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Rand Paul Announcement; Al Qaeda in Yemen; Duke Wins NCAA Championship; Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired April 07, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: For more on the five things to know be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.

Alisyn.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela. Back to one of the top stories.

Senator Rand Paul set to announce his 2016 presidential bid just a few hours from now in Louisville. Our next guest is one of the few black Republicans to have ever served in Congress. He endorses Rand Paul and will join him on stage during this announcement. Joining us now is the chairman for Watts Partners, J.C. Watts.

Good morning, J.C.

J.C. WATTS, CHAIRMAN, WATTS PARTNERS: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm doing well. So what do you like so much about Rand Paul?

WATTS: Well, Alisyn, I think he - he takes the traditional or the standard Republican positions on taxes and education and health care reform and the things that we're dealing with in those arenas. He understands the importance of knowing that we're underperforming in our economy and he's doing the right things there, but he's done things that I've not seen in a Republican since Jack Kemp. And I think he wants to have the right perspective and he wants to do the right thing.

And I've been able to have his ear and encourage him to go to Ferguson, go to Detroit, go to Atlanta, go to Chicago, establish deeper relationships with non-traditional constituencies, and he's been criticized by Republicans and Democrats. But the fact is, he's remained consistent, again, because I think he wants to do the right thing and he wants to have the right perspective. And if he - if he's doing what I've encouraged the party to do that the Republican National Committee is not doing, that other Republican candidates don't do, if he's doing those things, I believe he deserves my support in doing those nontraditional things.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about black voters because some pundits paint them as more culturally conservative than some other constituencies. Is Rand Paul conservative, socially conservative enough for many black voters or would they prefer, say, a Mike Huckabee or a Ted Cruz? WATTS: Alisyn, I don't think it's the socially conservative issues

that Republicans miss the black community on, I think it's the justice issues. You know, as evangelicals, as conservatives, as Republicans, we like to talk about the riotousness or we like to talk about righteous issues, but we leave out the justice issues. I think righteous minus justice, I think it's incomplete. How can you talk about riotousness and not talk about justice, not be concerned about that? And I think Rand Paul has taken on those justice issues.

I think that's the reason he went to Ferguson to say, I want to listen, I want to learn, I want to figure out how I can be helpful. That's why he's gone to Detroit and Atlanta and Chicago and struck up a conversation over the last two, two and a half years with these - with these different constituencies. He's talked about second chance, incarceration reform. And, you know, I'm the chairman of the (INAUDIBLE) Task Force that was created by Congress to study federal prison reform. And I'm telling you, you have a lot of low, non-violent offenders that they do things at 18, 19, 20 years of age, 25 years of age that when they get out of prison they have to pay for the rest of their lives. We keep this leash around their neck, around their leg for the rest of their lives.

Rand Paul has addressed those things. He's talked about them at Urban League, at the NAACP. But, Alisyn, he's also talked about them at CPAC and Reagan Day dinners. And so I think the justice part of the equation is just as important and he's not been afraid of getting voted off the island for talking about those things.

CAMEROTA: Such a great point. It does seem radical to talk about prison reform. You do hear so few people doing that publicly. But let me ask you this, can a libertarian win the primary?

WATTS: I don't - I don't necessarily think that - and everybody will view him differently, I suspect. I don't necessarily consider him a libertarian. I think he is a conservative with libertarian leanings in some things. When you look at, you know, his - some of the positions that he takes and when you talk about civil liberties, I think he points more to the Constitution. Should we keep someone imprisoned forever without having a trial, you know, in terms of civil - civil liberties? I think he's challenged us to say, let's think through these issues. We're having - we're having a - this is a - this is very complicated. It is very comprehensive and we shouldn't make knee-jerk positions about what the government should or shouldn't be doing. And I think I kind of agree with the fact that he's challenged the nation into a new discussion, a deeper conversation concerning civil liberties.

[08:35:11] CAMEROTA: What's he going to say today that surprises us?

WATTS: Well, good question. I'm not talking to him about his presentation today. I'm actually introducing his secret weapon, which is his wife, Kelly. And that's the easiest job on the stage today. But I don't know what he's going to say, but I do find that he's been very consistent in whatever he's said, regardless of the demographic or regardless of the audience, from the chamber to the business roundtable to the Urban League and the NAACP. He's been very consistent in trying to, again, I think encourage us into a deeper discussion about the current affairs of the day.

CAMEROTA: All right. Well, J.C. Watts, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY and sharing your perspective on this candidate with us. And we will be watching less than four hours from now when Rand Paul makes his announcement. Thanks so much.

WATTS: Alisyn, thank you. Tell Chris hey for me.

CAMEROTA: We'll do. We'll do. He hears you. Thanks so much.

Let us know what you think. You can tweet us @newday or go to facebook.com/newday and tell us what you think about Rand Paul's announcement.

Let's go to Chris.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, big news this morning, Alisyn. Yemen is descending into chaos and it matters. What role does Iran play in the situation? Remember, the U.S. and the P5 Plus 1 about to make a deal with Iran, if Congress wants it. Are they destabilizing the entire region? Is there more here than just nukes? We'll tell you coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:40:19] CUOMO: Yemen matters more and more. Now al Qaeda making a resurgence there, seizing the opportunity while the Houthi rebels fight what's left of Yemen's government. This amid Saudi-led airstrikes that have also had some horrible repercussions for the locals there. The Houthis are supposedly backed by Iran. We'll talk about why I say supposedly. And what is Iran's role there and in the region overall as Yemen just continues to deteriorate?

Let's bring in CNN counterterrorism analyst and former CIA counterterrorism official Mr. Philip Mudd.

PHILIP MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning. How are you?

CUOMO: Always a pleasure to have you, Phil.

Let's start here with the specific as we stand in the region.

MUDD: Yes.

CUOMO: The capital city, Sanaa.

MUDD: Yes.

CUOMO: Right around the Port of Aiden there. Of course, that's where the USS Cole situation happened. That was our introduction to Yemen here in the U.S. as a terrorist base. Now what's the state of play?

MUDD: Look, you'd think this was between Houthis and the ISIS guys, the AQ guys down - the al Qaeda guys down south. There's another factor that you have to look at when you're looking at the capital, and that is power vacuum. The old president is moving in. He never quite left the scene. Classic power broker. Been around for decades. Very savvy guy. What's happening now is, the current president, the one backed by the U.N., is losing power. The fellow who is waiting in the wings after he was ousted in the Arab Spring, is looking at this vacuum saying, hey, time for me to come back.

CUOMO: Now, does he have the manpower? Because one of the things that seems confusing there is what resistance? Who are the Houthis fighting? You know, because we hear that the Yemen military is in shambles. So who's fighting back? Who's resisting?

MUDD: Well, there's differences among the Yemen military about who to support. As I said, the former president's got his supporters within the military that he's kept around for years. My concern as we expand the conversation here is that we're going to get a hard line over time between Houthis and the al Qaeda - the Sunni guys in the south, the Houthi Shia, the al Qaeda -

CUOMO: So let's see what that looks like. Put that on the map for us, Duke (ph) -

MUDD: All right.

CUOMO: So we'll see now as we move out of the capital. You're saying that there's a regional play here as well?

MUDD: That's right. If you - if you look at Yemen in isolation, it looks a little confusing. Let's step back for a moment and look at the region. You've got Shia versus Sunni. Houthis versus the ISIS guys and the al Qaeda guys. What do you have in a place like Syria? You've got a Shia backed government, that is Assad, trying to be ousted by ISIS, another Sunni group. What do you have in Iraq, same problem, Shia militias backed by Iran going against Sunnis in villages like Tikrit. So each of these looks in isolation like a confusing sort of mess. When you step back, what you see slowly happening is the gelling of a regional divide that people have worried about for decades, maybe even centuries. That is the divide between Sunnis and Shia.

CUOMO: Fair criticism that Iran is the engine behind what we're seeing in Yemen with the Houthis and other Shia movements in this direction?

MUDD: I think Yemen is a different case. I suspect that people overplay the Iranian influence there.

CUOMO: Overplay?

MUDD: I think - overplay it. I don't think that's true in Iraq and Syria. Iran is a huge player in those regions. I think you just have a country that was cobbled together over time. Used to be north and south Yemen. It was only a couple of decades ago that Yemen, as a unified force, was formed. A lot of divisions. As I said, regional tribal divisions. Also this religious division between Shia and Sunni. And so I think a country that maybe never really existed is now falling apart as a result of the Arab Spring.

CUOMO: And, obviously, there are huge implications for the U.S. in terms of our own terrorist monitoring activities. MUDD: Yes, that's right.

CUOMO: And our security as a result. You've been warning us about that and why this - because when you hear sectarian, oh, good, then we can stay out. The U.S. doesn't have to be involved. You say not that easy.

MUDD: I agree. And hold on a second, your short term, to me, that makes sense. I mean I spent my career watching violence. A sad career, but nonetheless been watching this stuff for 30 years. Hold on a second here. Short term, in some ways, violence plays in our favor. That is, the ISIS guys, the al Qaeda guys down south, instead of focusing on how do I use the safe haven that I have to organize an attack against the head of the snake, New York, I've got to focus on other security forces around me that are coming to attack me. When you face a local threat, you tend to be galvanized by that threat and not by what's happening in Washington and New York. If the battle lines harden, if the Houthis stop the offensive, if the Sunnis fail, if the Sunni guys down south, who are al Qaeda sympathizers, if not affiliates, cement their control, I think they will one day, longer term, go back to saying, hey, what's my real mission? My real mission is going after the head of the snake, that's the Americans.

CUOMO: So we want to delay that as long be as we can and try to make some in roads along the way. The other problem is, you have a big humanitarian crisis getting here.

MUDD: That's right.

CUOMO: And the U.S. wants to help, you know, other Arab allies and U.S. allies and Europe want to help. Can't right now, it's too hot, because you don't want to get in the mix of the violence. So it's a little bit of a difficult fight.

MUDD: That's right and you want to stabilize. You've got a president who is not effectively in control in Yemen. You have the former president who wants to take control. Even if we had victory there against the Houthis, who are you going to put in?

CUOMO: Now, Mudd.

[08:45:00] MUDD: Yes, sir.

CUOMO: I don't like talking about your personal life much --

MUDD: Yes, I don't have one.

CUOMO: You've been on TV a lot.

MUDD: Yes.

CUOMO: Well, you've had some time to write a book. Quickly give me the title.

MUDD: Did you get the license plate --

CUOMO: No, what license plate? MUDD: Of the truck that hit you this - I mean, really? You need some rouge, a little makeup, my friend.

CUOMO: Listen, let me get you back to where you're strong, which is talking about intelligence.

MUDD: Yes. That's your weakness.

CUOMO: That's why I need you. "The Head Game" is the book. Tell me about what it is about before I lose my patience.

MUDD: I'm sorry, this party is over. You know, I will crush you like a bug, sprinkle you on my cereal and eat you for breakfast. We all deal with too much data. I sat there and I had analysts in just out of ivy league colleges come in and say look at all of this threat information I have. Over the course of time you say, there's got to be a better way to look at a complex problem, how to buy a house, how to buy a car, how to look at investment than coming in saying there's a load of data, it's Tuesday, it's Wednesday, it's Thursday, how do I make sense of that? The book is a simple methodology to for whatever you do to say if you have a complex problem, there's a better way than just to throw up the data and say how do I make sense of it?

CUOMO: Philip Mudd, thank you very much.

MUDD: I didn't mean that about the intelligence.

CUOMO: Yes, you did. Yes, you did. The part about sprinkling me on breakfast, that, you meant.

MUDD: That's true, yes.

CUOMO: Michaela, please. Help me out.

PEREIRA: He meant that. Don't get it twisted. That's a bad man right there. We're so glad he's on our side. Good to see you, Phillip.

So not a great morning to be a Badger, but sure is a great day to be a Blue Devil. Duke claiming the NCAA Championship last night. A big win for a team that is certainly no stranger to taking the title. We're going to take you live to where the fans are reacting coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:31] PEREIRA: And the crowd goes wild. The Blue Devils notching another NCAA Championship last night came storming back in the second half to take the title over Wisconsin, giving coach Mike Krzyzewski his fifth, count them, five championships.

CNN's Rachel Nichols is in Indy this morning. I bet she didn't have a whole lot of sleep but does she care? No. Tell me how did it feel to be in that arena last night?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It was absolutely crazy. It is amazing when you think about it, five championships for coach Mike Krzyzewski. That puts him only behind the great John Wooden. This may have been one of his most unusual titles. This was a difficult year for Duke. Midway through the season, a cloud of controversy, they dismissed one of the players from the team, another player transferred. Guys, that only left them with eight players total, eight guys, and four of them were freshmen. This is not a recipe for a championship, but in this wild celebration that happened on the court last night, players told me exactly how all of those experiences actually made them tougher and helped them come from behind to claim this win. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: What made you know that you would come back and win this game?

TYUS JONES, DUKE GUARD: We just believed in one another. I'm at a loss for words right now. We believed in one another. We believed in coach. This team is full of fighters.

NICHOLS: So I got a little piece of history with you. Do you want to show that off for everyone? Not bad. What does it feel like to hold one of those in your hand?

GRAYSON ALLEN, DUKE GUARD: It's so great. For this being my freshman year and to have this, it's crazy. Never thought this would happen.

NICHOLS: You've said so many times this season, you love this team. How did that make that moment on the court holding that trophy just so much more rich?

MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, DUKE HEAD COACH: Well, it's the best. You know, it's -- it's as good a feeling as I've had in sport, to win with this group. They -- they're so young and so together, so gritty and just a pleasure to coach. This has been a joy to coach, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: You can see Coach K emotional there. Remember, last year Duke was knocked out of the first round by Mercer. It was a huge upset. Mike Krzyzewski left that very upset and in that moment, Tyus Jones, that first young man you saw in that clip of sound, he was still a high school senior and he texted Coach Krzyzewski, guys, and said, I promise you, with me, things will be different next year. Well, that text was pretty good. He certainly paid it off last night.

CUOMO: That's for sure. What do you think the big difference was last night when Wisconsin was up 9, they got the big man, Kaminsky. They fought their way, too. They fought the toughest team they could in each round by seeding. What made the difference last night?

NICHOLS: Yes, remember, Wisconsin is the team that knocked out Kentucky. And by the way, guys, this was like a Badger home game last night. Wisconsin had the crowd, it was probably 80 percent Wisconsin fans because so many people drove from Madison once their team made the finals, but it wasn't enough even though, as you said, they were ahead by 9. Didn't play the defense that they have been known for. Duke, certainly grittier and better on the foul line. Bo Ryan, the coach of Wisconsin, might tell you they didn't get quite the fair calls he thinks they should. Officiating, obviously, that's his line that we hear quite often in sports.

PEREIRA: Don't get me get started on - I was frustrated with some of the calls during the Kentucky game, but that's Bitter Betty talking. Listen, don't sleep on this team. You said most of those kids are freshmen. That means Duke will be back big next year.

NICHOLS: Well, we'll see how many stay. Of course, this is today's NCAA. We don't know how many kids are going to go onto the pros after this. They can, of course, leave college after one year. One and done or as the coach of Kentucky likes to call it, John Calipari, "succeed and proceed." Whatever you call it, it leads to uncertainty in college sports. One thing is for sure, Duke certainly gave their school and their fans a great night last night. Certainly a good foundation to build on for the future.

PEREIRA: Alright, Rachel. Go get some sleep.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much. A lot of man hugging and kissing on the court.

PEREIRA: Crying, too.

CAMEROTA: Crying. There was a lot of affection and love.

(CROSSTALK)

CUOMO: All acceptable.

PEREIRA: No violation of man law, according to this guy.

CAMEROTA: Oh, no, you're cool with that.

CUOMO: Men feel. Men feel.

[08:55:00] CAMEROTA: Do you?

CUOMO: Yes.

PEREIRA: On the field.

CUOMO: Hot and cold.

CAMEROTA: Anger. Happiness.

CUOMO: Anger.

CAMEROTA: You're right.

PEREIRA: And if bacon is involved, too.

CUOMO: No argument there.

CAMEROTA: Speaking of food, a Girl Scout is supposed to be selling the cookies, so why is she giving them away? It's the power of The Good Stuff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Alright. Time for The Good Stuff. Girl Scout in Pittsburgh sold a lot of cookies, that's good. Especially, Samoas, now called Caramel Delights. What's that about? We'll talk about that another time. Even gooder (ph), she donated thousands of boxes of cookies to a children's hospital.

PEREIRA: How about that?

CUOMO: All her idea. It's true. Emily Ruggieri's dad was treated there for childhood cancer that finally took his life when she was just a baby, so Emily decided she's going to ask her customers to buy an additional box just for the hospital in his honor, and it worked.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILY RUGGIERI, GIRL SCOUT WHO DONATED COOKIES TO HOSPITAL: I first started around in the neighborhood, then my mom and dad started on Facebook and then it just went on from friend to friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Friend to friend. What do you think she got? 50 boxes? 100 boxes?

PEREIRA: 100, 200?

[09:00:00] CUOMO: 6,000 boxes of free cookies for the parents and families of Pittsburgh's Children's Hospital. You know what? Sometimes a little sweet treat goes a long way when you're dealing with those families with what they're dealing with.