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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Obama Says "Enough Talking...Be Tough On Terrorism"; President Says What He Calls Terror Attacks Doesn't Matter; Obama: We Acted Out Of Fear Before And Regretted It; "Yapping Hasn't Prevented" Terrorism, Says Obama. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 14, 2016 - 12:30   ET

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[12:30:05] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We should give ATF the resources they need to enforce the gun laws that we already have. People with possible ties to terrorism who aren't allowed on a plane shouldn't be allowed to buy a gun.

Enough talking about being tough on terrorism. Actually be tough on terrorism and stop making it easy as possible for terrorists to buy assault weapons.

Reinstate the assault weapons ban and make it harder for terrorists to use these weapons to kill us. Otherwise, despite extraordinary efforts across our government, by local law enforcement, by our intelligence agencies, by our military, despite all the sacrifices that folks make, these kinds of events are going to keep on happening. And the weapons are only going to get more powerful.

And let me make a final point. For a while now, the main contribution of some of my friends on the other side of the aisle have made in the fight against ISIL, is to criticize this administration and me for not using the phrase radical Islam. That's the key, they tell us. We can't beat ISIL unless we call them radical Islamist.

When exactly would using this label accomplish? What exactly would it change?

Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? Is there a military strategy that is served by this?

The answer is none of the above. Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction. Since before I was president, I've been clear about how extremist groups have perverted Islam to justify terrorism.

As president, I have repeatedly called on our Muslim friends and allies at home and around the world to work with us to reject this twisted interpretation of one of the world's great religions. There's not been a moment in my seven and a half years as president where we have not been able to pursue a strategy because we didn't use the label radical Islam. Not once has an advisor of mine said, man, if we really use that phrase, we're going to turn this whole thing around. Not once. So someone seriously thinks that we don't know who we're fighting.

If there's anyone out who thinks we're confused about who our enemies are, that would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we've taken off the battlefield.

If the implication is that, those of us up here and the thousands of people around the country and around the world who are working to defeat ISIL aren't taking the fight seriously, that'd come as a surprise to those who spent this last seven and a half years dismantling Al-Qaeda and the FATA for example.

Including the men and women in uniform who put their lives at risk and the Special Forces that I ordered to get Bin Laden and are now on the ground in Iraq and in Syria. They know full well who the enemy is. So do the intelligence and law enforcement officers who spent countless hours disrupting plots and protecting all Americans, including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows.

They know who the nature of the enemy is. So there's no magic to the phrase "Radical Islam." It's a political talking point. It's not a strategy.

And the reason I am careful about how I describe this threat has nothing to do with political correctness and everything to do with actually defeating extremism.

[12:35:19] Groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda want to make this war a war between Islam and America or between Islam and the West. They want to claim that they are the true leaders of over a billion Muslims around the world who reject their crazy notions.

They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion plus people. That they speak for Islam.

That's their propaganda. That's how they recruit. And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorist work for them.

Up until this point, this argument about labels has mostly just been partisan rhetoric and sadly, we've all become accustomed to that kind of partisanship, even when it involves the fight against these extremist groups.

And that kind of yapping has not prevented folks across government from doing their jobs. From sacrificing and working really hard to protect the American people. But we are now seeing how dangerous this kind of mindset and this kind of thinking can be.

We're starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we're fighting, where this can lead us. We now have proposals from the presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States to bar all Muslims from immigrating to America.

They here language that singles out immigrants and suggests entire religious communities are complicit in violence. Where does this stop?

The Orlando killer, one of the San Bernardino killers, the Fort Hood killer, they were all U.S. citizens. Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? Are we going to start discriminate against them because of their faith?

We've heard these suggestions during the course of this campaign. Do Republican officials actually agree with this? Because that's not the America we want. It doesn't reflect our Democratic ideals. It won't make us more safe, it will make us less safe, fueling ISIL's notion that the West hates Muslims.

Making young Muslims in this country and around the world, feel like no matter what they do, they're going to be under suspicion and under attack. It makes Muslim Americans feel like their government is betraying them. It betrays the very values America stands for.

We've gone through moments in our history before when we acted out of fear and we came to regret it. We've seen our government mistreat our fellow citizens. And it has been a shameful part of our history.

[12:40:04] This is a country founded on basic freedoms, including freedom of religion. We don't have religious tests here. Our founders, our constitution, our bill of rights are clear about that. And if we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalize people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect. The pluralism, the openness, our rule of law, our civil liberties, the very things that make this country great. The very thing that make us exceptional. And then the terrorists would have won. And we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen.

You know, two weeks ago, I was at the commencement ceremony at the Air Force Academy. And it could not have been more inspiring to see these young people stepping up, dedicated to serve and protect this country.

And part of what was inspiring was the incredible diversity of these cadets.

We saw cadets who are straight applauding classmates who are openly gay. We saw cadets born here in America applauding classmates who are immigrants and love this country so much, they decided they want to be part of our armed forces.

We saw cadets and families of all religions applaud cadets who are proud, patriotic Muslim Americans serving their country in uniform, ready to lay their lives on the line to protect you and to protect me.

We saw male cadets applauding for female classmates who can now serve in combat positions. That's the American military. That's America. One team. One nation. Those are the values that ISIL is trying to destroy. And we shouldn't help them do it.

Our diversity and our respect for one another, our drawing on the talents of everybody in this country, our making sure that we are treating everybody fairly, that we're not judging people on the basis of what faith they are or what race they are or what ethnicity they are or what their sexual orientation is.

That's what makes this country great. That's the spirit we see in Orlando. That's the unity and resolve that will allow us to defeat ISIL. That's what will preserve our values and our ideals that define us as Americans. That's how we're going to defend this nation, and that's how we're going to defend our way of life.

Thank you very much.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A very powerful statement by the president of the United States. Strongly defending his actions to destroy ISIS, making it clear why he has avoided using that phrase that Donald Trump talks about all of the time, radical Islamic terrorism, making the case that the United States has moved aggressively over the years to destroy, to defeat radical terrorists in the Middle East. Muslim terrorists.

And the president saying he will not stop, at the same time, he will not violate America's traditions.

I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

We're continuing our special coverage. The president responding. The most forceful way yet to what he's heard from his critics, especially the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump.

Now, let's bring in Jim Sciutto, our chief national security correspondent. I haven't heard the President get this passionate on an issue Jim in a long time.

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JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Me either, Wolf. I have to say. And he started with the military argument. In effect he establishes bonafides saying, "I as president have fought terrorism. Here's how you know it." Talking about the gains against ISIS in Iraq and Syria saying they have not had a successful ground gaining up in a year talking about their territorial losses there also in Libya talking about the thousands of terrorists that this military campaign has killed.

[12:45:14] He starts at that point, establishes it, and then you see him pick up speed and emotion and purpose as he makes a broader more philosophical point really, and on flag day talking about what America stands for and saying in his view, it stands for rule of law, it stands for pluralism and without -- and this is key, without mentioning the name Trump, he did at one point say, people who send tweets or appear cable television, he didn't say Trump but he was clearly referencing the proposal for the ban on Muslims, he mentioned that and said this is un-American, in his words, we cannot stand for that and I cannot stand for that.

Really, a powerful message, one of the most powerful I've heard from him on this topic in some time.

BLITZER: You certainly saw him get very, very passionate on this issue. Let me go to our White House Correspondent, Michelle Kosinski.

Michelle, some of us were surprised by the president's very strong words, we knew he was going to make another statement in the aftermath of the Orlando terror attack on that gay nightclub. But I wasn't necessarily expecting a full robust response to his critics.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean we've heard him speak now twice before today on this subject. It has been measured. It's been quiet.

We've even heard it said, you know, the president, the first time he stepped out into the briefing room, when this happened that he didn't show a lot of emotion. He stayed to the points and it was brief.

Well, this time, it seemed like he wanted to let loose some of what has been building up surrounding this.

Going beyond what happened exactly in Orlando and moving into the political and as Jim mentioned the philosophical.

I mean we've heard the president get emotional on this subject before, we've seen him cry and talking about people who have been killed by guns in this country but here, the anger showed through.

I mean, this is again the first time we've heard him directly address those calls out there that have been out there for a long time for him to name what's going on as radical Islamic terror.

The White House tends to sort of from the side say, well, you know, we're not going to legitimize what is not really Islam.

This is really tackling it head on. I mean he called it a political distraction, almost ridiculing his critics at times saying that calling a threat by another name doesn't make that threat go away. One point he called it a political rhetoric and yapping.

So he didn't want to sort of let this opportunity go clearly, without addressing that. He also addressed guns in America, the victims, and what to do, what the White House is trying to do to fight the threat itself, Wolf.

BLITZER: And then let's go to Barbara Starr over the pentagon. Barbara, president made a very strong case that the U.S. is making a lots of inroads and this effort to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria, he also said if you want to debate the semantics, the rhetoric if you will, speak to the thousands of terrorists who are no longer on the battlefield.

He says progress is being made but there's still a long way to go. BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, there is some progress. ISIS, losing territory in Iraq and Syria losing fighters on the battlefield, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the leader of ISIS clearly on the run here, hiding out somewhere, moving around.

But I just want to circle back for a minute. I think that at the end, this was one of the deepest messages I've ever seen a president give why this country has the military force that it does?

He referenced it as one military, one team, one fight to paraphrase the president and you saw the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, a four star marine at his side.

For General Dunford to be standing there during essentially what was becoming rapidly a political statement cannot be underestimated.

Very quietly behind the scenes, Dunford has been trying to stay away from politics. The whole pentagon has been trying to stay as far away from Donald Trump as it possibly can. There's just no other way around it. They want to stay away from Trump during this campaign.

You now have Dunford today at the president's side and you have the president talking to the country about the diversity in the U.S. Military and why the U.S. Military fights for all Americans. Muslim Americans, women, gays, transgender people, why it fight for everybody, clearly laying this message out that this is a military fighting the ISIS on behalf of all Americans.

I thought it was extremely powerful. And I suspect this is going to resonate across the ranks of the military significantly and again it is worth remembering.

[12:50:04] If Donald Trump does get elected and takes office as president, it is General Joe Dunford who was standing next to Obama who will remain in office and would be Donald Trump's Joint Chief Of Staff Chairman unless Trump where to make a change, it is so significant I think that Dunford was there today at the president's side clearly at the president's request. Wolf?

BLITZER: Good point, Barbara. Jake Tapper is with me as well. Jake, I don't think it should come as any surprise that the fact the president spoke this way a day after Donald Trump made some rather controversial, shall we say, comments about the president and his refusal to use the phrase radical Islamic terror.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think he was addressing more than what Donald Trump has said about the president's reluctance to use that term, although he did explain his reluctance and we should note that early in his first term President Bush, George W. Bush, also was also reluctant to use the term for the same reason.

And he thought it gave terrorists the battle they were looking for of Islam versus the west and you didn't want to give them that credibility as well as not wanting to ally any Muslim allies and Muslim-Americans who are also part of the war on terror, although, President Bush did start saying Islamo-fascism which also point out. But beyond that it was an interesting speech because first of all he came out to talk about the threat from ISIS.

The Orlando shooting and the terrorist there are for what ever reason he committed his heinous act and then talking about exacting a price on ISIS in Syria but then he turned to what seems to be, in his mind, in the president's mind, I wouldn't say a greater threat to the United States but certainly a threat in the president's view which is Donald Trump.

For two specific reasons, and I know this from talking to people around the president for several months, he views Donald Trump as a threat to America because, A, he thinks president -- the president thinks that Donald Trump's rhetoric and proposals alienate from Muslims even further from the United States including American- Muslims. And the idea that let's say, that there is a 20-year-old Muslim-American who already feels alienated from the United States for whatever reason, what will his reaction be to Donald Trump's rhetoric, Donald Trump's proposals?

In president Obama's view and the view of other security officials, he is -- Trump is the rhetoric and the proposals are pushing that man towards Jihad, towards radical Islamic terrorism. So, that's one.

And two, as President Obama made it very clear, he thinks that this non-pluralistic approach that Trump is making and certainly underlying the double down in his speech yesterday that that is at odds with what this nation is all about in terms of religious liberty, religious freedom, and everybody being in the fight together.

So it was a very, very song case. I was surprised because I thought he was going to focus on ISILs -- ISIS or ISIL and not on Donald Trump, but it ended up being a rebuttal and you can see how much President Obama wants to get involved in the presidential campaign.

He really has major objections to Donald Trump in a way that I have not -- that's not -- he didn't speak that way about John McCain, who he run against. He didn't speak that way against -- about Mitt Romney, who he ran against.

This is something else. It is Donald Trump, I think, really bothers him.

BLITZER: Do you think it's personal?

TAPPER: I know it's personal but I think that he objects to everything Donald Trump stands for and look if Donald Trump wins, that will be a complete repudiation of Barack Obama

So I can understand that that there is certainly something personal about it, but I think it's about what he thinks Trump would do and he represents.

BLITZER: There was a history going back to four years, the whole Donald Trump allegations, the birtherism issue that that the president really wasn't even born in the United States and there's other notion that maybe he's a secret Muslim, if you will. TAPPER: I don't know what Donald Trump was suggesting yesterday in his comments. We talked about it on my show we'll talk about it more I'm sure at some point.

I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I don't think that is what this is about as much as it is. What Donald Trump is saying about Muslims, American Muslims, our Muslim allies such as Jordan and the Iraqis who are risking their lives and losing their lives fighting ISIS. And also, the idea that, as the New York Times put it today that Donald Trump is very much rejecting the notion of a pluralistic society.

His speech yesterday really seemed to conflate all Muslims with the terrorist of ISIS.

BLITZER: Let me get the reaction from Phil Mudd our CNN Counterterrorism and analyst.

How are the professionals going to react to what we just heard from the president Phil?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: I think there are a couple aspects of this away from the political and towards the counterterrorism. He is the first as in the wake of the biggest shooting in American history, the biggest, the highest number of people murdered by an individual.

[12:55:05] We have a president who's focused on the overseas threat. Making a linkage, we haven't talk about much Wolf and that is until you destroy safe haven and that is ISIS in places like Iraq, Yemen, in places like Libya, you will not destroy the ability of the messengers overseas to recruit people here.

So that linkage about the contact between an incidents here in Orlando Florida and what happened with American engagement as America tries to pull away from Iraq and Afghanistan, with American engagement overseas to continue destroying the messengers.

The second is the substance of piece about use of the term "Radical Islam" there is a political debate obviously. But in the world of practitioners there's a simple message, there's an adversary that wants to portray itself as representative of Islam despite the fact it represents only a fringe of the religion.

There's also an adversary that wants to portray itself as on level fighting field in a war zone with Americans.

Use of the word terrorism is something terrorist welcomed use of the word murder is not, they can justify terror they can't justify murder. So I think there's a substantive reason for that debate about terminology going but beyond politics and I think it's important for practitioners, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very important indeed. Jake Tapper, very quickly, do you think the president decided to make the speech today to utter these words because of what Donald Trump alleged yesterday? Was that -- did that spark him to move today, specifically on this issue, why he doesn't use that phrase?

TAPPER: My understanding from talking to people, the White House is what bothered the president the most was the Trump speech.

The national security speech not the insinuations of possible nefarious intents or whatever Donald Trump was suggesting yesterday, you know, in the morning show interview that he went.

BLITZER: The speech he delivered yesterday at the New Hampshire.

TAPPER: The national security speech that Donald Trump delivered in New Hampshire in which he talked about a very forceful foreign policy. But also, you know, I think he did not seem to distinguish between immigrants who might cause us harm versus all immigrants to this country, did not seem to distinguish between Muslim-Americans in fact, he insinuated that many know about attacks before they happened and just don't tell people.

And did not distinguish between the Muslim community millions of millions of peaceful Muslims is in this country and those who mean us harm, those who would do us harm, the radical Islamic terrorists.

And I think my understanding for talking to people is that's is what really bothered him and I don't know quite honestly if when it came to the podium, he was thinking he was going to talk about this or it just kind of came out.

It seemed rather ad-libbed and free floating, but this is how the president talks behind the scenes and you're seeing a lot more of this in the last year of his presidency.

His anger at what he hears from Donald Trump.

Blitzer: He was clearly angry, he was very passionate.

Everyone standby we're going to continue to assess what the President of United States just said.

Also, while the president was speaking, Hillary Clinton was also speaking about President Obama and about Donald Trump.

We're going to bring you to that right after a quick break.

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