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Hard Evidence in Syria; McCain Warns Obama on Syria; Assad Warning; Assad Warns: "Expect Every Action"; New Jersey's Medical Marijuana Decision

Aired September 09, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Doing these round robin interviews with the president. We can't release the interview until 6:00. So right at the top of 6:00 in "The Situation Room," 6:00 p.m. Eastern in the United States and around the world people will be able to see my interview with the president.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We look forward to it. Wolf Blitzer, thanks for joining me today. I appreciate it.

BLITZER: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So while the president makes his case on Syria, a lot of people are hoping to hear some hard evidence that President Bashar al Assad was, in fact, responsible for those haunting chemical attacks. While there's little doubt a chemical attack did take place, Americans are really only hearing circumstantial evidence about who is to blame. CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence is at the Pentagon to tell us more about that side of the story.

Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, exactly, Carol. You know, U.S. intelligence officials say they don't have a smoking gun that says they have a phone call or some intercept that says Bashar al Assad directly ordered this attack, but they say their evidence is more than circumstantial. One of the things that they have been showing senators behind closed doors are these videos of what happened after the attack. It's not our job to tell you how you should react to seeing this video, but we should warn you that some of these images are very disturbing. They may not be something that you want your children to see, but they are something that the administration is using to try to build their case for this air strike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: The videos are graphic, capturing the moments after a chemical attack in Syria -- men, boys and girls convulsing and dying on a tile floor. CNN can't independently confirm the images, but a government source says the Obama administration told senators the U.S. intelligence community verified they're real. The source told CNN, officials concluded the video was not tampered with because it was shot from multiple different angles. The intel officials are said to have verified the actual locations and that the videos' matched survivors' accounts of the August attack. But the images don't answer the critical question, who is responsible?

DENIS MCDONOUGH, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: You've seen that video proof of the outcome of those attacks.

LAWRENCE: For the White House, this is enough to indict Bashar al Assad.

MCDONOUGH: All of that leads to, as I say, a quite strong common sense test irrespective of the intelligence that suggests that the regime carried this out.

LAWRENCE: But if the administration plans to only use limited air strikes to answer the attack, former military officials worry it won't be enough.

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.): You can't tell what's going to happen after the first three days, first four days of operations. We may have to take additional action, hit additional targets. This is a real problem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAWRENCE: But it's something that planners here at the Pentagon have factored in. After any initial strike, there will be a period of assessment, what was destroyed, what was simply damaged, and what, if any, collateral damage was done. And again, some of the legislation that's moving through Congress right now is giving us 60, 90-day window of opportunity. So we're not just talking about only being authorized to strike for a few days. This would be a longer period of availability, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. And that makes many Americans even more nervous. Chris Lawrence live at the Pentagon this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, as the Obama administration makes its case for a Syria strike, the Syrian president is making a case of his own. And he's using American talking points to do it. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The Obama administration's push to get Congress and the American public to support military strikes on Syria, just a handful in Congress backing the action. Among them, Senator John McCain, who met with the president last week. The Obama administration says any U.S. action in Syria would be limited, as in no boots on the ground, but Senator McCain offered this warning should the situation deteriorate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA (voice-over): No one wants American boots on the ground. Nor will there be American boots on the ground because there would be an impeachment of the president if they did that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, that was McCain speaking to a radio host in Phoenix. He's just one of three Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to approve a serious strike authorization. Joining me now is HLN contributor and Hiram College Political Science Professor Jason Johnson.

So why bring up impeachment?

JASON JOHNSON, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Because this is the kind of obnoxious red meat rhetoric that is keeping our Congress from being ever functional during this administration. Impeachment should not be a part of this discussion at all. This is an issue of whether or not there's proper evidence and whether or not this is in America's national interest. And McCain, when he says things like that, I think it weakens him and it weakens America's overall statue. I think it's pathetic.

COSTELLO: He's supposed to be supporting the president, but now he's threatening to impeach the president. And it just confuses people, doesn't it?

JOHNSON: It confuses people and it's disingenuous. I mean the first day he said, no, I don't want to do this at all. The second he's like, well, I'm only in favor of it if he uses a bigger stick. The reality is that people like McCain are trying to play both ends of the aisle so that if this goes bad, he can claim that he didn't want to be involved to begin with. And I think that's cowardly.

COSTELLO: But shouldn't we just be laying out the case whether - I mean this is serious. It's not the time to play politics. So why do we keep playing politics. Like, oh, if I vote for this, then people won't vote. We shouldn't be doing that.

JOHNSON: We shouldn't be doing it at all, and especially after Assad's interview. I mean we just saw Assad basically get on the air and taunt and attempt to, for lack of a better word, punk the United States. And if anyone is concerned about how Iran might be looking at this, how North Korea might be looking at this, we have to have a united front either in favor or against and I think these kinds of politics by the Republicans and some Democrats are not helpful.

COSTELLO: OK, you're talking about Assad punking the United States, so let's play a bit of his interview from CBS this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BASHAR AL ASSAD, SYRIAN PRESIDENT: That reminds me about what Kerry said about the big lie that Colin Powell said in front of the world on satellites about the WMD in Iraq before going to war when he said, this is our evidence. Actually, he gave false evidence. In this case, Kerry didn't even present any evidence. He talked we have evidence and he didn't present anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. He went on to - I mean he used many of American talking points. He mentioned like, you don't want to get into another Iraq War, right? America, you don't want to do that. Mr. President Obama, hear the American people. All the polls say the majority of the American people don't want a strike. And do you want the leader of such a country to be saying - I mean this is what Congress has to consider.

JOHNSON: Exactly. Exactly. I find it hilarious when a dictator who brutalizes his own people starts to talk to us about polls. But the reality is also this. Iran is looking and what Assad is actually saying, it doesn't make any sense when you look at the amount of evidence, not just what the United States says, the Arab League. His neighbors have said, you are guilty, and they have condemned him for this. They just don't want military action. So this is no longer a question as to whether or not Assad was responsible. This is a question of what the United States will do and whether we should wait for the U.N. or we should have him sign some sort of treaty. That's what's really on the table.

COSTELLO: OK. So the president's going to sit down with six journalists today and he's going to grant them interviews about Syria. And then tomorrow he's going to address the American people. The American people are rightly skeptical of all of this because of our, you know, great track record, right, in the Middle East.

JOHNSON: Yes.

COSTELLO: So what does the president need to do to convince the American people that striking Syria is the right thing to do?

JOHNSON: He has to contextualize this. he has to say, look, not just that this isn't Iraq and this isn't Vietnam, we are in a situation where if we don't act now, the United States will look not only weak, but irresponsible. We can't go around and tell people you can't do this in Israel, you can't do in in Kosovo, can't do this in the Middle East and then we don't back anything up.

COSTELLO: I think, Jason, the American people are not going to care about that.

JOHNSON: Oh, we're not going to care.

COSTELLO: They're not going to care about that.

JOHNSON: They never care.

COSTELLO: But the American people want to see a plan.

JOHNSON: Exactly.

COSTELLO: They want to see a plan. They want to see hard core evidence. They want to see why we should fear Syria. That's what they want to hear. Will the president deliver that? JOHNSON: I think if he does, he'll be successful. And I think the most effective way for him to do that is, Assad basically threatened us in his interview. Assad said, I don't know if weapons of mass destruction or gas attacks. If the president comes out and says, this is what we're dealing with right now. We're dealing with someone who's directly threatening the United States. We want to allow that to continue. If he makes that argument, even more so than dying children and things like that, I think he'll move some of the American public.

COSTELLO: Jason Johnson, thanks so much.

JOHNSON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

Dennis Rodman says he's got some huge news. And fresh off his second trip to North Korea, everyone wants to know what it is. He spills the beans at the top of the hour.

Plus, he's been the face of the NAACP for five years. Now Ben Jealous says it's time to go. He tells CNN why he's stepping down.

And, how sweet it is. Serena Williams serves her way into sports history with a fifth U.S. Open title. And this morning, she's talking to us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER: I'm just having a lot of fun out there and I go out there to compete.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: That's all new in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had a bold warning for America this morning, telling CBS, if Syria is attacked, there will be repercussion. He said "expect everything," including chemical weapons. David Isby is a military analyst and former military adviser to President Reagan.

Before we beginning our conversation, I'd like to you listen to Bashar al-Assad's full remarks. Here they are.

DAVID ISBY, MILITARY ANALYST: All right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLIE ROSE, HOST, "CHARLIE ROSE": Will there be attacks against American bases in the Middle East if there's an air strike?

PRESIDENT BASHAR AL-ASSAD, SYRIA: You should expect everything. You should expect everything. Not necessarily through the government. It's not only -- the governments are not only -- not the only player in this region. You have different parties. You have different factions. You have different ideology. You have everything in decision now. So you'd have to expect that.

ROSE: But we'd like to know more and I think the President would like to know more, the American people would like to know if there is an attack what might be the repercussions and who might be engaged in those repercussions?

AL-ASSAD: Before the end of September in my discussions with many officers in the United States some of them are congressman, I used to say that don't deal with the terrorists as playing games. It's a different story. You're going to pay the price if you are not wise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: "Going to pay the price if you are not wise." You're a military guy.

DAVID ISBY, MILITARY ANALYST: Yes that's what's called a threat, a vicious threat. He knows what he's saying, but he's also reminding you that this is not just about Syria. This is about the whole region and the areas that surround it. So he's telling you the impact may come down if you touch me against people in Israel, people elsewhere in the region as well as bases.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: But you can threaten all you want but that doesn't mean it will be.

ISBY: No, it's sort of like he's drawing his red line. You've just seen how difficult it is to draw a red line that sticks when Obama tried to do it. He is saying I am trying to deter American action by this threat.

Now, we have a much harder thing, we're trying to compel him and he's saying, "Look, I'm going to win and I'm going to win my way," which is very ugly indeed.

COSTELLO: So -- so does it make it more likely for President Obama, you know, to say ok, we've got to do this. This is war (inaudible)? Did you just hear what he said?

ISBY: Certainly it deals him a pad (ph) that he's saying yes we've known back to the 1930s that standing up to dictators is a good thing, when that becomes the issue rather than the lack of effectiveness in limited air and missile strikes. He's dealt the advocates of hitting him a very strong card right there.

COSTELLO: Ok so he's saying that terrorists, you know, I assume Hezbollah and other terrorists around the world, that are loyal to such dictators will attack the United States, so when President Obama talks of limited military strikes, can you do that if chemical weapons may be involved?

ISBY: Well, what the other thing being, if you do not and he gets away with it, every dictator who has access to a pesticide plant, a PhD in crop dusting plane will say yes, I can have chemical weapons too and use that, so there is a chemical weapons threat whichever way you go.

COSTELLO: So -- so do we know that these people have chemical weapons?

ISBY: Yes. That Syria has chemical weapons.

COSTELLO: I know Syria but others? Terrorist groups? He's talking about terrorist groups.

ISBY: It's hard to know. They probably do not unless they have a space to create them. The Syrians will probably have to give them a large amount, unless they are prepared to give them space and a pesticide plant and PhDs for them to make their own which we don't believe has happened yet.

COSTELLO: Military analyst David Isby thanks for your insight this morning. We appreciate it.

ISBY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Tonight on CNN, in-depth coverage of the crisis in Syria, beginning with Erin Burnett and a look inside a U.S. bomb lab.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN tonight at 7:00, an Erin Burnett "OUTFRONT" exclusive. Go inside a U.S. government's classified bomb lab. See how U.S. intelligence cracks the code on the bomb and the bomb maker.

And at 9:00 on "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" -- "Plan of Attack", how will President Obama win over the public before punishing Syria's Assad. Pierce talks to the experts on the eve of what could be the most important speech of his presidency. These stories all ahead on CNN Tonight Erin Burnett, "OUTFRONT" at 7:00, "ANDERSON COOPER" 360 at 8:00 and "PIERS MORGAN LIVE" at 9:00 tonight on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And still to come in the NEWSROOM, a bill in New Jersey could make it easier for young patients to get their hands on medical marijuana. If it passes it would allow children who qualify to consume an edible form of pot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: New Jersey lawmakers are expected to vote on a controversial medical marijuana bill that would expand options for patients. If passed, the measure would allow children who qualify to consume edible forms of marijuana.

Let's bring in Susan Candiotti. She has more for us this morning. Good morning, Susan. SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, these are the provisions that so many parents have been seeking. Let's take a look at them.

Number one: edible marijuana now becoming available for children only. There will be no limit on the types of strains grown and cultivated for pharmaceutical use. And this is something new -- two doctors instead of only one and a psychiatrist must give the ok for the prescription.

Now, for example, 2-year-old Vivian Wilson suffers from a severe form of epilepsy. There are only about 500 recorded cases according to the National Institutes of Health. Vivian's family says she suffers 20 to 70 minor seizures every day, averaging major seizures every four days. She has to sleep with a heart and oxygen monitor and an eye patch. You see that. That helps ward off certain patterns that she may see that could trigger seizures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN WILSON, FATHER: She has stopped breathing several times during seizures and she can also die of SUDIP which is sudden unexplained death in epilepsy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CANDIOTTI: Now the edible marijuana, edible pot can help ease those seizures. So if the assembly approves the compromise bill as New Jersey senate already has, Governor Christie, Carol is expected to sign it into law.

COSTELLO: So Governor Christie he seems to have eased his stance as long as those provisions are included in the bill.

CANDIOTTI: Yes he had a lot of difficulties with it. But it seems he's gotten over them. And the Wilson's anticipating that this bill would pass, they issued a statement to just a little while ago. And here is how it reads, quote, "We are happy that this is finally being signed into law. Our next focus will be working with the Mary E. O'Dowd and Department of Health to ensure this law is properly regulated according to the true intent of the law."

But Carol it might take a few months to get these all take care of in regulations in place before finally these children can take advantage of this new kind of treatment.

COSTELLO: All right. Susan Candiotti reporting live for us.

And we want to take you back live to New York right because Dennis Rodman, the former basketball star, is now holding a news conference. As you know, Dennis Rodman has been over in North Korea. We understand he met with Kim Jong-Un's family and met Kim Jong-Un's new daughter and inadvertently released her name.

Now Dennis Rodman is expected to announce something else that happened in North Korea that was earth-shattering. Many people believe it's just a basketball game, you know, between the North Koreans and the Americans; somehow that might take place. Other people believe it has to do with an American long held hostage in one of North Korea's prison camps -- an American that is very, very ill.

Jason Carroll is following the story. He's at this news conference. But right now let's listen in and hear what they're saying.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- nonprofit, nongovernmental organization committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict. Finally, we'll hear from Dennis, we're opening up the floor, welcoming your questions to the panel.

So I guess you're wondering what does the North Korean leader, Dennis Rodman, and (inaudible) have in common. There's been unusual groups of people thrown together over time. I guess this one's got to be right up there. To square the circle, it began when the Pope resigned which is the first time that's happened for 600 years.

So set the scene, six months ago, when Dennis was -- about the time he was on his first trip to North Korea. We were busy taking bets on who's going to be next Pope. Dennis came and joined us in Rome as our spokesman for the day. A great day and got on great. Over meal --

COSTELLO: All right. We suspected this. We're not going to listen about Dennis Rodman's organization. We want to hear directly from the man himself. So we're going to take a break and when we come back, hopefully Dennis Rodman himself will be speaking.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, the big push won't be an easy sell. President Obama out to convince Congress and you this week that the U.S. should strike Syria.

Who's buying it, though? And where's the hard proof? Syria's president speaking out this morning, denying his government used chemical weapons. And he's got a warning for Mr. Obama.

The Worm returns with some huge news. So what's Dennis Rodman dying to tell us after his trip to North Korea? We'll find out soon.

She's jumping for joy and who can blame her? Serena Williams now a champion for the history books.

The second hour of NEWSROOM starts now.