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Iran Awaits Report on Nuclear Compliance; Doubts in Congress Over Obama's Iran Nuclear Deal; New Poll Numbers for Democratic Presidential Candidates; Sean Penn Speaks Out on El Chapo Meeting; A Look Back at Operation Desert Storm 25 Years Ago. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 15, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And there in Europe, Fred, and you are there, and we have heard the reports of the German companies, and the French and the Spanish and the Italian companies are waiting to anxious to invest in Iran. And that is another huge source of income for the Iranians. What do we expect to see on that front?

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is going to be happening very quickly. And, look, one of the things that we have seen every time we have gone into Iran is that the planes going into Iran are full of business people trying to get the contracts and waiting for the implementation day which is going to be happening very soon to happen so they can start investing in earnest. One thing that we have to keep in mind is that the European companies did business with them in earnest until a year ago. And so that could get set up quickly, French automakers, and they have to renew the business relation, and it could go quickly, and more relations of the infrastructure investment, and the Iranian aviation sector, and put out the numbers where they believe they need 600 planes in the coming year, and unclear how quick they will be able to fulfill that. But there are a lot of companies, especially European companies trying to get into the market as fast as possible, and especially the hydrocarbon market where the Iranians announced today that within the next five years, they are going to be seeing $200 billion in foreign investment.

BLITZER: And most of it into Iran.

Thank you, Fred Pleitgen.

Republican lawmakers have rejected the Iran nuclear deal and they did so unanimously in the House and Senate from the very beginning. But they're not the only skeptics in Congress. Some Democrats have had their doubts as well.

Joining us is Congressman Brendan Boyle, from Pennsylvania, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee as well.

Congressman, thanks for joining us.

You voted against this deal, and one of the Democrats to oppose the president's nuclear deal with Iran. How do you think it's going along? Any second thoughts on the vote? REP. BRENDAN BOYLE, (D), PENNSYLVANIA: No, Wolf. Even though I have

not been in Congress for a long period of time, it is the most difficult vote that I have had to cast, and most difficult for however long I have to serve. I voted against for substantive reasons even though I am a supporter of the president. The first is the $56 billion to be released post implementation day. I'm very concerned that we are unfreezing the assets with no strings attached, and given the -- forget five years from now and 10 years from now, and right now, what Iran is doing in support of the Hezbollah and Hamas in Yemen and Syria, they are the bad actor in the region and the world. So frankly, I am concerned with the money that we are about to release, and let alone some of the other aspects down the line.

BLITZER: I assume some of the money flowing into Iran is going to be used domestically to help the people of Iran, but they could do it with the Revolutionary Guard, at least Susan Rice has said here on CNN, if they want to give the money away to the other groups, they are authorized to do so, is that right?

BOYLE: No strings attached. By the way, that is looking prospectively and that is where Congress should act on a bipartisan basis.

BLITZER: What can you do on that?

BOYLE: Well, clearly, if you are continuing to fund Hamas, and using a portion of this money to fund Hezbollah, and Lebanon right now, they have over 800 rockets pointing right at Israel, and most of it comes from the funding of this regime. And so if they use 90 percent of it to build the economy, and 5 percent of it on the $56 billion is going to be far more than they have had to spend on the terrorist a activities, and moving forward rather than re-litigating the deal, and it is clear that I was against it and a majority of Congress were, and the point is to go forward how the to best protect the allies in the region, and what can we go to move forward to make sure that Iran does not use the money to the terrorist attacks.

BLITZER: I want to get to the disturbing video of the 10 American soldiers with their hands behind their knees and -- hands behind their heads, and on their knees, and some did not come out to criticize? You heard the Republican candidates at the debate really condemn the Obama administration for not speaking out and condemning them themselves.

BOYLE: Well, Ted Cruz and others are tough on the debate stage. But I am privileged enough to be serving in Congress and I'm not one of the 10 sailors out there in the Persian Gulf putting my life on the line, so I in no way criticize the behavior or what they chose to do.

I would say the video and the fact that the Iranians even made it, and had them on their knees, it does show the true nature of the regime. We should not be under any illusions that Iran has turned the page, and the moderates are in full control. If anything now that the sanctions have been lifted and we no longer have that leverage, if anything, it empowers the hardliners in Iran who want to engage in more of this sort of the bombastic behavior. BLITZER: Congressman, thank you for joining us.

BOYLE: Thank you.

[13:35:14] BLITZER: Brendan Boyle, of Pennsylvania, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you.

There is more breaking news that we are following. A search is under way in the Pacific for 12 Marines after a pair of military transport helicopters collided off of the island of Hawaii in Oahu. They say they heard a big crash and flash in the sky. Debris has been spotted, including an empty raft, and there are rough waves 40 to 50 feet high, and that is complicating the search, and let's hope for the best.

And coming up, it is the Democrats chance to debate. How are the O'Malley and Sanders and Clinton campaigns preparing for the next face off?

And Sean Penn is going to talk about his interview with el Chapo, and why he is calling it a failure.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:16] BLITZER: We are two days away from what could be a very important moment for Hillary Clinton in the presidential race with the poll numbers slumping a little bit. Bernie Sanders is rising. And the two will face off main the fourth presidential debate. And Martin O'Malley, the former governor of Maryland, will be there. And in Iowa right now, Hillary Clinton holds a two-point lead for Bernie Sanders, well within the margin of error in the "Bloomberg" poll, and that is a fraction of what it was in December. Nationally, Hillary Clinton has a comfortable lead in the "Des Moines Register"/"Bloomberg" political poll.

So what is the take on it by Hillary Clinton?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, THE TONIGHT SHOW: Well, you had a giant -- you have a 20 point lead?

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Yeah, but, you know, it is artificial. All of those early soundings and polls, once you get into it, this Democratic election nor the nominee, and it gets really close, and exciting. And it depends who makes the best case that you can be the nominee to beat whoever the Republicans put up, and try to get your folks who support you the come out. I find it exciting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is here.

Who has more at stake Sunday night, Bernie or Hillary?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: So exciting. It's a key debate for both of them. I am not trying to dodge the question, but if I were Hillary Clinton, I would continue to try to draw distinctions with Bernie Sanders on the issues, like guns, and if I were Bernie Sanders I would try to say, Hillary Clinton, income inequality, and I have been doing it my entire life and you haven't. She is trying to draw distinctions with him on Medicare. But you will see her poll numbers going down, but what is interesting in the state of Iowa, for example, it is not that Bernie Sanders has a surge, what is happening is that the number of uncommitted voters has gone up from 8 percent in December to 14 percent now. People are sitting back and saying, I want to look at the folks, and say, who do I really want to vote for.

BLITZER: In Iowa, it is very close between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. In New Hampshire, he is ahead of her, and there is a possibility that he could win both of the contests.

BORGER: Oh, yes.

BLITZER: And then you move on the South Carolina. The recent poll there, Hillary Clinton is 65 percent among the Democrats and Bernie Sanders is 21 percent. She could come back in the third contest.

BORGER: Yeah, the whole strategy is built on the southern firewall. They have a lot of support with African-American voters in South Carolina, and throughout the south, and states like Arkansas, for example. And Clinton is a well known name. And Bernie Sanders has been struggling with the African-American voter outreach. Both of them have some labor support that they have split. I think that Hillary Clinton has more at this point, but I believe that Sanders' problems will be after Iowa and New Hampshire. Don't forget that Bill Clinton lost both Iowa and New Hampshire and went on to win in the south, as well, and that may be the model for Hillary Clinton. But you just don't know. I mean, she is better funded, and he has money, too, and the south is not hospitable to him right now.

BLITZER: Right now, I want the talk about the fascinating interview that you had with Vice President Joe Biden. And the Mayor Bill de Blasio, of New York, said he was surprised to hear Joe Biden saying Hillary Clinton came late into the game of income inequality, which is the centerpiece of Bernie Sanders. Is that resonating among Democrats right now?

BORGER: Bernie Sanders is trying to make it resonate among Democrats. And what the Biden people will say, she has been focused on the domestic policy and foreign policy. But the Sanders' campaign is saying it is their life's work. What she is trying to change the topic now to this question of Medicare. And Bernie Sanders would raise your taxes to pay for his health care plan, which is going to be universal single-payer coverage. And he is saying, yeah, I would have to raise your taxes, but you wouldn't have to pay the premiums, and so that would offset it. The debate is now shifting over who is more in favor of the more inclusive health care coverage. That is the kind of to debates that we will be hearing Sunday night.

I doubt that Hillary Clinton is as excited about this tightening of the race as she says she is, but she has been there before, and they are spooked by it, because they remember what happened with Barack Obama when he surprised everyone and brought out the new voters in Iowa. And the question is if Bernie Sanders can bring the younger, newer voters out in the Iowa caucuses, and also win New Hampshire.

[13:45:15] BLITZER: And with the exception of Donald Trump, he has huge crowds that show up for him, and they are very enthusiastic about Bernie Sanders.

BORGER: Yes, he has. Yes.

BLITZER: Thank you, Gloria.

Tune in to CNN after the Democrat presidential debate Sunday night for special post-debate coverage. I'll be your host, leading you through the highlights and the analysis, Sunday night at 11:00 p.m. eastern on CNN.

And straight ahead, Sean Penn breaks his silence on his controversial interview with the notorious drug kingpin, el Chapo. Why he says that he has been made a target for the cartel by the Mexican government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:50:01] BLITZER: Sean Penn is now speaking out for the first time since the interview of the Mexican drug lord known as el Chapo. The actor tells CBS's Charlie Rose that his article in "Rolling Stone" on that controversial meeting did not have the impact he thought it would. And he's making explosive allegations about the Mexican government. Charlie Rose asked if he had any regrets.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN PENN, ACTOR & ACTIVIST: I have a terrible regret.

CHARLIE ROSE, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: What are the regrets?

PENN: I have a regret that the entire discussion about this article ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the war on drugs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Rafael Romo is our senior Latin-American affairs editor and is following this story.

What else is he saying, Rafael?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN-AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Wolf, he says he wants to set the record straight so he chose an interview with Charlie Rose for "60 Minutes." Sean Penn says his goal was not to glorify the cartel. What I wanted to do, he told rose, was to start a conversation about policy on the war on drugs. The conversation about his article that appears Senator had in "Rolling Stone" has centered on potential legal problems he may face because of this interview and the process of how he got access to el Chapo in the first place. Penn also wanted to dispel the notion that it was this interview that

helped Mexican officials find el Chapo's whereabouts, which led to his capture.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENN: We know that the Mexican government, they were clearly very humiliated by the notion that someone found him before they did. Nobody found him before they did. We're not smarter than the DEA or the Mexican intelligence. We had a contact upon which we were able to facilitate an invitation.

ROSE: Do you believe the Mexican government released this in part because they wanted to see you blamed and to put you at risk?

PENN: Yes.

ROSE: They wanted to encourage the cartel to put you in their crosshairs?

PENN: Yes.

ROSE: Are you fearful for your life?

PENN: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Both Mexican and U.S. officials, Wolf, have told us in the last few days that the meeting with el Chapo was essential to the drug lord's capture.

BLITZER: Rafael Romo reporting for us. Thank you very much. Fascinating developments.

Up next, 25 years after the storm. We'll take a closer look back at the opening moments of the first gulf war from Baghdad to the Pentagon through the eyes of history exactly 25 years ago. We all saw it right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:57:06] BLITZER: I want to mark an important anniversary for the United States and, indeed, for the world. 25 years ago today, President George Bush issued National Security Directive 54, saying, and I'm quoting, "I authorize military actions designed to bring about Iraq's withdrawal are from Kuwait." That action, called Operation Desert Storm, started a quarter century ago. Operation Desert Storm began with a storm of explosions in Baghdad, the U.S. Air Force battering Saddam Hussein's capitol. The relentless assault from the skies proved effective beating down the Iraqi bravado and softening the Iraqi resolve.

It was a war brought to you live in your living room by CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN HOLLIMAN, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been filled up with the sound of gunfire here tonight. There's still lights on all over Baghdad and there are bullets being fired up into the air. You can see traces along with other bullets going up into the air.

PETER ARNETT, FORMER CNN CORRESPONDENT: If you're still with us, you can hear the bombs now hitting the center of the city.

WOLF (voice-over): The CNN team at the Baghdad hotel broadcast the first shots and first bombs as the 38-day air campaign began.

John Holliman, Bernard Shaw, Peter Arnett, they stayed on the air so all of us, the entire world could witness this historic attack.

At the Pentagon, a younger reporter hinted about what was about to happen.

BLITZER (on camera): The president may be going on television to explain what is going on. We have been hearing these rumors all day. No confirmation. But the last hour or so the activity level here at the Pentagon has clearly increased.

(voice-over): The United Nations had given the U.S. and its coalition partners the parameters of action, saying they should be forced out of Kuwait by all means necessary. This was the first time many Americans heard about the arsenal of stealth bombers, smart bombs and patriot missiles.

BLITZER (on camera): The United States wanted to start the attack at night. There are specific targets. For almost five and a half months, the United States has outlined virtually every strategic target in Iraq and occupied Kuwait. The U.S. airstrike was designed to begin with the stealth fighters and F-15s and F-16s as well as the tomahawk unmanned cruise missiles that have been stationed in the Persian Gulf before some of the aircraft carriers. There are two there now as well as the battleships "Wisconsin" and "Missouri."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: The effectiveness of that air campaign was felt five weeks later when the ground war started and lasted 100 hours before Iraq and Saddam Hussein called it quits. I remember those days vividly.

The news continues next, right here on CNN.

[14:00:11] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.