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Clinton on Presidential Run; Undocumented Kids in Arizona; FBI Probes Threat against Bergdahl Family

Aired June 09, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

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CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Get ready to see a lot of Hillary Clinton this week, as if you haven't already. The former secretary of state is cranking up a massive media blitz to promote her new book "Hard Choices," which actually hits stores tomorrow. The book rollout is just the beginning, but she's already been dropping hints about a possible 2016 presidential run. CNN's senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar has more for you.

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the eve of her headline grabbing book rollout, Hillary Clinton shares with ABC News her timetable for deciding whether she's running for president.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I just want to kind of get through this year, travel around the country, sign books, help in the midterm elections in the fall, and then take a deep breath and kind of go through my pluses and minuses about what I will and will not be thinking about as I make the decision.

KEILAR: Pushing back her personal deadline to 2015.

CLINTON: I will be on the way to making a decision by the end of the year, yes.

KEILAR: But she's already in the political spin cycle. Clinton didn't rule out appearing before a Republican-led House committee investigating the Benghazi attack.

CLINTON: Well --

DIANE SAWYER, ABC NEWS: You will?

CLINTON: We'll see what they decide to do, how they conduct themselves, whether or not this is, you know, one more travesty about the loss of four Americans or whether this is in the best tradition of the Congress, an effort to try to figure out what we can do better.

KEILAR: Only 37 percent of Americans approve of her handling of Benghazi, but a majority still approve of her overall performance as secretary of state according to a new ABC News-"Washington Post" poll. Clinton also gets very high marks for leadership qualities. As she prepares for a demanding book tour, some see as a dry run for 2016, Clinton also answered questions about her 2012 blood clot and concussion that she said caused her to suffer dizziness and double vision.

SAWYER: So, no linger effects?

CLINTON: No lingering effects.

SAWYER: Of any kind?

CLINTON: No. No.

SAWYER: You would release your medical records if you ran for president?

CLINTON: I would do what other candidates have done, absolutely.

KEILAR: Recently, Karl Rove made it a hot button political issue.

KARL ROVE: She had a serious episode, a serious health episode.

KEILAR: And for the first time, she personally responded.

SAWYER: What would you like to say to Karl Rove about your brain?

CLINTON: That I know he was called Bush's brain in one of the books written about him, and I wish him well.

KEILAR: Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, hundreds of undocumented children getting bused to a border patrol facility in Arizona. It is a move that's left Arizona's governor furious and calling out the Obama administration over its immigration policy. Nick Valencia is following the story for us.

Good morning.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Carol.

You got that right, Governor Jan Brewer is furious at what many, including her, are calling a humanitarian crisis. I'm Nick Valencia. I'll have that story coming up for you right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer is outraged at President Obama and the federal government for sending busloads of undocumented children, some of them just a few months old, to her state. Over the weekend more than 1,000 children were sent to border patrol facilities in Nogales and Phoenix. All of them were caught illegally crossing the border in Texas. Now, the children apparently were bused to Arizona because facilities in Texas were overcrowded. But in Arizona, pictures show kids sleeping on the floors covered only by thermal blankets. CNN's Nick Valencia is tracking the story.

So help us understand this. Where are these children coming from?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're coming principally from Central America, and that's creating a bigger backlog. If these were Mexican immigrants or Canadian immigrants, the deportation would have been relatively quickly, maybe in 72 hours, as quickly as that. But because they're from Central America, proximity becomes a problem, paperwork becomes a problem. So not only are there -- is there a backlog in these detention centers, most of which are supposed to be short-term facilities, now turning into long-term housing, it's also a backlog for the consulates.

COSTELLO: So parents drop their children off hoping someone will take care of them in the United States?

VALENCIA: Well, these children are coming by themselves, making that journey, hundreds of hundreds of miles.

COSTELLO: Some as young as five years old.

VALENCIA: Some as young as five or six years old. That's the remarkable thing about it is that they are traveling by themselves. They either take the (INAUDIBLE) come up on the Pacific Coast of Mexico or some just travel right through the mountainous regions of Mexico, getting to the United States, hoping that they can be reunited with their parents.

This has created a huge problem and is causing a lot of outrage for Governor Jan Brewer. This is what she had to say in a statement here. Let me read part of that, Carol. "I am disturbed and outraged that President Obama's administration continues to implement this dangerous and inhumane policy, meanwhile neglecting to answer crucial questions our citizens demand and deserve. Not only does the federal government have no plan to stop this disgraceful policy, it also has no plan to deal with the endless waves of illegal aliens once they are released here."

Question, how long are they going to be there? How long are these kids going to be in this facility? We just don't know. That's unclear. This influx is not stopping and that's part of the problem. Record numbers of unaccompanied -- undocumented immigrants are coming to the United States.

COSTELLO: And they're rounded up by border patrol agents, is that it, right?

VALENCIA: Some of them just turn themselves in. It's also a policy issue here. When I talked to a Department of Homeland Security source, he says that this is a policy issue. There is a loophole in the system because these undocumented immigrants understand that there's not enough room in the detention centers so they know that they're going to be released with court dates pending under their own recognizance. Ninety percent of them don't show up for their court dates. What does that mean? They're here in the United States illegally. They don't show up for their court dates. They get to stay as long as they want. That's part of the outrage for Governor Brewer.

There's two things happening here. These family groups are coming, but it's also these unaccompanied, undocumented minors that are coming. Now, this is the irony in it. Texas was at capacity in their facilities, which is why they're being sent by the hundreds to Arizona. Now Arizona, those facilities there may also be at capacity. What's happening now, Carol, they're being sent back to El Paso. They're being dumped at the bus stops in El Paso. That's the next big story here. What's happening in Arizona is now happening -- it happened Saturday night in El Paso, Texas. A huge issue here.

COSTELLO: I know. I know you'll continue to follow this story. Nick Valencia, many thanks.

VALENCIA: You bet.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the FBI now involved in the controversy surrounding Bowe Bergdahl as the agency tries to find out who's making death threats against Bergdahl's family.

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COSTELLO: The FBI is now investigating a series of threats made against the parents of Bowe Bergdahl. And while a special agent with the agency has declined to tell CNN the nature of those threats, a law enforcement official familiar with the case says Bergdahl's father received three e-mails at his home and that the FBI will be tracing the messages to see who sent them. Matthew Hoh is a friend of the Bergdahl family and a former Marine captain and Josh Korder served with Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan.

Welcome, gentlemen.

MATTHEW HOH, FRIEND OF THE BERGDAHL FAMILY: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

JOSH KORDER, SERVED WITH BOWE BERGDAHL IN AFGHANISTAN: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Matthew, I want to start with you, because you talked with Bowe's parents last week. What did they tell you about these threats?

HOH: There were -- there's some e-mails. I believe there were some -- a voice mail left. And many of the businesses in Hailey, Idaho, and people who have been supporting Bowe have also been receiving these threats. And they're shocked. I mean they're -- it's overwhelming, as you can imagine. And, of course, you know, I don't represent the family or speak for the family, but I think, as a lot of people, you know, when 7,000 of our service members have not returned home in these wars, the fact that we're not rejoicing that Bowe has returned home and that Bob and Jani's five years of suffering in grief has come to an end, is really quite disturbing.

COSTELLO: Well Matthew, why do you think Bergdahl's parents are being targeted?

HOH: I think there's a lot of rhetoric, a lot of political theater over this. I think the fact that Bob, to understand what his son was going through immersed himself in the culture, the religion of Bowe's captors.

You know, Bowe was a prisoner of war being held not in western Pakistan or eastern Afghanistan, we're still not sure. So he grew his beard out. He set prayer clocks to know when Bowe would have been woken up and learned about the region, learned about the religion, learned about the culture, learned about the wars so that he could understand what his son was going through and what his son was enduring.

And I just find it so crazy that people have a hard time understanding that. Any parent, I think, if their son was in this situation, if they were being held as a prisoner of war for five years would do the same, to know what their son was going through.

COSTELLO: Well Josh, let me ask you that question. Why do you think these threats are being directed at the Bergdahl family?

KORDER: Well I think there's a lot of anger out there. I can understand where the anger comes from having been there and understood that soldiers died, other people have family members that are no longer with us because we were looking for Bergdahl, that's a really big thing. The fact he walked away from us like that and left us vulnerable and other soldiers died because of it is something that causes a lot of people anger.

COSTELLO: But why target Bergdahl's family?

KORDER: I mean I can't really say. Maybe right now it's just because Bowe is still in the hospital recovering and we're not getting answers from him and maybe people are just frustrated and they're the only people that there are to target really.

COSTELLO: Josh, I know you say Bergdahl was a deserter and left your platoon and put others in danger. We now know Bergdahl was tortured in captivity, he was kept in a small box for weeks or months at a time. Does this change at all about how you feel about Bergdahl?

KORDER: I mean, I understand that you know in captivity terrible things can happen, but the thing is that he violated his oath. He violated, you know, the Army values. He violated his general orders and the bond between brothers that exists on the battlefield.

For him to walk away like that and for him to betray us -- I understand that he went through a lot. But he could have prevented all that by just not doing it in the first place.

COSTELLO: Are you interested, Josh, at all in seeing this proof-of- life tape? Lawmakers will probably decide that at some point this week.

KORDER: Absolutely. You know, I have said and I'll say it again, I'm glad he's back. I hope he's doing well and I hope he recovers. But I do also hope that there is a trial and an investigation and that any kind of punishment that gets laid down, that he serves it out.

COSTELLO: On the other hand, Matthew, Bergdahl according to many reports is insisting he not be called Sergeant because he says he didn't earn that rank. He still won't speak to his family. Matthew, why do you think that is?

HOH: Well, I don't think he's ready to speak to his family. I think five years in isolation, this is what sets him apart from other prisoners of war we had. Our prisoners in Vietnam, they had each other to rely upon. In Bowe's case, he had only himself and so for five years, he was alone and isolated.

So I think the recovery process is really quite long and so I think for -- as a means of bringing him along slowly, it will behoove his improvement to -- I'm sorry. I'm getting some other traffic on my ear piece.

COSTELLO: Oh that's OK. You can pull it out and finish your answer.

HOH: All right, thank you. I appreciate that, I appreciate it, Carol.

COSTELLO: No worries.

HOH: The -- you know, but I wanted to say something to Josh real quick. Is, you know, man, look, I understand -- like I lost guys too. You know, and I said this to other -- other people. It's OK to be angry. It's OK to be frustrated. I am too.

But, you know, in Bowe's case, you know, my understanding is he left the post on a number of occasions and come back. That may or may not be true. So the intent is what's important.

But above all of that even if he desert, man, he's your brother. Forgive him. You know and the anger that you have over your lost brothers, I get it. And so direct that anger at the policy, at the people who kept us there in that war, who five years later those guys died and the civil war there, that war is still going on and we're leaving.

So it's appropriate to be angry. It's appropriate to be frustrated. It's appropriate to be upset. But I would urge you to look at the policy makers and generals and the politicians who kept this war going.

COSTELLO: Josh, what do you say to that?

HOH: I just want to pass it along to but, again, bro, I really appreciate you and what you're saying there. And I understand where you're coming from.

KORDER: Well, the biggest thing I have to say to that is basically the same thing I've been saying all along. There's a bond of brotherhood over there like what he's saying. But the thing is that Bowe betrayed that bond. He left us. He voluntarily walked away. And there's all the evidence that points to the fact that he just took off his gear in the middle of a guard shift and walked away leaving, you know, all of my friends exposed to the enemy. They could have been killed that night.

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COSTELLO: He wasn't on guard duty though. He wasn't on guard duty, he was off, right?

KORDER: Yes.

COSTELLO: He just wandered away.

KORDER: He was on guard duty. He was on guard duty. He left his post to be able to go do that. So he was in fact behind a gun and he left his sector completely open so that he could walk away.

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HOH: I want to jump in here, Carol. Because what I heard from other platoon members is that that's not the case. And that's what I'm concerned about, you know, is that all of the facts aren't out. And there's a rush to condemn him. And again the -- from my understanding 15/6 the investigation that was done here indicated that members of the platoon said that Bowe had done this previously. That he went out with a camera and notebook and that he was exploring out of adventure. I don't know if that's true or not. But that's why I'm so concerned about this condemnation coming and occurring before all the facts are known.

COSTELLO: And, Josh, I think there are conflicting stories out there. But I would ask you one more question. If Bowe Bergdahl left base before and returned and those in charge knew, why wasn't he taken out of your platoon? Why didn't leadership step in?

KORDER: Well, those reports are not completely accurate. From what I understand, Bergdahl had gone and spent some time with the locals and it was just right on top of the hill top right where we were within plain sight. It's just when they were looking for him where he was supposed to be, he wasn't there. It wasn't him wandering off or going to take pictures in town somewhere. He was just basically speaking to the locals and interacting with them. So definitely was not --

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COSTELLO: I guess what I'm asking, Josh, is if he didn't really fit in with the platoon and he was causing conflict and people were wondering about him, why didn't leadership step in and take care of the problem?

KORDER: Because we were in combat. There were so few of us and during a time where there needed to be so many soldiers on the battlefield, we had to rely on trust in a lot of cases to try to get through. And it was a very, very tough situation. And I understand that he probably had some difficulties but all of us did and he's the only one who ended up doing what he did in this war.

COSTELLO: Matthew, do you want to respond at all?

HOH: You know, I'm not -- Josh, I'm not, you know, giving you a hard time. I just want this to be resolved, this family to get their son back I want your anguish and your grief to be over with. You know I carry myself too, man. You know so I understand. You know and this whole political theater that's occurring over this, this notion that somehow we would leave an American soldier behind, you know, and I agree, Josh let's have an investigation and figure it out. But let's tone down the rhetoric on all sides until we know what's happened and let Bowe recover and most importantly, let the family move on in the sense of Bob and Jani to let them get on with their life again. It's been five years of really enormous grief and suffering on their part.

COSTELLO: I have to leave it here because our satellite windows are going to go down pretty soon. Matthew Hoh, Josh Korder -- thanks so much for your insight.

I'll be right back.

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