Transcripts For KQED Washington Week With Gwen Ifill 2015013

Eric holder. Youre not eric holder, are you . No, im not, sir. Gwen mean while the president courts old allies abroad. India and the United States are not just natural partners. I believe america can be indias best partner. Gwen as his Foreign Policy Team Struggles to defang new threats. We believe that when you make concessions to terrorists it puts more american citizens at risk, paying ransoms and negotiating can do that. Gwen challenges, foreign and domestic. On policy and politics. We explore tonight with dan balz, chief correspondent for the washington post. Jeff zeleny, senior washington correspondent for abc news. Nancy youssef, Senior National security correspondent for the daily beast. And peter baker, chief White House Correspondent for the new york times. Awardwinning reporting and analysis covering history as it happens. Live from our nations capital, this is Washington Week with gwen ifill. Corporate funding for Washington Week is provided by from a world of darkness we became a nation of light. A nation powered by electricity. A nation powered by the ibew. Ibew. Powering north america. How much money do you have in your pocket right now . I got 40. 20. Could something that small make an impact on something as big as your retirement . I dont think so. Well, if you start putting that money toward your retirement every week, and let it grow over time for 20, 30 years, that retirement challenge might not seem so big after all. Additional Corporate Funding for Washington Week is provided by boeing. 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. Well, we got a little more clarity on the 2016 front today. Mitt rosm who according to romney who according to nearly every account was perched at the edge. President ial campaign diving board, stepped back. Heres a bit of what he said to potential supporters on a Conference Call this morning. I believe that one of our nicks generation of republican next generation of Republican Leaders and one who may not be as wellknown as i am today and one who has not taken a message across the country and one whos just Getting Started may well emerge as being better able to defeat the democrat nominee. In fact, i expect and hope that to be the case. Gwen it was an interesting call to parse the words because during the course of it romney appeared to acknowledge two home truths. That polls show him out in front, for now. And that that could change in heartbeat. Did you hear anything else in that dan . Gwen, it was a huge surprise three weeks ago when he announced that he was going to consider this. And in many ways it was almost as big of surprise this morning when he announced after only three weeks hes out of it. In talking to his people over the last six or seven hours as we were trying to dig into this, there were a couple of things that came out. One was he didnt make this decision because he didnt still want to be president. He still would like to be president. He didnt make it because he didnt think he could raise the money. He thought he could do that. He didnt make it because he didnt think he was in a very strong position starting out. Two people said that the reason ultimately that he made this decision was that he kind of looked at what it would take to win the nomination and concluded that by the time he got through that process, he was likely going to be beaten up by that process that he probably would have a very difficult time winning the general election and on that basis concluded hes better to stay out of it. Gwen isnt that true for almost any republican in a race this wide open and with this many participants . That in order to get to the point where you can challenge Hillary Clinton, you could be pretty much tarred. Everybody will go through the process is going to get hurt by it. Although in many cases, the ultimate winner comes out enhanced in peoples eyes because theyve gone through a difficult process. But what happened to governor romney is in the time between when he made this announcement a few weeks ago of his interest until sometime late over the weekend when he actually made the decision that he wasnt going to run he got pulled back into that maw. And he realized as somebody said today the memories of what had happened to him the last time had kind of blurred. And in the last three weeks, he was the target of all kinds of criticism. From a across the board. Whether it was republicans democrats, pundits whatever. And as somebody said, all those slings and arrows over the last few weeks were aimed strictly at him. And this notion of what it was going to be like suddenly became sharply etched in his mind again. As you know dan, he was the leader in the early polls. Largely because of name recognition. With some of his rivals. But im told that he was looking at some of his own internal polling or different polling other than public polling. What was he looking at specifically over the last couple of weeks . Hes a numbers guy. Hes he loves data. This is so interesting. There is a romney donor unnamed, we could not find out the name of this donor yet who had convinced himself that romney was not going to run as the story was told to me. And had therefore gone out and commissioned his own polling to try to get a sense of how people viewed the whole field. Romney included. And that he had done this i guess on his own. I dont know this for sure. He took polls in i was told almost 20 states. Gwen wow. And shared this with the campaign. And the romney people say in three of the four early states, romney had a strong lead. The fourth one he was competitive in. And that in all of the other states, he was in very good shape. Had double digit leads in a number of them. As we all know, polls taken at this time can change very quickly. But nonetheless, they looked at that, and one of the questions they said was who has its not going to be easy but who has an easier path to the nomination than romney . And they werent convinced that anybody had an easier path to the nomination. Thats a good question, right . What does this do to the race . Romney is out. Does that clear it more for jeb and bring Chris Christie in or create a path for somebody else at this point . You know, peter, i think the answer to that is yes yes, yes. Its certainly good for jeb bush in the short run. Hes now the person with the biggest name probably the ability to raise the most amount of money. And he will be seen as the frontrunner. And he can try to consolidate that position in a way that would have been more difficult had romney been in the race. Everybody assumed that if romney and jeb bush were in the race the person hurt most was Chris Christie. Because they were raising money from the same establishment donors. They were going after many of the same voters. So the second assumption is Chris Christie is helped by this. And christies people clearly believe that today. They are quite happy at what happened. But as romney said in his statement, this opens up an opportunity for others who are less wellknown to begin to shine. And i think we will see some more attention on some of them. Scott walker for being one, for example. Gwen were going to be able to talk about all of that. Were going to keep talking about this online in the webcast because theres so many more dominoes to fall as a result of this decision. I cant wait to find out more. So as republicans begin to sort out their president ial field the partys congressional leaders are trying to sort out their own strategy. This week at least, the goal seems to be completing Unfinished Business. So there were plans to vote once again on obamacare, and meetings on benghazi and a confirmation grilling for loretta lynch, the president s choice to succeed attorney general eric holder. How do we know youre not going to perform your duties of office as attorney general the way eric holder has performed his duties . I will be myself. I will be loretta lynch. Gwen is this focus on the past part of the g. O. P. Leadership strategy for the future . No question it is. Were one month into the new republican majority into the congress and it does seem like back to the future and so much Unfinished Business and trying to do a lot of things and one of the things theyre trying to do is keep their base unified and the best way to do that is throw in repeal Obamacare Vote every now and then and throw in something for the base, some red meat. But what also is going on the senate actually passed a bill the other night. Which is kind of a big deal. Gwen yeah. It was it was to call for the construction for the keystone x. L. Pipeline but that came after pretty extraordinary few weeks of debate. There were 30 amendments debated on the senate floor. Which again doesnt sound like a big deal but more than all of last year combined. What we saw, i was sitting in the chamber up there watching these votearamas and senators were voting on 12 or 15 amendmentsa time. The senators were talking to one another. Because they were locked on the senate floor talking to one another. Fascinating. We didnt see any of that in 2013 or 2014. Who knows what will be . And there is some progress. But im detecting frustration by house conservatives more than anything. And Speaker Boehner even said like weve had some few bumps in the road here. A couple of bills that he thought he was going to bring up for a vote. Havent materialized and immigration is still unresolved. Thats the new big fight. Gwen even after all the questioning of loretta lynch, she came off swelling pretty good after it was all said and done. I thought no question. I was in that hearing and watching the hearings. And she handled herself very well do all these questions. Shes not eric holder. And theyre glad shes not eric holder and shes not barack obama. So thats what so many hours, so many questions were about. It was about the questions much more than the answer. She was not really defending eric holder or defending the policies of the Obama Administration. I would be stunned at this point if shes not confirmed and only takes two republicans to vote for her on committee to send it to the floor. I think shes sailing to gwen orin hatch unless something comes out that we dont know about. Im curious how this is affecting her relationship with the base and how theyre going to get their base in. What have you seen on that front . It seems like on the surface, that things are calmer than they actually are. So many House Republican members i talked to are still hearing so many phone calls from their constituents and districts largely because of what Speaker Boehner is doing on immigration. We thought immigration was resolved. But thats the one key piece of the funding dispute still out there. And by february 27, by the end of this month, they have to resolve the funding for the Homeland Security department. And republicans want some aggressive pushback on the president s executive action on immigration. And its not happening yet. So Speaker Boehner said this week ill file a lawsuit. The house will file a lawsuit against the president on this. Well, these lawsuits are beginning to stack up like blue ribbon studies or commissions. So many lawsuits. Thats not enough for some members. So were going to see this confrontation, particularly on the house side from some people who really want some aggressive action against this president. How are democrats handling the fact that theyre now totally in the minority . Some of them are still licking their wounds and others are planning for the future. Nine democrats voted with republicans on the keystone x. L. Pipeline. That was interesting. You can see the ones who are up for reelection. And its fostering some bipartisanship. But i think the biggest thing this week, was on the sanctions for gwen iran . The iran sanctions. Senator mendez the former chairman of the Foreign Relations committee he was bucking the white house initially but he and nine other democrats signed a letter and said ok, well go with you. So the democrats are trying to find out if they should play with the white house entirely, sort of play with republicans a little bit. And theyre still finding their way. But largely theyre not as relevant as they would be in the majority. Where do we go with immigration . Do we see a path that gets them someplace that makes them happy . And the president is not going to sign anything that limits his ability to enact the order he already signed. I dont know what the path is. And senator Mitch Mcconnell says he doesnt know either. The senate is not going to pass this house bill. They have to fund the department of Homeland Security. So i dont see what the options are. They backed themselves into a corner. In a box. Kind of their own doing. And i dont see anything they can do that will satisfy conservatives who are so furious at this point. Gwen theres the cuba issue which will come up before them. Another challenge. And the politics are so interesting. We saw seven republicans sending a letter to the white house saying we support the lifting of the travel ban. We support the ending of the embargo. The politics of this are not red and blue and largely farm state versus florida and other things. A fascinating, fascinating dynamic up there. Gwen absolutely. Thanks, jeff. On the Foreign Policy front, the Obama Administration is watching closely. On the sidelines, but not really. As the Islamic State Group Continues to flex its muscles. First, demanding money, then a prisoner swap in exchange for hostages from japan and jordan. But it is the u. S. , but is the u. S. Really on the sidelines, nancy . Well, theres a lot of discussions going on privately. Because the u. S. Is in an incredibly tricky situation. The u. S. Position would be that you shouldnt negotiate with the Islamic State. By doing so, you elevate them. We have the Islamic State negotiating with the government. Holding the government and some would argue captive in and of itself. The other argument is they are encouraging more kidnappings like this and they are encouraging other governments to negotiate with the Islamic State. But practically speaking, jordan and japan have their own domestic politics at play. And they want their citizens back. And so what were seeing is the United States saying we wouldnt do it this way. But but were not going to get into fear with what these other nations are doing. But with great hesitation and anxiousness about where this is going and what it means for how the coalition of 60 plus countries deals with this problem. Gwen as we sit here tonight deadlines have past. With the threats of executing not only the jordanian hostage but also for the swap. This whole plan. Does that does that mean that we are waiting like on pins and needles to see what jordan does . What japan does . And whether that will veer away from what the u. S. Wants them to do . Well, the challenge for both jordan and japan particularly jordan because one of the things that the Islamic State has said is they want the relief of a jordanian prisoner in exchange for these two prisoners. So the pressure is really on jordan. And so one of the challenges that theyre confronting is its not so much what theyre going to do. They dont know what to do because theyve been met with silence. We heard from jordanian officials. They havent heard anything. Gwen they dont even know if the pilot is alive. They asked for proof of life. Well make the deal with you. But we want proof of life. And we will give you this prisoner. And they havent gotten that. And in japan the spokesman come out and say we have no updates. So everybody is on pins and needles but frankly, and its painful to say this ut the ball is in the slam he can states court to decide Islamic State court to decide what they want done. The prisoner from jordan a female wouldbe suicide bomber but didnt express great interest in her before and why now . Her name is seji sashwai. She attempted to strike a hotel and three hotels hit in their 911 and almost 60 People Killed and a failed suicide bomber. At the time she was kind of considered a loser frankly because she was this illiterate woman who had failed to carry out the attack and who had run away and hidden. And the head of the al qaeda at the time had boasted that they had a woman suicide bomber only to discover she had run away. And so we hadnt heard about her for years and years. She has a relationship with that old al qaeda that has become the Islamic State. And she has emerged in the last few weeks if you will as a symbol for the Islamic State. And one other sort of old School Member that suddenly that they want to see released. How much is this causing the coalition to fray . Well, well see. Its causing great consternation if you will because how does if the jordanian is killed, how does jordan stay in the coalition . Or what if the Islamic State were to say, ok, well give you back your pilot as long as you leave the coalition . And so its hard to see ho