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Diplomacy Fluid over Syria; Obama Rewrites Speech; Man Dies after "I Hate White People" Attack; Apple Introduces Two New Phones; YouTube Drunk Driving Confessor Pleads Not Guilty; Putin Says U.S. Must Remove Threat from Syria

Aired September 10, 2013 - 15:30   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: And then, hours later, the Russians come back with that proposal.

And then, according to this administration official, this was then batted back and forth between the White House and State Department and basically the White House decided to go ahead and give this a chance.

And now to flash forward to today, what we're hearing from administration officials, is that this is going to impact the president's speech to the nation tonight, that he is going to be talking about giving diplomacy a chance.

Apparently he was just on Capitol Hill in the last couple of hours. Our Dana Bash has been saying that he basically is calling for a delay in a vote to authorize military force.

That's something we were hearing earlier in the day, that the pressure is really now off of that kind of vote because they have to take this next step here and let the diplomatic course, you know, basically play itself out and see what happens after that.

So a fascinating 24 hours. As one senior administration official put it to me, this is diplomacy in real time as you're watching it unfold, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Unfolding here through, it seems like, the news cycle.

Jim Acosta, thank you so much for getting everyone caught up here.

Let me bring in two more voices, chief political analyst Gloria Borger and historian Julian Zelizer.

And Gloria, talk about diplomacy in real time, you think of those speech writers for the president. What specifically do you think, given everything that's happened in the last 24 hours, do you think they're rewriting for him today?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think they're trying to make this very focused and clear. Look, the president's trying to thread the needle here, and he's got to say, look, give diplomacy a chance, but back it up with threat of the use of force.

Now they're putting off this vote, as Jim says. I spoke with a senior administration official who called it a "pause," if you will. And they're putting it off to see what happens in the U.N. Security Council and to adjust a vote accordingly.

But also, a little reality check here, Brooke, they're putting it off because they don't have the votes yet in the Congress, so it works for them in a lot of ways, to put this vote off.

But the president has to clarify to the American public what exactly has occurred here and what he's trying to do because over the last two, two-and-a-half weeks, it's been kind of confusing.

BALDWIN: Julian, similar question to you, what do you think is the message, what do you think is specifically rewriting for this massive speech tonight?

PROFESSOR JULIAN ZELIZER, POLITICAL HISTORIAN, PRINCETOWN: Well, I think it's shifted from a speech about the need for military force to the possibility of peace and, specifically, what Reagan used to talk about, peace through strength, meaning that ultimately the threat of military force is what compels adversaries like Syria to come to the table.

But he has to address the question of why trust the regime who he has spoken very badly about, and what are the grounds for knowing whether Syria's actually following through.

BALDWIN: And how does he do that, Gloria, because, you know, according to administration officials, you know, the president has been talking to Putin about the chemical weapons that have been in Syria.

But listen, we all know what their relationship has been like. I'm curious how he addresses the tone and skepticism.

BORGER: Well, he has to sort of deal with it, head on. He has to make it very clear what we would want from the Security Council, what kind of benchmarks, what kind of timetable, what kind of verification we would want.

Americans recall searching for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and nobody wants to go through that all over again.

There are lots of questions about how we could verify where their weapons are, whether they've been moving them around, whether the satellite images are, in fact, accurate now given the fact they've had so much time to move things around.

So the president has to lay out a plan for the American people. He has to say, give peace a chance, let diplomacy work, but back it up by force because that's the only reason we got to this point in time. BALDWIN: You know something, Julian, that I had thought about with a producer of mine was that had the president not gone to Congress in the first place, theoretically, the U.S. could be striking Syria as we speak.

And so yesterday, despite, you know, maybe some of the messiness in the message, is it possible that the president really could come out the winner here?

ZELIZER: Well, he could. Obviously, the president would prefer not to use military force at this point because public opposition is so strong and it was unclear what the United States was even going to do, what its objectives were.

So a delay does work in his favor, and now it puts it in some ways back to Syria rather than on Obama. And everyone's watching, what will Syria do, what will Putin do, not how is Obama going to handle this?

But there's a lot of dangers. If this goes poorly, it could look like the president was stumbling and it could look like this whole foreign policy venture was messily handled.

So I think the president remains very worried about what happens in the next few days, both strategically and politically.

BALDWIN: Julian Zelizer and Gloria Borger, thank you both very much.

And do not miss tonight, of course, our full coverage here on CNN of President Obama's primetime address.

Here's what's coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN tonight, at 7:00 on "ERIN BURNETT," after meeting the president, will Democratic Senator Joe Manchin change his mind on Syria?

At 8:00 on "AC360," after Russia's Syria offer, what does the president hope to accomplish now with his speech?

At 8:30, Wolf Blitzer joins Anderson to preview Obama's address.

At 9:00, watch the speech with live coverage by Wolf Blitzer.

At 9:30, Piers Morgan and Wolf bring you reaction to the speech in Washington, around the nation and the world.

And at 10:00 on "AC360 LATER," Anderson and the panel break down the night's key moments.

Special live coverage all on CNN tonight, starting at 7:00 eastern with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ahead here, a crime so brazen witnesses still can't believe what they saw and heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next white person that walks by, I'm going to (BLEEP).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was just the beginning of this vicious attack.

The tragic details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: A black man in New York was arrested after allegedly attacking a white man, and now the suspect may face hate crime charges.

The man he's accused of punching is dead after he slipped into a coma and went brain dead last week.

CNN's Susan Candiotti is following this for us out of New York. And, Susan, what happened?

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, this beating death, an apparent random attack, is so awful, taking place in the middle of a very busy square in New York, right in the middle of the day.

And now a grand jury is deciding whether it's a hate crime.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CANDIOTTI: Witnesses say Jeffrey Babbitt was minding his own business in New York's busy union square last Wednesday when in broad daylight someone decked him. Was it because of the color of his skin?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He said, the next white person that walks by, I'm going to (BLEEP).

His fist went and the man's head bobbed. He hit the ground, and you could hear his skull hitting the ground.

CANDIOTTI: Authorities say Babbitt was hit so hard he never regained consciousness.

When bystanders trying to help, the suspect allegedly attacked them too.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He stood back there and hit two more people and asked for the police to come.

CANDIOTTI: The suspect, Leshawn Marten, is the target of a grand jury, deciding whether to charge him with a hate crime.

Neighbors of Babbitt are devastated. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's too young to die.

CANDIOTTI: At age 62, Babbitt was known for lending a hand to anyone who needed it, most of all, caring for his 96-year-old mother Lucille, who refused to budge from her son's hospital bed sine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I called her on the phone. I said, Lu, come home. She said, I'm not leaving my son.

CANDIOTTI: Neighbors now promise to watch over her as police zero in on the suspect's motives.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Susan, what do we know about the suspect here?

CANDIOTTI: Well, Brooke, first of all, he appeared in court today and got a new lawyer. I did speak with him. He doesn't know much because he hasn't had a chance to talk with his client yet.

He tells me Marten has not yet received a psychiatric evaluation. As for now, he has no reason to ask for one.

As for a hate crime investigation, the lawyer says he only knows about his client's alleged comment to punch a white person.

Marten has prior arrests but for assault, harassment, and drugs, so we'll have to see what the grand jury does.

BALDWIN: Susan Candiotti, thank you, Susan.

Just ahead, a big announcement from Apple today as it unveils not just one but two new iPhones, but what the company isn't saying has some investors pretty worried about the future of the tech giant.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: When you hear about these Apple announcements, you think, this is really just the worst-kept secret in the tech industry. Today, no different.

Apple has unveiled these two new iPhone models. They have new iPhone colors and cases. Voila, you're looking at one of them here.

It's got this new operating system, a new feature that uses a fingerprint scanner for security.

CNN's Dan Simon is in Cupertino, California, where that big announcement was made.

Dan, give me the dirt. How are these new phones?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, first of all, you know, Tim Cook has said in the past the company was going to be doubling down on secrecy. Hasn't quite worked out. We knew exactly what was going to be announced. We have two new iPhone models, the 5C and the 5S. Let's talk about the 5C. This is like the current iPhone 5 that's on sale, but it comes in a plastic housing. That makes the phone cheaper. It also comes in five different colors.

The real thing to know about this is that it is cheaper and the company hopes that it will appeal to emerging smart phone markets like China, like India, like South America.

Now you have the iPhone 5S. This is the high-end model, faster processer, better camera.

For the first time, Brooke, you talked about it, it's got this fingerprint feature where you can use it to unlock your iPhone or pay for iTunes purchases.

Let's see how that feature works. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHIL SCHILLER, SENIOR V.P. OF MARKETING, APPLE: The team has worked so hard on a brand-new technology to make this easy and fun to do. It's called Touch I.D.

Touch I.D. uses a key you have with you everywhere you go, your finger, more specifically, your fingerprint, which is unique to each of us.

It reads your fingerprint at an incredibly detailed level. That's because of a brand new sensor called the Touch I.D. sensor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIMON: I got to play with the Touch I.D. sensor for a little bit. Seems to work reasonably well.

This was not, though, Brooke, a big leap forward in terms of innovation, but it was an important step for the company, particularly with the iPhone 5C, to try to make end roads globally, not necessarily in the United States, but globally to try to get their market share up.

They've been getting crushed by the Google Android operating system, which now has 90 percent market share worldwide.

Brooke?

BALDWIN: Yes, so I guess that's part of the reason why those investors are still a little nervous.

Dan Simon, thank you very much.

Coming up, the man who confessed in that online video to killing a man in a drunk driving accident, here he is. He was in court today, and the judge, not happy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE JULIE LYNCH, FRANKLIN COUNTY, OHIO COURT OF COMMON PLEAS: Now, this court does not hold these proceedings unless it's what I just explained. Sorry you all came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was just the beginning. Wait until you see what happened. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today, the man who confessed online to killing someone while driving drunk was in court, but he has yet to plead guilty as he said he would.

Matthew Cordle faces aggravated vehicular homicide charges and the court expected him to plead guilty and to be sentenced today.

But when that didn't happen, the judge was furious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LYNCH: Now, this court does not hold these proceedings unless it's what I just explained, information that someone is going to plead guilty.

So I want you to know that this case is continued until tomorrow when Mr. Cordle will be arraigned in the regular arraignment court tomorrow, so I'm sorry you all came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Cordle took responsibility for the crime in this confession video that was online, absolutely went viral, got more than a million hits.

Here's the man Cordle admitted to killing.

CNN's Pamela Brown is outside that courthouse in Columbus, Ohio. Pamela, so there was the curveball today in this courtroom.

What's the story? Will he plead guilty or not?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was a curveball, Brooke. That's a good way to sum it up.

Essentially, had he pleaded guilty today, everything would have gone as planned, and the judge, Judge Lynch, would have been his sentencing judge at a later date.

However, that didn't happen. In fact, the judge said she was blindsided today. Essentially, as we heard her say in that sound bite there, arraignments, where a defendant enters a not guilty plea, only happens on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays in this court. She thought, though, that Matthew Cordle would enter a guilty plea today. His attorneys, however, had a different plan. They wanted him to enter a not guilty plea today, so that another judge could perhaps be randomly selected for him, which is usually standard operating procedure with these arraignment type of cases.

However, the judge said, look, even though Matthew Cordle's case has garnered all this attention with that YouTube confession, already has more than a million views, this is not a special matter. Don't make a special matter out of something that's not. He does not deserve any special exception here.

However, his defense attorney said after that they wanted to expedite the process. That's why they asked to have the arraignment today rather than tomorrow, and they said in fact, that this all comes down to the victim's family. This is what's best for the victim's family, they say.

In fact, they say that Matthew Cordle wants to meet with the victim's family in person and apologize.

Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE BREITMAYER III, CORDLE'S ATTORNEY: I know Matt would look forward to an opportunity to sit down one-on-one without any attorneys present, any prosecutors present, any media present, and speak with the Canzani family and apologize to them.

He understands that they're going to be mad at him. Matt understands that he deserves to be punished. That's -- none of that stuff is up for debate.

But I think he would really appreciate an opportunity to tell them personally outside of a courtroom how he feels about the whole situation because I know he's still riddled with guilt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Now, Brooke, I did ask his attorneys would they have handled the situation differently had Matthew Cordle not garnered all of this media attention, and his attorneys did concede that yes, perhaps this would have been handled a little differently, perhaps he would have gone through the ordinary arraignment process tomorrow rather than asking for the special exception today.

He will be here tomorrow. He is expected to enter that not guilty plea. A judge will be randomly selected for him and at a later date. His attorneys say he will enter a guilty plea to those two charges that he's facing.

Back to you.

BALDWIN: We will follow up and see what happens tomorrow.

Pamela Brown, thank you very much. We appreciate you.

Coming up, we're staying on breaking news out of Syria. Moments ago, Russian president, Vladimir Putin, weighing in on this quote, unquote "breakthrough offer" for Syria to put its chemical weapons under international control.

Hear what Putin has just said about the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Here we go, Russian leader Vladimir Putin now weighing in on this possible deal on the table with Syria.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (via translator): Of course, all this will only mean anything if the United States and other nations supporting it tell us that they're giving up their plan to use force against Syria.

You can't really ask Syria or any other country to disarm unilaterally while military action against it is being contemplated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper on "THE LEAD," going to be all over this in 60 seconds.

First, here is a look at what's going on tonight on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN tonight, at 7:00 on "ERIN BURNETT," after meeting the president, will Democratic Senator Joe Manchin change his mind on Syria?

At 8:00 on "AC360," after Russia's Syria offer, what does the president hope to accomplish now with his speech?

At 8:30, Wolf Blitzer joins Anderson to preview Obama's address.

At 9:00, watch the speech with live coverage by Wolf Blitzer.

At 9:30, Piers Morgan and Wolf bring you reaction to the speech in Washington, around the nation and the world.

And at 10:00 on "AC360 LATER," Anderson and the panel break down the night's key moments.

Special live coverage all on CNN tonight, starting at 7:00 eastern with "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me on this incredibly busy news day.

Let's go to Washington. "THE LEAD" starts right now.