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New Day

Middle East Talks Have Hit a Wall; Tropical Storm Cristobal Gaining Strength; U.S. Prepared to Strike ISIS In Syria; Miley Raises Awareness For Homeless Youth

Aired August 25, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

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MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Here's a look at your headliens.

An American held captive in Syria for almost two years finally free. Peter Theo Curtis had been held by an affiliate of al Qaeda. His release comes as officials in the U.K. are working to identify the masked terrorist seen on video executing James Foley. President Obama is meeting this morning with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel as officials try to determine the quickest way to eliminate the ISIS threat. Syrian officials say they are willing to work with the U.S. to fight terrorists.

Quake rattled people in California's wine country now assessing the damage. They are dealing also with dozens of aftershocks. The governor of California has declared a state of emergency, Napa Valley schools remain closed today.

But the airport -- interestingly the airport is open even though all of the windows on air traffic control tower were blown out in Sunday's 6.0 magnitude quake. PG&E has restored power to most customers. Only about 150 customers are left without electricity so doing some quick work there.

In Libya tensions are rising after an Islamist-led militia seized Tripoli's international airport from rivals. Air traffic has been interrupted since the fighting began with most international carriers suspending flights in and out of Libya.

The airport had previously been under control of moderate militias who took control three years ago during the Libyan revolution, which toppled long-time dictator, Moammar Gaddhafi.

Another security breach at New York City's Brooklyn Bridge, police arrest thrill seeker, a self-described thrill seeker, after he took a bit of a stroll Sunday on the bridge's suspension beams. The 24-year- old was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct.

He was able to get past security, which has been on high alert since trespassers got up there and replaced the bridge's flags last month. This time they spotted him, got him down, under arrest.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: I guess that high alert is fairly relative if you're able to sneak by there, walk to the middle of the bridge on the suspension lines.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: They need to redouble their redoubling.

BERMAN: All right, word this morning that cease-fire talks in the Middle East have hit a wall, a new wall. This news comes following escalating violence in the region. Overnight Israel claimed that rockets landed in communities near the Gaza border.

This coming as Palestinian officials claimed at least 16 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Sunday including a Hamas financial leader. Four Israelis were also hurt in a mortar strike near that Gaza border.

Karl Penhaul following these developments live from Jerusalem. Good morning -- Karl.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We're told by the Israeli military that Gaza militant factions have fired more than 150 rockets towards Israel in the last 24 hours. That has led Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to vow that Hamas will pay a high price for these actions.

That is what is fuelling the fire that's being traded on either side right now. In the Israeli air strikes, for example, civilians have also been killed, at least 16 according to Palestinian Health Authority including a mother and her three children.

On the Israeli side, a mortar attack by Hamas on the border crossing that is now closed until further notice. But there is a glimmer of hope. We're hearing from some of the Palestinian groups quoting unnamed sources that there may be an announcement from Egyptian authorities about some kind of new cease-fire proposal.

That could come as early as today. No confirmation right now though from the Israeli government -- John.

BERMAN: Let's hope, but it's hard to see where that talk will succeed whether the others have failed. Karl Penhaul live for us in Jerusalem, thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: All right, John, there is a tropical storm forming off the Atlanta coast. It is expected to grow into hurricane strength and impact the eastern U.S. Get your raincoat ready. Let's get to meteorologist, Indra Petersons, for more.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yesterday with Cristobal, all the models were kind of indecisive, half of them were saying, yes, maybe this is going to go close to the coastline. The other half were pulling it offshore. Currently, still tropical storm at 50 miles per hour.

But just like Alisyn said, it is expected to strengthen into a Category One hurricane. Finally the models are in agreement, the agreement we were hoping for, they are going to be pulling this off the coastline, but again still strengthening and there will still be impacts along the western seaboard.

What are we looking at? The dome of high pressure got so strong, it will yank this guy off the coast so that's the change we saw today from yesterday. Still heavy rain, if you have plans in the Bahamas, not a day to be there, 48 inches of rain even a foot of rain will be there.

But keep in mind we have this last weekend, plus Labor Day, right before Labor Day, a lot of people heading off the coastline. We are still talking about large waves along the coastline even though the system is this far away.

The bigger concern really is going to be all these strong rip currents. We are still talking about moderate and even high rip currents, as high up as the mid-Atlantic here. So that's something we are going to be focusing on as so many people are still lying on the beaches.

I just want to point out way out in the Eastern Pacific, a Category 5 yesterday. Today a Category 4 storm, still out there, so rare. Just keep in mind, this system is so big that very large waves. We are talking 10 to 15 feet are going to be out there in Southern California.

We are talking about destruction to piers and even some of the beach front homes. That is something we'll be monitoring here as we go from Tuesday in through Thursday. They don't really see category 4, category 5 strength out. There weakening, but still.

CAMEROTA: Thanks for keeping an eye on it.

All right, next on NEW DAY, President Obama's strategy session. He's meeting with top advisers on the battle against ISIS. How far is he willing to go?

BERMAN: Then Miley Cyrus, it is the twirkversary. She shocked us in the VMAs last year. This year, she pulled off arguably the most poignant moment of the MTV Awards show. Is this the biggest highlight? The moments you need to see coming up.

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CAMEROTA: President Obama is back in Washington and faces a critical decision. Should the U.S. strike ISIS inside Syria? Republican lawmakers are putting pressure on the president, calling on him to lay out his plans for combating the militant group. The push for increased action comes in the wake of the beheading of American, James Foley.

Let's debate all this with Marc Lamont Hill. He is a CNN political commentator and host of "Huff Post Live" and Kevin Madden, a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist. Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

CAMEROTA: Good morning. Let me start, Mark, with something that Senator John McCain said about what he called the president's feckless strategy on the Sunday shows. Let's listen to that.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: This is an administration, which the kindest word I can use is feckless where they have not outlined a role that the United States of America has to play and that's a leadership role. No more leading from behind, no more don't do stupid stuff.

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CAMEROTA: Marc, feckless, means the unwillingness to do something useful. Is the president strategy feckless?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, not at all. I think we can make an argument that he's understated the role and influence that ISIS had in the region. I think all western observers have done that. We all thought they played a marginal role in Syria.

We all thought that, you know, Iraq was not as big a factor in their plan as it actually was. He's made some miscalculations, but to be sure, the idea was to hand the reins over to Iraq and to allow Iraqis to defend themselves. We've seen that's not doable.

CAMEROTA: Right, Kevin, I mean, what the president has talked about is pushing back ISIS, not necessarily obliterating them.

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right. I think that's what's crucial for the president right now. Many of the folks up on Capitol Hill like John McCain, even some critics and even some supporters, they don't really have a good idea of what the president's overall long-term comprehensive strategy is here.

Members of his own cabinet have said that ISIS presents an immediate threat to American national security interests. So given that it's an immediate threat what is the president going to do to eliminate that threat?

It seems like the current actions that he's taken right now are designed to just contain that threat. I think the president has to worry about some folks up on Capitol Hill, both his critics and his supporters.

But he also has to take a message to the American people and convince them that he does have a long-term strategy that's in the interest of the American people.

HILL: I think he does, Kevin.

CAMEROTA: How do you define that long-term strategy that he has laid out?

HILL: I think the first step is containment. Targeted airstrikes actually do work. They're not a comprehensive strategy. Targeted airstrikes in Iraq and I think ultimately Syria, which I think we've understated again is part of it. You will need boots on the ground, but you need to equip the Iraqi people to do it. You need to arm Kurds and strengthen.

CAMEROTA: Marc, what he's done is he's pushed back the convoys with the air strikes. But they're still taking whole provinces.

HILL: Again, more airstrikes I think are necessary. Expanding the airstrikes is necessary. But I think long term to do that, you need more people on the ground, not boots on the ground in terms of military presence, but more security forces, et cetera.

You also need to get at the source of ISIS. You need to find out who is funding them, private Saudi money. We see the training camps in Jordan. All these things need to be addressed first at the root before we deal with military strikes.

CAMEROTA: Kevin, if there's anything that should warrant an international coalition it's fighting ISIS. Do you think that the president is working sort of back channels to get Saudi Arabia and Jordan on board?

MADDEN: Well, if we have -- if he does, we haven't seen much evidence of that. Right now, I think the president -- even folks within his own party would say that the president seems very disconnected from this crisis right now and that he hasn't really worked.

Folks up on Capitol Hill, who are going to be crucial to building some support, he hasn't really spoken directly enough to the American public. You know, Marc has probably laid out a better plan than the president really has and he hasn't taken that -- whatever plan he has, he hasn't really convinced the American people.

That it's in their long-term interest that we do take expanded action in the region. So we haven't really seen much of an international coalition being built around this.

HILL: That I would like to see. I would love to see a greater international coalition. I don't want to see is the United States with another occupation of Iraq and to avoid that. We need get a more robust international intervention and get at the root through founding through stopping these training camps.

But right now I don't want us to overstate the amount of power that ISIS has in terms of western security threats. They don't have the resources even probably to defeat the Kurds in the north.

Certainly not to win the south and definitely not to get to the United States. I'm not saying we shouldn't care about it, but I don't want us to think that we are somehow moments away from some major western attack.

CAMEROTA: But Marc, they did assassinate an American. I mean, even national security adviser, Ben Rhodes -- deputy national security adviser said is, quote, "a terrorist attack" against our citizens because they beheaded James Foley, an American.

HILL: Absolutely, we need to address that. I think we need to think about them though not as a terrorist force although they are terrorist, but as an insurgency, which means we need a different sort of strategy, a more robust approach.

But also, we don't want to be goated into what they want, which is a boots on the ground, a confrontation with American forces. We have to respond to the tragic death of Foley, but we can't allow that to take us off course.

CAMEROTA: Kevin, what about that? Do you think we're playing into ISIS' hands if we send more boots back into Iraq or Syria?

MADDEN: I don't know. I'm not a military expert. I think the bigger problem that we have is that the president seems more willing to promote a plan that is just limited to containment of the ISIS threat than he is developing a long-term comprehensive plan to eliminate it.

Right now ISIS controls more territory in that region of the Middle East than the size of England. That is a very serious concern. Is it enough of a concern that he is going to take a much more expanded military action? He hasn't really laid out enough of a plan or strategy that's designed to take that problem on.

CAMEROTA: Marc, very quickly, what do you think about the image of the president smiling and laughing on the golf course the same day that we learned about James Foley? That was tone deaf.

HILL: It was tone deaf and the White House has repeatedly been tone deaf over the years. President Obama hasn't always hit that empathy button the way we'd like to see. I don't think it's a practical matter that it has any consequence.

CAMEROTA: Is he disconnected?

HILL: I think in general the president doesn't always empathize whether it's Ferguson, whether it's Fallujah, whether it's Iraq, it doesn't matter. The president doesn't always have that sort of intuitive thing that we often saw with Bill Clinton and maybe even George W. Bush.

But what we do know is that he has a strategy on the ground and that to me is far more important than the optics, which I think we overstate sometimes.

CAMEROTA: All right, guys, we're going to leave it there. Kevin Madden, Marc Lamont Hill, thanks so much for the debate.

All right, next up on NEW DAY, Beyonce was the queen of the VMAs, strutting her stuff for close to 20 minutes. Miley Cyrus pulled off a very powerful moment herself. Which superstar stole the show? All the highlights you need to see.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, all. My name is Jesse, and I am accepting this award on behalf of the runaways and youth in the United States who are starving, lost, and scared for their lives right now. I know this because I'm one of these people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: How about that? One of the many surprises at Sunday's VMAs, where Miley Cyrus used her win to raise awareness for homeless youth. Many watching to the very end got to catch Beyonce's blockbuster performance. It was her daughter, Blue Ivy, who stole the show. Then there was also a special moment of silence for Michael Brown.

Let's break it all down with our entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner who has been up all night. Girl, it was a party fun. It was good, right? Can we talk about the Miley moment? Surprising a lot of people I suppose.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, leave it to Miley Cyrus to go from worst to first, right? I mean, in 2013, she was twerking on the stage with Robin Thick.

Last night she delivered what was arguably the most poignant moment of the MTV/VMAs when she sent this young man named Jesse, who is a homeless teenager himself to the stage to accept her award for her.

And also to educate the crowd and the viewers at home about the statistics on homeless youth in America. I thought it was really, a really nice moment.

I thought it was a touching moment and I applaud her for that because I really think that she actually felt like she needed to redeem herself a little bit from the debacle that was the twerk fest or whatever you call it --

BERMAN: It was interesting. She knew that everyone would be watching her, and that's how she chose to seize this moment when she knew the spotlight would be on her. I thought it was remarkable.

CAMEROTA: She's unpredictable.

TURNER: Yes, interesting. It's interesting, too, because it wasn't only in her actions. Look at the way she was dressed. If you look at the way she was dressed last year, she had crazy knots on her head, no clothes on.

This year it's a demure Miley, pretty. She's classy -- she looked classy. So I think it was really an interesting choice for her. I mean, maybe she's trying to turn a page.

PEREIRA: Speaking of managing optics, if you will, the night belonged to only one lady last night.

TURNER: I know where you're going.

PEREIRA: Yes. You'll get there. Let's give Beyonce her due right now because she owned it last night.

TURNER: Absolutely. PEREIRA: How about that? And then this moment when Jay and Blue Ivy came up on stage. She collapse. Look at how precious. My goodness. Is that forever putting things to rest about any rumors that might be circulating out there?

TURNER: Well, you know, I don't know if it's going to put it to rest because we are rabid dogs at times when it comes to celebrities, and especially this couple. I think that it went a long way. Do I think that it was orchestrated to kind of trot your family out? Yes.

But I thought it was also a nice moment. I thought Blue Ivy stole the show. Clapping her hands and screaming, "yay, mommy," and bopping to her mother's music. I thought it was a nice moment. I'm one of those -- call me Pollyanna -- I drink the Kool-Aid where these guys are concerned.

I believe that they're staying together. Michaela, we've had this conversation before. I don't believe the break rumors. I never did believe the break up rumors, but I think that she was trying to make a statement.

She sang about it at the beginning of the night. She brought her family out. She kissed her husband right on the mouth, which we never see from them. She also gave us 20 minutes of pure vintage Beyonce like no one else could do it.

CAMEROTA: Last and absolutely, we cannot have a VMA -- not the jaundiced, cynical look.

BERMAN: Tomorrow --

CAMEROTA: We believe.

PEREIRA: We can't end this segment without talking about an almost wardrobe malfunction at a music awards show. How is that possible?

TURNER: OK, first of all, if I'm talking about orchestrated, I think that Nicki Minaj takes the crown for --

PEREIRA: Really?

TURNER: Yes. This is what she said backstage after this moment. We're showing the moment where she's on stage, and all of a sudden she's clutching her dress like, boy, what happened here. She says backstage, "We ran out of time to zip the dress up." she went out with her dress zipped down? Come on, come on!

Listen, I'm a fan of super bass Nicki, not so much anaconda Nicki. She did it before. I think she's kind of getting into the gimmick a little bit. I don't know --

(CROSSTALK)

TURNER: I could have done without it. By the way, they're wrapping me, but I could have done without a lot of the show, I don't know about you. The audio problems throughout the show. I don't think it was a great MTV/VMAs.

PEREIRA: Yes. Look, you got a busy, busy week for you. You've got the primetime Emmy awards tonight.

TURNER: I do.

PEREIRA: You'll be following that along closely. Can we talk about it tomorrow?

TURNER: If you would like, I am at your service.

BERMAN: All right, get a good nap this afternoon. Appreciate it. Always great to have you with us.

Next up for us on NEW DAY, California wine country enduring its worst earthquake in 25 years. The pictures really are amazing. We're going to go live to Napa for the latest on the recovery.

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