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Iraqi Forces Liberate Ramadi From ISIS. Aired 14:30-15:00

Aired December 28, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Hello? It is very clear the timing of this incident. We're talking about from exiting the car to shooting or from arriving on the scene mere seconds...

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Seconds.

HOSTIN: ... is my recollection, hello?

BALDWIN: No, I was just spoke right when you did, seconds, it was seconds. You're correct.

HOSTIN: It was just seconds, my recollection is it was about three seconds. And so the suggestion that the officers were yelling, you know, "Raise your hand, show me your hand," that just doesn't necessarily ring accurate to me as a former prosecutor. And so, while certainly this was a tragedy of error, I think it was a tragedy of training as well. Because we know Officer Loehmann was discharged -- for incompetence. We know he had poor training, we know he wasn't officer material. And so, the suggestion somehow that his actions were reasonable and not criminal, I think many will take issue with that. And while this prosecution at this point appears to be transparent and we're seeing what appears to be tremendous transparency, this investigation was cloaked in secrecy. And I think there is a real problem with the process here.

BALDWIN: You hit on precisely the points, the incompetence of the -- whether the officers previously and also, you know, the whether or not this should have been sort of a special prosecution. Sunny Hostin, thank you and Jean and Joey stay with me. We have more on this breaking story and reaction ahead.

Also breaking today in the war against ISIS, Iraqi forces raising its flag over one of the terror group's strongholds as the country declares ISIS will be defeated next year. Hear how.

Plus, is Bill Clinton and his past fair game? Donald trump says so and accuses Hillary Clinton of playing the gender card after she calls him sexist. Plus, when State Republican party wants voters to take a loyalty pledge with Donald Trump called, "Suicidal," we'll speak live with the delegate from Virginia who says he will not be bullied by Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:00]

We are just past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin. We are getting word today of a potentially massive victory here in the war on ISIS, specifically Iraqi forces say troops have liberated Ramadi from the terrorists who held the city hostage for months and months now. In fact, this is new video showing troops essentially dancing in the streets while a drone captured the moment Iraqi soldiers raised their flag over Ramadi's government compound.

You remember of the story, the city fell back to ISIS in May with the apparent help of a sand storm that prevented American war planes from bombing the incursion and certainly embarrassing setback for the Iraqi army.

Joining me now, Tim Lister, CNN Contributor, who just wrote a pretty phenomenal article for cnn.com saying basically that ISIS is under stress. So, Tim Lister, well thank you so much for coming on. And beginning here with Ramadi, this is the first time that we had truly heard of sort o of this manifestation of success. How did the Iraqis pull it off?

TIM LISTER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It took a long time, Brooke. It took about five or six months and it needed a lot of Americans support on the ground in the way of engineering support.

One of the biggest problems with dealing with ISIS in the defensive position is that they ring their possessions, their territorial positions with just an incredible array of IED, booby traps, getting -- inching closer to ISIS positions just takes week. So, U.S. support in that respect and with more than 600 airstrikes definitely helped.

But put this in perspective, this took six months and there were scarcely several hundred ISIS fighters in Ramadi. So, although it's an important victory, it's more symbolic and substantive if you like, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Perspective is important here. Let's talk about also around the same time the ISIS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has released this 24 minute message to his supporters and in reading bits of it, it seemed to me like a rallying cry to his followers. Tim, what struck you about it?

LISTER: What struck me is that he acknowledged that there will be very hard times ahead and the whole world is now against ISIS, not just the United States and the West, but France, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the recent coalition formed by Saudi Arabia. He's specifically mentioned that coalition, which was only announced on December 15th. So we know it's quite a recent message from Baghdadi.

And I want to tell you one thing he said. He said, "If we're kills and the wounds are numerous and the hardships are great, that is no surprise." He's almost preparing ISIS fighters for tough times ahead. You recall 2006 when ISIS or its predecessor (inaudible) was driven to the verge of extinction and said, you know, we prevailed. We came back, we'll come back again. He rely to the prophecies to say, you know, whatever happens to us, it is Allah's will that we will emerge victorious. But, he's clearly preparing ISIS followers for some tough times ahead. Not just in Iraq, but in Syria as well where they're very much on the defensive in Northern Syria against Kurdish forces troop.

BALDWIN: He also, as you point out, you know, mocks ISIS enemies for not bringing in ground troops, saying they do not dare to come because their hearts are full of fear, and Mojave had deemed, thanks to their experience as an Afghanistan and Iraq.

But despite all of this, why do you think he's preparing his followers for this? I mean, we've been covering ISIS, its sophistication, what's the strategy here do you think?

LISTER: I think he understands that the stretched across this huge area. And with the loss of Ramadi, with the loss of much of northern Iraq that they did hold around Sinjar which the Kurds took in November, they're beginning to lose their lines of communication between different parts of the empire if you will.

And on top of that, there's been this huge campaign against what provides ISIS with about half its revenue, its oil, its oil fields, its oil refineries, its transport systems and thirdly, they are losing access to more and more of the Turkish border which has been a very important source of getting fighters in and out or getting medical treatment for fighters and for selling things across into Turkey.

So they're under pressure in a lot of ways. They're very resilient, adoptable organization. They're not going to go away. But right now the balance sheet for ISIS looks a lot less favorable than it did say, six months ago, Brooke.

[14:40:006] BALDWIN: It's turning. Tim Lister, your piece was fantastic. Front and center now on cnn.com, I urge anyone watching to take a look.

Tim Lister my friend, thank you so much for the time today.

Coming up next, Donald Trump versus everyone. Why he's going up against Bill and Hillary Clinton over sexism and what the only other woman running for president, one of Trump's rivals on his side of the party is saying.

And more on the breaking news today, no charges, no criminal charges for the officers who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.

Stay here. I'm Brooke Baldwin and this is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Donald Trump. Donald Trump could be looking past the Iowa caucuses, past his Republican contenders and say, the New Hampshire primary and focusing his next attack directly on Hillary Clinton at the November election. You see, over the weekend, Trump started slamming Hillary Clinton for, in his words, playing the women's card.

Here's his tweet from this morning says what he says, quote, "If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband with his terrible record of women abuse while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong". I want you to listen also to Mr. Trump defending his attack on Bill Clinton during an interview on Fox News.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he is fair game because his presidency was really considered to be very troubled, to put it mildly, because of all of the things that she's talking to me about. I mean she's mentioning sexism. I actually turned her exact words, I don't know if you saw the following tweet but I turned her exact words against her from that standpoint.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right. With that, let me bring in our CNN Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash. Dana Bash, it's nice to see you

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: You too.

BALDWIN: Here's what I want to get to out of the game. The only other woman running in this race agreed with what Donald Trump said.

BASH: Right. I mean, look, we're talking about Carly Fiorina. She is not doing so great in the polls as we close out 2015. So what a better way to get into the conversation that saying, "Hey, hey guys, remember, if you want a woman, I'm it. I'm not Hillary and I'm not a Democrat".

[14:45:05] BALDWIN: Let's listen to what she said and talk about it on the other side.

BASH: Sure.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLY FIORINA, (R) 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton, first of all, calls everybody a sexist and that's not fair game. She called Bernie Sanders a sexist because he criticized her. She's going play that card. We need to be realistic. And of course she's going to talk about the Republican war on women, which doesn't exist. In fact, Hillary Clinton's policies are bad for women.

But yes, Bill Clinton is fair game, but my point is attacking Bill Clinton won't defeat Hillary Clinton.

The only way to defeat Hillary Clinton is to attack Hillary Clinton's track record. Maybe Donald Trump has difficulty doing that because his positions on key issues like health care are so close to Hillary Clinton's.

(END VIDE CLIP)

BASH: I just found this so interesting Brooke because she is clearly, as I said, trying to say, "Hey, you know, I'm a woman who many Republicans should agree with on the issues", but also saying, wait a minute, you know, I don't think we should be going down the Bill Clinton road. Let's focus on Hillary Clinton. She has a record. She has experience. And she's experience that should be focused on, not that of her husband just because she happens to be married to him.

Now obviously, Donald Trump is saying, "No, no, no, no''. In fact, he just did an interview with the -- an Iowa radio station saying, "We can intertwine the two when it comes to policy and politics because Hillary Clinton was so very involved in both of those things during Bill Clinton's administration. Brooke?

BALDWIN: But hang on, because as we talk about Hillary Clinton, and yes, she points out as we watched multiple debates and, you know, on rope lines or wherever. That yes, she's a woman and she would be the first female president and -- but we do have this from Carly Fiorina as well from a previous debate.

Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FIORINA: I'll just add that Margaret Thatcher once said, "If you want something talked about, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman".

(END VIDE CLIP)

BALDWIN: I'm just saying, let's be fair on both sides. Are you with me, Dana Bash?

BASH: Yeah. There's no question. Carly Fiorina more and more as the campaign has unfolded has been more -- let's say she's been leaning into her gender more, a lot more. And I actually noticed it in the last debate too a lot more.

In the first CNN debate, she talked about her gender more as a response to what Donald Trump said...

BALDWIN: Right.

BASH: ... about her face. She definitely was trying to appeal to Republican women, especially in the last debate. So I think that that is a very, very fair point that -- look, they're all politicians and it is a highly intense political season. So, you play the cards that you have, woman or not.

BALDWIN: You play the cards that have and you have to take a lot of selfies. Is that correct? Talking about Jeb Bush. Jeb Bush recently said.

BASH: I thought this is so funny. I thought this is so funny.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

BASH: Ashley Killough who is our terrific intrepid producer who has been nonstop with Jeb Bush on the campaign trail, just sent us a note about what he said in Florida about the art of being a candidate in the selfie age.

Let's listen to it.

BALDWIN: OK.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R) 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The selfie is now the 11th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. It's inspired by our framers and founders apparently. It is a requirement that you take one. And I do it with great joy in my heart.

I don't know, look, it wasn't that long ago that people wanted signatures on things. And now, forget that. I just want my damn selfie and I'm not leaving until I get it.

So, we spend a lot of quality time doing that and hoping the person has a long enough arm or I will take over.

Just for the record, young people do it better than older people. Just -- we go through a little training last year, it's cooler to do it diagonally rather than straight up. Remember that. And it's better to do it higher than lower because you look skinnier.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: So true. That is...

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: We all know that -- I just have to say that, you know, even watching this on T.V., having been out with Jeb Bush on the campaign trail, I guarantee you it doesn't translate as funny and as kind of insightful into his personality on T.V. as it did in person.

BALDWIN: Yeah.

BASH: He just has a thing about -- it's kind of not being able to breakthrough the camera lens. But even for those of us who are not there watching that, you can see the personality and the campaigning with joy that he intended to do at the beginning kind of finally pushing through there as he's closing out the year. Brooke?

BALDWIN: There is a thing, there is a selfie stick, I don't have one, but, you know, that's what the cool kids are using...

BASH: Oh, I knew -- I knew, I knew -- I knew you would give me a hint as to what to what to get you for belated Christmas gift.

[14:50:05] BALDWIN: Don't, just don't. I'm going to stop (ph) right there.

Dana Bash, thank you very much. Good to see you.

Coming up next, take a (ph) politics Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, he is slamming the Virginia Republican Party for requiring voters to prove their loyalty to the Republican Party before casting a ballot. Hear how one delegate in the State of Virginia is responding to that.

Plus, we have much more on the breaking news here, that there will be no indictment, no criminal charges against the two officers in Cleveland involved in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.

How the family is responding to today's news. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: We have just a couple of days left in this year. Donald Trump is picking a new fight. Not a fight with one single candidate, rather a fight with one specific state party, Virginia Republicans. That is because of a new rule just approved this month by the State Board of Elections. So, those hoping to vote for a Republican in Virginia's March 1st primary, Super Tuesday, will have to sign a form that reportedly says, and I quote here, "My signature below indicates that I am a Republican.''

Trump dedicated four tweets blasting the requirement. Here are a few. And I quote, "It begins Republican Party of Virginia controlled by the RNC, is working hard to disallow independent, unaffiliated and new voters, bad".

[14:55:07] Another one, "Hopefully the Republican National Committee can straighten out the total mess that is taking place in Virginia's Republican Party fast.''

Joining me now, Virginia State Delegate David Ramadan who is a Republican. Delegate Ramadan, great to have you on.

DAVID RAMADAN, (R) VIRGINIA STATE ASSEMBLY DELEGATE: Thank you Brooke. Good to be on.

BALDWIN: All right sir. So, you not only, you know, support this pledge. Not only that, looking at Twitter today, you tweeted this, "Our party, our rules, your dollars and your bullying do not work in the Commonwealth. Moron".

Delegate Ramadan, can you explain your point sir?

RAMADAN: Certainly. First of all it's not a new rule Brooke. We instituted this -- the Party of Virginia instituted this back in September. Every campaign was notified at the time by the state party of deliberation of instituting something to the extent of a statement of affiliation.

This is nothing new in Virginia. It's been done on both sides of the aisle. Democrats and Republicans in the past has put on something to that extent to prevent voters of the other party to come in and vote in this party's primary.

If you know Virginia, you knew that was coming. It's my understanding that the Trump campaign never responded. They ignored the party when they were notified and they didn't care.

Now all of a sudden, Mr. Trump decides to go on the rant and you know what? When you go on a rant after Christmas and you call every member of the Republican Party of Virginia stupid, I thought it was fair play to call right back with a moron.

BALDWIN: On that though, Delegate Ramadan, you know, because looking at some of how, I guess Trump supporters responded to you and listen, we all know Twitter can be an ugly place. You know, people were calling you a terrorist. So, stupid moron terrorist. I mean, aren't voters turned off by name calling?

RAMADAN: Yeah, unfortunately they are. And look, this is not the proper decorum. I'm the first one to say so and I maintained for years the proper decorum in politics. But, it's Mr. Trump who is doing this. There is no discussion right now happening on issues. This is a gentleman who thinks that he can come in and just say platitudes like he does on reality T.V. and decide that that will work in the Republican nomination. We are a party of conservatives, a party of ideas and a true big open tent which we're not going to allow.

I've been in the party for 25 years. When I was two years ago working hard to make sure that we elect a solid conservative for a governor, Donald Trump was given money to Terry McAuliffe who is running as a Democrat. That is Bill and Hillary Clinton's best buddy.

BALDWIN: No. I understand. And we hear -- listen, I mean you would not be the first person to come on the show and point out his affiliation, and by the way, he was once, you know, obviously registered Democrat for a number of years, has given thousands and thousands of dollars to Democrats. That's not news to me. I think, and I know the fact that, you know, this is happening in your state, this isn't news to you either as you point out. This happened in September. The news is sort of the Trump reaction and your reactions.

Let me just get to this, for people who don't realize, you know, for these different primaries in certain states, you know, if you're Republican, you can only vote in the Republican primary. Virginia is different, you can be, you know, any of the above and you can vote.

Now, the fact that your party wants only Republicans, doesn't that have the potential to exclude first, you know, first time voters, independents, folks that Donald Trump might maintain would vote for him?

RAMADAN: We welcome independents that will come in and want to be Republicans. This is a nomination process to choose the Republican nominee for president. So, Republicans can choose the Republican nominee. Independents believe that they can be part of what we stand for, part of this conservative movement and would like to join us, we welcome them. We want everybody in. And so simple you read it. "My signature below indicates that I am a Republican". We simple don't want Democrats to come in and do that.

BALDWIN: Let me ask you this and I caught a phrase you said earlier, "Solid conservatives". Here's my question to you Delegate Ramadan, would you vote for Donald Trump if he is ultimately the Republican nominee?

RAMADAN: I will always vote for the Republican nominee, but I can tell you unequivocally Donald Trump will not be the nominee of this party.

BALDWIN: But playing along with me hypothetically, you would vote for Trump if that would happen?

RAMADAN: I will always vote for the Republican nominee.

BALDWIN: OK. If this is -- final question, just sort of a statement of affiliation here and it's not totally enforceable. Then what is the point in the end?

RAMADAN: Well there's multiple thing things. One, people, we -- you know, this is a country where individuals are taken by their word and by their individual statements. We're not going out to sue anybody here. We're asking somebody to say that, "Yeah, I'm a Republican and that's why I want to vote in this Republican process''. This is common sense. This is nothing crazy here and nothing that has not been done before.