'This Week' Transcript: WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2013 — -- A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday morning, October 13, 2013 on ABC News is below.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Good morning. Welcome to This Week.

Courting disaster.

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REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) OHIO: I don't want to put anything on the table. I don't want to take anything off the table.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: With the default deadline just four days away (inaudible) Washington stuck and the American economy your money hangs in the balance. It's up to the Senate to strike a dramatic last minute deal. Will House Republicans rally or revolt? And if we go over the cliff, what happens next.

This morning, all the breaking details about the high stakes negotiations from congress to the White House.

Then, NSA leaker Edward Snowden resurfaces and Hollywood takes on Julian Assange.

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JULIAN ASSANGE, WIKILEAKS FOUNDER: This is information the world needs to know.

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STEPHANOPOULOS: The WikiLeaks founder responds live from his London hideout.

All that plus the powerhouse roundtable. And that Nobel Prize stunner right here this morning.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos starts now.

STEPHANOPOULOS: All of you are telling us Washington's never been worse and all of the evidence coming in this week is proving that point. Government now shut down for almost least two weeks. In just four days, America faces the risk of default. That's never happened before.

And right now, hopes for a deal to avert that catastrophe rest on two Senate leaders who haven't always been on speaking terms.

We're going to examine all the angles and consequences of this showdown this morning starting with ABC's chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl.

And John, the president's talks with House Speaker John Boehner collapsed Friday and bipartisan talks in the Senate collapsed yesterday. And now the Senate leader negotiation is the only game in town.

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, George. It is the only game in town. And it is a game that is not going well.

The two men are trying to craft an agreement that would keep the government open and postpone default until January 31. And Republicans have given up all the demands -- or at least Mitch McConnell and the Republican leader in the Senate have given up all of the demands that led to this crisis. Major changes to Obamacare are not even on the table right now.

But the talks broke down yesterday, over Democratic demands from Harry Reid to increase spending. Reid wants to end most of those spending cuts that were put in place under the sequester as part of this deal. And George, keep in mind, that as these two men hold the key to whether or not this is solved or not, that these two have seen their relations deteriorate so much, they have barely been on speaking terms.

STEPHANOPOULOS: At the same time, Senator McConnell is sending out a lot of signals that he wants a deal.

KARL: There's no question, going into these talks yesterday, McConnell was already preparing for what he knew to be a backlash from the Tea Party Republicans have given up in this. He gave an interview with the local newspaper in Lexington, Kentucky, saying that he wants a come-together moment with Democrats saying as much as I would rather have a Republican president and would rather be the majority leader of the Senate, I am willing to work with the government we have -- not the one we wish we had.