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American Soldier Killed in Iraq; Hillary Clinton Takes Political Victory Lap; Hurricane Targets Mexico. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired October 23, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:07]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.

Let's get to it.

Right now, there are thousands of people bracing for this catastrophic impact, as the most intense hurricane ever recorded barrels towards Mexico. I repeat, this monster storm, this is stronger than Andrew, bigger than Katrina, is expected to break records.

People who have decided to ride this out will be facing 200-mile-per- hour sustained winds. Let me just put that in perspective for you. That's an F-5 tornado, the most deadly there is, except, unlike a tornado here, this hurricane will churn slowly, spanning some 60 miles and bring along with it intense flooding and up to 20 inches of rain.

Officials fearing the coastline could be decimated by tonight. And although I can't confirm this, I just spoke with a woman in Puerto Vallarta who said the roads are blocked. She says the traffic is horrendous. It's too late to get out even if you wanted to.

Jennifer Gray is standing by for us in the CNN Weather Center.

We just started hearing about this hurricane last night. How did it get so strong so fast?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Well, we have really warm waters. The environmental conditions were just right.

We knew that this storm was going to intensify, but this storm has been the fastest ever to intensify this rapidly. So this is a very strong storm. You're right, the wee hours of yesterday morning, just a tropical storm, now a Category 5 storm, very powerful. It will make landfall as either a strong Category 4 or even Category 5, winds of 200 miles per hour, gusts of 245 miles per hour, as you said, stronger than Andrew, Katrina, Camille.

A lot of people in the U.S. lived through those storms. This one is stronger, not to mention the winds. We're going to be talking about major storm surge. Along the Gulf Coast during Katrina, we had up to 27-feet storm surge. The could be worse. This is going to be unprecedented. Could even be catastrophic for this portion of Mexico.

Moving to the north right now at 12, it's going to make landfall in the next couple of hours. Once it makes landfall, it's going to weaken considerably. Mountainous terrain across Mexico will shred the storm apart, so it will start to lose its wind strength. It will hang onto the moisture, though.

And we are going to see a lot of rain. Like we mentioned the mountainous terrain, all of that rain has to go somewhere. It's going to flow down the mountains. We are going to see major flooding, not to mention we could see landslides, mudslides. We have seen this in previous storms in Mexico and they can be deadly.

So, that's also something we're really going to be watching out for, 10 to 20 inches of rain possibly right along the coast. Brooke, this is going to be one of those storms we will be talking about forever. This is going to be a major one over the next couple hours. We will be watching it.

BALDWIN: We know you will. We will be in contact with you. Jennifer Gray, thank you so much.

And this is not just a Mexico story. The force of Hurricane Patricia will impact the United States and specifically those of you in the Southwest. Parts of Texas are already under flash flood watches as it braces for even more rain.

So, joining me now is Reed Timmer. He's chased more than a dozen storms, including Hurricane Katrina. He's watching this it storm from Corsicana, Texas.

So, Reed, tell me exactly where you are, and I also hear you were going to go to Mexico to chase this, but you changed your mind.

REED TIMMER, STORM CHASER: I did, and because of the flooding here in Texas. Right now, I'm in Corsicana on I-45 Business. And just in front of me, they shut down the road. There's already two to three feet of water there. I'm getting hammered right now by one to three inches of rain per hour.

These training storms, we can see going over the same area. So, it's only getting worse. I'm looking at a swollen creek in front of me that's already overflowed its banks and it's also rapidly rising. The situation especially from Waco to Corsicana just south of Dallas is looking really bad right now with these training storms.

And it's only going to get worse as the weekend goes on, as it shifts toward the Houston area, toward the Southeast, nabs -- upper low pulls in even moisture from Hurricane Patricia. It's only going to keep spiraling out of control here in terms of flooding.

BALDWIN: Reed, in Mexico, I was talking to a woman last hour who plans to ride this out at a friend's house with a generator. She knows she will not have water, she will not have electricity. And she also told me this is a huge resort town. This is high season.

TIMMER: Yes, I would not be riding this storm out if I were anybody, especially right in its path.

I have seen over 1,000 tornadoes. I have actually been inside an F-3 and even an F-4 tornado and saw wind speeds of 160 miles per hour. That was only for a few seconds inside an armored vehicle anchored to the ground. Imagine experiencing 200-plus-mile-an-hour sustained winds for several hours and a wall of water, the power will be out, it will be overnight in the middle of darkness.

[15:05:04]

There could be landslides threatening your location. And there's only one road that goes from Manzanillo up to Puerto Vallarta and it's right on the coast. And it's going to be shut down for sure. If I went down there to chase this, I would likely be trapped there for weeks.

BALDWIN: Wow.

TIMMER: And a good storm chasing friend of mine, Mike Theiss, said that winds like this are the grim reaper when it comes to chasing hurricanes. You don't want to be down there in that swathe right near the eye.

BALDWIN: Winds like this would be the grim reaper for the hurricane. So when I see these pictures, Reed, and we have been showing them, sandbags on the beach, storefronts, et cetera, will that really weather this kind of historic storm?

TIMMER: This storm is so intense that it's a very tight circulation. It's actually much smaller in size than Katrina.

The wind speeds are stronger, but it's a very tight circulation. The hurricane-force winds extend out probably 30 miles. So if the storm were to south sufficiently south of Puerto Vallarta, and they offshore flow, and they could dodge a bullet, but if it curves a little bit to the left and hits there head on, there's going to be nothing that survives in its path.

Those sandbags will probably be washed out to sea with landslides, and especially just to the right of the eye, where you have that onshore flow and the water just piling up, but, yes, it looks like here for the next several days, we will be chasing the flooding from Texas down to the Southeast. But at least I will survive to see another storm.

BALDWIN: My goodness. Reed Timmer, stay safe, please, even while you're driving through it in Texas. I appreciate you calling in or Skyping in. Thank you.

Tourists who did not make it out of town, they are now being forced to stay in shelters being set up in hotels, neighboring cities in next, one of those areas, Guadalajara.

That is where we have our CNN senior Latin American affairs editor, Rafael Romo. He is outside of a Hilton hotel.

I see the rain. It has begun. How many evacuees would you say just thus far have arrived there in Guadalajara?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: We saw dozens here where we are, Brooke. And it is a very sad and dire situation at the same time.

A group we ran into, they came for a destination wedding to Puerto Vallarta. They realized that this was going to be a Category 5 hurricane last night and so they took it upon themselves to get a shuttle to get out of there as soon as possible and they barely got here about an hour ago.

Mexican officials started saying that this is the kind of hurricane that they had never seen before, a Category 5 with winds of well over 300 kilometers an hour. It's the kind of wind power that can topple trees, that can pick up cars, that can knock down walls. So, Mexicans are bracing for this very, very powerful storm.

Already, coastal areas in three states have been evacuated. This hurricane is going to affect virtually all of the Mexican Pacific Coast, Brooke, so it is a very, very difficult situation here on the ground.

BALDWIN: Quickly, I hear traffic is an absolute nightmare right now trying to get out of Puerto Vallarta and head toward where you are. Are there multiple roads, multiple routes inland or very few?

ROMO: Yes, the problem is that a lot of people didn't leave well ahead of what the authorities were anticipating.

And so, in the last 24 hours, this went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane. So a lot of people didn't really have time to evacuate. And now it's already too late. We were trying to make our way into Puerto Vallarta today. Civil protection officials told us there's a very good chance that we will shut down the roads and that you will be stranded and there's no way they are going to be able to help you.

A better idea is to stay where you are and monitor the situation from there. But, again, the rain started a few hours ago. The winds are picking up. And Mexico is bracing for this Category 5 hurricane, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Rafael Romo in Guadalajara, Mexico, thank you so much.

Just ahead, hip-hop mogul P. Diddy, who once led the Vote or Die campaign, now says voting in America is a scam. Hear why.

Plus, Hillary Clinton taking a political victory lap after her marathon hearing there on Benghazi, but critics say one moment proved their case against her.

And we now know the name of the first American combat soldier killed in Iraq since 2011 and he died coming face to face with ISIS. We will speak with two Navy SEALs who served next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:14:03]

BALDWIN: Well, we now know the identity of the American soldier who was killed while helping to free 70 hostages from this ISIS-controlled prison in Northern Iraq; 39-year-old Army Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler is the first American killed in combat in Iraq since 2011.

We just heard from Defense Secretary Ash Carter within the last hour expressing his condolences and offering some details on this mission itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASHTON CARTER, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and loved ones of Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, who will be welcomed home tomorrow by his family, by my wife and myself, who died after assisting our close Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga partners in the rescue of 70 hostages held but ISIL.

The sacrifice and decisive action of this courageous American in support of his comrades reminds us of the dangers that the coalition forces confront in Iraq, but also of the important assistance they provide local forces as they lead the fight against a barbaric enemy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:15:10]

BALDWIN: This is also the first time that any American troops have come face to face on the ground with ISIS that we know of. Furthermore, the White House says the Pentagon signed off on this raid. It was not from President Obama.

The mission is bringing up a lot of questions about America's current role in Iraq fighting ISIS.

I have two NAVY SEALs with me who have been deployed in Iraq. Brandon Webb worked with special operations and trained military snipers. He's the author of "Among Heroes" and is also the CEO of Force 12 Media. Also with us, Chad Williams. He's been involved with similar advise-and-assist missions with Iraqi security forces. He's the author of "SEAL of God."

So, gentlemen, thank you both for your service. And thank you for both joining us.

Brandon, turning to first. When you hear just some of the details of this mission, we heard from Secretary Carter saying initially the idea wasn't to be involved in a firefight. It wasn't supposed to be within this compound. How would one of these rescue operations go down?

BRANDON WEBB, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL: We know that in a situation like this Master Sergeant Wheeler is most likely in an advisory role, so the intelligence is largely coming from our Kurdish Peshmerga partners. (CROSSTALK)

WEBB: So, you're not going to have a lot of U.S. knowledge of exactly what went down here.

What's almost tragic -- and first, Master Sergeant Wheeler is an American hero, and the fact that it's been disclosed now that he's part of Delta Force, I think it just really shows that the Army is shouldering a huge burden in the war on terror.

But the tragedy to me is we have the best and brightest of the special operations over in places like Iraq fighting ISIS, but it's still a very murky foreign policy strategy objective. And then looking at the fact, very good chance that an American assault rifle was used shooting back at the Peshmerga and now American forces, and those assault rifles we left over there when we left Iraq.

It's a very complicated situation. And I think that Americans need to really hold our elected officials accountable and develop a very clear foreign policy strategy.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Especially as these campaigns are getting...

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: ... and asking smart questions with that regard.

WEBB: Absolutely.

BALDWIN: Chad, to you on this sort of potential murkiness. Here's my other question, because the Pentagon spokesperson said this about the mission.

I'm quoting: "We did not have a crystal-clear idea of who exactly would be at this compound" and said that the United States did not have a full accounting of everyone present.

With your advise-and-assist roles and missions, does that surprise you or is that protocol? Is that normal?

CHAD WILLIAMS, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL: That doesn't totally surprise me.

As Brandon pointed out, the sources that you get sometimes are pretty questionable. I was working with the (INAUDIBLE) the last operation that I was ever on that source of information ended upsetting us up on an ambush where we wound up in a gunfight for our lives.

And so, yes, these sources are pretty questionable sometimes, but the reality is that there's life. They rescued 70 people. And this is just a reminder that freedom isn't free. It's paid for in the currency of blood.

BALDWIN: We were learning that they had eyes on mass graves, that the mass execution was imminent for these 70 hostages, included of those to be rescued, Brandon, more than 20 members of the Iraqi security forces, local residents and several ISIS fighters accused of spying.

If we -- and I say we as in Americans or Delta Force, weren't going in to rescue Americans, why not send in Iraqi -- or U.S.-trained Iraqi forces to do this?

WEBB: I think the situation is that we're trying to limit American involvement in Iraq. And so somebody like Master Sergeant Wheeler is being used in an advisory role, where the primary fighting force is the Kurd Peshmerga.

I do think that's a smart way to use our special operations in Iraq. But, again, I would just point to, what the hell are we doing over there in the first place? What's the plan? Because I have talked to members of the House of Representatives and senators and nobody can seem to give me a straight answer. And that's very concerning to me.

BALDWIN: And what is the issue? We hear from the administration there are no combat roles.

Chad, to you on that. I know he was asked about this. The secretary of defense was asked about this today, how this squares with what we have heard from the administration. This was a question from our own Jim Sciutto. Here is the SecDef's answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARTER: We have this capability. It's a great American strength. It doesn't represent us assuming a combat role. It represents a continuation of our advise-and-assist missions.

[15:20:03]

When we find opportunities to do things that will effectively prosecute the campaign, we're going to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So Chad, and this is also I think to both of your points, this was, again, an advise-and-assist role. But, still, when you hear no ground troops, no combat role, yet obviously our guys were staring down ISIS face to face here in Iraq.

WILLIAMS: Right. I mean, the goal is to teach these Kurds how to fight their own fights.

And the best way to do that is to not only work with them on base, on the ranges, but to actually go out there with them. And so we're just trying to help them take out the trash and every now and then, your hands are going to have to get dirty. And this is just one of those tragic situations where our guys pretty much got pulled into a fight.

BALDWIN: OK. And as I turn to you in our remaining time, can we talk about this fancy gala and your fantastic organization?

WEBB: Sure. No, I would love to.

This Saturday, at the New York Athletic Club, we're coming together for an annual gala for the Red Circle Foundation, which is set up to really help the families of special operations and my friend Glen Doherty, who was a CIA contractor in Iraq.

And the fact that we lost an American hero in Benghazi, and the U.S. government provided no basic death benefit to bury Glen and give him a proper memorial, it was really the major inspiration behind me founding the Red Circle Foundation.

So, we provide emergency memorial and medical relief for these families that need it. And we can step in where the government may end up taking care of the issue. But it could be three years later, like we're looking at today with Glen.

BALDWIN: Right. I will see you there. Thank you so much, Brandon. I appreciate it.

(CROSSTALK)

WEBB: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And, Chad, thank you so much as well.

And just a reminder.

WEBB: Thank you.

BALDWIN: You got it.

Just a reminder to watch the CNN special report "Long Road to Hell: America in Iraq" hosted by Fareed Zakaria. It airs Monday 9:00 Eastern here on CNN.

Coming up next, pretty strong debate performance, a resounding no from Joe Biden, a calm and collected appearance in front of the Benghazi Committee, according to many. Is this -- she's smiling today. Is this a victory lap for the former secretary of state? We will discuss.

Also, the resort towns all along Mexico's western coast bracing for the impact of the largest hurricane ever recorded, landfall expected this afternoon -- how those in its path are getting ready.

This is CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:23]

BALDWIN: What a week, really the last 10 days, that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has had, a week that could mark one of, if not the best of her presidential campaign.

She endured Thursday's 11-hour grilling before a congressional panel about the 2012 Benghazi attack. She's coming off a win, according to the CNN poll, of the most watched Democratic debate ever. And she's coming into a new phase of her campaign, where the vice president, Joe Biden, is no longer a threat, since he's announced he's not running for president.

Today, before a much friendlier crowd at the Democratic National Committee Women's Leadership Forum, Hillary Clinton seemed to take a victory lap.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's been quite a week, hasn't it?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Well, thank you all so much. I am absolutely delighted to be here.

As some of you may know, I had a pretty long day yesterday.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Joining me now, Jennifer Granholm. She is the former governor of Michigan and senior adviser to Correct the Record, a group formed to defend Hillary Clinton on Benghazi. Also with me, CNN political commentator Buck Sexton, who is also a former CIA counterterrorism analyst, having worked both in Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, welcome to both of you.

And, Buck, on the notion of the smiles and victory lap from Hillary Clinton today, care to comment?

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: As much as it pains me to say, yes, she had a really good week this week.

BALDWIN: Well, look at you.

SEXTON: There's no way -- well, I call them like I see them. She had a good week for more than just the debate and even Benghazi.

Her biggest possible competitor stayed out. Her only critic inside the race dropped out. And then we had Benghazi more or less flaming out.