Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Obama Approval Tumbles Eight Points; Shedding Light On The NSA; Clash Over NSA Surveillance; Obama In North Ireland For G8 Summit; 46 Shot, Seven Dead In Chicago; Colorado Wildfire Now Homicide Scene; Newtown Murder Weapon's Maker Reacts; Connecticut Accountant Is Miss USA; Super Bowl Humor Or Heist; Putin Denies Super Bowl Ring Theft; North Korea Proposes Talks With U.S.

Aired June 17, 2013 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: -- others lucky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That means nothing. That's what we bought insurance for, but it's the things that represent our family's heritage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And ring row. Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft, versus Russian President Vladimir Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm tremendously humbled.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Did Putin steal Kraft's Super Bowl ring? Putin says no, and furthermore, he says it's weird.

And line drive to the head. Is it time for pitchers to wear helmets? Some say emphatically no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to look like a bunch of mechanical men going around, you know, they're going to placing people here and there with all the this equipment on. We're going to like "Star Wars" before it's all over so I'm not all for that. I think the game is the game and that's just the way it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me. I'm Carol Costello. This morning Americans are weighing in on how President Obama is doing his job and the White House, well, I'm betting doesn't like what they're saying. So let's get right to the numbers. According to a new CNN/ORC poll, the president's approval rating has fallen eight points in just one month, but that's not the only troubling side. For the first time, a majority of Americans say President Obama is neither honest nor trustworthy. What impact does it have on the president's agenda?

Here to talk about it our chief national correspondent John King and chief political analyst Gloria Borger. Welcome to you both. So Gloria, are you surprised about these poll numbers?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: I'm not really surprised given what the president has been going through lately, given the controversies over the IRS, the National Security Agency. What's interesting to me, really, is that he has lost younger voters by a 17- point decline. That's since May. When you look at the fact that younger voters are not happy about the surveillance story, they don't like it.

You'll see that's where this shift is really coming from for the president, and I do believe it's troubling for him, Carol, because the one thing President Obama always had going for him, particularly as we watch the numbers so closely during the last election, is that people thought he was honest and trustworthy, and they always gave him the benefit of the doubt. Now those numbers have shifted dramatically as well.

COSTELLO: I guess he's learned that internet privacy is very important to young people. The question now is what effect does it have on his agenda, John?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, that's a great question because you're in the second term, it's a ticking clock. You're getting closer and closer for the midterm election. A second term president, they call it the six-year itch election and so what happens here?

So he wants to work with Republicans on immigration. He would like the Republicans to accept some of his spending priorities. We see how hard that has been in recent years. Now the Republicans look at him and say he is under 50 percent. This is the political equivalent, if you will, of an underwater mortgage.

So Republicans look at him and they say, he's weak at the moment anyway. That's only one poll. Don't invest too much in one poll, but he's weak at the moment. They're going to make a second run at background checks and gun control. The vice president kicks out tomorrow.

Conservative Democrats say he's weak at the moment. I don't have to be with him on this. So it does hurt a president especially in the second term and it's counter intuitive to this. It tells you the cumulative effect of all these bad headlines because the economy is getting better, Carol.

Normally when the economy starts to go up, and optimism about the economy goes up, the president goes with it. So the fact that this president is going down when the economy is going up, that's troubling.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Back to the poll numbers as it concerns young people, Gloria. So Republicans want to gain young people, right? They're not doing so good in that category, either so does this help them?

BORGER: Well, look, it gives them an opportunity. If you're a Republican now and you're looking at these numbers, you're thinking, as John was pointing out, what do I need to do for myself? I don't need to be seen as being a friend of President Obama any longer. So if you're a Republican, you're saying, well, maybe there's an opportunity for us with younger voters, particularly as you look towards 2016, which of course they're all looking towards.

They have a batch of younger candidates now. They think will have some appeal. If they get immigration reform passed, maybe they can start appealing to Hispanic voters, some minority voters. So if you're looking at this and you're a Republican in Congress, you're saying number one, I'm not as afraid of the president as I might have been because people aren't giving him the benefit of the doubt. And two, I see some openings here for myself politically.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Gloria Borger, John King, thank you both so much for your insights this morning. We appreciate it.

On the subject of internet privacy, outrage and concern about how the government's efforts to keep the nation safe affects your privacy. Now prompting the NSA to be a little more open about what it's been doing. Chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash has more on that for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A full court Obama administration press to calm Americans' concerns about secret surveillance programs led by the Republican House Intelligence chairman.

REPRESENTATIVE MIKE ROGERS (R), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: If you can see just the number of cases where we've actually stopped a plot, I think Americans will come to a different conclusion than all the misleading rhetoric I've heard over the last few weeks.

BASH: Intelligence agencies are now working to declassify specifics about dozens of terror plots that the National Security Agency director told Congress the secret service programs helped disrupt. Over the weekend, the government unlocked a teaser. This document naming phone data collection program have helped prevent terror plots, quote, "here in the homeland and in more than 20 countries around the world." Supporters of surveillance programs tried to beat back thoughts that the government is listening to phone calls in the U.S.

ROGERS: It's against the law for the NSA to record and monitor U.S. Americans' phone calls.

BASH: Another supporter, Dick Cheney, someone who rarely agrees with the Obama White House, does on this. The GOP vice president on the day of 9/11 says these programs could have prevented that attack.

DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I guess I'd ask everybody to pause and don't automatically fold the NSA in with the other stuff that's going on in the Obama administration because this is a program run by professionals. It's done great work. It has saved lives.

BASH: But nay sayers like Colorado Democrat Mark Udall are not giving up.

SENATOR MARK UDALL (D), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I don't think collecting millions and millions of Americans' phone calls -- this is the metadata, this is time, place, to whom you direct the calls is making us any safer.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And Dana Bash joins me now. I know you talked with Senator Mark Udall. He doesn't think the programs are making us safer, but is it classified information about these plots?

BASH: He says he is. He says he has seen the classified information. He just doesn't agree with colleagues and frankly, senior members of the intelligence community who are arguing that these programs really have been instrumental in preventing several terror attacks. Of course, we heard from the NSA director that they are in the dozens.

Now what we are possibly even going to see as early as today, Carol, is the people who disagree with him try to prove that, by revealing some declassified details of these terror plots. Again we're told it could happen as soon as today, there's some to'ing and fro'ing inside the intelligence community about what to put out there action as you know, there's a lot of skepticism about putting it out.

Because they're concerned about sources and methods, and really hurting the intelligence agents and people around the world and the method they use to get this information so they're trying to figure out exactly how to get that information. Now, to prove to Americans they think that these programs are worth potential maybe walking up to the line or at least infringing on the civil liberties.

COSTELLO: And the drama continues. Dana Bash reporting live from Washington this morning.

As I told you, President Obama is now meeting with his counterparts at the G-8 Summit in Northern Ireland. Our chief White House correspondent Jesssica Yellin is traveling with the president. Jessica, what's on the agenda?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Well, the big event today is the president's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among the topics they are expected to discuss -- Syria. The two men have a serious difference of opinion. Russia's President Vladimir Putin says the rebels the U.S. is arming are cannibals. He offered no proof. A Russian government spokesman said, if the west tries to impose a no-fly zone in Syria, Russia will not allow that. Now, the president is not backing a no-fly zone in Syria, at least not yet, but that's clearly a thread from Russia, and clearly a standoff between the two men. There is also Afghanistan, counterterrorism efforts. On a lighter note, the acquisition that Putin palmed a diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring from a U.S. sports team owner.

And now allegations in "The Guardian" that the U.S. eaves dropped on the Russian president at a previous global summit back 2009. The U.S. won't say whether that report is true or false, but certainly a full agenda at their upcoming meeting -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Lots of things on that menu. What kind of perception will the president be getting from other leaders there, you think?

YELLIN: You know, there are a lot of frustration, some anger and disappointment facing the president. First of all there are reports from government surveillance. They are going over with a thud here in Europe where privacy concerns are taking very seriously. That only adds to European dissatisfaction with President Obama.

He has surprised many here, who thought that he would close Guantanamo Bay in his first termed and frustrated by his ramped-up use of drones. Now many also in Europe think that he has been slowed to response to the crisis in Syria. But now U.S. action there could help quiet some of this discontent. So a lot of the focus will be on Syria and also on some of the economic concerns, which actually could help also quiet the discontent. Things are looking a little sunnier for the U.S. there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Jessica Yellin reporting live this morning. Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, a new Miss USA has been crowned, but one contestant's onstage flub is all the buzz this morning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's 13 past the hour. It's time to check our top stories, a deadly week of violence in Chicago. According to "The Chicago Tribune" seven people shot to death, more than 40 injured, the youngest victim, a 16-year-old boy killed by a gunman on a bicycle. CNN is still trying to independently confirm the number of dead and injured in the weekend of violence.

The 16,000-acre Black Forest fire in Colorado now considered a crime scene. Federal investigators have been called in to help. Two people have died in the wildfire, which has destroyed 483 structures. The El Paso County sheriff says it will be some time before residents will be allowed to permanently return home.

Finally we hear from the head of the company that made the assault rifle used in the Sandy Hook massacre. George Politite told the "Washington Times," it's easy to blame an inanimate object, but any kind of instrument put in the wrong hands can be used to commit evil.

Connecticut accountant, Erin Brady, is the new Miss USA. The Central Connecticut State brad beat out 50 other contestants including Miss Utah, but had a little trouble on the question of pay disparity between men and women.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARISSA POWELL, MISS UTAH: I think we can relate this back to education and how we are continuing to try to strive to --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The Putin camp says it's just weird. Well, we can all agree with that. It is weird. So why does Russian President Vladimir Putin have a New England Patriots Super Bowl ring. He got the ring in 2005 following this meeting with the Patriots' owner, Robert Kraft. Now Putin is making a stand over suggestions he stole the diamond- encrusted ring worth more than $25,000.

John Berman is here. I didn't expect you live, but I'm so glad that you're here live and in person because this story is weird.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is weird and I am in fact live, which is a happy thing for both of us right now, Carol. You know, I am a Patriots fan, a huge Patriots fan. I'm reasonably sure Vladimir Putin was not on the 2005 Super Bowl winning team. President Obama is set to sit down with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin in just a few hours.

They're going to talk about some of the world's biggest hot button issues, Syria, nuclear proliferation. But there might not be a more contentious issue than Super Bowl jewelry. You know, Vladimir Putin, he is an imposing character, but jewel thief? You decide.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN (voice-over): Russian President Vladimir Putin was a KGB agent, martial arts expert, goes topless and has intercontinental ballistic missiles. New England Patriots owner, Robert Kraft has Tom Brady, so it's pretty much a fair fight, a fight between a nuclear super power and a football super power, over all things -- jewelry. It's not just any jewelry, it's a brewing international incident over a ring, a Super Bowl ring.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At a gala in New York City last Thursday, told the crowd that Putin allegedly swiped his Super Bowl ring back in 2005 when they met in St. Petersburg. According to Kraft, Putin admired the ring encrusted with 124 diamonds and said I can kill someone with this ring.

Kraft went on to explained, I put my hand out and he put it in his pocket and three KGB buys got around him and walked out? Putin a thief, a spokesman for the president says Nyet. I was there when it happened so what Mr. Kraft is saying now is weird. I was standing 20- centimeters away from him and Putin and saw heard how Mr. Kraft gave this ring as a gift. Maybe it's a case of lost in translation, literally.

Maybe he lost the ring because of translation, or maybe there were bigger global forces involved. The "New York Post," which broke the story of Kraft's comments on Thursday as saying White House officials urged him to say the ring was a gift, in the interest of U.S./Soviet relations.

Now Mr. Kraft seems to be backing off a bit. The Patriots releasing a statement it's a humorous anecdotal story that Robert re-tells for last. He loves that his ring is at the Kremlin as he stated back in 2005, he continue to have great respect for Russia and the leadership of President Putin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So the 4.94 carat ring, which is quite big is in the Kremlin's Library where all official state gifts are kept. It's worth more than $25,000, Carol. Here's the thing when there's a legal dispute, this kind of issue, I tend to side with the guy who's got nuclear weapons.

COSTELLO: Who said he could kill someone with that Super Bowl ring.

BERMAN: Here take the ring, fine, I have others.

COSTELLO: Whatever. I love that story. John Berman, thanks so much.

Just ahead in the NEWSROOM, it is a sign tensions with North Korea could be easing? We'll have a live chat with the former CIA analyst about whether the United States should sit down and talk with North Korea. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: There is talk about talk, but so far no word on if or when the United States and North Korea might actually talk. Sunday North Korea state run news agency said its government made the proposal for high level talks to, quote, "ease tensions." The proposal comes just days after potential talks fell apart between North and South Korea.

Sue Mi Terry is a former CIA senior analyst. Good morning.

SUE MI TERRY, FORMER CIA SENIOR ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK, so it's difficult for me to believe that the United States will have direct talks with North Korea.

TERRY: Yes, not yet. The precondition has not changed from the U.S.' perspective, which is that denuclearization issue has to be on the table and that's not what North Koreans are offering right now.

COSTELLO: So does North Korea, I mean, it wasn't so long ago that North Korea were making all kinds of threats, even towards the United States and now it wants to talk, but the nuclear weapon thing is off the battle.

TERRY: This is extremely predictable. Anyone who says North Korea's behavior is unpredictable. It's wrong. This is very predictable. This is what North Korea has been doing the last couple decades, which is also having up the ante in the face of any kind of international condemnation, and then to back to some peace offensive like this in the hope to get some sort of concessions.

COSTELLO: So North Korea sort of had a slap down from China, right, but North Korea is going to sit down shortly and talk with China. What do you suppose will come out of that meeting?

TERRY: I'm sure they'll do what they can to persuade North Koreans to return to the talks, but talk about denuclearization. Again this is not what North Koreans are offering, but this peace offensive that they've been for the last couple of weeks, I mean, actually it started with Japan, trying to talk to the Japanese it's gotten no results, we've been playing the same game for years now.

COSTELLO: The final question -- so what's the answer? If we're tired of playing the game, you stop playing the game, but you really can't, can you?

TERRY: No, we have to continue pressuring. We have continue with our sanctions, and we will talk only if, if you take that off the table -- but to give them what, in return for what? We have to get something from them, right?

COSTELLO: Right. Sue Mi Terry, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

TERRY: Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: You're welcome. If you can't speak English, you cannot become a U.S. citizen, at least that's what Senator Marco Rubio is saying now. We'll talk about that now.

Plus Celebrity Chef Nigella Lawson's husband allegedly chokes her while out to dinner. We'll have a live report for you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)