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Manning Not Guilty of Aiding Enemy; Obama Unveils New Grand Bargain

Aired July 30, 2013 - 14:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Caused a Blue Rhino propane plant to explode in the dark of night.

Jail break. This inmate on the run after crawling out a window to his getaway car.

Plus --

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's hard for us to even think about the possibility of a (INAUDIBLE).

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BALDWIN: A young girl was enjoying her summer at a water park, but now she's fighting for her life as a parasite attacks her brain.

And a couple wins on a game show. Their prize? A baby. Wait until you hear what's behind that surprise.

Good to be with you here. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Just a short time ago, big, big news breaking. A military judge acquitted the Army's Bradley Manning of the most serious count against him. so Bradley Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy. That judge, female colonel, inside that Fort Meade courtroom convicted Manning of a number of lesser charges for the largest leak of U.S. secrets in history. Some 700,000 classified documents and videos and they included this nose-cone video shot in Iraq. This was back in 2007. It shows a helicopter attack on a group of men in which at least two civilians were killed.

Let's be clear, though, Manning faces years in prison for convictions that include multiple counts of violating the Espionage Act. With us now live from Washington is our chief Washington correspondent and host of "THE LEAD," Jake Tapper, but also from Fort Meade, Maryland, scene of the trial, our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence.

So, Chris, I'd like to begin with you. I mean you were in the room. Tell me about the moment the verdict was read and Private First Class Bradley Manning's reaction.

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, you know, we were sitting literally just a few feet away from Bradley Manning, you know, when the judge uttered those two words, "not guilty" on that most serious charge. The charge of aiding the enemy that could have sent him to prison for life without parole. He showed almost no emotion at that moment. He just looked straight ahead. In fact, he sort of carried himself with a military bearing through much of the trial and today, snapping to attention when the judge entered the room.

But later, after the 5-minute hearing was ending, I looked at him as he was turning to his lawyer and talking briefly with his lawyer and there was a slight smile on his face. A slight smile possibly of relief, even though he's facing some very, very serious charges. The most serious he has been acquitted of, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Chris, let me just stay with you because when you look through and you think about the videos and the documents, the leaks, the dossiers, you know, 700,000 plus, among them battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan, you had secret communications between, you know, U.S. embassies abroad and the State Department. The real question I guess I have is, did the prosecution ever offer any specific evidence as far as damage, damage the leaks might have done to national security?

LAWRENCE: It's a great question and it really probably goes almost directly to that charge of aiding the enemy, Brooke. There were two parts to this trial, the part conducted publicly that we could view, and the part conducted privately in secret that dealt with some of the classified material that could not be privy to the public.

The prosecutor, the government, never publicly produced any real evidence that real damage was done to national security above and beyond the embarrassment to State Department officials because of the revelations of what they had said in some of these cables, the embarrassment to some Pentagon officials over what had happened in some of these incidents, but no real evidence of serious harm -- specific harm to national security.

In fact, the prosecutors have been claiming they couldn't release a lot of these documents because they were confidential, that their request was too broad. And just last month, the judge agreed with the defense and ordered prosecutors, if they had it, to hand over any specific evidence, documents relating to specific damage to national security.

BALDWIN: OK. Chris, thank you.

Jake, here's my -- here's my other big question because, you know, really, if you read the papers this morning and the headlines were, you know, this could be really precedent setting for information that is leaked that is given to investigative journalists. Let me just read you something. This is what we saw on the WikiLeaks. They just tweeted, quote, "Bradley Manning's convictions today include five counts of espionage, a very serious new precedent for supplying information to the press, basic guide to honest reportage. Manning has not been found guilty but he has been convicted of supplying information to the press." I mean, are there -- it goes both ways, I suppose, because he's, you know, acquitted of the heaviest offense that could have sent him for life in prison. Yet at the same time, are journalists really fully, you know, breathing that sigh of relief?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you say, the charge of aiding the enemy, because of the idea, the concept that by providing information national security, confidential or secret information to the press, the enemy can read it. The idea that he was acquitted of that charge is significant because that would basically say that any reporter who prints a state secret or a national secret, because of the idea that a member of al Qaeda could pick up the paper or go on the Internet and read it, that is aiding the enemy, that was chilling.

But I -- you know, we still are in a world where the Obama administration is using the Espionage Act more aggressively than all other administrations before when it comes to going after people who leak national security secrets to the press. And even though Bradley Manning, Private Manning, is not facing the charge, was not convicted of the charge of aiding the enemy, he still faces, based on the 20 charges he was found guilty of, at least 130 years in prison combined. So it's not as though this is not a significant finding against Private Manning.

BALDWIN: And I think it's important to point out, in, you know, these court marshals, it's in two phases, right? So you have phase one, which was completed today. So we now know the verdict. Phase two, which begins tomorrow morning, is his sentencing. And I can't help but, you know, look at you. I'm thinking of his interview that I know you have on your show. I believe you're talking to the father of Ed Snowden today and that conversation sort of omnipresent as we talk about Bradley Manning. Granted, that would play out in a civilian, you know, courtroom if and when he ever returns to the United States. But it's just sort of a pervasive theme, right, this idea of espionage and serious charges?

TAPPER: The idea of individuals who are finding troubling what the U.S. government is doing --

BALDWIN: Yes.

TAPPER: Leaking the information to the press, leaking it to activists such as Julian Assange and WikiLeaks, and then facing the music. Yes, we will talk to Lon Snowden, the father of Edward Snowden, to get his reaction.

But, Brooke, one of the things you said is very significant when you asked Chris about what national security damage there has been. There was evidence that some of the WikiLeaks were in Osama bin Laden's compound. That's not to say that it effected anything, but they were found there. When the WikiLeaks first happened years ago, the White House and the Obama administration said this would mean that all of the Afghans and all of the Iraqis named in these WikiLeaks, named from battlefield reports as being cooperative, as working for U.S. authorities, that their lives were at risk. And that was something that I think a lot of journalists took very seriously. I've asked the administration a number of times, can they point to one example, even not telling me the name of the person, even not telling me any specifics that would bring out that person's ID, but can you give me any, any proof that that actually happen?

BALDWIN: And what did they say?

TAPPER: And they cannot. Or they have not at least. They have not been able to prove one -- point to one example of somebody who was hurt. Now, that's not to say it didn't happen.

BALDWIN: Right.

TAPPER: But it is to say that the administration tends to take a position, as do all administrations really, in saying, trust us, we know best. We know what's going on. We don't have to provide you with information to prove the claims that we're making. And so right now I don't know. I can't say for certain that all those warnings, that even one of them came to fruition.

BALDWIN: Jake Tapper, great sources, great conversation. We look forward to that interview coming up on "The Lead." Thank you for that.

Coming up here on this program, more than 50,000 tanks of propane, like the tanks you have on your grill in your backyard, explode into this giant fireball. Stunning video from the scene. More on that story and a possible cause.

Plus, happening right now just up the road from us in Chattanooga, Tennessee, you have the president. This is his fifth speech on the economy in seven days. What is this grand bargain that he is offering to Republicans ahead of perhaps a budget fight this fall? And how might Republicans feel about these words? That's coming up next.

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BALDWIN: As promised, let me take you to Chattanooga, Tennessee. There he is, the president. He is -- he's getting ready to pitch Congress on this so-called grand bargain on jobs. We're told the president will suggest cutting corporate tax rates. Something, you know, Republicans have definitely wanted. All the while, asking Congress to make more investments. Details are sketchy at this point.

The backdrop here, this is Amazon.com. This is a huge distribution center. Keep in mind, this is the world's largest online retailer. And they just announced adding 7,000 jobs ahead of the president. Let's listen.

(BEGIN LIVE COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are projects vital to our national pride. You know, we're going to be breaking ground this week at the St. Louis Arch. You know, Congress should pass what I've called my fix it first plan, to put people to work immediately on our most urgent repairs, like the 100,000 bridges that are old enough to qualify for Medicare. That will create good, middle class jobs right now. Right now.

And we should partner with the private sector to upgrade what businesses like Amazon need most. We should have a modern air traffic control system to keep planes running on time. We should have modern power grids and pipelines to survive a storm. We should have modern schools to prepare our kids for the jobs of tomorrow.

Number three, we need to keep creating good jobs in energy, in wind and solar and natural gas. Those new energy sources are reducing energy costs, they're reducing dangerous carbon pollution, they're reducing our dependence on foreign oil. So now's not the time to gut investments in American technology, now's the time to double down on renewable energy and bio fuels and electric vehicles and to put money into the research that will shift our cars and trucks off oil for good.

And let me tell you, cheaper costs of natural gas is a huge boost to our businesses here in America. So we should develop it even more. We've got to do it in a way that protects our air and our water for our children and future generations, but we can do that. We've got the technology to do it.

Number four, we've got to export more. We want to send American goods all around the world. You know, a year ago I signed a new trade agreement with Korea because they were selling a lot of Hyundais here, but we weren't selling a lot of, you know, GM cars over there. Since we signed that deal, our big three automakers are selling 18 percent more cars in Korea than they were.

So now we've got to help more of our businesses do more of the same thing. I'm asking Congress for the authority to negotiate the best trade deals possible for our workers and combine it with robust training and assistance measures to make sure our workers have the support and the skills they need for this new global competition. And we're going to have to sharpen our competitive edge in the global job marketplace.

You know, two years ago we created something called Select U.S.A. This is a coordinated effort to attract foreign companies looking to invest and create jobs here in the United States. And today I'm directing my cabinet to expand these efforts. And this October, I'm going to bring business leaders from around the world and I'm going to connect them to state leaders and local leaders like your mayor, who are ready to prove there's no better place to do business than right here in the United States of America.

Number five, let's help more than -- let's do more to help the more than 4 million long-term unemployed Americans that are out there. You know, one of the -- one of the problems that happens is, a lot of folks, they lose their jobs during this really bad recession, through no fault of their own. They've got what it takes to fill that job opening, but because they've been out of work so long, employers won't even give their application a fair look. So I'm challenging CEOs to do more to get these Americans back on their feet, and I'm going to bring together the CEOs and companies that are putting in place some of the best practices for recruiting and training and hiring workers who have been out of work for a long time but want the chance to show that they're ready to go back to work.

And, you know, at the same time, I'm calling on our businesses to do more for their workers. You know, Amazon is a great example of what's possible. What you're doing here at Amazon with your career choice program pays 95 percent of the tuition for employees who want to earn skills in fields with high demand. Not just, by the way, jobs here at Amazon, but jobs anywhere. Computer aided design or nursing.

You know, I talked to Jeff Bezos yesterday and he was so proud of the fact that he wants to see every employee at Amazon continually upgrade their skills and improve. And if they've got a dream they want to pursue, Amazon wants to help them pursue it.

That's the kind of approach that we need from America's businesses. You know, offering training programs, health care, retirement plans, paying better wages. That's not just the right thing to do, it's actually good for your bottom line. A recent study shows that when a company makes the list of the 100 best companies to work for in America, its share price outperforms its competitors because, you know, the stock market and investors, they know if a company that has employees that are motivated and happy, that business is more likely to succeed. That business is more likely to succeed. And because nobody who works full time in America should have to live in poverty, I'm going to keep on making the case and fighting for the fact that we need to raise our minimum wage because right now it's (INAUDIBLE) than it was when Ronald Reagan took office.

You know, when folks have more money in their pockets, that's good for Amazon. It means your customers have a little more money. They can order a little more of that protein powder. I noticed a lot of folks were ordering protein powder. Everybody's trying to get bulked up.

So here's -- those are some of the ideas that we're out there, we're promoting. We're not lacking for ideas, we're just -- we're just lacking action, especially out of Washington. You know, for most of the past two years, Washington has just taken its eye off the ball when it comes to the middle class. And I'll tell you, look, there are a growing number of -- the good news is, there are a growing number of Republican senators who are trying to work with Democrats to get some stuff done. That's good news. The bad news is that rather than keep our focus on what should be our priority, which is growing our economy and creating good middle class jobs, we've seen a certain fraction of Republicans in Congress hurt a fragile recovery by saying that they wouldn't pay the very bills that Congress racked up in the first place, threatening to shut down the people's government if they can't get rid of Obamacare. Instead of reducing our deficits with a scalpel, they get rid of programs that we don't need but keep vital investments that we do.

You know, this same group has kept in place this meat cleaver called the sequester that is just slashing all kinds of important investments in education and research and our military. You know, all the things that are needed to make this country a magnet for good, middle class jobs, those things are being cut. And these moves don't just hurt our economy in the long term, they hurt our middle class right now. The independent Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cuts that are being made right now in Washington will cost our economy 750,000 jobs this year, 900,000 fewer jobs next year. And a lot of the jobs at risk are at small businesses that contract with our military or our federal agencies.

Over the past four years, another 700,000 workers at the federal, state, and local levels of government have lost their jobs. These are cops and firefighters. About half of them are people who work in our schools. Those are real jobs. It doesn't help a company like Amazon when a teacher or a cop or a firefighter loses their job. They don't have money to place an order. That's hundreds of thousands of customers who have less money to spend. If those layoffs had not happened, if public sector employees grew like they did the past two recessions, the unemployment rate would be 6.5 instead of 7.5. Our economy would be much better off and the deficit would still be going down because we'd be getting more tax revenue. So the point is, if Washington spent as much time and energy these past two years figuring out how to grow our economy and grow our middle class as it spent manufacturing crises in pursuit of a cut at all costs approach to deficits, we'd be much better off. We'd be much better off.

And it's not like we don't have to cut our deficits. As a share of the economy, we've cut our deficit by nearly half since I took office. Half. And they're projected to go down even further. But there's a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it and we should do it in a way that actually helps middle class families instead of hurts them.

I have told Republicans, if they're serious about a balanced, long- term fiscal plan that replaces harmful budget cuts that would get serious about a long-term plan that prevents those 900,000 jobs from being lost, that helps grow the economy, that helps the middle class, I am ready to go. But we can't lose sight of our north star. We can't allow an impasse over long-term fiscal challenges to distract us from what the middle class needs right now.

So here's the bottom line. If folks in Washington really want a grand bargain, how about a grand bargain for middle class jobs? How about a grand bargain for middle class jobs?

(END LIVE COVERAGE OF THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH)

BALDWIN: And there you hear it, the two words we were waiting for, the two words that the White House had said the president would be uttering here at this Amazon.com distribution center, "grand bargain." But specifically a grand bargain for the middle class.

I mean we sat here a week ago and saw him speaking in another city. This is the fifth speech on the economy that the president of the United States has given in seven days. He wants to grow jobs. He wants to grow the middle class. We've heard this ever since he was running for president the very first time.

Want to have a whole conversation about what this means and what this could mean as we look ahead to fall. Let me bring in these two ladies, Gloria Borger and Christine Romans.

And, Gloria, since we have been hearing so much from the president talking about the Republicans, trying to perhaps get a jump on what could, you know, let's call it a possible kerfuffle budget wise this fall, what is the olive branch specifically that the president's offering?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, he's calling it a grand bargain. And I'm telling you, the Republicans don't think it's grand and they're saying it's no bargain, OK. So what the president is saying is, look, we all want to reduce the corporate tax rate. That's been discussed. But it's been discussed in the context of overall tax reform. I think the clear feeling at the White House is that you're not going to get tax reform.

So what they're saying is, OK, let's reduce the corporate tax rate, but let's get the revenues we get, this sort of one-time windfall from doing this in the short term, and let's plow that money into fixing infrastructure in this country or job creation in some other way. So he's saying to Republicans, OK, I'm going to do that, but I'm going to spend this money on things that need to be done. And Republicans are saying, not so fast.

BALDWIN: Christine, what did you make of the points he made? He sort of ticked off one through five. The fifth saying, hey, you know, I'm getting some CEOs together. We want to have CEOs and businesses help grow jobs. What jumped out at you?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST, "YOUR MONEY": I mean I've heard this before.

BALDWIN: Yes.

ROMANS: I really have. In talking to the CEOs, he had a jobs council, remember, that was quietly disbanded, urging CEOs to spend money and to create jobs. He was urging here CEOs to attack long-term unemployment, that we need their help to get people who have been out of work for six months or longer back into the workplace. We haven't seen that happening yet.

So I'm seeing from the president a lot of proposals I've heard before. But put together and positioned and postured, really, for the kerfuffle, as you put it, that we're probably going to see with the Congress later this fall, he talked about some things that I think you can get some Republicans behind. Enhancement to the power grid, air traffic control upgrades, infrastructure, bridges, stuff like that. Those are things that people can get behind and think, we can create jobs and we can invest in the economy at the same time. The politics of it and putting it together with corporate tax reform, that's what's new.

BALDWIN: OK. So as we hear about these possible things, Jessica Yellin, let me bring you in, because, you know, listen, I'm hearing these ladies tell me, and I've sat here and I've listened, you know, we've heard these proposals before. We've heard these ideas. What is this really about, Jessica Yellin? We know how the Republicans feel about this. We know they want to cut the corporate tax rates. But the president is trying to get a jump on the fight this fall. Is he trying to be the hero for the middle class? Is that what this is? JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You've got it, Brooke. What he's trying to do is frame the discussion about debt and spending before it happens so that it's not just about big numbers and it's not about the size of our deficit and the size of our debt exclusively, it's also about what do Americans want the money to be spent on? And so he's trying to get ahead of that conversation and talk about priorities and talk about things like investing in jobs that can create higher wages down the line so that he can be -- his values and priorities are a piece of the conversation.

There are complications in it because, for example, he's visiting the kind of place that creates lower wage jobs and so there's all sorts of, you know, noise in the background around his message. But the megaphone here is about, do you want investment and do you want it to be about jobs or do you only want to talk about shrinking government in the future?

BALDWIN: So much we have already heard and more to come. More to come. Jessica Yellin, Christine Romans and Gloria Borger, thank you three very, very much.

Want to get to a story here that's breaking right now. We're getting word to us here at CNN that a car has crashed into a day care. Into a day care. Reports of serious injuries. Emergency crews are on the way. More on that after the break.

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