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ISIS Closes in on Key Air Base en Route to Baghdad; Duggar Confession Causes Controversy; Mike Huckabee Supports Duggars; Slain Obama Officer, Mother Mourned. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 22, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

COL. DEREK HARVEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Along the battle front, in Baghdad we could be looking at 2,000 to 2,500 improvised explosive devices creating havoc for the communities and attacking the Iraqi security forces and the militias.

[14:30:19] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: You do not believe the U.S. strategy is working. You do not believe the president, who told the "Atlantic" this week, "I don't think we're losing." Although he called the fall of Ramadi a tactical setback. What would your strategy be?

HARVEY: First of all, I think the president's strategy unfortunately -- I thought it was insufficient to begin with. But its execution has been poor. It's not been well resourced. It's not been well led. It's not been synchronized. That's both in the inner agency in Washington, D.C., and in the theater where the combat is playing out. That is a major problem. His strategy was not given a chance to succeed, in my view, due to lack of leadership and aggressive actions on the government's part.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: I'm sorry. Go ahead and finish.

HARVEY: No, no. I'll take your question.

HARLOW: Retired Marine General Gregory Nubald, who was an advisor to President Obama in 2008, he says the United States needs an all-out blitz, move in, take out as many possible, and then get out. We've heard some politicians saying that as well, don't go in and stay endlessly, like we saw before, but go in, show your might, show your strength, make ISIS not want to come back and then leave. Is that an effective strategy?

HARVEY: I don't think -- it sounds good, but it's not an effective strategy.

HARLOW: Why?

HARVEY: I think we need to bolster the Iraqi security forces. We need to bolster the Iraqi government. And --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: But that's what we've been doing --

(CROSSTALK)

HARVEY: Go ahead.

HARLOW: Sir, isn't that exactly what the U.S. has been doing? They're rushing new weapons over. They've been, quote/unquote, "bolstering the government there." You have new leadership in there. You have more support for the Iraqi forces. When they pack up and flee from somewhere, what do you do?

HARVEY: Well, first of all, we really have not executed and resourced what we say we're doing. Let's be clear about that. Talking the game and doing it are two different things. What we need is, you know, probably two brigades, an aviation brigade and additional strike operations to seize the initiative and bolster the Iraqi security forces and more aggressively build the security force. That's part of it. We have to stabilize the situation. But we also have to work with the Sunni Arabs and the government. If we don't get more capability in there to bolster them -- we're not talking about U.S. forces going in for street-to-street fighting. We're not talking about holding Ramadi. We're talking about providing enablers' capabilities that will bolster those forces, bring in the capability to call for fire, give them the weapons they need and the advisory capability, along with direct action like we saw with the Abu Sayyaf raid.

HARLOW: It's interesting you bring that up because that's exactly what we're seeing Al Abadi do. Arming and propping up some of the Sunni forces in Anbar Province. You think that's going to be effective?

HARVEY: Overall, I think the net results will be further polarization between Sunni Arabs and Shia Arabs, because of the Shia militias going into Anbar Province. It's just what's going to happen. There's plenty of indications of that already. That's a very worrisome development. And it's going to be dependent upon how they do it, but it's very worrisome, and it needs into the strategy of ISIS. They want the Shia militias to be pulled into Anbar Province because it will further polarize this campaign.

HARLOW: Just goes to show the divide the government and the toll it's taken in Iraq.

Thank you very much, Colonel Harvey.

HARVEY: You're welcome.

HARLOW: Good to have you on the program.

Coming up next, it is a stunning revelation. The eldest son of that reality show family, the Duggars, apologizing for allegations that have now surfaced that he molested young girls years ago. Why presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, is now involved and supporting the family and that man.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:38:41] HARLOW: Now to this. Reality television star mired in scandal. The eldest son on TLC's highly rated show "19 Kids and Counting," Josh Duggar, apologizing after a report surfaced that he allegedly molested girls while he was a teenager. He's 27 years old and he's part of a family dynasty that is known for its Christian values. He's now resigned from his job at the Family Research Council. He's issued this apology, reading in part, quote, "12 years ago, as a young teenager, I acted inexcusably, for which I am extremely sorry, and deeply regret. I hurt others, including my family and close friends." His parents had this to say. Quote, "Back 12 years ago, our family went through one of the most difficult times of our lives. When Josh was a young teenager, he made some very bad mistakes, and we are shocked. We had tried to teach him right from wrong."

Let's talk about all this with HLN contributor and founder of swagger.nyc, Sian-Pierre Regis

Thank you for being here. Good to have you with us.

Why are we just finding out about this now?

SIAN-PIERRE REGIS, HLN CONTRIBUTOR & FOUNDER, SWAGGER.NYC: You know, it's been locked away. "In Touch Weekly" is the one that put it out there. They confirmed reports through police that, in 2006, the family went and talked to police officers about what had happened. The story had been locked away. Allegedly, the Duggar family spoke to a state trooper who did not decide to push charges on Josh Duggar. And --

[14:40:12] HARLOW: A state trooper they knew.

REGIS: A state trooper who they knew, who now, "In Touch" reports, is in jail for child pornography charges himself.

HARLOW: We should talk about the responsibility -- of course, the responsibility of parents, of law enforcement, but also the responsibility of television networks. A lot of people say TLC put them on the air, right?

REGIS: Yeah.

HARLOW: Highly rated show, a lot of people watched. Do they have any responsibility here?

REGIS: Here's the thing. I can't confirm that TLC knew exactly what was going on in that family. Some people say --

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: We haven't heard they did or didn't.

REGIS: I think it really befalls on the family themselves because we can' can confirm they did know this happened. Why sign your family up for a show like this, put them in front of sometimes 4.4 million viewers, and face media scrutiny like this. It's really, really unfortunate. I think it befalls the family.

HARLOW: We have some photos here we can show just in terms of how much political power and influence this family has had. You've got photos of them with a number of GOP front runners. You have photos of them with Bill Clinton. Took a photo with Bill Clinton, a Democrat, in 2011 when they were on a joint appearance of the "Today" show.

You have Mike Huckabee, GOP candidate for president, coming out with a long statement today on Facebook. Let me read part of it, saying, "Good people make mistakes and do regrettable, even disgusting things. The reason that the law protects disclosure of many actions on the part of a minor is that society has traditionally understood something that today's blood-thirsty media does not understand."

What do you make of Mike Huckabee coming out and so vehemently defending that man?

REGIS: You know, what really irks me about Mike Huckabee's statements were at the end where he said, we need to run toward families like this at times like this, when this is a family who had been so hateful toward the LGBT community and the transgender publicly. We have eight transgender women of color who have died this year alone because of hate spewing from families like the Duggars. They've been throwing stones, yet Mike Huckabee is asking us to run toward a family like this and support them when they have issues in their own homes. It's unacceptable, and it's hypocrisy.

HARLOW: What do you make of the fact that Mike Huckabee points out and others have said and the parents said, look, he was a child at the time. He shouldn't have done what he did, it was completely wrong, but he was a child. They talk about sending him away for a while to stay with another family.

REGIS: I mean, I totally understand that. I'm sensitive to the fact he was a child. But here's the issue. What they're asking for now is love and respect and privacy, right. And there are so many people in this world that just want love, respect, and privacy.

HARLOW: So we've reached out to the police department about this. We haven't heard back.

When you look at things like this, the media can sort of rant and rave, but the real important thing is what happens now, right. Just not how are they punished, but what changes to help victims, other victims of molestation. What should happen? What should come of this?

REGIS: As you know, as reports are stating now, and we haven't confirmed this yet, but TLC is yanking the show for right now.

(CROSSTALK)

HARLOW: Want to be clear to our viewers, we have not confirmed that.

REGIS: Yes. So there are rumors out there they have done that. That's a first step. They made this step when Honey Boo Boo and her mother, when Mama June was dating an alleged child molester. That's a big statement. That's proving that they have a moral compass. So a lot of people are asking on Twitter and elsewhere that they need to cancel this show to make a big statement to everybody out there that child molestation, we cannot stand behind that.

HARLOW: I think it goes beyond cancelling a show. I think it goes beyond what does this 27-year-old now come out and do for victims and talk about, you know, addressing issues like this.

Thank you very much. Good to have you on. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, more on Hillary Clinton's reaction to the State Department just this afternoon releasing the first batch of her private e-mails during the time she was secretary of state. What did she say, and what's the bigger picture here? Michael Smerconish weighs in.

Also, she was an Omaha police officer, the best of the best. She was brutally gunned down in a shootout just hours before taking her maternity leave and picking up her premature daughter from the hospital. She was brutally murdered. You're going to hear from someone who knew her in the department and called her an angel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

{14:48:45] HARLOW: Flags have been lowered to half staff in Nebraska today to remember someone who served her country and her city. An Omaha police officer killed in the line of duty. 29-year-old Officer Carrie Orozco was gunned down on Wednesday. She was just one day away from taking her maternity leave. Her new baby was born prematurely in February. Finally, she was healthy enough for Carrie and her husband to take her home from the hospital.

Now everyone, from fellow police officers to the children that she served in that community, are remembering her sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFC. KEN FOX, OBAMA, NEBASKA, POLICE DEPARTMENT: She was an angel. One of the most selfless people I've ever met in my life. She was all about the betterment of this community in any way shape or form. It didn't stop at just working on the job. Didn't stop at 5:00 when she got off of work. She continued to touch at-risk youth. And it was just her ability to be able to create and make relationships with anybody, any walk of life is just amazing. It's something you can't teach. It's something you can't learn. You have to be anointed by God to be able to do those things.

TAYMANEON VALENTINE (ph), KNEW OFFICER OROZCO: She was a nice police officer and did nice things for other people. She let us get in the police car.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:00] HARLOW: Michael Daly is with me now, special correspondent for "The Daily Beast." He wrote a beautiful, beautiful piece about her, about who she was as a woman and a police officer.

Thanks for being here.

MICHAEL DALY, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT, THE DAILY BEAST: Thanks for having me.

HARLOW: The way she's described, selfless, a heart of gold, an angel. So many people saying this about her.

DALY: It's all true.

HARLOW: What have you learned in your reporting?

DALY: A lot of times somebody gets killed and everybody looks for the best they can say about somebody. With her, it was all completely, absolutely true. You hear one great thing, and then you hear something else. You'd hear, well, she coached kids' baseball. She had a beautiful video about that. Then you find out she also worked for the Special Olympics. Then you find out she also worked for the girl scouts. Then you find out she also at Christmas time did a shop with a cop program. She would take homeless kids shopping. You look at the pictures. There's a picture of her with a little girl Christmas shopping, holding up a little pair of pants. It will just -- it tears you up.

HARLOW: It tears you up.

It's interesting. As I was looking through your piece, we talk a lot about the tension between so many police and their communities. Actually, it is an issue, but it's a minority of them. So many police officers do good like her in terms of knowing their community, living and breathing with those in their community. I mean, she was on the force for seven years. She was a volunteer with so many different organizations.

DALY: And, you know, there was a 25-year-old cop killed in New York at the start of this month. At his funeral, Commissioner Bratton of New York said people always say, why is it always the good ones? He said the answer is because almost all of them are good. If you look at all the police officers who have been murdered in recent weeks, it's like, one is more decent than the other, and then you come to her and she's about as decent a human being as I ever wrote about. Then you find out that she gave birth in February. She delayed her maternity leave because she had a choice. Do I spend my maternity leave going to the hospital, or do I spend that first magical few days with my daughter? She decided to put it off until then. You can imagine what it was like riding around in that radio car with your kid in the hospital. She was still going to work.

HARLOW: I can't imagine what it's like. Most people don't have to do their job that way. So when you think about her child, now growing up without a mother, you write at the end of your piece here, "The debt we all owe this child is to make the loss of her mother mean something." So what do we all have to do?

DALY: You got to remember her. And maybe you could go out and coach some kids. Maybe next time you hear about one officer messing up, you can think about all the good officers. Maybe when you walk down the street, you see a cop standing in the rain, you could say good morning. You just got to take her to your heart. The other thing to think about, she knows she's hours from picking up her kid, her first born who's been in the hospital since February. She knows that. Gunfire goes off. What does she do? Does she hide behind the car, duck behind a tree? No, she goes right there because she doesn't want anyone else to get hurt. You have to remember that moment of this lady.

[14:53:17] HARLOW: It's a beautiful way to remember her. I think that's right. We should also go and help someone else in her memory.

Michael Daly, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:59:16] HARLOW: Top of the hour, 3:00 eastern this Friday. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my good friend, Brooke Baldwin.

We begin with breaking news in the D.C. mansion murders case. The suspect is due in court this afternoon for the first time since his capture. Also, we have just gotten our hands on new court documents that have been released. We're poring through those.

His name, Daron Dylon Wint. He is accused of brutally torturing and killing a powerful Washington businessman, his wife and their 10-year- old son, Phillip, as well as the family's housekeeper. He allegedly set fire to the mansion, leaving the four victims inside. And according to these new court documents, quote, "a strong odor consistent with that of gasoline was present throughout the home. Several matches and a matchbox were found at the top of the stairs."