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World Leaders Reach Deal to Cease Hostilities; Clinton Stumping for Clinton; Machete Wielding Man Killed after Deli Attack. Aired 10:30-11a ET
Aired February 12, 2016 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:29:57] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.
A tentative deal has been reached that could be the first step to stop the fighting inside Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry says it's a cessation of hostilities but he won't go as far as calling it a cease-fire.
Nic Robertson is in Munich where leaders from more than hammered out this agreement. Hi, Nic.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Hi -- Carol.
I mean let's think about the cessation of hostilities more as a sort of pause that if everything goes right, then the political talks can get everyone to a ceasefire. But what's supposed to happen immediately as of today, humanitarian assistance that cut parts of the country, parts of Syria that are cut off -- both government supporters and opposition supporters to get this humanitarian relief. The idea is that spreads across the whole country, builds confidence.
One week from today that cessation of hostility is supposed to begin. A lot of concern from the opposition about Russia's intentions here -- this is what they told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALEM MESLET, SYRIAN OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN: We see hope in this agreement, but we hope to see a big solution for all Syria and all Syrians. And the key test of this agreement when you look at what happens in the next week, what are the key things you're going to look for to see that it's being -- that it meets your expectations.
If we see Russia stop this air strikes on civilian, this really will, you know, push forward toward the political solution, and this is one of the, I believe, if they do it, and if they are really serious about it, this will help a lot and will really save more lives there and give a big boost for the political process.
ROBERTSON: And when will you get back into that political process? In a week, in two weeks, in three weeks? When?
MESLET: As soon as we see action on the ground there. This is important for us. This is -- it's a test for a good will, and we'll wait and see what happens there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTSON: And that's what this agreement last night was all about. It's getting those peace talks up and running. It is down to the United States and Russia to help make sure that that cessation stays in place. Both countries have agreed that they will decide where ISIS is in the country, where al Qaeda is, and those two organizations -- those two terror groups will continue to be legitimate targets. No cease-fire or cessation for them -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Nic Robertson, reporting live from Germany this morning.
Pope Francis is in the air over the Atlantic right now. He's wearing a sombrero while making his second trip to Cuba, this time for a historic meeting with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.
But the controversial part of his journey will actually be when he touches down in Mexico. On Wednesday the Pope travels to the border town of Juarez where he's expected to pray for the thousands who have died trying to cross the border into the United States. The Pope is even holding a cross border mass that hundreds of thousands are expected to attend on both sides of the border.
The Republican front runner Donald Trump is weighing in on the Pope's visit, calling the Pope political and saying Pope Francis doesn't understand border safety.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think that the Pope is a very political person. I think he doesn't understand the problems our country has. I don't think he understands the danger of the open border that we have with Mexico, and I think Mexico got him to do it because Mexico wants to keep the border just the way it is, because they're making a fortune and we're losing.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Despite their differences, Trump has said in the past that he respects the Pope, that he seems quote, "like a pretty good guy".
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Bill Clinton on the campaign trail. Will he be key in getting his wife to the White House or not?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:38:09] COSTELLO: Hillary Clinton has called him her not so secret weapon. And today her husband Bill Clinton will campaign for her again, this time in Cincinnati.
CNN's senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny takes a closer look at the pros and cons of having Mr. Clinton on the campaign trail.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Bill Clinton loves the campaign trail.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This state has been so good to me and to Hillary.
ZELENY: He's still the biggest name in Democratic politics, one of the most popular former presidents. But Clinton nostalgia is facing a fresh test in a year where being part of the old guard carries new liabilities.
In his wife's second presidential campaign, he started with a soft touch.
B. CLINTON: She's pretty much still the same girl I fell in love with in law school. She really is.
ZELENY: He even refrained from responding to Donald Trump's attacks on his wife.
B. CLINTON: I have no interest in getting involved in their politics or doing anything except trying to help Hillary.
ZELENY: But the former President's tone has gradually crescendoed into directly confronting Bernie Sanders.
B. CLINTON: When you're making a revolution, you can't be too careful about the facts. You're just for me or against me. Her opponent, a champion of all things small and enemy of all things big voted for that bill.
ZELENY: Sanders took exception to the criticism.
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was disappointed in President Clinton. I've known him for 25 years. And I like him and I respect him and I hope that this campaign does not degenerate.
ZELENY: Some Democrats are starting to have flashbacks to 2008 when President Clinton became an unwelcome center of attention and harsh critic of Barack Obama.
B. CLINTON: Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairytale I've seen.
ZELENY: That fairytale line stuck with Clinton and made him seething mad. But he made matters worst by diminishing Obama's victory in South Carolina.
B. CLINTON: Jesse Jackson won South Carolina twice in '84 and '88. And he ran a good campaign and Senator Obama has run a good campaign. He ran a good campaign everywhere.
[10:40:07] ZELENY: There are few better advocates for Hillary Clinton than the former president. But as this campaign escalates, some Democrats wonder if he'll be able to hold his tongue. He knows his words are magnified.
B. CLINTON: Sometimes when I'm on a stage like this, I wish we weren't married then I could say what I really think.
ZELENY: As both sides furiously try to win over black voters, President Clinton is in the spotlight again -- a high wire second act.
B. CLINTON: The hotter this election gets, the more I wish I were just a former president and just for a few months not the spouse of the next one.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Jeff Zeleny reporting -- thank you.
Bill Clinton has a campaign appearance in Atlanta tomorrow, by the way. So he'll be back on the stump.
Let's talk about Bill Clinton and the effect on his wife's campaign.
I want to bring in CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona along with CNN political analyst and senior editor at the "Atlantic" Ron Brownstein. Welcome to both of you.
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning -- Carol.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.
COSTELLO: Good morning. So Ron, is Bill Clinton a plus or a minus?
BROWNSTEIN: You know, I would say he could be a plus, but so far he really hasn't been. I though -- I saw him in New Hampshire -- I thought his tone and attitude were all wrong. He projected kind of pique even indignation that Bernie Sanders was daring to run against Hillary Clinton.
And I think what Hillary Clinton really needs and we saw a little bit of it last night is to engage Sanders more directly on his agenda. I mean she's basically arguing the ideas aren't feasible. She has to argue about whether the ideas are desirable if they could be done. And there's really no one better to help her on that than Bill Clinton.
But that's not the head he's in right -- Carol. I mean I thought in New Hampshire he was not helpful and in fact kind of looked like the establishment, the kind of the power of the former president coming down on Bernie Sanders. Just all the imagery -- the tone, the body language -- it was all wrong.
COSTELLO: Well, I was just going to say that, Maria. Isn't it all about the tone? I mean Bill Clinton might be able to criticize Bernie Sanders but he has to do it in a certain way.
CARDONA: I think that's right. I think he will realize that moving forward. I do believe that he can be one of her biggest assets. There is no one that is a better personal biographer for Hillary than Bill Clinton. And I think moving into the southern states into the states with more diverse communities he can also be a huge asset.
He is beloved among the African American community. He is beloved among the Latino community. And frankly, I think he might be able to make a dent with younger voters as well. They seem to have an affinity for older white men with white hair, so let's try Bill Clinton --
COSTELLO: Oh, Maria.
CARDONA: To get out there and talk about Hillary.
COSTELLO: Oh, come on.
CARDONA: No. He can talk about -- no, that was a joke.
COSTELLO: I know.
CARDONA: But I'm being serious in terms of him being sort of the best one to really be able to explain in very personal terms. That's what he's best at, connecting with people at the gut level; so talk to them about how she would be the best next president, how she would be their greatest fighter.
He did it in 2012 for Barack Obama and President Obama says to this day that he was one of the greatest assets that he had on the campaign trail in 2012.
COSTELLO: So Ron -- do you agree?
BROWNSTEIN: Carol --
COSTELLO: Could Bill -- yes, go ahead.
BROWNSTEIN: I'll just say look, I think for Bill Clinton, it's important not just to be a character witness. I mean what's happened is that Bernie Sanders has seized control of the campaign dialogue and debate. And he's created a construct in which Hillary Clinton looks like either a timid tinkerer or a captive special interest unless she supports the most liberal possible solution to any problem.
And that's exactly the construct that Bill Clinton effectively challenged in his own presidential campaigns in the 90s. I mean he basically rejected the idea that the only way to be for big change was to kind of lurch ideologically. She's having trouble responding to that argument in a Democratic Party that admittedly is different than it was in the 1990s.
But I think that where Bill Clinton could be more valuable to her is kind of shaping the idea that you don't necessarily have to be for a 40 percent increase in the size of government as she noted last night in order to respond meaningfully to the challenges that we face. I think that would be a more useful use of him than this kind of
personal, almost pique -- who is this guy daring to challenge us which is totally the wrong I think message and tone.
COSTELLO: And there are other things -- there are other things in Bill Clinton's record that some voters aren't so happy with like his 1994 crime bill. I mean that makes the minority community furious.
CARDONA: Well, except where I think that would be a liability for the Sanders campaign too because Senator Sanders voted for that crime bill. And so I think, again, I completely agree with Ron. He can be a complete asset for her if he does it in the right way. And if he follows in her footsteps from last night in terms of really trying to poke some very real holes into Sanders' argument about what he wants to do in terms of proposals, how is he going to pay for it, how is going to get it done.
[10:44:54] And I also think foreign policy is a huge area where President Clinton can really underscore his wife's achievements, his wife's knowledge, his wife's understanding -- deep, deep understanding of foreign policy where right now Bernie Sanders has not demonstrated that same kind of understanding in a very important area.
COSTELLO: All right. I have to leave it there. Thanks to both of you -- Maria Cardona, Ron Brownstein.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM --
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks -- Carol.
CARDONA: Thank you.
COSTELLO: -- the latest on a bloody assault with a machete inside of an Ohio delicatessen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:49:22] COSTELLO: A man with a machete burst into an Ohio deli and starts slashing people. Now one person is in critical conditions, three others hurt and police want to know what was behind the attack.
CNN justice reporter Evan Perez is here with more on that. Good morning.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Good morning -- Carol.
Right now the FBI is assisting the local police there in Columbus and investigating this case. There are some early indications that investigators have found that lead them to believe that perhaps terrorism may be the motive here but that is still under investigation. They haven't made that determination yet.
We know that the suspect, the attacker is of Somali origin. He had a criminal background including of drug use. And this all began around 5:30 last night at a restaurant, Nazareth Restaurant -- it's a Mediterranean restaurant there in Columbus.
According to the witnesses, he entered the restaurant and immediately attacked a couple. Here's one witness who described the shocking scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A man came in and started beating up on a man, and I thought it was a personal thing. And then he just started down the row hitting everybody with something. I don't know. People were bleeding.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREZ: And, Carol, you know, there were witnesses there and there were people inside the restaurant who tried to help. They attacked him with throwing chairs at him. He eventually left the restaurant and fled.
The police chased him about five miles down the road. They engaged with him and shot and killed him after they say that he came at them with the machete and a knife -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez, reporting live for us this morning -- thank you.
Checking some other top stories for you at 50 minutes past. More than 3,800 women and children in Flint, Michigan could soon be tested for lead poisoning from damaged water pipes. The Agriculture Department said the state can use federal funds earmarked for the women, infants and children nutrition program to pay for the test.
A partial victory in a race to stop a massive natural gas leak in Southern California. SoCal Gas is pumping heavy liquid into the Aliso Canyon storage facility, has given them temporary control of the noxious leak but it won't be completely stopped until the well is sealed with concrete. Many nearby residents have fled their homes since the leak erupted four months ago.
The four armed hold outs at a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon are set to be arraigned in federal court this afternoon. Three men and a woman surrendered after a night of intense negotiations with the FBI. They were the only ones left from the original group that seized the facility back in early January to protest federal land policies.
Never has a water main break looked so majestic. This is what it looked like in Scranton, Pennsylvania as gushing water met with frigid temperatures. The good news according to WNET: the pipe is now fixed. Water service has been restored. Unfortunately several homes are now dealing with water damage.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the band Ok Go has released its latest music video. And would you believe me if I said there are no special effects involved?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:56:40] COSTELLO: This Monday on Presidents' Day, three teams
of CNN anchors will test their knowledge of all things presidential. It's the "CNN QUIZ SHOW".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: This year people want change. Change we can believe in not more of the same.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: We're going to win the quiz show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys won 97 times.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Given the smirk on your face I think you feel pretty good, don't you there John Berman?
TAPPER: I heard that Berman won.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He won, but you weren't there.
TAPPER: Right. I've never lost.
CUPP: Winning.
TAPPER: Winning. Winning. Our motto is winning. That's what we're going to bring to the quiz show.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John is a smart guy. He's better with walls than with people.
KING: The King Jones ticket --
VAN JONES, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: No mercy.
KING: Tapper, S.E. Cupp. Follow the money.
CUPP: Save it? Save it.
KING: Berman has won what -- three times?
JONES: I don't know if it's true. I just keep hearing that Berman just (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Where's the beef -- Jake Tapper?
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Where's the beef John King.
BERMAN: Senator.
BOLDUAN: You are no John Berman.
BERMAN: That's right.
COOPER: Now they're just being cruel.
KING: I'm John King.
JONES: And I'm Van Jones.
TAPPER: I'm Jake Tapper.
CUPP: And I'm S.E. Cupp.
BERMAN: I'm John Berman.
BOLDUAN: I'm Kate Bolduan.
CNN HOST: We approve this message.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sort of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: "CNN QUIZ SHOW: RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE" airs Monday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
The band Ok Go is known for its choreographed music videos. Remember when they danced on those treadmills? They shot that video.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ok Go has gone weightless.
(MUSIC)
Reporter: don't try this aboard your next commercial flight. The band known for its unique videos has come a long way from their treadmill days. Now they're treading in zero gravity in a plane above Russia (ph). For three weeks they practiced and performed as the plane did parabolas climbing until it goes over the hump creating 27 seconds of weightlessness -- time to open luggage and release a zillion balls.
The flight attendants didn't yell. They're actually trained aerial acrobats. Lead singer Damian Kulash called the whole zero-G experience exciting and terrifying.
DAMIAN KULASH, OK GO: It's a very difficult physical sensation, and it just causes a lot of sort of fear and panic.
MOOS: Russia's S7 airline offered Ok Go the plane in exchange for using the results in a marketing campaign. The video upside down and inside out is made up of eight periods of weightlessness with a time in between as the plane repositions edited out. The band members took anti-nausea drugs, but the production crew wanted to go natural.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had about 58 unscheduled regurgitation.
KULASH: 58 vomiting events.
MOOS: But what's a little nausea when paint-filled balloons are spilling their guts?
Now Damian himself never actually threw but he did pass out after being spun by the flight attendants.
KUSAH: There's actually footage of me, like you can see my eyes kind of twirl up, and I just go limp.
MOOS: Watch him start to lose it as his eyes flutter after five seconds or so, he regained consciousness.
[11:00:02] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want me to get you some water?
MOOS: No. I want you to get me some gravity.
Jeanne Moos, CNN --
(MUSIC)
MOOS: -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Wow. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. "AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan starts now.
