in just six hours, hillary clinton will face tough questions on capitol hill over the benghazi terror attack. were early call for more security ignored? paul ryan. he can be speaker of the house if he wants to be. new support overnight from a -- a group of some of the most conservative republicans. how biden got the know and how this changes the race for president. that was quite a day in news, after we left here yesterday. >> yeah, a lot going on. >> good morning, welcome to "early start." i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman.

this morning, hillary clinton goes before the house benghazi committee. this will be a long day. the committee says the focus will be the 201 attacks in libya. the attacks that killed ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. they're to ask then secretary of state hillary clinton what she knew. >> i'm particularly focused on the the security incidents and the posture of the state department with respect to the security requests. we have learned that there were hundreds of mentions about security incidents particularly in 2012. we have questions for the secretary about what she did with respect to those requests. >> huge political stakes as well. hillary clinton, you may have heard is running for president. many say it's all about the

campaign. >> reporter: well, john, christine, after months of anticipation, the day is finally here. it's going to be a long day. we understand there will be four two-hour rounds of questioning of secretary clinton, with breaks. aides say she's ready. she's spentd the week preparing with policy and legal teams. going over potential questions and studying up on the events leading up to and following the benghazi attacks. it was a long time ago, after all. there have been more than a half dozen congressional investigations following the attacks. there's been a greater political tone to this one. democrats maintain it was des n designed as a takedown of clinton. a string of republicans lately almost backing up the accusations. trey gowdy says he'll prove the exit tee is not about politics with hearing that is respectful of clinton and focuses on the facts surrounding the benghazi

attacks. democrats, republicans, the the state department, all will be watching this hearing. putting out their own spin, their own talking points. but for secretary clinton, this is a chance to defend her record at secretary of state and argue that this committee is retreading old ground here. in some ways,s t it's a chance lay out her foreign policy as she campaigns to be commander in chief. this hearing a key moment for the presidential cam pand the future of this committee. john? christine? >> thank you, elise. congressman paul ryan clearing a major hurdle last night. a supermajority of the freedom caucus voted to back ryan. not quite enough for a formal endorsement. >> the freedom caucus supports him but didn't fully endorse him. what does that mean if practical terms? >> we couldn't get 80% as our

rules require. we got more than two-thirds of our group saying they want to support paul for speaker. he's got enough votes to be the speaker of the house. >> ryan said earlier a formal endorsement as a prerequisite for his bid. last night, two-thirds was enough. he tweeted last night. i believe this is a positive step toward a unified republican team. you called his politics muscular. so interesting he came in, much like you would in corporate america, if you're in demand for a hard job, you go in and say, this is what i need to do this job. boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. >> he came in a little bit like michael corleone, whacking the heads of the other five families. >> he also said he wanted family

time. he said, the last condition was, you know, i'm not going to sacrifice time with my family. interesting it's a gen-x guy out there changing the conversation about work/life balance. >> dude is my age. i know what he's talking about. new details about joe biden's decision not the run for president. the vice president ended months of speculation, much of it wrong, with an announcement in the rose garden. >> but while i will not be a candidate, i will not be silent. i intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as i can where we stand as a party, and where we need to go as a nation. >> this is, of course, big news for hillary clinton. polls show she is likely to benefit most from the absence of the vice president. let's get more now from senior washington correspondent jeff

z zeleny. >> reporter: good morning. in the end, joe biden followed his head not his heart. as he backed away from what is surely his last chance at the presidency. after weeks of speculation, he opens the door to the rest of the democratic campaign. so was he ever serious at all? severaled a sizers and presents up cyst he was. i'm told the more he knew about the race, the more exploring he did in calls of iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina, the more daunting his path seemed over the past several days, when he was out calling hillary clinton out, he wasn't firing a warning shot as much as offering a lesson in bipartisanship for how he thinks washington should actually work. hillary clinton is surely relieved. bernie sanders is now the leading alternative. if democrats are still looking for one. biden said he would not remain silent in the race going forward. urging democrats to embrace

president obama and his legacy tightly. his endorsement may depend on which candidate listens. others weighed in on biden's decision. hillary clinton tweeted the vp is a good friend and a great man, today and always, inspired by his optimism and commitment to change the world for the better she signed it "h," so you know she wrote it. >> he made a difficult decision. based on the needs of his family and his view of his future. and i respect the decision that he made. >> i was actually -- i'm kind of surprised. i thought he was going to run. i thought he would have been a competitive candidate in the democratic nomination. >> it pretty much guarantees that hillary will be the person that we're running against. >> what about bernie sanders? >> it pretty much guarantees that hillary will be the one we

run against. >> seems like hill i have on her way. the democrats have a candidate under extraordinary scrutiny. >> what did donald trump say? he complimented joe biden and tock a shot at hillary clinton. donald trump is marking a personal milestone. sara murray has the latest from iowa. >> reporter: good morning, john and christine. donald trump took the stage here in burlington, iowa, last night. you can count on trump to give the people what he wants. a dose of conservative red meat. first, he had a message for vice president joe biden. you did the right thing in deciding not to run for the presidency. >> so -- we had some news today. that biden is not running. [ cheers and applause ] and -- and i think he did the smart thing because frankly, i don't know that he would have

won. he wouldn't have gotten the nomination. i don't think he probably would have. and frankly, i really want to run against hillary. i really do. >> and of course, there's a reason donald trump would prefer to run against hillary clinton. in a head-to-head matchup, he faces a tougher fight against joe biden than up against the democratic front-runner, clinton. that's a matchup that will never come to pass. back the to you, john and christine. >> all right, sara, thank you. security in afghanistan at the top of the agenda as the president meets with the pakistani leader today. the u.s. wants pakistan's government to convince the taliban to participate in peace talks. also on the table, sensitive nuclear negotiations. sharif plans to tell the president that pakistan will not accept limits on small weapons.

concerns news for the cia director this morning. wikileaks vowing to publish personal information hacked from john brennan's file. on wednesday, pass words of his and his family were revealed online. though class fid data was stolen, we're told. wicky leaks is promising another data dump today. posting this tweet wednesday, tomorrow, we continue our cia chief john brennan e-mail series, including on u.s. strategy in afghanistan and pakistan. stock futures pointing higher. companies opening books this morning. earnings reports from mcdonald's, southwest, and others. stock futures higher. companies have contracting profits for the first time since 2009. it means profits falling.

donald trump's friend will spend $150 million to fight congress. carl icahn says he'll have up with -- one goal in mind. icahn, one of trump's biggest supporters and his pick for secretary of state if elected. all right. 1908 just got one year further away. the mets swept the cubs. they won each of four games in a row to advance to the world series for the first time since 2000. didn't take long last night. the mets led 4-0 after one inning. 6-0 after two. the final score was 8-3. in the four games, the cubs never led once. so daniel murphy, who is sort of like an average player during the year, maybe a little better than average. he's been playing out of his mind. he was name tld series mvp. he set a new record with a home

run in his sixth straight post season game. you cannot defeat daniel murphy. now, the mets will face the winner of the american league championship series. that was sent to a sixth game because toronto beat kansas city 7-1 last night. the royals still lead that series, 3-2. game six, tomorrow. >> can i just -- you know, unbelievable. i feel bad for my cubs. i know mets fans are happy. i just misspoke. i said that carl icahn would be the pick for secretary of state. i meant treasury secretary. let's have wall street running foreign policy. >> i'm just glad we cleared that up. breaking news, secretary of state john kerry meeting with israel's prime minister. we're live. i took the trash out. i know.

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secretary of state john kerry in germany at this hour, holding talks with benjamin netanyahu. he's hoping to bring an end to a wave of violence that's climbed dozens of israeli and palestinian lives this month. netanyahu raising eyes. by this public claim. it was a palestinian who gave hitler the idea for the holocau holocaust. that claim stirred up a whole lot overnight. >> yeah, critics from within israel saying that prime minister benjamin netanyahu made the statements for his own gain, really revising history. a number of historians have debunked that, saying he's been exaggerating the role of the grand mufti. germany takes responsibility for the holocaust and says there is

no need to revise history. that set the scene for this meeting this morning with secretary kerry. he'll try to dial down that sort of emotional rhetoric that he fears is inciting more violence. it's unclear what kind of agreement could put an end to this wave of attacks. >> putting an end to the wave of attacks so critical. has there been any calm overnight? or is this still such a tense situation? >> sadly, there have been another set of stabbings just this morning, in fact. there doesn't seem to be an end to it. what secretary kerry may try to do is get an agreement on the temple hount area. the dispute over it seems to be what strtriggered the latest attacks. if they can come to some kind of written agreement, it may deescalate the situation.

no guarantee the attacks will stop. breaking news this morning. a suspect in custody following a manhunt in the overnight shooting of an all but kerky police officer. the eight-year vetter an officer was shot multiple times in a struggle that started in a traffic stop. the officer, not named is in criminal condition. 32-year-old tony torres was arrested after police received a anonymous tip. he confessed to the shooting on intersate 40, a shooting that killed 4-year-old lily garcia as she rode in the back of the car. the loss is felt in every corner of her state. >> such a senseless act. they're just driving down the freeway and -- she dies over -- being shot. it is so senseless. and, i just can't express how sad it is.

to know that something as simple as going down the freeway and your child dies because of road rage. >> the suspect is being held on $650,000 bail. the gunman who allegedly shot and killed a new york city police officer has been formally charged with murder. authorities say the suspect, 30-year-old tie rhone howard is a career criminal. wanted in another shooting last month. a memorial for officer randolph holder was set up outside the station house. last night, the lights outside the empire state building were blue to honor the fallen officer. that's nice to see. >> so sad. it's hot and getting hotter on earth. global temperatures running well above last year's record. all but guaranteeing that 2015 will be the hottest year ever. officials at the aim si say last month was the warmest september on record. the temperature increased from september 2014 was the largest since global tracking began in

1880. all right, on the subject of hot. though, not quite is same thing, jeb bush, he was answering questions at a presidential forum. he had been discussing a lot of serious issues. when he was asked, what was he asked? he was asked about his favorite superhero. listen to the answer. >> i like the old school guys, like batman. a little dark these days. >> good choice. good choice. >> i saw that there's a -- supergirl is on tv. i saw it when i was working out this morning. there's an ad promoting super girl. shed kind of -- she looked pretty hot. i don't know what channel it's on. i'm looking forward to that. >> so politifact will be looking into that. >> these guys running for office, they sit there and talk all day long. and they answer all kinds of questions. it's like, some of those questions are almost like your

worst job interview question. what's your favorite superhero? >> tom brady. see, i have an answer. it's not supergirl is pretty hot. it's tom brady. new details inside the meeting between vladimir putin and the embattled syrian president. complaints by the u.s. that they rolled out the red carpet.

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word this morning, syrian president bashar al assad earned a chilly reception in russia. putin and al assad met seek relit. they were distant and wary of one another. even as putin is trying to prop up assad with air strikes. the u.s. perspective on this is that putin rolled out the red carpet for bashar al assad. man who has attacked his own civilians. doesn't sound like there were bear hugs in that room. >> yeah, well that's apparently what you're hearing pip can tell you that the message that was hent to be sent by this was very different. that this is -- an ally of the kremlin.

and that this was a president who, despite the fact that he's criticizing the west and washington in particular, for carrying out attacks using chemical weapons, russia stands squarely behind him. i think that's the message that the kremlin wants to put across. if there are negotiations in the future about syria, then assad is the kremlin's man. that dep low mattic support the being shadowed by military support on the the ground with the russian air strikes now in their third week, striking hard at opposition fighters inside syria, including islamic state and other nonisis rebels as well. the russians playing a tough, hard-nosed game. >> you don't buy this chilly reception stuff? these are two men standing together to try to defeat assad's enemies?

>> i haven't heard that characterization of the meetings, to be perfectly honest with you. but, certainly the pictures we saw on state television showed the two meeting overnight. it was very secretive. there were smiles between the two leaders. clearly, president assad didn't want his people no know that he was out of the country. this is the first time he's been out of syria, it's believed, for the past four years since the syrian crisis began. and putin clearly wants to show that assad is his man. and he'll have part in an interim government in the future. >> thank you, matthew. hillary clinton now just a few hours from a big day on capitol hill. face to face with the select chit tee on benghazi. the committee members waiting a listening time for this. so, too, has hillary clinton. a huge moment in the campaign as well, stay was.

huge day on capitol hill. hillary clinton face to face with the select committee on benghazi. answering questions they have been waiting mons to ask. answers she's been waiting a long time to give. breaking overnight. paul ryan moves closer to becoming speaker of the house. the new support he's receiving. inside the big decision from joe biden. not to run for president. details you have not heard from insiders about why and how and how late he made that decision. >> fascinating. >> welcome back to "early

start." >> 31 minutes past the hour. it all happen this is morning. in just hours, hillary clinton goes before the house benghazi committee. questions and answers that could last all day. eight hours. the committee says the focus will be the 2012 attack on the u.s. diplomatic compound in libya. the attacks that killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three other americans. they're to ask her about the security problems at the compound. >> i'm particularly focused on the security incidents and the posture of the state department with respect to the security questi requests. we have learned there were hundreds of mentions about security incidents particularly in 2012. we have questions for the secretary what about she did with respect to those security requests. >> the political stakes are huge. hillary clinton is running for president. many democrats say this is all about the campaign.

>> reporter: well, john, christine, after months of anticipation. the day is finally here. there will be four two-hour rounds of questioning of secretary clinton. with breaks. aides so clinton say she's ready. she spent the week preparing with policy and legal teams. going over potential questions and studying up on the events leading up to and following the benghazi attacks. there have been more than a half dozen congressional investigations following the attacks. there's been a greater political tone to this one. democrats maintain it was designed as a takedown of clinton. and you have this string of comments recently by republicans almost backing up those accusations. committee chairman trey gowdy says he'll prove the committee is not about politics

with a hearing that is respectful of clinton and focuses on the facts surrounding the benghazi attacks. democrats, republicans, the state department, all will be watching this hearing. putting out their own spin, their own talking points. but for secretary clinton, this is a chance to defend her record at secretary of state and argue that this committee is retreading old ground here. in some ways, it's a chance to lay out her approach to foreign policy, as she campaigns to be commander in chief. this hearing a key moment for clinton's presidential campaign and the future of this committee. john? christine? >> thank you, elise. breaking overnight. paul ryan clear maid jor hurdle in his bid to become speaker of the house. last night, a supermajority voted to support ryan. they didn't give him quite enough votes for a formal endorsement. >> the freedom caucus supports him but didn't fully endorse him.

what does that mean in practical terms? >> we couldn't get 80% as our rules require. we got more than two-thirds of our group saying they want to support paul for speaker. so if paul really has the votes that we all think he has in the other portions of our conference, he's got enough votes to be the speaker of the house. >> ryan said earlier a formal endorsement as a condition for his bid. he tweeted last night. i'm grateful for the support of a supermajority of the house freedom caucus. i believe this is a positive step toward a unified republican team. the other two groups are pretty thank you much a done deal. >> his financial condition also was work/life balance. does the speaker of the house ever have work/life balance? >> you're never off the job. he was home watching the packers late into the campaign.

it's 2015. >> it's 2015. gen-x men and women share the job equally. let's talk about joe biden. another tough job. his decision not the run for vice president. an announcement in the white house rose garden. >> while i will not be a candidate, li will not be silen. i intend to speak out clearly and forcefully to influence as much as i can where we stand as a party, and where we need to go as a nation. >> biden's decision is big news for hillary clinton. she's likely to benefit the most from his absence. more from senior washington correspondent jeff zeleny. >> reporter: good morning. in the end, joe biden followed his head not his heart. as he decided to back away from what surely is his last chance to win the presidency.

in closing the door after weeks of self-induced speculation, he oppose the door to the rest of the democratic campaign. was he ever serious at all? several advisers and friends insist he was. i'm told the more he knew about the race, the more exploring he did in calls of iowa, new hampshire, and south carolina, the more daunting his path seemed. so over the past several days, when he was calling out hillary clinton for calling the republicans enemieenemies, he wt firing a warning shot as much as offering a lesson in bipartisanship for how he thinks washington should actually work. hillary clinton is surely relieved. bernie sanders is now the leading alternative. bide. biden made clear he would not remain silent in the race going forward. urging democrats to embrace president obama and his legacy tightly.

>> christine romans said she liked jeff zeleny's tie. others weighed in on biden's decision. hillary clinton tweeted the vp is a good friend and a great man, today and always, inspired by his optimism and commitment to change the world for the better. bernie sanders an others expressed their sentiments on camera. >> he made a difficult decision. based on the needs of his family and his view of his future. and i respect the decision that he made. >> i was actually -- i'm kind of surprised. i thought he was going to run. i thought he would have been a pretty competitive candidate for the democratic nomination. >> it pretty much guarantees that hillary will be the person that we're running against. >> what about bernie sanders? >> it pretty much guarantees that hillary will be the one we run against. >> i think given the field, it looks like hillary is on her way, as i always felt would be the case. and, you know, the democrats have a candidate who is under

extraordinary securie extraordinary scrutiny. >> as for donald trump, you want no know what he thinks? he complimented joe biden and tock a shot at hillary clinton. he's marking a personal milestone. sara murray has thlatest from iowa. >> reporter: good morning, john and christine. donald trump took the stage here in burlington, iowa, last night. celebrating his 100th day leading the gop field. you can count on trump to give the people what they want. a dose of conservative red meat. deliver side in his entirely uncrypted manner. first, he had a message for vice president joe biden. you did the right thing in deciding not to run for the presidency. >> so -- we had some news today. that biden is not running. [ cheers and applause ] and -- and i think he did the smart thing because frankly, i don't know that he would have won. he wouldn't have gotten the nomination. i don't think he probably would have. and frankly, i really want to run against hillary. i really do.

[ cheers and applause ] >> and of course, there's a reason donald trump would prefer to run against hillary clinton. polls show that in a head-to-head matchup, he faces a much tougher fight up against joe biden than if he's up against the democratic front-runner, clinton. that's a matchup that will never come to pass. back to you, john and christine. >> all right, sara, thank you. time for an early start of your money. u.s. stock futures up a little bit. watch pharmaceuticals. valiant pharmaceuticals tanked 20% yesterday after a research firm accused the drugmaker of extensive fraud. this firm comparing valiant to enron. they say a web of deception and fake invoices was created to

decei deceive. stocks in the sector have crumbled lately on fears they are too expensive. hillary clinton, bernie sanders and others have slammed the industry for produce gouging. that's a place to watch. one place not the watch this morning. chicago. 1908 just got one year further away. the new york mets swept the chicago cubs. the cubs didn't win a single game in the national league championship series. >> you don't have to say it like that. >> the mets won the pennant. the first time since 2000. it wasn't hard. it didn't take long. they were up 4-0 after one inning. 6-0 after two. the final score was 8-3. in the four games, the chicago cubs never led. the planet's best baseball player right now is daniel murphy, who is normally a good player. nice guy. plays baseball pretty well. now he's playing out of his freaking mind. he's set a record of six homers

in six straight post season games. the mets play the winner of the other series. toronto stays alive with a 7-1 win over kansas city. a lot of people from toronto watching us this morning. i know that because of twitter. >> what happened to chicago? is the team too young? good hitters? they didn't have the leadership on the field? >> the young people rattled. the lights-out pitching they had from some of their starts didn't show up. plus the mets pitching was crazy good. and daniel murphy. >> now the chicago fans are hoping to build on this team in the future. >> yeah, you can maybe win one game in the national league championship series next year. >> thanks, john. there's an urgent meeting to stop the violence in israel this morning. john kerry set to meet with israel's prime minister.

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secretary of state john kerry in germmy right now, holding talks with benjamin netanyahu. the secretary is hoping to bring an end to a wave of violence that's claimed does ps of lives. the prime minister raised a lot of eyebrows, to say the least, everyone among supporters. he publicly claimed it was a palestinian who gave adolf hitler the idea for the holocaust. the important thing today is the

meeting with secretary of state john kerry. >> it is the important thing. and his statements were easily dismissed by the german chancellor yesterday. saying germany takes responsibility for the holocaust and there's though need to revise history. that sets the stage for the meeting today. it's under way. there were brief remarks before the meeting got started with the prime minister stating it was palestinian incitement that triggered the latest wave of attacks. with secretary kerry saying all rhetoric on both sides needs to be dialed down. what will come out of this meeting? we're not sure yet. secretary kerry may be working on a diplomatic agreement. there's one that governors the access to the mosque.

jewish visitors can visit the site. they can't pray at the site. they can may at the adjacent western wall next to it. getting this down in writing may be one of the objectives of secretary kerry. then it means it can be enforced. everybody can stick to the positions set down in the document. that may be one way of deeggs ka lating the situation, john? >> all right. atika shubert. thank you. >> all right. new details this morning inside the meeting between vladimir putin and syria's embattled president. we're live. [female announcer] if the most challenging part of your day

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all right. this morning, the white house slamming russia for what it calls a red carpet welcome for syrian president bashar al assad. he went to moscow to meet secretly with vladimir putin. a white house official says the administration views the meeting as at odds with the stated goal bis the russian ifs ar political transition in syria. matthew chance live from moscow. good morning, matthew. >> morning, john. an extraordinary meeting here in moscow. kept top secret. it happened overnight. bashar al assad flown in to moscow. had a meeting, face to face,

with vladimir putin. they sat down. smiled at each other. bashar al assad thanked vladimir putin for the campaign of air strikes russia has been carrying out on the ground against the enemies in syria. putin saying he wants to see a political settlement as well in syria. that was one of the main messages that came out of this very strange visit indeed. russia saying to the rest of the world, look. you know, we are standing strongly behind bashar al assad. the west, the united states, in particular, believes he doesn't have a role in the future. any diplomatic solution is going through moscow. we're going to be the power brokers in all of this. that was communicated strongly by the images. it was reaffirmed on the telephone to the turkish and egyptians presidents by vladimir putin. russia starting a diplomatic offensive to push for a political settlement in syria

now that it has military planes bombing the targets in the country. >> we'll see where that goes. there hasn't been a settlement in the offing yet. >> no, four years of quar. 200,000 people lost in the war. 54 minutes past the hour. the government can track our phones. now the long-awaited answer to how they do it, exactly, next.

all right. just about the top of the hour. i'm christine romans. let's get an early start on your money this morning. stock futures pointing higher. earnings reports from mcdonald's, southwest, and others. stock futures higher. company profits expected to fall in the third quarter. new details about how the government can track our phones. law enforcement officials gave long-awaited answers about the use of sting ray machines. these sting rays mimic an actual cell phone tower and trick your phone into connecting. police nationwide have been using them for years.

officials say the devices are programmed to track cell phone locations, not gather calls or messages. still unclear how many sting rays exist and how often they're used. pulling the veil back a little bit. your boss is probably putting more money into your 401(k) than ever before. more than 40% of companies match their workers' 401(k) contribution dollar for dollar. the maximum amount people with put away in a 401(k) is $18,000 a year. that number will change next year. >> also not changing next year. social security. >> the social security checks will be flat next year. there will not be a pay rise in there for cost of living. >> that's a big deal. a lot of other costs are going up. all right. early start continues right now. we are just hours away from a huge day on capitol hill.

hillary clinton faces the house select committee on benghazi. facing tough questions about what happened on that compound, facing questions about her e-mail. what will her strategy be? >> paul ryan could be speaker of the house if he wants it. new support overnight from congress's most conservative republicans. >> how joe biden got to know. we have new information about the decision he made, how late he made it and who knew, when did they know it? there were a lot of people surprised yesterday. >> i'm john berman, welcome to "early start." >> i'm christine romans. this morning, hillary clinton goes before the house benghazi committee. the committee says the focus willing on the 2012 attacks on the u.s. diplomatic compound in benghazi, libya, attacks that killed ambassador chris stevens and three other americans.