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John Kerry to Speak on Iran Deal at 1:00 P.M.; Young Girl's Remains Found in Trash Bag Near Boston Harbor; What Iowa Voters Say about Presidential Candidates. Aired 11:30a-12p ET
Aired July 09, 2015 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:30:00] KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Why he is also saying the prospects are less than 50/50 at this point. The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, he's going to be joining us.
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BOLDUAN: New this morning, we just learned that Secretary of State John Kerry is going to be delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear talks at 1:00 eastern from Vienna. Very Interested to see what comes from that. This comes just hours away from another deadline for Iran to reach a deal with world powers. Negotiators have blown through two other deadlines.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Again, 1:00 p.m. statement from John Kerry. What will he say?
Here to discuss the issues with us, Senator Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He joins us from Capitol Hill.
Senator Corker, earlier this week Democratic Senators met with President Obama. They left that meeting saying the president was feeling there is less than a 50 percent chance right now. Less than a 50 percent chance that there would be some kind of nuclear deal with Iran. That was about a day ago at this point. I'm wondering, as we sit here today at 11:30 eastern time, what you are hearing about the walks right now.
SEN. BOB CORKER, (R-TN), CHAIRMAN, SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: What the we're hearing is that there's been some breakthroughs, not all the breakthroughs that are necessary, but I think it's possible that people are feeling a little more optimistic about getting something done. So, look, I have concerns about the quality of this and the context and everything that goes with it, but my sense is that some of the negotiations are feeling like they're moving along a little better.
[11:35:04] BOLDUAN: Senator, on that point, I know you have been in talks and Secretary Kerry has kept you updated on where things are going. You are a key man in how this is all going to happen and the review that will be under way in Congress. Can you tell us a little bit more? Do you expect to hear from Secretary Kerry that there is a break through, that they've got a deal at 1:00 today? CORKER: I don't expect they will announce they have a deal, no. I
think they have been able to work through a couple more issues, but I don't think we'll hear today at 1:00 that they will announce a deal, Kate, and I, too, still call him Senator for what it's worth from time to time. I did talk to him a week ago Saturday, just about where they were at that time. I have had no conversations with him since. I have touched base with other key folks, if you will, around the negotiations. I had a call yesterday with the head of the IAEA, but I really don't -- I don't think people would be surprised, but we don't really hear a great deal from them about the details. After segments are completed, we get a little bit of a rundown, but until we see the agreement, it's really hard for people to really get a good take on it.
BERMAN: What's your take on the fact that they've blown through, what, two deadlines already, or three deadlines. I don't know how you count them at this point but they keep pushing back these deadlines here. I know you have said all along that you don't support any deal that would be a bad deal. Do you feel like the fact that the administration keeps pushing this forward means they're pushing harder in the negotiations? Do you find that encouraging?
CORKER: So as I have said a couple times the last few days, John, I'm glad that they're not trying to meet some artificial deadline. It was in my opinion going very negatively for us. The trend has been bad for about six weeks, and I think that Iran was using this deadline to their advantage. So I'm thankful that they're waiting and I hope what they're saying is they're willing to walk away from the table if on these last elements that are so key, the anytime, anywhere inspection, the PMD issues, the way the sanctions will be relieved, some constraints on research and development, if they're still working on those and if Iran is still being the way they have been on these issues, I'd rather just continue on with no agreement. Obviously, the fact that we've moved from dismantlement to managed proliferation over the last two years is disheartening to me, but there still are some components that are very, very important to the integrity of this and I hope the administration would walk away from the table or take their time. Not try to meet some artificial deadline. My sense is, even on my side of the aisle, that's where most people would rather them be.
BOLDUAN: You will be a very, very important voice when this deal or no deal sis announced, because there's a big question of where are we a month from now if no deal is struck and we walk away from the table. Of course, hopefully, you'll come back on our show to discuss that.
It's great to have you, Senator Corker. Thank you so much.
CORKER: Have a good day. Thank you.
BOLDUAN: You, too.
BERMAN: He did say he does believe there are some breakthroughs that happened.
BOLDUAN: Some breakthroughs, yes.
BERMAN: Be interesting to hear Secretary of State John Kerry at 1:00 p.m. today.
Meanwhile, tens of millions of people are looking at the picture of this little girl. Take a good look at it. It's a composite image showing a toddler whose body was found in a trash bag right off Boston harbor. We're going to speak to a man trying to figure out who this girl is. That's coming up.
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[11:41:56] BERMAN: Do you know this child? More than 45 million people are asking that question, and police in Massachusetts are struggling to find the answer two weeks after discovery of the young girl's remains in a trash bag off Boston harbor. Millions on Facebook have shared this composite of what the child might have looked like.
BOLDUAN: She is only known as Baby Doe. Police believe she's about 4 years old. No one has reported her missing.
The district attorney there has made an impassioned plea to the parents or caregivers of this child to come forward and, in his words, "clear your conscience."
That district attorney, Daniel Conley, for Suffolk County, Massachusetts, he is joining us.
Mr. Conley, thank you so much for joining us.
This is just a horrific story to even have to discuss. There are so many more questions than answers obviously about this horrible tragedy. What is the very latest that you have in the investigation this morning?
DANIEL CONLEY, SUFFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, John and Kate, thank you for having me on. We appreciate the opportunity to get our message out, our appeal out really to a wider audience and I want to thank you and CNN for having me on today.
We have received about 45 million hits on our Facebook page and Twitter feed, not only my office but also the Massachusetts State Police and the Winthrop Police Department.
Her body was found on June 25th on the shore of Boston harbor in a small seaside community known as Winthrop just over the harbor from the city of Boston proper. She was discarded by someone, and the indignity of it has really struck a chord with all Bostonians and all New Englanders, and we have tried very, very hard to identify who she is and how this could have come to pass, that her remains would be left like this.
Her body was examined by the Massachusetts medical examiner, and at this point it had no -- there is no definitive cause of death. The body had no obvious signs of violent trauma. So we're looking at a possibility of a poisoning, could have been accidental, for example. I don't know the answer to that. But that's why we appeal to caregivers, the parents. Please step forward, clear your conscience. No child, no person deserves to be discarded like this. BERMAN: The mere phrase "discarded by someone" is heartbreaking, and
the fact that you're calling on the parents or the caregivers to come forward to clear their conscience, perhaps telling also because I think one of our questions is, given that we're two weeks into this and no one has come forward, you would surely suspect that any parents or grandparents or caregivers who knew that they had a missing daughter would be sprinting to the police or authorities as fast as they could, unless they were somehow involved or responsible.
[11:45:00] CONLEY: There's no question about that. So we can surmise and I think infer that the parents and/or caregivers of the child well know who she is and how she came to end up in this position, this place, this isolated and desolate place, really, on the shores of Boston harbor, and they know well what happened. For whatever reason, they refuse to come forward. As I said, this may have been an accident. It may have been violence. Either way, I appeal to them to come forward.
At the same time, I do worry that there may be other children in this home that need our attention and our protection. So that's why we appeal to daycare providers, people who would go to parks and might recognize her, and so forth, pediatricians, you know, anyone who has maybe seen this young girl in passing who now doesn't see her anymore, for example, at the neighborhood park. Any tip is appreciated and will be followed. We've actually received so many that are credible and we've done well-being checks on children. Luckily, you know, in all cases, the child was fine, the little girl was fine that we checked up on. But these are the kind of tips we're getting.
This composite you see is not her -- not a photograph of her, so it's a likeness. And I want to thank the organization that -- the National Association of Exploited and Missing Children because they did a remarkable job of working with us on this. But if she looked like this in life, I think we can all agree she's precious and she really deserves the dignity of a funeral and a burial and in her own name.
And it makes us proud here in Boston to know that we have so many people who have stepped up to take her body, to bury her. Funeral directors are sort of coming out of the woodwork to do this, churches, and just ordinary people. So I'm grateful for that. But at this point, the most important thing is finding out who she is.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Mr. District attorney, you say it, absolutely. You really say it the best. The way you lay it out, it shows this is not only a horrific tragedy that needs to be righted and justice needs to occur but it's also an urgent situation if there could be more children in this home or children that could be in danger.
Daniel Conley, thank you so much. Thank you for bringing that information on.
And we want to make sure to give all of you viewers this information, to take a quick look here. If you have any information about this little girl, call any of the numbers you see on your screen right now, the Suffolk County Detective Unit, Massachusetts State Police, or the Winthrop police tip line. They have gotten a lot of tips, all are important, all will be looked into.
BERMAN: We'll be right back.
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[11:51:15] BOLDUAN: The list of candidates for president, especially on the Republican side, is so big right now you almost need an IMAX screen to fit them all in.
(LAUGHTER)
All of them would love to do well in that field of political dreams known as Iowa.
BERMAN: It's the caucus state that can make or break a campaign. So what are voters there, actual voters there saying so far about the field? We just got back from Iowa. I went there to find out.
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BERMAN: You're a guy like Donald Trump, for instance, get up and say things on immigration that make it sound so easy. Basically, build a wall on the border, he says. He says to the people coming over, among them are rapists and criminals and murders. When you hear a candidate use words like that, does it make you stand up and listen, or does it make you shake your head?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: It makes me shake my head. And I think to myself this man has all this money and he is on this platform just spewing such ignorance. I believe that he is saying what a lot of people are too afraid to say. It's not a pc thing to say. That doesn't mean that he's saying a fact. It doesn't mean those people are believing what is true.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: I think his comments reflect a cultural insensitivity that the diversity movement, for the last 25 years, has been trying to reverse.
BERMAN: Does anyone at this table under any circumstances see themselves voting for Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Yes.
BERMAN: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: He's a very shrewd businessman. I think he would be able to at least guide Congress in a little bit better way to maybe perhaps pay down the $18 trillion debt we're incurring.
BERMAN: You've met him.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Yes, I have. I've met several of the candidates, and I'm holding all judgment on all of them because it's way too early.
BERMAN: You're listening to what he says? UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Of course. I listen to all of them. I
think I would be closed minded to not listen to every single one on both sides.
BERMAN: You don't want to listen anymore. You're shaking your head.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: People need to be responsible for their comments and their actions. We can't say you can say whatever you want in a free country and say nothing is going to happen to you.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: There are repercussions.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: There are repercussions. I think the problem with Trump, he has zero credibility now in the world that he's put himself the way he did.
BERMAN: Let's talk about Hillary. Six in 10 voters don't exactly say they trust Hillary Clinton. They say they're not sure whether they trust her. Hillary said people should and do trust me. Is she right?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: I think in Iowa people generally trust Hillary Clinton because she has a record in connection with what's happened the last several years. In terms of education, in terms of being critical of the foreign wars, and so I think they do.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: She is someone that I've always respected and trusted all along, and so I think she's done a great job as secretary of state when she was secretary of state. I think Iowans believe that they can trust her now.
BERMAN: So Bernie Sanders, he's drawn thousands of people. What do you all think of Bernie?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: I think he has a lot of great proposals for people coming of age and going to college. That's something I really respect.
BERMAN: Is he for real?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: I think that he will do what whips do in political elections, and that's they will push the other candidates to be more clear. I think in that sense he should be taken seriously.
BERMAN: Christina, you're an Independent. Do his ideas -- he's pretty far left. He's a self-identified Socialist.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Right. You know, I'm glad he's in there because he's putting ideas in people's heads about what they should be expecting from other candidates so I like it. I feel he's an advocator and I would love to see him go far.
BERMAN: Let me talk about the Republicans now. You have dozens, a couple dozen, three dozen, four dozen.
(LAUGHTER)
Barb, what do you make of the field?
[11:55:09] UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: I think it's great. We get to talk about a lot of different issues and, at the end of the day, it will come down to a person who is a strong leader, for me, and a strong person in a lot of different areas.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: But what I want to add to that is what I think is exciting. We have a large number of Republican candidates of diversity. In my lifetime, at 62, we haven't had that diversity.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Absolutely.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Absolutely. From Detroit.
BERMAN: Your colleague here --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: So I think they will be able -- what's exciting about that is they will be able to have conversations about things like race, violence, immigration, that are important to people of color. And I'm interested in having those conversations. When I've been in elections in my life where no one ever discussed race, right? I think that's what's exciting and I think you're right. It's too early to tell but it will be exciting to hear.
BERMAN: Adam, you have got -- you're a self-described social conservative.
(LAUGHTER)
You have a lot running in the field right now.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: We do. My top candidates would be Ted Cruz. I'm still looking at Mike Huckabee. Rick Santorum is on my radar but Bobby Jindal is exciting.
BERMAN: So that leaves out right now the top tier, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, Donald Trump. Marco Rubio is up there. Rand Paul is up there. There are five guys who you say you're not considering. Why not?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: They haven't necessarily backed up -- Rubio supported amnesty without building a wall or doing anything else. And Jeb Bush, he's a complete and total moderate.
BERMAN: You're a Democrat, but you say you're considering Jeb Bush.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Well, Jeb has an appeal for Latinos. If I was Republican, I would say it would be stupid for the Republican Party not to go after Jeb Bush. He's the only one who will be able to get the Independent votes. All the other ones are too far right --
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: -- to get anybody in the middle.
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: In terms of being in Iowa, the largest ethnic minority here are Latinos. I think it will be really important to them to speak to their issues, cultural competency and also representation. And I think in that way Jeb Bush is the strongest Republican candidate. And, although I have voted Democratic all my life, I would give him a vote of fantastic.
BERMAN: You wouldn't vote for him but you'd pat him on the back?
UNIDENTIFIED IOWA VOTER: Absolutely.
BERMAN: You know what he'd say to that? Thanks. Thanks a lot.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Thanks, but no thanks.
BERMAN: Yeah, something more than a pat on the back.
BOLDUAN: That was really good.
BERMAN: It was fun to meet them. I like Iowa. I like Iowa voters.
BOLDUAN: Smart, smart, smart people. Hope we're all like that.
Thanks for joining us this hour today.
BERMAN: "LEGAL VIEW" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right after a break.
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