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Group Wants Public Ads Featuring Mohammed Cartoon; FBI Reports Resource Shortages in Tracking ISIS Sympathizers in U.S.; Patriot Act Renewal Held Up in Congress; Interview with White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest; Iraq Forces Engage in Fight with ISIS; Floods Continue to Threaten Parts of Texas. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 28, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00] COL. RONALD FIZER, U.S. ARMY DUGWAY PROVING GROUND: No known risk to the general public and there is no suspected or confirmed cases of anthrax infection.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Now, this comes less than a year after the Centers for Disease Control had a similar problem. They shipped what they thought was dead anthrax. It turned out to be live. So a lot of questions of how this could ever have been repeated. Alisyn?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: There sure are, Barbara. Thanks so much for that update.

Well, apparently there are so many ISIS sympathizers in the United States the FBI is having trouble keeping track of all of them. So the agency is now asking for help. CNN's justice reporter Evan Perez is here with all these details. Tell us about this development.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, here is the problem. The FBI says there are hundreds of suspected ISIS supporters in America and they can't keep an eye on all of them. Now police departments including here in New York are stepping in to increase their surveillance of people who are potential ISIS terrorists. Law enforcement officials tells us that the FBI surveillance squads are simply tapped out, not enough of them to track people who are using social media and talking to ISIS members overseas. The fear is that these people could plot an attack here. Now, we asked FBI Director Jim Comey about this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: It is an incredibly difficult task that we are enlisting all of the state, local, and federal partners in and working on it every single day. But I can't stand here with any high confidence when I confront a world that is increasingly dark to me and tell you that I've got it all covered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: Now, the strategy is part of the fallout from the foiled terrorist attack a few weeks ago in Garland, Texas. Two gunmen inspired by ISIS tried to attack a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest. They were killed by police. Law enforcement officials say one of the gunmen was under FBI surveillance but wasn't around the clock. FBI agents lost track of him for a few days. The FBI had no idea that he was on his way to carry out his attack in Texas. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Evan, thank you very for tracking it down. Appreciate it.

So right now the clock is ticking on the Patriot Act with key provisions set to expire Sunday at midnight, and not just this metadata one that everybody talks about in section 215. The Obama administration is urging the Senate to renew big portions of the bill. Senior officials say if lawmakers fail to do so they are playing Russian roulette with national security. CNN's Jim Acosta following developments live at the White House. I guess the main concern is that section 215 and metadata collection has kind of overshadowed a lot of things and kind of put some stain on it.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right Chris. This is something of a surveillance cliff that the country is approaching. Coming up this weekend the Obama administration, as you said, is accusing members of Congress of playing national security Russian roulette by risking a shutdown of key NSA programs this weekend. One of those programs that you mention, the bulk collection of data from nearly every phone call in the U.S. is scheduled to expire on Sunday unless lawmakers come up with some sort of solution. That data is used in counterterrorism investigation but the program has also outraged privacy advocates.

Here is how things will go down on Sunday if no deal is reached. On Sunday at 4:00 p.m., the federal government will instruct phone companies to stop collecting the data. And then at 8:00 the instructions become irreversible at that point. But the collection can resume 24 hours after Congress renews the program, so that is still a potential -- a possibility in all of this. And Attorney General Loretta Lynch, she is urging lawmakers that they better hurry up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Some of the vital and noncontroversial tools that we use to combat terrorism and crime are scheduled to shut down on Sunday. Without action from the Senate, we will experience a serious lapse in our ability to protect the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The big holdup is in the Senate right now where the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to keep the existing Patriot Act in place. The House has passed a bill that makes changes to the Patriot Act and a top GOP aide over there told me the Senate better get moving before the programs, quote, "go dark." Alisyn, it doesn't happen very often where you hear about the House Republicans prodding the Senate Republicans, but that's exactly what's happening. CAMEROTA: OK, Jim, thanks for all that. Let's talk to the White

House about all of this. We want to bring in White House press secretary Josh Earnest. Good morning, Josh.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Good morning, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Josh, let's put up on the screen the three provisions, the three parts of the Patriot Act that are controversial and are set to expire Sunday night, the one that allows the bulk data collection that has gotten so much attention from Rand Paul and others, wiretaps, even if suspects change their phone numbers, and the laws at curbing lone wolf terrorists. What happens if these three go away?

EARNEST: Well, Alisyn, what our national security professionals have told us is that these are programs that have provided valuable information in the past. These are critical tools that are used to keep the American people safe. And the fact is there have been concerns that the president himself raised about the bulk collection program. And that's why the president directed his national security team to work in bipartisan fashion with members of Congress to reform those programs to put in place greater protections to our civil liberties and our privacy.

[08:05:15] That means the government is no longer in the business of holding the bulk data. That is something that should give some confidence to libertarians and those who are concerned with civil liberties. But it's also why it's critically important for the Senate to act on the bipartisan legislation that's already passed the House. It includes important reforms for privacy while at the same time giving our law enforcement and our national security professionals the tools they need, the noncontroversial tools that they need to keep the country safe.

CAMEROTA: Josh, the critics of the Patriot Act and certainly these provisions of the Patriot Act say not only are they unconstitutional and they do affect America's privacy, but that they are not effective. What terror plot can you cite that actually was thwarted by this metadata collection?

EARNEST: Alisyn, what our national security professionals would tell you is that they have gathered information because of these tools they had not otherwise been able to find, and that information was used to put together investigations that have brought to justice individuals who were considering carrying out acts of terror.

CAMEROTA: Can you name one? Such as which one?

EARNEST: Alisyn, I encourage you to talk to our national security professionals about this. This is classified information. But this is what they say. What they are able to say publicly is that they use these tools to collect information that has not been otherwise available to them that was then used to prevent individuals from carrying out acts of violence, to round up people who wish harm on the United States. These are important parts of the investigation.

We also know that these were conducted as part of an investigation to identify other subjects. So essentially what our law enforcement and national security professionals are doing is they are trying to paint a picture of people who are acting in secret. And by using these authorities that Congress has given them under the supervision of a national security judge, they are using these authorities here to keep us safe.

CAMEROTA: Josh, when pressed it's very hard for people at the NSA to cite exactly how the metadata collection has broken up any sort of terror plot. Some, they have tried to say in the past, like the 2009 subway terror plot, it turns out that it was actually an e-mail that was intercepted, and when pressed then at the time the NSA director Keith Alexander had to admit that it wasn't the metadata collection. So when people like Rand Paul say it has done more harm than good in the country, how can you counter that?

EARNEST: Well, Alisyn, what some people have said in the Senate, including Senator Paul, is that they believe that the government should no longer be in the business of holding this bulk data. The president agrees. The president has said the same thing. That's why his national security team worked with Democrats and Republicans in the Congress.

We have legislation that passed the House of Representatives with the support of 338 Democrats and Republicans, and this is legislation that would put the government out of the business of collecting that bulk data. So if that is their legitimate concern, then they should be strongly supportive of the USA Freedom Act. It would put the government out of that business, but it would make sure that the government has the ability to conduct probing wire taps, to use the lone wolf provision to try to identify individuals who may be attempting to carry out a terror attack. It also would give our national security professionals access to data that our law enforcement professionals already use to track down criminals. This is access to financial records, access to hotel records and other business records upon -- with a judge's approval. That's all our national security professionals are asking for.

That part is not controversial. This is something that has been reauthorized by Congress on many occasions. Our national security professional say it's important to our national security. So the fact is we see a lot of people playing politics here, but when you actually look at the facts at the legislation of the USA Freedom Act, it both protects our civil liberties, it gives our law enforcement and national security professionals the tools they need to keep the country safe. And the fact that this is getting gummed up by Republicans in the Senate who are fighting amongst each other does a great disservice to the national security and civil liberties of the American people.

CAMEROTA: Josh, Earnest, thanks so much for explaining your perspective on this and we shall see what happens Sunday at midnight.

EARNEST: Thank you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Thank you. Over to Michaela. MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, now to the battle to retake parts of Iraq seized by ISIS. Iraqi forces not only fighting to retake Ramadi, they are also locked in an intense battle for a key oil refinery which has the potential to turn into an environmental catastrophe. CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who was granted rare access to the front lines in Baiji, and he joins us now from Baghdad. Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, really that fight is so complex, and the footage you are about to see you have got an idea just how awful it could be for the environment in Iraq and, of course, it's people.

[08:10:00] We drove up a road that was really littered with the remains of the fight against ISIS. That town of Tikrit on route so heavily destroyed. We met Iraq Special Forces keen to take the fight to ISIS. But these teams showed us that we are facing a very complex challenge ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: This is just a taste of how apocalyptic it could get at the vital Baifi oil refinery already choking on smoke, part of its huge complex held by ISIS. Shia fighters filmed this Tuesday, the month's long fight here slowed by fears of the ecological chaos ISIS could wreak if they scorch and burn here as they retreat.

Iraqi Special Forces took us to their front line defending the ruins of a house that a coalition air strike pushed ISIS out of. They are from the elite Golden Division, their Ramadi colleagues part of the troops the U.S. said lacked the will to fight.

That line of buildings over there is ISIS' closest possession, and yesterday during a thick sandstorm here they used the cover of it to advance within 20 meters of here. When the sandstorm subsided suddenly a firefight began.

(GUNSHOTS)

WALSH: We don't know why they start shooting this day, what they may have seen. ISIS are few in number here, they say, but willing to die, and have a sniper nearby. Or maybe they more want to show us and even Washington they very much do want to fight.

"It's not logical and wrong," he says of the American criticism, "because anywhere in Ramadi, Mosul, or Baiji anywhere due to cause we fight."

Their gunfire close, and usually its mortars that ISIS fires back. More ammunition, some Americans arriving at their base, but the fight will be a slow encirclement, we're told. "The reason we want to surround them," he says, "is because we must clean up the area properly with specialist engineers because it has fuel, but also booby traps."

Plenty here of ISIS, a vital part of Baghdad's new plan for Ramadi, but a slow grind, mindful that Iraq needs something to live off of if ISIS ever leaves.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: You know, Chris, even there where there are forces who want to fight, who have the ammunition, who have the people, it's still complex. And then you have the rest of the Anbar province where they need to have different groups fighting, the Shia fighters, the Iraqi Security Forces, the Sunnis maybe even to be on the same place to have any chance of success. One more thing, Chris. The south of where that happened, there was a massacre months ago of a number of Shia recruits at a military academy. We're hearing today that 499 bodies have been taken out of mass graves nearby there, horrifying. It shows you how brutal this war could be. Chris?

CUOMO: Nick, thank you so much for giving us perspective on why we have to manage expectations of how long any progress will take. Please stay safe with your team there.

Back here at home, more rain expected in flood ravaged Texas. With Colorado and Brazos Rivers still on the rise, officials are urging anyone that lives even near them to evacuate if you can. Our coverage begins in Wimberley, Texas. We have CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray there. Jennifer, what is the latest?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, they are still searching for those nine people that are missing. And the crews will be out again in the Blanco River which is just behind me. And just looking at it is haunting because thinking about how high the water rose, these huge trees behind me, in fact they were completely submerged over the weekend. And we are still getting new stories from the weekend that are just terrifying.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRAY: New dramatic video revealing the power of the deadly flash floods in Texas. The water from the Blanco River swelled by the storms on Saturday fills the entire ground floor of this vacation home in seconds. Authorities recovering the body of a child near its banks Wednesday as the death toll rises against Texas and Oklahoma.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's very thick and wooded in some parts, making the search much more difficult.

GRAY: Just south of Houston, the body of 73-year-old Alice Tovar was found by her brother-in-law after she was separated from her car, swept away by the ravaging floodwaters.

RICKY AGUILAR, BROTHER-IN-LAW OF FLOOD VICTIM: I'm glad we found her. We didn't have to leave her out there. It's a relief.

GRAY: This as the frantic search for the missing continues.

But the severe weather danger isn't over. A tornado hit an oil rig in northwestern Texas Wednesday, resulting in several serious injuries.

[08:15:01] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take and heed the warning, and get out now.

GRAY: Residents south of Houston now leaving on a voluntary evacuation, as flood watches continue to span Texas through Kansas until Sunday.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRAY: And most of the rivers and creeks all across this region are filled to capacity. The ground is so saturated. Rain is the last word that people want to hear, but unfortunately, it looks like we are going to see more rain across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas through the week and the weekend, Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That's terrible, Jennifer. We hope people heed those evacuation warnings.

Jennifer, thanks so much for that.

Well, more than a year after Malaysia Flight 370 vanished, the search for it is coming under major criticism. Experts involved in past deep sea searches said the lead firm is using the wrong technology and inexperienced workers. Adding to their frustration, the search vessel with the world's best equipment is pulling out and that reason is still unclear.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I like to bring you the occasional warm story about Canada and adoption. I put them together.

CAMEROTA: Fantastic.

PEREIRA: Of the fairy variety.

Here we go. Stormy, the lamb, was born on a small farm of Manitoba, Canada, last week, abandoned by mom. To the rescue? Yes, Tommy, a year old golden retriever has taken the lamb under her wing and they have been joined at the hip every since, playing together and cuddling when they sleep.

And a lot of times you see this relationship, especially on a farm where the might go the difference direction. But they have guarantee that these two will be friends for life.

CAMEROTA: Look at that lamb's coloring. So cool.

PEREIRA: I know, so different from moms. Just like my family.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: That is a very interesting looking lamb.

PEREIRA: So cute.

CUOMO: And one more reason to just love doggies.

PEREIRA: I know, I love it. We just thought you needed that today.

CAMEROTA: Adorable and tasty.

CUOMO: Yes, thank you. That was a nice fix.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: I'm ignoring what you just said. I feel like I was supposed to say that.

CAMEROTA: I was waiting for you, too.

CUOMO: Enjoy the digital hate coming your way right now, my friend.

PEREIRA: Happy Thursday, Alisyn. Oh my.

CUOMO: Embrace it.

That's @alisyncamerota. Alisyn has ISY, where an ISO should be.

All right. So, Pamela Geller, you know the name. She held the Mohammed cartoon contest in Texas, Garland, Texas. The two guys showed up, psychos, wanted to do horrible terrorist things, they got killed instead.

Now, she wants to take the winning cartoon and put it all over the nation's capital. Why? Why does she think it's a helpful thing to do? A lot of people agree with her. She is here to explain. We test, you decide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:21:43] CUOMO: Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed could be coming to the nation's capital. Pamela Geller, who organized the Prophet drawing contest in Garland, Texas, you remember what happened there. She wants the winning cartoon put on buses and subway stations in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere.

Now, the reason we remember the contest is because we remember what happened. There was an attack by the would-be jihadist, these sympathizers. Now, they got taken out, but the danger was real and present.

Now, Pamela Geller is the president of the American Freedom Defense Initiative and she's here to make the case.

You saw how horrible it could be and thank God you are OK. Nobody got hurt, except the bad guys in that situation. Now, to carry this forward and take the cartoon that you know is found offensive especially by extremist types, and make it public. Why is this a good thing to do?

PAMELA GELLER, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FREEDOM DEFENSE INITIATIVE: Well, the media, and the political and academic elites are censoring this cartoon, and we think the American people should see that you are self-enforcing the Sharia. Under the Sharia, you cannot depict Mohammed. I don't call him the Prophet Mohammed because I'm not a Muslim. It'd be like you saying Jesus Christ our lord and savior. It's interesting to me that the media always says the Prophet Mohammed. But the fact is, that it's a fairly innocuous cartoon. And

interestingly enough in Europe, after the "Charlie Hebdo" jihad slaughter, all of the media there ran the cartoons and those cartoons were profane, those cartoons were obscene, no media will run this cartoon.

We did not elect the media to relinquish our freedom or our freedom of speech. I think the American people need to see this cartoon. I think the American people need to see this innocuous drawing and what we are adhering to involuntarily.

CUOMO: OK. So, let's unpack this. Nobody saying you don't have the right to draw Mohammed or to put a picture of Mohammed anywhere you want, right, because often that gets confused here. People saying, you are chilling her First Amendment rights. How so?

No one is saying you don't have the right. They're saying, is it right? Should you do this? Not "can you".

GELLER: Right. There's no such thing as "I believe in freedom of speech, but" -- once you say "but", you are nullifying the freedom of speech.

CUOMO: But who is giving you a "but"? They're saying "we don't like it", not "you can't do it".

GELLER: I -- the organization, American Freedom Defense Initiative, organized an event in the venue where Muslim groups held a "stand with the prophet" conference just a couple of days after Charlie Hebdo in support of Sharia restrictions on free speech. So, we held a conference in defense of free speech. That's why we were there in Texas.

CUOMO: Right. The criticism is what you did you knew would be provocative, your keynote speaker is an outspoken and provocative person who is obviously an Islamophobe. So, that was something that you knew would draw negative attention.

GELLER: So, anyone --

CUOMO: And then you got negative attention.

GELLER: So, anyone that opposes jihad terror and Sharia is an Islamophobe? That's what you're saying.

CUOMO: No, he is a Islamophobe. He is a known and documented person who says ugly things about all Islam. I'm not saying you're that, but you chose him as your speaker.

GELLER: I chose him as my speaker. We were targeted for slaughter. Hundreds of people standing in defense of freedom of speech were targeted for slaughter and every since that time the media has been attacking me?

[08:25:00] Why, Chris, aren't you doing on special on the jihad ideology behind this holy war, not just here in America, but across the world?

CUOMO: Well, first of all, you know that we covered --

GELLER: I am not responsible for the violence.

CUOMO: We covered it very extensively here, but that's not your point.

GELLER: I am not -- is that my point.

CUOMO: Your point is that you were being victimized, and you were being criticized, I wouldn't say victimized, because while it is without dispute that what was done is wrong and terrible and that those two men paid the ultimate price --

GELLER: There are no buts.

CUOMO: No, no, that ends that part of the analysis. Now, we get into, why did it happen? They're crazy extremists. They bought into an ideology that is sick and negative and wrong, that's fact. But what you did was calculated in a way that would be provocative.

GELLER: Nonsense.

CUOMO: This isn't about not showing, because we're afraid. It's about whether it's right or not. The "N" word gets treated the same way that depictions of Mohammed does.

GELLER: Nonsense.

CUOMO: We don't say it because it's offensive, not because legally I can't.

GELLER: You are adhering to the Islamic law.

CUOMO: It's not really an explicit part of Sharia law.

(CROSSTALK)

GELLER: The media is enormously (ph) offensive -- since when you are sensitive to being offensive? The things you say about me are hateful and bigoted.

CUOMO: What did I say about you that is hateful and bigoted?

GELLER: The things that the media said about the -- calling Tea Party racist is offensive. Since when do you care about being offensive? You are adhering to the Sharia.

CUOMO: There's a big difference between criticizing something and saying something that you know is ultimately offensive. Let's stick with the "N" word analogy. We don't use it because you don't like it.

GELLER: No, it's analogous.

CUOMO: Its inconvenient. How is it not? GELLER: It's not, it's a cartoon. The cartoon is political opinion.

CUOMO: It's offensive to a group of people.

GELLER: You're talking -- it violates Islamic law. That's what you're doing.

CUOMO: It is not explicit Sharia law. It is a cultural adaptation. And it is real. But it's not like --

GELLER: I encourage all of your viewers --

CUOMO: Yes.

GELLER: -- to go to pamelageller.com, and look at the cartoon, and you will see what Chris is comparing to the "N" word. It's outrageous. It's a dishonest narrative and I am not going to debate --

CUOMO: Wait, why do people come and attack you? Why do they say it's offensive? Why do they not do it? They say culturally they believe --

GELLER: No, they are trying to impose a Sharia and you're adhering to it.

CUOMO: It's not in just Sharia, it's not the way it is.

GELLER: That's exactly what it is.

CUOMO: Is that we see it as being offensive. It's why we don't use any derisive comments about people.

GELLER: I'm not a Muslim. I don't adhere to Sharia law. I don't see it as being offensive. Many of the --

CUOMO: And that's why you have the right to do it, but don't say just because you have the right to do it, that means it's going to be inoffensive to all who see it and there is no price along with saying it.

GELLER: I'm saying free speech is the most protective speech under the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects ideas we don't like.

CUOMO: No one says you don't have the right.

GELLER: It's not ideas that we like, because that's easy. But ideas that we don't like because who would decide what couldn't --

CUOMO: But nobody says you can't do it.

GELLER: Who would decide what's good and what's forbidden? The jihadist?

CUOMO: But here's the thing -- GELLER: I didn't make the cartoons a flash point.

CUOMO: I understand that. Well, that's debatable. That's debatable.

GELLER: You are kowtowing. You are submitting. I will not submit. Submission is slavery and I will not live as a slave. That's what you are asking me to do.

CUOMO: No, no, no.

GELLER: Yes, yes, yes.

CUOMO: It's about understanding the price of what you do. You want to put the cartoon up, you say I'm doing this because I should be able to be what I want to be to be free. However you don't extend that to Islam, not about the cartoons. You were very active in stopping them from having a place to worship by ground zero. You said, I don't want them there. They don't get to worship here. How is that not a complete hypocrisy?

GELLER: Again, very shallow journalism. What you are saying is not so.

CUOMO: You didn't fight it?

GELLER: There are hundreds of mosques, you made an accusation, you'll let me respond or no?

CUOMO: Please, please, please, Pam?

GELLER: OK. Hundreds of mosques in America and thousands in the country, I never protested them. But a 15-story mega mosque in a building that was destroyed in the 9/11 attack by the landing gear is deeply humiliating and deeply offensive, and they had been praying there since 2009, I never said anything. They had been praying in that spot and I've written about it in November of 2009.

We started protesting when they said they were going to build a mosque, Cordoba, which is an exemplar of Islamic conquest, where Christians and Jews were forced to live beneath the Cordoba era, at the era of the caliphate in Islamic Spain and --

CUOMO: But that's not how it was explained by the group who wanted it. They said they wanted to do it to show tolerance and acceptance of all people, thereby the people who re being blamed in mass for what happened on 9/11. You don't see that as a double standard --

GELLER: I do not.

CUOMO: You don't like it because that's offensive, but you will do what they find offensive?

GELLER: It was a middle finger to the American people.

CUOMO: And you don't see that as what you're doing with the Prophet Mohammed? GELLER: No, no. It's political opinion.

The cartoon says, there's a picture of Mohammed saying you can't draw me, and there's the artist (ph) saying that's why I draw you. It was written -- it was drawn by a former Muslim (INAUDIBLE). You don't even see that you have succumbed to this.

CUOMO: No, I don't see that. I don't see that.

GELLER: I know. It's obvious.

CUOMO: We don't do it because we see no purpose in doing it that is positive and progressive. It's not out of fear, OK?

GELLER: Free speech is very positive, very progressive.

CUOMO: Again, I do think -- I mean, we'll end this part of the discussion here.

GELLER: And when are you going to draw the line, Chris.

CUOMO: I understand that. That is a subjective distinction. But it's not about whether your have the right. Definitely have the right to do it.

GELLER: When they don't want you to eat during Ramadan in the CNN cafeteria, you're not going to eat during Ramadan, because we see that in Europe. When they want your girls to long skirt, are you going to do it?

CUOMO: I understand that you see it as a slippery slope.

GELLER: I'm asking, where are you going to draw the line?