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Israeli Prime Minister to Address U.S. Congress; Interview with Rep. Robert Pittenger; Thousands Turn Out for Boris Nemtsov Funeral; Clinton Only Used Personal Email at State Dept.

Aired March 03, 2015 - 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: Thanks.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses Congress in less than two hours.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: America and Israel are more than friends. We're like a family.

COSTELLO: Will he spill family secrets?

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: And we are concerned by reports that suggest selective details of the ongoing negotiations will be discussed publicly.

COSTELLO: Concern mounting. The number of congressional boycotters growing. What will Netanyahu say?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Nuclear stakes and allies straining to be civil. This morning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ratchets up tensions with the White House when he addresses both Houses of Congress. He will also face plenty of empty seats. More than 50 Democrats now boycotting his offensive.

Netanyahu wants to turn lawmakers against these ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, a country that has vowed to destroy Israel but the long- time U.S.-Israeli alliance showing its own strain. The White House warning Netanyahu to not reveal sensitive details of those talks now unfolding in Switzerland. And the president says Netanyahu's dire warnings on talks two years ago have proved to be baseless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When we first announced this interim deal the Prime Minister Netanyahu made all sorts of claims. This was going to be a terrible deal. This was going to result in Iran getting $50 billion worth of relief. Iran would not abide by the agreement. None of that has come true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren is one of the latest to boycott Netanyahu's speech so have we arrived at a time Israel has become a Republican-Democratic issue? And if that's true, what does it mean?

Let's check in with CNN chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

Good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. It is certainly becoming more of a partisan issue which is really stunning because of all of the partisan issues that divide the parties here on Capitol Hill, Israel has been the one thing that has brought the parties together consistently for decades. And you certainly are seeing with high profile Democrats like Elizabeth Warren, the former chair of the Democratic Party, Senator Tim Cane, and others deciding that they're so opposed to the optics of this speech, the idea of this speech at this time that they are going to sit it out.

So there's no question that they are -- that there is tension despite the fact that you are seeing and hearing the Israelis and Republicans trying to set it -- kind of tamp things down. It's going to be hard to do so, especially after we hear the substance of the speech which many Democrats here I've talked to are concerned will reveal too much about what's going on in these talks with Iran.

COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about how Netanyahu entered the halls of Congress in about, what, an hour and 45 minutes. What would that be like?

BASH: A lot of pomp and circumstance. This -- you know, we're used to seeing -- what we're going to see today we're used to seeing at the White House. But obviously the whole story here is that Netanyahu was not invited to the White House and was invited here over the opposition of the White House. So he's going to come. He's going to be presented by the House speaker with a bust of Winston Churchill with Netanyahu's name on it.

One of the reasons is because only Winston Churchill will have addressed a joint meeting of Congress as many times as Netanyahu. He is also going to present him with some things like the Scroll of Esther and this is important because it is the Jewish holiday of Purim this coming week and Esther -- the Book of Esther is what Jews read during this holiday.

So there are going to be a lot of efforts to reach out and kind of join the two countries culturally and politically as well as when we talk about the geopolitical issues like Iran which actually obviously very much divides them.

COSTELLO: OK. Well, let's talk about that a little bit more.

Dana Bash, thank you. Do stand by.

White House officials are worried the Israeli prime minister could reveal confidential details about a nuclear agreement with Iran putting the entire plan into jeopardy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIE HARF, STATE DEPARTMENT DEPUTY SPOKESWOMAN: We were incredibly disappointed that some Israeli officials were saying Prime Minister Netanyahu would reveal sensitive information.

KERRY: We are concerned by reports that suggest selective details of the ongoing negotiations will be discussed publicly in the coming days.

SUSAN RICE, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I'm not going to get into all the details about ongoing negotiations nor should sensitive details of such a negotiation be discussed in public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But discussing those finer points is something Israel may be ready to do as it tries to stop what it calls, quote, "a bad deal with Iran." Israel's economic minister spoke last night on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NAFTALI BENNETT, ISRAELI ECONOMIC MINISTER: Iran's clear goal is to acquire a nuclear weapon, and if this deal happens it will spell an unmitigated disaster. We need to do everything in our power to stop it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this. I'm joined by chief Washington correspondent and host of "THE LEAD" Jake Tapper.

Hi, Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER": Hey, Carol. How are you?

COSTELLO: I'm good. So would Netanyahu really spill classified information?

TAPPER: Well, it's unclear what information exactly Netanyahu will reveal. I talked to some Israeli government officials and they say that there will be information that the prime minister delivers in his speech, but they say it will be information that has already been reported in the media as well as information that came from other sources, not from the American government. Of course White House officials continue to be alarmed at not only the

background briefing in which Israeli officials told reporters that the prime minister would talk about some sensitive information but also the fact that there have been leaks to the Israeli media from Israeli government officials about details from these negotiations with Iran and they say it's not helpful because there is no final deal so the information is not always in full context.

We'll have to see what exactly he says. But American officials are legitimately concerned -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, the irony here, of course, is Mr. Netanyahu will likely not get what he exactly wants because negotiations with Iran are going on right now.

TAPPER: Well, that's right, and there are a lot of things that they are upset about being in this deal. Now the Americans argue that what the Israeli position is just not realistic. The idea that Netanyahu would want there to be absolutely no uranium enrichment plan is not believable, is not a starting point. That none of the negotiating partners, the U.K., or Germany, or others would allow that.

They say that the deal should restrict Iran's path to a nuclear bomb, extend the breakout period to a year. That's the period under which it would take the Iranians to develop a nuclear weapon should they decide to kick out inspectors and start to work on it. They say right now it's two to three months. So this would extend it to a year and then also the deal would have a civilian nuclear program monitoring what Iran does.

Of course, the Israelis don't want there to be any uranium enrichment plant and they also don't want there to be any sort of deadline, end date for this deal. Right now we're talking about maybe 10 years, 15 years. The Israelis don't think that that is realistic, that that's just a blink of an eye when it comes to the life span of a country. And of course it's their country that they're worried about Iran's nuclear program posing an existential threat to at the very existence of Israel. So for them, this is obviously something that they take very seriously -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Jake Tapper, many thanks to you.

So let's talk more about Netanyahu's supposed plans to release sensitive information before American lawmakers.

With me now Republican Congressman Robert Pittenger from North Carolina.

Welcome, sir.

REP. ROBERT PITTENGER (R), NORTH CAROLINA: Thank you. Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Thank you for being here. A quote from you. Quote, "In my opinion Netanyahu is the Winston Churchill of the day warning the world about Iran. Regrettably, President Obama is the Neville Chamberlain of our day, in denial of the enormous vulnerability we have to the potential nuclear capabilities of Iran."

In light of that, is Netanyahu's invite more about President Obama than Israel?

PITTENGER: No, ma'am. I think it's important that the prime minister come. I was with him two weeks ago to really encourage his speech to make sure that he did come. He understands these threats. Iran has been a sponsor of terrorism for over 30 years. And we see their footprint throughout the Middle East and Syria and Iraq and Yemen and in Lebanon. We see them now in Argentina, Venezuela, Cuba. He understands --

COSTELLO: Well, surely, sir -- surely, sir, President Obama realizes that, too, or in your mind, doesn't he?

PITTENGER: Well, I think the president has chosen the path of least resistance. He is appeased. He's apologized to our adversaries.

The world does not understand his leadership. I've been in the Middle East on a number of occasions but they don't understand the direction and lack of direction of our president.

What I think the prime minister offers to us is a clear understanding of the foreboding evils, of foreboding threat of Iran and an Iran with the nuclear capacity and long range ballistic missiles which they're currently developing with North Korea. This is not even included in the P 5 Plus 1 negotiations.

COSTELLO: Is that really true?

PITTENGER: This is an existential threat?

COSTELLO: Is that really true? And how do you know that?

PITTENGER: It's believed by many sources that --

COSTELLO: What sources?

PITTENGER: Sources of our intel, our capacity to understand what they're --

COSTELLO: That you've talked directly to?

PITTENGER: Yes. I have had conversations with individuals who understand that the direction that Iran is going with developing long- range ballistic missiles. This is a grave concern and we should be aware of this. This is an existential threat to America.

Yes, I'm glad that the prime minister is coming on behalf of Israel but he's also coming on our behalf, in behalf of the whole world.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask --

PITTENGER: You know, Churchill warned the world -- COSTELLO: Let me ask you this, sir. Let me ask you this, sir.

PITTENGER: What would happen with Adolph Hitler. And I'm glad the prime minister is coming on our behalf.

COSTELLO: OK. Let me ask you this. Should Mr. Netanyahu share sensitive information on negotiating -- on negotiations with Iran publicly? Should he share that kind of information with the world?

PITTENGER: I don't have any reason to believe that he is. I think there's a lot of speculation out there of what he is going to do. I think this is all created for media interest and attention. Let's hear his speech out and hear what he has to say. I think the recognition is that Iran with nuclear capacities is a major threat to the entire world. We need to understand that. They have never kept an agreement. We've given them concession after concession.

You know, this whole narrative has changed. It began with, should we allow Iran to have nuclear materials, nuclear capacity. Now that narrative is, well, how great of a capacity should we allow them to have? We've given them $12 billion of repatriated oil revenues that has sustained their economy during this entire time.

You know, the Soviet Union collapsed under President Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Pope John and --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, going back to the matter at hand, Iran.

PITTENGER: Because we put economic pressure, political pressure, military pressure.

COSTELLO: Because I really want to focus on Iran, sir. Could we just focus on Iran? So Benjamin --

PITTENGER: And I am focusing on how to deal with Iran. I'm focusing on how to deal with Iran.

COSTELLO: I understand. But I want to -- I want to focus in on Benjamin Netanyahu's speech from the floor of Congress.

So if he does share sensitive information about these negotiations, can you address that?

PITTENGER: That's very presumptuous that he is.

COSTELLO: If he does, would you address that?

PITTENGER: Let's define what sensitive is. I'm not going to speculate on what might be. That's nonsense. Let's look at the reality of the threat that is there and what Iran has done and what they've done the last 30 years. They have been the source of funding terrorism throughout the Middle East. Imagine Iran with a nuclear capacity. I think that's the message we all need to be listening to and all the rest of this is hype. It's pure political nonsense to be, well, I'm not going to go because

it's partisan. Well, you make it partisan by not going.

You know, let's go and hear the message of our closest democratic ally in the Middle East and hear what he has to say. I think we might learn something.

COSTELLO: But some people might think that this sounds an awful lot like Israel and congressional Republicans negotiating or not negotiating a deal with Iran at the same time the president is. Isn't that strange?

PITTENGER: No. I think -- I think the prime minister is coming for the very purpose to say, hey, my friends, listen. Listen to what I have to say. He is gravely concerned.

I was in Israel two weeks ago. I was at the Golan Heights with these young officers in a tank battalion. I was down at Gaza. They understand these missiles that come across fired by Hezbollah, funded by Iran. They understand the threats. They live under these threats. Israelis are under these threats.

I've been there three times in the last 18 months. I am grateful that the prime minister would come over here, against his political interest. You know, this is not a positive thing for him back in Israel to be doing, but he is so gravely concerned about the outcome of what this agreement will be that he's come here to tell us and express his grave concern.

COSTELLO: All right. Congressman, thank you so much for being with me. I appreciate it.

PITTENGER: Thank you very much.

COSTELLO: A reminder, Wolf Blitzer hosts our special coverage of Netanyahu's special congressional address beginning next hour right here on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, saying goodbye. Thousands of mourners paying their respects today to a murdered Russian opposition leader. We'll take you live to Moscow next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Thousands turning out today for the funeral of a Russian opposition leader known for criticizing President Vladimir Putin. Boris Nemtsov was gunned down Friday just steps from the Kremlin, after walking home from dinner with his Ukrainian girlfriend.

She is now back in Ukraine. She did not attend today's services. She's believed to be the only known witness to Nemtsov's murder.

Nemtsov's killers still have not been caught, but one of the agencies investigating his murder says all scenarios are being considered, that may include analyzing this new surveillance video of the presumed get away car. It shows the car making its way along the Moscow streets after leaving the crime scene. A pro-Kremlin news Web site hey released the video.

CNN's senior international correspondent Ivan Watson live in Moscow now with more.

Hi, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

It was a freezing cold and a very sad scene here at the cemetery on the outskirts of Moscow. Among the people gathered for the funeral for Boris Nemtsov was his 88-year-old mother. She should have been celebrating her 88th birthday, instead she's burying her murdered son.

Now, among the well-wishers were a number of voices from Russia's marginalized and fractured opposition movement kind of pushed to the side of the political spectrum, critics of the Kremlin, of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I saw one Nadya Tolokonnikova, of the members of the band Pussy Riot, that was thrown in prison. They're critics of the Russian president. When you talk to normal people who are coming to pay their respects, many of them against Russia's role supporting separatists on the war in neighboring Ukraine.

Many of them troubled by the authoritarian streak in the Russian government and used to being kind of pushed to the side to the fringes of Russian politics but now fearful, many of them interpreting this murder as a sign that it's not just enough to get pushed to the side if you disagree with the Kremlin here, you can get killed for it, too -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know that government authorities say everything is being done to track down a killer, but specifically what are they doing?

WATSON: Well, the latest sign we've seen of the investigation is of divers in the Moscow river, footage coming out on Russian state TV. They apparently are scouring the bottom of that icy river, looking for what is believed to be the pistol that may have been used to kill Nemtsov Friday night on a bridge.

I was there. It's literally a stone's throw away from the Kremlin, the offices of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. One of the most heavily guarded, closely monitored places in all of Russia and yet the killers were able to escape in a waiting get away car if we can believe the security footage that was released after that killing.

The Russian government condemning the murder, vowing to bring the killers to justice and offering rewards up to $50,000 to anybody who offers any information leading to finding the killer.

The one theory that Russian investigators have not proposed, they've linked the murder possibly to Ukrainian -- the war in Ukraine or to Islamic extremists or to even a possible domestic dispute that Nemtsov may have had. The one theory they have not proposed is that maybe he was targeted because of his longstanding outspoken criticism of the Kremlin and that's why many of Nemtsov's supporters do not trust the government to properly investigate this killing and they point to past assassinations in Russia that have also never been solved -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Ivan Watson reporting live from Moscow this morning. Thank you.

We're now seeing one of the most revealing photos of Jihadi John. In it, you can see the full face of Mohamed Emwazi, the British man identified this week by U.S. officials as Jihadi John.

This picture was taken in 2010 in Kuwait. It comes as we learn more details about the brutal ISIS militant. Newly released email show he feared U.K. intelligence and once considered suicide.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, was Hillary Clinton hiding her e-mails while she was secretary of state? Was she breaking the law?

Brianna Keilar is covering that story for us.

Hi, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol.

Hillary Clinton while secretary of state for four years used only a personal account, no government account for her e-mail. There are questions now about how she may have violated some federal requirements. We'll look into that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Questions growing over whether Hillary Clinton violated federal laws. "The New York Times" reporting Clinton only used personal e-mail during her time at the State Department. And that's a big no-no. Officials are supposed to use government accounts which are safe for public record and security reasons.

Potential presidential candidate Jeb Bush questioned the move, posting on Twitter, quote, "Transparency matters. Unclassified Hillary Clinton e-mails should be released. You can see mine here, jebbushemails.com."

Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar is following this story.

Tell us more, Brianna.

KEILAR: Well, Carol, a number of experts say that by doing this, Hillary Clinton may have violated these federal requirements for the preservation of these e-mails. Let's look at what some of "The New York Times" reported in the story.

They say Mrs. Clinton did not have a government e-mail address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her AIDS took no actions to have her personal e-mails preserved on department servers at the time as required by the Federal Records Act.

So, this is very significant. Her spokesman, Hillary Clinton's spokesperson, says that she did adhere to the spirit and letter of the law at one time turning over 55 -- or thousands and thousands of e- mails, I should say, for preservation.

But, certainly, we understand that not all of the e-mails in this account were turned over. This really raises the issue, Carol, of the discretion of these e-mails being very much at the hands of Secretary Clinton and her staff.

And just consider this. President Obama has a government account and it's for two reasons. One, for security, so that it can't be hacked into. And two, for this preservation of a historical record. This is something that's treated very, very seriously by the administration and certainly everyone in the administration who's using e-mails knows that their records will be public at a later date.

COSTELLO: So, this happened during the time that she was secretary of state, and you said -- you mentioned thousands of e-mails. How many e-mails are we talking about?

KEILAR: We don't know. That's one of the issues. It's not something that other e-mails besides Secretary Clinton or her aides have access to. We don't know how many e-mails she sent. That's really the issue.

Now, her camp is saying that she would e-mail people at the State Department or the administration on their government account, but you can imagine if you wanted to figure out where an e-mail is, if you just went to her account it would be much easier than having to go to all of the people that she sent e-mails to, to figure out exactly what was said.

COSTELLO: All right. Senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar, thanks so much.

I want to bring in John Avlon now, CNN political analyst and editor- in-chief of "The Daily Beast".

Hi, John.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: So why would Hillary Clinton do such a - gosh, I don't want to use the adjective I have in my head. So why would she do this?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the best case scenario, it's kind of prevent defense against "gotcha" politics. But it clearly shows both - one can assume, an awareness that these e-mails could be used for political purposes going forward, and an instinct not to be transparent.

This is a proactive decision by Secretary Clinton in the time that her aides in the administration did not call her on. And even though they said they've handed over 55,000 e-mails, to date as Brianna said, they may have thought they were occupying within the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law, they can say that but it's hard to believe. This is clearly, you know, not a person embracing transparency. This is a person trying to control their message.