Return to Transcripts main page

WOLF

All Signs Point to a Joe Biden Presidential Run; Will Obama Endorse a Democrat before Primaries; Jeb Bush Heads to U.S./Mexico Border; Stock Market Bouncing Back after Dramatic Slide. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 24, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:32:36] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go to politics and the seemingly increasing real possibility of a presidential run by Vice President Joe Biden. He's having lunch today with the president at the White House. Also, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest made it clear that President Obama is a huge Biden fan.

Let's go to Joe Johns at the White House.

Joe, what's the latest. All signs are pointing for a run by the vice president.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Democratic source telling CNN political Director David Chalian that the vice president is leaning more towards running, getting into the race, than against it. And that source telling CNN that in the event he decides to put his hat in the ring, one plan would be for the vice president to make his intentions known around the first week of October and then ride that out into the Democratic debate.

Quite frankly, there has been a few other signs here that the White House and elsewhere that the vice president is considering this very seriously, including the fact that he just hired a new message manager, Kate -- her name is Kate Bedingfield. This is a woman who has experience in Washington, right here at the White House: she also worked for the motion picture association of America and in the 2008 run of John Edwards.

We also have reported over the weekend that the vice president did have somewhat of a surprise meeting with Elizabeth Warren, the progressive darling who so many people want to hear from as we move forward in this presidential campaign. Not likely to get into the race, nonetheless, her endorsement could mean a lot for whoever is seeking the White House -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And we also just heard from the White House press secretary, Joe, as you know, Josh Earnest, you're over at there at the White House. These words don't come easily. The first thing he said after he was asked about a Joe Biden run for the Democratic presidential nomination he said very pointedly that the president believes the best decision he made as president was to ask Joe Biden to be his vice presidential running mate. As they say, a heart beat away from the presidency. Very strong words, a strong indication, if you will, at least in my mind, that the president would, in fact, be happy if Joe Biden made that decision. How is that playing in the White House?

[13:35:10] JOHNS: It's interesting. Not only did he say that he also said no one in American politics knows better what it takes to mount a national campaign than Joe Biden. It's clear the White House would welcome a run but who would the president endorse? He'd be in the position of having his sitting vice president running against his former secretary of state that means split allegiances.

BLITZER: Well, we know in 2008 he didn't pick Hillary Clinton to be a heart beat away from the presidency, he picked Joe Biden to be vice president of the United States and he says to this very day that was the best decision he's made.

We'll stay on top of this story. Very significant political development.

Joe, thank you.

Up next, we're digging deeper into the Biden decision. Our political experts are standing by. Would the Biden run for the presidency be strong or weak? We're taking a closer look.

Plus this, Jeb Bush is at the U.S./Mexico border today. How will this play with voters? Our political panel assesses that as well.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:49] BLITZER: Vice President Joe Biden seems to be inching closer and closer to a decision on running for president of the United States. Only moments ago, the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, said that the vice president knows better than anyone what it would take to run a successful presidential campaign.

He also said this when asked about a presidential endorsement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president does plan to vote in the Illinois primary and that, ultimately, it will be Democratic voters who are responsible for choosing the Democratic nominee. But I wouldn't speculate at this point about whether or not the president would offer an endorsement.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So you don't know if there's a possibility he could, say, endorse Joe Biden or endorse Hillary Clinton?

EARNEST: I wouldn't rule out an endorsement.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Or Bernie Sanders?

EARNEST: Or Bernie Sanders. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of an endorsement in the Democratic primary. I'm confident the president will support the nominee in the general election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's discuss what's going on. Joining us, CNN political commentator, S.E. Cupp; Alex Castellanos, the founder of newRepublican.org, chairman of Purple Strategies; and Donna Brazile, our political commentator, a Democratic strategist.

BLITZER: Donna, it looks like increasingly evidence pointing that the vice president is very serious about this decision and also significantly Josh Earnest just said the president believes to this very day the best decision he made was to pick Joe Biden -- not necessarily Hillary Clinton -- as his running mate.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR; Well, as you know, the water is still warm and there's no question that Vice President Biden is making a serious attempt to talk to Democrats across the board. Over the weekend, many of us received a notice from the "Draft Biden" Committee that they will be in Minneapolis to talk to us. They told us, hold on, don't make a decision until they have an opportunity to talk to us.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Because the other Democratic candidates are going to the DNC meeting but the vice president, as far as we know, has decided not to go.

BRAZILE: That's the latest I heard. But Howard Dean, in 2003, was leading in the polls and, in 2007, of course, Hillary Clinton, so they said don't make a decision, don't do anything stupid, wait for Joe Biden. That's what they tell us.

BLITZER: What's your analysis, Alex?

ALEX CASTELLANOS, FOUNDER, NEWREPUBLICAN.ORG & CHAIRMAN, PURPLE STRATEGIES: As they say in wrestling, let's get ready to rumble. Hillary Clinton has created a vacuum in the Democratic Party that Bernie Sanders can't fill. Politics and nature abhor a vacuum so somebody will come in off the sidelines to fill it. It looks like it will be Joe Biden and the old trope that, "Well, oh, he doesn't have the organization and Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have been out there," we here in the age of the Internet. You can build an organization in social media and this things move quickly. You can have a company one day and be out of business the next. I think Joe Biden will be a serious contender for the Democratic nomination.

BLITZER: A lot of analysts, S.E., believe if he decides to run, at least in part, it's because the there's a fear among Democrats that maybe this e-mail involving Hillary Clinton, there may be something there that could undermine her favorability ratings going into a general election.

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The only we're talking about bringing in a guy who will be 74 when he is sworn in who is still dealing with the grief of losing a son, who has no campaign infrastructure, who has no campaign money. The only we're talking about that is because Hillary Clinton is not doing well. Dangerously so. I think some people are reading too much in into the Elizabeth Warren meeting. I don't think he's meeting with her to run for progressive votes. I think if he gets in at all it will be because he wants to capture the Democratic vote that that party has been missing over the last couple of --

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: The blue-collar older male vote that will be leaving.

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: And, frankly, if you're a disenfranchised Democratic blue- collar voter, you're skeptical of Hillary. You definitely don't like Bernie Sanders. You might be looking at a Republican this year unless someone like Joe Biden gets in.

[13:45:02] BRAZILE: A lot of this is fantasy talk because the truth is if Joe Biden decides to run in the Democratic primary he has to capture the Democratic vote. He has to earn it the same way Hillary Clinton is trying to do right now. But I have to tell you I don't think Joe Biden is running because Hillary has a problem. I think if Joe Biden runs it's because he wants to continue to advance the agenda that he wanted to be with President O'Brien -- President O'Biden. President Obama --

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

CASTELLANOS: I can see the bumper sticker now, "O'Biden."

BRAZILE: Well, he's a natural politician, a good politician. If he decides to run he'll get support within the party.

BLITZER: Given the signals, it looks like he will run. We'll give him time to make a formal announcement one way or the other.

What do you make of Jeb Bush going to the U.S./Mexico border today? The other day, we saw the Republican presidential front-runner, Donald Trump, make an appearance at the U.S./Mexico border.

CASTELLANOS: Every Republican candidate does it. It's the issue Republicans are most concerned about. And, frankly, Jeb Bush has a majority Republican position on immigration, on securing the border, on not deporting four and a half million children who are U.S. citizens. Republicans don't believe you ought to run up 11 million people and ship them out the door like we did in World War II with the Japanese in internment camps. So Jeb Bush is going down there as most Republican candidates other than Trump have done.

BLITZER: S.E., what's your analysis?

CUPP: I think all of the candidates before Trump were in a good position on immigration, and now it looks like they're playing catch- up. That's the way the campaign has unfolded. Trump got out there early, made a big splash on this. Now it's almost like, no matter what Jeb's positions are -- and I think they're good -- it's like he's trying to catch up with Trump. It will be interesting to see when they can stand on this issue on their own not with Trump as the backdrop.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: The Republicans had a good position. That was the position the Senate took, and Marco Rubio was in the leadership, Lindsey Graham there, two presidential candidates --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: On immigration reform.

BRAZILE: This so-called position that Donald Trump is pushing to the border to say we're going toss out the so-called anchor babies, that's a bad position that will hurt the Republican party. But, more importantly, it's immoral, unjust and wrong.

BLITZER: On that note, we'll leave it there but we'll come back but the subject is not going away in presidential politics. It's very, very hot right now.

For the latest on politics, head over to CNNpolitics.com. Excellent information for all of you.

The Dow Jones Industrials, right now, let's see how we're doing. Down 287 points. When it opened at 9:30, it was immediately down a thousand points, then it recovered down to 150 points down. Now back up to 286, approaching 300. In a minute, we'll talk about what's happening, this roller coaster at the stock market in New York, Wall Street. Much more coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:35] BLITZER: Stock markets here in the United States on Wall Street, in fact, around the world, they are plummeting today. Earlier today, at one point, the Dow Jones after the street opened, down 1,000 points. Right now, however, there seems to be a comeback of sorts. Down right now at about close to 300 points.

Joining us is Greg Valliere, a political economist, chief strategist for the Potomac Research Group.

It's been a roller coaster at one point. Down 1,000 points, then 150, and now closer to 350. What's going on here?

GREG VALLIERE, POLITICAL ECONOMIST & CHIEF STRATEGIST, POTOMAC RESEARCH GROUP: Not for the fainthearted? A long-overdue correction. It's mainly because of the Chinese and other emerging economies that have faltered. That's caused a big drop in commodity prices like oil and there's also anxiety over the Federal Reserve sending confusing signals about when they will raise rates.

BLITZER: Because investors are nervous if they raise rates that's not a good scene for investors, right? VALLIERE: It's probably the sign of the first of many. Some

investors would worry about that.

BLITZER: That's a sign that the Federal Reserve has greater confidence in the strength of the U.S. economy?

VALLIERE: Yes. Good point. But I'd say in the last week or two, the fed has been confusing. And if there's one thing that the markets don't like, it's uncertainty.

BLITZER: There's some silver lining in what is going on right now. Explain that to our viewers.

VALLIERE: Number one, bargain hunters have come back. That's one of the reasons that the market is recovering. It's still going to be shaky for a while. Number two, the price of oil has dropped dramatically. By Thanksgiving, we may be paying under $2 a gallon for gasoline. More money in people's pockets. Number three is interest rates. They haven't fallen too much today but in the last week they are way down. If you're thinking about buying a house or refinancing a mortgage, this is not a bad time.

BLITZER: If you're thinking about your 401K, you saw it, 1,000 points, even in 2008 during the real, real -- the Great Recession, as it was then called, there were drops of 600, 700, 1,000. I don't remember that. That's unusual, right?

VALLIERE: It's a lot. You need Dramamine for something like this. For ordinary investors, people with 401Ks, this is not a time to panic, sell or to buy. I think the markets will stay real choppy until we get the next fed meeting, which is September 16th, 17th. I think between now and then, this is not a time for amateur investors to make a move.

BLITZER: So you shouldn't even look at what your 401K is doing right now?

VALLIERE: It's tempting to look but by the end of the year there will be a move up. It's going to be rocky for a while longer.

[13:55:11] BLITZER: Your bottom line recommendation to viewers out there, whether here in the United States or around the world, is?

VALLIERE: Is to not panic, sit tight, and not worry about a recession in the U.S. There's no sign whatsoever that a recession here is imminent.

BLITZER: Economic growth will continue? Unemployment will remain relatively sort of stable?

VALLIERE: Yeah. Modest growth. Continued improvement in the labor market. Not blockbuster, but the economy is not in any danger of a significant slow down.

BLITZER: Remember that phrase, "The fundamentals of the U.S. economy are strong." VALLIERE: Yes, indeed.

BLITZER: Not necessarily strong in 2008 but more true now?

VALLIERE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: Greg, thanks very much for coming in. We'll stay on top of this story. We'll follow it.

That's it for me. Thanks very much for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.

For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin will start right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)