Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Obama: "I Make No Apologies" for Bergdahl Deal; Barra Report Found Incompetence and Neglect

Aired June 05, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: I think the Democrats feel as though they've been a bit blindsided by all of this. And the President's comment there that he's not surprised about controversies that are whipped up in Washington. Well, the fact of the matter is the administration was clearly prepared for the controversy about the national security elements of this. The five Taliban fighters exchanged for one American.

However, I think privately, some staffers at the White House were surprised about the extent and the ferocity of the criticism that was directed at Bowe Bergdahl and his family. And you saw the President there attempting to sort of humanize the Bergdahls to some extent.

So why has there been such ferocity? Well, talking privately with some senators on Capitol Hill, it seems pretty clear that there's a sense of frustration here, a notion that there's really to nothing they can do other than talk about this in a sort of public relations fashion, perhaps hold a hearing or two.

But at the end of the day, this deal is done. And you can't take it back. And that, I think, is the big frustration on Capitol Hill -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in our White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, who's traveling with the President. Are you getting any sense at all, Jim, that the President or his top advisers regret that decision Saturday night to go into the Rose Garden with Bowe Bergdahl's parents and make the announcement? Obviously the President making the announcement that Bowe Bergdahl had been released and exchanged for these five Taliban detainees? Was that a smart move according to what you're hearing from officials traveling with the President?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think the President, I think his top advisers would do it all over again. And I've been talking with several top White House officials over the last several days and they do feel like it was a smart decision to have Bowe Bergdahl's parents there in the White House Rose Garden. They felt like it really sent the message home to the families all across the country, military families that they think this is about bringing a soldier home, that you don't leave a soldier on the battlefield.

And as Joe was saying, I've also been hearing from White House officials, yes, they did expect this controversy. They knew that there would be a controversy when it came to swapping one POW for five Taliban detainees. But they have been taken aback by some of the viciousness and the attacks aimed at Bowe Bergdahl.

But having said all of that you heard the President say during his remarks that Sergeant Bergdahl was in a deteriorating condition. As Joe knows, he was up on Capitol Hill. Senators were briefed on that proof of life video, shown that proof of life video that administration officials say was the basis for their concern for Bergdahl's health. And some of the senators, frankly, came out of that briefing not convinced, not seeing it in the video.

And so that is why I'm hearing from a senior administration official, Wolf, that the administration is now debating whether or not to make that video public, that "proof of life" video public, so the rest of the country can see what Bergdahl was going through.

Obviously, when you see him in that Taliban video that was released yesterday, this is a man who has been in captivity, living like somebody who was a part of the Taliban for five years and that this is going to take a long time for Bowe Bergdahl to get back to normal.

But yes, talking to people at the White House, they do feel like that was the right decision to put the President out there with Bergdahl's parents.

I think, you know, the other thing that was very interesting to hear and Jim Sciutto talked about this, you talked about this with Christiane, the President saying point blank he thinks he's going to be running into Vladimir Putin tomorrow at these D-Day celebrations out in Normandy. That is going to be fascinating to watch.

And as everybody has been saying for the last several minutes, and I just want to emphasize because I'm hearing the same thing from administration officials, they do see an opportunity here for Russia to get back, if not in the -- in the good graces of the U.S. -- in these G-7 countries to start moving in that direction, and they feel like Vladimir Putin's actions after the May 25th election in Ukraine is starting to move Russia in that direction.

Not a done deal yet. There's still the possibility for sectoral sanctions if there are new provocations as you heard the President said but the President saying during that news conference that Russia now has a chance to get back into that lane of international law -- Wolf.

BLITZER: It will be interesting to see how they choreograph that exchange, that encounter tomorrow at the D-Day commemorations between President Putin and President Obama. Stand by.

I want to bring in our intelligence and security analyst, Bob Baer; also the former U.S. Ambassador, a career diplomat Chris Hill who is joining us as well. He's now the dean, he's the dean of the -- at the University of Denver, School of International Studies.

Ambassador Hill, you're a career diplomat. You spent your whole lifetime in diplomacy. Do you ever remember a time when the United States has freed, released a prisoner who's wanted by the United Nations for war crimes? One of these five detainees, as you know, was wanted by the United Nations for ordering the slaughter of thousands of Afghan Shiite Muslims in the 1990s? Has the U.S. ever done that before?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Not to my knowledge. I mean, certainly the Israelis have negotiated prisoner releases of ratios of 100-1. So the idea of the different ratio is hardly -- is hardly new.

I think the question is, you know, you always go into a negotiation hoping the other side will do something for nothing. But the other side never does something for nothing. And so you end up in a negotiation in this case it was a five for one. And these five Taliban, that issue had been on the table for some time. So it did not surprise me, but I can't think of an immediate precedent for it.

BLITZER: And do you -- can you think, Bob Baer, because you spent a career in the CIA. You understand what's going on here, the stakes involved, the need obviously to bring an American soldier home, a POW On the other hand, the criticism is the price was too high, that the U.S. was effectively doing what it says it never does, negotiates with terrorists.

As you know, Sergeant Bergdahl was held by the Haqqani Network, which in 2012, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State, she declared the Haqqani Network a terrorist organization and put it on the State Department list of terror organizations. Was the United States effectively negotiating with terrorists for the release of Bergdahl?

BOB BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, Wolf, we were. We've designated them terrorists, the Taliban and I suppose by definition we were. But on the other hand, this isn't the first time. Remember Iran-contra. We negotiated directly with the Iranians on that. We knew that the Iranians were in control of the hostages in Lebanon. In fact, we went so far as to trade arms. So there has been worse cases and I think it's disingenuous for -- for people to say we don't negotiate with terrorists. Because in one way or another we always use to intermediaries in the hope of getting people back whether it's the government of Pakistan or Iran or even Russia. And it's just a fact of diplomacy.

BLITZER: I raised the question because Secretary of Defense Hagel the other day flatly said the U.S. was not negotiating with terrorists in order to free Sergeant Bergdahl.

A lot of questions remain to be answered. We're going to have extensive coverage obviously throughout the day. I'll be back 1:00 p.m. Eastern later in "The Situation Room." In the meantime, our coverage will resume in a moment with Carol Costello.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, not sold. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: I remain as deeply skeptical today about this as I did before this.

SEN. KELLY AYOTTE (R), NEW HAMPSHIRE: I was not satisfied.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That did not sell me at all.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I learned nothing in this briefing, nor did I expect to learn anything in this briefing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Capitol Hill not convinced -- the White House hoping to answer questions about the Bowe Bergdahl swap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The public needs to know more about what happened.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Backlash in Bergdahl's hometown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was supposed to be called the "Bowe is back" event.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Worries of a showdown in a tiny town of 8,000 shuttering a celebration.

And we ask, how do we decide who gets rescued?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of the enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A military touchstone and now a cloud of questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't leave Americans behind. That's unequivocal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's talk -- live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

You've been watching coverage of President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron's joint press conference after the G-7 meeting in Brussels.

Well, just a short time ago, the President, President Obama, talked about the controversy surrounding his decision to swap five high-level Taliban terrorists for Bowe Bergdahl. He again strongly defended his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it was important for people to understand that this is not some obstruction. This is not a political football. You have a couple of parents whose kid volunteered to fight in a distant land, who they hadn't seen in five years. And weren't sure whether they'd ever see again.

And as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces, I am responsible for those kids. And I get letters from parents who say if you are, in fact, sending my child into war make sure that that child is being taken care of. And I write too many letters to folks who unfortunately don't see their children again after fighting a war. I make absolutely no apologies for making sure that we get back a young man to his parents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The ever-growing criticism following the deal to free Bergdahl comes as a surprise, though, even to White House aides. It's not just Bergdahl himself who's coming under attack. It's aimed at Bergdahl's family, too. For example, Bill O'Reilly focused his criticism right at Bergdahl's father.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: -- I said that Robert Bergdahl looked like a Muslim is that he looks like a Muslim.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Bergdahl's father went to great lengths to help his son, learning the language of his son's captors. He's actually studied Arabic. He even, as you see, grew his hair and beard out.

So let's talk about that. Joining me now, Matthew Farwell, a former Afghanistan veteran and now a writer for "Rolling Stone." Good morning.

MATTHEW FARWELL, WRITER, "ROLLING STONE": Good morning.

COSTELLO: Matthew you know the Bergdahl family. Critics say Mr. Bergdahl sent suspicious tweets out and then he deleted them and he kind of looks like a Muslim now. Does he deserve this kind of criticism? FARWELL: No, absolutely not. Look, Bill O'Reilly, the most dangerous

thing that guy's ever done is walk across the street in New York to buy a burger. You know? So, any of this criticism going out at Bob Bergdahl is disgusting. I know the Bergdahls. They're good people. His father was an all-American football player with UCLA. He was the Postman, the U.P.S. guy in Sun Valley, Idaho, for 30 years. Like they're the most American family you can have.

And the guy's had his son be a captive of the Taliban for the past five years. He's a father. He's going to do anything he can to get his kid back.

COSTELLO: Why did he grow his beard out?

FARWELL: So that he would have some sympathy with the people that were holding his kid hostage.

COSTELLO: And this was not really an attempt to become a member of the Taliban. It was more to convince them that, you know, hey, maybe I can see things your way so that my son will be released, but he didn't really mean that? Is that the sort of thing that we're talking about?

FARWELL: No, so that his son would be treated decently. I mean, remember, you're talking about a family that every night goes to sleep thinking their son might be tortured, every day. Can you imagine what that must be like? I can't. And I've lost a brother in the war and I fought in the war. And these people have been under so much pressure for the past five years that for the media to just blanketly attack them for a sound bite, it's disgusting. And it's un-American.

COSTELLO: There was -- there was this video shown to lawmakers on Capitol Hill. And it showed these lawmakers the condition that Bowe Bergdahl was in when he was held in captivity. Most of the lawmakers say he didn't really look like he was in poor health. So they're questioning why the Obama administration even went ahead with this deal. What do you make of that?

FARWELL: Look, I mean, I'm not carrying any water for the administration. They could have done this deal two years ago. But Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates didn't want to do it. And so a big priority for them has been getting this kid home, as it should have been. He's an American soldier. He needs to come home and be in our jurisdiction no matter what.

And so for these lawmakers on Capitol Hill to be second-guessing anything that the Commander-in-Chief does, you know, screw them.

COSTELLO: Harsh words, Matthew.

FARWELL: Well, you know, I mean it's deserved.

COSTELLO: I guess my only question would be if I'm captured by the Taliban, do I have to be dying for Americans to come and rescue me?

FARWELL: No absolutely not. I mean, like I've said and like me and Michael Hastings wrote two years ago, by the way, before the media even, like, came up to this story, we wrote that he could have been freed ten days after he was captured, if the Army had the guts to pull the trigger and make a deal.

COSTELLO: Well, you know you're going to get criticized for that remark. I want to --

FARWELL: Well, I don't care. I mean I was in the army. I'll get criticized by a bunch of chicken hawks in the states?

COSTELLO: Chicken hawks in the states? Who are the chicken hawks in the states of which you speak?

FARWELL: I don't know, I saw a Breitbart thing where somehow they conflated me with al Qaeda, so, you know. I'm happy to take any hits I need. I went over to Afghanistan for 16 months, and I fought for my country. So I've earned the right to say whatever the hell I want.

COSTELLO: Good for you, Matthew.

FARWELL: Thank you, ma'am.