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Blue Bell Recall; Arms to Yemen; Six Arrested After Plotting to Join ISIS; Dr. Oz Fights Against Critics. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired April 21, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:07] MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He basically says, look, he is not going to put it back on the shelves until they have tested and made sure that every piece of ice cream, every frozen trick is safe to eat.

And the reason it went to this drastic step, Carol, was the company had tested ice cream in a number of different places that had come from a different plants and it tested positive. And that's when they said, let's just pull it all. And that's what they've done.

Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Martin Savidge reporting live from Atlanta this morning. Thank you.

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

A military showdown underway between Iran and the United States. The U.S. Navy now has nine war ships in the waters off Yemen to monitor a convoy of Iranian vessels believed to be carrying arms to Houthi rebels who have taken control of much of the country. Rising military tensions coming as Iran charges an American journalist with espionage. "Washington Post" correspondent Jason Rezaian, detained since July, faces spying allegations that "The Post" calls ludicrous. All this has the U.S. walking a diplomatic tight rope with Iran nuclear talks resuming today.

Joining me now, CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott.

So, Elise, this is -- this is just strange, right? On one side the United States is negotiating with Iran and on the other it's kind of fighting Iran.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. Certainly even as nuclear talks begin today in Vienna, Carol, the U.S. and Iran are on the opposite sides of this conflict in Yemen. And the U.S. is trying to be really careful, as the Iranians have, over these many months to try and de-link the nuclear negotiations from everything else going on in the region. So the U.S. has separated Iran's activity in Yemen, in Syria, in Iraq, its human rights record, the case of Jason Rezaian and all these other Americans that -- there are several that are being held.

But it's really hard when you have this new added unpredictability of the U.S. warships. I think the U.S. is loath to, as they say, they'll be prepared to interdict and board any Iranian vessels if they're going into Yemeni waters, if they have weapons. But I think they'd be really loathe to do that. And certainly it can't help but affect the atmosphere of the talks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Well, I know, that seems so logical. Iran doesn't seem to think so. In fact, Iran seems to be sending two different messages, calling for diplomacy while stoking these military tensions.

I want to read part of an op-ed by the Iranian foreign minister. It was published in "The New York Times." He wrote in part, quote, "the Iranian people have shown their resolve by choosing to engage with dignity. It is time for the United States and its western allies to make the choice between cooperation and confrontation."

So how is the White House responding to this?

LABOTT: Well, they're reacting the same way that the Gulf allies react when Iran says it wants to be part of the solution because the U.S. and their allies in the Gulf maintain that they're part of the problem in causing the destabilizing behavior in large part.

Take a listen to White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It's a little ironic for the Iranian foreign minister to be calling for a diplomatic resolution to that situation, while at the same time his country continues to supply arms to one party to that dispute so that the violence can continue and, in some cases, even worsen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LABOTT: And I think what's going on, Carol, is, in addition to making sure that they're trying to keep the Gulf waters in -- off the coast of Yemen calm, I think what the U.S. is doing with this show of force is also to reassure those Gulf allies, who are very concerned about this potential nuclear deal with Iran, that the U.S. would have their back when it comes to other activity that Iran is undertaking in the region. And so I think part of this show of force is to say, yes, we are negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, but the U.S. will not turn a blind eye when it comes to some of this other destabilizing behavior, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Elise Labott reporting live, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, obesity, it is not just a health problem, it's fast becoming a national security risk. Is our country getting too fat to fight? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:11] COSTELLO: We talk about America's obesity problem constantly, but not in these terms. Forget about rampant diabetes, heart attacks and joint problems. The scariest consequence arising out of our battle of the bulge is the safety of our country. In just five years, so many young Americans will be grossly overweight the military will be unable to recruit enough qualified soldiers. Yes, obesity is becoming a national security crisis. Don't take it from me, take it from Major General Allen Batschelet, who is in charge of U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJOR GENERAL ALLEN BATSCHELET, USARC, COMMANDING GENERAL: Actually just under three in 10 young people 17 to 24 can join the Army today, and the other armed services for that matter.

ON SCREEN TEXT: Seventy percent of applicants are ineligible.

Obesity. National security crisis?

BATSCHELET: The single biggest disqualifier is obesity. There --

COSTELLO: Wait, we're talking about young people?

BATSCHELET: Right, youth obesity. That's right.

COSTELLO: So this is men and women, young men and women.

BATSCHELET: That's right.

COSTELLO: Most of whom are too fat to join the service?

BATSCHELET: Well, that's -- 10 percent of them are obese and, you know, unfit to the point that they can't join the service.

ON SCREEN TEXT: Ten percent of applicants are too overweight to join.

COSTELLO: I mean I realize we have an obesity problem in this country --

BATSCHELET: Right.

COSTELLO: But that shocks me.

BATSCHELET: Yes, it's really -- it's really very worrisome. I, you know, I don't know that it's fair to call it a crisis just yet, but I think it's quickly approaching one.

ON SCREEN TEXT: Thirty-five percent of Americans age 20 plus are obese.

BATSCHELET: It really becomes a national security issue. You know this is a --

COSTELLO: Obesity becomes a national --

BATSCHELET: Obesity.

COSTELLO: A national security issue? BATSCHELET: In my view it does, yes. It's not a military problem. It

is a societal issue. And that -- that's not the only disqualifier, of course. But, in my mind, the obesity one is one of the more troubling because the trends are in the wrong direction. Ten percent disqualified today. We think by 2020 it could be as high as 50 percent, which would mean only two in 10 could qualify to join the Army.

COSTELLO: So what do you tell a young person who comes in who -- and is too heavy to qualify? What do you tell them?

[09:40:03] BATSCHELET: Yes, so we -- recruiters are life coaches and we encourage our recruiters to be that. And so they engage with young people. They want to see them be successful, whether they join the Army or not. And so --

COSTELLO: But your recruiters act sort of like "The Biggest Loser" on television?

BATSCHELET: They can. They can. So we have programs. It's called The Future Soldier Program. And if you decide you want to join the Army, and we'll begin the enlistment process. We'll get you contracted. And then you can start coming to a recruiting center. We'll have physical workouts, you know, three, four times a week and work with you so that you will be able to meet those standards when you go off to basic training. But there are limits to that.

COSTELLO: So -- so give me an example of someone who is -- is just too obese to go into the military and go through the basic training and come out a trim, fighting machine.

BATSCHELET: Right. So we had recently had some really neat experiences in -- I think it was Kansas City. A young person really wanted to join the Army. A young lady, as a matter of fact. She lost over 80 pounds working with her recruiter because her goal was to join the Army. It took her a year and she did it, though. And today she is a soldier in the United States Army.

Now, a lot of it is determination. You know, if you are really determined that you can overcome that disqualification, that matters a lot to us. I mean you -- we can only help so far. You have to be a willing partner, you know, in that equation, right? So if you're -- if you're a young person who's not committed to overcoming those -- whatever that obstacle might be, you're going to have a tough time joining us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Want some hard numbers? Last year, of the 195,000 young men and women who signed up to fight for our country, only 72,000 qualified. That's depressing and it's sad because we still struggle with why Americans are so overweight. I have come to the conclusion that we just don't care because obesity has become normal in this country. If you want to explore that part of the story, read by op-ed, "Too Fat to Fight." You can find it at cnn.com/opinion or on my FaceBook page, facebook.com/carolcnn. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:23] COSTELLO: A 10-month terror sting ends with six men from Minnesota behind bars accused of plotting to join ISIS by any means possible. But there is concern among authorities that these arrests are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to terror recruits in the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW LUGER, U.S. ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA: We have a terror recruiting problem in Minnesota. And this case demonstrates how difficult it is to put an end to recruiting here. A person radicalizing your son, your brother, your friend, may not be a stranger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Ryan Young live in Minneapolis with more for you this morning.

Good morning, Ryan.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. This reads like a bad spy novel all the ways these young men were trying to get over to Syria. Most of them 19 years old, not planning spring break but instead trying to get over to Syria to join the fight in ISIL. I can tell you, the FBI has gone through so many documents in terms of sharing with us the idea that not only were these men trying to sign up for passports with really bad stories that made investigators start looking into them. Once they started looking into them, they noticed that they were putting money into their accounts, $1,500 at a time, and then they even tried to stop them several times but they continued trying get on buses or flights to test the system to see if they could make it over there. Now all of this was connected to the fact that one of their friends in the group finally did make it over to Syria and they believe that he is now a chief recruiter.

Just to give you an idea of how bad some of the planning was, they went to a Greyhound bus station, one like this one, and they all went to JFK. When the FBI stopped them there, they got back on a bus and came back here to Minnesota and said they didn't know each other, but the FBI was able to use surveillance cameras like this one to show that they were all hanging out before leaving.

I can tell you though, in this community they have been talking about this and they say some of this may be entrapment on the FBI's side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OMAR JAMAL, SOMALI ACTIVIST: The community and the family members really believe that some of entrapment is involved in this case. The facts will come out in the details later.

(END VIDEO CLIP) YOUNG: Now Carol, you know that sometimes when the FBI does these investigations, they just don't leave this to happenstance. They actually have recordings from the inside. From what we are told, someone in this group decided to start recording what was going on, and that helped the FBI with this investigation.

COSTELLO: Ryan Young reporting live for us this morning from Minneapolis.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Dr. Oz fighting back against critics who are calling him a quack. What is he going to say on his show Thursday anyway? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:51:38] COSTELLO: Dr. Oz is fighting to prove he's not a quack. In a special episode of this show taping today, Dr. Oz is taking on his critics, specifically ten prominent physicians calling for Columbia University to cut ties with Dr. Oz. The group writing in a letter to the school last week saying, in part, "worst of all, Dr. Oz has manifested an egregious lack of integrity by promoting quack treatments and cures in the interest of personal financial gain."

So what exactly are they talking about? It's ads like this one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEHMET OZ, AUTHOR AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY: This little bean has scientists saying they found a magic weight loss cure for every body type.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: I need me some imagine magic beans. The maker behind that weight loss pill was later sued for false advertising and Dr. Oz was grilled by the Senate for endorsing it.

Joining me now, CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter.

So what is Dr. Oz going to say?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: He's going to say a lot, Carol. He's going to spend two-thirds of his show on Thursday rebutting his critics, which is something he doesn't often do. Think about it, if you are watching Dr. Oz's show already, you probably trust him and don't need to hear him defend himself. He has decided this is serious enough that he's going to speak out about it in-depth. He's actually taping it today and it will air on Thursday.

COSTELLO: What could he possibly say to defend himself when the Senate lambasted him?

STELTER: You know, in cases like that, of that green coffee being extracted, there has already been sort of an acknowledgment that maybe he went too far there. He published an update last fall where he said the study we based that segment has been retracted. There needs to be more study on this.

And I think if you talk to his folks privately, they'll admit sometimes they have gone too far with diet supplements and things like that and they've tried to do what Arthur Caplan at NYU calls a course correction. Tried to get back to the basics of health and medicine and wellness.

What Dr. Oz believes and needs to defend himself about is what these physicians said in their letter, especially about GMOs. Some of these ten doctors have ties to industry that's promoting genetically modified foods and promoting the use of that. Dr. Oz's position is different. He says this stuff should be labeled. He says he's not anti-GMO, but he's pro-labeling. So what he's going to say on his show today and what will air on Thursday is I'm going to keep fighting for the right for you to know what's in your food and I'm not going away. Basically, he's trying to stand up for what he thinks is intimidation by these doctors.

COSTELLO: Is any of this affecting his ratings? He has a magazine, too.

STELTER: He has a whole empire. He has got that magazine. His show is quite popular on syndication, the biggest doctor show there. It hasn't affected his numbers right now and maybe it's entirely a coincidence but I don't think so. Thursday is the first day of May sweeps. It's the first day of the most important ratings period. I have a feeling he's hoping to take this bad PR situation and use it as a ratings boost later in the week.

But it's interesting to see him trying to go out on offense here after being on the defense for several days and come out and say I'm not going to be intimidated by these doctors, I'm going to continue to do what I think is right.

COSTELLO: You know I'm a cynic. Why does he care what the Columbia doctors say and why does he care to be associated with Columbia? He doesn't need Columbia anymore, does he?

STELTER: I would say maybe he still benefits from having that relationship with Columbia, by having that academic credential. It certainly would seem to help him and give him credibility. But to me, I get the sense that these ten doctors that wrote this letter that it has been a bruise. It did do some damage in the press in the past few days. It was embarrassing for Dr. Oz and for the show. They believe they are on firm footing here. I think they acknowledge they went too far sometimes with some of their more out-there medical ideas and experiments.

[09:55:12] But on this issue of GMOs, Dr. Oz has been very clear for years. He wants these products to be labeled. He says in other countries they're labeled and they should be labeled here in the United States and he doesn't want to feel intimidated by doctors who disagree.

COSTELLO: Brian Stelter, thanks so much as usual. I appreciate it.

Incredible video of police in Texas saving a man from a car engulfed in flames.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

It happened on Sunday after the driver slammed into a road sign, his car erupting into a ball of flames. Police on the scene scrambling to pull that unconscious man from the inferno. The 25-year-old suffered burns and internal injuries but the good news, he is expected to survive.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:59:58] COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, a potential showdown with Iran as U.S. warships are deployed to Yemen with a clear message to Tehran: we're watching you. But will the move derail nuke talks?