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GOP Presidential Debate Tonight; GOP Candidates On The Attack Ahead Of Debate; New Poll Gives Carson Edge Over Trump; RNC Chairman's Debate Expectations; Tightening Airport Security; Concern Over Vetting Of Airport Workers; Vetting Airport Workers for Security; Tensions High with Stabbings in Jerusalem. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 10, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: -- right here on CNN.

Thanks for watching, everyone. Nice to have you with us today. Stay tuned, my colleague, Wolf, starts right now.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 12:00 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We are just hours away from debate number four from the Republican presidential candidates. Tonight's face-off is certainly critical for several of the candidates who are hoping to stop their fall in the polls and stay within shouting distance of the two frontrunners. Ben Carson and Donald Trump will again be center stage in the prime time portion as leaders. In all the major polls, they are certainly still the leaders leading up to tonight's debate.

Our Sunlen Serfaty is joining us live from Milwaukee right now where the debate is about to take place. Up first, Sunlen, tell us about the lineups, the questioning. I take it the rules are basically the same as the first three Republican debates?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. And there will be some dynamic changes tonight up on their stage, starting with the number of candidates up there. There will only be eight candidates on the main debate stage. That's down from 10 at the last debate. Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie, they did not qualify for the main debate because of their low poll numbers. So, they have been downgraded, so to speak, to that undercard debate.

Now, tonight, you will not see Senator Lindsey Graham. You don't -- won't see George Pataki or Jim Gilmore. They didn't make the cut for either debate all together. Senator Graham has said he still wants to get his voice heard and he says he -- and plans to offer some live commentary on a social media app called Sidewire.

Now, the format of the questions changes a bit, mainly to give the candidates more time to speak. The new rules are 90 seconds for candidates to respond to questions that they are asked directly and 60 seconds to respond to any sort of attacks made against them -- Wolf. BLITZER: For several of the candidates, it's really going to be

critical, specifically Jeb Bush. He's got a lot at stake tonight. He's got to show something in this fourth Republican debate that he, presumably, didn't show the first three.

SERFATY: Absolutely. The pressure really is on Jeb Bush. He has a lot to prove. Admittedly, he says these debates are not the forte. And in the time since the last debate, he has hired a media strategist, someone that will make him, allegedly, become more comfortable up there on the debate stage, someone who, Wolf, will coach him on how to be more aggressive and assertive.

Now, Jeb Bush, for his part, says that he plans to not think of this as a debate tonight. He just wants to be himself. He says he just wants to talk about the issues -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Sunlen, thanks very much.

Some of the Republican candidates, they're already on the offensive just ahead of tonight's Republican presidential debate.

Let's bring in Katie Packer. She's the former deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential bid. Also joining us, Donna Brazile, our CNN Political Commentator. She's a Democratic strategist.

For Jeb Bush, he's got a new ad that's been released in advance of tonight's debate. Katie, let me play a little clip, a little excerpt.

KATIE PACKER, FORMER DEPUTY CAMPAIGN MANAGER ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It turns out they can't handle a bunch of CNBC moderators. You know, then, I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Clearly, that's not the ad. That's a different ad, if you will. That's the president of the United States. But he's got an ad showing that he's a true conservative. He's energetic. He's got a lot of ideas. I think maybe we could cue it up correctly right now. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When I left, there were $9 billion in reserves. We reduced the state government workforce by 13,000. The one thing that Barack Obama, and I would say Hillary Clinton, is their philosophy, the people of their ilk, have proven is that the progressive agenda run amok has failed. What I proved as governor was that you can cut spending and still prioritize towards the things that matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, what do you think? Is that ad really going to make much of an impact?

PACKER: Well, I mean, it's an -- it's an interesting ad for sure. And I think what Jeb Bush is trying to do is kind of reset the discussion and reset the debate and take it off the subject of high energy versus low energy. Are you cool enough? Are you not cool enough? And he wants to get back to a discussion about who has an agenda? Who has a conservative agenda that is in contrast with Hillary Clinton and who can actually get the job done? And that's where he thinks his sweet spot is.

BLITZER: And, at the same time, there's a pro-Bush Super PAC not directly connected to the campaign. They've got a new strategy. You read about it in "The New York Times" today, going directly after the person they see as his main threat, not Donald Trump, not Ben Carson, but Marco Rubio potentially raising questions about whether he's ready to be president of the United States.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the Bush campaign, I understand, is that this is a three-lane highway and the first two lanes are already occupied with Donald Trump and Ben Carson.

[13:05:04] And then, you have the social conservative Tea Party wing. He needs to get Marco Rubio out of the establishment lane. And to do that, he needs to hit him, hit him hard. He didn't do a good job a couple of weeks ago in the Republican debate. He failed to have a good contrast with Marco Rubio. I think he's hoping tonight that he can get Marco Rubio to make a mistake and respond to him rather than making Jeb Bush look so sad.

BLITZER: Presumably, they want to spend about $20 million, this Super PAC that supports Jeb Bush. They've got a lot of money so they clearly can do that. Is it going to turn things around?

PACKER: Well, I mean, what they telegraphed yesterday is that they had a message that Marco Rubio was too pro-life. I'm not sure that's a message that really works when you're fighting somebody in a Republican primary. I think that's something that would -- will help Marco Rubio.

BLITZER: But they -- their argument is that it would help them maybe in a Republican primary. But in the general election, when he says there's no exemptions for life of the mother, no exemption from rape or incest, that would hurt him in a general election.

PACKER: Not exactly -- that's not exactly what he said --

BLITZER: But that's the argument that they're making.

PACKER: -- but that's what they're trying to make.

BLITZER: Yes.

PACKER: But the point is, I do think that Jeb Bush has to show who Jeb Bush is. Because at the moment, there's no indication that if voters pull away from Marco Rubio, that that support naturally goes to Jeb Bush.

BLITZER: Right.

PACKER: Until they can demonstrate that Jeb Bush is a good bet, you know, taking down any of the other candidates, I'm not sure is the wisest strategy.

BRAZILE: Jeb Bush, at this time, needs to really come out with his own ideas, be his own person, and stop trying to take someone down. He needs to lift himself up and let voters see exactly know who he is.

BLITZER: This new McClatchy poll, the McClatchy-Marist poll, has Caron and Trump virtually tied nationally among Republicans, 24 percent for Carson, 23 percent for Trump. You take a look, Rubio is at 12 percent, Cruz eight percent, Jeb Bush eight percent, everybody else low single digits. It's amazing, when you think about it, Katie. These two frontrunners, they're still the frontrunners --

PACKER: Yes.

BLITZER: -- after all of these months. They're both doing amazingly well.

PACKER: Absolutely. And I think that's something that these other candidates need to pay close attention to. And what is it that these candidates are tapping into? But I do think that there are two candidates in the race that are very, very clearly defined, Jeb Bush and Donald Trump.

And until Jeb Bush does something to sort of change the narrative, he's not going the move. I don't think that Donald Trump is going to move, you know, and have big gains because I think he's clearly defined, too. It's up for the other candidates to show that they have something to offer the Republican primary voters.

BLITZER: And Donald Trump, he makes it clear that he's not shy about delivering a counterpunch. When some of these other candidates hit him, he likes to say he hits back 10 times at hard -- as hard.

BRAZILE: Oh, my god. Look, I was shocked yesterday when he, basically, went after Ben Carson in ways that I didn't ever think another candidate would treat a colleague.

Look, Donald Trump is in the front row. I mean, he's in -- he's been at the driver's seat now for a hundred days. He's a candidate that needs to get out there tonight and say something that will make people look at him again as a substantive policy person on business and economic issues.

You know, I think the seven candidates, those who are in the J.V. card, and the three who are at the bottom, they need to watch out because they could be also ran.

And, you know, the next debate, Wolf, is on that great December 15th. I know that day very well; it's my birthday. You'll be hosting the CNN debate. That's an opportunity for these candidates to finish up the season. But right now, you have seven candidates who are in danger of just basically dropping out over the next seven weeks.

BLITZER: You think some of these candidates might drop out between then?

BRAZILE: You know, Wolf, you've been -- some of these guys have been shopping, people have been dating them and they don't like them. They've met them, and they've said, you know what? It's not yours, Bobby (ph). It's not your turn. You know, I don't like the Rick Santorum, it's not your turn. And for Chris Christie and Governor Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucuses, you know, seven years ago, to now be off of the big stage, I don't know. Why would you stay in it?

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting that Donald Trump and Ben Carson, some of their critics say, well, you know, take a look, you know, eight years ago, seven years ago, there were -- Michele Bachmann or Herman Cain, at some point they were doing really well. But they were only doing really well for a few weeks, if that. These two leaders, right now, they've been doing well for a hundred days.

PACKER: It's a very, very different scenario, almost something you can't compare to.

I do think that Donald Trump, you know, sort of has this ceiling and he's been sitting there at, you know, 23 percent or so. And people have made up their minds. He's got a core of support that isn't going anywhere.

I do think that Dr. Carson is coming under new scrutiny and there's more information to learn. And so, we'll see if he has the kind of staying power that Trump has had. But I think until some other candidates, as Donna said, start to fall away, you're not going to anybody, you know, getting up close to those kind of numbers.

BLITZER: And I'm told that the debate tonight will focus primarily on the key economic issues. This is a Fox business debate that's going to focus on finance, business, all that kind of stuff, as opposed to some of the more personal stuff that we've been reporting about.

BRAZILE: Ted Cruz -- we don't talk a lot about Ted Cruz. But Ted Cruz is the person we need to watch.

BLITZER: We're going to watch them all. Guys, thanks very much.

[13:10:01] There's a lot to talk about. The Republican National Committee chairman, by the way, Reince Priebus, he's standing by from Milwaukee. He'll join us live in about 20 minutes or so. We'll get his assessment of what's going on.

But up next, that crash of that Russian airliner in Egypt causing new concerns about security at airports around the world. We're taking a closer look at the screening process that airport workers undergo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BLITZER: The possibility that a bomb brought down that Russian airliner with 224 people onboard is causing increased concern among officials in the United States. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, officials there, they're working to try to address vulnerabilities involving the nearly 900,000 workers at American airports. There is some suspicion that a bomb was put on that metro jet flight by an insider at the Egyptian airport in Sharm El Sheikh where the aircraft made its final takeoff.

Our Aviation and Government Regulation Correspondent Rene Marsh is joining us now. Rene, we're talking about almost a million workers only here at the United States of about 450 airports. What exactly are Homeland Security concerns right now?

[13:15:13]

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION & GOVT. REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, in my conversations with several people who are involved with aviation security, they are all saying the same thank, the major concern is that insider threat, the individual at these airports, the individual who works with an airline who has that unfettered, secure access to the airport, as well as the aircraft.

Now, I spoke with one congressman, John Katko. He's the chairman of the Transportation Security's subcommittee. He says, and in his own words, "we simply do not know enough" about the close to one million airport workers at U.S. airports across the nation. He's really pushing for better vetting of these employees. And we just heard just this month the head of the TSA even telling Congress that there is work to be done as it relates to the insider threat.

Now, one U.S. official shared with us this information saying that the information that is collected, when it comes to vetting these airport workers, is essentially the same sort of information that's collected from passengers who are looking to get pre-check clearance at security checkpoints. And some find that very disturbing.

I can tell you, Wolf, there is legislation that has been proposed. It's passed the House. that legislation would essentially call for more physical screening of these airport workers when they arrive on scene at work, as well as recurring background checks. It's passed the House but it has not passed the Senate.

BLITZER: All right, Rene, thanks very much.

Joining us now to talk about airport security and the Department of homeland Security is the Texas Congressman Will Hurd. He's a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. He's also on the committee on Government Oversight.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

Are you convinced at this point it was a bomb and that it was ISIS related, either ISIS or some affiliate of ISIS?

REP. WILL HURD (R-TX), HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY CMTE.: Being convinced 100 percent is difficult, but it looks like it was ISIS. There's still reviews ongoing. But we should treat it as such. And this would be a - a significant departure from ISIS' tactics and techniques in the region. And it's even more reason that we should be focused on them and stopping them in Syria and Iraq.

BLITZER: And the assumption is that they had an insider at that airport in Sharm el Sheikh that planted that bomb, assuming it is a bomb, on that aircraft.

HURD: That's one of the scenarios that's being discussed. I don't think technical issues have been ruled out as if somebody put it in baggage and it - and it got through. We don't know the answers to that yet, but that's something that I know TSA is going to be look at very closely, as well as airports around the world.

An important thing to note is, you know, what happens at an airport like in Sharm el Sheikh versus what happens in - in Washington, D.C., or somewhere else is very different. And TSA is increasing their screening of luggage that's coming from key regions overseas. And the House passed legislation earlier this year saying that every airport needs to go through and review the security access controls. You know, where can their workers get access to into the sensitive areas of an airport?

BLITZER: Because there's almost, as we said, nearly 900,000 workers at 450 airports in the United States. Does more need to be done right now?

HURD: I think we could always do more. I think we could always do more to continue to protect the American people. And protecting against that insider threat is - is a very difficult thing to do. Additional screenings of the workers that are working there is important. And then also making sure we know where our workers have access to in these areas. And technical measures as well.

BLITZER: If it was ISIS or some ISIS-affiliated group, why would they go after a Russian airline with 224 people on board, almost all of them were Russians? Why would they target Russia? Was it - was it a - was the attack designed to hurt Russia or designed to hurt Egypt, for example, or send a broader message?

HURD: I think, you know, the design was to hurt Egypt I think more so than Russians. But here's one of those areas where ISIS' information campaigns are pretty significant. Nobody's talking about how ISIS is killing innocent people. They're beating their chest on social media saying, you know, they're taking the fight to the bad guys, but they're killing innocent folks. That message needs to - need to get out there to folks that are trying to combat them.

BLITZER: You spent nine years in the CIA as a clandestine officer. You understand intelligence. Social media, this whole social media, these guys are recruiting, ISIS, a lot more supporters now as a result of the murder of these 224 people, which is hard for us to understand. Why is this so attractive to them?

HURD: Look, we can't think about this problem through our own mindset. It's a different world. When I was chasing al Qaeda in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, al Qaeda would do something called night letters. They would write a letter and leave it on the doorsteps. Now ISIS is hitting tens of millions of people a day leveraging social media. They're encouraging, saying come to - come get a sense of adventure. Get off the - the couch and stop playing video game and come do the real thing. But the reality is, is that if a young man is going to fight with ISIS in Syria and Iraq, they're more likely to get a bomb dropped on their head than they are to find a sense of adventure.

[13:20:23] BLITZER: All right, is the U.S. up to this mission because ISIS clearly, and al Qaeda, they're good on social media. Has the U.S. and its allies stepped up to the plate?

HURD: We haven't and that's what we need to do a better job. Department of Homeland Security has created a new coordinator for CVE, that's countering violent extremism, but it can't be the U.S. government alone to do these things. It has to be a whole - all of our partners, our Sunni Arab partners in the region, non-state actors need to get involved in this process. But we also need to take the fight to them on the ground. The intelligence - our intelligence posture in Syria and Iraq is not where I think it needs to be. We can use the example of Afghanistan from 2001 as a model, and we need to work closer with groups to stop ISIS on the ground.

BLITZER: Congressman Will Hurd, Republican of Texas, thanks very much for coming in.

HURD: Thank you, sir.

BLITZER: The Republican presidential candidates, they're getting ready for their fourth debate tonight. We're going to take a closer look at what to expect. The chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, he's standing by. We'll discuss what's going on when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:38] BLITZER: It's been a day plagued with violence in Jerusalem. An Israeli police spokeswoman says two Palestinian boys, age 12 and 13, stabbed a security guard on a light rail train in a Jewish area in Jerusalem. The guard shot back at them wounding the 12- year-old seriously. Just a little while later, Jerusalem - in Jerusalem's old city, police say Israeli security guards shot and killed a Palestinian man who ran toward them with a knife. And in a third incident, Israel police say a man walked up to a kiosk checkpoint in the West Bank and attempted to stab a border police officer there as well. The alleged attacker was then shot and killed. All these incidents happening while the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is here in Washington discussing the peace process and Israel's relationship with the United States.

Israeli Government Spokesman Mark Regev is joining us now. He's here in Washington, traveling with the president - with the prime minister, excuse me, as well.

Thanks very much for joining us. MARK REGEV, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: My pleasure.

BLITZER: So, all of a sudden, more stabbings. Is this escalating now, because there had been a couple weeks of relative quiet?

REGEV: We hope not. We want to see a return of peace and quiet. And we think this violence serves no one's real interests. And the goal of the government is to act in a measured way so as to deescalate, to deal with the perpetrators, the terrorists, at the same time to try to encourage a more positive momentum. Ultimately, we want to see peace and quiet. That's good for everybody.

BLITZER: Let's talk quickly, because there's a bunch of subjects I want to get to, about Israel's knowledge of what happened to that Russian airliner at Sharm el Sheikh. There's reports that Israel provided certain sensitive information to the U.S., the U.K. Is that true?

REGEV: I cannot go into details because you're asking me about intelligence. I can tell you what we do know, we've passed on to the relevant governments, including the government here.

BLITZER: Do you believe it was a bomb planted inside that airplane by ISIS or an ISIS affiliate?

REGEV: That's our assessment.

BLITZER: It is?

REGEV: Yes.

BLITZER: Is that 100 percent, 90 percent?

REGEV: It's an intelligence assessment based on what we know.

BLITZER: And you come up with that information from chatter or hard intelligence? You can't provide details?

REGEV: That I can't - correct.

BLITZER: So what are the ramifications if this is going on? Sinai's a very dangerous spot right now.

REGEV: Correct. You - we've seen in Sinai, unfortunately, extreme Islamists, ISIS-type groups becoming - establishing a presence. They threaten Israel. They threaten Egypt. They threaten everyone, as we saw in this - in this terrible attack on the plane.

BLITZER: Why do you think they went after this Russian airliner?

REGEV: I - I don't want to speculate. I do know this. From Israel's perspective, you look to the south and you see Sinai and these radicals. You look to the north, you see Lebanon with Hezbollah. You look to the northeast and you see Syria and everything that's going on there. We are in a very dangerous neighborhood.

BLITZER: And you believe it was ISIS in Sinai, that group ISIS in Sinai, that - that was responsible for this - this bombing?

REGEV: I'm not going to go into details about the perpetrators, but it's not the first time. We've had rockets from Sinai targeting southern Israel. We've had a situation where these groups are there causing problems. Once again, dangerous for Israel, dangerous for Egypt too, and we've got to - we've got to fight them.

BLITZER: We know that there have been about 700 American soldiers in Sinai since 1979, the signing of the Israeli/Egyptian Peace Treaty. The Egyptians wants those American peacekeepers to remain. Does Israel want those American soldiers in Sinai, which is obviously a very dangerous sport right now?

REGEV: Our position has always been that the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt is one of the cornerstones for regional stability. And the American support for that peace treaty is very, very important. We'd like to see that happen. We'd like to see the Americans stay. Obviously if we have to have a - have better protection for those American forces, that has to be done as well.

But it's important to understand, the radicals are not going to stop attacking us if we run away. On the contrary, those extremists will follow us. And it's important to fight them and it's important to defeat them. My prime minister said last night, there's no substitute for a military victory over these extremists. You see, we're seeing in the Middle East a crazy situation where states that have been there for almost a century are just imploding. Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, all these countries are dissolving and into the cracks are coming the radical Islamists. Whether it's the radical Sunnis, headed by ISIS, or the radical Shia headed by Iran. And it's important that we stand up and we fight these extremist. And here you should know the good news, Wolf, is that the moderate Arab states are our allies in this struggle.

[13:30:02] BLITZER: We know the president yesterday met in the Oval Office with the prime minister. This is the first meeting they had in more than a year. The last time the prime minister was here, he delivered that controversial speech before the Congress opposing the Iran nuclear deal.