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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Violence in Egypt; Two Killed in Alabama Plane Crash; Jesse Jackson, Jr. Sentenced to 30 Months; Two Dead in UPS Cargo Plane Crash; Bradley Manning Apologizes in Court

Aired August 14, 2013 - 16:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Blood runs through the streets of Egypt.

I'm Jake Tapper and this is THE LEAD.

The World Lead. The fuse was lit weeks ago. Now Egypt is exploding. The deadliest day in that country since the 2011 revolution. Has the promise of that movement disappeared forever?

The national lead, a UPS plane breaks in half on the ground in Birmingham, Alabama. The pilot and co-pilot are both killed. Why have we see so many crash landings in the recent weeks?

And the buried lead. Do you recognize this person? I will give you a hint. It has something to do with the largest intelligence leak in U.S. history and the person who spilled America's secrets, well, he was hiding a personal secret as well.

Good afternoon. I'm Jake Tapper. Welcome to THE LEAD.

We will begin of course with the world lead. Here's a heartbreaking text message -- quote -- "Please, my darling, I'm worried sick. Tell me how you are." That was a mother's text to her 26-year-old daughter who was helping the injured in Cairo, and it was a text message that would never be returned. The young woman was just one of the 211 people killed in Egypt today, according to state TV, as Egyptian security forces stormed two camps filled with people who still support ousted President Mohammed Morsy. This is the deadliest day in Egypt since the revolution in 2011 that brought Morsy to power.

It's now just after 10:00 p.m. in Cairo. A curfew has been in effect there for three hours following a day full of scenes like this one. That was an armored police vehicle you just saw thudding to the ground reportedly pushed off a bridge by supporters of Morsy's party, the Muslim Brotherhood. They are clashing with forces of the interim government who have opened fire in the streets.

Egypt declared a month-long state of emergency this morning. Secretary of State John Kerry this afternoon condemned the violence, calling for a prompt transition to a civilian-led democracy.

And Secretary Kerry also had this lament.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The promise of the 2011 revolution has simply never been fully realized. And the final outcome of that revolution is not yet decided. It will be shaped in the hours ahead, in the days ahead. It will be shaped by the decisions that all of Egyptian's political leaders make now and in these days ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: An administration official tells CNN that the U.S. is now thinking of canceling a military training exercise with Egyptian forces next Monday.

Today's violence led Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, regarded by many as a voice of moderation in Egypt, today to resign as vice president of foreign affairs for the country's interim government.

The military installed that government after throwing Morsy out of power on July 3 in a coup that wasn't called a coup, at least not by the U.S. government. If the U.S. government were to call it a coup, the law says the U.S. would have to cut off the $1.5 billion in aid that it gives Egypt every year.

It's been a dangerous day in Egypt for journalists as well. Mick Deane, a cameraman for Sky News, was killed by a gunshot to the chest. a Reuters photojournalist was also wounded by a bullet, and our own Arwa Damon and her CNN crew had to take cover when this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At the same time we have...

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: And senior international correspondent Arwa Damon joins us now live from Cairo.

Arwa, we're so glad you and your crew are all right. Has the curfew managed to quiet the streets down there?

DAMON: Well, it's certainly managed to empty them. Yes, when we compare it to the levels of violence, the clashes that were taking place, the gunfire we were hearing earlier in the day, it most certainly is quieter, but this is by no means over.

We had been seeing the clashes intensifying and spreading throughout the entire capital during the course of the day. These pro-Morsy demonstrators, the deposed president's supporters are absolutely refusing to go back home. We saw them repeatedly trying to regroup, in some cases move forward, break through the ranks, or at least attempt to break through the ranks of the riot police to reach the main sit-in area, and in other cases we have seen them set up established new sit-ins. That's where the incident happened with the gunfire, where they were trying to take over another square, another site. They even managed to arrest makeshift barricades there. They have already set up a stage, have a field clinic in place that they say has already treated hundreds of Morsy supporters, many of them with gunshot wounds.

And everybody just as determined as they have been all the along, they say, to keep taking to the streets, so they're absolutely refusing to back down at this stage.

TAPPER: It sounds like what you're suggesting is today may only be the beginning of more violence, as opposed to the end. I know you can't predict the future, but is that what suggestions are on the street there and in Egypt?

DAMON: That is the great concern. And that is really the source of natural -- actually tension here, because the supporters of Morsy are not going home. We have seen them take over yet another square in Cairo. That is eventually going to have to be cleared.

They're still calling for people to march, to take to the streets as well. The issue is not that they're just clashing with security forces, but they're clashing with residents in some of these areas as welcome who have grown absolutely fed up with these ongoing demonstrations, finding them incredibly disruptive to daily life, so the government, the interim government has to not only figure out a way to keep these demonstrators off the street, but also moving forward, it's going to have to navigate a mechanism to bring the Muslim Brotherhood back into the political fold, because moving forward, if Egypt is really going to be built upon a solid and sustainable foundation, it will have to be an inclusive government.

TAPPER: All right, Arwa Damon, thank you so much. Please stay safe.

Abdul Mawgoud Dardery is a member of the pro-Morsy Anti-Coup National Alliance and he joins me now on the phone.

Thank you so much for joining me, sir.

And 211 people have reportedly died in the streets. Have you been in touch with Morsy or with anyone who has been in touch with Morsy? What is his reaction to what happened today?

ABDUL MAWGOUD DARDERY, ANTI-COUP NATIONAL ALLIANCE: Let me first thank you for having me.

And the state -- the Egyptian state TV has always been lying about numbers. We're not talking about hundreds. We're talking about 2,500 people, 2,500 that are killed and about 10,000 or more that are injured.

Let me send please my condolences to those who are killed, and let we wish a speedy recovery for those who are injured. And let me wish freedom, justice and the rule of law for the rest of Egypt. Sir, this is the worst crime committed against the Egyptian people. This is state terrorism. It's a crime against humanity. You cannot kill peaceful protesters who believed in democracy, who believed in the ballots. And you kill them by the bullets. That is not acceptable. That is not the democracy we understand all over the world.

As far as President Morsy, who was elected by the majority of the Egyptian people, no one knows his whereabouts for about 40 days now. We do not know where our president is. This is not going to work. The coup, please don't call it Egyptian government, because it is not. It's a coup government that has to go away.

People in Egypt are determined to peacefulness, because this is our power. We condemn all forms of violence. It does matter who does it.

(CROSSTALK)

DARDERY: And we will continue in the sit-ins and the marches until the coup is over.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Mr. Dardery, do you know where President Morsy is right now?

DARDERY: No one knows, sir, except for the (INAUDIBLE) that is killing the Egyptian people.

TAPPER: Do you have any reaction to the resignation of interim vice president, Mohamed ElBaradei?

DARDERY: I do thank him for doing this. He should not have been part of this crime and this gang mentality of those people in power.

But Mr. ElBaradei is way different from those gang mentality that we have in Egypt. I do thank him and I wish the rest of the government, because if they don't, they are going to be held responsible. And these are not -- these are timeless crimes. They will be held responsible by the Egyptian people and by the international community.

And I call upon the civilized world. I call upon the United States. The step you took is small, but you can build on it. The United States is expected to condemn the coup. There is no recognition for the coup.

(CROSSTALK)

DARDERY: And the European Union has to (INAUDIBLE) to condemn the coup, so that we can live in democracy. We believed President Barack Obama when he told us that democracy is the way to go.

(CROSSTALK)

DARDERY: When we took democracy, we're being killed in the streets, sir.

TAPPER: Mr. Dardery, the last question I have for you is do you think the Muslim Brotherhood bears any responsibility for what's going on? We're told the clashes are sometimes not just between the protesters, the pro-Morsy protesters and the government, but also between residents who don't want them protesting.

And I don't want to go into the history of Morsy's rule, but obviously there are a lot of criticisms, and there were millions of Egyptians protesting against Morsy, against the Muslim Brotherhood. Do you really think the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't bear any responsibility for what's going on?

DARDERY: You see, it is almost like us blaming the victim, sir.

The Muslim Brotherhood members, not only -- it is not really the issue of Muslim Brotherhood. It's the majority of Egyptians now, we are doing the sit-ins for 40 days, not harming or hurting anyone. They were protesting the coup and they were saying to the rest of the world that democracy is the way to go.

If the military -- the military is orchestrating all this, and we know the history of the police state in Egypt. It orchestrates. The politics state used during Mubarak days to attack the churches and blame it on the Islamists. That's a tactic of corrupt regimes. That's a tactic of a police state. That will not be accepted by the Egyptian people or by the rest of the world.

TAPPER: Mr. Dardery, we thank you so much for calling in and we wish for peace in Egypt. Thank you.

DARDERY: Thank you, sir. Thank you.

TAPPER: What can the U.S. do?

I want to bring in Robin Wright. She's a Middle East analyst at the Woodrow Wilson Center.

Robin, let me ask you right off the bat, do you think the Muslim Brotherhood bears any responsibility? I don't want to blame the innocent victims who were killed today. Obviously, people should have a right to protest, but this isn't just a simple equation of the government doing wrong, although clearly the government is doing a lot of wrong.

ROBIN WRIGHT, SENIOR FELLOW, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Both sides have caught out actions in the past year that have offended the other side.

This is a society that's more polarized than any time I can remember since it became a modern state, since the monarchy ended. The divisions are so deep, it's really hard to see how Egypt moves on and heals, and that it doesn't get worse before it gets better.

TAPPER: Secretary Kerry made comments just a few minutes ago. Do you think that he needs to be doing more than what was said there in his remarks, which didn't seem to contain a lot of carrot-or-stick threats, although there was the subsequent suggestion that the U.S. might cancel joint military exercises with the Egyptian government. WRIGHT: The Obama administration has enormous questions to face in the next few days, in terms of what it does with the $1.5 billion in aid, particularly military aid that it provides to Egypt, and joint exercises, the kind of -- the nature of relations. There are a lot of economic ties as well. U.S. ships use the Suez Canal. There are overflight rights. There are a whole ranges of issues that kind of have to be settled.

I think there's also going to be a lot of pressure from Congress to consider, what does the United States do? Does it call it a coup? What does it do about aid? So this is something that I think will be well with us until Congress gets back into the fall.

TAPPER: We will have you back to talk about it. Robin Wright, thank you so much.

Coming up next on THE LEAD, former Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife are sentenced to some serious prison time, but his wife may not be behind bars for years. Why not?

Plus, with a full-on assault of sugary soda, Coca-Cola comes out swinging, but now they're defending Diet Coke. That's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. Now, it's time for the national lead.

For 17 years, we called him congressman. Soon, we're going to call him prisoner. Jesse Jackson, Jr., the former Democratic congressman from Illinois, was sentenced today to 2 1/2 years in prison for spending $750,000 in campaign funds on personal items. His wife Sandy was also sentenced to a year behind bars for tax fraud.

Jackson, of course, is the son of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson. After court today, Jackson Jr. said he's owning up to what he did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JESSE JACKSON, JR., FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I still believe in the power of forgiveness. I believe in the power of redemption. Today, I manned up and tried to accept respond for the errors of my ways, and I still believe in the resurrection. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The Jacksons who have two children, will not serve their sentences at the same time. Jesse Jackson, Jr. has elected to do his time first.

In other national news, it lit up like a fireball. A UPS cargo plane travelling from Louisville, Kentucky, crashed near the Birmingham airport, early this morning, leaving the plane in pieces and killing the pilot and copilot. Fortunately, there were no injuries or damage to buildings on the ground.

The National Transportation Safety Board has a team on sight investigating the crash. It's the latest in a string of air traffic accidents like last month's Asiana flight 214 crash-landing in San Francisco that killed three people.

Should these recent strings of crash landings and close calls give you any sort of pause before boarding your flight?

Joining me now is Mark Rosenker. He's the former chairman of the National Transportation Safety board and is now a CBS News aviation and transportation safety analyst.

We thank CBS for giving you a hall pass, letting you here.

The first is, of course, the big question -- should people who fly regularly be concerned?

MARK ROSENKER, CBS NEWS AVIATION AND TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ANALYST: They shouldn't, Jake. Remember, up until July 6th when the Asiana plane crashed, there were nearly 50 million flights in the United States without incident, without accident.

TAPPER: All right. Let's talk about this crash specifically. Witnesses have described seeing the plane on fire before it hit, a sputtering sound. I know it's very, very early.

Is there any idea what that might mean? What are investigators going to be looking at?

ROSENKER: The NTSB has seen a very seasoned team of investigators. The first thing they're going to be looking for clearly is the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder. Those two devices are going to tell us a lot about what may have happened onboard this aircraft. But they're also going to be looking at other things. They'll be also looking at the engines. They'll be looking at the actual aircraft itself.

They've got a team that's going to be dealing in operations -- a team that will deal in weather, a team that will be dealing with air traffic control. Lots of experts are going to be looking at this, asking a lot of questions, trying to get a lot of answers.

TAPPER: Now, these cargo flights take off often at night because that's when cargo is moved. Are there more crashes at night than there are during the day?

ROSENKER: Not necessarily. Remember, this particular accident happened around 5:00 in the morning. It was on approach. What's interesting is the last three big airplane accidents that have occurred over the past five to six weeks have occurred on approach.

So, questions are going to be asked about that. Is there anything in common? We don't know yet.

TAPPER: I also want to ask you about that horrific crash of an Airbus in Connecticut. A pilot and his son crashing into a house, killing two children. How frequently does that happen? ROSENKER: That's also very extraordinary. These things do not happen often -- although we see about 1,500 general aviation accidents. These are small airplanes like Cessnas, like Beech, like Pipers, and this was a Rockwell, small -- relatively small aircraft. We don't see them falling into houses very often.

TAPPER: All right. Mark Rosenker, thank you so much. We look forward to having you on again soon, appreciate it.

The NTSB will be holding a press conference in the next hour, and we will bring that to you live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD.

Some breaking news now: Bradley Manning just apologized in court as he waits to learn how long he'll spend in prison for leaking 750,000 classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks

Quote, "I only wanted to help people, not hurt people", the army private said. His lawyers are using an e-mail Manning sent to his sergeant to fish for leniency. It includes a picture of Manning wearing a wig and make up, and writing about a, quote, "problem" that's haunting him, causing great pain and confusion.

I want to bring in on the phone, our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence, who was in the courtroom as this dramatic scene unfolded.

Chris, describe what you saw when Mr. Manning took the stand.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, Jake, unlike earlier times in the courtroom where Bradley Manning had been relatively stoic, this time, he was choked up, he was soft-spoken and he basically issued an apology. He said, "First, your honor, I want to start by saying I'm sorry." He said, "I understood what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't appreciate the broader effects of my actions."

He now says he should have worked more aggressively inside the system and he says, "I look back and wonder how on earth could I as a junior analyst hope to make some of the changes that I thought I could". He was choked up.

And this follows pretty gripping testimony from his sister who described being 11 years old on the day that Brad Manning was born, their parents were alcoholics, and growing up in that household. At one point the attorney asked her who took care of Bradley as a baby, and the sister said, "I would. If he cried in the middle of the night, I'd get up, make the bottle and rock him back to sleep."

The attorney asked her again, why did you have to do that? She responded, "My mom wasn't getting up. My dad wasn't getting up." And again, at the time this was an 11-year-old girl having to do this.

So, for this part of the testimony, we got an inside into Bradley Manning as he is today and a better idea of what made him into the man who made the decisions that he did -- Jake.

TAPPER: And, of course, this as they're trying to get the judge to not impose a harsh sentence upon him. Very quickly, if you would, Chris, what's the reasoning behind the defense -- Manning's defense showing this picture of him with a woman's wig on?

LAWRENCE: Because they are trying to hammer home the idea that he had gender identity issues. And we heard a military psychiatrist testify to that effect, saying he was identified to them with a gender identity disorder, that he should not have been in Iraq, he should have been sent home, he should not have been deployed. And, basically, they're contending that the Army dropped the ball by not identifying some of these problems earlier.

TAPPER: All right. Chris Lawrence, thank you so much.

Let's check in with our political panel there in the greenroom. Carly Fiorina, Tracy Souffle (ph) and Olivier Knox.

Mr. Knox, I'm going to come to you. Mr. Knox, Hillary Clinton getting a new office in Manhattan, at the Clinton Foundation? Politics aside, ever a good idea for a married couple to share an office?

OLIVIER KNOX, YAHOO NEWS: For me, great. More time with saintly wife.

For her, I don't know. I guess the only upside is she wouldn't have to follow me on Twitter to know what I was up to.

TAPPER: All right. I'm going to ask you the question when the cameras are not on. We'll see what you say.

The Politics Lead is straight ahead. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

The Money Lead -- nothing is more reassuring that when a company has to take out an advertisement promising you that its product is safe. Coca-Cola -- Coca-Cola defending itself in France after sales take a hit. What will it take for you to have a Diet Coke and a smile again?

The Politics Lead -- some tough love from one of the new co-host of CNN's "CROSSFIRE" telling his own party it's not enough to just be anti-Obama anymore. Will the GOP listen? Should the GOP listen?

And the Pop Culture lead -- the family with the most famous beards since ZZ Top is back. A brand-new season of the reality TV smash "Duck Dynasty" starts tonight. It's on A&E. But will you see one of the Robertsons on C-Span as well soon, gaveling in a congressional hearing?

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