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Obama to "Reassess" U.S.-Israeli Relationship; Speaker Boehner to Visit Israel; Tunisian Officials: Museum Attackers Trained in Libya. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired March 20, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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

HANAN ASHRAWI, PLO: The issue is not to find any excuse to destroy peace and the chances of peace.

[06:30:01] The issue is to abide by international law and the simplest imperatives of justice and moral responsible behavior.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Dr. Ashrawi, thank you for being on NEW DAY. We appreciate your perspective. Thank you.

Let's get over to Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Alisyn.

Is the U.S. economy all the way back? Treasury Secretary Jack Lew sitting down with Christine Romans, telling her he's encouraged by falling oil prices and record hiring. But there is one thing that's keeping him up at night. We'll have that exclusive interview, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Tunisian officials now say the two gunmen killed during the attack on the Bardo Museum were motivated or activated, rather, by sleeper cells in Tunisia and trained at a jihadist camp in Libya, as ISIS and other extremists claim responsibility for the brazen attack that killed 23 people. An audio message from ISIS warning the bloodshed in Tunis is, quote, "just the start." Authorities have now arrested nine people in connection with that terror attack.

CAMEROTA: President Obama reaching out to Iran's youth in a just released YouTube video. He's urging them to pressure their leaders to accept a nuclear deal with the West.

[06:35:01] This as nuclear talks stall in Switzerland. The U.S. and its European allies demand U.N. sanctions be suspended overtime. Tehran wants them lifted immediately.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This has got to be an incredible story right here.

A Pennsylvania toddler was pulled from an icy creek without a pulse. For nearly two hours later, he was essentially brought back to life. Twenty-two-month-old Gardell Martin was playing when he fell into a stream and was swept away. A neighbor found the boy downstream caught in a branch.

Rescue crews pulled his body from the frigid water and immediately began CPR nonstop. After 101 minutes, 101 minutes, his heart restarted. Doctors say his brain function is normal now. That's a miracle and Gardell's mother says this is all an act of God.

PEREIRA: They believe -- the doctors believe that because of his profound hypothermic condition, it actually might have protected his body from going into cardiac arrest and maybe is what saved him.

BERMAN: It's such a long time.

CAMEROTA: Bless those CPR, those emergency responders, they could have given up after 100 minutes.

PEREIRA: An hour and 41 minutes.

CAMEROTA: But it took 101 minutes.

BERMAN: It's amazing.

CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh.

It is time now for CNN Money now. Chief business correspondent Christine Romans is here.

Christine, you had an exclusive interview. Tell us about it.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: With the treasury secretary in Miami, at the port of Miami yesterday. Look, we talked about how he thinks the economy is strong, robust. The job market is coming back. He calls it record job creation.

But I asked him what is it that keeps him up at night. He said cybersecurity. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK LEW, TREASURY SECRETARY: I'm pretty tired at night. So, I'm not going to say that anything keeps me up at night. But something that I think I am most people in leadership positions worry about today in a way that they didn't a few years ago was cybersecurity. It is just, it is a new phenomenon where the risk is great and the learning curve has been fast. I think we in the Treasury Department as the second lead for financial services have been doing an effective job moving quickly in that space. But as a kind of an economy, as a country, it's an area where we need to be on our guard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: If you think about that, the leaders of your government concerned about cybersecurity. You know that the banks are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year trying to keep your information safe, trying to keep the financial system safe. Treasury Secretary Lew said he's confident they're doing the right things at the Treasury Department.

But another concern, the U.S. cybersecurity chief also saying the government's efforts to combat cyber hacking are not working and that we're reaching this tipping point. Admiral Michael Rodgers telling lawmakers the country needs to boost the military's cybersecurity, their cyber offensive capabilities. That so far, we've been playing defense, not offense.

So, you're hearing it from all sort of corners of government, that that hacking is really the big concern here. Retailers, health insurers, they have been really behind the ball. Banks have been doing a little bit better. But leaders of government are concerned about it.

CAMEROTA: So troubling. I mean, we haven't figured out how to crack the problem.

ROMANS: Changing quickly.

CAMEROTA: All right. We'll talk to you more about this later in the show. Christine, thanks so much.

BERMAN: Coming up for us next, deep new divisions between the United States and Israel. President Obama informing Prime Minister Netanyahu that the U.S. is now reassessing that relationship. Reassessing -- how about that word? What does it mean, and is it too late to fix this relationship with one of the strongest allies the U.S. has?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:42:27] JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Now, the prime minister of Israel says earlier this week, days before an election, that this is a principle that he no longer subscribes to and that his nation no longer subscribes to. That means the United States needs to rethink our approach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Rethink our approach. That was White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest addressing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's pre-election comments that he would never establish a Palestinian state. President Obama did finally call Netanyahu to congratulate him on winning and also say, though, that the United States will reassess parts of its relationship with Israel.

I want to bring in Ambassador John Negroponte. He's a former ambassador to Iraq, and also the United Nations, and also the former national intelligence ambassador.

Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us.

JOHN NEGROPONTE, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Good morning.

BERMAN: You were a diplomatic, professional diplomat for decades. You have seen just about everything. But have you ever seen this relationship, this bad? The White House using words like "rethink" and "reassess" the relationship with one of our strongest allies?

NEGROPONTE: Well, I think really, it's what's important now is to try and see if we can cool this situation down a little bit. It's important to get it out of the headlines and back into diplomatic exchanges, because I think what Mr. Netanyahu said just before the election was clearly political rhetoric for domestic consumption in order to get re-elected in a very close election, and I think perhaps the White House was a bit too quick to react to that. We saw Mr. Netanyahu backtrack a little bit.

I think if we ought to let things cool. If we try to solve this now through constant public exchange, we're not going to get anywhere.

BERMAN: Well, he said it, then he backtracked. But how do you know for sure which one he means? And, obviously, Ambassador, he's got an election on his hands, and people say things when they're running for election.

But this is Israel. The whole world is watching what's going on there. He knows people in Europe are watching, his allies there. He knows the entire region is watching. He knows the United States is watching.

NEGROPONTE: Right. You're absolutely right. It is Israel and they're the people who are going to have to live in the country where these arrangements are going to be made.

And it would be foolhardy to think by going to the United Nations and making some kind of legal statement or declaration, that you can resolve the problem. There's no solution to the Arab/Israeli problem that can be viable unless it has the full-hearted participation of Israel itself.

[06:45:01] So, again, as I say, I think we've got to get this back to a place where the United States and Israel can work together quietly, over time, not just the day after an election. Mr. Netanyahu has got a government to form now -- but over the next weeks, to see if we can get this back on course.

The idea of reassessing or completely revising our approach to Israel, frankly, I think it's kind of a political nonstarter. The support for Israel has been an article of faith on the part of the United States' foreign policy, ever since the Israeli state was founded.

BERMAN: You were at the United Nations. You were the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

NEGROPONTE: I was indeed.

BERMAN: And the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is quite literally often the last line of defense for Israel in the international community. The U.S. uses its veto to stop these measures there that Israel is very much against. One of the things that people are suggesting is possibly the United States might not do that any more in certain measures. What would the effect of that be?

NEGROPONTE: Well, certainly during the time I was there, we spent a lot of time just as you say, running interference for Israel. Protecting it to the best extent we could in the general assembly. Where there were -- almost every day, there was some kind of resolution condemning Israel and we tried to mitigate the effects of that. And in the Security Council, we did indeed exercise our right to veto when we saw resolutions that we thought were unsatisfactory.

But we had a balanced approach. I was at the U.N. when we passed Resolution 1397, which was the first affirmation by a Security Council resolution of the right of Palestinian state to exist, side by side, by Israel, with Israel. And we did it in a cooperative way with the Israeli delegation. But you got to talk these things through quietly and calmly, and not through some kind of public shouting matches.

BERMAN: What about tough love, Ambassador? I mean, you were part of the Bush administration, and I think in Mexico for the George H.W. Bush administration, which was accused by many of putting pressure on Israel to act a certain way.

When you see a friend do things that you do not like and you do not think are not productive, shouldn't you pressure them to move in a certain direction?

NEGROPONTE: My question is how much pressure could this good friend of ours sustain? They have relations with only two Arab states. They're kind of isolated in the Middle East region. They've relied on us for help. I think we got to continue to show that we are a steadfast friend and ally, rather than deepening any sense of insecurity that might exist in the Israeli psyche.

So, I think tough love in this instance, the way you're describing it, could just compound things and be counterproductive.

BERMAN: Well, obviously, I've never been a diplomat for decades and decades, perhaps you didn't use the phrase tough love in your many different jobs, but, Ambassador, thanks so much for being with us. I appreciate it.

NEGROPONTE: Thank you, John.

CAMEROTA: You have not been a diplomat, is that what you're saying?

BERMAN: Not as far as you know.

CAMEROTA: All right. I'm going change the resume you have here.

Meanwhile, this was likely Hillary Clinton's last paid speech before what most people expect will be a run for president. With the U.S./Israeli relations at a low point, how could that impact her campaign? What's her position on that? We'll debate it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[06:51:47] REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I think he gave a forceful, very clear speech. And happy he came.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That was House Speaker John Boehner's first comments since Prime Minister Netanyahu made that controversial visit to Congress. The speaker now heading to Israel, deepening the conflict between Netanyahu and the Obama administration. And what about Hillary Clinton's position on Netanyahu and Israel?

We have so much to talk about this morning. So, joining us is CNN political analyst and editor in chief of "The Daily Beast," John Avlon, and CNN political commentator and host of "The Ben Ferguson Show", Ben Ferguson.

Gentlemen, thanks so much for being here.

BEN FERGUSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning.

CAMEROTA: OK. So, apparently, the bromance between John Boehner and Benjamin Netanyahu continues apace. He is -- Boehner is now going to Israel and he was guffawing there at someone suggesting that the White House is lukewarm towards Benjamin Netanyahu.

How do you interpret all of these relationships, John?

AVLON: Well, I mean, look, there's no question that under Bibi Netanyahu, Likud has really been much closer to the Republican Party. We saw it during the 2012 election, when Romney got essentially a state visit. We saw with the appointment of Ambassador Ron Dermer, who's essentially a Republican operative and then that speech to Congress.

This is a continuation and it's a partisan and philosophical alliance, and Obama is on the outs on that one. And, of course, Boehner laughs off any suggestion that there's love between Obama --

BERMAN: Boehner has a great exit line to every news conference he gave. He laughs off and then drops the mike and go.

Ben, I just talked to Ambassador John Negroponte who suggested that perhaps everyone needs to back off and let thins calm down a little bit in the relationship between the U.S. and Israel. Wouldn't that include the Speaker Boehner also? Wouldn't that include the speaker saying, you know, maybe now is not the best time to go to Israel and keep this in the political spotlight?

FERGUSON: I think it's actually the opposite. When you have a friend that wins an election, you celebrate and say hello and hang out with him and show them just how important that relationship is.

And they -- you know, hosting him in the U.S., having him address a session of Congress and saying, OK, well, now, I'm not going to come hang out with you anymore, to me would actually be worse than it is now.

You got to have a friend in America, they're very tight. They have a very open line of connection. They don't have that at the White House. I think we saw that from the White House press conference yesterday.

It was abundantly clear that things are getting worse from their perspective. So I think personally, you got to have a back channels open. He should go.

CAMEROTA: John, let's talk about Hillary Clinton's position on Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu. Yesterday, she gave a big speech, but it was about summer camp.

AVLON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: It was not about Israel. In fact, it was her last, we believe, paid speech because she's been making something like $200,000 or $300,000 a pop.

BERMAN: I could find $200,000 for the stuff to say about summer camp. They don't give me that kind of money.

CAMEROTA: I have a lot to say about summer camp.

But we believe this is her last paid speech, which signals that she may be making an announcement soon. But where is she today on Israel and Netanyahu?

AVLON: You know, Hillary Clinton has not really built out a policy operation. So, everything we have to go by has to do with her time at State, her last campaign or when she was in the Senate.

But she has been a very strong friend of Israel, particularly when she was a senator from New York, and on the Armed Services Committee.

[06:55:00] So, you know, it's unlikely that in the Bibi divide, Bibi/Boehner divide, that she's going to be out there --

CAMEROTA: Is she a friend of Netanyahu's?

AVLON: Well, there was a lot of strain between President Bill Clinton and Bibi Netanyahu at that time. I mean, the bad relationship between Obama administration and Bibi Netanyahu is not exclusive to him. It may be worse, but there have been tensions between that particular prime minister in the past and other presidents, particularly Bill.

BERMAN: Hey, Ben, let's talk about the speech, the timing and what it means now. This was Hillary Clinton's last paid speech, which essentially means we're in the run-up to the announcement she's running for president. Not that we haven't been in the degree of that run-up for years now.

But what does this now mean for Republicans? How do you think they are going to treat the former secretary of state in the next few weeks?

FERGUSON: Well, they're going to treat her as a candidate. And I think it's honestly time for her to come out. If I was advising here, seeing some of the missteps that have happened around her recently, she's got to get a full-time team around her that is thinking about running for the White House. I think that actually makes things easier for her.

And I also think the timing for her is she's got to get out there before other Democrats keep really genuinely thinking, you know what, maybe I could get in, maybe I should take her on. So, I think she's going to finally be the actual candidate that we already all know that she is. And that's when you're going to see the real fight begin which I mean to be honest with you, is really fun to watch.

CAMEROTA: What is the timing, John? Is she going to announce in the next couple of weeks?

AVLON: I wouldn't be shocked if it was in a couple of weeks. You know, look, we're in a surreal part of the cycle, where everybody who is running for president is saying I'm not running for president yet. If I should run, they say, talking to roomfuls of donors -- I mean, the surreality of Hillary Clinton in Atlantic City speaking to a bunch of happy campers, I think is more -- literally -- is more just of the odds of suspension of disbelief that's required while people build up their apparatuses.

But I think Ben makes a good point, particularly with the pressure on Hillary Clinton right now, and every statement being parsed the way she is. Her pressure didn't come from the Democrats, O'Malley and Webb are running at 1 percent. It's coming from -- the Republicans taking shots at her, and until she builds an apparatus, there are going to be a lot of unforced errors.

BERMAN: You know, you're absolutely right about that but -- go ahead, Ben.

FERGUSON: The longer she takes -- the longer that she takes I think the bigger the risk is she could actually have a real primary fight. So, if I'm sitting around her camp today, there's no reason not to announce it soon. And it showed with the email issue. She was not prepared with a team to respond in a way that you have to if you are actually running a campaign. I think that will push everything forward.

BERMAN: Ben, I wish I had the numbers in front of me. We had a CNN poll that shows that every other candidate is like nowhere, like minus nowhere going head to head with Hillary Clinton.

AVLON: Yes, Biden's at 15, Elizabeth Warren is at 10. O'Malley and Webb are at one and Hillary Clinton is a colossus at 60. I mean, it's crazy.

BERMAN: She's going to do what's best for her and I doubt she's looking at much else right now.

CAMEROTA: Right.

Ben, John, thanks so much. Have a great weekend.

FERGUSON: Thank.

CAMEROTA: We're following a lot of news this morning, let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An audio claim from ISIS that they were indeed behind the attack.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There will be more terrorism in Europe and eventually will wash up on the shores of the United States.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My message to you, the people of Iran.

BERMAN (voice-over): President Obama speaking out, zeroing in on Iran's youth.

OBAMA: Together, we have to speak up for the future we seek.

BERMAN (voice-over): The White House, reassessing its relationship with Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A different message coming from the Prime Minister of Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's been no change in the prime minister's position at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An African-American man found hanging from a tree in Mississippi.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If this was a racial hate crime, if this was suicide, we don't know.

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota and Michaela Pereira.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Well, it's Friday, people. Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY. Our Chris Cuomo is off today. But John Berman is here with us this morning.

BERMAN: Good morning.

PEREIRA: New this morning, the gunmen that carried out the terrorist attack on the national museum in Tunisia's capital, officials now say those two attackers killed were trained at a jihadist camp in Libya.

CAMEROTA: Nine other suspects are in custody in connection with the museum massacre that left 23 people dead, most of them Western tourists. ISIS and other extremists claiming responsibility for the slaughter.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Phil Black live in Tunis -- Phil.

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, it is the Tunisian security minister who says the two gunmen were members of an existing jihadi cell who traveled across the border into neighboring Libya, where they were trained before recently crossing back to carry out the attack.

Now, that particular scenario is a huge concern for Tunisian authorities. Neighboring Libya is increasingly fractured, increasingly lawless, ISIS-affiliated groups have developed a strong foothold, and the long border between these two countries is almost impossible to secure.

Now, ISIS has claimed responsibility in an online audio recording for Wednesday's attack. But crucially, that recording did not contain any evidence or detail suggesting the gunmen were in direct contact, communication or under the direct control of ISIS' leadership in Syria and Iraq, which has led to the suggestion that this could have been another ISIS franchise, another autonomous group carrying out an attack, inspired by the name, the goals, the message of ISIS itself.