Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

President Obama Speaks On ISIS Strategy; Huckabee's Communications Director Leaves Campaign; Obama States Progress Against ISIS Must Come Faster; Very Tough Fight Against ISIS; Cruz And Trump Brace For Face-Off At Debate; Trump and Cruz Trade Jabs; Iowa Voters Split; Interview with Rep. Steve Kng. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 14, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Blitzer who is on assignment. It's 10:00 a.m. here in Las Vegas. This is the site of tomorrow's GOP presidential debate. Wherever you are watching from around the world, thank you so much for joining us.

And we're going to have more on the debate in just a moment. But first, President Obama, just moments ago, made a rare statement from the Pentagon briefing room about the U.S. strategy against ISIS. This was after a meeting with his national security advisers to talk about this terrorist threat.

And joining me now to discuss, we have CNN's Chief Washington Correspondent and the anchor of "THE LEAD" as well as "STATE OF THE UNION" Jake Tapper. We have Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto at the Pentagon. And we have CNN White House -- Senior White House Correspondent, I should say, Jim Acosta. And our Terrorism Analyst Paul Cruickshank joining us as well.

Jim Sciutto, to you first. You have a time right now where 60 percent of Americans say they don't approve of the way the president has handled the fight against terrorism. This is according to a CNN-ORC poll. The White press secretary had said this was a meeting about updating, really, the ISIS strategy. But it seems that there's a clear message that the president is trying to send and also an acknowledgment here on the heels of his prime time address as well.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I'll tell you, the line from his statement, and he didn't take questions, that stood out to me is this. He said the progress needs to keep coming faster.

Now, in that statement is an argument, in effect, is that progress is being made there. And you heard the president detail that in his terms. He said that in Iraq, ISIS has not had an offensive victory on the ground since the summer. He says that it has been pushed out now of 40 percent of populated areas it used to control. That's up from a talking point the administration has been using for the last couple of months of 25 percent. We'll have to look at a map to see exactly what areas they're talking about because the major cities, as we know, Ramadi, Mosul, et cetera, that they took still remain under their control. That's what he says, though, on Iraq.

And then, in Syria, he says that ISIS has lost, in his words, thousands of miles of territory, thousands of square miles of territory. You know, in effect, making the case that the campaign, so far, is making progress. And then, let me remind you of the progress that it's making. He also went on to list a number of ISIS leaders that have been taken out from Abu Sayyaf, ISIS' main money man, Abu Nabil who's, an ISIS leader in Libya, the British jihadi, Jihadi John, Junaid Hussain, who's an online recruiter. He lists all of those, in effect making the case, listen, I'm on it. We're making progress. We've got to stick with this plan.

But then, he said he did grant one thing, in effect, saying that progress needs to come faster. And the step that he announced for that is that he is sending defense secretary, Ashton Carter, to the Middle East with the expressed role of getting more contributions from allies to the military campaign. That is a continuing frustration, and you is heard here in the Pentagon that the U.S. is shouldering the burden. For instance, you'll remember early on, there was this huge contingent of Pentagon -- of Persian Gulf countries taking part. But, really, their participation has tailed off significantly in recent months.

So, you have the president saying, well, we're going to get more help in this campaign. What you didn't hear is we're going to take these specific steps to accelerate the progress on the ground there. And that's the thing, Brianna, when you referenced that -- those polls that show that 60 percent of Americans aren't satisfied with the campaign.

I think, you know, that's the way American often operate. They want to see something quick. They want to see something hard. Whatever the president heard in that room, there is no major public change to the strategy that we heard from the president as he came to the podium.

KEILAR: And, Jake, we've really seen the recent Paris and San Bernardino attacks that have reshaped certainly the Republican race. I mean, we've seen the effect there in the polls. The president really went through this laundry list of things trying to I think calm Americans, saying, look, we are making progress. But, certainly, that is incongruent with how Americans feel about the threat of ISIS.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Right. As you've discussed, his disapproval ratings on his handling of terrorism, his handling of ISIS are very high. I think it's 58 percent and 60 percent disapprove of the way he's handling it.

President Obama, like every other president that I've ever covered before him, and most politicians believe that the problem here is a communications problem, not a policy problem. He wants to communicate now better what the U.S. is actually doing.

And the U.S., as you know, that you have been covering as I have for more than a year, has been doing much -- well, our fighting men and women have been doing a lot in the Middle East, and in Iraq and now also in Syria, to try to stop the threat of the terrorism, the threat of ISIS. And, of course, intelligence officials, national officials here at home have been doing a lot as well. He wants to convey that because, obviously, disapproval is very high.

[13:05:02] The American people, more of them, now say that ISIS, or terrorism rather, is a serious threat to the United States than saying that about any other threat, including Iran or North Korea or any other existential threat.

And so, he -- first of all, President Obama does not believe that ISIS poses as serious a threat as some of these other threats, such as nukes, that Iran has, potentially.

And then, second of all, he wants to communicate what is being done. One of the things we heard him saying is he listed a number of ISIS leaders who had been killed, including, I believe, Mohammed Emwazi, Jihadi John, who was rumored to have been killed in November, although I don't think we had official U.S. confirmation until just now about that. He wants people to know that it is happening.

Now, this is not a president who is eager to pound his chest, to talk about success in killing people. It's just not his style. That's one of the things people like about him, one of the things that people don't like about him. But he is thrust into a situation where he is trying to reassure people, we are doing something. Here are some of the things we are doing.

KEILAR: Paul, what really stood out to you as the president tried to reassure Americans?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, the president, clearly, wants to project a sense of urgency in this campaign. I think many people, particularly here in Europe, would have wanted to hear those words, because this is an unprecedented terrorist threat that Europe and the United States as well now is now facing from the ISIS terrorist group. This is the richest terrorist group in history which is pivoting in a big way now towards international terrorism. More than 6,000 westerners have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join groups like ISIS, 1,500 back in Europe. The system is really blinking red, to repeat a phrase.

But there has been progress on the ground in Syria and Iraq. There's been some progress recently in Ramadi. They've also been able to the push closer to Raqqah in Syria. But that progress is coming pretty slowly. And this strategy is going to take years and years to root out the Islamic state from Syria and Iraq and also, by the way, places like Libya. The worry is that in that period, we're going to see more nights like Friday the 13th of November, in Paris, in western capitals from ISIS, as it really ups the ante when it comes to international terrorism.

And there are a number of questions, as well, about the strategy. One of which is where are the Sunni Arab forces on the ground who are going to take out ISIS in places like Iraq and Syria? They are not being integrated fast enough into the Iraqi army. And in Syria, you don't really have these forces. It's mostly the Kurds, and they can't really go take an Arab city like Raqqah.

And so much of this strategy is predicated on the idea that you're going to, at some point, make life so difficult in places like Mosul that the local Sunni population is going to rise up against ISIS. That may be wishful thinking because ISIS runs these places like a police state. Very, very difficult to see an uprising any time soon. These are worrying months ahead for all of us, in terms of our security.

KEILAR: I do want to get, quickly now, to the White House. I know that our Senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta has got to go in shortly the White House briefing. But, Jim, this is a national security issue, of course. But this is also a legacy issue for President Obama --

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is.

KEILAR: -- especially as he is looking at, really, the possibility of the work that he has done as president being undone if a Democrat does not succeed him in the White House.

ACOSTA: That's right.

KEILAR: how much of that is on the minds of him and of those close to him?

ACOSTA: I think it's weighing heavily on the minds of people inside this White House and perhaps on the president more than ever, Brianna. Who would've thought that this war on ISIS would figure so prominently in the president's legacy, and his foreign policy legacy? That is where things stand now.

Wherever the president takes this campaign against ISIS over the next month will have a big impact on his foreign policy legacy. And I think that is why -- you may not have heard the president change his strategy when it comes to ISIS, but he is intensifying parts of the strategy, intensifying the air campaign as he talked about there at the Pentagon.

But he's also intensifying the rhetoric. As you heard, Brianna, he said to leaders of ISIS, if we haven't gotten to you yet, quote, "you are next." That is the kind of the George W. Bush wanted dead or alive rhetoric from this president that we have not heard very much of -- up until this point.

And it sounds like they have made a calculation -- and you know this all too well, Brianna. It sounds like they've made a calculation inside this White House that they do need to ramp up the rhetoric. They do need to ramp up his appearances, in terms of what he's doing. He's at the Pentagon today. He'll be at the national counterterrorism center later on this week to reassure the American people that he has this. That he's on top of this.

[13:10:10] And as you talked about with Jake and Jim Sciutto and Paul, the polls show that the public just does not have confidence that the president is there yet, from a strategy or rhetorical standpoint. So, I suspect we're going to be hearing more of that kind of talk in the coming days -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Jim Acosta, we know you're heading into the White House briefing, no doubt going to be an interesting one. We'll check back with you if anything of import happens there.

And, of course, we are here in Las Vegas. We are at the Venetian for tomorrow's GOP presidential debate. And there is one candidate who is losing a key part of his team, Mike Huckabee. This is a sign that his campaign is in serious trouble. We'll be talking about that and much more of what to watch for tomorrow night. And the latest wrinkle, it's a fight between Donald Trump and Senator Ted Cruz. More on that after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We are just one day away now from the next face-off between the Republican presidential hopefuls. And we're just learning about a major staff change in one of the Republican candidate's campaigns. We're talking about Mike Huckabee and his communications director, Alice Stewart, has just announced that she is leaving. She did not elaborate on the reason for the departure, making it rampant for speculation. But right now, all of the GOP candidates are jockeying for position and for headlines ahead of tomorrow's big debate here on CNN.

[13:15:03] But it is Donald Trump who is hitting the highest note right now in a new Monmouth University poll. Not only is the 41 percent his biggest total so far, the 27 point lead over number two, his biggest margin yet. This is a poll that was done after Trump's comments about banning Muslims from coming into the United States.

Ted Cruz second in that poll. He's also second, although a lot closer to Trump in this new Quinnipiac University poll out of Iowa. Trump is up 28 to 27 over Cruz. So, statistically tied. But Cruz has the lead in another Iowa poll. This one was released by Fox News over the weekend. That one really caught the attention of Trump, who all along said that he would attack if he felt threatened in the polls. But Trump's attack of Cruz may have more to do with audio that emerged of Cruz taking shots of Trump and Ben Carson at a private fundraiser.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (voice-over): I believe that gravity will bring both of those campaigns down. And I think the lion's share of their supporters come to us.

People are looking for, who is prepared to a commander in chief. Now that's a question of strength, but it's also a question of judgment. And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for both of them.

KEILAR (voice-over): Trump came back swinging, tweeting, "looks like Ted Cruz is getting ready to attack. I'm leading by so much, he must. I hope so. He will fall like all others. Will be easy."

A day later, a new Iowa poll. Senator Cruz eclipsing Jeb Bush, Carson, Marco Rubio and even besting Trump by 10 percent. Trump didn't take the poll lightly, attacking Cruz's judgment and temperament.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My judgement's great. I built a multi, multi, multibillion dollar company. Some of the greatest assets in the world. I have good judgement. I have great judgement. I would say I have far better judgement than Ted. When you look at the way he's dealt with the Senate, where he goes in there like a -- you know, frankly like a little bit of a maniac, you're not -- you're never going to get things done that way.

KEILAR: Cruz taking it in stride, tweeting, "in honor of my friend Donald Trump" with a link to "Flashdance's" popular song "Maniac."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, (singing): She's a maniac, maniac on the floor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Who doesn't love that song, right?

Well, here with me in Las Vegas to talk more about this battle are CNN political commentators Dan Pfeiffer, Jeffrey Lord and S.E. Cupp. And we also have CNN's senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

So, Jeff, I think one of the poll numbers that really sticks out is this Monmouth University poll. Donald Trump, after saying what he said about, there should be a temporary ban on Muslims coming into the U.S., now has this margin that is bigger than he's had before. What does that tell us?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It tells us that the Republican base is not all that concerned about this particular thing that Donald Trump has said. He has said so many things. I think they factor this as one of the many things. And I was out talking to voters at a lot of Trump events last week and several of them said, look, we don't necessarily support this, but it is not enough to get us to not support Trump because they know it's something that not -- is not necessarily going to happen.

But that Monmouth poll is a national poll. This is about to evolve into a state by state by state contest. So the poll I'm looking at more closely is that "Des Moines Register"/Bloomberg poll out over the weekend in the Sunday newspaper that shows that Ted Cruz has eclipsed Donald Trump in Iowa. Now, we don't know if he has eclipsed him or if he has over taken him, but we definitely know it is close. There is a new dynamic in this campaign. It will play out on the stage tomorrow night. Donald Trump no longer has this race to himself at the top of the ticket. Ted Cruz is right behind him. And lot of people below that also will be sort of going after Cruz as well. Now, he is the one with the arrow on his back -- or the bull's eye on his back, I should say.

KEILAR: What do you attribute this what appears to be a surge to, S.E.? S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, terrorism is the number

one concern of most Americans right now. For the first time, we have a majority wanting more ground troops in Syria and Iraq. So I'm not surprised that Trump's rhetoric, even if his policies are flawed, is being embraced. He's talking tough on terror, and that's really what people want to hear right now.

KEILAR: What about the timing of all of this, Dan? I mean this is sort of a key moment before the holidays. People kind of tune out a little bit come Christmas, come the new year. Is it -- is it -- is this really the best case for Cruz to have this momentum happening at this moment or could it be too soon?

DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, ideally, you'd want to be a little bit later, I think, if you're Cruz, because you still have a month to go. Now the race is probably going to freeze for about 10 days to a -- you know, a week to 10 days as we go into the holidays and you'd rather be in front when it froze instead of behind, because that's -- you know, a week to 10 days, you're not going to be able to make up ground. So there's going to be pressure on Cruz tonight, but he's in a very -- I think he's in a very strong position, both in the early states, both in Iowa, but in -- in the early states that come after that.

KEILAR: Part of the reason that we're seeing this surge is because a lot of the support from Ben Carson in Iowa, evangelical Christians is swinging to Ted Cruz.

JEFFREY LORD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.

KEILAR: We've seen Ben Carson try to adjust his message that way, talking about, well, really, how he's trying to kind of bone up on his foreign policy credentials.

[13:20:06] LORD: Right.

KEILAR: Do you think he's going to have any luck with that?

LORD: Well, you know, the problem for Ben Carson is, we've had two major terrorist attacks. So people are really beginning to focus on this. I mean they are seeing this as a life or death issue. I mean we were waiting here on this show because President Obama and Vice President Biden and the entire Obama national -- high level national security team were basically addressing the nation. So the message is out there, there's just no question that people are concerned. And in terms of Ben Carson, that's where you're stumbling. That's not a good thing.

KEILAR: What do you think about -- well, I think now you see Cruz sort of with his -- this target on his back. Marco Rubio has taken aim at him on foreign policy saying, look, he voted to let the president's ability to use some of this metadata expire. And he's someone who chose personal civil liberties over national security. It's amazing, in a way, how -- what a difference a month makes.

PFEIFFER: Right. KEILAR: But how effective is that argument?

PFEIFFER: I think Cruz is trying to position himself between the George W. Bush era neo conservatives and the Rand Paul libertarians, and I think that's probably the right place to be. He's going to have to explain those votes and it's a little bit hard -- obviously a little bit harder this month than it was last month. But I think their -- you have an attention here between additional foreign involvement, nation building, concerns about that, and concerns about privacy.

It's important to remember how far the Republican Party has come. It was just about a year and a half ago or so where the entire Republican Party was, quote, standing with Rand as he filibustered these national security policies. And so it's shifting quickly. And Cruz has tried to stay in front of it and we'll see tonight whether he can do that.

CUPP: I think he's having a tough time, though. I think you're absolutely right in laying out the landscape. I think he's having a tough time. He got in some trouble by using your word, neo-con (ph), to describe people in his own party pejoratively. And that didn't go over well for a lot of Republicans. He's had a difficult time trying to figure out -- he said he's between McCain and Rand Paul. There's a lot of ground there. That's -- you could really be anywhere. So I think he's -- you know, he's a master of triangulation, and he's trying to do that. But I think at a time where, look, I said terrorism is such a top concern, it's not a great place to be nuanced on foreign policy, and he is.

KEILAR: What about the calendar here, Jeff? When you look ahead, so many observers are saying Ted Cruz has a wider berth right now towards a nomination than other candidates?

ZELENY: He certainly has a lot of geographical advantages going his way. He's very well organized in Iowa. I would say one of the top organized campaigns in Iowa. He goes door to door. He has this 99- county pastor network. He has a faith network, home schooling network. And then going forward, New Hampshire not as strong. But then South Carolina, OK, but going after that, the SEC (ph) primary going into March, he is -- is, I think, very well positioned sort of culturally, his ideology sort of fits and this geography of Texas sort of fits this very well. So much more so than a Chris Christie or a Marco Rubio, I think, just how the calendar plays out. But it all depends who wins those early state that either, you know, propels you or it's going to throw some people out of the race.

KEILAR: And it may tell us something that he's heading to the south after this debate. So --

ZELENY: No doubt.

KEILAR: Jeff --

LORD: There's much more to come after Iowa. Much more.

KEILAR: Of course, much more, and he --

ZELENY: If you're still in the race.

LORD: That's right. Right.

KEILAR: Jeffrey Lord, Dan Pfeiffer, S.E. Cupp, Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much to all of you.

And there's a question we're asking, right, could we see Ted Cruz really seize control of this race at this point. He's going to have a key chance tomorrow night. We'll talk about that with one of his most important supporters, most ardent supporters for sure, Iowa Congressman Steve King, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:26:25] KEILAR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. We are coming to you live from the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, where we are gearing up for the fifth and final and perhaps the most pivotal debate of this year. The CNN debate tomorrow night featuring Republican hopefuls here in sin city.

Now, Ted Cruz on the rise in both national and state polls as we get ready for the next Republican presidential debate. I want to get this view now from someone who is very squarely in Ted Cruz's camp, Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King. He endorsed Cruz last month.

What does it mean to you to see Cruz really ticking up in the polls, certainly tied with Donald Trump, if not surpassing him, in what is such a key state?

REP. STEVE KING (R), IOWA: Well, Briana, it feels really good and especially it should feel good to a lot of the Iowa caucus goers who have for years been looking for a full spectrum constitutional conservative that they can rely on. And they've been disappointed in past years. So they're very cautious about stepping in. And I think that the stage was set pretty well before I endorsed Senator Cruz on November 16th. It seemed to -- it seemed to help people. And this -- this came together and I'm confident that the endorsement didn't hurt him, at least that's the minimum. But he's had this stage set with a good organization, and he's covered the waterfront with conservative issues and taken good positions. And that momentum is just growing. You can feel it in the state of Iowa.

KEILAR: I also want to look national, though, at the polls that we're seeing out of the Republican race, because Donald Trump is still the leader. We have this Monmouth University poll where Trump has the largest lead that he has had. He's at 41 percent, and the margin is really big. So you look at that and, you know, what does that say to you about perhaps what your candidate, Ted Cruz, needs to do to really take on Donald Trump?

KING: Well, I looked at some of that, the results of the poll. I didn't get a chance to pick it apart. But 41 to 14. It's a national poll. And it's asked -- questions asked of Republicans, and Republican-leaning independents. I would say that they're not close to being the early voters, the primary voters, and the Iowa caucus goers. So what matters in this is, it's about the nomination. And the nomination is going to go in the sequence of recommendations coming out of Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina and then out there in Nevada where you are right now. And that's what matters. So I -- and that "Des Moines Register" poll has historically been the most reliable. And I'm pretty confident those are good numbers, 31 for Cruz, 21 for Trump in Iowa. And that's going to give him, I think, the momentum to start penetrating broader nationally. And I know that Cruz has been working in the south too for the SEC primary that comes up in the next wave.

KEILAR: Yes, coming up March 1st, indeed.

What about -- I want to talk to you about some of the challenges that Ted Cruz is facing. Obviously, conservative Republicans, Tea Party Republicans, big fans of Ted Cruz, but I don't even think it's an overstatement to say that many in the establishment GOP loathe him a little bit. He's really rankled his leaders there in Washington. And while certainly they are being undercut by, I think, what we're seeing this -- the sort of sentiment among voters at this point in time, Republican voters, they still have some pull. What does he need to do? What does Ted Cruz need to do to broaden out his appeal?

[13:29:44] KING: Boy, that is a -- that is a good question. The establishment wing of the party has long -- I think this. I want to bring them together under one big tent, as we say, but it seems like they're always tapping the wedge. And Ted Cruz gives them everything they want except the ability to tell him what to do. I mean the establishment wing of the party wants -- they want low taxes, they want low regulation, they want an opportunity to do business, buy, sell, trade, make gain, grow this economy and make profit. And that's all something that Ted Cruz is for.