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Oil Pipeline Leak on California's Central Coast; North Korea Says One Step Close to Developing Nuclear Warhead, Cancels U.N. Visit; GOP Hopefuls Call for Ground Troops in Iraq; Sidney Blumenthal Called Before Congress about Hillary Clinton; Texas Hunter Kills Endangered Black Rhino. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 20, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:32] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: An oil slick now covers four miles of California's central coastline. The cause, a pipeline leak. In all, some 21,000 gallons of crude oil has made its way into the ocean along part of the Santa Barbara County coast.

CNN's Paul Vercammen is joining us now from one of those beaches with the latest.

Looks pretty bad. How did the spill happen, Paul? The pipeline is on land. Give us the background.

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what happened, Wolf, this pipeline, which is that way, which is on shore -- you often hear about oil spills going from offshore to on, in this case, it came down, went into a culvert, and it emitted all this oil, this gooey thick mess here on Refugio State Beach. You know this area well. You know this area well, Wolf. This is below Reagan ranch from your days of covering the Western White House. A pristine area, one that is unspoiled. And the concerns, of course, are the animals here, the fish, the shore birds. Look over my shoulder here, in the background, dozens of workers in white protective gear now trying to clean this up. It's backbreaking work. They are literally scraping oil off rocks. They're raking it together in tar balls, putting it in plastic bags.

This is an important weekend coming up in this county, which relies heavily on tourism. This particular beach would have been visited by thousands of visitors, people who would be onshore fishing, kayaking, hiking, picnicking, all of that in this area. Refugio Beach completely shut down. And another nearby beach also threatened by this spill.

We can tell you that out at sea, there's about seven ships right now. They're using booms to contain the spill. They're skimming and collecting by whatever means possible. The Coast Guard taking the lead on all of this. Some heavy work to be done here, Wolf, for sure.

BLITZER: Do they know how this happened? What caused that spill?

VERCAMMEN: No, they don't. That's disputed in a couple of different ways. I just had someone with Santa Barbara's Environmental Defense Center, an attorney, tell me she does not believe for a minute that this was an inactive pipeline. She says it was active. So that's something that also is going to be investigated as they try to solve what caused this spill on this pristine stretch of California coast.

[13:34:57] BLITZER: I hope they figure out what happened and they clean it up and make sure it remains pristine. That's so important. You're right. It is a beautiful area around there. And Santa Barbara, as well.

Paul Vercammen reporting live for us. Appreciate it.

Still ahead, a different story we're covering. North Korea, it now says it is one step closer to developing nuclear warheads. We have details. That's coming up next.

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BLITZER: North Korea is making some disturbing new claims about its nuclear program. If the claims are true they could represent a major step towards the development of a nuclear missile in North Korea. North Korea's military says it now does have the capability to miniaturize nuclear weapons, a necessary step towards fitting a nuclear device on a ballistic missile. A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council is casting doubt on the North Korean claim. The spokesman saying, "We do not think they have that capacity." North Korea has also canceled a visit by the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. He was scheduled to tour a joint industrial complex on the North Korean side of the frontier with South Korea. That's not going to happen, at least not now.

So what do North Korea's nuclear claims mean for the United States?

Victor Cha holds the Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in Washington. That's a think tank. He's also a professor at Georgetown University.

Victor, thanks for joining us.

How credible is this claim by North Korea that it can miniaturize nuclear weapons?

[13:40:00] VICTOR CHA, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, KOREA CHAIR & PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY. Wolf, we never know for certain what North Korea is actually doing when it makes these statements but I don think we can completely discount them. In the past, we've always tended to underestimate North Korean capabilities. And what we've seen in the last few months is a statement by the NORAD commander that they have a rogue mobile ICBM, a long-range ballistic missile. On May 8, they launched a submarine-based ballistic missile and now this claim of miniaturization. They're clearly moving in the direction of trying to create a modern nuclear arsenal and we can't just sort of blows this off and say, oh, they're just making it up.

BLITZER: What do you make of the decision from Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general, to cancel that previously scheduled visit? CHA: It's interesting because I think there was -- to me, looks like

there was an effort by the U.N. as well as the South Korean government to try to engage North Korea. Secretary General Ban going to Kaesong Industrial Complex, which is the joint North/South economic complex, the first time he's ever offered to do that. And the South Koreans also announcing humanitarian assistance for North Korea earlier this morning. And then for the North Koreans to pull the plug on the Ban visit, Secretary General Ban at the last minute is another signal from the North Koreans they're not interested in dealing with anybody right now.

BLITZER: As you know there is a delegation of about 30 women from the U.S. and other countries, peace activists, in Pyongyang, right now, even as we speak. Gloria Steinem among the women there. They're getting ready for this march across the DMZ, the demilitarized zone. We're showing our viewers the pictures of the delegation of the women arriving in Pyongyang. Hope to speak to some of them later today in "The Situation Room." What do you think of the idea, the women are trying to improve the situation by showing some sort of peace march across the DMZ, from North into South Korea. It's apparently been approved by both the North Korean and South Korean governments?

CHA: Well, you know, I think there have been many grass roots efforts to try to reduce tensions on the peninsula, and this is certainly a very prominent one by a very prominent individual. If it has some sort of positive effect, that would be great. My only concern is this is happening in the context of a rapidly escalating North Korean nuclear arsenal, as well as, you know, really horrible human rights abuses and human rights violations that are taking place in the country that were made clear by this recent U.N. report. So, you know, I hope that they're successful in reducing tensions. I'm not confident that's going to be the end result of this trip.

BLITZER: Victor Cha, from Georgetown University, and CSIS, thanks for joining us.

CHA: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still ahead, Congress calls for a deposition from a close friend and adviser for Hillary Clinton. Who is Sidney Blumenthal? And why are his messages to Hillary Clinton under so much scrutiny by the Congress right now? Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, standing by. We'll discuss that and a lot more.

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[13:46:26] BLITZER: All right. Take a look at this. Live pictures coming from the U.S. Senate floor. You see Kentucky Senator Rand Paul. He's speaking. He's a Republican presidential candidate. Right now, he has started -- he just tweeted he's starting his filibuster against any renewal of the U.S. Patriot Act. The Senator is debating renewal of the controversial law enacted after 9/11. Senator Paul has said he will try to stop the vote in order to end spying, he says, on American citizens by the National Security Agency, the surveillance program that's been in effect now since 9/11. He wants to see it go away, so he's filibustering, as he promised he would do, and he has just started. We'll see how long this continues.

Other news we're following, advances by ISIS in Iraq have some Republican presidential hopefuls pushing for a more forceful U.S. response. And some of those contenders are even calling for what's called boots on the ground. The former New York Governor George Pataki says the U.S. should deploy troops for a limited mission. Senator Lindsey Graham, former Senator Rick Santorum, they say they would send 10,000 U.S. troops to Iraq. There are about 3,000 there right now. Congressman Peter King, you just heard him, Ohio Governor John Kasich, they also say ground troops are necessary to defeat ISIS in Iraq.

Our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, is joining us.

Gloria, does this put more pressure on other Republican presidential hopefuls to be more hawkish right now?

BORGER: Right. Because that's where the Republican Party is right now. We've seen this grow since we've seen the ISIS beheadings and other atrocities. So if you look at the polling, Wolf, 60 percent of the Republicans right now support some form of ground presence to combat ISIS. Now, that's difficult when you get into the general election, because more than 75 percent of the American public believes that the war in Iraq was a mistake. But right now, these Republican candidates are worried more about appealing to their base than they are about the rest of the country. Somebody like Rand Paul, whom you were just talking about, has a little bit more of a problem because he's seen as much more noninterventionist.

BLITZER: He says don't intervene unless the U.S. directly is in jeopardy, and if you do intervene, get a war resolution passed by the United States Senate.

BORGER: That's right. So, you know, he -- it was easy for him to answer the question that Jeb Bush had a lot of trouble answering because what Rand Paul said is, yeah, the war in Iraq was a mistake, I wouldn't have done it, sort of end of question. That's why you saw all the other candidates, especially Jeb Bush, kind of figure out a way to try and tiptoe around it.

BLITZER: Let's talk about Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate. One of her friends, Sidney Blumenthal, all of a sudden, in the news once again. Those of us who have covered the Clintons for years, Sidney Blumenthal, no stranger obviously.

Here's what she said yesterday about the exchanges she had with Sidney Blumenthal while she was secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He's been a friend of mine for a long time. He sent me unsolicited e-mails, which I passed on, in some instances. And I see that that's just part of the give and take. When you're in the public eye, when you're in an official position, I think you have to work to make sure you're not caught in a bubble and only hear from a certain small group of people. And I'm going to keep talking to my old friends, whoever they are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And now the chairman of House Select Committee on the Benghazi investigation may want to depose Sidney Blumenthal. How much of a problem is this potentially for the Democratic candidate?

[13:50:04] BORGER: Well, at the very least, it's kind of embarrassing. I think what Trey Gowdy is looking for in the Congress is the question of whether there was a real conflict. Since Blumenthal, who is an old friend, very partisan, and former speechwriter of the Clintons, had business interests in Libya when he was sending her these unsolicited e-mails. What she did was she forwarded them to people in the government, some at the top level, saying, look, I think you ought to take a look at that. Some people are questioning her judgment on doing that.

I think what was key in listening to Hillary Clinton there, kind of reading between the lines, is she made it very clear that these e- mails were unsolicited, and lots of people send people lots of unsolicited e-mails, who are in power. The information he had in his e-mails, Wolf, was not vetted in any way, shape or form. Lots of people who work for her questioned it. I might also add that in some of her responses, she questioned the information that he had. So I don't think this rises to a huge level. But it does show you that when you've been in public life for decades, you do collect a lot of people along the way who still want to get your hear.

BLITZER: Gloria, thanks very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BLITZER: This story is certainly not going to go away.

BORGER: Nope.

BLITZER: Still ahead, a CNN exclusive. Our cameras follow one man on a hunt to kill an endangered black rhino. Why he says he's actually trying to save the species.

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[13:54:57] ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Through the unforgiving desert brush of north Namibia, and in here.

(SOUNDS OF GUNSHOT)

LAVANDERA: And Corey Knowlton has no regrets.

COREY KNOWLTON, TEXAS HUNTER: I'm pretty emotional right now, to be honest.

LAVANDERA (on camera): You've been heavily criticized for doing what you just did. KNOWLTON: Yeah.

LAVANDERA: Do you still feel like you did is going to benefit the black rhino?

KNOWLTON: 100 percent. 100 percent. I felt like, from day one, it was to the benefit of the black rhino. And I'll feel like that until the day I die.

LAVANDERA: A granted CNN exclusive assess into this controversial hunt for the black rhino, one of the most endangered species in the world. He won the license to hunt the rhino in an auction last year.

(on camera): There are so many people who think what you're doing out here is barbaric and that you don't care about this black rhino.

KNOWLTON: Nobody in this situation, with this particular black rhino put more value on it than I did. I'm absolutely hell-bent on protecting this animal.

LAVANDERA: But do you think it's --

(voice-over): Knowlton has received death threats and scathing criticism. Some animal welfare groups call animal conservation hunting a horrific idea.

AZZIDINE DOWNES, INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR ANIMAL WELFARE: These are incredibly majestic creatures and there worth alive is far more greater than they are dead.

LAVANDERA: In Namibia, the biggest threats to the black rhino are poachers and also the rhinos themselves.

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KNOWLTON: I'm Corey. Nice to meet you.

LAVANDERA: Knowlton is told by Namibia government observers to target four specific rhinos considered a high-priority threat to the heard. That's the story of this rhino spotted by cameras at a watering hole just before sunrise. Last year, it killed another rhino in a gruesome fight.

The hunt begins. The African brush is dense. Knowlton will have a split second to decide whether to pull the trigger.

(on camera): A catastrophic mistake for Corey if he were to shoot the wrong rhino, one that is not on the list of eligible rhinos to be taken out of the heard.

(voice-over): Local trackers pick up the rhino's footsteps and walk deeper into the brush.

MILTON: This is the one (INAUDIBLE). It's the reason why we just have to get up and go. So we need to be ready. LAVANDERA: Silence is crucial. Trackers direct Milton and his Namibian hunting guide with hand signals. We get closer. And in an instant, the rhino flushes before us.

(on camera): There's the rhino. Jumped up and started running.

(voice-over): The rhino moves around us but he's invisible, silent. A nearly 3000-pound beast that can move like a ghost in the brush, until he decides to charge. We don't see him until he's 30 feet away.

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LAVANDERA: He's charging right at us and I have to dive below Milton's rifle.

(GUNFIRE)

LAVANDERA: A short while later, the rhino is dead.

(on camera): As we sit here at this moment and take it all in and we think about what the biggest threat to these rhinos are around the world, and it's poachers, people who will kill these animals and leave them to rot in these fields of Africa, just for this horn. These horns that you see here will sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars on the black market.

(voice-over): Corey Knowlton knows this isn't easy to watch, but he vows to take the abuse of his critics to convince the world that conservation hunting can help save the black rhino.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Ed Lavandera is joining us now live from Namibia.

What's been the reaction over there so far to this very dramatic development obviously?

LAVANDERA: Well, there's been a great deal of scathing criticism of Corey Knowlton, and he knew that a full well going into all of this, Wolf, but he felt it was important. When I proposed the idea of following along with him to document this hunt, he wanted the world to know that it had going according to the plan, according to the protocols setup by the Namibian government. That was one of the motivating factors that he had in allowing us to come along. And also he's determined to win over his critics, all the people who think that what he's doing is a horrible. He's determined to win those people over -- Wolf?

BLITZER: You think he has a shot at doing that?

LAVANDERA: Based on the reaction I've seen today, it's an uphill fight. You know, there's many people who just think that this is just too much, too difficult to watch, obviously. But he believes it. I should also point out, there are a number of high-profile,

[14:00:00] very prominent wildlife organizations around the world that support what he's doing.

BLITZER: All right.

LAVANDERA: So, it's an uphill fight. But it's a very nuanced debate.

BLITZER: Well, we'll continue to watch what's going on.

Ed Lavandera, thanks very much.

I'm Wolf Blitzer, in Washington. The news continues next on CNN.

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