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Media Playing Part in Promoting Hillary Clinton's New Book; Pentagon Comments on Friendly Fire Deaths in Afghanistan; New Information on School Shooting; Admiral John Kirby Briefing on Servicemembers Killed in Iraq; White House Told Congress about bin Laden Raid, Not Bergdahl

Aired June 10, 2014 - 14:30   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: As you probably know right now, it's finally out, that, of course, Hillary Clinton's latest book "Hard Choices." For many folks in New York, it didn't seem to be a tough decision to get in line for a chance to get a fresh copy and have it signed by the author herself. Of course, the very fact that Hillary Clinton is the author will no doubt push book sales. But the media is playing a big part in both her book promotion and her potential campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's exciting.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CO-HOST, NEW DAY: We'll see.

We couldn't help her any more than we have.

BALDWIN: I now.

CUOMO: She's got a free ride so far from the media. We're the biggest ones promoting her campaign, so it better happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: There you heard it from Chris Cuomo. Media, both friend but also foe to the Clintons.

Let's break this down with two media and political experts, chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; and senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter.

Great to have you both with us.

Brian, I'll start with you to talk about what we just heard from Chris. It seems like he has a point here. This is free publicity.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: I think there's a tale of two medias here. He's absolutely right that if you put the word "Clinton" into a search of all the closed-captioning transcripts, you'll see thousands and thousands and thousands of mentions of her, many in a positive light.

On the other hand, she's getting tough questions on this book tour. There's incredible skepticism and criticism of her, not just from conservative media, but from the conservative media and the interviewers like Diane Sawyer, who are posing questions to her. I do think there's a lot of free publicity for her and her book. But she is facing some serious questioning. And she will continue to as this book tour goes on.

BROWN: Let's talk about this, Gloria Borger. We were discussing this earlier today. Republican strategist, Ana Navarro, called the book "50 shades of boring."

(LAUGHTER)

You compare the book to, say, Robert Gates' book, which has pretty big bombshells in it. This book is different.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Very different.

BROWN: To you, what does that tell you? Does it look like someone with skin in the game?

BORGER: It does. It looks like somebody who is being careful, who is being safe, who might just have a presidential run in front of her. And she gives out tantalizing tidbits about how the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign had a lot of bad blood between them and how she had to have a sip of chardonnay with President-Elect Obama in order to get through these differences. But we're not quite sure what they all were. So unlike Bob Gates' book where he actually takes you inside the West Wing, and says, this is what it was like when we had that fight over X, she says, I disagreed with the president, I was for arming the rebels in Libya. But leaves it at that, right? So she kind of walks a fine line here because she is a soon-to-be, or at- some-point-to-be presidential candidate.

BROWN: Presumably.

STELTER: I'll pick up on your chardonnay reference, Gloria. "Time" magazine's Michael Scherer just published a great book review of "Hard Choices," and he said if was as if she walked up to the bar, handed her credit card to the bartender, and said, I'm not sure if I'm going to order a drink or not.

(LAUGHTER)

But the fact that she's at the bar speaks volumes, even if she decides to leave without drinking anything.

BORGER: The only way it's different -- and this is so interesting to me, both as a woman and somebody who covered her campaign in 2007- 2008, not every day. But she's sort of a different person now in a funny way. And she's letting us know that, both in the book and in these interviews. She's sort of like, I'm done with caring what people think about the way I look. I'm older, I'm wiser, and I'm celebrating the fact that I'm a woman, so now I can talk about sexism. Whereas now, in 2007-2008, that wasn't a part of her campaign. She was talking more about her experience and kind of not celebrating her femininity. This time she's saying, I'm a woman and I am different. So that's very interesting.

BROWN: I think a lot of people were struck by that, Gloria. I want to actually take a listen to that moment where she addressed the issue of sexism with Diane Sawyer. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: When you're in the spotlight as a woman, you know you're being judged constantly. I mean, it is just never-ending. And you get a little worried about, OK, people over on this side are loving what I'm wearing, looking like -- other people on this side aren't. Your natural tendency is, how do you bring people together so you can better communicate. I'm done with that. I mean, I'm just done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: To your point there, Gloria, she's really -- seems very relaxed, trying to get in front of it. Because gender, age, those are both factors that play into any potential presidential campaign. What do you think? How does she pivot?

BORGER: I think she's also inoculating herself to a certain degree. People will criticize what we, as women, wear. It happened to her. By the way, you look fabulous today, Pam, I should tell you.

BROWN: Thank you. So do you.

BORGER: People are going to criticize what we wear and what our hair looks like. She got it on the campaign trail. John Edwards said, I'm not sure about that jacket you're wearing," during a presidential debate. She's kind of inoculating herself against that and saying to people, OK, in advance, cut it out.

BROWN: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

STELTER: Gosh, it's hard to imagine that happening two years from now. I was shocked when we saw the ABC primetime special last night. They played those clips of how Hillary's wardrobe was, you know, a point of commentary in the debates. It was such a wild reminder that just a few years ago it was being talked about that way.

BORGER: But to those of us who were there, or watching it, or covering it, it was sort of, you know, it was actually shocking. What was more interesting to me was that at the time -- and you're right, Brian, at that time, Hillary Clinton just kind of laughed it off. Now she would say something else, I think.

STELTER: Yeah.

BORGER: And she might have a more cutting response to it. But back then, what she did, when Barack Obama said, you're likable enough, Hillary, she kind of let it go.

BROWN: Yeah. It's certainly, a different Hillary this time around it seems.

Gloria Borger, Brian Stelter, always great to hear your perspective. Thank you very much.

STELTER: Thanks.

BORGER: Sure.

BROWN: And a quick programming reminder. Hillary Clinton will join us next week for a very important town hall meeting. "Hillary Clinton, a CNN Town Hall Live," on Tuesday, June 17th, at 5:00 p.m. eastern time. Hopefully, you'll tune in then.

Coming up, right here in NEWSROOM, we'll have more on the breaking news this afternoon. New details on the shooting, the school shooting at a Portland-area high school. One student is dead, and so is the shooter. Right now, we are expecting a police news conference at the top of the hour. Of course, we'll bring that to you live as soon as it happens. Stay with us.

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BROWN: Right now, at this hour, we're waiting on the Pentagon briefing any moment now. We're expecting to hear from Rear Admiral John Kirby. He's expected to answer questions on the so-called friendly fire situation in Afghanistan that left five American soldiers dead. We understand that yesterday they were in a very violent part of Afghanistan doing a security procedure ahead of the elections there. They called in for help. That triggered strikes. And we understand, according to an allied statement, that five servicemembers were killed in friendly fire deaths. Again, we're waiting to hear more from Rear Admiral John Kirby. Let's listen in.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the fallen.

JOHN KIRBY, REAR ADMIRAL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: I can confirm five American troops were killed yesterday in an incident in southern Afghanistan. I'm not going to get into too much detail about the qualifying who they were and specifics of the mission.

We do have reason to suspect that friendly fire was the cause here, specifically friendly fire from the air. But the issue's under investigation, and I really don't want to get too much more into detail in that until we've had a chance to -- I'll leave it right there, Bob. We need to let the investigators do their work.

A tragic incident all the way around. Again, our thoughts and prayers go out to the families.

I don't have any reports of other wounded. There's some reporting out there that suggests perhaps an Afghan soldier was killed. I can't confirm that right now. But obviously, we're -- BROWN: There you heard it. Rear admiral John Kirby saying five U.S.

servicemembers killed yesterday in a violent province in Afghanistan, due to friendly fire. We're waiting to learn more about this situation. Of course, we'll bring that to you.

Meantime, coming up right here in NEWSROOM, we'll have more on that shooting in the high school just outside of Portland, Oregon. The shooter is dead, as well as a student. We're expecting a news conference 15 to 20 minutes from now. We'll bring it to you live as it happens.

And up next, hear from some of the parents of students at that high school as they waited for any news of their children's safety.

Back, right after this.

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BROWN: A deadly shooting at a high school in suburban Portland, Oregon. There is at least one victim, a student killed by a gunman there. The lone shooter is also dead. Although we don't know how he died at this point. We're expecting a news conference in minutes from now. There was a massive police presence there. Some parents were very, as you can imagine, panicked about the well-being of their children as this one mother describes.

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UNIDENTIFIED PARENT: Panic, come out, flying down the street. I was shaking. Just needed to get out here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Describe the scene this morning as you have seen it all morning long. More parents starting to show up here. What has the mood been like for you and the other parents?

UNIDENTIFIED PARENT: Just still a lot of panic and worry, people trying to get a hold of their kids. There's some aunties that brought their nieces and nephews to school, so trying to get a hold of their parents. Just waiting to hear, hoping the kids were OK.

I was very surprised at all the different municipalities that came out, Camas and Clark County, and Clackamas County. I'm thankful for the large response. Just because you never know if there is more than one shooter, or what's going on.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: This is really any parent's worst nightmare. Another mother describing seeing the terror on the students' faces as she yelled for kids to get inside and take cover.

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UNIDENTIFIED PARENT: I was dropping off my daughter, and she was headed toward the gymnasium. And the school staff said come in, come in. And they swept them into the front office. Then the cops all showed up. Suddenly, there's like seven or eight police cars all around me. And they were wedging me in, telling me, get out, get out, there's a shooter, there's a shooter, there's a rifleman, get out, get out. So I could not back out. I could not turn around. I ended up going up on the curb to back my car around as well as three other vehicles. So as the cars were starting to come in to drop their kids off, everybody was, where do I go? And there was even another little child, she was walking across the parking lot, and I said, get inside! Go! There's a shooter! The look of terror on that young girl's face. Anyway, I left the scene finally. And I just fell apart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Imagine the parents, students, staff at the school, still shaken up at this hour. Again, the news conference begins minutes from now.

But coming up next right here on NEWSROOM, the White House didn't tell Congress about the Bowe Bergdahl trade before it happened. But lawmakers did know about the bin Laden raid. So what's the difference here? Did the White House not think Congress could keep a secret? We're going to explore that up next.

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BROWN: In Washington, it could be tough to keep a secret, but apparently it's easy to keep a secret from Congress. That's according to one Republican Congressman. 80 to 90 Obama administration officials knew about the plan to swap five Taliban members who were being held at Guantanamo Bay for captured U.S. soldier, Bowe Bergdahl.

Earlier today, the White House said discretion was imperative.

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JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: And the reason for that is simple. This is a secret military mission, in which disclosure of the mission could put into jeopardy, not just the life of Sergeant Bergdahl, but also the lives of the American servicemen who were involved in the mission. So discretion of a -- discretion on this matter was important. And that's why the number of people who were aware of this military operation in advance was even smaller.

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BROWN: Last night, after members of the full House were briefed, many of them emerged more angry over the White House's secret deal. And it appears many Americans also have doubts. According to a "CBS News" poll, 56 percent of Americans say the price was too high. And in that same poll, nearly three in four Americans say President Obama should have notified Congress before the deal was made.

Joining me now to discuss this, Dana Bash, chief congressional correspondent.

Great to have you here with us, Dana.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you.

BROWN: Let's talk about this. One of the most sensitive operations ever undertaken, we're talking about taking down Osama bin Laden, Congress was told about it in secret, in the lead-up. So what's the difference now? Has Congress become less trustworthy?

BASH: Well, if you ask House Speaker John Boehner, who revealed today that he knew about the possibility of the bin Laden raid six months beforehand, there's not much of a difference, in that the bottom line is that Congress, if it's top-secret, can keep a secret. The White House argues that they gave the Congress similar heads-up about these raids in general. On the one hand, yes, they gave Congress information about what was going to go on with bin Laden, but didn't tell them, you know, in the days before that it was going to happen right away. Same thing with Bergdahl.

There are major differences, though, as you know, Pam. Primarily, when you're talking about the bin Laden raid, that was a military operation and that was the end of it. You're talking about what happened with Bergdahl, it was a political decision, and a political deal that they made. Military operation, plus the very controversial decision to release the prisoners. So in talking to many sources, that is why they think, on capitol hill, Congress was not informed right beforehand. Not so much because of a trust issue, but because when they had told them about the idea of this back in the end of 2011, in a bipartisan way, many people in Congress thought it was a bad idea. So the suspicion, very strong suspicion, in a bipartisan way, is that's the reason why they didn't come to Congress in the days before this actually happened.

BROWN: And, Dana, House Speaker John Boehner had something else to say today. Let's take a listen to what he said.

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REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're glad that Bergdahl is back. But the biggest issue here is the violation of a policy that the United States has had for many, many years that we don't negotiate with terrorists. And the fact is that we have violated that policy. And as a result, we've made Americans less safe here and all around the world. And we're going to pay for this. There is not any doubt in my mind, there are going to be costs of lives associated -- lost lives associated with what came out of this.

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BASH: Pam, just as I was saying before you played that sound bite, if you want to know what kind of resistance you had on Capitol Hill, that really speaks to it. People thought it was a terrible idea in private and in classified settings beforehand. Now you're hearing the House speaker do it.

It should be underscored we hear a lot of partisan rhetoric, a lot of it, and you might sort of -- it might go over people's heads. But just to hear the House speaker effectively say the president put Americans in harm's way with this swap is pretty chilling. BROWN: Yeah, a strong statement. That's for sure.

Dana Bash, thank you very much for breaking it down for us.

Up next on NEWSROOM, police scheduled to hold a news conference any moment now on the shooting at a high school in Oregon we've been telling you about. One student has died. What happened inside? We're going to bring it to you live right after this break.

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