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Obama to Announce Holder Departure Today; Who Will Be Holder's Replacement; Allies Pound New ISIS Targets; Syrian Rebels Join Forces Against ISIS; Black Market Oil Targeted in Strikes; ISIS Controlled City

Aired September 25, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar reporting from Washington. Wolf Blitzer has the day off.

Now, to this bombshell from the Justice Department. Attorney general, Eric Holder, is stepping down after nearly six years on the job. Holder is America's first African-American attorney general and one of only three original members of President Obama's cabinet still in office. The president will formally announce Holder's resignation later this afternoon.

Let's bring in our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski. Michelle, the thing you wonder, at this point, is, Holder has served so long. What's with this timing? Why now?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And there is so much going on, so much they're working on. We don't expect to hear any more detail from the White House until the president speaks at 4:30 this afternoon saying good-bye and thank you to his good friend and long-time attorney general. He served nearly six years.

But it seems like a surprise, but those close to him are saying, hey, you know, he's been thinking about this for a while. He had a long conversation with the president very recently. He's been wanting to move on and not wanting, to sort, of get roped in any further to serving the entire eight years of his tenure. You look at that tenure and it -- he's definitely tangled with some truly thorny areas of law, from Obama care, civil rights, gay marriage, marijuana, immigration.

And, in some of those areas, the administration has effectively chosen not to enforce certain laws with executive actions and executive orders wrangling members of Congress. I mean, at one point, Holder was held in contempt by House Republicans for not turning over documents related to the fast and furious gun tracking scandal, remember that? So, he's definitely faced his share of tumult during this time.

But we don't expect -- because he's decided to stay along until his successor can be confirmed, which could be a considerable amount of time, we don't expect it to delay or disrupt any of the ongoing projects they're working on, mainly the Michael Brown civil rights case, and the impending action on immigration that the president has promised but that's taken a lot of legal wrangling and vetting behind the scenes. Because for many of these actions that the administration has taken, Congress has said, you're overstepping your bounds. So, Holder sometimes has been at the center of that. It has definitely been an eventful nearly six years, Brianna.

KEILAR: It sure has been. Michelle Kosinski at the White House. Thanks so much.

And Eric Holder, he has been a favorite target for Republican critics of the Obama administration. You heard Michelle say that right there. And joining me now to talk about this resignation is Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. You know, Gloria, some people might be surprised that Holder stayed this long but now a lot of people are wondering, of course, who's next?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

KEILAR: So, let's sort of look through some of the names here.

BORGER: Yes.

KEILAR: We have Donald Verrilli, U.S. Solicitor General, who I think a lot of people are familiar with because -

BORGER: Yes.

KEILAR: -- of the Obama care case. You have Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney; Jay Johnson, he is currently the Secretary of Homeland Security; Deval Patrick, who is the Governor of Massachusetts; you have Kamala Harris, very well-known California Attorney General; Loretta Lynch is a two-time U.S. Attorney; and then you also have Kathy Ruemmler, the former White House Counsel.

There are a couple things you have to keep in mind. One is they have to get somebody who can get confirmed and in this political environment even after the election will not be easy for this president. And, secondly, I have sources who said do not underestimate the importance of the president's comfort level with this person. Second term president going into his last two years, wants somebody he kind of knows and somebody he can go to. Don't forget Eric Holder, a very close, personal friend of the president. The person I think about in a couple ways is Kathy Ruemmler, just left as White House Counsel. So, who sticks out to you there?

BORGER: Well, there are a couple of things you have to keep in mind. One is they have to get somebody who can get confirmed and, in this political environment, even after the election will not - will not be easy for this president.

And, secondly, I had a source this morning who said to me, do not underestimate the importance of the president's comfort level with this person. A second-term president, going into his last two years, wants somebody he kind of knows and somebody he can go to. Don't forget, Eric Holder, a very close, personal friend of the president.

So, the person, I think about in a couple of ways is Kathy Ruemmler, just left as White House Council, very well respected. I was told, quote, "no one made a decision in the White House without her." The big problem for her would be, of course, that once you've been the president's counselor, when you go over to the Justice Department, there's supposed to be a wall. You don't respect the president anymore, you represent the people of the United States.

And so, there's a feeling that there could be some kind of a conflict there. Also, her role in IRS, the IRS controversy. So, that could be a problem.

But there are a bunch of these names, Donald Verrilli, of course, gave -- our colleague, Jeffrey Toobin, did not think he argued the Obama care particularly case well.

KEILAR: Many people did not.

BORGER: Right. But he gave Justice John Roberts the hook, the tax issue, upon which to keep Obama care constitutional. So, you know -- and there are people that we're not really familiar with, this U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, for example, Loretta Lynch. She was very highly regarded.

KEILAR: Does it strike you that -- and I wonder if this makes it any -- the position any less controversial, that Holder, while very controversial in the first term, he was sort of working on different issues maybe that were -

BORGER: Right.

KEILAR: -- less controversial in -

BORGER: Yes.

KEILAR: -- Obama's second term.

BORGER: I think he was working on his own legacy, in a way. I mean, you and I just got something in our e-mail from Darrell Issa who is the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee who does not like Eric Holder. He called him the most divisive U.S. attorney general in modern history and reminded us that there is a contempt of Congress vote against him. So, his first term was sort of like, you know, try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York, fast and furious controversy. The gun trafficking issue, obviously, was a problem for him, being held in contempt.

Second term, he sort of took a turn, voting rights, criminal justice reform, trying to tie up these financial cases that started in the 2008 collapse of the - of the economy. So, you see him looking towards his own legacy, in many ways.

KEILAR: And one of his roles was that he sort of spoke out on race in a way that -

BORGER: He did.

KEILAR: -- President Obama could. BORGER: Exactly.

KEILAR: We just saw him recently go to Ferguson, Missouri. You know, and a lot of people there who felt that they weren't being listened to had a -- felt a tremendous amount of comfort from the fact that he was there, in a way sort of a proxy for President Obama. What happens with some of those issues, do you think, if Eric Holder is gone?

BORGER: Well, I think that they're still really important to the president of the United States. And so, whomever he appoints is going to have to continue what Eric Holder was doing, particularly on voting rights and the - and the civil rights issues. And I agree with you, I think Eric Holder spoke in a way that, perhaps, the president of the United States felt he was restrained from speaking and Eric Holder going to Ferguson was really a statement that, I think, he personally wanted to make. And I think it's clear he would not have done that if he hadn't spoken with the president -

KEILAR: Yes.

BORGER: -- about it beforehand.

KEILAR: Yes, definitely. Gloria Borger, thank you so much.

BORGER: Sure.

KEILAR: Great insight.

And coming up this hour, life under ISIS's control. We are going to take you inside of ISIS's capital city with a hidden camera. And Syria rebel groups team up to take on ISIS as well as Syrian president Bashar Al Assad. We have exclusive details of the historic agreement straight ahead.

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KEILAR: The U.S. and its allies pound the new ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq. The latest round of air strikes taking aim at mobile oil refineries used by ISIS to help fund their terrorist operations.

The military, at this point, still assessing the damage from overnight air strikes. And besides those oil refineries, they're also targeting an ISIS headquarters as well as a training camp.

France carried out a new wave of strikes against ISIS targets today. French planes taking part in strikes in Iraq before the coalition started bombing targets in Syria. And a radical British cleric is said to be among nine people arrested in the U.K. on suspicion of terrorist offenses. Anjem Choudary told CNN last month he believes ISIS, which calls itself the Islamic state, will spread across Europe and even to the U.S.

ISIS fighters are making gains inside of Iraq. Earlier this week, they overran Iraqi troops on a base outside Fallujah west of Baghdad. There are reports that as many as 300 Iraqi troops were executed by ISIS. Survivors say the Iraqi government failed to respond to calls for help during the invasion.

CNN has learned that Syrian rebel groups are forming an alliance to take on ISIS in the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Senior Investigative Correspondent Drew Griffin joining us on the phone with exclusive details here. Drew, how did this come about and how significant is this?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): It's significant in what they say is a -- what they are calling, I should say, Brianna, is somewhat of a historic agreement. Because for the first time, this brings in the Syrian military council and a Syria military council which are the Christians groups that are fighting both Assad and the ISIS group under one kind of alliance. Although they've been fighting side by side, they are saying to the world and specifically to the west, we are forming this alliance to show you that we are - we are aiming for a more inclusive Syria, once this fight is done. But they are trying to stress that the fight is going to be over with very soon if they don't get re-armed, re-supplied quickly and that some of the weapons and the money that's been promised to them gets them to the front line. I should add that this is not all of the rebel groups. The Islamic groups were left out of this group that met in Antakya, Turkey just about a few hours ago.

KEILAR: So, they need more than just the air strikes. They need the support, these rebel leaders do, that allows them to capitalize, essentially, on these air strikes. Are they saying anything else, Drew, and are there any concerns about civilian casualties?

GRIFFIN: They are very concerned. In fact, I was just talking to the military council's leader, the -- Abdul Bashir, the channel on the ground there. They are (INAUDIBLE), and I talked to about a dozen of these groups today, very concerned about the lack of any coordination that they have had on the ground with the air strikes coming from the coalition. The general did say that the free Syrian army locations or areas were struck by some of these and some civilians were killed, that's according to him.

They are very frustrated that the lack of cooperation with the coalition. They think it would be much more effective if they worked together and not separately. And they are also very concerned that the coalition is only striking in Syria, ISIS targets, and not striking Assad who they believe, of course, is the real problem in Syria and the person that they believe actually facilitated the founding of ISIS within Syria.

KEILAR: A very interesting point. We will be talking about that coming up, in just a moment. Drew Griffin from inside of Syria. Thank you so much.

We want to talk more about these air strikes. The new targets are aimed at striking ISIS financing, in particular, their growing oil trade. Let's bring in retired Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt. He's the former secretary of state for Political and Military Affairs. You know, many have said that cutting off financing is certainly key to all of this and certainly it is. We're hearing a lot of concerns coming from rebels there on the ground. But what I really want to talk to you about is how this all plays out. And that's what so many Americans are wondering. Does this play out to look like an Iraq? Does this look like Libya? How does it end?

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, and again, this notion of what are we going to do about Syria may be the fatal flaw in the president's strategy because we don't really have that clearly articulated. We'd somehow like Assad to go away tomorrow. But if we let the rebels take over, is it going to look like Libya after Gadhafi?

I think what we're actually going to see is something as we saw in Iraq after the first Gulf War. When we ran Operation Northern Watch, Operation Southern Watch, there was a rump Baghdad that was in charge but wasn't able to go after the people in Kurdistan, wasn't able to go to the Shia in the south. And it may well be that whether it is by design or by consequence that we actually end up with an area inside of Syria under the protection of a no-fly zone, which would be very helpful for the Turks, by the way, and Assad in charge of a rump Syria, but still an area that the coalition protects for the people of Syria that don't want to belong to an Assad government anymore and ensures that he can no longer slaughter his people through the use of his aircraft, his barrel bombs and his artillery.

KEILAR: Is that the direction you see this going when we just heard Drew reporting that rebel leaders in Syria are very frustrated that the targets are all ISIS and not Assad?

KIMMITT: Well, I think that's a legitimate concern on the part of the rebels, but it may be indicative that we still don't yet have the confidence that the rebels are truly going to give us an outcome in Syria that is in the best interest of all the people of Syria. Is Syria going to look like post-Assad? Is it going to look like Libya? What's it going to look like? So there are many that would suggest that keeping Assad still in power, with his power significantly reduced, significantly mitigated, in charge as the mayor of Damascus, may be the best outcome.

KEILAR: The lesser of two evils in a way.

KIMMITT: The lesser of a lot of evils.

KEILAR: So, you heard Drew talking about how rebel commanders are upset that the U.S. and its allies participating in these air strikes in Syria are not coordinating with them. He reported that they are saying there have been civilians killed. Talk about that.

KIMMITT: Sure.

KEILAR: How that should be perhaps different, if you think it should be. And does that run the risk in a way of creating backlash against the U.S. and allies?

KIMMITT: It does. I would say there are two parts to that question. Clearly, right now, the Khorasan group and ISIL is a clear and present danger -- KEILAR: The Khorasan group, which is the al Qaeda veterans.

KIMMITT: Right.

KEILAR: Which the U.S. went it alone to target in addition to the ISIS group in Syria.

KIMMITT: They are a danger because of their capabilities against the region, against western targets. That's got to be our first priority. Similar to World War II, we made a deliberate decision, Germany first, Japan second. I think what this administration is suggesting is, we'll take care of ISIL and the Khorasan group first, and then Assad will be the second problem.

Now, of course, the rebels are saying, by doing ISIL first, it's actually playing to the strengths of Assad. He can take advantage of our operations and go after them as well. And that's a legitimate question because still the rebels don't have the anti-tank or the anti-aircraft weapons needed to take care of Assad's barrel bombs, his fighters and his artillery. That's what they're asking for.

KEILAR: How does the administration square the idea of letting Assad stay intact with the fact that for years now officials have said, Assad has no legitimacy, Assad has to go?

KIMMITT: In many ways that's what we said in 1991 after the first Gulf War. Saddam Hussein has no legitimacy. Saddam Hussein has got to go. But until that event happened, eight years later, there was a no-fly zone in the north and the south that at least, during that time period, protected the Kurds, protected the Shia who sad dam at that point was practicing genocide upon.

KEILAR: All right, thank you so much. Really appreciate you being with us.

KIMMITT: Sure.

KEILAR: General -- Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, thank you so much.

KIMMITT: Thanks.

KEILAR: The UAE, this is pretty interesting, has confirmed that its first woman fighter pilot took part in U.S.-led coalition air strikes against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. Captain Maryam al Mansoori told CNN she wanted to be a fighter pilot after high school but had to wait 10 years to get the training. Our Becky Anderson caught up with the fighter pilot who started flying in 2006.

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CAPTAIN MARYAM AL MANSOORI, F-16 FIGHTER PILOT, UAE: We have to prepare every citizen in this country to be ready to defend UAE. Of course everybody is responsible for defending their country, male or female. When the time will come, everybody will jump in. Nobody will hesitate to defend their country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Al Mansoori says that she had to prove herself and she sees women entering more fields once only open to men.

Coming up later, Iran's president says terrorism is not a regional issue any more, it's a global one. And we'll have more on Hassan Rouhani's speech to the United Nations.

And also next, a hidden camera on the streets of Raqqa as we see what life is really like in the ISIS capital city.

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KEILAR: We are getting a fascinating new look inside of Syria today. In fact, inside the capital city of ISIS controlled areas in Syria and Iraq. This is a look that comes from video secretly shot by a woman walking through the heart of Raqqa. Our Jim Clancy has been looking through this footage. He joins us now.

What did you find, Jim? This is a pretty unique view here.

JIM CLANCY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A fascinating look. Really, it is. This is a young woman, in her 20s. We know her name. We're not going to release it. But she specifically -- she grew up in Raqqa. She left when the Free Syrian Army had the control of that. You know, the U.S. ostensibly supports the Free Syrian Army. It's one of the moderate groups. But she returned when ISIS took control back in March and she shot video, incredible video, showing the fighters.

Here she's getting into a taxi to go into an Internet center. And she walks down into it. I think she breaks some of the stereotypes that people have as she eavesdrop on women's calls back to their loved ones back at home in France. They're speaking fluent French. Now, you would think that with all the dress code restrictions and everything, women wouldn't like it here, but listen to what this one is telling her family member.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I don't want to come back because I feel good here. It's not a question of coming back or not. If I want, I can come back. I just don't want to come back because I feel good here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: You know, clearly the woman's family members are not convinced by this at all. In fact, they're rattled by what she's telling them. And the conversation continues. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Stop it. It doesn't help me if you're scared or if you cry. Do you hear me? I'm telling you. There's not point to you crying or being scared. What you see on TV is wrong. Do you understand? They're exaggerating everything on TV. They amplify everything, everything, everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CLANCY: Now, who are these young women? They're young women who have left, gone with their husbands, you know, boyfriends, whatever, gone back into Syria with ISIS. There are some women that are coming on, on their own to get married to ISIS fighters. Some are caring for many of the orphans that are there. But it's not the scene -- it's not the point of view that we normally hear. And it's indicating that there's a lot of young women that are willing to stand along this Islamic state.

KEILAR: Yes, and we've heard a lot about many of them being really an integral part of ISIS as well, Jim. This was taken, what, several months ago, I think, right?: What - what is the -

CLANCY: It was back in March when ISIS --

KEILAR: In March. So what -- when ISIS first took over. So what is the situation now? Is it any different?

CLANCY: It's certainly different. After President Obama gave his speech, after the air strikes began, we're told by activists who have visited there as recently as this week that many of the families, many of the women and children have left that central area of the city. Some of the administrative offices have been abandoned by ISIS. Some of their leadership, we were told by an activist just a matter of 48 hours ago, have left the city. And they are seeking safety because they really fear that they could be caught in the crossfire with all these air strikes which are described as more powerful, of course, than what the Syrian regime itself is doing. But at the same time, they're still there. They're still inside Syria. They're still standing by this Islamic state.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. And ISIS has found a toe hold and we're seeing it play out right there in that hidden video. Jim Clancy, thanks so much.

Now sounding the alarm for West Africa and the world, the president asked for help on the front lines of the Ebola outbreak.

But up next, congressional reaction to the air strike strategy in Syria and hopes for America's Arab partners in the fight against ISIS.

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