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Reactions to the Iran Deal; President Obama Turns to Criminal Justice System Reform. Aired 7:00-7:30a ET.

Aired July 15, 2015 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00] POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Image of Joaquin El Chapo Guzman and the moment he slid out of view of the security cameras and into the tunnel below. This surveillance video shows the second brazen prison escape of infamous drug lord Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. Watch as Guzman still in prison uniform, calmly walks over to the shower in his cell, bends over and then seemingly vanishes into thin air.

Mexican authorities say Guzman exploited two blind spots in his maximum security prison cell which is under 24 hour surveillance slipping through a hole under the shower to make an elaborate get away. Guzman's tracking bracelet that monitored his every move was left behind.

To see somebody escape from supposedly the top security prison, but through a tunnel a mile long with lights, with an air vents, with a motorcycle and rails, it makes the government look useless.

These images showing the escape tunnel and a motorcycle on the track inside the tunnel Guzman used to escape. According to Mexican officials the bike was slightly used to remove dirt during the excavation and transport the tools for the dig. The tunnel stretching for about a mile and ending inside a half built house.

El Chapo, a menacing marijuana, heroin and cocaine kingpin and head of a multibillion dollar Sinaloa drug cartel is described as a complete savage with powerful ties spanning across Mexico and the U.S. And now, details emerging that after Guzman's first recapture in early 2014, U.S. DEA agents received information suggesting that Guzman's relatives and associates were looking for ways to break him out of prison.

Again, passing this information along to Mexican authorities, a claim Mexico's government has denied.

The director of the prison at the job now fired as well as several guards. And this morning, Chis some of the officers continue to be stationed outside the prison perimeter. This is despite the predominant theory around here, Chris that Chapo Guzman left the region a long time ago, perhaps after making the break Saturday.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Polo, we'll stay on the investigation. Thank you very much. So the Iran deal is big news this morning. It is done - ish. I say that because the president still has to seal the deal to congress or risk not being able to deliver on his pledge that lift the sanctions on Iran. Critics were quick. And so was the president speaking to the New York Times and now set to take reporter's question today.

Let's start the team coverage with Michelle Kosinski, live at the House - White House, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That was a good description of where exactly things stand. I mean, U.S. Congress is poised and more than ready to carefully review this deal. You know, the administration is already beginning a hard push to sell it t. And today President Obama will hold a press conference, the Vice President will head to Capitol Hill to talk to democrats. And from virtually every side now, a hailstorm of reaction.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have cut off every pathway for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

KOSINSKI: President Obama got his nuclear deal with Iran. The job now to defend and sell it at home.

OBAMA: I think that criticism is misguided.

KOSINSKI: Taking on the skeptics and critics asking why the U.S. and five other countries couldn't insist Iran dismantle their nuclear capability altogether. Here with the New York Times.

OBAMA: The notion the world signed up for sanctions in order to either achieve regime change and solve every problem in terms of Iranian behavior or to say to them in perpetuity that they can never have peaceful nuclear power. That was never something that was in the cards.

KOSINSKI: But there are plenty of questions. What kind of access, really, will nuclear inspectors have if Iran balk and opening certain doors? There is a process in place for that. They are gaining access could take nearly a month or longer.

FMR. SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, CONNECTICUT: The most disappointing part of it is the inspection part. It's not anywhere, anytime. It's nothing remotely like that.

KOSINSKI: Former Senator Joe Lieberman and experts weighed in on the house committee hearing on the deal only hours after it was announced.

REP. ED ROYCE, HOUSE FOREIGN RELATIONS CENTER: Why would the United States sign off on such an agreement?

KOSINSKI: Many in congress angry that Iran will still be able to enrich uranium at all. Albeit a vastly reduced supply still retain almost of all its industrial nuclear infrastructure at the same time it will gain billions of dollars and sanctions relief and betrayed. Well, not unlikely continuing to fund terror, threaten neighbors and destabilize the region. Some parts of the deal expire in 10, 15 years. AMBASSADOR NICHOLAS BURNS, FORMER UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR

POLITICAL AFFAIRS: I would have rather seen 20 years, 30 years rather than 10.

KOSINSKI: President Obama acknowledges the challenges.

OBAMA: Diplomacy can work. It doesn't work perfectly. It doesn't give us everything we want.

[07:05:00] KOSINSKI: OK. So, if congress did vote disapproval of the deal and to keep congressional sanctions on Iran, it could cause the deal to break apart. I mean, Iran could say it's not what we signed up for or it could isolate the U.S. If you are a European country, lift the sanction and go forward with the deal it is still existed. So if congress were to override a presidential veto, the White House is warning congress, what you could be left with is ineffective sanctions or ineffective deal, if any deal.

Back to you guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. Michelle, thanks so much for that. So worldwide opinion also divided over the historic agreement. Israel and the Saudis slamming it. Some in the Arab world celebrating it. CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Vienna with more global reaction on it. What are you seeing, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Alisyn, in Tehran, President Rahani's speech about the deal was met with cheers and jubilation on the street. He told the people of Iran that sanctions were being lifted forever. Of course, when you read the deal itself, the language isn't quite like that. Sanctions can be snapped back on.

But after eight years, they will be lifted for good. These are concern that is the United States allies in the region are worrying about. Saudi Arabia very clearly saying, while we support this agreement, it has to be backed up with a thorough inspection. Their concerns, when Iran gets access to all the money, their concerns that this money won't be spent on the people of Iran, but as they say, supporting terrorism around the region and around the world.

The Israeli prime minister, as well, has absolutely the same concern. This is what he said.

BENJAMIN NETANHAYU, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: The world is a much more dangerous place today than it was yesterday. This cash bonanza will fuel Iran's terrorism worldwide. It's aggression in the region and its efforts to destroy Israel, which are ongoing.

ROBERTSON: And it's concerns like this that undoubtedly encourage President Obama to call the Israeli prime minister yesterday as well as the Saudi King. There is a lot of disquiet in the region about it. Chris.

CUOMO: All right, Nic. Let's continue the conversation. The main question is, what does this mean for Israel. Let's bring in Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. he's senior adviser to Benjamin Netanyahu. We heard him expressing obvious his concern. The P5 plus one. The United States says this was the best path to keeping Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and having a system of checking their behavior. Your position?

RON DERMER, ISRAEL AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: No. This is a path to Iran getting a nuclear weapon. They have two different paths. They have a path by cheating during the next decade. Because, this anytime, anywhere inspections are not - are more like sometime somewhere inspections. They are not within 24 hours, but within 24 days.

You can imagine what you can hide within 24 days, even if someone catches you. We know from history, of dealing with Iran that despite Israel and the United States having intelligence agencies, we didn't know for years about Iran having secret nuclear facilities.

One path they have if they decide to do so is to cheat and get to it. Let's say Iran complies with the deal, what the deal does is in 10 years, it removes the major constraints the deal is putting in place. What a lot of people don't understand, this is not a permanent deal. These are temporary constraints placed on Iran.

In 10 years, the major constraints are removed. That means Iran could have legally have massive uranium enrichment capacity. The president, himself, said a couple months ago in an interview, the main fear is what happens in year 13 and 14 when Iran's breakout time is zero? That's what will happen in this deal.

That's why Israel says it doesn't block Iran's path to the bomb, it paves the path. Our neighbors think the same thing. They are going to rush to get nuclear programs of their own. A good faith effort, Chris to stop a dangerous regime is going to lead to reality where Iran can get nuclear weapons. It's a danger to everyone in the region and around the world.

CUOMO: But isn't it true, without these deal, Iran was already there and able to produce a bomb as soon as it wanted to?

DERMER: No, the United States, Israel and allies were working for a long time to prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon.

CUOMO: But even before the sanctions they were proliferating ton of centrifuges and reaching tons of uranium and unchecked.

DERMER: Yes. But they were not breaking out, Chris. The sanctions train was catching up to them which happened, a lot of people said sanctions were on them for so long. It's not true. Crippling sanctions on Iran since 2012. In 18 months, it cost them well over $100 billion.

[07:10:00] They were desperate to get the sanctions removed. We are going to dismantle it in exchange for Iran dismantling their nuclear program. They are dismantling the sanctions regime and Iran is keeping the nuclear program and getting a cash win fall of over $150 billion which will be used throughout the region to fund terrorism and aggression. CUOMO: Well, that's a legitimate issue. The president says the

P5 plus one, what they are doing and what they want for the United States and Israel is an obvious concern that makes everybody question any type of integrity on behalf of the regime. But in terms of the crippling sanctions.

DERMER: Let me say, it would be great if they solved the nuclear problem. The problem is they didn't resolve the nuclear issue. All they have done, at best if Iran doesn't cheat is delay it for a decade. That might be a long time in politics. It's a blink of an eye in the life of the nation. The other thing about terrorism, if it's not about terrorism, why are they lifting the arms embargo?

CUOMO: That's a good point. That's what I was going to phrase, is that even though it wasn't supposed to be about terrorism, Iran did get that the U.S. sanctions on arms and missiles get stalled for five and eight years. Why is that on the table? You are saying that's a legitimate question.

DERMER: Look, Iran is conquering all parts of the Middle East. They are in through the Shia Militias in Iraq. There the regime in Syria. Palestinian terror groups in Gaza. The Houthis in Yemen. Iran has attacks on five continents in 30 countries. Are you linking this deal to them changing their behavior? That's the main problem with the deal. Iran is not changing its behavior.

Four days ago, the President Rahani attend as rally, burning American and Israeli flags, they are chanting death to America and death to Israel. It's two days before you are signing a deal. What kind of message does it send to Iran? You are taking away any incentive to change. They don't need, Chris to sneak in or break into the club. They can wait a decade and walk into the club.

CUOMO: And with the NTP, they are allowed to do peaceful nuclear development as well. I'm going to assume you do not believe the deal will be a suggestion to Iran too change ways. What is Israel prepared to do now?

DERMER: Now, I assume worse. They will not change their ways because all the pressure is being removed. This is very similar. People were comparing it to what happened to the Soviet Union and the Chinese. Understand they had nuclear weapons, then you made the deal.

In this case, Iran does not have nuclear weapons and it's a very, very different regime. Militant Islamic regime is different from a communist regime in terms of ideology and the relationship between ideology and survival. Every time the communist, the Soviet Union faced a choice they chose survival. That was the case in Berlin and the Cuban missile crisis.

This is a very different regime. The biggest danger is the coupling of Islam and military weapons. This deal could be the marriage certificate for the wedding. We see this as the deal with North Korea where promises were made and this was going to stop them from getting the bomb and bring them to the community of nations. It didn't force a change on North Korea. What you see happen 20 years later is North Korea could have 100 nuclear bombs and endangering half of Asia.

Now you are dealing with an Iranian regime that is much more dangerous than the case in North Korea. One final point I want to make, Chris, your allies, when it came to the North Korea deal, the South Korean and the Japanese were there. They were telling you to do the deal. In this case, Israel and the Arab states were not at the negotiations. Your allies are telling you this is a bad deal. When Israel and the Arabs are on the same page, it happens once a century. You should pay attention.

CUOMO: Mr. Ambassador, thank you very much for laying it up. The case for Israeli perspective. Please come back as we learn more about the agreement. Appreciate it.

DERMER: Thank you.

CUOMO: In the next hour, we are going to be joined by the U.S. Energy Secretary, Earnest Muniz. He's a nuclear physicist and was at the table and going to make the case for why the deal finished the way it did.

Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Chris, we are going to talk about radical proposals for President Obama. He's putting pressure on congress to pass a reform bill

this year. Let's get live to CNN's Sunlen Serfaty, she's live in Washington with the details. What is he saying Sunlen?

[07:15:00] SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, this was a blunt assessment by the president. He's putting a spotlight on the flaws he sees in the criminal justice. Flaws he says disproportionately impact minorities. The president revealed a laundry list of items he wants changed in the system. Including a reduction or elimination of sentences for nonviolent - he called for the attorney general to conduct a review.

He spoke of the need to increase job training programs while people are in prison and after criminals served their time, the president says they should be able to vote. He called additionally on employers asking on job applications if a person has a criminal record. He went on to argue it's the poor prison conditions that lead to higher incarceration rates. Here is what President Obama had to say.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: We should not be tolerating overcrowding in prison. We should not be tolerating gang activity in prison. We should not be tolerating rape in prison. And we shouldn't be making jokes about it in our popular culture. That's no joke. These things are unacceptable.

SERFATY: A fiery speech by President Obama. All this comes as the president commuted 96 drug offenders. Tomorrow, the president will tour a medium security prison in Oklahoma. This is big. He's the first sitting president to visit a federal prison.

Chris?

CUOMO: All right. Sunlen, thank you very much. NASA says the Pluto fly by a big success. Later today, they will release what are expected to be breathtaking, up close images of Pluto. It traveled 3 billion miles over the last nine years for this historic rendezvous in space. So close they could see the signs from Pluto saying make us a planet again.

CAMEROTA: And the plutonium with their signs. Watch this. Here is crazy video. A wild scene out of Orlando. Officer William Anderson approaches a car with his gun drawn. The passenger door opens. A young man runs out. Anderson tries to pursue him, the driver hits the gas and the officer head on. Officer Anderson is expected to be OK. The 17-year-old is in custody. Police are searching for two more suspects.

CUOMO: Luckily, he is OK. And once again it shows how dangerous this job is and how apprehensive officers have to be.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely, scary.

CUOMO: All right. More video we have been telling you about this morning, showing the moment Joaquin El Chapo Guzman escaped from his cell, dropping into a hole that is out of sight. We know he made it into a tunnel for his own use. Did Mexico ignore warnings from the U.S.?

Answer ahead.

[07:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: New surveillances video shows the moment that Joaquin El Chapo Guzman escaped from his jail cell. A notorious drug lord left his prison cell Saturday. As you can see there, just by sneaking out through a hole in the floor. And now, a desperate search is under way.

We have a former FBI special agent with a 28-year career with the bureau working in organized crime, intelligence, violent crime and drug trafficking. Thank you so much for being on "New Day." We understand that you...

ARTURO FONTES, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Yes, Alisyn. Nice to be here.

CAMEROTA: You spend ten years, specifically, studying El Chapo and working on cases connected to him. What was your reaction when you heard he had escaped?

FONTES: Just, first of all, I knew about Chapo in San Diego, California, right after the cartel was killed. I did a tour in '98 to 2000. I'm a little - I was - at the time of the escape, it was uncountable to me. After a day of pondering his escape, I started thinking a little bit about Chapo's background. He's someone that is charismatic. He escaped in 2001 in a prison in Guadalajara. His lieutenant is Lopez, a former director of the prison. His sons, he was - he is also a master mind in tunnels in San

Diego that had been discovered. That was the finding that happened with the Felix Organization.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

FONTES: It's not as much of a surprise looking at his background and how charismatic he was and how he was able to escape.

CAMEROTA: And let's talk about how it can happen. How is it possible that a mile long tunnel is built directly under his jail cell with a motorcycle track in it and no one knows that's happening?

FONTES: Well, Mexico, as you can see is a third country. It is the corruption is systemic. There was definitely corruption in the prison and, you know, he did, you know, there is low level corruption. Keep in mind that we have also, the U.S., we had the escape at the Clinton Correctional Institute where 12 of the guards were compromised. Here is a person that has deep pockets.

CAMEROTA: You said low level corruption, I assume you say in this prison as well and that led to it. Did Guzman have connections to this warden?

[07:25:00] FONTES: I believe that Chapo Guzman, being the person he is, he was able to compromise several of the guards and keep in mind, he may have used his immediate family and his organization to help him with his release, but I do, you know, he does have a lot of money and he does have a lot of power. He's not just a man, I believe, an institution because of his notoriety. He is someone that the Mexican people see as almost like a Robin Hood.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, the U.S. Marshals, the FBI, every fugitive agency in the United States is offering their help to Mexico. Thus far, Mexico said no thanks. Why not take all the drones, all the manpower and task forces the U.S. has to help find him?

FONTES: Eventually, it's going to happen. Keep in mind, Mexico is our partner. It's, you know, Mexico is a sovereign country, a proud country. They want to see if they can do it on their own. I foresee, you know, something awesome happening in the next, hopefully couple weeks or months. Maybe extradition of the high profile criminals or major arrests. There's two drug traffickers out. We have two mega drug traffickers on the loose.

CAMEROTA: Time is of the essence. Thank you for being on "New Day." Let's go over to Chris.

CUOMO: President Obama is making passionate plea for criminal justice reform suggesting a slew of changes. Can the proposal pass congress? We'll discuss.

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