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White House Announces Framework for Nuclear Deal with Iran; Interview with Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken; Kenyan Officials Searching for Mastermind Behind University Attack. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired April 03, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:12] BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Congress kills this deal, it will be the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Diplomacy is the best way for us to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We say this deal is a move in the wrong direction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A massive search is on for a key suspect in Thursday's horrifying massacre.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slaughter on a university campus that apparently targeted Christians.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The data recorder shows that Andreas Lubitz changed the autopilot settings.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He searched the internet for "cockpit door security."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is premeditated murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just a different kind of sin to me and I just don't believe in it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The very idea of religious liberty is toxic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Protecting religious freedom doesn't mean protecting discrimination.

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

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back to NEW DAY. It's Friday, April 3rd, 8:00 in the east. Alisyn Camerota is off, but Michaela and I are here for you with a lot of news. There is a framework for history making nuclear pact with Iran has been reached, but now what? A final agreement is still months away. World leaders have until the end of June to make these final arrangements stick.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama wasted no time selling the agreement, calling it a good deal, but he still has Congress to contend with, warning them not to do anything to compromise what he deems a historic deal in the making. CNN is covering this from every angle starting with global affairs correspondent Elise Labott. She's joining us from Switzerland once again. Elise?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michaela. It's been a marathon, a real rollercoaster this past week. But, as you said, they do have this broad framework deal which in essence puts a lot of curbs on Iran's nuclear program but does leave some of it intact.

Let's talk about some of the key points of this deal. It reduces Iran's centrifuges by about two-thirds to 6,000. It has about 19,500 right now. And it also reduces its enriched uranium stockpile. Two of those together are significant because that extends what they call the breakout time by which Iran has enough fissile material to produce a nuclear weapon. Right now it's about two months. They want that to last a year.

And in exchange Iran gets all of its sanctions lifted in phases. It will start with those economic sanctions and then it will go to U.N. Security Council sanctions as Iran complies with the deal. Now, as you said, that full comprehensive deal is due at the end of June. Now negotiators have to start putting the details on those broad strokes.

I asked Secretary Kerry -- Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday what would happen if Iran tried to renegotiate some of those terms of the deal. Take a listen.

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JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Then they don't get an agreement. I mean, look, we're very clear about where we are.

LABOTT: If they try to renegotiate, you'll end? You won't give them an agreement?

KERRY: We've agreed and we're not going to renegotiate things. We've been very clear about that.

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LABOTT: And we also talked about the ups and downs of the negotiations. It's been a real 18-month ride. He spent more time with any foreign minister, the Iranian foreign minister than any foreign minister, and certainly more than any U.S. official in 30 years has spent with an official from Iran. He said it was contentious at times, it was emotional at times, but he's very happy with the deal at hand. Michaela? PEREIRA: All right, very much our thanks to you, Elise. Now, once a

framework of an agreement is reached with Iran, President Obama came out with warnings to congress. Don't do anything to sabotage this. Let's turn to our CNN national correspondent live at the White House Sunlen Serfaty with that part of the story. Sunlen?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michaela, Congress is going to challenge President Obama on this. Already there's a series of defiant bills lined up, ready to go on Capitol Hill. Republicans say there are too many concessions for Iran in the deal. And there's many Democrats on the Hill that are still very skeptical.

Congress comes back from a two-week recess in the middle of April. It is then when Republican Senator Bob Corker, he says he will move forward with his bill. This is a bill that has already elicited a White House veto threat from the administration. The bill would basically if they get a veto proof majority give Congress the approval, the ability to approve or reject a deal in the end. Now the White House has said that this will be disruptive to negotiations, and they're really targeting Senate Democrats who might be skeptical but might be able to be convinced to stay on their side of this. Here's President Obama's warning to congress.

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[08:05:00] OBAMA: If Congress kills this deal not based on expert analysis and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it's the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy. International unity will collapse and the path to conflict will widen.

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SERFATY: The White House is going to be very aggressive on this reaching out to Congress. They have promised briefings. They've promised high level engagement from members of the administration. They are targeting this specific group of skeptical Senate Democrats they need to remain on their side, but it's certainly going to be a large convincing job the White House has. Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Sunlen, thank you very much.

Let's bring in Tony Blinken. He's the Deputy Secretary of State, and have him make the case for the administration. Good to have you with us, Mr. Blinken. Thank you for taking the opportunity. I am the disgruntled Republicans, some Democrats, and your ally Israel, and I want you to -- I want to test your perspective on what their take is here. The first main one is you guys should have come to us sooner in Congress about this because you went your own path, we don't like the path. You went too far down that path, and now we're going to put in our own sanctions because sanctions are the key. What is your push back?

TONY BLINKEN, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: So, Chris, first of all, this deal, if it is finalized, pushes far into the future Iran's pathways to a bomb. It cuts them off far into the future. And it's the most effective thing we can do to deal with the nuclear challenge posed by Iran. To date we've almost had almost 250 briefings, meetings, hearings, phone calls with members of Congress, and now we have the details. And the president has instructed us to move out aggressively to work with Congress in the weeks ahead to show them all of the details, to give them a chance to digest the details, and then to move forward with Congress.

CUOMO: I believe my friend Israel who says we cannot accept a deal that is not an if deal, it's a when deal. You're just pulling out how long it will take them to get a weapon. They don't have to dismantle any of their nuclear facilities. They'll still have plenty. And we know that all they want to do is find a way to come up with a weapon, and you're going to allow them to do that.

BLINKEN: Actually, Chris, it's just the opposite. All of the critical pathways to a bomb are blocked and put off far, far into the future. And, indeed, many of the restrictions will last 15 years, 20 years, 25 years, some of them in perpetuity, indefinitely.

And the other thing that's so critical is this. If you don't like this deal, and it's a very strong and good deal, but if you don't like it, that's fine, but you have an obligation to say what is the alternative and how would you achieve it. This is the best achievable deal that we can get to deal with the Iranian nuclear problem.

CUOMO: And my better deal is squeeze them -- more sanctions. We've only been doing real sanctions for a few years. Let's get the P5 plus 1 and really squeeze them until they fully submit and allow us to go in there as a coalition and dismantle the whole thing. They don't need nuclear power. They're an oil rich reserve country.

BLINKEN: So our partners, the international community, they all have a say in this. And the deal we have with them is we would put the sanctions on, we'd get Iran to the table, and we'd get a good deal. And that's exactly what we've done.

Now, if we try to sanction Iran into total capitulations, most of our partners are going to walk away. The sanctions regime will go away. Iran will get all of the benefits of having trade and money from the international community and it will bear none of the burden of having to actually stop its program. That's the choice.

CUOMO: Leaders lead. The U.S. has to go first. The others will follow. And you can't do a deal when they won't even discuss their feelings about the existence of Israel. They say that's nonnegotiable. How can you do a deal with them when your biggest ally in the region, Israel, is the target of their greatest hatred?

BLINKEN: Actually, this makes more Israel more secure. It makes us more secure. It makes our partners in the region more secure. If there's no deal tomorrow Iran could rush to a nuclear weapon. All of the centrifuges that it stopped spinning, it will start spinning again. All of the centrifuges that it says it's not going to dismantle, they will not only stay in place, more and more will be added. So this actually is a deal that makes us more secure, Israel more secure, and all of our partners more secure. CUOMO: They are duping you because they're using this nuclear

negotiation as a distraction allowing them to run roughshod over the rest of the world. Look at Yemen, look at Iraq, look at what they're doing in Syria, and obviously their plans for Israel. You're not addressing that. You're basically telling them it's OK as long as they do this kind of deal with you about nukes.

BLINKEN: Absolutely not. In fact we're addressing all of those problems very, very vigorously. All of the sanctions that go to their destabilizing activities, their support for terrorism, their human rights problems, those remain in place. We'll be working very closely with our partners in the Gulf. You heard the president say he's going to bring all of the leaders to Washington to Camp David for a summit to look at how we can increase, even, the efforts that we're making to stop Iran's malicious activities in all these other areas. So even as we do this deal we are standing strong and we are standing firm against everything else that they're doing.

CUOMO: And Senator --

[08:10:00] BLINKEN: Imagine this, if they had a bomb, imagine how much more embolden they would be and how much more difficult it would be to deal with them in these areas. This is going to make us more effective in dealing with the other problems that they pose.

CUOMO: Senator Corker says he's going to move forward with his bill. What do you think your chances are of convincing him and some Democrats, but mostly the Republican coalition that they put together of resistance on this?

BLINKEN: I had a great conversation with Senator Corker yesterday. He put out a very thoughtful statement. I think what he'd like to do is digest all the information, the details of the deal. We'll be spending time with him and other leaders in Congress to go over it. What we'd like is really to have some time and space to try and bring this to conclusion, to put in place the final details. It's a complicated process, dotting all the i's, crossing the t's, between now and June 30th. And if we have the time and space to do that we'll be working with Congress to see how they can play the oversight role that they need to play.

CUOMO: We know it's still an iffy proposition. We know there's a lot of work to do. Thank you, Mr. Blinken, for coming on allowing us to test your position.

BLINKEN: Thanks a lot, Chris, appreciate it.

CUOMO: All right, Michaela.

PEREIRA: We want to take you to some breaking news in Kentucky right now. Look at this industrial fire that's going on. We understand four companies -- fire companies are on the scene of a four alarm fire there at Louisville's massive general election appliance park in Louisville. That building that is engulfed is said to be building number six. It has been evacuated. We believe that it is being considered a total loss. We don't know what caused this fire, but just last month a fire in the

very same facility was caused by a dryer. We understand the smoke, you can see thick, black smoke, which means there's a whole lot of fuel in there still burning. Now, all of this is going on while Louisville is also dealing with widespread flooding after heavy rainfall overnight. So you can imagine emergency crews there are stretched to the limit with the flooding and then this massive industrial fire that's going on. We'll continue to update this when we can.

CUOMO: And we'll see, we'll learn if there's a connection between the two, if there's some strain on the electrical, something going on with infrastructure there. But that's a developing story. We're early into it, so we'll tell you what we know as we learn.

We're also learning more about the bloody rampage at the university college in Kenya as the search intensifies for the alleged mastermind. Al-Shabaab terrorists were literally singling out Christians and opening fire. And 147 people lost their lives, most of them students. We have CNN's Christian Purefoy with the latest in Kenya.

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CHRISTIAN PUREFOY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At 5:00 a.m. yesterday morning Al-Shabaab terrorists drove up this dirt track, killed two policemen standing guard at that gate, and then drove into the university where over 800 students were waking up to what they thought was just another day. Now we have seen security trucks and ambulances going up and down this road, but the military have locked down that university. Even here on this side of the gate there is a sense of detachment about what happened, the mass murder and horror that must have gone on yesterday. Here's what we know so far.

This morning it's been over 24 hours since Al-Shabaab gunmen terrorized this university in Kenya. Now with at least 147 dead and nearly 600 evacuated, the community in complete agony.

The massacre beginning before dawn, on Thursday, terrorists descending on early morning prayers, reportedly separating Muslims from Christians and killing the Christians or taking them hostage.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They started jumping up and down, running for their lives. But it's unfortunate that where they were going to is where the gunshots were coming from.

PUREFOY: The gunmen then going dormitory to dormitory before Kenyan forces eventually corner them, the standoff lasting for hours. Finally at around 9:00 p.m. officials announce the end of the operation. Garissa University College, some 19 miles west of the Somali border, a region caught up in the ongoing battle with a Somali- based terror group, Al-Shabaab.

SETH JONES, RAND CORPORATION: Kenya has been the primary driving force behind operations against Al-Shabaab in the region.

PUREFOY: The very same Islamist extremists responsible for the 2013 Westgate Mall massacre in Nairobi, Kenya. According to reports, students had heard warning of an impending attack on the campus just this past week. The Kenyan government now issuing a bounty of more than $200,000 for this man, Muhammad Muhammad, wanted in connection with the campus attack. But officials say Kenyan forces killed the four terrorists responsible in the nearly 17 hour siege, still too fresh.

Somalia, Al-Shabaab's stronghold, is about a four hour drive in that direction, 190 kilometers down a bad dirt track. It's a long, porous border, and it's very difficult to stop these terrorists coming across and hitting soft targets like this.

[08:15:00] But for now, today, it's about Kenya trying to come to terms with what happened behind those gates. Back to you.

CUOMO: All right. Thank you very much. As the updates come in we'll continue to tell you about that story on CNN throughout the morning.

PEREIRA: And, in fact, we're going to bring you a live report from Kenya coming up after the break.

But, right now, we want to show you something that might be the best moment.

A "Price is Right" model giving priceless responses on Twitter after she, how do I put this, accidentally gave away a car, a brand-new car on a show. It happened during a game where the contestant had three tries to guess the car's price. Check out what happened next.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nineteen thousand eight forty-nine. Go ahead, Manuela. No.

Oh!

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PEREIRA: Oopsy. The model clearly embarrassed. Oh, no.

But guess what, they gave her the car, which was really solid of the price is right. She's so happy but apparently the model took to Twitter afterwards to say that she's not in any trouble. She also had kind of a funny shout out to Oprah saying, "Hey, Oprah, now I know what it feels like to be you. Whenever you feel like giving cars away on the show, let me know" which I just think is fantastic.

CUOMO: Well-played and great for the show. The "Price is Right" did the right thing giving that woman the car.

Oh, I love that sound. Do you remember that? You know what, it was the right sound. It was perfect. We don't want you to feel that bad. We're not going to mock you.

PEREIRA: Exactly. You want one of those skinny microphones.

CUOMO: I do. He was great.

PEREIRA: Pretty cool.

CUOMO: I'll never forget. Remember, spay or neuter your pets.

PEREIRA: I know, we're going to be talking the rest of the show. Give it back now.

All right. We're going to head back to our news after a short break here. We're going to turn back to Kenya, the site of that brazen and bloody university attack and the search today for answers.

We are going to speak with a reporter who was there as all of that terror unfolded.

CUOMO: And make no mistake, Indiana and Arkansas have fixed their religious freedom laws. But this story is far from over. We're going to tell you what is happening now.

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[08:21:05] PEREIRA: A manhunt is underway this morning for the alleged mastermind behind that bloody rampage at a university in Kenya. Officials are offering a $215,000 reward for information about this man, Muhammad Muhammad. Thursday's deadly terror attack by al Shabaab terrorists killed 147 people.

Joining me now is the chief Africa correspondent for the African News Channel, eNCA, Robyn Kriel, who covered Thursday's terror attack.

Maybe, Robyn, you can bring us up to date on the latest details we know, horrifying to learn 147 people have been died, mostly students. There were literally dozens and dozens of people injured. What more can you tell us?

ROBYN KRIEL, CHIEF AFRICA CORRESPONDENT FOR ENCA: Well, yes. Dozens and dozens injured with gunshot wounds, Michaela, which means that that death toll could rise significantly. In fact, we're hearing, it's not confirmed, but we are hearing that the death toll is quite a lot higher than initially described by the minister of interior yesterday evening, 147 is what it's at right now. We believe that number could rise and it could rise significantly.

Just some of the things that we're hearing here in Nairobi. Every now and again you get message alerts coming from the local news services which state that bodies are being flown in from Garissa to a local airport here in Nairobi and then taken to the mortuary. There are families that will have to go and identify their loved ones who were killed in yesterday's attack.

So, the last message that we had was that 48 bodies had been flown in from Garissa. You can imagine how horrifying it must be for these family members living all around the country, living all around Kenya, believing that their loved ones are going to come back for a long weekend.

Remember, today is Good Friday. It's a long weekend in Kenya. Most students would have traveled home yesterday evening for the long weekend. And instead, they're essentially being greeted by caskets instead of their students returning home from a university.

PEREIRA: These families, so much heart break for that community. To that point, it is Easter weekend. We know we're learning this chilling detail, that the gunmen separated the non-Muslims from the Muslims killing the Christians. What a horrifying attack.

KRIEL: Yes. It's not the first time we've seen this. There seems to be a pattern in these Shabaab -- at least recent Shabaab attacks. The first time we saw it was in -- and heard of it was in the Westgate attack in 2013 when we were told that people inside the mall actually were telling each other that they had to learn the Shahada, which is a special verse on their Korans. They were typing it so they could pretend they were Muslims. Those who were Muslims could recite it by heart. Non-Muslims were either executed very similarly to yesterday's attack or kept aside. In some cases if they were children, they were, however, let go.

We also saw this in (INAUDIBLE), Michaela, a small village that was all but exterminated by al Shabaab late last year. I went there. Al Shabaab were using rocket-propelled grenades. They were lighting things on fire. They behaved very much like a small militia rather than a group of thugs. They blocked roads. It really was quite devastating, and there again separating Muslims from non-Muslims, and oftentimes killing the non-Muslims.

PEREIRA: Such horror. This is being considered the deadliest attack in Kenya since the 1998 bombing of the American embassy in Nairobi. And, of course, we know, the Westgate Mall, horrifying siege in 2013.

But this is all going on, we understand, while the Kenyan president is saying there is a shortage of police. What is being done to sort of support the police services and maybe even find more willing and able police officers?

[08:25:08] KRIEL: Unfortunately, police don't get paid very much here in Kenya, Michaela. I mean, unbelievably low amounts. I can't say offhand, but it is very, very low.

So, sometimes officers are driven to corrupt measures to make up extra money in which to simply feed their families. It's not the kind of career that people try to go into unless they're absolutely desperate. So there is a shortage of police officers, in a time of war, in a time of terror, and this is asymmetrical insurgent warfare.

It's not conventional warfare that they can fight with tanks and planes. These people can assimilate into the local population very easily. They do have a lack of police.

The president is saying that 10,000 young recruits will be released onto the streets very soon.

And you will remember that President Barack Obama is due to visit here in July. So, these sorts of things will need to be sorted out.

PEREIRA: They very much will. We know that will be front of mind for the White House as they prepare for that visit.

Robyn Kriel, letting us know that the death toll is expected to rise significantly there in the wake of that attack at that university. Thanks for your reporting. We appreciate it.

Chris?

CUOMO: All right, Mick. We'll stay on that.

And another question for you: the end of the battle with these religious freedom laws or just beginning? Indiana now approving historic legislation protecting gays and lesbians. But that's not the way it started out.

Nearly every 2016 White House hopeful weighing in on this issue. What will it mean for the upcoming presidential race? Digging deeper.

Stay with us.

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