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American from California Among the Latest Victims in Yemen; ISIS Now Banished From Key Iraqi City of Tikrit; Hillary Clinton on the Verge of 2016 Announcement; Civil Liberties Advocates Praised NSA Leaker Edward Snowden; Box Office Gold for "Fast and Furious 7". Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired April 06, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

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[15:32:28] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: I'm Brianna Keilar.

An American ally on the brink, hundreds dead in the violence in Yemen and it's getting worse, an American, a gas station owner from California among the latest victims. Friends and family say Jamal al- Abani (ph) was planning to bring his pregnant wife and young daughter back to the U.S. when he was killed by a mortar strike.

Under the reign of Saudi led coalition bombs, the rebel group, the Houthis, are still controlling the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. And it is there, that's some strange and dangerous alliances are forming.

Joining me now to talk about this is Nic Robertson. He is our CNN senior international correspondent.

So this is really -- you have dangerous bedfellows here, Nic. You're on the front lines. What are you seeing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're not just dangerous, but because they are forming and changing alliance as you don't know which way they are going to jump next. We are on the Saudi side of the border. We've been up in the mountains with Saudi border guards. The Saudis here, rushing to bolster defenses on the border because they just don't know what can happen next over there.

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ROBERTSON (voice-over): Bone shaking tracks so steep Saudi security trucks struggle. A slip down the wrong side here lands you in Yemen. On the peaks, something new, Saudi army and border guards joined forces sharing fresh dug trenches. Servicemen here say Houthi attacks are rare, the last a week ago. The commander says they are ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When we see them approaching, we treat them as enemy and we protect ourselves. And we don't want an incident like what happened to the first martyr.

ROBERTSON: Three border guards killed since Saudi airstrikes over the border began almost two weeks ago. No shortage of expensive top class new weapons here.

It's what's happening beyond this border front line that's less well known. Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Houthis, loyalists to the former president, loyalists for current president, the army, southern separatists, people's movements, tribes. It's all competing interests.

Competing interests on what may be temporary alliances. You only have to look at the most intense fighting in Aiden to see how that's playing out. Several hundred dead, a humanitarian disaster looming.

Houthis apparently gaining in a battle for control of the deep water port attacking Saudis, as well allies, loyalists of the current president, people's movement and separatists. These allies don't all back the Saudi goal, a united country. But if together, they can hold the port, Saudi reinforcements could land and help defeat their common enemy, the Houthis.

Along the coast, Al-Qaeda in (INAUDIBLE), Al-Qaeda defeats the southern separatists, but further north Al-Qaeda kills the enemy of the southern separatists, the Houthis. Around the capital, Saudi planes bomb Houthis and allies, the Yemeni army, HQ, a loyalist of the former president.

Across the country, the tribes looking out for their own have fluent allegiances. Houthis in some places, Al-Qaeda in others, and some support the Saudis. Back on the Saudi side of the border, things seem simpler, only soldiers and border guards.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): we all have one mission here. And we are working hand in hand with the army to achieve that.

ROBERTSON: Sounds easy, but beyond Yemen's silent peaks, a multisided war looms where anything can happen.

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[15:36:23] ROBERTSON: So the burning question for the Saudis right now, do they go in with ground troops as they've threatened? This isn't off the table at the moment that in a situation that complex, hard to see how they could get in, do an effective job, and get out quickly and not get bogged down. And that's the question now being discussed at the highest levels in this country, Brianna.

KEILAR: And there are much more powerful from the air. That factors into their calculus as well.

Nic Robertson, thank you with us there from Lussan (ph), Saudi Arabia.

ISIS is now banished from the key Iraqi city of Tikrit. But what the terror group left behind in Saddam Hussein's hometown may be evidence of the worst massacre yet. This is a gruesome discovery, thought to be hundreds of corpses, including those of soldiers, piled in mass graves across the city.

Arwa Damon reports.

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ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Three bodies have been recovered from this particular site so far, and the teams are working on a fourth that they just pulled out of the dirt and placed inside another of these bags.

The hands on this particular corpse were bound. And we did see them on some of the others. This is very difficult work for the teams. And it's also emotionally difficult as well. Earlier there was an impromptu ceremony held here to commemorate those who had been killed. Many people were in tears.

Now in this particular site, they're saying so far, and they've been working four or five hours now, they've found nine bodies. This is a large mound. They believe in this location, they may finding about 20 or 30. So far, they have pinpointed eight sites here inside the presidential compound in Tikrit, scattered throughout this sprawling area.

Another two locations have been identified outside of the city on the way to camp Spiker. Now the vast majority of casualties and you see the corpse remains being carried away there. But the vast majority of these casualties if not all are believed to have been the victims of what is now known as the camp Spiker massacre when ISIS fighters brutally mercifully murdered hundreds if not upwards of 1500 recruits when they took over this area in June.

The families of the dead have desperately been waiting for answers about what happened to their sons. Many of them have been pleading with the government to get this process quickly underway. But even though it has begun, it's going to take a very long time to actually exhume all of these various bodies and then DNA testing will be underway as well.

What we are hearing from one survivor we spoke to earlier and from experts on the site is ISIS divided them in smaller groups and then executed them at various different locations. One survivor here who we spoke to came back because he said he wanted to look for his friends.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Tikrit Iraq.

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[15:39:39] KEILAR: And for more on that story, go to CNN.com.

And thank you to Arwa for filing that report.

Next, Hillary Clinton is on the verge of making a major announcement about her plans for 2016. Insiders say this time it's going to be really different from 2008. The changes that her team is preparing to make next.

Plus, did you see this scene from "Fast and Furious 7"? I know I did. Cars flying out of planes, seems kind of nuts, right? Well, those cars are real. The student coordinator for the movie joining me live coming up.

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[15:44:24] KEILAR: Civil liberties advocates praised NSA leaker Edward Snowden after he exposed the agency's wide ranging domestic surveillance program. But others slammed him saying that he not only jeopardized national security interest, but also put lives at risk. Snowden facing tough questions from a comedian, that's right, from John Oliver, the host of last week tonight on HBO.

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JOHN OLIVER, HBO HOST: How many of those documents have you actually read?

EDWARD SNOWDEN, NSA LEAKER: I've evaluated all the documents in the archive.

OLIVER: You've read every single one?

SNOWDEN: Well, I do understand what I turned over.

[15:44:58] OLIVER: There is difference between understanding what's in the documents and reading what's in the documents. "The New York Times' took a slide, didn't redact it properly and in the end it was possible for people to see something was being used in Mosul.

SNOWDEN: That is a problem. (Bleep). These things happen in reporting.

OLIVER: Right. But you have to own that thing. You're giving documents with information you know could be harmful.

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KEILAR: Pretty fascinating stuff, right? Well, Snowden is still living in Russia where he sought political asylum.

Hillary Clinton 2.0, maybe a question mark there. Any moment, any day now I think we're in the window, I think it is fair to say, she's expected to make it official that she's giving a White House run a second try. CNN has learned that her aides have been instructed to be ready at any time starting today. But how will things be different this time around for the woman who's held the titles of first lady, senator, and secretary of state?

We have CNN political director David Chalian joining me now to talk about this.

So David, this is interesting because we knew that she had to try something different obviously than her failed and not so great 2007- 2008 campaign. But now, her folks are switching this up. They are trying to down size, were talking to fewer big crowds, less mention of her ambitions and use of word "I," right? Tell us about that.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, listen. You know, Brianna, better than anyone, her husband Bill Clinton always says presidential elections are about the future. And what, of course, he means by that is not about the candidate's future, but about the country's future. And I think what you're seeing now is Hillary Clinton and her team really internalizing that and making sure that when she presents herself as a candidate this time around as we all expect she will in days ahead, that she does so in a way that really puts the voter's middle class concerns first, much more than as first woman, for example.

And in fact, in that great piece on CNN.com by (INAUDIBLE), there's reporting in there that they have focus groups conducted in Iowa and New Hampshire. So it's not like the Clinton group is doing this in the blind. They've gone out. They tested with voter in those key early states. And the response that they're getting is voters don't want to hear so much about the car, nation, or inevitability, they really do want to hear her connecting with their concerns about the future.

KEILAR: How does she do this when so much of Hillary Clinton is about the past? She's been in public life for decades. How does she make the shift resonate with voters?

CHALIAN: Well, obviously, there's going to be a whole sort of new set of issues. There is always new political landscape for every election. So she'll grab on that. Some we've seen in her public speeches and appearances in advance of her, launching her campaign such as talking about inequality. That's not something she's talked about for years and years, but something that she will certainly be talking about now that it's a front and center issue.

She'll also embrace the fact of her position in life, as a mother and now a grandmother, to use that role in life. The sort of caretaker as what she presents to the country, as somebody who can be the caretaker for the country putting the middle class concerns first.

KEILAR: Yes. I know they were debating, what should she be called, secretary, senator -- I would think grandma actually might suit her campaign in the case.

I want to turn and talk about Rand Paul because he's expected to announce his 2016 bid tomorrow. He's released this nearly three minute-long video. Let's take a look.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Paul filibustered yesterday for almost 12 hours on the Senate Florida. Sen. Paul shows stamina, passion that many Americans admire. Many others joined him on the floor at various times to show him support.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I mean, he's out there talking. This isn't one of those -- he's using the filibuster the way it's meant to be used.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: It's time for a new way.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: And he chose metal right as the backdrop there which I don't think a lot of candidates would try. When you look at that video, what does that say about Islam strategy?

CHALIAN: That's not by accident, Brianna. Of course, he is trying to generate from bus in advance of the big announce in Louisville, Kentucky.

Tomorrow, his announcement that he is getting in this, but also you don't see John Stewart as a central figure often if in Republican nomination politics. She is not sort of character year, sort that Republican candidates tend to have brakes.

But with the music, with John Stewart, the way that film, the trail that was presented, clearly Rand Paul is trying to appeal to youth vote which is a key part of this base. And you know, we saw that with his father, too.

Remember Rand Paul, had great appeal with young voters. In most recent CNN/ORC poll there, you see that Rand Paul was at 12 percent. That's just a couple weeks ago, that film. He's in that upper tier of candidates but he has not had sort of his big breakout moment yet. And I do think one of the things that everybody's going to now hoes does Rand Paul take that libertarian, youthful base that his father so well. And now, actually expand that.

You see that in recent weeks and months, he has been trying to avoid the isolationist label, show that he's a little more centrist than his dad on foreign policy. I think you will still see him make moves like that to say that he's much more appealing than just one little swath of the party.

[15:50:42] KEILAR: All right. We will be looking for that. Always fun. I should say this is really the first time I have been able to interview you, David Chalian. What a blast. Thank you so much.

CHALIAN: Thanks for having me, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Now next, "Furious 7," have you seen this? It was a huge hit at the movies this weekend, partly because of stunts like this. Pretty cool, right? Cars flying out of an airplane. Yes, well, guess what, they are real cars and the stunt coordinator of "Furious 7" will explain to us how he did it. He will be live with us next.

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[15:32:01] KEILAR: Fast cars, plus some big explosions. Well, that equals box office gold for "Fast and Furious 7." $143 million on opening weekend to be exact. And just for a little perspective there, that's almost twice as much as "50 shades of grey."

The seventh film in the "Fast and Furious" franchise is the last movie that was made by actor Paul Walker before his death in a car crash in 2013. And his inclusions in this film no doubt a big draw for audiences of the franchise.

But it was the stunts that really have a whole lot of people talking. And joining me to talk about these things now, from a movie set, is the man responsible for setting up those really incredible scenes. We have stunt coordinator Jack Gill.

So Jack, thanks for being with us. And just give us a sense, this is one of the you call it fast as the franchise, you call it "fast." One of the things that I know you said "fast" prides itself on is that so much of this is real. So how much is real, how much is computer generated?

JACK GILL, STUNT COORDINATOR: Well, I mean, we started on "fast 5" and back then, we said we want to get the audiences back in the seats. And the only way to do that is to have them be part of the action. So you had to go back to doing things real. So the mantra at universal studios has been, we want you guys to do things as real as possible.

So throughout "fast 5" and "fast 6" and now with "furious 7," we have all gone back to doing real stunts. And so, everything you see in "7" is real as much as we can make it. So that's the thing we are really proud of.

KEILAR: And one of the scenes in particular that I think a lot of folks may have seen in the preview, this involved a transport plane and some very expensive cars. Let's take a look at that.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just when you didn't think it could get any better?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we're moving.

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KEILAR: OK. This is real, by and large. I'm assuming the actors in the cars are not. But throwing planes out of the back of a transport plane, this is real. Explain to us how on earth you guys did this.

GILL: Well, I mean, we did it with a lot of rehearsal. And that was the one thing that was the key to the success is that we started with just one car and we found that they all flip upside down and turn all in different directions. And we liked that in some of the shots but you can't have all six cars doing that at once. So, you know, there were a lot of different ways to make cars fall the way that you wanted to make them fall, and then you've got to take into consideration how do you film it. So now we've got a bunch of camera operators that are sky divers out there with the cars falling and they all fall at different rates of speed. But we overcame all of those boundaries and finally got everybody out together and it was a fantastic sequence for us.

KEILAR: Yes. It's an amazing scene. It is just, your heart just kind of thumps watching it. I want to talk to you about a serious note about this film, which

obviously so many people are familiar with and that is Paul Walker's death in the middle of filming. This was a really tough one for producers and for people like yourself who worked with him, who are associated with the film. In the end, they decided to use CGI and previous footage of Walker to lay over his performances by his twin brothers. What can you tell us about how that was emotionally and logistically?

GILL: Well, I mean, it was a complete shock to all of us because when we first heard about it, we thought it was just another thing on the Internet that you hear and it can't be true. And it took 10 to 15 calls before we finally found out that this really did happen, and it was a shock to the crew. We couldn't even talk about it on the set for days on end until we finally all got together and everybody just kind of sat together and talked about Paul. And the tough part about it was that we knew that Paul would want us to finish this thing out and to try and get as much out of this as we could, because he really worked hard on every single picture. He gave it everything that he had, 100 percent on every single shot, and he was always the nicest guy around. He didn't have any attitude. There was no problem with, you know, if you want him to stay later, if you want him to move (INAUDIBLE) or something, if you needed more things out of it, he would give you everything that he had. So we figured to finish this on his behalf.

We wanted to do it with the very best that we could.

END