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Interview with Sen. Angus King; Obama to Outline Strategy to Defeat ISIS Tonight; Could Senator Cruz Threat Lead to Another Shutdown?; Emotions High at Ferguson City Council Meeting

Aired September 10, 2014 - 07:30   ET

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

SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: And if you're talking about that, I think you're talking about a broader kind of conflict where congressional involvement is important. That you know, that pesky Constitution says Congress has the power to declare war. And I'm uncomfortable with expansion of presidential authority to basically take military action anywhere in the world if the President decides that's what important. That's not the way our system is built.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Especially when Congress seems to be punting on their responsibility for political motives. I want to talk to you about that in a second. But first, from what you've heard, what is the single-most troubling thing you were told?

KING: Well, I can't talk specifically as you understand, Chris, about the briefing that I had with the intelligence officials. But I think the broader question is well known. The real issue is safe haven for terrorists. A training ground for terrorists. And the desire, the express desire of this organization to get at us in some way, shape or form.

So I think that's the argument. I'm waiting to be convinced on that because there's an old saying of Mark Twain, that history doesn't always repeat itself but it usually rhymes. And it bothers me a little bit that we're talking about advisers.

We're talking about the safe haven argument, which is a reminiscent of the domino theory. And I think we have to be very clear about what our goals are here, what's achievable. And the other piece, Chris, is if the government in Baghdad can't develop an open and inclusive political process that makes the Sunnis in the north and the east, if they don't feel engaged, we're wasting our time.

CUOMO: That's a great point, Senator, because that's where ISIS comes from in the first place. When you start unpacking who those guys are, that are fighting for ISIS, many of them were the Iraqi army fighting under Saddam.

Many of them have grievance against Iraq. Let me push you one more time though, because given our past, you said this sounds familiar so we have to be sure. The American people have been burned, yellow cake comes to mind and rationales that fell away. Can you give people confidence this morning that you believe what you were told from the government so far? KING: Well, I believe what I'm being told. I wasn't given any deep, dark secrets that aren't generally public knowledge. I think the real question that we have to face is, is the safe haven argument sufficient to justify significant American engagement.

And then the question, Chris is -- what level of engagement? If you're talking about air strikes, OK. I think we can live with that. One thing that's worrying me and bothering me about this is that there's this idea that we're going to be able to do this with air power, it's going to be clean and surgical and all of that. That's nonsense.

There are going to be boots on the ground. The only question is -- whether they're American or Iraqi or Kurdish because you're not going to be able to oust ISIS from places like Mosul.

CUOMO: We know that.

KING: With air power.

CUOMO: We know that.

KING: Well, we know that but nobody is talking about that. Everybody is acting like --

CUOMO: We're going to get to that, Senator, because that's the second part of the problem that I said I wanted to address with you and we'll do it right now. You do know whose boots are going to be on the ground. We're perpetuating a myth because you don't like it politically down there in Washington, because you know people don't want Americans on the ground.

The reason your brothers and sisters are so quiet about the president's authority is that they don't want to vote because they're afraid about the midterms. So even though you have a lawsuit right now against the president about his executive orders and action.

Too many of you aren't saying a damn thing about your constitutional responsibilities, to get involved with issues of war. Why don't you call out the people in Congress?

KING: Chris, I've been saying it for the last 24 hours, you know what Congress is really good at? Second-guessing and criticizing. We're not very good at taking responsibility. And I think we're dodging our responsibility.

It is ironic as you mentioned that some of the same people who are suing the president for being too active as an executive, are now saying well, we're not going to get involved in this decision about war.

CUOMO: And you know why. The worst part is why. You should call out Senator Cruz and all his friends and say, you want to criticize the president about this? Come in and vote. Vote. And if you authorize it, don't you start second-guessing it when it starts to be politically expedient because you authorized it. That's why they're not voting. Am I wrong?

KING: Well, I think you're right. I think everybody wants to have it both ways, they want to be able to criticize, but they don't want to have their hands on the decision. That's too easy. That's not what we're were hired to do down here.

You should talk to Tim Kaine of Virginia, he is saying the same thing. I frankly don't get it. I was in some meetings yesterday and we got to back the president, we got to do this and these guys are really bad. And yes, they are yes, they are.

There's no questions of that. We had those awful beheadings. But we're talking about a commitment here, that you never know where a military engagement is going to go.

And so I think we ought, the Congress ought to step up and talk about this. And make a decision and take a vote. That's the position I've been taking for the last couple of weeks.

CUOMO: The poisonous posture of resistance that's down there in Washington right now may be an equal threat to ISIS when you look at what threatens the U.S. stability going forward. Not me saying it, it's the polls, 65 percent of people polled in this country say this may be the worst Congress ever.

I'm not putting that on you, Senator, but you do have a big voice and you should call out your brothers and sisters that they should come in and vote so the American people know where they stand on this.

Thank you very much, Senator King, always appreciate your candor. Good luck moving forward on this. We look forward to talking to you.

KING: Thanks, Chris. Talk to you later, buddy.

CUOMO: All right, now, this is a big situation we're dealing with when it comes to ISIS, but there's a lot of emotion going on in the country right now. For instance, protesters are back in Ferguson. They were all over this city council meeting. They grinded it to a halt because of the Michael Brown shooting. What change will come as a result? We'll take you inside that meeting.

And a stunning primary defeat in Massachusetts for a nine-term congressman. Was he the victim of the Obama effect? That seems to be impacting races nationwide? We'll take you into it "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Welcome back. Let's get straight to "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with John King. Good morning, John.

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Hi, Chris. Good morning to you. A very big day here, of course. The president speaking to the nation tonight outlining his ISIS strategy.

With me this morning to share their reporting and their insights on this important day, Molly Ball of "The Atlantic" and Manu Raju of "Politico." Let's start with the president. We now are told he is prepared to authorize, ready to go inside Syria with air strikes there.

How important is this for the president to lay out just last week we have our poll showing 67 percent of the American people don't think he has a clear plan. How important is this tonight?

MOLLY BALL, "THE ATLANTIC": I think it's very important and I think you hear in the previews that White House officials have given, keep hearing comprehensive strategy. That's an obvious reaction to this, this you know, we don't have a strategy, that the president himself said in the overwhelming reaction to that.

And also, to the incredibly insecure mood of the American people. I sat in on a focus group with some swing voters last night in a couple of swing states and they were saying that they feel very anxious and insecure about the world.

It's you know, the conventional wisdom for so long is Americans are war-weary. We don't want to go anywhere. It's changed as you see in the polling and in talking to these voters that they feel like someone needs to do something because it's so scary out there.

KING: But more open to the use of military force, but also to Molly's point, mindful. President Obama is inheriting The Iraq war legacy, people were told things by the commander-in-chief that didn't turn out to be true. How does he get to the credibility bar and how does he convince people this will be limited, we're going to do air strikes, but not boots on the ground.

MANU RAJU, "POLITICO": He has a very, very high bar to clear because he has to show the American public that his deliberative approach, his very calm, concerted approach makes sense and that he actually has a detailed plan to get to where he wants to go. Where does he want to go?

And he also has to convince the public that, you know, he may launch air strikes in Syria now, why didn't he do it last year? He may not want congressional authority now to do that, but why did he say that he needed congressional authority last year?

There are big questions that the White House needs to resolve, the American public that wants to see action, but has been skeptical about the way he has conducted this campaign so far.

KING: We do, we do not expect him to ask for congressional approval. Full approval of this in part because he lost a vote a year ago. Not ISIS-related, but he lost a vote a year ago, he doesn't want to lose and many of the people in Congress don't want to take a vote because of the elections is eight weeks away.

BALL: Well, you had Congressman Jack Kingston being remarkably honest saying we don't want to vote on this because this way if it goes bad, we can say it wasn't our idea and if it goes well, we can say why he didn't do it sooner. A lot of congressmen privately feel that way. You do have some particularly Democrats wanting to get congressional buy-in. Wanting their fellow members of Congress to have to have some public skin in the game, so when the president does this, they can't run away.

RAJU: One of the things that they will need, John, though is they're asking for authority to arm the Syrian rebels. Congress will probably have to take some sort of vote in order to give the president that authority. It will be interesting to see the kind of push-back he may get on this.

KING: You're right about that. Congress has to vote to give him the money, the authority to do that. They've got some buy-in there. One quick footnote. Dick Cheney addressing House Republicans in a private meeting. He is going to give a speech today, scheduled well before the president's speech was scheduled.

So Dick Cheney is not trying to jump into the president's party. He already had the schedule. He says this is all the president's fault. He, my question is do the Republicans want Dick Cheney to be their front man telling the American people the president is wrong when he's talking about the military threat in Iraq?

BALL: No, I mean, I think that absolutely helps Obama. And I think Obama does have a real opportunity here if he can rise to the occasion to show leadership and to explain this very complicated proposition that he's proposing.

And what is going to help him is the sight of people like Dick Cheney being presented as the alternative. Because there hasn't been much else in the way of a Republican alternative that isn't just be more aggressive.

KING: From a policy standpoint, the president is moving the way his more hawkish Republicans have said.

Another big question heading towards the election is Ted Cruz, the Republican senator from Texas. He is mad because the president says he's yes, he's going to wait until after the election.

But the White House still leaves on the table the possibility of the president taking sweeping action on immigration. Including granting de facto amnesty to millions of undocumented workers.

Listen to Ted Cruz, who says that continuing resolution, that's funding the government, sorry for the Washington speak, Ladies and Gentlemen, when that comes up. He thinks maybe Republicans should try to block the president there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: I think we should use any and all means necessary to prevent the president from illegally granting amnesty. That's certainly I think it would be appropriate to include in the CR. But I think we should use every tool at our disposal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Are the Republicans who have the wind at their back and look like they're going to have a very good election in eight weeks, going to risk it all by shutting down the government?

RAJU: No, I don't think so. You know, I don't think that the Republican leadership is going to go along with Ted Cruz this time. Last time what happened was that they did go along with his idea, to defund Obamacare and put provisions in that stop-gap spending bill that would defund Obamacare.

What we saw the House Republicans unveil last night was that stop-gap spending bill that did not go after the president's immigration plan. They'll probably give him a vote. In order to placate the right of the Republican conference, but putting something in the underlying budget that could provoke a shutdown? That's something that the Republicans don't want to talk about.

KING: Let's look at the mood of the American people. Is this is the worst Congress in your lifetime, 65 percent say yes. There's a great vote of approval. Do you approve of how Congress is handling its job, 83 percent of Americans disapprove.

Who are Americans going to vote for in November? If you look at this, Molly, Republicans have an advantage on the generic ballot. If that holds up with the Republicans ahead that tells you they're going to keep the House and I think if those numbers hold up on Election Day, they get the Senate.

BALL: It seems like a good analysis to me. I take these numbers with a little bit of a grain of salt when people complain about politicians. I think that kind of cynicism has been around for a long time and it's always worse when the economy is worse.

And when times are bad and when people don't trust the president, and voters are being realistic. Objectively this isn't a great Congress, they don't get anything done and they're hopelessly gridlocked.

KING: An example in Massachusetts last night. A Democrat, Iraq war veteran, he beats John Tierney, a veteran Democratic incumbent by running essentially on that point, saying this Congress is useless. I know you're mad at this Congress, you can't just blame the Republicans, let's kick some of the veteran Democrats out and start a conversation. How much do you make of that?

RAJU: Well, I think that there are specific circumstances to that race. Such as Tyranny's wife was implicated in a tax scandal involving an offshore betting ring that led to Tyranny's political problems.

But the issue of voters wanting change is significant, throwing out an incumbent who has been around for 18 years is something that all incumbents are worried about. Voters are tired of what you're seeing in Washington, if you're an incumbent who is running, you'll have to worry about that feeling on the ground. KING: That will be an interesting conversation among the Democrats when they come back. Only the fourth, though, right, the fourth incumbent, first Democrat, fourth incumbent to lose this year.

BALL: Well that's the primary.

KING: Just the primaries. Chris, Election Day, a little less than eight weeks away, we'll see if more incumbents get their walking papers, shall we say.

CUOMO: All we want is for people to be active, right, and to vote their conscience, and drive the system because that's what they're supposed to do. John, thank you very much. Be back to you tomorrow, of course.

Another situation that's about popular outrage going on in Ferguson, Missouri, protesters just bombarded the city council meeting, and the message was very clear -- they've had it, they took over the meeting because of the Michael Brown shooting. We're going to take you inside the situation, when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Welcome back to NEW DAY. Emotions running high in Ferguson, Missouri. During the first city council meeting since Michael Brown was killed, people from the community vocally expressed frustration with city leaders chanting, "fired up, can't take no more." Many in the crowd demanding answers. All as a grand jury reviews that shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look around you. We're not going to let you go back to business as usual. It's not going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Hundreds of residents descending on the Ferguson City Council meeting last night looking to air their grievances.

City leaders holding the meeting for the first time since Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen was shot by Darren Wilson on August 9th. The Ferguson City Council was set to discuss new proposals meant to smooth over the relationship with residents.

But minutes into the meeting protests erupted. Residents expressing anger over the city's handling of the shooting as well as what they say is years of mistreatment by authorities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have the Mike Brown movement in your face because of your ongoing neglect. None of us will be here if the police see if you put an office would have just came forward and said we apologize.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First off I demand change, period. Across the board.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Just hours before the meeting, a Missouri judge denied a request to release any juvenile criminal records Michael Brown might have had without giving a reason. The request was made by the St. Louis Post Dispatch. That paper argued there was heavy public interest in Brown's background.

At a hearing last week, a juvenile court lawyer said Brown did not face any juvenile charges at the time of his death and was not ever convicted of a serious felony. We'll keep an eye on Ferguson.

CUOMO: Right. People are making effect that the judge didn't put out a decision and they don't have to. The presumption is you keep those things sealed.

This is a big night for President Obama. He's going to pitch you a strategy to destroy ISIS. Representative Mike Rogers was already briefed on it. He's going to join us live. Hopefully give us some insight.

BOLDUAN: And the latest in the Ray Rice controversy. The NFL commissioner now speaking out. We have more of his interview. Will Ray Rice be allowed to play again?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Breaking new details, the president's strategy to take on ISIS. What he plans to say in his prime time address tonight and whether he will hit the terror group inside Syria.

Plus John Kerry on the ground in Baghdad at this hour.

BOLDUAN: I'm accountable. The commissioner of the NFL speaking out and saying the league asked for the Ray Rice elevator tape, but never got it. Now he's leaving the door open to Rice returning to the game.

PEREIRA: Outbreak, the dangerous respiratory illness striking children has now spread beyond the Midwest. There are suspected cases in the southeast. Why is this spreading so quickly? And where is it heading next?

CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.

BOLDUAN: Good morning. Welcome once again to NEW DAY, everyone. It's Wednesday, September 10th, 8:00 in the east now. We have breaking new details. CNN has learned President Obama has opened air strikes to take out in Syria.

He will make his case in a nationally televised address tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern here you can watch it on CNN along with outlining his position on entering Syrian air space as part of the anti-ISIS campaign.

The president is also explaining why he's moving forward without approval of Congress. Let's go live to the White House where Jim Acosta is.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this speech is really designed to show that the president is ready to hammer ISIS.