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Hundreds Feared Dead in Cruise Disaster; Senate to Vote on NSA Surveillance Tactics; TSA Chief Out After Test Failures; Fighting ISIS: Coalition Members Meet in Paris Today; Race for 2016: GOP Voters Back Rubio, Bush. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 02, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:01] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Hundreds of people responded. In the end, John says he picked a family that was worthy because their story touched him.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: That's beautiful. Good for him.

CUOMO: They're literally taking the house and moving it away.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's get to Carol Costello and "NEWSROOM."

Have a great day, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: You, too. Thanks so much.

NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, cruise ship catastrophe.

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can just imagine the horrible scenes here on the Yangtze River.

COSTELLO: Hundreds of people trapped in the hull of a capsized ship. So far only a lucky few have been saved. Now rescuers tapping on the hull hoping someone, anyone taps back.

Also speed bumps on the race to the White House. Brand new CNN polls out this morning. Clinton loses ground as the GOP contenders tried to separate themselves from the pack.

Plus, call her Caitlyn.

BRUCE JENNER, FORMER OLYMPIC MEDALIST: Caitlyn doesn't have any secrets.

COSTELLO: She's left Bruce Jenner behind in a glamorous new magazine cover.

JENNER: As soon as the "Vanity Fair" cover comes out, I'm free.

COSTELLO: Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Cries for help from trapped survivors heard echoing through the hull of a sinking cruise ship in China. Just 15 of the 400 plus people on board that doomed vessel have been found alive, including the woman you're looking at. She was recently pulled from the murky waters of the Yangtze River.

Welders are taking blowtorches to the capsized ship in a -- in a desperate effort to cut open the cabin and find survivors. But five bodies have already been recovered and there are fears the death toll could soon climb into the hundreds.

CNN's David McKenzie is in China with more for you.

MCKENZIE: Carol, as the hours stretch on and night has fallen, they're still desperately searching for survivors here in the Yangtze River in China. That glow behind me is the staging ground for the search and they've had hundreds of people rushing to the scene using their specialists skills to try and find people trapped underneath the water inside that vessel.

Scores, in fact hundreds, are still missing. They've only managed to pull out a few alive today and there've only have been a few bodies removed. The captain and the chief engineer were both able to escape alive. They've been taken into custody now so questions being asked what exactly happened. Most of these traveling onboard were pensioners, elderly Chinese enjoying an 11-day cruise on the famous river here in China. Now hope is fading fast that anymore will be brought out alive -- Carol.

COSTELLO: David McKenzie reporting.

Right now a showdown on Capitol Hill over the NSA's expired surveillance tactics aimed at catching terrorists. Next hour, Senate lawmakers are expected to take the first steps to decide whether those tools should be restored. But critics like Senator Rand Paul say the agency's ability to collect telephone data on millions of Americans violates the Constitution. Others argue it's a matter of national security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAC THORNBERRY (R-TX), ARMED SERVICES CHAIRMAN: I think we're less safe today than we were four, five years ago because we have increasingly been trying our own hands, limiting our ability to gather information. And that is the key way that we find out about and stop terrorists attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So what do the American people think? Well, according to a new CNN-ORC poll, six in 10 Americans want Congress to renew the NSA's bulk telephone data program. Let's get more now from CNN's Athena Jones. Good morning.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Well, there is going to be that vote at 10:30, that's a vote to end debate on the USA Freedom Act. That's the bill the House passed that does effectively end the bulk phone data collection, the phone data collection on millions of Americans. It puts that data into the hands of phone companies, takes it out of the hands of the government.

We expect that vote to be successful and that brings them one step closer, the Senate one step closer to putting those programs, those NSA programs back in place but they're not going to have a final vote until they first debate and vote on several amendments that supporters say will strengthen the USA Freedom Act.

The problem here is, Carol, that it's not clear that those amendments if they passed the Senate will pass the House. So we still could be a few days away from restorations of those programs as those six in 10 Americans want to see done.

One thing I can tell you, we should probably expect to hear from Senator Rand Paul again today. We've heard from him frequently on this, he's been wailing against domestic surveillance programs. Even though he stood in the way and delayed a vote on this USA Freedom Act it does invoke college. He acknowledged that it's going to ultimately pass, and so he has declared a victory for personal privacy in the "USA Today" op-ed. I'll read from you -- I'll read from it for you.

"I don't object to collecting as many records as necessary to catch terrorists. In fact I want to collect more records from terrorists and less from innocent Americans. Congress this week will force the president to end this illegal program. For those who cherries the right to be left alone, this is a victory. So there you have Senator Paul declaring victory because the USA Freedom Act will end bulk collection. But he's also stood in the wave of a vote on that. So very interesting politics here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes. Of course. Always. Athena Jones, thank you so much.

Shake-ups at the TSA this morning following stunning failures by airport security screeners. The acting TSA chief has been reassigned after an undercover operation by homeland security showed weapons and fake bombs getting through security at a whopping 95 percent rate. Homeland security secretary, Jeh Johnson, is now directing the TSA to revise its screening procedures, conduct training and reevaluate its screening equipment.

Joining me now to talk about this, former TSA administrator John Pistole who is now president of Anderson University.

Thank you, sir, for being with me this morning.

JOHN PISTOLE, PRESIDENT, ANDERSON UNIVERSITY: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning. So these undercover agents posing as passengers were able to get banned items past security in 67 out of 70 attempts. That's alarming. Are we safe?

PISTOLE: Well, clearly it is alarming, Carol. And it is -- it's frankly disappointing that that would happen. I think there's two things that we can really take from this, one is, Secretary Johnson, as you mentioned, takes this very seriously and is taking actions that are appropriate to address some of these issues. The second is that this covert testing is ongoing, not only by the inspector generals' office, by the Government Accountability Office, and also by TSA Internal Covert Red Team.

The looks of this, as ways of trying to exploit potential vulnerabilities to see what terrorists maybe trying to dream up. And so the good news out this terrible outcome is that TSA department can learn from this, can do things as Secretary Johnson is outlining in terms of enhanced training and it really comes down to three things -- did the technology work properly and if not, why not. Second was were the SOP, the standard operating procedures, followed or were they appropriate, I should say, and then third, were they followed and if not, what type of remedial training needs to be done really across the system.

COSTELLO: Gotcha. So -- and I am hearing all that you've said, but it seems to be -- I mean, is poor hiring the base, the root of this problem?

PISTOLE: No, I don't think it's that. I think it's the challenge of screening approximately 1.8 people every day, but the men and women of TSA by and large are dedicated public servants who are trying to do the right thing day in and day out, and it is a challenge with that many people and that -- so many different types of unique situations, and so what I think Secretary Johnson and TSA are really focused on is how can we make sure that we minimize, mitigate risk as we say, without really shutting down the freedom of peoples' goods because --

COSTELLO: Well --

PISTOLE: You can't have 100 percent guarantees here.

COSTELLO: Well, here's the thing. You think you're safe because you walked through all those screenings, right, when you get to the airport. Congressman Micah, he calls -- he calls all of that a charade. He says that this test just proves that, that we're not any safer when we go through, you know, security screening at our airports.

PISTOLE: Yes, so I think one of the important things to keep in mind, the context of this is this is really a physical or even, if you will, a mechanical testing of one particular security apparatus. One machine, if you will, the advanced imaging technology, in large part. It doesn't take into account one of the key and probably the most important deterrent that we have, the best way of detecting a punitive terrorist and that's the intelligence that the rest of the intelligence community and law enforcement community is so good about detecting.

And so there's an absence of that in this situation where these -- you know, government covert testers are doing the mechanical testing, that being said, yes, this is completely unacceptable and one of those three areas that I mentioned, even the technology, the standard operating procedures for the actual response to those alarms something needs to change.

COSTELLO: Thank you so much, sir, for joining me. Former TSA administrator, John Pistole, I appreciate it.

And we're keeping an eye on Florida where some of the Republicans vying to be president are gathering for an economic summit. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush among the headliners. He'll be joined by Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Scott Walker. Each candidate is expected to deliver remarks and then take questions from the audience.

[09:10:04] Marco Rubio, by the way, cancelled his appearance due to the Senate vote on the USA Freedom Act. You know, the NSA thing. He will instead appear in a short video.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the U.S. starts delivering anti-tank weapons to Iraq to try to take on ISIS militants. But will that be enough?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: More than half of Americans think the war against ISIS is going badly. That's according to a new CNN-ORC poll. In fact the Kurd campaign is as unpopular as the Iraq offensive before the 2007 surge.

[09:15:00] When asked whose policies are to blame for the problems the United States is currently facing in Iraq, presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama are almost tied. Forty-four percent blamed President Obama, while 43 percent blamed President Bush.

Now, one of the most critical questions when it comes to fighting ISIS, how to effectively fight the terrorists group? There is a big meeting taking place now in Paris to address that difficult question. More than 20 nations are expected to participate, including Iraq. First on the agenda, how to retake the key city of Ramadi, a town located just 75 miles from Baghdad.

The U.S. has already started delivering anti-tank weapons to Iraqi troops, to help boost the force's strength. But even with more equipment, major challenges remain.

Retired Army General Stanley McChrystal says an effective strategy requires long-term patience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET), FORMER U.S. COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN: We are not going to reshape that region. We don't have that power even if we wanted to. But what are not going to do either is we're not going to be able to disengage entirely, because it's going to matter to us everywhere and it's going to matter to the rest of the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's bring in CNN global affairs analyst, Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. He's also a former U.S. Delta Force commander.

Welcome, sir.

LT. COL. JAMES REESE, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Is General McChrystal right?

REESE: I think he is. I think the second statement said is very critical in what we Americans need to listen to, we can't disengage.

And we have disengaged twice out of this region, once after Desert Storm, we promised the Shia down in South, that we would stay with them, and we disengage, and then we came back in for Operation Iraqi Freedom, we spent all that time, put all that human capital to work, did a great job. And then in 2011, we disengage out of the Sunnis out in al Anbar, and now, we are back to square one again.

COSTELLO: OK. So we can't disengage, but you can't really put a timeline on that, and I think that's the problem, because how can you determine success or failure when we don't have a timeline, you simply don't disengage, and that means what?

REESE: Well, that means, Carol, is we need to prepare to be there for the next 25 to 30 years.

Here's what I see a success really at a basic level that most Americans can understand. If we're not waking up every day and talking about this on the news, then we have success. That means is, in five years from now, you know, we are moving along and have forces in the area we're providing the Middle East, not just the Iraqis but that whole region with intelligence and other elements of national power, advise and assist, you know, diplomatic advisers that are helping to bring this -- kind of bring this whole element together. And we have a historical model to use, whether it's the Balkans, what we did after World War II.

And literally like I said, if the Americans are not waking up every day and seeing this splash against the news, but we're doing it, that shows an element of success.

COSTELLO: I am still trying to get over the 20 to 30 year thing you just said.

All right. Let's talk about this meeting that's taking place in Paris today. It includes Britain, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Iraq, among others. And the goal here is they want to figure out how to retake Ramadi. What has to be done?

REESE: Well, Carol, one of the biggest things is, is I would like to hear and most Americans would like to hear, and I think I have a pretty good understanding from my position, is what do the Iraqis feel is their vision and what is their structure of making this happen? And then with the other Arab nations around Iraq, what is their vision on how they want to see this played out, instead of the west forcing this down?

Secondly, I think we need to take a look at is intelligence is a very critical aspect. One of the things that the U.S. and our coalition partners especially from the West, the Brits and the French, have been able to do through the years is the integration of our intelligence capabilities, with our ground element, what called the sensor to shooter, the UAVs, the ISR, the drones. Those elements these people to the threat, and then integrate them with the ground forces.

I believe we have to step up our intelligence capability to help the Iraqis and those other forces see and know their enemy and help defeat them.

COSTELLO: I think the Iraqis will say they also need more equipment, because ISIS is using these huge suicide bombs, and they are so big that the Iraqis army doesn't have the equipment to effectively fight them off. So, what can the United States and its allies provide the Iraqi military that it will use and not run away from and wait for ISIS to take over?

REESE: Well, Carol, there is no question, if you put an armored Humvee, 5,000-pound armored Humvee laden with explosives and you have somebody crazy enough to drive that through a barricade into federal police and blow it up, it's going to be catastrophic.

[09:20:06] What we have to be able to do is, one, give them the opportunity to destroy those targets, those munitions further out so it doesn't hurt the Iraqis, but what also about being able to move the time to do what we call a call for fire, someone sees a threat and that threat is moved through the joined operations center up to the aircraft and that aircraft is given the freedom or the rules of engagement to engage that vehicle and let that pilot make a decision based on what he is hearing from the ground.

And what I know right now is that's a very long and slow arduous process in Iraq right now that needs to be improved.

COSTELLO: Colonel Reese, thanks as always. I appreciate it.

REESE: You are welcome, Carol. Have a great day.

COSTELLO: You too.

Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to attend that coalition meeting in Paris today, but because of the bike injury, Secretary Kerry will be forced to phone in. Kerry returned to Boston around 9:00 last night after breaking his femur in a bike wreck in France earlier this week. He's now recovering at Mass General Hospital where he is expected to undergo surgery later today.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: nine candidates and counting. Why the growing GOP presidential field is actually a good thing in the minds of many voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:53] COSTELLO: In the race for the White House, it turns out you can't have too many Republican candidates. A new CNN/ORC poll shows 46 percent of Republican voters think it's a good idea to have multiple, multiple candidates. So expect more pointed rhetoric and fewer eye rolls from hopefuls like Senator Lindsey Graham.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: It would be devastating to our party to nominate Rand Paul as the nominee on national security in particular, but if he wins the process, I will support him. But that has very little chance of happening in my view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Maybe Graham is hoping jabs like that will give him boost to those polls because he is currently sitting at 1 percent. For Marco Rubio, the news is much, much better. Florida's junior senator now in the lead at 14 percent, but Jeb Bush is close behind at 13 percent. Mike Huckabee and Scott Walker tied for third. While Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are tied for fourth place. Ben Carson rounds out the top five.

Joining me right now, Chris Kofinis, Democratic strategist, and Ben Ferguson, conservative talk radio host.

Thank you for being with me today. I appreciate it.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

CHRIS KOFINIS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

So, let's talk about that big confab that's going on in Florida right now. Everybody is talking. It's supposedly an economic confab.

So, Chris, do you think we'll hear ideas?

KOFINIS: Yes, not good ones, but we'll hear ideas.

(LAUGHTER)

KOFINIS: I mean, we'll hear a lot of the same kind of rhetoric and kind of tired ideas about how you are going to, you know, revitalize the economy, cut taxes -- I mean, kind of the same stuff we have heard before. To be honest --

COSTELLO: Oh, Chris, Chris, you are talking just like a Democrat.

KOFINIS: I know. Well, to be honest. It's not about sharing ideas but it's an opportunity for the candidates to kind of establish and present themselves to some of the key activist, key donors in the state. That's what these confabs end up really being about this early.

COSTELLO: What is interesting, though, Ben, Marco Rubio decided to skip it because he wants to be back in Washington to vote on this NSA bill and that's probably a good thing. He is going to give his message --

FERGUSON: Yes, smart decision.

COSTELLO: Right, via I think a video. He's going to play a video there.

FERGUSON: Yes. Well, he -- I mean, it's a smart move by him because one, he is trying to add to his resume and say I understand national security issues, sorry I'm not there today because I am in Washington fighting on national security issues, so you should really be looking at me as a candidate.

I think it's a pretty smart move on his behalf by doing this and instead of being there and putting a video out. Ultimately, what these really are for the people in the room is, is this OK, who's got that X factor? Who really inspires me and makes me want to say, that's my guy?

Because when we have these events, you see a lot of the donors and bundlers and other top people in the party and politics in Florida or wherever they came in from saying, look, I watched everybody, I was in the room, and let me tell you, this guy has got it, this guy has that X factor and that's when they decide to put money behind them.

So, that's what made Rubio do so well. A lot of people underestimated him and look how where he is now in the polls.

COSTELLO: Oh, he's doing great because -- and, Chris, I'll pose this question to you -- also according to our CNN/ORC poll, Rubio, Rand Paul and Scott Walker are seen as candidates of the future. You'll notice Jeb Bush's name is not in the group of candidates.

KOFINIS: Well, you know, when you have such a competitive feel as the Republicans have right now, it's really tough to be a candidate that, you know, people kind of associate with the past, and that's what I think Jeb Bush's problem is going to be.

You know, Marco Rubio, I think, has got that -- he's the flavor of the month, if you will. He has a lot of up side within the Republican Party. But how he survives and how they all survive is almost Thunderdome primary going on, and that's going to be the big challenge. You have so many candidates.

These debates are going to be, you know, they are going to be just big group fights with one person sitting and hitting the other, and it's going to be a real challenge. I think it's going to be whittled down pretty quick. But Rubio has got the best chance among the so-called new faces to stand out at the end, I think.

COSTELLO: And just talk about --

FERGUSON: I got to disagree, Chris.

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

FERGUSON: Let me say this. I think the GOP primary is going to be completely the opposite of what he just described.