Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Ted Cruz's All Night Talk-A-Thon; No Meeting For Obama and Iran's President; Police Seek Answers In Kenya Mall Attack; Pope Benedict XVI Answers Critics; New Home Sales Up 7.9 Percent In August; Push To Regulate E-Cigarettes; Does Chicago Need The National Guard?; Defending Obamacare

Aired September 25, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: -- they did not like green eggs and ham and they did not like Obamacare either. They did not like Obamacare in a box with a house or with a fox or a mouse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Ted Cruz's all day and all night long talkathon in its 19th hour now. It's your government at work, folks. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT HASSAN ROUHANI, IRAN: I bring peace and friendship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Iran's president reaching out directly to you, but never exchanging a handshake with America's president. So how serious is Iran about working with the United States.

And they offer this as a safer alternative to tobacco, but now the makers of e-cigarettes, electronic cigarettes are under fire. Critics want to know why some of them are exploding. The second hour of NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with what some are calling Washington's version of those famous Ted talks, only this one doesn't feature entertainers, CEOs or scientists. No, the star of this Ted talk is none other than Texas Senator Ted Cruz who is in the midst of a marathon speech against Obamacare.

Let's bring in CNN's chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash. She is live on Capitol Hill. At last check, Senator Cruz was talking about "Star Wars."

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He's moved on from that, but I have to say I just spent some time inside the Senate chamber, which is pretty empty. There's a smattering of tourists there, as you can imagine, a lot of press. At that point there was only one of his colleagues with him. He looks pretty good, Carol, certainly a lot better than I would if I were standing and talking or at least standing for 19 hours.

He just sort of set the scene. He's got papers strewn all over the desk. You can't really see that here. He's got lots of binders that he's been reading from on the floor. He's got a pretty weary looking staffer next to him. Hopefully they have been rotating throughout the night. But look, he has certainly been trying to pass the time with some -- with a lot of substance, but he has been trying to put some pop culture references in.

He talked about Ashton Kutcher. He was reading Dr. Seuss. But this morning, he had maybe the kind of biggest doozy when it comes to interjecting pop culture and maybe some exhaustion in what he's trying to do here and it was about "Star Wars." Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: I will confess that phrase, rebellion against depression conjured up to me the rebel alliance fighting against the empire, the empire being the Washington, D.C. establishment and indeed immediately on hearing that phrase I wondered if at some point we were going to see a tall gentleman in a mechanical breathing apparatus come forward and say in a deep voice, Mike Lee, I am your father. This is a fight to restore freedom to the people. This is a fight to get the Washington establishment the empire to listen to the people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And now, of course, there's a lot of theatre here. That is kind of the whole point of Ted Cruz standing and talking and getting a help of a handful of his colleagues throughout the night. But what's he doing? What's the whole purpose of this? What he has been doing and what this is all about is he has tied defunding Obamacare to a must pass spending bill.

The government will run out of money and shut down on Monday night at midnight if that doesn't pass. Much to the chagrin of, as he says, the establishment, the empire, even in his own party, he has tied this together even though he knows he does not have the votes. He wants to make a point. That's why he's going on and on and on.

Let's listen to the substance of why he says he's so against Obamacare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: They said it was doomed to fail. The House of Representatives would never pass a continuing resolution condition on defunding Obamacare. It wouldn't happen and then last Friday, the House of Representatives did exactly that because courageous House representatives stuck their heads out and a leadership and action for which I commend them. Listen to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now, this is a talk-a-thon. It is not a traditional filibuster that people might be used to in watching the movies where somebody stands and talks and talks until they drop and that delays the progress and the process on the Senate floor. This is already prescribed, Carol. When the clock strikes noon, the Senate will technically reset, the new day will begin and he's going to have to stop talking for the procedural things like perhaps the pledge and the prayer.

And then there will be about an hour, he might go back to the floor to talk and then we'll see the vote, this first key procedural vote, which we know, because his own party's leaders are against them and most of the people in his party never mind Democrats are against him. It will fail.

COSTELLO: OK. We'll keep watching. We'll join a little later. Dana Bash reporting live from Capitol Hill.

Despite both Iran and the United States calling for a new era of cooperation at the United Nations, President Obama and President Hassan Rouhani did not meet yesterday. They didn't even shake hands. White House officials say that's because the meeting was too complicated for Iran. Iran's president says he is open to negotiations though. He insisted Iran's nuclear program is peaceful though the U.S. and others accused Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour asked the Iranian president about that and more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In broad, what is it that you're willing to do to inspire confidence? I know I've asked you this already, but I don't hear you saying -- maybe I don't understand, but clearly what people want is full transparency. So is Iran, yes or no, willing to give that level of confidence that there is no doubt that what you say you're doing you're actually doing?

ROUHANI (through translator): Over 40 countries have enrichment capacities and many of them have ongoing enrichment operations. What is the difference between Iran and those countries? Now there are countries that have not even accepted the MPT or even agreed to work with the IAEA that Iran has accepted and is committed to the MPT. Iran has accepted and committed itself to the safeguards agreement. All of its activities are under the supervision of the IAEA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is at the United Nations. So we know that President Obama and the Iranian president will not meet or shake hands or anything like that, but there will be some meetings between Iranian officials and U.S. officials, right?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Correct, yes. That will be on Thursday. John Kerry will attend a meeting with the P5 Plus One. That includes Germany and the permanent five members of Security Council, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif will also be at that meeting. That is a high level bit of diplomacy there and it's about getting Iran's nuclear program diplomacy back on track as quickly as possible.

Barack Obama mandating Kerry to take the lead in those talks, but many people was still trying to work out precisely what the tone of Hassan Rouhani was yesterday. You heard very positive measures, talking to Christiane there. He also went on to roll back on his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's very negative comments suggesting the holocaust may have been a myth by saying it was reprehensible and condemnable what the Nazis did against the Jews.

But also if you look through his speech at the U.N., many focused I think on his desire for peace. He kept saying for Iran to be moderate, for there to be direct talks but within that, too, there was a lot of staple Iranian vocabulary against the West, against Israel and perhaps the meeting didn't happen because of the hardliners back in Tehran were against it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from the United Nations this morning. Thank you.

Checking other top stories this morning, it's about 9 minutes past the hour. Kenyan investigators are still looking into a deadly terror attack on a mall and those responsible. Authorities are questioning 11 people they have in custody. Kenyan forces killed five terrorists, 67 other people died in the attack.

In another development, Kenyan police have arrested a British man trying to board a flight. We don't know if he's been linked to the flight, but a source says there was no record of the man entering the country.

Retired Pope Benedict XVI breaking his silence, he's written a letter to defend himself against critics who say he mishandled sex abuse cases in the Catholic Church. The pope emeritus is claiming I never tried to cover things up. Then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger covered all abuse cases for the Vatican.

Closing arguments resume this morning in Los Angeles for the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial. Lawyers for the concert promoter, AEG Live, will address the jury. On Tuesday, a Jackson family attorney argued that AEG Live hired the doctor who gave Jackson a fatal dose of propofol. He wants the jury to award $85 million to each of Jackson's three children and $35 million to go to Jackson's mother.

A key segment of the economy seems to be looking up. We've learned yesterday home prices have jumped and now this just in, new home sales rose 7.9 percent last month. Alison Kosik has more on that from the New York Stock Exchange. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So yes, this is yet another solid report for the housing market. This number, 7.9 percent rise in new home sales for the month of August coming in line with estimates. You have to put it in perspective. August is still considered the peak selling season for homes. It's actually at the end of it. So this could be possibly the end of seeing these kinds of jumps in new home sales.

But this is quite a jump when you look at July when there was a drop of more than 14 percent in sales of new homes. Now, that drop had a lot to do with mortgage rates. They took a little bit of a jump on the expectation that the fed would cut back on the amount of stimulus that's been pouring into the financial system.

Analysts say now look what will happen. Mortgage rates could trickle down a little bit now that the fed is holding off on tapering. Just want to put this number in perspective. It's a good number, but we've still got a long way to go. Look how new home sales peaked in 2006, actually more than 1 million new homes were being sold per year. The normal is at 700,000.

As you look at the chart, we are currently well below what you normally see on the far right. We're kind of moving along there. So we're seeing improvement. We're not quite back up to where we were but the question is, do you really want to be at that rogue stage where you're seeing home sales go crazy. You want to see it right in the middle. That's the sweet spot. Nonetheless, Carol, housing is certainly one of the strongest areas of the economy -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I'll take it. Alison Kosik reporting live from the New York Stock Exchange, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, electronic cigarettes are gaining in popularity, but now some say they suddenly explode. We'll look into that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Manufacturers claim that e-cigarettes are a safer alternative to tobacco, but the danger may not be limited to the inside of your body, you know, to your lungs. Because some people say electronic cigarettes have exploded, causing some major injuries.

Now attorneys general from 40 states are calling on the FDA to issue regulations. Pamela brown is in New York with more. Good morning, Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. E- cigarettes are booming in popularity especially among kids, largely because they are unregulated, unlike regular cigarettes, but now troubling incidents reported by people who say these battery-powered devices actually blew up are putting e-cigarettes under even more intense scrutiny.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was screaming saying, mommy, get me, get me.

BROWN (voice-over): It's an image of her 3-year-old son, Connor, Kinzie Barlow will never forget. KINZIE BARLOW, MOTHER OF BURN VICTIM: Seeing your child on fire and then screaming help me is pretty terrifying.

BROWN: The culprit, according to Barlow, the e-cigarette. She was charging it in her car when suddenly --

BARLOW: I heard Connor screaming in the back seat.

BROWN: Connor suffered first and second degree burns and will make a full recovery, but still the incident is troubling.

LYNN SCHOFIELD, PROVO, UTAH FIRE MARSHAL: The catastrophic failure of the device and fortunately only minor burns, but painful burns.

BROWN: And it's not the first of its kind. This woman in Georgia said that her e-cigarette exploded inside her home while it was charging.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It shook the house up. I screamed.

BROWN: CNN obtained three additional safety complaints from the FDA since 2009 relating to e-cigarette explosions.

THOMAS KIKLAS, CO-FOUNDER, TOBACCO VAPOR ELECTRONIC CIGARETTE ASSOCIATION: You look at the preponderance and the percentages and with the electronic cigarettes with three that I'm aware of over almost a billion charges. I don't think the numbers begat the worry at all.

BROWN: E-cigarette sales are poised to rake in $1.7 billion from an estimated four million users and research shows that and they are skyrocketing in popularity among children. Unlike regular cigarettes, they are not regulated.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I won't ever get another one of those and I have several friends that use them and I have told them I wouldn't -- I would throw it away.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: And an official with the FDA tells us that e-cigarettes, along with other tobacco products, will be regulated on the federal level and a proposal could come as soon as October. In the meantime, it's up to the states to regulate their use. Four attorneys generals in various states sent a letter to the FDA urging them to regulate it the same way as other tobacco products. We could see a change come very soon.

COSTELLO: We'll be watching. Pamela Brown, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, more shootings, more murders. And General Rusell Onoray calling on Chicago to welcome the National Guard, but the Chicago police are balking. We'll tell you why, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: We've been talking a lot about the continuing violence in the city of Chicago. Just yesterday on our air, General Russel Honore said you need to come in and have the streets clean for you. Only that will clean up your homicide rate. We wonder what the people of Chicago thought about that so we sent Ted Rowlands out. Here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After 3-year-old Deante Howard and 12 others were shot with an assault rifle in a park last week, people suggested that said maybe the National Guard needs to be sent out.

GENERAL RUSSEL HONORE, U.S. ARMY (RETIRED): The city of Chicago making news headlines places like Pakistan, Iraq and now Kenya on the same level something has to be done.

ROWLANDS: The guard is normally used after disasters, like Hurricane Katrina or more recently the flooding in Colorado. It's up to each state's governor to mobilize the guard. In 1970, the Ohio guard was sent to Kent State University during Vietnam War protests.

And in 1992, the California guard was used to help restore order during the Los Angeles riots. While sending in the guard to help police in Chicago is technically possible, Governor Pat Quinn tells CNN it's, quote, "not an option." And Chicago police say they don't need the help.

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says he needs tougher gun laws and harsher penalties for those who break them. An example, he says, is last week's shooting where one of the gunmen was not sent to prison after being caught with an illegal weapon last year.

GARRY MCCARTHY, CHICAGO POLICE SUPERINTENDENT: If the state wants to give us some help, then give us some gun laws out of Springfield that are going to help, have an impact on what is happening in the streets of Chicago.

MONIQUE DAVIS, ILLINOIS STATE LEGISLATOR: It's drastic and it calls for drastic action. Bring in the National Guard.

ROWLANDS: State Representative Monique Davis whose district is on Chicago's south side thinks the city should ask for help.

MONIQUE DAVIS, ILLINOIS STATES LEGISLATOR: They are shooting innocent people who are playing baseball, playing in the park, riding a motorcycle, walking to school.

ROWLANDS: Others think the idea of the National Guard patrolling the streets of Chicago is ridiculous.

DIANE LATIKER, KIDS OFF THE BLOCK: We do crazy things, but we are people and I just don't why the community can't be invested into all of the money that it's going to bring the National Guard. At some point they are going to have to leave and then what? You're still left with the same issues.

ROWLANDS: The fact is, homicides and shootings are down 20 percent this year compared to last. But as long as 3-year-olds are getting shot in parks with assault rifles, there will be demands with something more to be done. Ted Rowlands, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Senator Ted Cruz taking a stand, literally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRUZ: I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I'm no longer able to stand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: He's entering his 20th hour. He may be facing an uphill battle as many Republicans refuse to support his bid to strip health care of its funding Obamacare. A live report from capitol hill next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. A big political drama playing out on the Senate floor with the U.S. economy and your take home pay on the line with five days to go before the government shuts down, Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is trying to rally support to defund Obamacare.

In the meantime, the president is turning to its closer, Bill Clinton, to get one final push for the signature legislation. The health care exchanges are opened for business next Tuesday. Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is in Washington at the White House. Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Getting back to Senator Ted Cruz's reference to star wars, I guess you could say the rhetoric here in Washington will be making the jump to light speed when White House Press Secretary Jay Carney takes the podium. That's the first we'll hear from the White House in response to the filibuster-like speech.

Meanwhile, the president has pretty powerful allies on his side as they are responding to Cruz and efforts to defund Obamacare. This White House is talking about the benefits of health care reform.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (voice-over): From Washington, it was the late show with Ted Cruz as the Republican senator seized control of the Senate floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The senator from Texas.

ACOSTA: To deliver a marathon speech. Hour --

CRUZ: I intend to speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.

ACOSTA: -- after hour.

CRUZ: All right, so let me read some tweets.

ACOSTA: Tearing into Obamacare, a law he wants to take down once and for all in exchange for funding the government.

CRUZ: The American people are frustrated because their elected officials don't listen.

ACOSTA: At times --

CRUZ: I love this story and so I'm going to read it to you.

ACOSTA: Veering off subject.

CRUZ: I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I am.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama.

ACOSTA: But up in New York, President Obama was putting on a show of his own with Bill and Hillary Clinton to make one in a series of upcoming sales pitches on his health care law.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Those who have opposed the idea of universal health care in the first place and have fought this thing tooth and nail through Congress and through the courts and so forth, have been trying to scare and discourage people from getting a good deal.

ACOSTA: But Obamacare faces a key test. In less than one week on October 1st, new online marketplaces open for business across the country, giving the uninsured their first shot at buying into health care plans.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: What we want to make sure of is that everybody in every category, every age group, understands why health insurance is important, understands why they should sign up.

ACOSTA: But Cruz and some other Republicans say they'll only vote for a measure that averts a government shutdown if it also defunds Obamacare.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defund Obamacare!

ACOSTA: The problem for the Tea Party Texan, Senate Republican leaders have all but abandoned Cruz's failing quest.

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: I just don't happen to think filibustering a bill that defunds Obamacare is the best route to defunding Obamacare.