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At This Hour

Janay Rice Stands by Her Man; Obama's ISIS Address Set for 9 P.M. Tomorrow; Apple to Unveil iPhone 6

Aired September 09, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN HOST: The wife of suspended Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice is stand big her man. A day after TMZ Sports released this video showing the moment that Rice punched his then-fiancee, now wife, in an elevator, rendering her unconscious, 26-year-old Janay Rice posted her thoughts today on Instagram. She, in it, blames the media as she describes this is horrible nightmare of seeing the video replayed and replayed and her husband's release from the Ravens as well as his NFL suspension. She says she's left feeling as if she's mourning the death of a friend.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: At one point, Janay Rice writes, quote, "If your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you succeed on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow and show the world what real love is!"

I think that surprised a lot of people when they saw this.

We're joined by legal analyst and commentator, Mel Robbins. Also joining us, Katie Ray-Jones, president and CEO of National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Mel, Katie Ray, I want to be clear, the one thing we don't want to do is blame the victim here. This is not her fault. Janay did not -- this was not her fault what happened in that elevator.

But a lot of people are seeing this response on Instagram, Mel, and they're surprised. What's your reaction?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, John. And good morning, Michaela. I'm not surprised at all. Actually, I said this last night which is the NFL so royally screwed this up in so many ways and now you're seeing her being b victimized yet again. I don't blame the media, either, but let's put this into context. This incident between these two happened six months ago. Had the NFL acted as they should have when this was still wet clay, not only wet clay because the police were investigating but wet clay for the couple themselves, it would have been way better for the league and more importantly way better for Janay. But now that you've had all this time pass by and the couple has presumably moved on and hopefully they've grown from this and there's no more violence and abuse, you have this old wound being opened up and it's not just her abuser that she's having to deal with and the shame and the guilt but the world, the ravens, the NFL, the disappointment. I mean, this is a colossal screw-up on the NFL's part to wait this long. They did the right thing suspending him, but waiting this long just victimized her again.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Katie, you know all too well about what victims are dealing with, you're with the national domestic violence hotline. I think what gave me just -- I got a rock in the pit of my stomach when I read what Janay said on her Instagram. "We'll show you what real love is." And I wanted to say baby, real love is not letting someone hit you. Violence in a relationship is not real love. So many people are trying to understand why a victim stays in an abusive relationship. Help us understand that. I know it's not the same thing for every victim.

KATIE RAY-JONES, PRESIDENT & CEO, NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE: You're right. It's not the same thing for every victim. Every situation is very unique. With Janay and with most victims across the country, there is a real sense of fear in the relationship. That fear is real. Abusers make threats, threat on the harm the victim, family members, themselves, and we know just from stories we hear everyday that that actually happens.

Additionally, most victims feel a level of blame themselves for what's going on. In an abusive relationship, the abusive partner continues to blame the victim for everything happening in the relationship and, as we've seen in this case, that blame was reinforced in social media from fans, the NFL when Janay apologized next to Ray Rice at that press conference. Nothing could have been worse for a victim sitting next to her abuser and having to apologize for her own role in what happened.

So there is a great sense of blame that she's probably placing on herself and what we know is that often women love the person that they're married with and that is the same -- that can be set as well for married couples where there is abuse. And that's really hard for the general public to understand. When there's not abuse in a relationship, how can you love someone who hurts you? But chances are she sees the man she fell in love with frequently and she's trying to move on.

BERMAN: I think that's very, very interesting and I think it helps people who aren't exposed to this -- like me, thank god, to understand what's going on in something like that.

Mel, there's a lot of smoke around this now. There's a lot of people saying "but you don't what was happening before, what was going on in that elevator before." The A.P. is saying now they've seen the whole video suggesting perhaps that she spat at him. Again, does any of this matter?

ROBBINS: No. It doesn't, at all. The only thing that matters is that the NFL back in the spring knew about the arrest, they knew about the investigation, they knew that there were videos and when the video came out of him dragging him out of the elevator, that should have been enough.

John, I just want to bring into this conversation the fact that Ray McDonald, who plays for the San Francisco 49ers, was arrested. He's facing felony charges for allegedly beating up his pregnant girlfriend. He was not suspended. This happened three days after the NFL announced their new changes. You know what he did on the weekend? He started. He's playing.

So we're all focused on Ray Rice and Janay and the screw-up there, and yet we have a situation happening right now with a player that's playing that's facing felony charges in a situation where his wife has bruises on her, and the NFL is doing nothing. So hopefully, they will learn not to revictimize the victim and they'll move swiftly. At a minimum, the 49ers should be sidelining this guy until the investigation is complete.

PEREIRA: There's a great responsibility on the part of the NFL to handle this because it's -- it is setting an example, unfortunately, for all the people that should be calling Katie's hotline or need to or have called your hotline.

Katie Ray-Jones, Mel Robbins, difficult conversation, important conversation.

And we need to let you know at home, if you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, please go to our website, send them to our website, CNN.com/impact. There are resources there that can help.

BERMAN: The good news is there are a lot of people talking about this now in quarters where they might not have been talking about it this way before. It shines the light on something that needs to be discussed.

Now, we need to say that the NFL maintains it never saw the video from inside the elevator, the clip that we've all now seen, that showed the actual punch. They say they never saw it until yesterday. TMZ reports that the league never asked the casino or police for this video. This morning, the NFL told CNN, quote, "Security for Atlantic City casinos is handled by the New Jersey state police. Any videos related to an ongoing criminal investigation are held in the custody of the state police. We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator. That video was not made available to us."

So we're following the NFL's response to all the latest developments and we will bring you that throughout the day because there's a lot more to discuss. Should it have even taken the video? Think about that.

PEREIRA: That's a good point.

BERMAN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: We just learned that President Obama's address to the nation about ISIS and the strategy to defeat the terror group will be tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. eastern. That's prime time. Of course, CNN will cover the entire thing. Now, top Senate and House leaders are preparing to meet with the

president this afternoon. They will get a preview of what the president's plan is to "degrade and destroy" ISIS.

A new poll shows that most Americans think lawmakers should give president Obama the green light to use military force.

PEREIRA: Many think ISIS is already in our country and capable of attack, 71 percent. The CIA briefed the House Intelligence Committee on ISIS last night.

Democratic Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky was at that meeting and spoke to "New Day" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAN SCHAKOWSKY, (D), ILLINOIS: I do feel more confident that the threat to the United States itself is not immediately critical. That's very important. But I think the strategy that was explained and that is ready to be implemented is one that members across the aisle felt confident in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Let's bring in our political commentators, Reihan Salam and Maria Cardona.

Reihan, I'll start with you.

I know congresswoman seems sold on the strategy. The nation is a different thing. They'll be listening to different things that the Congress people listened to. They'll be seeing a different thing, feeling a different thing. It's a different reality for the people being asked to supply their sons and daughters and to accept a growing deficit for military costs. What's it going to take for the president in your opinion to sell his strategy, his plan tomorrow?

REIHAN SALAM, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think actually a very large share of Americans believe that air strikes are appropriate. A large share of Americans believe assistance to regional forces to topple ISIS is a wonderful idea as well. The trouble is putting troops on the ground and the trouble is with an open-ended commitment. And that's where the president will have to make a compelling case.

PEREIRA: A big question mark.

REIHAN: Exactly.

BERMAN: I have to say, one of the surprising things that happened over the last few days these polls, which now do show that a majority of Americans, or at least more Americans, do support some kind of military action in that region.

Maria Cardona, this is surprising for a lot of people because we've been talking for the last several months and years about how America is a war-weary nation, and President Obama reflected that weariness in some ways. Now the country is saying we want action against ISIS, is he lagging behind?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, what's interesting is that I think that we still are a war-weary nation, John, and part of what we're seeing in the polls is that the majority of Americans still don't want U.S. troops on the ground. I think what has changed the dynamic is that people have taken very personally these brutal attacks that ISIS have made on American journalists because they are our people, they are our journalists and people are taking have that very personally. As a mother, I took it personally. And it is -- it looks like it's very threatening.

What I think the president is doing, though, is he is actually on track with where the American people are. I don't think he's lagging behind as much as he is parallel with them. And that's why this speech is coming at exactly the right time. The fact that it's going to be at 9:00 p.m., a prime-time speech, underscores the seriousness of it. The interviews he has given, the folks that he has been -- his team that has been talking about it, John Kerry is in the region, Chuck Hagel as well, have underscored the kind of threat this is. Now it's on him to explain what are going to be the next steps moving forward.

PEREIRA: The American public took those beheadings very personally and it's no loss to anybody the president is speaking on the eve of the anniversary of 9/11, which is still very, very raw in this nation around the globe.

I also want to play you some sound. White House (sic) Speaker John Boehner has some opinions. He had some thoughts about the upcoming meeting. Take a listen and we'll talk to you on the back end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We have a very serious problem and what we need is a strategy. And until there's a strategy there's no reason to talk about any of the specifics because I don't know how they fit in to the broader strategy. So I'm hopeful.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're not opposed to ground troops, though? That's an option?

BOEHNER: I am looking for a strategy from the president that takes on this terrorist threat and defeats it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: It sounds a bit like he's already digging his heels in for a fight. Does it sound like he's saying the Republicans can get behind the president's strategy whatever it is?

SALAM: I think the thorny question is this, do we need congressional authorization for this? If there's congressional authorization, there's going to be greater scrutiny. If the president acts without congressional authorization, then implicitly, the president is going to have wherewithal to do what he wants to do. I think that's a tricky question for the White House and for Congress as well. Do they want to take responsibility in that way?

BERMAN: If he goes for congressional action he risks losing, if he doesn't, he certainly risks getting an enormous amount of criticism.

CARDONA: What's interesting here is that there are only 12 more days left before Congress goes home to do what? To do politics, to try to get reelected. No one wants a vote right now. There are members of both parties maybe talking about a vote --

BERMAN: Yeah.

CARDONA: -- but the majority of people on both sides of the aisle --

(CROSSTALK)

CARDONA: -- don't want this vote.

BERMAN: I will close with this thought. It doesn't matter if they want it or not in Congress. It might be a good idea to get on the record with something like this if we're going to commit U.S. forces.

Maria Cardona, Reihan Salam, great to have you with us. Really appreciate it.

REIHAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Remember, President Obama will visit this address tomorrow night. Not very common for this president to give prime-time addresses so this could be very significant.

PEREIRA: 9:00 p.m. eastern, 6:00 p.m. western -- pacific time. I call it western.

Ahead @THISHOUR -- you looking to get a new iPhone? There might be one. Apple expected to unveil a new larger phone, bigger.

But, John, is it better?

BERMAN: I'm not going to touch that one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Well, a little more than a half hour, that's how long, John, you have to wait for a new iPhone that you've been talking about incessantly since I got here today.

BERMAN: Here to tell us about the iPhone 6, CNN technology analyst, Brett Larson.

PEREIRA: Is this excitement warranted?

(LAUGHTER)

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: It is. BERMAN: Is it just bigger?

LARSON: Yes. It's going to be bigger. It's going to have better battery life, the things we all hope for.

BERMAN: I'll believe that when I see it.

LARSON: And it will be a little bit faster, have a larger camera.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: We like things better.

LARSON: We wouldn't want to buy just a bigger screen phone. It has to have a faster processor and more megapixels from the camera. Is it going to do something cool? Like the fingerprint scanner on the 5s, that's cool. We're hoping there are cool things built into the --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But we just don't know yet?

LARSON: As we've seen so many leaks, so many leaks, this is the most leaks I've ever seen on an Apple product.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: And there's been a lot of hype this time because it kind of wasn't -- we haven't seen a lot of product launches. This is the first significant one.

Interesting to me, Android user, that they're going bigger on screens. They've always boasted about the fact that it fits in the palm of your hand --

(CROSSTALK)

LARSON: Higher resolutions look better on our screens. Granted, we don't want our phones too big. But we do like the larger screens because we're doing more with our Smartphones, watching videos, playing games, got to play Candy Crush on a bigger screen.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: It's not just a bigger phone.

LARSON: Right.

BERMAN: I think we'll see the iWatch.

LARSON: Right, iWatch.

PEREIRA: He's been talking to his watch all day.

LARSON: I think we will see the iWatch. I don't think they'll say it's available in the next month -- (CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But how will it change my life?

LARSON: It's going to be amazing. That's not true. I think if they build in the wireless payment into the watch and the phone, that's going to be the big change. We don't like carrying our credit cards, as we just saw today with Home Depot and the massive data breach. We need a more high-tech way for paying.

PEREIRA: Although that comes with its own security issues.

LARSON: It does.

PEREIRA: Somebody can walk by me and skim from my watch or phone in my purse of my back pocket.

LARSON: This was a problem we saw with the wireless payment that is Chase did and American Express did. There's that -- you can walk past someone and grab their credit card info. A lot of people have tried a new way to pay and haven't been successful.

(CROSSTALK)

LARSON: Apple is always pretty good at trying to make things work.

BERMAN: Cybersecurity is never a real issue.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't know what the big deal is.

Brett Larson, great to have you with us.

We're an hour away from the new iPhone.

PEREIRA: Gwen Stefani, she has talent. We'll see if her celebrity style is here to stay. We've got our fashion back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: In New York City, it is fashion week. Fashionistas are strutting their stuff around the city.

BERMAN: Some of those outfits are inspired by singer and designer, Gwen Stefani, who made a return to fashion week, a highly anticipated return to fashion week. Here's a look at her line in today's "Fashion Backstage Pass."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mom, singer, songwriter and fashion designer. There's no doubt Gwen Stefani has talent and a lot on her hands. After a brief hiatus, she's back at New York Fashion Week and ready to show off her other child she calls LAMB. GWEN STEFANI, SINGER & DESIGNER: For this collection, it's a little

bit Orange County, a little bit Jamaican, a little bit English girl. Because it's spring we went a little tribal. We're calling it the New Nomad.

TURNER: Since her last New York Fashion Week appearance in 2011, Stefani's had quite the adventure, releasing a new record, becoming a mom for the third time. And she recently signed on to be a coach on "The Voice." As a hard-working mom of three, her experience doubled as inspiration for the latest collection.

STEFANI: I didn't realize this when I was designing it. But I feel like my life is -- I'm in this new kind of chapter and everything is so exciting and colorful and right. When you look at the collection, you're like, wow, that does look like that. It looks like a monarch butterfly.

TURNER: LAMB, as in Love, Angel, Music, Baby, a brand the front woman has been able to keep alive for over a decade. And a feat that hasn't been easy.

STEFANI: I have to fight every day to keep these brands alive, I think. It's work and it's just like anything else that you do, you have to work on it.

TURNER: And she works hard to keep the brand alive, incorporating her love of music and fashion together, even using the set of "The Voice" as inspiration.

STEFANI: It's so interesting to see people that can actually sing really good or whatever, but they don't maybe have their personalities coming out in their fashion. And it makes such a huge difference to be up there and have these kids evolve with the way they're dressing. So I think that's why fashion and music have always gone side by side because it's personality, it's story telling.

TURNER: Since its debut in 2003, LAMB's style and success has depended heavily on its number one follower, someone the designer will continue to rely on.

STEFANI: I am a LAMB customer. But I feel like I've evolved like we all do.

TURNER: Nischelle Turner, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Tweet us your favorite piece of clothing designed by Gwen Stefani and, if you don't have one, tweet us your favorite pair of jeans or something.

PEREIRA: OK. Challenge.

BERMAN: I want to see it. Bring it. Bring the fashion.

(LAUGHTER) PEREIRA: That's it for us on @THISHOUR. I'm Michaela Pereira.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman.

"LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.