it should be repealed and it should be replaced with common sense reforms that respect the doctor/patient relationship.

Now, whether that can pass the Senate, I don't know. But I know in the House it will pass. But we're going to pass it.

But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't do other things. There are bipartisan bills that have passed the House, sitting in the Senate, that would, in fact, make changes to Obamacare. You know, there's a bipartisan majority in the House and Senate for repealing the medical device tax. I think there's a bipartisan majority in the House and Senate for getting rid of the IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, the rationing board in Obamacare.

How about the individual mandate? There are a lot of Democrats and Republicans who believe this is unfair. Just because we may not be able to get everything we want, doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to get what we can.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE) distinctive issues that are potentially votes. Doesn't that siphon this Congress right back into this Obamacare and then the number gets up into the 60s or 70s in terms of roll call votes against Obamacare?

BOEHNER: Listen, there are bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate to take some of these issues out of Obamacare. We need to put them on the president's desk and let him choose.

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker, you heard the president say that he basically gave you a year waiting for you to be able to deliver on immigration reform and that in this post-election period, he's ready to act and then he would pull back those executive orders if you can have legislation that works. Could that be a catalyst for you to actually get something done?

BOEHNER: No, because I believe that the president continues to act on his own. He is going to poison the well. When you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself. And he's going to burn himself if he continues to go down this path. The American people made it clear Election Day, they want to get things done and they don't want the president acting on a unilateral basis.

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker, how do you expect the president to trust that you really want to work together when out of the gate you say that you want to repeal his signature law that you know has no chance of getting a veto proof majority? How do you expect him to trust you?

BOEHNER: Listen, my job is to listen to the American people. The American people have made it clear, they're not for Obamacare. Ask all those Democrats who lost their elections Tuesday night. A lot of them voted for Obamacare. So my job is not to get along with the president just to get along with him, although we have -- actually have a nice relationship. The fact is, my job is to listen to my members and listen to the American people and make their priorities our priorities.

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker, "The Wall Street Journal" is out with a report saying that President Obama has sent a secret leader to - secret letter to Iran's supreme leader on fighting ISIS. Your reaction, sir?

BOEHNER: Listen, I don't trust the Iranians. I don't think that we need to bring them into this. And I would hope that the negotiations that are underway are serious negotiations. But I have my doubts.

QUESTION: If having heard your reiterated threats the president suddenly said, OK, fine, I won't take executive action on immigration, could you guarantee him that you will hold votes on immigration legislation next year?

BOEHNER: I want to talk to my members about how to move forward, but I've made my position very clear. It is time for the Congress of the United States to deal with a very difficult issue in our society. This immigration issue has become a political football over the last 10 years or more. It's just time to deal with it.

QUESTION: Can your party's presidential nominee afford to run if you have not acted on -

BOEHNER: This is not about politics. This is trying to do the right thing for the country.

QUESTION: Mr. Speaker, you -- isn't the idea of repealing Obamacare, third or fourth line in your op-ed today, isn't it in a sense some way poisoning the well from your angle?

BOEHNER: No.

QUESTION: When you go to the White House tomorrow?

BOEHNER: No. My -- our job is to make the American people's priorities our priorities. They don't like Obamacare. I don't like it. It's hurting our economy. You know the president said, I listened to what happened Tuesday night. Really?

QUESTION: How do you know it's hurting the economy though (INAUDIBLE)? How do you --

BOEHNER: Well, if you spent as many nights on the road as I have over the last two years, you would hear from employers of every stripe, from large to small to medium, on every industry.