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New Day

Obama to Request Use of Force Against ISIS; Family, Friends Remember Kayla Mueller; Violence Rages Ahead of Ukraine Peace Talks; U.S., U.K. Embassies in Yemen Evacuated; Williams Suspended, Stewart Stepping Down

Aired February 11, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The world grieves with us, the world mourns with us.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I don't think it's accurate of them to say the United States government hasn't done everything that we could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hearing that sources from the White House will unveil a new authorization for the war on ISIS.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's not forget in whose hands this woman died.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you kidding me? Brian Williams just got suspended for six months?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suspended for six months without pay.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did he say that might not have been accurate?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's revolutionized the news or satire or whatever it is in an unbelievable way.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jon Stewart is a more relevant news figure on the news landscape than Brian Williams.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For whatever reason you are tuning in for, I thank you for watching it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Wednesday, February 11th, just before 6:00 in the east. The enemy is growing, that's what U.S. intelligence officials are saying. That ISIS is gaining foreign fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq in unprecedented numbers, despite months of bombardment.

So now they're saying there are more than 20,000 allegedly ready to go to battle for ISIS. I say allegedly, because as you'll see coming up, that number is coming under scrutiny. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: In a House Homeland Security meeting

today, officials will testify that as many as 150 Americans have tried to join the fight. This as President Obama plans to formally ask Congress to authorize the use of military force against ISIS. And the U.S. mourns the latest American hostage killed at the hands of the terror group.

Let's begin our team coverage with Michelle Kosinski. She is live at the White House for us.

Tell us more, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn. Right. So this is testimony we expect to hear today before the House Homeland Security Committee from the director of the Counterterrorism Center and others. Talking about bigger number than we've heard before of foreign fighters continuing to head to the battlefield in Iraq and Syria to fight alongside ISIS and other groups.

The number in total thought to be at least 20,000, with 3,400 of them westerners; about 150 Americans who have either traveled there or tried to; and about a dozen thought to still be fighting there. The chairman of the committee called this the largest convergence of Islamic terrorists in world history.

And foreign fighters of particular concern to the U.S. for fear that they would come back here and launch attacks.

Also today we expect to hear as early as this morning, from the White House presenting legislative language to Congress, asking for authorization specifically tailored to the fight against ISIS. It's expected to limit the possibility of ground troops in combat but not to limit location -- Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Michelle. That's getting a little bit more complicated. Tougher to track. It's good to have you on the ground in D.C. to tell us about that.

Now this morning, really the biggest headline is still the life that was lost, Kayla Mueller. Her family, the family of this killed American worker, still battling her murderers. Only now the cause is to get her remains and bid her a final farewell.

We're learning more about her time in captivity, and there is much the public did not know. Will Ripley joins us here in New York with that part of the story.

Will, the more we learn about her, the more there's pain about what's been done.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. Everything, Chris, from the fact that she was teaching her captors how to do arts and crafts, to all of the repeated failed rescue attempts made not only by the U.S. government, which may have come between 24 and 48 hours away from rescuing Kayla and the others, too. The attempts by Arizona lawmakers to secure her release. One man, according to "The Arizona Republic," and quoting Congressman Paul Gosar, a man who actually went to the terrorist camp claiming to be Mueller's husband, but he was turned away because she wasn't in on the ruse.

And of course, all of this kept secret until now, confirmation of the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LORI LYON, KAYLA'S MATERNAL AUNT: She has done more in her incredible 26 years than many people can ever imagine doing in their lifetime.

RIPLEY (voice-over): This morning, Kayla Mueller's family and friends devastated, heartbroken over photos sent privately by the brutal militant group ISIS over the weekend. According to a U.S. official, the 26-year-old was shown in Muslim garb, another revealing her wrapped in a burial shroud. How she died, still unclear.

LYON: Kayla has touched the heart of the world. The world grieves with us; the world mourns with us.

RIPLEY: The humanitarian aid worker held hostage by ISIS since August of 2013, captured while leaving a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria. ISIS sending proof of life nine months after her capture, demanding millions in ransom. Communication cut off a year later after the ransom deadline passed.

Then, early this month, ISIS claimed Mueller was killed in this building by a Jordanian airstrike. U.S. officials aren't buying.

ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: ISIL is responsible for that death.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: They're responsible for her safety and her well-being, and they are therefore responsible for her death.

RIPLEY: President Obama calling Mueller's family to offer condolences.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She was an outstanding young woman and a great spirit. And I think that spirit will live on.

RIPLEY: Mueller, in the trenches with refugees since 2009, working with humanitarian groups in northern India, Israel and the Palestinian territories.

LYON: The world wants to be more like Kayla. And if that is her legacy and the footprint that she leaves on the world, then that is a wonderful thing.

RIPLEY: The activist family strengthened by her spirit.

LYON: In Kayla's letter to Marsha and Carl, she wrote...

RIPLEY: Reading allowed a heartfelt letter sent by ISIS, written by Mueller while in captivity. Words in stark contrast to the barbarous militants that held her.

LYON: "I have come to see there is good in every situation. Sometimes we just have to look for it." And right now that's what we're all trying to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY: For such a young woman to be so selfless, to write to her family, even though she was going through the most difficult in her life, that her only suffering was their suffering. It really shows, Chris, that this was a woman who was truly remarkable, an inspiration and who certainly, with all the good that she brought to the world, did not deserve the evil that ISIS is.

CUOMO: Every life matters. Every time we hear about these murderers taking somebody, our heart has to go out to the family in respect what was lost. But the more we learn, well, you're exactly right. This was a really special young person who won't get to fulfill her destiny now.

Thank you for the reporting. Stay with us this morning on that.

And we do have a rare interview for you, with someone who really knows what made this young woman special in ways that you haven't heard yet. There is something to be learned here that goes beyond just the habits of terrorists, so we have that coming up for you -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Let's get context on all this. We want to bring in Lieutenant Colonel James Reese. He's a CNN global affairs analyst. And Nikita Malik. She's a research associate from the Quilliam Foundation. Nice to see both of you this morning.

Let's just start with Kayla Mueller and what we've learned about this remarkable young woman. Colonel Reese, it is fascinating to hear about the rescue attempts that were made to free her, including this one where a man showed up at this Syrian terrorist camp, claiming to be her husband and demanding her release, but she didn't know, obviously, that this was going to be happening. Is this a typical type of ruse that the U.S. is using in trying to get hostages released?

LT. COL. JAMES REESE (RET.), CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Good morning, Alisyn.

Here's one thing I can tell you about our hostage rescue forces. They're the No. 1 out-of-the-box thinkers in the world. And they will try to figure out every single way to close with and find a gap in folks that are holding our hostages and holding western hostages, to be able to find a way to get in there and rescue them any time.

CAMEROTA: Nikita, will we ever know how Kayla was killed?

NIKITA MALIK, QUILLIAM FOUNDATION: Well, that's a difficult question. Because at the moment the evidence that we've received is still being examined by the United States government. So really, we don't know. What we must keep in mind is the Islamic State is a propaganda

machine. So if they had more access, it would be out there. The fact that it's not out there in the media is a reflection that they know very little about the circumstances of her death, as well.

CAMEROTA: This morning the House Homeland Security committee will be hearing testimony from the director of the National Counterterrorism Center. And the headline seems to be the amount of foreign fighters who have joined ISIS or al Qaeda in Syria and Iraq.

Let me put up a full screen for our viewers to show what the director will say. They believe that 20,000 foreign fighters have joined, total, 3,400 of them westerners, 150 of them, Colonel Reese, Americans, they believe. Do you believe these outrageous numbers?

REESE: Alisyn, I'm a bit skeptical. The 150 for U.S. I can buy. I kind of start looking at the economics of this piece and how they do it.

But what I really look at is I see three recruiting pools for ISIS. I see an internal recruiting pool for the Sunnis within Syria that have been displaced and unhappy with the Assad regime, easy to recruit.

The second piece I see, which could be a major recruiting tool, is what I call the recruits in the seams. And those are in the refugee camps, on the Jordan/Syrian border, and up in Turkey. So there's your second role.

The third, then, is the external recruits that are coming in, but think about it. If you do 20,000 externally from 90 countries, that's 222 different people. And I know I'm never supposed to do math in public, but it just -- I just don't -- it just doesn't match up.

CAMEROTA: Yes. I mean, in fact, the numbers are all over the map, Nikita, because the CIA estimates there are only between 20,000 and 30,000 ISIS fighters as a whole. So how can 20,000 of them be from foreign lands? What do you make of the numbers?

MALIK: Well, really, the numbers are just a reflection. It depends how you count them. Are we looking at foreign fighters who are returning home? How are we -- how are we manning these porous borders? Really, I mean where are the numbers coming from? How are they matching up? We're not entirely sure.

But we must keep in mind that this is a network of fighters. And many of them aren't going to be situated within Iraq and Syria. They're going to be situated in their homelands returning and coming back.

CAMEROTA: Even if the numbers are inflated, the trend is troubling. And here's what we understand the director of the Counterterrorism Center will say in prepared remarks today.

The trend lines are clear and concerning. The rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is unprecedented. It exceeds the rate of travelers who went to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years. Colonel Reese, how can this be true? I mean, everyone worldwide, the

revulsion after ISIS burned that Jordanian pilot alive in a cage; everyone rejected their tactics. Who are they recruiting?

REESE: Well, Alisyn, that's a great point. And one of my concerns is that the emotions that everyone is involved with right now, there has become some sensationalism, especially as, you know, the president is supposed to getting ready to go in front of Congress to get, you know, authorization for the use of military force. And really, is the politics driving these numbers?

I know a lot of these analysts, and I've seen it in my career where the analysts really start surgically trying to get down these numbers to give the commanders on the ground a good idea of what they're fighting with. But sometimes the politics, you know, like a business, they want to inflate them 20, 30 percent to kind of cover their backside.

CAMEROTA: And in terms of the politics, Nikita, what he's talking about, I believe, is that the war authorization request is coming up. Do you think that it's possible that, as Colonel Reese is saying, the numbers are being ginned up because they want to get the authorization to fight ISIS?

MALIK: I'm not entirely sure I agree with that. I think the numbers are definitely a concern. And as you mentioned before, a lot of people have been appalled by this violence. But there are a lot of people who see the I.S. as a very strong unit. And a piece of propaganda like they released of the burning actually incentivizes some violent radicals to go and join this movement.

So while some people might find it, you know, a turn-off, some people are actually, you know, wanting to go and join the numbers more because of what we've seen, this horrific violence.

CAMEROTA: Nikita Malik, Colonel James Reese, thanks for being on NEW DAY. Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. Some other big news, Alisyn. Today we will get a good idea of whether Ukraine can be saved. European leaders are meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to broker a ceasefire.

We have senior international correspondent Nic Robertson following those talks from us -- for us. He is in Minsk, Belarus. That will be the neutral ground for these talks.

Didn't go so well the first time, Nic. What is the hope for a better result this time?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are a lot of concerns right now, Chris. You really have the Russians pushing very heavily at this moment. President Putin is the only leader who's actually come out and said hard and firm that he will be here later this afternoon for the talks. The French president, Francois Hollande, and the German chancellor,

Angela Merkel, both had a conversation by phone this morning to see if they should come. They think they will come, but it's still not a done deal. The Ukrainian president says there are still issues. There's been low-level meetings here over the past 24 hours.

The Russians continue to say that they're ready, that a deal is being made. The Ukrainians are saying, "Hold on, we're not so happy about that." There seem to be condition -- seem to be issues over monitoring of the border between Ukraine and Russia. That's one of the sticking points. And of course, the nature of any sort of political dialogue between Ukraine and the separatists following on from a ceasefire.

So there's a lot in the air right now. The Russians apparently trying to spin it that they're all for it and that a deal can be had. But everyone else is a whole lot more cautious right now -- Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: ... in the air (ph) and a lot at stake. Nic, thank you. We'll follow that along with you.

Breaking overnight, the United States and the U.K. evacuating their embassies in Yemen amid crumbling security in that troubled nation. France just announcing its embassy is there is closing its doors, as well. For the latest, let's get right to Jomana Karadsheh in Jordan -- Jomana.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, the United States, the United Kingdom and France all announcing that they have pulled out their diplomatic staff from the capital, Sana'a, and shut down their embassies in Yemen. They're calling on their citizens to leave the country immediately, using commercial means.

Now, this comes as the country's political and security crisis deepens. There are fears that the country is on the brink of a civil war.

The State Department in its warning cites a deteriorating security situation, terrorist activities and civil unrest as the reason behind these decisions.

Now, over the past few weeks, as we have seen the political instability in that country increase, in the capital, Sana'a, with that rebel group, the Houthis, tightening their grip, ousting the U.S. ally, the government there that has been an ally of the United States in fighting terrorism, there have been fears of what this means for terrorism there and the presence of one of the strongest al Qaeda franchises in the world, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP.

Back to you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jomana. Thanks so much for that.

Two suspects facing charges after allegedly plotting a terror attack in Sydney, Australia. Police arresting them after raiding a home near the city. Police seizing a number of items, including an ISIS flag and a machete.

CUOMO: All right. You're going to say, "I knew it!" But here's what the scientists are telling us. You should not worry about eating too much cholesterol after all. This is not according to me. It is a draft report that scraps some 40 years of government warnings.

It says saturated fats in fatty meats, whole milk, butter not the real danger. Not foods that are high in cholesterol like eggs. That's what you have to worry about. The fatty foods, eggs, not so much. The panel says you still have to watch out for high levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, though. So this...

PEREIRA: Can you repeat that so my father hears you?

CUOMO: You know what? It's one of those things, like, "Oh, this is good news." And it goes down like this. Here's why: your obvious big fatty foods -- your big, fat steak with all the fat on the outside...

PEREIRA: With butter dripping off of it.

CUOMO: ... those heavy creams.

CAMEROTA: That's still bad?

CUOMO: It's still bad, because it's loaded with bad cholesterol. However, the egg, the much-maligned egg...

PEREIRA: Oh, poor egg.

CUOMO: ... is probably getting some false stink on it.

CAMEROTA: I knew it.

CUOMO: Don't worry about the egg -- of course you did. Don't worry about the egg so much.

PEREIRA: Eggs for all.

CUOMO: That's what the new study says. But cholesterol still matters; got to get it checked, especially the bad level.

CAMEROTA: OK, got it.

Meanwhile, in journalism, Brian Williams suspended by NBC for six months without pay. And at the same time, Jon Stewart announces he's leaving "The Daily Show."

CUOMO: Coincidence? Two big stories, two big questions. Brian Williams out, Jon Stewart about to be out. Major shake-ups here. What's really behind it all? Is there anything behind it all? We'll tell you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Major, major news in the worlds of both real and fake news. NBC announcing that Brian Williams will be suspended for six months without pay. Also, Jon Stewart stepping down from "The Daily Show" later this year. Can Comedy Central and "The Daily Show" survive without him?

Let's bring in two minds that we can ask. CNN senior media correspondent, host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," Brian Stelter, who's been on this story from the beginning. David Folkenflik has also been covering it, NPR media correspondent. Great to see you instead of just hear from you.

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, NPR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

PEREIRA: Gentlemen, this is -- this is big. Let's start with Williams. Two big stories here. Brian, six-month suspension. Surprised? Do you think it's appropriate? Do you think it's too harsh?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Six months means at least $5 million in financial terms, because it will be without pay. This is as severe a suspension as you could have without just terminating him altogether.

And I think by doing this, NBC is buying itself more time. They're going to have their finger in the air to see what reactions to this are like. And they're continuing their investigation, so they may find more exaggerations. They mentioned legal counsel in their statement last night. I thought that was a clue about where this might be headed.

CAMEROTA: David, six months, isn't that overkill? Why not one month suspension for Brian Williams?

FOLKENFLIK: Well, I think they need enough time to, as Brian says, let this sort out. But this feels much more like a human resources or personnel decision than a journalistic decision. I mean, as Brian is saying, doing the internal review. But they haven't yet promised to make that fully available to the public. They haven't promised to be completely transparent about what happened, what went wrong, what you know, safety procedures fell short inside the network. I think that's something they need to do.

So this is more of a personnel accounting, a kind of a corporate decision to say we can't have a badly damaged, in terms of credibility, an anchor fronting the news until we know what the outcome is.

STELTER: And we may look back and say this was all obviously a plan to have him never return. We may look back somebody and said that. Scarborough just said that on "Morning Joe" openly. A lot of people at NBC look at six months and say, "How can he ever come back?"

PEREIRA: Well, I want to talk about what you both mentioned. This -- these words from the CEO, the president -- or the CEO of NBC News, Brian has jeopardized the trust of millions of Americans and NBC News. His actions are inexcusable, and the suspension is severe and appropriate. But then he goes on to talk about the fact that he deserves a second

chance. This is a two-parter. This is a suspension before the investigation is even completed.

FOLKENFLIK: I think that NBC is saying two things. One they're saying, "We have decided," and remember, this is really the first time you're hearing from the senior NBC network brass. They're finally saying after ten days, this is serious enough transgression in and of itself that it's hurt the credibility of "The NBC Nightly News." Brian did this, of course, in other venues, but he did it on January 30 in the newscast itself. He talked about being in much greater peril than he actually was.

Secondly, they're saying, "We have to deal with this. We have to have some sort of strategy." And they have not. They have had only tactics. At the moment, they're trying to figure out what to do. This does, as you say, buy them time. They're not saying it's punishment before the crime. It's saying we don't know necessarily what we think it will amount -- amount to.

CUOMO: He admitted it. He admitted it. They didn't need -- They had calls to suspend him. He admitted it.

CAMEROTA: So who takes the chair for the next six months? Lester Holt?

STELTER: Lester Holt fills in. He continues to fill in. He held the ratings pretty well on Monday. I think he'll continue to. He's been kind of in waiting for 10 years. People don't think he's a star; people don't think he has the star power, but maybe that's what "Nightly News" needs right now: someone who can steady the ship.

PEREIRA: And that's the word that we keep coming back to: steadying the ship.

FOLKENFLIK: Well, and one thing to say is NBC is very much doing a split-screen decision here. They're thinking what are the journalistic transgressions? And at the same time, they're saying how are those ratings going to do under Lester Holt? If they tank, they're going to feel a lot more pressure from Comcast to bring Brian Williams back and try to say, OK, even if damaged, he is the nation's most watched television anchor.

If those ratings stay relatively steady, they're able to hold off David Muir at ABC's "World News," I think you're going to see them say, "You know what? We don't need to bring the star back in order to be the network we once were."

PEREIRA: About an hour before NBC made this announcement, another announcement was made. I want to play that for you. Let's take a listen to what Jon Stewart had to tell his audience last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, HOST, COMEDY CENTRAL'S "THE DAILY SHOW": It's been an absolute privilege. It's been the honor of my professional life. And I thank you for watching it, for hate-watching it, whatever reason you were tuning in for, it -- you get in this business with the idea that maybe you have a point of view and something to express. And to receive feedback from that is the greatest feeling you can ask for, and I thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: Choosing to go out on top, Brian. You get a sense that this was coming at all? Are you surprised that he's making this announcement?

STELTER: He's been getting restless for a while. And I think he even kind of admitted that last night. He had dropped hints about wanting to do something different.

CUOMO: Do you think he timed this to help his friend?

STELTER: My goodness. A lot of people immediately went there.

PEREIRA: He's smart (ph)...

STELTER: I went there in my mind, as well. You have to wonder if Jon Stewart wants a little more serious job. Maybe Brian Williams wants a little more comedic job.

CUOMO: You really believe...

PEREIRA: They're switching?

CUOMO: You just said...

STELTER: I want to half-say it.

CUOMO: Not to say it directly.

STELTER: I think crazier things have happened in television, and I think Brian Williams has a remarkable comedic streak. I personally would love to see him in that job someday. I don't think it's going to happen, but I would watch that.

CAMEROTA: But NBC News...

STELTER: I would watch "The Daily Show with Brian Williams," wouldn't you?

FOLKENFLIK: Look, underneath what Brian is saying as half-joke, half- prognostication is there's actually something serious there, which is that Brian Williams in some ways got in trouble because of the out-of- the-newscast persona he had, his love of doing "30 Rock," of "The Daily Show."

PEREIRA: That's not what got him in trouble with the Iraq story.

FOLKENFLIK: It absolutely is. Because he has not only said what he did. It's not what triggered the outcry from the January 30 broadcast. But he had said similar things indicating there was a pattern to this.

CUOMO: On Letterman.

FOLKENFLIK: On Letterman, on Alec Baldwin's WNYC radio show here in New York.

CUOMO: And he made himself a target by building his own celebrity, which is always dangerous.

FOLKENFLIK: The other half of the equation is that Jon Stewart over time, you know, he was a comic, when he took over 15-plus years ago of "The Daily Show." Jon Stewart has taken on a more serious role, I think. He's a comedian. He definitely comes from left of center. He's definitely acerbic. Some would say he's a little unfair in satire.

But what I think he's done is he's done an unpacking of both political rhetoric and lazy, at times, journalism that forces more accountability, and in some ways, I've seen influenced how journalists and media critics approach their own jobs, so he's trended a more serious role, even as Williams has embraced a kind of popular cultural role for himself.

PEREIRA: There's a lot to unpack, and we appreciate you both coming, because we're going to talk about this each hour this morning on NEW DAY. We want you to get into the conversation. Brian, we'll have you back.

Really, a delight to have you here with us, David.

Tweet us, @NewDay. Go to our Facebook page, add your comments there. Because we know you're talking about it.

CUOMO: I'll tell you, as we're doing our little prognostication, I'm trying to split it in half with something else. You're talking about ABC. That's my former home. So I love them. But CBS, Scott Pelley, don't forget him. Because if the move here is we need credibility, you know, few people line up with Pelley. I've seen him out there doing the job. He's no joke.

All right. So when we come back, the strained relationship between President Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu is about to get a lot worse. A controversial speech before Congress, Democrats boycotting, pressure on all sides. And Netanyahu promising to go ahead with it anyway. Why? We'll take you behind the scenes.

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