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New Day

U.S. Troops Pull Out of Yemen; Can the GOP Budget Plan Pass Congress?; ISIS Hit List Posted Online; Ted Cruz Announces Presidential Candidacy. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired March 23, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shiite Houthi rebels now in control of the international airport in the southwestern city of Taiz. The U.N. envoy warning that Yemen is at, quote, "the edge of civil war".

This sectarian violence between Shiite rebels and Sunni majority government spreading across the country, where Houthis who control the capital of Sana'a and areas of the north are advancing south into Taiz, the country's third largest city. The mounting unrest pushing the U.S. military to pull out over the weekend, following the U.S. embassy evacuation last month.

[07:00:07] ISIS claiming responsibility for this suicide attack on two mosques on Friday. More than 130 killed, hundreds more injured.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We are seeing extremists try to capitalize on the chaos and instability inside of Yemen to carry out these acts of violence.

ROBERTSON: The nation now in an especially perilous position, caught between the Houthis' violent rivalry with the Sunni AQAP terrorists, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. But now, growing concerns the U.S. withdrawal is a serious blow to the counterterrorism mission.

REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), TEXAS: Without the -- good intelligence stops plots against the homeland. Without that intelligence, we cannot effectively stop it.

ROBERTSON: This region home to violent al Qaeda offshoots, the terrorist organizations responsible for plotting several attacks against Americans, including the 2000 attack on the USS Cole, leaving 17 sailors dead; and the underwear bomber attempt on the U.S. airliner in 2009.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Now, the U.S. presence in Yemen, the military presence is completely gone. And those rebels, the Houthi rebels now in that third largest city are just under 100 miles from where the internationally-backed U.S.-supported President Hadi is holding out; and his building was bombed there by fighter aircraft just a few days ago, Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Nic. Thank you very much for that. The situation there cannot be exaggerated.

And remember, just six months ago, Yemen was a, quote, "success." That's what President Obama told us. But this isn't as simple as being wrong. This is about figuring out how Yemen became a terror free-for-all so quickly and whether there's a plan for what comes next.

Let's bring in White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski. What's the word?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A deteriorating violent situation prompted the evacuation of the remaining U.S. personnel there in Yemen, about 100 Special Ops forces. We know the embassy had already been closed for weeks.

Also, the U.N. Security Council held a special meeting just last night to discuss this, urging a peaceful political solution. But this is bringing up yet again something the president said about six months ago. He was talking about ISIS, but referred to Yemen and Somalia in the fighting of counterterror as something of success stories.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This strategy of taking out terrorists who threaten us while supporting partners on the front lines is one that we have successfully pursued in Yemen and Somalia for years. We've targeted al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen and recently eliminated the top commander of its affiliate in Somalia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSINSKI: The White House has been asked about this repeatedly, it seems a million times whenever the situation in Yemen deteriorates a bit more and a bit more. I mean, now we're looking at something that could be teetering on the brink of civil war.

But the White House has defended itself in saying something like that and referring to these things as something of successes, referring to the way terrorism is fought there. By working with groups on the front line, working with the government and still being able to target militants within the country.

But this situation as it stands now has really raised questions about whether that is feasible moving forward, whether the U.S. can still effectively fight terror within Yemen. And we have seen the number of airstrikes diminish greatly over the past year -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Michelle.

Meanwhile, a previously unknown group claiming a link to ISIS releasing a so-called hit list of some 100 American troops, posting their names, addresses and even pictures of the servicemen and women online and calling for attacks against them. U.S. officials say the credibility of this group, though, is still in question. Suzanne Malveaux is following the developments in our Washington borough.

So we're not sure if they're credible or not?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot of skepticism whether or not the group is even real. But despite the fact that the Defense Department can't confirm whether the online posting is credible, it is responding swiftly and seriously to this potential threat.

CNN has heard from the Army's criminal investigation division, which is now working with the FBI, as well as the Marine Corps spokesmen who said they have notified in person all those service members who are named as potential targets.

Now this reportedly happened on Saturday, a file posted online from a group calling itself the Islamic State Hacking Organization, called for beheadings and attacks in the United States of these military personnel. At least some of this information was already public, reportedly taken from Facebook and the white pages.

So military officials, what they're doing, they're now warning U.S. troops, adjust your privacy settings. Limit the amount of personal information online, while they sort all of this out -- Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Suzanne. Thanks so much for all that background.

[07:05:04] We want to bring in now independent senator from Maine, Angus King. He's a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Intelligence Committee and the Budget Committee.

Senator, we get one-stop shopping for all of our topics this morning with you. Great to see you.

SEN. ANGUS KING (I), MAINE: Go for it, Alisyn. Good morning.

CAMEROTA: Good morning.

Let's start with the big breaking news out of Yemen. And that is that the U.S. has pulled these 100 Special Ops members out of the country. Can you explain to us? Give us some context here of what this mean, because aren't our Navy SEALs, our Delta Force guys, aren't these the guys who are used to being in the worst war-torn hot spots on the globe? I mean, that's sort of their job description. Why do they have to leave Yemen today?

KING: Well, I think because the security situation is so bad.

And I think, Alisyn, it's important to clarify a little bit of what's going on here. Yemen was two countries until 1990, and what's really happening is it's breaking back down again into two countries. There's a civil war that's already begun. People are saying they're on the brink of it. I think they're -- when you take over two major cities, I call that a civil war.

And then on top of that, you have the terrorist threat, which is really separate. It gets very confusing.

But the Houthis aren't really a terrorist organization. They're a Shiite group that are trying to take over the country. And they've been around for many years, particularly in the north.

What the problem is, when the government breaks down and you have a civil war, then it becomes open season for al Qaeda and ISIS and the terrorist groups to use Yemen as a base.

And when the president was talking about being a success, he wasn't so much talking about Yemen. He was talking about our efforts to take out the leadership of al Qaeda -- AQAP, so-called -- which were successful, but it was with the permission of the Yemeni government. And now the Yemeni government is in exile, if you will, down in Aden; and it's really -- it's a very confusing and difficult situation.

But I think the administration made the right call to pull out our people, given the absolute chaos that's now in that country.

CAMEROTA: Look, what's going on there this morning is troubling on so many levels. And it's just what you touched on, which is that this Yemen was seen as a great partner in counterterrorism activities with the U.S. As you said, the president called it a success story. So today, to see it turning into this cauldron, again of terrorism, what should the U.S. do?

KING: Well, if I knew, I'd be president, Alisyn. There's no clear answer. I think what we have to do is -- is observe, try to get as much information and intelligence as we can.

The other piece, not to make it even more difficult, is that the Houthis are aligned with Iran. And we've been focusing a lot around here on Iran's nuclear threat. But Iran is making mischief quite conventionally all over the Middle East. They now have their tentacles into Baghdad, Damascus, now Sanaa in Yemen. This is another aspect of this that makes it troubling.

I think -- I don't think there is an active role for the U.S., other than intelligence and trying to see where the dust is going to settle and then see if we can't maintain our counterterrorism efforts, because even though we may not be sympathetic to the Houthis or Iran, nobody likes ISIS, and I think the fact that ISIS, your reporter mentioned ISIS bombed a mosque, ISIS is an equal opportunity killer. They're killing Muslims, as well as westerners.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

KING: And so I think there may be an opportunity for some continuing counterterrorism work once the dust settles on what amounts, I believe, to a civil war.

CAMEROTA: Here's another breaking story that we've been talking about this morning about ISIS. ISIS has posted online what it claims are the names, photos and addresses of about 100 U.S. military men and women. And they are calling on sleeper cells in the U.S. to attack these people. ISIS also says it hacked into several military servers to get this information. You're on the intelligence committee. Is that true?

KING: Well, there's no -- I can't confirm it. But there's no evidence that they hacked into official computers. What it looks like, from what I understand, is that they got most of this information from public sources, Facebook and white pages and other kind of listings. I can't rule out, at least at this point, having been briefed recently in the last couple of days on this, but it looks like this is public sources.

But this is just one more aspect of how diabolical these guys are. They're very clever about their use of the media and particularly of social media. You heard over the weekend about the medical students going there.

But there's a new book out about ISIS. It just comes out this week. A fellow named Berger (ph) is one of the authors that really talks about who they are and what they -- how they appeal to people.

[07:10:10] And one of the things we're learning is they give all these rosy pictures of the ideal caliphate and the perfect Islamic state. And then people get there, and it's pretty awful. The line is once you get there, you don't leave. And unfortunately, people are falling for it. But hopefully, over time, people are going to learn that it's a bait and switch in a kind of extreme way.

CAMEROTA: We certainly hope so.

Back here at home, let's talk about what's going on in the Senate this morning. The budget is going to be brought to the floor. You're on the budget committee, as we say. So let me put up what we believe will be involved in this Senate budget resolution.

It will balance the budget in ten years. It provides repeal and replacement of Obamacare. Obviously, a controversial tenet. It extends Medicare, the trust fund solvency. It preserves Social Security and insures flexibility for funding of national defense. And yet, senator, no new tax hikes. Explain how the math works with all of this?

KING: Well, the short answer is it doesn't. I mean, one of the, I think, kind of humorous parts of the budget on both the House and the Senate, the proposed budget, is that it repeals Obamacare but keeps the taxes, keeps the revenues. So, you know, I don't think that makes much sense.

And there are a lot of -- there are a lot of little -- in the House budget, they maintain support for defense by what's called overseas contingency money, so-called OCO. And that money doesn't count in the budget. So how can they be claiming to balance the budget when they're using money to fund defense that's offline, if you will? It doesn't add up.

Budgets these days, Alisyn, are more political documents, and what really is going on here is severe -- and I mean really severe -- cuts to everything from national security to NIH to Head Start to education to job training. All of those things. We're now at the lowest percentage of gross domestic product of those expenditures, so-called non-discretionary, since World War II and going down. And I think that's what's really going on here in terms of the politics. It's going to be a tough year to try to get this sorted out.

CAMEROTA: All right. We'll see what happens there this morning.

Senator Angus King, thanks so much. We always appreciate you coming on NEW DAY.

KING: Yes, indeed.

CAMEROTA: Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn, more political news. Breaking overnight, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is running for president. He made it official just after midnight. No exploratory committee, no big rally. He went new school, tweeting a campaign video calling for, quote, "courageous conservatives." Now, he will make that big speech that's necessary, later this morning at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. And we will cover it on CNN.

PEREIRA: A free speech battle over the Confederate flag heads to the Supreme Court this morning. That case involves the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Group members challenge the state of Texas for rejecting a specialty license plate bearing their logo, which features the Confederate flag. An appeals court ruled Texas officials had no grounds to ban the plate, even if it is considered offensive. The Supreme Court is expected to rule by June.

CAMEROTA: OK, every skier's nightmare. Now a terrifying scene as skiers make a desperate leap, a leap off a malfunctioning ski lift. The King Pine chair lift at Maine's Sugarloaf ski resort rolling backward some 450 feet. This happened over the weekend. The ski patrol rescuing more than 200 people. Seven were injured, three of them sent to the hospital. The resort says a major malfunction disabled two brake systems. A back-up brake system also did not work. But an emergency brake system did.

PEREIRA: What's fortunate is it's not as high as some of those can be. There are some where you go, it feels like you're hours away from the ground.

CAMEROTA: You're right.

PEREIRA: And they -- some of them were able to jump or else they fell off, how terrifying.

CUOMO: That is -- I don't know if you're a skier, but that is the nightmare. You're sitting in that chair. And it swings around in the wind, and you're like, what would happen here? And you know what? That wasn't just a factor. That was the factor, Mick. I mean, it was low enough where they could jump off. Usually you're so high on those things...

PEREIRA: But imagine being a novice skier who's a little nervous about being up there to begin with. CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Like my son, I mean, every time you're on a

chair lift, it crosses your mind: I would what would happen if we were to get stuck here? And I comfort him: "That will never happen."

CUOMO: Is your boy like my Tasmanian devil, who only looks over to see how close he can get over the edge of the chair and constantly speculates why he would survive.

PEREIRA: I wonder where he gets that from?

CUOMO: Not me, I'm back. I'm scared. You give me way too much credit.

CAMEROTA: Safety bar. All right. Meanwhile, as the deadline for the nuclear deal gets closer, the stakes get higher. Is the U.S. making too many concessions to Iran? And if there is no deal, what happens then?

CUOMO: The 2016 race for president just officially began. And it's all thanks to this guy, Senator Ted Cruz jumping first into the campaign. John King will tell us what we can expect on "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: There are two big issues on the table for us this morning. What's going on with Yemen? Is it now potentially the most dangerous place in the world for Americans? And what's going on with Iran? Is there too much desperation for a deal? Is that why Israel is now trying to get influence in that negotiation?

Let's discuss. Joining us are people who know the situation well. CNN political commentator Peter Beinart; and a fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Robin Wright. Good morning to both of you.

Let's start with Yemen. Peter, I cannot tell you how many different types of sources came to me and said, "Don't go there. This place is now a crucible of terrorism." ISIS, al Qaeda. What's going on with the Shia rebels, Iran, Saudi Arabia? Why is this so bad and how did it get so bad so fast?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, we have a failed state. We have a state with no real governing authority in lots of that country. And that's the perfect environment for al Qaeda, other jihadist groups to be able to plot. It's also in a part of the world right next to Saudi Arabia where there is, unfortunately, there are very strong sentiments among people toward this kind of ideology.

So you have, really, a coming together of a series of very frightening, different things.

CUOMO: So Robin, you know, I was hoping that there was some hype to this. You know what I mean? That it's not that bad. It's just that the intel community is worried that we're pulling out assets; we're not going to know what's going on. But I keep getting more and more people saying, "No, no, no, this is the real deal. This could become a true devil's playground, where you have terror groups go there with impunity. And they collaborate, and it's almost like a laboratory." What do you think?

[07:25:27] ROBIN WRIGHT, INSTITUTE FOR PEACE: Well, I think it is. It's becoming much like Syria, much like Afghanistan was in it's -- the peak of its instability.

This is a country, unfortunately, that is the poorest of the 22 Arab nations. It has the lowest literacy. It has -- it's always had political rivalries, very deep sectarian differences. And all of these are making it very vulnerable to the kind of unsettling situation we find it in now.

It's hard to see any imminent solution. This is one, though, that the United States can only play a limited role in recreating a state that's viable. I think this is where the Gulf countries that have such a huge investment in not seeing the instability pour across its borders ought to be playing a much more active role. They have the resources. They have the leverage. They know the environment. They have the language. And they can use their oil-rich resources in the one oil-less state to try to restore stability.

CUOMO: Well, but it's such a conundrum here, because one, how can you quit on this place as the U.S., when it may be the most dangerous threat you're facing? And how did it go in six months from being a success story to such an abject failure? Did we get it wrong? Or was this an unknown?

WRIGHT: Well, if you're asking me, I -- I think this has been coming for a long time. I think the aftermath of the Arab Spring, which played out in Yemen...

CUOMO: Right.

WRIGHT: ... which forced one of the autocrats out of power. And the problem everywhere has been that you can't find -- haven't been able to find a process, a politician, a political system to actually absorb all the kind of discontent that's in the country and produce something positive.

It didn't get the resources to help. It was already being exploited by al Qaeda. It's not as if it began with a clean slate once the autocratic leader was ousted. And this is a -- you know, this is an environment that is ripe for the kind of instability, and has been for some time, unfortunately. And we were looking at this, again, from the point of instability. We as a nation were doing enough to help the political situation stability either.

CUOMO: Right, but calling it a success and then six months later it goes this way, Peter, it just -- Peter, it just calls into question the strategy involved on the U.S.

Now, that plays into Iran here. The new theme is -- and you're hearing it from Israel -- they're working with the French. They're trying to go around this negotiation. Because they're saying, "You're too desperate, America. You want any deal, just to say you made one, and that may be the worst kind of deal at all." Fair criticism?

BEINART: I don't think so. I think you have to compare any deal to the alternative. You don't judge a deal in a vacuum. You say what's the alternative to the deal? The alternative is more sanctions or war.

I happen to think that more sanctions would make a deal -- would make any deal less likely, not produce a better deal, because it would empower the hardliners. I think military action would be counterproductive.

Obviously, the U.S. should push for the best deal that it possibly can, but when people say this is a bad deal, you have to say bad deal compared to what?

CUOMO: All right. So bad deal compared to what? But Israel, Robin, who knows the situation as well or maybe even better than the U.S. minds on it, are saying, "No, you're going to make a deal with them. Then you're going to basically turn some type of blind eye, because they won't let you monitor. You'll think everything is OK, and it will be worse ever. Don't do it." Is Israeli wrong to try to influence the process on that basis?

WRIGHT: Well, I think what Israel hasn't made, or hasn't fully understood anywhere is, in making the case, is that the military option is not being taken off the table. Even if there is a deal, the military option remains if Iran is found at any time in any way to be cheating.

And so what this is designed to do is actually create more time to be able to monitor Iran's activities, to do it in a way that allows inspectors in on a daily basis that gives us greater access to a wider array of facilities, including mines where minerals are developed, research and development facilities.

And that if there is any cheating, any sense that the Iranians are not complying, then the military option is back on the table with the support of the international community.

The limitation of not getting a deal is that the military option is on the table and only Iran -- only the United States and Israel are the ones that could then take action.

So I think that there is kind of not full or honest outlining yet of what the options will be if we do get a deal.

CUOMO: All right. Robin Wright, Peter Beinart, thank you very much -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris.

Things are heating up on the Republican side of the presidential race. What about the Democrats? A major newspaper calling for a popular Democrat to challenge Hillary Clinton. Could that happen? We'll ask John King, "Inside Politics."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Yemen on the brink of civil war. The United States pulling out all remaining troops with Iranian-backed Shiite rebels overrunning Ta'izz and taking control of the city's airports. There are fears they could be targeting Yemen's embattled president next. The U.N. now calling an emergency session on Sunday to address this crisis.

CAMEROTA: Officials trying to figure out what caused a helicopter to crash the guest house of a home near Orlando, Florida, killing the pilot. Nobody was in the guest house at the time of the crash. The chopper had flown only two miles before going down.

CUOMO: And praise for Monica Lewinsky. Speaking at a TED Talk conference in Vancouver, she called for a safer and more compassionate social media environment and an end to public shaming as a blood sport. The infamous White House intern talked about the price of shame she's had to pay, describing herself as patient zero, saying she was a victim of cyber bullying before there was even cyber bullying.