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ISIS Ousted From Iraqi Town; Remembering Selma; President Obama on Ferguson Report

Aired March 06, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We expect that it will probably be another couple weeks before they are officially announced. Attorney General Eric Holder has already signed off on the request from prosecutors to bring these charges. Now, this centers around the relationship Menendez has had with a prominent Democratic donor and a friend of his, someone who's given to his campaigns and to the Democratic Party, Salomon Melgen, who is a doctor down in Florida.

And this goes back to 2010, when Menendez took trips to the Dominican Republic, didn't disclose those at the time. Later on, he paid $58,000 to reimburse for the cost of those trips. The government, the FBI here and public integrity prosecutors here in Washington at the Justice Department have been looking into this, the relationship between these two men.

I should mention that, you know, a lot of the government's case spilled out into the open a little bit just last week, when the Third Circuit Court of Appeals up in -- filed a ruling that disclosed the government was basically trying to force some of Menendez's aides to bring -- provide testimony to the government. And so this is going to bring up a host of issues for the government, because they are going to face the constitutional question of whether or not what Menendez is doing was really just part of him doing his job.

It's called the speech and debate clause in the Constitution. And that's what Menendez is arguing. So we expect a big fight from Menendez on this.

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: In fact, I want to get to Dana, because I understand that you have reaction from Senator Menendez.

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

If you saw looking down at my phone, that's because I want to make sure I have it to read to you. We just got a statement from his spokeswoman, Tricia Enright. And here's what she said, in part.

She said: "As we have said before, we believe all of the senator's actions have been appropriate and lawful and the facts will ultimately confirm that any actions taken by Senator Menendez or his office have been to appropriately address public policy issues and not for any other reason."

Then she goes on to talk about, as Evan was saying, that the senator and Dr. Melgen have been close personal friends for decades and that the two have spent holidays together. They have gone to each other's family's funerals and weddings. And so that is the basis of their relationship and certainly that is part of what they are going to argue, that that's where their relationship ends and that there isn't anything corrupt or anything to suggest that they're as corrupt as perhaps the federal government thinks that there might be, not just with trips, but also the things that have been reported were, there have been questions about whether or not the senator helped get a deal done that the doctor wanted to get done with regard to ports in South America.

It's a complicated deal, but that's another thing that has been out there so far. But, again, he is maintaining he's done nothing wrong and that the official investigation of this matter is ongoing and again she says that they cannot address allegations being made anonymously.

CABRERA: What more can you tell us, Dana, about Senator Menendez there on Capitol Hill? I know he's from New Jersey. He is a high- ranking Democrat, member of the Foreign Affairs, Foreign Relations Committee, used to be the chairman when Democrats held the Senate.

What else can you tell us?

BASH: Well, not just that. He is really kind of in the thick of it right now battling his own fellow Democrat in the White House on some very high-profile issues. Front and center right now is Iran. He's standing with Republicans on the issue of really opposing the way these Iran negotiations have been going.

He is co-sponsor of a bill to get Congress' imprint on that, over the objections of, again, the Obama White House. He's even co-sponsor of a sanctions bill. He's really been kind of at loggerheads with the administration in recent weeks and months over some pretty high- profile international issues.

So that's sort of why we have seen him a lot in the news lately, in addition to, as Evan has been in front of reporting for months, even years, some of these questions that have been bubbling up. And they have actually stemmed from just even a couple of weeks before Menendez's own reelection in 2012. That's when a lot of this kind of spilled out into the media, the fact that the federal government and the Justice Department may have been looking into some of these issues that Evan is reporting now they feel that they have a case about.

CABRERA: Evan, I know you mentioned this goes all the way back to 2010. And Dana referenced that these allegations include perhaps the senator influencing legislation there on Capitol Hill that would in some way help this friend, this doctor friend of his. What more do you know about the legislation that could have been impacted?

PEREZ: Well, you know, some of the allegations the government is working on, I should give credit to "The New Jersey Law Journal," which grabbed these documents before they were put back under seal, when the court accidentally published them last week.

But according to these papers, the government, the prosecutors are focusing on a couple of different things. Dr. Melgen, his friend, the senator's friend and prominent donor, had a couple of problems. He was being accused of fraud, the doctor was, by the authorities that oversee Medicare. And Menendez, according to the government, intervened to try to get rid of this problem for his friend, for Dr. Melgen.

His second issue was that Melgen had had a company that had an interest in a port security contract in the Dominican Republic, which is where he went to school. And according to the government, the senator violated -- broke the law in the way he tried to intervene to try to present another option that the Dominican government was looking for, which was to get some equipment donated.

And so, Ana, this is a very complicated case for the government. And we will see. Menendez is going to put up a big fight here.

CABRERA: All right. Evan Perez, Dana Bash, thanks for staying on top of it for us.

Turning now to the fight against ISIS, airstrikes along with coalition forces have booted ISIS militants from a key city in Iraq. I'm talking about al-Baghdadi, located near the base that houses members of the U.S. military. This comes after ISIS militants have destroyed priceless ruins that trace all the way back to the dawn of civilization.

Iraqi officials say ISIS fighters have turned their bulldozers on the ancient Syrian city of Nimrud. The archaeological site features relics and ivory carvings that date back nearly 3,000 years. The U.N. is calling this demolition a war crime and it all comes a week after the video we showed you of ISIS militants smashing those stone sculptures and other centuries-old artifacts at the Mosul Museum.

I want to bring in CNN international correspondent Ben Wedeman, joining us from Baghdad now.

Ben, tell us more about the extent of damage to those cultural artifacts in the city of Nimrud?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, Ana, at this point, it's not altogether clear how much of it has been destroyed. The Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities put out this statement last night, but ISIS has yet to post any video or make any claims.

We haven't seen any still photographs. And when you speak to people in Mosul, clearly it's not easy to go down there. At this point, it's only the word of the Iraqi government. Of course, we wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, given that what we saw happening in Mosul Museum last week.

What we have seen time and time again in a variety of shrines and religious places around Iraq, ISIS has destroyed them in their drive to destroy all signs of any other religion, any other faith that does not coincide with their very, very narrow interpretation of Islam -- Ana. CABRERA: Ben Wedeman, thank you.

And now I want to show you exclusive video we have at CNN of ISIS killer Jihadi John seen as a teenager playing ball with his friends. If you look closely here at this amateur video, you can see Mohammed Emwazi. He's carrying a backpack. There he is in the gray sweatshirt. He's also there jostling with other boys. It's on a schoolyard in West London.

One of his teachers tells CNN Emwazi was reserved and -- quote -- "really didn't have a huge circle of friends." The teacher also says Emwazi was also bullied a bit because he was quiet. For the people who knew him back then, it may be difficult to fathom how this teenager playing sports with friends transformed himself into the suspected brutal masked killer.

One reason Jihadi John became the face of ISIS, of course, is that he speaks English. And it turns out plenty of other ISIS supporters do as well on Twitter.

Let's bring in our panel.

Joining the now, Karen Greenberg, the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University Law School and former CIA counterterrorism analyst Buck Sexton.

Buck, I want to start with you.

There's this Brookings Institute study that finds almost one in five ISIS supporters on Twitter selected English as their primary language. Three-quarters selected Arabic. Buck, does that surprise you?

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. I don't think there's anything particularly surprising in the study.

I think to some to see the speed to which these Twitter accounts are recreated and just the sheer expansiveness and how far the message of ISIS going on social media alone is something that maybe will be jarring if not surprising. But that Arabic is the primary language is to be expected.

The main countries for this, Saudi Arabia leads the back. That also makes a lot of sense, given the context of what we're talking about, but also there are these English speakers in countries like the U.K. and the United States who are supporters of ISIS and are starting these accounts over and over again just shows you no matter what Twitter does or any social media platform does, they can always keep recreate new messages and new memes and it's very easy for them to spread.

By the time they're taken down, maybe they have been seen hundreds or thousands of times. That's all that needs to happen for the message to get out.

CABRERA: And in fact I got a Twitter message today from an ISIS supporter who was of course criticizing, in some ways threatening us for even talking about ISIS and condemning them.

So they are out there, they are trying to spread their message. One of the prominent figures trying to combat that message is Jordan's Queen Rania. In fact, she spoke out really slamming this organization for twisting religion. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUEEN RANIA, JORDAN: You know, people call them ISIS. And I would love to drop the first I in that ISIS, because there's nothing Islamic about them.

(APPLAUSE)

QUEEN RANIA: They have nothing to do with faith and everything to do with fanaticism. And I think as an international community, we would do well to not focus on the religious character of that group, because when we do, we give them undeserved legitimacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So, Karen, we have Queen Rania speaking out in such a prominent way. Do you think that that's going to help maybe combat ISIS' recruitment of women?

KAREN GREENBERG, CENTER ON NATIONAL SECURITY: It's possible.

I mean, I think we have talked about it before. The recruitment of women as foreign fighters to ISIS has been somewhat surprising both in Europe and the U.K. and the United States. And the question is what is the message they're responding to? Some of them one to be nurses. Some of them want to be teachers. Some of them want to be mothers. So it's a start.

I think it's a very important start. You don't have a lot of leaders in the world who have come out and said, look, there's a kind of Islam that a very large, the majority of Muslims in the world belong to and this smaller group that is now causing violence. So it's a beginning. It may be a beginning with women, but it's important.

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: I want to respond to Queen Rania's comments. They're well- intentioned, but I think unfortunately she's wrong, because she goes on to say that it's not a war against Islam.

That's very much true, but what is also true is that it is a war within Islam. On the one hand, we will hear people say this is a small sect within Islam, we will hear that this is a narrow interpretation of Islam. It is still Islamic. If you're going to win an ideological war, which she herself actually said later this is an ideological war, you have to identify and deal with the ideology and it comes from within the Islamic community. to say it doesn't is not helpful.

It's well-intentioned. She wants to make people feel better about the situation, but it's not actually going to help win the war that's happening within the Islamic community right now.

CABRERA: But truly it's not just about religion. I mean, we just saw ISIS this week targeting people who are homosexual, throwing gay men off buildings. What do you make of that, Karen?

GREENBERG: Well, I want to say it may be a war within the religion, but -- as you're saying, but I think it is very much something we have to deal with as what's going on and who claims this religion.

I think her message is very important, which is that let's talk about what is Islamic and what's acceptable and who we are as a religion. I think -- I just disagree a little bit. I think it could be very important. I think this kind of leadership could be very important.

And you're right. I think the message is much, much broader. What you're referring to probably is the caliphate, right, the idea that they're attracted to the caliphate, which is what ISIS has sort of claimed this bin Laden message. We're going to build a caliphate. Now we have land. Now there's a place to come

to. So it's a mixed message about the ideology, the logistics, the reality of what ISIS is claiming. But I think it's complicated.

SEXTON: There are multiple civil wars happening within the Islamic faith right now between Sunni and Shia, between hard-liners within Sunni Islam specifically and those who are moderate and those who do want to work towards reforming the faith.

I think we should take very clear sides on that and not pretend that somehow this isn't Islamic. On the question you asked, by the way, about the killing of homosexuals, that be just adds to the many layers and the mountain now of depravity that ISIS uses, and we should be very clear about this as well, to gather recruits.

We would like to think this sort of depravity and this sort of heinousness would draw people -- push people away from this, but in fact they use this as a recruiting tool to show just how fundamentalist they are, how devoted to the ideology they are, and their willingness to kill anyone who steps outside of that, including for differences that should obviously be protected, and just show what a bunch of barbarians, quite honestly, they are.

CABRERA: It's crazy, really.

Karen Greenberg, Buck Sexton, thank you both so much.

Up next, as President Obama gets ready to head to Selma to mark 50 years since the march there on Bloody Sunday, why aren't top Republican leaders in Congress also going there this weekend to show their support? Jake Tapper is going to join me to talk about that.

Plus, just moments ago during a town hall, President Obama fielded a question on Ferguson and the Justice Department's scathing report of racial bias in its police department. Hear what he said.

And it's exactly one year, if you can believe it, since Flight 370 disappeared and still no sign of that plane or the 239 people on board. So what's the leading theory about what happened one year later? That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: It was the year that paved the way for voting rights in America 50 years ago. Scores of freedom fighters, mothers, daughters, sons, and fathers marched across Selma, Alabama's Edmund Pettus Bridge on their way to the state capitol. They were demanding the right to vote for African-Americans. And 50 years ago tomorrow that day became known as Bloody Sunday.

And here's why. Police officers savagely beat down the protesters, including their leader, a young 25-year-old civil rights activist. That man you see in this picture on the ground is Georgia Congressman John Lewis. He led that first unsuccessful march. There would be two more led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, before thousands of freedom soldiers would finally make it across the bridge and on to Montgomery.

That march was recreated in January during the celebration of the Oscar-nominated movie "Selma," which recounted the historic journey. Today, the Edmund Pettus Bridge captured in this exclusive CNN drone video stands as a testament to and a reminder of the courageous people of all races who braved the civil rights struggle.

CNN's Fredricka Whitfield is there in Selma, where the first family and thousands of others are expected to take part in the 50th anniversary celebrations there.

Fred, I know you have the story of a family, a couple families actually who are reuniting this historic weekend to relive some of their most trying moments.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is so true, Ana. It really is going to be an extraordinary weekend. It's really starting out already.

You can see the logjam right on the Edmund Pettus Bridge there. You see cars, you see buses. You see people who are walking. And I have talked to so many people who have stressed the importance of why they wanted to be here in Selma on this 50th anniversary. And here are the words that they used, renewal, rejuvenation and remembrance.

I also met up with Reverend Orloff Miller. He was with his colleague just a couple of blocks from here, just about three blocks from here 50 years ago and witnessed the beating death of his colleague. And when I caught up with him, I asked him if he had any trepidation whatsoever to be here. He said at first he was not going to come. And then he thought of the reunions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. ORLOFF MILLER, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: You are standing where the attack about took place. They came from behind us. And we heard them coming because they said hey, you (EXPLETIVE DELETED). And we agreed just keep walking.

And one of them had a club, slammed it against James Reeb's head here. I dropped to the ground because we had been trained to do that, went into a fetal position to protect myself. Even so, I got kicked in the head. Clark had his glasses broken and pummelled a bit.

But neither of us were seriously hurt. It was Jim who got the whole bit. And all of it was over in about 30 seconds. I will tell you why I finally decided to come back to Selma, because Marie Reeb, the widow, the four children that they had together, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, they're all coming here. I want to see them.

ANNE REEB, DAUGHTER OF JAMES REEB: Oh, hi, sweetie.

MILLER: You look great, woman.

A. REEB: So do you. So do you. Thank you.

MILLER: How's the trip been?

A. REEB: It's been a journey so far. I mean, it's been half the family traveled through a snowstorm, through from Casper to Denver.

MILLER: Oh, really.

A. REEB: We flew from California. Then our flight was delayed. We finally made it.

WHITFIELD: And there are 17 family members. You have all made this pilgrimage here. Why was this so important to do?

A. REEB: Well, it's important because it's a family. It's been a journey that we have been talking about for us all to come here and to be together and honor our father and grandfather.

MILLER: It makes it real every time you visit. It brings it all home.

KAREN REEB, DAUGHTER OF JAMES REEB: I'm sure the night that he and my mother discussed his leaving, that he didn't think that he was not going to return to us. But he went knowing that perhaps that was a possibility.

But in doing so, he gave us the ability to see that when you're called to something that says I have to go, that you step outside of your life and you go where you're called.

STEVEN REEB, SON OF JAMES REEB: It's taken my 50 years to come to the terms of my dad's death and coming to this point where I can actually come to the place where all this happened and meet the people that were involved that walked down the street with him, that went to Brown's Chapel with him, that came out of the Walker's Cafe and walked down this very street and was struck down there.

It's time now to come together with the family that's now aligned, and it's taken 50 years to do this. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And, as you know, President Obama along with former President George W. Bush will be here. Obama will be bringing his daughters, Sasha and Malia. One of his messages he's hoping to impress upon the younger generation, that it is up to them to fulfill their own obligations to help serve the next generation.

And one obligation that has been the centerpiece of some discussions as of recent is the renaming potentially of the Edmund Pettus Bridge. A lot of folks perhaps did not know until recently that Edmund Pettus was also someone who was a grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. And so there are discussions now about whether this 50th anniversary would be fitting to start a new movement to perhaps rename the bridge.

There have been some suggestions that perhaps the bridge ought to be renamed the John Lewis Bridge, of course, after U.S. Congressman John Lewis. But most local people are not having that kind of conversation directly. They really are having conversations about how do we revitalize the city, how does outside money come in here, provide some jobs, provide opportunities because it is a city that feels very forgotten -- Ana.

CABRERA: Fredricka, thanks for all that good information.

Fred will have live special coverage from Selma tomorrow starting at 11:00 a.m. Eastern here on CNN.

And there will be dozens of politicians in Selma this weekend. Fred mentioned the president, the whole first family, and the largest bipartisan congressional delegation ever is expected to be in attendance. But the group will not include top Republican leaders.

CNN has learned that the speaker of the House, John Boehner, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are just a couple of the lawmakers who will be conspicuously absent.

"THE LEAD"'s Jake Tapper following developments, this angle from Washington.

Jake, who else isn't going and have they explained why not?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a number of Democrats and Republicans, rank and file members of the House and Senate and the top Democrat in the House, the number two Democrat in the House, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Jim Clyburn, the number three, others, all planning on attending.

But as you mentioned, Republican leaders in the House and Senate not attending. The closest you can get is Senator Rob Portman, Republican from Ohio, who is a counselor to Mitch McConnell, though not really in the top ranks of leadership.

There really is no decent explanation. When you ask why they're not going to be there, they note that all Republicans who are going to be there and one of the co-chairs of the event is Republican Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina and they note that Congressional Gold Medals were given to the marchers by Congress, but there really isn't sort of satisfying explanation as to why they're not going to be in attendance.

CABRERA: Are they missing an opportunity to sort of extend the arm to try to reach out to minority voters? We know they have struggled with that in recent elections.

TAPPER: It is a huge missed opportunity, I think that's fair to say. This is a party that has struggled to appeal to minorities, African- Americans, Latinos, others.

This is a fairly stark, you know, one side was right and one side was wrong moment in American history, the Bloody Sunday march across that bridge. And the idea that there aren't going to be any top Republican leaders is stark.

Now, that said, President George W. Bush will be there, Laura Bush will be there. There will be dozens of other Republicans, rank and file, who will be there, just possibly from Congress none that the average American recognizes. So it is a big missed opportunity. I have heard from other Republicans expressing regret that the House and Senate Republican leadership is not going to be there.

CABRERA: And, real quickly, just to be fair, what about Democrats?

TAPPER: Well, I can't find any Democratic Senate leaders that are going to be there, Harry Reid obviously still recovering from an injury. But when it comes to Chuck Schumer and Dick Durbin, I don't believe that they're in attendance either.

But there are, as I said, a number of Democratic leaders from the House who will be there. So it cannot be said that no Democratic congressional leaders are there.

CABRERA: OK. Thanks so much, Jake Tapper. We appreciate it.

Don't forget, Jake will be back with "THE LEAD" at 4:00 right here.

Coming up, just moments ago, President Obama live in South Carolina, his first stop before he heads to Alabama. He's weighing in on Ferguson this afternoon -- what he had to say about the findings of the police bias and discrimination happening in that city next.

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