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George Clooney Weds; Fight Against ISIS Stronger; Chelsea Clinton Delivers A Baby Girl Named Charlotte

Aired September 27, 2014 - 16:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And good afternoon everyone. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Deborah Feyerick.

The fight against the rampaging group ISIS more than 50 countries strong. In just the past days, Denmark is in and so is Belgium and the United Kingdom also sending planes. These war planes did drop bombs on targets in Iraq. They were armed but their mission was limited to recon and intelligence as they search for potential targets. The defense ministry says they are ready to strike. They are now authorized to do so by the British Parliament.

The French air force is making bombing runs and U.S. war planes are taking off and landing around the clock on board a U.S. aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. Between yesterday and today the U.S.-led coalition launched 10 separate air strikes against ISIS, targets in Syria and Iraq. Western leaders say while the most dramatic advances by ISIS have been stopped it could be years before the militant group is degraded to the point that it is no longer a threat.

Karl Penhaul, outside 10 Downing Street in London. Karl, the British Parliament overwhelmingly voted to support the coalition against ISIS from all three main parties. But it is not Syria that they are interested, just Iraq. Why is that?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Deborah. There are limitations on that overwhelming vote that the British Parliament had yesterday as you rightly say the parliament said the British war planes can only engage over Iraq and not in Syria. And so far the number of war planes limited to this effort is six.

That to put it in perspective is about the same number of aircraft that Jordan is contributing to the coalition effort, one less than Denmark is contributing to this effort and also about the same numbers as Belgium and Holland. One of the reasons I guess that Prime Minister David Cameron is taking a soft approach on this is because last year in 2013 he had his political nose very much bloodied when he sought a parliamentary vote to join President Obama and the Americans in bombing the regime of President Assad in Syria after he used chemical weapons on his own people.

That motion was rejected outright by Parliament. And then that left the trans-Atlantic alliance really hanging in the balance. So what Prime Minister Cameron is trying to do this time around, it appears is to try and rebuild consensus gradually. That is why in the first stages British war planes will only be allowed to target the ISIS positions in Iraq and that because Mr. Cameron says is at the expressed request of the Iraqi government. Deborah.

FEYERICK: Very quickly, is there any sense of how long the British team will be in on this? There are no troops on the ground so there is some anxiety as to how long British commitment will actually be there for.

PENHAUL: Well, that is something that Britain's defense minister and foreign minister have been somewhat criticized for, after that parliamentary vote. They have really suggested it could be open ended. It could take a year or more to fight the ISIS threat there on the ground. That really is in line with what the Dutch government has said, as well, that their commitment is now beyond 12 months, certainly an indication that the European Nations as well as the United States could be preparing for a very long campaign against a very slippery enemy that is ISIS. Deborah.

FEYERICK: All right. Karl Penhaul, a very good way to describe a very slippery enemy. We thank you so much for your reporting on that.

And a London-based monitoring group claims that six civilians have been killed in an air strike in Syria today. Yesterday Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said it is too soon to know the casualties and that the U.S. is taking every precaution to prevent civilian deaths.

Meantime, President Obama's rhetoric in the war against ISIS is becoming more and more forceful. He spoke at the U.N. earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There can be no reasoning, no negotiation with this brand of evil. The only language understood by killers like this is the language of force. So the United States of America will work with a broad coalition to dismantle this network of death.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Well, let's bring in CNN political commentators Ben Ferguson and Marc Lamont Hill. These are fiery words from the president. Ben, do you think that air strikes will get the job done to everyone's satisfaction?

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Realistically, probably not. Based on what many who have served in the military who said very openly, many that have retired have said you can only do so much from the air especially when you have so many fighters that are well trained that have fought against America in many different wars and roles, they understand how our air campaigns work.

These are seasoned veterans of the battlefields in the Middle East and unfortunately, I would love to say that we're not going to have troops on the ground. But to put us in that corner and to act as if you are not going to maybe listen to advisers saying that may not be enough just going from the air, I think it's going to be realistically will be a problem. We got to look at other options.

FEYERICK: Well, joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey said again, Friday that he would recommend the use of ground forces to defeat ISIS if he believes they are necessary. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I just stand by this statement. I will make a recommendation that - the president gave me a mission, destroy ISIL. And I will recommend -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: So while the president says repeatedly no boots on the ground, no boots on the ground. His top general is leaving the door open probably the wise thing to do because he is the one who is sort of looking at all of the different pieces and the players. But is this complicating the president's message and strategy, Marc?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I don't think it complicate it if we understand it from an aerial perspective. The president has essentially said from the beginning that air strikes are all we are going to do. There are going to be no boots on the ground. By boots on the ground, I've always understood it to mean American boots. I think ultimately air strikes contain ISIL. They don't necessarily destroy ISIS even if the UK and the United States combine with those air strikes.

But I do think that it is wise to say that American boots on the ground is not the way to go. I think that it's counter productive. I think that it creates unhealthy alliances in the region. I think what we must do is rely on regional forces, regional troops to make this happen. That's why the president has been advocating more recently and many on the left had been advocating more recently for arming rebel groups, moderate rebel groups for helping Pashmir troops in the north. weigh in on this et cetera et cetera to help move the agenda forward.

But American groups on the ground are an actual problem for me. And so I think that's the tension there but very quickly, I would also add that I always thought that it was unwise for the president to say boots on the ground are off the table from a tactical perspective I don't think you should ever say that.

FEYERICK: It's interesting because you know what, look, I'm obviously not a military person but broadcasting exactly what is going to happen is probably giving the enemy a little bit of a heads up as to how they need to plan their strategy. Wait one second, Ben, Republican Senator Rand Paul had very harsh words for Obama at the Values Voters Summit Friday. Take a quick listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: The president acts like he is a king. He ignores the Constitution. He arrogantly says "if Congress will not act then I must." These are not the words of a great leader. These are the words that sound more like the exclamations of an autocrat. (END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: OK. While he agrees with Obama's decision to lead an air strike campaign against ISIS his problem is that you didn't ask us. You didn't include us. Is that a little bit of what's going on right there?

FERGUSON: I think it's pretty important for Congress to be involved and that's the way our government is supposed to be set up. I mean, I'm not very jealous, very (INAUDIBLE) of other governments but the incredible debate that the UK Parliament had yesterday over going in and having these air strikes was something that I was incredibly envious of because that is exactly what we should have here.

And we saw how blunt they were being with one another. That is what Congress is also supposed to be able to do. And I think if you want to have a grand debate which is ultimately what we should have because these people that are elected to Congress are supposed to have a say so in this. They should do it and I actually think in the long run that would take some pressure off Barack Obama.

FEYERICK: We are going to come back to you. Got to go to a quick break but you're right, if a debate, it would be nice to see a bit of really aggressive debate going, sort of mano a mano.

FERGUSON: Absolutely.

FEYERICK: All right. Don't go anywhere. I want to get your take on this next story. We've all watched it, protests are up in Ferguson as the people there make sure that the police chief knows they are not going to accept his apology no matter how well meaningful discussed. Coming up next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON, MISSOURI POLICE: All I got to say is this is (INAUDIBLE) tragedy. We all know that. And I'm sorry and I said that from my heart. You don't have to accept that. That came from my heart. I had to get that off my chest. That has been sitting there for two months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: So let's turn to the Ferguson, Missouri police chief Thomas Jackson Thursday night. He offered his apology to the family of Michael Brown for his department's action after Brown's shooting in August. As you just saw he decided that he was going to go personally into the streets and repeat the apology to the members of the community. However, they were having none of it. Tempers flared. There were scuffles. Police moved in to make the arrests.

Ben Ferguson, Marc Lamont Hill, they are back. Marc, it seems that there was some contrition there, that he was sorry for what happened but you can't get away from the fact that a public relations firm helped him craft this apology that he initially made and decided to take to the people. How do you perceive that? Do you think it helped?

HILL: No. I mean, in the long run maybe it will make some people feel better and I think an apology was certainly warranted for the behavior of the police department after Michael Brown's shooting. But I am much more concerned with an apology for the behavior before and leading up to the shooting. That's why we're rioting. That's why we're rallying the first place. That's the perspective of the people on the ground. I happen to share that perspective.

I think though that the militarization of Ferguson afterwards, the victimization and the criminalization of people on the ground who were protesting afterwards all that warrants an apology. The department was widely irresponsible. But it's not enough until there is an arrest and until there is justice in the courtroom.

FEYERICK: Yes, and look, let's be clear about this. Justice takes time because justice is still based on facts. You have to get the facts of the case. That is why the grand jury is being very careful about putting this together, making sure that they know what happened there. Still have not heard from the police chief. But Ben, do you think that the police chief should resign? He says no he is not going to do it?

FERGUSON: I don't he should resign until we find out exactly what happened on that day. I think the apology was absolutely warranted but I don't like indicting people until we have all the facts. There's a lot of people that are not going to be happy no matter who is in charge in Ferguson if there is not charges brought against that police officer. I mean, we even saw when they brought in the state trooper to kind of redo things in Ferguson 2.0. He had the community mostly behind him night one, he lost control of some of the community, night two, three, four, five, six after that.

HILL: I disagree. I don't he lost control of the community.

FERGUSON: Some. Key word, some.

Let me finish.

HILL: I disagree.

FERGUSON: My point is there are some people that do not care who is in that position of power. They already perceived that the police officer should go to jail for the rest of his life. And if they don't get that they are going to be angry and they're going to riot.

HILL: But that's a different issue, Ben.

FEYERICK: Marc, go ahead. You feel passionate about this. Jump in. Because there are some who would argue look, the community did not do itself favors by rioting, by looting, by doing those kinds of things. Was there enough sense that you guys are overreacting, police department. We don't need what you are putting out there. What is your sense, Marc?

HILL: A few things. One, I don't necessarily concede that the Ferguson community was doing the rioting and the looting. I am only speaking from perspective of someone who was down there on the ground protecting stores, covering stores, putting out fires. I literally saw outsiders doing that. I think the Ferguson community on the whole was there protecting the community and rallying and protesting for what they saw was the wrongful killing of Michael Brown. That's my experience on the ground.

But on top of that I do think the community did itself a favor for making their voices heard. We didn't cover this stuff, the national media didn't cover this stuff because a kid got killed. We covered it because the town was in protest of a kid getting killed. To Ben's point about whether or not this guy should resign I don't think that the resignation of the police chief should hinge on whether or not Darren Wilson is innocent or guilty. I think the police chief sometimes has to resign because he lost the confidence of the town. And if you were to do a poll of the town right now, just (INAUDIBLE) no confidence vote at the university with the president, you would see this town in particular doesn't believe in the police chief.

If the town doesn't believe in the police and the town doesn't respect the police and the police don't show any respect for the town, it might be time for new leadership, irrespective of what happened -

FERGUSON: Let me say this Marc.

(CROSSTALK)

FERGUSON: And I'm going to answer that. Because here is the core point that Marc is missing. You have leaders sometimes that people lose confidence in for a season or for a moment. Barack Obama right now, the American people don't have a lot of confidence in him based on the polls that he is doing the right thing to totally go and take out ISIS. That doesn't mean we say we need a new president of the United States of America. You may have a leader who is lost and they say we don't like him exactly on this one. It doesn't mean you take away the job. The same way -

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: The problem I had with that -

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: That's not true.

FEYERICK: The problem with that thinking is that you got one police chief in charge of a small police force. At some point somebody should be able to step in and say look, you guys we need to move you aside temporarily. You don't have the guidance, you don't have the council. You botched this. So we have to make this right. The president has a lot of advisers. You got to believe there is a lot more people, more brain power going into whether we invited ISIS as to whether we open fire to residents of Ferguson. Marc.

FERGUSON: My point is it is called a confidence vote. And the confidence vote is the ultimate issue here. You have a lot of people underneath this police chief, the same way that Barack Obama does. But if you look at polling every time why we want to get rid of a leader we would have any leaders that stick around and lead.

(CROSSTALK)

HILL: Right. But that's not the case.

FEYERICK: Marc.

HILL: But here is the difference - the difference between the example you just gave and what is happening in Ferguson is this isn't just a public opinion poll in one particular issue. This is a town (INAUDIBLE) around the safety if the police, around trusting police, feeling comfortable with police, believing the police have the best interest at heart.

FEYERICK: And that's where we have to leave it. It is having confidence in the leaders. All right. Marc Lamont Hill, Ben Ferguson, always so much to say, not enough time. We appreciate your time though. Thanks.

And Bill and Hillary Clinton giving the world a first look at their new grand child. We are going to show you the photos coming up straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: Chelsea Clinton became a new mom late last night delivering a baby girl. She tweeted "Marc and I are full of love and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mizvinsky."

Brianna Keilar joins us now on the phone. Brianna, have we heard anything from the new grandparents?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Yes, we have. They are over the moon, which I think is certainly something that we were expecting. There is a lot of discussion recently from the Clintons in public as they anxiously awaited their grand baby. We have heard from them on Twitter Hillary Clinton tweeting that "We are over the moon to be grandparents and that this is one of the happiest moments of our life."

The Clintons releasing some of the photos. You get kind of a quick little look at little baby Charlotte Clinton Misvinsky who was born last night. Obviously a baby girl, but what's interesting is that Chelsea Clinton and her husband waited to see if it was a boy or a girl. So we didn't know what she was having. Bill Clinton has said that they wanted to wait, and we heard from Chelsea that they really wanted that genuine surprise so they got that.

Chelsea and her husband on Twitter saying "We finally met Charlotte, and we are in love." You mentioned she also said "We are full of love, awe and gratitude." So a huge deal obviously for Chelsea Clinton and her husband, Marc, but it's also a very big deal for the Clintons as it is for many first time grandparents.

FEYERICK: Yes, you know, you think about Bill and Hillary together with Chelsea and it has always been the three of them. Now they add a fourth to their brood, along with the son-in-law who is now, fourth in line, fifth in line, I should say. What sort of an impact do you think this is going to have on Hillary Clinton's political career? You see her there looking very sort of nurturing and loving and grandmotherly? What do you think? What kind of impact?

KEILAR: I think it will have more of an impact on her immediate schedule. She is expected to serve some sort of role and we know that she will be doing some events leading up to the mid term election to help vulnerable Democrats. But when it comes to her actual presidential aspirations it sounds like a lot of people around her now making this point that "Hey, maybe this is not a question that a man would be asked, you know, being a grand parent is a big deal but is it a political impediment?" No. They would say - they would make the case I heard some say it certainly wasn't for Mitt Romney who has so many kids.

It was different though, Deb, about months ago there was speculation is ramping up for Hillary Clinton going for another White House run. Some Democrats are raising the question, maybe she won't want to do it. Maybe she is going to just want to enjoy being a grand parent, enjoy being a private citizen and enjoy working with the Clinton Foundation. But I will tell you I am not hearing that any more at all. You can kind of read into that, I think.

FEYERICK: All right. Well, so interesting. Obviously, congratulations to the happy grandparents. Congratulations to Chelsea and her husband, Marc. The hard work really begins now for them as a couple. Hillary Clinton did speak to Dr. Sanjay Gupta about all things baby. She goes into wonderful details about what it means to be a grandmother and what she is expecting. Hear that interview next.

I'm Deborah Feyerick, in New York. CNN NEWSROOM continues at the top of the hour. SANJAY GUPTA MD begins right after this.

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