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Kerry On Iraq; Coldest Temps in 20 Years; Flu Outbreak Spreads Across U.S.; Obama Pushes For Benefits Extension; Senate To Vote On New Fed Boss; Obama Prepares NSA Reform; Rodman In North Korea

Aired January 06, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, my own sense, based on my interviews of a lot of folks who had a direct role in all of this, it seemed to me -- correct me if I am wrong, Fouad; you were my professor of Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University, so I obviously respect you a great deal.

It seems to me that Nouri al-Maliki and the Shiite-led regime in Baghdad, they were much more anxious to develop a cooperative relationship with Ahmadinejad in neighboring Iran than the U.S., which had invested so much blood and treasure in trying to help Iraq.

FOUAD AJAMI, SR. FELLOW, STANFORD'S HOOVER INSTITUTION: You know, Wolf, that's the tragedy, if you will, of Shiite history in Iraq. The Shiite had a chance. They could govern Iraq in harmony and in cooperation with the other communities in Iraq. They could govern Iraq in a federal project in harmony with the Sunnis in Anbar and with the Kurds in the north.

Nouri al-Maliki chose a different path. And the appetite for him grew with the eating. He has become a dictator and we now find ourselves tethered to Nouri al-Maliki. And Nouri al-Maliki is bidding for a third term this coming April as prime minister when the constitution of Iraq specified two terms as the limit.

And he runs in April, a candidate of the supreme leader in Iran and of President Obama, and of none other than Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. Nouri al-Maliki has been the great, great disappointment of the struggle for a new Iraq.

BLITZER: And Iraq seems to be falling apart pretty much right now. It was totally, totally predictable, these tensions between tribal leaders, between Sunnis and Shiites and Kurds, going on for centuries, if you will, but it's obviously coming to the fore once again right now. Fouad, thanks very much.

AJAMI: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Still ahead, a very different story; if you don't have the flu, count yourself lucky right now. The outbreak has more than doubled from 10 to 25 states. We will tell you who is especially at risk.

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BLITZER: Now to the bitter cold that's gripping much of the nation here in Washington right now, at least for now, a balmy 41 degrees. But take a look; here's what it looks like in Minneapolis, wind chills there, get this, they could hit 50 below, which means you could be just five minutes from frostbite.

A similar story in Chicago all the way to Nashville, Tennessee. In fact, in Atlanta, they have already closed city schools for tomorrow. Let's check in once again with Alexandra Steele, she's tracking it all from the CNN Severe Weather Center.

What does it look like out there over the next 24 hours, Alexandra?

ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All right. Let's show you. Let's start in the Deep South and also kind of address the Northeast. And in the Midwest, we have hit 50 below for wind chills. Even more than that. Currently in Atlanta, it feels like 11. Feels like 4 in Birmingham. Those numbers pale in comparison to the Upper Midwest. The 40 and 50 below wind chills. But for the South, this is substantial. Especially tomorrow morning, you heard Wolf just say, the schools are going to be closed tomorrow. Low temperature in the morning will be 7. First single digits since 2003. If it goes 2 degrees colder than that, to 5, it will be the coldest since 1985 here in the Southeast.

But here's the good news. Memphis at 16. Warms to 45 by Wednesday. Atlanta, Georgia, as well, in the 40s by Wednesday. Still below average. But doubling where we are now.

All right, the Northeast today in the 40s. The cold front moving through, as we speak. The colder air funneling in behind it. By 5 o'clock tonight, dropping 20 degrees into the 20s and 30s.

But here's what happens for you, Boston. Tomorrow is your coldest day and kind of the axis of the cold polar air for you. High of only 18 tomorrow. 25 on Wednesday, only 14 in New York tomorrow. Down from the 40s. Here's the good news, Wolf. Here's Saturday, want to show everyone it gets back up into the 40, 50s and 60s. Relief is in sight. The Northeast just has a very brutal cold 48 hours.

BLITZER: We'll suffer a little bit and then we'll enjoy. Thanks very much, Alexandra, for that.

The flu is spreading across the country right now. If you didn't get a flu shot, it's not too late.

But who needs them most? Who faces the greatest risk from this current outbreak? Let's check in with CNN's Elizabeth Cohen.

ELIZABETH COHEN, SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's that time of year again, when the flu season starts to come to a peak. If you think the flu is something you just need to worry about if you're over 65, think again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COHEN (voice-over): In just one week, the number of states reporting widespread flu has more than doubled from 10 states to 25. Among the victims of the flu so far this season, 25-year-old Ann Phillips Stwan (ph) from South Bend, Indiana, who passed away on Christmas Eve.

And 5-year-old Ronan Berges (ph), who died in Portland, Oregon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing a lot of illness in young adults who may lack immunity.

COHEN (voice-over): Young people die from the flu every year, but this year it could turn out to be particularly bad, because the main flu strain out there is H1N1, what used to be called swine flu, and it disproportionately affects people under 65. But there is good news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So far, the main strain we're seeing is H1N1. Fortunately, that strain is well covered by every one of the flu vaccines out there.

COHEN (voice-over): That's right, H1N1 is in the flu shot, and it's not too late to get one. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the flu vaccine for nearly everyone. It does take two weeks for the shot to build up immunity, so in the meantime, it's especially important to remember to wash your hands.

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CONLEY: Now, parents need to remember that sometimes children will need two doses of the flu vaccine. If your child is 8 years old or younger, and this is their first flu shot, they'll need to get two doses. If they have already had a flu shot, they might need to get two doses. Check with your doctor.

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Elizabeth. Good advice as usual. Thank you.

Up next, the Federal Reserve is getting a new boss. The U.S. Senate about to vote on one of the most powerful positions in Washington.

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BLITZER: The holiday break is over for just about everyone, including the President of the United States. He's back here in Washington, D.C., from two weeks in Hawaii with his family.

And one of the first things on his agenda for the new year, he's ramping up the push to try to extend emergency unemployment benefits for a lot of Americans, 1.3 million Americans, to be specific. Jim Acosta is joining us from the White House right now.

I guess the question is, can the president get this done in the next few days? JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the question, Wolf. We can tell you that Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, made an appearance during the White House briefing in the last several minutes, and he was making the president's push and pitch for President Obama, basically saying that the president is now working the phone lines, trying to get the last remaining senators that he needs lined up to push this through the Senate.

There is a procedural vote that was expected to happen later on today. Not completely sure whether or not that vote will happen. It's expected to happen.

But at this point, Democrats, at least from what they're saying publicly, lack enough votes to get that through. They may need about a handful of Republicans to jump on board. So presumably, that's what the president is working on, trying to line up those additional senators to get them on board.

But one thing we should note, Wolf, is in the last 24 to 48 hours, you have seen Republicans indicate they might be willing to sign on to this. Rand Paul was on one of the Sunday talk shows yesterday, saying, well, if there are offsets, budget cuts offsetting the cost of extending these unemployment benefits for the long term jobless, that he would be willing to go along with that.

But Gene Sperling during this press briefing just a few moments ago said the president, no, he wants this passed with no strings attached.

And Wolf, one thing that we noticed, keeping in mind, this is the first press briefing of the new year here at the White House and the first we have heard from this White House really since President Obama held that year-end news conference late December.

Check out what was very different inside the White House briefing room, and that is the press secretary, Jay Carney.

Jay Carney came out, sporting a beard. Usually he is a clean-shaven press secretary. Not so much, Wolf, as you can probably tell. His facial growth there resembles a certain anchor at CNN. I'm trying to think of the name. It's just not coming to me right now, Wolf.

BLITZER: He looks very young. That beard, did he give an explanation why he grew the beard on his vacation, or did he just say it was time for a change?

ACOSTA: He said that his wife, Claire Shipman, who works over at ABC, said that she liked it. And that he was trying to resemble Mark Noeler (ph), a little bit, trying to follow the fashion trend of Mark Noeler (ph), who is a long-time correspondent here at the White House for CBS, who also sports a much healthier beard, we should point out.

But so new things happening over here at the White House in this new year, Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, if he keeps the beard, he can look forward to having it probably my shade at some point. I used to have a beard that color, but that was a while ago. So let's see how long he keeps the beard, and we'll move on from there.

Jim Acosta, thanks very, very much.

Let's move on to an important story here. Janet Yellen, she may be a political appointee, but what she does at the Federal Reserve will have a huge impact on all of our money. Alison Kosik is joining us from the New York Stock Exchange, right now.

She has a vote to be confirmed later this afternoon, around 5:00 pm, 5:30 pm Eastern. I assume she will be confirmed as the first woman to head the Federal Reserve. Alison, as you know, this is probably one of the top two or three most important jobs in Washington, D.C. She'll have an enormous impact on money, on markets.

What's the expectation where you are right now?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, you look at her job, and it's true. It's literally one of the most important jobs, I'd say, in the world. And when you look at the Fed, what it set out to do is really to have two main goals. It's supposed to keep unemployment low and keep inflation in check.

But now add one more to the list. Yellen is going to have to figure out how to unwind the Fed's massive stimulus program that's been going on for five years now, pumping trillions of dollars into the economy to try to get it moving.

So what could happen is as she tries to scale this program down, it could lead to higher mortgage rates, something that not a lot of people are used to after these rates plunged to record lows from 8 percent during the housing boom.

OK, and then there's unemployment. This is really her top concern. She has said that. Unemployment is above 7 percent. Has been for five years, despite all that money being pumped into the economy.

So if she is confirmed, Yellen's job is to get that down.

And then finally, there are interest rates. That affects you, it affects me. If you're taking out a car loan, you got a credit card, you've got to take out a business loan, interest rates are right there. So expect -- they're expected to stay at their historic lows.

But as the economy gets better, what Yellen is looking to do is to raise them. So if confirmed, she has got a big job ahead, and how to make the economy stronger.

Wolf?

BLITZER: She will clearly be one of the most powerful people in the whole wide world. You're absolutely right for that. Alison, thank you.

Here's an incredible claim from a long-time CIA lawyer and now an author. He says he could have stopped waterboarding before it ever started. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're getting some fresh trial balloons from the White House over reform at the National Security Agency. There are now some reports out there, the president is considering putting a public advocate on the secret security court for the first time ever. Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, has been working this story for us.

The president has got to make a major speech in the next few days or this month he will announce what reforms he likes, what reforms he doesn't like.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And we're hearing some of the things they have a more positive view towards.

One, as you mentioned, the idea of putting a public advocate on the FISA court, the secret court where these decisions are made. Because up to this point, really, it's just been lawyers making the case for the administration, and no one offering the counter argument.

When you look in the records, almost all the time, they give the administration and the intelligence agencies what they want. So to give some sort of counterbalance in that court.

Another possibility is the idea of moving this phone metadata from the hands of the NSA back to the private sector, which is something you'll remember that the president references as a possibility before he left on vacation.

But I spoke with Senator Bernie (ph) Sanders today, who as you know, is one of the most ardent critics of NSA spying. And he like other civil liberties advocates say that that's not enough. They want to see more. Even with these reforms, it leaves as the default setting the government gathering all this information with just some limitations as opposed to justifying it before they get it.

BLITZER: It's not just a liberal Democrat. He's an independent really, but he caucuses with the Democrats. Like Bernie (ph) Sanders. But Rand Paul, the conservative Republican senator, he is very outspoken and I want to play a little clip of what he said over the weekend.

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SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KY: I think personally he probably would come home for some penalty of a few years in prison which would be probably not unlike what James Clapper probably deserves for lying to Congress and that maybe if they served in a prison electoral together we would become further enlightened as a country over what we should and should not do.

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BLITZER: Basically suggesting General Clapper, who is in charge of the NSA, should be in a prison cell together with Snowden, who leaked all those NSA documents that is generating a lot of buzz out there.

SCIUTTO: That's right, but I think Senator Paul is probably in the minority of, one, for putting James Clapper in prison for allegedly lying before Congress in those famous comments last month.

That said, he's not the only one who's calling for penalties. You have some other GOP members of the House who are calling for a DOJ investigation into Clapper's comments.

As for Snowden, however, even the most ardent critics of NSA spying are not arguing for him to be released out in the freedom. Bernie (ph) Sanders for instance, one of the strongest critics, has said maybe a plea bargain to acknowledge that some of the things he has revealed has done a public service, but even he believes that Snowden broke his oath and should serve a penalty, just as Senator Rand Paul said.

BLITZER: He's going to be joining me -- Senator Sanders -- later in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thanks very much for that, Jim Sciutto. Good to have you back.

A man who served as a top lawyer for the CIA is now making a startling claim in his new book and to "Politico" magazine. Shortly after 9/11, John Rizzo said he could have stopped waterboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques and many people call torture before it even started.

Brian Todd is joining us now with more on the story.

Quite a claim, Brian. Tell us, what's going on?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, John Rizzo worked as a lawyer for the CIA for over 30 years and in this book, entitled "Company Man," he writes that when officials at the agency's counterterrorism center first described to him what they wanted to do with Al Qaeda prisoner Abu Zubeydah and some others, he was speechless.

Rizzo said he never heard of some of those things before. There was something called the insult slap, designed to humiliate, and of course waterboarding, strapping the detainee on an inclined bench feet elevated, a cloth placed over the forehead and the eyes and then water poured over the face for about 20 to 40 seconds from a distance of 12 to 24 inches. That's to simulate drowning.

John Rizzo also describes what he called cramped confinement techniques. One of them involved placing a detainee in a small box where he had to curl up for about two hours.

And with Abu Zubeydah, here's a quote from his, book, quote, "For the small box, the interrogator would have the option to place a harmless insect inside. At this point I couldn't resist interjecting, why an insect?

The response? Zubeydah hates bugs, it will be something harmless, but he won't know that." Now John Rizzo writes that he believes he, Rizzo, could have squelched a lot of these aggressive techniques if he had wanted to. He could have advised the CIA that they'd have a lot of legal problems on their hands if they carried them out. He says he decided to sign off on it because this was right after 9/11. There was a lot of fear of another possible attack. They believed Abu Zubeydah and others had information about those plots and Rizzo says he couldn't have lived with himself if another attack occurred and they hadn't gotten the information out of these detainees. The CIA, George Tenet, former CIA director, not commenting on this book, Wolf.

BLITZER: I know you are working the story and you'll get more for us later in THE SITUATION ROOM, Brian. Thank you.

Dennis Rodman -- yes -- he is now back inside North Korea. This time he's brought some other former NBA players along with him for a special birthday celebration for Kim Jong-un, the leader there. We are taking a closer look.

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BLITZER: Dennis Rodman's old-timer team has now arrived in North Korea to get ready for their big game. Karl Penhaul has more on what's going on.

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KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Party time for North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un. He turns 31 Wednesday and basketball bad boy Dennis Rodman and his team of NBA old-timers headed there to help him celebrate. Rodman is describing this trip as basketball diplomacy.

But prior to takeoff, he ruled out specifically pushing for the release of American missionary Kenneth Bae, who is doing hard time in a North Korean labor camp.

DENNIS RODMAN, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I'm not trying to save the world. I'm not trying to say you can't be all these people. That's not my job. My job is the one (INAUDIBLE). Sports. I'm going to be out there and try to interact with him on that common love for sports. He loves sports. I liked the guy. The guy is awesome to me.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Rodman and his NBA buddies are scheduled to shoot hoops with the North Korean national squad. It's a birthday treat for Kim, who is an avid basketball fan. On his last trip in December, Rodman spent a few days coaching the North Koreans. As they waited for their plane to Pyongyang, players insisted the focus was on the game and not politics. But shooting guard Doug Christie (ph) is hopeful they can build bridges.

DOUG CHRISTIE, FORMER NBA PLAYER: The sport is what we are going for. Sport is something that cancels and conquers all borders, all lines. It's an exciting feeling.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Power forward Charles D. Smith also seemed optimistic. CHAS. D. SMITH, FORMER NBA PLAYER: The extreme views on North Korea come about because most people have not been there and because people have a sense of fear of the unknown.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Critics see the trip as a publicity stunt and highlight North Korea's record of human rights abuses. But the NBA all-stars just want to play ball.

VIN BAKER, FORMER NBA PLAYER: I'm looking forward to playing and putting on a show in our career.

ERIC FLOYD, FORMER NBA PLAYER: We don't really get into the political aspects of it. But we all enjoyed the game, love the game and just try to spread all the great quality that the game brings.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Only last month Kim Jong-un sent his own uncle to the firing squad on charges of corruption and treason. That kind of controversy prompted Rodman's Irish sponsors to pull out, but he remains unfazed.

RODMAN: (INAUDIBLE) one thing showing people that we could actually get along. Let's get along.

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BLITZER: That was a report from CNN's Karl Penhaul, reporting from Beijing.

That's it for me. I will be back at 5:00 pm Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM. "NEWSROOM" continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.