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Arthur Hits Coast with 100MPH Winds; President Obama Marks Fourth of July at the White House; Violent Clashes Around Palestinian Teen's Funeral; Landon Donovan Blasting Coach's World Cup Strategy

Aired July 04, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again. Glad to have you with us on this Fourth of July. I'm Ana Cabrera in for Carol Costello.

Let's return to our hurricane coverage and millions of Americans having to spend this holiday with a wary eye on Arthur.

It first stormed ashore last night as a category 2 hurricane. This morning it's a category 1, but winds at one point were over 100 miles an hour. The strongest hurricane to make U.S. landfall in nearly six years and even before it crashed into the central part of North Carolina's coast, Arthur's impact was reaching inland. Possible hurricane spurned tornado ripped apart several homes and more twisters were reported across the state.

Meteorologist Indra Petersons is in Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina's outer banks and Alina Machado is down the coast in Wrightsville Beach.

We begin with Indra.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know, Ana, Arthur is the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland since about 2008. And we definitely felt it through these overnight hours.

Remember it's the only hurricane to make landfall that we know of on the Fourth of July, so the timing really couldn't be worse. You're talking about all the vacationers lining the coastline and what we saw early this morning was all of this wind pushing out from the east, so we see a lot of beach erosion this morning, that we're going to see a lot of people dealing with. But that's just on the ocean side. Right? We have two bodies of water when you talk about the outer banks here in North Carolina.

On the opposite side we were showing you is that sound. So what you have is once that wind switched direction as the system started to pull out of here was that really shallow water. All of that water that got pushed to the east first then rushed back in, once the wind switched directions from the west and because it's shallower, it comes back in even faster and higher. So that storm surge that many of us are dealing with now in the Carolinas here, about a good three, four feet above the ground.

I know a lot of you are saying above the ground three or four feet, that's not that big of a deal but it is when you talk about three, four feet. Put that up against you, that's where people's lives are taken. Storm surge very dangerous and these lows comes in very quickly it takes a long time for it to go back out.

Now here we go, it is the morning hours. People know Arthur is zipping off to the east about a good 20, 25 miles per hour. You're starting to see clearing here behind me, but the concern is the Fourth of July, look at all of these people that are out here this morning, they are thinking I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to go in the water. That is the last thing people should be doing because all this water that came in, it needs to go back out. That's what it's trying to do.

The difference is, though, you have these sandbars that moved around so it blocks the water from coming in the same way it came out and it looks for those breaks in the sandbar, all of it really rushes in a lot faster. That's what those rip currents are, and that's that huge danger, so many of us are stressing please do not take that risk. You're going to have a huge danger out here, even after the storm completely clears out of here and rushes out to the northeast, it takes a lot longer.

Now keep in mind yes, it's rushing out to the northeast, but you're still going to be talking about staying as a category 1 hurricane even as it makes its way just south of Cape Cod -- Ana.

CABRERA: And as you mentioned those rip currents are still so powerful and possibly deadly.

Indra Petersons, thank you to you.

Let's travel about 230 miles south now where Indra is reporting. CNN's Alina Machado is also along North Carolina's coast. She is in Wrightsville Beach.

Alina, I know you've had a long 24 hours covering this storm. Good to see that the calm after the storm is now where you are.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Definitely, Ana. We're actually drying out after a soaker of a day yesterday. Just take a look at this, people are out, already enjoying their Fourth of July long weekend, and if it weren't for the fact that there's some beach erosion, you really couldn't tell that there was a hurricane here, just by looking at this, but yesterday was a really, really tough day out here. We had long periods of rain and wind, and then at night around 7:00, 8:00 Eastern, we really started to see the worst of Arthur here in Wrightsville Beach.

We saw very high wind gusts and also very heavy downpours, but thankfully no big damage reports, no widespread flooding, at least not in this area -- Ana.

CABRERA: All right, sure is nice to see the sun, Alina Machado, thanks so much.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News. CABRERA: We have some breaking news right now out of Jerusalem, where

violent clashes have broken out at this funeral of that teenager, the Palestinian teenager, who was killed in what has been called a revenge killing. The teenager was abducted and killed in Jerusalem this week. It was carried to a mosque in an east Jerusalem neighborhood today, that 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Kadir was murdered again in apparent revenge killing for the deaths of the three Israeli teens.

Now his death has triggered condemnations from Palestinian and Israeli leaders as well as the U.S.

Our Ben Wedeman is there at the scene this morning, this morning our time at least.

Ben, what are you seeing? We hear there are clashes now breaking out? I know, Ben, you might have a hard time hearing me because of what's happening there. Fill us in.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: These clashes in Sharfat, which is a suburb to the north of Jerusalem. What we have is -- behind me Israeli troops who have been firing many, many rubber bullets and much tear gas in the direction of Palestinian youth who were attending this funeral for the -- for Mohammed Abu Kadir, that young man whose body was found the day before yesterday in a Jerusalem forest.

Many people here believe that it was a revenge killing by Israelis in revenge for those three Israeli teenagers whose bodies were found on Monday afternoon. So these clashes -- I think we can just pan the camera over, Israeli soldiers rifles, guns for firing tear gas as well right in front of us. And rocks coming back, in fact just before this live shot began or possibly when it began I got hit in the foot with a rock, so it is definitely the most intense clashes I've seen here in Jerusalem in many, many years.

CABRERA: Ben Wedeman reporting again in Jerusalem, the scene of some clashes this morning. Stay safe out there, Ben. We see it's an unpredictable and dangerous situation. Thanks and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

CABRERA: We want to return to the breaking news out of Jerusalem where we showed you some of the clashes now breaking out just before the break over the Palestinian teenager's death. That Palestinian teenager was killed in a revenge killing -- for what some are calling a revenge killing earlier this week.

Our Ben Wedeman is on the ground there outside in Jerusalem.

Ben, I know we had some audio issues earlier. Can you hear me now?

WEDEMAN: Yes, I can hear you.

CABRERA: Well, tell us more about what you're experiencing there and how this -- how serious the situation this is.

WEDEMAN: It's very serious clashes. These are the most serious clashes we've seen in Jerusalem this week so far. What we have -- you have behind me is Israeli Police firing rubber bullets. This is one of those rubber bullets. This particular one hit me in the head just about an hour ago. Nothing serious, medics took care of it. I'm going to put my helmet on quickly again, and they have been firing hundreds of these throughout the last probably about two to three hours.

Hundreds well over 1,000 Palestinians showed up for this funeral today, and what we saw was that as soon as the body was laid to rest of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Kadir, the mourners made their way to the intersection just to the south of here, it's a major intersection in Jerusalem, dividing this neighborhood of Sharfat with central Jerusalem.

Very heavy security presence already when from -- from the morning actually Israeli forces, police were trying to prevent as many people as possible from attending this funeral, but many people were able to get in either through back roads or walked here, and so here this is the situation we have.

Now these clashes have been going on for three days. What's significant is it? I used to live in this neighborhood, in fact just around the corner from here. It was always a very peaceful neighborhood. It's a very solidly middle class neighborhood, but the death of this young boy obviously has enflamed the tensions.

There's already a lot of frustration among Palestinians living under Israeli rule. They feel they're discriminated against, that they don't have equal rights, they don't have -- even though they pay the same taxes, they don't get the same services. So really the death of this young man was just a spark for this explosion and the situation obviously as you can see is quite tense now.

CABRERA: Right. Ben, I'm trying to understand who exactly is clashing. We know police are in part involved in this clash firing tear gas and those rubber bullets. Who are they firing at?

WEDEMAN: These are local residents. These are people from this part of downtown, from other parts of Jerusalem and mostly young men, but there are older people as well, but just boys from the neighborhood, boys from around town who have been angered by this killing and as I said long, smoldering frustrations that go back decades.

CABRERA: And could this be the beginning, do you think, of a much bigger conflict?

WEDEMAN: It's difficult to say. In the past there have been sort of brief periods of unrest that have calmed down. It's difficult to say. The problem is that once you get into this cycle of people getting killed in clashes and then funerals and then more clashes, that is when things have a danger of getting out of control, and keep in mind, you know, there is the situation in Jerusalem which is unique. And then there's the situation throughout the West Bank where from the

12th of June, Israel was holding the biggest military operation in more than 10 years, looking for these three missing teenagers, during which of course more than 400 Palestinians have been arrested. Six, rather seven were killed in clashes, one is a boy as young as 15. So the atmosphere definitely gives you the feeling that this could get more serious, and then there's the situation in Gaza where there have been rockets fired out of Gaza.

Israel conducts air strikes, and so you have two very -- rather three years, the West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza, areas of intense tension and possibility -- the possibility for things to escalate even further.

CABRERA: A very tense, impassioned setting where you are. I can see some of the activity behind you and we see some of these men holding what looked to be guns of some sort, maybe with those rubber bullets.

About how many people are currently there on the scene near you? Give us a better sense of exactly where you are and what the scene is.

WEDEMAN: OK, as far as the police go, there may be in this particular spot in front of me about 30. I'm going to stick my head around the corner and there are more police and there are boys up the street, young men, but it's impossible to tell, but I can tell you from the number of people who attended the funeral, well over 1,000, perhaps as many as 2,000 initially there, but obviously when the rubber bullets start to fly, and the tear gas comes out, only sort of the brave of heart stick around, or the silly, like us.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: Well, we don't want you to be one of those silly people sticking around, Ben, so we do appreciate you, though, providing the insight into the situation there. It's an important story certainly but we want to make sure you stay safe so thank you so much. We'll check back throughout the day certainly but keep us apprised if anything major happens.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Vladimir Putin is hoping to put the past behind him, at least when it comes to Russia's ties with the U.S. As part of the Fourth of July message sent to President Obama, Putin stressed the two nations should work together because both share, quote, "exceptional responsibility for safeguarding international stability and security," end quote. Relations have been strained in recent months due to the crisis in Ukraine, which resulted in sanctions being leveled against Russia.

And in Washington this Fourth of July, there's some new meaning for a group of servicemen and women as President Obama holds a naturalization ceremony at the White House.

Athena Jones is there. And good morning to you, Athena. Fill us in.

ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ana. That's right. And just about a little of an hour from now, the president is going to be swearing in 25 people as new citizens, hosting a naturalization ceremony for 15 active duty members of the military, from the Navy, the Army, the Marines and the Air Force. Two reservists -- two veterans, one reservist and seven military spouses. They represent together 15 countries.

The president previewed today's event earlier this week. Let's play that clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Some of the service members coming this year are unique because they signed up to serve, to sacrifice, potentially to give their lives for the security of this country even though they weren't yet Americans. That's how much they love this country. They were prepared to fight and die for an America they did not yet fully belong to. I think they've earned their stripes in more ways than one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And so we expect to hear the president today talk about the contributions made by foreign born members of the U.S. Armed Forces. So they'll also talk about the contribution that immigrant from all walks of life have made to this country.

And we should note, Ana, this comes the same week that the president, frustrated with Republicans in Congress, said that he's going to use his executive power, he's going to use executive actions to try to do as much as he can on this immigration issue that has not been dealt with by Congress, he says. He's been asking the House Republicans to hold an up or down vote on a bill that passed the Senate last year on comprehensive immigration reform.

Since they didn't do that, he said he's going to be taking executive actions. And one thing that I should note here is that today's ceremony really speaks to the power of executive action. It was an executive order signed by the president's predecessor, President Bush, back in July of 2002 that helped set the stage for today's event. That executive order made it possible to expedite the naturalization of undocumented immigrants who have served honorably in the Armed Forces. So an interesting point to keep in mind today -- Ana.

CABRERA: And also interesting that this comes in the midst of what's become really a crisis along the border with all of these undocumented immigrants flooding into the U.S. which we continue to cover here on CNN.

Athena Jones, thanks.

And July 4th is also a special day for the Obama family because daughter Malia turns 16 today. And while she is old enough to drive, no word on if she'll be getting a car. First Lady Michelle Obama has called the idea of her daughter driving, quote, "frightening."

Still to come Tim Howard and the U.S. team are out, but the World Cup continues today. Andy Scholes is on the story for us.

ANDY SCHOOLS, CNN SPORTS: Yes, we're going to have two great matchups this afternoon. We got France and Germany squaring off against one another. And then the host nation Brazil takes on Colombia in a South American showdown. We'll break down those games next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Well, the World Cup continues today unfortunately without the U.S. team. Part of their problem was offense and a relative lack of quality shots. But one soccer player is still taking shots after the U.S. lost to Belgium.

Landon Donovan who was left off the U.S. World Cup team took aim at U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann's strategy against Belgium and Andy Scholes is joining me now here to talk about this sour grapes.

Andy, or does he have a point, do you think?

SCHOLES: I think it's a little of both actually. You know, Landon Donovan admitted to cheering against the United States before the World Cup --

CABRERA: What?

SCHOLES: Before the World Cup started. He said he changed his mind once everything got going. He was cheering against some known international friendlies in the warm-up games. And so we know there were sour grapes there. But he does have a bit of a point here. Now the United States getting shots was difficult for them in these games. They went over 200 minutes near at the end without scoring a goal. And this is exactly what he had to say about the strategy and what he was, you know, saying about Jurgen Klinsmann's tactical strategies going in the game.

He said, "We didn't seem like we gave it a real effort from a tactical standpoint. I thought the guys did everything they could. They did everything that was asked of them. But I don't think we were set up to succeed and that was tough to watch."

Now who knows what would have happened, though, if Jozy Altidore would have never gone down with that injured hamstring. If Jurgen -- that was Jurgen Klinsmann's main attack weapon and he was taken out from the game, and we kind of did play a defense strategy from there. So who knows what would have happened. But Landon Donovan not a fan of the strategy we were imploring out there.

CABRERA: Meantime, so many people I think jumped on the bandwagon and became fans of U.S. soccer.

SCHOLES: Certainly did.

CABRERA: Let's talk about World Cup today because there are a couple of big matches. I know Germany and France are taking each other on. But Germany is suffering through some illness, right?

SCHOLES: Yes, that's right. Seven players came down with these flu- like symptoms. Their coach said he didn't know whether it was from all the traveling or the different climate they kept going in and out of. But they got flu-like symptoms. They did all were able to practice yesterday. So they're all expected to play today. But that game is looking very interesting.

Germany who was playing very well at the beginning of this World Cup is kind of been trending downward while France has been trending in the other way. And you know, these are two European powers. It should be a great matchup to watch today.

CABRERA: And then of course Brazil, the hometown favorite there, taking on Colombia. I imagine Brazil has a lot of pressure on its shoulders.

SCHOLES: Yes, pressure all on Brazil in this game with Colombia. They're one of the dark horses right now to win the World Cup. They've got James Rodriguez, he's leading all goal scores right now. He got five in the World Cup. No one really saw this coming for Colombia. They haven't been in the World Cup in 16 years.

CABRERA: Wow.

SCHOLES: Their president even called a national holiday today. So you know the whole country is locked into this game as well as Brazil. This one should be another great one to watch. I'm interested to see what's going to happen today.

CABRERA: Yes. I'm kind of routing for the underdogs just because it's fun to see the Cinderella story.

SCHOLES: Yes. I am too. I would love to see the underdogs win today.

CABRERA: Now that the U.S. is out.

All right. Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

CABRERA: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.