Return to Transcripts main page

Wolf

Analysis of Obama's State of the Union; High Powerball Up For Grabs Tonight; Iran Frees 10 Detained U.S. Sailors; Released Sailors Transferred To Shore; No Indication U.S. Sailors Were Harmed; Jordan's King States Iran Actions A Concern; U.S. Set To Unfreeze Billions Of Iranian Assets; Polls Show Tightening Race For Democrats; Democratic Debate Schedule Under Fire; Obama's Legacy; Cruz Versus Trump. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 13, 2016 - 13:00   ET

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

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: That sounds crazy.

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I mean, when he says, put it in the bank, I'm sure --

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Money in the bank is your reality, I guess. That's the bottom line.

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: In an index fund or -- you know, but --

BANFIELD: Yes, (INAUDIBLE) winning.

CALLAN: -- invest conservatively. You're very rich.

JACKSON: Ice cream?

CALLAN: You don't need to want that.

JACKSON: I want steak at a minimum.

CALLAN: You know, you don't need to invest it.

BANFIELD: OK. Well, you're going to have to talk to Wolf Blitzer about that, because we're walking into his show right now. Thanks, guys. Nice to see you.

CALLAN: Oh, OK.

JACKSON: Thank you, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Thank you, everyone. Good luck on the Powerball. If I'm here tomorrow, I didn't win. See you.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 9:30 p.m. in Teheran, and 10:30 p.m. in Kabul. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: The breaking news, brand-new video of the moment 10 U.S. sailors were detained by Iran in the Persian Gulf. The crew made to kneel and put their hands behind their heads as armed men surround them after drifting into Iranian waters. The sailors were eventually freed this morning after Iranian officials said they got an apology as well as a promise from the Americans that the mistake would not be repeated.

The U.S. State Department pushing back. The spokesman, John Kirby, tweeting out specifically, quote, "absolutely zero truth to rumors that John Kerry apologized to Iran over sailors. Nothing to apologize for."

Of course, the timing is all critical. All of this happening just a few days before Iran is set to start receiving billions of dollars in sanctions relief as part of the nuclear deal President Obama helped negotiate. It was held up as one of his signature diplomatic achievements.

Joining us now, our CNN Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr and our Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. Barbara, that brand new video of the sailors, what more are we learning about the timeline of the sailors' capture and their eventual release?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, they were, indeed, held in Iran overnight, said to be for safety reasons of navigation in the dark. They were released in the late morning, about 5:00 a.m. Washington time.

They were brought out to a ship -- U.S. Navy ship in international waters, transferred there from their two small patrol boats. Those boats then taken on by other additional U.S. Navy personnel.

So, it's raising the big question, Wolf, were their boats ever really disabled? How did they drift, if they did in fact, into Iranian waters? How did all of this happen? The Navy now debriefing all 10 sailors, asking them all of these questions about what happened.

But the answers, Wolf, not yet forthcoming to the public. It seems clear that someone in the U.S. Navy has some idea now of what did happen but they are not saying as this debrief of them goes on.

As you look at this video of the sailors on their knees, disarmed, hands behind their heads, this is very disturbing to see. But it is, in fact, a fairly typical maritime procedure in those waters. The U.S. Navy does the same thing when it boards small boats of people who are not its allies. But, nonetheless, very difficult to watch, obviously, and a very difficult optic.

The Pentagon insists the sailors were treated fine by the Iranian naval personnel that had them overnight, that they were fed, given water, food, that they were looked after. But there are some pretty significant questions here, Wolf. The people who took them were part of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard Court, the most assertive hard-line portion of the Iranian military.

By all accounts, they were released because of pressure from the central government which has its eyes on that nuclear agreement and doesn't want anything to come between it and getting their money back through that agreement. So, a lot of politics involved here in the middle of all of these military maneuvers -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, I wonder if the Ayatollah Khomeini had to get involved and make a final decision between the government and the Revolutionary Guard. We'll check that out.

Jim, the Iranians say the Americans apologized. Those sailors who were there, they apologized for getting into Iranian waters. The secretary of state, John Kerry, he's suggesting there was no apology from the U.S. What are you hearing?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, in terms of official apology, the answer is very clear. John Kerby, Spokesman for the State Department, John Kerry, himself, saying there was no official apology, that the U.S. expressed gratitude to the Iranians for the swift resolution of this.

But that there was no apology from Kerry, for instance to his Iranian counterpart, Javad Zarif. There are reports on social media, even images circulating out there, the possibility that the sailors, themselves, gave some sort of apology to their captors, that we made a mistake. We did not intend to be in these waters. That's not confirmed by U.S. Defense or administration officials, at this point.

And the broader message you're hearing from the administration, this is across the board, that this is actually a victory for diplomacy. That without the channels that have been developed between the U.S. and Iran, as a result of the nuclear negotiations, this could not have been resolved so quickly.

[13:05:14] Here's what John Kerry said at a speech at the National Defense University on this just a few moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm appreciative for the quick and appropriate response of the Iranian authorities. All indications suggest or tell us that our sailors were well taken care of and provided with blankets and food and assisted with their return to the fleet earlier today. And I think we can all imagine how a similar situation might have played out three or four years ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Interestingly enough, the U.S. in Iran, at least the foreign minister and the secretary of state, somewhat on point here. Javad Zarif tweeting similar just a short time ago, happy to see dialogue and respect, not threats and impetuousness. Swiftly resolved the sailors episode. Let's learn from this latest example.

And that's true, Wolf. You did not have these diplomatic channels two years ago, certainly with the administration of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But, listen, those images that Barbara was describing just a short time ago, that's a difficult one to digest and call diplomatic when you have those sailors, even if this is the law of the sea in common.

But when you have those sailors on their knees with their arms behind their heads, at least from an image standpoint, it's troubling to see. But it also raises the question, were they taken under duress? Were they taken at gunpoint? And these are still questions to be answered -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And very quickly, Barbara. One of the sailors was a woman, right?

STARR: Indeed. Nine men, one woman. And as we saw that photo, initial photo of them inside a room sitting on a floor, I think everybody noticed that this woman did have her hair covered. Pretty standard. It happened in the past when British naval forces, a couple of years ago, were taken by the Iranians. They -- there was a British female sailor. She, too, had her head covered while she was in Iranian custody.

BLITZER: All right, Barbara Starr, Jim Sciutto. Guys, thanks very much.

Earlier today, I sat down with Jordan's king, Abdullah II. You can hear the full interview later today in "THE SITUATION ROOM." I asked him about his country's relationship with Iran in light of this incident involving these 10 American sailors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: As we speak, 10 American sailors have been freed from Iranian custody. It was a brief incident. Does Jordan trust Iran?

KING ABDULLAH II, JORDAN: We have relations with Iran, but we obviously see their involvement beyond the borders in Yemen and in Africa. Obviously, they are involved in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan. So, we have to contend with their presence beyond their borders.

BLITZER: As you know, in the coming days, the U.S. and other international partners, are going to lift sanctions. A hundred billion dollars maybe will flow into Iran very, very quickly. They can do with it whatever they want. Is that a source of concern to Jordan?

ABDULLAH: It's a concern to a lot of us in the region. And I think they're further (ph) afield. And so, that's what I said, there's linkages between the nuclear deal and how Iran performs on the other portfolios. And so, I think they are going to be held up to how they perform also on those other sectors. And we'll have to see how that happens and where we hold them accountable on what other potential mischiefs may be -- may be found.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: Now, we've just learned that King Abdullah and President Obama just had a previously unscheduled meeting at Joint Base Andrews outside of the Washington, D.C. The king had been here for a few days. He met with the vice president, met with the secretary of state, the defense secretary. No meeting had been scheduled with the president. In the last minute development, the president found some time and met with King Abdullah. They just had a meeting. The president heading out to Nebraska and Louisiana from Andrews Air Force base.

We're going to have much more of my exclusive interview with King Abdullah of Jordan later today in "THE SITUATION ROOM." That airs 5:00 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN.

Joining us now is Democratic Congresswoman, Debbie Wassermann Schultz. She's the chair of the Democratic National Committee, also a representative from Florida. Congresswoman, thanks very much for joining us.

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMANN SCHULTZ (D), FLORIDA, CHAIR, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Are you confident? I know you voted for the Iran nuclear deal. Are you satisfied with the way it's being implemented right now? And hundred billion dollars in sanctions relief should start flowing immediately to Iran.

SCHULTZ: Well, the entire goal of achieving the nuclear agreement with Iran was to make sure that we could prevent them from ever attaining a nuclear weapon.

[13:10:09] And, you know, part of the agreement requires them to have shipped 98 percent of their enrichment uranium out of the country. You know, and other very specific, important requirements, dismantle their rocket reactor permanently and, you know, other key elements of their nuclear program so that they could actually be prevented from ever achieving those goals.

And so, once they reached that, you know, and we get to so-called implementation day, then they are entitled, under the agreement, to get access to their funds. But keep in mind, a lot of those funds, you know, already were previously obligated. So, the amount of resources that are going to be available to them, you know, particularly because they have debt that they have to cover, are really not going to be as much as previously thought.

And, you know, I think an example of the ability for us to quickly negotiate the release of our sailors yesterday was directly related to the fact that we have been working through Secretary Kerry and the Iranian leadership over these last two years. And without that relationship, I think that the result could have been very different and very unfortunate.

BLITZER: It's not just the hundred billion dollars in sanctions relief or a hundred fifty billion dollars in sanctions relief, Congresswoman, it's the many 10s of billions of dollars of additional income they are going to get because trade restrictions against Iran are being lifted at the same time. Here's the question. Are you concerned that a lot of those billions will go to the Revolutionary Guard which, obviously, has been responsible for all sorts of activities the U.S. regards as terrorist activities in the region?

SCHULTZ: Of course there is a real concern because Iran certainly isn't a good actor in the region, on the contrary. We don't -- we don't trust them. And that's why we have our sanctions in place on so many other things that need to continue to be enforced. And Iran needs to understand that they are going to be watched very carefully and sanctions applied aggressively. And we've got to make sure that we hold their feet to the fire.

And so, this isn't a blank check or a free ride, by any means. We've actually added accountability on Iran and made sure that if they want to join the world stage, they are going to be expected to act in a peaceful way. And they're going to have to earn that trust back which is going to be a long time in coming.

BLITZER: Now, let's talk about the race for the White House, the Democratic presidential contest right now. A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Senator Bernie Sanders now leading Hillary Clinton in Iowa 49 percent to 44 percent.

Another poll from CBS News and the "New York Times" shows Bernie Sanders closing the gap with Hillary Clinton nationally. He's down just seven points right now, compared to a 20-point gap last month. We're seeing both of these candidates step up their attacks against each other. Is there a time, and you're the chair of the DNC, to approve more debates between these two candidates?

SCHULTZ: You know, our candidates, with our debate schedule and our schedule of other candidate forums, have had a large variety of opportunities to be seen by voters. You can see from, whether it's Secretary Clinton or Senator Sanders, to some degree Martin O'Malley, their exposure, through a variety of those opportunities, have given them the ability to be successful and to attract attention and to build support. That's with the schedule that we've had.

I want to point out, wolf, that 58 of the 61 debates in 2008 and 2012 actually had lower, you know, or as good, as we've had in the debates that we've had now. We've actually exceeded viewership by a lot of the view -- with the debates we've had this year, compared to 58 of 61 debates in 2008 and 2012.

And, in fact, our candidate with the least amount of time on our debate stage has actually had as much time as the frontrunner on the Republican side has had. So, I'm very confident and satisfied with the amount of time our candidates have had on the debate stage, through candidate forums and, importantly, through being able to get up close and personal in those early state primaries which is really important.

BLITZER: So, just to be precise, no additional debates are being authorized?

SCHULTZ: We have six debates, and we are proceeding with that schedule.

BLITZER: Debbie Wasserman Schultz is the Congresswoman from Florida, the Chair of the DNC. Thanks very much, Congresswoman, for joining us.

SCHULTZ: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, President Obama gave his last State of the Union address. We're going to talk about his legacy and a whole new -- and a whole lot more.

And a new poll out in Iowa shows an even tighter race for the Republican presidential contest. The candidates, they are heating up their own attacks. Stay with us. We'll update you.

[13:14:54]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:19:02] BLITZER: President Obama is taking his message of optimism about America's future on the road. The president now heading to Nebraska after delivering his final State of the Union Address last night. Among the highlights, he refuted pessimistic views of the U.S. economy and pointed to the more than 14 million jobs added since he took office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The strongest two years of job growth since the 1990s, and unemployment rate cut in half. Our auto industry just had its best year ever.

Anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is pedaling fiction. Now what is true, and the reason that a lot of Americans feel anxious, is that the economy has been changing in profound ways.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The president also tried to reassure Americans that ISIS will be defeated.

[13:20:04] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We focus on destroying ISIL. We don't need to build them up to show that we're serious. And we sure don't need to push away vital allies in this fight by echoing the lie that ISIL is somehow representative of one of the world's largest religions. We just need to call them what they are, killers and fanatics that have to be rooted out, hunted down and destroyed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: President Obama also took several vailed swipes at Republican presidential candidates, including Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) OBAMA: As frustration grows, there will be voices using us to fall back into our respective tribes, to scapegoat fellow citizens who don't look like us or pray like us or vote like we do or share the same background. We can't afford to go down that path.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's get some perspective on the president's last State of the Union Address. Joining us now, CNN presidential historian Doug Brinkley.

Doug, the president painted a picture of a nation on the rebound. It seemed to resonated. Initially our CNN/ORC poll, taken immediately after the address, 68 percent of the speech watchers, people who actually watched the speech, say the president's policies will move the country in the right direction, 29 percent say the wrong direction. Give us your overall impression of the speech.

DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, it really was Barack Obama's morning again in America speech. It echoed what Ronald Reagan did. He wasn't just saying America's glass is half full. He -- he was saying it's overflowing with success. He pointed out, as you mentioned, the jobs that people are getting. That unemployment rate is down. He praised American innovation and said the health care system is the best and the envy of the world, basically. So it -- he really is striking at his last year this -- the optimistic warrior tone. This is a Barack Obama that reminded me of what we saw on the campaign trail when he won in 2008 and won in 2012. It's as if he's used the State of the Union to launch another campaign.

BLITZER: One of the more surprising moments, and I must say I was pretty surprised, was when the president spoke openly, very candidly, about his own role in the rather ugly political climate that exists now in Washington. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: It's one of the few regrets of my presidency, that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better. I have no doubt, a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide. And I guarantee, I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: How unusual, Doug, is it for a president to openly express regret for some failures on his own part over these past seven years?

BRINKLEY: It's very unusual for a president to do, and it's unusual for Barack Obama in particular to do that. But I do feel that he thinks that two of the things he wishes he could have accomplished, early on he wanted to do a kind of renewable energy grid for America, never happen, and he really wanted to change the dialogue in America -- he wanted everything to be kind of civil. A town hall meeting forum like CNN ran on gun control, gun violence in Fairfax. And, of course, we haven't reached that. The country is at each other's throats. The partisan warfare is deeper than ever. And he's taking partial responsibility to that. Behind closed doors, he's really blaming Congress, who has a much lower public approval rating than the president does.

BLITZER: But he was pretty blunt, I must say, and I'm sure obviously you agree as well.

BRINKLEY: He was.

BLITZER: The speech was about highlighting what he hopes will be his legacy, setting the stage he hopes for a Democratic president to follow him. How did he do?

BRINKLEY: I think the speech was perfect for what he needed to do. It was very well written. He delivered it with vim and vigor and it's got -- getting high marks by just Americans that watched it or listened to it or watched it online or whatever. And so it's a success for him.

Now, how long this -- he gets a little bounce out of this is yet to be seen. It's a crowded calendar in politic. Most eyes are focused on who's going to be the Republican nominee. But, Wolf, keep in mind, this isn't the last big speech of President Obama. We're going to have a king daddy of a speech by this president in Philadelphia for the Democratic Convention. Now that speech he may go after Donald Trump or Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio, whoever's the proverbial GOP nominee, with a little bit more, you know, fisticuffs than he did last night where he only kind of inferred to Donald Trump's, you know, anti-Muslim crusade, and inferred to Ted Cruz's, we'll bomb them back to the stone age in the Middle East concept.

[13:25:01] BLITZER: Yes, that speech at the Democratic Convention clearly will be a lot more political and names will be mentioned as opposed to thinly vailed references to specific candidates.

BRINKLEY: Yes.

BLITZER: We all know who he was talking about, but he didn't mention any Republican presidential candidates by names.

Doug Brinkley, thanks very much for joining us.

BRINKLEY: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Up next, the duel between presidential candidates Ted Cruz/Donald Trump. That is dramatically heating up today. After the break, our political panel is standing by to weigh in on the most recent attacks from Cruz against Trump and on the newest numbers in the battle over Iowa. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:29:52] BLITZER: Let's get to presidential politics here in the United States right now. A new poll just out today shows a two-man race between Republicans Ted Cruz and Donald Trump in Iowa, less than three weeks before the Iowa caucuses. The Bloomberg/"Des Moines Register" poll shows Cruz on top with 25 percent support, ahead of Trump with 22 percent. That's within the poll's margin of error.