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Senators Grill John Kerry on Nuclear Talks; Two Students Expelled for Racist Chant; Ferguson City Manager Resigns after DOJ Report

Aired March 11, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: Well, that's what I want to touch on that point. Because General Dempsey a moment ago outlined the need to have a broad coalition that I imagine involves the Sunni countries, for example the Jordanians, the Saudis, the UAE and others.

These are also countries, by the way that are deeply concerned about Iran and they feel -- is it not right that they feel that we've kept them in the dark with our negotiations with Iran. In essence the way we proceeded with our negotiations in Iran have impacted our trust level with these critical allies in this coalition.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Senator -- that actually is flat wrong also -- flat wrong.

RUBIO: They said so publicly.

KERRY: It's flat wrong. I just came back from a meeting in the Gulf, in Riyadh. I met with King Salman who completely supported what we're doing. I met with all of the GCC members. They all sat around the table and they all articulated their support for what we're doing. And they believe we're better off trying to prevent them from getting a bomb diplomatically first, providing of course that it actually prevents them from getting that bomb. That's the test of this.

And a whole bunch of people are trying to give this a grade before the test has even been taken.

RUBIO: You're saying here today that our allies in the region, our Sunni allies -- the Saudis, the UAE, the Egyptians and others are perfectly comfortable with where the negotiations stand at this moment?

KERRY: No, I did not say that. I did not say that. They are not perfectly comfortable. They're nervous. They're apprehensive. Of course, they are. They want to make sure that, in fact, just as members of congress want to make sure that the deal that is struck, if one can be struck now, will in fact prevent them from getting a weapon.

RUBIO: Have you shared with them the details of where it stands right now?

KERRY: We've shared considerable details with them -- absolutely? RUBIO: And are they apprehensive about that or are they comfortable

with what you shared with them?

KERRY: They are comfortable with what we shared with them. And Saud al-Faisal, the senior foreign minister in the world, I might add, publicly sat with me at a press conference in which he articulated their support for what we're doing.

RUBIO: General Dempsey, I want to ask you because we talked about this a moment ago. Part of what's happening here is the second concentric circle that ISIS is pursuing beyond its core in Syria and Iraq. And we've seen that emerge in Libya. We're starting to see signs of it emerge in Afghanistan.

First, can you comment about what ISIS or any of you can comment about what we're seeing with ISIS with regards to the competition between them and al Qaeda and the Taliban to absorb groups in Afghanistan. And second how does this AUMF that's proposed before us today allow us to form a strategy that allows us to deal with that second ring of threats of ISIS absorbing other groups in the region?

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: The TTP is notably that splinter group of the Taliban who has rebranded themselves to the ISIL ideology. And to answer your question on AUMF, the AUMF would give me the authority to make recommendations to the commander-in-chief on how to handle ISIL wherever it shows up if the two conditions that the secretary has mentioned exist.

Number one, that they have affiliated themselves with the ideology. But number two, that they --

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's step away and talk about that exchange between the secretary of state and Senator Marco Rubio. It was clearly a spat that arose out of that letter to Iran signed by Senator Marco Rubio and 46 other Republican senators.

Let's discuss that. Joe Johns is CNN's senior Washington correspondent; CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott joins us from Jerusalem; Josh Rogin is a CNN political analyst and columnist for the "Bloomberg View"; Lt. Gen. Michael Barbero served three tours in Iraq and Col. Cedric Leighton is a former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

So Elise, it seems as if John Kerry was just waiting, waiting to get into that with Senator Rubio and others.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Carol. Well, certainly it's no secret that the Republican seat of the congress definitely does not like this deal with Iran. They're looking for a much tougher deal. And made clear after this whole brouhaha with Prime Minister's Netanyahu's speech; now I think they knew a lot of the details before but kind of using that momentum after that speech last week to make clear that they are not happy with this deal.

Their open letter to Iran, what's coming back and forth from Iran, their foreign minister putting out something a day later -- this administration is not happy with the way Congress is treating this deal. The administration is saying listen, let us finish these negotiations. If you don't like the deal, then we can talk about it. Although the administration doesn't really feel like it needs the authority of Congress to go ahead with this deal.

But they're saying that, you know, you need to trust us. You need to let these negotiations come forth and saying the same thing that they did to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Let's not tank the negotiations before they're over -- Carol. You still have a couple of weeks before that March 24th or about a week before that March 24 deadline.

COSTELLO: Right, right. And Josh it seems as if Senator Rubio wanted to move on but John Kerry wouldn't let him.

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, what Senator Rubio was trying to do is to get John Kerry to admit that this Iran, this negotiation is spilling over into lots of other areas of foreign policy. This is a widely-held suspicion on Capitol Hill and in foreign capitals.

So as the administration is negotiating with Iran, does that affect how they think about Syria? Does that affect how they about Iraq and ISIL where Iran has big interests. John Kerry said flatly no.

But the truth, the ground truth here is that it's really impossible for people in the administration and in the military to delink all of these things. Iran is very active in Iraq. Iran is very active Syria and they can say all they want that these negotiations are just about the nuclear issue but everything is connected and that's what the Senator was trying to draw Kerry out on but Kerry didn't bite.

COSTELLO: Joe, do you agree?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I absolutely agree with that. And it's an interesting dynamic there as you see Marco Rubio questioning the former senator as well as secretary of state John Kerry about the U.S. posture in the region including with Iran.

But a number of other questions this morning about the limitations the administration is putting on itself with this proposed force authorization -- that three-year sunset provision again. There was a question about whether this resolution would also cover the Nigerian terror group Boko Haram which recently swore allegiance to ISIS. Answer from administration officials that that resolution would only cover Boko Haram if it's a threat to Americans.

So, yes, a lot of spillover there -- a lot of questions about the interlinking of the administration's policy and its negotiations and how that's affecting not just the region but a variety of other regions as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, General, you know, you're a military guy like Ashton Carter or General Dempsey and you are sitting here watching this political spat go on. How does that feel do you suppose? LT. GEN. MICHAEL BARBERO, U.S. ARMY: If you're deployed and in harm's

way -- we understand it's part of the process. We operate under civilian leadership. And it is a consensus.

However, when troops are deployed in harm's way and there are actions or statements or letters that question the viability of the operation or the campaign, that's hugely corrosive. As I said in Baghdad hearing members of Congress saying that it's a failed strategy, the surge has failed, everything is lost was hugely corrosive. So I do agree that there must be unity in supporting our forces when they are deployed and asked to do our bidding in harm's way.

COSTELLO: Colonel, is that possible?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, FORMER MEMBER OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: I think in the right political circumstances and under the right political climate, yes it is possible, Carol. But I think what we're seeing is a lot of different ideas, a lot of frustration on Capitol Hill, a lot of frustration in the White House that's playing out in this particular case.

So when it comes to things like the letter to Iran saying that they are basically -- this letter has a time limit or this treaty would have a time limit associated with it or agreement would have a time limit associated, that is a significant issue.

But I also think that when you look at these negotiations and what can come out of them, we have to take the point of view of what Iranians are looking at. I think Iranians believe that all of this is in fact linked. They want to -- if they are going to pursue an agreement with Americans, they are going to look at things in a certain way and they want to link all of this. They do believe there's linkage there and I think they are acting in that way.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks to all of you. Standby, we have to take another break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The fallout continues at the University of Oklahoma in the wake of a racist chant caught on video. The Sigma Alpha Epsilon house has now permanently closed its doors and the University of Oklahoma has expelled two students.

Nick Valencia is covering the story live. Good morning.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

A little more than 72 hours after this video first surfaced, the apologies continue. 19-year-old Parker Rice being identified as one of those in the video, he originally is from Dallas, Texas. And up until the middle of (AUDIO) before being expelled. According to the "OU Daily" -- that's the campus newspaper.

Now he did release a statement. I want to read part of that Carol. It says, "I admit it likely was fueled by alcohol consumed at the house before the bus trip," talking about the song. But he says "That's not an excuse." He goes on to say, "Yes, the song was taught to us but that, too, doesn't work as an explanation."

A second student was also expelled -- "OU Daily" identifying him as Levi Petit (ph). Petit chose to release a statement through his parents. Meanwhile (AUDIO GA), one of the founders of the SAE fraternity here at the University of Oklahoma is saying that that video that was released this weekend is not how the chapter -- it doesn't speak at all for the chapter -- how he founded it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY VINEKAR, FOUNDING MEMBER, SAE AT OU: Livid. Extremely just heartbroken. That's not the way that we started the house. That was never the culture in the house when I was there.

As I viewed that video, I could tell that what they were singing was something that was probably a part of the house. It seemed like they all knew the words and I'm sure it wasn't the first time that they had sang that chant. And I found it utterly disgusting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Now, as of midnight Tuesday, that SAE house was officially shuttered and closed. The university president, David Boren, saying so long as he has tenure here, that fraternity will have nothing to do with the university as long as he has something to say about it -- Carol.

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

One week after a scathing report by the Department of Justice revealed the Ferguson Police Department targeted African-American, the city manager is out of a job. John Shaw submitted his resignation letter on Tuesday writing this. Quote, "While I certainly respect the work that the DOJ recently performed in their investigation and report on the city of Ferguson, I must state clearly that my office has never instructed the police department to target African-Americans. Any inferences of that kind from the report are simply false."

In the meantime, Ferguson's mayor says he isn't going anywhere.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JAMES KNOWLES, FERGUSON MISSOUR: Somebody has to be here to take care of business and so I'm absolutely committed to making sure that we continue to go through that report. As I've said before, we go through that report line by line, issue by issue and find out where the breakdowns were and patterns and practices, what safeguards need to be in place and what training needs to be in place and who needs to be in place to make all of this happen.

And so myself and these council members are committed to making sure that happens. And absolutely, I intend to stay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, we head back to Capitol Hill and the hearing over President Obama's war powers. How much authority should the President have? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Let's check back to -- let's head back to Capitol Hill. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting to authorize President Obama's war powers and how wide reaching and for how long they should remain in place. At times the question and answer session was a little testy but mostly it's been a -- well, it's been fairly calm discussion.

Let's discuss what was said. Joe Johns CNN senior Washington correspondent; CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott joins us from Jerusalem; Josh Rogin is a CNN political analyst and columnist for the Bloomberg View; Lt. General Michael Barbero served three tours in Iraq; and Col. Cedric Leighton is a former member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Welcome back and I'm glad you're still here with me. I appreciate it.

So Joe Johns, I want to start with you because Senator Menendez asked a question about Boko Haram and how wide ranging this war powers act would reach, would it extend all the way to Africa? Tell us more about that.

JOHNS: Well, yes. There's this concern out there that as ISIS morphs into its various iterations and it changes with all its propaganda, that a number of different organizations are becoming linked with ISIS. And so the best example of course is Boko Haram who just over the weekend pledged allegiance to ISIS and the question was also whether that was going to some type of an operational connection or whether it was just going to be purely propaganda.

So for purposes of this the senator was simply asking well, if this resolution that's proposed applies to ISIS, will it also apply to Boko Haram, which has in fact pledged allegiance to ISIS. And the answer that the Senator got on that was that only if the organization that's linked is also posing a specific threat to the United States. So that's yet another limitation that the administration says is inside and built into this resolution, Carol.

COSTELLO: So, Josh, as it stands right now, does the President have the authority to fight Boko Haram wherever it is?

ROGIN: The President has asserted that under the constitution and existing AUMFs, they can do anything they want anywhere they want. They are offering Congress the opportunity to endorse this and to update the authorizations but they are fine either way. They're really in a good position here.

Congress is the one that's in the tight spot. They have to figure out what they can pass and how they can pass it. There's a real possibility that Congress won't be able to agree to anything and they'll pass nothing. At that point the administration will have all the flexibility it wants and they'll be able to say we tried and Congress dropped the ball and in doing so Congress will have insured its own irrelevance.

COSTELLO: Well, in fairness too, everybody is predicting that nothing will come of this.

ROGIN: It's entirely possible that nothing will come of this. But Congress has to do something or they'll ensure that they'll never have a role in war debates in the near future. This is their once chance to really weigh in. They know that. They just can't figure out how to get along and find something that will pass and be signed by the president.

COSTELLO: Joe you were going to say?

JOHNS: Right. I was just going to say, you know, you asked about this issue of unity at the top which administration people seem to be stressing. And I think John Kerry hit it square on. He says that the way this thing was written, it was intended to get a big vote out of Congress. He also said our interests are best served if we have a very powerful vote out of Congress.

The administration is hoping if they get something out of the congress, it will be a very large vote by a very large margin. But that certainly seems like it would be in doubt at this time.

COSTELLO: Because there's that big spat going on at least, right, over this letter to Iran and you can't really take that out of the equation, can you?

LABOTT: You can't take it out of the equation because we have talked about how you can't delink the issue of Iran's role in Iraq, Iran's role in Syria supporting the regime of Bashar al Assad and its involvement in the civil war there and that's not only about Iran's role but also the animosity between the administration and Congress right now over the letter, over the invite to Prime Minister Netanyahu and his role in the Iranian debate.

But I think it was very interesting. You have Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican senator, just questioning Secretary Kerry. We're talking about this unity. One of the things that the Republicans are very concerned about while Secretary Kerry says this sends an unmistakable message, we need a powerful message about America's commitment, Republicans don't think that this AUMF talks about an unmistakable commitment.

The Senator saying this is extremely limited. How does it show the U.S. commitment? These are loose statements. This is not really a very strong commitment of the U.S. And listen, when we talk about the role of U.S. and getting involved in other organizations that might be linked to ISIS, when you have General John Allen, the envoy, who's going to these countries and trying to drum up support for the coalitions, these allies want to go even further -- Carol.

You see what's going on in Libya with militants there. You see what's going on in Sinai with militants there. These allies are concerned about Islamic extremism engulfing the whole region. We don't really know at this point who is going to align with ISIS and who is not and what these allies are saying to the U.S. is we'll support you on ISIS right now but we need your support in eliminating Islamic extremism in its totality from the region.

And that's a very large proposition for this administration. So they really are as we said trying to thread the needle between trying to defeat ISIS and not being drawn out into another long war in this region that's had so much turmoil.

COSTELLO: All right. I got to take a break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And back to our breaking news this morning in Florida where a Blackhawk chopper went down with seven marines and four aircrew members onboard. A search has been going on in the waters off the coast of the Florida panhandle.

Victor Blackwell has some new information to report from Louisiana. Tell us more -- Victor.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, heartbreaking although some officials have expected this. I just spoke with a base spokesperson there at Eglin and she says that human remains have now begun to wash ashore there near the site where that Blackhawk went down. She is stressing though that this is still an active search and rescue scene so they are still hoping for the very best but as we've reported, military officials expect that the seven marines and four crew members who were based here at the Louisiana Army National Guard who were the crew of that Blackhawk, they are all presumed dead -- Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Tragic news. Victor Blackwell -- thanks so much.

Checking some other top stories for you at 59 minutes past. Utah lawmakers passing a bill allowing firing squads to execute death row prisoners. Lawmakers say the measure is a backup plan but it's necessary because of problems obtaining lethal injection drugs. The measure will now be sent to the governor. He has not said whether he will sign it into law.

In money news this morning, you want to take that trip to Europe for your spring vacation. The euro has fallen to a nearly 12-year low against the dollar. That's good for anyone traveling overseas it's not so good for exports and that may be why the Dow took a steep plunge yesterday.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.