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Bailout for Greece; Iran Nuclear Deal. Aired 6:00-6:30am ET.

Aired July 13, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:00] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: This will have impact on global financial markets, but one last piece to the bailout.

The Greek parliament has to approve it. World leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel now weighing in. Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen, joins us live from Berlin with the latest. Good morning, Fred.

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Alisyn. And the Germans certainly are the reason why this deal came through but also why this deal is so tough for the Greeks.

What the Germans said, is they said, "Look, we have been going through this five years." The Greeks have not gotten further financially as to save themselves. That's why if they are going to get a new deal there are going to be some very tough conditions attached to that. They want reforms.

And also, the Greeks are going to have to put together a fund with some $70 billion worth in assets that are going to be outside of Greece, which is sort of like collateral for the - for the Germans and other nations as well.

The Germans have said that a lot of trust was destroyed in the negotiations as they were going forward. They want that trust to be rebuilt. But right now, they want to see deep and of course, you're absolutely, right, right now, everybody is looking at Wednesday to see whether or not the Greek parliament is going to wave these proposals through and only then would a new bailout be able to happen. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right, Fred, we will be watching. Thanks for checking in with us. There's another major deadline, such to expire in just hours the Iran deal, will it get done today? Now, all sides say major hurdles were resolved over the weekend. And only the fine print stands in the way. What does that mean? We have team coverage this morning beginning with CNN Correspondent Nick Robertson, live in Vienna. Your task of course is to kind of read between the lines of what you are hearing. How close do you think we are?

NICK ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris, we are close, but not there, yet. A spokesman for the Iranian Prime Minister said there, there are still issues that require political will to resolve. That's clearly pointed at the United States. They said, however, no one is looking at an extension.

The issues that have separated the sides on this, Iran is been demanding to a lift to a U.N. arms embargo. They have had very strong concerns about how an inspection system would work to verify their compliance on any agreement they sign up to. There are other issues as well that we have heard about, mood music over the weekend. Has been set as such so that it is close. There are only a couple other issues outstanding.

But just in the last couple of hours here, they started a meeting, a P5 plus one, Secretary Kerry with the German, French, Russian and Chinese foreign ministers, British represented there as well the EU - EU foreign policy chief there. Everyone looking very, very steady faced this morning.

The Chinese foreign minister going into the meeting today said that any future negotiations cannot and should not be prolonged. That is a headline because we haven't heard anyone telling us, yet, at the foreign minister level there are going to be future negotiations after this. So, at the moment, will something be signed today? If it is, it seems that parts are still going to be left out.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK. Nick, if anything happens to the next three hours, send up a flare and we will come right to you. Meanwhile, if a deal is announced today, the mission is far from over for the White House, President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry will have to sell the nuclear deal to a very skeptical congress. CNN's White House Correspondent, Michelle Kosinski is live with that part of the story. What are they saying, Michelle?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn. Right. So if this deal is reached, big accomplishment for all parties involved, but it won't quite be over, yet. Because remember, congress has a say according to this bill that was passed into law back in May, and many in congress, especially senate republicans have been extremely vocal about not even liking the framework of this deal.

Because among other things, it doesn't completely dismantle Iran's nuclear program. So according to the law, congress now has 60 days to look over the deal. During that time, the administration has certain obligations, they have to report to congress. They can't wave any of the sanctions that congress opposed against - imposed against Iran.

And then if congress votes to approve or disapprove the deal, which is not technically an up or down vote, but a vote on whether or not to remove the sanctions that congress imposed, then the White House could veto that to override a veto, it takes a two-thirds majority.

So if that were to happen, you can see, even though this is not technically an up or down vote on the deal and just looking at sanctions, it could have that effect of killing the deal. Because what to do about those sanctions is such a key part of this. And Iran has demanding that all sanctions, at least be agreed to be eventually removed.

Chris?

CUOMO: And if he does veto, what happens? So we are going to have a lot to follow through here other than what is inked in Vienna. All right. Thank you very much, Michelle. Appreciate it.

So now, to the massive manhunt in Mexico for the notorious drug lord known as El Chapo, the stocky one. He broke out of a maximum security prison this weekend through this mile long tunnel that was built for him, apparently.

[06:05:00] American officials are therefore questioning if there was inside help and saying, he should have been extradited to the U.S. to face charges here. CNN's Polo Sandoval is live outside the prison in Mexico with the latest.

Polo?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Chris, this morning, a partial perimeter set up around the Mexican city of Toluca. It's about an hour's drive from the country's capital of Mexico City. And the center of the search seems to be the facility you see behind me. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaping from that facility just over 24 hours ago, and now law enforcement here on the ground here in Mexico are in a middle of a desperate manhunt.

This morning a massive international manhunt for one of the world's most powerful and deadly drug trafficking kingpins is underway. Joaquin Guzman, known as El Chapo and a major supplier of heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the United States staged a brazen escape from this Mexican prison.

It's the second escape. And this time, he busted out of a maximum security federal prison just west of Mexico city. Prison officials said guards at the federal prison performs a routine check of camera feeds and noticed Guzman was missing on Saturday evening.

At 5'6", Mexican authorities believed El Chapo, Spanish for shorty fit through a carve 20 by 20 inch hole located near the shower of his cell. Beyond that, a vertical passage with stairs leading to a tunnel stretching nearly a mile. The escape infuriated U.S. law enforcement officials who pushed for Chapo's extradition to the United States at the time of his recapture last year. They said it's a corruption and questioned the ability of Mexican officials to keep him behind bars.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's estimated that he may have murdered or ordered the murders of more 10,000 people. So this is not somebody that is playing around with prison officials. He pretty much controls what he wants to do and they go along with it. They look the other way to keep their families alive.

SANDOVAL: Guzman got out by a way of an elaborate underground escape route complete with electricity, lighting and treck for motorcycle and even ventilation. Investigators swarmed a half built house at the other end, but Guzman was nowhere in sight. The two-time escapee broke out of prison in a laundry court back in 2001 and are left then for more than a decade.

A break in that case came in 2013 when they discovered seven houses in Mexico that were connected by an intricate web of secret passageways. Guzman invading authorities through a hidden hatch under his bathtub.

And this morning, the very real concern is that Guzman may have already slipped away. You see there's very real concern here on the ground that he may have made it to his native home state of Sinaloa, a mountainous region where many of the people would welcome him with open arms. As he is seen as more or less a Robin Hood like figure there Alisyn.

Now, at daybreak, we will show you an aerial view of what this corner of the country looks like. It's very incredible, this escape is raising so many questions.

CAMEROTA: All right. Polo, we will check back in with you. But for on all of this, let's get to CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes and Ana Maria Salazar, a Political Analyst who has served for the White House as policy advisor for President Clinton's special envoy for the Americas. She has worked on drug enforcement policy. Nice to see both of you this morning.

Tom, I want to start with you. Because you have worked with the Mexican government on fighting crime. What do we need to know about this guy, Guzman and how he operates?

FUENTES: We need to know, Alisyn, that he is a complete savage. What they do and how they do business is based on complete terror in their communities or the entire region of Sinaloa and other parts of Mexico. These are people that they killed journalists, politicians, police officers, corrections officers and then not just that person, but every member of their family, parents, their cousins, their children and oftentimes horrific deaths. I mean dipping their bodies in acid, peeling their skin, dismembering them.

Specifically, horrible, horrible torture. That ISIS could take a page out of his play out of his book on how to do terrorism and how to do business along those line.

CAMEROTA: Oh, it's also gruesome, Tom, the way that what this history and the way you describe it. Ana Maria, so the prison guards, can we extrapolate what Tom have said, feared him didn't get in his way when maybe they even knew he was trying to escape?

ANA MARIA SALAZAR, LATIN AMERICAN POLITICAL ANALYST: It could be fear. They could have been brought up. Not only the prison guards, but also he had to have access to the prison layout. He had to have access to the video feed layout. We have to, we have to remind your audience, that when he broke out, he broke out exactly at a point where the video feed could not see. [06:10:00] They don't have a video of him going through this

hole. So it's just one particular hole in the bathroom where they couldn't see him. So he had to have access to a lot of information that prison guards don't necessarily have. So this could go much higher.

CAMEROTA: Tom, once again, we just have come off, here in this country, this brazen prison escape through a tunnel system and this is what happened here. The tunnel system through which Guzman escaped was a mile long, very sophisticated in construction. It was built tall enough so that he could stand-up. He's 5'8", I believe. He's known as shorty. So, what does - yet, you say, what we saw in Mexico is quite different than what we saw at Clinton in New York.

FUENTES: Exactly. In Clinton, we are looking at a couple of guys with help from a few people within prison to hacksaw their way through pipes and concrete and find their way out through a manhole. This guy didn't break out of that prison, he cruised out. They had a motorized vehicle set up in that tunnel. This tunnel was built by a professional construction firm, professional engineers, which he has employed at the border and he pretty much invented the tunnel building under the U.S. and Mexican border to bring drugs into the United States.

So for him to have one of those companies come down to Mexico City or nearby to the prison and build a tunnel, you know, build a tremendous tunnel for a mile in length to come up under the prison and up into his room or his cell, I mean that was nothing for him to do that. And he's also, he's on Forbes list as one of the wealthiest people in the world. He's probably one of the single wealthiest criminals in the world with a net worth over $1 billion.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, $1 billion is his net worth for all this drug trafficking and drug cartel. As a summary, this is a huge embarrassment for the president of Mexico. This is the world's most wanted man after Bin Laden. I mean, as Tom said, responsible for heinous crime, but yes, you said, you believe that his escape may go higher than obviously prison officials. So what does that mean, into the government?

SALAZAR: Well, we have to see. It's hard to imagine him having access to all this information that allows him to build this tunnel without having information that you only can get by either those who do consulting for the government or who work or outsource work by government or government officials. It wouldn't surprise me or it wouldn't surprise other analysts. I'm sure Tom wouldn't be surprised. I think the most frightening aspect of all of this in

addition to the fact that he broke out one of the most secured prison in Mexico. Is that there is a lot of concern that once again we're going to have an important spike of violence in Mexico.

He also has presence in 10 countries around the world, especially in Latin America. And there could be this kind of gang battle for the turf that he may have lost while he was in jail. So, there's also a lot of concern that there could be a spike of violence because of this. CAMEROTA: Tom, are Americans more in danger with this guy on the

loose?

FUENTES: It's hard to say if we could be more in danger, we already were in danger by his huge operation. Which I think probably, pretty - pretty much continued with him running it from prison. He would have had no trouble essentially issuing the orders in maintaining control.

And if I could add one additional point, the way these cartels operate is that their young thugs, if you will, are allowed to freelance in between of the trafficking deals. And that - and one of the biggest crime waves in Mexico is when Americans go to visit relatives in Mexico, they are often kidnapped for ransom. So when we were discussing a couple months about the hostage policy around the world, more people, more Americans have been held hostage in Mexico by these crime groups than the middle east or other places we suspect.

And the FBI works all those cases. There's hundreds of those cases. And often times the family does pay the FBI helps, whatever family help is and they kill the people often. I mean, half the time they let them go and half the time they kill them anyway. So when the family raises money, they gamble that it is successful. And it is successful occasionally.

CAMEROTA: The last time he escaped, he was on the loose for 13 years. We'll see what happens today. Ana Maria Salazar, Tom Fuentes, thanks for all the information.

FUENTES: You're welcome.

CAMEROTA: Let's get over to Chris.

CUOMO: All right. We have breaking news in France. 18 people evacuated after being held hostage north of Paris. This happened inside a clothing store at a mall. It started as a robbery attempt we're told. Police believed several gunmen were involved and may have already escaped. It is unclear if any hostages remain. We are on the story and will keep you updated.

CAMEROTA: At least 25 people dead and 10 wounded in a suicide attack near a U.S. base in Southeastern Afghanistan. Afghan officials say, the bomber was in a car that blew up at a check point near Camp Chapman. But It's not clear who is responsible for the attack. U.S. officials say no American personnel were hurt. Camp Chapman is where seven CIA employees were killed in a suicide bombing in 2009.

[06:15:00] CUOMO: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker today makes it official. Launching his campaign for president. Walker will be the 15th Republican to formally enter the 2016 race. He's planning to tour the early voting states right after the announcement including a three-day tour in Iowa in an RV. Walker's poll numbers have climbed in Iowa but are slipping back home in Wisconsin. We'll tell you how he adds to the race.

CAMEROTA: Well, the Midwest is under assault from storm this morning. Torrential rain triggering flash flooding from Ohio to Kentucky. Water is knee high in some places, cars therefore are stranded, some of them submerged. And it is not over yet. So let's get right to CNN Meteorologist Chad Myers with all the latest, what are you seeing, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: Alisyn, right now, 16 million people under the gun for severe weather including Milwaukee and Chicago. And it was a violent Sunday as well.

Tornado sirens sounding in Minneapolis. Severe weather pummels parts of the Midwest overnight. Damaging winds, large hail and thunderstorms ripping through Minnesota to Illinois into this morning.

Drivers scouring to find safety under a bridge as southern Minnesota gets slammed with winds up to 80 miles per hour. In Kentucky, firefighters rescue stranded drivers in Louisville. Up to five inches of torrential rain triggers massive flash flooding over the weekend. Cars submerged under water in Ohio. After flash flooding strikes 12 miles outside of Columbus and the severe weather is not over.

Tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail expected today throughout the Midwest and severe storms moving into the south by Tuesday. We have big map you saw there from Chicago land all the way south into parts of the Ohio valley, that's where the weather is going to be bad today.

We will have some tornadoes on the ground today right along the frontal system. This is the battleground from guides all the way to Chicago back to about Merlin, all the way down even to Cincinnati later on tonight. It is going to be a violent afternoon. I know we expect these things in the spring, don't typically expect them in the summertime. But we have a big front out there today and we have severe weather possible.

For you guys, though, 80s, 70s, really nice in the northeast. No big weather for you.

CAMEROTA: You know, keep an eye on the Midwest for us. Chad, thank you so much.

So at this hour, we are nearing that nuclear negotiations for Iran and six world powers are, quote, almost there. What is standing between this and a landmark agreement? We'll take a closer look at that.

CUOMO: Donald Trump. All right. So you've got two things here. One is, him saying he is the future of the GOP, then you have people on the other side, one, a presidential rival saying he's a wrecking ball. So which is - s he the problem or the solution? We debate, you decide, then go online and you yell at us.

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CUOMO: This perspective Iran deal is all about questions, will it get done today? That's the obvious one. But if it does, will congress approve it? If not, then what happens. Elise Labott, CNN's Global Affairs Correspondent she is here for us and Hillary Mann Leverette, the co-author of "Going To Tehran" she is also someone was negotiated with Iran when she works at the state department for two different administrations.

It's good to have you both. Alise, the politics, the law surrounding this is very fuzzy. It's not a treaty. We know it's kind of a deal. Congress gets a say because they have the purse strings with the sanctions. But how do you see this going forward, assuming, let's assume a deal gets done.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know, they blew past the 60 - the 30-day deadline that was July 9th, Chris. And so this means, the congress will have 60 days to review the deal. And, and basically, the administration said that they think a deal would stand 30 days or 60 days. But, I anticipate congress approving the deal. There will be a lot of talk, a lot of debate and criticism on both sides, I think. But in the end, I think, at this point, congress probably pose poise to accept a deal even though this deal is only as good as this administration, President Obama.

A lot of that political candidates for 2016 on the Republican side have said they would possibly overturn the deal. So I think right now the goal is to get a deal in place and the hope is, if Iran will begin to implement it, then that could go a long way toward it being implemented in the future. Because the alternative is unthinkable.

CUOMO: Well, often times, a deal is only as good as the next deal, you know what I mean? So that's one reality they have to deal with both sides. One other question for you, Alise though, procedurally. Congress says no, we don't like the deal. They don't give them the vote. They vote it down. The president can veto it. What if they say we don't care, this isn't legislation. We are not giving money for the sanctions.

LABOTT: Well, there are certain sanctions that President Obama can wave in terms of executive authority.

CUOMO: But not all of them.

LABOTT: That's right but a lot of these sanctions are U.N. security council resolutions and then they will be lifted under those measures. I think the problem right here is, if the U.S. does not make good under their commitments under this agreement, then the whole sanctions regime of the international community falls apart.

CUOMO: There's that, I get that. But I'm just saying here, domestically, as they go through the approval process, that's congress' leverage and it's just interesting, Hillary, how this plays out on that side. Now, on the other side, OK, do you believe that you can have a deal where Iran will really allow the kinds of inspections that seem so important to members of congress here?

HILLARY MANN LEVERETT, NEGOTIATED WITH IRAN AT STATE DEPARTMENT: You know, the Iranians will call, what we will call inspections, the Iranians are going to call managed access. And if you look at their records both in terms of the nuclear issue allowing managed access to the atomic agency, it's been good.

[06:25:00] But even more impressive is their record with the chemical records treaty where they have allowed quite extensive managed access international inspectors going into even military sites. If you look at the record soberly without the demonization, their record is good.

And I think there's a lot of reason to believe that an international agency can carry this out. They have done it in the chemical weapons field. They have been in Iran now for more than ten years on the nuclear issues.

CUOMO: Yes. Hillary, people are thinking about Iran right now, and we usually skip over what you said. But I think today is worth engaging, the demonization that usually goes along with Iran. Is that wrong? Because the perspective here is, why do we need the deal? Because Iran is bad and you can't trust them they will create a nuclear weapon and try to kill people with it, maybe us.

And you also need a deal because they are running rough shod in all this international situations there's a detriment of U.S. policy. You do not accept that. What's the other side?

LEVERETT: Yes. I mean, there's two reasons. One as I, I look at the case of United States and China. We came to terms with China, accepted the people's Republic of China which has enormously demonized in the United States. When I was a child you couldn't say People's Republic of China you could only refer to it as Red china.

We came to terms with them not because they are a great country with a great record and have American beliefs but because, we needed the deal for ourselves to get out of the strategic platform Vietnam and never ending military interventions in Asia. We need a deal with Iran for the same reasons in the Middle East. We are on the trajectory of never ending unwinnable wars there.

So we need it for our own interest like China, the system that they have built in Iran is born from a revolution. A revolution to give that country and its people real independence. Foreign policy independence especially. It's their system. They are going to morph it as they choose. And we have every interest to align with it. It is, today, the one stable political order in the Middle East and a strong one at that.

CUOMO: Wow what an irony here. Iran being the strong shoulder in the region. Just one quick button here. Assuming something gets done and it's just about time, they have 60 days. We are expecting a vote quickly. What do you think will be the major dynamic of opposition about that deal in congress?

LABOTT: Well, I think the thing is that the deal is only as good as the dealers when you look at the breakout time, President Obama said after this deal is done, Iran's breakout time is almost zero. I think they want to dismantle Iran some nuclear infrastructure not just in place. I think that they want to make sure there's a quick snap back of sanctions if Iran violates but those are things that are going to be tricky.

Because once this train gets going, Chris, I think it's going to be hard to put the sanctions back in place, who determines what a violation is. I think the critics of the deal want to make sure there's more permanent curves not temporary ones.

CUOMO: Alise, Hillary, thank you. Stand by. As we get word of a deal, we want to come back to figure out what it means. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK. Chris, Senator Lindsey Graham calling Donald Trump a quote wrecking ball saying his comments on immigration threatens the future of the Republican party. We discuss that, next.

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