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Hamas Rejects Ceasefire, Fires On Israel; The Fractured Leadership Of Hamas; Arizona Protesters Plan To Block Migrant Kids; Anthrax Mishandled, Misplaced At CDC; Immigration Crisis Rages As Congress Prepares To Go On Month-Long Recess

Aired July 15, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much, Carol. It's a pleasure being on your show.

COSTELLO: The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, cease fire or not.

Secretary of State John Kerry postponing his trip to the region.

Plus, deported --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a facility where all of the deportees are processed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Forty women and children out of America and back in Honduras. Landing in one of the country's most dangerous cities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you feeling, Tracy?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You look great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Tracy Morgan speaking out for the first time since that horrible accident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRACY MORGAN, COMEDIAN: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: How long will his recovery be? And drugged?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pills to go to sleep, pills to play, pills to play at half time, pills after the game.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Former Detroit Lion JD Hill on the DEA investigation of the NFL. Did the NFL illegally give players pills to keep them on the field?

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After they put me out of the good old boy club and out of the locker room, on the streets, with my family, I'm still in pain.

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COSTELLO: Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. We begin this hour in the Middle East where a cease fire plan couldn't even survive the night. Just six hours after Israel accepted the deal, it abandoned the plan by launching these new air strikes on Gaza. Hamas militants there had scoffed at the cease fire from the very beginning. And overnight, Hamas fired more than 40 rockets to the Israel.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I cannot contempt strongly enough the actions of Hamas in so brazenly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a good will effort to offer a ceasefire in which Egypt and Israel have joined together and the international community strongly supports the idea of a ceasefire, the need, the compelling need to have a ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The region may now be inching toward all-out war. Israeli troops are massed along Gaza's border and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a much larger offensive grows more likely. CNN's Karl Penhaul is in Gaza City. We're in Gaza city. Tell us what that means. Good morning.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. As you say, that ceasefire really never even got off the ground because even just as Egypt made that proposal of some kind of truce, Hamas's military wing was turning that offer down saying the deal wasn't worth the ink it was written with and vowing to step up its attacks on Israel.

So when the deadline for that ceasefire came into effect, just minutes after, we were out on the street here in Gaza City and we saw a barrage of at least seven Hamas rockets flying into the air and off toward Israel. Now, there were repeated rocket attacks in the course of the morning. One or two Israeli air strikes in retaliation and then about an hour and a half ago, Israel really started to step up once again its punishment of Hamas militant positions.

And where it believes rocket positions and training camps are based in the space of about half an hour, we saw more than ten air strikes going in just east of Gaza City, down in the south and also up in the north of Gaza at all points really in the city. Difficult to tell exactly what the casualty tolls have been.

Up in the north, we've heard that ten people may have been wounded. Here in the central part of Gaza, despite seeing balls of flames go up, the ambulance crews tell us they have no reports of wounded here, but certainly things look like they are stepping up. We also have reports as well from a Palestinian colleague that we've been working with that her family home received an automated message from the Israeli military saying Hamas has rejected our offer of a ceasefire, now we are really going to step up attacks on Gaza.

So it appears that the Israeli military is beginning to warn the civilian population that this thing is going to escalate. Also interestingly enough, southeast of where we are now, over on the border between the Gaza strip and Israel, we saw clouds of dust being whipped up. We believe there that Israeli tanks were on the move. Certainly right now no sign that a ground invasion has been ordered but of course we know that Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel is leaving all options on the table -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Karl Penhaul, reporting live from Gaza City this morning.

As you heard over the last several hours, Hamas has sent the world a mixed message. Its military leaders laughed at the ceasefire offer even as the political wing said it was actually considering it. That disconnect overshadowed the ceasefire until it crumbled and it looms large as the conflict inches toward war.

CNN's Brian Todd is in Washington with a closer look at the group and its competing leadership. Good morning.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Competing is certainly right. You know, Hamas' leadership is fragmented and is under enormous pressure right now, but is still flexing its muscles, projecting the military sophistication it is using to take on Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice-over): This is video of an aerial drone, one of several Hamas says it is sending on missions inside Israel. Experts say the pictures symbolize Hamas' ambition. An ambition they say driven by fractured leadership beset with internal rivalries and divided by political and military wings that sometimes don't communicate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't target the civilians. I don't like to shed any drop of blood. TODD: That's Halid Mashal, Hamas top political leader and often its public face in a 2012 interview with Christiane Amanpour. A former teacher, he operates mostly from Qatar and is known as Hamas' external deal maker, getting money and weapons from players like Iran.

NERI ZILBER, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Despite his George Clooney type looks, he's a dangerous man, he aids and abets Hamas' very destructive policies and strategies.

TODD: Hamas' two other top political leaders are believed to be operating in Gaza and living in Egypt, one of them just spoke to the media. They have called themselves the resistance, the U.S. and Israel call them terrorists, but experts wonder if they are still calling the shots.

ZILBER: It's very much believed that the political leadership inside Gaza and externally was counseling for restraint. The military wing very much had other ideas.

TODD: That military wing is led by Mohammed Deif, a shadowy, savvy figure who analysts say has survived multiple Israeli assassination attempts.

(on camera): Deif was injured years ago and it is believed to have handed over some of the operational role to other top Hamas military leaders like Marwan Issa. His forte unconventional attacks on Israel like the ones that have been happening this month.

ZILBER: The naval commando infiltrations inside Israel, which we've seen over the past three days, it could be these kidnapping or offensive type operations through attack tunnels underneath the Gaza border, inside Israel.

TODD (voice-over): And it's that kind of tactic which analysts say may have made Marwan Issa one of Israel's chief targets in this operation, possibly a more high value target than any of Hamas political leaders right now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD: Analysts say despite the power of Hamas' military wing they don't have much control over the units that Hamas is using to fire rockets inside Israel. Carol, a lot of those units are operating on their own, freelancing, and just doing this on their own, but if an order does come down from the top to stop this, they will probably stop.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Brian Todd reporting live from Washington. Just hours after the first wave of undocumented immigrants has been sent back to Central America from New Mexico, Americans on both sides of the immigration debate are out in force. Right now, a group of protesters are near a boys' ranch near Phoenix where at least 40 migrants will be brought this morning. Anti-immigration protesters are planning to block the buses to keep the kids out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm protesting the invasion of the United States by people from foreign countries.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the kids on the bus? Do you think you are going to be frightening them at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so, after they've been up through Mexico, I don't think anything is going to frighten them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Keaton Thomas from affiliate KGUN joins us now by phone. He's actually at the protest. Set the scene for us.

KEATON THOMAS, KGUN REPORTER (via telephone): So we actually are in Oracle. Right now, I'm standing where we have dozens of protesters who are welcoming these migrant children. We left where protesters are trying to block those buses from coming. We had trucks lined up across the road out here with signs saying no open borders, and we had the Arizona state militia trying to keep it calm.

They don't want any of these buses through, bringing these children up there. They got word a few days ago, they are just very upset. They don't want the administration dumping kids in Oracle without informing the community is what we have been told.

COSTELLO: These children are going to be taken to the Boys Ranch. Did the Boys Ranch reach out to these migrant children and how did that happen?

THOMAS: Yes. So the Boys Ranch told us yesterday that they will be welcoming the children. They will be welcoming them and giving them shelter. They did say it would only be temporary though. No timeline. They will be welcoming these children who are coming on buses here very soon.

COSTELLO: All right, Keaton Thomas, thanks so much. We appreciate it. We'll keep an eye on the situation in Oracle, Arizona this morning.

As early as today, two Texas lawmaker would reintroduce a bill that would revamp the hearing process for undocumented children caught along the border. Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar want to expedite immigration hearings for those children. Shortening the process that could take up to two years.

In just a few minutes, I'll talk to Representative Cuellar about this bill he is proposing and see if it has any chance of passing either House of Congress.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, anthrax being mishandled and misplaced at the CDC. It's among a long list of violations by the federal agency that handles some of the world's most deadly diseases. What's going on at CDC anyway?

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COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 15 minutes past the hour. Former Vice President Dick Cheney says he still has no regrets about the decision to invade Iraq. That's what he told us a crowd at a political event in Washington along with his wife, Lyn and his daughter, Liz.

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FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: I feel very strongly about it now just as I did when we made the decision of going to Iraq in '03. I look back at it now. It was absolutely the right thing to do and what we're faced with today is a problem that is if anything bigger than any challenge we faced before 9/11.

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COSTELLO: Today at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper, you could hear more from Dick Cheney.

Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl still refusing to speak to his parents. That's according to the "Wall Street Journal." In May, Bergdahl was freed in a prisoner exchange with the Taliban after five years in captivity. He is now back on active duty and taking a desk job at an Army post in Texas.

A suspect in the 2012 Benghazi attack that killed four Americans has been found dead. Libyan sources says the suspect's remains were found yesterday at the Eastern Libyan town. It's unclear what happened to him. He was last seen two days ago being detained by a local militia group.

CDC officials will be in the hot seat on Capitol Hill tomorrow and they will have a lot of explaining to do about some stunning and dangerous mishaps at its labs here in Atlanta. CNN senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here to discuss and some of -- they had anthrax in a baggy?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: In a Ziplock bag. I mean, it's just -- I've been to these labs many times and they looked incredibly secure. I mean, everything looks very officials. Everyone looks very careful, but apparently, things weren't quite as careful as we thought.

So here are some of the things that they found in this investigation. Missing anthrax. Investigators had to track it down. It was supposed to be somewhere and they had to track it down. Anthrax was stored in unlocked refrigerators and potentially dangerous materials, they weren't specific about what, were being transferred in Ziplock bags. We're talking a bad germ or a toxin and the disinfectant in these labs, some of it was expired. So if they went to disinfect something, might not have worked.

COSTELLO: There was also this other troubling case involving bird flu. COHEN: Yes. So there was some bird flu that wasn't dangerous then it got cross contaminated with bird flu that is dangerous and that whole mixture got shipped to the USDA. So that's another thing that they are going to be investigating.

COSTELLO: There's a smallpox thing too, right?

COHEN: The list goes on, the smallpox thing is that the NIH lab in Maryland. These investigators in Maryland at the NIH and they found some smallpox in an unused portion of a storage closet. Not a safety lab but a storage closet from 1954. So it seems like apparently this was put there in 1954, people forgot about it. Now it's been shipped ironically to the CDC for safekeeping and they are going to destroy it eventually.

COSTELLO: So should we be worried?

COHEN: You know, I think it's worrisome when the people who are supposed to be keeping these things safe, the people who are the experts are messing up. I'm not worried, even though I live near the CDC. I'm not worried that I'm going to get sick. There are redundancies and you know, extra double checks and balances that they do to keep this stuff, you know, to keep us safe. I'm not worried about our safety, but it's worrisome that the place that was supposed to be the best at this made so many mistakes.

COSTELLO: Hopefully at that hearing tomorrow, answers will come. Thanks so much, Elizabeth Cohen.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, any criminals might want to think twice before stealing a car in San Diego because when one person tried to do so, look at what went down.

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COSTELLO: All right, I want to take you back out to Oracle, Arizona. You see these protesters standing in the middle of the road. They are attempting to block buses. They are expecting about a half hour filled with migrant children. Those children heading to a boys ranch in oracle. The Boys Ranch said we could take these children temporarily. Some townsfolk don't want that to happen at all. They want to block the buses and turn them around. Police are telling the protesters they cannot block the road. As you can see, they are not budging.

Checking other top stories, murder suspect, Oscar Pistorius was recently involved in an altercation at a night club in South Africa. The double amputee, Olympic sprinter, who is still on trial for the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, says a man approached him and harassed him about the trial. The court is currently on break until August 7th.

The death toll is climbing this morning in a derailment of a commuter train in Moscow. At least 20 people confirmed dead, more than 100 others injured, about half of them critically. It's not clear what caused the derailment, but terrorism is not suspected. Check out the cell phone video, a group of guys in San Diego

jumped in to stop a carjacking on Sunday. Witnesses say the man got in the driver's seat and tried to drive away while a woman and her little girl were still inside the car. The carjacker hit a poll and that gave them a chance to drag him out of the car. They held him to the ground until police arrived. The suspect's father tells local media that the alleged carjacker just got out of rehab and may have relapsed.

It's no secret going to college is expensive, but when you look at the cost, the numbers are staggering. Today there is more than $1 trillion in student debt across the country, making that as worse, bogus debt relief companies who claim they can lower payments, but failed to deliver. Now one state is fighting back. Let's bring in CNN business correspondent, Alison Kosik to explain. Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning too. On this statistic almost 40 million Americans are carrying student loans. So it's a huge burden to you if you are one of those people and yes, a goldmine for scammers. Well, now, Illinois is tracking down. The state's attorney general filed the first lawsuit in the country against some of these accused student debt scammers.

What they are doing is suing these companies. The first one called First American Tax Defense and the second one called Broad Sword Student Advantage. What the suit is claiming is that these companies promise to cut student loan debt or eliminate it all together and charge huge upfront fees, as much as $1,200 for bogus services or services that you can get for free if you go through the government.

Now we did reach out to these companies. We haven't heard back, but here's the real kicker, Carol, the State Attorney General's Office in Illinois says there's a lot of stuff they were charging for these services that you can once again get for free through the government. You really have to do your research before you hand over your money to try to consolidate your debt or get a handle on it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Alison Kosik, reporting live, thanks so much.

With just 12 days until Congress adjourns for its summer recess, both sides of the aisle are seeking solutions and possibly the political upper hand to the crisis along the border. The latest a bipartisan plan from Texas lawmakers, Senator John Cornyn and Congressman Henry Cuellar.

Now, their joint bill would allow children apprehended on the border to make their case before a judge within seven days of capture. The judge will then have 72 hours to decide if that child can remain in the United States. Democratic Congressman Cuellar joins me now. Welcome, sir.

REPRESENTATIVE HENRY CUELLAR (D), TEXAS: Thank you so much and good morning to you.

COSTELLO: Thank you. I want to show you what's going on in Oracle, Arizona right now. Protesters are blocking the road. They are expecting a bus load of migrant children to come through, to stay temporarily at a Boys Ranch, but as you can see all of these people do not want children in their town. What do you make of this?

CUELLAR: It's not only first protest. We've seen another one in Murrieta, California. We'll probably see some other ones. That's why, you know, what we're trying to do is to find a comprehensive solution. Policy changes but at the same time we got to put the resources, so we can have the detention, the safe place to keep these children until we give them a day in court. That's what the legislation does.

COSTELLO: Congressman, should these people be blocking the road? Should they allow these children to come into Oracle?

CUELLAR: Well, again, that's something that the community is doing. I personally wouldn't do that. We got to treat people with respect. They got to respect the ICE folks and the Department of Health and Human Services that have to do their job. But again, I wouldn't do that. But again people are going to give their expression and opinions, and I respectfully disagree with them.

COSTELLO: OK, you know, it is great that the two of you have come up with this plan, but you got twelve days before Congress's month long break. Can you actually get anything done?

CUELLAR: Well, you know, the emergency bill and I sit on the appropriation, has to be done. We want to work with the administration. Yesterday, we sat down with the administration, with Secretary Johnson, a good man, he understands what's going on, and certainly the emergency bill has to be done. We hire more judges and do what we need to do. At the same time, if we can have the policy change that we're proposing added to the emergency bill, then I think we can get it done if we work together.

COSTELLO: Well, let's say you can't get it done. Should lawmakers actually go on vacation while these kids are staying in deplorable conditions along the border?

CUELLAR: No. Again, we have to get the job done. We go back there and I'm traveling the district, but at the same time we got about twelve days to get the job done. We have an emergency bill. Let's put the resources that we need to put down there and not only for the border, not only for judges, not only for ICE, but also with the Latin America countries. I just got back from there. It's a full funded appropriation that we have to do an emergency bill, but we still have to do policy changes.

COSTELLO: Congressman, again, if there's no solution found in Congress, should lawmakers go home, should they stay in Washington until a solution is found?

CUELLAR: We should stay in Washington, D.C. until we find a solution. Absolutely, you are correct. COSTELLO: And you would do that?

CUELLAR: Yes, I would.

COSTELLO: Do you think many of your colleagues would?

CUELLAR: I can't speak for my colleagues, but I can tell you what I want to do and I would say we stay here until we find that solution before we take off for the August work period.

COSTELLO: Congressman Cuellar, I hope you get something done. Thank you so much.

CUELLAR: I hope so. Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: Still ahead in the NEWSROOM, the crisis at the border putting a bright spotlight on the issue of immigration reform. But could Democrats actually hurt the chance for real reform? We'll talk about that next.

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