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World Powers and Iran Reach Nuclear Deal; Interview with Sen. Dan Coats; Mexico Offers $3.8M to Capture El Chapo; Colorado Theater Shooting Trial. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired July 14, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[10:29:50] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This deal demonstrates that American diplomacy can bring about real and meaningful change, change that makes our country and the world safer and more secure. Today, because America negotiated from a position of strength and principle, we have stopped the spread of nuclear weapons in this region.

Because of this deal, the international community will be able to verify that the Islamic Republic of Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Ok. So the President's deal with Iran and, of course, there were other nations involved in this deal as well. It's been met with much criticism here in the United States. How is it being viewed in Iran?

For that we bring in CNN senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen. Hi -- Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- Carol. Yes, of course, I was just in Iran a couple of days ago. And we're still getting updates on what the people there are feeling about this deal. And it seems as though at this point in time at least the vast majority of them are very much in favor of it.

A majority of Iranians, of course, have been seeking sanctions relief for a very long time, but of course, Iran is also a place not only with a lot of politics but also with very fierce politics as well. And it's interesting just having listened to our show right now some of the fierce reactions that you've gotten from some people towards this deal.

You will hear the same thing in Iran as well. There will be some conservatives who say we should never have trusted the United States. We never should have given up any of our sovereignty to the United States. Those are also things that President Hasan Rouhani who is quite moderate will have to deal with as well. You saw that when he gave his initial speech after the deal came through.

First of all, waiting for President Obama to finish his speech and then saying that the world community had recognized that Iran is a nuclear power, that none of Iran's nuclear facilities will have to shut down. These are all things that are going to be very important. But the key thing for them is, of course, the sanctions relief and how quick that sanctions relief is going to come.

Of course, we do know there is going to have to be a big verification process before that sanctions relief will come, but that is certainly what Iranians are listening to. There's a lot of things today that were quite historic in many ways and not the least of which is the fact Iranian state broadcasting TV as you broadcast the President's speech live with Farsi translations.

I can tell you from our sources on the ground, a lot of people were watching that in cafes and places around Tehran.

COSTELLO: Ok. Can you put something in perspective for me? Because we keep hearing back here in the United States that for Iran this is a big win. Is it?

PLEITGEN: Well, I mean, it depends on who you ask. I think that certainly if you look at the political class, most of them will tell you that they do believe that this is a win for Iran, especially the fact that they do still have their uranium enrichment capacity; the fact that none of their nuclear sites are going to have to shut down. But again, you know you have the politics in place there.

In the end we will know whether or not Iran thinks this is really a win when we hear what Ayatollah Khamenei has to say about this. Will he sign off on this deal or not? What will he say about this deal? How will he feel about this deal? He is, of course, the highest authority in that country.

I do believe that the majority of Iranians will be quite happy with this deal because their main priority was sanctions relief. But, of course, you are going to have hardliners not just in the clerical class but also in the military who are going to say they believe that their country gave up too much to get this sanctions relief. It's certainly going to be interesting to watch that debate as well, watch how internally this will play out in Iran. But I do think that most people in the community will breathe a sigh of relief today -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Frederik Pleitgen -- reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

I want to bring in Republican Senator Dan Coats of Indiana. Senator -- good morning.

SEN. DAN COATS (R), INDIANA: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Glad to have you here. Your colleague, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas calls the Iranian nuclear deal a grievous dangerous mistake. In a statement Cotton says the deal will, quote, "give Iran tens of billions of dollars to finance its sponsorship of terrorism against the United States and our allies." Cotton says if approved the deal will represent what he calls "a historical defeat of the United States". Do you agree? COATS: Well, basically I do agree with what Tom Cotton has said. You

know, I couldn't help but think back to when I was in the Senate in my first time here in 1994 when we struck a deal with North Korea that they would not be able to possess and hold nuclear weapons capability. President Clinton promised that to us in the senate. I did not support it at the time because I didn't trust the North Koreans. And now we know that having been told by the President of the United States that we will know if they violate this and cheat. North Korea stands as a nation with nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery capability.

I can't help but think the ultimate consequences of all this which doesn't prevent Iran from going forward after a period of years, we're going to see the consequences as being very, very negative. I think every Senator has a responsibility to really delve into this thing and make sure we know what we're doing because the consequences will have major consequences not just for the United States but for the world.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this, Senator. Can everybody sit down and have an adult, intelligent conversation about a very important national security issue?

COATS: The answer to that, Carol, is yes. We have had that debate now for several months. It will continue. It does need to be responsible. It can't just be wild rhetoric.

[10:35:07] We need to look at every detail in this agreement. We're poring through this in my office right now. We want to make sure we fully understand what it is and what it isn't and how it compares to the goals that we wanted to achieve. And we need to make a very credible case to the American people as to how we should go forward with this.

COSTELLO: The President has already threatened to veto any legislation that would block this deal. In light of that, is it possible to have a civil conversation?

COATS: Well, that's really in contradiction to what you just said we should do and what I agreed we should do. If the President already has said "I'm going to veto anything", even if we prove this is not a good deal, well then what does that do? Now, we do have the opportunity to override that veto, but it will take a lot of support from his people representing the American people in the Congress to override that veto.

So that's why I think regardless of what the President has concluded and what he tries to sell, we need to individually take a real hard look at this and make our decisions because they're going to have immense consequences for the future.

COSTELLO: All right. Senator Dan Coats -- thanks so much for joining me this morning.

COATS: Thank you -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it. Thanks so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. Hillary Clinton is talking about this deal with Iran. Let's listen.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Having been part of building the coalition that brought us to the point of this agreement, I think we will have to immediately upon completion of this agreement and its rigorous enforcement look to see how we build a coalition to try to prevent and undermine Iran's bad behaviors in other arenas. I will be talking as soon as I leave you with other secretaries of state and other national security advisers to get more details.

But as I say, I think this is an important step that puts the lid on Iran's nuclear programs. And it will enable us then to turn our attention, as it must, to doing what we can with other partners in the region and beyond to try to prevent and contain Iran's other bad actions.

So all in all, I think we have to look at this seriously, evaluate it carefully, but I believe based on what I know now this is an important step.

Thank you all very much.

COSTELLO: All right. We just heard Hillary Clinton talking about this deal with Iran. Earlier she said she would as president enforce the agreement. She also said she talked with President Obama last night. He called her to tell her a deal had been reached.

Let's go to our State Department correspondent Elise Labott to talk a little bit more about this.

When Hillary Clinton was secretary of state she was partly responsible for bringing Iran to the table -- right?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It was secretary Clinton who sent some of her envoys, her top foreign policy adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy secretary Bill Burns to meet with the Iranians for secret talks over the course of a year before the Iranians came to the table.

So it was interesting, Carol, it was Secretary Kerry that started that process, but as she distanced herself, as she left the State Department, as she wrote her book and started to distance herself from the administration, you saw that she was taking a much more kind of hawkish view on Iran.

[10:40:09] And while she says this is an important first step, I think it will be interesting to see what she says when she actually goes through the agreement because I think that Secretary Clinton as president would take a harder line with Iran. Don't forget, she was the one that said that President Obama was naive for thinking that you can engage Iran. So does she think that this deal would be part of a larger accommodation with Iran in the Middle East? Can you now cooperate with Iran on other areas? We'll be watching to see what she says.

COSTELLO: Well, I found it interesting that President Obama called her to tell her about this deal.

LABOTT: Reporter: well, I think part of that is because -- as we said, Secretary Clinton was, you know, kind of instrumental in getting this process going. And she did lead diplomacy on this arena while she was at the State Department for the last part of her administration. So I think in part it was to let her know that this has reached conclusion, to thank her for her work.

But let's not kid ourselves, you know, she's also the front-runner in the Democratic Party. She's running for president, and clearly while we have to wait and see who shakes out and President Obama certainly hasn't endorsed a candidate, we know that he has spoken very favorably about a possible Clinton presidency. So I think it was a combination of looking back and looking forward.

COSTELLO: Well, it was also interesting that Hillary Clinton met with Nancy Pelosi this morning. In fact, before Hillary Clinton was behind that podium, Nancy Pelosi was behind the podium. And the President needs Democrats at this moment to assure that if Congress rejects this deal he can successfully veto it.

LABOTT: That's right. And Secretary Clinton as the Democratic front- runner, as the former secretary of state, and as a former senator is very close in touch with the Democrats, is obviously still meeting with them, obviously still talking with them. She, you know, let it slip that she'd be speaking with other former secretaries of state. She is part of this little club of former secretaries who gets together and talks from time to time.

So while the President is trying to sell this deal on the Hill, I think that Secretary Clinton is a good weapon in his pocket to help him do that.

COSTELLO: All right, Elise Labott. Thanks for your insight. I appreciate it as always. I have to take a break.

I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:46:42] COSTELLO: A new look at a new price tag for notorious drug lord El Chapo. Mexican authorities releasing these photos of Joaquin Guzman to the public -- his trademark mustache noticeably missing; along with the image comes a stunning $3.8 million reward to get him back behind bars.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is near the prison where El Chapo broke free. Any news?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol-- clearly Carol the search here shows no sign of slowing. In fact just a few moments ago federal police showing up here with some what appear to be dog kennels. It will be interesting to see if this means that they're now potentially really following that direction here in the search.

But I can tell you that this is just raising so many questions and really it's raising so many frustrations for the people here in Mexico.

The main question here for so many, Carol, is what will the escape of El Chapo Guzman do for really the remaining years of President Enrique Pena Nieto. He's a president who clearly has no shortage of criticism. He's been really under the gun here for not doing enough to really fight the problem with the Mexican drug cartels here and the influence that they have on the country; but also just sweeping levels of corruption at the state, local, and federal level.

And so one of the main questions here, too, is why didn't anybody notice when this tunnel was being dug from the prison that you see behind me up to a mile all the way to that house that was under construction. In the meantime again that search shows no signs of slowing here as officials are determined to try to track down this very dangerous individual -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Polo Sandoval reporting live for us this morning.

In a bizarre Twitter battle, the FBI is now looking into, not investigating, but looking into a threatening tweet against Donald Trump allegedly sent by the drug lord himself.

The tweet in question is from this El Chapo page. It's vulgar but here is the nice version of the translation. Quote, "Keep screwing with us and I'm going to make you eat your -- expletive words, you lousy white expletive." True to form Trump hasn't been holding anything back on the tweet making several posts about the Mexican drug lord since his escape, taking digs at both the United States and Mexican governments.

He posted quote, "Mexico's biggest drug lord escapes from jail. Unbelievable corruption and the USA is paying the price. I told you so."

Chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash is on the campaign trail with Trump this morning with more. Good morning.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is not your typical Twitter war to have a presidential candidate dealing with a drug lord who has now escaped from prison. But it's also not typical to be standing in front of a winery as you can see the beautiful setting behind me for a presidential campaign.

But this is what it means to be covering Donald Trump, who is very much, of course, running for president. Quickly on the El Chapo situation, he has asked -- his campaign has asked the FBI to look into it. This is according to our justice reporter Evan Perez, and the FBI is trying to figure out what exactly to do with that. Of course, they take it seriously when any presidential candidate feels that there is some kind of threat. So that's where that situation lies right now.

[10:50:02] But beyond that we are waiting for Donald Trump to arrive at this grand opening of his new winery in Charlottesville, Virginia. And he is going to be no doubt one of the many Republican candidates who is going to respond to the Iran deal today. No doubt saying that he does not believe that it is a good deal, as we have heard from Scott Walker, from Marco Rubio, from others today who basically think that the Democratic president, Barack Obama, has been had and that this is absolutely terrible for the United States.

So we're going to be listening to that and as you know, Carol, when we're covering Donald Trump, who else knows what we're going to hear -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Hopefully what he's going to name his wine. Is it going to be called -- I'm just kidding. Dana Bash reporting live -- thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, both sides in the Colorado theater shooting trial get one last chance to make their case to jurors -- a report from outside the courtroom next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:36] COSTELLO: -- alarming comments.

And the wait is over for "Go Set a Watchman", the book written by Harper Lee before her classic "To Kill a Mockingbird". It was initially rejected by her publisher. So despite that fact "Go Set a Watchman" could be considered a first draft of "To Kill a Mockingbird", many are lining up at bookstores for what's being called the most anticipated book release since the end of the "Harry Potter" series and this may not be Lee's last book. Her attorney is now hinting she may have written a third novel.

One last chance for the prosecution and defense to make their case in the trial of confessed Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes. Closing arguments are set to begin today. Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring 70 others.

CNN's Ana Cabrera has more from outside the courthouse.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol -- it's been nearly three years since the shooting and James Holmes admits he was the shooter but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Now after 11 weeks of testimony, hundreds of witnesses, a mountain of evidence it's all culminating in today's closing arguments. Each side gets two hours to make their last final impression on the jurors who will decide Holmes' fate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. REID: At that time did you have any doubt that you would end up killing a lot of people?

JAMES HOLMES, SHOOTER: No.

CABRERA: James Holmes describes a mission to kill.

HOLMES: Well, the dead can't be repaired or come back to life or be normal again. So it's kind of irreversible.

REID: I heard you say was that that accrues to something positive for you.

HOLMES: Right.

CABRERA: His words likely to linger with jurors.

REID: What about the wounded?

HOLMES: They're collateral damage, I guess.

CABRERA: Holmes chose not to take the witness stand but prosecutors played 22 hours of videotaped interviews with a court appointed psychiatrist - Dr. William Reid, one of two mental health experts who concluded Holmes suffered mental illness but was legally sane when he carried out the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The delusions propelled him to commit this act.

CABRERA: The defense battled back with his own experts. Dr. Raquel Gird (ph) told jurors those delusions made Holmes believe killing would increase his own self-worth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not believe that without the delusion and without being mentally, this would have ever happened.

CABRERA: And the defense shows videos of Holmes in jail acting strangely, falling backwards from his bunk a few months after the shooting before being hospitalized for a psychotic episode -- proof of his insanity, they say. Each side pointed to a notebook Holmes sent hours before the shooting to Dr. Lynn Fenton, a psychiatrist who treated Holmes at the University of Colorado when he was a grad student.

The defense highlighted ramblings that don't make any sense, while prosecutors argue the notebook provides evidence of Holmes' detailed planning. Holmes writes that he considered bombs, biological warfare, and serial murder before settling on mass murder at the movies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just remember getting hit in my chest, and I remember falling then landing on top of her.

CABRERA: Dozens of victims told heart wrenching stories. Ashley Moeser (ph) left paralyzed after the shooting lost a pregnancy and her six-year-old daughter Veronica.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did her hand reach back?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I couldn't feel it. It slipped through my hand.

CABRERA: Sure to weigh heavily on the hearts and minds of jurors who will decide whether the man responsible for killing 12 and wounding 70 was sane when he did it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was told that she had -- that she didn't make it, that she had passed away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: The jury returns to the courtroom in just a few minutes and will receive their instructions first, then closing arguments with deliberations expected to begin first thing tomorrow morning. Now, the jurors are considering 165 charges. Again, Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity which if the jury agrees will land him in a state mental health facility. If he's found guilty this all moves into a sentencing phase and prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Keep in mind there has not been an execution here in Colorado in nearly two decades -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ana Cabrera reporting.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

[11:00:00] "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.