Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20151008

The four dead americans. I should not be a distraction from that. And thats part of the decision as well. Thank you very much. There are rumors the letter put out by young no will you put a rest no, come on. Who do you think i think the conference should be able to decide. Thank you very much. So there you have the breaking news, Kevin Mccarthy, the House Majority leader, announcing publicly right now hes withdrawing his effort to become the next speaker of the house of representatives. A huge, huge question mark now remains in the house, who will be the next speaker replacing john boehner who said he will step down at the end of this month. Republican president ial candidate dr. Ben carson, as all of our viewers here in the United States and around the world know, hes surging in the polls right now. Hes just behind the frontrunner donald trump in almost all of the national and key state polls. Hes also fighting off some major controversies right now. He is out with a brandnew book today entitled a more Perfect Union what we the people can do to reclaim our liberties. Dr. Ben carson is joining us now live. Thank you very much for joining us. A pleasure. I want to talk about the book, talk about the controversies, but your Immediate Reaction to the breaking news in the house of representatives. Kevin mccarthy, a man i assume you know, has announced hes dropping out of the race for speaker. I say kudos to representative mccarthy for putting others before himself. This is not something that we see very often in washington and i hope its a trait that will be emulated by others as time goes on because, you know, we have a lot of problems that have to be solved and none of us should put ourselves ahead of those problems. Who would you like to see emerge as the replacement of john boehner as speaker . This will open the process and even more names will be thrown in and that they will all have an opportunity to express their vision for the country and how their leadership style will be manifested and then allow the members to vote. Are you in general with the more establishment moderate republican wing in the house of representatives or the Tea Party Supporters . Lets call them the renegade wing that effectively convinced Kevin Mccarthy to pull out . Im for the logical wing, for the people who want to do the things that will solve the problems in this country. And i dont really care which side of the aisle they come from. The two other names that are in there, daniel webster, jason chaffetz, do you like them . I like them both. Could you see either one of them or both of them emerging . Absolutely. Anybody else you like . I will talk about them as they enter their names into the contest. Momentum already building, only minutes since Kevin Mccartney dropped out that paul ryan, the Vice President ial nominee last time around, chairman of the budget committee, maybe he should think about it. I like him, too. You think this is a good move that mccarthy has decided to step out . Its a very unselfish move and done for the right reasons. All right. Lets talk about some of the controversies that youve, i guess, generated over the past few days. Youve been severely criticized, as you well know, for this comment you made about the massacre at that community skolg in oregon when you said this. Ill play the clip. Not only would i probably not cooperate with him, i would not just stand there and let him shoot me. I would say, hey, guys, everybody attack him. He may shoot me but he cant get us all. You seem to suggest the victims should have done more. No, im not suggesting that at all. What the original question was, if you were there and someone was holding a gun to you and asking you about your religion and they had shot other people, what would you do . And knowing that you were next to be killed and that they were going to continue down the line killing people, i would much rather go down fighting. And if all of us attack the shooter, the chances are strong not all of us will be killed. To me, that doesnt seem like a very controversial thing. When you take it out of context and you try to make it look like im criticizing the victims, thats when it becomes controversial. And thats one of the things im hoping that the news media will stop doing, because reading this book youll see that the press is the only business thats protected by a constitution. The reason they are protected is it was assumed that they would be honest and be on the side of the people and not have an agenda. There are a lot of different parts of the press. We can get into that in a bit. One of the victims, a guy by the named of matthew downing, was offended. He said im fairly upset, he, meaning you, said nobody could truly understand what actions they would take like that in a situation unless they lived it. Do you understand why hes worried, concerned about what you said . I suspect he probably has had it fed to him by somebody who misconstrued it. And i think if he heard the complete explanation such as i gave, he would know that im not complaining about any of the victims and would know that im trying to plant the seed because this may not be the last time this occurs. And if it occurs again and theres a bunch of people, they might start thinking, you know what, were not going to just take this. And thats one of the things that was learned from flight 93 on 9 11. One of the heroes, one of the survivors, he was shot seven times. He resisted. Hes a relatively okay right now. Hes been released from the hospital, but hes a military veteran. Not everybody is a military veteran and has experience in dealing with a gunman like this. You dont have to be a military veteran. Do you remember the virginia shooting on the College Campus . Afterwards im told that they came out with guidelines for the students to tell them what to do if a situation like that arises again. And it included throwing everything you could possibly throw at the shooter. Hes not going to be able to deal with all of it. In a sense they were saying attack him. You spoke about a personal incident in a sirius xm radio interview yesterday when you were younger and you were confronted by a gunman. Ill play a clip from the radio interview. A guy comes in, puts the gun in my ribs, and i just said, i believe that you want the guy behind the counter. In a calm way in a calm way. In a calm way. He said, okay. So you just redirected him to i redirected him. Okay. That sounds counter to what youre recommending right now. Thats a completely different situation. This was somebody who comes into a joint to rob it, not somebody who is killing people. You didnt know he was just going to rob the joint. He potentially could have killed you. I did know that. The fact of the matter is maybe this is a level of sophistication people learn from living on the streets, but i knew that guy was not there to murder everybody. How could you possibly know that . He had a gun. I knew he was not there to murder all the people. I knew he was there to rob the place. Thats why you said look at the guy over there, rob the place and get out . Exactly. How long ago was that . Its when i was a resident so a long time ago. The other controversy youve erupted on this issue is in your new book a more Perfect Union what we the people can do to reclaim our constitutional liberties, is this, a reference to guns and nazi germany. Ill read a couple sentences from the book. German citizens were disarmed by their government in the late 1930s and by the mid1940s hitlers regime had mercilessly slaughtered 6 million jews and numerous others whom they considered inferior. Through a combination of removing guns and disseminating propaganda the nazis were able to carry out their evil intentions with relatively little resistance. So what is the poip, if there were guns, there may not have been a holocaust . There were a number of countries where tyranny reigned. Noah webster said when he was talking about tyranny that the people of america would never suffer tyranny because they are armed. But just to clarify, if there had been no gun control laws in europe at that time, would 6 million jews have been slaughtered . I think the likelihood of hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed. They had a powerful military machine, as you know, the nazis. I understand that. They could have gone in and did go in and wipe out whole communities. There was a reason that they took the guns first, right . You believe if they had guns maybe it could have been eased, is that what youre saying . Im telling you there is a reason these dictatorial people take the guns first. Should Kindergarten Teachers be armed . My point is that many of the places where these Mass Shootings occur are gunfree zones. So these people who are crazed but not so crazy as to go into a place where theyre likely to get shot, they select these places because they know theyre not going to meet resistance. So whether its the Kindergarten Teacher who is well trained or a retired policeman or someone who can stop the carnage. I think it makes sense. So youre recommending, and correct me if im wrong, Elementary Schools have guards, armed guards, or at least the teachers be armed . I am saying that they should have some mechanism whereby they can defend themselves. What does that mean, some mechanism . It means not allowing this person just to come in and have free reign. We should have someone there who is armed, who is trained, and who can handle the weapon. And just to be precise i want to wrap up the gun issue, you dont want any additional gun laws in the United States, or do you believe there is room for closing the loophole to buy a gun at a gun show, for example, or have greater background checks if someone has psychological issues . Im a very reasonable person, youll find. And as long as we dont compromise the second amendment, im open for all kind of discussions. Were smart people and we need to use our collective intellect to solve the problem. Rupert murdoch, switching gears, tweeted this, praising you and your wife. Ill put it up on the screen. Clearly taking a swipe at president obama. Ben and candy carson terrific. What about a real black president who could properly address the racial divide and much else. Thats a pretty shocking statement. Hes not apologized, in effect, but that was pretty ugly. Well, i know rupert murdoch. Hes not a racist by any stretch of the imagination. Hes expressing his opinion. I think its much to do about nothing. Hes suggesting that president obama is not a real black president . At least he did in that initial everybodys entitled to their opinion. I believe what he was making reference to was the fact that here was a man who was a black president that the black community was very excited about who came in and whose policies have not really elevated the black community. Has not been beneficial. Theres more unemployment, more poverty, and i believe thats what he was really referring to. You believe the president is a real black president , right . I wouldnt even get into such a conversation. Its a simple conversation. Is president obama a real black president . Well, hes the president and hes black. So hes a real black president . Again, were dealing with semantics, as you know. Im the last person who wants to play around with semantics and political correctness. Rupert murdoch said what he said. He apologized because people took it the wrong way. I think there are so many more important issues to deal with. Theres a whole history of these accusations as you well know. Do you believe he was born in the United States . I do believe that. Do you believe hes a christian . He says he is. I know he says he is but do you believe snes. I have to take him at his word. Why cant you just say hes a christian, if he goes to church, believes in christ, why cant you say hes a christian . I can simply say that ill take him at his word. Okay. I also want to you clarify the issue of a muslim president in the United States. Theres been a lot of uproar about that. There should be no religious qualifications to becoming president of the United States. I agree. I have no disagreement with that. Explain why you dont think there should be a muslim president . If you heard the whole conversation i said previous to that that anybody from any background, religious or otherwise who accepts the values of america and is willing to put our constitution above their beliefs is fine with me. And then it continued in another vein bringing up somebody who perhaps did not fit into that category. Well, if they dont fit into that category, the assumption being that they are islamic believers, part of the islamic belief system, which is a lifestyle not just a simple religion, including sharia. It puts them in a category that you can do anything you want to those people and you can put them into inferior position. You can also put women into an inferior position. You can also reap all kinds of horrible things upon homosexuals, divorcees or people caught in adultery or a host of other things. These things are not compatible with our constitution. If somebody could show me how they are compatible, ill change my mind. If a Muslim American citizen says he or she wants to honor the constitution, obey the constitution then they fit into the previous category. Of course they could. All right. I wanted to make sure were on the same page. Obviously you swear youre going to honor and obey the constitution, whatever religion you are, or if youre an atheist for that matter, you could be president of the United States. Of course. Jeb bush has just said he opposes reauthorizing the Voting Rights act. Do you agree with him . Well, you know, he probably i would like to understand his rationale for that but of course i want, you know, the Voting Rights act to be protected. And whether we still need it or not, whether weve outgrown the need for it is questionable. Maybe we have. Maybe we havent, but i wouldnt jeopardize it. He says in contrast to what Hillary Clinton says, that Voting Rights act was written in an earlier a few generations ago and those kinds of regulations that existed then to make sure some of the Southern States honor Voting Rights for africanamericans, for example, he says those regulations are no longer needed because the country has moved forward. And he may well be right. But i dont see the disadvantage in maintaining the veit. Youre open to reauthorizing it as well . Yes. Lets talk about the other issues. The debt ceiling. In early november its got to be raised, otherwise the u. S. Will fail to pay what it already has accumulated as far as its financial obligations. Sure. What would you do about that if you were president of the United States . If we keep raising it, its sort of like, okay, youve reached the limit for your fourth credit card, ill tell you what, why dont we get a fifth credit card. Thats not solving the problem. So, no, i am not in favor of continually raising the debt ceiling. But something has to happen in november and everyone agrees the u. S. Has to do something about reducing the annual deficit, reducing the national debt, but there are debts that the United States already has accumulate that had have to be repaid otherwise the u. S. Goes into default. Well, there may be other places we should be thinking about getting rid of some of our expense. We have 4. 1 million federal employees. Do we really need 4. 1 million federal employees . We have 645 federal agencies and subagencies. Do we really need that . We need to be looking at other things. I know nancy pelosi said if you cut one penny, the whole system will collapse. You know what i say about that . Its not true. I think a lot of people agree theres a lot of waste, fraud, corruption. You can cut the federal government. A lot of jobs could be eliminated. You could cut spending. I think almost everyone agrees. In the short term you have to deal in early november with raising that debt ceiling and people are wondering if you were president what would you tell members of congress to do . I would make a deal if i were suddenly president now. Because its too late to do what we need to do so that we dont have to raise because now and november youre not going to cut all that spending. Right. I would say if we raise it now, it is on the stipulation and i would say lets take all of those different agencies. Youre going to cut your budget by 3 or 4 . In other words raise it now but make sure that within a year all of that spending is reduced so that the deficit goes down, down, down. We dont want to keep having this problem. I think youve answered that question. Lets talk about your flat tax. What would it be . You want a flat tax across the board. Youve suggested tithing, as in the bible, 10 for everyone no matter what your income. Right. The tithing issue is proportionality not necessarily to say its 10 . 10 is a number to work with because people can understand the numbers, but it has to apply to everyone equally. It would probably be closer to 15 . There would be no deductions and no exemptions because the minute you put those in people start migrating towards them and some people have more ability to migrate than others. It makes it unfair. Some people say its not fair because the guy who made 10 billion and put in a billion, he still has 9 billion left. We have to take more of his money. Well, thats socialism. And what made America Great was the opposite attitude. We would say that guy put 1 billion in, lets make the environment more friendly so next year he can put 2 billion in. The argument some economists make, serious economists, not partisan economists, if you do that 10 or 15 flat tax, its going to bring in less revenue into the federal treasury and as a result that deficit will go up, up and up. It may not bring in quite as much as were bringing in now but recognize that it will also be done in conjunction with some responsible reductions. Lets talk about National Security and Foreign Policy while i have you. Doctors without borders, the medical facility in europe. Youre a doctor. You saw it was hit. A lot of people were killed, doctors, nurses, patients, staff members. The president did this extraordinary thing yesterday. He called up the head of Doctors Without Borders to formally apologize on behalf of the United States. Would you have done that . Doctors without borders are incredibly brave people and they have my admiration and sympathy for what happened. Having said that, recognize that they are working in a very dangerous place. And when you work in a very dangerous place, you cannot expect that youre going to do so without safety. And i think they all understand that when they go into those situations. In terms of what actually happened there, i believe that were still peeling back the layers, were getting lots of different stories. So i probably wouldnt have done that until i had the full story. You wouldnt have called to apologize . Not until i had the full story. There will be a u. S. Investigation, a military investigation, an afghan investigation. Doctors without borders wants an international u. N. Investigation as well. Should the u. S. Cooperate with an outside u. N. Investigation . As long as we are conducting our own investigations i would have no difficulty with that. The whole issue of the war on afghanistan, yesterday was the 14th anniversary of the start of the war. The u. S. Began air strikes in afghanistan to destroy the taliban and al qaeda. That war still continues to this very day nearly 10,000 u. S. Troops are still in afghanistan. How much longer do you think the u. S. Should remain there spending tens of billions of dollars to train afghan troops, many of whom simply run away at the first sign of trouble . Well, recognize that afghanistan is sort of a wild place. Many people have gone in and tried to tame it and theyve all had the same result. And they dont have a real central governing structure. They have 300 tribal leaders. Now some of the northern ones, the northern alliance, have been dependable and able to work with them in the past. As you probably know, i have never really been for putting a bunch of our troops in afghanistan. It doesnt mean i dont support a vigorous response to terrorism. I believe that we have other mechanisms, special forces, drones, et cetera, that can render us very effective in taking care of those people. I dont have any problem with us going after Osama Bin Laden in pakistan and maybe using afghanistan as a launching pad. But we do not necessarily gain anything from putting a lot of our troops in harms way. So when president obama says those 10,000 that are still there, bring them all back by the end of next year, maybe 1,000 remaining in afghanistan, some to protect the u. S. Embassy in kabul, on that specific, narrow issue, youre with him . No, im not necessarily with him because theyre there now and theyre playing a role now. I would not have had them there in the first place but they are there and we have to deal with reality. Its just like i wasnt in favor of going into iraq but we went in there. We destabilized the situation and we had an obligation to stay there and ensure that it remained stable throughout time, and we did not do that and it resulted in the creation of isis and a lot of instability. Going into iraq, going into afghanistan, i just want to be precise, you say both of those when they happened in 2001 and 2003 were major blunders. I was not for them but i was for action. Theres a difference. What would you do about the russian involvement in syria right now . Well, you knees to recognize that Vladimir Putin has great ambiti ambitions, great expansionist ambition, and he was very disappointed when the soviet union dissolved. He wants to reestablish the influence in the middle east. He already has substantial ties in the middle east. In the class of 1968 in moscow, abbas was one of those members of the class and so was ali khamenei. They were classmates. Thats when they established a relationship with a young Vladimir Putin. This is longstanding. And now hes fighting a friendly face in assad and assad regime who is being supported by the iranians and what we have to do is recognize that this is just the beginning. You know, he came in, he said he was going to fight isis. That wasnt his ideal. He really wanted to fight al nasra. We should be able to see that now. We need to oppose him. When his general came along and said you cannot fly in this area, we should have said not only are we going to fly in this area, you should take a flying leap and we will establish a nofly zone along the Turkish Border and need to challenge him everywhere in the world. We need to challenge him in the whole baltic nation, not just the Baltic States and reestablish missile defense. We need to have more than one or two armored brigades that we float around in the area. We need to give weapons to ukraine because they got rid of their Nuclear Supply on the promise that we would protect them if they were invaded. We have to get in his face and understand that his weakness is an economic weakness. And we have strength in some areas he has weakness. We need to get rid of our energy exportation routes. We need to export natural gas which we can liquefy and make europe rely on us. In other words, we must be proactive. We cant sit around and just wait. One final political question. I know you have to run. Youre almost in every national poll, key state polls, number two right behind the frontrunner donald trump. I said that at the beginning of this interview. What are you going to do to become the frontrunner in the republican race for the white house . Well, i dont think like a normal politician. Because im not a politician. And i just think in terms of continuing to get my message out there, helping people to see who i am as opposed to who some of the media says i am and they will make the appropriate decision. Do you like donald trump . Absolutely. Because he said you were just an okay doctor. We know youre not just an okay doctor. Its okay. I told him he was an okay doctor, too. The book is entitled the more Perfect Union what we the people can do to reclaim our constitutional liberties. Its already a bestseller. Im sure it will be a number one bestseller at some point. Thank you very much, dr. Ben carson, thank you for jing us. Much more coming up on the race for 2016. Plus, the absolute shocker on capitol hill today. The race for speaker of the house just veered off course. Much more of the breaking news right after this. If you love shrimp like i love shrimp, come to red lobsters endless shrimp. For as much as you want, any way you want it. Sweet, buttery, and creamy. Like new pineapple habanero coconut shrimp bites. And teriyaki grilled shrimp. And yeah, its endless, but it wont last forever. When a moment spontaneously turns romantic, why pause to take a pill . And why stop what youre doing to find a bathroom . Cialis for daily use, is the only daily tablet approved to treat erectile dysfunction so you can be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Plus cialis treats the frustrating urinary symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently, day or night. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. 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Listen, weve been going through this campaign talking to a lot of members, but the one thing ive always said to earn this majority, were servants. We should put this conference first. And i think theres something to be said for us to unite, we probably need a fresh face. Ill stay on as majority leader, but the one thing i found in talking to everybody, if were going to unite and be strong, we need a new face to help do that. So nothing more than that. I feel good about the decision. I feel great to have my family here, my colleagues. I think were only going to be stronger. We fought hard to win this majority and turn this country around. This will be the best footstep i messed that up. You said you were going to run for the speakership. Why change . What happened in those four hours . We had our conference, and there were calls in to the district. I dont want making voting for speak er a tough one. I dont want to go to the floor and win with 220 votes. I think the best thing for our party right now is that you have 247 votes on the floor. If were going to be strong, we have to be 100 united. And i think, you know what, lets put the conference first. [ inaudible ] look, look, we have been talking with a number of members. Weve been thinking about this throughout the week trying to see if we can get there. I just think its best we have a new face. How much did your comments about benghazi last week play into your decisions to step aside today . Well, that wasnt helpful. I could have said it much better, but this Benghazi Committee was only created for one purpose, to find the truth on behalf of the families for the four dead americans. I should not be a distraction from that and thats part of the decision as well. Thank you very much. Rumors put out of the congressman no. Can you put that to rest . No, come on. [ inaudible ] huh . Who do you think . I think the conference should decide. Joining us now from capitol hill our chief Political Correspondent dana bash. Dana, this caught a lot of us, almost everyone, i would say, off guard, this Huge Development today. Whats the latest . Reporter the latest is that this news is basically just settling in right now. You say that it caught everybody off guard, that is an understatement. Im standing here now just because i wanted to give you a behind the scenes. This is the room, the ways and Means Committee room, but this is the door on the other side of that is where this very brief meeting took place and we were out here listening to what we thought was applause to Opening Statements and i got a text from a member inside the room saying Kevin Mccarthy is out and i responded, thought that this member was pulling my leg, that it wasnt true, until members started to pour out and we quickly realized that it was true. Where does this leave us now and where does this leave the house now . That is such an unanswerable question right now. Theres been a lot of talk about chaos in the house. That exists like never before at this particular moment. There are other members who were running, of course. Jason chaffetz of utah was one of them. Lets listen to what he told reporters after this. Absolutely stunned. Did not see that coming. Kevin mccarthy is a very good man, and he has always been one that puts his country before everything else. And so he and i stand shoulder to shoulder with the same goal and desire and that is to unite this party and take the fight to the president , to the senate, and to the american people. I really do believe it is time for a fresh start. That was the whole genesis of my campaign, but we need to have a lot more family discussion because we need to find somebody that our whole body can unite behind and do what we were elected to do. So i was absolutely stunned, surprised. Reporter and the other member running for the speakers job who was supposed to have a ballot in this room this morning was daniel webster, the congressman from florida. He just told report eers here tt he even he, who was running, he was going to leave today as at least the nominee to be speaker. He was completely surprised. Even said hes not sure what hes going to do now or whether hes going to continue to run or not. Everybody is so surprised because this simply did not end the way it was supposed to. Theyre trying to figure out whats next, wolf. Technically, dana, john boehner, the speaker, if he decides to postpone his resignation nothing would stand in the way, right, if he spends another month or two while the House Republicans get their act together. Reporter he could. Anything is possible at this point. He could. Its unlikely. But if he feels like the conference and the house needs more time to sort this out, it is entirely possible that he could do that. But as of now, the house floor vote is scheduled for october 9 29, but to your point that was based on the notion today, at the end of the day, we would know who the republican nominee for speaker would be and the other thing i want to add before tossing back to you, Deirdre Walsh was talking to some sources. She said from a source close to mccarthy the reason why he decided to drop out and stun everybody was numbers pure and simple. He had the votes to win behind these doors but he did not see a path to getting 218 votes meaning a majority of the house which somebody needs in order to become the next speaker. Dana, we just got a statement in from john boehner, speaker of the house. He says this, after leader mccarthys announcement, members of the conference will not vote today for a new speaker. As i have said previously, i will serve as speaker until the house votes to elect a new speaker. We will announce the date for this election at a later date, and i am confident we will elect a new speaker in the coming weeks. Our conference will Work Together to ensure we have the Strongest Team possible as we continue to focus on the american peoples priorities. So, dana, that seems to suggest hes open to the possibility of remaining into next month, maybe the month after, until theres a new speaker. Reporter look, it wouldnt surprise me if you hear john boehner talk about anything having to do with this institution. It is a discussion about the institution and how important it is to him, which he says is the main reason why he decided to resign so abruptly himself last month. So it wouldnt surprise me. I think everybody is trying to figure out whats next. And i can tell you that even the people in the room who were listening to mccarthy were not only stunned, apparently it was hard for them to hear him. Its not just that they couldnt believe what they were hearing. It was even hard to hear so it took a few minutes for what mccarthy told his rank and file colleagues privately for it to sink in and im also told that some of his maybe even most of his fellow leaders also didnt know. The people who run this conference, i was told via text, they werent given a headsup about this decision. Dana, stand by. Well have move more coverage of the breaking news. The majority leader Kevin Mccarthy dropping out of the race. Stunning his colleagues. More of the reaction and what it means right after this. When youre not confident your companys data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. Thats where at t can help. At at t we monitor our Network Traffic so we can see things others cant. Mitigating risks across your business. Leaving you free to focus on what matters most. Ugh heartburn no one burns on my watch try alkaseltzer heartburn reliefchews. They work fast and dont taste chalky. Mmm. Amazing. 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Theyre coming back. That just tastes better. With more vitamins. And less saturated fat. Only egglands best. Better taste. Better nutrition. Better eggs. Lets get to more reaction on the stunning news. Kevin mccarthy, the republican leader in the house of representatives, announcing he no longer wants to run to become speaker of the house of representatives. Lets bring in mike rogers of michigan, a cnn National Security commentator. I assume, mike, you were as stunned as all of us. I was. This is that, houston, we have a problem moment. Republicans have a short period of time here to get their act together or theyre going to have some permanent brain damage going into the election next year. I think its possible parties, coalitions, both republicans and democrats, have coalitions that sometimes dont line up. But theyre closer to each party, would identify with that party. Remember, Kevin Mccarthy had the majority of votes in the conference itself, in the republican conference, where that magic 218 number when it goes to the full floor of the house. If you dont hit the 218 number, it causes a problem. Youd have to go to democrats in order to elect a speaker and certainly they werent going to cooperate in any way, shape or form. Thats where the problem came up. Yeah, he didnt presumably have those 29 republicans he would need to get to that 218 number, the majority number on the floor of the house of representatives. So who can bridge that serious divide within the Republican Party in the house right now, someone who can appeal to the mainstream, the Establishment Republicans while at the same time bringing in that socalled freedom four, the Tea Party Activists . There are some candidates that would come to mind. One great candidate would be greg wal dden, the head of the committee responsible for electing the conference of republicans into the majority. Hes been doing that for a few years. He knows every member. He knows the districts. He knows there are challenges. He knows their political bent and hes a seasoned hand which was missing in this leadership election. He has been around congress a long time. Hes actually been on a committee, moved complicated pieces of legislation, been a subcommittee chairman. I think youre going to see, and i am speculating but i think youll see names like his and others who will surface as somebody that can bridge all of those gaps. At the end of the day, none of that majority means anything if you cannot govern. And what theyve clearly demonstrated is right now what are normally internal family fights to the conference and, believe me, democrats have these, too, but what happened is this spilled over into the public eye which is pretty unusual for a race of this significance. Its very unusual. Well see what happens down the road. All right, congressman, thanks very much, mike rogers, former congressman from michigan. When we come back, were going to break down my oneonone interview with dr. Ben carson. Will his controversial comments on nazis, gun control help him become the next president of the United States . Or will it hurt his campaign to get the republican president ial nomination . Our Political Panel will weigh in. Sure, tv has evolved over the years. Its gotten squarer. Brighter. Bigger. Its gotten thinner. Even curvier. But whats next . For all binge watchers. Movie geeks. Sports freaks. X1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. Earlier this hour i spoke with republican president ial candidate dr. Ben carson. Hes just behind donald trump in all the national and key state polls in the race for the republican president ial nomination. Lets discuss what we heard. Im joined by our executive editor of cnn politics. And john king is joining us, john, he was pretty blunt and not mincing any words as far as putin and russia is concern ed. Interesting because his tough words, even though ben carson is so soft spoken, he said we need to oppose him and challenge Vladimir Putin because of his aggressive actions in syria and throughout the middle east right now. Thats an interesting statement from a president ial candidate, but its a contrast with donald trump. The man with whom ben carson is competing with the polls. Who said let putin bomb them and well puck up the pieces when its over. A statement about what he would do and puts him in contrast with the current front runner. What do you think about his comments . When president obama was said to not be a real black president. But i asked dr. Carson about that and he said hes president and hes black, but he wouldnt really he wouldnt say hes a real black president. What did you make of that . I dont even know what that means. In some ways, not surprising, i think, that he kind of dismissed what rupert murdoch. He seems to be a fan of ben carson so not surprising he didnt want to get into the weeds in talking about race. This is why hes doing so well among republicans. They like he has a different take on race usm and they see his story as a reputation of what we hear from liberals in talking about structural racism. He has an up from your boot straps narrative. Thats why hes gaining so much traction. In his new book, he writes about the holocaust, nazi germany, the slaughter of 6 million jews making the case that maybe if they had guns, if there hadnt been gun control in the late 30s, maybe that would not necessarily have happened. I asked him to clarify that very controversial comment. Listen to this. There were a number of countries where tyranny reigned and before it happened they disarmed the people. Noah webster said when talking about tyranny that the people of america would never suffer because they are armed. But just clarify. If there had been no gun control laws in europe at that time, would 6 million jews have been slaughtered . The likelihood of hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been diminished. If people were armed. Thats going to raise some eyebrows. No doubt. This isnt the only controversial statement that ben carson has said. It was interesting about is that hes critical of the pc police. He said we have run amuck. At the same time, hes critical of the media who misinterpret his remarks. This is something we hear time and time again. Yet hes critical of people for trying to interpret them. When you run for president , its not just about the policy positions, as you know its about judgment and thinking on your feet. Clearly, ben carson is somebody who throughout his career has never had somebody question him. Hes one of the best Brain Surgeons of all time. Now hes running for president. Hes under a new spotlight. He is doing amazingly well in almost all the key states in the National Polls just behind donald trump. He has a lot of fans among republicans. Hes the candidate most would say is on the rise. In part, his appeal if you talk to people in these states, for a long time evangelicals have liked him. Now as he campaigns more and more, hes drawing some votes from donald trump. Outsiders are in right now in the republican primaries. And ben carson is sort of a soft spoken trump. Never held elective office, challenges the orthodoxy of the party. Republicans love it. When what republicans would describe as the mainstream or lame stream media trying to get ben carson to explain himself. He said i said what i said. That gets support among conservatives. He is doing remarkably well. Well continue to watch whats going on. Thanks very much. Thats it for me. Ill be back at 5 00 p. M. Eastern. In the mean type, the news continues right here on cnn after a very quick break. Hi, everyone, im poppy harlow. Top of the hour, we begin with breaking news. John boehners retirement may have to wait as chaos and shock erupt on capitol hill this afternoon. The man favored to become the next speaker of the house announcing hes dropping out of the race. Cnn was rolling just moments after california congressman Kevin Mccarthy stunned fellow republicans during what was supposed to be a closedoor vote. He just surprised everybody and said hes dropping out of the race. You were behind him. Are you stunned . Im totally stunned. No one was sure they heard what he said. I dont see how he had a path to 218 votes on the house floor. What he did was an honorable thing today. Now the nominee for that job, the