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Trump Adviser Roger Stone Off The Campaign; U.S. Lawmakers Head to Israel To Talk Iran Deal; Police Shooting Investigation in Texas; Discussing Strategy to Fight ISIS; Ferguson One Year Later; Pope Francis's Call for Church to Embrace Remarried People. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired August 09, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: A campaign shakeup for the Republican presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump and his top political adviser parting ways. Is this part of a bigger problem?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: New surveillance video showing the moments before a rookie police officer kills an unarmed teenager. There are also questions of why this victim resisted calls from police to surrender.

PAUL: It is always so good to spend the morning with you. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Great to start this Sunday here with you. In just a couple of hours, we'll finally hear from Donald Trump. He is going to appear on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION."

Two controversies we're waiting for him to address publicly. First the comments about Megyn Kelly and the most recent claim that Trump fired his top adviser, Roger Stone. Stone disputes that saying that he quit.

PAUL: In his resignation letter, Trump's former adviser says current controversies have distracted attention from Trump's platform and message. But Trump's campaign says Stone was fired because he was using the campaign to seek publicity for himself.

Let's talk about this with CNN politics executive editor, Mark Preston. Mark, I'm wondering what's really going on here.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Well, I got to tell you what. This is one of those really interesting, amazing situations right now. The last 72 hours is going to go down in history certainly when it comes to presidential politics.

So we have Donald Trump right now who is battling back this controversy about not being invited to Red State and now we have one of his top advisers, Roger Stone, saying he resigned. Trump campaign saying that he was fired. Last night, Roger Stone was on CNN and he addressed the issue. Let's hear what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROGER STONE, FORMER TRUMP ADVISER: I have nothing but admiration and respect for Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you still consider him a friend?

STONE: I do. This is just politics.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a transcript published today in politico of what they said happened here. I'm going to leave out the expletives in here. Stone, you saying, "Donald stop with the Megyn Kelly (bleep). It's crazy. It's killing us."

Trump, "What do you mean? I won the debate. People loved it." You, "You didn't win the debate." Trump, "Yes, I did. Look at the polling. Look at Drudge."

You, "The Drudge Report poll isn't a scientific poll. You won't give me the money to pay for a scientific poll. You're off message." Trump, "There are other polls." You, "Those are bs polls, Donald. They are not scientific polls. We need to run a professional campaign and talk about what people care about." Trump, "We're winning." Is this accurate?

STONE: Obviously, I do not tape record my phone calls. Somebody might.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that true?

STONE: I think that's a pretty accurate reflection of my views. Now I am not going to kiss and tell about my advice to Donald. My conversations with him are between he and I, but I think that's a fairly accurate reflection of my view.

I would submit that we should wait a few days and see some scientifically based non-online polls and see how the Republican race has been affected.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PRESTON: You know, what's interesting right now again when you look at the situation Donald Trump is in right now. Not only is he battling this external turmoil about the future of his campaign, but he is having to deal with this internal battle as well.

PAUL: Let me ask you this because this is all coming, of course, on the heels of the whole Megyn Kelly controversy. There are some people who are wondering was this staged. This whole Roger Stone thing, was it staged as a diversion to get away from the comments about Megyn Kelly and women in general?

PRESTON: It's very interestingly said because Roger Stone has a very bizarre history of somebody who plays dirty politics. During the interview with Poppy Harlow he kept on saying Donald Trump should be president. He still supports him. I don't know if we will ever know, but it's certainly something to think about. PAUL: Is it something that Republicans are thinking about because when you look at Donald Trump and still his popularity, you were out there yesterday at Red State. I'm wondering what was the buzz? What was the conversation? What were Republicans there saying about Donald Trump either being in or out of the campaign?

PRESTON: So what's interesting is that the folks at the Red State gathering, about 900 of them, they tend to be conservative antiestablishment folks so many of them liked Trump speaking the truth to power, the antiestablishment message.

Now by and large they were supportive of the idea that Donald Trump should have been disinvited given his comments over Megyn Kelly. There were some people, though, that were upset about it.

I will give you the big picture right now, though, Republican establishment types are very happy right now. What they're afraid of, though, they do not want him to run as a third party candidate.

[06:05:04] PAUL: Right. Mark Preston, thank you so much for the insight. Appreciate it -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, remember also to make sure that Donald Trump will be on Jake Tapper's guest on "STATE OF THE UNION" at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN. That's where I want to start this conversation with Jason Johnson, a political analyst. Jason, what does he need to do today?

JASON JOHNSON, POLITICAL ANALYST: Trump needs to clean up his act because this has been a very, very bad 72 hours for him. There are some real questions. I was at Red State yesterday as well. It's real 50-50 on whether he actually did a good job when you talk to some of the actual Republican voters there.

Then he goes on to attack someone at Fox News, which is an important outlet for someone who is trying to run for the Republican nomination and then you have problems in your campaign staff. One or two of these things will be fine, and all three, he needs to project calm, seriousness and discipline to continue his campaign.

BLACKWELL: We had one supporter on yesterday, part of the Women for Trump coalition in New Hampshire. What she likes that he's not politically correct, that he doesn't sound like a politician. Now going through damage control, seems a lot like a politician. He's got to walk a fine line.

JOHNSON: Yes, he's got to walk a fine line, but let's be honest here. You know, I've said this before. This isn't really about sexism. This is about going after a powerful woman who's part of a media organization that you need to be friends with.

That's the real problem that Donald Trump has right now. If he had made those comments about someone else, if he -- I mean, Roger Stone, his campaign staffer he got rid of said offensive things about people who work at CNN, people who work at TV1. This is about media, not so much about sexism. That's what he's

walking back from. He's not concerned about how he's affecting women.

BLACKWELL: OK, so let's at least give the explanation that he tweeted out, some consideration, where he says that he was talking about bleeding from the nose. Taking a step back and thinking about it. Donald Trump is not one who minces words. He's not one who hedges. If he wanted to say that Megyn Kelly was hormonal, he would have just said it. Is that a credible argument from Donald Trump, a credible defense?

JOHNSON: No, it's not credible. Look, he can say that because he wants to spin, because again he realizes he went after a powerful woman and this is somebody who can actually impact him one way or another. If you listen to the tone, it's very clear he was making some sort of reference.

Now again, he can make argument that only a pervert or a deviant would think that was making a reference, but Donald Trump, you have a record. You have a record of saying of these things. It was very believable for other people to think that you were making that comment.

BLACKWELL: You said you were at Red State. We had our reporters there as well speaking with a few of the young voters there. Listen to what we heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I honestly thing they're indicative of his character. He's not here to be the Republican candidate. He's here to make statements. I think that was crossing a line.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wasn't excited to see Donald Trump. We had already planned on missing his part of the presentation. I think that's the general consensus of the people today that are here. He's not the favorite candidate from what I can tell. He's not my favorite candidate. I'm happy about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He crossed the line. Before I admired him for his outspokenness, but he took it to an unprecedented level which was inappropriate. I'm starting to lose respect for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Starting to lose respect for him, Donald Trump has said if I'm treated nicely and fairly, I'll stay within the Republican Party process. How much can he take with him? Do you think he can keep his 18 to 24 percent if he goes third party?

JOHNSON: I think if only if he actually goes all the way through to Iowa because there are still Republicans in the field in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, in Iowa who still want to work with Donald Trump. If he has the break now and says I want to run a third party campaign, he's going to start from scratch.

He's going to have to start from scratch and not have the benefit of going into any of these debates anymore to continue to promote his brand. So if he's going to drop out, he can't do it now. I think he would lose. I don't think he's going to do it until sometime later.

BLACKWELL: All right, Jason Johnson, always appreciate the insight.

JOHNSON: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: All right, Christi.

PAUL: We know several dozen members of Congress are on their way to Israel. Representatives on both sides of the aisle here and high on the list of topics to discuss the Iran deal. We are live in Jerusalem for you.

Also questions this morning as to why a rookie officer fatally shot an unarmed teenager. We do have for you new surveillance video from the scene. A lot of people wondering if it can shed any new light on what happened in those moment before that shooting.

Plus the war on ISIS one year later. Is the U.S. military making any significant progress here?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:09]

BLACKWELL: New this morning, nearly 60 members of Congress are in Israel today, 22 Democrats, 36 Republicans arrived earlier this morning and they're expected to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But it's the timing that has so many people talking, of course, this comes on the cusp of President Obama lobbying for Congress to accept the Iran deal.

Joining me is CNN correspondent, Oren Liebermann. Oren, good morning to you. How long ago was this planned?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor. This trip was planned months ago, long before we knew the Iran deal deadline would come down to right now effectively, to a vote in mid-September, but that doesn't change the significance of this opportunity for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of this deal from the very beginning pushing against it, lobbying against it. Now he knows the emphasis of his fight against the deal focuses on Congress.

He has the Republicans on his side. The question is, how many Democrats can he sway? The 22 Democrats now in Israeli meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu today, if he can swing even a few of those votes to agree with him, the vote against the deal, this trip has to be viewed as a success for Netanyahu.

BLACKWELL: So you've got nearly as you said two dozen, 22 Democrats here relatively a large group. Is the expectation that many of these Democrats can be persuaded are likely to vote no on this deal? LIEBERMANN: Well, some of these are critical swing votes for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for President Barack Obama. Both sides trying to lobby those critical swing votes, Obama, to make sure this can pass. Netanyahu as he pushed against it.

But I don't know that there's necessarily an expectation that these 22 are any more or less likely to vote against the deal than other swing votes. This group is a group of freshmen congressman brought over every two years by APEC.

So this is that standard group. Again, it's the timing that makes this significant right before, just a few weeks before that Iran deal vote.

[06:15:05] BLACKWELL: All right, Oren Liebermann, there for us. Oren, thank you so much.

PAUL: As Congress meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today about the Iran deal, President Obama is defending his remarks from earlier this week at American University when he made his case for the Iran deal.

His remarks outraged both Democrats and Republicans. Our Fareed Zakaria sat down with President Obama. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": In your speech at American University, you said Iran's hardliners were making common cause with Republicans. It's come under a lot of criticism. Mitch McConnell says even Democrats who opposed the deal should be insulted.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What I said is absolutely true factually. The truth of the matter is inside of Iran, the people most opposed to the deal are the revolutionary guard, the Quds Force, hardliners who are implacably opposed to any cooperation with the international community.

The reason that Mitch McConnell and the rest of the folks in his caucus who opposed this jumped out and opposed it before they even red ad it, before it was even posted, is reflective of an ideological commitment not to get a deal done.

In that sense, they do have a lot in common with hardliners who are concerned with the status quo.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: By the way, you can see all of Fareed's exclusive interview with the president today, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" airs at 10 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Imagine this, an emergency landing, shattered windows, a damaged plane, a nasty storm that forced this commercial jet to end its cross country flight early. We'll talk more about this. And it's been one year since the death of Michael Brown, a shooting that changed how some of the country's view of community's relationship with the local police department. Is this community healing? We're going back to those exact locations of the rioting and the looting to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:21:18]

BLACKWELL: Time now 21 minutes after the hour. And Vermont State Police are investigating if the woman who was shot and killed a social worker Friday night is involved in a triple homicide.

A police say on Friday, Jodie Herring shot this state worker who was involved in a court ordered removal of her 9-year-old daughter. Then on Saturday, three women, all related to Herring were found dead in a nearby farm house. Herring has only been charged for the social worker's death thus far.

PAUL: Take a look at that plane, can you imagine being on that Delta flight. It was traveling from Boston to Salt Lake City, had to be diverted after it flew through a thunderstorm and we're told things quickly deteriorated. It experienced severe turbulence and hail is what battered the plane you see there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was the scariest 10 minutes of my life.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the window we could see the shattered windshield. You could see where lightning had struck. The nose of the plane was missing. It was really intense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: The pilot had to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport and one person was taken to the hospital.

BLACKWELL: Tropical Storm Soudelor is bringing heavy rain to China that could last for days. By the time it moved inland Saturday, Soudelor had weakened considerably, but it still packed wind gusts up to 52 miles per hour. Before it was downgraded from a typhoon it killed five people in Taiwan and five others are still missing.

PAUL: Well, this morning we are getting a new look at the moments before police shot and killed an unarmed teenager. Why was the victim standing on the hood of a car at a Texas dealership? Lots of questions here this morning.

Also, a changing Ferguson, it's a new look for the city one year after Michael Brown's death. What more does this community want and need?

BLACKWELL: But first, this week's culinary journey takes us to Hong Kong to meet Chef Vicky Lau. She won this year's title of Asia's best female chef for her work at a restaurant, Tate Dining Room. Listen. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Hong Kong's palate is open and winning providing Chef Vicky Lau with a perfect platform to serve both simple and sophisticated delights at her renowned restaurant, Tate Dining Room.

VICKY LAU, ASIA'S BEST FEMALE CHEF: When I started Tate I just really wanted a small homey place to express myself through food and to tell some stories of things around me and inspirations I've had from poems I've read to places I've been and highlighting different ingredients, kind of edible stories inspired by nature or places and scenes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's Lau's ability to extract meaning and elegance from ingredients that has earned her a mission in style and this year's title as Asia best female chef chosen by a group of 300 food industry experts. Today she is unveiling a spring gastronomy menu.

LAU: The reason my cuisine is French and Asian based is because I was born in Hong Kong, but also raised in the states and studied in the states, so that's why I feel that it's necessary to combine the two things because if you ask me to just cook Chinese food, then I would think of it in a western kind of way as well.

And I'm not from the western world so I cannot just do something fully western, so might as well just cook something that is your own character.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The encounters and experiences which took place transfer to the plate with meticulous care. Each dish, a story she has collected.

[06:25:04] A scallop dish to reminisce Hong Kong's harbor, a dessert dedicated to urban beekeepers, a Zen garden born from Japanese tradition. Lau believes the feeling to the connection to the food enhances the eating experience.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Watch the full show at CNN.com/journeys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:29:17]

BLACKWELL: Bottom of the hour now. Let's get you up to date on a developing story this morning, an investigation into another officer- involved shooting. This one involved overnight in North Carolina. Two officers have been wounded. Two others are dead.

This happened when officers responded to a call in Gastonia. The call said there was someone inside this home, armed, who had some type of weapon. When officers arrived on scene they exchanged gunfire with that suspect. That suspect was killed.

The acting police chief is praising how the officers handled that situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH RAMEY, GASTON COUNTY ACTING POLICE CHIEF: I know that for the last 18 months police have been under the microscope and officer- involved shootings are a difficult thing to follow right at the moment for us. But, you know, our officers are professional. They acted professional in this incident here and we'll get to the bottom it and we'll be able to share that as soon as we get that information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, after the altercation inside that house, officers located two other shooting victims in the neighborhood there. One victim was taken to a local hospital. The other dies as a result of a gunshot wound. The two officers are on paid leave until this investigation is complete.

PAUL: And we have new video for you this morning of those moments before a college football player was shot to death in Texas. A rookie cop shot and killed an unarmed black teenager. That we know. The teen had broken into a car dealership. This happened early Friday morning in Arlington. And I want to show you the surveillance company video that released - this video that's edited, I should point out showing 19-year-old Christian Taylor at the car dealership. He's seen approaching several cars, and he's seen jumping onto the hood of one of them, kicking in its windshield. Nick Valencia has been looking at this video and following the story. What have you learned this morning?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest in the investigation, it's still in its initial stages. Brad Miller, that 49-year-old police officer who was involved in this shooting, he still hasn't been interviewed by police. It's a matter of policy there in the Arlington police department. They wait a few days before they interview any officer involved in a shooting. What we do have new this morning, is this freshly released security footage, which albeit is edited, but it is new footage that shows the minutes before Christian Taylor was shot and killed. It shows him at one point behaving erratically. You see him here showing up in his jeep. He attempts to smash a car window at one point.

Next, he jumps on top of the hood of a car and tries to smash in the windshield. You are witnessing that there. The police chief of Arlington understands that this is pretty bad timing. It comes about a year since Mike Brown, that teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, was shot and killed. It plays into this ongoing narrative that we have right now in the United States. He talked about all of this last night during a press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF WILL JOHNSON, ARLINGTON, TEXAS POLICE: The facts available today do not answer all questions, nor will they alleviate all concerns. However, we will provide answers as they become available and address every concern throughout the investigative process. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: The police chief went on to say that they have invited the FBI to be part of this investigation. He says in the coming week that there will be more video released, 911 calls as well. Worth noting, there is no dash cam footage of this shooting, no actual video of the shooting, and the officer was not wearing a body camera. The chief went onto say that if they find that this shooting is not justified, that there will be consequences for that rookie police officer. He was just part of his 16-week field training. And he was just finishing that up, Christi.

PAUL: Well, and what's interesting is, as I understand it, he used his gun. The other officer used a taser.

VALENCIA: Two officers converged on this suspect, on Christian Taylor. And yeah, it was the rookie police officer that fired four shots that fatally killed Christian Taylor. This other officer used his taser. So, that - all of that will be part of the investigation. Again, we should reiterate that this police officer has still not been interviewed by police, according to the chief. So, all of that testimony will be very, very instrumental to finding out.

PAUL: We do understand that that protocol, though. That is protocol.

VALENCIA: That's protocol

PAUL: They usually go a couple of days before they interview in a deadly situation like that.

VALENCIA: That's right.

PAUL: Nick Valencia, we appreciate it. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: And as Nick just mentioned, this comes nearly a year to the day after the shooting death of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. And yesterday, hundreds of people marched in that community, chanting "Hands up, don't shoot." Which became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. Sara Ferguson has looked at Ferguson - I'm sorry, Sara Sidner has a look at Ferguson in the year since Michael Brown's death.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The scars of protestors' fury white clean, waiting for progress. This is Ferguson one year after a white police officer Daren Wilson shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, unleashing months of protest. Though Wilson was not indicted by a grand jury and he was cleared of civil rights violations by the federal government, Brown's life became a symbol for something more, that black lives are too often treated as dispensable in American society.

CHRIS PHILLIPS, FILMMAKER: Regardless of if you saw what happened or not, it was the blatant disrespect that people feel because they left his body here for four and a half hours. And so, that is really what charges people up.

SIDNER: Film maker and Ferguson resident Chris Phillips lives in the apartment complex were Brown was killed. So moved by the raw emotions he witnessed, he began recording it, culminating in a documentary.

(on camera): Has anything changed in the relationship between police and people here, especially in this particular area?

PHILLIPS: I don't think anything has changed with the relationship. Because they are still not engaging their citizens.

SIDNER (voice over): After a Department of Justice investigation that found Ferguson was disproportionately and excessively ticketing and fining its black citizens to bankroll its budget the white police chief, city manager and chief judge, all criticized in that report have been replaced. The new interim police chief is black, so is the new city manager and the new municipal judge as are two new city council members.

(on camera): What's left to protest?

PHILLIPS: So, really, it's kind of like you can use the analogy of weeds in a garden. And for some people, it's just kind of like, you can pull all these weeds out. But if you still have one there, then, you know, the weeds can grow back again.

SIDNER (voice over): To some protesters, the mayor is that weed that must be removed. They see the interim titles as a temporary smokescreen with no real change at how citizens are treated. But Ferguson resident Blake Ashby disagrees.

BLAKE ASHBY, RESIDENT: We are moving forward. Our city is getting better. That will not happen overnight. You know, destruction is immediate and for the people destroying, very gratifying. Change is hard and takes time.

SIDNER: Though Ashby says he is not blind to racial disparities in America.

ASHBY: Statistically, it's hard to say that our society values African American lives as much as wild lives.

SIDNER: He isn't the only one who worries that a small sliver of the new movement could tear the racial divide open even further.

ASHBY: Essentially, what they're doing, they are dismissing everybody else who doesn't do things exactly the way they do. If we're not out shouting at the cops and threatening to rape their families, then somehow we are not really committed to the cause of social justice.

SIDNER: Back on Canfield drive, a plaque serves as a reminder of what happened here. Trying to make a point that this wasn't just about Brown's death, but the rebirth of a civil rights movement.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With this legacy, I think it has affected the world in a good sense. Because it affected. It did make people motivated to speak up, to march, to rally, to fight for change.

SIDNER: Sara Sidner, CNN, Ferguson, Missouri.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: Well, high praise for Pope Francis this morning. The pontiff is calling for a more open church, one that embraces people who are divorced and remarried. Look what this means for millions of Catholics in the U.S. Also, taking down ISIS, the U.S. military now in its second year of air strikes. We're talking about 6,000 attacks so far. Has any progress been made?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: 40 minutes past the hour right now. New this morning, Pope Francis is calling for the Catholic Church to open its arms to people who have been divorced and remarried. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE FRANCIS (through translator): Lately we have seen a growth in the awareness of the fact that we need to welcome brotherly and tenderly and love and truth those baptized people who have established a new relationship after the failure of their sacramental marriage. To all effects, these people are not at all excommunicated. They are not excommunicated and they must not be treated as such. They are always part of the church.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: CNN religion commentator Father Beck, Edward Beck joining us now. Father Beck, good to see you. What do you make of this change?

FATHER EDWARD BECK, CNN RELIGION COMMENTATOR: Well, again, I see Pope Francis being the pastor that he is. He's saying there are so many people in this situation. So to make them feel excluded and outside of the community, I mean, what does that do to their children? We have these baptized children of these couples and now their parents can't go to church, can't receive communion. So, is there more pastoral way to deal with people in this situations? That's the real issue here, Christi.

PAUL: Does that mean that Roman Catholics wouldn't have to get an annulment to marry a second time if they chose?

BECK: If it's changed. Now, remember, the synod in October is going to discuss this issue. And Pope Francis has not changed any of the rules by his statements. He's saying to pastors, though, make sure you treat such people as - in a brotherly way as people who are included in your community, maybe by a case to case situation. Can you make a blanket statement about people? Maybe somebody is in the process of getting an annulment and yet you're excluding them even in that process. So, I think he's saying you have to look at it individually as a pastor. And he wants the Senate in October to discuss this issue as something that we may have more leniency on after that discussion. PAUL: One of the things I read that I think is so interesting about

this pope is that he's known as a cold calling pope. We know last year he called a woman who had married a man who had been divorced and said you are welcome into the church, you are welcome to come and have communion at our church, which is against what has been previously practiced, obviously. Why do you think the pope is - feels so strongly about this, enough so to just call people on the phone? I don't know what I'd do if somebody - I got on the phone, pope is on the phone. I mean that is unique, is it not, Father Beck?

BECK: It certainly is. And so many people have been surprised by this. And again, it's wonderful. It creates confusion in the hearts of some people who say, well, I'm in the same situation as that woman, but I'm not allowed to receive. So, is the pope saying two things here? Is he sending a mixed message? And what he's doing I think he's saying people must be dealt with as individuals. Whatever this woman said to the pope, he said to her, you know, in your situation -- maybe she couldn't get the annulment. Maybe she was the one left. Maybe the spouse was not cooperative. You go to communion. So, he is dealing with her as a pastor. You can have rules, Christi, and the wonderful guidelines, but not everybody fits into these neat categories. And I think as a church, the pope is saying, be attentive to people where they are.

PAUL: All right. Father Beck, always good to get your perspective. So appreciate you taking the time for us this morning. Thank you, sir.

BECK: Thank you, Christi.

PAUL: Thank you.

BLACKWELL: This morning there's a new call for action after another woman in California is killed. And one of the suspects is an undocumented immigrant with a long arrest history. We'll have that story new next hour.

But when we come back, thousands of air strikes, billions of dollars. Is the United States and the rest of the world any closer to defeating ISIS one year later?

[06:44:47]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: New this morning, House Speaker John Boehner is slamming President Obama for, in his view, failing to combat ISIS effectively. Here's part of a statement from the House speaker. One year after authorizing the first air strikes against ISIL in Iraq, President Obama still doesn't have the overreaching strategy or overarching strategy, rather, that's needed to actually defeat these savage terrorists. The U.S. launched airstrikes against the terror group last year, but after nearly 6,000 air strikes and billions of dollars, has it diminished the terror group in any major way? Let's bring in Lieutenant General Mark Hertling now.

General Hertling, good to have you this morning. And I wonder, do you think is Boehner right?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING: I don't believe he's right, Victor. Although there are many people who are dissatisfied with the pace of the attacks against ISIS. Here's - let's analyze the facts. First of all, ISIS has gone from the strategic offensive into the strategic defensive. And that's critical. Now, they may still conduct small amounts of limited attacks. But they are, no doubt about it, on the defensive. They have lost a significant number of their leaders. Some estimate between 25 and 40 percent. They have lost a significant number of their fighters.

[06:50:02]

HERTLING: Some, you know, you heard the estimates, anything from 5,000 to 12,000. They are still capable of generating funds. But that has been reduced significantly because of the bombing of some of the oil fields and the closure of some of the gates between Syria and Turkey. There is not the dynamic we would have expected yet in the pace for the Iraqi government to take on this fight. And we are continuing to try and prod them in that regard. But it has changed significantly over the last year, from what they were doing to what they are doing now.

So, all those things contribute, I think, to an analysis that yes, while as we are not defeating them yet -- and I think we are wanting too quick of a pace in this kind of campaign -- we are having some success in that regard. ISIS is still doing some certain things, to be sure. They are still recruiting, there are a lot of Jihadis still joining the fight from all over the world, specifically North Africa and Europe. They are still getting funds, and they are still popular on the Internet, and they are conducting attacks which gain the attention of the media. But all of those things don't indicate to me that we need a change of strategy.

And in fact, when you go to Mr. Boehner remarks, what he suggests is we need a change of strategy that he has offered. I haven't seen anything that he has offered other than more U.S. boots on the ground. And there are a lot of military people who are adamantly opposed to that.

BLACKWELL: Leaving with those successes and the losses on behalf of ISIS, there's an Obama administrative official who tells CNN, that I want to get the quote right here, that ISIS is "as strong as it was a year ago based on an assessment made in June." It's not growing, but in this official's estimation it's still as strong as it was before the air strikes began. I want to talk to you specifically about a town that was taken, Al Khataim (ph), or Kayandan, rather. Tell us what's the strategic value of this new area, this growth on behalf of ISIS.

HERTLING: Well, let's go first to the administration's suggestion that they are as strong as ever. I would suggest we've got to parse that a little bit and find out why he is saying that. If he's saying because they are regenerating the fighters, then yes, certainly that's true. They have asked for more Jihadis to come there and they have come. But they're not at the capacity that the original group was. So, they're replacing their fighters, to be sure. But truthfully, my view is they are not as skilled, but they are being used in a lot more suicide attacks. When you talk about individual towns depending on where they are -- are they in border regions that will continue allowing the flow of funds in and out of Iraq or Syria. Are they allowing fighters to flow in? That's what ISIS is looking to do, to not only generate more capability for the fight, but also generate more funds. Those are the critical aspects of gaining some of these towns, and there's also aspects of continued intimidation of population. That's a key strategy of ISIS, and that's why it's so important to get the security forces on the ground to counter these fights.

BLACKWELL: And we know that has been a struggle to get the ground forces to follow up and to match with these air strikes. Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, always good to have you.

HERTLING: Thank you, Victor.

PAUL: Well, the campaign shuffle as we're just a couple of hours away now from hearing from Donald Trump. His top political advisor is out. Apparently, Roger Stone doesn't like the direction of the Republican frontrunner's campaign, but had it the campaign turn the page at this point? That's at the top of the hour.

Also when we come back. Junior Seau's daughter. Remembering her father at the pro football Hall of Fame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling for a world without nuclear weapons. He said, this wall - just yards away from the first atomic bomb exploded. This weekend, the world is remembering the 200,000 lives lost when the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years ago.

BLACKWELL: The 20-year old of Junior Seau gave the Hall of Fame speech that her father - her late father couldn't give. The NFL would not let Sidney give the speech during the induction ceremony, citing a five-year rule only allowing the enshrined to speak.

But after the public's outcry, the league interviewed Sidney after the unveiling of Seau's ...

JUNIOR SEAU'S DAUGHTER: I know that his athleticism made him extraordinary enough to make it into the hall. But it is his passion at heart that made him truly legendary and deserve - its honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Junior Seau took his own life in 2012 with a gunshot at the chest. Seaus's ex-wife and children have found a wrongful death suite against the NFL claiming, they hid the effects of repeated hits to the head that can cause brain damage.

PAUL: Well, the NFL or NFL team, I should say, was hoping that this new promotion would bring women closer to the game of football. I don't think it did, though.

BLACKWELL: No, not so much. Coy Wire is here with more on this new controversy.

COY WIRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys. Good morning. So, a few days ago the Tampa Bay Buccaneers unveil what they're calling a ground breaking women's movement. And they wanted to reinvent the female experience. And a lot of women, especially here on the sports department were fuming about this. Now, the Bucks said they just wanted to introduce females to the game. X's and O's et cetera. Well, that made some women mad because they know just as much about the game as the men do. But it really got bad when people saw that the initiative included "practical advice" on how to express their love for the Bucks into original design projects. Fashion forward team apparel and creative culinary creations, end quote.

PAUL: In other words, - to see in the kitchen and the closet.

BLACKWELL: There you go. It's starting already, guys, and we are going to get you involved in the show. So, now critics are calling this program sexist and condescending to women. We want to know what you think. Get that Twitter out, the Facebook page "NEW DAY". Visit us. Use the hashtag new day CNN.

Is this sexist? Did the Bucks take it too far? We want to know your thoughts and we will share them coming up in the next hour.

PAUL: You know, I mean it's a good idea. They just probably didn't execute it real well. That's all.

BLACKWELL: You know, what stood out to me? Put those pictures up again that we just rolled. What was the search terms, the scroll with pictures? The search terms used for these pictures of these women? Angry football fans? Like no one is happy in these photographs.

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: They had a rough season last year, Victor.

BLACKWELL: There are lots of angry fan pictures to go around, I guess.

WIRE: Yes. Yes. So, this will be interesting. We can't wait to hear your comments. You guys always bring it.

[07:00:00]

WIRE: Especially on Sunday - welcome for the ...

PAUL: See, there the beautiful smile ...

WIRE: It's Christmas.

BLACKWELL: Thanks, Coy.

PAUL: All right, thank you.