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Iran Concerns Major Part Of Obama Summit; American Marine Veteran Detained Since 2011; Bush And Clinton Confront Family Legacies; Legendary Blues Singer B.B. King Dead At 89. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 15, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

MCCAUL: The Iraqi government. The Iraqi National Army is so inadequate and so ill prepared, they cannot defeat ISIS. So to do that, they're bringing Shia militias, a proxy of Iran into Iraq to fight ISIS, and it's enflaming the Sunni tribes.

BLITZER: Iraqi Sunnis?

MCCAUL: Right. Remember the lessons of Maliki disenfranchised the Sunni tribes. We didn't have a residual force. That was the rise of ISIS. Now we bring in the Shia militias and the Sunni tribes are enflamed. The political reconciliation will be very difficult to take place.

BLITZER: You met with the new prime minister. He was just in Washington a few weeks ago and the administration, the Obama administration was painting a relatively upbeat picture that this guy a lot better than Nuri al-Maliki, his predecessor.

MCCAUL: Well, I think he's better, but the fact is he is a Shia and he is supporting the Shia militias coming in. Then we met the speaker of their parliament, who is a Sunni, who is very against this strategy. So you have a very divided government within Iraq. I think the Shia militia being in Iraq is very dangerous.

BLITZER: You also went to Israel. You met with the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. I take it is still pretty concerned about the proposed U.S.-led nuclear deal with Iran?

MCCAUL: Very much so. He views Iran more of a threat than ISIS. He sees Iran as an empire that could go nuclear in the region and is very, very -- he can compare it to a tiger in the Middle East that eats red meat every day and he was very concerned about these negotiations. And, of course, we saw the gulf states that president tried to rally behind the negotiations fall apart.

BLITZER: I want to play a clip because yesterday the president had a rare news conference after his meetings with the six gulf Arab state leaders, four deputies, two leaders, who showed up. He said this, I'll play the clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In the event of such aggression or the threat of such aggression, the United States stands ready to work with our GCC partners to urgently determine what actions may be appropriate using the means at our collective disposal including the use of military force.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so he was trying to reassure them about the proposed -- there is still no deal, but the proposed deal involving Iran's nuclear program. What are you hearing? Did he succeed? Are they still worried, the Saudis, the Emirates, the Kuwaitis, the Omanis?

MCCAUL: I think the Saudis basically fold out of this and you know, the Gulf States are not supportive of the Iran negotiations. I was over in Saudi last year. They questioned why are you negotiating with Iran? I think they disagree with the underlying premise that you can negotiate with somebody that chants death to America. Remember over there, it's largely the Sunni Shia conflict and so they're not supportive.

BLITZER: Where do you stand on this proposed deal?

MCCAUL: I think there are too many problems to access to military bases, the fact that the centrifuges continue to spin. I think Netanyahu talked about the fact that they're still enriching uranium. And from a Homeland Security perspective, Wolf, is the ICBMs, the intelligence estimates are by the end of next year could reach the United States.

BLITZER: From Iran you mean?

MCCAUL: Precisely. And the Ayatollah says we will move forward with these ICBMs. There is only one reason why you create those and that is to deliver a nuclear warhead.

BLITZER: Do you think they'll be that nuts to launch a nuclear warhead against the United States?

MCCAUL: You know, I'm not sure if mutually sure if destruction applies to that part of the world like it did to the Russians. So I wouldn't want to test that theory.

BLITZER: One final question before I let you go, you're the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The Secret Service yesterday detains a guy at Lafayette Park across the street from the White House, wanted to fly a drone over the White House. What's going on over here?

MCCAUL: Second time we've had that happen. A gyro plane almost hits the United States capitol. These UAVs are -- they go under the radar, very hard to detect, very quick. I'm concerned this is a road map for terrorists if they put an explosive device on one of these. In this case, it's innocent. It is like a toy, but what if -- you have an explosive device on that. They could do quite a bit of damage.

BLITZER: Well, the U.S. uses the drones unmanned aerial vehicles very infectively with hell fire missiles to go after terrorists whether in Yemen or elsewhere. They can be very, very deadly.

MCCAUL: Exactly.

BLITZER: All right, thanks very much for joining us, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mike McCaul.

Still to come, Congress is getting closer to putting some weight behind calls for Iraq to release Americans including this U.S. Marine veteran. One congressman is leading that effort and we'll discuss when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:38:24]

BLITZER: For nearly four years an American Marine veteran has been held in Iran. Now Congress is taking action in an attempt to try to win his freedom, a House resolution calling on Iran to release Amir Hekmati and other American political prisoners being held there. A vote could come as early as next week.

Just this week, the Senate unanimously adopted a companion resolution. Hekmati was arrested by Iran accused of spying for the CIA back in 2011. Originally sentenced to death, he's now serving a reduced sentence of 10 years.

Here with me is Michigan Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee. Amir Hekmati, Mr. Congressman, as you know, he is from your district. He is from Flint, Michigan. Are you optimistic that any of these resolutions in the Senate and the House even passed overwhelmingly, unanimously, will have any impact on the Iranian regime?

REPRESENTATIVE DAN KILDEE (D), MICHIGAN: Well, we do think that it does make a difference. The discussions we've had with people closer to Iranian officials are confirmed for us that it matters to them what the U.S. Congress thinks and says despite what some of the bluster might indicate or what some of their public statements might show us. It matters what the Congress says and thinks about Iran and I think it will make a difference.

BLITZER: A lot of people think it was a blunder on the part of the Obama administration. Not to specifically include release of Amir Hekmati and the three other Americans as part of the deal to ease sanctions and to get this nuclear deal with Iran off the table. Now should have been a direct linkage to that and it wasn't. Was that a mistake?

KILDEE: Well, I think if there was a mistake, it may have been not requiring the release before any negotiation would even be considered.

BLITZER: Why didn't they?

[13:40:01] KILDEE: It's a good question. I think there is an argument to be made that we don't ever want to conflate the freedom of these Americans or their situation with the consideration that would be traded or negotiated regarding their nuclear capabilities. But that's a question that is long since passed. Once the

negotiations are underway, I have made it clear and I know that this is Amir Hekmati's own opinion he does not want to be a part of this deal.

He doesn't want to be traded because the implication, the clear implication would be that there would have been concessions regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities in order to extract his freedom. This guy is a U.S. Marine. He's a patriot.

He does not want to put himself or his country in that position. So his position, our position is Iran must unilaterally act outside of the context of these negotiations to release these Americans. Otherwise, they'll never be treated fully as a member --

BLITZER: Because you would think the Iranians, they'll get a wind fall, tens of billions of dollars. If the sanctions are eased after a deal is signed, we don't know if a deal will be signed, assuming it will be, they'll say, you know what? We're going to release these Americans. We know this would be a goodwill gesture to the United States. There is no indication of that as far as you know?

KILDEE: No indication. We wouldn't even advocate for it being part of the consideration. Again, Iran needs to understand this deal or some other engagements, some economic engagements that they may be involved with other political engagements. All of it will be colored by their other behavior. That includes whether or not they hold innocent people as political prisoners.

BLITZER: How is he doing in this prison in Iran?

KILDEE: Well, he's doing OK. He's tough. He's a Marine. You know, but it's -- there are times when he really struggles and when he struggles, his family really feels that pain. So, you know, part of my job is to keep them optimistic by continuing to raise this case and keeping the profile as high as we can.

We know it matters in terms of ultimate freedom. But it also makes a difference to him that he knows that his country has not forgotten him.

BLITZER: How does he know that?

KILDEE: He does. There are opportunities to communicate with him from time to time. I have not. Through his family and others, it really makes a difference to him. I can only imagine how it must to know that he's not forgotten.

That the Congress of the United States, perhaps, very soon will take up a resolution calling for his freedom, would give him a lot of strength. While we think ultimately the reason to get him home, we know it matters in terms of his ability to sustain himself.

BLITZER: As far as you know, you're a Democrat. Republicans, liberals, conservatives, you are going to get almost unanimous support. Is anybody going to be opposing to what you're doing? KILDEE: I haven't had a member say no yet. Chairman McCaul signed on to my resolution. He was just on your show. Members on both sides of the aisle and the entire political spectrum have signed on to this resolution. We're gaining new members every day.

BLITZER: Congressman Kildee, thanks very much for what you're doing. Good luck. We hope this American and the other Americans are released quickly. Appreciate it very much. Thanks for keeping the issue out in the forefront.

KILDEE: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Besides Amir Hekmati, there are three other Americans being held in Iran, Jason Rezaian is a journalist for "The Washington Post." He has been held for almost ten months. He is charged with espionage and cooperating with an enemy government.

Saeed Abedini is a Christian pastor who has been held for two and a half years. He's serving an eight-year sentence after being accused of helping underground churches.

Then there is Retired FBI Agent Robert Levenson, he disappeared from Iran's Kish Island more than eight years ago while working for the CIA and believed he is being held in Iran. The FBI has offered a $5 million reward for his safe return.

Still ahead, the father was the 41st, his brother was the 43rd, but will his family ties hurt Jeb Bush's becoming the 45th president of the United States? We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:33]

BLITZER: The families or political dynasties on the one hand you have Jeb Bush, son and brother of a former presidents. Then on the other, you have Hillary Clinton, she's the former secretary of state, former U.S. senator as well as the wife of a former president, Bill Clinton. Family connections like this certainly can help a candidate or as Jeb Bush saw this week, they can potentially hurt as well.

Let's discuss with our senior political correspondent, Brianna Keilar. She's here with me in Washington and in Scottsdale, Arizona, CNN's national political reporter, Maeve Reston.

Maeve, Jeb Bush has spent this week trying to explain, clarify his assessment of his brother's decision back in 2003 to invade Iraq and go after Saddam Hussein. Listen to what Jeb Bush said last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: My brothers and sister are different than me. But I'm not going to go out of my way to say that, you know, my brother did this wrong or my dad did this wrong. It's just not going to happen. I have a hard time with that. I love my family a lot. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, so what do you think? Because it has sort of been complicated all week, he's almost every single day he's had to address this issue -- Maeve.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, I think that was entirely his prerogative. Basically what we've seen here is that Jeb does not have the raw political instincts that his brother did and he took, you know, five attempts to clarify what his position was on an issue that is really important to the American people.

And at the same time, when he finally cleaned this up yesterday, he gave a very human answer. I mean, obviously this is a tough issue for him. He wants to be loyal to his brother and it's just interesting that his family name is proving to be one of his -- you know, perhaps his greatest liability at this point, more than immigration or common core and all those things we were focused on a little bit earlier.

BLITZER: Let's talk, Brianna, about Hillary Clinton. She's been relatively quiet. I don't think she's given any formal television or print interviews for that matter since she formally announced she's running for president of the United States.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, she hasn't. She's only answered a few questions really in the scheme of things, some questions that have been yelled at her by reporters on these visits.

She's not going to these early states, iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and soon South Carolina to answer questions from reporters. She's there to talk with voters and to sort of introduce herself in a soft way.

You saw her book tour when she starts answering questions this is an area where she can get tripped up. But at least for this week, Hillary Clinton's been very quiet.

[13:50:06] She's done some fundraising. She visited her headquarters in Brooklyn for the first time. But for instance, on the issue like trade, which has really dominated the scene here in Washington, even though she was for this trade agreement that the president is pushing.

She as a candidate now has sort of stepped back and saying any trade agreement needs to create jobs and hasn't take an position on it. She's trying to lay low, do no harm.

BLITZER: Yes, let's get back to Jeb for a moment, Maeve, because I know you've been covering this story closely. Is it going to be short term, long term, the damage, if he knew then what he knows now, would he have gone to war against Saddam Hussein's Iraq? Is this going to go away quickly or linger?

RESTON: You know, I think that's the big question here. I don't think anyone can answer that at this point, how much of an albatross will his family name be? But at the same time, you did see Jeb this week come out and have a human moment, talking about his family.

Sometimes voters like it when they catch a glimpse of, you know, the candidates struggling a little bit and then coming back and finally getting to his answer.

I think that what we're waiting to see on the Iraq issue is whether it's more of a liability for Jeb or for Hillary Clinton. I think a lot of Jeb's allies and his donors would have liked him to have cleaned up that answer a lot quicker than he did.

BLITZER: And you notice, and you obviously remember, one of the first things he said earlier in the week about the invasion of Iraq, whether he agreed or disagreed with his brother, he pointed out, well, he was working on the intelligence he had and Hillary Clinton was a United States senator, she supported going to war against Iraq as well.

KEILAR: She did indeed. You can argue it cost her the election in 2008, but she's evolved on this over time with the American electorate, right? Initially, she sort of went somewhere in between. Even in 2007, 2008 about how she was wrong or knowing what she knew. Then that has changed over time.

Most recently in her latest book, "Hard Choices, she says straight out, I was wrong. So the thing we see about Hillary Clinton is that she has evolved more with, I think, the electorate on this issue and on other issues, for instance, same-sex marriage and criminal justice reform.

I think because of that, whereas Jeb Bush sort of went against the tide in his initial answer, whether he misheard the question or what. So for her, that gives her some protection that Jeb Bush did not have in his answer.

BLITZER: Finally, Maeve, by Jeb Bush saying -- go ahead, make your point.

RESTON: I think also that what's important to remember here is that it has taken Jeb Bush a long time to come to where his answer was, right. You know, the reason donors were lining up behind him, giving tens of millions of dollars to the PACs around him is because he was supposed to be the steady, focused candidate.

Instead, he's been all over the place, even though he has a very talented staff. You have, what, 20 candidates that are all trying to get on the stage. And that's a big topic of discussion here in Scottsdale.

He's got to compete with them. You have Santorum coming out and hitting him on this issue and all the other candidates. He'll have to really recover from that over next couple weeks.

BLITZER: It's going to be a long campaign. We'll watch every step. Maeve, thanks very much. Guys, thanks to both of you.

When we come back, the thrill is gone and Lucille. Those things add up to only one person, the legendary, B.B. King. We'll take a closer look at his remarkable life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:58]

BLITZER: The son of a sharecropper, B.B. King rose from rural Mississippi to star on the world stage as a blues singer and guitarist.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: B.B. King influenced musicians from Jimi Hendrix to Eric Clapton and so many more. He's won Grammys, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, and was even awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom. B.B. King died in Las Vegas last night. He was 89. Here's CNN's Michaela Pereira.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY" (voice-over): It's hard to imagine the blues without B.B. King. The legendary blues man released over 50 albums with hit songs such as "The Thrill Is Gone" and "Let The Good Times Roll."

Born Riley B. King in Mississippi, he worked as a tractor driver in the cotton fields before embarking on his musical career. He began recording in the 1940s and became known as Blues Boy King and then more simply B.B. King.

In 1956, at the height of his popularity, he played an astonishing 342 one-night shows. He continued a rigorous touring schedule into his 80s. King's persistence and passion for the blues paid off winning 15 Grammys.

B.B. KING: It always feels very, very good to go on stage whether you win a Grammy or not.

PEREIRA: Throughout the years, King worked with various artists like rockers U2 on the song "When Love Comes To Town" and with Eric Clapton on the album "Riding with the King."

In 1987, he was inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame and a spot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. He was rarely seen without his faithful Gibson guitar, Lucille. The gifted guitarist became the first blues musician to be honored with the Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.

President George W. Bush also honored King in 2006 with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his musical contributions. King's health was sometimes a concern since he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in his early 60s.

KING: To me blues is a type of music that's like a tunnel. It's good for whatever ails you.

PEREIRA: In 2012, President Obama hosted a concert celebrating blues music. B.B. King was one of the featured performers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: What a great talent, B.B. King, we all loved B.B. King. That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." For our international viewers "Amanpour" is next. For our viewers in North America "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.