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First Set of Clinton E-Mails to be Released; Santa Barbara Cleanup Could Take Months; Celebrating Age or Sexuality?; "White Helmets" Help Victims of Syria Conflict. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired May 22, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

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[10:29:44] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you for so much for joining me.

The Obama administration's handling of the Benghazi attack could soon get renewed scrutiny as the State Department prepares to release the first set of e-mails sent and received by Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state.

CNN's Chris Frates is tracking developments for us in Washington. Good morning -- Chris.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning -- Carol.

The State Department is being a little cagey this morning on the timing. But we believe it could be as early as today. That would not be a surprise. It's a Friday before a long holiday weekend and there's a long tradition in D.C. of dumping news on a Friday.

In these e-mails we don't expect any bombshells but this is the first batch of e-mails that's going to be released and it gives us our first peek behind the curtain at how Clinton ran the State Department. And most of the e-mails that she wrote are short. They are logistical. She doesn't ruminate on her thinking. She doesn't talk about her inner monologue. She doesn't discuss policy, largely on these e-mails.

And this first batch will be about Libya and Benghazi. And they will show that Clinton and her inner circle closely followed the fallout from the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi and they were concerned about how those attacks would impact both the State Department and Clinton's own image.

And these e-mails that are coming soon are only about 300 of the 30,000 she's turned over to the State Department. Now remember -- Carol, Clinton's e-mails became an issue after it was revealed that she did official business on a personal server. That gave her total control over the e-mails and Republicans have criticized that practice. They said that she was the one who decided what was and wasn't a public record and there's no way to double-check her decisions. So we're going to get our first batch of about 300 e-mails here

soon but there's still 30,000 other e-mails that will come down the pike here so this story was far from over -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. You have a lot of work cut out for you -- Chris Frates. Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Let's talk more about those e-mails. A key figure in the e-mails about the Benghazi attack is Sidney Blumenthal. He's a longtime Clinton confidant and adviser. The "New York Times" reporting Blumenthal sent Clinton at least 25 e-mails about Libya including several about the Benghazi attack, a few addressing the motive behind the attack while another reportedly warned that Republicans could use the incident to paint President Obama as weak on terrorism.

Let's talk about this with Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis and a conservative columnist S.E. Cupp. Welcome to both of you.

S.E. CUPP, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Hi.

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So S.E. Cupp, have we learned anything at all at least from the -- I don't know -- from the handful of e-mails that have been released so far?

CUPP: Yes, I mean as Chris -- Chris Frates put it, these are e- mails she has deemed worthy of being released. We won't know the full story ever because she's not going to give up her server. But of these e-mails, you know, it is an insight into what was going on in the hours after the event.

And I will say it seems to absolve Hillary Clinton of the accusation from some conservatives, some concerned folks in Congress that she was trying to hide what was happening. We see it in e-mails. She says we need to spread this around that this was terrorism. We know maybe who did it. We need to spread that around.

What it doesn't do is absolve the administration because it's still a huge indictment against the administration that someone like Hillary Clinton seemed to know what was going on and yet seven days later the administration was peddling a totally different story.

COSTELLO: And Chris -- this seems to be affecting Hillary Clinton because when you look at some polls, the majority of Americans do not judge her to be honest and trustworthy. Of course, the good thing for Hillary Clinton she's virtually unchallenged for the Democratic nomination.

KOFINIS: The question?

COSTELLO: It knocked him silent. It's just strange, isn't it?

KOFINIS: What's the question?

CUPP: It is strange. COSTELLO: Does that mean people don't want an honest and

trustworthy president?

KOFINIS: I mean listen, when you run for office, guess what ends up happening? Your numbers fall. This is not a surprise. This happens to every candidate. At the end of the day when it comes to Benghazi and in particular these e-mails, you're talking about after multiple investigations. You have a set of what I call the tin foil Republicans who just don't want to let this go. That's fine. That's their prerogative, you know.

But they're actually unfortunately making something out of a terribly tragic event that Secretary Clinton and the administration has made very clear that mistakes and there needed to be significant changes which they've gone about trying to address.

In terms of the implications this has for 2016, I don't think this changes anyone's mind. Those who think Benghazi is an issue were never going to vote for Secretary Clinton and those who think it's not an issue because Republicans are trying to make hay out of it are going to judge this based on other issues.

COSTELLO: And there's the thing, S.E., right. So all these scandals are coming down the pike not just about this e-mail stuff, right, but also about donations to her foundation --

[10:35:05] CUPP: Yes.

COSTELLO: -- how much she's paid for public speaking fees. Like any one of these controversies might sink a lesser candidate but not Hillary Clinton.

CUPP: Yes, It's really unfortunate and I think sad that people seem to think identity politics. The idea that we could get the first woman president is more important than transparency and accountability and integrity. And time and time again Hillary Clinton along with her husband -- the Clintons have proven they do not believe they need follow the same rules as everyone else.

And what boggles my mind is that -- this is not a bipartisan concern. Whether you were a Democrat who thought George W. Bush overreached or Republican who thought Barack Obama overreached, Hillary Clinton has a propensity for doing exactly what she pleases even -- even after promising to do the opposite. .

COSTELLO: And let me just add on to that before you go -- Chris, because Michael Gerson of the "Washington Post" had a really interesting op-ed this morning. He wrote that "Clinton has said she's proud of her work with the Clinton Foundation and that she wanted the e-mails to be released." Gerson says Hillary's attitude is quote, "bland and bold. I've done what I've done. Get used to it."

Sort of like Bill Clinton did during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It worked for Bill Clinton and it seems to be working for Hillary Clinton right now. KOFINIS: Elections about, you know, the future. And they're

about the positions on the policies and the problems that the country cares about. Listen, if Republicans want to make this about e-mails and foundations, you know what my perspective is --

CUPP: What about integrity?

KOFINIS: Wait, wait -- let me finish. Let me finish, S.E. because if you want to make it about e-mails and foundation, that's fine. That's your prerogative. You'll end up losing like you lost the last few elections.

This is the problem I think for the Republican Party. They do not have positions or even issues or solutions that reflect the problems or the priorities of the American people. So when you don't have that and you can't win on that, what do you do? You focus on scandals that you manufacture and you focus on issues like what about the e-mails and what about the foundation? That's fine.

At the end of the day does anyone actually think this is what's going to define or determine the next presidential election? If they do, I think they're going to be at Hillary Clinton's swearing ceremony.

COSTELLO: All right.

CUPP: I think character is going to define the election. If you care about integrity and accountability and transparency and people keeping their word, I think that is absolutely --

(CROSSTALK)

KOFINIS: Yes. And in fairness -- in fairness S.E., if you look at what Hillary Clinton has done throughout her career, I think you have to say that the woman has character. I think to suggest otherwise is -- to suggest otherwise is unfair --

CUPP: Oh, I don't -- I definitely don't have to say that. I don't have to say that. I think we have a long record of Hillary Clinton's career.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it there. I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you.

S.E. Cupp, Chris Kofinis --

CUPP: Thanks.

KOFINIS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: -- I appreciate it.

All right. I've got some breaking news to share right now.

ISIS gaining even more control. The terror group now seizing a town of Huseiba -- that's in the Anbar Province. That's about 11 miles east of Ramadi. ISIS militants running over Sunni tribesmen and Iraqi government forces to take control.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, how long will it take to clean up California beaches from that damaging oil spill? We'll take you there next.

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[10:41:48] COSTELLO: Good morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Carol.

Now that the sun is up here, it's shining just on cue for you right now. You can still see where there are still spots along the beach of the oil that's on some of the rocks here on this beach. And now that the sun is out, there's crews way down the beach that are still working to clean up as much as they can.

But the issue here is that a lot of what spilled out into the ocean, you're talking about more than 100,000 gallons of oil is now going out westerly out into this water which makes it harder to pull up and also could be more damaging for more of the marine life that's out there, Carol.

COSTELLO: So they don't know why this pipeline ruptured? Because that's weird, it was running below capacity. Why would it rupture?

ELAM: Yes, that's still part of the investigation as to what exactly went on here. And this is a case of where you have a company that has had violations according to the EPA before when they paid fines to make their pipes stronger and reinforcing them. But it's still something that they want to find out.

And obviously, a lot of people don't want this to happen here again. It happened before in the 60s a long time ago which actually led to such a huge push for environmental safety concerns and how it affects the beaches and affects the oceans.

And Carol, you know, you have to point out Memorial Day weekend is the beginning of the holiday travel season. Hotels are still really booked up in this area. But it does put a damper on this area when you have beaches that you can't go on because there's caution tape.

COSTELLO: All right. Stephanie Elam reporting live from Goleta, California, this morning -- thanks so much.

Still to come -- she's how old? Jane Fonda wows on newspaper stands. But what is she really promoting? We'll talk about that next.

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[10:47:07] COSTELLO: Have you seen the cover of "W Magazine"? If features a 77-year-old woman -- 77, take a look. You know that's Jane Fonda. Don't get me wrong, she looks absolutely awesome. But she does not look like any 77-year-old woman I know.

At first I was jazzed by this cover but then I wondered, what are we really celebrating here? The wisdom that comes with age or just another example of how women derive their power through their sexuality? Model, author and TV personality, Emme joins me now to talk about that. She's also the founder of EmmeNation.com.

EMME, TV PERSONALITY: Hi. How are you -- Carol?

COSTELLO: I can't wait to have this conversation because part of me was really happy to see Jane Fonda looking so beautiful on the cover of "W Magazine". But then the other part said if she looked like a normal 77-year-old woman, would she be on the cover?

EMME: Maybe not. And I think that every cover has a little bit of touching going on. So would we ever see a 70-year-old woman as she is normally without any kind of retouching ever be on a cover? I don't think any person on any major magazine and I'm wondering if there's any celebrities that have stepped up and not had any retouching on covers recently.

There's a whole trend right now to saying this is who I am. Take it or leave it. They are all so beautiful anyway. So do we have to go through hoops to look a certain way, presentable -- and what is that level? What's that bar that we have to reach?

COSTELLO: To me it comes down to sexual desirability. Because when you look at Jane Fonda on the cover of this magazine, she looks 35 -- right. She's very sexual, right? She looks amazing. But doesn't this put added pressure on women to continue throughout their entire lives to depend on their sexuality instead of depending on what's in here?

EMME: You bring up an incredible point. And I do believe that there is room for change. And I would like to see a lot more women that have so much going on and moving mountains in our society around not only in the United States but around the world and being able to be lauded and heralded for all of their wonderful works.

Would they be on the covers if they didn't look picture perfect? I think that that is up for grabs.

COSTELLO: That is up for grabs. It just seems like -- I haven't talked to "W Magazine" so I don't know the reason. I'm sure they're -- she's Jane Fonda, come on, on the cover.

EMME: Yes, yes.

COSTELLO: But I will say it's sort of hypocritical because the way that the fashion industry and Hollywood treat women who are supposedly aged is insane.

Maggie Gyllenhaal, I just -- I wanted to play this by you -- Maggie Gyllenhaal told "The Rap". I'm 37. She's 37.

EMME: Yes. COSTELLO: She was told recently she was too old to play the

lover of a man who was 55. She said, "It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad and then it made me feel angry and then it made me laugh because it's so freaking crazy."

[10:50:07] EMME: Wait -- are we surprised? Are we really surprised? I mean this has been going on for a long time.

I cannot wait to see -- well, we just saw Richard Gere and Diane Lane in "Rodanthe" -- wasn't that the movie that they did? And it was so beautiful. It's like it's so unusual though to see characters that were very much aligned age-wise and it was refreshing and actually it was relieving to say there is a love life when you get after 50. That's great. How lovely is that?

If there's one love interest that also Diane Keaton -- she's kicking it out of the ballpark, too. But those are rarities. We don't see that too often. I would like to see that more often.

COSTELLO: Me too.

I want to lay another example by you because it's so crazy.

EMME: Ok, go Carol.

COSTELLO: Rebel Wilson, very popular with young people, Rebel Wilson. She's accused of claiming to be 29 when records show she's actually 35. I don't know if that's true or not but that's what's out there. She posted this on Twitter. "Oh my God, I'm actually a 100- year-old mermaid formerly known as CC Chalice. Thanks shady Australian press for your poppy syndrome".

What difference does it make if Rebel Wilson is 29 or 35? If she appeals to a certain audience and she's funny -- who cares?

EMME: That's right. Well, this is a big obsession as we know with weight, with size, with age, with whatever -- skin color. There's always something that's going to be -- is it too much this way or too much that way? I just think that nowadays we're seeing a lot more peppering and salting and not exactly all one way and thank goodness we have a beautiful cover from Jane. But I would love to see a lot of other women who are maturing with wisdom and texture in their life to be able to share their stories and not be just hidden away without --

COSTELLO: Shouldn't we value other things within ourselves besides the way we look like how smart we are and how funny we are?

EMME: Yes, Carol, absolutely. You know what -- Twitter and social media is really tipping the tables. I think that that's one of the reasons why we are seeing a lot more starting to bubble up because the viewers and the subscribers and the people who absorb and buy media are demanding that. So keep it up.

COSTELLO: As are you -- Emme. And I'm glad you're here -- girl.

EMME: Thank you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I'm glad you were here. Thank you so much.

EMME: Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: Yes. I'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Nearly five years of civil war has made Syria one of the most dangerous places to live. But amid the tragedy, there is heroism -- the white helmets who serve as first responders. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this exclusive.

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DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You're watching extraordinary rescue in Aleppo, Syria. For 12 hours these men had been digging and drilling. And they're about to save the life of a two-week-old baby. The baby saviors known only by the iconic protective gear they wear on their heads. In an area of the world bursting with two many men in black hats, they are the cavalry -- the white helmets.

JAMES LE MESURIER, MAYDAY RESCUE: They have all chosen -- they have all chosen to risk their lives to save others and that makes every single one of them a hero.

GUPTA: James Le Mesurier is the architect of the organization.

LE MESURIER: In Syria there is no 911 system. There is nobody that you can call. You can't pick up a phone and call a fire service. You can't call a local police department. They don't exist.

GUPTA: So this group of ordinary Syrian men and a few women have organized themselves to fill that void.

Zuhair Amanzi (ph) was once a blacksmith. Ibrahim Azulki (ph) a barber. Ahmad Rahal (ph), a detective. He was supposed to get married next week. But for the time being they have left their previous jobs, their previous lives and now volunteer to run toward when everyone else is running from.

We're traveling along the border between Turkey and Syria. We're with the White Helmets. They've just gotten a call. We wanted to see exactly what they do.

This is all part of an intense training to become even better, even faster. All of a sudden this area filled with smoke. There's concern that there may be another bomber, another attack coming. So they've asked for all the lights to be turned off. They don't want to be a target themselves. But you can see just challenging that makes their job.

The concern is that. The White Helmets tell us this video is of a barrel bomb being hurtled from a chopper by the Syrian government. As you see, they can be wildly inaccurate. As you hear they are incredibly vicious.

LE MESURIER: A barrel bomb dropping on your house is like a 7.6 order of magnitude earthquake 50 times a day.

GUPTA: These bombs are so malignant, full of explosives, rebar, wire, nails, anything else that can brutally maim and kill. Now the White Helmets are concerned about a newer enemy -- chlorine gas. They were able to save these children but believe chlorine gas led to the death of a family of six. And it gets even worse.

LE MESURIER: Helicopters normally carry two barrel bombs and they drop the first barrel bomb which then explodes. And the pilot then remains in the sky circling where the explosion took place, waiting for a crowd to gather and waiting for rescuers to come to the scene. When a crowd gathers, they release the second bomb and that is a double tap (ph).

GUPOTA: 84 White Helmets have now been killed, mostly by double taps. It is why Syria is one of the most dangerous places in the world and why being a White Helmet might be the most dangerous job in the world.

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[11:00:07] COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta reporting.

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

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