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Hillary Clinton to Address E-mail Controversy; Letters from GOP Senators Ignites Debate; Sigma Alpha Epsilon Expels Members in Video; Three Days of Protests After Wisconsin Shooting; Amtrak Train Derails After Crash in North Carolina

Aired March 10, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


CAMEROTA: So let's get right to NEWSROOM, with Carol Costello.

Hi, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We'll get to that breaking news shortly. Thanks so much.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a blistering response to Senate Republicans' letter to Iran. Both the Obama administration and the Iranian government hammering back. Is the GOP's plan about to back fire?

Also, more fallout at the University of Oklahoma. A fraternity under fire over this racist chant.

I'll talk with the national chapter.

Plus, a third major train crash in recent weeks. Is it safe to ride the rails?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

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

Right to that breaking news. It's out of the political world. Hillary Clinton will meet with the press today following a United Nations speech at around 1:30, that's Eastern Time. This information according to an aide familiar with her plans.

Brianna Keilar is on the phone with more on this.

Hi, Brianna. BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Carol.

We now have a couple of sources telling us that Hillary Clinton will be addressing those e-mail controversy. She has a previously scheduled speech that she's giving today keynoting a women's empowerment event at the United Nations so we understand that she's going to address the press after this.

All of this has come together really after this controversy has now been going on for more than a week. This dragged on, of course, late last week and then over the weekend you started to hear beginning with Dianne Feinstein's Democrats coming out and saying Hillary Clinton needs to address this.

So talking to sources that I spoke with, it seems clear that Hillary Clinton and her team started to realize over the weekend that this situation was becoming untenable. It wasn't going away. You know that it started off the show, a parody of Hillary Clinton for "Saturday Night Live" on Saturday.

So late in the weekend I understand that people close to Hillary Clinton started calling around to top Democrats saying, look, we're going to deal with this. We're going to address this. She had another event yesterday but it appears that her team decided that wasn't the best venue to do it. So we're going to hear from her today. And we'll see if she answers questions and also if she just addresses this as fully as a lot of folks think she needs to.

COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar, I'm sure you'll continue digging. We'll get back to you.

Brianna Keilar reporting Hillary Clinton will address that e-mail controversy around 1:30, 2:00 Eastern Time. We'll keep you posted.

Also this morning there's major backlash over that open letter that Republican senators sent to Iran. Essentially it warned Tehran that any nuclear deal struck with President Obama could be nullified when he leaves office.

"Traitors," that's how the "New York Daily News" condemns the 47 Senate Republicans who signed that open letter. It says lawmakers are trying to sabotage any deal, and Iran, it seems to agree. Its Foreign minister saying, quote, "In our view this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy." But those GOP senators are doubling down.

Senator John McCain is mocking the administration's response and its claims that the letter undermines a sitting president. McCain dismisses the argument as, quote, "an overreaction from a hysterical White House."

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is at the White House, Fred Pleitgen is in the Iranian capital of Tehran. But let's begin at the White House with Sunlen.

Good morning. SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning to

you. This letter has really quickly reignited the fierce fight between Senate Republicans and the White House really highlighting how the partisan divide here in Washington that's played out repeatedly is now seeping on over into foreign policy.

Now keep in mind this is unprecedented. This letter was sent directly to the leaders of a country that's still on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. The White House calls this letter reckless and in a strongly worded statement Vice President Biden issued overnight, he says, in part, quote, "The 36 years in the United States Senate I cannot recall another instance in which senators wrote directly to advise another country, much less a long-time foreign adversary that the president does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them."

And this particularly is what has really set off the White House on this issue. The feeling they believe that it undermines the president's authority and something that they are particularly sensitive about given the controversy just last week with the way that prime minister -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to address the U.S. Congress.

Now Tom Cotton, he is the freshman Arkansas senator who organized this letter, he defended the use of the letter. He said this morning -- really denied that it was intended to undercut the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: This letter is about stopping Iran from getting a nuclear deal. Iran's leaders need to understand that under our Constitution Congress plays a critical role in approving international agreements. If Congress does not approve an agreement the agreement will not necessarily have lasting effect. Future Congresses or for that matter, future presidents, can change them.

And the deal that is emerging would allow Iran to develop a path towards a nuclear weapon and that's not acceptable because it's too dangerous to the United States and too dangerous to the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And Senator Cotton had 46 other Senate Republicans sign onto the letter, Carol, including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell which is notable. But putting aside this specific way that Republicans reached out to Iran, there is some very real concern from Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill about what deal the president is negotiating -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Sunlen Serfaty from the White House, thank you.

Let's head to Iran for more reaction from there and Frederik Pleitgen.

Hi, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Yes, and the Iranian government for a very long time has been saying that they believe that the Republicans are trying to humiliate President Obama. And it was interesting because there was a very swift and a very strong response from the government here in the form of a statement that was sent to us by Iran's Foreign minister.

And in that statement on the one hand he did take offense to the fact that in that letter that the GOP senators wrote they also said that maybe the Iranian politicians were not fully aware of the U.S. constitutional process. He says they are fully aware of the constitutional process and they said that they believe that if there is some sort of agreement, that that would be legally binding for the United States no matter who's in office.

They also said that the U.S. needs to realize that it's not the only player in international politics. That in fact if an agreement on a nuclear program is made, it's going to be between Iran and various other countries including the United States but certainly not the United States alone.

Now as you said before, the Iranians also came forward and called all of this a PR ploy. And I want to read you a little bit from the statement that the Foreign Ministry sent to us. They said that, "While the negotiations have not yet borne fruit, and there is no agreement yet, pressure groups in the U.S. are so worried that they are using extraordinary measures to prove that they, just like Netanyahu, oppose any kind of agreement."

He went on to say, the Foreign minister did, that the letter that was sent will have no effect on the negotiations, at least from the Iranian point of view. But certainly they are causing a stir here in Tehran -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Fredrik Pleitgen reporting live from Tehran this morning.

Former members of the now defunct Sigma Alpha Epsilon, SAE, at the University of Oklahoma have until midnight tonight to vacate their house. In the meantime, the president of the university says the school is trying to determine whether or not it can legally expel those responsible.

But perhaps the biggest fallout will come through the university's storied football team. Yesterday football players linked arms and walked out of practice in protest. In the meantime, the school's famed former coach, Barry Switzer, an honorary member of SAE, tried to calm things down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARRY SWITZER, FORMER UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA FOOTBALL COACH: I have never heard that form of language. I was just disgusted when I heard it. These kids pay a tremendous price for it because they knew nothing about it. They won't accept it. They wouldn't have had any of them. They would expelled them themselves. The people that were on the bus were freshman and don't even live in this house.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Nick Valencia is on the university campus in Norman, Oklahoma, this morning to tell us more.

Good morning, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, the largest fraternity in the United States with more than 15,000 members, it's a fraternity with a checkered past and now both students and faculty on the University of Oklahoma campus speaking out after their campus was rocked by a racial scandal involving the fraternity.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALENCIA (voice-over): That highly offensive racist chant belted out by fraternity members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon is sending shivers through the University of Oklahoma. Prompting the Oklahoma football team, the Sooners, to march in solidarity. The moment taking precedence over practice.

But outrage over the viral video elicited a more guttural response from the team's linebacker, Eric Striker, lashing out in this emotional rebuttal on social media.

ERIC STRIKER, OKLAHOMA SOONERS LINEBACKER: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Racism don't exist in (EXPLETIVE DELETED). The same mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED) talking about racism don't --

VALENCIA: He spoke with CNN's Don Lemon Monday night.

STRIKER: We shouldn't tolerate that type of behavior here. It was such a bad reflection on the people here.

VALENCIA: Overnight the fraternity's national president issuing another apology via Facebook, writing, "To those that were hurt and offended by these actions, especially the African-American community and our many African-American brothers, I apologize on behalf of our now closed chapter and its members who will be expelled."

Backlash from the video already has a top high school recruit backing out of his early commitment to play for the Oklahoma Sooners.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was very disturbing to me. I don't like it.

DAVID BOREN, OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: Real Sooners are not bigots.

VALENCIA: The university's president taking swift action severing all ties with SAE demanding all members remove their belongings from campus saying students could be expelled.

BOREN: We have zero tolerance for racism. As I said, I have a message for those that misuse their free speech to use racial slurs. You're a disgrace to this university.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOREN: And today's headline in the campus newspaper "The Oklahoma Daily" saying, "Real Sooners are not Racists." This sentiment seems to speak for the majority for those here on campus who we've spoken to -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Valencia reporting live from Oklahoma this morning.

I want to continue this discussion now. I'm joined by Brandon Weghorst, he's a spokesperson for Sigma Alpha Epsilon's national headquarters.

Brandon, welcome.

BRANDON WEGHORST, SPOKESMAN, SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I know SAE apologized again saying most members are true gentlemen and that this behavior on board this bus was an anomaly. But critics insist it's engrained behavior.

WEGHORST: No. We have received a lot of criticism and a lot of allegations that people believe there's a cultural problem in the organization, that we have failed to address issues about race, about cultural awareness with our members but the truth is when you look at our undergraduate membership, and even our alumni membership out there, they cannot relate to this sort of behavior.

They shouldn't stand for this type of behavior and anybody who is a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon who believes in this type of hateful language or these types of comments that we saw on the videos, that's completely unacceptable. They're not members. They don't represent Sigma Alpha Epsilon. We can't call them brothers.

COSTELLO: But, Brandon, but there are multiple reports concerning racial problems at SAE houses across the country.

WEGHORST: Yes.

COSTELLO: Last November 15 SAE members at the University of Arizona were accused of assaulting students at a historically Jewish fraternity. Last December SAE leadership at Clemson resigned and the fraternity suspended activity indefinitely following a "Crip-Mas" party named after the street gang.

WEGHORST: Right.

COSTELLO: In 2008, members at Valdosta State University in Georgia were warned by your national headquarters after they repeatedly flew a confederate flag on their front lawn. We found several other examples dating back to 2000.

How can you not say that this doesn't illustrate a pattern of racism?

WEGHORST: We realize and acknowledge all those incidents and that's what the national headquarters and our leaders has attempted to do is when these issues have arisen with our chapters, whenever there have been incidents that we've had to intervene, we've had to take -- make the decisions, take -- you know, do the sanctions that are necessary because this is not behavior that is consistent with what we believe and our leadership has been very aggressive in saying that we're going to take care of this now because this is an issue that we need to take care of.

But for the organization to be typecast and all the gentlemen across the country to be, you know, sort of typecast as this how SAE must be, that is unfortunate and wrong. These incidents do have arisen --

COSTELLO: But the people on board this bus singing this song so -- I don't know, joyfully. They seem to be having fun and the person who took the video was not a member of the fraternity who was upset. It was one of the women on the bus according to the university president.

WEGHORST: Absolutely. And we -- the chant -- the people who believe that this chant is something that's sanctioned or endorsed by the national headquarters, we had not heard this chant before. Now if other chapters have heard this chant or other people heard this chant, that's information we need to know because this is not something that is part of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon's song history.

And it is disgusting that anybody would take joy in singing a song like that or doing that chant. And regardless of whether or not it was done on video, it's wrong completely.

COSTELLO: Well, some might say that it was only because it was caught on video that anyone was punished at all and that this kind of behavior was well known, not only in SAE's fraternity but in other fraternity houses on the campus of the University of Oklahoma.

WEGHORST: We have looked at the cases that have come to us, the things that other additional information and have started to investigate all of these different situations where people have brought this concerns to our attention because that's our obligation as a national organization. To make sure that people understand that this is not acceptable and there are consequences for your actions.

COSTELLO: Brandon Weghorst, thanks so much for being with me. I appreciate it.

WEGHORST: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: Next hour I'll talk with university president, David Boren.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, protesters swarm the streets of Madison, Wisconsin, after police shoot and kill an unarmed teenage. Now the police chief is taking action to ensure his town is not the next Ferguson.

Ryan Young is there -- Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Protesters tell us they are angry while the police chief wants to maintain that he has a relationship with this community, one that makes it not like Ferguson. That story coming up live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In Wisconsin, a family's appealing for peaceful demonstrations after a police shooting left a 19-year-old unarmed biracial teenager dead and touched off three straight days of protests.

Hundreds of college and high school students marching through the streets to the Wisconsin state capitol building, chanting "hands up, don't shoot," and "no justice, no peace." It seems reminiscent of recent nationwide protests after the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner.

But the Madison police chief he hopes the community relations in his city will not mirror those of Ferguson. CNN's Ryan Young joins me now from Madison.

Good morning.

YOUNG: Good morning.

We have seen some differences. In fact, during that protest, we heard them screaming Tony Robinson's name. But all along the side, we saw police officers blocking the road for the protesters and actually staying back to give them buffer to express themselves. In fact, we were here as they marched onto the state capitol going on the inside. They were letting their voices be heard. Mostly, young people, one of the things they wanted to stress, this would be a peaceful protest as they enter the state capitol and linked arms and started screaming.

I can tell you the families also pushing the point to make sure if you're going to remember Tony Robinson, you do it in the right way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TURIN CARTER, UNCLE OF WISCONSIN TEEN SHOT BY POLICE: We are not -- we are not proponents of anti-police. In regards -- in regards to not trusting police, we don't condone that because we understand that this was an individual act that obviously the entire -- an individual act that the entire act that the entire police department has to take the responsibility for. We need to change our mindset about the police, and that starts with procedural action as opposed to just singling out all the police officers as negative because there are necessary entities in our society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: The youth leaders were telling us, a lot of the kids here felt so connected to this case because they knew of Tony Robinson. And they wanted to make sure their voices were heard, because they've seen so much violence across the country. I can also tell you, the chief here is going out of his way to make sure the community understands there will be a full investigation in this case. He wants to make sure there are not parallels made to Ferguson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Why do you think it's different than Ferguson?

CHIEF MIKE KOVAL, MADISON POLICE: Well, it's only -- it's not different in the sense that we have a person of color cut down in his prime. He was unarmed by a police officer, so whether I like it or not, I'm inextricably tied to Ferguson phenomena. But I would like to believe is that in terms of our community, in terms of the trust that's been garnered over time, over many decades, I'd like to believe that we will not be defined by this incident unto itself.

I believe that the outreach, the relationships that we've established through our neighborhoods and our schools, and so, so many things that we do, I'm hopeful that when given an opportunity, the community, the family, and their friends, I'm hopeful that they will forgive us and that we can move on constructively and re-establish the trust that we need to do good community policing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Now, there are a lot of questions about use of force. We are told the officer did have a stun gun. But here, not allowed to use a stun gun unless there's someone is here with a lethal weapon backing you up -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ryan Young, reporting live from Madison, Wisconsin. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: an Amtrak train derails after crashing into a tractor-trailer in North Carolina. It's the latest in a series of accidents, some fatal on our nation's rails. We'll talk about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Some 40 people have been treated and released from a North Carolina hospital after an Amtrak train slammed into a tractor-trailer on the tracks. The frightening scene caught on cell phone video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get the hell out of the truck. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Ooh! Ooh!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Officials say two of the trains cars along with a locomotive derailed as a result. The crash was the third such incident, involving trains in a little over a month.

CNN's Rene Marsh has more for you from Washington.

Good morning.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. We're talking about weeks apart, metro-north in New York and then

weeks later in California a metro link train and then this situation involving an Amtrak train just yesterday. Sadly, the situation looks like this -- there are thousands of accidents a year and hundreds of deaths and, Carol, overwhelmingly the number of fatalities, they are happening at these rail crossings.

COSTELLO: So, what are officials doing to ensure the rails are safe?

MARSH: I mean, there is technology out there. There is technology, for example, that prevents the cars from crumpling. We saw that at play in the California incident. That's been known to save lives.

There's also technology called positive train control. Now, that would not have helped in this situation we saw yesterday, but it would help in a situation where maybe a train is going too fast or the conductor isn't paying attention, maybe the conductor fell asleep or is texting. We've seen situations like that in the past. So, positive train control has the ability to automatically stop the train.

But oftentimes what gets in the way of widespread implementation and it happening very quickly is money. You hear a lot of these companies, these train companies saying that they need more funding to make sure that the trains have this technology and have it a lot sooner, sooner rather than later. I will say that Congress has mandated that all commuter trains have this positive train control technology by the end of the year.

But just some stats for you, Carol. I mean, there are 250,000 grade crossings in America and according to DOT, only half of those have automatic warning systems. Only 1/3 of them have flashing lights and gates.

So, that's an issue, especially when you have vehicles that are crossing over. So, they really want drivers to be alert and when you see those lights flashing, they must stop -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Good advice. Rene Marsh reporting live from Washington.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: the ISIS flag comes down. Iraqi victories pile up. Got the latest for you on new fighting in Iraq.

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