Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Virginia Close to Allowing Same-Sex Marriage; De Blasio Pushes for Free Preschool in NYC; Obama's Foreign Policy Troubles; Mike Huckabee Makes Controversial Comments

Aired January 23, 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: Another state changes its stance on the issue of same-sex marriage. Up next, what Virginia's decision says about the political landscape of the politics of marriage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Yet another state may be getting closer to overturning a ban on same-sex marriage. Virginia's new attorney general says his office will no longer fight for the voter approved ban. Instead, he'll sign with plaintiffs who have sued to legalize same-sex marriage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK HERRING, VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I believe the freedom to marry is a fundamental right. And I intend to ensure that Virginia is on the right side of history and on the right side of the law.

Ultimately, this issue is going to have to be resolved by the courts, ultimately, by I think the United States Supreme Court. Whether this is going to be the case, whether it's another one in another part of the country, maybe it's several cases, I don't know, we'll have to tell. But right now, my focus is on Virginians and their constitutional rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Let's bring in our chief national correspondent, John King, with me here.

Mark Herring, he narrowly elected only a few hundred votes in recent weeks. But he says even though he, back in 2006, voted to support this ban on same-sex marriage in Virginia, he's since changed his mind. So what happens next?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It goes through the courts. But it is part of the dramatic evolution we are seeing in the politics of same-sex marriage. Remember, the president of the United States in 2008 was opposed to same-sex marriage, then in his second inaugural address talked about it as a basic right. Several states have these proposals working through the courts. Social conservatives in Virginia already saying they will challenge the new attorney general, put this back on the ballot. This is a state-by-state fight. Much like the abortion debate happening in different states, states will do different things. And the question is, does the Supreme Court ultimately say that's OK if states have different policies or does the Supreme Court say it's too confusing and has to be a national ruling on this issue. That's going to take a couple years for the courts.

BLITZER: Even in recent weeks, we've seen in Oklahoma and Utah decisions going forward with same-sex marriage. One to be stayed and now an appeal. I assume the Supreme Court is eventually going to have to decide for the whole country.

KING: Several cases will come through. And, again, the big fundamental question is, is this, as many conservatives even believe, a state issue? Is marriage a state issue? Or if you have different states doing different things, and you move from one state to another state, for example, are your rights then honored when you move on? There are any number of questions the Supreme Court is ultimately going to have to deal with. Think about what you just said, Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia. This is not just being done in New York and Massachusetts. This is an issue bubbling up in the reddest of red states or, in the case of Virginia, more purple, maybe trending blue state. That tells you how dramatically the politics of this issue have changed in recent years and the evolution will continue, especially as younger voters -- they are much more tolerant than the older generation. So the Supreme Courts will deal with this over the next few years.

BLITZER: Underscores what you and I have known for a long time, elections matter.

KING: This is so immediate. Elections have consequences.

BLITZER: That's right.

Thanks very much, John.

It's been a rocky couple of weeks for New York's new mayor. Bill de Blasio is urging free preschool for everyone. Not necessarily everyone agrees how to pay for it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New York's new mayor, Bill de Blasio, plans to extend preschool programs by taxing the wealthy. Governor Cuomo wants expanded school in the budget but not necessarily with new taxes to fund it. So what does de Blasio want to tax the rich for?

Right now Deborah Feyerick is joining us. She's been looking into this story.

De Blasio just spoke about the issue. It's a sensitive issue. What's going on here?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the real issue is to tax or not to tax. For New York City mayor Bill de Blasio it appears taxing the rich has less to do with funding universal pre-K programs and more to do with making a statement and redistributing the wealth. At least that's what his critics are saying. And that comes after the mayor essentially said thanks but no thanks to New York's governor's offer to pay some $2.2 billion surplus money to actually fund these pre-K and after-school programs. Now, the governor didn't quite like that because he doesn't want to raise taxes. And by providing this money, he felt that he would be covering that. Well, in fact the New York City mayor says that he wants to make sure that any money that goes to these after-school programs is being provided and controlled by the people of New York City. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO, (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: What I'm clear about is we need reliable funding. And we need a substantial amount of funding to get this up and running, on both the pre-K side and after-school side. My plan, I want to remind you, is a five-year plan, $530 million each year for five years, $2.6 billion combined over five years. We can't do that plan properly if we don't have that money locked in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: And the mayor keeps referring to the mandate that he received by New York City voters. He was swept into office with 73 percent of the vote after running against a former Giuliani person. He says really his central pledge was making sure that the wealthy would be taxed so that these pre-K programs could be paid for. He says that hasn't changed. They're going to be taxed. But unlike his critics he says that all the money is going to go to the universal pre-K.

But, again, this is a man who has talked aggressively about redistributing wealth, making the rich a little less rich and the poor a little less poor. So everything is really viewed through that kind of scope -- Wolf?

BLITZER: So I want to be clear on this. The governor, Governor Cuomo says we'll give you the money, you can have universal pre-K and you don't have to go ahead and pose new taxes on the wealthy in New York. And he says, no, no, I don't want your money, I'm still going to go ahead and tax the wealthy in order to use that for the pre-K, he's going to reject the money that the state was ready to give him?

FEYERICK: Yeah. It's a real slap in the face, as a matter of fact. A real slap in the face. Again, remember the governor is running for re-election. He says no taxes on -- you know, no new taxes. So by making this offer, a genuine offer, quite a snub for the New York City mayor to say not interested.

BLITZER: A little tension developing between the mayor and the governor I suspect.

Thanks very much, Deborah Feyerick.

The Israelis say they broke up an al Qaeda terrorist cell in Israel. Officials say terrorists planned to target the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv. There it is right there. Al Qaeda is just one of the challenges testing President Obama's foreign policy. We're going to talk about it with a policy expert when we come back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: New questions about the nuclear deal with Iran, an al Qaeda leader sends a message to Syrian rebels, and broken al Qaeda plot, troubles across the Middle East certainly testing President Obama's foreign policy.

Let's bring in Aaron David Miller, distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center here in Washington.

Let's start with the threat supposedly against the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv, an al Qaeda plot, supposedly. Ayman Zawahiri, the new leader of al Qaeda, planning to blow up that industry, how credible is that?

AARON DAVID MILLER, DISTINGUISHED SCHOLAR, WOODROW WILSON CENTER: Well, the Israelis haven't released the back story, but if this was a plot directly attributed to Zawahiri, it would be new.

BLITZER: Why would that be new? Why --

MILLER: You have al Qaeda-inspired plots out of Gaza, small jihadi groups, but nothing to suggest al Qaeda central is involved in the planning. It's really quite remarkable that it's taken this long. The Palestinian issue, you would think, for these guys, is just ripe with all kinds of political and psychological possibilities to strike the Israelis. I think in large part Israeli security and the Palestinians, including Hamas's own willingness to allow their own movement to be hijacked by the jihadists, is the reason they haven't succeeded in the Israeli/Palestinian issue.

BLITZER: There was video of al Zawahiri, the al Qaeda leader, released today.

MILLER: I saw it.

BLITZER: Telling all of the opponents of Bashar al Assad in Syria, all of the rebel groups who are very different, unite and beat Assad.

MILLER: Right. It says two things. One, al Qaeda and Zawahiri is very active. But also this guy must be Assad's payroll because nothing is better for the Syrian president right now than to have an al Qaeda official, the folks who attacked us, basically inspire the opposition against Assad. Assad will now play them. You see the United States, you face the same threat that I'm facing right now.

BLITZER: I spoke to --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- top advisor to Assad yesterday.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: And she kept saying, we're fighting the terrorists, we're fighting al Qaeda, why aren't you supporting us?

MILLER: Right. Her capacity for self-delusion is really limitless.

BLITZER: You've known her for a long time.

MILLER: I have. She's really smart, but that was really a stretch.

BLITZER: She was very very -- of course, Iran. You've seen the interviews now. The foreign minister telling Jim Sciutto the president of Iran, Rouhani, telling Fareed Zakaria, they haven't agreed to dismantle anything. That's only going to play into the hands of those United States Senators, including a bunch of Democrats, who want to tighten sanctions right now.

MILLER: The administration has to be careful it doesn't oversell. This agreement may have been necessary, but this is about hitting the pause button. It's not about the delete button. The Iranians have not agreed to dismantle anything. There's nothing in any agreement that suggests they do. This is a freeze. It's frankly a freeze, or an unfreeze in some respects, although the Iranians are not going to enrich above 5 percent. You could argue six months they won't be able to advance their program. The reality is they already are a nuclear weapons threshold state. Question is, comprehensive agreement? Can you figure out a way to put that $100 billion nuclear infrastructure, the ones they don't want to dismantle, beyond use? That's the real challenge.

BLITZER: Here's what I don't understand. And you served in the State Department for a long time --

MILLER: I did.

BLITZER: -- under a whole bunch of presidents. There isn't a text of agreement between the United States, the other members of the U.N. Security Council, Germany and G5-plus-1 as it's called. They got a text for what Iran and the rest of the world has to do, but they don't make it public.

MILLER: They have the joint action plan that summarizes it.

BLITZER: But the summary --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: But why can't they share with all of us what the Iranians themselves know? If Rouhani knows the text, if Sharif (ph) knows the text, why can't the American public know the text?

MILLER: The American public should. Let the sunshine in on this one. Withholding the text is only going to create the perception that, in fact, something -- the administration is hiding, which I don't think is true. There imperfections in the agreement, so trot them out.

BLITZER: I want to see if the word "dismantle" is in that text. We don't know because they are not releasing the text.

MILLER: Right.

BLITZER: Aaron David Miller, thanks very much.

MILLER: Always a pleasure.

BLITZER: We will take a quick break. More after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Here in Washington, Republicans holding their winter meeting. They're working on strategies for the 2016 presidential race. But Mike Huckabee is making controversial comments.

Dana Bash is over at the RNC with their meeting.

Dana, what did he say?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He was talking about what you are hearing all-around the Republican meeting. How Republicans can beat back against the Democrats attacking him and the war on women. What he talked about was how he perceives how Democrats view women with regard to birth control and the help that they think women need from the government for birth control.

Listen to the whole context of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE HUCKABEE, (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ARKANSAS: Our party stands for the recognition of the equality of women and the capacity of women. That's not a war on them. It's a war for them. If the Democrats want to insult the women of America by making them believe they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription for birth control because they cannot control their libido or reproductive system without the help of the government, then so be it. Let us take that discussion all across America because women are far more than the Democrats have played them to be. And women across America need to stand up and say enough of that nonsense. I think it's time we do that.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, Wolf, Mike Huckabee has known since he started running for president for the first time in 2008 how to make headlines, and he is continuing to do that here as the keynote speaker at the within winter meeting.

BLITZER: A lot of folks encouraging him on the GOP to run for the domination in 2016, right?

BASH: There. As you well know he has a contract with FOX and last time around he decided to take a pass and not run because he was comfortable in the private sector and this time around may be different. I was told that he probably won't decide whether to run until after the mid-term elections this television. But one thing that's interesting is somebody who might be a force to be reckoned with that we talked a lot about, Chris Christie -- Mike Huckabee said he thinks that the whole Christie scandal somebody behind Chris Christie. He might be a potential competitor for the 2016 race for president, but he is giving him a little bit of help here when he talks to reporters at the Republican meeting.

BLITZER: Dana, thanks very much. Dana Bash, over at the RNC winter meetings going on now here in Washington.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Now to a remarkable teenager who is impacting our world. He won't be able to see in a few years, but that is not stopping her from helping those less fortunate.

Here's Chris Cuomo.

CHRIS CUOMO, HOST, NEW DAY (voice-over): Meet 13-year-old Maclane Hermes, lover of all things Justin Bieber and fierce competitive swimmer. But behind that smile lies a deeper story. Maclane is legally blind. Her vision began to fail when she was 8. And doctors say in a few years she won't be able to see at all. But this seventh grader from Georgia doesn't want your sympathy.

MACLANE HERMES, FOUNDER, SHOES FOR THE SOULS: Can you hand me the black-and-white shoe.

CUOMO: She wants your old shoes. In 2009, her father showed her an article about footwear soles being recycled.

UNIDENTIFIED FATHER OF MACLANE: They were giving $5 discounts if they turned in shoes.

MACLANE HERMES: We decided instead of recycling them, we would give them to people who need them.

CUOMO: Shoes for the Souls was born. They say around 10,000 pairs of shoes have been collected over the past four years.

MACLANE HERMES: You can have this.

CUOMO: Today, she is making a special delivery to an Atlanta homeless shelter and challenges all teens to make a difference.

MACLANE HERMES: If you have a dream and think it's unrealistic, keep on doing it. You will get there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Very nice.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching. I will be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room." NEWSROOM continues right now with Brooke Baldwin.