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Iranians React to Netanyahu Speech; Interview Rep. Peter Welch; How Did Netanyahu's Speech Impact U.S.-Israel Relations?; Maryland Shooting Suspect in Custody; Supreme Court Takes Up Obamacare; DOJ: 'Widespread' Racial Bias in Ferguson Police

Aired March 04, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Meanwhile, the White House showed what the president was up to during Netanyahu's speech. They offered up a picture of a president holding a video conference with other European leaders talking about the situation in Ukraine.

But, Chris, if it was Prime Minister Netanyahu's goal to gum up the works on Capitol Hill, it may be mission accomplished. The president has a much tougher climb after that speech yesterday, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And also, you have not just the effect on Congress, but what about Iran?

Jim, thank you very much.

ACOSTA: That's right.

CUOMO: Lies and deceptions, that's how one high-ranking Iranian official described Netanyahu's speech. How are the rest of the Iranian people reacting?

For that, we go there. CNN international correspondent Frederick Pleitgen is there live from Tehran.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting, Chris, because the speech from Benjamin Netanyahu was actually shown, in part at least, on Iranian TV, but only video. There was no audio. You couldn't hear him speak. The only thing that they had was a banner, saying "Iranophobic speech."

However, many people here in Tehran, of course, did manage to hear what Benjamin Netanyahu had to say, and most of them, needless to say, didn't like what he had to say. There was some pretty vicious here, coming from many Iranian politicians who were saying that this is all, as you say, lies and deceit. They called this a campaign maneuver by the Israeli prime minister.

And the other big narrative, they're pushing here in Tehran, is they say that this will create a rift between Israel and its western European allies. And of course, especially between Israel and the U.S.

There were some commentators last night who were saying that this is a humiliation for the Obama administration and for the president in particular. It's interesting this morning, because there was actually a press conference just a couple of minutes ago from the foreign ministry, where they now said that they don't care about what Benjamin Netanyahu said in his speech. They say at this point in time the Iranians remain focused on trying to achieve a deal at the negotiations table -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Fred, thank you for all of that background. So how do Israel and the United States get past this controversy now?

Let's bring in Democratic Congressman Peter Welch of Vermont. He's attended Netanyahu's speech.

Congressman, thanks so much for being here.

REP. PETER WELCH (D), VERMONT: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: You attended the speech. What did you think of it?

WELCH: Well, two things. I think short-term, it's helpful to Netanyahu. He's very good at those speeches, and he gets a very receptive audience in Congress. Long-term, I think he did some damage. What he's done here strategically is decided to give a full embrace to a Boehner-led Republican Congress.

And basically really accelerate the tendency for this to become much more partisan. And he obviously repudiated the president, who has an enormous amount of leadership in foreign policy.

So I think in the long run, he's accelerated a really bad dynamic that we've not seen before of having Israel have a partisan component to it. That's damaging, in my view, to our effort to have a really strong continuing relationship with Israel.

CAMEROTA: I read some of the analysis this morning about the repercussions of the speech. And some believe that he was able to change some minds. That he was so persuasive that for anybody on the fence about the Iranian deal, that perhaps he had them shift into the no-deal camp. What are you hearing?

WELCH: Well, Congress basically is very hawkish on Israel. So he had a receptive audience. Whether he changed a few minds or not, I don't know. I mean, we've had a tradition of bipartisan support for Israel. Where the divide is, is between the president's approach, which is no deal is better than a bad deal. Distrust and verify.

And really very clearly, Prime Minister Netanyahu, no deal is better than any deal. And the one -- the one question I hear being asked by most of my colleagues is, Mr. Netanyahu, where's Plan B? He's really repudiating negotiations, and the obvious alternative to that is a military strike.

Also, people are starting to remember that this is the same prime minister who, when he was in private life, told the United States, we should go to war in Iraq. And that things would not only be much better in Iraq, but they would be much better as a result of that in Iran.

He's the one who really lashed out at the president, when he decided to get successfully a peaceful resolution about chemical arms in Syria. So he's got some credibility issues. But he's a compelling speaker, and he had a favorable audience.

CAMEROTA: You say that he had has no Plan B, and we've heard that echoed from other Democrats, as well, including the president, but he says his Plan B is tougher restrictions against Iran.

WELCH: Well, he -- you know he did say that. And he heard the criticism of his. But if you go through that speech, what were the -- what were the tougher restrictions? Basically, the tougher restrictions he was talking about are total surrender of any kind of even peaceful and monitored intrusively and constantly, nuclear program.

And what that means, in effect, is that there shall be no negotiations unless there's a complete and total capitulation on anything, even monitored peaceful use of nuclear -- nuclear program in Iran. So I think that really, as a practical matter means, it would be a military strike.

CAMEROTA: Congressman let me play for you what President Obama said after Netanyahu's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we're successful negotiating, then in fact, this will be the best deal possible to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Nothing else comes close. Sanctions won't do it. Even military action would not be as successful as the deal that we have put forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Congressman, the president said that this is the best deal possible. But Prime Minister Netanyahu says it expires after ten years.

WELCH: Well, there's going to be ongoing inspections that is going to monitor this. And the other thing, by the way -- Netanyahu is really getting isolated in Israel. You know, there's like 200 of their best security people. Mossad is against them. Half a dozen of the generals are against them.

And they think the way he's going about this is having great negative consequences on his relationship with the United States, which is essential.

Also, most of the military analysts, when asked about war, they acknowledge that you could perhaps retard the nuclear program, but you couldn't necessarily stop it. This is not like it was -- go ahead.

CAMEROTA: Well, are you suggesting that, in Israel, he won't win re- election? That he's in that precarious a state? WELCH: I don't know. I don't have -- I don't have the ability to say

that.

But what I was saying is that military experts in the Mossad, the intelligence folks, about 200 of them, have been very critical of Netanyahu's approach on this, particularly his, really, bull-in-the- China-shop approach towards the president in the United States.

So there's repercussions that are being noticed in Israel. There's repercussions here. The repercussions here which are injecting unnecessarily and unwisely partisanship into this debate. When you think about it, it's pretty astonishing for the prime minister of another country to come to the United States, where this president, by the way, has provided over $20 billion in aid to Israel while he's been there, over $2 billion in Iron Dome assistance, and where in the U.N., the U.S. is the one that is pushing back on a lot of these resolutions that have been condemning Israel. And that's as a result of the directives of President Obama.

So why -- you know, why would someone like Prime Minister Netanyahu treat so harshly the person who's most responsible for Israel's assistance from the United States? It's really puzzling.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Peter Welch, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY and sharing your thoughts on Netanyahu's speech. Nice to see you.

WELCH: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn. Some breaking news to tell you about at home. The FBI saying a suspect is now in custody following a series of gunfire incidents in Maryland, including a shooting Tuesday near NSA headquarters.

CNN's justice correspondent, Evan Perez, is live in D.C. with the latest details for us. What are we learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Michaela.

Police say they've arrested a suspect responsible for as many as five shootings in the suburbs between Washington and Baltimore. Now this includes one yesterday that caused damage to a building at the headquarters of the National Security Agency in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Now the suspect is a 35-year-old, and he was arrested during a traffic stop in Anne Arundel County. He was driving a blue Lincoln town car. Now police circulated this video of this Lincoln town car that was seen at several of the shootings. That's this car that the suspect was driving when he was arrested last night.

The FBI worked with local police to analyze bullet casings that were recovered from the scene. Police say shortly before the shots were fired yesterday near the NSA, someone fired at a truck on a suburban highway in Laurel, Maryland. Now on March 2, shots were fired at a Wal-Mart store and at a movie

theater in Columbia, Maryland. The series of shootings began February 24. The same suspect is believed to have fired shots at a car driving through a mall in the same area.

Back to you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Evan. Thank you very much.

Do you hate Obamacare? Do you love it? Either way, today is a big day for you. The Supreme Court is taking on the law again. Different issue, but same stakes. Will the law survive what may be its toughest test yet?

CNN's Pamela Brown is at the Supreme Court for us this morning -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Chris, good morning to you.

The stakes are very high, because what happens here at the Supreme Court could impact at least five million Americans. And if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, it could completely derail the Affordable Care Act.

And here's why: It hinges on what many call the lynch pin of Obamacare. Subsidies for Americans who can't afford health insurance on their own. And states with federally-run exchanges, 34 states. The plaintiffs in this case are focused on four words in the Affordable Care Act. Let's take a look.

These four words, established by the state. The plaintiffs argue that those Americans and states without state-run exchange don't get, don't qualify for subsidies. That the law is clear, that it's only for those states with state-run exchanges, not the 34 states with federally-run exchanges.

And the plaintiffs arguing the government tried to rewrite the law after Congress passed it, once it realized that 34 states weren't going to have the state-run exchanges. The government, we're expecting to argue here today, is that you can't just look at those four words in isolation. You have to look at it in the context of the law. And that the law is clear as a whole. That subsidies from the very beginning were intended for every American, no matter if they were in a state with federally-run exchanges or state run exchanges.

I can tell you that all eyes today will be on Chief Justice Roberts. As you know, he surprised a lot of conservatives when he upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act several years ago. So a lot of people are going to be listening to every word he says today, trying to get a sense of where he stands with this -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Yes. It will be fascinating to parse all of that. Thanks so much for the background.

Well, an American mechanic now free on bail in the United Arab Emirates after being jailed because of a Facebook post he wrote in the U.S. Thirty-year-old Ryan Pate reportedly made disparaging comments about Arab people and his employer in the UAE. He now faces trial later this month and up to five years in prison.

CUOMO: Alabama Supreme Court once again ordering the state's judges to block same-sex marriage. The justices ruling Alabama law only recognizes marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and there is nothing federal courts can or should do about that. All this, despite a Supreme Court order last month allowing same-sex marriages to proceed.

PEREIRA: Some scary moments in Texas, firefighters in Houston coming to the rescue of a mother and her 2-year-old son, who were trapped in their truck after a violent crash. Look at that. Surveillance video capturing the wreck. The mom apparently lost control of the pickup after hitting a pothole. The truck flipped over, crashed into those two U-hauls you see there. Apparently, crews needed the Jaws of Life to free them. Incredibly, the mother and the child suffered minor cuts and bruises and otherwise are OK. Traumatized and shook up by that, I can imagine.

CAMEROTA: Thank goodness they're OK.

PEREIRA: I know.

CUOMO: Those things happen, you always look to the above, but also just in the practical sense, cars are safer. You put on your seat belt, you know. You never know what's...

PEREIRA: And quick response from the firefighters. They got to them and realized that it was going to be the tougher rescue than they thought.

CUOMO: See that tree? Popped out of nowhere, whatever that was.

CAMEROTA: No. What was that?

All right. Meanwhile, the Michael Brown shooting launched a federal investigation of police in Ferguson, Missouri. Now the results are in, and they point to a widespread pattern of discrimination. How do the Ferguson police clean up their act?

CUOMO: Hillary's e-mail practices have brought Benghazi cover-up theories back with a vengeance. Now, before you lefties roll your eyes, listen to John King on "Inside Politics" about what investigators want now and why.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: All right. We have the findings of this Department of Justice investigation into the Ferguson Police Department, and they are bad. All right? They find a pattern of racial bias, everything from widespread racist jokes to unbelievable traffic stops statistics. Local leaders demanding resignations and possibly the elimination of the police department entirely.

Joining us now is columnist for the "St. Louis American," Lizz Brown, along with CNN senior local analyst and former federal prosecutor, Jeffrey Toobin.

These numbers stink. Take a listen to these things. Put up the graphic of what they found here. Objectively stink. Eighty-five percent of vehicle stops, African-Americans. Ninety percent of citations, African-Americans. Ninety-three percent of arrests, of African-Americans. And the little one on the bottom there may matter the most: the population, 67 percent black. Why so disproportionate?

Lizz Brown, when the "hands up, don't shoot" started, I said to you -- I think -- I forget if it was in Ferguson or here -- is this a false narrative, because Michael Brown, it's not lining up like that, by the facts? And you said it's about a lot more than this one shooting. Does this investigation justify that in your opinion?

LIZZ BROWN, COLUMNIST, "ST. LOUIS AMERICAN": It confirms that, actually. I mean, you can look at it anecdotally with the numbers, and you can also look at it in terms of what this partial report says about the mindset of the police department.

If we simply unpacked one of those racist, those odiously racist jokes that -- where the punchline was, an African-American mother terminates a pregnancy, and she is given a $3,000 reward from CrimeStoppers. What are they saying? This is what's in an e-mail that was passed along by police on their governmental e-mail and other governmental people.

So what does this, this joke say? This joke says that African- Americans are born criminals.

So if you want to have an explanation for why Mike Brown was lying on the ground for four hours, look at this e-mail, where police officers are joking about African-Americans are born criminals.

CUOMO: All right. So when you look at these -- when you look at these numbers, Jeffrey, you could -- you know, let me present the proposition of the other side. It's just jokes. It's just traffic stops. You know, maybe you know, they're just spending more time in those areas. It's not a direct line to a nefarious attitude toward blacks. Do you think that's a sustainable perspective?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: No. And I think the Ferguson Police Department recognizes that. They are at least going to be subject to Justice Department supervision indefinitely in the future. Now if not abolished altogether, you know, there have been other...

CUOMO: How do you do that?

TOOBIN: Well, there are -- that can be part of a settlement with the Justice Department. Other police departments in and around St. Louis -- you know, St. Louis has this very unusual and, frankly, toxic situation with lots of small police departments around the city. And it is not an efficient or orderly or effective way of running police. And one solution may be simply to consolidate some of these police forces, where you could improve training, improve community policing. I mean, here you have a city that is 67 percent African-American with

a police department that is so overwhelmingly white that is a recipe for disaster. Just for starters. I mean there is so much wrong there, and the Justice Department is going to do what it can. But you know, there are really big problems there.

CUOMO: You know, and Lizz, it comes down to then, all right, how do we fix it? You know, putting people of color on the police force isn't always a quick fix. You know, many cops, you know, white, black, they wind up being blue. So it comes down to their training. Do you think that you want to get rid of the police?

BROWN: No.

CUOMO: Or do you think you work with what you have and improve it?

BROWN: I think that to abolish the police department is not the right thing. We need to fix this. We need to make this police department a model for change.

And the reason why you have African-American police officers sometimes that operate the same as their white counterparts is the selection process itself. The institution itself.

The institution in this particular community needs to be gutted. The police chief needs to go; the mayor needs to go. And we need to make this police department a police department that can operate lawfully and non-racistly [SIC]. And give this community, this largely African-American community the opportunity to have a police force that is successful in engaging in contact with the community.

CUOMO: And then you would also insure that you get coverage there.

Jeffrey, make your point, because a lot of people on the street in Ferguson said, you know what, there are good cops here. There are a lot of good cops, but it's about the leadership. It's tough to change at the top, though, isn't it?

TOOBIN: Yes. Personally, think it should be abolished. I don't see any reason for Ferguson to have its own police department.

CUOMO: What if they end up losing coverage in those communities altogether as a result of the reapportionment?

TOOBIN: That can be dealt with by effective policing.

But let me just raise one issue, Chris, because I think it's very important, and it's not just about Ferguson. It's not even just about Missouri.

What this report shows is that the police were using the African- American community to raise money for government. The issue of using fines, using minor offenses, as a way of raising money so the city doesn't have to raise taxes, this is a huge issue all over the country. And I think the Justice Department is going to take a look at it. Not just here, but elsewhere. Keep an eye on this. This is a major civil rights issue. Because

African-Americans, through paying fines, are being used to subsidize government in a very intentional way. Not for criminal justice purposes, for just as a fundraising way. And this is something, this -- this report points to, and it's not just in Ferguson or even in Missouri.

CUOMO: And the more events you create between citizenry and police, the more chance you have for good and bad outcomes.

Jeffrey Toobin, Lizz Brown, in some ways, this report, as hard-fought as it was, is the easy part. What will be the fix? What will be the change? We will stay on this story.

What do you think? Tweet us, @NewDay, or go to Facebook.com/NewDay -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris. Cyberbullies picked on the wrong person when they targeted the daughter of former Major League pitcher Curt Schilling. He brought the high heat on them. We're going to talk with Schilling and his daughter about what happened.

PEREIRA: As the Supreme Court prepares to arguments in a case targeting Obamacare, Republicans in Congress getting a bit nervous about the outcome. John King will explain; "Inside Politics" ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu in a war of words following the prime minister's fiery address before Congress. The president dismissing the Israeli leader's warnings about nuclear talks with Iran and called them, quote, "nothing new." He's also slamming the prime minister for not having a better plan.

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Kerry meeting again with Iran's foreign minister in Switzerland.

CUOMO: We have breaking news overnight. A suspect taken into custody following a series of shootings in Maryland, including one near the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade. Earlier in the day, a landscaping truck came under fire. No one seriously hurt. Investigators say this suspect may be linked to three other shootings in just the past eight days.

PEREIRA: Edward Snowden says he's ready to return to the United States. A lawyer for the NSA leaker says he's willing to return to America only if he's given a fair trial.

As you'll recall, Snowden was granted political asylum in Russia back in 2013. He's been there since leaking thousands of classified NSA documents to media outlets. For their part, U.S. officials say Snowden will face an objective trial.

That would be the new trial of the century, perhaps.

CAMEROTA: Yes. Cannot be easy to have been in, basically, self- imposed exile in Russia all this time.

PEREIRA: Where there are some things going on.

CUOMO: It also depends what the alternative is. I mean, the assumption that the law is on his side is a big assumption at this point.

A lot going on in the world of politics, so let's get there. "Inside Politics" on NEW DAY with Mr. John King -- J.K.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR, "INSIDE POLITICS": Good morning, Chris, Alisyn, Michaela. You're right: It's a very busy day "Inside Politics" and inside crazy Washington, so let's get right to it.

Nia-Malika Henderson of the "Washington Post," Jonathan Martin of "The New York Times" with me to share their reporting and their insight.

Let's continue the conversation we started here yesterday about Hillary Clinton and her use of a private e-mail account when she was secretary of state. Supposed to use your government e-mail account. Others have done it; she's not the first. But she had full custody of this. This was done on a server in her home in Chappaqua, which makes it harder. Public information, congressional committees.

The White House sort of threw her under the bus yesterday, saying the president made it clear from day one, he expected his cabinet secretaries, people at the federal agencies, to use government accounts, not private accounts. Hillary gave a speech last night to Emily's List, a women's political action committee, and of course, she got right to the point.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Don't you love seeing Nancy Pelosi stand up against efforts to play politics with our security? It's because of you that Kirsten Gillibrand can lead the fight against sexual assault in the military. It's because of you that Elizabeth Warren can work to hold Wall Street accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: OK. Nice words about Elizabeth Warren, Nancy Pelosi. Nothing about this.

I'm sort of torn on this. You know, she's about to launch a presidential campaign. This is a big story about her transparency. She's skirting at least the spirit, if not the letter of the Federal Records Act, and she says nothing about it. Surprised?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I'm a little surprised. I mean, the people I talked to before the speech yesterday, people sort of in Hillary's circle or outer circle, said, "Sure, this would probably be a good environment for her to do that. I mean, this is her base. These are her fans, 1,600 or so women there." So maybe she could have said something that was you know, maybe about how she's often attacked.