Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Obama Travels to Greece Post-Election; House GOP Voting in Leadership Election Today, Dems on November 30th. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired November 15, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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


[10:30:00] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hillary Clinton was the wrong messenger at the wrong time? That that was what he was trying to say without saying it.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Right. I kind of got that sense, too, Christine, right?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, look, on the campaign trail, the Obama economy was just slammed again and again and again, right. But ironically it's the Obama economy that is a tailwind for President-elect Donald Trump. You heard the president talk about the job creation. You heard the members of the Greek press asking how did you do it and what are the parallels for us to try to get out of the morass that Greece is in.

The president has these high approval ratings I think also because people are slowly coming to a realization that things are getting better. But for those working class voters, they just haven't felt it the way others have and that was the resonating tone.

COSTELLO: And I think -- and I'm going to play for our viewers this next little sound bite from President Obama on the issue of national identity because I think that he didn't realize that many Americans were feeling a sense of loss about their American identity and their place in the global -- on the global stage, right, so let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are little less certain of their national identities or their place in the world. It starts looking different and disoriented. And there's no doubt that that has produced populist movements both from the left and the right in many countries in Europe when you see a Donald Trump and a Bernie Sanders, very unconventional candidates, have considerable success then obviously there's something there that's being tapped into. A suspicion of globalization. A desire to rein in its excesses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, Ron Brownstein, what is the president trying to say? Because, you know, the global economy isn't going anywhere.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No. Right. COSTELLO: We still have to deal with other countries even though

we're the United States. We can't control everything. Even though we may be the greatest country on earth.

BROWNSTEIN: I think there are two really interesting things going on in that answer in that press conference. I think the first is you can see the president clearly struggling with finding the balance between being respectful to the result and participating in the peaceful transfer of power but also settling down, putting down some markers. I mean, Donald Trump's view of the world and America's role in the world and the way our society works domestically is utterly inimical to what -- excuse me, to what President Obama believes and he has tried I think to kind of send those signals that there are lines that if Donald Trump crosses that we may hear more from him, the president, about but without doing so overtly that he seems to be disrespecting the results of the election.

The other thing, though, I think is really striking is that he reflects I think this core democratic belief that their problem, that what drove the working class revolt away, the stampede away from the Democratic Party, was fundamentally economic. It was a sense of being left behind, of never really recovering from the great recession.

In fact, there's a lot of evidence that a lot of it was cultural. It was anxiety about the changing kind of cultural mores and demographic realities of the country in a way that the Democratic coalition kind of embodies those changes. And that's a much more difficult set of issues to work through. And I think what you saw in the president was the belief among many Democrats, the hope among Democrats like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders is speaking to people's economic concerns will bring them back. It may not be quite that simple.

COSTELLO: And it was kind of strange, Jim Sciutto, watching the president speaking, you know, in Greece, right, and then having a reporter in the audience ask the Greek prime minister, who said Donald Trump was evil at one point, how he feels about the American president-elect now?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, it's interesting, because Tsipras, you can argue, is one of the first populists selected in this kind of wave of populist leaders in European countries. And here, he was a protest candidate really against the European plan for the Greek's economy. But separate from that, just in terms of Obama, I'm going to go a little further than my colleagues here. Maybe, I don't know, limb.

I don't think the message from him about the election was really that delicate. It was delivered in delicate terms. But he said the following, talking about the divisive rhetoric that helped lead to the election of Trump. He said, "We know what happens when Europeans start dividing themselves up. The 20th century was a bloodbath." And then he goes to the States, and he says, you know, "We in America have had experiences like this, too." Divisions. And he references the '60s.

He's talking about the real and present danger here, he seems to be saying, that the political division we have right now in this country can go in a very dangerous direction. And relating that in terms that Europeans can understand. I mean, he was making a reference to World War II. You know, he talked about millions of people killed. I'm not saying he's saying that's going to happen here, but he was emphasizing the stakes and where populism and political division and us versus them mentality he talked about.

[10:35:11] He talked about nationalism out of control. He was making what sounded to me like quite a dire warning about where this -- where this could lead. In terms of both Europeans can very well understand historically but also Americans with the reference to the '60s. I think it was a pretty stark warning from him.

COSTELLO: I'd have to agree with you there, Jim Sciutto. And thanks to my panel for -- it was just fascinating listening to the president. I guess we'll just have to stand by and see what happens. I know that sounds cliche but we have to.

All right, after a break, we're going to take you back to Washington, D.C. There is a big leadership thing going on there. Republicans are going to elect their new leaders. Democrats want to postpone that thing. We'll take you live back to Capitol Hill next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:19] COSTELLO: House GOP leaders will be speaking at any moment now. They'll hold a press conference just hours before they pick their leadership team who will serve under President-elect Trump. On the Democratic side a major shakeup could be brewing. Minority leader Nancy Pelosi announcing just moments ago that House Democrats will now vote Thursday on whether or not to delay their elections.

CNN's Manu Raju, Jeff Zeleny, are both on Capitol Hill this morning. They're following all of the developments. What do you got, Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Actually, Paul Ryan going to be facing a vote this afternoon from his House Republican colleagues. He's probably going to be fine. There's no challengers yet emerging. He just -- half of his conference actually formally nominate him for speaker. That's almost assured. The floor and the House in January, that's when a majority of the House actually has to vote for him. And right now we're looking at House Republicans holding about at least 238 seats on the floor.

That means he could lose 20 votes and still be re-elected speaker. No one's expecting him to lose that many votes. So that doesn't mean there aren't some concerns on the right. Yesterday, I had a chance to speak with Raul Labrador who's a top member of that House Freedom Caucus, that group of agitators, if you will, who had been a thorn on the side of Republican leaders, and he wants some change at the top. Here's what he had to say, Carol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Are you ready to support Paul Ryan tomorrow when he comes up for the vote? REP. RAUL LABRADOR (R), IDAHO: I haven't heard from him what he wants

to change. What -- you know, what's going to be different the next two years than the last two years. They keep telling us that we won because of the better way. You know, a program that nobody in America knew what it was about, and in fact half of the people who knew about it thought that it was a Democratic program. If they keep talking about it, how it was their brilliance in running campaigns that won us this election, then maybe they haven't listened to what happened. And they have no idea of what happened to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now Labrador actually voted for the speaker in 2015 when that speaker actually lost -- Ryan lost 10 votes on the House floor. Maybe he could lose Labrador's vote as well. But still, it will not be enough to stop Paul Ryan from being re-elected speaker. They're trying to showcase a lot of unity actually at this Republican conference being just now they're handing out "Make America Great" hats. A number of Republicans coming out wearing those hats, Carol. So an effort to try to align themselves with Donald Trump's agenda going forward -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju, many thanks.

So let's talk about the Democratic side where things aren't so unified. Good morning, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And we have a bit of news here actually. Just moments ago, the decision to put off the Democratic leadership elections was made. Now that vote will not be until November 30th, we are told. We were learning earlier this morning that they would have a decision or talk about if they were going to put them off on Thursday, but now we're being told that this is going to happen November 30th. So the question here, as we're talking to members who are coming out of this closed door meeting here this morning on Capitol Hill, Democrats really are trying to find a way forward here.

They of course are licking their wounds but they're getting out as what one said a fetal position. And they are trying to move forward here. The question is, Carol, will Nancy Pelosi remain as the leader of the House Democrats. Now no one has emerged as a singular challenger to her. She has a lot of support of course throughout the California delegation. A lot of support among many. But the question here is, is the decision to put this off until November 30th, is that going to create a vacuum here for someone to challenge her? That's something we're going to have to be watching here in the coming days.

Just, Carol, across the Democratic Party, there is a call for a new direction, soul searching of course. We've seen it --

COSTELLO: I'm going to interrupt you, Jeff. Here's House Speaker Paul Ryan.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: All right, everybody. Welcome to the dawn of a new unified Republican government. Feels really good to say that actually. This will be a government focused on turning President-elect Trump's victory into real progress for the American people.

Our team is very excited. And we cannot wait to get to work. At the same time we recognize the task ahead of us is enormous. If we're going to put our country back on the right track, we have got to be bold and we have to go big. This country is expecting absolutely no less.

In the days and weeks ahead, we'll be working very closely with the president-elect and his transition team to lay out our ambitious path for 2017. That team of course is led by Vice President-elect Mike Pence and it includes several of our own members. So we're working hand in glove from the start. We want to make sure that we hit the ground running in January so that we can deliver on the new president's agenda. A better way, better days, lie ahead for our country.

[10:45:09] REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), MAJORITY LEADER: A lot of new faces here. What a difference one week makes. And in doing so, as the Speaker talked about, we are working closely with president-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence. And part of that is how we move forward. How we accomplish the promises made and the American public expects it to happen.

Yesterday, all the committee chairs and myself sent a letter to all the government agencies requesting that no new regulations be moved forward. This is not a new request. This request actually happened when Barack Obama won. Rahm Emanuel sent the same letter. It's now time to change the tide to get the economy moving. To get a health care plan that actually works. And get America back on the right track.

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R), MAJORITY WHIP: We got these hats at conference today. And it's not just a great slogan. But inside the tag you see "Made in the USA." There are going to be a lot more things made in the USA when this new administration comes in. You know, we've been talking to President-elect Trump, to Vice President- elect Pence. And what an exciting opportunity that the American people have given us to work and go do the things that are necessary to get our country back on track.

Our members are excited about this opportunity. And we're going to continue working in the weeks ahead to lay out and plan that first 100 days. And then the months after that are going to be so critical to move in this country forward again. Rebuilding the middle class that spoke out so loudly. And finally getting our economy and our country back on track. So it's an exciting time. We know there's a lot of work ahead. But that's why we ran for Congress is to have a moment like this where we can go big and go bold and pass the conservative solutions that are going to get our country back on track.

REP. CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS (R), CONFERENCE CHAIR: This opportunity that the people have entrusted with us to advocate and to lead on their behalf is truly humbling. But it isn't a time for victory laps or to pat ourselves on the back. It's a time to turn this victory into real progress for the American people. It's a time to think big. To re-imagine this government. And to return the people's voice to the center of it. Because there's too many people all across this country that feel like they're doing all the right things. They're working hard. They're paying the bills. They're trying to pay their mortgage every month. And they're still falling behind.

Obamacare is making health care too expensive. The VA isn't listening. Government regulating jobs out of their lives. Our unified Republican government will take these frustrations we're hearing and work together with President-elect Trump to change the status quo. We've got bold, specific agenda items that will make a difference in people's lives. And we'll address some of the biggest challenges of our time.

Now I believe each plank in the better way agenda is very important, but this election reminded me that at the end of the day, Article 1 of our Constitution is what protects the people's voice in our government and it's our role, it's our mission, to restore that voice.

REP. LYNN JENKINS (R), CONFERENCE VICE CHAIR: The American people have sent Republicans back to Washington with a mandate for change. We have a government united together with the purpose of bringing commonsense principles back to our nation's capital.

Since the beginning of this year, we traveled across the country getting your feedback on our better way agenda. This set of legislative priorities is tailored to the problems facing our country. That focus on empowering hard-working Americans to achieve success. Foremost among our priorities will bring -- be bringing balance back to our broken tax code. By building a simpler, fairer, flatter code. Building a code that advantages all Americans, not just the well connected. A code that drives investment and job creation right here in America. A code that gets America growing through good old- fashioned private sector investment.

It's clear that Kansans and the American people are ready for a change. With their voice as our guide, we are ready to work as a unified government to help built an opportunity economy for all Americans.

RYAN: Questions.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You urge people to judge the president-elect by the decisions he's already made. What about the Bannon decisions? What does this say about the Trump administration and how do you respond to these serious concerns and fears about brining Steve Bannon into the White House?

RYAN: Look, I would just simply say that the president is going to be judged on his results.

[10:50:01] This is a person who helped him win an incredible victory and an incredible campaign. The president is going to be judged on the results of this administration. That's why we're very eager to get up and running, to help him with his transition, to get up and running, and then to make progress on the mandate that has just been given to us by the American people. So we're confident about moving forward. We're confident about the transition. And we're very, very excited about getting to work for the American people.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: When will you (INAUDIBLE)?

RYAN: Those are the decisions that are being made with the transition team. None of those decisions have been made yet. We are now sitting down with the Trump administration and waiting along with our colleagues to come up with our game plan for lame duck. And also to come up with our game plan for 2017. It's very exciting. We've got a lot of work to do and we're having constant conversations about how to do that but we haven't made any of those specific decisions yet -- Manu.

RAJU: The president-elect has signaled that he's going to use his adult children as his advisers in his new administration. Do you have any concerns about them potentially getting security clearances, number one, and two, should Trump take any steps to ensure there are no conflicts of interest between them running --

(CROSSTALK)

RYAN: Look, I'll let the transition team comment about those things. We're focused on doing our job right here in Congress. I would say, look at this, Donald Trump is a successful multi-billionaire, successful businessman who has been so successful because he's surrounded himself with good people. He is a man who has made great successes, created tens of thousands of jobs because he gets goods advice from good people who are around him in his life.

What's wrong with that? That's a good thing. We're going to focus on doing our job in Congress. He's going to focus on populating his administration. And we're going to do everything we can to help him be as successful as he's going to be. And -- which I think he's going to be a very successful president.

We have an exciting agenda. We have a transition team that we're working with and we're very excited about getting to work for the American people. Wong? Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Steve Bannon has personally (INAUDIBLE), he's written about your children who's (INAUDIBLE) and questioned your school's decision, he's mocked Catholicism. Do you think at any point you would cross --

RYAN: I'm not worried. I'm not looking backwards, I'm looking forward. I'm looking to the future and I'm looking forward to how we make this work for the American people. How we help President-elect Trump be the most successful president in our lifetimes. How we make good on the promises and get this country going again.

Look, you've heard me say this so many times. 70 percent of the people in this nation think America's going down the wrong path. They now just said get on a better. Get on a better path. That's our job. Our job is not to look backwards, our job is to look forward, make President-elect Trump as successful as possible, help him with the transition, so we can make good on our commitment to the American people, to fix this country's big problems.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You built your career on reforming entitlements, a lot of conservative ideas. Donald Trump just won on a platform that in many ways is not terribly conservative. Are you prepared to lead a charge on those --

RYAN: Look, we're excited about -- we're on the same page with our president-elect. I talk with Donald Trump virtually every single day. I spoke with Mike Pence this morning. We are on the same page. We are working hand in glove and we're going to make sure that this is a very successful administration. But more importantly, we're going to make sure that the voices we heard from this election from the American people are acted upon. That we actually fix this country's problems.

You take a look at -- to get to your specific point. If you take a look at what Obamacare did to our entitlement programs, it made them worse. We're going to fix that. We're going to help fix these problems that are plaguing this country. Whether it's skyrocketing health care costs. Lack of jobs. Regulatory red tape that's strangling jobs and businesses. Fixing our national security. Securing our border. These are all things that we are excited about. Rolling up our sleeves and getting to work with our incoming president to make good on his promises.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

RYAN: We're going to work on all of these things in a transition. I asked the question about budget reconciliation and budget processes, these are things that we're working on with the transition. So it's going to take time to figure out exactly what bill comes way or how it all adds up but that's what the congressional process is all about.

The point is Donald Trump wants jobs. I've talked to Donald so many times just this week, which is let's make sure we get people back to work. Let's make sure we get this economy growing. Let's take all this uncertainty out of the economy that's plaguing it and get people back to work.

This is something we share. This is something we're excited about working on with Donald Trump. And that is why I'm very confident that we are going to have a unified government that works hand in glove with this administration to make good on the commitments and to get people back to work and fix this country's problems.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to back away from this. You heard the House Speaker Paul Ryan, he's pretty much safe in his spot right now in his leadership role. The Republicans appear united and they appear very, very excited about a Donald Trump presidency.

[10:55:04] All of the reservations that Paul Ryan apparently had about Mr. Trump are now gone and you heard what he said. He said Mr. Trump can create jobs and that's what he's interested in. He's also interested in reining in health care costs. He's very excited to get down to brass tacks and get working on new policies for the American people.

And you also -- you also saw that some of them brought out their Donald Trump "Make America Great Again" hats. They did point out that they were made in the USA.

All right, let's head back to Capitol Hill. Manu Raju was listening to all of this.

Manu, tell us more. OK, so he is not ready. Do we have Jeff Zeleny standing by? He's chasing people on the Hill after giving us the news that on the Democratic side it's not so -- it's not such a sure bet because they have put off their leadership vote until November 30th. Actually that's not quite accurate. They have put off voting on whether they'll postpone their vote on their leadership until November 30th.

All right, let's head back to Capitol Hill and check in with Manu Raju. We found you. What's going on down there. It was a very enthusiastic, energetic presentation on the part of the Republican leadership.

RAJU: Yes, that's right. And it's such a difference than a month ago when Republican leaders could barely say Donald Trump's name. Now they're enthusiastic about embracing his agenda. Steve Scalise, one of the Republican leaders, actually holding the "Make America Great" hat that was handed out at this meeting. Paul Ryan also speaking about moving forward in a very unified manner with Donald Trump, talking about -- he said he's been speaking with Donald Trump a lot, so many times he said, in addition, talking with Mike Pence, the vice president-elect, this morning.

Now Paul Ryan also would not criticize Donald Trump in any way whatsoever, even over that very controversial pick to name Steve Bannon, the former head of Breitbart News, as a senior adviser in the Trump White House, in fact saying that Donald Trump will be judged by his results, not by necessarily by the people that he picked.

And I also tried to ask him about if he has any concerns about Donald Trump's children having -- potentially having security clearances as well as them running the family business if that was a conflict of interest in any way. And Paul Ryan really downplayed that. He said that he surrounds himself with good people and that's why he's made good decisions. That's why his businesses have been successful.

So a real theme of unity here, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Manu Raju, reporting live, I'll get you back to it. I know you have a lot more people to hunt down and ask questions to. Thanks so much.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND BOLDUAN" after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone, I'm Kate Bolduan. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm John Berman. All eyes on Trump

Tower this morning maybe for white smoke signaling maybe we have a secretary of state or a secretary of defense or an attorney general. We're looking at live pictures right now from Trump Tower.