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Outgoing Attorney General Addresses Workers; Barack Obama Speech on James Clapper; Obama, U.S. Acknowledge Weinstein Death by Drone. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired April 24, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] ERIC HOLDER, OUTGOING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: This has been a great six years. Being at the Justice Department has -- I say the last six years, but the reality is I've been at this department since 1976, you know, off and on. Started as a line lawyer in the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division. And it's going to be hard for me -- not going to be, it is hard for me to walk away from the people who I love and who represent this institution that I love so much. But it is time. It's time to make a transition. Change is a good thing. I'm confident that in the work you have done that we've laid a foundation for better things over the course of the next couple years.

I think that as we look back at these past six years, what I want you all to understand is that you have done truly historic, historic and big things. I mean, no matter where you look. If you look at -- from the basic stuff, you know. This department is restored. It's restored to what it always was and what it must always be, free of politicization, focused on the mission, and making sure that justice is done without any kind of interference from political outsiders.

We have expressed faith in the greatest court system in the world and brought the toughest national security cases into that system and with unbelievable results. The notion that we're still having a debate about whether or not cases ought to be brought in the Article III system or in military tribunals is over. It's dead. And that's because, again, because of the great work that prosecutors in various districts have performed in putting together wonderful cases and then successfully trying those cases.

We have had an impact on the environment and people who -- and companies that would have spoiled our environment. Historic, historic wins in that regard as well. You look at the financial recoveries that related to the mortgage crisis and the huge amounts of money that we put -- that we recovered.

And then I think what's important -- and Tony West is here, and I think he deserves some special thanks for that, for what was done with that money, to try to get it to the people who suffered the most.

(APPLAUSE)

HOLDER: The thought was never to simply take that money and put it into the United States Treasury but to come up with ways in which we could try to get people back into their homes or to somehow reduce the debt load that they were dealing with or any trust division lives again and has had a tremendous impact in our country and in the positive things that they've done for the American consumer.

We've heard today of a merger I think would have been extremely anti-competitive and not in the best interest of the American consumer has been abandoned. That's because of the great work of the men and women in the Anti-Trust Division.

Our Tax Division, overseas accounts, dealing with our allies in Europe, bringing money back and disallowing the practice that for too long had gone on where people had squirreled away, hidden money that they needed to actually pay taxes for and be held accountable for.

Indian country. You think about the tough history that exists between the United States and our native people, we have put on track, I think, the ability to right some really serious historical wrongs. We've done, I think, a great deal. Much work remains to be done. But this Justice Department was committed to addressing those problems in as frank a way as is possible.

Criminal justice reform. If you look at all the statistics, you'll see the incarceration rate goes like this and then goes up in about 1974, something like that. We are a nation that incarcerates too many people for too long and for no good law enforcement reason. It is time to change the approaches we have been using these past 30, 40 years. Through the great work of the people in this department, we are starting to reverse that trend. Again, more work remains to be done, but we're on the way.

[14:35:00] Civil rights. The LGBT community is something that I have tried to focus on. I think that's the civil rights issue of our time. This whole question of same-sex marriage, which will be resolved by the court over the next couple of months or so, hopefully, that decision will go in a way that I think is consistent with who we say we are as a people. But I also think that that is really just a sign. It's an indication. It's one part of the fight for overall LGBT equality. I think the work that you all have done in that regard is going to be an integral part of the legacy of this department.

And then, you know, the thing that I think in some ways animates me, angers me, is this whole notion about protecting the right to vote. We celebrated this year the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Voting Rights Act. I went to Selma to commemorate Bloody Sunday. John Lewis was here earlier. This nation fought a civil war, endured slavery by another name, dealt with legalized segregation. A civil right movement in the mid and early '60s transformed this nation. And the notion we would somehow go back and put in place things that make it difficult, more difficult, for our fellow citizens to vote is simply inconsistent with all that's good about this country and something I was bound and determined to fight. And our Civil Rights Division has done a superb job crafting lawsuits based on a Voted Rights Act that was wrongly gutted by the Supreme Court and that I expect we'll see successes from those efforts from the cases that have been filed. But that, that, of all things, simply cannot be allowed to happen. The right to vote must be protected.

(APPLAUSE)

HOLDER: I want to thank my family, my lovely wife, for the sacrifices they've made over the years, not only to allow me to be attorney general, to be deputy attorney general.

Honey, you've been the rock in the family. And you've allowed me --

(APPLAUSE)

HOLDER: You've allowed me the opportunity to do the things that really animated me and allowed me to work with all of these great people.

I want to also say something about the folks who you see standing here, my detail. These are people, men and women, who literally sacrifice, you know, their well being in terms of their interactions with their families. They travel with me. They miss weekends. They work long and hard hours. They're prepared to do ultimate kinds of things. And I could not do this job without them. Now, they will not smile because they never do that.

(LAUGHTER)

I see Marcus is smiling a little bit there.

(LAUGHTER)

Bart is also smiling. All right.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

HOLDER: And then I just want to thank all of you, all of you. You are what makes this institution great. You know, we have a great building, and it is something that is historic in its nature. But it is only kept great by the dedication and perseverance, the commitment that all of you show on a daily basis.

And I hope that you all will understand that the jobs that you have, there is not a routine job in the United States Department of Justice. Given the great power that we are entrusted with, the responsibilities that we have, I don't want you all to ever think that, you know, it's just Tuesday, I'm going to get through the day. That's not who we are at the United States Department of Justice. It's not who you all are. I think that has certainly been shown by the way in which you've conducted yourselves and by the way in which you've accomplished so much over the last six years.

I said earlier that when we celebrated Robert Kennedy's 50th anniversary of his swearing in, in 2011, people said that was a golden age for the United States Department of Justice. Well, I think that 50 years from now, and maybe even sooner than that, people are going to look back at the work that you all did and say that this was another golden age. That's how good you all are. That's how good you all are. That's how dedicated, committed, and wonderful you all have been with a focus on justice, with a focus on helping those who cannot help themselves, you have distinguished yourselves.

[14:40:00] There's a long line of excellence in the United States Department of Justice, but every now and again, at an appropriate time, a group comes along that is worthy of special recognition. And you all are, in fact, one of those groups. I am proud of you. I am proud of you.

I'm going to miss you. I am going to miss this building. I'm going to miss this institution. More than anything, I'm going to miss you all. This building is always going to be home. You all are always going to be my family. Wherever I am, whatever I am doing, I will be rooting for you from the sidelines.

Now I want to do something here. We have these bands I've been wearing --

(LAUGHTER)

-- for the last whatever number of whatevers.

(LAUGHTER)

I think I can officially take this off now.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

HOLDER: I think we can officially say now that Eric Holder is free.

(LAUGHTER)

But it is not necessarily something that I want. I don't ever want to be free of this great institution. I don't ever want to be free of the relationships that I have forged with so many of you. I don't want to ever be free --

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: We have to pull away from Eric Holder with his bands and his sense of humor and his gratitude. Six years as attorney general of this great nation.

Because we need to now go to the president of the United States. Here he is.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I can tell you, I sure do rely on it. And those who come and brief me every single morning do an extraordinary job. I will say that the only flaw generally in what's called the PDB that I receive is that when Jim provides it, some of you may have heard he leaves paper clips all over my office.

(LAUGHTER)

They're in the couch. They're on the floor.

(LAUGHTER)

He's shuffling paper.

(LAUGHTER)

And so because I knew I was coming over here, one of the things I did was return them all. And --

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: -- so this will be available to you. DNI's budget is always a little tight. We can start recycling these.

(LAUGHTER)

That's going to be critical.

But Jim is often one of the first people that I see in the morning during the presidential daily brief. Jim always gives it to me straight. He gives me his honest assessment, free of politics, free of spin. I trust his integrity. And I can't tell you how invaluable that is in the job that he has. And that culture is one that permeates I.C. It's a culture that reflects the leaders at the top. And nobody, I think, exemplifies that more than Jim Clapper. I'm very grateful for him.

Here at ODNI, Jim has also led important reforms, both within the office and across the intelligence community. Today, the community is more collaborative and more integrated than it's ever been in the past. And since no good deed ever goes unpunished, in appreciation of this outstanding work, I sent Jim to North Korea.

(LAUGHTER)

And I know he had a wonderful time in Pyongyang.

(LAUGHTER)

But thanks to the role that Jim played, he returned home with Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller to be reunited with their families.

Today's also special to him because it happens to be his 50th wedding anniversary to his wonderful wife, Sue. So we want to congratulate the two of them.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And fear not, this is not all he's doing for their 50th wedding anniversary.

(LAUGHTER)

My understanding is they're headed off for a well-deserved anniversary vacation this weekend, so I'm going to move this along.

[14:45:16] The second reason I wanted to be here was to thank all of you at ODNI. I see Jim or Mike Dempsey or sometimes Stephanie every morning. I know that everything they present reflects incredible hard work on the part of hundreds of people, thousands of people, across the various agencies that are represented. And I want you to know that Jim and Mike and Stephanie and all the folks giving these briefings, they're the first one to acknowledge that they are just the tip of the operation and that they can't do their job if it weren't for the incredible contributions that all of you are making every single day.

I know that sometimes it can seem like a one-way street. You push up your reports, but you don't always know how your work is received by your customers. And I guess I'm the number-one customer. You maybe don't always get feedback. So I'm here just to tell you, you do an outstanding job. The work that you provide is vital for me being able to make good decisions. And the fact that, you know, the work you prepare is giving it to me straight, that doesn't look at the world through rose-colored glasses, that doesn't exaggerate threats but doesn't underplay the significant challenges that we face around the world. That's vitally important to me and as a consequence vitally important to the security of the American people. So Jim knows it, Mike knows it. The people who meet with me are always extolling your virtues, but I figured it would be useful for you to hear from me directly in saying how much we appreciate the incredible hard work and effort you make every single day. Whether it's the PDB, your daily articles, your expert briefs, NIEs, I could not do my job without your insights and your analysis and your judgment.

More broadly, you're dedicated to your founding mission. The 9/11 Commission said we needed to unify our intelligence community. The legislation that created the DNI made you the statutory head of the community overseeing all the agencies. And it's not an easy task, bringing together 17 different organizations. They each have unique histories and missions and cultures and trade craft. Many of you here represent those agencies. Yet, you come here together to create a sum that's even greater and stronger than its individual parts. We see the results. We've got more sharing of intelligence across the community and also beyond it with our other partners. Federal, state, local, and private sectors are now working together more effectively than they have in the past. New technologies and new satellites are being shared, working across various platforms means that we're able to do a better job both accumulating information but also disseminating it. There's more transparency than there's been in the past. There's more innovation than there's been in the past. All that is making a difference each and every day. I know that integrating the efforts and contributions of all 17 organizations, people, expertise, capabilities is never-ending work. Then there's the challenge of being as open and transparent as possible, even as we continue to protect intelligence that saves lives.

But I want you to remember, the United States is the most professional, most capable, most cutting-edge intelligence community in the world. And part of the reason is because all of you here at ODNI bring it together. It makes a difference. Which brings me to my third and final point, a message that I

hope you share with the colleagues who are not in this auditorium. I want you to share it with all the home agencies. You can take great pride in your service. Many of you, those of you with gray beards or goatees, or in Jim's case, just no hair --

(LAUGHTER)

-- are intelligence veterans with decades of service. Some of you are young and look even younger, a new post-9/11 generation. And over the years, I know some of you have lost good friends and colleagues, patriots, men and women who gave their lives like those honored in the stars on the Memorial Wall at Langley. On days like today, we remember them and we honor them as well.

[14:50:26] These are challenging times. And over the last few years, we've seen unprecedented intelligence disclosures. We've seen wild swings with respect to our budgets because of sequestration and furloughs, increasing demands for intelligence due to everything from Russian aggression in Ukraine to turmoil and ISIL in the Middle East.

And today, like all Americans, our thoughts and prayers also continue to be with the families of Dr. Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto. I'm not going to repeat everything I said yesterday, but I do want to make one point again. We're going to review what happened. We're going to identify the lessons that can be learned and any improvements and changes that can be made. And I know those of you who are here share our determination to continue doing everything we can to prevent the loss of innocent lives.

I was asked by somebody, you know, how do you absorb news like that, that we received the other day. I told the truth. It's hard. But the one thing I wanted everybody to know, because I know you, because I work with you, because I know the quality of this team, is that we all bleed when we lose an American life. We all grieve when any innocent life is taken. We don't take this work lightly. And I know that each and every one of you understand the magnitude of what we do and the stakes involved. And these aren't abstractions. We're not cavalier about what we do. And we understand the solemn responsibilities that are given to us. And our first job is to make sure that we protect the American people.

But there's not a person that I talk to that's involved in the intelligence community that also doesn't understand that we have to do so while upholding our values and our ideals and our laws and our constitutions and our commitment to democracy. And that's part of the reason why I'm so grateful to work with you, because I know you share that commitment, understanding that this is hard stuff. Everybody here is committed to doing is the right way. And for that reason, I am absolutely committed to making sure that the American people understand all that you put in to make sure we do it the right way. I'm very grateful for that.

This self-reflection, you know, this willingness to examine ourselves, to make corrections, to do better, that's part of what makes us Americans. It's part of what sets us apart from other nations. It's part of what keeps us not only safe but also strong and free. And, you know, part of what makes our job even more challenging is that despite the extraordinary work that's done here and the lives that are saved on an ongoing basis, a lot of our work still requires that we maintain some things as classified. And we can't always talk about all the challenges. And the one thing I know about people in the I.C. is they don't seek the limelight. That means sometimes that the world doesn't always see your successes, the threats you prevent, the terrorist attacks you thwart or the lives that you save.

[14:49:47] But I don't want you or folks across the intelligence community to forget the difference you make every day. Because of you, we've had the intelligence to take out al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden. Because of you, we've had the intelligence quickly that showed Syria had used chemical weapons and then had the ability to monitor its removal. Because of you, we had the intelligence, despite Russia's obfuscations to tell the world the truth about the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 over Ukraine. Because of you, we had the intelligence support that helped enable our recent nuclear framework with Iran, and you're going to be critical to forge a comprehensive deal to keep Iran from ever getting a nuclear weapon. So you help keep us safe. But you also help protect our freedoms by doing it the right way.

And the American people and people around the world may never know the full extent of your success. There may be those outside who question or challenge what we do, and we welcome those questions and those challenges because that makes us better. It can be frustrating sometimes, but that's part of the function of our democracy. But I know what you do. We're more secure because of your service. We're more secure because of your patriotism and your professionalism. And I'm grateful for that. And the American people are grateful as well to you and your families who sacrifice alongside you.

So it's been 10 long and challenging years, but when we look back on those 10 years, the American people have been a whole lot safer. And I'm confident that over the next 10 years and 10 years after that, as long as we continue to have outstanding patriots like yourselves, we're going to be OK.

Thank you very much, everybody. God bless you. God bless America.

(APPLAUSE)

BALDWIN: All right. So there was the president. This is a scheduled fop for him at the office of ODNI, Office of Director of National Intelligence, talking about James Clapper, it's been 10 years. But it was that final point we were all listening for. He was referencing the drone strike in which the United States now acknowledging -- this all came out yesterday -- killed those two civilians, including that one American, Warren Weinstein, and also an Italian, and also acknowledging killing two American al Qaeda operatives.

So let's unpack this a little bit more on hearing from this president on this second day after this big news, yesterday, essentially apologize for this.

Fareed Zakaria, let me bring you in, host of "Fareed Zakaria, GPS."

You were listening to the president there. I mean, he rarely talks about the drone program, and he brought it up again just now at ODNI. In watching him yesterday, you know, acknowledging this, the phraseology was precisely, I take full responsibility for all our counterterrorism operations, including the one that inadvertently took the lives of Warren and Giovanni. To me, this seems like a very significant moment for the president. Do you agree?

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS: Well, it's very significant in the fact he wanted to make very clear that he understands the risks that these kinds of counterterrorism operations involve. This case, it really is a perfect illustration of the nature of counterterrorism and the imperfect reality in which you operate on the ground. Because, you know, you talk to people who are involved in these kind of operations, people like Phil Mudd, who has been on with you, and they will tell you, look, you can do surveillance for hundreds of hours, and you can make sure that while there are terrorists there, there are no women and children, you see no movement of children or of women --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: But it's never 100 percent.

ZAKARIA: What you can't see is if somebody's in a basement or locked up in an interior room and that person is a hostage. The very fact they've been locked up as prisoners means they're not running around in courtyards, they're not going in and out of the compound. It's the inherent risk in doing these kinds of counterterrorism operations.

BALDWIN: With the inherent risk, this is also one of the higher- profile mistakes involving the drone program. To your point, you can't always see those individuals, say, in a basement. I guess my next question will be, do you think at all anything will change as far as how this administration uses the drone program?

[14:59:44] ZAKARIA: No. As I said, I really think this is an inevitable consequence of doing counterterrorism. These things are going to happen. The mistakes that I think people should focus on much more and ask questions about legitimately are, did the United States underestimate the strength of ISIS? Does the United States know what is going on in Syria? Did the United States realize that the Iraqi army was going to collapse? Why did we not know about whether they had enough early warning about --