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Iran: 90 Percent of the Technical Issues in Nuclear Deal has Been Resolved; Lawyer Linked to Osama Bin Laden was Shot; Unruly Airplane Passenger; Jake Tapper's Live Coverage of the Israel Election. Aired 3:30-4pm ET

Aired March 17, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

JOE BERLINGER, PARADISE LOST DIRECTOR: And I think there's a larger issue in our society about how we have treated nonfiction fit the conventions of fictional television.

<15:30:00> You know, well, sometimes life doesn't fit the narrative arc of fiction.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

BERLINGER: And I think there's a larger issue in our society about how we have treated nonfiction and news as entertainment.

BALDWIN: No, and the fact that you personally dealt with this when you all were in the thick of the trial in "Paradise Lost." I just had no idea. I appreciated you sending me those DVDs. And "Paradise Lost," phenomenal documentary.

Joe Berlinger, thank you so much. Which reminds everyone, you will be seeing more actually of Joe's work later this month on CNN.com. His short film "Uba" is about a fashion model's unlikely path to fame. It runs later this month online. CNN.com/shortfilms.

Thank you, Joe very much.

Coming up next, the world leaders on the verge of a nuclear deal with Iran? Tehran saying it has resolved 90 percent of the technical issue, but there is one sticking point that so remains.

Plus, polls in Israel minutes away from closing with Prime Minister Netanyahu fighting for his political survival. We'll talk to Christiane Amanpour live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

<15:35:26> BALDWIN: A possible breakthrough in negotiations aimed at limiting Iran's efforts to obtain a nuclear weapon, but context here a big note of caution, this talk is coming from Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry has been at the negotiating table. We know today the head of Iran's atomic energy organization told Iranian TV that the two sides have quote/unquote "agreed on 90 percent of technical issues." But not long ago, the White House put the odds of a deal at 50/50 at best. So let me bring in our chief international correspondent Christiane

Amanpour.

And Christiane, when I hear 50/50 versus 90, what are the sticking points here?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, I think there's two different things. It's like apples and oranges.

BALDWIN: Yes.

AMANPOUR: They may have reached a lot of agreements on technical issues, but there are a lot of other issues also to be agreed upon. And both sides seem to have issues trying to get to a point where they can sign a deal on full sort of inspections. The United States and the P5+1 want absolutely intrusive inspections for long period of time of all Iran's nuclear facilities.

Iran wants to know when all sanctions will be lifted and demands they are lifted as part of a deal immediately. That's not just U.S. unilateral sanctions but U.N. sanctions as well. So there are still lots of things.

So to be honest with you, you know, we all hear these things and we all ask our sources and we get all these different sort of definitions of what success is. And you know, this thing is likely to cause us all to leap out of our chairs until we hear from the horse's mouth what actually has been achieve or not.

BALDWIN: OK. Well, we know to wait until we know that, I guess assurance from that person. But until then, let me just pivot to Israel. I can't talk to you without talking to you about these Israeli elections. I know polls close within the hour in these parliamentary races that are sure obviously to pit the current Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his challenger, Isaac Herzog. We know Netanyahu released this YouTube video today, Christiane, essentially accusing his opponent of bringing huge amounts of Arabs to the polls to vote against his party. Big picture, what's at stake here?

AMANPOUR: Well, first and foremost, there's a huge amount of scare mongering going on over the last, you know, moments of this election. I just interviewed a leading member of an Arab-Israeli party who formed a joint coalition to try to defeat Netanyahu. And they are, you know, fit to be tied because they say, you know, the prime minister has gone out of his way to scare monger about Israeli-Arabs. So that's a problem.

As you remember, Avigdor Lieberman, who's in coalition, I believe, in the government, he's, anyway, he's foreign minister. He said that, you know, disloyal, quote/unquote, "Arabs, Israeli citizens who happen to be Arabs, should be beheaded." I mean, he went all ISIS on them.

So there's a lot of that kind of politicking going on as this race got very, very down to the wire. Now, the fact of the matter is, I'm also hearing that they have closed the gap very, very significantly, that it is very, very tight or still too close to call. And obviously, we haven't got formal exit polls yet. But the Arab politician who I interviewed said that may be at this moment only two seats between them, and it could end up being even closer than that. So it's very close. And there's nothing much we can say about it at the moment. What's at stake for the world is the peace process.

BALDWIN: Right.

AMANPOUR: Netanyahu even dropped the whole peace process bombshell last night saying "forget it, no two-state solution as long as I'm prime minister." That's the backbone, the very basis of any hope for peace that the United States has backed for decades now for a long, long time now.

So where does that lead? For Israelis, you know, they're concerned also about prosperity, not just peace. You know, housing, the economy, all of that.

BALDWIN: And so we wait.

Christiane Amanpour, thank you so much for the context for both U.S., Israel, and also for Israelis.

Coming up, he was a doctor who helped lead the United States to terry mastermind Osama Bin Laden. And now today his lawyer assassinated. And the group claiming responsibility says he's just the first on its hit list.

And later, he rushed the cockpit of a plane, screaming jihad, passengers here wasting no time taking him down. The whole thing was caught on tape. We'll share that with you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

<15:44:00> BALDWIN: A lawyer linked to a doctor who helped the United States ultimately track down Osama Bin Laden has been shot to death. Authorities say the man was traveling in his car in Peshawar, Pakistan when he was shot twice by unidentified assailants. CNN has learned that this militant group has claimed responsibility to Jundullah is the name of this group. The leaders say the attorney was on a hit list.

So joining me now, CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen, he's the author of "Manhunt" the ten-year search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad.

Peter Bergen, a couple questions for you. First, can you just remind people how key this doctor was at the time in leading the CIA to that location in Pakistan, and then where has the lawyer been ever since?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, in fact, I don't think he was that key, Brooke. You know, let me just back up a second.

BALDWIN: OK. BERGEN: So what happened was the CIA got this doctor to mount

effectively a vaccination campaign in the city where Bin Laden lived. And they were basically going -- the idea was that the doctor would, or his staff, would take DNA samples from the Bin Laden kids as a result of this quote/unquote "vaccination campaign." That never happened because the kids never came out.

Secondarily, the CIA wasn't telling the doctor, you're helping us to find Bin Laden. Don't forget, this was an incredibly tightly held secret.

<15:45:19> BALDWIN: Right.

BERGEN: So he's -- you know, I think he's been portrayed in a lot of places as the doctor who helped find Bin Laden. That's not really true. He certainly was working for the CIA. That's true. And he's certainly in a Pakistani prison for on other charges for many decades. He's certainly a very unpopular figure in Pakistan as a result of this perception that he was involved in helping to find Bin Laden. And of course, his lawyer, by extension, would also have been seen as an unpopular person because of that perception.

BALDWIN: Been -- Peter, and thank you for the clarification, but then when I read this name of the militant group, I don't even know if I'm saying it correctly, you correctly Jundullah.

BERGEN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Who is this group?

BERGEN: They've been around for a long time. They're extremely violent. They have been killing, you know, all sorts of religious minorities in Pakistan. They're kind of a splinter group from the Taliban. But, you know, they've killed Shia. They've -- you know, they're a very violent group in Pakistan that's probably been around for at least a decade.

BALDWIN: And then to learn about this so-called hit list, the lawyer of this doctor at the top apparently. Do we know who else is on this list?

BERGEN: I don't. But I mean, you know, these groups have killed anybody that they perceive to be an enemy of Islam, which would include Muslims who don't precisely their share views. Now we have this lawyer. You know, I mean, the kinds of people they would be attacking would also by the way include potentially Pakistani government officials. We've seen a campaign against Pakistani government targets by Taliban groups of which Jundullah is a splinter. So that hit list could be quite long. It would also involve potentially Christians, since these groups have gone after Christians. We've seen a lot of attacks on Christians in Pakistan over the last several years, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Peter Bergen, thank you so much as always.

We also have breaking news I want to share with you here out of Syria. Reports that Syria's air defense has shot down a U.S. surveillance aircraft. All of this is according to a report on the Syrian Arab news agency. You're looking on the map, that the western section of Syria here in this Lattakia area. The aircraft reportedly shot down in this province. Unmanned drones, of course, a major part of the U.S. lead coalition against ISIS in that region. As we get more, we'll bring it to you.

Coming up next, a man rushed the cockpit of a plane screaming jihad. Passengers on this plane wasted no time, tackled him, the whole thing was caught on tape. We have that for you.

And the polls, as we mentioned a moment ago with Christiane Amanpour, they are about to close in Israel. Everyone wants to know if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays in power. We have special coverage of that election coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

<15:52:05> BALDWIN: An alarming scene onboard this United Airlines flight after this passenger runs towards the cockpit screaming jihad over and over. A cell phone video shows this man. He's got bruises on his face, being held down by other passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't move. You're OK. We're going to get you off this plane, buddy. We're going to get you off this plane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: OK. There is nothing, so far in this man's background to suggest he has any connection to terrorists, no weapons were found after he was taken down. But his mental state, that's still unknown.

Pilots alerted air traffic control to see what was happening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance. He had run forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers. The cockpit is secure and we would just like to return to the airport and have the authorities meet him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So that plane headed back to Dallas International Airport where police detained the man, they took them to the hospital. According to the airport he has not been charged at any -- for any crime at least by this point in time. CNN aviation government regulation correspondent Rene Marsh is live at Dallas. So question number one, will he be charged with anything?

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION GOVERNMENT RULE REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Well at this point, Brooke, as you stated I spoke with the airport today and they tell me, that it was their officers, the airport authority police officers you removed this man from the plane. He was never in custody, never arrested and as we speak he has not been charged.

You know, is it a mental situation and a mental incident, mental case, this man may not face any charges. We do know that he is at the hospital, he is under observation. We believe that he will be under observation for at least 72 hours. So that's the latest with him. No word at this point about charges, Brooke.

BALDWIN: What about just to share facts, I mean, listen, in this post 9/11 world, there are air Marshalls, I mean, you see these passengers. Go on them, I guess for stopping this guy from getting any farther. But whose role is it to really subdue someone in this kind of situation.

MARSH: Well you know, you do have the air Marshals who are on board and they really are the ones who are trained to handle this but quite often and in many cases when we look and see these unruly passengers cases unfold, thousands of feed-up in the air, often times you do hear of passengers who take matters into their own hands. And that is exactly what happened here.

We should point that this man was never able to breach the cockpit, we know that the doors at all point, there were secure. We also know post 9/11 all aircraft they were equipped with reinforced cockpit doors. So the pilot were secure but never the less, tense moments when you have someone screaming and charger as other passengers said towards the cockpit. Also, Brooke, we do know that the passengers who were on board and were grounded last night, they were all booked on new flights. So many of them made it to their destination this morning and by this afternoon, many of them are already in Denver where they -- who were trying to get to, yesterday.

But important to the link at this point that authorizes are telling us by looking at his background, they do not see any connection to terrorism.

<15:55:51> BALDWIN: All right. Rene Marsh at Dulles Airport for us in Northern Virginia. Rene, thank you very, very much.

And that does it for me. I'm Brooke Baldwin live here in New York. The polls in Israel closing in mere minutes. So we'll send it to Washington D.C. a little early. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper begins now, especial coverage --Jake.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Welcome to our viewers in the United States of America and throughout the globe. I'm Jake Tapper.

We have some breaking news in our world lead today on "THE LEAD." We're just four minutes away from a critical vote in Israel as polls there are just about to close. You're going to look at some live pictures right now out of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. And this is Tel Aviv inside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who's campaign headquarters.

Right now, his political future hanging in the balance as Israelis spent the day casting ballots to decide who will lead this important state and perhaps the world's most volatile region through decisions that could impact the world far beyond just the Middle East for years. This election heat between Benjamin Netanyahu, the current prime minister, and the leader of the labor, Isaac Herzog, has implications far beyond the borders of a country that is the size of New Jersey here in the United States. The contest has truly jumped continents and threatens to fracture Israel's critical relationship with the United States. Netanyahu tracked all the way to the U.S. Congress in Washington D.C. contrary to the wishes of President Obama. There he warned that the Congress and American people just how wrong he thinks President Obama is about the leaders of Iran and how the leaders of Iran, their world view makes negotiating with them all but impossible and that any deal with them about their nuclear program would be a farce in his view.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER: In this deadly game of thrones, there is no place for America or for Israel. No peace for Christians, Jews, or Muslims who don't share the Islamism medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: To the surprise of absolutely no one, that speech provided some good be roll for this Netanyahu campaign ad on your television right now.

Now for his, far President Obama said he did not bother watching Netanyahu's speech, but he did read it and then he right dismissed it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As far as I could tell, there was nothing new.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: But beyond the public par chat, this discord between Netanyahu and Obama has dire security implications for the entire world. Today the White House said chances of the deal with Iran and materializing are no better than 50/50 but Israel does needs to be at least somewhat on board at least willing to take military action off the table.

Let's go live to channel 2 right now, Israeli television where there have some results coming in. You can see this, this Netanyahu has 28 seats. We're going to listen in.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The exit polls.

The United list, 13. Yeshatid, 12, Colano, 9. Jewish Com 8 seats. (INAUDIBLE) TAPPER: And just to go back, it has a in the initial exit polls

Netanyahu's labor party 28 seats in the parliament, 27 going to Hertzog and his party, he is a member of the labor party and he also has coalition called the Zionist Union.

Let's go right to Elise Labbott right now. She's in Netanyahu's headquarters in Tel Aviv. We also have Orean Liverman standing by at Herzog camp and also in Tel Aviv. We also have John King positioned at the magic walk when the numbers come in. Wolf Blitzer also sitting with me right here.

But let's go Elise right now. Are those exit polls got be received rather well there in Netanyahu's headquarters', Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT Jake, it is a stunning turnaround for Benjamin Netanyahu. (INAUDIBLE) behind the hall after 24 to 48 hours media blitz, really trying to energized the right wing vote. A little bit of fear among during there trying to tell that right wing voters. I will not supportive how city in state, I will protect from the Arab who we said were coming out of drove so unseen him.

But it seems to have worked. He seems to have energized that right- wing base. And now he is neck and neck with Isaac Herzog, even inching a little bit ahead of him. This is a stunning turn around. And even we will have to see who is able to form the coalition with the other parties, but it does look as if Prime Minister Netanyahu has fought his way back and has a very good chance of forming this government, so it's a victory for him either way, Jake.