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Hurricane for July 4th Weekend?; U.S. on Alert for Al Qaeda Attack; Israel Firing at Hamas over Death of Kidnapped Teens; GM Recalls More Vehicles; Win or Go Home: U.S. Vs. Belgium at World Cup; Obama: "Pass a Bill, Solve a Problem"

Aired July 01, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

USA, it's all on the line today, beat Belgium or go home. The red, white and blue taking the field in just hours. Support even coming from Waffle House, of all places, tweeting, "We don't believe in Belgium waffles or even supporting a boycott."

Plus deadly derecho, a massive storm tearing through the Midwest. Iowa seeing eight inches of rain in just one day, but a strengthening tropical storm could ruin July 4th plans for millions. Beaches from Florida to New England on alert. Some forecasts saying it will be a category 1 hurricane by the weekend.

Plus boots on the ground. Three hundred new U.S. troops Baghdad bound but with the official withdrawal three years old why are there now almost 1,000 American servicemen still there?

Plus this. World Cup fever hitting Hollywood. The stars are out. Jay-Z, Mick, Rihanna and the official World Cup song by J. Lo and Pitbull.

We're Brazil bound live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We'll have much more on the World Cup in just a minute but first a strong storm off the Florida coast could turn into a hurricane and put 4th of July plans for millions in jeopardy.

The storm is expected to march up the East Coast where millions will be spending their holiday weekend at the beach.

So let's get right to Indra Petersons with the latest live in New York. Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: All eyes are on this, this morning, Carol.

Take a look at what is now a tropical depression but likely to strengthen into a tropical storm as early as today. Winds 35 miles per hour, currently that is a strong depression because once it hits 39 miles per hour we have a tropical storm. And take a look at all the weather models that are out there. What we

call spaghetti plot because they all have consensus here. They're all bringing it right along the eastern seaboard affecting yes, those Fourth of July plans and strengthening as it goes, so that's the concern, by just this afternoon already looking at it to be a tropical storm, then really affecting Florida tomorrow, then in through the Carolinas as you go from Wednesday in through Thursday but here is the tricky part.

As you go Thursday night in through Friday morning it is likely to strengthen into a very weak category 1 hurricane right off the coast of D.C. and then continuing its path all the way up the coastline affecting everyone even in through New England before exiting offshore. The timing here is bad but just keep in mind here is how it looks that kind of pans out. We talk about Florida. That's going to be the biggest impacts in through tomorrow.

There you go, as you go into the Carolinas you're heading early ahead of the holiday, look for it into the Carolinas for you. But now there we go with the category 1 hurricane. This is off the coast. Notice D.C., New York City and Boston, but that's one side of the equation, Carol.

So take a look what else is out there. A cold front, that big weather system that went through Chicago last night? That system is going to be making its way from the west to the east and intersecting this potential hurricane that's out there, so all that tropical moisture is going to enhance that cold front. You're going to get that double whammy impact in through the northeast right on 4th of July that only continues to make its way up the coastline.

So there's really two systems we're watching. Make -- take a look at it again, there's that cold front right now affecting the Midwest today going through the Ohio Valley and there is what's currently that depression. As these two systems that are going to be coming together and look at that severe weather threat already today from Binghamton all the way back through Arkansas. Again, that only intensifies as it heads off to the east, intersects with all of that moisture -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Did I mention I was going to Charleston, South Carolina, for the 4th of July?

PETERSONS: Hope you go like Saturday? Looks better.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Oh, geez. Thank you, Indra.

PETERSONS: Sure.

COSTELLO: Getting to the beach or July 4th barbecue will be a lot more expensive this year. Gas prices are expected to be at their highest level in six years. The national average for gas right now is $3.67 a gallon and it's only expected to go up as we get closer to the weekend. In other news this morning, new terrorism fears could mean even

tighter security the next time you're at the airport. U.S. officials are considering new security measures over a concern that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is developing more sophisticated explosives designed to get past screening devices.

Republican lawmaker Peter King warns the group could team up with ISIS militants to attack the United States.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: You hope that you're wrong, you hope that the threat is not there but considering the cast of characters that's coming together, we have to assume that there can be a device that they would attempt to use against us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this with CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general of the Department of Transportation, Mary Schiavo. I'm also joined by CNN national security analyst and former CIA operative, Bob Baer.

Welcome to both of you.

ROBERT BAER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Hi, Carol.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Bob, what kind of new weaponry are they afraid of?

BAER: Well, we're talking about Asiri, he's a bomb maker and he's capable of taking an explosive, not to get too technical but PETN. He can plasticize this and put it inside a liner of a suitcase or any other object you might carry on to an airplane. He can hide the detonators, for instance, plastic detonators, hide the wiring.

It's very difficult for airport security to catch this. I mean, you almost have to know who the bomb maker is and who is actually carrying it.

COSTELLO: So Mary, talk about how the TSA can protect passengers.

SCHIAVO: Well, you know, so much of what our investment has been, and it's passenger investment because they paid so much of the taxes, but it has been an increasingly TSA's ability to detect things like the bombs. We have all new equipment. The equipment we have at the airport is not what we had in the airport in 2001 and it's aimed at detecting these things.

But often what we find is that despite how much equipment we have aimed at detecting it, unless they treat each passenger as a threat, each and every time, and then look carefully at the information and at the items, that sometimes they can miss them, so yes, Bob's right. We have to rely on intelligence to a certain extent to also be alert to where the threat is coming from, and that's something we missed on September 11, too. We simply paid no attention to the threat, at least the airlines wouldn't respond and that's who was doing security at the time.

So it's a double edged sword. You desperately need the TSA with the top flight equipment but you also need to listen to the warnings that are out there.

COSTELLO: Right. Bob, is this more concern for airports overseas rather than the airports here in the United States?

BAER: Well, the problem, of course, is putting one of these bombs on an airport that isn't particularly secure and putting on a feeder flight, let's say to London and then London New York, and it wouldn't necessarily be a secondary check when you got in that London flight and if somebody knew what they were doing, they could put one of these bombs against the skin of an airplane and it would be like Pan-Am 103. Be a suicide mission but it's very deadly and we I think should take these threats very seriously, especially if, let's say the war starts in Iraq and American soldiers are involved. These people would be particularly motivated to go after an American airplane.

COSTELLO: So Mary, what Bob says is truly frightening. How good are intelligence sources and how well do we work with other countries?

SCHIAVO: Well, fairly well. It depends on the country is the problem. We have -- we have worked so much in recent years to expand the U.S. security standards around the globe, but in some ways, that has exposed the security standards in what we do to places around the globe where we know that we don't necessarily have all friends, and so we've exported our TSA screening, for example, there are some airports where -- overseas where you go through your screening there and so people can get very familiar with our screening and then export their knowledge to be a threat around the globe.

And one thing we had to realize after September 11, 2001 is the threat is here. We can no longer say well, it's foreign airports. We know it's not. It's here. And as the intelligence sources noted over the weekend, these threats -- some of these threat personnel, from these terrorists have U.S. passports. And that's especially problematic so we can't say it's an overseas problem. It's a U.S. problem.

COSTELLO: All right. Mary Schiavo, Bob Baer, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

In the next hour the Israeli President Shimon Perez and the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend the funeral for three missing teenagers who were found dead in the West Bank. Comes as tensions spin out of control in the Middle East. Netanyahu calls the people who killed these teenagers human animals and he says Hamas will pay.

And it did. Overnight Israel launched more than 30 airstrikes at Hamas targets in Gaza. And they destroyed the homes of two suspected kidnappers overnight, also members of Hamas.

Hamas says the war on Gaza will open the gates of hell. There's just one problem, Hamas is denying any role in the teenagers' deaths while a little known group is claiming responsibility. But the Israeli ambassador to the United States is not buying it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON DERMER, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: We know who perpetrated this action and were members of Hamas in the Hebron area. So we know actually who did these crimes and the prime minister was very clear who did it and that they will have to pay a price for this.

It's important for us to send a message to Hamas, it's a terror organization. They fire thousands of rockets at our cities. They dispatch scores of suicide bombers to blow up our buses and pizza parlors and cafes. And they perpetrated this crime, members of Hamas perpetrated this crime, the kidnapping and execution of three teenage boys.

It's important for Israel to send a message to Hamas that this is completely unacceptable and we won't tolerate it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is in Hebron this morning.

How did the teenagers die?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we understand is shortly after they were kidnapped at around 10:30 in the evening on Thursday, the 12th of June, that all indications are they were killed very soon thereafter. One of the teenagers was able to make a phone call, very quickly, saying, "I've been kidnapped," and that was the last time anyone heard from them.

But we understand that when their bodies were discovered under a pile of rocks on this hill right behind me that it appeared that they had been dead for quite some time, that the bodies had already decomposed somewhat. In fact, it was 18 days between the day at the time they were kidnapped and the time their bodies were found.

Now there was this massive search going on in the West Bank. Thousands of Israeli soldiers combing the hills, the caves around Hebron. It was the largest Israeli military operation in the West Bank since 2002 and what we understand is that a sandal of one of the teenagers was found and then some sunglasses that the police took back to the optician, who had sold them, who confirmed that one of the boys had bought those sunglasses. That they were found in this area and that led to the discovery of the bodies.

But as I said, all indications are that they were shot shortly after they were kidnapped on the 12th of June -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So is Hamas to blame or is it this small group that's now claiming responsibility?

WEDEMAN: Well, this group, the so-called Supporters of the Islamic State, is a group nobody has ever heard of before, so not too many people are taking that claim very seriously. The link, according to Israeli officials, and I spoke with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, about it just day before yesterday.

The link is these two missing men, Marwan Qawasmeh and Amar Abu-Isa from Hebron, who have been missing since the day of the kidnapping. They apparently have links to Hamas and that is why the Israeli officials are pointing the fingers at Hamas. But there is not unanimity among Israeli security officials as to whether this was simply an ad hoc kidnapping and murder by two people who happened to have connections with Hamas and whether this was something that was directed from the highest levels of the military wing of Hamas. So that's not all together clear at this point -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Ben Wedeman reporting live from Hebron this morning.

Here at home, from bad to worse, General Motors issuing another recall, this time more than eight million cars worldwide. The company says most of the recalls are because of a defect with ignition switches. Sound familiar? That's because it's the same problem the company failed to disclose for more than a decade.

Just yesterday GM offered to pay at least $1 million to each family who lost loved ones because of the problem. The latest cars recalled have already been linked to three deaths, seven crashes and eight injuries. In all GM has recalled nearly 30 million cars this year.

Let's bring in CNN's Poppy Harlow to tell us more. She's in New York.

Good morning, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And, you know, about 27 million of those recalled vehicles this year are right here in the United States. This is a big problem, a big headache for GM. Yesterday that -- more than eight million car recall was the biggest single recall in a day for this really troubled auto maker right now.

This is a very serious issue because when the ignition switch can get knocked off while you're driving into the accessory mode that powers the car off. That means your airbags won't inflate, power steering, anti-lock brakes will not work. It has been linked to at least 13 deaths.

So I want to show you on the screen, you're looking at all of these new cars recalled because of this issue. You've got the Chevy Malibu, two Oldsmobiles, Pontiac Grand Am, Chevy Impala, Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix, Cadillac CTS, Cadillac SRX. Some -- a lot of them recalled, some of them much older models, some are as recent as this year.

The big picture here, Carol, why is this happening? It's happening because GM never wants anyone to be able to point their finger at the company and say you delayed a safety recall for more than a decade that cost lives. Because that's what happened with the initial ignition switch recall. They're being aggressive, very careful recalling anything that may have a problem.

COSTELLO: All right. Poppy Harlow reporting live for us this morning, thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's all or nothing for the United States at the World Cup today. CNN's Lara Baldesarra is covering the huge match with Belgium.

Good morning.

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And yes, it's about seven hours until the game begins, the game that we are all waiting for. Chris Cuomo is around here somewhere and I'll have him here with me in Salvador coming up in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories 18 minutes past the hour.

The United States is sending 300 more troops to Iraq to push back on the fast-moving ISIS surge. Two hundred of those troops arrived within the last two days. The increased military presence is in addition to 300 U.S. advisers already in that country, helping to support Iraqi forces. In the meantime, newly elected parliament was set to hold its first session today to begin the process of forming a new government but that was postponed because the minimum number of members was not present.

The FBI says it will talk to the once missing Detroit boy who was found hiding out in his basement. The bureau has scheduled an interview with 12-year-old Charlie Bothuell. Detroit police any charges against Charlie's parents will depend on what the FBI finds out where from this interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It's a day of reckoning for U.S. soccer, it's Belgium for bust. The team faces its biggest challenge yet in the World Cup against a young and talented Belgium squad -- win and the Americans advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. Lose and they are out of the tournament.

We have this afternoon's make or break match with Chris Cuomo and Lara Baldesarra in Salvador, Brazil. I assume both of you have not brought your Belgian waffles with you, because, you know, there's a boycott under way in this country.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Baldesarra has to be a little bit objective. She's doing analysis of all the different matches to be fair to per. I do not, Carol. I can't even believe you said if. There is no if.

This is about we believe. This is about the U.S. with a day of destiny. Do you see what I have on? It's going to be right here. We've been hanging out. This is like the head and the heart this combo here.

BALDESARRA: Yes.

CUOMO: Laura is the brains of the operation and I'm just emphasizing the irrational exuberance, we've been with the fans and they loved it.

BALDESARRA: I believe you described it as the brains and the beauty that was on you earlier today.

CUOMO: Yes, that's what others have been saying.

BALDESARRA: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: OK, well, let's talk strategy, because I understand a key player is back with the U.S. team, but, Lara, how much will he play?

BALDESARRA: Jozy Altidore is the player that you're referring to. He has been dealing with an injury that he picked up in the first game, just around 20 minutes in, and he has been declared fit to play in today's match.

Now, I'm not really 100 percent convinced that he will make it back into the starting 11. I think Jurgen Klinsmann has a squad that's working for him right now with a lot of play coming out of the midfield but who knows, at the end of the day, I'm not Klinsmann. We could very well see Jozy Altidore playing. That takes some pressure off of Clint Dempsey, who's the lone striker that they have in right now, the guy that thrives under pressure, he really wants to prove everyone wrong.

So, I'm happy (AUDIO GAP) Clint Dempsey as that lone striker, Carol.

COSTELLO: Got you. Chris, how many U.S. fans are there to watch?

CUOMO: Well, the fact is they bought more tickets in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world except Brazil, right? So numerically, they're strong, especially versus Belgium. The question is how much intensity they're bringing.

We went to this fan fest last night. We met this one guy who was just great. I think he was like a symbol of what's happening in the U.S. with soccer. He goes by Teddy goalsevelt but he says goalsevelt! Like Roosevelt. Amazing guy, this kid out of Chicago.

They've been so strong and it's important in a match like this, as an aging jock myself, when you know the crowd is with you, it makes a big difference and the U.S. needs that, because they really feed off energy, especially as an underdog.

COSTELLO: I can totally understand. We can't wait for the match later this afternoon. Lara Baldesarra, Chris Cuomo, thanks so much.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, President Obama comes out swinging. He's blaming Republicans for the nation's escalating border crisis.

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is live at the White House with more for us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COSTELLO: Forget bipartisan legislation. President Obama says he'll take executive action if need be to fix the country's immigration crisis by himself, since Congress isn't getting anything done and, of course, he's laying the blame on House Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I take executive action only when we have a serious problem, a serious issue and Congress chooses to do nothing and in this situation, the failure of House Republicans to pass a darn bill is bad for our security, it's bad for our economy and bad for our future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Obama's fiery statements come as a surge of unaccompanied children from Central America have been caught crossing into the United States, creating a complex multibillion-dollar humanitarian crisis in border states like Arizona and Texas.

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is live at the White House and immigration attorney David Leopold is in Ohio.

Welcome to you both.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

DAVID LEOPOLD, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Jim, I'll start with you. What can the president do on his own to solve this crisis?

ACOSTA: Well, Carol, White House officials hope to get ahead of the president when it comes to these executive actions, but immigration reform advocates who had been involved in meetings at the White House on this issue say one idea that the administration is looking at is building off the reprieve from deportations for the so-called DREAMers, those are the children of undocumented brought to this country at a very young age through no fault of their own and the question is whether or not the administration might extend that reprieve from deportations to the parents of those children so they're not breaking up families. That's one idea that they're looking at. But, of course, that's going to fire up Republicans on other side.

So, this is a delicate issue for the White House to sort through. But you heard the president said to Republicans who had been complaining about these executive actions that he's been left with no choice. Here's what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: If House Republicans are really concerned about me taking too many executive actions, the best solution to that is passing bills. Pass a bill. Solve a problem. Don't just say no. On something that everybody agrees needs to be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: And so, the president has asked the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to work up a series of proposals for potential executive actions that he might take bit end of the summer, and, of course, House Speaker John Boehner has blasted the president for these executive actions and even threatened to sue the president over them and he says these executive actions are part of the reason why Republicans just don't trust the president to work with him on this issue.

But keep in mind, Carol, the president is not holding back when it comes to executive actions. He's having a cabinet meeting this morning to talk about more executive actions he could be taking across the board, not just on immigration but on other issues as well.

COSTELLO: I do know that House Republicans have formed this group to deal with the problem, one of their ideas is to send National Guard troops to the border to relieve border agents and, David, I'll pose that question to you, would that help the problem?

LEOPOLD: It's shameful that the Republicans rely on visuals like sending armed soldiers to the border can. I think the president called out the Republicans for their insistence on doing nothing. We got a system in shambles in the immigration system.

We've also got a severe humanitarian crisis at the border with children arriving here hungry, tired, many of the young women, the young girls that are coming here have been raped. It's unconscionable that Congress has done anything to fix the immigration system and what the president is saying is we need an aggressive, sure-footed approach. We also need clarity in the law and the way to get there is to pass a comprehensive bill, immigration bill.

But in the meantime, the president's got to protect this country. The president's got to do something as he said yesterday if the Congress is going to do nothing. And that means uses his power as commander- in-chief to use provisions in the law to make the immigration system work as well as it can work, until Congress does its job.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you this question, Jim. I'm going to go way far out on a limb, why doesn't the president force the issue, pick up the phone, call John Boehner and tell the public he's going to call John Boehner, let's get together to solve this crisis. Why not try that?

ACOSTA: You know, he has tried that on several occasions and you heard House Speaker John Boehner say earlier this year, he was sort of mocking his fellow Republicans, teasing them a little bit and saying, you know, there are people inside the Republican Party who want to do this but aren't really willing to come out publicly and say that they want to do it.

We should keep in mind the White House has been up front about the fact that just telling the public about conversations between the president and House Speaker John Boehner, that does not work too well for John Boehner with his own Republican caucus. So they've really treated this very delicately.