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Hillary Clinton E-mail Controversy; Netanyahu Opposed to Any Iran Deal; Interview with Sen. Dan Coats; Target to Lay Off Thousands; Minnesota Wants a Divorce from the Midwest

Aired March 04, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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


BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: KEILAR: Well, so here's the thing, the law on this area is -- you talk to legal experts, they say it hasn't been great and it's had to be cleaned up. So, Colin Powell is under certain regulations and then in 2009, which is when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, the updated regulations said if you are using private e-mail, that information needs to be transferred at some point to be stored on a government server. Here's the catch in this though, Carol, there's no timeline on that.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So if you're a political spin doctor, Brianna, how exactly do you explain that to the voters?

KEILAR: Well, you know what they'll say, and we're hearing from her supporters, and it certainly is a lot of spin, I will tell you, is she didn't break any laws, and that's the truth. I mean I don't know that she broke the law. But the other thing you have to consider, Carol, is that we wouldn't know if she did and that's what some experts are pointing out. Using private e-mail, if you delete things, there's really no way to prove, unlike on government e-mail, that things have been deleted. There may not be a backup. There may not be a way to recover things. So that's one thing.

But certainly she and her aides have had a lot of discretion when it comes to these e-mails. And whether she violated a law or not, she certainly violated the spirit of the law which is twofold, one for security. Security is better on government e-mail. And, two, for transparency, which I think certainly a lot of experts would say this isn't in line with that.

COSTELLO: All right, Brianna Keilar, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Benjamin Netanyahu takes aim at the Obama administration over Iran. Just how much influence could the Israeli prime minister have on lawmakers. Jim Acosta is at the White House this morning.

Good morning.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

A tough sales job for President Obama just got tougher. We'll measure the Netanyahu effect coming up in just a few moments. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Benjamin Netanyahu fiery and firing back against any proposal to make a nuclear deal with Iran. Some lawmakers calling his speech to Congress persuasive and effective and now Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is ready to take the issue directly to his colleagues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MAJORITY LEADER: I just began the process of putting onto the calendar the Corker Bill, that it would require that the president submit any agreement with the Iranians to Congress. It will be on the floor of the Senate for debate next week. We think the timing is important. We think it will help prevent the administration from entering into a bad deal. But if they do, then it will provide an opportunity for Congress to weigh in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: McConnell's move outraging Democrats who say Congress should wait until a deal is actually in place before such things take place on the floors of Congress. So did Netanyahu just make the administration's task of selling this plan that much harder? Joining me now to talk about this, senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta.

Tell us more, Jim. Good morning.

ACOSTA: Good morning, Carol.

Yes, I think the White House knows President Obama may have a tougher sales job now after that fiery speech from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president still has to convince lawmakers, by the way, up on Capitol Hill that they have to loosen some of the sanctions that would come with any nuclear agreement with Iran, that would have to be done anyway, which is why the president presented his own 11 minute rebuttal to Netanyahu's speech from the Oval Office yesterday. The president really dismissing the prime minister's speech as, quote, "nothing new." Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, when it comes to this nuclear deal, let's wait until there's actually a deal on the table that Iran has agreed to, at which point everybody can evaluate it. We don't have to speculate. And what I can guarantee is that if it's a deal I've signed off on, I will be able to prove that it is the best way for us to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. And for us to pass up on that potential opportunity would be a grave mistake. It's not one that I intend to make and I will take that case to every member of Congress once we actually have a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And as you said, Carol, there is this potential new complication for the Iran nuclear talks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may fast track a measure that would give the Senate the ability to sign off, you know, give the green light on this nuclear deal. A senior administration official told me last night the president would veto that legislation. So if it was the prime minister's goal to come to Washington and stir up a hornet's nest and gum things up up on Capitol Hill, the prime minister doesn't have veto power, he doesn't have a vote in Congress, but he may have gotten people fired up enough where this may become a very difficult spot for the White House next week. It's something that we're going to be watching very closely.

You know, Bob Menendez, who was a sponsor of that legislation that Mitch McConnell wants to fast track, he now doesn't want to see that happen. So that's an indication as to how complicated this is getting.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Acosta, many thanks.

Republican Senator Dan Coats of Indiana joins me now.

Welcome, sir.

SEN. DAN COATS (R), INDIANA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here with me again. I appreciate it.

Senator, you attended the speech. You say you stand with Israel. But some Democrats feel Mr. Netanyahu, the leader of another nation, came to America to school us on foreign policy. Do you see it that way?

COATS: No, I don't, because what we have learned so far, as the prime minister said, already classifies this as a bad deal for America. I actually think the pressure will result in our potentially getting a better deal knowing that what is being talked about right now and what has already been conceded is not where we need to go in terms of deterring Iran from having nuclear weapon capability. So I think the pressure will help John Kerry try to get a better deal and they know, at least right now, that where we've gone so far is just simply not going to be acceptable with the American people and have grave consequences for the future, not just of the Middle East and Israel, but for America and the civilized world.

COSTELLO: I want to play a part of Netanyahu's speech where he talked about why this deal is so bad. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This deal has two major concessions, one, leaving Iran with a vast nuclear program and, two, lifting the restrictions on that program in about a decade. It doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb, it paves Iran's path to the bomb.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So I know that Mr. Netanyahu said that the answer is a better deal, but the deal isn't done yet. So what do you -- what is needed in your mind to add to this deal to make it a good deal? COATS: Well, clearly what the prime minister laid out there is, is

that one way or another, bad deal or no deal, it's going to lead to their potentially getting the bomb unless we can put in a much better situation. He said there are other alternatives. I think it was dismissive of the president to say. He didn't even listen.

COSTELLO: Like what? But like what?

COATS: Like insisting on tougher sanctions. Iraq -- excuse me, Iran is a weak nation that now is having a major financial problems given the sanctions that are currently in place and with the drop of the price of oil. We need to squeeze them harder because what they are negotiating for and what we have conceded is what four American presidents, two Democrats and two Republicans says is unacceptable. It's unacceptable that Iran has the capacity to build a nuclear weapon and destabilize not only the Middle East, but destabilize the world. So we have conceded on that question. Until we go back to that, we can --

COSTELLO: Some -- some people -- some people might argue -- some people might argue that these sanctions are in place, and they are restrictive sanctions and Iran is feeling the pain or it wouldn't be negotiating right now, correct? The price of oil is down. It's hurting. But, still, they managed to get, what, 19,000 centrifuges. So how would more sanctions prevent them from getting ahold of more centrifuges?

COATS: Yo know, we -- because we have to insist that any deal that we have reduces that -- those 19,000 far less than this, and actually to zero is what the goal was and what the United Nations and we all supported initially going in. We want to prevent them from having a nuclear weapon, which can destabilize the world. And it's better to deal with it now and put the continued pressure on there and get the American people involved in terms of knowing through their Congress, knowing what's going on here. So I strongly disagree with those who simply say, let's wait until the bad deal is presented to us without an opportunity to overturn it.

COSTELLO: All right, Senator Dan Coats of Indiana, thanks, as usual. I appreciate you being with me.

COATS: Thank you, Carol. Appreciate talking to you. Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Target employees under the bull's eye or in the bull's eye, I should say, as the company announces massive layoffs. Cristina Alesci is following that story.

Good morning.

CRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there is bad news for thousands of employees at Target's Minneapolis headquarters. Job cuts are on the way. I'll have details, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Major layoffs announced at Target. The retailer says it will lay off thousands of workers over the next two years as part of a plan to cut costs and court younger shoppers. Our chief business correspondent Cristina Alesci is following that story.

I wish I -- you didn't have to tell us more, but you do.

ALESCI: Yes, exactly. Most of the job cuts will happen at the Minneapolis headquarters. It is a big employer in Minneapolis; it employs 13,000 people there. So it's a big blow for workers.

Now let's just put this into context. The company does have 366,000 employees, so the company has not been specific with the exact number. But if you figure several thousand, 2,000 to 3,000, it's about 1.5 to 2 percent of its workforce in its headquarters.

Now, as painful as this is for the workers, Wall Street loved this because it's part of a broader plan to cut about $2 billion in expenses over the next two years. This company has been on a roller coaster ride. You remember the data breach. It cost them a lot of money and a lot of customers. Customers did not trust the company so they had to discount heavily to get them back in the store. They had to bring in a new CEO. Sales have rebounded. Now they have to grow sales in an environment where the American consumer isn't spending as much as retailers would like the American consumer to -- would like to see, right?

COSTELLO: Right.

ALESCI: So there is a big challenge for this company. And it has to get its cool factor back. You remember, Tarjay (ph), don't you?

COSTELLO: Yes, I do. You're right, and somewhere down the line, it lost that coolness, that hip factor.

ALESCI: That's exactly it. So they said they are going to focus on areas that the hipper crowds are into, like health and wellness, style. So they're going to double down on that. Those areas account for about 25 percent of sales right now. And they're, of course, going to focus on smaller stores in densely populated areas. So with those two things, analysts are confident they can get their groove back. We'll see.

COSTELLO: That's right. I was going to say, as they say, we'll see. Cristina Alesci, thanks so much.

ALESCI: Of course.

COSTELLO: Checking some other top stories for you at 48 minutes past, Iraq is racheting up its offensive on the ISIS stronghold of Tikrit and getting some unlikely help. Iran, a longtime foe, was dispatching advisers to help the military assault. And the commander of Iran's elite forces is overseeing the operation. The Pentagon says Iraq never asked for American help in Tikrit.

Former general and one-time CIA chief David Petraeus pleads guilty. He admits to giving classified intelligence to his biographer, Paula Broadwell, who also happened to be his mistress. The material included war strategy and even identified covert officers. Prosecutors are recommending probation and a $40,000 fine.

Are your fantasies of a blissful retirement overshadowed by financial worries? According to the National Institute of Retirement Security, you should be concerned. Because of skyrocketing health care costs, a couple retiring last year should have $220,000 saved just for medical care. Wow.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Minnesota looking to claim its own identity. How to do that? Well, how about divorcing itself from the Midwest? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Hey, Midwest, Minnesota wants a divorce. Many in that sate no longer want to be part of the mushy, undefined middle. Minnesota wants to become the north. I'll admit, as an Ohio native and a proud Midwesterner, I found the idea insulting. But the more I listened to Eric Dayton, the man at the forefront of the movement, the more I bent. Why shouldn't Minnesota have its strong identity? Why shouldn't Ohio become the east?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERIC DAYTON, ENTREPRENEUR, ASKOV FINLAYSON: The Midwest, if you look at it, it's hard to know where it starts or stops. You've got the East Coast. There's the South. There's the West and then where's the North?

COSTELLO: Where did this North idea come from?

DAYTON: It started with a hat that we made for our store and we started doing these hats. People just got it intuitively. It didn't require a lot of explaining. It didn't certainly require pushing from us or a sales job. They just understood it.

COSTELLO: When I first read about your idea, because I'm from the Midwest, I was prepared to hate you. Because I was mad and I was insulted.

DAYTON: I think some people might have a misunderstanding that this is somehow anti-Midwest and it really isn't. If the North becomes a real thing, and we're seeing that happen, I think that's good for our part of the country but I think it's then good for Illinois and Ohio and the other parts that do identify as Midwestern, because then it makes what they are more specific and more meaningful.

COSTELLO: I do think there's a sense that we allow others, namely the Northeast and East Coast, to define what the Midwest is. And that's been a problem, right?

DAYTON: "The New York Times" had done an article highlighting different Thanksgiving side dishes and signature side dish from each state in the country, and they, for Minnesota, they named grape salad as our signature Thanksgiving side dish. And no one in Minnesota ever heard of grape salad. We don't tell the rest of the country who we are, we end up with grape

salad. And when I think of someone wherever they are, maybe a young person graduating from college, I want them to be thinking about, well, for me, selfishly, Minneapolis as a place that they might move to along with whatever other cities around the country they're considering. And you're seeing these great events. We have the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships now happening in Minnesota and we've got this thing called the Loppet, which is an outdoor cross-country ski race that goes through downtown Minneapolis.

COSTELLO: The traditional Midwestern would say, wow, you're so arrogant. You, the North, bragging about yourselves, talking loud.

DAYTON: Arrogant Minnesota. That's what everyone thinks of when they think of Minnesota.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: You're showing that humility that Midwesterns have.

DAYTON: Well, it's in all of us, right?

COSTELLO: We can't help it.

DAYTON: We can't help it.

COSTELLO: Even when we're trying to define ourselves a different way.

DAYTON: We can't brag even when we try, right?.

COSTELLO: Would part of the North be like North Dakota or the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or Illinois?

DAYTON: I think it would be, but I don't think any region is just one state. I mean, this is really meant to be something that hopefully Minnesota and beyond rallies around. But that's ultimantely not for me to decide. I hope this resonates with people in those parts of the country. I think it might.

My dream is that the CNN weather person is pointing to the map and it's here in the North. It just becomes that part of an effortless part of the vocabulary and not a -- this isn't about branding or marketing, it's just really about geography and identity. So I hope it becomes that deeply rooted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I admit, I was so intrigued by Dayton's idea, I actually wrote an op-ed on the Midwest identity crisis. Come on, admit it. How would you describe a Midwesterner without using the word friendly?

Please, debate! You can check out my op-ed on CNN.com/opinion or go to facebook.com/carolCNN. Or my Twitter feed, @carolcnn. I can't wait to hear what you have to say.

The next hour of NEWSROOM after a break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)