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End of President's Press Conferrence; Obama: Hamas Responsible For End of Cease-Fire; Obama: "We Tortured Some Folks"

Aired August 01, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So it's going to be a terrific conference. I won't lie to you.

Traffic will be bad here in Washington. I know that everybody has been warned about that. But we are really looking forward to this and I think it's going to be a great success. Now last thing I'm going to say about this, because I know that it's been on people's minds is the issue of Ebola.

This is something that we take very seriously. As soon as there is an outbreak anywhere in the world of any disease that could have significant effects, the CDC is in communication with the World Health Organization and other multilateral agencies to try to make sure that we've got an appropriate response.

This has been a more aggressive Ebola outbreak that we've seen in the past. But keep in mind that it is still affecting parts of three countries and we've got some 50 countries represented at this summit. We are doing two things with respect to the summit itself.

We're taking the appropriate precautions. Folks who are coming from these countries that have even a marginal risk or an infinitesimal risk of having been exposed in some fashion, we're making sure we're doing screening on that end as they leave the country. We'll do additional screening when we're here.

We feel confident of the procedures that we have put in place are appropriate. More broadly, the CDC and our various health agencies are going to be working very intently with the World Health Organization and some of our partner countries to make sure that we can search some resources down there and organization to these countries that are pretty poor and don't have a strong public health infrastructure.

So that we can start containing the problem. Keep in mind that Ebola is not something that is easily transmitted. That's why generally outbreaks dissipate. But the key is identifying, quarantining, isolating those who contract it and make sure that practices are in place that avoid transmission.

And it can be done, but it's got to be done in an organized, systematic way and that means we have to help the countries accomplish that. There you go, April. That's what I was talking about. Somebody finally wished me happy birthday although it isn't until Monday, you're right. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Happy birthday.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you so much.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Nearly an hour-long press conference by President Obama to bring up a range of issues, starting out by talking about positive news in the economy, some 200,000 new jobs created each month for the past six months.

But clearly, among the press corps, the focus was on international events. The president speaking and supporting -- voicing really unequivocal support for Israel saying, that he unequivocally condemns Hamas and factions for killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping a third after a cease-fire was agreed to.

He says that soldier needs to be unconditionally released. Also saying innocent civilians in Gaza have to weigh on our conscience and we have to do more to protect people. He was also defending John Kerry for his efforts to bring about a cease-fire.

On a number of other issues, he talked about U.S. leadership in the world, saying we've got speCIAl responsibilities, our resources are finite. We try that's what makes the United States different. We make an effort. He also said, and this is no doubt going to be causing a lot of discussion among a lot of people, acknowledging, saying the United States in the wake of 9/11.

He said, quote, "We tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values and understand why it happened, citing fear after 9/11." As the president was speaking, CNN obtained a picture of the Israeli soldier who Israel says was captured by militants during an attack on Gaza.

Israeli forces are now out scouring parts of Gaza, going house to house, looking for this man. He's Israeli Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin. Israel says he was taken after a suicide bomber detonated outside a tunnel that Israeli soldiers were trying to destroy in Gaza.

A Hamas spokesman tells CNN, it does not have the soldier. Let's go live to Wolf Blitzer in Jerusalem. Any latest word on Israeli efforts to find this soldier -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": They're going house to house in that Raffa area, in Southern Gaza. They are looking for the soldier. They think it's critical in these early hours after he was captured, it's critically important to use as many Israeli troops as possible to search those areas.

Especially underground areas that might be in place below some of those houses. So they're diligently trying to find this Israeli soldier. That's priority number one for the Israelis. At the same time, they're continuing the effort to destroy these tunnels.

They're continuing their effort to destroy Hamas rockets and missiles, 20 or 30 have come into Israeli over the past few hours, the sirens keep going off. The operation is intensifying. It's getting more serious as the hours go on right now. The notion that another cease- fire is going to happen any time soon is really, really remote.

Israeli officials say they're not interested, at least for now, in another cease-fire. They don't trust Hamas. They think Hamas had a chance to honor this cease-fire. They blame Hamas directly for breaking the cease-fire. They're very pleased that President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, now have almost completely endorsed Israel's version of what happened.

In a statement the president just made, the written statement that Secretary Kerry made a few hours ago, they blame Hamas for breaking the cease-fire. They say Hamas must release that soldier immediately, as soon as possible, if there is going to be any hope to end the bloodshed, the violence, what's going on in Gaza right now.

The president at the same time did express his concern over the civilian casualties in Gaza. He says it was painful for him, for everyone else to see children and women and everyone else, the innocent civilians who have been killed.

But he did note as the Israelis repeatedly do, that Hamas deliberately places rocket launchers, and other military operations in the midst of populated civilian centers. That's what Israel says. Now the president of the United States says the same thing.

So Israelis are pleased that the president seems to be fully behind them, at least right now and the secretary of state. They don't have any illusions that a cease-fire is about to happen any time soon.

COOPER: Yes. Wolf, I want to bring in our Jim Sciutto, chief national security correspondent. Jim, what are you hearing in terms of Hamas conflicting reports? One Hamas official talking to a Turkish media has said that they did have a soldier, then telling CNN that they have no information about that. What do you know?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, when I spoke to a Hamas spokesman earlier today, he denied that Hamas captured this soldier. But interesting in the president's comments there, because as you say, unequivocal support for Israel, but also unequivocal blame for Hamas in this case.

Although the president identified what is an alarming possibility, in that Hamas does not have control over all the militant factions in Gaza, Islamic, jihad and other groups there, and that's a real problem. Who do you negotiate with in the short term for the release of this Israeli soldier in the medium term for a cease-fire?

But longer-term for something lasting, a longer-term cease-fire, any sort of agreement. If Hamas does not have control then who sits at the other side of the table? And that's a real problem going forward. And it's not the first time we have dealt with this. Questions about who took that soldier.

There are also questions about who took and killed those three Palestinian teens in the West Bank two weeks ago, which helped lead to the Israeli offensive in Gaza. Did they get an order from on high in the Hamas leadership? There are real questions about that. And that makes the solution to this problem all the more difficult. Now, as the president said, whether or not Hamas has control over those groups, he holds them responsible. They have to get them in line. But it raises a real alarming reality going forward.

COOPER: And Jim, there are a number of scenarios about the statement that Hamas offiCIAl made to you. A -- one part of Hamas could not know what the other part of Hamas -- the political wing not knowing what the military wing is up to. May not be in control, as you said, of all the factions there.

There are other possibilities as well, though, and it's worth just kind of running over. One, they could be flat-out lying, trying to get -- if, in fact, they have taken the soldier, try to get -- buy time to get the soldier to an area where they can hold that soldier out of the immediate area where they took the soldier.

And in past, a group like Hezbollah has said you don't give out any information about people you have kidnapped or people you have captured because any information can be used as a bargaining chip to get concessions from Israel.

SCIUTTO: Absolutely. And it's a very important caveat that you make for our viewers, Anderson. This is war. This is a nasty, brutal war, and oftentimes you can't take -- you can't take the sides at their word. And certainly Hamas, and as you say, a very real possibility, it's an opportunity to shuffle him away to a place to buy time to shuffle him away to a place where the Israelis can't find him.

COOPER: And Israel has acknowledged, they do not know whether or not this soldier was alive when taken or exactly what his condition may be, wounded or not. I want to go live to Elise Labott, global affairs correspondent. She got some new information on how the cease-fire broke down. Elise, what have you learned?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jim -- sorry, Anderson, speaking to Egyptian, U.N., U.S. offiCIAls, they think what they're trying to do is salvage this and make sure that it's -- they don't see it as totally -- saying, look, this is what happens in the first hours of a cease-fire, that both parties are trying to get the advantage here.

Before the cease-fire starts and so no one is really clear about the choreography, but they say that Israel did try to take some operations in those tunnels, in the area of Gaza, and then Hamas totally overreacted. You saw that death of the Israeli soldiers and then the capturing of the soldier.

And that soldier, that now seems to be in captivity is really what everyone feels, if you were to get that soldier released, that could salvage this and bring everybody back to the table. The problem is, Anderson, it definitely doesn't seem at this point that you have any mediators that really have total control over the parties.

Clearly, the United States has been back and forth with Israel, trying to show support for Israel, but also concerned about those deaths. And it's pretty clear that at this point Prime Minister Netanyahu is taking the actions that he deems best and not really succumbing to pressure from the United States.

But on the Hamas side, you don't have the Egyptian government that you did in 2012 when you had President Morsi negotiating a cease-fire. The relationship between President al-Sisi, his crackdown with Muslim Brotherhood really involves this whole shift in politics in the region away from the Islamists. That's very difficult.

Now everybody is looking to Qatar, who does have influence on Hamas. And right now, Egyptian and other offiCIAls are saying, listen, Qatar needs to step up here, put pressure on Hamas, even if they don't have the soldier, clearly have contact with one of the Palestinian groups that does.

And if that soldier can be released then perhaps they can salvage this, put a cease-fire in effect and get back to talks. But clearly we're a long way away from that -- Anderson.

COOPER: We're going to take a short break. When we come back, more on President Obama's comments saying, quote, "We tortured some folks," talking about post 9/11 years. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COOPER: And welcome back. Wide-ranging news conference President Obama just held, wrapped up about 15 minutes or so ago, made some comments that no doubt will be getting a lot of attention in the hours ahead. I want to play you what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Even before I came into office, I was very clear that in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. We did a whole lot of things that were right. But we tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Joining me now is CNN political analyst, Josh Rogin, a senior national correspondent, "Daily Beast." Chief political analyst, Gloria Borger and former CIA officer, Bob Baer. Josh, were you surprised to hear the president actually say torture?

JOSH ROGIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I was. I think his use of the word torture could have political, diplomatic and possibly even legal implications. We reported this morning in "The Daily Beast" that the Senate report that President Obama was speaking about explicitly decided not to use the word torture, just for this very reason.

They didn't want to wade into a legal debate that could have far reaching consequences for the people. I am sure this is how President Obama feels. He even mentioned that even if the report doesn't mention the word torture, anyone who reads the interrogation techniques that the CIA personnel used would have to come to the conclusion that it's torture. A sentiment shared widely in the nongovernmental organizations advocating for the release of the report. But it's disputed heavily by former CIA offiCIAls and the former Bush administration offiCIAls who authorized those very techniques.

COOPER: Gloria, this is obviously something that's been debated in the public realm and also even on Capitol Hill. Some -- Senator McCain has been very out front on this, unlike -- taking a different stand than many of his Republican colleagues. The president did say he understood why it occurred, given the fear that occurred after 9/11.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: And don't forget, this is an administration that authorized the declassification of memos about the so-called torture. And I think I agree with Josh. The word is quite loaded and it's sort of the basis for a long-standing disagreement between the president, lots of people over at the CIA.

Who would take a different stand and say they did what they had to do because they were afraid of another terror attack. This issue has been debated openly for a very long time, so it's no surprise, as Josh points out, that this is the way the president feels. I think the direct use of the word is important coming from his mouth.

COOPER: Bob Baer, it's interesting. In -- I've been to the prison that the rouge set up, and the U.S. always said what they did was torture and used waterboarding, the waterboarding implements at that prison when techniques that other governments, Russian, Soviets did. Do you have any doubt that it's torture?

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think waterboarding is torture. It's been defined as such. Japanese were executed during World War II for torturing Americans. The world community describes it as torture. What's new is that the president has used that word.

And it's a word, by the way, which CIA officers are not allowed to use. Even ex-CIA officers like me cannot like me cannot use the word torture, because the CIA does not want this defined as breaking the law, essentially. And I think this is a huge setback for the CIA.

And I think the president has taken the side of the Senate, rather than John Brenan, CIA director, whom I remind you, was involved in the early decisions to use enhanced interrogations, as he would call it, orator at torture, as the president is.

COOPER: The president is expressing support for Brenan in the wake of revelations about his CIA officers hacking computers and those on Capitol Hill.

ROGIN: Sure. We should stay focused on the fact that this report will have horrendous and new details about what CIA personnel did. But caught up in this is a huge fight in the public between the CIA and the committee that spilled over when Dianne Feinstein, the chairwoman, accused the CIA of spying on her staff in their shared computer network. John Brennan totally denied that at the time. And then yesterday and then yesterday after the IQ report came out, he admitted it. The president expresses full confidence in Brennan, which is good tore Brenan, but the calls for him to resign have just begun.

Senators will still want to know what did he know and when and did he mislead Congress before any determines nation as to whether or not the drive to call for his resignation in combination with the fact we're about to learn from this report really gets going.

BORGER: You know, Anderson, the calls for Brennan to resign have come from Democrats who think that if he in any way knew about this spying on the Senate, which after all, oversees the CIA. Their responsibility is oversight of the CIA, and the CIA was spying on them.

And that if Brennan knew in any way, shape, or form that he should not be there and this is coming from Democrats, so this is going to have to play out over the next few weeks.

COOPER: Bob Baer, how real though is the oversight? I mean, we've talked about this in the discussion of NSA. It's really only oversight over what the intelligence community chooses to tell Congress about in the first place. It's not as if you know, there's folks from Capitol Hill sitting in at NSA meetings.

BAER: Anderson, exactly. Since 9/11, the Senate and the House have pretty much neglected their duties to oversee the CIA and the National Security Agency. And this is the first stand I've seen them make since 9/11. The question is, are they going to demand Brennan's resignation or accountability within the CIA, whoever is responsible for hacking the Senate's computers.

I think it's clearly in the CIA's interests to identify who authorized this and frankly, fire them. It's wrong. You cannot hack into Senate computers under any circumstances and somebody's got to pay the price.

BORGER: And the president didn't say that though. It's interesting, the president defended Brennan, but he didn't come out and say heads need to roll for people who were hacking into the United States Senate.

COOPER: Josh?

ROGIN: I think the president is, forced on the larger issue, which is the facts in the report and the history of what U.S. intelligence personnel and contractors did during this crucial time in American history. Let's remember, this is part of President Obama's legacy. Ending these harsh interrogation techniques was one of the first things he did.

He's going to have a mixed record on these issues. Guantanamo bay will probably still be open when he leaves office. America will still be doing things that lots of countries around the world regard as outside the rules of traditional warfare. On this one thing, ending interrogation techniques President Obama feels he's unfulfilled a campaign promise and speaking openly about that. I think his remarks are a reflection of that.

COOPER: Appreciate you being on. As I said, it was a wide-ranging press conference by President Obama. He also commented on executive actions, something he's been criticized for by Republicans say he would act alone on the border crisis. I want to go live to Dana Bash, chief congressional correspondent.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. You know, Democrats have been scrapping their heads in the past 24 hours or so because on Wednesday, the House voted to sue the president for using his executive power too much and yesterday, when the House really got completely chaotic because conservatives revolted against Republican leaders on a border bill.

The initial response everyone house Republican leaders that it's the president's fault because he should act on his own. The president had fun with the irony of that. But one thing I think we should do and your brand of keeping them honest, Anderson, is talking about another part of the president's pitch today and his accusation against Congress on the border issues.

It is absolutely true. House Republicans have had a lot of trouble. They're still having trouble as we speak trying to reign in conservatives pushing them to make a bill that is something that is not towards the middle. No question about that and it is something that the House is going to pass knowing full well that it is just a message bill.

A bill to stake out priorities. It has no chance of reaching the president's desk. It's also true why part of the reason there's been so much chaos here is because the White House has sent mixed messages to Capitol Hill on the policy changes they want to go along with the money they've asked for to address the border crisis.

So again, is chaos on Capitol Hill, not new, but it has been almost stunning to watch in the past day or so here as Congress has been racing to try to get home for a five-week recess. But the White House is engaged or maybe lack thereof is partly responsible for that.

COOPER: We'll return to the breakdown of the cease-fire in Israel and Gaza and the situation in the tunnels. We'll talk to someone who has been inside the tunnels ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Coming down into one of the very few tunnels that is still working today to try and show you what the problem is. These operators are worried about what Egypt is doing is, the underground wall they're building to stop these tunnels and, of course, it will stop their livelihoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's CNN Paula Hancocks, she's spent a good deal of time in the Middle East. She joins us now. That's a tunnel into Egypt from Gaza, is that correct?

HANCOCKS: That's right, yes.

COOPER: Those tunnels had a very different purpose than the tunnels being made into Israel.

HANCOCKS: Absolutely. These started many years ago, of course, when blockade kicked in in 2007. This was the way of getting not just arms and rockets into the Gaza Strip, but also the bakes for many Gazans. It shows Hamas has a lot of experience when it comes to building these tunnels. The ones that I went down were fairly basic. They are not anything like you see of the tunnels going into Israel now which are your rounded by concrete and electricity.

COOPER: The bars, steel, electricity. Let's talk about the divisions within Hamas. Does Hamas have control over all the factions in Gaza in?

HANCOCKS: The assumption is no at this point, this he don't. Of course, no one knows for sure without being on the ground. In the fog of war, it's difficult to know how the different groups communicate with each other. The assumption has been for some time that the political wing of Hamas in Qatar, of course, they're not able to get into Gaza, the assumption is they don't have much control on a day to day basis of what happens inside Gaza.

COOPER: When we will hear from the political wing in Qatar, unless they're on the grounds in Gaza, this he don't really know what's going on?

HANCOCKS: Exactly. We've been hearing from Hamden, the Hamas spokesman saying Hamas does not have an Israeli soldier. This may be the case. Gaza is not just Hamas or Islamic jihad. You have maybe eight or nine different militant groups well-known.

Then you have little sprinter groups. Then you have other groups that may have broken off from these more sophisticated groups. It is not just one military wing of Hamas. Certainly it's being shown at the moment.

But it's actually quite difficult for even the military wing of Hamas to be able to control all these militants, even if Hamas agrees to a cease-fire, that doesn't necessarily translate into a cease-fire.

COOPER: The other option is they could be lying, wanting to buy time to try to get the soldier, spirit him elsewhere away from where Israeli forces are.

HANCOCKS: Of course. There is a lot of lying in war. We know that from all sides. Everyone has their own point of view to put across. Backing to 2006 when the Israeli soldier was taken. Even at that time, it was blamed on Hamas, but it wasn't just Hamas that took him, who knows if it was even Hamas militants that took them.

There were other military groups that were involved in that. Certainly it's not as simple as maybe Israel would like to show it to be. They say Hamas rules with an iron fist. It's not necessarily the case on the ground that they have control over everybody.

COOPER: Which makes kind of negotiations all the more difficult. Paula, appreciate it. We have our continuing coverage. We appreciate you watching. I'll be back tonight. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now.