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Obama On ISIS: "No Strategy Yet"; Putin Urges Passage For Ukrainian Soldiers; NATO Says Images Show Russian Troops

Aired August 29, 2014 - 06:00   ET

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

(START VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Damage control. The White House under fire after President Obama suggests he has no strategy for dealing with ISIS in Syria. Republican critics pounce. The administration fighting back this morning.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight. Vladimir Putin giving orders to forces in Ukraine but not asking pro-Russian troops to slow their incursion. We have the latest from the ground and the photographs that prove his troops are on the move.

BERMAN: New information on the audio tape allegedly of the moment Michael Brown was shot. The new evidence that verifies the audio was made at the time of the shooting. We have the very latest on the investigation. Your NEW DAY starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Bolduan, and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Good morning, everyone. Great to see you. Welcome to NEW DAY. It is Friday, August 29 th, it is 6:00 in the East. I'm John Berman.

CAMEROTA: And I'm Alisyn Camerota. Chris and Kate are off. Happy Friday to you.

BERMAN: It is Friday A lot going on.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

BERMAN (voice-over): The White House really now in desperate damage control after the really surprising remark from President Obama. He was giving a press conference at the White House and he told reporters flat out we don't have a strategy yet for fighting the surge of ISIS in Syria. A senior administration official now clarifying the president was only talking about ISIS in Syria, but that comment now has the president's critics asking how he is dealing with this terror fight, whether there is a plan.

White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski joins us now with the latest from the White House where they have been doing a lot of cleanup. Good morning, Michelle. MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, right. Well, of course, everybody kind of waits with bated breath, especially with the national security meeting in the situation room wanting to know what is the decision on hitting ISIS in Syria?

I mean, U.S. hostages are still there. One was just murdered, but the president has made it to some surprisingly clear we're just not there yet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I've directed Secretary Hagel and our Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare a range of options.

KOSINSKI (voice-over): Another address by the president. There have been many lately, but it was these words regarding Syria that many were not expecting.

OBAMA: I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet.

KOSINSKI: His critics quick to pounce. The Republican Party tweeting what's the Obama strategy? To have no strategy, Ukraine, ISIS, Russia. But the White House was equally quick to explain.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president was asked a specific question about what approach he was going to pursue when it came to possible military action in Syria against ISIL. That was a specific question asked.

And the president was explicit that he's still waiting for plans being developed by the Pentagon. The president has been very clear for months about what our comprehensive strategy is for confronting the ISIL threat in Iraq.

KOSINSKI: That is true, very clear and very careful. Some say to the point of being too slow. U.S. airstrikes are still presented as being for the primary purpose of protecting American personnel and then supporting Iraqis and adding a humanitarian component. The president still repeatedly emphasizes the need for a unified Iraqi government so that country can solve its own problems.

OBAMA: And the options that I'm asking for from the joint chiefs focuses primarily on making sure that ISIL is not overrunning Iraq.

KOSINSKI: But the terrorist spread has been fast and furious. The White House's view of the Syria component is even more deliberate.

OBAMA: It's not simply a military issue. It's also a political issue. It's also an issue that involves all the Sunni state in the region and Sunni leadership recognizing that this cancer that has developed is one that they have to be just as invested in defeating as we are.

KOSINSKI: But he did say a long-term strategy will involve a military aspect. What will not? The situation in Ukraine and the U.S. will not call Russia's latest moves an invasion even though some in Ukraine are.

OBAMA: I think it is very important to recognize that a military solution to this problem is not going to be forthcoming.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: So now the president is sending Secretary of State Kerry to the region. He said the Syria strategy that is forming is broader. It's going to involve that regional and international coalition, stabilizing Syria, to some extent, and that sound like it's going to take some time.

He was also careful to say that it will include some consultation with Congress. Didn't want to go so far as to say he will ask Congress' permission for any potential military action in Syria -- John.

BERMAN: Of course, he said that because he doesn't know what he would be asking for.

KOSINSKI: Exactly.

BERMAN: Michelle Kosinski at the White House, thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: John, breaking overnight, Russia's foreign minister denying accusations that Russian troops crossed into Ukraine, but NATO says satellite images do show Russian troops crossed into Ukraine.

In response, Russia's foreign minister says the images could be a farce claiming they could be from computer games. This comes as Vladimir Putin gives a directive to pro-Russian rebels on the ground in Ukraine.

He wants them to open a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian troops to leave following the latest fighting. This despite refusing to acknowledge that those Russian troops crossed the border. Diana Magnay has more for us. She's on the ground in Ukraine -- Diana.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, I'm in a small village a couple of kilometers away from the Russian border and very close to a town that was seized by the pro-Russian rebels yesterday.

And I spoke to the commander of a battalion, one of the Ukrainian volunteer battalion that he was absolutely convinced that the men would took that town were Russian troops backed up by Russian tanks.

And this adds to a body of evidence, which seems to suggest that Russia is stepping up its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY (voice-over): Pro-Russian forces gaining more ground as the fighting rages on. In rebel-held Donetsk heavy shelling killed 15 civilians as Ukrainian troops tried to push back Russian forces. The town of Novoazovsk seized by Russian tanks and artillery battled Ukrainian troops for control. This morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin opened a so-called humanitarian corridor.

The order, have pro-Russian separatists release Ukrainian troops trapped in the battle zone and provide medal assistance to the injured. On Thursday, as many as 1,000 Russian troops with heavy weapons crossed the southern border to fight alongside pro-Russian rebels, according to NATO.

The fear in Ukraine, that Russian troops might march as far as coastal city of Mariupol, but already this has opened a third front in the fighting in the strongholds already of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Ukraine accusing Russia of a full-scale invasion as video footage shows Russian forces on the move inside Ukrainian territory over the last several days. This images show a convoy of self-propelled Russian artillery unites in the eastern area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the overall scope of Russian troops and weapons movements.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MAGNAY: Now we've been up and down the border in this region. It doesn't feel to us like a full-scale invasion as the Ukrainians would put it, but it does appear as though there is more and more Russian troops getting involved in a wider area across this whole conflict.

Making it much more difficult for Petro Poroshenko and his army to have any kind of conclusive defeat over the pro-Russian rebels. John, back to you.

BERMAN: All right, Diana Magnay in Ukraine, talking about that wider area where Russian troops are now operating. Want to get more on this. We're here now with CNN military analyst, Retired General James "Spider" Marks.

Great to have you here, Spider. I want to take a look at this map. Diana Magnay just talked about this third front being opened up in this region. Let's take a look at this.

The fighting had been going on in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. That's where the fighting had been going on. Now you see these Russian movements into the southern part of Ukraine. Why?

GENERAL JAMES MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: What they are doing is isolating where the fighting has been, and it's important that that area stay as it's controlled right now. It's lose control, but that is kind of what we would say under an existing set of military conditions. This now further isolates that. That is established. This new area needs to be established so you can create this eastern complete corridor into Crimea.

BERMAN: And divert some troops maybe from that first area. Let's take a look at that corridor you're talking about into Crimea right now because that's the other notion.

You see the city of Mariupol, right there. That's a key coastal city. Now after these tanks and the Russian troops, maybe 1,000 of them have moved in, it could create this contiguous line all the way to Crimea. We can see that right now.

Of course, Crimea now effectively part of Russia. We don't recognize it, but the Russia say it's part of Russia so now they have a full connection.

MARKS: John, that's what Russia has been trying to do for longest time is to try to take this eastern portion of Ukraine and make it contiguous so that Russia doesn't have to show its cards when it crosses the border.

Reinforces its existing locations that have been in Crimea for years, primarily in Sebastopol. We've seen this developing over time and Putin sees this is an opportunity to establish.

BERMAN: Let's talk more about what we've seen and walk over to this wall. NATO has released satellite imagery now of what they say is going on here. They have released these pictures. Hopefully we have four of them here.

Well, let's take a look at this. We have this picture right here of what's going on in the region. I see what I think, Spider, looks like a column of tanks.

MARKS: It is. This is not a stealth invasion. What this is, this is a blow-up of this column of tanks right here, and you can see all of these armored capability in Ukraine.

So it's very, very obvious that Russia has moved these elements into Ukraine, and they are making it much more difficult for Ukrainians to do anything against this type of firepower.

BERMAN: There have been some people who called this a stealth movement.

MARKS: Not at all.

BERMAN: This isn't particularly stealthy, is it, Spider?

MARKS: Not at all. This is obvious and irrefutable intelligence that allows us to start to piece together what the Russians are really trying to achieve here. This is war, not by proxy anymore. These are Russian forces in Ukraine.

BERMAN: Now, the other thing that we've seen, I think we have more inaction here. We've also seen pictures of self-propelled artillery.

MARKS: Yes.

BERMAN: That I believe is down here. Let's blow that up right there. What is self-propelled heavy artillery, Spider? MARKS: What that means is artillery that's mounted on tracks. They can move wherever they want. They don't have to be towed by another vehicle, which means it's very responsive. You can move the artillery pieces very quickly and get them into position and fire and provide effects on targets very, very quickly.

The Russians and previously the Soviets, this is really a Soviet formation, have had immense reliance on these kinds of capabilities. Artillery is really how they affect actions on the ground.

BERMAN: The other thing that's staggering about this. Again, this is not stealthy. This does not look like anything else. This looks like big menacing weapons. You are making a statement when you roll this over the border into another country.

MARKS: Yet Putin denies he has a presence in Ukraine. Putin denies that he has forces in Ukraine. Putin clearly has the ability to alter what's taking place in Ukraine right now, and there's absolutely no reason why they are doing that.

BERMAN: Russian officials are claiming that there are no Russian military personnel in Ukraine right now. What they are saying is they may be on vacation, may be Russian military service members --

MARKS: Yes, these aren't accidental tourists.

BERMAN: Artillery doesn't go on vacation. The personnel may go on vacation. These things can't, correct?

MARKS: Absolutely correct, John. Whole thing really aligns with Putin's ability. Let's remember where he came from and where his training has been. This is his narrative. This hasn't taken place. In fact, this chaos and the fact he's being attacked personally plays directly into his story and support.

BERMAN: There's also a lot of talk about the terminology being used here, war of games. Is it an invasion like the Ukrainians are saying? Is it incursion like some other officials are saying or is it a continuation of what we've seen in the past, which what the president is saying? Do those words matter from a military point of view? Is this an invasion?

MARKS: Words do matter, extremely very, very precise language is important in terms of how you apply military power and what you do about it. This is an invasion. It needs to be labeled that so that NATO, United States, NATO can make some appropriate -- take some appropriate actions to counter this.

BERMAN: Retired General James "Spider" Marks, always great to have you here with an inside look at some of these images. Really is incredible when you look at the weapons up close.

All right, let's get to some of the other headlines now. Now Christine Romans is in for Michaela with the other stories.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Efforts under way to free dozens of U.N. peacekeepers detained by armed militants in Syria. Forty three peacekeepers are being held near Syria's border with rebel following a rebel takeover of this space this week. Another 81 personnel are trapped in the surrounding area. These peacekeepers are from the Philippines and Fiji.

The volcano in Papua New Guinea erupted today sending volcanic ash spewing and smoke as high as the eye could see. Communities near the volcano were evacuated while residents of a nearby town were urged to stay inside to avoid falling ash. Air travel north of Australia could be disrupted depending on how the winds shift. It erupted just last year.

Comedian Joan Rivers remains in a New York hospital this morning. She was rushed there Thursday after she went into cardiac arrest. The 81- year-old stopped breathing during minor throat surgery at a New York clinic. Rivers' daughter, Melissa, issued a statement saying her mom is resting comfortably and thanks the fans for their love and support.

Tony Stewart returns to the NASCAR circuit this weekend. He is expected to take part in a race in Atlanta Sunday. Qualifying rounds start today. Stewart has not raced since he struck and killed Kevin Ward Jr. in an upstate New York race earlier this month. Authorities have found no evidence so far of criminal intent by Stewart so he'll return to racing.

CAMEROTA: All right, Christine, thanks so much. And great shirt, by the way.

BERMAN: Wearing the same shirt. Gentlemen, out there tweet us because here is the situation. They both came. They all alarmed because they said they are wearing the same shirt. Yours is green and yours is blue.

CAMEROTA: Men don't know it's the same if it's a different color.

BERMAN: It's not the same because it's a different color.

ROMANS: I think Alisyn Camerota has great taste, first of all.

CAMEROTA: Thank you, that's what that proves. Men, tweet us and let us know if you think it's the same.

ROMANS: John shows up in a brown suit we'll get all a-Twitter.

BERMAN: The president caused quite a stir yesterday.

CAMEROTA: Meanwhile, President Obama is under fire after saying he has no strategy yet for battling ISIS in Syria. Was that a gaffe or an admission that the White House has been caught flat-footed? Our experts will debate that.

Plus, NFL commissioner reassessing penalties for off-the-field issues saying he mishandled the case against Ray Rice and will not let it happen again. We'll tell you what he's changing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: The violence that's been taking place in Syria has obviously given ISIL a safe haven there in ungoverned spaces, and in order for us to degrade ISIL over the long term, we're going to have to build a regional strategy. But I don't want to put the cart before the horse. We don't have a strategy yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, if President Obama was looking to clarify his stance on fighting ISIS, he seems to have failed yesterday. He's facing heavy criticism following those comments about not having a strategy yet for stopping the spread of the terror group.

Was it just a slip, or was it a sign of a larger issue?

Let's ask Paul Begala. He's a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist, and senior adviser for Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama super PAC. And Kevin Madden, also a CNN political commentator and a Republican strategist.

Gentlemen, good morning.

KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Kevin, what did you think of his comment, that we don't want to put the cart before the horse, that we don't have a strategy yet?

MADDEN: Well, look, if -- you have to wonder what the president's real objective was yesterday. I think if he was hoping to go out and give the American people, and even some of his critics and supporters up on Capitol Hill a better idea or provide some confidence that he does have a strategy, he obviously failed.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

MADDEN: This was -- this was one of those things where, you know, the American public looks to their president, they look to their commander-in-chief for a greater sense of clarity, and, you know, clear objectives in our national security policy, and the president didn't provide that at all.

CAMEROTA: Paul, where was -- where were the clear objectives yesterday in his speech?

BEGALA: Well, I think it got -- some of this frankly is the way the reporting. He was asked, are you going to ask Congress for authority to bomb Syria? And he said, well, we don't have a strategy parenthetically to bomb Syria right now.

But he did -- I thought he did outline, actually -- first off, far preferable to invading, conquering and occupying countries for a decade or more as we did under President Bush.

What he said was, look, first, we're going to protect our own people. We got people in Irbil and other places you talk about protecting.

And second, we're going to try to prevent humanitarian disasters, that's why we saved those poor Yazidis on Mt. Sinjar.

Third, we're trying to make an exclusive Iraqi government that can reach out to Sunnis, that's critically important, probably the most important piece.

He said, forth, we need a regional approach. That's why John Kerry is going to get the rest of the countries in the region because they are the ones who are going to solve ISIS, not the United States occupying Syria as well as Iraq and Afghanistan.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, Kevin, was the president just being his usual deliberative self saying, we don't want to rush into things and I'll ask Congress as soon as I've gotten all of my ducks in a row?

MADDEN: Well, look, here's the problem. This was not a gaffe. This was not the president misspeaking. This was an admission.

He clearly doesn't have a strategy, and I think a lot of people who are watching that press conference yesterday, they found that quite apparent. So, you know, we have to remember, too. ISIS or ISIL is not a new problem. This has been something that has been emerging now for months.

So the very fact that the president doesn't have a very clear ability to tell the American people exactly what our objectives are and exactly the actions that he hopes to take, whether it is -- and we don't know what the strategy is, so we don't know whether he hopes to contain it or he hopes to eliminate it. But we just don't have a better sense after that press conference or even after the last six months of hearing this administration try to lay out a policy on it.

CAMEROTA: See, Paul, I do want to ask you about his style, about the president's style because this is what frustrates his critics, is that American craves decisiveness and leadership, and perhaps he was being honest in his answer yesterday, but we don't have a strategy yet, doesn't sound like those things.

BEGALA: To bomb Syria.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEGALA: He was asked a question.

CAMEROTA: To deal with ISIS in Syria.

BEGALA: In Syria.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEGALA: The question was, are you going to go to Congress for authorization to attack Syria, to bomb Syria? He said, well, we don't have plans to bomb Syria yet. We may have to.

CAMEROTA: But to bomb ISIS positions in Syria.

BEGALA: In Syria.

CAMEROTA: Sure.

BEGALA: I just think -- it's a bum rap. Look, he shouldn't have said it. It's a gaffe and why he had to send his press secretary out to CNN to use the word "strategy" 25 times in an interview.

CAMEROTA: Let me stop you there for a second, Paul, because we do have that. Josh Earnest did use "strategy" many times and let's hear how he tried to clarify the president's statement yesterday.

BEGALA: Right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: What's clear is we have a comprehensive strategy for dealing with ISIL. The aspect of the strategy that is still being developed by the Pentagon and that the president is discussing in the Situation Room at the White House right now is what sort of military options are available for using military force against ISIL in Syria? Those options are still being developed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK. Kevin, to you. Did that clarify it for you? Those options are still being developed.

MADDEN: Alisyn, any time you hear the president or a member of his administration say let's be clear or I'm about to be clear -- they are never clear. That's one of the big problems.

Look, again, ISIS or ISIL has been a problem for a long time now. The fact that Josh Earnest is coming out and saying that the Pentagon is in development stages of a strategy, I think the big political challenge here is that the president has is that the American people expects that they are much further along in having a national comprehensive security strategy to deal with the threats there.

CAMEROTA: OK. Paul, should they be further along at this point?

BEGALA: No, I'd rather measure twice and cut once, than, yes, do like our previous president did and just go invade willy-nilly.

Kevin is confusing the word strategy with military plans for an American attack, OK? This is a very war-weary country and the notion that we're just going to go invade, conquer and occupy yet another country is not going to sit well with the American people.

I think -- I like it that this president is trying to be deliberative, but there is a strategy. It's not fair to say that. I read -- I watched the press conference. I read the transcript and he said this. Let me say it again. First, we're going to protect our own. Second,

we're going to prevent these catastrophes from happening like what was going to happen to the Yazidis if we did not move in. Third, we're trying to reconstitute a real Iraq that will include Sunnis so that Sunnis will not have to go into ISIL and then, fourth, we're trying to put all the regional players together.

Now, that's not America bearing the burden alone, as we did under Bush. That is actually I think a much more sensible and comprehensive strategy.

CAMEROTA: Paul Begala and Kevin Madden, thanks so much for the debate. We'll talk to you both again.

MADDEN: Great to be with you.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

We love to hear what you have to say. You can find me @alisyncamerota on Twitter.

Next up on NEW DAY, an apparent Russian invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions from the West are not slowing Vladimir Putin. Is there any other options for slowing the Russian.

Plus, the teen phenom taking U.S. Open by storm. How did she fare in her latest match? We'll have highlights coming up in our "Bleacher Report".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Welcome back to NEW DAY, everyone. I want to get straight away to Christine Romans who's in for Michaela for today's headlines.

Good morning, Christine.

ROMANS: OK. Thanks, guys.

The World Health Organization says more than 20,000 people may become infected with Ebola in West Africa if this outbreak is not contained. The WHO has issued a road map to improve the response. It prioritizes treatment centers, supply delivery and safe burials. The hope is to stop Ebola transmission within six to nine months and prevent it from spreading overseas.

Israeli authorities confirm the body of American Aaron Sofer has been found in a forest near Jerusalem. The 23-year-old disappeared last week while hiking with a friend. The yeshiva student from New Jersey was studying in Israel. Investigators have yet to determine the cause of his death, but Sofer's family believes it was accidental.

The fighter jet pilot's plane who went down in Virginia was killed in that crash. The plane crashed in the mountainous area of the Shenandoah Valley. Searchers didn't get to the crash site until Thursday afternoon, and they found the pilot still in the plane.