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Ray Rice Fallout Continues after Elevator Video Surfaces; Obama Unveils Strategy to Eliminate ISIS; Obama and Top Lawmakers to Strategize on ISIS; Masked Man in Foley Beheading Identified; Ray Rice's Wife Releases Statement

Aired September 09, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Calls for the NFL commissioner to step down getting louder this morning. "The Huffington Post" puts it this way, "Commish in the Crosshairs." The question, what did Roger Goodell know and when did he know it? Why didn't Commissioner Goodell look at that now infamous Ray Rice tape and then decide Rice's punishment?

ESPN's Keith Olbermann.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH OLBERMANN, ESPN: Mr. Goodell's ineptitude has not nearly rendered this football season meaningless and irrelevant by contrast, it has not only reduced supporting or watching NFL football to a distasteful, even a disrespectful act but most importantly it has comforted the violent and afflicted the victim. He's pushed to increase NFL punishment of domestic abusers to roughly one-third of that repeat pot smokers, his decision today to suspend Rice indefinitely after the Ravens had fired him, are elements of classic tragedy wherein the right thing is finally done only after it is too late to matter.

Roger Goodell's existence, who he is, what he has turned the NFL commissioner's office into is now symbolized by Ray Rice's brutal left hand striking Janay Palmer and striking her again. Mr. Goodell is an enabler of men who beat women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Wow. And there is more. TMZ reports the NFL never asked to see the video of Rice assaulting his then fiancee inside an Atlantic City elevator. People who worked at the Revel Hotel and Casino at the time of the assault, tell TMZ if the NFL had asked the casino would have handed the tape over. TMZ reports Rice's lawyer also had a copy of the video. Another option for NFL investigators.

Ray Rice jerseys at one time flew off the shelves in Baltimore, well, no more. Now merchants are actually dumping them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're just going to get rid of the merchandise. You know, it's upset a lot of people and we don't want that stuff lingering around. Not if he's not a part of the team anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A Baltimore restaurant is even offering free pizza to fans who turn in Ray Rice jerseys. They're calling it a sort of gun buyback program. The pizzeria is also donating money to a charity for each shirt it gets in.

So Ray Rice has been released by the Ravens. The NFL have indefinitely suspended him and the Canadian Football League says it will have nothing to do with Rice while he's under the NFL suspension.

CNN's Nischelle Turner joins me now with more.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: The fallout is starting to mount. Still lots of questions being answered or asked this morning, questions like who saw what, when, and what did the NFL know.

Now they are saying, the NFL and the Ravens both, that they did not see the video inside the elevator until yesterday and that that simply changed things.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TURNER (voice-over): It's the second shocking video to surface. TMZ releasing this tape of Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice brutally knocking out his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, dragging her limp body from an Atlantic City casino elevator this February.

The Ravens say they only saw the disturbing video shot from inside the elevator on Monday and after viewing it, had no choice but to drop Rice from the team.

JOHN HARBAUGH, HEAD COACH, BALTIMORE RAVENS: It's something we saw for the first time today. You know, all of us. And it changed things, of course. You know, it made things a little bit different.

TURNER: Terminated by the Ravens, suspended by the NFL indefinitely, Rice's career could be over.

CHRIS CANTY, BALTIMORE RAVENS DEFENSIVE LINEMAN: It was a deplorable act. He made a terrible error in judgment.

TURNER: But questions this morning as to why team officials and the NFL hadn't seen the tape sooner.

HARBAUGH: I have no answer for that.

TURNER: The NFL says they did request the video from police but it was never given to them.

Some of Coach Harbaugh's apparent comments supporting Rice, wishing him well, sparking public outrage.

HARBAUGH: You know, I have nothing but hope and goodwill for Ray and Janay and we'll do whatever we can going forward to help them, you know, as they go forward and try to make the best of it.

TURNER: Seven months ago, this video surfaced of Rice dragging Palmer out of the elevator. In July the NFL suspended him for just two games. Now the NFL and the Baltimore Ravens are coming under fire for not handing down a tougher punishment in the beginning. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledging in a statement saying in part, "I didn't get it right simply put, we have to do better."

RAY RICE, BALTIMORE RAVENS RUNNING BACK: And I -- I mean, I just replay over and over in my head, you know, that's not me, my actions were inexcusable.

TURNER: Through it all, Palmer had stayed by his side even marrying him in March.

JANAY PALMER, RAY RICE'S WIFE: I do deeply regret the role I had played in the incident that night. But I can say that I am happy that we continued to work through it together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TURNER: Now there is one thing that I do agree with that Ray Rice's former teammate Chris Canty said yesterday when he said you have to imagine that seeing this video played all around had to have been hell for Janay Rice to experience once again yesterday.

COSTELLO: The thing I don't get about this video, and I'm going to address my question to Paul, because you're Mr. Prosecutor, right? So everybody's seeing this tape, they say oh, it made the difference. Well, a crime was committed in this elevator and we knew that before we all saw it actually happen from inside the elevator. Prosecutors surely saw that video. So why did they let Rice off so easily?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Prosecutors fell down on the job in this case. You see an unconscious woman dragged from an elevator. I'd like to know what Rice's statement was initially. Did he say she was drunk and fell down? If that's the case, he was lying about the incident originally and then came clean, which would make it even worse for him.

So there was more than adequate information to constitute a very serious crime at this point. Why wasn't it investigated further? It's really shocking to me.

COSTELLO: Well, what did everybody think? That Janay, like, launched herself into the wall and knocked herself out?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST, UNGUARDED WITH RACHEL NICHOLS: We already knew that he had dragged her unconscious from the elevator and it doesn't matter what happened in the elevator in terms of the early stories and theories as you point out that were floated around. A woman cannot cause her own beating. It doesn't matter if she's drunk, it doesn't matter anything she may have done or not done. There is nothing somebody that size can do to make someone else that size hit them.

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: I think the narrative was changed.

NICHOLS: Ray Rice was never threatened in this situation.

TURNER: The narrative was changed when they were both arrested and I think that led to speculation from different parties about why were they both arrested, which is crazy.

CALLAN: Why was she? Why was she arrested?

TURNER: I don't think we know.

CALLAN: But you know, I think, I think --

NICHOLS: I read the statement --

CALLAN: You got to come back and I think see this in a larger context, and it's domestic violence in general. Atlantic City, where this took place, is a city in New Jersey with a very big crime rate, and a lot of murders take place, rapes, robberies, in that jurisdiction, there are huge unemployment problems, casinos are closing down.

Now domestic violence cases are kind of treated -- they're put on the back burner. These are liner things. These domestic disputes happen every day between men and women in Atlantic City. And I think local prosecutors and cops were -- they were looking at the spectacle of this big shot football player who is just doing something that normally gets a slap on the wrist in Atlantic City and he got treated the same way.

We're stepping back now and seeing it in a different context. I'm just telling you why it happened. It shouldn't happen that way. These cases should be taken seriously by prosecutors and they fell down on the job in this case. Yes.

COSTELLO: OK. Let's turn our attention to Roger Goodell and the possibility that he may step aside for this. I personally don't think that will ever happen, Rachel, but what would need to happen to push him out?

NICHOLS: Look, we've seen stranger chains of events, we've seen things mushroom and grow certainly and people step down that we didn't expect. But I'm with you, Carol, there's nobody to make -- to make Roger Goodell to step down. The only group that can make him do that is the 32 owners in the National Football League. They're going to be very reluctant. He has made them a tremendous amount of money over the years, he has done all kinds of things that they think helps their bottom line and their game, and they are putting their faith in him right now to weather this storm and turn things around and do the right thing.

And maybe he will be able to do that. It would have been nice to hear from him yesterday. We have not.

COSTELLO: That's for sure. And the question I want to pose to you, Nischelle, because, you know, I'm angry at the NFL but I watched my Detroit Lions last night. I was parked in front of that TV for hours cheering them on. So I don't even think that this scandal, this controversy will turn fans away from the game.

TURNER: I mean, listen, the NFL makes $9.2 billion a year. I think that there is a fan base that is entrenched in the NFL. There's been a lot that has gone on in the NFL that hasn't turned fans off. There's players who have had these domestic violence issues before. The players who have them pending right now, hasn't turned fans off and like you, I'm angry, too, but I watched both games last night, so it is something that I don't think the audience is going to turn away.

Now you may have a section of the female audience who turns away and who is disgusted by it but in general I don't think that's going to happen.

COSTELLO: OK, well, thanks for all of your insight. I appreciate it. We're going to talk a lot more about this throughout the show in the NEWSROOM.

Rachel Nichols, Nischelle Turner, Paul Callan, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, President Obama making the case against ISIS, first to Congress and then to the American people, and it's a case that might be easy to pitch.

Jim Acosta is at the White House this morning.

Good morning.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Carol. As President Obama prepares to lay out his plan for dealing with ISIS, a new CNN poll finds the public doesn't need much convincing. I'll have more in just a few moments.

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COSTELLO: President Obama has some selling to do before briefing the American public on his strategy to defeat ISIS. The president meets with some of his toughest critics, Congress. He'll do that this afternoon.

Mr. Obama will strategize with top congressional leaders at the White House before he outlines his strategy to the nation tomorrow.

The ISIS threat is on the minds of most Americans. A new CNN/ORC poll finds 45 percent say ISIS poses a very serious threat to the United States, and this morning we're getting a unique look at ISIS' rapid takeover inside Syria.

A newly released propaganda video from the battlefield shows what could be ISIS fighters capturing an airbase. Plus several weeks after the beheading of American journalist James Foley U.S. law enforcement officials believe they have identified the masked man in that video.

But we begin with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta. He's at the White House this morning.

Good morning, Jim.

ACOSTA: Good morning, Carol. President Obama is laying the groundwork for that big speech on ISIS tomorrow. In the meantime, he has been meeting with foreign policy experts on the Democratic and Republican side. He did that last night here at the White House. And later today, as you mentioned, he'll be sitting down with senior congressional leaders to go over his ISIS plan as the politicians and the public appear to be giving him the green light for action.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): The flood of violence unleashed by ISIS has mobilized war-weary Americans to take on the terror group, even in a bitterly divided Washington Republicans are backing President Obama's expected decision to hit ISIS hard.

SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Wherever they go, we're going to have to follow. And if that leads into Syria, then I hope the president has not taken that off the table.

ACOSTA: A new CNN/ORC poll finds three-quarters of Americans would support new U.S. airstrikes on ISIS in Syria. But by an overwhelming margin, they don't want boots on the ground. So far, the public is unhappy with the president's handling of ISIS, 59 percent disapprove.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We will be successful.

ACOSTA: But the administration's message is patience as Secretary of State John Kerry tries to assemble a global coalition to dismantle ISIS.

KERRY: Almost every single country on Earth has a role to play in eliminating the ISIL threat and the evil that it represents.

ACOSTA: A key question is whether the president will seek congressional approval for his is strategy.

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ), CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: It seems to me there is no way to avoid coming to the Congress for an authorization for the use of military force.

ACOSTA: The White House still won't say.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What I can't say is that the president is interested in their buy-in, is interested in a congressional debate, and is interested in consulting closely with the leaders in Congress.

ACOSTA: That's not sitting well with fellow Democrats who worry the president will go too far.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: The American people don't want another major occupation of another Muslim country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And the Obama administration has been briefing lawmakers on the ISIS threat. They did so yesterday. Members of the administration did so yesterday with the House Intelligence Committee and the director of national intelligence and the CIA director, Carol, will be up on Capitol Hill later today.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry, as you saw in that piece, talking about ISIS. He'll be heading to the Middle East later today to start lining up Arab partners for that broad coalition the administration says it wants to take on the terror group -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Acosta, reporting live from the White House this morning.

OK. So, back to this question, who killed American journalist James Foley?

Three weeks after his brutal beheading, the identity of Jihadi John, the masked man standing beside Foley, may soon be uncovered.

Justice correspondent Pamela Brown joins us now from Washington.

So, investigators know who it is?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: They're pretty confident, Carol.

We're learning that law enforcement authorities are closing in on the man seen in the gruesome ISIS video of James Foley's execution several weeks ago. Sources say the suspect is a British citizen with ties to a ring of extremists based in Great Britain.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN (voice-over): He's the man known as Jihadi John.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An attempt by you, Obama, to deny the Muslims their rights will result in the bloodshed of your people.

BROWN: Speaking with what sounds like a British accent and holding a knife to American journalist's James Foley's neck just before he's beheaded.

Now, sources say U.S. and British authorities are honing in on who they believe is the man behind the mask -- a British citizen, who was linked to an extremist group based in London.

But officials are not yet naming the suspect, citing the ongoing investigation.

GARY BERNTSEN, AUTHOR, "JAWBREAKER: THE ATTACK ON BIN LADEN AND AL QAEDA": If you had possession of that name, you wouldn't make it public. You would, would you want them to think that no one knew who they were.

BROWN: Investigators have spent weeks using human and technical means to identify Foley's alleged killer. Relying on voice analysis of the British accent and picking apart meta-data taken from the video.

But former CIA official, Gary Berntsen said it's likely the human sources led investigators to a possible suspect.

BERNTSEN: This is about the human intelligence game. They have thousands of individuals that have gone through terrorist training camps and they no doubt have developed a network of people, probably able to identify the individual that did the killing.

BROWN: Just two weeks after the James Foley video was released, another masked man with a similar accent appeared in a second gruesome video, this time in front of freelance journalist, Steven Sotloff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You, Obama have yet again, for your actions killed just another American citizen.

BROWN: But U.S. law enforcement sources say it's too early to make the connection the masked man in both of these videos is the same person.

Now, new anger from the family of Steven Sotloff claiming that ISIS paid as much as $50,000 to rebels who alerted them to the whereabouts of the journalist, and stating that the White House did not do enough to rescue Steven.

BARAK BARFI, SOTLOFF FAMILY SPOKESMAN: We know that for most of the beginning of this part of this year they were stationary. We know that the intelligence community and the White House are enmeshed in a larger game of bureaucratic infighting and Jim and Steven are pawns in that game and that's not fair.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And in response to the Sotloff family's complaints about the administration's efforts to secure Steven's release, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden says, "We understand the very real pain the Sotloff family is feeling at this time. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they grieve Steven's loss. We condemn the murders of Steven and Jim Foley and we remain committed to bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to justice."

Carol?

BASH: OK. Well, let's talk about bringing the perpetrators to justice. How exactly would they go about placing Jihadi John under arrest? BROWN: Well this is going to be something that's going to be a joint

effort. The Department of Defense, State Department, the White House, the FBI, in connection with British authorities trying to figure out how to take this man off the chess onboard, Carol. It could be a challenge because you have to think he could be in a very dangerous environment and Syria and Iraq.

But authorities have a lot of tools in their toolbox. They're going to have to assess the intelligence they have, assess how good that intelligence is, and make the decision from there what kind of tool they want to use to bring him to justice -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Understood. Pamela Brown reporting live from Washington, thanks so much.

I'm back in a minute.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. This just in to CNN: for the first time we hear from Ray Rice's wife Janay, who posted comments on her Instagram account just this morning. She says, in part, quote, "If it your intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us and make us feel alone, take all happiness, you've succeeded on so many levels."

Now, her statement comes on the heels of new reporting this morning from TMZ that the NFL never asked to see the video of Rice assaulting his then-fiancee inside an Atlantic City elevator. People who worked at the hotel and casino at the time of the assault tell TMZ if the NFL had asked, the casino would have handed over the video.

Andy Scholes joins me to talk about this Instagram post by Janay.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes, it was a little over an hour, this is the first time we've heard from her or Ray Rice and she said, "I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend but to have to accept the fact this is reality is a nightmare in itself. No one knows the pain that the media and unwanted options from the public has caused my family. To make us relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing, to take something away from the man I love, that he's worked all for his entire life to gain ratings is horrific. This is our life.

What don't you all get? If intentions were to hurt us, embarrass us, make us feel alone, take all happiness away, you've succeeded on so many levels. Just know we will continue to grow and show the world what real love is. Ravens Nation, we love you."

You got to feel for her in this situation.

COSTELLO: I do.

SCHOLES: Because she went through it firsthand and now she's having to relive it all over again as this video surfaces. COSTELLO: And, of course, they're trying to repair their relationship as best they can, apparently, he's undergoing counseling, right, is ordered by the court. It's a tough thing.

SCHOLES: It is. My prediction, Carol, is, you know, there's outrage now, the NFL, Ray Rice, everyone gets a second chance at some point. We've seen that in sports. I imagine at some point, he will get a second chance. It's not going to be this season, but probably in the future.

COSTELLO: He's only 27, right? He's a good player, right?

SCHOLES: He's suspended indefinitely. But the NFL did say he will have to apply for reinstatement, insinuating that at some point, he will apply for reinstatement.

COSTELLO: I don't know. We're going to talk a lot more about this in THE NEWSROOM. Andy, thanks so much.

Still to come in the aftermath of the Ray Rice video, Twitter takes a stand and why they stay with one of the country's leading advocates against domestic violence, in just a minute.

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