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Wolf
37 Dead After Suicide Bombing in Beirut; GOP Presidential Candidate Rift over Immigration; FBI Alerts Howard University to Threat Online; Interview with Howard University President. Aired 1:30- 2p ET
Aired November 12, 2015 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:30:51] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Very disturbing breaking news coming out of Lebanon. An official with the Lebanese Red Cross says at least 37 people are dead, dozens more wounded, following a pair of suicide bombings in Beirut, the Lebanese capital.
Journalist Tamara Qiblawi is joining us on the phone right now from Beirut.
Tamara, you're there on the scene of the bombings. First of all, tell us where they are and what happened.
Tamara -- I think we've lost contact with Tamara. We're going to try to reconnect.
Let me update you based on what I know. A Lebanese official telling CNN the death toll clearly is mounting. At least 37 people dead, 181 wounded. Those numbers could go up. This bombing struck a Shiite suburb in southern Beirut. We're told by the Lebanese Red Cross that the explosions hit only minutes apart in this area. It's called Burj al Barajneh. No claiming of responsibility by anyone yet. It is a stronghold of Lebanon's Hezbollah group who's fighting in Syria alongside the government there of Bashar al Assad and the Iranians. This area has been hit in the past. Sunni militant groups have threatened to carry out more such attacks. As of right now, as of right now, we have no direct claim of responsibility for what happened. Once again, 37 people dead. 181 wounded in Beirut.
I think we're trying to reconnect with Tamara Qiblawi, the journalist who's there.
Are you there? Can you hear me?
TAMARA QIBLAWI, LEBANESE JOURNALIST (voice-over): Yes, I can hear you.
BLITZER: Tell us where you are and what you've seen.
QIBLAWI: I am now in the southern suburb of Beirut near the scene of the twin bombings that happened just over two hours ago. I'm actually near a school which is just 15 meters away from the bombing, from where the bombings, I should say, happened. There's a lot of chaos. A lot of Army has been deployed to the street. There's blood on the streets. And, yeah, it's just a devastating scene.
BLITZER: As of now, we've been reporting no one has claimed responsibility for these twin bombings.
QIBLAWI: No.
BLITZER: Are you hearing anything new?
QIBLAWI: Yeah, I spoke to a member from Hezbollah. As you know, this area is considered to be a stronghold of Hezbollah. And they are unwilling to name a suspected group, but they -- you know, one thing I should say really is this is a popular neighborhood. This particular neighborhood isn't associated with the group, Hezbollah. It's mixed Sunni/Shia neighborhood on the outskirts of a major Palestinian camp in Beirut.
BLITZER: This area we've been saying is the Burj al Barajneh area, is that right?
QIBLAWI: Yes, yes, yes. Just on the fringe of the refugee camp. It's a mix of Sunni and Shia area.
[13:34:17]BLITZER: It's a mixed area.
Tamara, we're going to stay in close touch with you and get more information.
Obviously, a horrendous situation happening at the Lebanese capital. At least 37 dead, 181 wounded. But those numbers could go up.
We'll have much more on this story coming up throughout the day.
Also coming up, an issue that's front and center in the race for the White House here in the United States. Could the growing rift over how to handle 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States hurt the Republican Party's chances against the Democrats? Our political panel standing by to weigh in.
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BLITZER: Let's get to presidential politics and the race for the White House. The rift among Republicans right now over immigration reform seems to be very evident. Trump's rivals have criticized his plans to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants. On MSNBC earlier today, Trump was pressed to explain how he would do it. Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: You're going to have a deportation force. You're going to do it humanely. You're going to bring the country -- and frankly, the people -- because you have some excellent wonderful people. Some fantastic people that have been here for a long period. Don't forget, Mika, that you have millions of people waiting online to come into this country. They're waiting to come in legally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Donald Trump yesterday.
Let's bring in our CNN political commentators, S.E. Cupp, a conservative; Maria Cardona, she's a democratic strategist.
S.E., how much of a problem, the different rhetoric we're hearing from some of these Republicans presidential candidates on immigration, what to do about it? How much of a problem is it?
[13:40:12] S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think what Trump is saying is a gift to the rest of the field. I don't know a single person, except for Trump, who looks back at Operation Wetback with fondness.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Eisenhower administration --
CUPP: 1954.
BLITZER: -- when the U.S. deported a couple million Mexicans.
CUPP: Just under a million. A lot of them died. It was deeply inhumane. Trump should be the first to point out, not effective. Illegal immigration is still a problem. Even during Operation Wetback it didn't stem the tide of illegal immigration. So I think this gives the other candidates, namely Jeb Bush, namely Marco Rubio, namely John Kasich, and Carly Fiorina, if they take it, an opportunity to really distinguish themselves and say, look, a pathway to citizenship, that's immoral. If you come here illegally, you shouldn't be rewarded with citizenship. But we a pathway to legal status. We something to do something humane, politically prudent and pragmatic with the 11 million people still here.
BLITZER: They're all saying the same thing, secure the borders first --
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: -- and then discuss what's going on.
Dr. Carson himself is saying, six months, let them register, see what they can do, maybe have a guest worker status.
Jeb Bush is the most critical of Donald Trump's plan. Listen to this, Maria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEB BUSH, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I've heard his views that he believes you can round up half a million people a month. Just assume for a moment that there would be due process. A half a million people basically I think would double the number of people processed through our judicial system. It's not possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: I guess a lot of reports that the Hillary Clinton campaign, they're high-fiving every time this issue comes up because they think maybe not in a Republican contest, a primary caucus, but in a general election this is going to hurt.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It absolutely will. Political kryptonite for any candidate who emerges. The reason is because everything Trump is saying Democrats are going to be able to paint the whole Republican field. Not because they necessarily believe in Operation Wetback and I hope that every single Republican does come out to slam Trump on it because of the inhumanness that it was. He's absolutely wrong on the fact that it worked and on the fact it was humane. It was completely the opposite on both those two facts. But what he's given Democrats a chance to do is paint the whole Republican field. Marco Rubio turned his back on his own legislation he supported in the Senate, the Gang of Eight. The Latino community and frankly allies and Americans who believe that comprehensive immigration reform is the solution that includes a pathway to citizenship are going to see this as political expediency. I've heard from many Latino Republicans in Florida who say there's no way they would vote for Rubio because of that 180 he did.
BLITZER: There seems to be a split between Rubio, Cruz, arguably, number three and number four in all the national polls among the Republicans.
CUPP: Yes, and, you know, it just shows how complicated immigration issue is politically. It's complicated politically for Democrats as well. But if they're smart, instead of going at each other, they would unite and say what Trump wants to do, even if you're Ted Cruz and you see everything as amnesty. What Trump wants to do is impractical. If Trump wants to round up 11 million people, needs to tell us exactly how he's going to yank 11 million people out of their communities, their churches, their schools, their jobs. I want details from a person who is very reluctant to give details elsewhere. We deserve that.
BLITZER: Quickly, Maria, what do you say to those who criticize Obama on his deportations? Some have called him deporter-in-chief. ICE, Immigration, Customs, they points out two million people have been deported since he took office.
CARDONA: What you say is clearly he did that in an effort to try to get Republicans on board for what the overall solution is which is comprehensive immigration reform. Let's remember, when he realized Republicans were going to be so deep rooted in their not wanting to do comprehensive immigration reform, that's when he went to giving DACU, the Deferred Action for Undocumented Immigrants, who came here when they were little, and when he talked about doing executive action.
(CROSSTALK)
CUPP: -- when Obama had total Democratic control and did nothing on immigration.
(CROSSTALK)
CUPP: So let's not herald the Obama administration as the savior for immigration reform.
(CROSSTALK)
CARDONA: He had to rescue the economy, you know.
(LAUGHTER)
We could go into that.
BLITZER: Let's continue this discussion in the coming days. This story is not going away.
CARDONA: Absolutely.
[13:44:46] BLITZER: Thanks, guys, very much.
By the way, you won't want to miss Donald Trump right here tonight. He's Erin Burnett's special guest, 7:00 p.m. eastern, only here on CNN.
We'll be right back.
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BLITZER: There have been a growing number of racial incidents at college campuses across the United States and some of these universities still remain on some sort of heightened alert. Today, the FBI contacted Howard University in Washington, D.C., about a possible threat made online against students at the historically black university in Washington.
Our justice reporter, Evan Perez, has details.
Evan, what do we know about the threat to the students at Howard?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This was a threat made on the website and the FBI called Howard University because this was a threat that made a racial slur and made reference to a specific metro station that's next to Howard University. It threatened harm against students.
So we have a statement from Howard and the way they reacted. They said, "This is an ongoing investigation, however, in an abundance of caution, the university has increased security on campus and metro stations."
The FBI issued a statement saying, "We are aware of the online threat and made appropriate notifications." They asked anyone with information to come forward to police here in
Washington and to the FBI.
We should put this in context a little bit. These threats are not uncommon. There get a lot of them. There's been a lot in light of the tensions at Missouri. That said, the FBI treats this seriously because you never know when one of these will come to pass.
So right now, we know that the threat specifically said 10:00. We don't know if that meant 10:00 a.m. or 10:00 p.m. That's something the FBI is keeping an eye on -- Wolf?
[13:50:57] BLITZER: Evan, thank you very much for that.
Joining us the president of Howard University, Dr. Wayne Frederick. He's with us here at CNN.
Doctor Frederick, thanks very much for joining us.
DR. WAYNE A.I. FREDERICK, PRESIDENT, HOWARD UNIVERSITY: Sure.
BLITZER: So what have you been told by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, how concerned should the students be?
FREDERICK: The FBI contacted us late last night and have been coordinating with our chief of police on information for a social media posting that suggested that someone using racial slurs in their posting was going to bring harm to students. And also they would potentially take that threat into metro station as well.
BLITZER: How unusual is this? You've been the president for about a year now. How unusual is it to get a call like this from the FBI?
FREDERICK: Certainly, highly unusual. We believe it's a threat that has to be taken seriously and that's what the FBI have been doing. We have an increased security campus. It's security on campus right now as well as at the metro stations around the campus. There's a lot of vigilance that no one would be harmed on our campus. It's something we take very seriously and something we denounce heavily as well. The language that was used and the rhetoric around hatred that we think is absolutely inappropriate.
BLITZER: It was really ugly the words in the threat that's been posted and repeated use of the "N" word, an awful situation like that. Do you see this as part of a bigger nationwide problem, this latest threat against the students at Howard University to what's going on elsewhere around the country like the University of Missouri?
FREDERICK: Most definitely. Our students are very active and stood in support of the students at Missouri University, which we also support. We do see this as a growing national problem.
BLITZER: What's the problem from your perspective?
FREDERICK: I think the problem is a problem of a making sure that the environments across the nation are one in which students can feel comfortable participating in higher education in their various environments. It led to the integration of schools is one that can simply be a law that we live actively. As times change, we have to have contemporary environments and teachings that allow students to feel comfortable so they can excel. That has to happen across the country. I can't speak specifically to every single campus, but it is a growing frustration of students of color as to how they are being treated on campuses and we're seeing that.
BLITZER: You're a president of a major university. What's your advice to colleagues, other presidents of universities, right now? What do they need to do? The president of the University of Missouri was forced to step down.
FREDERICK: One of the things we're going to do at Howard is try to lead on this issue. I'm going to invite major university presidents around the country to Howard's campus for a national dialogue on this issue. We will invite students in as well to give feedback, first and foremost, as to what they are experiencing and why. And then I think we collectively have to come up with solutions to ensure that this works as best as it can because we have to make sure campuses are safe.
BLITZER: Dr. Wayne Frederick, good luck to you and all the students and faculty, everyone at Howard University. I have an honorary degree, I'm proud to say, from Howard University.
You'll keep us informed on what's going on.
FREDERICK: Absolutely.
[13:54:26] BLITZER: Thank you so much for joining us, Dr. Wayne Fredrickson, president of Howard University.
Coming up, he tackled a suicide bomber, saving countless lives. The emotional ceremony held today for retired Army captain awarded the Medal of Honor for an unforgettable act of heroism.
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BLITZER: A very grateful nation honors an American with its highest military honor. This morning, President Obama presented the Medal of Honor to the now retired U.S. Army captain, Florent Groberg, who was badly wounded in Afghanistan in 2012, when he tackled a suicide bomber seconds before the detonation. Four fellow soldiers were killed in subsequent bombings but, because of his heroism, many more lives were saved.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He didn't know it at the time, that exPLOsion also caused a second unseen bomb to detonate before it was in place. Had both bombs gone off as planned, who knows how many could have been killed. Those are the lives Flo helped to save. We are honored that many of them are here today.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: With today's ceremony, Florent Groberg becomes the 10th survivor of the Afghanistan war to receive the Medal of Honor, and the first from the state of Maryland.
That's it for me. Thank you for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 eastern in "The Situation Room."
For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is up next.
For our viewers in North American, NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts now.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[14:00:13] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Wolf, thank you so much.
I'm Brooke Baldwin.
