Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump to Give Speech on National Security Issues, Military Positions; Paul Ryan Says It's Democrats' Turn to Act in Fight Against Zika; Confession After Nearly 30 Years in Case of Missing 11-Year Old Boy; New Iphone 7 May Not Have Phone Jack?. Aired 10:30-11:00a

Aired September 07, 2016 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:50]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This proposal that he laid out last night at an event in Greenville, North Carolina where he says after he takes the oath of office and steps into The White House he's going to give an order to the commanding generals of the U.S. Army -- services to report back to him in 30 days with a plan for defeating ISIS.

That is something that we expect him to echo in these remarks coming up at the top of the hour. The other thing he's going to do, Carol, which I think is also interesting -- it's going to create an interesting debate between himself and Hillary Clinton -- he is going to propose that the sequestration, those forced budget cuts on the Pentagon, are finally done away with.

This is something that Hillary Clinton has called for, it's something the President has also talked about, ending sequestration. Now we'll hear Donald Trump talk about that as well. He is also going to use this opportunity -- and I think that it's to be expected -- to go after Hillary Clinton's foreign policy tied to the President's foreign policy. And describe it as reckless.

We understand from looking at some of the remarks that he plans to give at the top of the hour, that he is going to basically say that there is not a military intervention that Hillary Clinton doesn't like. And he's going to talk about her vote to authorize the war in Iraq. He's going to talk about her support for the military intervention in Libya.

Now a couple of things about all this, Carol, of course we should point out, Donald Trump back in 2013 said that defense budget cuts could go even further. So when he was asked about sequestration three years ago he called for even more defense cuts. So he's basically reversing his position today and saying that this sequestration should be done away with when it comes to the Pentagon.

When it comes to the war in Iraq, we talked about this time and again, Donald Trump maintains that he was against the war in Iraq before it was launched back in 2003. He's going to say that Hillary Clinton's vote was a mistake to do that back in 2003, and so on. So this is going to set up a nice foreign policy, military, national security debate that we're going to be hearing later on tonight. Of course they have that national security forum up in New York later

on this evening. But this is pretty much one of those opening salvos in this debate, very key debate, between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on this issue, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN HOST, "NEWSROOM": All right, Jim Acosta reporting live from Philadelphia this morning, thank you. So how will this speech resonate with voters in battleground states, especially those with a heavy military presence? Just take North Carolina, home of Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune. Where Clinton and Trump are virtually tied in the latest CNN ORC poll of registered voters.

So let's talk about it with Campaign Connections President, Brad Crone. CNN Political Commentator and Republican Strategist, Doug Heye. And CNN Politics Executive Editor, Mark Preston. Welcome to all of you.

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICS EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Thank you.

BRAD CRONE, PRESIDENT, CAMPAIGN CONNECTIONS: Good morning.

COSTELLO: I'd like to start with the -- good morning. So I'd like to start with you, Brad. So what do the people of North Carolina want to hear from Mr. Trump as far as what his plan is to defeat ISIS?

CRONE: Well I think they got a preview of his speech from his speech in Greenville last night, clearly stating that he's going to order the joint chiefs to give him a 30-day plan. The concern with that is an escalation in a very volatile region. If you escalate into a ground war into Syria, into the Middle East, it could quickly get out of control, escalate, and become a global conflict.

And you heard earlier, Mrs. Clinton say that she was not going to commit ground troops. She's going to continue a policy of containment. So we need to stop looking at the sideshow of the fight that you saw earlier this morning -- whether it's pay-to-play or the Clinton Foundation and the emails -- and really talk about substantive issues such as this, abuse of ground forces in the Middle East.

COSTELLO: So Doug, do you suppose that's what we'll hear later today when both candidates lay out their plans to fight ISIS? Will we, will we hear a cohesive plan besides convening the generals and having them give you a plan in 30 days?

DOUG HEYE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well I think we haven't heard a whole lot of cohesive plans from Trump. But this is also where he can do well, especially in Eastern North Carolina. Which as you mentioned, as Jim mentioned, Brad and I are both from North Carolina, very not just military voter-rich, but also veteran voter-rich. And there's a quote that's attributed to Bill Clinton that -- where he said, allegedly said at least, that voters would rather have somebody who's strong and wrong than right and weak.

Donald Trump always projects strength, he certainly always tries to do so on national security. This is a place where he can be on home turf as long as he has substantive plans and stays away from comments like, that he knows more about ISIS than the generals, or things like that. If he projects strength, he can do well.

COSTELLO: Mark, do you agree with that? Because I do believe that our CNN ORC poll showed Trump leading with veterans.

PRESTON: It does. I mean he's up 37 points right now nationally, when you look at the veteran vote. And specifically when you look at the state of North Carolina. We did a poll -- as we showed earlier -- last month in North Carolina, that showed that he had a 10 point lead with veterans in that state.

Now let's take a step back and just talk about North Carolina very quickly. 725,000 veterans live in the state of North Carolina. The Army, the Marines, the Air Force, and the Coast Guard all have bases in that state. Of course we have a huge active military presence and that's why we're seeing Tim Kaine, for instance, down there yesterday talking on behalf of Hillary Clinton.

And that's why we see the Clinton Campaign certainly focusing their efforts on North Carolina. Electorally though, it's been a bit more red than it has been blue. In fact Jimmy Carter and Lyndon Baines Johnson were the only two Democrats to have won that state before Barack Obama won it by 14,000 votes in 2008.

So North Carolina is coming back into play right now, Carol, as a, as a swing state, as a battleground state. And this military vote that we're talking about right now, and the reason why the candidates are talking about national security, is extremely important to this election.

[10:35:43]

COSTELLO: Yeah. I want to go back to the veterans support, Brad ...

PRESTON: And it's about ...

COSTELLO: ... and ask you, ask you a question about that. Because it seems to me -- and of course I could be wrong, that's why I'm asking you -- that the rank and file support Donald Trump because they like his tough talk. But perhaps their commanding officers do not support Donald Trump so much. Is that, is that what it seems like to you?

Brad I was asking you ...

CRONE: Is that a question to me, Carol?

COSTELLO: Yeah, yes, I'm sorry, Brad.

CRONE: Yeah, well, I don't know if that, I don't know if that's necessarily the case. I think the commanding generals have got to be very careful on escalating a ground war in the Middle East. I mean, do we really want to commit 150 to 200,000 infantry troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force and from the 82nd Airborne, into the Middle East?

And so the veterans here are paying attention to it but active combat military forces at Fort Bragg and at Camp Lejeune ... COSTELLO: But, but see Brad, here's where I'm a little confused because ...

CRONE: ... and at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base are paying attention to it to.

COSTELLO: ... Donald Trump was talking very tough because he says he wants to bomb the (SILENCE) out of ISIS right? And he wants to kill the family members of terrorists, right? And he wants to ...

CRONE: Yep, yes, absolutely.

COSTELLO: ... And he wants to con -- and he wants to institute torture to get information out of, out of these terror suspects. All of that sounds like an escalation and it sort of sounds like he kind of does want to commit more ground troops within Iraq and Afghanistan ...

CRONE: Well the blood that will be spilled from -- Carol, the blood that will be spilled from American troops, a large portion of it will be coming from North Carolina. So that's why you better hit the pause button. Do you want a policy of containment, of keeping the bad guys over in the Middle East and in that volatile region? Or do you want an escalation of potential global conflict?

COSTELLO: So Doug, what should Secretary Clinton and Donald Trump emphasize when they talk about national security today?

HEYE: Well I think if you're Hillary Clinton you emphasize experience. If you're Donald Trump you emphasize Hillary Clinton's experience, and why that hasn't worked in American foreign policy. And we talked about a ground war just now. I would tell you operationally, politically, I was just in the state over the past week and a half, and what I saw on the ground game, politically, is that Republicans are still behind. Because Donald Trump's campaign is not organized in North Carolina.

I visited a few GOP county headquarters and what I saw was not never Trump people, but reluctant Trump people. People who are going to help Pat McCrory, who by the way is the first Republican governor since Jim Martin was reelected in 1988. We've had a lot of Democratic governors, not a lot of Republican governors.

People are going to knock on doors and make phone calls for Richard Burr, the Intel Chair, former ranking member of The Veterans Committee. But they're not enthusiastic about Donald Trump. They don't want to knock on doors for him, they don't want to make phone calls for him. Operationally, that's a challenge for him on the ground in North Carolina.

COSTELLO: OK and I'm just looking at the numbers here, Mark, and you can help me with this. Clinton leads by what, just one percentage point in North Carolina?

PRESTON: Statistically a dead heat right now. And that's why we're seeing Hillary Clinton put a lot of effort, a lot of time, as well as her allies putting money into that state, Carol. If anything, even if they were to lose the state, think of it this way, they're forcing Donald Trump to defend a state that for the last 20 years has been Reliably Republican.

So that is a big thing in itself. Even if Democrats were to lose North Carolina, they could force Republicans to spend money in a state that perhaps they do not want to spend money in.

COSTELLO: All right, Brad ...

HEYE: Carol, real quickly, keep in mind in the last two elections North Carolina was the second closest state regardless of who won it. It is a battleground state, it's going to be a battleground state for years.

COSTELLO: All right, Brad Crone, Doug Heye, Mark Preston, thanks to all of you. Coming up in the Newsroom, the Zika battle on Capitol Hill just got more tense. What we just heard from Speaker Ryan, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:43:43]

COSTELLO: House Speaker Paul Ryan says House Republicans have done their part in the fight against Zika and now it's time for Democrats to do the same. He spoke at the top of the hour throwing in the latest punch -- throwing the latest punch, rather -- in the fight over Zika funding after yesterday's Senate vote went nowhere.

Most Americans do want something done and done now. According to a USA Today Suffolk University poll, 62 percent of Congress -- 62 percent say Congress should approve additional funding to fight Zika. CNN's Senior Political Reporter, Manu Raju joins us with the fireworks on Capitol Hill. Good morning.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Good morning Carol. Remember, this issue has now devolved into a partisan knife fight on Capitol Hill. This was moving pretty quickly and easily through the Congress earlier this year after the Senate passed a bipartisan, $1.1 billion bill earlier this year.

But that was a non-starter for House Republicans who wanted that funding to come from different areas to offset some of that spending. And it also included restrictions on Planned Parenthood and whether or not they could be part of the list of providers who could help fund contraceptive devices and other things to help prevent the spread of this virus. Which of course can be sexually transmitted.

Now when I asked Speaker Ryan today whether or not he would accept a bill that dropped the Planned Parenthood restrictions, here's what he had to say:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Why not just accept a clean bill ...

PAUL RYAN (R), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: You know (INAUDIBLE) ...

RAJU: ... that does not, that does not, that does not have the restrictions on Planned Parenthood?

RYAN: Restrictions on Planned -- look, give me a break on this stuff. We passed the $1.1 billion bill for Zika. Which was the level agreed to in the Senate. We did the responsible thing, we did it before the July 4th recess. I think they're just being wholly partisan with these endless filibusters. This is obviously an issue we're going to have to resolve this month.

But just so you know, the House did its job. And the Senate has been blatantly political with Zika funding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now Paul Ryan significantly said that this has to be resolved this month. That means that negotiations to fund the government, which have to be also resolved by the end of this month, will also conclude talks about funding the Zika virus. This is going to -- the House Republicans are actually having a private meeting on Friday to discuss this issue going forward.

But whether or not they drop their insistence on restrictions on Planned Parenthood, which Senate Democrats said they will not accept, is an open question. But clearly House Republicans and Senate Republicans who run the Congress know this is the issue they have to resolve. They're trying to figure out whether they can wrap this up into that funding bill that Congress needs to pass, to avoid a government shutdown, Carol.

[10:46:20]

COSTELLO: So someone told me that Congressman Jolly brought some props to prove his point that -- about how badly we needed to act on Zika. Can you tell us about that?

RAJU: Yeah, that's right. He is actually -- the Congressman from Florida, who's in a very tough House race right now, he actually brought a mosquito with the -- carrying the Zika virus, to the House floor this morning to underscore his point that something needs to be done.

Now I asked Congressman Jolly -- he was a Republican -- whether or not, that the Republicans should drop their restrictions on Planned Parenthood and other issues. And he said yes, they should. They should pass a clean funding bill please (ph) part of that effort putting House Speaker Paul Ryan on the defensive on this issue going forward, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Manu Raju reporting live from Capitol Hill this morning, thank you. Still to come in the Newsroom, a nearly 30-year old, missing child case finally solved. An unusual plea deal helps give closure to the family if that's even possible, really. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:51:12]

COSTELLO: Nearly 27 years after he went missing, finally some answers for the family of a Minnesota boy. Jacob Wetterling's disappearance was featured on CNN's "The Hunt."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: This guy wearing a mask came out and they could see his handgun. This guy told them to get off their bikes and lay down in the ditch or else he would shoot. He asked them one by one what their age was. After that he had Trevor and Aaron, one by one, run off into the nearby woods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now as part of an unusual plea deal, long-time suspect in the Wetterling kidnapping has admitted to killing the boy. Rosa Flores is following the story for us this morning, hi Rosa.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. As you mentioned, it is an unusual situation but authorities in Minnesota and federal authorities were able to get a confession on this 30-year old case. Now the man involved, 53-year old Danny Heinrich, and he confessed to abducting, sexually assaulting, and then killing then 11- year old Jacob Wetterling back in 1989.

Now we should warn our viewers that the details shared in court are disturbing. Our affiliate, WCCO was inside that courtroom, and here is what that confession entailed. We know that Heinrich confessed to having a mask and a revolver. To handcuffing the 11-year old boy, putting him in the car.

As part of this confession, as well, he said that the little boy asked, "what did I do wrong?" The little boy started crying, he also said, and asked to go home. Heinrich goes on to say that he sexually assaulted the boy and then killed him. Burying him later -- and then hear this -- he also said that he went back to that site, to the grave, and then noticed that there was part of his red jacket still visible.

And so what he did, according to this confession in open court, is he went back and moved the remains near a farm. Now of course, now we know that as part of this plea deal, Carol, DNA evidence was taken, and authorities say that it is indeed this 11-year old boy. And as you might imagine for this mother, finally knowing what happened to her son, 30 years later.

COSTELLO: Well Rosa, what was the plea deal?

FLORES: Well you know, that's one of the most intriguing parts of this story. Because, as I mentioned, this was a plea deal for child pornography charges. Because science had to catch up, DNA evidence was retested on another case, on the case of another boy. But prosecutors said that they had to research a lot to see what they

could get this man on. And unfortunately, the statute of limitations had lapsed on everything. And so they had to get very creative, Carol. Prosecutors saying that they had to get the feds involved, they had to use the leverage of federal charges in order for them to convince, what they described as, a very volatile man, the moment was right.

He was OK with speaking to prosecutors about this. And that's how they got this plea deal done and the confession, 30 years later.

COSTELLO: OK and this man's going away for a long time probably, yes?

FLORES: Yes, yes. Well as part of this plea deal, the court is asking for the maximum of 20 years and sentencing is set for November.

COSTELLO: All right, Rosa Flores reporting live for us, thank you. I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:58:57]

COSTELLO: Apple is expected to unveil it's iPhone 7, and this time the rumor mills churning over one feature the new phone might not have. Samuel Burke has more for us today, hi Samuel.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN TECHNOLOGY NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning Carol. To upgrade or to not upgrade, that is the question that Apple will be answering today. We are expecting a water-resistant phone. Drop it in the pool, the bathroom, wherever, and hopefully it'll come out alive.

We're also expecting a dual lense camera. So maybe photographs that are as good as the ones that they take at weddings. Also more storage, a minimum of 32 gigabytes on the cheapest model. And what it's missing, well maybe the audio phone jack. That little hole that we've had in so many devices for years.

So that could mean a couple of things. I know you're thinking they might be crazy but maybe it'll just have headphones that plug into the charging port instead. Possibly wireless headphones, or maybe just use an adapter that you can use on your old headphones to plug into the new iPhone 7, Carol.

COSTELLO: OK we'll wait for more. Samuel Burke reporting live, thank you. And thank you for joining me today, I'm Carol Costello. AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts now.

[11:00:03]