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New Video Shows U.S. and Kurdish Commandos Raiding ISIS Prison; Rubio talks Issues; Katy Perry Gifts Hillary with POTUS Necklace; Seventh High School Football Player Dies This Year. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired October 26, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[09:30:00] FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Given however that Saddam Hussein did not prove to have weapons of mass destruction, was the decision to enter Iraq and topple his regime a mistake?

TONY BLAIR, FORMER PRIME MINISTER OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: You know, whenever I'm asked this, I can say that I apologize for the fact that the intelligence we received was wrong, because even though he had used chemical weapons extensively against his own people, against others, the program in the form that we thought it was did not exist in the way that we thought. So I can apologize for that.

I can also apologize, by the way, for some of the mistakes in planning. And certainly our mistaken in our understanding of what would happen once you remove the regime. But I find it hard to apologize for removing Saddam. I think even from today, in 2015, it is better that he's not there than that he is there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Make sure to check out tonight's new Fareed Zakaria's special "LONG ROAD TO HELL: AMERICAN IN IRAQ." That premieres at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.

There is newly released video of U.S. and Kurdish commandos raiding an ISIS prison in northeastern Afghan -- or northeastern Iraq, rather. The jailbreak saved dozens of hostages who were reportedly facing imminent mass execution by the terror group. But an American soldier died in that mission. Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler is the first U.S. soldier to die in combat in Iraq since 2011.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh live in Turkey with more for you.

Hi, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, a very rare and close up window you're seeing now into the world of U.S. special forces. Extraordinarily uncommon to see this and it gives a sight of what people thought and were told was an advise and assist mission, which suggests those troops might be a little bit away from the front line. But in reality here, as you'll see in this report, they're right at the tip of the spear.

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WALSH (voice-over): Right inside the jailbreak that revealed America's changed role in Iraq, they think they're rescuing Kurds from this ISIS jail, but look who staggers out, terrified Iraqis. Even their eyes lit up by fear, caught on the Kurdish soldiers' helmet camera. It's edited, but U.S. officials tell CNN it's genuine. More cells opened, it seems, and the Iraqi soldier and civilian hostages keep coming. An office, an ISIS flag, more cells, and perhaps a target through the light at the door. Then, a quick close-up, likely of an American commando.

"Don't be afraid," he cries, as they search the prisoners. Remember, they were expecting Kurds. Perhaps these men are ISIS, have guns or bombs. It's the Americans who seem in charge here. The captives' relief palpable. U.S. officials saying they faced imminent execution. It's unclear when, before or after this footage, the Americans here learned one of their own was gunned down. But their mission went on to rescue 70. That first combat death since 2011 in Iraq forcing public acknowledgment, American commandos were now boots on the ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALSH: Now, Carol, the Pentagon subsequently released video from the cockpit of the air strike that they sent in after. Obviously, American and Kurdish commandos had left that compound. The air strike that destroyed the remaining ISIS facility, clearly hoping to target whatever ISIS militants remained inside there and make it unusable going forwards.

But it is extraordinary rare that you see this kind of detail, this kind of footage. Acknowledged by American officials to be genuine of American special forces in action. This could perhaps be about trying to explain to the American public exactly why they're on the ground, exactly why they're helping the Kurdish counterparts they're training too. Ashton Carter, the defense secretary, making it clear that going forward they will be in harm's way and we should expect to see more of this.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Do we know how many American commandos were involved in that raid?

WALSH: We don't have precise details. Some reports have suggested about seven or eight. But, of course, they're not going to reveal those numbers. That would be the number you'd expect in an advise and assist mission like this.

[09:35:01] But the key thing we've seen in Afghanistan on how these missions work, they hang out at the back. They stay away from the actual fighting a lot of the time. And something happened in this raid, we're told, the men, they decided to intervene.

Were they always allowed to? Did they make a decision on the ground? Well, that's down to the rules of engagement that are never really made public. What this video has done, and what this open discussion of the slightly broadened role these commandos obviously have in fighting ISIS, is raised the possibility we'll see more American soldiers in combat. No doubt what you saw there is American soldiers in combat in Iraq. And perhaps also trying to explain to the U.S. public, White House under criticism for not necessarily doing enough about ISIS, that we may see more such actions down the road.

Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Nick Paton Walsh reporting live from Turkey this morning.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a CNN exclusive, Marco Rubio sits down with our Jamie Gangel on the attack or the defensive blunt talk from a rising start of the GOP. Jamie will be with me live after a break.

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[09:40:21] COSTELLO: Marco Rubio scoffs at Donald Trump and his proposed immigration crackdown that has fired up his most passionate supporters. He says Trump's plan, quote, "borders on the absurd." And that's just one of the nuggets from this wide-ranging and exclusive interview. CNN's special correspondent Jamie Gangel sat down for a face-to-face interview. Jamie joins us live.

Good morning.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Rubio is rising in the polls and he is taking off the gloves. He's taking on Hillary Clinton, front runner Donald Trump, on issues like immigration and whether or not Trump is ready to be commander in chief. Rubio is not so sure.

But we started by asking him about the criticism he gets, from both Trump and Jeb Bush, that he's been missing too many votes in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GANGEL: Marco Rubio criticism over and over again that you keep missing votes on the Senate floor. Forty-three percent of the votes. I know you say you're campaigning for president, but Bernie Sanders, Rand Paul, they've missed fewer than 10 votes. You're up at 59 or 60.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, everyone needs to run their own campaign. I can tell you that in the history of presidential politics, people have -- when they've been running for politics in the Senate, they've missed votes. And I'm not missing votes because I'm on vacation.

GANGEL: But this many?

RUBIO: It -- actually this is lower than what other people have missed. And here's the other point I would make. I'm running for president so that the votes they take in the Senate are actually meaningful again. A lot of these votes won't mean anything. They're not going to pass. And even if they did, the president will veto it. We can --

GANGEL: The other -- the other day, though, you go up on the Senate floor and you said, federal workers who don't show up should be fired.

RUBIO: That's not what I said.

GANGEL: What did you say?

RUBIO: I said federal workers that aren't doing their jobs, that are not performing at their jobs, should be able to be fired.

GANGEL: OK.

RUBIO: They should be held accountable for not performing.

GANGEL: So someone might say, you're not showing up. You're not doing your job by not voting.

RUBIO: Not true. Not true.

GANGEL: You don't think you're in a glass house?

RUBIO: Because voting isn't the only part of the Senate job. I mean the most important thing a senator does is constituent service. We're still involved in looking out for Florida's issues in the --

GANGEL: Wait a minute, wait a minute, votes aren't important?

RUBIO: No, of course they're important.

GANGEL: Intelligence committee hearings aren't important?

RUBIO: We do all the intelligence briefings. I was just there this Tuesday. I got fully briefed and caught up on everything that's happening in the world. I'm fully aware. We have a staffer that's assigned to intelligence. We get constant briefings.

GANGEL: Hillary Clinton has had a pretty good two weeks. She had "Saturday Night Live." She did well in the debates. She went through 11 hours of the hearings. If it is a faceoff, Marco Rubio/Hillary Clinton, how formidable is she?

RUBIO: Well, she'll be the Democratic nominee, someone who comes from a political dynasty, and that in and of itself is going to bring fundraising capabilities and so forth. People may think she had a good week. I think this is the week that it was proven that she lied about Benghazi.

GANGEL: Talk to me about age. You're 44. She's turning 68. Is age in the campaign your advantage or her advantage?

RUBIO: I don't think the biological age of the candidate is the issue. I think it's the age of your ideas. GANGEL: Are her ideas too old?

RUBIO: Absolutely. Not just her ides, but the ideas of the political left are completely outdated.

GANGEL (voice-over): Age may not matter, but if they do match up, the differences will be striking. Rubio and his wife Jeanette have four young children, and he will stress being the son of immigrants, a bartender and a maid. That said, like Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, Rubio is open to also having his moment on "Saturday Night Live."

GANGEL (on camera): Donald Trump is going to host "Saturday Night Live."

RUBIO: Yes.

GANGEL: Have you been invited? Do you want to do it?

RUBIO: I don't think -- I don't think I've been invited.

GANGEL: You haven't?

RUBIO: I don't know. We'll see. If it makes sense. I'm more curious to see if they'll ever going to play me on "Saturday Night Live." I just want to make sure it's the right person.

GANGEL: Who do you want to play you?

RUBIO: I don't know. I have no idea. Somebody said Mario Lopez the other day. I hope, you know, they bring him on as a guest for something but I don't -- I don't know. I have not thought about that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANGEL: So, Carol, for the record, we went back, when he talked about other candidates who have missed more votes in history than he has, we checked it out. There are several from past elections, including one notable, none other than now President Barack Obama when he ran and was in the Senate. He missed many more votes. So, who knows, maybe it's a good thing.

COSTELLO: Maybe so. Jamie Gangel, many thanks to you.

GANGEL: Sure.

COSTELLO: On the subject of age for just a minute more, it is Hillary Clinton's birthday today. He does turn 68 years old. Hence this tweet from last night. It reads, "Hillary's birthday is tomorrow and she's still on track to be the youngest woman U.S. president ever. Sign her card." See, it's a campaign fundraising thing.

[09:45:01] Of course, we hear a lot about Clinton's age, despite the fact that Donald Trump is 69 years old and Bernie Sanders is 74. Just wanted to point that out. And I did like Marco Rubio's answer.

Joining me now is CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny. He has all things Democratic this morning. Good morning.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Carol. Hillary Clinton is right, she would be the youngest woman president ever. She says that a lot on the campaign trail. Of course, she also would be the oldest. But she's not shying away from the fact that she would be the first woman president. Carol, that is one of the significant differences from how she ran her campaign eight years ago. She is invoking her gender more and more. And most recently on the issue of guns, she's been drawing distinctions with her chief rival Bernie Sanders over where they sand.

But let's listen how she said it at a weekend Democratic dinner in Iowa and his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been told to stop shouting about ending gun violence. Well, I haven't been shouting, but sometimes when a woman speaks out, some people think it's shouting.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I am very proud of my record on women's issues. I certainly do not have a problem with women speaking out. I think what the secretary is doing there is taking words and misapplying them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So that is just a preview of the back and forth we're to expect between Sanders and Clinton. But with three Democratic candidates let in the race, Sanders is now her biggest rival. He is calling himself a principled progressive. He's reminding Democrats he supported gay rights and other issues long before it was politically popular.

Now Clinton of course is urging Democrats to pick someone who can do more than simply fire up the liberal base, but someone who can actually win. She's trying to keep her momentum alive and capitalize really on what's been two of the strongest weeks of her candidacy. Carol?

COSTELLO: Interesting. And I know Clinton got a boost over the weekend from none other than Katy Perry.

ZELENY: She did. She was in Iowa over the weekend. She was performing to a crowd of several thousand people in downtown Des Moines on Saturday, including Bill Clinton, who was watching from the sidelines. I can tell you, he was very interested in this concert here. But Katy Perry's birthday was yesterday and Secretary Clinton's birthday is today. So they're both Scorpios, I'm told. And Katy Perry gave Secretary Clinton a bit of a present. It was a necklace, a POTUS necklace. And you can see it right there on the screen. So from one Scorpio I guess to another, happy birthday.

COSTELLO: I'm still laughing -- I'm still laughing about your line. Bill Clinton was certainly interested in it. I don't know what that meant, but it made me laugh.

ZELENY: He was.

COSTELLO: Of course, because of her music. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much.

ZELENY: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an injury on the field. It proves fatal. The tragic death of another high school football player. We'll talk about that next.

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[09:52:23] COSTELLO: It's happened again. Tragedy strikes another high school football team. Andre Smith, an Illinois high school senior, suffered the fatal blunt-force head injury on the last play of the game.

CNN's Andy Scholes joins me now with more on this. Good morning.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Good morning, Carol. Yes, unfortunately, it seems like we talk about this every couple of weeks. Sadly, about the same number of high school football players continue to die each year. 17-year-old Andre Smith is the latest player to pass away from an on-field injury. He was hit on the last play of the game Thursday night. Now, Smith walked to the sideline before collapsing. He was unconscious but breathing while being rushed to the hospital. But Smith died Friday morning and an autopsy showed the cause of death was a blunt-force head injury. Now Smith's family says Andre loved playing football and they can't believe that this game took him from them.

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ERICK SMITH, ANDRE SMITH'S BROTHER: Out of all the things people can live and die from, I never thought it would be something just as simple as that.

DWAYNE SMITH, ANDRE SMITH'S STEPFATHER: You understand the risks, but it's a game, you know, it's a game. And kids have played this for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, on Friday night, another high school player in Tennessee had to be life-flighted to Vanderbilt University Medical Center after suffering a hit to his head during his game Baylor Bramble had to have emergency surgery to release pressure on his brain. At last check, he was in critical condition.

Now, Andre Smith is the seventh high school football related death this year. And, sadly, that is below the yearly average of 12 football deaths a year. And while Smith did die of a hit to the head, the leading cause of football deaths is actually sudden cardiac arrest. And a troubling statistic when it comes to high school football is that only 37 percent of schools employ a full-time athletic trainer according to the National Athletic Trainers' Association. More than half of schools have part-time trainers while three-quarters have access to trainers at games.

So, Carol, you know, athletic trainers so important because, in many instances, quickly diagnosing an injury a player suffers on the field can help save a life.

COSTELLO: Going back to Andre for just a second. He died of blunt- force trauma to the head. Was his helmet on correctly?

SCHOLES: I mean, all indications were -- witnesses say it was a kick return, last play of the game. They saw him get hit. No one was alarmed that it was an extraordinary injury or anything because he walked off the field. But then when he collapsed, of course, everyone knew that something serious had happened. But witnesses say it was nothing extraordinary that happened, Carol. And, by all indications, it was just a normal football play. And it's just so sad that we continue to see this. And it's really making parents question, once again, whether their kids playing football is worth it.

[09:55:05] COSTLELO: Of course. Andy Scholes reporting for us. Thank you.

Coming up in the next hour of NEWSROOM, it's a bad day for bacon lovers. There's a new study out that says bacon can actually cause cancer. Is it time to change your eating habits?

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COSTELLO: Checking some top stories for you at 59 minutes past. An off duty police officer in New Orleans is recovering this morning after he was shot in the neck. The shooting happened last night. Police say he was driving an unmarked car and not wearing a uniform. The officer seen here is Lieutenant Derek Frick, this is of course before the shooting. Frick is a 24-year veteran of the New Orleans Police Department. Police say his condition is critical but not life- threatening.

Flash flooding continues to strike the South. Parts of Texas and Louisiana under water this morning.

[10:00:01] The water so high entire highways forced to shut down. The torrential rain is thanks in part to remnants of Hurricane Patricia. For some, up to 20 inches of rain has already fallen over the last few days.