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House Democrats Urge Pope to Speak Out on Issues; White House Press Conference on Pope's Visit; Pope to Canonize Controversial Figure in U.S.; Donald Trump Turns Up Heat on FOX News Feud; Clinton Responds to Republican Claim of Starting Obama Birther Rumor. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired September 23, 2015 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00] DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds like the Democrats are saying, bring it on, Ron?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, on certain issue, but there are others that it seems that the pope's views in the seamless garment do not align, and it is a mistake for either of the sides to enlist the pope in their partisan conflict with the other.
But having said that, the pope has been willing to lend his voice to contemporary issues more than many of the recent predecessors, and he is not someone who has effect cloistered himself away from the contemporary world. Everything that we have heard today, much of it is at a broad plane of values. And some of it, as you note, a kind of reference to the Syrian refugees that drowned, looks like it could be taken from the headline. So this is a pope comfortable to have his words echo through the immediate environment and governments around the world, and even as he does not, emphatically, does not align with any particular party in the argument with the other.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I agree --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Donna?
BRAZILE: Go ahead. And I have --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: The White House briefing -- and pardon, and I will get back to you -- but let's go to the White House briefing.
JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Sorry, we are having a late start to the day here.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: We will pardon you.
EARNEST: Well, thank you.
(LAUGHTER)
I am humbled by that expression. (CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
EARNEST: Well done. Well done.
It is a powerful morning on the South Lawn of the White House and I know that many of you were hard at work covering it, but I hope that some of you were at least able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful day but to soak in the spirit that was on such nice display this morning, so.
But other than that, I don't have any opening comments, so we can go straight to the question s questions.
Darlene, would you like to start?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes, thank you. What do you have for us on the president's meeting with the pope, how long the meeting lasted, how long it lasted and just the two of them, and those kinds of things?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And a transcript?
(LAUGHTER)
EARNEST: And a transcript. Well, unfortunately, Bill, I don't mean to disappoint you, but no stenographer in the meeting. But it is a one-on-one meeting between the pope and the president, and that is going to limit my ability to offer you a detailed readout, because it was intended to be a private conversation. It did last about 40 minutes. I think that all of you or at least your representatives in the pool did have an opportunity to observe at least the beginning of the discussion.
You saw the two men walking through the colonnade of the White House, and the president stopped on a couple of occasions to describe the surroundings to the pope who is visiting the White House for the first time. I think it is the president certainly did enjoy the opportunity to play host today. And it was an opportunity for the president to show the pope around the White House and to introduce the pope to senior members of his staff. The Catholic members of the staff did have an opportunity to have one-on-one interaction with the pope. So this is a visit that the president genuinely enjoyed, but I am unable to give you much detail about the private discussions.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How pleased would you say that the president was or how pleased that the White House was that the pope went to climate change on his first visit to the U.S. to the White House?
EARNEST: Well, the pope did have some kind words for the president's work on this issue, and the president certainly welcomed that the expression from the pope. I think in general, this is something that was said in the lead-up to the pope's visit and continues to be true today that the goal of the pope's visit and the goal of the meeting is to not advance anyone's political agenda, and I think that listening to the pope's comments, it was clear that he was speaking with a passion and a conviction about the need to act on climate issues that was deeply rooted in his faith. So he was not looking to speak a political message, but speaking from the heart and with a conviction that is going to resonate with people all around the world
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And having him talk about climate change, what do you think about what he said here today, do you see it influencing the debate going forward or the next steps from the White House on this issue?
EARNEST: Well, I think that time will tell. And I think that the pope, himself, acknowledged that. Acknowledged the opportunity that people around the world have to seize this opportunity. I mean, the pope did make a conscious decision to capitalize on this high profile moment to deliver this message, and these were obviously, the first public statements that he offered on American soil. It wasn't as if he thought that nobody would be listening.
So he'll have additional opportunities over the next five days of the visit to deliver additional messages that he is going to seek to prioritize and the next big one that is coming up is the speech that he is going to be delivering before Congress tomorrow, and he made a brief allusion his desire to offer encouragement to the members of that body as they try to advance the important work to the people before him as well. And I think that, it is clear that even when you talk about the issue of climate change that everybody acknowledges that Congress has a role in that as well.
[13:36:03] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Finally, since we are talking about the climate change, any comment or reaction to Hillary Clinton's decision yesterday to break the silence, and say that she is opposed to the Keystone Pipeline?
EARNEST: Well, I'm not sure that there were many people, at least in this room, and either any of you or any of us, were particularly surprised by her comments or her position. You know, we have said for some time that essentially Secretary Clinton and others who have decided to run for president will have the opportunity to run for their the priorities and positions on a range of issues, but the responsibility of those in government is different.
And in this case, the State Department continues to consider this specific policy consistent with the way that other infrastructure projects are considered, and this project has lasted longer than the typical review conducted. But there are a variety of factors influencing the review, including a number of legal procedures that have extended the consideration of the project. But for the time frame of when we would expect that review to be completed, I would review to the State Department. OK?
Jeff?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Josh, were you able to give any details of the conversation, and specifically, can you say whether or not any of the hot-button social issues that we know they disagree on like abortion or gay marriage came up? EARNEST: Well, Jeff, I cannot give additional details. The reason
that the two men wanted to meet together in the Oval Office was to have a private discussion.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was there an interpreter there?
EARNEST: My understanding is that there was not -- oh, there was an interpreter there? OK, but only the two of them talking.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So, no suggestion on whether some of the less agreeable to beyond climate change were part of their discussion?
EARNEST: Even though an interpreter was present, the intention for that conversation is to remain private.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: It seems that they took longer to come down to the colonnade and the Oval Office at least than on the time schedule. Did they linger longer upstairs or hang out with the family, or what happened?
EARNEST: That is the time when some of the Catholic members of the president's staff did have an opportunity to meet the pope, and an opportunity for the president to meet the visiting delegation of the Vatican as we well, and that is typical of these kinds of formal visits.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Moving to a different new topic, OPM released additional information about that breach.
EARNEST: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: The White House has still not identified China as the official state sponsor of that. Will that happen before the visit? And can you give us some details of why that was released in the middle of the pope's visit?
LEMON: You are looking at the White House briefing there and Josh Earnest is giving the briefing. The takeaway is that the reporter asked about the pope speaking on climate change, and he said that the president appreciated his words on climate change. And he also said that it was not a political expression on his part, he didn't believe, but he said that he does believe that the pope used this the opportunity to get the word out, but it was not to advance any sort of political agenda. He was very conscious, made a conscious decision to capitalize on a high-profile moment. And he said that the president and the pope met this morning in the Oval Office for about 40 minutes, the two of them and just an interpreter.
The pope is leaving St. Matthews now, after leaving with all of the bishops after giving him that message to take forward, and the pope leaving that meeting now. And of course, you can hear that there is applause there. And he is supposed to depart at about 12:30, or 12:45, but of course, he is running behind, because as you can see, that the pope is the man of the people, and he likes to be out amongst the crowd, and talking to people.
[13:40:17] And of course, as a pope, he is going to address Congress later on, and he has a full day tomorrow as well.
And as we mentioned he is going to address Congress and visit St. Patrick's Church and meet with the homeless. And then the pope heads to New York, right here in New York, on Friday where he is going to address the United Nations assembly, and where he is going to go to the 9/11 memorial, and then on to Pennsylvania where he is going to attend the Festival of Families, and then on to Rome Sunday. A six- day whirlwind trip, very busy for the pope. And I spoke with one of the Vatican representatives who said that he was a bit surprised, not in a bad way, that the pope did not meet with the crowd that greeted him, because he said possibly that he is tired, because it is a long trip for the pope. And there he is leaving in the famous fiat now in Washington, D.C.
As we look at the pictures, we will take a quick break and take a quick look back as we come back after the break of the pope's visit to the United States.
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[13:45:55] LEMON: Welcome back to special coverage here of the pope's visit. You are looking at the shrine of the Immaculate Conception. A special canonization will take place here in a couple of hours. It is the largest Roman Catholic Church in North America, and one of the 10 largest churches in the world. The pope is going to arrive there to canonize a saint on American soil, and without question, it is a historic moment, a historic moment here, and one steeped in controversy, because the honor is going to the 18th century California missionary who some Native Americans believe is more of a sinner than a saints.
And Rosa Flores knows more about this, and she is joining us outside of the basilica where that background is known -- Rosa?
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He is an 18th century Franciscan missionary, and came California to establish missions and churches and evangelized in that area. And there is a lot of controversy about this, and a lot of people love him, and he is going to be canonized later today here with the holy mass celebrated by Pope Francis. And it is controversy, because there are a lot of Latino groups and Native American groups who say it opens up bleeding wounds, because it is a time when their cultures and languages were ripped from them. And so there is controversy because of this, but the church is definitely defending it -- Don?
LEMON: Yes, you have said that the Vatican has defended this, and how is the Vatican defending it?
FLORES: You know, we have seen it in other places. In South America, for example, when I was there months ago covering Pope Francis' visit there as well, there is this idea of priests, missionaries, who have gone to areas where they are heavily Native American or Indians in those particular countries and these priests in South America, for example, Jesuit priests would go to the areas and help fight for the rights of Native Americans, and so that is the angle that the church is taking here. They are saying that Serra was defending the rights of the Native American groups -- Don?
LEMON: All right. Rosa Flores, standby.
And I am going to say that before he goes into the cathedral where you are, he is at the Apostolic Nunzia where he is staying, and as we have been reporting, and as we have been telling you that since the pope -- and since this man has been the pope, he likes to reach the crowds and touch the people. And we are going to be listening in for the folks greeting the pope, and the folks ecstatic to see him.
(CHEERING)
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[13:52:45] LEMON: More pope coverage in just a moment.
Now to the race for the White House, 2016. Donald Trump turning up the heat when it comes to his ongoing feud with FOX News. The GOP front-runner wrote on Twitter, quote, "FOX News has been treating me unfairly and I therefore have decided that I won't be doing any more FOX shows for the foreseeable future."
Let's discuss this with our senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.
What do you make of this attack and threat, really, I guess you could call it, against FOX News?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I guess it depends on what foreseeable future is. Is that two, three days? Who knows? This is something we've seen in this campaign, Trump arguing with news channels. He's said disparaging things about CNN and reporters. This is classic Trump in many ways. I think at some point, he'll have a conversation with folks from FOX News and they'll smooth this all out. But this has been very much par for the course with this campaign.
LEMON: So it's not the first time he's done it. In the past, Trump and fellow Republican candidate, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, have blamed some of the controversy that he may be upset about over Obama's birthplace on the Muslim issue on none other than Hillary Clinton.
So this morning, Nia -- I want you to listen to this -- on the radio, I asked Hillary Clinton about those allegations that in the 2008 presidential campaign, it was her team that started pushing this whole birther narrative and she had a confrontation with the president over the issue. Here's her response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE (voice-over): That is so ludicrous, Don. Honestly. I just believe that first of all it's totally untrue and secondly the president and I have never had any kind of confrontation like that. You know, this is such a bad example of what's wrong with instantaneous reactions and Americans getting all worked up and people feeding prejudice and paranoia like Donald Trump. You know, obviously, all of us have to stand against it. You know, I have been blamed for nearly everything. That was a new one to me. But, you know, I'll just keep going and talking about what I want to do to get incomes rising and making college affordable and making all the positive changes that we have to be worried about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[13:55:12] LEMON: Nia, that was this morning on the morning show. You covered the campaign back in 2007-2008. Do you think we can finally put this birther issue to rest for both sides now?
HENDERSON: Probably not because conspiracy theories just don't really work that way. Sort of the more you talk about them, the more you give them oxygen and the more they go on and on. I'm glad you asked her this question. It comes up again and again. And she I think -- she's right in what she said. She did not start this. She did not want to campaign based on framing Obama as the other, as somehow un- American. She ran a campaign that was based on experience. So I think it is sort of a rumor that Republicans are now saying that she started these rumors or her campaign started these rumors. This will come up again and again because it's the nature of the politics and the Internet in this culture we have, where everyone is paranoid and, in some ways, believe in conspiracy theories.
LEMON: People will believe what they want no matter what fact checks you show them. They'll believe what they want.
HENDERSON: Exactly. Yes.
LEMON: Thank you, Nia-Malika Henderson. I appreciate that. We'll see you later.
HENDERSON: Thanks, Don.
LEMON: That is it for me. More of our special coverage of our pope's visit to America begins right after this very quick break.
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