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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva Today Trying to Salvage a Crumbling Ceasefire in Syria; U.N. Warns the situation in Aleppo is Catastrophic; Comedian Larry Wilmore Making Some Waves at the White House Correspondents' Dinner; Nearly Every Public School in Detroit Shut Down Today. Aired 3:30-4p ET
Aired May 02, 2016 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[15:34:05] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. secretary of state John Kerry in Geneva today trying to salvage a crumbling ceasefire and words to warn Syria. He took some time out to blame the Syrian government for an airstrike last week. We talked about this on this hospital and the rebel controlled area of Aleppo. Secretary called - Kerry called the attack quote "unconscionable." Fifty were killed including reports indicating the city less pediatrician. ITN Matt Fry exclusively obtain a surveillance video from inside the hospital moments before and after it was hit. The images, they're ghostly as the cameras reveal what happened once the dust settled.
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MATT FRY, REPORTER, ITN (voice-over): This is a silent film. But you begin to imagine the sounds. The CCTV cameras outside the hospital in the rain and inside are unflinching observers of what's about to unfold. The clocks on the screen are an hour out. It is 9:38 on Wednesday evening and the (INAUDIBLE) hospital is shaken by an explosion nearby. Some people head down stairs expecting casualties to arrive. That turns out to be a deadly mistake.
No one you can see here has any idea that this hospital is seconds away from becoming a target itself. The choice of where to go left or right, up or down, seals their fate. The man in green is Dr. Mohammed Mohas (ph) leaving the intensive care unit. He is 36 years old and he is the last pediatrician in Aleppo. He has already done one day shift at another hospital and is in the middle of the night shift in this one. He is single and his parents have fled to Turkey. He was looking forward to visiting them a few days later. We don't know exactly where he is now gone but we do know his fate.
At 9:42:12, the hospital is hit. Same explosion, different camera. Minutes after the dust clears, the survivors emerge. The ghostly image of a nurse carrying a child or a baby from the maternity ward. Civilians milling around in a daze taking on the tasks of the nurses who have been killed or injured.
Dr. Mohammed is now dead and so are 50 others. Nurses, patients, visitors. As the smoke clears, the road outside emerges as a field of rubble. Since then, two more hospitals have been hit and yesterday one of Aleppo's main medical storage facilities. In this case, four CCTV cameras bare silent witnessed.
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[15:37:01] BALDWIN: That's Matt Fry reporting.
The U.N. warns the situation in Aleppo is catastrophic. Secretary Kerry says he is working with Russia to restore any truce at-risk areas. And while violence and fragile ceasefire has kept Syria on the brink, the U.S. Navy is escalating its efforts to combat ISIS from the Persian Gulf. The Harry S. Truman carries strike group is announcing it will extend its deployment in the region by 30 days. After two years of bombing, officials say they have their foot on ISIS' throat. And there I was speaking the rear admiral in bridge on the aircraft carrier just a couple of weeks ago there. They gave us exclusive access to Harry S Truman and also the nearby guided missile cruiser USS. Sailors were, when we were talking to them, you know, really excited to come home mid-June and now they are learning they won't reunite with their families until at least mid-July.
So, let me bring in the rear admiral Bret Batchelder joins me by phone from the carrier in the middle of the Persian Gulf. 10:30 at night there your time, sir.
Admiral, thank you so much for the time.
REAR ADM. BRET BATCHELDER, CARRIER STRIKE GROUP 8 COMMANDER, USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (on the phone): It's my pleasure, Brooke.
BALDWIN: Why the 30-day extension?
BATCHELDER: Well, I think as you well know the cent-com commander requested the extension in response to the president's stated the, you know, priority of defeating and ultimately destroying ISIL. And you know, the deployment is about the effects that we deliver, not so much about length and the length of the deployment. So being here in the AOR, having our relationships status with the coalition partners and the familiarity with the battle space has us in a position where we can continue our contributions in AOR and keep the significant impact going.
BALDWIN: OIR, Operation Inherent Resolve. You mentioned effectiveness. How effective have you all been thus far?
BATCHELDER: Yes. You know, my assessment of that is, you know, the overall effort is very effective. We're par$ of a greater coalition force out here and very well integrated with the joint and coalition partners. I think we have reduced the territory that ISIL once controlled, excuse me, by about 40,000 square kilometers. And, you know, we have been able to see the area where our aircraft have been engaging ISIL has been shifting over the time we have been here over the last few months. So there's proof on the ground and throughout the forces here that we are having an impact on ISIL. BALDWIN: Admiral, do you know, can you share, you know, will you all
stay remain there, deployed in the Persian Gulf or might you move to, say, the Mediterranean?
BATCHELDER: Yes. That is unresolved right now. You know, for right now, we are focused on continuing the task at hand. And you know, nothing has changed since you were out here, Brooke. We are doing the same missions the same way as when you had your team aboard, you know. We fly close air support missions up there in to Iraq and Syria and support AOR. And we continue to make our contributions here in the maritime security of the Arabian Gulf. So, you know, that's a task at hand each every day and we are just keep doing that until the next cast comes up.
[15:40:17] BALDWIN: Final question, sir. For all the, you know, family and friends of all these amazing men and women who I got to meet a couple of weeks ago, certainly struggling with the news that their loved ones will be, you know, away from home for at least another month, what do you want to tell those families, you know, who will have a tough time with this?
BATCHELDER: Yes. I appreciate you asking that, Brooke, because I will tell you that I'm exceedingly proud of our sailors out here. Their professional works and they have taken this news right in stride. Nobody's missed a beat. I will tell you I'm equally proud of our families back home. It is because of their patriotism, and they are willing to sacrifice and their unwavering support for everything that we're doing out here as we are able continue to doing this. You know, they are behind us 100 percent. And we know that and despite the fact we're out here, our hearts with our family back home and we know that the reunion will be just as glorious in July as it would have been in June. So we are happy for this opportunity. Like I said, deployment is about the effects that we deliver, not about the length of the deployment and we are taking advantage of the opportunity in this work (INAUDIBLE) when we get home.
BALDWIN: Look forward to seeing you in Norfolk, you and everyone as part of HTS and the Carrier Strike Group 8. Thank you so much, Rear admiral Bret Batchelder calling in from the Persian Gulf. Appreciate that.
Minutes from now, Donald Trump holding a rally in Indiana. We will take you there live.
Also, comedian Larry Wilmore making some ways putting race front and center as he spoke at the White House correspondents' dinner following the president of the United States.
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LARRY WILMORE, COMEDIAN: Welcome to Negro night here at Washington or as FOX News will report, two thugs disrupt elegant dinner in D.C.
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[15:45:51] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With that I just have two more words to say. Obama out.
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BALDWIN: Oh my goodness. President Obama literally dropping the mic as he wrapped up his speech there at his final White House correspondents' dinner in Washington over the weekend. The commander in-chief acting more liked, you know, the funniest guy in the room and so-called nerd prom. He and headliner late night host Larry Wilmore made politics, media, race all the butt of their joke.
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OBAMA: I apologize. I know I was a little late tonight. I was running on CPT which stands for jokes that white people should not make. While in England, I did have lunch with her majesty the queen. Took in a performance of Shakespeare. Hit the links with David Cameron. Just in case anybody is still debating whether I'm black enough, I think that settles the debate.
Let's give it up for our host, Larry Wilmore also known as one of the two black guys that's not Jon Stewart.
WILMORE: Welcome to Negro night here at Washington or FOX News will report, two thugs disrupt elegant dinner in D.C.
Saw you hanging out with NBA players like Steph Curry, Golden State Warriors. That was cool. That was cool, yes. You know, kind of makes sense, too, because both of you like raining down bombs on the people from long distances, right?
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BALDWIN: Joining me, she was my table mate and friend at the dinner Saturday night, CNN's senior reporter Nia-Malika Henderson. And with me here in New York, senior media correspondent Brian Stelter who is also in the room.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: You had a slightly better table, I think.
BALDWIN: We weren't at t Wolf Blitzer table but we did all right. We did all right.
STELTER: I was closer to the bar. I was evened out.
BALDWIN: Let' me just begin just overall impressions. Nia, to you first. I remember, we were sort of chatting through the whole thing. What did you think overall?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: You know, it was a moment. And the ending statement most notably when he ended the night, not so much with a joke but a statement. And calling President Obama the n-word. I think in the room it did what it supposed to do which is that it shocked people. After it was over and people were kind of milling around, so many black people sort of made a be-line to me and be-line to each other just to kind of discuss what happened. And I think a lot of people in that room thought it was disrespectful.
But then, you know, sort of second layer of reaction was the TV audience and twitter audience who thought it was a -- I think real break of what we typically see in performances like this, a break from what is called like black respectability politics. This idea that black people can only say certain things in mixed audiences. And that's what I think Larry Wilmore did in that moment. And again, I was sort his appreciation for the president. He was setting that last statement up first but saying I love this president. When I was a kid, I didn't -- I didn't get to see black quarterbacks even. Thought that --
BALDWIN: Let' play a piece of that because it was really almost like this one-two. So heartfelt and then the n-word. Here he was. Larry Wilmore.
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WILMORE: A black man was thought by his mere color not good enough to lead a football team. And now, to live in your time, Mr. President, when a black man can lead the entire free world.
(APPLAUSE)
WILMORE: So, Mr. President, I'm going to keep it 100. You, Barry, you did it (bleep). You did it.
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BALDWIN: I think we were like ah.
HENDERSON: Yes. We were sort of yelling.
BALDWIN: Did he really?
HENDERSON: Yes, yes, yes. And he sort of code switching in that moment, right?
STELTER: Right.
HENDERSON: He is kind of going saying I'm going to keep it real. I'm going to keep it 100 and he is using slang, right, when he says, yo. He is using the Obama's nickname, Barry. You know, I would love to read an essay from Wilmore about the kind of construction of that full passage. So at some point, this is all sort of text. I mean, there's a performance. But at some point it is text as well. I'm sure it is going to launch thousands of college essays in graduation, you know, (INAUDIBLE) as well.
[15:50:17] BALDWIN: Stelter, what did you think?
STELTER: I mean, I thought his performance up until that point was a lot of hits or misses and a lot of misses. It was like Steven Colbert except some ten years ago. It had a scathing series of jokes striking to President Obama. It was like that except without purpose, without mission. I don't think it's going to boost his show which is when late night doesn't have very high rating. So I don't think he will be remembered like Colbert ten years ago.
But I do think at the end, it was the most important section. That heartfelt moment talking about what it meant having a black president at the podium and president on his last year in office. And then, of course, to end with the n-word in that way. I agree with Nia, it's going to launched all those essays and there is a lot more to kind of be analyzed about how exactly he constructed it.
Up until that point, though, it was a bummer he had to pass President Obama because President Obama was so strong at that podium. It was such great comedic timing. And his Donald Trump jokes in particular, that's what the room wanted to hear. In some ways he held back, I thought it was anti-Climatic. He didn't make as many Trump jokes as you might expected.
BALDWIN: It was cute because he started wrapping, you know, the president started wrapping up the whole speech and he was like, hang on a second. Did you think I'm going to let you all go without a little, you know, it was so well done. And in fact, we played a little of that for Donald Trump, of course we did, this morning on "New Day." Here was Mr. Trump reacting to the president.
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OBAMA: Is this dinner too tacky for the Donald? What could he possibly be doing instead? Is he at home eating a Trump steak, tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel? What's he doing?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I would have loved to have gone. I felt that I would have a great time if I go. But no matter how great the time, I knew they obviously would be talking about me. No matter how great a time that I would have had, it wouldn't matter. They would say, Donald Trump was humiliated. Donald Trump had a miserable time. That's what they did last time.
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BALDWIN: What did you think of that, Brian?
STELTER: Of course, he would like to be there on the podium this time next year. We'll see that about. So far, President Obama has tried to (INAUDIBLE) basically treated Trump as un-serious, right. He is always says Trump is not going to be president. I think that is where the jokes were about also, mocking Trump in a way he mocked other candidate to say this is not a serious candidate. Of course, I think he saved his best material for the fall, for the general election.
BALDWIN: Brian Stelter, thank you very much. Nia, thank you for being my friend at the dinner. Nia-Malika Henderson.
HENDERSON: Thank you, Brooke. BALDWIN: Thank you.
Coming up next, we have to talk about Detroit here. Nearly every public school shut down today. Teachers have organizes massive sick- out. They say they are being ask to work for free. But critics say they are making a point at the expense of children.
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[15:56:58] BALDWIN: Nearly 40,000 students in Detroit public schools had the day off today because, not a holiday, nearly all of the district teachers called in sick. This is just the latest chapter of this long-running dispute. The teachers just learned the district will run out of money at the end of June and they might not get paid.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's humiliating and degrading. We have already worked for this money. This is not money they have given to us. We have already worked. So we continue to work and it will be like we are working for free. What profession works for free?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look. It breaks my heart to think about the major impact that the closure of 94 of the district's 97 schools is having on our students and on their families.
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BALDWIN: Right now, the state legislature is working on a bill to keep the schools open. But it has not yet passed.
CNN's Jean Casarez is working this one us today.
And we have seen teachers on the picket lines in Detroit in the past. Why does this keep happening?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it keeps happening because the realization is they may not get some of those paychecks. Now, 94 out of 97 schools have been shut down today and it's all about the children's education, but it's all about the money, too.
Remember, Detroit is in debt. $515 million the school district has been in debt. The governor authorized $48.7 million to go to the school district. So by the end of the fiscal year, which is the ends of June, all of the teachers will be paid. Their salaries will be paid. But there are some teachers that are on a 26-week pay period through the year. They get their final paychecks in June, July, August. Some of those paychecks they will not get unless the House of Representatives acts. At this point the Senate has pushed through bipartisan support legislation which would allow for the state to take over the debt of the Detroit public schools. Many other things. Now it's in the House of Representatives.
And Brooke, the House of Representatives, if they don't act, if they don't pass this six-bill package, at that point, the financial issues will continue and they won't have the money. They won't have the money to have school. They won't have the money to pay the students. It's in the hands of the House of Representatives.
BALDWIN: So in the minute I have left with you, on the house side, until it passes, what are the teachers saying? Will they keep calling out sick?
CASAREZ: They got money - well, that is another issue. They have money until the end of June. So the governor has authorized that separate and distinct. But today, because there was a sickout, the intra manager for Detroit public school says that the district is going to lose up to $2 million for today from state funding because they have a number of forgiveness days during the year, no days, different things, where they don't hold schools. But they've gone beyond that so they can be out more money.
BALDWIN: $2 million. Jean Casarez, we will talk again I'm sure tomorrow and follow up with those teachers. Thank you very much.
And thank you, of course, very much for being with me here starting at the week with us CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin here in New York.
Let's go to Washington now with my colleague Jake Tapper.
"The LEAD" starts right now.
