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Obama, British P.M. News Conference; Containing Fallout from Massacre in Afghanistan; Santorum's Southern Sweep

Aired March 14, 2012 - 12:00   ET

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

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from CNN headquarters in Atlanta, where it's 12:00 noon, 9:00 a.m. in the West Coast, I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

I want to bring you up to speed for this Wednesday, March 14th.

White House Rose Garden, that's right, you're looking at live picture. President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron, that's where they're going to speak any minute. We're going to have it live here on CNN.

And, of course, stay afterwards as well. I've got my colleagues and friends on the set. Wolf Blitzer, Gloria Borger, to talk about everything from Afghanistan to gas prices.

Rose Garden news conference just minutes away.

And containing the fallout from a massacre. That is what Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is trying to do right now. He made an unannounced trip to Afghanistan, to visit with American troops and the Afghan tribal leaders.

A U.S. soldier allegedly gunned down 16 civilians over the weekend. Investigators now are trying to find out if the suspected shooter was drunk during this killing spree.

Meanwhile, rage echoing throughout the country. A roadside bomb exploded in Helman province. That happened this morning. Eight people dying in that blast.

Rick Santorum -- well, he is counting his wins. Mitt Romney counting delegates. Santorum is coming off a Southern sweep, Alabama and Mississippi.

He says it's proof that Romney is not the inevitable Republican nominee. He's played down talk about this delegate math. Romney did win the Hawaii caucuses. His campaign says it's all about the delegates.

Latest CNN estimate shows that Mitt Romney with more than twice as many delegates as Santorum.

So what does Mitt Romney mean when he says he's going to get rid of Planned Parenthood? Romney's campaign says he's talking about cutting off federal dollars. But the Democrats at Planned Parenthood, they've jumped all over the remarks. They suggest he wants to do away with the group altogether.

Here's what Mitt Romney said programs that he would cut to balance the budget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My test is pretty simple. Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? On that basis, of course, you get rid of Obamacare. That's the easy one. But there are others. Planned Parenthood, we're going to get rid of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Tragedy on a highway in Switzerland -- 28 people are dead, 22 of them children. It was a bus crash and the bus was on its way back to Belgium from a ski trip. It slammed into a tunnel last night. Now, Belgium's prime minister calling it a tragic day for Belgium.

Actor and activist, George Clooney, he's on Capitol Hill today. He's testifying about the crisis in Sudan. Now, Clooney says that the government is attacking its own people there. He visited the region and says he saw for himself the government engaged in war crimes.

Clooney told my colleague, Soledad O'Brien, he has satellite from the region's Nuba Mountains to back up those claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: We have a satellite up in the air. Digital Globe was nice enough to donate and the imagery for us to be able to keep an eye on these people. What we've been lucky enough to catch in the last few weeks are Antonovs dropping bombs on innocent civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: In just a minute or two, President Obama will appear with British Prime Minister David Cameron in the White House Rose Garden.

I want to get my friends and colleagues in here, Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger, to talk about what we are anticipating, what we are expecting here.

Always glad to have you on the set.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see.

MALVEAUX: Good to see you.

Let's start off first, Wolf, with Afghanistan. These two leaders here -- obviously, they have a lot at stake, a lot invested there, U.S. troops, British troops. The goal right now: to get them out by 4014.

BLITZER: 2014.

MALVEAUX: 2014 rather.

The one thing that they are debating in the White House, however, is perhaps an earlier withdrawal, perhaps 2013. Is there any daylight between these two world leaders?

BLITZER: I suspect there probably is. I think the British would like to get out more quickly presumably as well. But they're going to show a commonsense right now, a common purpose, if you will.

They're very -- they are getting very close, these two leaders. We saw that earlier this morning, the arrival ceremony on the South Lawn on the White House. I think they have a good rapport and obviously the United States and Britain are the closest of allies.

So, there is probably some distance the British would like to get out more quickly. But I think the U.S. is beginning to catch up.

As you know, Suzanne, there's a lot of pressure right now. It's not looking good in Afghanistan. The situation seems to be going from bad to worse. It's very, very expensive. Spending a few more hundred million dollars -- billion dollars, I should say, to maintain that U.S. troop level. Public support is quickly eroding.

MALVEAUX: And, Gloria, you've been watching the Republican candidates. Do they see an opening here? Do they have a dramatically different position when it comes to Afghanistan?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it depends on which candidate you're talking about. If you're talking about Ron Paul, he should have been home yesterday. If you're talking about Mitt Romney, Mitt Romney says that the president in announcing some kind of a timetable is doing the wrong thing.

Look, we've got about 90,000 troops there, 22,000 are due to come home in September. I think the wiggle room between David Cameron and President Obama is the question of what's the schedule for the remaining drawdown of American and British troops and could that potentially be speed up to a certain degree.

MALVEAUX: And we know for these two leaders, they are buddies. I mean, they get along pretty well. It's not all business when we see these world leaders.

BLITZER: The basketball game last night.

MALVEAUX: That's what I want to show you guys, the NCAA. They were both in Ohio.

BORGER: We were working last night, right?

MALVEAUX: I want to play this clip here. I want you guys to see this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Americans and Brits speak the same language most of the time. Let me just say, David, we are chuffed to bits that you are here. But I'm looking forward to a great matter. I'm confident that together we're going to keep the relationship between our two great nations absolutely topnotch.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: All right. He also talked about -- that was a different clip when he was trying to be all British and everything.

BORGER: Topnotch, yes.

MALVEAUX: But they also went and he talked about bracketology. And Cameron was very funny because he seemed to really need -- he said he was very confused. It was a little too fast, the game. The last go around, I think they played table tennis last year when he visited Britain.

But h important is it that these two leaders have a personal relationship as well?

BLITZER: I just noticed -- and, Gloria, you watched as well, you were a former White House correspondent. So, you can see when American presidents have a good rapport with a visiting leader as opposed to an adequate rapport, as opposed to not such a good rapport.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BLITZER: And contrast the body language of what was going on between them the prime minister of Britain and the president of the United States, and last week, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu and the president of the United States. They spent a lot of time together, Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama, but you didn't feel in their public statements any of the warmth, any of the friendship thaw felt today and last night with David Cameron.

MALVEAUX: Tat's what I like to call is working relationship.

BORGER: Right. I also think it's generational. And also -- don't forget some of the people who helped Cameron in his campaign from Barack Obama's campaign, too. So, they seem to have a lot in common, and I think they're friends. I think they are friends.

And I think that's why the president seemed to be able to be relaxed and joke this morning as you showed in the rose garden about the Brits as he called them. It's a good relationship between these --

MALVEAUX: I want to bring in -- I understand we have Jessica who's at White House.

Jessica, if you would, set the scene for us there. I know there are going to be questions about these two leaders. We're talking about the importance of Israel, whether or not Israel in fact would attack Iran over nuclear weapons and these two leaders, their points of view on that as well as Syria and Afghanistan.

What do you think is the going to be the first question out of the gate?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, let me tell you first that these two leaders will have come from about a two-hour meeting that began with one on one meeting that lasted, we're told, for at least 30 minutes, just the two of them. And sources here tell me that the president will begin with an opening statement where he'll talk about the discussions about Iran, Syria, and, of course, Assad and then, of course, Afghanistan, and the upcoming nature of the shift in mission there.

We have been talking about this now for some days. And the president, I'm told, will address the fact that at the upcoming NATO summit, which is happening in May, they will be deciding on a future course of action, where they will need to discuss the way in which the U.S. and rest of the NATO allies will take a coordinated move from shifting from a lead combat mission to supporting, both training and combat, there in Afghanistan. And that is something that he and the prime minister have discussed. We're told here today.

And in addition, Suzanne, expect some jokes about bracketology. I'm told that unfortunately the president had to help the prime minister pick his final four because the prime minister's original teams included Arsenal and Manchester United.

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: Well, that's OK. He can use a little help in that area.

You know, they have a good relationship and obviously there are some serious subjects as well.

What do we suspect -- you know, this is an opportunity for the president to really differentiate himself from the Republican candidates. He's got the pomp and circumstance, the pageantry that we saw there in the South Lawn earlier in the day. How does he balance what he's doing in terms of foreign policy and getting things done and campaigning?

YELLIN: Well, it's a plus because the president has the attributes of the White House and the power of the commander-in-chief, and his team believes that this is all strange for him, there is, you know, usually a Democratic is -- national security is a detriment for most Democrats in the campaign trail historically. And for this president, they believe that's not the case because of his success, not just with Osama bin Laden but with in general the war on terror, targeting al Qaeda operatives but also the success in Libya and in other areas.

Now -- so this is not something that he shies from these moments, are high moments for them, we believe.

The one thing I'd point out, Suzanne, is that this may be the best moment for the president right now because there are so many challenges ahead in the coming months between now and Election Day that world tensions could dissemble around him into very ugly international problems.

So, he could be at the height of his power as commander in chief and it could get much worse for him between now and Election Day. Who knows?

MALVEAUX: All right. Jessica, stay with us, if you will.

I want to turn a corner, because Jessica made a really point about the policy, the foreign policy. It's one of the areas that he can actually get something done.

I want to turn to Syria. We see the carnage day in and day out. Hundreds and hundreds -- now we're talking about, you know, nearly 900,000 people killed during the course of the year. We've heard from the Prime Minister Cameron who says that he wants a peaceful transition, not hard.

Is there anything that President Obama and Cameron can do together as world leaders to get rid of Assad? They've talked up, but is there anything --

BLITZER: One is the United Nations Security Council, it's not going to pass a resolution, as it did with Libya a year ago.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BLITZER: The Russians and the Chinese are vetoing any such resolution. They're not going to have what they call the international support they need, even though a lot of the members of the Arab League are ready to take a divisive step but they're looking for that kind of U.N. authority and they are not getting it.

Unless the Chinese and the Russians change their mind, I guess the only thing that they can continue doing is to tighten the diplomatic pressure, the sanctions, and all of the rhetoric, if you will. But it looks like Bashar al Assad is not backing down at all. If anything, he is accelerating, intensifying that crackdown.

BORGER: You know, Kofi Annan was over there.

MALVEAUX: Yes.

BORGER: He didn't seem to make any progress. And I think, again, it's the sense that you cannot do this unilaterally. And even people who believe that we should act right now as we did -- and Libya say, you know what, John McCain, for example, says, you know, this is something that you need to do in concert with others.

And so, right now, as long as the Security Council has stalled, it's just tightening the noose. And that's the same question by the way, these two gentlemen are going to discuss when it comes to Iran.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BORGER: How do you handle Iran? Do you know Cameron is calling for stronger sanctions? Will they work?

BLITZER: On Iran, they have more support from China --

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: -- and Russia than they do as far as Syria is concerned.

MALVEAUX: All right. We're going to take a quick break. We'll get back to you guys as well. We're still waiting for President Obama to arrive in the Rose Garden. We'll have a joint press conference, take a few questions from the reporters there and deal with some of the immediate issues.

We'll take a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: All right. So last night was pretty fun. It's interesting to watch. It wasn't as late of a night as we've seen but clearly, it was somewhat surprising.

BLITZER: It was a great night for Santorum.

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. The Southern sweep looking forward -- what do you think this means? He keeps splitting the conservative vote.

And Romney -- where does Romney go from here?

BLITZER: You know, Romney actually -- when you add up the delegates that he got in Hawaii and in American Samoa, plus the delegates he did get in Mississippi and Alabama, he had a better night delegate-wise than Rick Santorum did.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BLITZER: Having said that, he lost. He came in third in Mississippi and Alabama. As a result, that's a setback in terms of the political momentum. It's a huge, huge win for Rick Santorum.

It's a significant loss, a major loss for Newt Gingrich. He really was hoping to move from South Carolina, which he won, to his home state of Georgia and then continuing to Alabama and Mississippi. He didn't do it.

He says he's staying in the race. But, you know, if you take a look at the delegate count, how poorly he's done in so many other states right now, it's only a matter of time.

MALVEAUX: Gloria, what's the strategy behind that? The fact that he's staying in, because some people believe -- some of those behind the scenes, they believe it's personal. It's bad blood.

BORGER: Yes, it is personal. He's very upset at some of the negative ads that Mitt Romney ran against --

BLITZER: But you know what? It's ironic because if he stays in the race, that helps Romney --

BORGER: He helps him. Well, that's the thing.

BLITZER: If he leaves the race, that hurts Romney.

BORGER: If I were Romney, I would contribute to Newt Gingrich's campaign and say, please continue on because he needs Newt Gingrich to continue to split the vote with Santorum.

BLITZER: Because the people doubt Newt Gingrich.

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: Then it's really Santorum, versus Romney. A two man race, like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Ron Paul has not won a state yet. He's way, way, way behind. He's only won a few delegates.

BORGER: And the Gingrich people have hinted that some kind of alliance for Santorum. What's it in it for Santorum to have an apply generals with Newt Gingrich? Santorum is really the one who wants Newt Gingrich gone, not Mitt Romney.

MALVEAUX: And the longer this thing lasts, I mean, we saw at least when it was Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama -- Barack Obama became a much stronger candidate when he was faced with that extended fight time and time again facing her.

A lot of people don't think that that's working for Romney. That's he's a candidate --

BLITZER: Well, it's working for Santorum. Santorum is definitely getting better.

MALVEAUX: But Romney is being weakened by this process.

BORGER: Romney is not comfortable as a candidate and it's a problem. I mean, they may not have a message problem. They may have a candidate problem, and that's kind of harder to fix and to retool.

I mean, when you go in the South and you joke about grits and people feel, oh, my God, you're kind of being a little patronizing to me, or when you talk about your wife owning a couple of Cadillacs -- it's a candidate problem. Those are not lines that written in --

BLITZER: Romney should be -- you know, I mean, he's way ahead in the delegate count. He's doing much better. He's got a lot more delegates. He's better positioned mathematically.

But he said -- you know, by all accounts he should have so much more money, so much of a better organization than Santorum. Santorum didn't even get on the ballot in Virginia, which is a major stake. In Illinois next Tuesday there, 19 -- I think 17 or 19 congressional districts. And four or five of them, he's not going to be on the ballot. He didn't get the paperwork done.

MALVEAUX: Right.

BLITZER: He didn't meet all the requirements. What does that say about his organization?

MALVEAUX: Not much.

BLITZER: So, he should be -- Romney should have put it away a long time ago. The fact that he hasn't speaks well of Santorum, not necessarily his organization. But he's got a lot less money but he's probably a better retailer campaigner.

MALVEAUX: And, Jessica, I want you to weigh in here, if you would, because this is something that the White House -- White House officials are looking at this and just loving it. I mean, where do they go from here? What do they think they're up against?

YELLIN: Well, the longer this primary campaign rolls on, the better it is for team Obama obviously because it means that the Republican candidate, whoever it is, we'll have to spend more money and time fighting this primary and not focusing on President Obama.

But in the end, Suzanne, you know, this battle is going to be fought in handful of battleground states, fighting for independent voter in the end and team Obama knows that, and they are focused on that and are trying to figure out who those independent voters are and target them now. So, they are out in those states and on the ground and online with their own messaging and a very sophisticated operation.

We're going to see them roll out documentary that tries to frame their own campaign narrative that comes tomorrow. Tomorrow is Thursday, yes, tomorrow.

Vice President Biden is going to hit Ohio with his own very pointed, real campaign message. You know, we've heard the president out, but he's sort of not named candidate and not really attack positions directly. I think Vice President Biden we'll have a very different, more pointed message tomorrow.

So, we'll really hear them unleash a campaign message I think starting tomorrow -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: Yes. No coincidence that Obama was doing the NCAA in Ohio, the important critical state of Ohio. All right. Thanks, Jessica.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We are awaiting a press conference with the prime minister -- British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as President Obama at the White House Rose Garden. It should be just minutes away and we're going to bring that to you live as it happens.

One of the things that we're focusing on is Afghanistan. We still don't know the name of the soldier accused of gunning down 16 innocent people in Afghanistan over the weekend. But we do know this. Investigators found alcohol near his quarters and now they are trying to find out if he was actually drunk during the killing spree.

Chris Lawrence, he's at the Pentagon.

And, Chris, thanks for joining us. First of all, this is going to be an issue, it's going to be conversation with the British prime minister. All people are looking at whether or not U.S. troops, British troops should get out any earlier in the timetable.

We're going to go to the Rose Garden. That's where they walking at the podium there.

(BEGIN LIVE EVENT COVERAGE)