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New Day Sunday

ISIS Video Claims American Hostage Beheaded; Bill Cosby Silent on Rape Claims

Aired November 16, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: So glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Joe Johns. It's 8:00 in the morning.

We begin with breaking news. In a video published online today, ISIS claims to have beheaded American hostage Peter Kassig. He was captured more than a year ago.

PAUL: Yes. But we do not know yet whether the video is authentic, or whether it is indeed Kassig. That has yet to be determined.

But in the video, we do see the aftermath of the beheading and the victim is -- just isn't clearly recognizable.

JOHNS: But if the video is authentic, we should remember Peter as more than just a victim of ISIS militants. In these pictures, we see the 26-year-old aid worker as a young boy with his family.

Kassig was also a U.S. Army Ranger and an Iraq war veteran. More on ISIS on the video in a moment.

But, first, let's go to CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon live from Southern Turkey.

Arwa, you knew Peter Kassig, you called him a friend. Can you give us some personal reflections of him?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I first met Peter back in the summer of 2012, and he was up in a hospital in Tripoli, Lebanon. And there, he was this scrawny, pale, tattooed kid who's speaking broken Arabic. But despite the language barrier, he was able to treat wounded Syrians there with such compassion and he would speak about how he felt that at that period and time of his life, he really needed to do something and he was a kind of individual who didn't just believe in speaking about doing things but actually going out and making that reality.

He had such drive and compassion. It was really inspirational. It's almost infectious when you listened to him talking about what it was he wanted to accomplish. It was a few months after we met him, I remember being surprised when he was telling me about this, he had already begun helping Syrians out in the refugee camps in Turkey, but also going inside the country itself, delivering medical assistance but also because he had training as a medic himself, as an EMT. He was giving lessons to Syrians in critical first aid because in so many cases, people that are on the scene initially are those who don't really know how to handle the extent of the injuries that they're being confronted with.

Now, Peter was kidnapped in October of 2013 by ISIS. And I just want to share a little bit of a letter he wrote that his parents did receive during the time of his captivity and in it, he says, "If I do die, I figure that at least you," and this is him addressing his parents, "And I can seek refuge in comfort that I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need."

And that is exactly who Peter was. He actually, if we know him at all, wouldn't necessarily want the focus to be on him at this stage. He'd want the focus to continue to be on those desperate Syrians, those who need so much help and he was a real believer in not giving up, even when things seemed impossible, not giving up, so he would also want us to, at this stage, remember that we, whether it's us as journalists or aide workers or even the global community, that we should not give up on Syria, and we should not give up trying to help those Syrians and in fact, those around the world who are so desperately in need.

PAUL: You know, Arwa, I read something that his mother had written at one point saying, she says, quote, "Like many people, he spent his late teens and early 20s searching for his place in the world." Did you get a sense that Peter found himself in Syria and found his place there?

DAMON: He really did. And that's a lot of why I guess his energy really inspired all of us so much. I mean, look, he was quite younger than a lot of us who knew him are, and yet he was someone who we looked up to, to a point he didn't realize it himself.

And he was very open talking about his personal journey, why he felt it was so important to actually do something, almost as if he was driven by a burning desire. It wasn't enough for him to sit back and talk about what was happening. It wasn't enough to treat people in the relative safety of Lebanon. He really wanted to go in there and live amongst the people.

And you hear some testimonies online from Syrians who lived with him in places like Deir ez-Zor, and they talked about he'd go out every morning, treat the wounded, make visits to all the hospital. And perhaps more importantly, about how he felt that he truly was one of them even though they came from such starkly different backgrounds.

One activist was saying that he was sad when they felt sorrow and he was happy when they felt joy.

Another doctor whom he worked with was saying that -- you know, during their last conversation he asked Peter if Peter was afraid for his life and Peter's response was basically, no, my life is not worth more than yours, and I feel that I am a part of the Syrian revolution.

PAUL: All right. Arwa Damon, thank you so much for sharing personal thoughts with us -- obviously, something unique you can bring to the table. We're really grateful, thank you.

JOHNS: Peter Kassig's family released a statement after the video surfaced: "We are aware of the news reports being circulated about our treasured son and are waiting for confirmation from the government as to the authenticity of these reports. We will have no other statement at this time and ask that you, please, respect our privacy."

PAUL: We are also getting initial reaction to the possible beheading of Peter Kassig from the Obama administration.

JOHNS: CNN's Eric McPike joins us now from Washington.

Erin, what are you hearing?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, Christi, the White House is, of course, proceeding with caution. We do have a statement from National Security Council spokesman Bernadette Meehan. I want to read that statement to you.

She says, "We are aware of a video that claims to show the murder of U.S. citizen Peter Kassig by ISIL. The intelligence community is working as quickly as possible to determine its authenticity. If confirmed, we are appalled of the brutal murder of an innocent American aid worker and express our deepest condolences to his family and friends. We will provide more information when it is available."

Now, of course, President Obama and many of his aides are now returning from Australia, will be back later hours of today and tonight. But again, they're working quickly but have to still confirm that, Christi and Joe.

PAUL: You know, Erin, President Obama has insisted that there aren't going to be U.S. combat troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria. When we see something as brutal as this happening, is there any indication that this would spark a change or a modification in strategy?

MCPIKE: Well, Christi, as you know, Martin Dempsey testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday saying he is still considering that and recommending that to the president. He is in Iraq now. Now, President Obama himself opened a little bit of ground to this idea in Australia.

Here, I want you to listen to those comments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, there are always circumstances in which the United States might need to deploy U.S. ground troops. If we discovered that ISIL had gotten possession of a nuclear weapon and we had to run an operation to get it out of their hands, then yes, you can anticipate not only would Chairman Dempsey recommend me sending U.S. ground troops to get that weapon out of their hands, but I would order it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: And one last thing I'd like to point out, Christi and Joe, is in this new ISIS video, that, of course, as we know needs to be authenticated there is a challenge here. ISIS challenges the U.S. to send ground troops, also says to President Obama, we will slaughter Americans on your street.

Again, all of this needs to be authenticated but there is that challenge to send U.S. ground troops.

JOHNS: For sure, and that incendiary language continues.

Thanks so much for that, Erin McPike.

The secretary of defense tells CNN he is ready to move in more forces if that's what's needed. Now, all eyes on America's top general who is in Baghdad on a surprise visit.

PAUL: We'll have more for you in a moment. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Following our breaking news as this video purportedly by ISIS claims to show the beheading of American hostage Peter Kassig. If authentic, the 26-year-old would be the fifth hostage executed by the terror group.

JOHNS: Questions surround the timing of the release of this video in part because Joint Chiefs Chairman Martin Dempsey is in Iraq right now.

With us now, CNN global affairs analyst, Lieutenant Colonel James Reese.

I want to ask you about the video for the first thing. We've been talking all morning about how this video seems to be different from some of the other ISIS execution videos. But in your view, are any of those differences substantial or important, or is it all part of the same?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Victor, good morning.

There are some interesting tidbits that the intelligence community will start looking at to give us some ideas of what's going on here.

At the end of the day, you know, we have a young man, a former army ranger, who is dead, and beheaded and I believe that, you know, that's ISIS trying to take back some of the momentum they have lost in Iraq.

There are some changes in that. The intel community will look at that and hopefully, it will give us an idea of maybe where they're doing to help us target some of the leadership of ISIS.

PAUL: Lieutenant Colonel Reese, does this tell us -- the fact that he had converted to Islam and some people thought that might be his saving grace. Does this show us that this terror group knows no bounds? It doesn't matter, once they take you, there are no negotiations, we know that, the U.S. won't negotiate with a terror group, but there's no way to stop the executions, is there?

REESE: Well, no, Christi, there's not. I mean, we've seen already they're executing their own brethren, their own other Sunnis, other Arabs. They're a brutal organization.

And once they decide to do something, it doesn't matter who you are, or what you are. They've set that course in place and that's what they're going to do.

JOHNS: Lieutenant Colonel, General Dempsey says he believes the U.S.-led campaign to defeat ISIS is starting to turn. Do you think his words or even just his presence happening to be in Iraq on the surprise visit could have influenced the timing of the release of this video?

REESE: No, Victor, I don't. You know, it was a surprise visit by General Dempsey. I don't think that that was strategic enough by ISIS. My feeling is they had this plan that's coincidental.

What I do really believe is the Iraqis and what we're seeing in Iraq right now is, up in Kobani, the coalition has taken the momentum back from ISIS and I believe this is just a way for ISIS to, again, in a football term is, let's swing the momentum back to ours some way and this is how they've done it in the past to try to get the shock feelings back toward ISIS.

PAUL: So, Lieutenant Colonel, knowing what we know about this group and these executions and the timing of it, does this change anything in terms of U.S. strategy?

REESE: No, Christi, it doesn't. I mean, we are in what we call I would say phase two right now, starting to deploy these other service members in, the other special operation forces into Iraq. We're now starting to put them out to allow the Iraqis to get trained, we're advising them.

The air strikes are continuing, and ramping up, and as we're moving into this, it's our goal here just to get to the Iraqis to start a counter-offensive, it could be quite a while but the goal is to let them get the counter-offensive with General Dempsey now is getting the shared reality of all his commanders that are in Iraq to take back to the president and the secretary of defense, so everyone's on the same sheet of music.

PAUL: And is there any gauge as to how prepared the Iraqis are to fight ISIS, even with, you know I know that's part of why General Dempsey is there, but do we have a good gauge of how prepared they are?

REESE: Well, it's been coming out you have the Pentagon in CentCom is they've been talking about this spring offensive, but I think we've seen recently last week the Iraqis took back Taji, elements of Taji, again, with air support and with the air support that the coalition can bring, brings great confidence to a ground force while they're doing that.

So, again I think you're probably looking at four to six months that they start looking at some of these aspects.

PAUL: All right. Colonel James Reese, we so appreciate your insight. Thank you for being with us.

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNS: We want to switch gears. Coming up, the reporter who asked Bill Cosby the tough questions about rape allegations and got the silent treatment. NPR's Scott Simon is going to join us in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Well, as you know, rape allegations against Bill Cosby resurfaced this past week after the comedian's Twitter campaign backfired.

JOHNS: Cosby tweeted a picture of himself, asked fans to meme him. When the memes started rolling in, decades-old rape allegations came back to life.

PAUL: Well, yesterday, Cosby appeared on NPR. This was a much anticipated interview -- anticipated because it was expected he would answer some questions about the rape claims.

Here's how that interview went.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, NPR: This question gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.

You're shaking your head no.

I'm in the news business. I have to ask the question. Do you have any response to these charges?

You're shaking your head no.

There are people who love you who might like to hear from you about this. I want to give you the chance.

All right.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

PAUL: NPR's Scott Simon there conducted the interview and joins us live now from Washington.

Scott, I got to give you credit, I thought you were such a pro, especially with his refusal to answer.

We were not there. You had the perspective of seeing him. What was his expression? What did he look like when he shook his head?

SIMON: As I began to say "This question gives me no pleasure", he began to shake his head and go like that so I think he certainly understood which question was coming.

He was -- you know, he gave what I would refer to as that delightful impish kind of Cosby smile at first, and then was silent, didn't answer the question.

JOHNS: Did anybody before the interview give you an indication he wasn't going to answer any questions along those lines, and, two, they're supposedly non-disclosure agreements around some of these controversial activities he was engaged in.

Anybody give you a suggestion that he couldn't talk because he had a gag order on him?

SIMON: No. We got none of that and of course it has to be noted that the woman, Barbara Bowman, who has been on CNN a lot more than I have, probably a lot more than you have, Joe and Christi, in the past few days, there's certainly not that kind of agreement where she's concerned.

No, nobody said anything. I think his people said to some of our producers, you know, he's represented by a very famous PR man in Beverly Hills, who has done a lot of good work for him and other clients over the years. I believe they said things like, you know, you guys are so classy, you don't dip into the muck or the mud the way the rest of the people do and I think that's true.

But no, nobody indicated that what happened would happen. I thought there was a good chance the interview would be canceled. Obviously, it wasn't. I think we can probably fairly safely say that they had a strategy in place for when the question was asked, which maybe they thought that we couldn't use silence on the radio.

PAUL: Good point. As I understand it, you sat down with him and his wife, Camille.

SIMON: Yes.

PAUL: What was her reaction? I mean, obviously, they expected the question?

SIMON: You know, she is -- as you may know, she is very gracious and very warm and we spoke, you know, mostly, about this art collection of which they lent 62 pieces to the Smithsonian. When they had contacted us weeks ago, exploring the possibility of an interview, it was because this joint exhibit is opening at the Smithsonian and she's just a delight.

I have to tell you, when I asked that question of Mr. Cosby, I wanted to pointedly make it of Mr. Cosby, and not Mr. and Mrs. Cosby, and therefore, I pointedly look at him. I did not look at Mrs. Cosby.

I don't mind saying I might have been a little uncomfortable to do that anyway. But I did not look at her.

JOHNS: Did Bill Cosby say anything after the interview? The million-dollar question out there, it's pretty simple to deny an allegation if it's not true. Why didn't he just say, I didn't do it?

SIMON: I don't know. I mean, I almost said you'll have to ask Mr. Cosby why he didn't say it, but I think we established that might not be possible.

You know, anything that happened after the interview I think I consider off the record but I don't want to be dramatic about that, there was nothing sensational. There was nothing discourteous. We got out of there quickly I'm sure to everybody's neutral relief.

PAUL: So, just, you know, to clarify, when he did shake his head, because again, you could see him and we couldn't, I think everybody, too, was wondering why he didn't just say no, but his expression was not one, you know, of anger or anything?

SIMON: No. No. I mean, look, he's a very gifted performer and I'm sure that fell into place. I wouldn't be expecting that he would blanch or anything like that.

He knows how to perform. There was nothing remotely hostile or snarling in his expression.

PAUL: Sure. Well, Scott Simon, you always have been so adroit at what you do, and you really -- you shined in this particular very uncomfortable moment with a lot of grace yourself. So, thank you for taking the time to be with us.

SIMON: Thank you, good to be here.

PAUL: Thank you so much for starting your morning with us. We hope you make some great memories today.

JOHNS: "INSIDE POLITICS WITH JOHN KING" is coming up after a quick break.