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U.N. Official Discusses Conditions in Gaza; House GOP's Pre- Vacation Priority: Sue Obama

Aired July 31, 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: All right. I told you at the top of the show that the United Nations is meeting in emergency session right now to talk about the situation in Gaza. On the phone speaking to those gathered in this room with the United Nations is Pierre Krahenbuhl. He's the United Nations Relief and -- he's from the United Nations Relief and Work Agency. He's doing work within Gaza.

He's telling the people there that the biggest problem is with displaced people, people who have nowhere to go to escape the bombing.

Let's listen to part of what he told the United Nations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PIERRE KRAHENBUHL, U.N. RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY: A number which has grown every day of the conflict and at an accelerated pace in the last week. It is four times higher than the peak number of the displaced people during the conflict in 2008 and 2009. I am not here referring to the tens of thousands of displaced in Gaza that have found temporary shelter with whole families, only to those that are registered in UNRWA schools.

We are doing everything possible to provide the displaced with minimum needs, food, mattresses and blankets. But we are now into the fourth week of mass displacement in facilities unequipped to shelter large numbers for such a duration.

Conditions are increasingly dire in the shelters. There is no water for hygiene, very few showers, and latrines are totally inadequate. Disease outbreak is beginning with skin infections, scabies, and others. There are thousands of pregnant women in our schools, deliveries are precarious and we're sheltering newborn infants in these appalling conditions.

Our ability to mitigate this situation is, of course, heavily restricted by ongoing hostilities. We are gravely concerned about the situation. Equally we are gravely concerned about any possible additional displacement that will drive up the numbers in our shelters.

With as many as 2,500 displaced people residing in schools and an average of 80 people to a classroom, we have exceeded the tolerable limits we can accommodate. It is therefore with alarm that I have received accounts of new instructions from the Israeli military to Palestinians to evacuate the Zeitun area of Gaza City and areas in the vicinity of Khan Yunis (ph).

In view of these facts and of the shelling affecting UNRWA schools on six occasions, I believe the population is facing a precipice and appeal to the international society to address this extreme situation. Should further large-scale displacement indeed occur the occupying power according to international humanitarian law will have to assume direct responsibility to assist these people.

Dear members of the council, the new reality being created before our eyes in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel is not sustainable under any circumstances. The humanitarian and political costs grow by the day with each death and injury, with the continuing destruction of infrastructure vital to the life of the Palestinian people in Gaza, and with the continuing violations of international law.

As I have stated on previous visits to Gaza, the rocket firing on Israeli cities and endangering the Israeli civilians is unacceptable and must cease. We all aspire to see a Middle East in which its people share common interests, a stake in each other's wellbeing and a commitment that the Secretary-General recently said to peace, justice, and security for all in the region.

This cannot happen under the conditions of military occupation and those caused by the pitiless conflict now unfolding. It is past time for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire to be agreed by the parties and called for by the (inaudible) in his recent statement.

Allow me also to add my voice to those calling for the redress of the underlying conditions that fuel this conflict and the violence that repeats itself in full view of the world. In other words, a cease- fire while immediately required to save lives is not enough. It is not conceivable to simply return to the situation existing before this conflict. Not withstanding Israel's legitimate security concerns, the illegal blockade of Gaza must be lifted. This small territory is home to 1.8 million people who face the prospect that it will become unlivable in a matter of only a few years unless urgent steps are taken by the international community to enable the development of Gaza and the ensuring security for all in the region.

UNRWA, truthful to its mandate, will remain steadfast to its commitment and operations whether during the terrible emergency or in the recovery phase once the fighting has ceased, but much more is required to ensure lasting peace and stability in the region. I thank you, Mr. President.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. And with that, that emergency session did adjourn, but that man was speaking from Gaza. He's a member of the United Nations -- you saw that. He was talking about the terrible problems right now that the people of Gaza are facing with these shelters. There's no clean water, not enough latrines to go around. He said disease is starting to set in. And again, he called for an immediate cease-fire -- not only that, some long lasting solutions so the cycle of warfare won't continue.

We're going to check in with Richard Roth, I hope, on the other side of the break to find out more about what the United Nations plans to do.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. We told you what was said at the United Nations emergency session. Before the break, a United Nations worker from Gaza testified to this meeting about the dire situation that now exists within Gaza as the fighting continues there.

Richard Roth is our U.N. correspondent. He was listening to it all. Tell us more, Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN U.N. CORRESPONDENT: This was more than a worker. It was the commissioner general of UNRWA, the U.N. Relief Works Agency taking care of at least 200,000 Palestinians now inside U.N.- designated facilities. He, on the ground, exasperated, frustrated, outraged over what is happening to civilians who thought they could be protected inside these U.N. buildings. Yes, he condemned rocket attacks by Gaza, by Hamas aimed at Israel and the fact that missiles have been stored inside three U.N. schools but primarily his remarks were hoping that the international community would somehow be able to put pressure on the players to stop the fighting.

Earlier Valerie Amos the UN's humanitarian chief said even wars have rules and demanded that combatants be separated from civilians, that surely the military experts know the difference as to where fighters might be and where thousands of families, women and children who have been killed and injured along with U.N. staff -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So what kind of action can the United Nations take, Richard?

ROTH: Well, it seems that no action is being taken other than a statement at midnight Sunday into Monday which for some people was actually an advance by a divided Security-Council. The Palestinians have a resolution. That was circulated more than two weeks ago prior to many attacks that have now ensued, but for different complicated political reasons the Security Council is watching and waiting.

The Palestinians and the Jordan government which introduced the resolution may not want to prompt a U.S. veto in the middle of this. They were happy Washington got on board with a statement, the first one in years on the Middle East which included words against Israel.

So they're watching and waiting here, but there's no action despite the puzzlement of many.

COSTELLO: All right. Richard Roth reporting for us this morning -- thank you.

I'm going to take a break. We'll be right back with more in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: House Republicans are fed up with what they say is President Obama's abuse of power. And now they have voted to authorize a lawsuit against him. They're upset over the President's decision to change or delay key provisions of Obamacare.

The House Speaker John Boehner says the President is stepping on Congress's authority and that the constitution is at stake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: Are you willing to let any president choose what laws to execute and what laws to change? Are you willing to let anyone tear apart what our founders have built?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Democrats are slamming the lawsuit as a publicity stunt. The political group Organizing for Action which was formed from President Obama's re-election campaign set up a petition urging supporters to sign it and tell Boehner quote, "enough already". Oh yes, they're also raising money from this as well, those Democrats.

Seriously? This is what Republicans and Democrats are focusing on just before they go on a month-long recess with no agreement on immigration reform?

Let's talk about this. Ana Navarro is a CNN political commentator and Republican strategist; Donna Brazile is also a CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist. Welcome to both of you.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: So, Ana, as a Republican strategist I'll ask you this question. Is this a wise move?

NAVARRO: Well, I don't like it, though I recognize that the House has a legitimate concern about abuse of power by this president. It is a result and it is a symptom of the broken system in Washington where they can't get anything done so they resort to suing each other.

I don't like it because I see it as a distraction. I don't like it because I think there's a bar to be met on whether the House has standing. And, frankly, I don't like it because it lends itself to being exploited by the Democrats and being feigned and turned and pretending to be impeachment and then used as a tool to raise money. They raised over $2 million over it. So I'm not much of a fan of this lawsuit strategy.

COSTELLO: Well, Donna, some people might say the only reason that the House Republicans didn't go for impeachment was because public opinion polls are totally against that.

BRAZILE: I don't know what their strategy is, but I have to agree with Ana who said that it has no standing. The President is using his lawful authority as the chief executive of the United States of America. The House Republicans seriously don't want to really work with this president. They don't want to even work with each other.

There are so many internal divisions that they cannot come up with any agreement on major issues like immigration reform, like extended unemployment insurance for those who are still looking for work or raising the minimum wage.

This is a stunt. It's shameful. And I wish that they would spend time figuring out how we can grow our economy, stop focusing on what we disagree but figure out what we can agree upon to make sure that America is strong and secure in the 21st century.

COSTELLO: Yes. I think, though, there is one thing to come out of this that both sides can agree on, that this impeachment lawsuit thing can raise money. Democrats say they've raised more than $7 million since Boehner first talked about a lawsuit. At least they agree on something, Ana because I'm sure Republicans have raised money on this issue too.

NAVARRO: You know, Carol, let's stop calling this impeachment/lawsuit thing. They are two completely different things that Democrats have conflated as a stunt to raise money. I think that's part of the reason why the American public is just so disillusioned with Washington and Congress because of these cynical stunts frankly by both sides. Impeachment is a very different thing than a lawsuit. And let me remind you, Democrats tried to bring impeachment articles against George W. Bush also.

BRAZILE: Individuals did. Not -- under Nancy Pelosi. I remember that.

(CROSSTALK)

NAVARRO: Ok. Well, Donna -- Donna, all right, but, Donna, John Boehner has been more than clear as many times as he can that he is not talking impeachment, that there is no impeachment talk. There's been five or six Republicans who frankly couldn't get anything passed through Congress if they tried, who have been talking about this. It's been unhelpful, but at no point has anybody of any responsibility, authority, or leadership in the Republican parties been talking about this seriously, so it's a very similar circumstance that happened when Democrats brought it.

BRAZILE: Well, the leader Mr. Scalise from my home state of Louisiana. My home state congressman, Mr. Scalise said, look, the Republicans have been talking about this from the day president Obama was elected to office. They agreed not to work with him. They tried to make him a one-term president. He was reelected with over 50 percent of the vote.

The truth of the matter is you know what? If the Democrats are raising money off of it, fine. Republicans are raising money. That's all members of congress do these days, is raise money to try to get re-elected.

We need to focus on the issues that the American people elected them to do, which is to solve problems to help ordinary citizens get ahead in life, get education, get health care, and I think this lawsuit is a shameful political ploy to motivate the base of the party and to distract as Ana said in the beginning from real serious issues that members of Congress should be focusing on right now.

COSTELLO: Ok. So I'm going to ask about one of those serious issues, Ana and that would be immigration. Supposed there's going to be some sort of bill put forth in the house. Do you think it will go anywhere?

NAVARRO: It's a very complicated situation in the house right now. Apparently they're going to put two bills on the floor. If one doesn't -- you know, if the border security supplemental request doesn't pass, then they don't go to the second bill. If it does pass, then they go to the second bill, which are two separate bills. And it's something, frankly, that John Boehner has had to do to deal with the lack of Republicans supporting the border bill.

I also think that's not a smart strategy. And what we've soon is Senator Ted Cruz who can't get much done in the Senate go and be the pied piper in the house and get a -- you know, some of the Republicans there who are lemmings following him off the cliff to follow him down this strategy that has no exit, no real way to get anywhere because it will not pass the Senate and it will not be signed by President Obama and it's frankly not something that most Republicans want to do.

COSTELLO: All right. I'm going to have to leave it there. Ana Navarro and Donna Brazile. Thanks so much to you both.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH DEPUTY (PH), MUSICIAN: Hello, everybody. I'm Zach Deputy and I'm a musician that travels around the world. I reside at Savannah, Georgia. Savannah's known for its history, really old, beautiful downtown, cobblestones everywhere. The buildings are all built in the 1700s.

Here we are at tom (inaudible) disc golf course in Savannah. Disc golf is not only in Savannah but it's everywhere around the world. I think it's a sport that's taken by storm but the general public has no clue quite yet which is kind of cool.

I'm going to throw off the first tee. Hopefully I'll get an ace. Just like ball golf you want to get to your hole with as few strokes as possible. And you always play from your last throw.

Time to pull the putter out. That's how she's done. All my discs do completely different thing. Just like a ball golf player uses clubs, we use discs to do different things. As a beginner you want to get a putter, a fairway driver and a driver. I have way too many drivers though. That's the worst problem to have, right.

Disc golf is -- to me it replaced fishing, you know. It's a way to get out and work out all the problems of life. For me it's therapy. Therapy in the woods.

I've actually seen most of the country through the eyes of disc golf course. I love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 58 minutes past. A pro-North Korean newspaper says imprisoned American Kenneth Bae feels abandoned by the United States. The paper was granted access to Bae by the North Korean government which is known for extracting propaganda-friendly statements from prisoners. Bae's serving a 15- year sentence for allegedly trying to bring the government down.

Parts of UCLA campus knee deep in water still. This is what it looks like after 20 million gallons of water gushed from a broken water main on Wednesday. Hundreds of vehicles were damaged. Some are still stranded in flooded garages. The high water put six facilities out of commission. The famous (inaudible) basketball court possibly ruined for good. UCLA says the city should help pay for the cleanup.

Bank of America slapped with a $1.3 billion fine over mortgage fraud. It stems from thousands of bad loans made by mortgage lender countrywide which bank of America bought in 2008. Countrywide made the loans quickly often without income verification and then sold those fraudulent loans to government-backed lenders.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" -- starts now.