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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Will Jury's Decision Impact Music Industry?; Is The Fountain Of Youth On A Greek Island?

Aired March 11, 2015 - 16:30   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

Our world lead now, the fight against ISIS being waged with force on the ground and with words in Congress today, Secretary of State John Kerry facing down senators from both sides of the aisle who have problems with President Obama's plan to deal with the terrorist group, this as U.S. and coalition bombers flew missions inside both Syria and in Iraq overnight, hitting 15 terrorist targets in total, they say.

And they say joint Iraqi forces, some 30,000 combined fighters from the military, as well as those Shia militias won back an ISIS- controlled hospital in Tikrit, we are told. But as Iraqi forces made headway there, in Ramadi, which is much closer to Baghdad and where the U.S. military presence still looms large, there, Iraqi officials say ISIS terrorists have that city flanked and attacked from all directions early this morning.

Let's get right to CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Barbara, as all this was going on in the Middle East, here in Washington, D.C., on Capitol Hill, the secretary of state and the defense secretary testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, they took a lot of heat.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They did.

This was a hearing about a little bit of bureaucracy, should there be a new authorization for the use of military force, but the reality on the ground, of course, is what really counts. Now the U.S. actually welcoming Iran's involvement inside Iraq, and suddenly talk again about, how far would the U.S. military go to protect those Syrian rebels it's planning to train?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): North of Tikrit, 23,000 Iranian-backed Shia militia troops gaining ground, hoisting flags, patrolling and retaking the town, a hint today that the U.S. role could grow, the Pentagon looking at a possible no-fly zone over parts of Syria to protect U.S.- backed rebels from being attacked by Bashar al-Assad's forces.

GEN. MARTIN DEMPSEY, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF CHAIRMAN: We have been in two rounds of discussion with our Turkish counterparts about that, and we are continuing to develop that option. It was always my advice that we had to come to some conclusion to assure them that they would be protected. Now, the scope and scale of that protection is the part of this that's being actively debated.

STARR: The president's top diplomat and defense secretary on Capitol Hill Wednesday to push Congress to give the White House new authority to fight ISIS, promising again that the U.S. does not want to send combat troops or make the fight a U.S.-only one.

JOHN KERRY, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The implications of that would be actually to aid in the recruitment, to create a bigger problem than we face today, and that's what they want. And we are not getting suckered into that.

STARR: Iraqi troops still cannot conduct large-scale operations on their own, Iran's help and influence, however, a major worry for the president's top military adviser.

DEMPSEY: There is ways they can wield it to promote a better Iraq economically, for example, and there's ways they can wield that influence to create a state where the Sunni and the Kurds are no longer welcome.

STARR: The secretary of state acknowledging the U.S. and Iran do share a goal.

KERRY: They would welcome our bombing additionally ISIS, actually. They want us to destroy ISIS. They want to destroy ISIS.

STARR: In Ramadi, ISIS undeterred, releasing images of what it claims are its attacks, more than 150 rounds of mortars and missiles, nearly 20 car bombs.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: So if you had to protect those U.S. trained Syrian rebels on the ground, exactly how would you do it? The president has ruled out ground forces in Syria, of course, U.S. ground forces. And if you wanted to do it from the sky, with U.S. air patrols, officials are telling us you would need new additional legal authority for those kinds of missions.

There's no authority for U.S. bombers to strike Assad targets inside Syria. It's only getting more complicated day by day, Jake.

TAPPER: Indeed. Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thank you so much.

Even if administration officials and Iran make for an unlikely tag team on the battlefield against ISIS right now, Republicans in the Senate making clear in a letter that they will not be cooperating with the president's push to try to work with Iran to walk them off the nuclear ledge; 47 Republican senators, as you know, shepherded by freshman Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, sent a letter direct to Tehran's leaders.

And today, Secretary of State John Kerry told his former colleagues on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that that document left him in -- quote -- "utter disbelief."

I want to bring in the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee.

Sir, thanks for being here, as always.

You said that you knew right away this letter was not -- quote -- "going to be constructive."

Do you fear that your colleagues did more harm than good by sending this letter to the Iranian leadership?

SEN. BOB CORKER (R), TENNESSEE: You know, Jake, the only way we are going to be successful in getting us to a place where we have the ability to vote on this is for me to keep focused on the task at hand.

So I know there will be a lot of editorials and thoughts about some of the -- there has been a lot of drama, as you know, on a lot of issues over the last 10 days, but I want to keep focused on this very important matter of Congress being able to weigh in. I will let others, if you will, determine some of the pluses and minuses over the last week.

TAPPER: A key partner in the coalition fight against ISIS, of course, Kurdish forces. One of your Republican colleagues in the Senate, Rand Paul of Kentucky, said today that the U.S. not only should send weapons straight to the Kurds, but promise them their own country. Could you get behind either of those proposals?

CORKER: We have a lot of people here that have strong opinions about a lot of things.

I was just in Irbil. I met with the leaders of the Kurds. I met with the head of the Peshmerga. I think for us to be getting involved in constitutional issues of a sovereign country like Iraq by declaring that we need to be breaking apart the country maybe is not a place we need to be today. But I certainly respect each senator to have their own opinion regarding those kind of things.

I know this. All of us -- and maybe what -- maybe what Senator Paul was referring to, maybe in a way a little differently than I would, but the fact is that they are our friends. The Kurds have done remarkable things in pushing back ISIS, retaking some of the oil fields that they had gained. They have been great fighters. They have been friends to the United States from the day we entered Iraq. And I think maybe he was just -- may have been just displaying certainly the respect that we have for them.

TAPPER: Of course, it would be very problematic for the U.S.' Iraqi allies and Turkish allies for the U.S. to get behind an entire country for Kurdistan, whether or not it should exist theoretically.

CORKER: And there's that minor detail, too.

TAPPER: Right.

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: ISIS put out another propaganda video touting its alliance with Boko Haram. How real or not that is, is, of course, up for debate. But on Capitol Hill today, the secretary of defense, Ash Carter, was asked about it. And I want to play for you what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The AUMF would cover such groups that associate with or fight alongside if they also have the intent of threatening Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: He's saying the authorization for use of military force, or AUMF, that you all are debating right now in terms of fighting ISIS could theoretically create a situation where the U.S. goes into Africa after Boko Haram. Yes?

CORKER: Yes, he gave a two-part answer.

The first part was showing an affiliation with ISIS that was real, and so maybe what they have done is that. It's hard to determine at this point. But, secondly, he was making a clarification, if they are a threat against not just the U.S., but later in his testimony, any of our coalition partners.

So, obviously, as these groups affiliate, much like what has happened with al Qaeda a decade ago, as they affiliate, they become potentially part of the groups that we could go after. And that's what makes this AUMF debate so difficult.

I think you know, Jake, that with the AUMF language that has been sent up by the president, there's not a single Democratic vote for that. Let me say that one more time. Not a single Democratic vote exists for the AUMF the president has sent up. Nor, in fairness, is the president putting out any effort to convince people otherwise.

So you have that kind of response today. And so, on the Democratic side, they are worried about this morphing into other countries, whether it's Libya or other places. On the Republican side, there's a concern that maybe we are limiting our abilities to actually deal with entities like this.

So we have an interesting debate. I think we are unified in wanting to deal with ISIS, but the legalities of how we go about it and authorize it, certainly, we have got a lot of work to do.

TAPPER: Senator Bob Corker, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

CORKER: Thank you. Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up: many in the music industry today shocked by a jury's decision that the artists behind the hit song "Blurred Lines" stole it from Marvin Gaye. What's going on? Well, they say this will have disastrous consequences for all musicians.

Plus, two vans carrying precious jewels attacked by armed men, the thieves getting away with more than $9 million worth of jewelry, and now a massive manhunt to find the suspects -- all that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: The Money Lead, you knew it was coming, that catchy hook over an upbeat, already familiar tempo. It may just change how artists make music. Love it or hate it, the beat, throwback nod to the '70s, was the summer hit of 2013 but "Blurred Lines" is blurring the lines over song inspiration.

Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams must now pay $7.4 million unless they appeal. A jury decided "Blurred Lines" sounded too much like Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit, "Got To Give It Up." Gaye's family today announcing they are seeking an end to the sale and distribution of the song unless of course, they reach an agreement with Thicke and Pharrell on how to split the profits.

Christopher John Farley joins me now, senior editor at the "Wall Street Journal" and author of "Game World." Christopher, good to see you as always. First let's compare the two. I want you to listen to the introductions of both songs lumped together, no lyrics.

(VIDEO CLIP)

Now, Pharrell Williams admitting that "Blurred Lines" channels the '70s feel and he looked up to Marvin Gaye. My question is where's the line between inspiration and just stealing?

CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY, SENIOR EDITOR, "WALL STREET JOURNAL": Here's the thing. The music industry is built on love and theft. In fact, Bob Dylan once had an album called "Love and Theft." You go back through music history. James Brown borrowed from Little Richard. Michael Jackson borrowed from James Brown.

Justin Timberlake borrowed from all of them. If you read the biography of Marvin Gaye, "Divided Soul," in the book, Marvin Gaye acknowledges that he actually was inspired by the 1976 hit "Disco Lady" by Johnny Taylor in writing his song "Got To Give It Up."

So everybody is influenced by somebody else. The question is, is it theft? Do you cross the line or is it just love? Is it just a homage to someone, past heroes?

There are a lot of questions in the music industry that this verdict maybe goes too far and perhaps will intimidate artists in the future from borrowing from the people they really love.

TAPPER: Of course, this isn't the first time it's happened. There was a similar case, Sam Smith, "Stay With Me," which sounded like Tom Petty's 1989 hit "I Won't Back Down." Let's take a listen to those similarities.

I guess, you know, this is nothing new, as you discussed before, Christopher, back in the '80s, Hewey Lewis settled with Ray Parker Jr. Lewis saying the Ghostbusters song sampled his song. Most of these cases settled out of court. Are you worried that this "Blurred Lines" verdict is going to inspire more lawsuits?

FARLEY: Of course, this is only one jury. It's not the Supreme Court. We have to wait and see how big an impact this has on the industry as a whole. Of course, Sam Smith had to acknowledge that he borrowed some of that music from Tom Petty and Jeff Lynn and their song "I Won't Back Down" and now they are included in the song writing credits.

Sam Smith still got to walk away with an armload of Grammys at the last Grammy Awards ceremony. You can still be a big winner, still embraced by radio and by fans, and still have to acknowledge someone you worked with borrowed from somebody else.

The difference is they settled that very quietly with Tom Petty. This is a big public show with "Blurred Lines" and Robin Thicke and Pharrell.

TAPPER: We have heard of people from the recording industry expressing serious concerns about this verdict. How serious do you really think it is? Is this really going to be -- have a chilling effect on creating music?

FARLEY: Well, here's the thing. You can't dance to litigation. It's not fun to dance to. The industry has found out with the whole file sharing mess, you try to sue people out of existence, when music become about suing, about lawsuits, about litigation, it really has a chilling effect on the music industry as a whole.

Again, we have to wait and see what happens here, but it isn't a good path to go down. The music industry is in trouble right now. They are looking for a new business model to replace physical albums and downloading. It looks like streaming albums and streaming music isn't going to cut it.

There's not enough of a revenue source there. They have to figure out a way to make that work. Now there's this whole new element that creators of music are paying an homage to past music ended up in court and ended up being sued is not a good look for the music industry.

TAPPER: Christopher John Farley, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

French police on the hunt for bold thieves who managed to steal more than $9 million worth of jewelry. It took about 15 men reportedly to pull off this heist. No shots were fired.

Instead, police say thieves pulled up alongside two security vans at a toll booth about 100 miles south of Paris. They used some sort of gas on the drivers, and then took off with the vans with the jewelry inside. Police found the vans scorched and abandoned not far from the toll booth. Officers are combing through what's left for any clues.

Coming up next, the place where living to see your 100th birthday is not that strange. Our own Bill Weir traveling to this tiny island to ask have these people found the fountain of youth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back to THE LEAD. The Buried Lead now, the quest to find the fountain of youth. The average man that lives to be 76 years old in the United States, 81 for women, on the Greek island of Icaria living past 100 years old is not unusual.

There, very few older people are depressed, very few have dementia. What's the secret? CNN's Bill Weir is of course exploring everything and that too on "THE WONDER LIST" this week. Bill, how is this possible? What's going on in this island?

BILL WEIR, CNN HOST, "THE WONDER LIST": Well, it's interesting. By quirk of sort of geography and geology and the winds, the modern life kind of passed them by. They didn't get their first telephones until the early '80s. They have lived in sort of blissful ignorance of how we live and as a result, are living much healthier, much happier lives.

TAPPER: You asked others on the island if they see younger generations continuing this tradition, this process of living that long. What do they think?

WEIR: They say no. That's kind of why we went. This is one of these so-called blue zones where people live to be 90 or 100 at a rate far greater than the rest of us. You understand why. You get there and realize there are a lot of combinations of little things but one of the biggest things is their isolation.

Now that they have discovered the glory of junk food and binge viewing their favorite TV shows, social media, no need to get off the couch like in the old days, they're worried that this could be the last generations of centenarians to live this well, this long.

TAPPER: You also consulted medical experts to talk about this. Did genetics have anything to do with it or is it just location?

WEIR: Well, what's surprising is genetics is about 25 percent of your longevity. Up to 75 percent, the best science tells us is how and where you live. The choices you make. And surprisingly enough, there is a blue zone in the United States, in the bustling suburbs outside of Los Angeles, believe it or not. And we will get into that as well on Sunday night to see how you can build your own little blue zone wherever you happen to land.

TAPPER: Blue zones are places where people for whatever reason live longer?

WEIR: Yes, exactly. A bunch of sort of demographers and doctors started looking for these pockets. Every time they found one, they would circle it on a map in blue ink. So Okinawa, women live longer than anywhere else, it's amazing.

TAPPER: All right, Bill Weir, always a pleasure. See the secrets to a long life on "THE WONDER LIST" with Bill Weir, this Sunday night, 9:00 right here on CNN. Great show, don't miss it.

Also today, the dangers of live reporting caught on camera. Check this out. This reporter is in South Africa about to go on air and about to get mugged. He says at first he didn't realize what was going on, but that all became really clear when the crew saw a gun. The thieves swarmed the reporter and his producer.

You can see the reporter trying to fend off the guy behind him. The group got away with a cell phone, more than one cell phone and a laptop. Luckily no one was hurt. Police showed up shortly after. The reporter seemed to be in high spirits, later joking it's all in a day's work.

That's it for THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper. Turning you over to Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM."