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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Missing Americans in Iraq; Americans Freed in Iran; Trump Campaigns to Evangelicals. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 18, 2016 - 12:00   ET

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

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[12:00:15] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. And welcome to LEGAL VIEW.

Intense raids are underway right now to rescue three Americans missing and reportedly kidnapped inside Iraq. The Iraqi officials say the focus is on Baghdad's southeastern neighborhood of Dora. The sources tells CNN the men were grabbed by a group of gunmen and taken away in a convoy. We are reporting this story with military analyst Jonathan Gilliam, who joins us live now, and CNN Pentagon correspondent following this from the Pentagon.

So, Barbara Starr, what are your sources telling you about this operation that's going on right now?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, right now it is believed that these people are civilians, possibly contractors. They are not military. They are not government employees. So it is the State Department and the FBI on the part of the U.S. taking the lead, coordinating with the Iraqi forces who are leading that mission, going through those southeastern neighborhoods of Dora in Baghdad looking for these people.

It was a couple - it's been a couple of days, apparently, since they were kidnapped. Their company filing a note with the U.S. government in Baghdad saying that their people were missing. This, of course, is always the nightmare. The security situation in Baghdad, terribly uncertain. ISIS - let alone ISIS, Shiite, Sunni, other militant elements in the city. Always a lot of concerned about the safety of Americans.

But right now, it is indeed Iraqi forces leading the hunt through those neighborhoods looking for these people. Security in Baghdad, they have - Iraqis definitely have the lead on it, and they are trying to find them.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: I want to bring Jonathan in on this conversation as well.

You have been a contractor. You have a lot of friends who have been contractors in Iraq. The element of speed, getting this done before the days play out into weeks, how important is it? JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, so the civilians at home

here can understand, this is very similar to a homicide investigation here where the faster you start collecting information, the better off it's going to be, because this could be a part of - there's different militias around in this area. ISIS is still somewhat existing in this area. So finding out who committed this kidnapping is going to be one of the biggest things that's going to help propel this investigation forward.

Now, the FBI has a unit that specifically works for this. The State Department works as well. So the other thing that's going to come into play is, once - if they do locate them, once they locate them, who the QRF is and - they're getting - I'm sure they're getting forces together now just in case.

BANFIELD: What's QRF?

GILLIAM: A quick reaction force. Who's going to be the group that goes in and tries to rescue these individuals if it gets to that? So there's a lot of things that are in play right now with trying to determine who took them, where it actually happened, because there's still conflicting reports as far as that goes, and how they're going to react, how our forces are going to react, because we have such a small DOD presence there now, other things are in play.

BANFIELD: So with the quick reaction force and the word that they are sealing off that neighborhood, Dora, how tough is that job? How big is that area? How realistic is it that you can seal off a neighborhood and actually get in and out of all of those places where someone could be secreted away and held as prisoners?

GILLIAM: It's very, very difficult because the fact is, a lot of people that live in these neighborhoods are loyal to these different group, whether it, again, it be just a militia group or whether it might be somebody who's a part of ISIS, they're loyal to these groups. So it's going to be very difficult to try to find them and locate them because you don't know the person that you're talking to, if they're telling you the truth or not. Where sources come into a huge play here, where you already have predetermined relationships with certain people, and that's how you're really going to be able to collect a lot of this information.

BANFIELD: And some of those loyalties just through philosophy and some of those loyalties are through utter fear, so it just complicates things even more.

GILLIAM: It's a very, very intense situation.

BANFIELD: Jonathan Gilliam, thank you for that. Our Barbara Starr, thank you, from the Pentagon as well.

I want to go next door to Iran because right now three of four Americans freed in a historic prisoner swap with Iran are now undergoing checkups at an American military hospital in Germany. Journalist Jason Rezaian, Marine veteran Amir Hekmati and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini, and all being examined by doctors. The fourth American who was part of this release opted to stay behind in Iran after the release. Just a short while ago, Jason Rezaian's editor at "The Washington Post" was asked about Jason's condition.

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MARTIN BARON, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "WASHINGTON POST": He sounds in very high spirits, very encouraged, wants to see his brother, who's been working tirelessly on his behalf, wants to see us, his colleagues, professional colleagues, and really craves human contact. So he seems in - he seemed OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:10] BANFIELD: All of this happening as the United States adds sanctions on Iran over its missile program, despite having lifted sanctions over its nuclear program.

I want to bring in CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto, along with CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott, and CNN's international correspondent Fred Pleitgen, who is live with us right now in Germany.

So, Fred, first of all, just give me the lay of the land. You're near the hospital where the Americans are being treated. Clear this up for me. Of the four that were released, are all four at the hospital at this point? Exactly who is at the facility?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, at the facility, Ashleigh, you have Jason Rezaian and Amir Hekmati, who, of course, was in Iranian detention for four year. And then you have Pastor Saeed Abedini. There was one individual who opted not to go back on that flight that came from Teheran to Geneva and then ultimately here to the Landstuhl medical facility. That was that fourth person called Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari. He decided not to go on board the flight. He's really an individual where we don't really know very much about who he is. We don't really know very much about his case. President Obama, yesterday, when he spoke about all this, also said, this is not an individual we know very much about. However, he is an American and so therefore it was very important for the U.S. to get him released.

The other three are on the facility here. We've heard from Ali Rezaian, from Jason's brother. The last we spoke to him, he had not been able to see Jason yet. And it's interesting because, on the one hand, we know that they are being reunited with their family members. But at the same time, the physicians here at the Landstuhl medical facility say they want to do this not too fast because they feel that these three individuals could be overwhelmed after this very long time in very, very tough detention, because the Aven (ph) prison in Tehran is one that is notorious for the - for the conditions that people are kept under there.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And just so - so interestingly that the fourth student - the fourth prisoner who was released outside of the swap, he wasn't part of the swap but he was also released, Matthew Trevithick, we don't know at this point where he is. There's no information. So it's a little confusing in that there are five total prisoners released, four of them through a swap, and one of those four, as you said, Nosratollah, opting to stay behind in Iran.

Jim Sciutto, if I could get you in on this conversation. There's so much that we still have to learn about these prisoners, and Jason Rezaian, who's been sort of the - the best known of these prisoners and has the most of media coverage given the fact that he's a "Washington Post" reporter, his brother has spoken about what his family knows about the developments. What he - what's he saying?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I was able to speak with Ali Rezaian this morning. I've been in touch with him and the family for months throughout this. And this is, of course, principally been an ordeal for the prisoners in Iran, Hekmati, and Abedini, and Rezaian and the others, but it's also been an ordeal for the family, just the separation, but also the doubts. They didn't know how or when this was going to end. And there were lots of false starts here, times when they thought things were going to - they were finally going to get that relief and they didn't. It's been difficult for them.

But I'll tell you, speaking to Ali, they are joyous now. Almost disbelieving that it's real. And just ready for some quality time with their brother. And beginning to - I'll tell you this, Ashleigh, because, you know, throughout this the family members have been very shy, understandably, about making any public criticism. They did not want to disturb the process, either, you know, criticism of the American side or of the Iranian side, but they're beginning to speak. And Ali Rezaian, for instance, said today, you know, that at the very last moments that the Iranians were still trying to manipulate them by keeping Jason's wife and mother off that plane, that was that final disagreement that delayed the plane, you sense in his voice and in those statements just the frustration that they've had to deal with throughout this.

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ALI REZAIAN, BROTHER OF JASON REZAIAN: Clearly it's not morally justified to take innocent people and trade them for people that have done crimes. But the fact of the matter is, is for these folks that have been locked up in prison, in Iran for all this time, is - is not morally justifiable either. So I - I appreciate everything the government's done and I'm just really happy that he's home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That's the rock and the hard place they've been between - they believe Jason is innocent. The U.S. believes he's innocent. They don't like the idea that he was traded for convicted criminals here. But at the other hand, just like you and me, I imagine, they wanted their brother out, and now he's out.

BANFIELD: Yes, they - it's family, period. That's what that comes down to. Elise Labott, talk a little bit more about all of the diplomatic back and forth that - that this - I mean there's so much we don't know clearly. But I think what Secretary Kerry is revealing is fascinating about what track actually was on given this prisoner exchange, as opposed to the nuclear track that everybody thought it was connected to. Can you clear that up?

[12:10:13] ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Ashleigh.

Well, this has been going on for about 14 months of secret diplomacy. And it started kind of on the parallel of these nuclear talks that were taking place between Iran and world powers. So U.S. officials, Secretary Kerry said every time there was a meeting of this larger group about the Iranian nuclear issue, U.S. officials would sit down with their Iranian counterparts on a separate issue just about these Americans. And even while they were making a point not the link it, because they didn't want the fate of these Americans to be tied to the fate of the nuclear deal, those talks continued in tandem. And then once that nuclear deal was signed, Secretary Kerry said to his counterpart, Iranian Former Minister Zarif, listen, here's an opportunity to get this done, to get rid of what they called an irritant in the relationship. The U.S. and Iran obviously have a lot more issues in the region to deal with and Secretary Kerry said, let's try and get this done.

So those talks accelerated. There were a lot of ups and downs. At one they thought that the deal was off. But in recent months that continued. Then there was that third track. So there were really three tracks going on, the nuclear track, the Americans, and then the issue of settling a case between the U.S. and Iran for even before the revolution. They just settled for about $1.4 billion. So you can a lot of kind of old business wrapped up with Iran with this new business. It will be interesting to see, now that this is all settled, where that relationship goes, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: And you hit - you hit the nail on the head, old business from pre-revolutionary days wrapped up in the new business of the nuclear arm deal. Very convoluted, but a great result for - definitely for those families as well. Thank you to all three of you, Fred Pleitgen, Jim Sciutto, Elise Labott. Appreciate the reporting.

The Iowa caucuses are just two weeks from tomorrow. The New Hampshire primary, three weeks from tomorrow. So why is Donald Trump in Virginia? I'm not at liberty to say. No, that's a play on words. He's at Liberty, Liberty University. Why is that important? It's important to every one of these candidates. You're going to hear why, next.

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[12:16:31] BANFIELD: Two weeks from today, voters in Iowa will cast the first votes of the 2016 presidential race. And our new CNN poll of polls shows us who's on top and who is in the hunt. In Iowa, a dead heat for Democrats. Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders tied at 45 percent apiece. Martin O'Malley is far behind, a distant third, at just 4 percent. For the GOP in Iowa, it is almost as close. Texas Senator Ted Cruz has a two-point edge with 27 percent to Donald Trump's 25 percent. Marco Rubio and Ben Carson are the only others in double digits. And, nationally, it's all Clinton and all Trump. Clinton is now running 18 points ahead of Sanders, 54 percent to 36 percent. In the GOP race, Trump has a 14 percent lead over Cruz, followed by Rubio and Carson, with all of the rest again in single digits.

And Donald Trump is taking his pitch directly to evangelicals. Last hour, he took this stage at Liberty University in Virginia. It's a popular and critical stop for Republicans looking to boost their support among conservatives, and the place where rival Ted Cruz announced his candidacy for president.

CNN's Jim Acosta is there. He joins us now live.

So what - I'm so curious to find out what the reception was like of those at Liberty University for a guy who has been questioned about his evangelical credentials. Give me a sort of blow by blow on what things were like during that address.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I have to tell you, Ashleigh, I think Donald Trump was received very well here at Liberty University. You know, he is out to woo Christian conservatives. There's no mistaking that. That is a key constituency in the Republican Party, and two weeks to go until the Iowa caucus. And by the way, a constituency that really supports Ted Cruz, who you just mentioned, announced he's running for president here. So Donald Trump is getting the work that has to get done before these Iowa caucuses here.

And he did tailor his remarks to this Christian conservative crowd. He talked about how his book, "The Art of the Deal," is only second to the Bible. He said, if he's elected president, we're going to be saying "merry Christmas" in this country again. But at the same time there were still vintage parts of Trump's speech. He went after President Obama's handling of the war on ISIS and the Iran nuclear deal. He went after Hillary Clinton at one point saying that he wants a woman president soon, but not her. And he also even called Bowe Bergdahl a dirty rotten traitor at one point. And so there was - there was still some red meat that Donald Trump tossed out to this audience, but there was an interesting moment when Donald Trump talked about his Christian faith. He quoted the Bible and we'll play a little bit of that for you right now.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're going to protect Christianity. And I can say that. I don't have to be politically correct or - we're going to protect it, you know. And I - I asked Jerry and I asked some of the folk, because I hear this is a major theme right here, but 2 Corinthians, right, 2 Corinthians 3:17, that's the whole ball game, where the Spirit of the Lord, right, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. And here there is Liberty College, but - Liberty University, but it is so true.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Now, you might not have heard it there, but we heard it here, there were a few grumbles in the audience and maybe a little bit of nervous laughter because Donald Trump said 2 Corinthians. He meant to say 2nd Corinthians. And so, you know, Donald Trump's fluency with the - with every portion of the Bible might not be where he is in terms of, you know, his business acumen, but he was trying to appeal to this Christian conservative audience.

[12:20:17] And while they did not really respond energetically, Ashleigh, to everything he said about his faith and his - and how he wants this to be a more Christian nation, how he wants to defend Christianity and so forth, when he gave those red meat lines about wanting to bomb the hell out of ISIS and going after Jeb Bush, calling him a stiff, the audience did respond to those things. And so when Donald Trump just sort of stuck to his script, he did just fine here.

One thing that we should point out in these remarks that I thought was fascinating, Ashleigh, one person he did not mention, Ted Cruz, his archrival in Iowa who has that base of support among evangelicals. Maybe Donald Trump thought, you know, he could go a lot of places in front of this crowd, but maybe not after Ted Cruz.

BANFIELD: Well, and I'm interested you said that because the one thing that stood out to me as well was the moment where he said, look, I want a woman president, not this woman, not Hillary.

ACOSTA: Right.

BANFIELD: And there was this wide shot of the applause in the audience, but it looked like there were a lot of people who were not clapping for that moment. And it made me realize that Bernie Sanders also appeared before that crowd and did very well before that crowd. Is the Liberty University crowd different this time around than it has been in years past when these candidates appeared there?

ACOSTA: The answer to that is clearly no, Ashleigh. The crowd at Liberty University is almost the same crowd every time you have one of these events here, and there's one reason why, the students here are required to attend. It's mandatory. There are 30 or so of these convocation events, as they call them here at Liberty University, and they'll get in trouble with the university. They might have to pay a $10 fine. That's not very steep, but maybe if you're a kid in college, $10 is $10. And so they get one skip, I was told by one of the students here. So they're required to attend these event, and that's why you have such big audiences here.

But I - I just took a quick poll of some of these students after this event was over, talked to about five different students, three of them said they still like Ted Cruz, one of them said Ben Carson, the other one was sort of undecided. They like Donald Trump, but I'm not sure, just based on that very unscientific small sampling of the audience here, whether he won a lot of people over today. We'll have to wait and see.

BANFIELD: Yes. ACOSTA: One man told me as he was leaving that - maybe that Donald Trump isn't steeped in the Christian faith, maybe, you know, we don't necessarily believe that he is a strong Christian man, but this man said his heart's in the right place. So they like Donald Trump for who he is and they liked what he had to say here today.

BANFIELD: Well, Jim, we're certainly going to get more of that critical sampling, the real stuff, in just two weeks. Thanks very much.

ACOSTA: That's right.

BANFIELD: And I know you're going to continue to report on his motions throughout the day.

ACOSTA: All right, you bet.

BANFIELD: Jim Acosta live for us at Liberty University.

And the democrats, as well, had one last chance to face a national audience before the Iowa caucuses. Last night they took to the debate stage in Charleston, South Carolina. It was their feistiest debate so far as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed over Wall Street and health care and guns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, I think Secretary Clinton knows that what she saying is very disingenuous. I have a d-minus voting record from the NRA.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Based on Senator Sanders' own record that he has voted with the NRA, with the gun lobby, numerous times. He voted against the Brady Bill five times. He voted for what we call the Charleston loophole. He voted for immunity from gun makers and sellers, which the NRA said was the most important piece of gun legislation in 20 years.

SANDERS: The first difference is, I don't take money from big banks. I don't get personal speaking fees from Goldman Sachs.

CLINTON: I can tell you that the hedge fund billionaires who are running ads against me right now, and Karl Rove, who started running an ad against me right now, funded by money from the financial services sector, sure think I'm the one they don't want.

SANDERS: Secretary Clinton didn't answer your question, because what her campaign was saying, Bernie Sanders, who has fought for universal health care for my entire life, he wants to end Medicare, end Medicaid, end the Children's Health Insurance program. That is nonsense.

CLINTON: I - I have to say, I'm not sure whether we're talking about the plan you just introduced tonight, or we're talking about the plan you introduced nine times in the Congress. But the fact is, we have the Affordable Care Act. That is one of the greatest accomplishments of President Obama, of the Democratic Party and of our country.

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BANFIELD: And I will remind you as the battle heads to Iowa in two weeks, that Sanders and Clinton are in a dead heat there.

So only one of this year's crop of presidential hopefuls is the subject of debate today in the British parliament. And I'll bet you can guess which one. Straight ahead, we're going to take you off to London, where Donald Trump is learning what the Brits really think about him.

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[12:29:20] BANFIELD: So Donald Trump is not running for anything in Europe, but he is the big topic of debate in the British parliament today. Here's some live pictures of the members as they stand and address a committee room. This is just off of Westminster Hall. And at issue is whether or not the billionaire businessman, the Republican presidential frontrunner, should be banned from ever entering the United Kingdom because of Trump's call for banning Muslims from entering the United States. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL FLYNN, MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: It's a bit of an occasion because the first petition has been signed by more people than any other in this parliament. It's signed by 573,971 signatures and it calls to block Donald J. Trump from U.K. entry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:30:13] BANFIELD: CNN's Max Foster joins