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Does President Obama Need Congressional Approval?; Congress Wants A Say in ISIS Strategy; ISIS Executioner Possibly Identified; Major Apple Announcement Today; Home Depot Hacked

Aired September 09, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": You say that's the majority position in Congress. Although publicly you do have some Democrats and more Republicans, Ron, say we're going to put this legislation forward. We want to give the president the authority.

The president has some headwind, this is a mess of his own making, 67 percent say the president doesn't have a clear plan. Well, he publicly said I don't have a strategy. That's his big challenge and an opportunity to change those numbers by addressing the American people and laying out a plan.

Look at this stuff, 72 percent of the American people believe he should ask Congress for approval and 82 percent say Congress should give it to him. Why not?

RON FOURNIER, "NATIONAL JOURNAL": First of all, why do they want it? The American public would love to see this town work the way it's supposed to. They think the way it works is the president asks for power and he gets it the fact as Julie said, the government doesn't work the way the American people want.

Most lawmakers don't want this vote. They want to be able to pander either way and have the right vote. They want to sit back and see what happens and make sure they're on the right side of what happens here.

So it's just -- those polls just show another disconnect between the American public and the way things work in this town.

JULIE PACE, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Last summer we all thought that this was the case, too, and the president ended up wanting a vote. So things could change very quickly.

KING: If you see the president taking a walk with his chief of staff late one evening -- beware of things. You wrote about this, Ron, this week and Congressman Pete King, a Republican of Long Island, who will be on NEW DAY at the top of the hour.

So watch this interview today as this ball moves and this conversation moves. Pete King was on with Erin Burnett last night. He touched on an issue you wrote about. He said he wants the president to clearly lay out what he will do.

He also says the president needs to stop saying what he won't do. Like put U.S. combat boots on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R-NY), HOMELAND SECURITY: I really, sincerely hope when he makes the speech on Wednesday, that he doesn't keep saying what he's not going to do. It's important that he says, you know, what his overall strategy is. Don't give specifics to the enemy.

Let them think we're going to stay there for 50 years and use every weapon we have. Don't be putting limits on what we are going to do. Whatever limits he wants to put, fine. But don't announce it to the world and announce it to our enemies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: I think what the president is trying to do is keep the American people with him by saying look, we need to respond to the threat. It's serious. I'm going to use muscle, but I get it. This is not going to be Iraq. This is not Afghanistan. We're not going to put boots on the ground. Why is this wrong?

FOURNIER: I don't know if it's wrong, but it certainly is unusual. You tell me the last time a president took an option off the table when it comes to the military. You usually leave all options on the table so that the enemy doesn't know what you're doing, maybe they're scared.

Maybe they are worried that you might put boots on the ground. I've been asked that question a lot. It's been intellectually intriguing to me why he would take it off the table. I can't find a very good answer, except that he's a reader of polls.

So he knows that most Americans don't want boots on the ground. One word, midterms, he doesn't want his base against any idea that we might have to go to war. I wonder, I don't support troops on the ground. I don't want more bloodshed in the Middle East. But I do wonder why the commander-in-chief would take any option off the table. I haven't heard a good answer yet.

KING: What is the answer?

PACE: I think it's part politics as Ron said. I think there's a policy aspect to this. The president simply doesn't believe that by putting U.S. troops on the ground, you will solve this situation. You could contain it for several years, but eventually the troops will leave.

FOURNIER: You can believe that, but why do you publicly announce that?

KING: The place would you need them most is Syria. Where you would be helping Assad, maybe working with Iran.

PACE: Be in a civil war.

KING: I get the point. I get both the policy reason not to do it. But I understand the political argument for that we'll watch it as the president gives his speech. Remember Congressman King will be with the show at the top of the hour.

Let's close a little bit more fun, Hillary Clinton is going to be in Iowa this weekend for the Tom Harken steak fry. A big deal, it's a public signal, guess what, you've known this for a couple of years. But here it is I'm running for president.

Guess who else is going to be in Iowa, Bernie Sanders, the independent, he calls himself a socialist Democrat, senator from Vermont, who thinks he might run as well. Three town halls, Bernie Sanders in Iowa.

Remember Jerry Brown in 1992, stayed in the primaries and he was a pest for Bill Clinton? I don't see Bernie Sanders beating Hillary Clinton. But I can see him giving her fits.

FOURNIER: I agree with you. There's no way he's going to be the Democratic nominee. He can see him giving her fits and I think he's an indication in politics, whenever there's a vacuum, somebody fills it.

She's going to have competition and at some point some really angst in the Democratic Party. She's not going to breeze to the nomination or the presidency without a few bumps on the road and he's an indication of the kind of thing that could bother her.

KING: Let's close with this. Bill Clinton sometimes says he's George W. Bush's what did he say, brother from a different mother or something like that? The two former presidents together yesterday at the Clinton Global Initiative. George W. Bush is going through something that Bill Clinton is about to go through, grandchildren, here's some advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORMER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: It's going to be awesome period for you. And get ready also to be like the lowest person in the pecking order in your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Haven't spent many, many years watching and I miss the Bill Clinton laugh. I guess he's right, right?

PACE: I think he's right. That's what's coming for Bill Clinton. It is nice to see former presidents sort of relax, especially presidents from different parties, a sign that even as contentious as Washington can get, that there is an after-life.

KING: So much of what we see in politics is manufactured. That actually seems genuine. That these two, a part of it is they're in the club, a part of it is that George W. joked, I remember the last time a Clinton ran against a Bush things didn't go so well. Is that real? FOURNIER: You could tell it was genuine. I think it was a neat moment where President Clinton was talking about how flattered he was that President Bush called him. Once or twice a year in the second term. You know it's a great way to get advice from somebody who has been there before and to stroke the guy's ego. It's genuine.

KING: Mr. Fournier and Julie, thanks for coming. We do need more of that. An excellent point to close on. Mr. Cuomo, as we get back to you in New York, good luck with Congressman King at the top of the hour. You know coming from a political family, sometimes you got to call a time-out and have a laugh.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Sometimes, it's good to see what we see in politics isn't always the true reality of what a person is. Probably no surprise to anybody. But a nice example there. Thank you very much, John, appreciate it. See you tomorrow.

All right now, no laughing matter here -- this guy, the man who so brazen when he talks and yet he wears a mask to hide. U.S. officials think they know who beheaded journalist, James Foley. We'll tell you how they figured it out and what's next for that man.

Plus Apple anticipation -- what must have gadgets will the company unleash on the world? The iPhone 6? The I-watch 1? The wait is almost over so we are going to tell you what we know.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Investigators say they may have identified the ISIS terrorist who beheaded American James Foley in that horrifying video. Officials are not saying it's a 100 percent positive identification but it's believed that the executioner is a British citizen.

So what happens after the executioner is identified? What is the process in doing just that? You see he's remained hooded the entire time, let's bring in CNN's military analyst, retired Major General "Spider" Marks to discuss. Spider, great to see you.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Kate. Good morning.

BOLDUAN: So what do investigators first off, it's been an unusual situation for me and many of our viewers, what do investigators go through to begin to try to identify this man that they're, they call Jihad John?

MARKS: Well, Kate, really this is kind of what I would call a crime scene and so all those types of very in-depth forensics are taking place. So they break down all the voice recordings. They had GPS data. All the other kinds of background information.

And then I have to tell you that the Brit intelligence and British police types of investigative work are incredibly precise. They do it with great cooperation internationally and they really narrow it down. They come up with what looks like a legitimate type of number of options in terms of who this individual might be. The important thing is what do we do with it now that we have this guy potentially identified?

BOLDUAN: That's exactly what I wanted to ask you. If they say they're pretty confident. They are not 100 percent, but even the fact that they're pretty confident I think is very much noteworthy. What do they do with this information?

MARKS: You know, Kate, that's exactly correct. You're never going to get a perfect picture. In fact, the intelligence world is all about making the best decision based on the information you have now. You can continue to try to develop other intelligence as you go along and do that in parallel.

But you've got to begin your actions and make that intelligence actionable. You've got to do something about it. And clearly, if you know who the individual is, or at least you know his associations, you're now into his network. You know what his travels are all about.

You know who his associations are. You can gather his passport information, his visa request. Go to the neighborhood where he's lived. Look at those that have influenced him. What is the mosque that he's attended?

Clearly this is an Islamic British citizen who has been terribly radicalized, most likely self-radicalized, but he's also had a number of influences. You want to penetrate the network and figure out who are the on or about associations.

Because many will already be radicalized and many may already be in the chamber and ready to be fired. In other words, they could be employed, they could be about to go overseas and to join ISIS or other terrorist organizations in Great Britain or elsewhere.

So it's important to begin right now and get into those details to see who you can prevent from making the next step.

BOLDUAN: Spider, do you expect them to release his name? Do you think that's important information to the public to have?

MARKS: They want to galvanize, what I call local types of intelligence. What I call the primary research of where this individual is and the man on the treat who might be able to pick up some information and would provide some information to the, to the police and to the intelligence community.

Probably not. I don't think they want to tip their hand because they want activity that's already in place to continue, to move so that the authorities can get ahead of it before it's now executed.

BOLDUAN: I want to get your take on this as well. This is always difficult. The friend and spokesman for the Steven Sotloff's family. He spoke with Anderson last night. The family say that they don't think the administration had done enough beforehand to try to save Steven.

And of course, we're talking about this executioner in the video, and they have not been able, to this point they're not connecting who they believe is the executioner of the James Foley video or to the Steven Sotloff executioner, I want to make it clear.

But listen to what this friend said to Anderson last night. I want to get your take on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARAK BARFI, SOTLOFF'S FAMILY FRIEND: The administration has made a number of inaccurate statements, they said that the hostages were moved frequently. We know that for most of the beginning of the year. They were stationary. We know that the intelligence community and the White House are enmeshed in a larger game of bureaucratic in-fighting and Jim and Steve were pawns in the game and that's not fair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The family is clearly still grieving the loss of their loved one. What do you make of what they're saying? That they didn't get enough help, they thought from the administration in trying to get Steven free.

MARKS: Well, clearly the administration is in a tough spot. You can't make the administration's policy or strategy that somehow going to be unfolded about the individual acts that we've seen against Foley and Sotloff. This really is a much broader discussion.

And our strategy has to take news that direction. But clearly our emotions and our feelings must go for the Sotloff and Foley family. This is an incredible tragedy.

BOLDUAN: That's an important and difficult distinction, Spider, and you do it really delicately. The broader strategy and then, these horrific cases that everyone cares very deeply about and has angered the entire country and we watch very closely, that's an important distinction as well.

Spider, it's great to see you. James "Spider" Marks, Major General, great to see you.

MARKS: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Of course. Hard-core Apple fans have been waiting for this day for I don't even know how long. In a few hours, the tech giant will announce new gadgets. Will be there a new iPhone, a smartwatch? Who knows? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, so probably you are excited about this. Today is the day many Apple devotees have been waiting for, my producer included. This is a live look at the countdown clock at apple.com. At 1:00 this afternoon, Apple will take the stage for a highly anticipated event. Could the company unveil a new iPhone or smartwatch? What else could it be?

Let's bring in, Henry Blodget. He is the co-founder, CEO and editor- in-chief of "Business Insider." They've been covering Apple's much speculated announcement for weeks. Good to have you here.

HENRY BLODGET, CO-FOUNDER, CEO AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "BUSINESS INSIDER": Great to be here.

PEREIRA: Big day, big day, Henry.

BLODGET: It's honestly very exciting.

PEREIRA: We are all kind of abuzz. Rumors are running amuck. What are we expecting? There are a whole bunch of rumors out there at the very least a new iPhone, right?

BLODGET: Two new iPhones both bigger than the current iPhone, some sort of a smartwatch. We probably won't get it on sale immediately, but we should be able to see it, maybe a payment tool where you'll be able to walk into a retailer and pay for things with your smartphone or smartwatch and a whole host of other smaller announcements.

PEREIRA: That will make your life easier, et cetera. Here's the thing, it has been a while since we've seen one of these big kind of announcements. I'm a cynic. Is Apple trying to harken back to the days of those big showy announcements? Are they trying to fire a shot across the bow of, say android with the bigger screen? What do you make of it all?

BLODGET: This has been a huge gap in product releases for Apple. They've always gone to the mat in terms of having a big show, but it's been more than a year since they've really announced something and the watch if it comes will be the first really new product under Tim Cook, Apple's new CEO so they are going for it. U2 is supposed to play, they've built a building --

PEREIRA: When Bono comes to town you know they have things going on.

BLODGET: Exactly, they are doing it in the same place that Steve Jobs announced the original Mac. So they are really going back to Apple's roots of showmanship.

PEREIRA: To that end, how much of a statement on Tim Cook's leadership is this going to be seen in terms of the business world?

BLODGET: It's huge especially the watch because that will be the first product people that people say this was completely after Steve. It's a new product. If that is viewed as a dud that will boomerang right back to Tim Cook.

On the other hand, if everybody is dazzled by the products, I think Apple will have moved past Steve Jobs and be firmly in a new era where people are more confident. PEREIRA: Let's be fair. We're in a new realm, everybody has got some gadgetry, at least some gadgetry. Does it take more to wow us now than it did in the olden days, if you will?

BLODGET: No question. In smartphones, for example, Apple is playing catch up. There have been big, beautiful smartphones from Samsung.

PEREIRA: For a while we wanted to go small, but now we want to go big.

BLODGET: Absolutely. Apple made a big stand two years ago. You want a smartphone that fits in the palm of your hand. Everyone went crazy for Samsung. On the watch, many companies have released smartwatches and all duds.

Nobody sees the reason to have both a smartphone and a watch, but there is speculation that Apple's smartwatch may be independent. You might not need an iPhone in your pocket to have it work, health related app. It will be interesting to see what they do there.

PEREIRA: OK, quick final thought, how big is the biggest one are you hearing? What's the rumor?

BLODGET: It's 5.5 inches. The current one is four. This would be much bigger.

PEREIRA: An inch and a bit bigger. Henry, thanks so much. We'll be watching 1:00 p.m. West Coast, Pacific Time so we'll wait on the East Coast --

BLODGET: Sorry, 10:00 Pacific.

PEREIRA: Home Depot is now in crisis mode after tens of millions are put at risk by a data breach. I know you're worried. What to do if you're one of the unlucky shoppers that was victimized in that hack. We'll tell you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Breaking overnight, massive breach, the Home Depot hack may be the biggest ever, the information for as many as 60 million customers reportedly stolen. If you shopped there within the last five months, you may be at risk.

BOLDUAN: Hunt for the killer, the U.S. may have identified the executioner in the James Foley video as the Obama administration briefs some members of Congress on the threat of is. What were they told? One of the members of Congress briefed joins us live.

PEREIRA: What did they know? The NFL under fire after the video of Ray Rice hitting his then fiance comes out. Did the league know what was on that video?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

BOLDUAN: Good morning, and welcome once again to NEW DAY, everybody. It is Tuesday, September 9th, 8:00 in the east and we're going to begin with what may be the biggest credit card hack ever.

If you shopped at any of the 2,200 Home Depot stores in the United States or Canada, your information may be at risk. More than 60 million credit card numbers may have been stolen since April, according to the "New York Times," compare that to the target breach that affected 40 million cardholders, unbelievable numbers here.

Chief business correspondent, Christine Romans has been looking at it and breaking it down. Not a lot to break down. It's huge and it's bad.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's huge and it's bad and we just reached out to Home Depot and said can you confirm the 60 million number, this is the number that cyber security people are talking about, a number in the "New York Times" and they would not confirm that number. They'd only say that, yes, there was a breach. They are investigating that breach and working with the appropriate law enforcement authorities, and they apologize for that breach.

If you feel as though you would like to have some free credit monitoring from Home Depot, you can go to Home Depot's web site and see the number to call to get that.

Home Depot also says they will reimburse you for any financial losses that you should suffer if these hackers have indeed bought your information on the dark web and had counterfeit cards made with your name, your address, and your number.