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New Day

German Chancellor Meeting with Obama; Russian President Given Ultimatum on Ceasefire in Ukraine; Interview with State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki; Snow Storms Target Boston; Interview with Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee

Aired February 09, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To get peace, you have to defend your country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long can Putin sustain a war that he tells his people is not happening?

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: President Putin must present defensive arms to Ukraine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am in solidarity with the Syrian people.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: ISIS claimed Kayla Mueller a 26-year-old American aid worker died in a Jordanian airstrike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How could they know it was a Jordanian aircraft?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to apologize. Lester Holt will be filling in for Brian Williams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will be very surprised if Brian Williams goes back to being the anchor of the NBC evening news.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, February 9th, just about 8:00 on the east, 8:00 on the button. Ukraine is begging for help to hold off the Russians, but will the U.S. deliver as expected. What was a certainty is now a question. Why? Because German Chancellor Angela Merkel is at the White House right now trying to convince President Obama not to supply quote with weapons, fearing it could escalate the conflict.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin weighing two choices given him by Chancellor Merkel, face more sanctions or agree to help slow the fighting by Wednesday. That's when four way talks are scheduled between Russia, Ukraine, German, and France.

Let's get the latest from CNN's Frederik Pleitgen. He is live in Kiev. Fred, what is this latest? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, certainly

the government in Kiev, the Ukrainian government, isn't very hopeful this peace agreement is something that's going to come together. That's one of the reasons why they keep asking the U.S. to supply them with what they call defensive weapons. They are talking about anti- tank weapons, which is one of their main priorities, but also anything that would have to do with electronic warfare to help them pinpoint positions that they're being fired on from these pro-Russian separatists because, quite frankly, at this point in time the Ukrainian military is on the defensive and lost substantial amounts of territories in the east of the country. And as we speak, the fighting in that part of the country goes on. In fact overnight there was a gigantic explosion in the town of Donetsk when apparently some sort of weapons depot was hit by Ukrainian artillery.

At the same time that all this is going on the Ukrainians are asking the U.S. for weapons, they are still going along with trying to revive the ceasefire process there at that meeting in Minsk in the Belarusian capital that's said to take place on Wednesday where four sides are going to meet. It's going to be the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the Germans and the French, and they're going to try to revive that peace agreement and at least freeze the conflict for now. It's unclear what both sides want. Certainly the Russians want some sort of guarantees that the Ukraine won't join NATO. And the big question is what sort of territories are the Russian separatists going to get, and under what circumstances, Chris?

CUOMO: That's the concern Fred, will this wind up being taken right to the doorstep of where you are in the capital. Thank you for the reporting.

Here's what we know. While leaders talk, people are dying and homes are being destroyed. Over 5,000 lives lost, communities blasted to the ground. We can now show you what that looks like. CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is the first American journalist in a town in eastern of Ukraine leveled by the pro-Russian separatists. Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: In here in the town you can see exactly what those heavy weapons have done to this town. That three story building, two huge holes punched right through it. Clearly, it was once a Ukraine defensive position. Around me you can hear, too, the outgoing fire of pro-Russian separatists. They continue to advance towards the town, a key objective for them. They want much more territory in Donetsk after that.

But around here in this town you can see the signs of devastation. An armored personnel carrier over here which the cameraman will pan towards slowly. But literally, no building seems to have escaped the destruction here.

We have seen some civilians who have come here trying to piece their life back together again. A whole nine story building we saw here which has four or five huge holes in it there. A couple of people trying to eke out a life and some using this perhaps, one of the pauses in the violence, to creep back get back in and gather their possessions.

But when you see destruction like this, the huge fear is that in the days ahead of peace talks in Belarus and Minsk where people will try perhaps to fashion a ceasefire, that both sides may escalate in the violence to try and regain the territory they want or improve their position at that negotiating table.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Nick, powerful. Important to remember people are trying to live amongst all that conflict. The question is will the Obama administration send over lethal aid to Kiev? Our White House Correspondent Michelle Kosinski is tracking the latest, and the president said to be measuring whether that's a wise decision or not.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michaela. Right, and it's going to be telling today in this press conference between President Obama and the German chancellor Angela Merkel to see just how unified or not things are between the U.S. and Europe in responding to Russia. Secretary of State John Kerry has insisted that it is unified and it remains strong. Both the U.S. and Europe emphasized for months how important that is. But this could be a place where things diverge because the U.S. now is considering arming Ukraine. There have been increasing calls for that among lawmakers in this country. But then you have Chancellor Merkel and others still adamantly opposed.

Now, also we have heard increasingly tough language from U.S. officials regarding Russia's behavior recently. In the beginning months ago it was called an incursion, a violation. Just a few days ago National Security Adviser Susan Rice, she called it a heinous and deadly assault. For now, though, it's wait and see what happens with these peace talks on Wednesday before we're likely to see any change in anyone's response. Michaela?

PEREIRA: All right, Michelle, thank you so much. We should point out that CNN will have live coverage of President Obama and the German chancellors' news conference. Wolf Blitzer will bring you their remarks live in the 11:00 a.m. hour. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Michaela, there's some really pressing situations in front of the State Department right now, so we're fortunate to have Jen Psaki. She's spokeswoman for the State Department. Jen, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

JEN PSAKI, SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: Good morning. Great to be here.

CUOMO: Let's just deal with these matters of urgency. The American hostage being held by ISIS or whatever you want to call them, Jordan says we don't believe them. The ISIS people are saying she died because of Jordan's bombings. Where is our intelligence, the United States intelligence, on this?

PSAKI: Well, we don't have any information to confirm what ISIS is claiming. I don't have any update, unfortunately, for you, Chris. Obviously everybody is paying very close attention and our hearts and our minds are all focused on the family of this young woman.

CUOMO: Is there any reason to believe because it is a woman she may have a better chance than what we've seen in the past?

PSAKI: I certainly wouldn't want to speculate on that. I would remind everybody ISIL has shown a level of brutality we haven't seen around the world in a long time. They have targeted children and women. They have gone after people with disabilities. So they have shown no mercy. We are certainly concerned about any American citizen that they're holding.

CUOMO: Right. You understand, though, especially for that family, they're clinging to anything that could give some hope right now.

PSAKI: I think everybody understands that, Chris. And the secretary has two daughters himself and now a second granddaughter as of this weekend, so I think this has certainly been on his mind

CUOMO: Congratulations to him on the healthy expansion of his family. And everybody's hearts and minds are in the same place on that, I'm sure.

The situation on the ground, you need to have more and better ground fighters, you know that. Why? Because we're learning the people on the ground fighting this fight often put tribal loyalties first. They want to defend their own. So now you get into towns that are Arab tribes and you have the Peshmerga, the Kurdish fighters less likely to want to go in there. How do you fix this?

PSAKI: Well, I think we're talking about different dynamics. And you referenced this a little bit. Let's talk about Iraq for just a moment. Certainly we recognize under the previous leadership of Malaki there was a great deal of division, a lot of tribal issues, that take some time to overcome that and move on.

Now, the prime minister, Prime Minister Abadi, has made great strides and great efforts to try to address that by bringing in the tribes, by bringing in the Sunni tribes underneath the Iraqi security forces. That takes time, but we've seen some success.

In Syria, we've seen, yes, the Peshmerga, we've seen them fight back, though, against -- I'm sorry. I just wanted to mention this piece. We've seen the Peshmerga also fight back against ISIL. So it certainly is not true. And we have given them a great deal of assistance through the Iraqi government.

In Syria, we have seen -- obviously, this is a difficult situation on the ground. We have the challenge of Assad and the brutality he has inflicted on his people. We also have the challenge of ISIL. We're starting our train and equip program next month. That is coming up soon. We have obviously done hundreds if not thousands of air strikes with our coalition partners and we are continuing to work to prepare and better train the opposition forces there.

CUOMO: In Syria, you have parallel situation, our next topic, which is you have a guy who is perceived by the U.S. government as a bad guy, but he's also most likely in control of the situation on the ground in Syria. The parallel is to what we're dealing with in Ukraine, which is probably the most complex thing you have to deal with now. Vladimir Putin has been running the show there. Everybody knows that. He's been lying about it, but he's been running the show. Now you have Ukraine's government saying to you we need help, and you have the German chancellor saying don't give it to them. What do you do?

PSAKI: Well, it's certainly not quite as simple as that, Chris. We and many of the countries you mentioned, including Germany continued to increase assistance. We have given $118 million in non-lethal assistance, which includes materials and the kind of assistance they need to have the equipment they need. We're making a decision right now about what additional assistance is appropriate. But it's not an easy -- an easy decision. Nobody wants to have a proxy war with Russia. What we're talking about now is defensive weapons. But we also want to see a diplomatic solution. You referenced there are ongoing talks happening. There was a phone call yesterday. There will be a meeting later this week. That plan is really based on and consistent with the Minsk protocols that Russia agreed to. So let's see what happens. The question --

CUOMO: I totally hear you. You kind of have seen it. You can basically say that Putin has made mincemeat out of that agreement. He flouts it at every turn, and you know as you've been watching our reporting here this morning, I'm sure, of your own intel and better that shows you that they're getting worked over on the ground. They need not just non-lethal. They need the real deal. They need real military assets to deal with this threat. How much time do you think you're dealing with before they get overrun?

PSAKI: Chris, I think we have to be a little bit careful here, because what we don't want and what nobody in the global community wants is a proxy war with Russia. And I'm sure you're not suggesting anybody wants that. What we are trying to determine is how to change the behavior of President Putin. We have seen some fits and starts in that. You're right. Absolutely they're actions are completely unacceptable. They've escalated that in recent weeks. Their economy is completely in turmoil. So the question is, what is going to change his behavior? Is it more specifics, more implementation specifics? Do we need to consider other options? We're absolutely having all of those discussions right now.

CUOMO: Right. I'm just saying that we had the secretary and other senators and a lot of leaders moving with momentum to equip them more fully and now the brakes have been put on that because of Merkel. But I get that you have this figure out what the best path forward is. It's just obviously the stakes couldn't be higher there, Jen.

PSAKI: You're right. The stakes couldn't be higher. And I think we all look at the pain and suffering of the people in Ukraine, in the eastern part of Ukraine, and just want to do everything we can to help and support them. It certainly is addressing the security situation and also addressing their economic situation, which is dire as well.

CUOMO: Just so people know, to the point you're making, Jen, many believe the thing that hurts Putin the most is the sanctions and the time there as opposed to having a ground fight that he can point to as a success for himself. So we understand it's complicated. That's why we like having you on to help us understand how you all are thinking it through. Jen Psaki, thank you very much.

PSAKI: Thank you. Good morning.

CUOMO: Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, word this morning that North Korea launched five short range missiles just east of Pyongyang. They flew about 125 miles before plunging into the sea. South Korean officials saying the North's repeated missile tests in recent years indicate the country is developing missiles capable of targeting the U.S. and South Korean military bases.

PEREIRA: A potential billion-dollar settlement of concussion claims against the NFL is reportedly close to being approved by a federal judge. This deal is expected to cover some 20,000 retired NFL players. It would compensate players who developed dementia or neurological problems related to concussions suffered during their careers. Critics of the deal, though, say the NFL should have to pay even more.

CUOMO: Look at this, 30 seconds of terror. A snowboard almost gets swallowed up in an avalanche. The whole thing caught on of a helmet cam. Take a look. His name is Sorin Radu. And it looked to be like a routine run, right? But then the snow starts coming down. It buckled, sends him down the mountain in Romania. Radu is a snow sports instructor and a volunteer rescuer. He said he only survived because he didn't panic. And it is interesting. You do not hear him. I don't know if maybe you couldn't hear him because it was just a GoPro. But boy, oh boy, that's where your skills are put to death life or death.

CAMEROTA: I've never seen the snow buckle like that before an avalanche. That was really so scary.

Speaking of buried in snow, Boston getting hammered again. Another foot possible in this latest storm, flights canceled of course at Logan Airport. CNN's Sara Ganim is live for us in Boston. Where are you in Boston, Sara?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, I'm in this Beacon Hill neighborhood in Boston which you can see is absolutely inundated with snow. Not just fresh snow, which about eight inches of fresh snow has fallen since yesterday, but 55 inches that were already on the ground from previous storms.

Now, like you mentioned, I just want to say right at the top that flights are being cancelled as we speak at Boston Logan International Airport. That's what the governor of Massachusetts said a few minutes ago. We expect the snow to continue to pick up through the day, and by the morning tomorrow when people wake up, there could be an additional two feet of snow on the ground on top of the storms we've already had. Now, the big issue here in this neighborhood are these giant snow

banks, the piles of snow there getting bigger and bigger as these storms come back to back to back. You look down this street, look how narrow, Alisyn, this street has become because of these snow banks. Some of them are actually cars that are completely covered. This has caused a safety problem because when you're driving on these streets, it's really hard to see what's coming around the corner. It's also hard when you're walking it to stay on the sidewalks. So a lot of people we've seen this morning walking towards in the middle of the street, which is a safety concern.

And then, one of the biggest issues the mayor of Boston said about snow removal, is that private contractors, I'm not sure if you can see, there's one actually down there doing exactly what the mayor said not to do, which is dumping snow back into the streets after they've been plowed.

One of the bigger safety concerns are fire hydrants. The mayor is asking people to dig out their fire hydrants. We actually saw a resident along this street do that this morning. You can see this one is clear, because these snow banks are well above the fire hydrants and that's a safety concern.

Back to you, guys.

CAMEROTA: Sara Ganim, those cars behind you on Walnut Street don't look like they're getting out until about May. Thanks so much for showing us around Beacon Hill this morning.

Well, being gay is a choice, much like drinking and swearing, that comparison from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, what he says about gay marriage, his new book and his possible run for president. That's coming right up.

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CAMEROTA: President Obama meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel today. Amid the escalating violence in Ukraine, should President Obama provide lethal weapons to help Ukraine fight the rebels?

Let's ask our next guest about that and so much more. Joining us is former Arkansas governor and possible GOP presidential contender, Mike Huckabee. He's also the author of the new book, "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy."

Governor, great to see you.

MIKE HUCKABEE (R), FORMER ARKANSAS GOVERNOR: Thank you, Alisyn. It's really great to talk to you again. Appreciate you having me.

CAMEROTA: Well, sure.

OK. Let's talk about the news of the day. As you know, Congress approved lethal aid being sent to Ukraine, President Obama has not yet done that and our European allies are asking him not to do that because they fear that will only cause an escalation.

What should the president do?

HUCKABEE: Well, he's in a tough spot in one position because Ukraine is outmanned by the Russians 80-1 in terms of military strength. Russia has that much superiority over the Ukrainians. So, we can't give the Ukrainians enough military aid to make it a fair fight. I think the president has to weigh that.

You know, what are we going to give them that really makes this where Putin stands down? The truth is, nothing.

Putin has his own problems. It's very apparent that one of the ways that he's trying to solve his problems at home is the sleight of hand, typical magician move, of telling his people that he's under assault from the West. And he's rewriting Russian history to say that the Soviet collapsed because of pressure from the West.

That's not true. They collapsed from within, and they're on the verge of collapsing again because their economy is so in trouble.

Now, the Europeans -- they don't seem to want to put the right pressure on him because they depend on Russia for energy. So, I mean, it's a real mess.

I'll tell you what we need. We need a really strong super power and there isn't one because the U.S. has left itself in a very weakened position.

CAMEROTA: Yes. So, if you were in the Oval Office, what would you do about this threat today?

HUCKABEE: The problem we face it's not something you can just flip the switch. The -- we are in the situation as American people where our country has been weakened by sequestration, by multiple deployments, less than 1 percent of our people serving the military. So, Putin knows that we can flex whatever muscle we have, but it's a weakened threat that we now operate with.

A super power, to be effective, to be able to stand up and make a threat, has to be able to stand behind the threat and Putin knows we are simply incapable of doing it militarily because of the footprint we have and we don't have the will to do it even if we had the military strength.

CAMEROTA: But, Governor, it sounds like you're saying there is no solution to what's going on in Ukraine now.

HUCKABEE: Well, I think the solution is to put as much economic pressure on the Russians as possible, try to flood with information to the Russian people. There's not, I don't think what I'd say a clear military solution because it could escalate. And in that situation, if it's Russia versus the Ukrainians, Russia is going to win, 80 times the military strength.

And nobody, Europe, U.S. is not going to put enough military pressure to say, we'll totally protect. In the meantime, 5,300 Ukrainians have already died. That's a serious challenge.

But Putin is not afraid of the U.S. He's not afraid of the Europeans.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HUCKABEE: And one of the ways you have to defeat someone who is a bully is he has to be more afraid of you than you are of him. That's just not where we stand now. It's a long term solution, not something we can do overnight

CAMEROTA: It sounds like it.

All right. Governor, let's talk about your new book. "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy." And let's dive into the more controversial parts you've been talking about, including your stance on gay marriage.

Let me try to characterize what I got from reading it. Basically, you're saying that the Bible doesn't condone homosexuality so neither do you.

Is that accurate?

HUCKABEE: Well, look, here's the thing -- my position on same sex marriage is the same the president had in 2008, when he said that he was a Christian and he believed God was in the mix. Now, he changed his position three years later and one has to ask, did he do it because it was politically expedient or did he do it because the Bible had changed since his biblical view since 2008?

All I'm saying is my biblical view hasn't changed because I haven't seen the new and edited version, and I think a lot of people have. But more importantly, I think is the fact that a lot of people who feel they are under assault because of their Christian beliefs, whether it's the Little Sisters of the Poor, who are being challenged by the Obamacare initiative, whether it's Hobby Lobby, a privately held business --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HUCKABEE: -- that provides insurance to its employees, but yet under threat to be shut down and fined millions of dollars a day because they don't want to provide all 20 --

CAMEROTA: Sure.

HUCKABEE: -- of the various birth control pills, even though they provide 16. That's the bigger issue, I think, that's facing America today.

CAMEROTA: Well, I mean, but, Governor, let me show you some of the recent polls in terms of gay marriage because so many people are interested in your take on this and what you would do as president. So, it shows that the country's feeling about it has morphed.

From 2001, the people who opposed gay marriage was 57 percent of the country versus 40 percent. Now, it's 40 percent. And people who support it in 2001 were 35 percent and now, it's a majority, at 52 percent.

So, in terms of your stance on gay marriage, do you feel as though you're on the wrong side of history?

HUCKABEE: Well, when you say the wrong side of history, I mean, let's just be reminded there's been a relatively -- and I mean a very relatively brief history of same sex marriage. The overwhelming history is the natural law marriage biblical marriage. So, I don't think there's a side of history that's overwhelming at this point.

CAMEROTA: Well, it's a the trend line. I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

HUCKABEE: I think the next presidential election --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

HUCKABEE: Well, let me say, Alisyn, I think the next presidential election will not center on a view of same sex marriage, it's going to come down to who has a plan to make sure that the stagnant wages for the bottom 90 percent of America, for the past 40 years, will be reversed and we'll start seeing families anger earning money again.

I don't care whether people are straight or gay. They want to be able to know that they have a real chance to live the American dream, which they can't as long as the economy keeps its boot on their face.

CAMEROTA: So, Governor, are you getting in to the presidential race?

HUCKABEE: Well, let me just say this -- leaving the show that I had at FOX was kind of the tip of hand that things are moving in that direction. But, Alisyn, I've said all along, that the timetable is sometime later this spring. It still is. But I don't think it will be a big shock to anybody if I jump in the fray, and once again run for president in 2016.

CAMEROTA: All right. So, it sounds like you're leaning towards a yes.

HUCKABEE: I'd say that's a pretty good assessment where things stand. That's for sure.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: OK. Former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee -- great to see you, Governor. Thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

HUCKABEE: Thank you, Alisyn. Good to talk to you.

CAMEROTA: Let's go to Michaela.

PEREIRA: All right. Brian Williams is taking a leave of absence after more of his reporting comes under scrutiny. What now for the veteran journalist? CUOMO: Cars are so smart now and that is just great for hackers.

They found a way to get personal data and steal your car. We'll fill you in on what you can do, ahead.

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