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Poll: Support For Iran Talks Crosses Party Lines; Poll: Email Drama May Be Temporary For Hillary; Clancy Faces Grilling Over Two Suspended Agents; Where In The World Was Vladimir Putin?

Aired March 17, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST, "INSIDE POLITICS": Any Israeli election is incredibly important to the United States because of the strategic alliance, because it is a democracy in the nastiest neighborhood in the world.

But this one is personal for President Obama. That's what is fascinating, Benjamin Netanyahu seeking another term as prime minister, just a couple of weeks ago was standing in the capital, essentially saying the president of the United States is wrong, don't trust him in these Iran negotiations.

Just yesterday, he said, if I'm re-elected, if I'm the prime minister, there will not be a Palestinian State while I'm prime minister. From the White House perspective, they can't come out and say we want the other guy to win and there are several other candidates, but Isaac Herzog is the leading rival candidate. But the president has made no secret of the fact he wants change.

JULIE PACE, "ASSOCIATED PRESS": Yes, I mean, there's no love lost between Obama and Netanyahu. If Netanyahu stays prime minister, you're looking at a relationship between the U.S. and Israeli leaders over the next two years that is essentially going to be a freeze.

So they would love the opportunity to work with someone else and Netanyahu's position on Iran has obviously caused a lot of divide. But this position that he's taken now on a Palestinian State just adds another level of tension to this.

The United States sees it as an untenable position for Israel. They see it as unrealistic and if Netanyahu is going to stay prime minister and hold this position, then it essentially freezes peace talks and leaves the Obama administration with no chance of pursuing that.

KING: Bush/Gore 2000 aside. We usually know on election night who the next leader is, we might not know this one for weeks because number one, you have the two leading parties and you have several smaller parties and they range the political spectrum.

Whoever wins tonight presumably whoever wins, gets the first chance to form a coalition government, but Netanyahu once came in second and got to form a coalition government. So we may be at this coalition chess for a while, right?

TAMARA KEITH, NPR: Yes. And I think the Obama administration is probably going to hang back for a while until this is all, until this all shakes out, though, I certainly think that when they look to Benjamin Netanyahu, they don't feel like they have much of a partner.

KING: Hang back or at least try not to leave fingerprints -- as you mentioned, the reason Prime Minister Netanyahu was here was to essentially say don't trust these negotiations with Iran, don't trust the president of the United States when he says he can get a good deal. Iran can't be trusted.

Brand new CNN polling we released last night on this question, do you favor direct diplomacy to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, 68 percent of Americans say, yes. Remember, 47 Republicans sent a letter directly to the Iranian government.

But 68 percent of Americans say they do favor direct diplomacy, 29 percent say no, break it down by party line and look at this 77 percent of Democrats.

But two-thirds of Republicans, 65 percent, two-thirds of independents, are these conservatives, not all conservatives, but the 47 of the 54 Republican senators sent this letter, did they get a little too far out over their skis?

PACE: I think they did. I think Americans have a good sense of what the universe of options are here. There is direct diplomacy, and if it doesn't work, it seems possible perhaps likely that there will be some kind of military conflict.

We all know that the public is war-weary and doesn't want to get into a military engagement particularly in Iran right now. I think that there are some legitimate policy questions that Republicans have, but perhaps being so aggressive in going after the president's negotiations just puts them on the opposite side of a lot of Americans.

KEITH: And I don't know that this poll necessarily proves that President Obama has made an amazing case for diplomacy with Iran. But I think that it proves that -- I mean, it's almost a poll about Americans liking apple pie. I mean, like, of course, Americans want you to try the path of peace, really.

KING: Especially after Iraq and Afghanistan, give it a shot. We'll see how that one plays out. The deadline is supposed to be the end of the month. Secretary Kerry is still involved with those negotiations, but we'll keep an eye on that.

And of course, the Israeli elections also in our new poll, some interesting data about Hillary Clinton and the e-mail controversy, 51 percent of Americans say it's a serious problem, her use of personal, private email when secretary of state, and 48 percent say no.

I think we should get used to that over the next couple of years, a relatively evenly divided America on questions relating to Hillary Clinton. Favorable opinion though of Hillary Clinton, 53 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of her, now that's down six points from November of 2014.

Some of that I would take as people being concerned about this email controversy. I think we also have to be honest and say part of it is probably just because she's now a political figure again. She's not secretary of state. She's a candidate for president.

PACE: I think some of the drop was inevitable for her. When she left the State Department, her approval ratings were sky-high. These were crazy approval ratings for Hillary Clinton. She was coming back down to earth as she got more involved in politics.

Now she's on the cusp of actually running for president, I think we're going to see her numbers perhaps dip a little bit. I don't think you can underestimate the impact of the e-mails. I don't think it's what people are voting on next November.

But it's the first thing that people are hearing about as she is preparing to run for president and it's not positive. I think she's going to have to deal with that still, that one press conference is not going to be enough.

KING: Even 30 percent of Democrats said they thought it was a problem. That she had done something wrong. Lucky for her, there is no credible challenger out there at the moment. But it's interesting, you look at the data and you say, a majority of Americans say they think it was wrong, 30 percent of Democrats, that's a problem for her.

[07:35:07] Of course, most Republicans do. So you see some numbers that are negatives are up. Is she honest and trustworthy? Her honesty numbers are down, 57 percent in the poll say they would be proud to have Hillary Clinton as their president.

So there's some conflicting data here. Clearly she's viewed as someone who could make history as the first female president, clearly viewed as somebody who is serious, and has gravitas to a wide swath of Americans, yet they have some questions about certain things.

KEITH: Well, I think that they've always had those questions about Hillary Clinton. I think that if you dig in to the numbers in this poll, you find that Republicans still dislike Hillary Clinton and Democrats still like Hillary Clinton.

And that's basically how you get all of these numbers. But I've called a bunch of people in Iowa and New Hampshire, which are the early voting states. And think it's really not as big a deal there as it is here in Washington, D.C.

And it hasn't had the staying power, out in real America than it's had here. But it is a reminder of sort of the old narrative and the way it reminds people of how they feel about Hillary Clinton and how they felt about her since 1991 or '92.

KING: Secretive in control, I think it's a big deal that there's Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, the Democrats, who may run against her. They said they don't want to talk about this. If you had a Democrat who wanted to raise this as an issue, I think you might have a different political dynamic, right?

PACE: Yes, absolutely and it speaks to Hillary Clinton's position in the party. Even Martin O'Malley who may want to make a run for president, for a whole bunch of different reasons, doesn't want to damage the person who is almost certain to be his party's nominee.

KING: The party understands it has invested all of its money in this bank account or just about all of it and they can't get it back right now. Julie, Tamara, thanks for coming in.

Alisyn, as we get back to you guys, a little busy day in Washington, we'll keep our eye on those Israeli elections throughout the day and we'll be back at 4:00 when we get the first exit polls. We'll track them from Israel right here in Washington, D.C.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, fantastic, we will be watching. John King, thanks so much.

Well, new Secret Service Director Joe Clancy will have some explaining to do when he faces House lawmakers, who are ready to grill him over the agency's latest black eye. One congressman, who will meet with Clancy, joins us next to say what he'll ask him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:15]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: Secret Service Director Joe Clancy will face intense questioning at a House hearing today over the secret service agency's latest scandal involving two agents, who disrupted a bomb investigation allegedly outside the White House after a night of partying. This is just the latest in a series of scandals, leaving many to question what it will take to reform the agency for real.

Joining me now is Virginia congressman, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte. Mr. Chairman, thanks so much for being with us. Respect the tie this St. Patrick's Day.

REPRESENTATIVE BOB GOODLATTE (R), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Top of the morning to you.

BERMAN: So you issued a statement last week saying that the Secret Service looks less like it is designed right now to protect the president, and more like it's partying as if it's animal house, animal house.

GOODLATTE: It's an outrageous set of circumstances that have been going on for the past year now. We know about drunken partying on Secret Service assignments with the president overseas. We know about the fence-jumper getting into the White House, and now you have someone who not only drinks and drives, a bad idea, but drinks and drives while headed back to the White House, at the White House, and then into an actual bomb crime scene investigation. This is very disappointing and we have very high hopes for the

new Secret Service Director Jim Clancy. He has come back to the agency to try to solve these problems. I and John Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the committee and Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the Oversight Committee and his ranking member, Elijah Cummings will be meeting with Director Clancy this afternoon to talk about this and what measures they're taking to solve the problem.

But clearly there's a serious morale problem and there is a serious discipline problem at this agency charged with some of the most important responsibilities protecting the life of the president and other people around him.

BERMAN: When you're going over the events of that evening, you left out the part where a senior supervisor let the agents go home without forcing them to take a sobriety test.

GOODLATTE: Absolutely, good point. No breath test and yet the report is that he smelled the alcohol on their breath and therefore, I don't think they're going to get away with this. But that again is an example of, you know, protecting somebody's back rather than protecting the president of the United States.

BERMAN: Well, then let me read a statement. You mentioned Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the Oversight Committee, let me read a statement from him and Elijah Cummings, where they are talking about the implications of what this means.

"This incident also raises important questions about what additional steps should be taken to reform the agency and whether the problems at USSS, the Secret Service run deeper than the recently replaced top tier of management."

Whether they run deeper than the management, you know, simply put, do you have confidence that Mr. Clancy is up to the job?

GOODLATTE: Well, we're going to find out. This is his first test of a serious problem since he was confirmed by the Senate as the new director. He was put in, in specific response to the fence-jumping incident where the individual not only jump the fence, but actually got in the front door of the White House and into several rooms before he was apprehended.

So the director has obviously a major challenge. We're going to find out from him what his plans are. We're also working on legislative initiatives to make sure that the structure of this agency works properly.

We still have a ways to go on that. We're gathering information and one of the most important parts of that will be interviewing Director Clancy.

BERMAN: Gathering information, what's the first question you're going to ask him? Really there are so many about that night.

GOODLATTE: The first question I'm going to ask him is what disciplinary action has been taken with regard to these two agents and their supervisor because obviously it's a serious matter. If you don't send the right message, that this is not going to be tolerated, you're going to continue to see more of this.

[07:45:10] BERMAN: Well, in fact, isn't there supposed to be a zero tolerance policy for just this type of incidents, after everything that happened overseas with the drinking and what not?

GOODLATTE: We're going to find out.

BERMAN: So then what response then is appropriate? You're going to ask him what he's going to do. What would be the minimum response that would be acceptable to you?

GOODLATTE: Well, I want to hear from him what the standard has been and how it's being applied, but certainly it would include the possibility that these individuals would lose their jobs.

BERMAN: The part of it that I think is concerning to a lot of people, is that this happened that night at the White House when the whole world is watching the Secret Service.

I mean, if you had to list three of the things that Secret Service agents could not do in this current environment, they would be -- drink on the job, drive back to the White House, potentially drink and drive through a bomb scene investigation and be sent home without taking a sobriety test.

I think those things would top list of things that would be scandalous in this environment right now. Yet, they did it anyway. So does that indicate there's a cultural problem here?

GOODLATTE: I think it does. And the second question for Director Clancy is, what is he doing to make sure that his agents understand in advance, not seeing somebody lose their job, but in advance, know that if they go to a retirement party for one of their colleagues, that they shouldn't be drinking if they're going to be driving, number one.

And number two, they definitely shouldn't be going back to the White House in that state. So does the director have a plan for making sure that when events like that occur, which presumably there are a lot of Secret Service agents at the event, that somebody is, you know, the big brother, who is going to make sure that people know that they can't do this kind of thing?

I mean, this is common information that people, who go out for a New Year's Eve celebration or on a Friday night or whatever know that they better have a contingency plan ahead of time to not drink and drive.

BERMAN: Chairman Bob Goodlatte, great to have you here with us on NEW DAY. Really appreciate your time.

GOODLATTE: Thank you, John -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, John, Russian President Vladimir Putin resurfaces, after more than a week MIA, where was he? We'll look at all of the rumors and get Putin's explanation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: We no longer have to wonder where President Putin is anymore. The bear apparently has emerged from hiding. Not before a whole slew of rumors popped up about the Russian leader's sudden hibernation. CNN's Jeanne Moos explores some of the more outlandish theories.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNIE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As if coming up for air, Vladimir Putin has resurfaced, and he didn't look bad considering all the things he was rumored to have suffered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Either being dead, having a stroke.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In bed with the flu.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he at the bedside of his alleged girlfriend while she had their love child.

MOOS: Putin's disappearance had people pointing or at least wiggling fingers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where's (inaudible) that's what I want to know.

MOOS: The macho man who rides shirtless, tracks tigers and handglides with cranes, was back facing nothing more deadly than the firing squad of cameras. The only thing he had to say was about all the rumors was -- it would be boring without gossip.

It makes you think Vladimir might enjoy seeing his missing mug on a milk carton or his bare chested body on display in shocking footage from his funeral. Here he is. Instead, Putin's still alive makes well moisturized appearance.

(on camera): Just watch how he sits down sort of gingerly.

(voice-over): One report had it that a specialist from Vienna traveled to Moscow to treat Putin for back pain. Maybe he slipped a disc riding that woodpecker he's been seen on recently or maybe it was the unicorn, but would the Kremlin hide a bad back just to maintain his tough guy image? You betcha.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I come from strong genes. President Obama he comes from mom genes.

MOOS: One of the most fantastical theories about Putin's vanishing act was illustrated by Ukrainian kids. In an animation workshop, they drew President Putin being beamed up by aliens. Spacecraft took off after Putin was abducted by the UFO, peace and calm came over the earth. But knowing Putin, he would have been riding that spaceship. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE) PEREIRA: He's been a very busy in 11 days, the Russian leader was.

BERMAN: You know, what would you do if no one knew where President Obama was, though, for 11 days? There would be speculation like you would not believe here.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, absolutely.

BERMAN: There's no one else in that government. Every part of the whole Russian system is run by Vladimir Putin. He was gone.

PEREIRA: Still no explanation.

CAMEROTA: He did look a little peaked in his first appearance. His color was off. He looked a little jaundiced.

PEREIRA: He seems like the type of man that would not want to admit if there was sort of medical thing, that's what I'm saying.

CAMEROTA: Agreed. John's giving you the skeptical eyeball.

BERMAN: I think there's a conspiracy.

CAMEROTA: Anyone, any conspiracy.

BERMAN: Something. I don't know what it is. There is one.

CAMEROTA: Let us know what you think. We'll read your Twitter comments.

Meanwhile, one of our top stories, real estate heir, Robert Durst, is now facing a first degree murder charge for allegedly killing his friend as the disappearance of his first wife remains unsolved. We'll speak with a friend of Kathy McCormick, his first wife, about this crazy case.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:58:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't fight, David.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a situation with a passenger. He ran forward towards the cockpit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

BERMAN: U.S. and Iran back at the negotiating table this morning over Iran's nuclear program.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The absolute best option is a diplomatic resolution. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It appears Durst was preparing to flee to Cuba.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He left a mic on and implicated himself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still believe today in my heart he's responsible for the death of three people.

PEREIRA: The highest honor ever bestowed to anyone in the teaching profession.

FORMER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: I think the most important thing this process has done is to reawaken the importance of teachers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good teachers are essential.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, March 17th, 8:00 in the east. Chris Cuomo is off today and John Berman joins us. Happy St. Paddy's Day. We have a green necklace. Thanks so much.

We begin with breaking news overnight. A United Airlines flight to Denver forced to abruptly turn around after an unruly passenger tries to rush the cockpit.

PEREIRA: Other flyers jumping in then to subdue the passenger. The whole end of the ordeal, it was captured on cell phone videos you can see. CNN's Rene Marsh joins us now from Dulles International Airport with more on this breathtaking moment -- Rene.

RENE MARSH, CNN AVIATION AND GOVERNMENT REGULATION CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Michaela. Not only is there video, but there's audio of the pilots as they make that emergency call to air traffic controllers describing this violent passenger who was on board.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Declaring an emergency due to a passenger disturbance.

MARSH (voice-over): Breaking overnight, a frightening scene aboard a Denver-bound jetliner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ran forward towards the cockpit and he is being restrained by other passengers.

MARSH: This passenger was screaming and tried to rushed cockpit, but passengers on board subdued him shortly after takeoff.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't Move, David. You're OK. We're going to get you off this plane, buddy.