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Russia to Add Long-Range Nuclear Weapons to Arsenal; Tropical Storm Bill Take Aim at Flood-Weary Texas; Jeb Bush Takes New Campaign Message to New Hampshire; Donald Trump Announces 2016 Run for Presidency. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to our viewers around the United States and the world. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Wolf Blitzer.

We haven't heard saber rattling like this since the Cold War. Russian President Vladimir Putin said today Russia will add 40 long-ranged nuclear missiles to its arsenal by the end of the year. This announcement coming days after the U.S. revealed it might send more than a thousand tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, armored Howitzers and other equipment to Eastern Europe to deter Russian aggression.

CNN contributor, Michael Weiss, joining me now from New York.

And, Michael, when you see what's going on here, people say, hey, this has echoes of the Cold War. Do you see things moving really in that direction?

MICHAEL WEISS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, I think, you know, with the invasion of Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, what we've seen the last year or so has been a return to first principles for NATO. NATO has spent the last several years, decades, really, intervening in places that it wasn't really meant to intervene, namely the Middle East. And the whole purpose of the alliance is to fortify Europe and it was designed to help contain Russia, we thought those days passed with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Recall being in Estonia in 2013 a few weeks after the last American tank but some 60-plus years since the end of World War II.

And I remember the Estonian official quipping "it won't be long before they're invited back." the Baltic stakes are very nervous about Russia which even before Ukraine had been provoking them militarily, rhetorically, diplomatically, the Estonians themselves would like to see not just Abrams tanks but Bradley fighting vehicles but NATO soldiers in those tanks and fighting vehicles so this measure falls just short of what our eastern European and Baltic and NATO allies have asked for. But it is indeed a method of deterrence. The question is, is it going to work? What Putin does rather effectively is what I call the double bind. He created a set of circumstance where he says, if the West does X, I will do Y, but if the West doesn't do X, I'll do Y and a little bit more. We've seen this in the Ukraine for the last several months, the decision to --

(CROSSTALK) KEILAR: Meaning if the U.S. --

WEISS: -- not to arm the Ukrainian military --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: So you think if the U.S. doesn't do something he's emboldened to do more?

WEISS: Yes. But if the U.S. does something he's also emboldened to do more. It sounds paradoxical, but welcome to Russian foreign policy. So for instance, the threat now is the placement of nuclear missiles in Kalingrad. There have always been noises about the placement of them in Crimea which would put them not only right against the Ukrainian mainland but north of Turkey, our other NATO ally. So this is how the game is played. And I'm not convinced that a couple hundred of pieces of even heavy American-made equipment is really going to alter current state of play which includes, by the way, Russian fighter jets, Russian long range nuclear bombers coming perilously close to NATO airspace and in the case of non-NATO airspace such as that of Sweden, penetrating that. There have been several sin stances all documented of some of these Russian aircrafts: they turn off their transponders and nearly collide. So you're looking at the possibility of more MH-370 disasters perpetrate bid Russian aircraft looking to test the limits here.

KEILAR: And it's not just air it's also by sea as well, submarines. They're poking around. They're trying to see what Europe's defenses are. What's the reaction of European nations in their waters? What's his end game, though? I think that's the question. What does he ultimately want?

WEISS: Well, I was at a conference in Sweden where a woman said "for Putin, tactics is the strategy." It's not the end game with respect to Europe. Keep the European nations, particularly NATO and the E.U. countries divided amongst themselves against each other. Some of these parties are taking money from the Kremlin. Stalinists and neo- Nazi's are in support of what Putin is doing. Keep Ukraine destabilized, whether or not there's going to be a push to connect Crimea to the Russian mainland through Mariupol remains to be seen but they don't need to do that. Just keep a roiling sort of conflict going in the Donbas.

And with respect to these other countries, Russia has sizable ethnic minority populations scattered not just throughout Eastern Europe and the Baltic States but also in central Asia. And the goal with them is the propagation of propaganda and disinformation. Put ethnic minority Russians on notice that their livelihood and lives are under threat by this European and American-backed juggernaut which is all sorts of fascistic and anti-Russian groups. So now what powers are trying to do is push back against this information war. I would submit that that's more of a threat than the possibility of Russia, say, invading Lithuania tomorrow.

[13:35:26] KEILAR: All right, Michael Weiss, I could talk to you all day about this. Thank you for the great insight. Appreciate it. WEISS: Sure.

KEILAR: Up next, already hard hit by flooding -- you remember this -- Texas once again bracing for some bad weather, a tropical storm. We'll take you there live and find out how bad it could get.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We have some very dangerous weather hitting the coast of Texas. Tropical Storm Bill is now along the coastline there and torrential rain is starting to slam the already flood-weary state. Millions of people are in the path of this storm.

Sara Sidner is in Webster, Texas, just outside of Houston.

And, Sara, we've already seen some of the evacuations in Galveston to the south of you are taking place. What are conditions like in the Houston area right now?

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, they're doing what typical tropical storms do where you have bands of rain and bands of wind coming in, sometimes it's quiet then suddenly you get this. We're obviously in one of those rain and wind bands. I want to give you an idea. The estuary is here. Just to the right of us is actually the bay, the Galveston Bay. But these places here are in very low-lying land and so what you're seeing are people just making sure -- how are you doing? Just making sure that they have some of their stuff picked up and folks -- they're used to this.

We've talked to a lot of the resident here who have said look, we know when there is a rain event that we are probably going to get flooded if it's really heavy rains so they know to usually pick upmost of the stuff in their garages and not put too many things there. There are some folks in town who are laughing about this saying, look, after we went through Ike, which came through and devastated this area, we're pretty much used to this. And this is nothing compared to what we have been through in the past. People, though, are taking it seriously. Most folks are at home. There's not a lot of traffic on the roads. But, look, these rain bands are coming in and they are getting stronger and stronger throughout the day.

Back to you guys.

[13:41:11] KEILAR: You can see them just coasting across the standing water behind you while the scene of that man where he's chopped up chairs in the garage, it does seem routine but I know they're used to this, Sara, but you've seen rain in the past couple of months. Is flooding the biggest threat going forward here?

SIDNER: Yeah. That is what the Harris County Emergency Management folks have been saying that, you know, if you see a sign that's up that says "high water" or a blockage of a street, which they have blocked off some streets, do not drive through it, you're putting yourself in danger. And we saw that happen this past Memorial Day where folks were, you know, driving along and suddenly flash flooding. So they're worried about flash flooding and general flooding this. Place obviously floods more because it's low lying and surrounded on two sides by water, Galveston Bay to our right and this estuary here.

But folks are taking it in stride. I have to tell you, I think they're used to these weather events and this one doesn't seem as scary. However, Harris County Emergency Management mentioned they were concerned because some folks went out and cleaned the shelves in some areas, buying things like water and snacks and they said, look, this is not a hurricane. This is a tropical storm, it doesn't look like it will be as terrible, don't panic. Just do -- be careful and try to stay inside if you can. Don't go out on the road.

KEILAR: But certainly so upsetting to an area just economically and to all of those homes that are already dealing with cleanup there.

Sara Sidner, thanks so much for giving us a view there.

Coming up next, Jeb Bush is taking his new campaign message to New Hampshire. We'll have a live report from the town hall meeting he's at.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:46:30] KEILAR: One day after officially launching his presidential campaign, former Governor Jeb Bush headed to New Hampshire to field questions from voters in an informal town hall setting and he aimed to set a tone of inclusion and commonality saying Americans all want the same things.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF BUSH, (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The future can be extraordinary for this country. I know the one thing that ties us together in this diverse country is we want a better future for ourselves and, more importantly, for our children and for some of us our grandchildren. That's what defines us. We can be liberal and conservative, Republican, Democrat. We're diverse in every way. That's the unique nature of our country. That's what makes us extraordinary in some ways. But we all want something better for our families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I want to bring in my colleague, Jeff Zeleny, now to talk about what we've been hearing from Jeb Bush.

Jeff, as you listen to Jeb Bush, do you see him setting himself apart from other Republican candidates? Is he able to do that effectively?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, good afternoon. I think at this point, Jeb Bush is in the introduction phase of his candidacy. And I detected so much humility from him. He knows that he has to make his case to these New Hampshire voters. It's a fickle set of voters, no question about it. And his family has a bit of a mixed history here. His father won the New Hampshire primary in 1988. His brother got second place in the New Hampshire primary in 2000. So Jeb Bush enters this race here with all of that in mind. But as you said, he takes question after question after question. I would say it was polite and enthusiastic applause but he knows this is just the very, very beginning of this process.

KEILAR: He's working, he's really working to try to reintroduce himself and the polls show he needs to do that. You got outside of this event because, with Jeb Bush comes controversy with the family name. You spoke with some protesters. What did they tell you?

ZELENY: There were a small group of protesters out here, which is typical of campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire and they, of course, are focused on -- are concerned about common core, his education proposals. And several signs that says, you know, Bush and Clinton, we need something new. I they is to be expected but, Brianna, one thing is clear from his first town meeting, he had no confrontations inside this town meeting. He answered all the questions.

He had an interesting exchange about the pope, actually. He's somewhat of a new catholic in the second part of his life. He was baptized into the Catholic Church and someone asked him if he agreed with the pope's upcoming message on climate change and he sort of in a comment that was reminiscent of John F. Kennedy said he does not take his orders from the Vatican. He praised the pope as a strong leader but he said he would not take his orders from the Vatican. But overall, I have to say, Brianna, he was met with here enthusiastic applause and his meeting was not interrupted. He had no immigration confrontations or anything like that.

So as he heads to Iowa, he certainly is happy about his New Hampshire visit here today.

[13:49:41] KEILAR: All right, we'll keep watching as he travels through these early states.

Jeff Zeleny, there in New Hampshire, thank you.

Up next, we have more presidential politics for you with Donald Trump joining the crowded field of Republican candidates. What does this mean for Jeb Bush's campaign and for the crowded GOP primary?

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The field of Republican presidential candidates all the way up to one dozen now, real estate mogul and reality tv star, Donald Trump, is the latest entry into the race. He announced his run for the White House two hours ago after years of playing the "will he or won't he" game. This announcement comes less than 24 hours after Jeb Bush announced his campaign. What does this mean in the race for the Republican nomination?

Sean Spicer is the communications director for the Republican National Committee and the senior adviser there.

This is the campaign kickoff for Donald Trump. And he said in it, "America is in decline." Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, CEO, TRUMP GROUP & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: This is going to be an election that's based on competence because people are tired of these nice people and they are tired of being ripped off by everybody in the world and they are tired of spending more money on education than any nation in the world per capita than any nation in the world. And we're 26th in the world. 25 countries are better than us at education. And some of them are like third-world countries. But we're becoming a third-world country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What's your reaction to that? That sort of thesis of his argument for getting in the race and just to his announcement in general?

[13:55:08] SEAN SPICER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR AND SENIOR ADVISER, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, I think, number one, we have a historic crop of candidates seeking the Republican nomination. The number of quality candidates is actually his rhetoric. It's going to give the voters an opportunity to decide which direction they want to go and which vision is best. We're definitely giving the voters throughout the country an opportunity to look at several different ways that we can go and it's not going to be without choices when it comes to our nomination.

KEILAR: Technically, you are not supposed to play favorites here. That's just part of the deal when you work for one of the party committees.

I want to ask you about something that we heard Donald Trump say, especially in light of the fact that a lot of Republicans say, hey, this party needs to broaden its tent, appeal to Hispanic and other minority voters. This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When Mexico sends its people, they are not sending its best. They are not sending you. They are not sending you. They are sending people that have lots of problems and they are bringing those problems with us. They are bringing drugs, they are bringing crime, they are rapists and some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to border guards and they tell us what we're getting and it only makes commonsense. It only makes commonsense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: There are a lot of Hispanic voters who will not be happy, Sean, with Donald Trump saying something like that. Let me read from the postmortem autopsy. Republicans take in the Hispanic community and beyond, we must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform. How does that need square with the kind of rhetoric that you hear Donald Trump using?

SPICER: Well, I mean, as far as pinning Mexican Americans with that kind of a brush, I think that's not helpful to the cause. But I think to the issue of illegal immigration, Mr. Trump and others have addressed that we need to be very firm on border security and look at ways to make sure America has fixed its immigration problem and allow for people whether it's from wherever to enter the country in a more systematic way for our economy.

KEILAR: I want to ask you about Jeb Bush now. In his campaign announcement yesterday, he touted his experience as governor. He seemed to really take a swipe at his rivals like Senator Marco Rubio who doesn't have that experience. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUSH: As our whole nation has learned since 2008, executive experience is another term for preparation and there is no substitute for that.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: We're not going to clean up the mess in Washington by electing the people who have either helped create it or are incapable of fixing it.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: He is taking aim at establishment Washington. That's many of the candidates on his side, in addition to Hillary Clinton. Do you think that helps him break out of the pack? A lot of people are surprised he hasn't yet.

SPICER: Look, as you mentioned at the top of the show, Mr. Trump becomes the 12th candidate seeking election. I think other Senators, business people, I think at the end of the day each one is going to try to figure out a message that they think resonates in a vision that they want to articulate the country. They are going to talk about their strengths, their vision is the best. I think in the case of Governor Bush, that's playing off his years as being a successful governor. I think Senator Rubio, Senator Paul, Senator Cruz are going to talk about their solutions that they have found here in Washington. I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think there's anybody running for president or sitting at home that's pleased with the things going on in Washington. One thing that all of the candidates are talking about is trying to find a pathway forward to some of the problems that people in this country face and make America a better country than it is today.

KEILAR: All right. Real quick, in just like a couple words, are you worried there are so many Republican candidates?

SPICER: No. I'm glad. The more candidates, the better. They are bringing more people into this party and they are out there campaigning in places that we don't go, talking to additional voters. This is a very, very healthy thing for this party. I'm glad and I hope more people get into.

[13:59:] KEILAR: All right, Sean Spicer with the RNC, thanks so much for being with us.

And that is it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 eastern on "THE SITUATION ROOM."

For our international viewers, "AMANPOUR" is next.

For our viewers in North America, "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.