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Obama, Congressional Leaders Meet On Iraq; McCain: "Where Is Obama" On Iraq?; Iraq: Terrorists Chased From Oil Refinery; Pentagon Plans To Send Special Forces To Iraq; Texas Men Accused Of Supporting Terrorists; American Apparel CEO Fired

Aired June 19, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Happening right now in the CNN NEWSROOM, two Americans arrested in Texas on terror-related charges. One of them even accused of wanting to join ISIS, a terrorist group now fighting for control of Iraq. Then, out of fashion, American apparel fires its controversial CEO but will he fight to keep his company?

And later, pulled from the depths, an explorer injured in one of Germany's deepest caves is rescued after 11 days at the bottom. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Don Lemon. Thank you so much for joining us. Carol is off today. We're going to begin this hour with Iraq. The prime minister, Nuri Al-Maliki, says his government troops are pushing back the terrorists advance on Baghdad, but his leadership may become a casualty of the conflict nonetheless.

Many in Washington and its Arab allies believe Maliki can't unify his own country to stop the invasion and prevent a new civil war. Lawmakers say he's got to go, but the administration only hints at it. The White House may be nearing some form of military action.

President Barack Obama tells a four top lawmakers in Congress that he'll seek their input, but he doesn't need their permission. This as sources tell us that the U.S. is carrying out man reconnaissance flights. Here's Secretary of State John Kerry defending delay to NBC.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Maliki was asking for help with air strikes in the last few weeks, as this was coming. As ISIS was coming toward this part of Iraq. Why didn't we act then?

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: For a lot of different reasons, not the least of which is we didn't have operational theater capacity at that point in time partly because Prime Minister Maliki denied the kind of permissions necessary.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That raises the question, why come to Maliki's rescue now. Isn't he a big part of the problem?

KERRY: Let me stress what the United States is doing is about Iraq. It is not about Maliki. And nothing that the president decides to do is going to be focused specifically on Prime Minister Maliki. It is focused on the people of Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Let's head out now to the White House and White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski. You see her on the lawn. Michelle, what conversations are unfolding there encouraging Maliki to step down, if any?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what people are talking about. I mean, top congressional leaders, some top U.S. officials are saying that that's what they believe needs to happen. From the White House's position, though, you really can't get them to answer the question. They went so far yesterday as to say, obviously not enough has been done by Al-Maliki to incorporate all elements of the population within the government.

We've been talking for days about how Al-Maliki has alienated Sunnis, kicked people out of some top positions, generally stirred things up that's seen as a major contributing factor to what is going on right now. The White House is not going to stand there and call for regime change. What's going on behind the scenes is a lot of pressure.

You know, we know that vice president called Al Maliki yesterday. He talked to not only him, but a top parliamentarian and also the Kurdish president, talked to all of them about the need for inclusiveness. We can't emphasize enough how many times the White House talks about this.

I mean, it's virtually in every answer to every single question. They say number one, the best solution to the threat there is an inclusive government because that provides the framework that minimizes the threat. Whether that's too late remains to be seen, but clearly the U.S. still wants that kind of government in place -- Don.

LEMON: Michelle Kosinski at the White House. Michelle, thank you very much.

This just in to CNN straight from the Senate floor, of course, you know John McCain and the president rarely see eye to eye on many issues and this issue when it's concerning Iraq they don't either. Let's listen to John McCain just moments ago on the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: In the last couple of weeks, what is the United States of America done? Today, we see on the front page of "The Washington Post," U.S. sees risk in Iraqi air strikes." The president of the United States goes for fundraising and golfing and now is fiddling while Iraq burns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Fiddling while Iraq burns. Perfect time to bring in Indiana senator, Dan Coats, Republican senator. Dan, what do you make of John McCain's comments moments ago? SENATOR DAN COATS (R), INDIANA: I think what we've seen here in the last few weeks, in fact last several months, is the lack of decisive leadership either from our president or from President Maliki. Clearly some blame falls to Maliki in terms of his inability to do what I think everyone knew he needed to do, but also, our ignoring the situation to the point where even though we probably knew as the secretary of defense admitted to me yesterday in a hearing, knew that something like this was going to happen and we really didn't have a plan in place in terms of dealing with it.

Now it's a complex issue and I don't have the solution to this. The commander in chief, the president of the United States, needs to be and with his people needs to be thinking about how do we deal with these situations if it should arise. They're acting as if this came as a surprise. We're kind of behind the curve here in terms of knowing what exactly to do. One thing we need is clear announcement of whether we go forward or not go forward and whether we believe Iraq needs a new leadership, more inclusive government.

LEMON: Senator, stand by. We'll talk more about, you know, the president informing and keeping members of Congress informed. The issue, as you said, you're not sure of what to do. What would you have the president do? A lot of people are criticizing the president and from the president's side, he's saying or at least his administration is saying, what are the solutions? You are criticizing us, but there are no solutions. What would you have them do?

COATS: Well, I do agree with General Petraeus who said we shouldn't be Maliki's or the Shiite's Air Force. It's going to take much more than that to address the situation, given the way it's developed and how they've intruded so far into Iraq and lost that territory. I think at some point here, the moderates, whether they're in Iraq or whether they're in any number of Arab nations, need to step up and say, we will not accept this brutality.

If our leadership, from these extremist groups. If our leadership isn't willing to address this, we can't just simply depend on the United States to come in and bail us out. I think we could lead potentially that effort among our western allies and the world through the U.N. and through our own exhortations to the moderates there that see this per version of this religion, the brutality that's taking place.

Why aren't they storming the courtyards and storming the -- where people gather in those different states like we did -- like they did with the fall of the Soviet Union and say we will not tolerate this. What are the imams, why aren't they stepping up, the tribal leaders, people saying we don't want this form of perverted Islam here --

LEMON: I understand what you're saying, but what does that have to do with the United States? My question is what would you have them do? Because there's also been talk of possible air strikes, that's one of the possible roads that the U.S. may go down. Do you have an apprehension to that? COATS: Look, the members of -- 100 members of the Senate and 435 members of the Congress are not the commander in chief and they're not the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. We ought to be looking to their ideas in terms of how we may address this, but ultimately it is the president's decision as to whether or not we get involved. Give us an answer. One way or another in terms of how we should go forward.

We can throw out ideas, but it falls on the president to provide that kind of leadership. The world is looking for it. The Middle East is looking for it. I think the U.S., whether we like it or not, is looked to as someone that can provide some control and security for people around the world.

But we need to engage our allies in support of that effort and we don't have a president that's willing to take that lead. Everybody's just floating out there not knowing what to do.

LEMON: Dan Coats, Senator Dan Coats, thank you very much. Indiana. Appreciate you. In Iraq all eyes on the nation's largest refinery, both terrorist fighters and Iraqi troops claim to have control of the facility, which is a vital economic source for the embattled government. I want to get Baghdad now. CNN Nic Robertson. Nic, please, give us the latest on this. What's going on?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, we got some breaking news out of that refinery. We understand a cease-fire was arranged between ISIS and the Sunni tribes on one side and the government forces on the other side. They were able to get over 200 workers who were inside that refinery, they were able to get them out of the refinery through that cease-fire. But who controls what of the refinery, this refinery has like a 35-mile perimeter.

There are four sections of the refinery and the best information we can get putting together everything that we have is that some of it is under ISIS control and some of it is under Iraqi army control. More than 200 people got out in the last couple hours through a cease-fire agreed on the ground there to get those workers out and safe -- Don.

LEMON: Nic Robertson in Iraq, Nic, thank you very much. Appreciate your reporting. Make sure you stay safe there. Still to come on CNN, charges of home-grown support of terrorists. We'll have the very latest from Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The breaking news concerns Iraq. It is coming from the Pentagon. We'll let Barbara Starr break the story. Barbara, what do you have?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Don. This will await a final decision by President Obama, but the Pentagon at this hour is now prepared to send 100 U.S. ground troops, military advisors, to Iraq, several U.S. officials are telling me. It does await a final decision by President Obama. That decision could come as soon as today, we are told, 100 military advisors to Iraq. They will be Green Berets, Army Rangers, Navy SEALs. If approved, they will deploy to the headquarters of Iraqi Army Brigades around the country, around Iraq. They will both -- they will advise Iraqi forces, but they have an additional job. They will also collect intelligence on the location and disposition of ISIS forces. The militants that both Iraqis and the U.S. want to see out of the fight in Iraq.

Don, I think what's so significant here for the military, for the Pentagon, is, you know, the president has said no U.S. ground forces in Iraq. But, these guys, these 100 special forces, they are always prepared for combat. I don't know a single member of the Special Forces that isn't. So when they go to these brigade locations around Iraq, they certainly may not be on the very front line of combat.

But they will be close to the unrest and they will be in the position of some security concern many U.S. officials believe. But that is where we are today. An announcement could come from the White House as soon as today, but this is the option we believe the Pentagon certainly is preparing for and the one that the president is considering.

LEMON: Barbara, the question is, does the White House appear, I guess it does, I don't want to read too much into this, the distinction between ground troops do they seem to be backing off their initial assortment that there would be no ground troops sent to Iraq.

STARR: I think that's a really good point to expand on a bit here, Don. The president has made it very clear, the U.S. is not going back into ground combat in Iraq in a significant way the kind of troops and formations and weaponry that we saw over the years in Iraq that U.S. pulled out of in December 2011.

But, I mean, and here's a big but, the U.S. has been out of Iraq since 2011. Now very small group, but they are Special Forces on the ground, they will be at brigade headquarters, advising Iraqi troops, but also gathering intelligence. I think we will have to see what their exact orders are, so to speak, which has not come out yet publicly, but I can tell you, I've spoken to a number of sources who say look, Special Forces, they are always prepared, they always know that combat can come to them.

If you are in an Iraqi brigade headquarters, somewhere in Northern Iraq, you may not technically be in combat, but if an artillery shell comes your way, you're in combat. This is a very sensitive situation at the moment.

LEMON: The breaking news from our Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. It's showing that this appears to be escalating when it comes to this conflict in Iraq now. Barbara Starr is reporting the Pentagon is prepared to send 100 Special Forces, military advisors to Iraq, if the Obama administration, if President Obama signs off on a Green Berets, Army Rangers and Navy SEALs. Barbara, if you get more information, we'll get back to you. Thank you very much for that.

In the meantime, let's talk about possible home-grown terror. Authorities have arrested two men in Texas on terror-related charges. Federal officials say that they conspired to provide material support to terrorists. One was on his way overseas when he was nabbed at Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas. Reporting on this story for us is CNN's Ed Lavandera, more from Dallas. Ed, what's the latest?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don. It's a disturbing story, but one that also highlights a disturbing trend. U.S. citizens going overseas to engage with radical Islamists.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (voice-over): These two American men arrested in Texas have been charged with supporting terrorist groups in Syria and Somalia. A SWAT team surrounded 23-year-old Kahn's home in Austin. According to a complaint Kahn used Internet chat rooms to spot and assess potential recruits for committing violent Jihad overseas.

Michael Todd Wolfe also 23 was arrested at Houston George H.W. Bush Airport before boarding the flight to Europe where you allegedly planned to later enter into Syria through Turkey and provide his services to radical groups. Wolfe referred to al Qaeda representatives as righteous brothers according to the criminal complaint.

Even showing an undercover FBI agent, a YouTube video of foreign fighters in Syria. Wolfe discussed which militant groups he should join including the brutal Islamist group ISIS, currently staging an offensive against Iraq.

The Texas native also told undercover officers he had been physically preparing to join Jihad by practicing martial arts, running and cross- fit, the competitive sport which uses military-style techniques.

STEVE MOORE, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: This is something that has been going on for a while and since even the early 2000s people from America have gone over to terrorist camps overseas, but sites like YouTube can be used to recruit people, even in the United States very easily where before they were -- they were out of reach.

LAVANDERA: Analysts believe as many as 100 American citizens have made the trek to fight in Syria. Last month, an American suicide bomber who grew up in Florida set off a massive truck bomb at a Syrian military checkpoint.

Syrian Jihadists tweeted several photos of the American before he took his life with bombs strapped to his chest. Social media has now become one of the many ways al Qaeda recruits westerners to fight alongside radical Islamists.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: Don, both of these men were charged separately. Doesn't appear that they were working together. Both of them are still being held in custody and they will make their first court appearance Friday afternoon in Austin, Texas. If they're convicted, they face up to 15 years in federal prison -- Don. LEMON: Ed Lavandera following the story, thank you very much. Still to come on CNN, American Apparel CEO Dov Charney is out amid allegations of misconduct.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOV CHARNEY, AMERICAN APPAREL, CEO: I've never assaulted anybody in my entire life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: But did he get the boot because of bad behavior or the company's falling stock?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: American Apparel CEO Dov Charney fired by the company's Board of Directors yesterday amid allegations of misconduct and sexual harassment. Charney's lawyer says he will, quote, "Fight like hell against the allegations." For his part, Charney says he'll even take a lie detector test. What in the world is going on here?

CNN's Jason Carroll is here with more and also CNN business reporter, Alison Kosik here as well. The crux of these allegations, Jason, and you know this man because you've interviewed him, you interviewed him back in 2011, what's the crux of this allegation?

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Basically this time around, the company isn't saying specifically what's going on. The last time back in 2011 you remember he was sued by five former employees who basically said that Charney sexually harassed them, one of them a former model who says that he coerced her into taking provocative pictures at his home.

Dov Charney told me all along he denied those allegations, basically saying that these women were coerced into saying these things and they were out for money. First listen to what he told me back in 2011.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARNEY: The way I feel about this situation is there's something disingenuous about the claims. First of all, they're fake. Second of all, these claimants are being coached. Third of all, there's too much money involved in terms of the amounts of money that they're claiming. And I feel -- I'm prepared to take a polygraph.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: Again, that's from 2011. He admitted to me at that point during that interview at his factory in downtown Los Angeles, is he provocative, yes. Has he walked around, for example, in his underwear at a certain time, yes.

LEMON: Giving meetings in his underwear, walking around --

CARROLL: He didn't say a meeting. LEMON: Walking around where, the company?

CARROLL: Well, at a part of the company, yes. But look, are you surprised? You look at the ad campaigns. It is reminiscent of in some ways. He says steadfastly what he does in his private life does not translate so much into his business life.

LEMON: I would agree with him on that. But if you're walking around a business, place of business, in your underwear, that's a little odd.

CARROLL: He is provocative and unconventional in his words.

LEMON: Alison, what about these allegations? Is it the allegation of falling stock prices or is it both?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It could be both. The stock price isn't doing well. From 2007 the stock was at $15. Guess where it is today? At 70 cents. This is after being up 6 to 18 percent this morning. That's not much when you have a stock under a dollar. What's happened now that the board has kicked Dov Charney to the curb, what could happen is a big fat for sale sign could go out in front of American Apparel.

Because some analysts are reportedly saying what happens is when you have this kind of management change, it could spark a default for its credit obligations. This is a company that is millions of dollars in debt. So you could see a forced sale of American Apparel, but you may not see American apparel go away. There's a lot of demand for the product. You could see private equity firms, other retailers get interested in buying this company and seeing the brand of American Apparel survive.

LEMON: I don't disagree when it's at $7 and now 70 --

KOSIK: I'm sorry, $15 in 2007, now down to 70 cents.

LEMON: It was at 20, $25 maybe we wouldn't see him, know what I mean.

KOSIK: Exactly.

LEMON: It would make a difference. Sometimes it's usually about the bottom line. Both of you will follow up on the story. Thank you very much. Appreciate your insights. Alison Kosik, Jason Carroll.

Still to come as the crisis in Iraq grows, Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki finding support dwindling. Should he stay or go? I'm going to ask our panel of experts that question next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)