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Violence Continues in Ukraine; Vice President Biden Publicly Tells Russian President Putin Russian Forces Must Leave Ukraine; European Leaders Meeting with Russian President Putin; U.S. to Possibly Provide Military Aid to Ukrainian Forces; ISIS Claims Jordanian Airstrike Kills American Aid Worker Hostage; Two Philadelphia Police Officers are Indicted for Brutality; Poll Shows President Obama Most Polarizing President in Recent History

Aired February 07, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN HOST: Thanks so much for joining me. Don't forget follow me on Twitter if you can spell "Smerconish." We'll see you next week.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Can peace be reached in Ukraine? Right now world leaders are meeting in Munich, but there are some doubts that diplomacy can save the situation.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Coalition aircraft hitting ISIS hard this morning, going after new targets in northern Iraq, also in Syria. Plus, the family of Kayla Mueller, they're not giving up hope that their daughter is still alive, even after ISIS says the American aid worker was killed during attacks against the terror group.

PAUL: And two police officers now learning about life on the other side of the law as a video leads to charges against them. We'll show you more of that video.

But first, we want to wish you a good morning. Hope Saturday has been good to you. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 10:00 on the east coast, 7:00 out west. You are in the CNN Newsroom.

PAUL: And high-level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin have apparently failed to broker a peace deal and end the bloodshed in Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: And now world leaders are meeting in Germany hoping to craft a solution to a crisis really on the verge of chaos. Already the conflict has claimed more than 5,000 lives and forced nearly 1 million people to flee.

PAUL: Right now Vice President Joe Biden is addressing the mounting crisis there. Listen to what he said just moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: America and Europe are being tested. President Putin has to understand that as he has changed, so has our focus. We have moved from resetting this important relationship to reasserting the fundamental bedrock principles on which European freedom and stability rests. And I'll say it again -- inviolable borders, no spheres of influence, the sovereign right to choose your own alliances. I cannot repeat that often enough. No existing agreement or any future agreement by the actions Russia takes on the ground, not by the paper they sign. Given Russia's recent history, we need to judge it by its deeds, not its words. Don't tell us, shows us, President Putin. Too many times President Putin has promised peace and delivered tanks, troops, and weapons.

So we will continue to provide Ukraine with security assistance, not to encourage war, but to allow Ukraine to defend itself. Let me be clear, we do not believe there is a military solution in Ukraine. But let me be equally clear. We do not believe Russia has the right to do what they're doing. We believe we should attempt an honorable peace, and we also believe Ukrainian people have a right to defend themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Let's bring in Senior International Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. He's in war torn Donetsk, Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: Joining us John Herbst, the former U.N. ambassador to Ukraine. First, Nick, Vice president Biden said the U.S. will continue to provide security assistance not for itself but to allow Ukraine to defend itself. How is that being received?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you have a picture as to how that will embolden the Russian narrative that ostensibly they claim in Vladimir Putin's words they're facing NATO's foreign legion, that's the Ukrainian army, they say the separatists are fighting here in Ukraine. American direct aid to the Ukrainian military will bolster that narrative, as I should say, a fictitious one at this stage.

As you join me though, Victor, if you could potentially hear on the other microphone we have set up, the sound of shells slamming into Donetsk, I was woken by this morning and now as dusk falls, we're hearing again. Let me see if I can just give you a moment to hear that. Quite remarkable thudding getting closer and closer it seems towards the city center. Obviously, this is separatist held territory. Those shells appear to be hitting it. So it's possible they are emanating from the Ukrainian military but regardless of that kind of noise backdrop is far away from suggesting a peace is about to come in here.

We've had talks in Moscow, the remarkable scene, two of the leaders of the largest economies in Europe heading to the kremlin to talk peace with Vladimir Putin late in the night. Those talks pretty much come up with nothing, and now we have pretty negative sounds coming out of Munich from Angela Merkel the German chancellor, how she's uncertain the talks will succeed, and Joe Biden, you heard him there, saying how Ukraine has the right to defend itself. It does not seem as though negotiation is taking us anywhere. There appears to be a hope that the previous cease-fire they agreed last year fell apart in some say days, really, may be revived somehow. But if you listen to what we're hearing in Donetsk, the most sustained and close to the city center shelling I have heard since I've been coming here, it is remarkably difficult shot for politicians to bridge that gap.

PAUL: We just heard -- we can hear them in the background there, the blasts, and we hear it often. One, Nick, has this been happening all night? And secondly, when you hear from the leaders, some leaders who don't have a lot of hope in any sort of peace deal, how do the people there perceive that? How do they -- what kind of hope do they have, I guess? Do you see any?

WALSH: Very little. The people you speak to, some, obviously, are furious at Ukrainian military shelling this area. Obviously those would be separatist loyalists because many people have stayed here out of an ideological affinity with the separatist movement, but some also simply because they don't have the resources to leave here. When you hear that kind of shelling that's a reason to get out of town pretty quickly indeed. So you have to have a few choices if you really are staying here.

Others simply want the war to stop. I spoke a group of women a few days ago in one town on the Ukrainian side, they were furious at the Ukrainian government and separatists too, both sides for shelling each other. And then, of course, there are Ukrainians as well equally furious to what they see here as a Russian invasion. You have to note how well equipped and organized, increasingly so, the separatists are. They have a lot of heavy weapons on their side as the Ukrainian military, and, of course, the Ukrainian and NATO position here. The U.S. as well is, that that is because often they're fighting Russian army regulars on the ground, the Russian military itself.

But remarkable scene really tonight as you talk of peace and world leaders have tried to talk it, we are hearing some of the most intense shelling that has hit his city a number of days, at least, if not for months.

BLACKWELL: Let's bring be in Ambassador Herbst into this conversation. Against the backdrop of the shelling happening right now on the outskirts of Donetsk, should the U.S. send this defensive lethal assistance to Ukraine?

JOHN HERBST, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: Absolutely. The United States believes, Ukraine believes, Germany believes, Europe believes there can be a diplomatic settlement, there must be a diplomatic settlement to this crisis. The only person who doesn't believe this is Vladimir Putin. He is waging a -- first a covert and now an increasingly overt war in Ukraine's east. The current fighting, the current uptick in fighting was preceded by Russia sending in hundreds of pieces of heavy equipment -- tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, artillery in December. Once they gave that to their proxies, their subordinates, the so-called separatists, the separatists began their offensive. Let's keep in mind, since the cease-fire was allegedly established or

concluded in September, the Russian-led forces have acquired over 500 square kilometers of additional territory in Ukraine. This is a Russian-led war.

PAUL: I wanted to ask you, ambassador, the Russian economy we know is crippled. Do you think that President Putin in some ways is just betting on Ukraine's economy to collapse first?

HERBST: President Putin is hoping for several things. One, as you've said, for Ukraine's economy to collapse, two, for Europe not standing firm with the United States besides Ukraine. He wants the sanctions to come off and he's hoping those countries in Europe which are somewhat sympathetic to him, will not agree to renew sanctions despite his continuing aggression.

But he has two serious problems. One is the state of his economy due both to low oil prices and sanctions. The other is the war he's conducting in Ukraine is a war his people do not approve of. So he is lying to the Russian people. He is saying Russian soldiers are not engaged in Ukraine, but in fact they are there on the ground right now. According to western intelligence estimates there are at least 250, maybe as many as 1,000, Russian soldiers, Russian officers in Ukraine. According to Ukraine estimates, there are as many as 9,000 Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: I want to go back to Nick who is there in the Donetsk region, and there is this shelling that has been going on. He says sustained shelling. The secretary of state, John Kerry, announced this week that $16.4 million in aid is going to Ukraine for aid, not military aid, but support for the people there. With 5,000 dead, and a million estimated displaced, it seems like a pretty small number. Is that how it's being received in Kiev?

WALSH: Well, this issue has been going on for months, and it's really only now many western capitals are waking up to the inexorable problem that Europe is facing from this conflict. It's been growing very quietly but very steadily for months. As I say, 5,000 dead is the start of it. There are potentially a million people here displaced from their homes. You see it all over Ukraine. That's Ukrainian -- Ukraine, those parts where separatists have not infiltrated. Many people displaced, living out of other people's homes, trying to forge a life elsewhere. Many stuck here.

In terms of the aid getting into Donetsk, well, there's a problem in that the borders to some degree have been closed by Ukrainian officials. You need a pretty elaborate to get past, to be able to come in and out of these separatist held areas if you're a Ukrainian citizen. And we see huge trucks often trying to get into these separatist areas. I don't know the fate, whether they do or not, but there are at times parts of convoys, humanitarian aid, that come in here. We see people queuing for food. We know electricity can be scarce, water problematic, the banking system has collapsed. It's purely a cash economy in the separatist areas.

So a very difficult if you take away the shelling, first of all, and then, of course, add to the fact we have seen artillery shells land in civilian areas here, both sides blaming the other for it, but often you ask why would separatists shell their own areas? People actually at times assisting them. So a very messy task with the Ukrainian military trying to hit separatist targets scattered all over this broad area here.

And that, of course, is causing many civilian casualties. One factor, last Friday, a queue for aid being hit by a stray shell. Five people killed. We saw the aftermath of that ourselves. And all of this is just fueling, frankly, the animosity and the broad feeling I think amongst many that it's going to be hard for this part of Ukraine to feel part of the whole of Ukraine again in the future without an awful lot reconciliation and water under the bridge, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And also draining the confidence in these peace talks that have been going on for the past couple days as they try to come to some solution, the shelling continues, literally. Nick Paton Walsh in Donetsk for us and John Herbst, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, thank you both.

PAUL: Thank you, gentlemen.

BLACKWELL: All right, still to come, the family of Kayla Mueller is now reaching out to ISIS directly. They are holding out hope that the American aid worker is still alive. We'll have a live report on that ahead.

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PAUL: OK, let's you to our other big story right now. Coalition forces unleashing at least a dozen new air strikes against ISIS, the latest offensive taking place in the Iraqi city of Mosul.

BLACKWELL: We're also learning that ISIS has blown up a strategic bridge in the city of Kirkuk. The militants have recently used the bridge to launch an attack. CNN's Phil Black is with us. He's one of the few western journalists in that immediate area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Behind me is the most important piece of territory that ISIS still controls in northern Iraq -- Mosul. It is Iraq's second biggest city, and you can see it here from the top of Mount Zartak. Where I'm standing it is one of the closest positions occupied by the Kurdish fighters, the Peshmerga, who have drawn a defensive line around that ISIS controlled city. And from up here, there is a commanding view into Mosul from the south and the towns and villages which surround it and which are still occupied by ISIS as well.

On this day overhead has been the constant sound of aircraft, fast- moving aircraft. We have seen what appears to be a slower-moving, larger reconnaissance aircraft of some kind. And then frequently, repeatedly, often very close to one another, the sound of large blasts in the distance. It is a hazy day, not the best day to view Mosul from this location, but you still have a very clear idea of what lies between the lines that have been established by the Kurdish fighters around the south and southwest of this city and that no man's land in between leading up to Mosul itself.

Phil Black, CNN, on Mount Zartak in northern Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Phil, thank you so much.

Quick break and we'll be right back.

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PAUL: It's 21 minutes past the hour. New this morning, more than 30 people are dead and nearly 100 wounded after two suicide bombers targeted a busy market and restaurant in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. What you're looking at here is a video of the aftermath of those attacks. They come just two days after government officials announced the long imposed curfew on the capital city would be lifted.

And then across the border from Iraq, coalition aircraft are going after ISIS in Syria, and activists say there have been at least 10 explosions from air strikes north of the militant stronghold of Raqqah and six more air strikes to the west of the city.

BLACKWELL: The U.S. is trying to determine if a young American aid worker held captive by ISIS presumably in Raqqah is alive or dead. ISIS says a Jordanian air strike killed Kayla Mueller. Jordan says that's a blatant lie and PR stunt. Let's dig deeper now with CNN military analyst, retired Army Major General "Spider" Marks. General, thanks for being with us.

MAJOR GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALSYT: Absolutely. Thanks, Victor, appreciate it.

BLACKWELL: I want to start with the news of the suicide bombings this morning. CENTCOM says, tells CNN, that ISIS is stretched thin here. We do not know if these are specific ISIS militants who are responsible for these, but could they be trying to now go for Baghdad or pushing out of Mosul?

MARKS: Well, we've suspected all along that ISIS really is covetous of Baghdad, but we have also said Baghdad is the center of gravity for Iraq. It's where the very finest military exists within the Iraqi security forces. That has to be held and it will be held.

So the fact that ISIS might be trying to make some penetrations into Baghdad we shouldn't be surprised, and, frankly, Baghdad is a very big city. It's easy to infiltrate the onesie-twosies that might then be able to link back up and execute operations like this. So we shouldn't be surprised.

But you know, Victor, when you look at the geography of Baghdad and Kirkuk and Mosul and over to Raqqah, you're looking at an incredibly large expanse. And if ISIS tries to strike everywhere they'll lose their strength and they'll defeat themselves and hopefully that's kind of part of the plan right now. If you're spreading yourself too thin you can't a achieve mass. You can't achieve momentum. Try to get a foothold and achieve momentum, I'm speaking tactically and militarily, and then try to reinforce that. So if they're all over the place they will start to have increased problems.

BLACKWELL: Our Phil Black is there near Mosul and we've seen the air strikes this morning. We also know the U.S. intelligence officials are trying to determine just how strong are the resources, ISIS' resources in Mosul, to determine if they'll recommend to the president sending in ground forces. What do they need to see to make that recommendation?

MARKS: Well, it's a combination of what I would say all of those factors that you use in trying to determine an enemy's capabilities, not only capabilities but their intentions, and that kind of equates to the threat that you see in front of you.

But really what you're looking at is an ability to conduct operations, to resupply those operations, to conduct operations in a way that demonstrates a command and control capability that really speaks to an organization that hasn't broken down and has some possibilities to move elsewhere. So if you can isolate ISIS and keep them in a certain area and cut them off from their logistics and all their supplies, and that might even be any elements of command and control, now you can start to defeat them in detail.

So the United States and its coalition partners, certainly they're assessing this as a matter of routine, but they're really looking at ISIS ability to conduct sustained operations.

BLACKWELL: All right, General Marks, thank you so much. Good to have you with us.

MARKS: Sure, Victor. Thanks.

PAUL: And we're going to have more on the young American woman held by ISIS for a year and a half. Now militants claim she was killed in a Jordanian air strike, but there is no proof of that. Her parents are begging ISIS to contact them directly now. Our Kyung Lah is in Kayla Mueller's hometown.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it is a hometown that is hoping this is a twisted lie, that one of its very best remains alive. I'm Kyung Lah in Prescott, Arizona, that story coming up.

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BLACKWELL: Getting close to the bottom of the hour now, and developing this morning, coalition forces have unleashed a new wave of air strikes against ISIS targets in the Iraqi city of Mosul. CNN crews were in the area and witnessed those blasts earlier today. ISIS has maintained defenses since it took over Mosul. That was about eight months ago.

PAUL: While shelling continues in the streets of Ukraine, world leaders are in Germany hoping to broker a solution to the crisis. Last hour Vice President Joe Biden told President Putin he now has to choose to get out of Ukraine or face isolation and economic costs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: President Putin has to make a simple, stark choice -- get out of Ukraine or face continued isolation and growing economic costs at home. As the story of Ukraine shows, there are multiple dimensions to European security, hard military power of NATO for sure, but also confronting corruption that's being used as a tool to undermine national sovereignty in other parts of Europe. Corruption is a cancer. Those of you who watch superman movies and comic books, it is like kryptonite to the functioning of democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: According to the United Nations the conflict has claimed more than 5,000 lives and displaced nearly a million others.

BLACKWELL: The parents of American hostage Kayla Mueller are begging ISIS to contact them and let them know if she's alive or dead. The militants have claimed that she was killed in a Jordanian air strike. The U.S. is trying to confirm that, and Jordan says it's just another publicity stunt by ISIS.

We're following this from all angles. CNN's Kyung Lah is in Kayla Mueller's hometown of Prescott, Arizona. We've got Sunlen Serfaty at the White House. I want to start with Kyung, though. What's the mood like in the hometown, people waiting for any word on Kayla Mueller?

LAH: They've known, Victor, many people in this town, that she has been captive for more than a year, but now, as you say, this unsubstantiated claim from is, there is a lot of confusion here. There's a lot of hurt, profound sadness, and a lot of hope that this is just another ISIS lie.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: Police closed off the street leading to the Mueller family home. Kayla Mueller's mother and father grapple with how their child could give so much is trapped in war's brutality. But it was the very atrocities of war that drew Miller. In Syria, she felt compelled to help the victimized. In 2011 she posted this video protest online.

KAYLA MUELLER, AMERICAN AID WORKER HELD HOSTAGE BY ISIS: I am in solidarity with the Syrian people. I reject the brutality and killing that the Syrian authorities are committing against the Syrian people.

LAH: By the following year she would make her first trip to the Syrian-Turkish border, oceans away from her quiet hometown of Prescott, Arizona. But even growing up, she longed to engage in the wrongs of the world. Todd Geiler is a doctor close with the family.

TODD GEILER, MUELLER FAMILY FRIEND: The daughter is one of those folks that looks for the good in everything, and in that vein she goes on ahead and tries to look for God's center with the way she looks and acts day to day life. LAH: In high school her local paper showed her marching through town,

as part of the Save Darfur Coalition, lobbying members of Congress and staging silent protests against the genocide. As a student at Northern Arizona University, Mueller was president of a group called Stand, a student led movement to end mass atrocities. After graduating she joined aid agencies that took her to India, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. She came home briefly in 2011, volunteering at a women's shelter and a HIV/AIDS clinic Northland Cares. The director telling CNN, "She was truly a remarkable woman. We are all very sad."

But Mueller could not ignore the unfolding crisis in Syria. The children, she told her local paper, captured her heart. In May of 2013, she spoke at the Prescott Kiwanis club where her father is a member. She said, "For as long as I live I will not let this suffering be normal."

Just two months later as she left a hospital in Aleppo, Syria, she was kidnapped. Her family would hear nothing until 10 months later. ISIS demanded a ransom of nearly $7 million or they would kill Kayla Mueller on August 13th. As Jordan begins its air strikes against ISIS, this photo from ISIS and their claim that those air strikes killed Mueller, unsubstantiated, likely a twisted ploy in the ISIS propaganda game. Mueller's parents in a public statement directly to ISIS urged her captors to contact them privately and added, "We are still hopeful that Kayla is alive."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: And there is more to that statement. The family saying that they have kept their end of the deal, that they kept her name out of the press by securing agreements with journalists around the world, including this news organization, CNN, by the family's request not publishing that name. The family urging captors to reach out to them directly. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Wow. I mean she has done so much, hopefully that family hears something. Kyung Lah for us in Arizona, thank you.

PAUL: In the meantime, the Obama administration is still skeptical about this latest ISIS claim. I want to bring in CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. She is live this morning from the White House. What have you heard there, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christie, the Obama administration does say that they're deeply concerned about these reports, but they also say they're deeply skeptical. They've seen no proof, no evidence to back up ISIS' claims. So right now the U.S. intelligence agencies are scrambling to find more information out.

We know from law enforcement and intelligence sources that the working theory appears to be that Kayla possibly was murdered weeks if not months ago, and this latest news from ISIS was just to back up their evidence.

Now we do know that the Obama administration has been in close contact with the Mueller family, really working behind the scenes to help secure her release. But as we have reported, ISIS has demanded nearly $6 million in ransom, something that the United States does not pay. Now, I want to take a -- have you take a listen to President Obama's top National Security Adviser Susan Rice. Here's what she said yesterday about these claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We do not at the present have any evidence to corroborate ISIL's claims, but obviously we'll keep reviewing the information at hand. We have a broader policy with respect to hostages around the world. We don't make concessions to terrorists and to hostage takers. We don't pay ransom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RICE: And Rice did add that the United States is currently undergoing a review of the nation's hostage policy. Of course the one part that is nonnegotiable, she says, is, of course, the making concessions to terrorists. She said that they're looking at ways they can help the families more who are undergoing this sort of tragic situation. Of course that's not a lot of comfort to the Mueller family who is going through this right now wondering if their daughter is alive or dead.

PAUL: A lot of people thinking about that family. Sunlen Serfaty we appreciate it, thank you.

Still ahead, disturbing concerns for Bobbi Kristina Brown. Police are looking for answers regarding some unexplained injuries she has.

Also, two Philadelphia cops now on the other side of the law as this video leads to their arrest. Nick Valencia is following the story.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's such a disturbing story, Christi. We'll tell you how the quick thinking of the victim's girlfriend helped clear his name. I'm Nick Valencia in Atlanta. That story after the break. You're watching the CNN Newsroom.

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PAUL: It's 41 minutes past the hour. And new developments overnight in the case of Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. She is still in a medically induced coma, but according to sources the 21-year-old has injuries that have still not been explained. What those injuries are, that hasn't been revealed. But in another development investigators are focusing now on Bobbi Kristina's boyfriend Nick Gordon. All of this as they try to determine how it is she ended up face down in a tub of water last weekend.

Another story we're looking at, two Philadelphia police officers have been arrested and charged with aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy.

BLACKWELL: Now, listen to this. They're accused of, and you have to turn and look at the screen here. They're accused of beating this 23- year-old, busting his eye, splitting his head open, and then trying to allegedly cover it up. But his girlfriend hunted down surveillance footage that helped clear his name. Nick Valencia has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Vindicated by video -- nearly two years after he was brutally beaten by police, 23-year-old Najee Rivera received a slice of justice. The two cops involved in his assault indicted by a grand jury and arrested this week, charged with police brutality.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The eye was beaten and swollen shut. There was a broken nose. There was approximately 20 staples to the top of his head, having his head split open.

VALENCIA: It was May 29th, 2013, when veteran officers Sean McKnight and Kevin Robinson said Rivera resisted arrest after they said he ran a stop sign in his scooter. In an initial police report the officers said Rivera, quote, "attempted to flee on foot after being pulled over." According to the officers Rivera then slammed an officer against a brick wall before throwing elbows at an officer during the struggle. Officer Robinson was even said to have suffered minor pain.

But after watching surveillance video from the incident, a grand jury determined the officers' story was a lie.

SETH WILLIAMS, PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The video undermined every, every aspect of the officers' account of the incident. Another officer arrived of the scene thought that Mr. Rivera had been shot because there was so much blood on the ground.

VALENCIA: It was Rivera's girlfriend who found the video, the result of knocking on local businesses where the assault happened to see if it had been caught on tape.

COMMISSIONER CHARLES RAMSEY, PHILADELPHIA POLICE: It is painful, it is embarrassing, it does bring a lot of issues that you see across the country. We have 6,500 sworn members. These guys do not represent the majority of police officers.

VALENCIA: The district attorney has dropped all charge against Rivera. His attorney says Rivera knew this day would come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's unfortunate, you know, for the police department as a whole. They're all a pretty good bunch of professionals who try to protect everybody in Philadelphia and they got a tough job to do. It's a sad thing that this particular incident occurred.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA: Najee Rivera we can report settled with the city of Philadelphia for $200,000. Those two police officers, they were arrested, put in jail, but they posted bond. They're since out.

And we did hear back from each of their attorneys. Kevin Robinson's attorney says that he's well respected and a dedicated member of the Philadelphia Police Department for the past seven years. He goes on to say he looks forward to clearing his name and getting back to protecting and serving the citizens of Philadelphia.

As far as Sean McKnight's attorney, he says that McKnight is a good cop who risks his life every day when suspects flee. He says that creates risk for themselves, for the public and the officers who bravely pursue them. He also says they look forward to the trial. So these cops standing by their convictions, saying they're looking forward to the trial.

PAUL: All right.

BLACKWELL: Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

VALENCIA: Thanks.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: There's a new Gallup poll out that reveals some of the most polarizing presidents since 1953. You might be surprised who's on the list. We'll tell you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: President Obama's approval rating, it may be rising, but he remains one of the most polarizing presidents in modern times. Perhaps it's no surprise that many Democrats give him a thumbs up while overwhelmingly Republicans thumbs down.

PAUL: This is according to a Gallup tracking poll, by the way. Look at this, each of President Obama's six years in office rank among the top 10 most polarized for more than half a century. George W. Bush fills the other four spots.

You know we got people who want to talk about this. CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona and Republican strategist and Black Rock Group Senior director Lisa Boothe. Gentlemen -- ladies, thank you so much.

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Hi, Christi.

PAUL: Mr. Obama -- good morning. Mr. Obama, America's most polarizing president ever. Really? What's your reaction to that, Lisa?

LISA BOOTHE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, he is one of the most polarizing presidents ever, and Gallup even said he is on track to be the most polarizing president in their polling history. And look, he's someone that set out and said he wanted to unite this country but instead he divided the country through policies like Obamacare.

But what's important to note is that we're not just seeing a divide among the parties. We're also seeing a divide in the wage gap. If you look at President Obama, middle class families have been left behind by this president. Middle-class families are making less than they did in 2009, and while jobs have been added to the top and bottom of the wage scale, middle-class Americans have seen their job prospects diminish with hundreds of thousands of jobs lost in the construction and manufacturing industries.

PAUL: All right, wait a minute, wait a minute. Maria, I want to get your take on this, because Victor and I were talking a about it and thinking Clinton wasn't polarizing, Nixon wasn't polarizing? What do you make of this?

CARDONA: I think there's a couple things going on here. Number one, it doesn't surprise me that there are folks who think that Obama is the most polarizing president thus far because he, frankly, has had the most obstructionist opposition that we have had. Even during his campaign we saw the rise of the birther movement, we saw the rise of the Tea Party, we saw the rise of an extreme right wing conservative movement that, frankly, other Democratic presidents didn't have to contend with.

And you're right, let's remember Clinton. Clinton was very polarizing. He also had an opposition that was trying to do absolutely everything to bring him down. It's no different with President Obama. In fact, look not very long ago when Mitch McConnell essentially said that his goal as a majority leader in the Senate, or as a majority leader for his party, was not going to be to find solutions for this country. It was going to be to make sure that President Obama was a one-term president. So he got elected twice because he focused on middle class economics, which is what he's going to continue to do. It's a little laughable that Republicans are just now talking about --

BOOTHE: Look at the numbers.

CARDONA: Middle-class families being left behind.

PAUL: All right.

BOOTHE: Every single policy they put forward actually hurts middle- class families.

PAUL: Lisa, you're shaking your head. Go ahead.

BOOTHE: The proof is in the pudding, right. Let's look at what middle class families are experiencing right now and suffering under this president. So you can say that Republicans don't care about the middle class, which is laughable in itself. But let's look at who's really suffering under President Obama, and that's the same middle- class families President Obama has said he's trying to help but they've not benefitted from this president.

PAUL: OK, we're heading into an election year. Let's think about that, when you look at these numbers and how there's this huge gap between the way, obviously, Republicans and Democrats see candidates. I'm wondering, we've got President Bush in there for four of the slots in the top 10. Is that going to affect, do you think in any way, Lisa, Jeb Bush and his possible run? BOOTHE: Well, I don't think it's going to hurt Jeb Bush. Look at --

if Jeb Bush is the Republican nominee, we he still has a long path to get there and a difficult path to get there, but if he is the Republican nominee he has a strong record on economic growth that he can point to as governor of Florida.

But it if you look at someone like Hillary Clinton, you know, she's incapable of doing that. She has no crowning achievements as a United States senator and her record as secretary of state is abysmal, and it's because of her and President Obama failed foreign policy record that we're seeing the rise of ISIS take shape in Iraq and Syria and North Africa.

CARDONA: You know, what's interesting here, Christi, is that Republican strategists are saying publicly and privately that given the growth in the economy -- we just had another tremendous jobs report -- Republicans are going to have to find another talking point other than it's the Obama economy that's bringing the country down. And yes, middle-class families have not been the receivers of a lot of that income in terms of rising income, but, frankly, it's been because of Republican opposition to the policies that would have helped middle-class families.

BOOTHE: There's absolutely no correlation you can make between the two.

CARDONA: So now Republicans have a chance to prove they really are looking out for middle-class families. But frankly, in the last two elections, and you look at polls right now, Lisa, Americans still believe that Democrats and Obama, and if Hillary runs it will be Hillary, are the ones that understand what middle-class families go through.

BOOTHE: Hillary Clinton is going to be incapable of delivering an income inequality conversation when she is someone who is --

CARDONA: She's --

BOOTHE: She's out of touch with the average American. This is someone who said --

CARDONA: She has worked all her life.

(CROSSTALK)

PAUL: We appreciate it. We can't hear either one of you at the moment. But I know that you're passionate, we love the conversations. Maria Cardona, Lisa Boothe, thank you both so much.

BOOTHE: Thank you, Christi.

CARDONA: Thank you, Christi.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: All right, coming up at the top of the hour, new coalition attacks against ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The forces are unleashing more than a dozen air strikes targeting the militants in Iraq's second largest city of Mosul.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: You do know that architecture is considered art.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it sure is. And in today's "Ones to Watch" see how architecture can shape how we look at the world.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look around. We are surrounded by architecture, from the extreme to the everyday, from the old to the new, from ancient Rome to modern Manhattan. Each landscape speaks of those it shelters. We have built and built and built on this earth. And architecture, the shaping of volume, light, and ideas, has come to be known as the mother of all art.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are many buildings in the world that are great, and they are great and have their limits. There's no such thing as a perfect building. It's actually continually evolving, and I think that's what's really exciting.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every structure in our habitat was conceived by a created mind, a person with a plan, an architect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Architects are obsessed. Everything they see and do is related to construction, and everything around our world is constructed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: You can watch the full show at CNN.com/OnesToWatch.

And we hope you make some good memories today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Stay with us, though. The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now. We turn it over to our colleague and friend, Fredricka Whitfield.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: I'll take it from here. I felt the handoff.

All right. Thanks so much. You all have a great day. Appreciate it.