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U.S. Reasonably Certain Jihadi John Is Dead; ISIS Defeated and on the Run; Obama Doesn't Think ISIS Is Gaining Strength; Carson Claims Chinese Military in Syria; Trump Tirade Targets Carson; Unhappy GOP Wants to Draft Romney; Trump's Tirade. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 13, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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


JOSH EARNEST, U.S. WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And, again, in the case of Mr. Emwazi, somebody's who is an ISIL leader, a strategist for that organization and somebody who was actively involved in their online recruitment and radicalization efforts. And that made him a target worth going after.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And as you mentioned earlier, this individual had a role in the deaths of some western hostages. I'm wondering if the White House has reached out today or yesterday to the families of those hostages, and if you could describe, I guess, what kind of outreach was done for them (INAUDIBLE)?

EARNEST (live): Yes. Roberta, I can confirm that a number of families of hostages who have been killed in Syria were contacted in advance of public reports to let them know that this operation had taken place, it, once again, elevates the media attention around their loved one. And so, hearing from us firsthand about that is something that we try to do. This was something that was done consistent with the process that was established by the task force that the president announced earlier today -- or earlier this year over to the summer to talk about how the United States will handle the cases of American hostages who are being held around the world.

One of the goals of that new structure was to streamline and improve our communication with hostage families and -- or the families of hostages. And this is one example of how that process has been made more efficient by the structure that we have put in place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And, briefly, on (INAUDIBLE), the bipartisan meeting that you're having on TPP.

EARNEST: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How concerned is the White House and the president that TPP is becoming kind of a target of bipartisan criticism in the 2016 campaign with both the Democrats (INAUDIBLE) campaign and people -- the Republicans who are running and attacking them from both sides?

EARNEST: Not particularly, again, primarily because this was when Congress was working to advance trade promotion authority legislation over the summer -- WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to continue to monitor the

White House briefing. That's Josh Earnest. He was asked about the reports that Jihadi John, the ISIS terrorist, Mohammed Emwazi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike, a drone airstrike. The Pentagon says the U.S. is reasonably certain that he is now dead, Jihadi John. The White House press secretary also saying families of those Americans who had been killed by Jihadi John were notified before public release of this word.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world.

We're following the breaking news in the war against ISIS, including a major victory in Iraq. Kurdish troops with help from the U.S. military say they have chased out ISIS terrorists, liberated the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar. We'll have a live report from just outside Sinjar. That's coming up.

Also, the other big story we're watching, once again, the Pentagon saying it's reasonably certain that Jihadi John, the masked man seen in several hostage beheading videos, is now dead. One Muslim group called him the manifestation of evil. Analysts describe him as grotesque, fond of sadistic torture techniques. And now, his reign of terror may have come to an end. Jihadi John, also identified as the British citizen, Mohammed Emwazi, was the masked man we saw in many of those sadistic videos serving as the public face and the mouthpiece of ISIS.

The U.S. military says that it has great confidence Jihadi John was killed in that coalition airstrike near Raqqah, Syria. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. STEVE WARREN, U.S. ARMY: We are reasonably certain that we killed the target that we intended to kill which is Jihadi John. And this guy was a human animal and killing him is probably making the world a little bit better place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's go to our Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr. Barbara, you broke this story overnight. Have you learned more details about the strike? What can you tell us?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, what we now know is that the U.S. military and intelligence community had actually been tracking Jihadi John, Mohammed Emwazi, for several days. They had picked up his trail and discovered that he was making his way to Raqqah. And they began to follow him.

What we know is they had three drones overhead equipped with missiles, and they were -- they were keeping constant eyes on him because that's, basically, the way these missions go. You have to keep eyes on the target. You have to know that that is the person you're going after and that civilians will not be killed in the area, that you take every precaution against civilians.

So, it was yesterday when they saw him exit a building in Raqqah and get into a vehicle. That's when two missiles were fired from three drones overhead. They believe absolutely that they did get him. Do they have 100 percent surety? No, because there are no U.S. personnel on the ground. So now, they will begin to try and verify that. But they do believe that they got the man they were going after.

BLITZER: Yes, they certainly do. They are saying they are reasonably certain he is now dead. Barbara, thanks very much.

I want to go into the other major development in the war against ISIS. Kurdish forces claim they have now won the battle for Sinjar. They have retaken that northern Iraqi city from ISIS terrorists. It follows a two-day assault that was backed by a U.S.-led coalition airstrike. The victory marked by the raising of the Kurdish flag over Sinjar.

Our Senior International Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is joining us live from northern Iraq not far from Sinjar. Nick, you've watched this fight unfold. You were there right in the middle of it, the Kurds moving quickly. They got some U.S. airstrike assistance. So, where does it go from here?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The question is, I think, is this a new momentum on behalf of the Peshmerga working in coordination with other Kurdish groups? But also, that remarkable asset they had of coalition air power, so persistent, so effective over the last two days, using in this, frankly, extraordinarily quick victory in Sinjar for the Peshmerga. Is this new momentum going to point them in the direction to the west of Sinjar, Raqqah, the capital of the self-declared caliphate or off to the east, Mosul and Raqqah also held by ISIS? Those are the next two targets.

And, in fact, Marsu Barzani, the Kurdish regional government leader, when he (INAUDIBLE) today announced the quote, "official liberation of Sinjar" did suggest they would assist in the operations against Mosul. It is strategically vital. It sits on that road between Raqqah and Mosul. And also, Mosul is under pressure as well from its south, from Baiji up which -- to which Iraqi security forces are moving from Baghdad.

So, a lot moving here. But while I say Sinjar is being liberated, Wolf, the picture we got today was not universal. It's a mess. It's been, frankly, flattened by airstrike and suicide bombs, much like Kabani when we were in there late last year. Really, every building damaged. Everywhere you look, some kind of booby trap or roadside bomb, explosive in tunnels hidden underground in barrels. In fact, one fear being that, in fact, ISIS had disguised themselves as Peshmerga while hiding underground in tunnels.

When we were there, a bullet passed over our heads, caused significant panic amongst the Peshmerga. Two of their guys had, in fact, been wounded by the sniper they said. And they tried to track him down. We were told here, potentially, they may have caught him. Pockets of resistance (ph) still certainly in that city. But make no mistake, the speed of the victory remarkable. Everyone we spoke to, really, saying coalition air power made it happen. The Peshmerga were there in huge numbers, but it was the fact that the roads around that city were made impossible to ISIS' suicide bombers because of the airstrikes that made this happen so fast -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And those Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, they are fierce fighters, as we all know. Nick Paton Walsh, be careful over there.

ISIS' reach in influence seems to be growing in the Middle East at the same time. The militant group has claimed responsibility for the downing of that Russian plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people onboard.

And there was a pair of suicide bombs in Beirut that killed at least 43 people, injured more than 200 others. And, today, look at this in Baghdad.

A suicide attack during a funeral that killed 17 people in the Iraqi capital. But with the news that a coalition airstrike may have killed Jihadi John, it appears there is at least some progress from the U.S. and coalition perspective in this war against ISIS.

Let's discuss what's going on with Congressman Peter King of New York. He's a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, also of the Intelligence Committee. How significant is the targeting death, assuming he's dead, of Jihadi John? Because the critics are pointing out, he was a relatively low-level guy. He got a lot of publicity for those videos, but there are a lot of other jihadists way above him that are still very much alive and well.

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK, HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Well, Wolf, you know, I mean, there are a lot of others above him but this is still very important. And I want to give the U.S. military tremendous credit for this, because he had become a major face of ISIS. He was the one who was and out there carrying out these horrific executions, the cutting off of the heads which is just absolutely horrible.

So, I think it's very important symbolically, psychologically, and it's going to hurt ISIS, at least in the short run, as far as recruiting. And it takes away this image of them being invincible. So, no, this is very significant.

[13:10:09] And I, again, give the military a lot of credit because we, basically, have done -- we have very little, if any, intelligence on the ground in Syria for them to be able to find him, to track him and to kill him. If that is the case, that is an extraordinary achievement.

BLITZER: Coalition airstrikes led by the U.S., as you know, also backing up Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in this operation to free Sinjar. It looks like things are moving in the right direction, based on the Nick Paton Walsh report that you just saw. Is the United States undertaking a more aggressive approach, not only from the skies but on the ground as well, because some special operation forces were near Sinjar calling in airstrikes?

KING: Right. Wolf, I certainly hope so. And I hope the president maintains it, because ISIS is a difficult enemy to defeat because it's hard to get clustered in one area. You do need intelligence. You do need people on the ground. You do need a sustained attack. So, I think the killing of Jihadi John, the taking back of Sinjar by the Peshmerga, all of that is a significant step.

Bug, again, ISIS is still making inroads themselves. So, we have to keep this up. We have to maintain it. And we have to realize, this is going to be a long struggle. But if we keep going like this, then we are definitely going in the right direction. It's been a long haul. I think we've been fighting, really, in a -- almost one hand behind our back by not having any forces on the ground for intelligence purposes. But if this, you know, continues this way, then we are going in the right direction. And the president will be doing the right thing. But he's got to sustain it.

BLITZER: Here is how the president offered his assessment of what's going on in this war against ISIS right now. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think they're gaining strength. What is true is that from the start, our goal has been first to contain and we have contained them. They have not gained ground in Iraq. And in Syria, it -- they'll come in. They'll leave. But you don't see this systemic march by ISIL across the terrain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you agree with that assessment?

KING: No, I don't. I think the president is being too detached. The fact is ISIS has gained over the last year. I think any intelligence analyst will tell you that ISIS is stronger today than it was 14 months ago. It's -- and for the president to say that, again, that makes me nervous that the president is not -- you know, wants to declare a quick victory again and get out. The fact is if we have begun to turn the tide at all, then we have to sustain it and keep going because ISIS will keep going.

Listen, it was just, what, 10 days ago we believed that they were the ones responsible for bringing down, you know, the Russian airliner. So, this is not a movement that's receding. It's actually expanding its scope. And we know, back in July, they attempted to launch attacks here in the United States over the fourth of July.

So, no, they are not receding. We have scored some victories over the last few days. But, again, these are victories in a long war. So, I hope the president is not just planning on saying we won and getting out because this is going to be a long, tough fight.

BLITZER: One final question before I let you go.

KING: Sure.

BLITZER: You're a member of the Intelligence Committee. The Republican presidential candidate, Ben Carson, he says he knows that Chinese military is now involved directly in Syria. He'll be releasing evidence supposedly this weekend. That's what he just said. Based on everything you know, is there proof that the Chinese military, that they are actively engaged in Syria?

KING: Wolf, I have not -- I'm not aware of any evidence at all suggesting that, saying that, implying that, no. When I heard him say that, you know, the other evening, I was struck by it. I thought maybe I had missed something. But from all I know, from everybody I've spoken to, and from everything I have heard, you know, there is nothing to back that -- you know, to back that up at all. I'll be interested in seeing what he has to show. If he does not have to show it, it's a real reflection. You can't be making allegations like that on the -- on the world stage. I mean, China is a major power. There's enough things we can accuse China of. If we accuse them of being some place they're not, then it just weakens our credibility and it enhances China's.

BLITZER: Yes, we just hear the White House press secretary, Josh Earnest, ridiculed that statement. Susan Rice, the president's national security advisor, she says, and she's got all of her intelligence sources, she doesn't know anything about that. We'll see, in fact, what he does have, what kind of evidence he has if he releases something over the weekend to back up the assertion that China is now directly involved in Syria as well.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.

KING: Wolf, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

BLITZER: Also coming up, Donald Trump, he's doubling down on a stunning attack against Dr. Ben Carson. His newest claim plus Dr. Carson's response, that's coming up.

And a new report that the Republican establishment is actually panicking right now at Donald Trump and Dr. Carson's rise in the polls. So much so, they're even thinking of trying to draft Mitt Romney. We'll have details when we come back.

[13:15:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:19:10] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Just when you thought you heard Donald Trump's most stunning comment, he goes on a 95-minute tirade. Trump unloading on Hillary Clinton, as well as Republican - his Republican presidential rivals. And he unleashed his most aggressive attacks so far on Dr. Ben Carson. At one point during last night's campaign rally in Iowa, Trump mocked Carson's narrative about his violent past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He took a knife and he went after a friend, and he lunged, he lunged that knife into the stomach of his friend. But lo and behold, it hit the belt. It hit the belt. And the knife broke. Give me a break. Give me a break. Give me a break. The knife broke.

Let me tell you, I'm pretty good at this stuff. So, I have a belt, all right. Somebody hits me with a (INAUDIBLE) it's going in because the belt moves this way. It moves this way. It moves that way. He hit the belt buckle. Anybody - anybody have a knife? You want to try it on me? Believe me, it ain't going to work. You're going to be successful.

[13:20:25] But he took the knife, he went like this, and he plunged it into the belt. And amazingly the belt stayed totally flat, and the knife broke. How stupid are the people of Iowa? How stupid are the people of the country to believe this crap?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Earlier, Trump sat down with CNN's Erin Burnett. He was skeptical of Dr. Carson's stabbing story during that one-on-one interview as well and he took his criticism a step further, comparing Carson's temperament to child molesters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But when he said he stabbed somebody with a knife but it hit a belt buckle, I know a lot about knives and belt buckles. Belt buckles aren't going to stop, because they're going to turn, they're going to twist, they're going to, you know, they're not solid, especially if somebody's got a couple of extra pounds on. You know, they move. There's a lot of movement. So the chances of somebody going like that, hitting a belt buckle where it doesn't slide off and go into the -

ERIN BURNETT, ANCHOR, CNN'S "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT": So you're not satisfied yet?

TRUMP: Well, I just don't know. But when somebody said that he's pathological, you'll have to ask him that question. I haven't seen it. I know it's in the book, that he's got a pathological temper or temperament. That's a big problem because you don't cure that. That's like, you know, I could say - they say you don't cure - as an example, child molester. You don't care these people. You don't cure a child molester. There's no cure for it. Pathological, there's no cure for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Trump also responded to critics of his immigration plan. Erin Burnett pressed him on how he would deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: But how would you do the logistics of it? How would you do the logistics? TRUMP: OK. Two things. First of all, it's all about -

BURNETT: OK, how do you take 11 million people and make them leave?

TRUMP: Right. Right. We're going to build a wall. It's going to be a real wall. It's going to be a wall that's powerful and that people aren't going to be going under or up or around or anything else. We are going to get rid of the bad ones because we have some really bad ones in here right now and you know that, gang members in L.A. You look at some of these gangs, they're 100 percent illegal immigrant. They're going to be gone. OK. And they're going to be gone fast. And they're not going to be in our prisons for us to take care of them. Our prisons are bursting with illegals right now. Bursting.

BURNETT: What about, though, the law abiding majority? That's the big question.

TRUMP: Wait a minute. Sure. Now you have people that come in illegally -

BURNETT: Yes.

TRUMP: And they're called illegal immigrants. And they're here illegally. They're going to have to go and they're going to have to come back in legally. And, otherwise we don't have a country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: In response to Trump's comments, Dr. Carson tried to take the high road. Here's what he said during a news conference just a little while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Now that he's completed his gratuitous attack, why don't we press on and deal with the real issues. You know, the reason that I'm in this race is because there are some real profound issues that affect the trajectory of our country right now. That's what the people of America are concerned about, not so much politics as usual, politics of personal destruction. That's what people are sick and tired of. And I'm hopeful that at some point we reach a level of maturity that we can actually deal with the issues that are facing us right now and stop getting into the mud and doing things that really don't matter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As for Trump's comparing Dr. Carson's self-described pathological temper when he was a teenager to a child molester, Carson said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON: It's not the kind of dialogue that I would ever engage in. And I'm hopeful that maybe his advisers will help him to understand the word pathological. And recognize that that does not denote incurable. It's not the same. It simply is an adjective that describes something that is highly abnormal. And something that fortunately I've been able to be delivered from for a half a century now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Earlier, Carson's business manager called Trump's comments "immature" and "embarrassing," and actually said Dr. Carson was praying for Donald Trump.

So, how are the Democrats reacting to what's going on with the Republicans? Joining us now from Des Moines, Iowa, is the chair of the DNC, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Congresswoman, thanks very much for joining us. I know you're getting ready or the big Democratic presidential debate there tomorrow night.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, CHAIRMAN, DNC: Yes.

BLITZER: So what do you make of Trump's statements against Dr. Ben Carson? How is it likely to affect the Republican race seen from your perspective?

[13:25:03] SCHULTZ: You know, I mean the food fight that has become the Republican primary continues. And they really have focused on the politics of personal destruction, which now they've trained on one another. The raging battle that exists in the Republican Party today between the Tea Party extremists and so many of the Republican field, they have all become beholden to the extreme right. And so what it's caused is not a focus on the issues that matter to Americans that are going to decide this election, but on, you know, personal, nasty, back-biting politics that, you know, has made it - made their primary a soap opera.

BLITZER: As you know, Donald Trump, he's been severely criticized over his plan to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants from the United States. But as you also know, some Latino groups have criticized President Obama from deporting well more than 2 million people from the United States during his first seven years in office. In fact, listen to this exchange that President Obama had with Jorge Ramos on Univision back in 2014.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORGE RAMOS, UNIVISION: Why did you deport 2 million people?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Jorge, the - we're not - we're not going to -

RAMOS: For six years you did it. You destroyed many families. They called you deporter-in-chief.

OBAMA: No. Listen, Jorge - Jorge, we're - I - you called me deporter- in-chief. I did not.

RAMOS: That was (INAUDIBLE).

OBAMA: The - but let me say this, Jorge, that -

RAMOS: But you could have stopped the deportation. (INAUDIBLE).

OBAMA: No, no, no, no, that is - that is not true. We spent that entire time trying to get a comprehensive immigration reform bill done that would solve the problem for all the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So you understand, congresswoman, why so many Latinos are so frustrated that the president has deported millions of people from the United States as well.

SCHULTZ: Wolf, the whelming majority of Hispanics in this country are supportive of the Democratic Party's agenda. They appreciate that President Obama established the deferred action program to allow our nation's dreamers, who know no other country but this one and are, you know, as American as any American citizen is, and just one away to be able to make sure that they can make a way - a better way of life for themselves as their parents intended, and that Republicans who are running for president, including Marco Rubio, to add insult to injury, would repeal that piece of mind that that deferred action program has created for dreamer. And much worse. You know, Donald Trump has spent the last several days since their debate talking about a policy if he were, God forbid, to become president, where he would round up all of the undocumented immigrants, I mean create an immigration police. And, I mean, I - the police state that Donald Trump has suggested he would create if he were to become president is about the most un-American thing that I can think of.

BLITZER: A quick question on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner. And she'll be in the debate obviously there in Iowa, where you are already, tomorrow night. She's brought up now several times, including recently, this assertion that back, what, in 1975, when she was a Yale law school grad, she was married to Bill Clinton in Little Rock, Arkansas, she wanted to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps but was turned away by a recruiter there. What, if anything, do you know about this story because a lot of eyebrows have been raised by it?

SCHULTZ: What I know is, is that this is not the first time that Hillary Clinton has shared this personal anecdote from her life. She shared it, you know, first when she was first lady in the 1990s. And, you know, it - it's a story that she uses to illustrate where women were back then, and just how far we've come and how long we have to go, just like all candidates use our personal stories and anecdotes from our lives as jumping off point. And it's nothing more than that. And, you know, I think the American people are getting really tired of the obsession over personal anecdotes from people's lives, which are nothing more than that. They want us to focus as our candidates have focused on the issues that are important to them - whether they can get a good job that pays them well, whether they can get a good education that they can afford, whether they can have access to affordable health care, whether they can have a good roof over their head and a secure retirement. And any one of our candidates are fighting for that to help people reach the middle class, and any one of the Republicans candidate want to dial the clock back to the failed policies that got us into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

BLITZER: Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the chair of the Democratic National Committee and the congresswoman from south Florida. Congressman -- congresswoman, thanks very much for joining us.

SCHULTZ: Always a pleasure, Wolf. Thank you so much.

BLITZER: Thank you. And this programming note for our viewers. Tomorrow night, after that Democratic debate, at 11:00 p.m. Eastern, I'll be anchoring a CNN special report. Full analysis of what the Democratic candidates had to say. That's tomorrow night. The "Democratic Debate Special," 11:00 p.m. Eastern.

[13:30:13]