Will Joe Biden Run?; Hilary Clinton's Email Controversy Continues
ACOSTA: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION. I'm Jim Acosta. Breaking news this morning that Joe Biden had a secret meeting with Elizabeth Warren as he considers a run for the White House. Could the two be joining forces? I want to bring in our panel. Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, CNN political contributor, Kevin Madden, CNN contributor, Bakari Sellers, and CNN political contributor, S.E. Cupp. You guys are all our contributors this morning. Thank you very much --</s>ACOSTA: We appreciate it. My goodness (ph). I'm glad I got that out. Bakari, I guess, let me start with your first. I mean, I guess I was just explaining during the break that they veered from the official schedule for the White House, for the vice president. He was supposed to be in Delaware all weekend and then all of the sudden -- boom -- he's in Washington meeting with Elizabeth Warren?</s>BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean I think that there is something that we can gleam from the visit. I think the first thing is that Joe Biden is running for president of the United States. I don't think that is not a secret any longer. But Elizabeth Warren does have thumb on the pulse of the progressive movement, the space that Bernie Sanders is occupying. And I think that Vice President Biden also knows that the only path to beat Hillary Clinton is to the left of her. I'm just not sure there is that much space over there any longer. But the fact of the matter is -- look, Joe Biden has served his country admirably for 40 years and if anybody has earned the right to run for president of the United States, it is Joe Biden. So, my hat is off to him.</s>ACOSTA: And Neera, are the Clinton forces worried about this Biden and Warren?</s>NEERA TANDEN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: I mean, so many people have worked for Vice President Biden. He is held in huge esteem in the party. And so I think -- and Elizabeth Warren. I think Bakari is right Elizabeth Warren has spoken for a lot of people in the party who were worried about special interest and power of Wall Street. So I don't think there is like a fear factor or anything. I think the real issue here is that if the open (ph) primary (ph) and the vice president has as much a right to run as anyone else.</s>ACOSTA: Kevin, it certainly got their attention. I mean, this was --</s>KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure.</s>ACOSTA: I don't want to call it a shot across the bow, but it was near the bow. It was getting close to the bow.</s>MADDEN: Right but you know, I always think that the concept of the Joe Biden candidacy is so much more alluring than the reality. He is a gaffe machine. He has been doing this since 1986. He doesn't really have a natural solidified base. So I think, it's entirely right now reaction to Hillary Clinton's stumbles on the campaign trail and the rise of Bernie Sanders, and people worrying that that's going to hurt the profile of the party when it comes towards (ph) general election. So -- but you know, Joe Biden gets in, I expect that Hillary Clinton would probably relish the chance to sort of boost up her candidacy by being able to finally beat somebody they may see as more -- as a better candidate.</s>ACOSTA: When I talk to a prominent -- some sources...</s>S.E. CUPP. CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.</s>ACOSTA: ...from the Democratic Party this week they were saying there's not a core constituency for Joe Biden in the White House.</s>CUPP: Right.</s>ACOSTA: They are all worried --</s>ACOSTA: They're worried inside the White House...</s>CUPP: Yes.</s>ACOSTA: ...about Joe Biden running because their concern that there goes the Obama legacy.</s>CUPP: Well yes and Obama doesn't want to have to choose between his current sitting vice president and his former secretary of state. That just doesn't look good. I also don't know that I get his strategy if it's what Bakari is saying, run to the left of Hillary. He's not going to out- sander Sanders? I actually think the better strategy for him would be to speak to the Democratic voter that that party has been losing for the past couple of cycles. The older white blue collar male...</s>CUPP: ...that actually Joe Biden really speaks to very well, the guy from Scranton.</s>ACOSTA: Yes.</s>CUPP: So I think that if he gets in, and I would welcome his entrance into the race, I think that is the direction he should go.</s>ACOSTA: And I don't know if you notice how clean the table is this morning. We wiped it with a cloth.</s>TANDEN: Oh, my God.</s>ACOSTA: Let's talk --</s>ACOSTA: Let's talk about Hillary Clinton and her explanation for the server this week. Can we play that?</s>ED HENRY, FOX NEWS: Did you wipe the server?</s>HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What, with a cloth or something?</s>HENRY: I don't know. You know how it works digitally. Did you try to wipe the whole server?</s>CLINTON: I don't know how it works digitally at all.</s>ACOSTA: Wiped it with a cloth. She hasn't wiped this issue clean, has she?</s>SELLERS: No. I think that anybody who if of sound mind knows that that comment was ill advise and flippant at best. And the Kanye shrug she gave.</s>ACOSTA: The Kanye shrug is that --</s>SELLERS: That's what it is. It will be -- it will be a jiff that will last throughout the campaign, but the facts are that she didn't send any classified information, the facts are that she followed the precedent that has been set by her predecessors. And also this has been a committee that was started after four lives were lost in Benghazi, and trying to make sure that we don't lose diplomatic lives again and it has not turned into a political witch hunt.</s>ACOSTA: S.E. --</s>CUPP: Well, she did send classified documents. She might have not known at the time they were which is why she was trying to turn this now into an issue of over classification. She absolutely did not commit to the parameters and the precedent that was set was not to use a private server in your home. That is not the precedent that was set, that she is following. So she has mismanaged this from the beginning --</s>ACOSTA: Neera --</s>CUPP: She had to get rid of it</s>ACOSTA: You have to admit this has not been handled well. I mean, she has to get ahead of this. What did Jerry Brown say the other day? This is like a vampire. They need to put the stake in the heart.</s>TANDEN: Yes. I think the way to do that is just to answer all the questions as much as you possibly can and do it over and over again, because there is misinformation. For example, the issue here is whether she received e-mails that were later classified.</s>SELLERS: Correct.</s>TANDEN: She did not send any e-mails with classified or not. No one is accusing her --</s>CUPP: But that is what the FBI is investigating --</s>ACOSTA: I covered (ph) Mitt Romney, you were there. What would (ph) be (ph) happening (ph) right now if this was Mitt Romney?</s>MADDEN: Well, I don't even know how the answer that. I think -- I think --</s>MADDEN: Look, the biggest -- the biggest problem here is that this is a trust issue coming up over and over again, and the more she keeps talking about it the less the American people find her trustworthy. That is a really big character crisis at this stage in the campaign for Hillary Clinton.</s>ACOSTA: All right. We'll go to the Republicans. We're going to go to the Republicans next. Let's get to that next. Jeb Bush and Donald Trump may be duking it out on the campaign trail, but Bush's team says they won't spend a penny of their $100 million stash on ads against Donald Trump. Why not? Why won't they take him seriously? We will ask our panel after the break.