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Terrorist Seize Iraq Chemical Weapons Site; President Obama to Send Advisers to Iraq; CNN Reporter Mugged by Protests; Interview with Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan; Wisconsin Accused in "Criminal Scheme"; CDC Workers Potentially Exposed to Anthrax

Aired June 20, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: TGIF indeed. I love that dog. Adorable. I've been wanting to get one for a long time. Maybe this weekend is the weekend.

Guys, good to see you. Kate, big interview this afternoon with the president. Good luck. Can't wait to see it.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. Good morning, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow in today for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

Lots of news happening right now. Three big hearings on Capitol Hill and we're watching it all for you. First, the former boss of the IRS about to be hammered over allegations of a Tea Party targeting scandal cover-up. Another big question that will be asked, why e-mails sent from Lois Lerner have disappeared from both her computer and an IRS server.

Also happening now, John Kerry is delivering remarks on human trafficking. We're keeping an eye on that. Also waiting to see if he says anything about Iraq.

And at the bottom of the hour here, the VA back in the spotlight this morning. At issue, $10 million worth of bonuses given to executives at the Phoenix VA. That's where there are allegations of rigged waiting lists, veterans forced to wait several months to receive care. We'll be monitoring all three hearings and bring you updates as soon as we have them.

But we begin, of course, this morning with Iraq as terrorist fighters inch closer to the capital city and more American military advisers head toward that crisis, there is a new call for reinforcements. Iraq's military is now asking retired technicians and officers to reenlist, they are badly needed, they say, to help repair and maintain planes and tanks in hopes of trying to curve that violence.

This, as President Obama makes the decision to send up to 300 Special Forces from this country to Iraq. They're not going to fight, but to advise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Rather than try to play whack-a-mole wherever these terrorist organizations may pop up, what we have to do is to be able to build effective partnerships, make sure that they have capacity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: And this morning, there's also new concern about ISIS as militants take control of a facility that was once used by Saddam Hussein to produce and to store chemical weapons.

Our senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is on the ground there in Baghdad. He joins me.

Nic, you have a very unique perspective on this chemical weapons site because you visited it back in 2002. What can you tell us about it now that there are these reports that ISIS has control of it?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Back in 2002, I went with U.N. weapons inspectors. And I remember looking -- I looked back at my script and the first line is, you know, rusting rows of chemical weapons.

This is a site that was at the heart of Saddam Hussein's chemical weapons production. It was the birthplace of his biological weapons. All of this stuff was used in the eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s.

So what kind of condition is it in now? It's judged by the State Department to be in a very poor condition. That's certainly what I saw. Weapons inspectors rendered it beyond use. But it's still there. It's still rotting. The VX, mustard gas, sarin are some of the chemicals that there were.

And the concern has to be that some of the fighters associated with ISIS right now are some of the former Baathist Army officers who would have had knowledge of that site, maybe even involved in the use or storage of the chemical weapons there. So they may have some technical expertise but what we understand and from what I saw when I was there, these weapons are in a very dangerous but not useful military condition -- Poppy.

HARLOW: OK. And I'm also wondering there on the ground, Nic, if you're getting any reaction from average Iraqi citizens responding to news from President Obama yesterday afternoon that the U.S. is going to send up to 300 military advisers.

I know the government has been asking for the U.S. to get involved, that may want it even more frankly, but what are the people saying?

ROBERTSON: You know, there are people that wanted these strikes and they wanted them quickly because they're scared. They don't like ISIS. They're afraid of them. They're afraid of what they'll do to them. And they believe that the United States can weigh in and make a difference. But at the same time, you have Sunnis in the west of the country, they were saying hold on a minute. If the United States comes in here, backs this government of Nouri al-Maliki, with these strikes against Sunnis -- some of them are tribesmen. They're not all these radical Islamist ISIS fighters.

This is -- they would say the United States has taken a position against the Sunnis. And of course a lot of the insurgency in the west of Iraq that killed many U.S. service men was as a result of the Sunnis there fighting against the U.S. troops. So there's divided opinion -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Yes, absolutely, Nic, thank you so much. We appreciate the reporting on the ground there in Baghdad throughout all of this.

Thank you, Nic.

Also later today as we mentioned at the top of the show, our own Kate Bolduan will sit down with President Obama for a one-on-one interview. She's going to ask him of course about this plan to send those special forces into Iraq. We'll bring you that conversation later today and then much more of it on "NEW DAY" on Monday morning.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

HARLOW: Breaking news. This just into the CNN NEWSROOM.

We've got some frightening new video of our own senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman. He's getting roughed up by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank. This happened during a demonstration organized by Hamas to support Palestinians who had been arrested following the kidnapping of those three Israeli teenagers.

I want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No, no, no, he's going to take your camera now. Go, go, go, go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Wow. Ben Wedeman joins us now by phone. Ben, I -- not by phone. In person. Thank you. You look -- you made it through. You look all right. But, Ben, I could hear your voice in there, you know, trying to negotiate while all of that was happening. What happened and how are you doing?

WEDEMAN: Well, we're fine. Couple of bruises, a few scratches, but we're accustomed to tussling with various police in various parts of the world.

We were at a demonstration that was organized by Hamas in -- solidarity with Palestinian prisoners and people who have recently been detained by the Israelis as part of this roundup following the kidnapping Thursday before last of those three Israeli teenagers. The Palestinian Authority does not like it when the press covers groups of protestors that are affiliated with Hamas, that are protesting essentially against the Palestinian Authority. And so at a certain point I heard one of these plainclothes policemen

saying in Arabic, grab the camera, grab the cameraman. So I ran up to Joe Sheffer, our cameraman, and I told him, they're coming for you. Let's go, let's go.

We eventually got the camera back, which I can show you but I'm afraid this camera is not going to be working for CNN anymore.

HARLOW: Wow. Wow. Yes. Well, I'm glad that you guys are OK. I mean, you're a pro. You've reported in this environment for a long time.

Ben, appreciate the update for us. I'm glad you and your team are all right. Stay safe.

I want to show you some incredible pictures from the banks of the Mississippi right in Minneapolis. Heavy rains triggered a landslide, dangerously closely to the University of Minnesota Medical Center on Thursday night.

And entire hill along the river collapsed right next to the hospital. Some 20 employees were evacuated. At this point, though, no patients have been affected. We're told the hospital is now in safe condition. But this is because of rainfall of historic proportions that have been falling there for about a week.

Yesterday, really record rainfall causing Governor Mark Daton to declare a state of emergency in 35 counties and the risk of flooding remaining high today.

Dave Berggren from our affiliate KARE has the latest.

DAVE BERGGREN, KARE REPORTER: Structural engineers here in Minnesota will certainly be watching the scene behind me here today. Essentially a massive mudslide took out an entire section of a bluff near the University of Minnesota's Riverside Hospital along the banks of the rising Mississippi River. One of the saturated hillsides simply gave way late last night. This after torrential rains Thursday. It dumped mud and large trees into the river and it left a massive hole in the side of the bluff and buried a portion of a roadway in six to eight feet of mud.

This mudslide was dangerously close to a hospital building, by nobody was hurt and engineers determined the hospital structure is still intact and OK. Patients and hospital staff were not affected although some staff were briefly evacuated.

Now city crews will begin the cleanup process in the days to come but it may take a while as they wait for the area to stabilize.

Poppy Harlow, back to you.

HARLOW: All right. Appreciate it there, Dave Berggren for us from our affiliate KARE in Minneapolis. Appreciate that report.

Meantime, newly released documents reveal some major accusations against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. According to state prosecutors Walker was allegedly involved in a criminal scheme to illegally coordinate conservative groups to help him and others fight back against those recall efforts in 2012.

Now no charges have been filed and this morning Walker is fighting back against those claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. SCOTT WALKER (R), WISCONSIN: The facts are pretty clear. You've had not one, but two judges. A state judge and a federal judge. State judges are well respected court of appeals judge, and a federal judge more recently have both looked at this argument. And in the past, not just recently. Remember this is not new news. It just newly released yesterday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.

WALKER: (INAUDIBLE) were open. But no charges, case over. Both judges said they didn't buy the argument. They didn't think that anything was done that was illegal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. We're going to have more on that from our CNN executive editor Mark Preston straight ahead right after the break.

Still here to come in the NEWSROOM, also when he ran for governor, he described himself as one tough nerd. Now Michigan Governor Sick Snyder is getting ready to sign an aid package to try to help the city of Detroit out of bankruptcy. Why this Republican is backing the deal and his response to critics who call it an unfair bailout of his state's biggest city.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: The "Washington Post" calls him, quote, "one of the most hard to pin down Republicans in the country." Michigan Governor Rick Snyder was among those who believed that bankruptcy was the right move for Detroit. $18 billion in debt, it is the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history but now the same governor is one of the biggest advocates for an aid deal worth almost $200 million trying to pull Detroit out of bankruptcy.

Despite a pretty tough political fight, it passed with broad bipartisan support. Later this morning, he is headed over to sign it. Sign that aid package into law. He joins me now from Detroit.

Governor, thank you for being here. We appreciate it.

GOV. RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: It's great to be with you, Poppy. It's an important day to sign these bill, it's another step on getting Detroit on the path to being a great exciting city again.

HARLOW: You know, I've covered Detroit really extensively. Spent a lot of time there up with you in Lansing. This is a big step. It's frankly unprecedented, according to analysts that cover bankruptcies like this that I've talked to.

But the road ahead for Detroit is still very long. You have a big fight between pensioners, creditors and the city.

Do you see a successful exit from bankruptcy for Detroit come this fall, as you're hoping for?

SNYDER: Yes, it should happen. There are two more important steps after the signing today. There's a vote of retirees and we need a yes vote on that, and that's due by July 11.

The second stage is the bankruptcy trial itself with Judge Rhodes (ph) who needs to approve the plan of adjustment. And that's an important step. And that trial begins in late August.

Those are the two major steps left in the process. Assuming positive outcomes both those steps, then we should be in a position to emerge from bankruptcy and get the city with the mayor and the city council with good financial oversight, all focus on growing the city of Detroit. That's a truly exciting proposition.

HARLOW: Let's talk about what a new Detroit out of bankruptcy looks like, because the real struggle you still have is the fact that the tax base has been so depleted. So many people in businesses leaving Detroit. You're having a lot of success downtown bringing tech businesses back in. What do you do to get people back in Detroit paying to build that back up?

SNYDER: Well, it's starting to move already, Poppy. That's the good part. The bankruptcy is the municipal government. But Detroit's already coming back. As you said, midtown and downtown are very exciting, over 10,000 jobs have moved in the city.

We're out of housing now for young professionals. Detroit's one of the hot places to live in the country. And that's really exciting.

We have major projects on the drawing board, a new hockey arena, a light rail system. There's a lot of great things going on. The one thing in particular, we also need to make sure that neighborhoods are participating in this. And that's why there's some great programs with micro loan programs, entrepreneurship programs, and removing blight.

I think the mayor has done exciting things about trying to get blight removed in the city. So, it's a good partnership.

HARLOW: You know, Governor, some have made that argument, look, Detroit needs to take responsibility for years, decades of financial mismanagement, corrupt politics and not get bailed out by the state or real change, fundamental change isn't going to happen. What do you say to them?

SNYDER: Well, this isn't a bailout. This is a settlement, because the settlement is a number of parties to do something truly unique on a voluntary basis. So, this is the foundation community, Detroit Institute of Art Donors. Labor coming to the state to put a grand bargain of over $800 million over a period of time to say let's soften the blow on retirees that otherwise wouldn't be available.

It really allows the case to move forward faster. It helps those retirees which is critically important, because they have made and will make real sacrifices. So, this is a way to win together. And the way I view this, this is a smart settlement so we can all grow Detroit.

HARLOW: I've talked to a lot of those retired city workers who are scared of what's ahead and what that bankruptcy filing meant for them.

I want your response to this. The Americans of Prosperity, this is a group backed by the Koch brothers, wanted to see Detroit sell its assets, like its artwork. It's got a lot of valuable artwork, other assets to pay its debt.

They see this as a bailout. I know you call it a settlement, they see it as a bailout. They have vowed to work for the defeat of lawmakers who supported this package for Detroit. Are you worried at all that, Governor, that some of your Republican allies in the legislature are going to pay a price with a future defeat because they voted for this package?

SNYDER: Well, the feedback after the bills were passed through the legislature was fabulous. It was with broad bipartisan support. Again, the legislators from the Lake Michigan shoreline, the upper peninsula supported it.

No, it's really interesting. I went and talked to a number of them afterward. I said, how did it go back in your district? The feedback was overwhelmingly positive from all corners. In fact, I had a couple of legislators that had voted no that came up and said this is a vote I'm probably going to regret. I probably in the long term will wish I voted yes on this.

HARLOW: Really quickly, we have to wrap up here. I got to ask you. Detroit is building a big new hockey arena right downtown. Millions of that is coming from taxpayer dollars. I know it's going to create a number of jobs in downtown Detroit, bring revenue is. But the question is, a lot of people are scratching their heads about, is this the right use of taxpayer money in Detroit right now when you have streets where you can't turn the lights on, where trash can't be picked up? Is this the right move?

SNYDER: Well, the good part is, we have new trash providers that's getting picked up, lights are going up, so all that is happening in Detroit. And at the same time, a normal arena, I wouldn't be supportive of.

But this is a critically important area that will connect midtown and downtown Detroit, and really be a glue to really strengthen things and accelerate even more growth than what's already going on.

So, I think it's a good thing for the city and it's exciting.

HARLOW: We'll be watching. As you know, I am a big advocate, a big fan of Detroit and I'm waiting for that city to come back. Positive things happening down there as well.

Thank you, Governor. We appreciate it very much.

SNYDER: Thanks, Poppy.

Back now to the newly released documents which reveal major accusations against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. According to state prosecutors, Walker was allegedly involved in a, quote, "criminal scheme to illegally coordinate groups to help him and others fight back against those recall efforts in 2012." No charges have been filed.

Let's talk about this with our senior executive political editor for CNN, Mark Preston. He's here with more.

Lay this out for us, Mark. What are they talking about here?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR EXECUTIVE POLITICAL EDITOR: Well, you know, Poppy, this is something that happened yesterday. It blasted onto the front pages of all the newspapers in Wisconsin, but also nationally, something that caught the Wisconsin governor's aids by surprise.

Really what this stems from is from a fight that occurred a few years ago when the governor tried to curtail collective bargaining rights for state workers were successful. Democrats in that state tried to run a recall election against him. They were able to do so. But in fact, Walker had won. There were also several state senators as well that were put up for recall. They were Democrats, they were swept out of office.

So, what we see now is documents that were released yesterday where we have these county prosecutors in Wisconsin who allege that walker and his cam pap aides coordinated with outside groups, something that would be illegal with state election law. Now, Walker we saw earlier on FOX go pack and say that in fact this is just a political vendetta by his campaign foes and by Democrats and that is federal judge and state judge has both refused to pursue these charges.

I have to tell you, I just got off the phone with one of his top aides. They say they are ready and prepared to fight this. You know what, Poppy? This is coming right into an election year where we will see Walker up on the ballot. If he wins in November, a lot of people think that he will run for president in 2016, Poppy.

HARLOW: This is very big. Has brought implications for a man running again in 2014 and maybe making a bid for the White House.

We appreciate the report and update this morning, Mark Preston. Thank you.

Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, how did workers at the CDC get exposed to anthrax. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta live with that this morning -- Sanjay.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Seventy-five workers under surveillance now, being offered antibiotics. Possibly being exposed to one of the deadliest inspections known. What exactly happened? This is the CDC. I'll explain after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: This morning, a federal investigation is underway at the Centers for Disease Control. That's the federal health research facility that handles some of the world's most deadly biological threats, small pox, Ebola, even agents for biological warfare.

Today, about 75 CDC workers are being closely watched after possibly being exposed to anthrax. You may remember the deadly bacteria from the post-9/11 scare when someone mailed that deadly powder, killing people, infecting 17 others.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

Sanjay, I know you've been speaking to people from the CDC from last night about how this could have happened. What are they saying?

GUPTA: Well, first of all, some news. You know, the 75 number actually increased now to 87 as they try and figure out who may have been exposed, more people have been identified. So the numbers have actually gone up, Poppy.

What happens simply is you have bio safety labs. Some are higher level bio safety labs. Some are lower. They were taking this anthrax and wanted to transfer from a higher bio safety lab, to a lower one. What they were supposed to inactivate the bacteria and then wait 48 hours to make sure it actually worked.

And neither one of those steps actually worked. First of all, the inactivation process didn't kill the bacteria. And they didn't wait to 48 hours. So, what happened?

All of a sudden, live bacteria got into a lab that's not equipped to handle that. And that's the concern, Poppy.

HARLOW: You know, I think, Sanjay, one of the things that it's so important we clarify here is that not everyone that may have been exposed ultimately gets sick from this. I know there's a high mortality rate if you do get sick, but give us is sense of what the outlook is for those who may have been exposed right now.

GUPTA: Yes, no, I think you put that well. I mean, the idea of actually getting sick and getting enough anthrax into your lungs to make one sick, the risk of that is pretty small. But if an infection takes hold, with this breath-in form of anthrax, it's a pretty deadly problem. I mean, 75 percent to 80 percent of people who contract anthrax in that way die from it.

So, that's the concern. Not easy to catch, but really problematic if you do get it. And that's part of the reason, the CDC, which again, this is what they do. I mean, this is their mission. They've offered the people who may have been exposed antibiotics and they're starting those antibiotic -- they can choose to start those antibiotics and take them for 60 days. HARLOW: Yes. Of course, we'll be watching really closely. But

again, as you say news this morning that 75 number of people possibly exposed now up to 87.

We'll stay with you, Sanjay, for updates on that throughout the morning. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

HARLOW: Still to come here in the news room, the V.A. scandal on the Hill and under the microscope. The hearing getting underway as we speak. Lawmakers want to know why executives were rewarded while veterans were dying waiting for their help.

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