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Obama's Gun Plan; Afghanistan Chopper Attack; New Political Ads. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 05, 2016 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:25] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me on this Tuesday. You are watching CNN. I want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and all around the world.

We begin with what may be the most emotional moment we have ever seen from President Barack Obama as, just a little while ago, he announced his new executive actions on curbing gun violence. The president shed tears as he spoke about some of the youngest mass shooting victims during his time in office, the 20 first graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our unalienable right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness, those rights were stripped from college kids in Blacksburg and Santa Barbara, and from high schoolers at Columbine, and - and from first graders in Newtown. First graders. And from every family who - who never imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad. And by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And to Joe Johns we go, our senior Washington correspondent.

I mean the elements of the emotion there obviously in that room and then let's get specifically, Joe, to the president's proposals. Can you explain to me what he's doing with regard to also expanding background checks here?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Brooke. And, you know, he's been described as no drama Obama. This was not one of those moments. Rare when you see any president of the United States tear up in front of the cameras. But we know this has been the single most frustrating issue for President Obama, the inability to get substantive measures on gun control through the Congress. As expected, these changes are being presented as overdue clarifications to existing law, even though they're already being described as an overreach by the critics.

So let's tick through the measures. The president is calling for expanded background checks for some private sales of firearms, making background checks more thorough, new funding to treat mental illness and more people power, if you will, to handle the increased workload on background checks and law enforcement. The president clearly trying to create some urgency on this issue. Listen now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And instead of thinking about how to solve the problem, this has become one of our most polarized partisan debates. Despite the fact that there's a general consensus in America about what needs to be done. And that's part of the reason why on Thursday I'm going to hold a town hall meeting in Virginia on gun violence, because my goal here is to bring good people on both sides of this issue together for an open discussion.

I'm not on the ballot again. I'm not looking to score some points. I think we can disagree without impugning other people's motives or without being disagreeable. We don't need to be talking past one another, but we do have to feel a sense of urgency about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest saying the new guidance from the White House will begin being implemented today. That's one of the advantages of an executive order, Brooke. There could be legal challenges, of course.

BALDWIN: We will explore all that coming up a little later. But for now, Joe Johns, thank you so much, my friend.

Today the president did note that despite how divisive the issue of background checks has really become, it's actually an issue with national consensus. Take a look at this with me. This Quinnipiac University poll from just last month demonstrates precisely his point. It shows 84 percent of American households with guns support background checks, including on sales at gun shows and online. And, overall, 89 percent of all voters are for expanding background checks.

Let me turn now to Kelly and Mike Week, owner of Georgia Gun Store there in Gainesville, Georgia. And also with me, our justice correspondent, Evan Perez.

[14:05:01] So great to have all of you on.

And, Kelly and Mike, let me just begin with you. From what I understand, I know on days like today, when the president speaks about guns, you sort of have a running - a running joke that the days that your gun sale spikes are, what, days that the president addresses this issue. Is that correct?

KELLY WEEKS, OWNER, GEORGIA GUN STORE: Correct.

MIKE WEEKS, OWNER, GEORGIA GUN STORE: Yes, ma'am, it is.

BALDWIN: Tell me about that. Tell me why you think. M. WEEKS: Well, I think a lot of people are scared that they're going

to lose their right to buy firearms. So just like a storm comes into town and the grocery store is out of bread and milk, the same kind of thing when people are afraid they're going to lose something. If they're entertaining the idea of buying a gun, they come in and get one.

K. WEEKS: First time buyers, too.

BALDWIN: Do you - do you think that that's a justified fear or that's just simply people think that, you know, the president truly wants to take their guns away, even though he said the opposite?

M. WEEKS: You know, that's hard to tell. By his - by his actions, or at least his speech today, it doesn't sound like he wants to take firearms away from - from law-abiding citizens. It sounds like he wants to make it harder for criminals to get guns, which is a great idea. I think by and large, though, there is a feeling out of Washington that most lawmakers, at least liberal lawmakers, do want to take firearms from everybody.

K. WEEKS: Or make it harder for everyone to get them.

M. WEEKS: Yes.

BALDWIN: Let me - let's - I want to come back to that point. But help me understand. I mean here you are in Gainesville, Georgia. You know, I see the guns on the racks behind you. What's considered a good day for you all as far as how many guns walking out your store?

M. WEEKS: A good day would be over 100.

BALDWIN: And when do those good days happen?

M. WEEKS: Usually around this time of year, around Christmas, Thanksgiving.

K. WEEKS: It's been more so lately, though. We've had a lot of 100-gun days here since mid-December.

M. WEEKS: Yes, the last few weeks have been really tense. And gun sales have been kind of high.

BALDWIN: And why do you think that is? We've had a lot of mass shootings in this country recently. Do you think that's tied to it?

M. WEEKS: I think it is. I think there's a fair number of people that are - are concerned that they're going to be caught up in a situation like that and be unarmed and then there's probably an equal number of people that are worried that they're going to lose their right to own firearms.

BALDWIN: OK. Kelly and Mike -

K. WEEKS: People want to be able to defend themselves. BALDWIN: Stay with me. Let me bring Evan - I just want to bring you in because I think it's really important to explain to people who are watching, you know, here we have Kelly and Mike, you know, in this gun store, obviously, licensed, you know, doing the right thing, making sure they're giving those criminal background checks. But, you know, there are differences with regard to gun shows or buying guns online and hobbyists versus those who engage in business and whether or not people have to undergo background checks. Tell me what will be changing now.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Brooke, I mean, frankly, just very little will be changing. The fact - the fact is that this is the current law. It's the existing law. That if you engage in the business of dealing firearms, you're supposed to get a license and you're supposed to do background checks. A lot of people do try to claim that they are hobbyists and they skirt under the law. But the ATF, which is the federal agency that is - that enforces this law, they send agents, they send people undercover pretty much at every gun show, flea markets all over to just check on - to see whether people are doing this.

The problem is that they - this is - we're talking about an agency that is stuck in 1972. That's the size of the ATF. It hasn't been able to grow. The president says that he's going to add 200 ATF agents. Well, that barely keeps up with the number of people who are retiring from the agency. We had 60 agents who retired just in December.

So the problem is enforcement. You know, you're going to create or you're going to clarify existing regulation. And it really won't affect these two folks who run this gun store. It really will affect a lot of people who are trying to skirt under the law. If - and that is a big if - the ATF can actually get around to enforcing this and if you actually have prosecutors around the country who want to bring these cases, that's a big if because, like I tell you, you know, you can bring cases like this in maybe New York or in the northeast. You can accuse people, OK, you know, you sold a couple of guns and you're really a licensed dealer or somebody who should have a license and you're not doing it, but you go out west, in Arizona, you're not going to get that kind of enforcement from the prosecutors office. It's just not going to happen.

BALDWIN: So obviously there's the issues, as you perfectly point out, about the ATF enforcement and the sort of archaic, you know, whether they need - you know, be up to the times -

PEREZ: Right.

BALDWIN: And be able to enforce this. And then, Mike, the issues, and I'm sure you know, I mean this - this is your business. You're not engaging in this, be but people do, you know, skirt the law. You've been to gun shows. Is there anything that the president did today that you support?

[14:10:05] M. WEEKS: Well, absolutely. The hiring more agents for the ATF to enforce the rules that we already have is a great idea. It would take a lot more than 200 to do the job though. You know, he mentioned buying firearms online and having them shipped to your house with no background check, and that's wrong. That's a fallacy. You buy a firearm online, it has to be shipped to a licensed dealer, like us, who will do the background check and the necessary paperwork to make sure it's right.

BALDWIN: Which is what you do.

M. WEEKS: Exactly.

K. WEEKS: And gun shows, there's no gun show loophole. If you have to buy - if you buy a gun at a gun show from a dealer, we do the same paperwork there that we do here in the store. So the loophole is, he's talking about private sellers. And that's where you get into a whole - a whole different range of gun sales. Private sellers do not have to do background checks. And for him to extend the background checks -

BALDWIN: And that's the thing. But that's - that's the tricky thing, right, Kelly?

K. WEEKS: Right. And for him to extend background checks, as he's saying, that all private sales have to do background checks now. If he is, how is he going to know who's selling guns? A - like the man behind the camera, he can sell a gun to one of his friends and nobody would know that happened. So what I'm wondering is if he's going to go into gun registration next because he's not going to be able to keep up with -

M. WEEKS: That would be the only way to enforce that.

K. WEEKS: That would be the only way to enforce that.

BALDWIN: And let me - let me end with you all asking this -

K. WEEKS: To (INAUDIBLE) private gun sales.

BALDWIN: Let me - because you're so in the weeds on this and you know how this works and you know how to obviously do all of this lawfully. What - if you could help - you know, I don't mean to say bang Congress over the head, but if you could, you know, have one law that would be enforced or go through Congress that everyone could sort of agree on that would just make sense from your perspective with regard to keeping people safe and keeping guns in, you know, good folks' hands, what would it be?

M. WEEKS: I don't know - I don't know that you would need to add anything more other than personnel in the ATF to enforce the rules we already have.

BALDWIN: Kelly, you agree?

M. WEEKS: And there's - there's - there's -

K. WEEKS: I agree. I think there's so many laws out there now that are just - are overpath (ph) that -

M. WEEKS: (INAUDIBLE). K. WEEKS: So if they would just enforce those laws and keep people from selling guns that are just - that are constantly selling them as a business without a license, I have no problem with that. There are people out there that do that. Does the ATF have enough people to watch them? No.

M. WEEKS: No.

K. WEEKS: So as long as that's going on and that's not enforced, then I guess that would probably be the biggest thing is just being able to enforce the already existing laws.

BALDWIN: OK. I really appreciate your time. You're two people we wanted to hear certainly your perspective. It matters.

Mike Weeks, Kelly Weeks, thank you. And Evan Perez, thank you so much as well, in Washington.

M. WEEKS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: By the way, reminder to all of you, President Obama will be joining Anderson Cooper this Thursday for an exclusive one-hour live town hall to discuss gun violence in this country in the United States of America. You can watch right here on CNN Thursday night, 8:00 Eastern.

Just ahead, an NRA publication taking some heat for showing these bullets around the photographs of two Democrats. Hear why they did this and how they're responding.

Plus, at least one American has been killed after a helicopter comes under attack. What is behind the Taliban's resurgence in Afghanistan.

And the ad war between the candidates, it is heating up. Most of the ads stay away from the frontrunner, Donald Trump. Why is that, do you think?

I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

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[14:17:00] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

This next story demonstrates once again the continued danger faced by U.S. soldiers involved in America's longest war. Just hours ago, an American soldier was killed during a joint special operations mission with Afghanistan - with Afghan troops in Marja (ph), in Helmand province. Defense officials tell CNN, a medical helicopter came under attack by a mortar round while on the ground. Two other U.S. service members were injured. Now this happened in a region where the local police chief says Taliban fighters have made major inroads despite efforts to root them out.

Let's talk more about what's happening in Afghanistan with CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official Philip Mudd. Phil Mudd, nice to see you, sir.

Fist, can you just explain to all of us what perhaps this special operation might have entailed, how a medical chopper might have been involved for backup?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Sure. Special operations in this part of Afghanistan, which is the heartland for the Taliban, have been quietly increasing. Brooke, this is an example of what's happened over the past 15 years when U.S. forces moved in after 9/11. The Taliban controlled 80 to 90 percent of the territory and their heartland was in these provinces down south, Kandahar province, but also this province, Helmand province.

What's happening now is, as U.S. forces have withdrawn over time, Afghan security forces have not been able to hold on. So now the U.S. has been reinserting itself in this special operations tragedy as a result of that reinsertion, the Americans trying to give some backbone to the Afghan security operations down south.

BALDWIN: Add this death to the six U.S. troops who were killed by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan, you know, recently. Why - why are we now seeing - is it because of what you just sort of pointed out, that these stepped up attacks are occurring?

MUDD: Well, we're seeing a couple things happen that I think are pretty predictable. First, let's understand for just a moment the history of Afghanistan. The central government has never really projected power into provinces. This is a land of war lords. So as the western forces have withdrawn, these war lords and the Taliban have moved into this vacuum. The security forces of Afghanistan, despite the equipping and training of the Americans, are just not up to the task. And I think it's hard for us to understand as well in a lot of these areas the Taliban has some support because they bring security where the government does not. So as the Americans are trying to back up -

BALDWIN: How do - how do you mean? How do they bring security?

MUDD: In other words, these provinces don't have traditionally a lot of presence of the central government. And so in insecure areas, and in this area you have a lot of drug trafficking going on, you've got a choice. You can have the war lords run things, you can have violence run by narcotics war lords, or you can have the Taliban move in, which their - with their form of brutality. But that brutality brings security. And a lot of the villagers will say, we'll take security despite the fact that, for example, our girls can't go to school.

BALDWIN: And that's why also officials in Helmand province are warning it could fall to the Taliban then -

[14:20:02] MUDD: Yes.

BALDWIN: If they say the government doesn't step up and do more.

Phil Mudd, thank you. MUDD: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, was it a message that went too far? The NRA posting a photo showing bullets next to these photos of these two New York lawmakers. You know, listen, some are calling this a vailed threat. How these lawmakers and their supporters are responding. We'll speak with one of them.

Also, Cruz attacks Rubio, Rubio attacks Christie, Jeb Bush taking on Kasich. The political knives are out in a wave of new attack ads. So why aren't any of them directed specifically at the Republican frontrunner? We'll discuss that coming up.

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BALDWIN: Are you wondering how close we are to the presidential primaries? Let's just take a look at the map, shall we. Twenty stops and town halls and events and appearances today. Look at this graphic. The candidates are on the trail in full force with just four weeks until the Iowa caucuses. That is February 1st. Not only is the campaign trail heating up, so are the ad wars. Several ads from the Republican candidates and the groups that support them launching today across Iowa and New Hampshire, so good luck if you don't have DVR with that.

Let me bring in A.B. Stoddard, associate editor of "The Hill," and Ruth Marcus, columnist with "The Washington Post."

Ladies, a pleasure.

A.B., let's kick this off with you, and I want to ask you about two of these ads in particular, this pro Marco Rubio super PAC going after Chris Christie. Let me just show you the last eight seconds of one of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): One high tax common core liberal energy loving Obamacare Medicaid expanding president is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:25:04] BALDWIN: So, A.B., Rubio, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, they're, you know, they're all basically tied for second place in New Hampshire behind Donald Trump. Why do you think that one specifically targets Christie?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "THE HILL": Well, Christie has the most momentum in New Hampshire. He literally has come from the bottom of the pack in a very impressive surge that has taken the wind out of the sails for people like Rubio and Bush and Kasich and others who are hoping to make a breakout in New Hampshire. I think they pretty much conceding Iowa to Ted Cruz, but they want to be second to Trump in New Hampshire. And there's too many of them. And if you look at the percentages and polling, you add them all up, they need to - they need to quit and just anoint one of them. And no one's going to leave the race. So you're looking at a splinter that's probably going to help Trump win New Hampshire.

BALDWIN: We shall see.

Ruth, to you. I'm fascinated by what's happening on the Democratic side. Hillary Clinton, you know, she's definitely waded waist deep, if I may, in the Trump waters. You know, in a recent interview she was - she was essentially saying, you know, he has this penchant for - for sexism. But she's now changing the course saying, just like we saw her husband in New Hampshire yesterday really saying nothing, not responding. Do you think that that is the right call, not having sharp elbows here?

RUTH MARCUS, COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, we all have New Year's resolutions and hers - hers are to quiet down on, at least for a while, on the penchant for sexism front on Trump.

I think that's probably a good call because she doesn't have anything to gain at this stage in the campaign by getting into it with Trump in that way. And it helps - it certainly helps him in a primary election both occupy the airwaves and dominate them even more than he already has and to rile up Republican primary voters against her. So I think it was - it's smart for the Clintons to sort of back off on that a little bit.

BALDWIN: OK, so perhaps her resolution, we shall see like the rest of us, if she - she sticks with it.

MARCUS: Some of us haven't been that successful.

BALDWIN: Right. Exactly.

A.B., speaking of Trump, you know, the Republican veteran, Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said this. Quote, "at some point we have to deal with the fact that there are at least two candidates who could utterly destroy the Republican bench for a generation if they became the nominee. We'd be hard pressed to elect a Republican dogcatcher north of the Mason- Dixon or west of the Mississippi." You think he's right?

STODDARD: Well, if you talk to Republicans who are looking at these maps and these races and who their front liners are, seats they need to defend that are in blue states or swing states or districts that voted for Obama, they're very nervous about the prospect, just like Josh said, of either a nominee Trump or Senator Cruz. They both - they - both those candidates, the people who are looking at the maps feel be put pressure down ballot and just create a real opportunity for the Democrats. And it's not as if the Democrats could suddenly take the entire Congress back, but it's not unthinkable if you look at some of the races on the margins. And that's really frightening to them. They don't - in this - in this respect, Trump - Cruz is no better than Trump. They both are really serious liabilities, they believe, at the top of the ticket.

BALDWIN: On Trump, this is what I wanted to get to, Ruth, you get this one, Carly Fiorina, he's been called the affluenza candidate, as we all know, that separate story has been rolling around. So she calls him the affluenza candidate, tweeting, "Donald Trump reminds me of the Kim Kardashian of politics. They are both famous for being famous and the media plays along." Do you agree?

MARCUS: Well, I kind of agree since I think I might have been the first one to call him the affluenza candidate. And I think it's a fair comparison. Not that he ever killed anybody. But, look, he thinks that his wealth makes him qualified to be president. He thinks that his wealth allows him to say things - whatever he wants about other people. And being Trump and being rich means never having to say you're sorry. So that sounds like the affluenza candidate to me.

BALDWIN: Yes, that was all you, affluenza candidate and -

MARCUS: And, you know, one of those times that Carly Fiorina and I agree. They don't come that often.

BALDWIN: OK, there you go. Dually noted on that.

A.B., finally, we dug back to a piece you wrote back in December talking about, you know, obviously there are so many candidates, right, for - on the Republican side and you were saying that without at least cutting the field in half that there is no mathematic possibility of beating Donald Trump and that January will reveal who will drop out. Who's dropping out?

STODDARD: Well, I mean, I really do think at some point you're going to need to see Rick Santorum and Senator Rand Paul, Governor Huckabee, a bunch of them go. I think that - like I said, it's going to be hard to convince those who feel that they're gaining traction in New Hampshire. Governors Bush and Kasich, probably Carly Fiorina, obviously Senator Rubio, to push them out of the race. But it is really a slice of the pie. You look at the fact that Trump has a bigger slice of all of those people combined. In some polls the establishment slice could overtake him. But it really is a spoiler effect that benefits him if they don't consolidate the vote.

[14:30:08] BALDWIN: A.B. Stoddard and Ruth Marcus, ladies, thank you so much.

MARCUS: Thanks.

STODDARD: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, the tension between Saudi