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U.S. Troops to Syria; RNC Suspends Debate on NBC. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired October 30, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. Wolf Blitzer, thank you so much.

Great to be with you on this Friday. I'm Brooke Baldwin. You're watching CNN.

More on our breaking news in the U.S.-led war on ISIS. This major shift in policy will now see U.S. boots on the ground inside Syria for the very first time. We now know a small contingent of U.S. special operations forces will be heading into Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Syria. These are the moderate rebels the U.S. has been arming and training. But just to be clear here, the rebels these troops will be helping are the same individuals who are now not only fighting ISIS terrorists but are facing bombardment by Syria's regime forces. And not only that, but the Russians - the Russians who are helping President Bashar al Assad.

Of course this announcement is a major turnaround from the assurances President Barack Obama has been making really since 2013 when President Assad began barrel bombing his own people. A sign of just how desperate the situation there has truly become.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (May 2, 2013): I do not foresee a scenario in which boots on the ground in Syria, American boots on the ground in Syria, would not only be good for America, but also would be good for Syria.

OBAMA (September 10, 2013): I will not put American boots on the ground in Syria. I will not pursue an open-ended action like Iraq or Afghanistan.

OBAMA (September 5, 2014): With respect to the situation on the ground in Syria, we will not be placing U.S. ground troops to try to control the areas that are part of the conflict inside of Syria.

OBAMA (February 11, 2015): The resolution we've submitted today does not call for the deployment of U.S. ground combat forces to Iraq or Syria.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: Joining me now, Elise Labott, our CNN global affairs correspondent. Also with us, Clarissa Ward, CNN's senior international correspondent, who has just returned from this part of the world, and retired Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann, U.S. Army special forces.

So, great to have all of you on here. It's a huge, huge story today.

Elise, let me just begin with you. Tell me more about what we're learning, where exactly the Americans are going, and what precisely their role will be.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we're talking about a small team now. It's about 50 special forces. This team of commandos will be going, as you said, to the northeastern part of Syria to be looking at helping Kurdish and Arab troops on the - on the - Syrian Arabs on the ground there battling ISIS. And their stronghold is Raqqa. That's where they will be expected to help the Kurds and these Syrian Arabs make a push there. They will be in a train and assist role. They will not be a front lines combat role, Brooke.

But as you know, this does put U.S. troops in the battlefield on the ground. I think when the president always makes these announcements that he's not putting, quote, boots on the ground, he means that he does not want U.S. troops on the front lines battling ISIS forces. But certainly when they're put on the battlefield like this, they will be coming under fire and they could find themselves in a combat role. So a very dramatic turnaround for this president.

But the U.S. has really tried to combat ISIS from the skies and they have seen that these airstrikes are not making the kind of dent on the ground. These Kurdish and Syrian Arab groups seem to be the most effective partners that the U.S. has and now they want to help them in their campaign against ISIS.

BALDWIN: Clarissa, let me just go to you because you were just in Syria. I want to hone in on this area of Syria before, you know, ISIS militants were driven out of this area called Hesaka (ph). I know that they planed landmines. And this is the area these troops will likely be based. As I mentioned, you were there. Give us a sense of what it's like. What kind of environment will the Americans be walking into?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, we were just there for four days embedded with YPG fighters. YPG fighters are the Kurdish forces who have really been the primary recipients of U.S. military support and who will now be essentially hosting these special advisers. And what was really interesting to us on the ground was the disconnect between what we were hearing in Washington, which was these guys are our boys, they're going to make a push on Raqqa, and what we were seeing on the ground in Syria, which was essentially a pretty rag-tag bunch of fighters who were exhausted after months of heavy battles, who were under equipped, poorly armed, carrying light weapons, old AK-47s, some of them fighting in their sandals or sneakers and all of them saying that essentially what they really need on the ground now, especially if we're talking about making a push on an ISIS stronghold like Raqqa, are heavier weapons, armor piercing weapons.

[14:05:07] And that's the question that I have listening to this shifting U.S. policy. What difference will this essentially several dozen advisers on the ground have if it's not accompanied also by an uptick in the type of weaponry that we're seeing being supplied to these fighters.

BALDWIN: Wow, talk about a reality check from what we're hearing to your point and from Washington and what you're seeing there in Syria.

Clarissa, let me just stay with you, because you actually met a former U.S. veteran who's now fighting ISIS alongside the Kurds. This is just a piece of your interview with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD (voice-over): At a small training camp in northern Syria, we watched some new recruits. Among them, two Americans. Most did not want to show their faces. Unlike Roberts, few had any military experience.

RANDY ROBERTS, AMERICAN FIGHTING ISIS IN SYRIA: And you also meet a lot of people who think that this is going to be the, you know, gaming experience, "Call of Duty." They think just because they understand how to pull the trigger on a controller, that they know how to do it in real life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I mean, Clarissa, you were just talking about a rag-tag group of people with, you know, sneakers. And when we hear Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, you know, just this week talking about Raqqa, taking Raqqa we know, you know, the YPG has wanted to do that for - for a while. The Kurds had wanted to do that. And now with this strategic partnership with the Americans, is that still in your eyes seen as pretty ambitious?

WARD: Well, first of all, Brooke, what I would say is this, I don't want to disparage YPG fighters because they have a lot of heart, they're extremely brave and they have won some decisive victories on the battlefield against ISIS. Although I would say that's largely because of coalition and U.S. air support. But they are fierce fighters. They're incredibly brave.

What I would question, though, is to what extent do these Kurdish fighters actually want to take on a city like Raqqa. Keep in mind, Raqqa is an ISIS stronghold and it is Arab. It is not Kurdish. And that's why I think you're seeing the U.S. really insistent in the language, this is a coalition. This is Arab fighters and YPG fighters. And it will be interesting to see what exactly is the U.S. doing to sweeten the deal here for the Kurds, but essentially the Kurds that we spent time with are much more interested in establishing their own autonomous state than they are in making a push on an ISIS stronghold in Arab territory like Raqqa.

BALDWIN: Lieutenant Colonel, I'm curious, your perspective on, you know, Clarissa's point, talking about these fighters who the U.S. will be assisting. How integral our role will be over there moving forward.

LT. COL. SCOTT MANN (RET.), U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES: Yes, look, thanks for having me, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Yes.

MANN: The first thing that I'd like to say is, I do think - I do think it's a step in the right direction to be working locally like this.

BALDWIN: OK.

MANN: That's what ISIS does. ISIS works locally. They work from the bottom up. And that's how we can have an effect as well. The other thing I want to point out is, special ops, especially like green berets, you know, they're advisers. And advising is a combat mission. And I think to call it anything other than combat is a misnomer. It means you train them -

BALDWIN: Say that again, advising is a combat mission.

MANN: Advising is a combat mission. And to characterize it as anything else, when we have troops out there working by, with and through indigenous forces like the Kurds and the Sunni Arabs is disingenuous. I've been an advisor my entire life and I can tell you these guys, when they do this, it is a very, very vulnerable mission because they do go out with them, they advise them and they assist them in combat. And to characterize it as anything other than that I think is a disservice to what the guys are doing. And, frankly, it sets the American people up for a failure because what they're doing is a very dangerous combat mission. It's necessary. And we need to be doing it but we need to call it what it is, Brooke.

BALDWIN: On that point, let me just toss to this piece of sound. This was our White House correspondent Jim Acosta sort of drilling down on that point moments ago with the White House spokesperson Josh Earnest. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The question that the Americans people have, which is, this president, this White House, the officials here at this White House have repeatedly, over and over again, made it clear to the American people that there would be no combat role for U.S. troops fighting ISIS. That appears to be changing. Not only is there this announcement that you're talking about today, which you say they won't be involved in a combat role, but you're not ruling out the possibility that they may be involved in some sort of combat operation, but on the Iraq side, you have Pentagon official this week saying we're in combat. So I'm just - it would be great if we could just have a moment of clarity here and you could acknowledge that, yes, this mission is changing. It is not what it was said it was going to be at the onset of this. I mean I just think that -

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: To say that -

(CROSS TALK)

EARNEST: To say that, Jim, would only confuse the situation. The fact of the matter is, the mission that the commander-in-chief has given our military personnel in Iraq and now in Syria, is a train, advise and assist mission. And we have gone to great lengths to make clear that that is in no way diminishes the amount of risk that our men and women in uniform will be facing.

[14:10:03] We've also been quite clear that there actually have been situations where combat boots have been on the ground inside of Syria. We've been quit candid about that. The president ordered a mission involving U.S. military personnel putting boots on the ground inside of Syria to try to rescue American hostages that had been taken by ISIL. That occurred more than - more than a year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You care to reiterate your point, colonel?

MANN: Yes, exactly. I mean you can hear it right there. It's just this type of work, where you're working with surrogate forces, it's dangerous work and it's necessary. It's what ISIS does. It's how they're so effective. They go local. In my book, "Game Changers," I talk about doing this in Afghanistan, in Iraq. It's a very effective way, less blood, less treasure to fight these guys. However, we need to be clear with the American people and with everyone that's watching this that this type of advisory work is combat. There are boots on the ground. And our men and women are at risk when they're doing this. And it's just the way it goes. It is a combat role.

BALDWIN: OK. Retired Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann, Elise Labott and Clarissa Ward, thank you all so, so much.

We have more on this, but I want to move on to our breaking news in the world of politics. The Republican National Committee suspending its next debate with NBC. This has just happened amid all the criticism over the CNBC debate two nights ago. Hear why. We also have NBC's response for you.

Also ahead, for the first time we are seeing the interrogation of the former University of Virginia lacrosse player just after he killed his ex-girlfriend. Hear how he acts when investigators tell him she's dead.

And the chilling new video showing the shootout between biker clubs in Waco, Texas. The moments that sparked the chaos.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:53] BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

He has come under intense scrutiny for skipping votes in the Senate so he can campaign for president. But today, Florida Senator Marco Rubio showed up for work on Capitol Hill to vote against the two-year budget deal. To do so, he did cancel a lunchtime campaign event in Iowa. At Wednesday night's debate, Jeb Bush slammed Rubio for his voting attendance record in the Senate and "The Florida Sun Sentinel" has even called on the senator to resign over these missed votes.

So, let's go to Sunlen Serfaty, live in Sioux City, Iowa, where Rubio is scheduled to host a happy hour event later today. So the lunch event canceled. Is the event tonight, is that still on, Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, Brooke, here in Sioux City. Rubio will have an event later today, a happy hour event at a restaurant along this river here. But this was to have been his second event of the day. Now it will be his first. That earlier event in council bluffs was postponed, according to the campaign. The Rubio campaign saying he wanted to go and cast his vote against the budget deal, that 3:00 a.m. vote which took place this morning on the Senate floor.

But certainly the timing of this is interesting. As you know, this intense scrutiny that has been on Rubio, and building by the day really, really scrutinizing his record and his poor attendance in the Senate. Rubio has repeatedly defended himself and says that he will show up to his day job and cast votes when his vote makes a difference, really if it determines the outcome. So it's certainly interesting to note here that was not the case. He did not need to go back and vote, but he certainly is making a big point to show that he is showing up for his day job.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right, Sunlen, thank you very much, in Iowa.

Some breaking news here also on the political front here. The fallout from Wednesday night's CNBC debate now has spread to the network's mothership, to NBC. The Republican National Committee says it is suspending its partnership with NBC, will not allow NBC to air the Republican debate as scheduled on February 26th. The RNC says the event will still happen and "The National Review" will still be a part of the - as initially planned. A letter to the chairman of NBC News states why the RNC is pulling out. Let me quote part of that for you here. "CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on the key issues. That was not the case. Before the debate, the candidates were promised an opening question on economic or financial matters. That was not the case. Candidates were promised that speaking time would be carefully monitored to ensure fairness. That was not the case. Questions were inaccurate or down right offensive."

Joining me now, I have "National Review" contributing editor Jim Geraghty, and A.B. Stoddard, associate editor at "The Hill."

So, awesome having the two of you on. Thank you so much for joining me.

And, Jim, just first to you. You know, your organization had been partnering with NBC. Do you - do you have any inside scoop as far as how this will move forward since they don't want NBC to host the debate? What do you know? JIM GERAGHTY, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "NATIONAL REVIEW": Yes. Well, nobody's mad at us, you notice. We're doing fine. No, Telemundo was also be co-sponsor of that event. They are unmentioned in the Priebus letter. I don't know if that means they're kind of on notice or what it is. I am sure that probably right now Chuck Todd is saying, hey, why's everybody mad at me for what John Harwood did over at CNBC. I don't know, he said this is a pending suspension. I suppose NBC could bend over backwards and say, hey, we're going to be scrupulously fair. We're not going to ask any of the candidates if this is a comic book version of a campaign or tell Rubio that he's a young man in a hurry or anything of the things that kind of really seemed off putting about the way they asked those questions. It wasn't they were tough questions, they were snide questions.

BALDWIN: Amy, do you agree? I mean what's going on here?

A.B. STODDARD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "THE HILL": Well, I think that you have not seen complaints from the CNN debates. You've not seen a complaint except for Donald Trump at the Fox debate, who was asked something that Megyn Kelly, I believe, would have asked any of the people up on the stage had they said the things he said about women and whether or not that was presidential. He, of course, took great umbrage and made a huge story about it, as we know, to distract from what was a weak debate performance.

These guys going in know that no matter what question they're asked, they can say whatever they want. They can make an opening statement in answer to a question. Chris Christie does it every time, ignores the question and looks right into the camera.

[14:20:09] But what CNBC has done, and now NBC, it's partner, is paying for it, is sort of be gratuitous and sound almost contemptuous in their questioning so that the entire thing can turn into a Republican, you know, big - a bash the media session. So the candidates definitely turned it to their advantage and really made the CNBC moderators look like they'd been unfair. It actually turned out, in the days to follow, that some of the things that the people like Trump in terms of the Mark Zuckerberg question that Becky Quick asked, it turns out that Trump was telling an untruth and she had actually asked a correct and factual question, but she didn't have the backup material ready for him to counter punch back and respond to him. And when you say, like Jim mentioned, is this a comic book version, you're really inviting - it seems gratuitous and it seems obnoxious and so the questions really going forward have to be fair. What happens with the candidates, though, is totally out of control most of the time and beyond the moderator's control in terms of time.

BALDWIN: But you can reign them in. And I have to tip my hat to both Tapper and Anderson for both doing an excellent job, if I may.

Let me just read, Jim, NBC's response. Quote, "this is a disappointing development. However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo, we will work in good faith to resolve the matter with the Republican Party."

Listen, this was the point I was making yesterday about how clearly the candidates are irked with, you know, the RNC. I was wondering, shouldn't the RNC shoulder some of the blame? And now with this new development, Jim, do you think this is a little, how do I say this, CYA, for Reince Priebus?

GERAGHTY: For Reince Priebus, sure? The candidates were upset. They were already starting to get together and say, hey, we want to change the rules for this. Some of this is simply a matter of like, if you got asked a tough question and you have 90 seconds, I don't know about that first debate on CNBC. It felt like every couple seconds you were hearing, thank you, senator, thank you, governor. You know, you got a tough question. At least let the guys finish the sentence for Pete's sake, you know?

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes.

GERAGHTY: The cross talk is very difficult and bothersome and you - nobody can hear what's being said for these things. So, again, also, do you really need to split it 11 people or 10 people on one - on the late night debate and four on the first one? There are a lot of questions we have about how to organize a better debate, to have a better conversation, even aside from, you know, snide, aren't you kind of a moron Mr. Republican Presidential Candidate?

BALDWIN: Well, on that note, you led me to this. So Ted Cruz, A.B., is saying now, he's like, every Republican debate should be moderated by Republicans because they're the ones voting in the Republican primary. So, first of all, I would argue that our moderators here at CNN are journalists and that they're fair. You have no idea where, you know, Jake Tapper or Anderson fall politically. But that said, you know, listen, I think maybe to Jim's point a little bit, that you have these candidates, and they're criticizing these moderators, in this case for pitting the candidates against one another, when they're doing that themselves day in and day out on the campaign trail.

STODDARD: Not only that, they do it on the debate stage. So I think that the journalists who moderate these events are perfectly capable of asking fair questions and they should always be hard. You shouldn't - Fox News is not a debate that Republicans could go into counting on softballs. They were asked very tough questions. They should always be asked tough questions. They are running for the job of commander-in- chief. And they often actually jump in on each other and fight with each other no matter - even if it is a softball because they want the time and they want to stand out and have a big moment to contrast with someone else on stage.

I think it's a - it's a - it's a tough situation here to actually jump at all on the RNC. I don't think that they can set up a bunch of debate where they're only asked questions as candidates by Republican primary voters themselves. I just think that, you know, the RNC has tried to do what it can to limit this from becoming too much of a zoo -

BALDWIN: Yes.

STODDARD: But, in the end, they can't actually tell Chuck Todd which questions to ask. BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Well, speaking of tough questions, Jim, frontrunner

Ben Carson, he says this is what he wants in a debate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN CARSON (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Debates are supposed to be established to help the people get to know the candidates and get to know what's behind them and what their thinking process is, what their philosophy is. And what it's turned into is a gotcha. That's silly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: All right, here's the deal. The definition of a debate, and I quote, "a discussion between people in which they express different opinions about something," or, quote, "a contention by words or arguments." I got to wonder, I mean, this is a smart, smart man, a pediatric neurosurgeon we're talking about. Does he know what the definition of debate is, Jim?

GERAGHTY: Yes. Elsewhere in that press conference he lamented that the question about Mannatech was a gotcha question and I don't think it was in the slightest. I think it's completely fair to ask him about his past business associations. And as somebody who wrote one of the first stories about it, no, Dr. Carson, that's a fair question.

Having said that, you know, I think you can second guess a lot of those questions. I don't know if a lot of Republican primary voters were clamoring to know, do you think the federal government should regulate fantasy football? You know, some of those questions did seem like they were kind of out of left field.

[14:25:01] BALDWIN: And Chris Christie had a zinger for that.

GERAGHTY: Yes. And, you know, if we - if you - I guess the lesson is, if you ask a dumb question, the candidates are going to be able to kind of sneer at you and laugh at you and make fun of your question and, you know, that could end up being a not so great moment for a moderator.

BALDWIN: Jim Geraghty, A.B. Stoddard, thank you both so much. Great discussion.

STODDARD: Thanks.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, we have some new video. It shows exactly what happened during that deadly shootout between rival biker clubs at a Waco, Texas, restaurant. The moment shots rang out, dozens of bikers diving for cover, servers and restaurant staff running for their lives. We have it all for you, coming up.

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[14:29:54] BALDWIN: It was described as a wild west shootout. Hundreds of bikers brawling in this parking lot in Waco, Texas, at this restaurant. This happened just this past May. So the surveillance video, exclusively obtained by CNN, shows the chaos inside this place. It's called Twin Peaks. Dozens of bikers drawing their guns, running for cover. You have frightened customers and waitresses just running in different directions.