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Clinton Supports Iran Deal; Baltimore Mayor to Speak on $6.4 Million Settlement with Freddie Gray's Family. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired September 09, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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


[09:30:00] HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can certainly understand why that may sound appealing. But as someone who started these talks in the first place and built our global coalition piece by piece, I can assure you it is not realistic. Plus, if we walk away now, our capacity to sustain and enforce sanctions will be severely diminished. We will be blamed, not the Iranians.

So if we were to reject this agreement, Iran would be poised to get nearly everything it wants without giving up a thing. No restrictions on their nuclear program. No real warning if Teheran suddenly rushes toward a bomb. And the international sanctions regime would fall apart, so no more economic consequences for Iran either.

Those of us who have been out there on the diplomatic front lines know that diplomacy is not the pursuit of perfection. It's the balancing of risk. And on balance, the far riskier course right now would be to walk away. Great powers can't just junk agreements and expect the rest of the world to go along with us. We need to be reasonable and consistent and we need to keep our word, especially when we're trying to lead a coalition. That's how we'll make this and future deals work.

But it's not enough just to say yes to this deal. Of course it isn't. We have to say yes and, yes and we will enforce it with vigor and vigilance. Yes and we will embed it in a broader strategy to confront Iran's bad behavior in the region. Yes and we will begin from day one to set the conditions so Iran knows it will never be able to get a nuclear weapon, not during the term of the agreement, not after, not ever. We need to be clear and I think we have to make that very clear to Iran about what we expect from them.

This is not the start of some larger diplomatic opening. And we shouldn't expect that this deal will lead to broader changes in their behavior. That shouldn't be a promise for proceeding. Instead, we need to be prepared for three scenarios. First, Iran tries to cheat. Something it's been quite willing to do in the past. Second, Iran tries to wait us out. Perhaps it waits to move for 15 years when some, but not all, restrictions expire. And third, Iran ramps up its dangerous behavior in the region, including its support for terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

I believe that the success of this deal has a lot to do with how the next president grapples with these challenges, so let me tell you what I would do. My starting point will be one of distrust. You remember President Reagan's line about the Soviets, trust but verify? My approach will be distrust and verify. We should anticipate that Iran will test the next president. They'll want to see how far they can bend the rules.

That won't work if I'm in the White House. I'll hold the line against Iranian noncompliance. That means penalties, even for small violations, keeping our allies on board, but being willing to snap back sanctions into place unilaterally if we have to, working with Congress to close any gaps in the sanctions. Right now, members of Congress are offering proposals to that effect. And I think the current administration should work with them to see whether there are additional steps that could be taken.

Finally, it means ensuring that the IAEA has the resources its needs, from finances to personnel to equipment, to hold Iran's feet to the fire. But the most important thing we can do to keep Iran from cheating or trying to wait us out is to shape Iranian expectations right from the start. The Iranians and the world need to understand that we will act decisively if we need to. So here's my message to Iran's leaders. The United States will never allow you to acquire a nuclear weapon.

As president, I will take whatever actions are necessary to protect the United States and our allies. I will not hesitate to take military action if Iran attempts to obtain a nuclear weapon. And I will set up my successor to be able to credibly make the same pledge. We will make clear to Iran that our national commitment to prevention will not waiver depending on who's in office. It's permanent.

[09:35:22] And should it become necessary in the future, having exhausted peaceful alternatives to turn to military force, we will have preserved, and in some cases enhanced, our capacity to act. And because we've proven our commitment to diplomacy first, the world will more likely join us.

Then there's broader issue of countering Iran's bad behavior across the region. Taking nuclear weapons out of the equation is crucial because an Iran with nuclear weapons is so much more dangerous than an Iran without them. But even without nuclear weapons, we still see Iran's fingerprints on nearly every conflict across the Middle East.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we're going to break away from this press conference held by Hillary Clinton talking about the Iranian nuclear deal. And we'll analyze it. But I've got to do that after a break. I'll be right back with more in the NEWSROOM.

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[09:40:44] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLINTON: We should anticipate that Iran will test the next president. They'll want to see how far they can bend the rules. That won't work if I'm in the White House. I'll hold the line against Iranian noncompliance. That means penalties even for small violations. Keeping our allies on board but being willing to snap back sanctions into place unilaterally if we have to. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton speaking in Washington, outlining why she supports the Iranian nuclear deal. Her signature line today, "distrust, but verify." Clinton also said, as president, she would send a message to Iran that if they violated the deal, she would use military force if necessary.

CNN is covering all angles of the story. Our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny is here, as well as global affairs correspondent Elise Labott, she's in Washington. Also in Washington, CNN politics reporter Jeremy Diamond. And in Massachusetts, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Hillary Clinton supporter Bill Richardson.

Thanks to all of you for being with me to try to analyze this speech and dig a little deeper.

Jeff, I want to start with you because one of the most surprising things that Hillary Clinton said, she said, "either we move on the path of diplomacy with this Iran deal or we take on a much riskier road," but she didn't say that if we didn't -- if we didn't follow through with the Iran deal it would -- it would lead to war, as President Obama has said. Why do you think that --

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: She did --

COSTELLO: Go ahead.

ZELENY: She did say that, Carol. But what she made clear in this speech was that there are severe repercussions if the U.S. were to back away from this deal. This is not just a deal, of course, reached with Washington and Tehran, this is a deal that's reached with, you know, much of the globe here. So she made clear the big consequences of backing away from it.

Of course this speech may sort of sound like it's a month late or so because the deal is essentially done in terms of having enough support in Congress to support the president's move on this and to block any attempt to override it. But I think what this moment is, Carol, it's a good and appropriate pause in this very chaotic presidential campaign that we've seen that points out that presidential campaigns matter whether you support this deal or don't support this deal. We'll hear plenty from the other side this afternoon. Presidential campaigns are important. It's about the next, you know, time of leadership. And she is absolutely right about whoever the next occupant of the White House, it's going to be someone they are going to own and inherit this. So this is a very important day, important speech, important topic.

COSTELLO: And, Jeff is right, Elise, because Donald Trump is going to hold a rally later this afternoon and he says he's going to renegotiate the deal. He wrote an op-ed in "USA Today" outlining that. Is it possible to renegotiate this deal, Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, in short, Carol, no. I mean, look, you know, a lot -- there is a lot that's said on these campaigns about renegotiating a deal, about, you know, violating the deal and kind of ending it. But, look, once this deal is in train, it's going to be impossible for the international community to walk it back. And they're not going to want to. Everyone's eager to get back to business with Iran.

And I think what Secretary Clinton did in this speech is, look, she took credit a little bit for, you know, bringing Iran to this point. You know, she was involved in the creation of sanctions in the Obama administration and she also was, you know, as secretary of state, with her aide started those secret talks with Iran. But what she did was, she took credit for it, but said, you know, then we have to take it a little bit further. In the speech she said, "this is not the start of some broader diplomatic opening. We shouldn't expect this deal to lead to a broader change in their behavior." And so she talks about kind of the deal plus. How can you strengthen U.S. efforts to secure Israel, to secure the Gulf States, to counter some of Iran's proxies: You know, this administration is talking in very broad strokes, but Secretary Clinton puts a little bit of meat on the bones on this speech about how, as president, she would make sure that this deal is enforceable, not only about Iran's nuclear program, but about countering Iran's other destabilizing behavior in the region. And that's what this region in the Middle East is very concerned about.

[09:45:07] COSTELLO: And Governor Richardson, I know Hillary Clinton is still speaking, but she didn't do much really to allay the fears that many Americans have. OK, so let's say Iran is prevented from developing a nuclear weapon, but it can now, because all of this money will be infused into Iran because the sanctions will be lifted, it could buy other kinds of weapons and then destabilize that region even more.

BILL RICHARDSON, FORMER NEW MEXICO GOVERNOR: Well, I have been a bit lukewarm on this deal, but I think she offered assurances that the non-nuclear component of the deal -- Iran's behavior and support in Syria for Hamas, for Hezbollah, its attacks on Israel, its messing around in the region, releasing hostages, four American hostages -- that she would be an enforcer and she would extend the deal to ensure that Iran's behavior is critical.

And I think also she takes credit for what brought Iran to the table: oil sanctions, access to international financing. She worked relentlessly to make that happen. And at the same time, she can say that she supports the president. She's loyal to the president.

But I think what is being missed here is her statement that we would use military action. You know, right now if there's a violation, we say military action's on the table. I thought she said very clearly that to block Iran's path to go to get nuclear weapons, she would use military action. That was very, I believe, presidential. I think this is a turning point in her campaign with the apology on the issue of the e-mails and now Iran focusing in the Congress, the vote. I think she's turned the page in the campaign and she'll regain the momentum that perhaps was lost with this e-mail issue.

COSTELLO: Do you think so? Because she did apologize on ABC News for her use of a private server during the time when she was Secretary of State. She also teared up a bit and I found that interesting too, Governor Richardson.

RICHARDSON: Well, she did. I think that that was necessary, the apology. Although, you know, in my view I think the fact that Secretary Powell used the private server, that it was legal at the time, that it created a lot of confusion.

I think the American people want to hear, OK, a mistake was made, I was sorry. Hopefully it will put aside that issue. I doubt it, but it's a major step. A president, the main responsibility is protecting the country, national security. She was presidential. Foreign policy is her wheelhouse. She was a good Secretary of State. It was a well delivered speech. It talked about Israel. Hopefully the Jewish community, which is traditionally Democratic, starts moving back with the Democrats.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Jeff Zeleny, Elise Labott, Bill Richardson, many thanks. And Jeremey, we'll get to you soon, I promise, but I've got to take a break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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[09:52:44] COSTELLO: I want to take you to Baltimore now where Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is going to be addressing the media right after city officials just voted to approve a $6.4 million settlement with the family of Freddie Gray. Now, this comes one day before a change of venue hearing for the six officers charged in connection with the Gray case.

Joining me now to talk about this, CNN legal expert and criminal defense attorney Paul Callan and Laura Coates. She's the former assistant U.S. attorney for District of Columbia. Welcome to both of you. Thanks for being here.

So, Paul -- good morning. Paul, I'm going to start with you, because the union, the police union, is furious about this settlement. It says, you know, the criminal cases haven't been heard yet. This poisons the well.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, a lot of observers, lawyer observers who do work in this field, very, very surprised by the settlement, because it sends a message in advance of a number of a very, very important series of criminal trials that the City of Baltimore has already made up its mind that the cops were in the wrong. And if you're struggling to keep the case in Baltimore, I don't think that's the case that you want to send the message to the judge either, that we're sending this very public message.

So it's a surprising thing to do. You know, you can settle these cases after the criminal trial, which is when they're usually settled.

COSTELLO: Right. So, Laura, why do you think that the City of Baltimore didn't just wait?

LAURA COATES, FMR. ASSISTANT U.S. ATTY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: You know, it's interesting that they didn't just wait because there was no civil suit that had actually been brought yet by the family, and they could have waited. What I think they were trying to do is to essentially try to avoid what happened the day before in Cleveland with Kenneth -- I believe his name was Kenneth Smith, when he had a civil suit against an off-duty officer for about $6 million. And so I think the city was trying to preempt future lawsuits that would be much more protracted and more costly to the city.

But Paul is absolutely right. What this sends is a signal that it'll be very hard to find an impartial jury. Good luck telling a jury please be impartial and be objective about the evidence, but by the way we just paid the officers -- we paid on behalf of the officers $6 million to the family because there was a wrongdoing. It's very difficult to have an impartial jury at this point.

COSTELLO: So I suppose that the judge could say, you know, you're not allowed to mention this in court, right?

[09:55:02] If there are six separate cases, you can't -- but it's too late, right? Because the whole city is paying attention to this particular hot button issue that affects them.

CALLAN: Well, the judge is instruct the jury, hey, don't read newspapers, don't watch television, and theoretically people aren't going to know about it. But of course, everybody is going to know about it, and then they're going to follow -- they severed all six criminal cases. Instead of trying some of these cops together to have, one, two, trials, they're going to have six separate trials. So you can imagine the building publicity after each trial. How in the world could you get a fair jury in Baltimore?

COSTELLO: Well, the other concern -- OK, let's say the first trial takes place, Laura, right? And the officer is cleared, but the City of Baltimore has already deemed this officer guilty. You know, they have problems with rioting in the City of Baltimore. What might that do?

COATES: It will have a negative impact on the city's morale. That was the reason that there has been issues around the nation. When there has been a drop in the morale and the fundamental mistrust for this criminal justice system has evolved because there has been consistent examples where officers are exonerated. And so I think you're going to have, if an officer is in fact cleared, given this very high settlement, it will spur additional mistrust for the criminal justice system when there is a police defendant.

COSTELLO: All right. Thanks so much.

Again, we're waiting for Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to speak. Paul Callan, Laura Coates, stick around, so don't leave just yet. We'll get your take on what she says.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM after a break.

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