Transcripts For KQED Washington Week With Gwen Ifill 20150328

Gwen as its president pleads for the tows stay a little longer. And Bowe Bergdahl, once hailed as an american hero, is instead branded a trader. Sergeant bergdahl is charged under the uniform coach of military justice with one count of article 85, decertification with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty. Gwen plus i believe in you. I believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america. Gwen ted cruz beats the rest of the field to the bunch by making his 2016 plans official. Covering the week manu raju senior congressional competentant for politico. Alexis simendinger White House Correspondent for realclearpolitics. Nancy youssef, Senior National competent for the daily beast and dan balz chief corespondent for the washington post. Award winning reporting and analysis covering history as it happens, live from our nations capital, this is Washington Week with gwen ifill. 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Additional funding is provided by newmans own foundation, donating all profits from newmans own Food Products to charity and nourishing the common good. The annenberg foundation. The corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Once again live from washington, moderator gwen ifill. Gwen good evening. For us fire surprises are the best surprises. By that measure, senator leader harry reid won the day, announcing he will leave the zphat when his term ends in 2016. The 75yearold reid, who suffered a greivis injury to his face and eye earlier this year in an exercising accident, said his forced recovery gave him time to think but he insists that is not why hes stepping down. He posted this video online. These bruises i have on my face, on my eye, are an inconvenience but trust me, theyre nothing compared to some of the bruises i got when i was fighting in the ring. Gwen went reid was once a boxer, something that surprises no one that has run against him negotiated him or covered him. Manu raju is one of the latter. What do we know about why he really skepped down . Manu he was facing a really typical election next year. Theres a very good chance he could have won but he would have to fight aggressively to keep his seat. Gwen doesnt he fight all the time . Manu he does fight all the time but he just does not have it in him. He decided late last year this probably was not the race he wanted to take even before his exercise accident. And during that at a time when he was recovering, he really realized it was probably time to hang it up. It was a guy who came to congress in 1983. Has really risen in the ranks and has done what few thought codo in maintaining his leadership position for such a long time, for a decade as a Senate Democratic leader. But on top of that, hes faced increasing amounts of dissension within the Senate Democratic ranks. What we saw at the end of last year after the midterm elections in which the democrats, of course, lost control of the senate, handful of these democratic moderates did not want him to return as democratic leader. They actually opening voted against him and announced it, ine though he ran unopposed. So the view point internally is reid for the first time was vulnerable. I think he recognized that too, he probably his hold within the caucus was starting to loosen a bit. He would have to fight increasingly hard, not to just win reelection but stay as democratic leader and that was enough for him to decide maybe i just dont have it it in me. Gwen heres the interesting thing about harry reid, for people who dont watch him very closely, hes a cluster of contradictions. Hes a tough guy. Known as master of senate as it were. Hes gotten incredible loyalty among most of his ranks. And yes he also has a reputation for being kind of rude and bruff. Manu hes a colorful character even if he comes across as a bland guy because of his style. Hes very shrewd and calculating. Doesnt seem the limelight the way other folks do. And hes such an insider. He knows how to work the institution and pull the levers of the institution to get what he wants which is so critical when you operate a place like the senate where the process is is he arcane and you need to really be an insider and operative to get stuff done and thats what hes didnt doing effectively for a very long time. What do you think his legacy sflb i think as democratic leader he is rushinging the Health Care Law in Christmas Eve 2009, that was really a hardball move. This was done almost exclusively by democratic votes, of course and it was negotiated in harry reids office. He spent weeks and weeks negotiating this. He jammed this through on Christmas Eve on a Party Line Vote and that was a huge of course, mow meantous change. If barack obama would not have gotten that law if it were not for harry reid. I also say the other huge thing he did was invoking the socalled Nuclear Option which is in 2013 the rule, the effort to gut filibuster rules on president ial nominees. That is significant because no other leader has done that before. And that can be used to further weaken the filibuster, which could presumably alter the institution for years and years to come. That would certainly outlast harry reids time in office. Alexis what do we know about his his likely successor . Manu Chuck Schumer is the guy who will probably run the caucus. He and harry reid had a private meeting last night thursday night, where they discussed the possibility or discussed reid was retiring. Reid said he would back Chuck Schumer to be his successful. Chuck schumer is the new york democrat number three in the caucus right now. And that essentially leapfrogs the number two man in the caucus, dick durbin, Senate Minority whip. But in the eyes of a lot of democrats, schumer had already sup planted durbin as the de facto number two just by virtue of his political skills, his tacticianlike mind and that helped him get to the place where he is. Schumer spent all day friday on the phones locking down support and he does have the support, according to his office, to become the next democratic leader. Alexis so why do ramirez sound cheered that the nevada seat may look more vulnerableable for democrats . Because you can never count harry reid out. Even as lousy as his Approval Ratings are somehow harry reid finds a way to survive. And thats probably one of the things republicans are kind of happy about, this is actually an open seat. Now, there are several people who could run on the republican side republicans hope the republican governor out there, Brian Sandoval will run but its very unlikely that he does. There are other candidates that comes up as well. Including state republican leader Steve Roberson is mentioned as a possible candidate. On the democratic side the former Nevada Attorney general looks like shes a likely candidate and reid wanted her to run as well. Gwen wleb nevada was not at the heart of the political world and now it kind of is. We have harry reid to thank for that in part. Now to the continuing fallout from americas longest war. Afghan president ash ref ghani came to washington to prove essentially hes not hamid karzai. Karzai was the last president of afghanistan who started off as americas great hope and turned into americas great thorn in the side. I asked president ghani about that this week. That was tense towards the end and preb alluded to that today. How has that changed . It has changed fundamentally because we believe and have revitalized partnership. Were not engaging in a blame game. Were engaged in common understanding and common action. And part of this, of course, is also that the combat role of the United States has ended as was agreed between our two governments and the assist mission that u. S. Forces are currently engaged in does not involve combat roles. Gwen so at ghanis request, president obama did agree this week to push back the deadline he imposed for pulling out u. S. Troops. President obama the bottom line is our men and women in uniform make enormous sacrifices, their families do, too. They serve alongside them. This will mean that there are going to be some of our folks who are in afghanistan under the new schedule who would have been home. Gwen how does the white house justify this . Its basically an unkept promise in some respects . Alexis it is and the president understood that would be the case in making this agreement with ghani. The way the president put it was interesting. He talked about afghanistan still being a dangerous place and probably the most frank thing he said was we dont want to go back. So in some ways the president was saying we want to protect our investment. This is an investment in security that we the United States are interested in and you can see why that would be the case. Working with the pentagon there was a determination that the United States would like to continue to be present at the bases in kandahar or jalalabad and continue to have the presence in that area, to use drone strikes, counterterrorism. You can see in ghanis presentation the concern he has is about the Islamic State and made no bones about warning members of congress about that, talking to the administration about that. So this is an agreement the president talks about as maintaining a level of troops. Nearly 10,000 but he continued the president continued to say this doesnt deter us from the timetable that i had set originally for basically winding down to 1,000 troops, that would include special operations and intelligence, by the end of 2016. By the time he gets ready to leave. So one of the things that was most striking is these two men really seem to get along. They really seem to click and the antikarzai presentation that president ghani presented seemed to go over well on capitol hill. And it certainly seemed to go over well with the administration. Alexis im curious then how much does that relationship factor into the president s decision . The president as we know what beyond frustrated with hamid karzai. He was unreliable. The word continually used this week was partnership. This was a partnership between afghanistan and a desire to build even on diplomatic and international, financial, economic and develop a role and that was just not something that the administration talked about. The other thing about president ghani that was interesting is he very much seemed to know the west. He sort of talks the talk, colloquial gwen he went to colombia. Nancy hes an anthropologist, lives in the United States went to columbia, shares that with the president. They communed over the fact the president s mother was an anthropologist and they seemed he seems to have the knack, politicians knack of bonding over a common cause. One of the other things president ghani said that seemed to go over well and made headlines was he changed the american taxpayers, thats the way he put it, i want to thank the american taxpayers, we afghanistan want to thank the taxpayers and talked about the sacrifice the United States made. Alexis soldiers. Nancy yes. Dan the president manu the president came in as anticar candidate. But the wore with isil and the factor in his legacy in making his decision is . Nancy its been a painful thing to see president obama tackling whats happening in iraq and the idea we dont want to go back is an echo we had to go back in iraq. The president is wrestling with this idea he wanted to end these wars and he continues to talk about that but the administration actually in terms of its briefings to reporters, its talking about this maintenance as short term and those discussions are down the road. That leaves the door open to maybe actually handing this off to says successor. Gwen there was additional, and for the white house unexpected residual fallout from the war in afghanistan this week in the space of only nine months, former taliban captive Bowe Bergdahl, one hailed as honorable hero after the u. S. Traded five guantanamo detainees for his release, has become a pariah, charged this week with decertification. Next up, a military courtmartial. Questions about how he came to be captured were raised almost immediately after his release last year but it took until now for them to gain the weight of official condemnation. So what happened between then and now nancy . Nancy i was in afghanistan when Bowe Bergdahl disappeared in the summer of 2009. Even then there were quiet whispers he maybe walked off base and been a deserter but people were hes tapt to say that publicly because he was missing and people didnt know the circumstances for sure. And then over time members of his platoon started to come out and by the time that the trade happened, the five guantanamo detainees for his release in 2014, he was being heralded as a hero and there was real frustration among those who serve add longside him those who risked their lives trying to find him and rose garden ceremony where the president was flanked by his parentses and he was celebrated as an hero. A month later susan rice came out and said he served with honor and distinction. It was the time Tipping Point of the lack s backlash ofness someone who should not labeled a hero. The u. S. Fought for him to come back because the motto is we dont leave sorledes behind but that doesnt make him a hero. Dan why did the white house get as far out in the direction they did when he was released . And whats been the reaction within the white house since then as they watched this thing unfold and in a sense unravel from where it was . Nancy moin sense is there was an underestimation of how angry people were in the military of the circumstances that led to his disappearance. Remember for five years everybody on patrol in eastern pakistan, on that border were ordered to look for Bowe Bergdahl. People risked their lives. There are conflicting reports whether people lost their lives. Some family members think their loved one was killed for the search for Bowe Bergdahl. At the time remember the narrative was the u. S. Is leaving afghanistan, were winding down. I think there was an understanding in the white house this is victory because we brought everybody home. And its interesting we have the news of the extension of the troops this week in this because here were two instances in which the narrative of the war was challenged. In the case of drawdowns that the war would be over and case of Bowe Bergdahl, he was a hero. So it was interesting to see our understanding of afghanistan in a sense change so dramatically in the span of 48 hours. Manu what do we know about the charges he may snace could he actually face jail time . Nancy thats a great question. Right now the charge of decertification carries fiveyear sentence but more interesting charge is misbehavior before the enemy carries a life sentence. The climate im seeing inside the pentagon is one thats not looking to put him in jail. Remember he served in a sense five years in captivity. But there had to be a sense of accountability. So it seems the expectation there will be a negotiation of something. Not just time but he had to be in a sense held accountable as much for him as sort of the expectations within the military community. Alexis nancy, what has been the reaction . You hinted certainly an upswell of counter thinking from inside the military about what happened to him. Whats the reaction now the charges have been at least laid out in the report . Nancy the sense you hear the most is he had to be charged, someone cannot walk off base and leave his gun behind and not face charges. There has to be a sense of accountability. That is probably the most common reaction coming out of the pentagon. But where the case goes, we will see. He will have article 32 hearing the equivalent of grand jury in civilian court. Scheduled date, although it could change, is april 22. So we will see after that. Gwen theres a defense to be mounted . Hes not just saying yep, i did it. But there has to be other argument. Nancy not only defense but one of the best Defense Attorneys and he started to put out information that said he put out a letter that was given to general miley, who put the case together, and he said things like he didnt desert. He was going to try to walk to another base to make a complaint. That he gwen described the circumstances. Nancy that he was tortured held in isolation for weeks in dark room whens he tried to escape by his attorneys count a dozen times and you cant say he was an enemy because he kept trying to get away. So he didnt behave, if you will dishonorably. Gwen and all of that will play out. Thank you, nancy. And if we turn once again to our weekly checkin on the 2016 president ial campaign. This week we have our First Official candidate whatever that means. It is republican senator ted cruz, who went to the Worlds Largest Christian University to declare flat out that hes running and why. Senator cruz instead of the joblessness, instead of the millions forced into parttime work, instead of the millions who lost their Health Insurance lost their doctors, have faced skyrocketing Health Insurance premiums imagine in 2017 a new president signing legislation repealing every word of obama care. Gwen but before he gets to run against an actual democrat, cruz has first to face down more than a few republicans. How is that shaking out, dan . Dan i talked to one of his folks today and they said well, at this point hes the only candidate so hes kind of got a clearfield ahead of him. So for a couple of weeks hes the only one. Seriously, there is no republican in this field who has more excited the republican conservative base over the last couple of years than ted cruz. When he goes before an audience he speaks their language and they respond. At the same time there sent a republican in the senate who has so irritated democrats and republicans, and in a sense that is the totality of ted cruz and his candidacy. I mean hes running as the pure essence of conservatism. He does not buy the argument that you can be too conservative and become president of the United States. And he has long argued that the republicans lost in 2008 and 2012 not because their nominees were too conservative but because they were not authentically conservative. And hes going to put that proposition to the test. Gwen several guys kind of stake out that very same ground . Dan he will have a lot of competition. Normally we think of this race and you describe it in brackets or buckets or layins or whatever, but theres an establishment battle to who becomes the establishment favorite, and then there is kind of insurgent side, conservative side. Hes got a lot of competition on this side. Obviously for him, the path begins in iowa. The Iowa Caucuses typically favor somebody conservative. But he will face mike huckabee, former governor of arkansas who won the caucuses in 2008. Probably Rick Santorum who won the caucuses in 2012, former senator from massachusetts, ben carson is a factor in this race, neurosurgeon who is a novice politically but lit up conservatives almost to the extend tell cruz has. A variety of people he has to jostle against just to get to, in a sense, the finals of this contest. Manu i wanted ask you about his path. If he wins iowa, to say he wins iowa, where does ted cruz go after that . Those folks that you mentioned, santorum and hucker bee sort of petered out after they won the iowa caucus. Dan thats the dilemma that people run with sort of the notion he has, that they cant make it all the way. His view obviously is, iowa, New Hampshire is not necessarily going thoob great for him probably but then South Carolina might be. If he can then by then consolidate that conservative portion of the electorate hes betting, and part of what he did in his spreach when he announced his candidacy was essentially to say there are millions and millions of religious and social conservatives who stayed on the sidelines. They have not been energized by the people we put up. If he can tap into that group, if he can in fact bring out an army of those voters who have stayed on the sidelines, then he thinks he has the opportunity to do that. Dan you mentioned we had a couple weeks and then we will see more ted cruz is the first to get in officially. Can you explain whos coming next and what is the thinking about waiting, which i guess it seems like its in a rush now but its actually kind of late . Dan it is later in previous campaigns for an interesting reason, which i will get to in a minute. We assume the next candidate is senator rand paul of kentucky. Hes supposed to do it around april 7. Marco rubio will probably be in soon after that. We dont know on the democratic side when secretary clinton is going to put some stamp on herself as a candidate. But we that i will be relatively early in april. Jeb bush seems to be in no hurry. He seems to be on his own timetable. Doing things his own way. Scott walker, all of these people are out there active but scott walkers timetable is a little later. But were going to see more and more people get in now. The reason they have waited is the power of super pacs. Super pacs in this election play a more significant role than they have ever played. The rules on super pacs make it very difficult for a candidate to really begin, really court super pac donors once theyre an official candidate so theyre doing it now. Gwen ok. We will be watching that money again. Thank you, everybody. We have to go for now but as always the conversation will continue online. Thats on the Washington Week webcast extra, where we will talk, among other things, about whatever happened to the Loretta Lynch nomination . And you can find it all week long at world series world series. Keep pbs. Org washingtonweek. Keep up with me on the pbs newshour and we will see you next week here on Washington Week. Good night. Announcer Corporate Funding for Washington Week is provided by how much money do you have in your pocket right now . I have 40. 21. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . No. If you start putting that money in your retirement and let it grow over time for 20, 30 years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. Announcer additional Corporate Funding for Washington Week is provided by boeing, and the International Brother hood of electrical workers ibew. Additional funding is provided by newmans own foundation donating all profits from newmans own Food Products to charity and nourishing the common good. The annenberg foundation. The corporation force public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Next on kqed newsroom. uq the future of entertainment. From sports to the symphony. They think theyre going to come in here and they have to be quiet and its stuffy and everyones you know, wearing a tuxedo. Good evening. Welcome to kqed newsroom. Im scott shafer. Were going to start with some breaking news. The verdict in a highprofile gender discrimination case. A case very closely watched in silicon valley. This afternoon a jury ruled that Venture Capital firm Kleiner Perkins did not discriminate against ellen pao. Pao had sued the firm claiming it did not promote her because of her