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Gaza Resident Brace For More Airstrikes As Hamas Rockets Fly; Finding A Solution To Mideast; Interim VA Chief Grilled On Scandal Response; Dems Choice In 2016: Clinton Versus Warren?; U.S. Concerns Grow Over Syria Training Americans For Terror Plots

Aired July 16, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. As Hamas rockets rain down on Israel, the Israeli Air Force continues to hammer Hamas targets in Gaza. The military telling residents in areas to evacuate ahead of targeted airstrikes. That warning part of what Israel says is an effort to minimize civilian deaths.

But with hostilities mounting on both sides, innocents are inevitably caught in the crossfire. CNN's Ben Wedeman got a close look at one family's nightmare.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Aziz family is taking away what they can. The apartment above them home was destroyed. Just hours before an Egyptian sponsored cease fire was supposed to go into effect. I asked what she wants, cease fire or escalation? We hope, she says, for a cease fire and peace. By the time we got to their house, any hopes for a cease fire had collapse. Israeli air strikes were back on.

(on camera): So we just saw that strike outside the kitchen window and we've seen rockets going out all morning long. People want a cease fire. They want calm, but at this point, it doesn't look like it's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ben Wedeman reporting. There are concerns that the intense fighting between Hamas and Israel could lead to further escalation and many find it hard to imagine a long term solution, but Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States wrote in a CNN op-ed that this crisis actually gives leaders a chance to hammer out a lasting change.

He wrote in part, quote, the current clash between Israel and Gaza offers potential game changers. The very threat of full scale fighting can serve to motivate the combatants to seek a way out. Michael Oren joins us now from Tel-Aviv. Welcome, sir.

MICHAEL OREN, CNN MIDEAST ANALYST: Good to be with you, Carol. Good morning.

COSTELLO: I want to believe you. I do, Mr. Ambassador, that there is some sort of long term solution that can arise out of this? But how can it? How is this different?

OREN: Well, the situation does offer a certain opportunity. We don't have to look so far back into the past, Carol. Just recently, an American-led operation to remove chemical weapons from Syria was completed with great success. President Obama often cites that as one of his outstanding foreign policy successes, and at the time, when it was first proposed last summer, people scoffed at it. They didn't think it could be done and it could be done and it provides an interesting precedent.

Now there are other legal documents that provide a basis for this, including several devised by the United States during the Bush administration, back in 2001, 2002, which called for disarming militant Palestinian groups by the Palestinian Authority and you can go back in time even to the early 1980s to the evacuation of the then PLO under Yasser Arafat from Beirut, which was conducted on the basis of a Security Council resolution that formed an international force. You have international force supervising the demilitarization of Hamas by the Palestinians themselves. It could be done.

COSTELLO: So are you kind of suggesting that weapons inspectors of some sort should go into Gaza and you know, de-arm Hamas, is that what you are suggesting?

OREN: That is in fact what's being suggested. There are many people talking about it here. It's not my idea alone. I felt privileged to publish it in CNN. It is becoming the official position of the Israeli government and other governments that Israel is interacting with this. There's a question of how it actually happened.

COSTELLO: Why would Hamas agree to that?

OREN: Because it has no choice. Because it has no choice. Hamas is completely alone in the world today. It has no friends. It once was backed by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. That was overthrown. It has no support from the Arab League. It has no great power of support. It's out of money. It can't even pay the salaries of its own employees. It's down in a hole.

The leaders will not dare stick their heads up. Hamas, in order to survive, could accept this and there would be something in it for Hamas. Aid packages for the people of Gaza, an interesting of the Israel blockade. The economy has been hard hit by Hamas mismanagement and corruption.

An opening of border crossings, which are vital to the Palestinian population well-being. An easing of the blockade. All those factors are -- have to come into play. I believe it can be done. Many obstacles are in our way, but the vision is out there.

COSTELLO: Michael Oren, thanks so much for your insight. I appreciate it. Happening now, the Department of Veterans Affairs says it's getting its act together, but some members of Congress don't buy it. This is a live look at the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. Lawmakers are grilling acting VA Chief Sloan Gibson demanding answers about plans to untangle the issues plaguing VA offices around the country.

Drew Griffin was inside that hearing room. Drew, you broke this story on CNN. What are you hearing now?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sloan Gibson is the acting VA director. He is going to apologize again to the veterans, to the senators, to the people of the United States for the deplorable care that's been given to these veterans, but in opening statements from all the senators on this panel, Sloan Gibson has yet to speak. They were talking about the need for accountability, to change the structure, the culture at the VA.

And while there have been many changes in reducing the waiting lists and treating this as an emergency situation, which it is, the senators have yet to see any kind of long-term solutions. I think that's the problem is that you have an acting VA director and just next week there are going to be these same senators are going to be talking with the new proposed secretary who will have to make those changes.

We are about to hear from Sloan Gibson and he will go through a litany of things he's done in his brief time as acting VA director. But there is no love for the VA up here on Capitol Hill.

COSTELLO: I believe that. We'll check back. Drew Griffin, many thanks.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, could Hillary Clinton face a little competition in a potential presidential bid? Even some Democrats said yes she can, in the form of one Elizabeth Warren. We'll talk about that next.

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COSTELLO: Will she or won't she? The guessing game around Hillary Clinton's plans for 2016 continues after a visit with Jon Stewart where she joked about what type of office she prefers?

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JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": Do you like commuting to work or your home office?

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I've spent so many years commuting. I kind of prefer a home office. That's where I wrote my book. It was on the third floor of our house. So that worked.

STEWART: Do you have a favorite shape for that home office? Do you like that office, let's say, would you like that office -- would you like to have corners or would you like for it not to have corners? I don't know.

CLINTON: You know, I think that the world is so complicated, the fewer corners that you can have, the better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Maybe an oval office would be better. While Hillary continues to dance around the issue, calls are growing for another Democrat, Senator Elizabeth Warren, to jump into the race and with some high profile turns on the campaign trail As well as a new group called "Ready For Warren" that backs the presidential bid for the senator even Republicans are starting to take notice.

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REPRESENTATIVE MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: I don't see her as necessarily taking Republican votes, but I think that she will be an extremely attractive candidate for the Democrat voters in 2016, if she chooses to mount a run for the presidency, I would agree with newt. I think that if I was Mrs. Clinton, I would be extremely concerned with what I see.

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COSTELLO: CNN political analyst and "Politico" senior political reporter, Maggie Haberman joins me now. Welcome, Maggie. Should Hillary Clinton be worried?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that Hillary Clinton should be worried in general in terms of making sure that she is working hard for it. You were playing that video from Jon Stewart. She look very relaxed and calm. It was one of the best performances she's given publicly in an interview during this book tour and really this was about selling her book. This was not about running for the presidency.

But a lot of people around Hillary Clinton are very aware that Elizabeth Warren is making aggressive moves in terms of campaigning for Democrats. She's not making aggressive moves in terms of herself. She's been very smart in saying, I'm not running. Her people said about that "Draft Warren Movement." We do not support this, yet she does remain very appealing to a segment of the Democratic base.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Going back to your point that Hillary Clinton was just trying to sell her book on Jon Stewart, I don't really believe that. For his part, he attempted to cut through all the clutter and get right to the point. Here's what he said about that.

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STEWART: It's an incredibly, I think, complex and well-reasoned and eyewitness view to the history of those four years and I think I speak for everybody when I say no one cares. They just want to know if you are running for president.

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COSTELLO: Isn't there some truth to that? She's making all of these appearances and keeping people guessing, but at some point that could back fire.

HABERMAN: He had a line at the beginning of the interview and he held up the book and he showed the book and it's called "Hard Choices." He said not for your editor. People are interested in hearing what she's going to do about the presidency than they are about the specifics of her time as secretary of state. At some point in the next six months or so, she will indicate if she's running or not. Everything she's doing indicate she's doing that.

COSTELLO: Maybe she will make a decision or announce a decision right around the same time that Senator Elizabeth Warren will.

HABERMAN: I think you will hear from former Senator Clinton before you hear from Senator Warren. But it would be very interesting if you had both.

COSTELLO: How do they differ as candidates? I mean, is Elizabeth Warren much more progressive than Hillary Clinton, what is it?

HABERMAN: Elizabeth Warren has really fashioned herself strictly in the progressive mold in terms of what she is saying on the stump. She is very against Wall Street. Pro regulation and fighting and being the champion of people who have been under dogs as a result of the economy. She's become much better on the trail. When Elizabeth Warren was running as a candidate in 2012, she was not always a great candidate under pressure. She does appear to have really learned some lessons.

COSTELLO: It would be so fascinating in a Democratic primary to see these two strong smart women running against each other.

HABERMAN: It would be a different point and a different sign of the times that we would have two women who were very likely potential nominees. Look, Elizabeth Warren, is not Barack Obama. She does not have the same appeal that he had in 2008. I don't believe that will be the case, but I do think that Clinton's world is very aware that she represents something very real within the party.

COSTELLO: What about Elizabeth Warren as a running mate for Hillary Clinton?

HABERMAN: I think that will probably not happen, but I think it would make some people happy. For a lot of Warren supporters, I would imagine they would prefer the ticket to be the other way around, with Warren on top, and Clinton on the bottom.

COSTELLO: Maggie Haberman, many thanks.

HABERMAN: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I'll be right back.

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COSTELLO: Could the United States face a possible attack by an American trained to kill in Syria? There is growing concern among U.S. law enforcement that that could actually happen and those Americans with training are not yet back home. Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr is here to tell us more about this. Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol. We've asked a lot of questions about all of this and what we have found is there are about 100 Americans that the United States government is tracking, worried they have gone to Syria to train, worried that many of them could come back home.

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STARR (voice-over): U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies have dozens of investigations under way tracking Americans who traveled to Syria to join the fight worried they could attack the U.S. now that they are back home or trying to get back home.

JOHN CARLIN, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: The FBI and other members of the intelligence community have made this a top priority and are taking whatever steps they can under the law to monitor and prevent those coming back from doing us harm.

STARR: The government has begun an intense effort to collect intelligence overseas on Syrian training camps and also trying to identify Americans at home even before they travel to Syria so they know if those Americans come back. U.S. officials tell CNN not all potential suspects may be on the no-fly list, making it harder for investigators. And more worry, thousands of fighters in Syria with European passports and able to enter the U.S. Officials tell CNN not all European countries are sharing the names of all of their suspect citizens.

REPRESENTATIVE ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: We got to make sure we partner with Europe so we know who is coming back.

STARR: Alarms went off when a French Algerian extremist opened fire at a Jewish museum in May after training with ISIS in Syria, he traveled through several countries in Europe before he was arrested in France. U.S. officials said it was a wake-up call that borders can be readily crossed.

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STARR: Concern escalated even further when the U.S. got intelligence that the technology, the information, the know-how on how to make undetectable bombs that can pass airport screen in the U.S. might have actually been transferred to operatives in Syria -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon. Thanks so much. The former vice president, Dick Cheney has challenged President Obama's handling of everything, from the Middle East to the border crisis. But on whether Mr. Obama should be impeached, Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper, no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": Your successor as vice president nominee in 2008, Sarah Palin, recently called for the impeachment of President Obama. What do you think about that?

FORMER VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY: I'm not prepared at this point to call for the impeachment of the president. I think he is the worst president in my lifetime. I fundamentally disagree with him, I think he's doing a lot of things wrong. I'm glad to say the House Republicans are challenging him legally at this point. I think that gets to be a bit of a distraction. Just like the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Everybody could get geared up, but it wasn't going anyplace. I think we've got to aggressively pursue sound policies. We got to advocate those things we believe and vital to the future of the republic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Cheney defended the Bush administration's actions in Iraq, saying it left behind a stable country and that the blame for the current crisis rest on the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and President Obamai.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two guys in California installed a hot tub in the back of their Cadillac. We're showing you how they did and why next.

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COSTELLO: It's the Cadillac of hot tubs and I'm not kidding. The 1969 Cady you can actually soak in while you drive. It's out to set a record for the world's fastest hot tub. Who else would have the story but Jeanne Moos?

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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What's hot about this hot tub isn't the temperature. It's speed.

DUNCAN FORSTER, CO-CREATOR, CARPOOL DEVILLE: I've said what do you think it will feel like to go 100 miles an hour in a hot tub?

MOOS: Duncan Forster and Phil Wiker call the creation the carpool, the Carpool Deville, because it was once a 1969 Cadillac, which they bought on eBay for $800 and proceeded to turn into a motorized hot tub. The goal?

FORSTER: We'll set the record for the world's fastest hot tub.

MOOS: They plan to do it here in August on the salt flaps in Utah where speed records are challenged once a year but in a hot tub?

(on camera): What is the sensation of driving with water like up to your chest?

FORSTER: You know, it feels remarkably natural. There is something about combing these two great passions driving and hot tubbing. MOOS (voice-over): They gutted the caddy, reinforced it and installed a fiberglass tub that seats five plus the driver, the engine propels the car and heats the tub to over 102 degrees. The pool equipment is in the trunk, the pump, the filter, the overflow tank, so where is the gas pedal? The brakes? Not under water. The marine throttle came from a web site that sells yachting equipment, forward for fast, backward for slow. What happens if you slam on the brakes?

FORSTER: I wouldn't recommend doing that.

MOOS: Duncan figures the water would splash onto the windshield and shoot back in the driver's face. You'd almost need like a mask and snorkel. I was joking but he was not.

FORSTER: We are wondering if we should equipped the helmet with a snorkel.

MOOS: It shouldn't be hard to set the record for fastest hot tub because currently, nobody holds the record. Duncan and Phil built the car themselves, they raised over $11,000 on Kickstarter to pay the expenses to get them Bonaville. The car has regular automobile insurance. You need flood insurance?

FORSTER: I hadn't thought of that.

MOOS: It's time to get swashed DWI, driving while inundated. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. At "THIS HOUR" with Berman and Michaela starts now.