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LEGAL VIEW WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Continuing Coverage of the Pope's Visit to New York City; Presidents Obama and Xi Hold Press Conference; Discussion Boehner Resignation. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired September 25, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: [12:30:17] Father Edward Beck is joining us. I mean for anybody, it is an exhausting schedule to maintain, for a 78-year-old pontiff. I mean, today is perhaps the most, the fullest day he has had on this trip.

EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION COMMENTATOR: And an emotionally draining. We can tell by the limp he is being bothered by the sciatic and his back. Remember, piece of the lung has been removed.

So, yes, he struggles, but these kinds of celebrations, and these kinds of memorials, they also energize him, because they put him where he wants to be, with his people.

And I it's remarkable that you can see a man at this age do all of this, and not really grow weary and tired and still have a smile, and still want to get close to the people as he does.

COOPER: The power of being at the site, meeting the family members, putting names to this tragedy, that is not making it personal showing him, allowing to learn some of the stories of those who have lost their lives, it's an extraordinary thing to witness.

BECK: It is Anderson, and also the inclusive nature of every thing that he has done thus far, I've been so struck that every time he is asked for prayers from people, he's also said, and for those of you who don't believe or can't pray, please send me your good thoughts. He's not leaving anybody out. That's such a different from there is no salvation outside of the Catholic Church, as we've heard in the past, this man says, there is salvation for everyone.

COOPER: This is moments ago, these are no longer live pictures.

Bruce Feiler, I'm just wondering for you to reflect on what you heard from this service that has now taken place.

BRUCE FEILER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I thought it was deeply moving and in a week of historic firsts, I think this may go down as one of the most important things that he has done since he left Rome a week ago.

And here is why. I mean I don't have to tell you this, you had covered the story so extensively, but the interfaith movement began in the world about 120 years ago with world parliament of religions in 1893.

And one of the reasons it has sputtered over the last century or so, it has lacked kind of galvanizing moment that can capture the public's imaginations, and Nostra aetate which was referenced and in the service which was the part of Vatican II in which the Catholic Church opened it's arms not just to Jews but to members of other religions as well.

It was one of those, and, you know, in the wake of 9/11, because, you know, I wrote this book about Abraham, and I was invited to the White House at one point to talk to President Bush, and I said to him, in that moment. "President Bush, you care about religion, why don't you hold a big interfaith summit like this," and he said, "Well, I feel like these big things don't matter it should be ground up."

And while that is true, and there's perhaps been no movement more bottom-up than the interfaith movement, as we just saw, having a big moment like this, can galvanize attention.

And I think that the fact that Pope Francis is using his convening power and in effect spending the clout to do this is deeply, deeply meaningful. And the reason is just to add one more point is because the fundamentalists, and extremists, they get their message out all of the time, right.

Going back to Danny Pearl, 9/11 was one of those moments, the parade of ISIS videos we've seen and the moderates those of us who believe in coexistence, we have a hard time getting our message out, and he has spent his time he are doing that. I think that's going to have a long lasting impact.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, you know, for those who lived through 9/11 in remembrance of those who did not, they never see it in terms of extremism and moderate. They see it is right and wrong, and what we saw today with this phalanx of the diversity of faith, all embracing each other, all coming together, the hope is that that will be something that gives solace to the them, that this is exactly what those who performed this horrible thing wanted least.

We are watching it again here moments ago of Pope Francis, he gave a very moving tribute here. He then took a tour of the museum, there and had a moment on his own, one of the most power symbols which is the girder cross and he saw the bible that was reclaimed from the site when many things were not intact, this bible was, Anderson.

COOPER: There's a lot of New Yorkers who were much looking forward to getting a glimpse now of Pope Francis as he proceeds northward towards east Harlem.

We'll obviously going to bring all of that to, you there's also a lot of breaking developments in Washington with the announcement by John Boehner that he is stepping down. Not only as speaker, but -- that he's also resigning from his position. We anticipate hearing more around 1:00 from John Boehner.

[12:35:13] We're going to take a short break. All of that ahead, stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: And welcome back to our continuing coverage. A lot going on this morning.

What you're looking at now, this is -- there's going to be a press conference with John Boehner who, as you probably know, has announced he is stepping down not only as speaker, but also resigning from congress. Obviously, a very dramatic announcement, caught a lot of people by surprise. He really didn't even tell many members of his staff were told from our Dana Bash until today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reporting is that, and we'll go to Dana in a second, but that he told some last night and let me sleep on it, I'll tell the rest in the morning. But there is still this confusion which takes us to Dana Bash. It's still doesn't make sense why on a day that he had been looking forward to for years, he is a devoted catholic.

He finally got a pope to be here, and you tried with Benedict and you tried with John Paul II. And now he gets his moment, and then somewhat buds in on the moment with this news of his own resignation what sense have you've been able to make of it all?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're exactly right, look, yesterday, at this time, there was a really kind of a collective high going on here, and that has quickly given way to shock, bipartisan shock.

[12:40:02] Even those who have known John Boehner for some time are shocked, not necessarily that he thought that it was time to go, but he thought it was time to go so quickly and he made the decision so abruptly.

As you have said, we've been told that he actually made this decision last night after this remarkable day that he had with the pope, you know, pretty much all morning here in the United States capital, and in a moment that he personally had been trying to make happen for 20 years with three consecutive popes to try to come here.

He is a, somebody who grew up going to catholic school, going to mass everyday when he was a kid, he and his 12 brothers and sisters. So that's why this is a big, big moment

And actually, let me -- that's what you're hearing from behind the scenes. Let me read for you what John Boehner, himself, has said about his surprise decision in a statement. I'll read you part of it.

He said, "It is my plan to only serve as speaker until the end of last year, But I stayed on to provide continuity to the Republican Conference and the House. It is my view, however, that prolonged leadership and turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution. To that end, I will resign my speakership and my seat in Congress on October 30th."

So that gives you a bit of an insight into the reality that John Boehner has been living with here. And that Republicans have been living with. It is no secret that it has been very, very hard to be John Boehner and to be the speaker of this very large house majority that is very unruly. And especially when it comes to the growing power and voice of the conservative wing of that party and all you have to do is to look at the statements, Chris and Anderson, that we've seen from conservative groups, outside groups, and even some here in the halls of congress basically declaring victory that they have been able to push out with their the fact that they really dug in their heels on so many issues to push out somebody who they thought was two establishment.

And in this statement, and probably what we'll hear from the speaker himself at the top of the hour is an acknowledgment that he, it was too hard to do.

Now the question of course going forward is who is going to be able to handle it, if John Boehner somebody who has been around for a long time, and kind of understands the rhythms of this place had had enough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But Dana, I still don't get it, because even if all of that is true, and certainly you're reporting we can rely on, but if this dynamic has such an urgency that he needs to do this now, then the statement says that he's leaving October 30th.

So it's still creates this question of why now, why intruding on this moment that he worked so hard to create, you know, maybe it is that, well he thinks if there's this big moment going on that this might have slid under the radar, there's almost no chance of that as we're seeing now.

So there are a lot of questions and hopefully when the speaker takes the podium and discusses it, we will go a little bit more with insight, Dana, we're going to come back to you in a second.

BASH: OK.

COOPER: And he's going to be taking the podium in just about 16 or 17 minutes from now. But it's really also put in to interesting context a lot of the pictures we saw him yesterday with Pope Francis and the emotion that he was showing, obviously, he's an emotional guy, it's not the first time we've seen him, you know, get emotional in public. But you must think now what was going through his head at that time, these thoughts must have been in his head at the time, perhaps he'll talk about some of that.

We'll take a short break. We're waiting that press conference at the top of the hour, and more with our correspondents who were covering this also as Pope Francis is now here, we just saw him starting to drive in that fiat heading he's heading uptown to east Harlem, we'll have more of that as throughout the day. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) [12:47:17] JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: Well, I'm sad, because I have great respect and affection for Speaker Boehner. And I respect his decision.

It's a personal decision, obviously. But I hope that the lesson to all of us is now that let's stop fighting with each other, and let's sit down together and work out our differences with the common agenda to elect the next president of the United States, keep our majorities in the house and senate. That I saw him recently, and he looked weary, understandably he was tired.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was John McCain a little bit earlier today reacting to the statement.

President Obama is making a statement, let's listen in, I'm told.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yeah, this has been a serious discussion between myself and President Xi since we first met in Sunnylands.

And the good news from my perspective is, is that in the lead up to and then finalized during our meetings here today, we have I think made significant progress in agreeing to how our law enforcement and investigators are going to work together, how we are going to exchange information, and how we are going to go after...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, we do expect him to speak about Speaker Boehner. But right now, he is discussing a question that was asked about cyber attacks obviously that relevant to the communications with the Chinese ruler who's in town right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: ... the principle that governments don't engage in cyber espionage for commercial gain against companies.

That all that I consider to be progress. What I have said to President Xi and what I say to the American people is the question now is, are words followed by actions.

And we will be watching carefully to make an assessment as to whether progress has been made in this area with respect to the various tools that we have to go after those who are attacking our companies or trying to extract trade secrets or the data, we have traditional law enforcement tools. But as I indicated a while back through executive action, I have also instituted the ability to impose sanctions on individuals or enties where we have proof that they've gone after U.S. companies or U.S. persons.

[12:50:15] And we did not at our level have specific discussions of specific cases, but I did indicate to President Xi that we will apply those and whatever tools t we have in our tool kit to go after cyber criminals either retrospective or prospectively or prospectively.

Those are tools generally that are not directed at governments, they're directed at entities or individuals that we can identify, and they are not unique to China. Those are tools that we are going to be using for cyber criminals around the world, and, you know, President Xi during this discussions indicated to me that with 1.3 billion people, he can't guarantee that the behavior of every single person on Chinese soil which I completely understand, and I can't guarantee the actions of every single American. What I can guarantee though and what I am hoping President Xi will show me is that we are not sponsoring these activities, and that when it comes to our attention that non- governmental entities are individuals who're engaging with this stuff that we take it seriously, and we are cooperating to enforce the law.

Last point I'll make on the cyber issue, because this is a global problem. And unlike some of the other areas of international cooperation, the rules in this area are not well developed. I think it's going to very important for the United States and China working with other nations and the United Nations and other, and the private sector to start developing an architecture to govern behavior in cyber space that is enforceable and clear.

It does not mean that we will prevent every cyber crime, but it does the start to serve as a template where countries know what the rules are, they're held accountable, and we are able to jointly go after non-state actors in this area.

On John Boehner. I just heard the news as I was coming out of the meeting here. So it took me by surprise. I took the time prior to this press conference to call John directly to talk to him. You know, John Boehner is a good man. He is a patriot. He cares deeply about the house and institution in which he has served for a long time. He cares about his constituents, and he cares about America. You know, we have obviously had a lot of disagreements, and politically, with we are at different ends of the spectrum, but I will tell you he has always conducted himself with courtesy and civility with me, he has kept his word when he has made a commitment.

He is somebody who has been gracious, and I think that maybe most importantly, he is somebody who understands that in government, in governance, you don't get 100 percent of what you want. But you have to work with people who you disagree with, and sometimes strongly in order to do the people's business.

I'm not going to prejudge who the next speaker will be. That is something that will have to be worked through in the house. And I will certainly reach out immediately to whoever is the new speaker to see what his or her ideas are, and how we can make progress need important issues that America faces.

The one thing that I will say is that my hope is that there's a recognition on the part of the next speaker something that John understood even though at times it was challenging to bring his caucus along that we can have significant differences on issues, but that doesn't mean that you shut down the government, doesn't mean that you risk the full faith and credit of the United States. You don't invite a potential financial crises. You build roads and pass transportation bills, and you do the basic work of governance that ensures that our military is operating and that our national parks are open, and that our kids are learning. And there's no weakness in that. That's what governance is in Democracy. You don't get what you want 100 percent of the time.

[12:55:44] And sometimes you take half a loaf, and sometimes you take a quarter loaf, and that is certainly something that I have learned here in this office. So I am looking forward to working with the next speaker, and in the meantime, John is not going to be leaving for another 30 days, so hopefully he feels like getting as much stuff done as he possibly can, and I certainly be looking forward to working with him on that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam reporter has raised the cyber security issue.

COOPER: President Obama is speaking at a press conference with the Chinese leader. I want to go to Dana Bash who is standing by on Capitol Hill where John Boehner or Speaker Boehner is going to be speaking really in about four or five minutes from now.

Dana, let's talk more about. Do we know when the decision was actually made?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you what I was told by some of the aides which is that he actually made the decision last night with there was one top staffer I am told in with him, they were having a discussion about the day, and about the fact that he thought that it was time. I was told that he decided to sleep on it before he told the rest of the staff, and of course, the conference and the world that he had made the d decision that it was yesterday.

But it's important to note that it's not as if it a surprise that John Boehner was feeling that it is time to go, and the fact that he said explicitly to in private to the caucus this morning that he only had planned initially when he became speaker to stay for two terms, and ended up staying because Eric Cantor who was his number two was defeated in a primary challenge from the right, he decided to stay. That we knew when we knew and had reported that Cantor's loss meant that Boehner would stay longer. But the fact that this was decide and done so abruptly that is shocking to everybody, even people who are quite close to him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Dana, thank you very much, we know that you will be finding out the motivations for this before anybody else, so please let the rest us know.

And Anderson, look, this is one of the moments when you need to really hear from john Boehner he just going to be speaking in a few moments, because if he decided, maybe, maybe the reason that he did it so abruptly is because of something very central and known about John Boehner which is his emotion, that maybe once he felt it was time he was going to go and it did not matter that the pope was here, and it did not matter that he was going to be leaving until October 30th. COOPER: That he was to get it done.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: that he just wanted to get it done. And that would consistent with somebody who is emotional as he is, because I have to tell you logically, politically, it does not make a lot of sense.

COOPER: Our Jeff Zeleny, is also following this. Jeff, what do you make of this as we await the press conference which should take place in about two minutes or so?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Anderson, it's clear from the Republican members I've been talking some very close to Speaker Boehner is that he did see the writing on the wall here, and he said that did himself in a statement issued by his office a sort time ago. He said he wanted to avoid any leadership turmoil. So the reality is this the rise of the Tea Party over the last really tenure of his speakership finally was coming to a bit of a boil here. And there was going to be a showdown.

Now, he has said that he thought he withstand it, but the reality is he wasn't not sure about it, and he thought it would divide this House going into the presidential election year, and it was not a good thing.

So yesterday after seeing the Pope, I am told, and after seeing that, he was in the moment of peace, that was his pinnacle and he was not sure he could survive this fight so he decided to go out on a very high note.

COOPER: Fascinating decision. I mean, it really caught a lot of people certainly by surprise throughout Washington, and elsewhere. We are going to hand over our coverage very shortly to Wolf Blitzer who's going to be bringing you the press conference with Speaker Boehner. We obviously are going to be bringing you that live. We have been at ground zero. We also having a lot more coverage of Pope Francis throughout the day, he's heading to the ambassador's residence to get some rest and then he is heading up to East Harlem

That's it for us here at ground zero. Thanks very much for watching let's take over to Wolf. Wolf.

[13:00:12] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer, it's 1:00 p.m. here in New York.