Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Israeli Prime Minister to Address Congress; L.A. Police Shooting Death; Fighting ISIS

Aired March 02, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera, in for Brooke today. Thank you for being here.

I want to let you know we are standing by for a press conference with the Los Angeles Police Department regarding the latest in their investigation looking into the shooting death of a homeless man by several L.A. police officers. As soon as this press conference gets started -- we're expected to hear from the police chief -- we will take you back there live.

But, first, in less than 24 hours, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu will make a rare and a controversial speech to Congress to try to derail U.S. support of a nuclear deal with Iran. And this is happening as Reuters is just reporting today that Iran is being -- quote -- "slow to cooperate with nuclear inspectors."

Today, Netanyahu began making his case before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This is a pro-Israel group, one of the most powerful lobbies on Capitol Hill. And you can see he was greeted with lots of cheers. He's up for reelection in just a couple of weeks and he received a victor's reception as he walked on to the AIPAC stage.

Right away, Netanyahu acknowledged the elephant in the room, his strained relations with the White House and the fact he won't be seeing President Obama during this visit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that he holds. I have great respect for both.

Iran envelopes the entire world with its tentacles of terror. This is what Iran is doing now without nuclear weapons. Imagine what Iran would do with nuclear weapons. And this same Iran vows to annihilate Israel. If it develops nuclear weapons, it would have the means to achieve that goal. We must not let that happen.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: The prime minister says his speech today wasn't hardly a preview of what he's going to say yesterday -- more of a warm-up really. And we now know 30 Democrats in Congress are expected to boycott Netanyahu's address tomorrow.

And they are far from the only ones speaking out against this speech. Some Israelis in fact are among Netanyahu's toughest critics. A group of more than 180 former commanders in Israel's security apparatus are calling for the prime minister to cancel his speech to the U.S. Congress. We will talk more about that in just a moment.

Right now, let's break away and check in with this press conference.

This is L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck speaking about the man who was killed by police officers yesterday.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

CHARLIE BECK, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, POLICE CHIEF: -- very intense situation and a brutal, brutal fight.

It highlights the homeless and mental illness issues that trouble us in our Skid Row area. At approximately 12:00 noon on Sunday, officers from LAPD Central area station were dispatched to the 500 block of South San Pedro. They were dispatched to a citizen report of a robbery call.

Upon arrivals, officers and a supervisor made contact with the victim, who directed them to a suspect's location. When police approached the suspect, he repeatedly refused to comply with officers' commands and then began to fight with them.

During the altercation, officers used Tasers in an attempt to subdue the man. However, the Tasers appeared to have little effect and he continued to violently resist. While on the ground, and struggling with the officers, the man forcibly grabbed one of the officers' holstered pistols, resulting in an officer-involved shooting.

Officers immediately summoned Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics to the scene, who determined the man was deceased. Paramedics transported him to the L.A. County Coroner's Office.

Two of the officers involved in the incident sustained injuries. They were treated and released from area hospital. One is on crutches at this moment and is recuperating at home. As with all officer-involved shootings, LAPD specialized Force Investigation Division responded to preserve and collect evidence and to interview witnesses to the shooting.

As you know, portions of this incident were captured on video from various sources, including two body-worn cameras on officers at the scene. These will be reviewed and analyzed as part of the ongoing investigation.

Force Investigation's investigation will be comprehensive and will be conducted in coordination with LAPD's Office of the Inspector General and will be presented to the Board of Police Commissioners to determine whether use of deadly force in this incident was consistent with department policies and procedures. Also, the L.A. County district attorney's Justice System Integrity

Division responded to the scene and will conduct a comprehensive review of all facts which resulted in the shooting.

The officers involved in this incident are assigned to our Safer Cities Initiative in Central area and are specially trained on dealing with homeless people and mental illness issues. Several of the officers have participated and completed our most extensive mental illness training over a 36-hour course. All of the officers had had training to some extent in dealing with the mentally ill.

Photos of the officer's pistol are on my right. As you can see, the slide is partially engaged and a round has been partially ejected and has fouled the firing chamber. This is indicative of a struggle over the weapon. As you can also see, the magazine is dislodged from its resting place. This is also indicative of force used on the weapon.

There's also a screen grab from a privately taken video. If you examine that, it appears that the suspect's hand is reaching for the officer's waistband in the area where his pistol would be located. There's also a photo of a standard Glock pistol without its slide engaged, and you can use that for comparison purposes so you can see the effect of the struggle on the officer's weapon.

As I started, this is an extreme tragedy. We feel great compassion in the LAPD for people who live in conditions of homelessness and often mental illness with no treatment. We prepare our officers to deal as best they can with them. But the reality is, this is much more than a problem that the police alone can solve.

I have reviewed the other videos. It appears to me the officers acted compassionately up until the time when force was required. These are very difficult situations. My heart goes out to the family of the man who was killed, and also to the Los Angeles police officers who had to be part of this tragedy.

As always, anybody that saw, recorded, or in other ways may have information regarding this incident, we ask to contact the LAPD. This investigation is ongoing. You will have many questions, which I cannot answer, because it is premature. But we will find out truth of this matter.

And with that, I will take a couple questions.

QUESTION: Based on what you know now -- and I know that there's still an investigative process and we will learn more in the days and weeks ahead -- based on what you know now, does it appear to you that the officers acted justifiably when they fired shots at this man?

BECK: Part of my role as chief of police is to adjudicate these investigations. And it would be inappropriate for me to go that far and to make a statement about the propriety of this incident until I have seen all the evidence.

And I ask the public to do the same thing. These are exhaustive investigations. They're conducted not only by the police department, but by the inspector general, who works directly for the police commission and not for me, also reviewed by the district attorney, who has investigators roll to the scene at the time of the shooting, also reviewed through our internal process before it goes to the police commission.

These are some of the most exhaustive investigations we do, and I ask that, just as I do, that folks not rush to judgment, either on the actions of the officers or the actions of the deceased.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BECK: Yes, Eric. Slow down.

QUESTION: I know that you have talked about it appears that the gentleman reaching for the officer's gun. Can you also talk a little bit about the audio on the video? Can you confirm whether those officers had said, "Drop the gun"?

BECK: I have reviewed the video and the audio. And, preliminarily, it -- you can hear the young officer who is primarily engaged in the confrontation saying that, "He has my gun, he has my gun." He says it several times.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

BECK: Well, and I have heard other audios that sound a little dissimilar, but the one that I heard the most clear is the officer saying, "He has my gun." He says it several times, and with conviction.

QUESTION: Two of those officers were wearing body cameras.

CABRERA: And we have been listening in now to L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck addressing a situation that has caught fire, not only in the L.A. area, but really around the country, involving a homeless man who was shot and killed by several L.A. police officers yesterday during a confrontation on L.A.'s Skid Row.

And I want to bring in our Stephanie Elam, who's on the ground there in the neighborhood where this happened.

I know, Stephanie, you have been listening to that press conference. We heard police Chief Charlie Beck essentially say the investigation is ongoing, but the preliminary investigation suggests that the officers responded appropriately and that there's evidence that the homeless man was trying to grab one of their guns. What else did you hear?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. That is a huge part of this. And that's a crucial part of this video, Ana, is whether or not this man was reaching for the weapon.

When you do watch the video from the beginning, you can see that the man who ends up dead is combative. You can see him swinging at police officers. That part, you can see. You don't need the police to tell you that, but when you take a look at this tragedy here, and how tense and how quickly it bubbled over, that's where people are wondering what exactly happened.

It's hard to ascertain exactly if this man was reaching for the gun or not. That's what the LAPD are saying. That is the word that they're saying. And that what is what led to him being shot. We know that there were four officers who were around him. Three of them discharged their weapons.

What is also really noteworthy here is that here on Skid Row, there is an issue with mental illness. There are a lot of people here who are battling mental illness and they end up with no place else to go and they end up at Skid Row. And this is something also we that heard Chief Beck address as well in this press conference that he's holding right now about this homeless issue and that it's highlighting this problem and that there needs to be some sort of solution to that.

And there hasn't really been any result in fixing this problem, not just here in L.A., but throughout the country, Ana.

CABRERA: And Charlie -- the chief, Charlie Beck, also said that these officers who work in that neighborhood are specially trained to deal with mental illness and the homeless population, which, of course, you would think goes into how they're responding to this incident.

Stephanie Elam, we know you're on scene. And we will check back in with you as the situation there develops. Thank you so much.

Up next, we will take you live to Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a divide in his own country over his visit to Washington right now.

Plus, hear what Netanyahu plans to tell Congress about Iran and President Obama.

And the battle for Saddam Hussein's hometown in what could be Iraq's biggest test against ISIS forces, right now waging an assault to take back this key city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Hello again. I'm Ana Cabrera.

And at the top of the hour, you heard from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his warmup speech of sorts before his controversial address to Congress tomorrow. Thirty Democrats are now expected to boycott that address. And they aren't the only ones speaking out against his speech.

Some Israelis are among Netanyahu's toughest critics. In fact, there's a group of about 80 -- or 180, I should say, former commanders in Israel's security apparatus who are calling for the prime minister to cancel his speech to the U.S. Congress, saying that leaders speak privately and that this visit would be sticking Israel's thumb in the eye of the U.S. president.

Our Kate Bolduan is live in Jerusalem now.

And as for Netanyahu's speech today, what else are people there saying, Kate?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have spent some time, Ana, kind of trying to take that temperature of what Israelis are saying about this.

The most recent polls here show that when it comes to speech, the Israeli people are largely split down the middle, 38 percent to 38 percent for and against the prime minister giving the speech. There's a large number, 24 percent of Israeli public, not taking a position on whether or not he should speak.

So you hear a diverse -- a diversity of opinion, but I also hear some strong criticism of the prime minister's intentions here. I spoke with a former Israeli diplomat, a longtime foreign policy adviser to the Israeli government, Alon Pinkas. I spoke with him earlier today. He called the prime minister's move, this visit, the speech a mistake and then some. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL: Despite his denial today, despite his holier-than-thou attitude, he is injecting Israel into the American political arena. He loves doing that. He did that in the past in 1996, '7 and '8, when Bill Clinton was president. He did it again in 2012 during the presidential campaign, when Mr. Obama was seeking reelection and Mr. Romney challenged him.

And he's doing it now, two short weeks before our election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: So, you heard from Netanyahu earlier today, though, despite what Alon Pinkas says.

Earlier today, Netanyahu said that he regrets and did not intend for the speech, for his visit to inject Israel into the American partisan political system. Of course, from his critics, you see -- his critics, along with Pinkas, say that's exactly what it's done.

I asked him if he believed him. He said absolutely not. One thing that he mentioned there about the elections, Ana, which is very noteworthy -- they're two weeks away from an election here in Israel. And among Netanyahu's critics, they very strongly believe that this is a campaign move for him to try to boost his chances to win reelection in a very tight race that he is facing.

That is something to be seen. That's clearly not something that the Israeli -- that the Netanyahu inner circle will say is part of this. But that's definitely something that's a conversation here on the ground in Israel.

CABRERA: Does his opponent agree with Netanyahu on this issue?

BOLDUAN: One more time, Ana. I just lost you. Go ahead.

CABRERA: Does Netanyahu's opponent there in Israel who he's facing off against in his election, does he agree with Netanyahu on this issue of the Iranian nuclear deal and negotiations?

BOLDUAN: That's actually been a really interesting development even since we have been on the ground.

His main opponent, his name is Isaac Herzog. Early on, let's say a couple weeks ago, Herzog had come out to be very -- being very critical of the prime minister for his way of going about making this speech, but does say when it comes to the issue of Iran and this existential threat to the survival of Israel, they are all really one and the same on how serious the threat is.

Herzog says he would have a different tactic in how to raise his concerns with the Obama administration, but make no mistake, they all believe in how serious the threat of Iran is. When -- as we got on the ground here, we have noticed a really noteworthy shift in tone. Not only were we hearing that from the Obama administration and everyone attempting, for lack of a better term, play nice here and to tamp down any tensions that exist, we were also hearing that on the ground here in Israel.

Herzog, his partner in this, Tzipi Livni, other critics in the opposition, them saying they have much to say, but while it's seen as a state visit for their prime minister to go abroad, they're not going to be critical of him and speak out until he returns.

CABRERA: OK.

BOLDUAN: So, you have noticed pretty much across the board folks trying to bring the temperature down, if you will.

CABRERA: Gotcha. Kate Bolduan in Jerusalem, thank you.

Now let's hear from someone who knows Benjamin Netanyahu personally. Danny Danon was Israel's deputy defense minister until Netanyahu fired him, I guess, last year over his criticism of how Israel was dealing with the conflict in Gaza. Danon is currently a member of the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

Now, Danny, thanks so much for joining me.

Do you think Netanyahu should speak tomorrow to Congress?

DANNY DANON, FORMER ISRAELI DEPUTY DEFENSE MINISTER: Absolutely, Ana.

I think Prime Minister Netanyahu is representing the people of Israel, who are worried. We are worried about the agreement. March 24, that is the date. And we have a good reason to be worried, because see that the P5-plus-one powers want to stop Iran from becoming nuclear for the moment.

And we're saying it's not enough. We should stop Iran from becoming nuclear forever, not to allow them in five years, 10 years or 15 years. And also the issue of the uranium, why should they enrich uranium, when they are saying, we have no military ambitions?

We do not believe the Islamic Republic of Iran. And I think that the prime minister will say it very clearly. We love the American people. We work with the administration, but on the security issues, we cannot take those risks.

CABRERA: Does Israel believe any kind of diplomacy could work on this issue of Iran's nuclear program?

DANON: Yes.

We believe in the diplomacy. But look what happened. The sanctions regime was effective. Iran today is in a position that they want to sign an agreement, but we should push them and make sure that they sign a good agreement, and not allow them to keep all their capabilities that they want, not allow them to develop a nuclear bomb in 10 or 15 years, not allowing them to continue to develop missiles.

Why do they need missiles if they don't have any military ambitions? So I think, yes, we should continue with diplomacy, but not to give in, in the money time. This is the money time. And we expect our friends to stand strong on these issues.

CABRERA: The nuclear negotiations is one thing, but now we're also learning Iran may be assisting Iraq in its fight against ISIS. In fact, just today, we got images from Iran media showing one of their generals visiting Iraq. And it could be, in the case of ISIS, Israel and Iran are on the same side. What do you make of that?

DANON: That could be, but when I look at the region here in the Middle East, I see that the Iranians supporting terrorism all over.

They're endorsing terrorism in Lebanon, in Syria. So, maybe today they're fighting ISIS, but in the long run, they will use their technology, their capabilities against Israel, against the U.S. That's what they have been doing for the last 25 years and they will continue to do it.

CABRERA: It seems people on both sides agree that this visit by the prime minister, Netanyahu, to the U.S. without consulting with the White House whatsoever comes across looking very partisan, like it's a political ploy in some fashion.

What do you think needs to happen for the relationship between Israel and the U.S. to be repaired?

DANON: First of all, our relationships are very strong and we will overcome this obstacle.

We need to look at the issue, not at the relationship. We have seen in the past, in 1981, when Prime Minister Menachem Begin decided to attack the nuclear reactor in Iraq, Israel was condemned by the U.N., by the U.S. It took a few years to acknowledge it was the right decision.

I think, also, in a few weeks or months, when we look at the speech of Prime Minister Netanyahu, we can -- we will be able to say it was the right speech at the right time, because we cannot come after March 24 and say that we don't like this agreement.

CABRERA: All right. Danny Danon, thank you very much for your time. We appreciate it.

Also across the world: A prominent critic of Vladimir Putin is assassinated just yards from the Kremlin. And now, amid their mourning, the opposition is furious and assigning blame for this brazen murder.

Plus, a fight for Saddam Hussein's hometown, a battle between ISIS and Iraqi forces. How significant is this? That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)