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Ex-Navy SEAL Says He Fired Shot that Killed bin Laden; President Obama to Send 1,500 More Advisers to Iraq; In 2015 There Will Be 100 Votes Cast in Congress by Women

Aired November 07, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Let me stay with you, Toobin, because Evan brought up the Louima case. That was that -- it became this national case. It was 1997, police brutality involving this Haitian immigrant. And given the fact that Ferguson is in the bloodstream and is about to really potentially percolate, how might that help her, hurt her, if she is confirmed?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I don't think it will have much effect on her confirmation.

BALDWIN: Afterwards.

TOOBIN: But it may lead to a tough call once you become attorney general and it does the justice department go ahead with a case against officer Wilson if the state of Missouri decides not to. That's going to be a very tough call. Police brutality is very much in the air these days as an important subject.

I have just another subject to keep an eye on as she takes over assuming she's nominated and confirmed is the issue of prosecuting people for minor drug offenses. Eric Holder said he wants to do less of it. He wants some people released from prison early before sentences expire. That's something that it's not clear where Loretta Lynch will stand on that because she comes from an office that does a lot of narcotics cases. So will she take up Eric Holder's roll in trying to lower incarceration rates especially for minority young men? No clear. Interesting subject to pursue as she moves to the process.

BALDWIN: As it goes forward. Assuming it does move forward.

Jeff Toobin, thank you very much. Evan Perez, thank you for coming back on. And I appreciate both of you.

Coming up next, he says, yes, he was the so-called shooter that fired the shot that killed Osama bin Laden. Wait until you hear what he was doing when the world was watching the president announcing that historic moment from the White House while bin Laden's body was in the next room from this man.

Plus, one of his colleagues says this Navy SEAL now has a bull's eye on his back for all of the jihadists. Stay right here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Half bottom of the hour. You are watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Now, according to Navy SEAL code, central tenant (ph), the history books were never meant to know Rob O'Neill's name. But it's all over today's papers and postings that it was O'Neill who was the shooter that killed Osama bin Laden firing that fatal shot that went straight to his forehead. O'Neill is now a motivational speaker. Here he is in one of the videos from the group leading authorities. He revealed himself to "the Washington Post's" Joby Warrick who told me this last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: How many shots did he tell you he took?

JOBY WARRICK, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: So he told us about three. So there was the head shot, which is the one that very obviously killed bin Laden. It was fairly graphic and gory. There were at least two other shots that he made. But he said, you know, almost instantaneously, other SEALs burst into the home and several other took additional shots at bin Laden as he was down to make sure he was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: But the author of this book, "Man Hunt, ten-year search for bin Laden," our CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen says two of the sources deny that version. Bergen says SEAL, known as the point man who remains anonymous is the one who fired the shot that winged bin Laden bringing him down and then these sources say it was two more SEALs who fired into bin Laden as he lay on the ground. Bergen sources also say one of the two SEALs was in fact Rob O'Neill. And certainly while praised by the public, O'Neill has been criticized by speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER NAVY SEAL: He sacrificed a lot in doing this. Whether he is the real shooter or not, he's put a bull's eye on his back that is bigger in a lot of ways than the bull's eye that Osama bin Laden had on his.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC360: You talk about an actual bull's eye from jihadists.

GILLIAM: From jihadists, you know. So his family, himself, he's on the speaking lecture circuit. Anybody that goes to see this guy now is a target when they're in a room with him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now is author of "Seal of God," former navy SEAL, I suppose once a SEAL always a SEAL, Chad Williams.

Chad, welcome to the program. Nice to have you on.

CHAD WILLIAMS, AUTHOR, SEAL OF GOD: Thanks for having me on. Brooke. Happy to be on.

BALDWIN: So here's what I want to know. And I talked to Joby from "the Washington Post" the reporter from "the Washington Post" who talked to him. He said that this really has been an agonizing personal struggle, more than three years later, to finally come out and say, OK, here's what actually happened.

As a SEAL, I mean, he did break that central tenant. He is speaking. Would you be speaking?

WILLIAMS: Well, I'm kind of looking at the things that motivated him to reveal himself. And he shared a couple of things really at rock bottom what he cares about is the truth. And this is just a little lesson in that old saying that there's nothing that's concealed that won't ultimately be revealed. And what he has shared is that he was in a room with some of the grieving family members of those that had victims in 9/11. And you know, there's people around there that are trying to popularize this idea that, you know, Osama bin Laden was never really killed. They dumped him in the ocean. What really happened to him? And that's really got to be a thorn in the side of those family members. And so, how great is it that he could really look them in the eye and assure them that justice was made and that bin Laden was killed. He was one of those that took him out.

And on top of that, another thing that I see is that he's revealed the fact that he's kind of concerned that his name is already out there. There's other SEALs obviously that know who he is. There's Congressmen that know his name. And he was saying that even some news agencies know his name. So the revelation of his name being released was imminent.

So, far better it be on his own terms rather than be caught off guard by surprise.

BALDWIN: Do you think -- I mean, I don't know how many other SEALs you've spoken with in the wake of his coming forward, but would most of the SEAL community agree with you and support him coming out and speaking about this?

WILLIAMS: I can't really speak for the rest of the guys. But if you think about it, he never really compromised the SEAL teams. You know, what we know about the Osama bin Laden raid? Well, we know that SEAL team 6 took out Osama bin Laden, but how do we know that?

Well, we know that because vice president Joe Biden and Barack Hussein Obama, they revealed that. So what is new coming to the table here? The only thing new is nothing about SEAL team 6, but something about an individual. And so, he's obviously taken the risk of revealing himself, but he believes that the ends justify the means here.

So the only one that's been compromised -- SEAL team 6 was thrown out into the arena, you know, by the president. The only one who really compromised here is him. But again, he weighed out the costs. The ends justify the means.

BALDWIN: You know, you heard the other SEAL saying he would be worried about Rob O'Neill having this bull's eye on his back for jihadists. How strong of a concern, how valid of a concern is that for him?

WILLIAMS: its heart racing, you know. I'm obviously very concerned for him as well. But this is something that, you know, his name was going to be released. And so, if he's convinced of that that it's imminent, again, far better for it to be on his terms than somebody else's terms. I'm sure that he has taken whatever precautions he can to try and safeguard himself after the fact that his name has been released out there.

BALDWIN: Chad Williams, thank you so much and thank you again for your service to this country. We really appreciate it.

WILLIAMS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, we have more on breaking news this afternoon from President Obama. We know he's authorized more troops to be sent to Iraq to fight terror group ISIS. Jake Tapper will join me to discuss that right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: More on our breaking news on CNN. President Obama is now planning to nearly double America's footprint in Iraq. Specifically we know that today he's authorized the deployment of up to 1,500 noncombat advisers in the fight against ISIS.

What we are hearing from the White House is advisers are likely to operate closer to the action because the president is opting to lift a restriction that confines them now to Baghdad or Erbil, both of which are relatively safe areas. I want you to watch out for Anbar province. This is west, seen as orange on your screen, that's west of Baghdad. It has been largely overrun by ISIS.

So to Jake Tapper we go, our chief Washington correspondent. You know, listen. When we talk about doubling, really the troops size, these noncombat troops according to the White House, does this sound like mission creep to you?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question. Yes, it does. It sounds like mission creep. And not in the sense that the mission is changing but just in the sense that the presentation of what this would be is changing.

First, we start off with just a few hundred troops and then it's more than a thousand then it is 3,000. We have seen this movie before. I don't think that changes the mission per see, but I think certainly there's a reason that this is being announced on a Friday afternoon three days after a midterm election and not at another time before a midterm election. This is certainly something that Americans are concerned about even though they also are concerned about the threat from ISIS.

But Brooke, if I may, what you said is very significant. And we can't underline this enough. It's not just that these troops are doubling in size, these U.S. troops. It is that they are no longer going to be according to what the president has authorized just in Baghdad or Erbil, which are relatively safe for the region.

BALDWIN: Closer to the combat.

TAPPER: Yes. It means they will be embedded with Iraqi troops and embedded with peshmerga Kurdish troops and other groups potentially.

Yesterday, I interviewed the commander of central command, CENTCOM, General Lloyd Austin. And one of the things, although he is a good soldier and he certainly didn't express publicly any disagreement with what he had been given and whether or not he could do the job with what he had been given, if you went back and listened to it carefully, you could hear he was clearly frustrated that he did not have enough troops to provide human intelligence.

Now, whether you call those boots on the ground or not, they are men and, I guess, it is almost entirely men wearing boots and they will be in places where they can find out what's going on. He brought up the issue a few times. One of them was when I asked him how many members he thought ISIS had. He said he thought it was somewhere between 9,000 and 17,000. But he said, he pointed out again that's difficult to tell the exact number without human intelligence. Now we find out a day later that one of the reasons President Obama is authorizing 1,500 new troops that will leave Erbil and leave Baghdad is to obtain intelligence.

BALDWIN: As this was breaking, I kept asking, why now? What is the signal as far as what is happening, good or bad in Iraq? And you're the first person who has come on TV and pointed out timing literally Friday afternoon into the weekend post-midterm election.

That's a fascinating point, Jake Tapper. We'll look for you at the top of the hour with much more, I'm sure, on this story on "the LEAD." Thank you very much, my friend.

TAPPER: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Quick break with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Midterm elections this week shook up the Senate, but how did they make history? Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: In 2015 there will be 100 votes cast in Congress by women.

Here are three of them. First, Mia Love.

REP. MIA LOVE (R), UTAH: Many of the naysayers out there said that Utah would never elect a black Republican LDS woman to Congress.

BALDWIN: Her parents emigrated from Haiti. They had all of $10 in her dad's pocket. Here is how she did it. Two terms be on the city council, eventually serving as mayor. In 2012 she lost her first try for the House seat. But no one forgot that powerhouse speech Mia Love gave at the national Republican convention.

LOVE: Mr. President, I'm here to tell you the American people are awake and we're not buying what you're selling in 2012.

BALDWIN: She apparently once worked as a flight attendant, reportedly turned down a Broadway role. And her first date with her husband, the firing range.

Next, Shelly Moore Capito.

REP. SHELLY MOORE CAPITO (R), WEST VIRGINIA: Western Virginia has done it right.

BALDWIN: With Democrat Senator Jay Rockefeller retiring, SMC is in. This is the first time in 56 years that West Virginians have elected a Republican senator and the first female. She comes from this powerhouse political dynasty of a family in West Virginia. Her father, Arch Moore, served three terms as a Republican governor. She is NRA endorsed and, hello, she is from West Virginia. She supports the coal industry. Did you know she has a degree in zoology from Duke University? And often times she jokes has prepared her for her career in politics because she says she now works in the biggest zoo in America, the U.S. Congress.

SEN. JONI ERNST (R), IOWA: I'm Joanie Ernst.

BALDWIN: She is the first female senator elected from the state of Iowa and the first female combat veteran ever elected to the U.S. Senate.

ERNST: Well, Iowa, we did it. We did it!

BALDWIN: So how did she do it? She went viral.

ERNST: I grew up castrating hogs on an Iowa farm. So when I get to Washington, I'll know how to cut pork.

BALDWIN: So what's this mother, soldier, leader about? Yes to personhood, open to birth control, and she is gun toting. She says she has a beautiful little Smith and Wesson nine millimeter and it goes with her everywhere.

And don't forget about laugh. Some people call it contagious. Other people have likened it to this.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Listen to this. There's a retired marine who reunites troops with stray dogs they adopted while serving overseas. And he is one of the top CNN heroes. Should he be hero of the year? Go to CNN.com/heroes and vote. Check this out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've deployed to Afghanistan three times. We head out and spend hours on guard. We come back and the dogs would be so excited to see us, you forget that you're halfway across the world in the desert with hostile things going on.

PEN FARTHING, FORMER ROYAL MARINE, CNN HERO: At every single street corner in Kabul (ph) you will find stray dogs. Looking after a dog or a cat does relieve stress in, you know, daily lives. And so it holds true for, you know, a soldier as well. When I was serving in Afghanistan, I actually thought I was quite unique in looking after this dog, but I was wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Once we came close to leaving, I knew I didn't want to leave them behind.

FARTHING: To date now the organization has actually rescued over 650 dogs or cats while serving soldiers from around the world.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello. Also we help the stray animals in the streets. There is a big problem with rabies. We're not just helping the animals; we're helping the afghan people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we get a call from the soldier, we have to get the dog from are wherever the soldier is to our shelter in Kabul. We vaccinate against a variety of diseases. Then the animal starts the journey from Kabul to the soldier's home country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I pulled Kate (ph) inside of the crate, you know, I was just so excited. I was even more excited that she remembered me. I can't believe that they're here. She's a huge part of the transition being easier.

FARTHING: If I had never met had him in the first place, none of this would have happened, my connection with Afghanistan stayed alive because of it. For me every time I look at him, it makes me smile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Go vote CNN.com/heroes.

And in the ten seconds I have remaining, you have to have to see this. This is something wondrous. This is from the international space station. Check this out this camera. Those inside a bubble, so this is one of looks like if you were caught inside a water bubble. This NASA video has been viewed more than 760,000 times.

Listen, have wonderful weekends, but stay right here. I'm Brooke Baldwin. The Lead with Jake Tapper starts now.