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Saudi Arabia Threatens Retaliation if 9/11 Bill Passes; Tensions Rise Between U.S. and Russia; Severe Storms Trigger Flooding in Houston; NBA Playoffs Continue Tonight; Does Bill Clinton Help or Hinder Hillary? Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired April 18, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:31:31] MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Saudi Arabia threatening to hit America's economy hard if Congress passes a 9/11 bill that could hold the kingdom accountable for its possible role in the terror attacks.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live in London with the latest for us. Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi Michaela. Essentially what the Saudis are saying, if this bill comes through, we have to worry about our assets that we hold in the U.S. becoming frozen, if there's court cases. They're talking about pulling out some $750 billion worth of assets out of the U.S.

Now, of course, the big question is are they really going to do this? Because there are people who believe, first of all, logistically it's very difficult. Second of all, they think that if the Saudis would actually do this, they would probably hurt themselves more than they would hurt the U.S. Nevertheless, the latest that we're hearing is that the Obama administration is not in favor of this bill. On the one hand, they feel that there could be economic repercussions for the U.S., but they also feel that there could be other countries could come forward and do retaliatory action against the U.S., meaning Americans could be prosecuted abroad as well.

Of course, there are victims organizations of people who lost loved ones in 9/11 who say it's an outrage that the Obama administration would be against all this, because they feel that the Obama administration is on the side of the Saudis rather than their own people. It certainly is something that is causing a lot of anger, and of course we know President Obama is going to be in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Not clear whether the topic is going to be on the agenda. Chris?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you very much, Fred. Keep us apprised of all developments there.

Also breaking overnight, Defense Secretary Ash Carter arriving in Baghdad for an unannounced visit with troops. He's also going to be meeting with Iraqi officials, looking for ways to build on recent gains against ISIS. Carter will sit down with the Iraqi prime minister, Haider al-Abadi, along with his defense minister to discuss specific ways that the U.S. can provide military assistance to Iraq.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And this morning in Brazil, lawmakers in the lower house there voting to impeach embattled president Dilma Rousseff. Thousands of protesters for and against her taking to the streets before Sunday's vote. The motion now goes on to the Senate, and if it passes, she will have to step down for six months to defend herself in an impeachment trial. She's accused of hiding a massive budget deficit to win re3lection in 2014.

PEREIRA: Major protests expected across the nation today as the Supreme Court hears one of its biggest cases this term. Texas and 25 other states are challenging President Obama's executive action on immigration. Now, the program was meant to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation before a judge, federal judge, blocked implementation last year.

CUOMO: New strains in the relationship between the U.S. and Russia. Have you heard about these two recent events? Russian fighter jets dangerously close to an Air Force plane, like about 50 feet above the wing, by the way, in the Baltic. Now, is Moscow trying to send a message? Seems so. Why is Putin flexing his military muscle right now? Military take, ahead.

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[06:38:29] CUOMO: When it come to Russia and the U.S., it's not just tough talk anymore. There's actual tension is going on in a very dangerous way -- these encounters with Russian fighter jets in the past week in the Baltic Sea. The U.S. officials are saying that a Russian fighter jet flew with 50 feet of a U.S. Air Force plane just days after a Russian aircraft buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer. Obvious signs of provocation. Why? And what's going to be done about it?

Let's get the military take. CNN military analyst, retired army commanding (sic) general for Europe and the 7th Army, General Mark Hertling. Lieutenant General, General, great to have you with us. These acts of provocation, that's what they are, period. There's no other way to explain them. Why now, and have you ever heard of anything like this before?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Oh, absolutely, Chris. This goes back several decades. I mean, these are the kinds of things that occurred all throughout the Cold War. What's been interesting over the last couple years, though, is they've been ever increasing. About 400 of them in 2014; 500 in 2015. We're on a pace right now to have more than that this year. And they've become more unprofessional and more unsafe.

This is something that occurs between nations, between militaries, just to keep check on other militaries that are in your battle space. But what the Russians are doing now seems to be a little bit more extreme than it's ever been before.

CUOMO: What do you make of politicians who say provocative things like this, General, are reason to have a no-fly zone in Syria? Is that a good answer, a bad answer?

[06:40:03] HERTLING: No, I don't think that's a good answer at all. We've dealt with no-fly zones before, Chris, as you know. We had two of them, the northern and southern one, in Iraq for over ten years. And they didn't seem to actually help all that much in terms of keeping things in place, and it also requires an awful lot of forces. But a no-fly zone in this case isn't gone to counter these kinds of incursions that the Russians have done against ships and airplanes.

CUOMO: Also puts you in the situation of what do you do if it's not adhered to, if it's not respected? And that takes us to the response now. What has been done in the past? What is the most effective way to deal with these kinds of provocations?

HERTLING: Well, you know, interestingly enough, Chris, there's an actual bilateral agreement that dates back to 1972 with the Russians. It's called the Incident at Sea Agreement, and it was put in place because of an incident of the Russians actually zooming past an aircraft carrier where the aircraft that did that action sucked in water and crashed and killed the pilot. And back in those days, during the Cold War, both governments said enough is enough. Let's knock this off. And there were several thing put into this bilateral, which Russia right now is completely disregarding all of these things. It's to keep soldiers and sailors and airmen safe when they're conducting operations and exercises and prevent provocation. But I think what you're seeing the Russians do right now is purposely attempt to provoke and to do things that are not only unprofessional, but unsafe.

CUOMO: The U.S. and Soviet Incidents at Sea Agreement, 1972, coming home to roost right now. Very interesting.

General, finally, some of the speculation here is that, well, this isn't just about the U.S. specifically. This is about NATO. If you look at NATO --

HERTLING: Oh, yes.

CUOMO: -- like 400 intercepts of Russian combat aircraft over Europe in 2014. That tells us a couple of things. One, this is something Russia does to people other than the U.S. This is a tactic. But what is this a sign of? Famed diplomatic relations? Obviously, this isn't something where you'd wanted to see military response, right?

HERTLING: No, you're seeing the Russians attempt to influence and they're influencing countries in certain areas, Chris. These last couple of incidents have occurred all over the Baltic Sea. They don't like the fact that Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia have joined NATO. There's a Russian military base, Kaliningrad, that's actually between Lithuania and Poland. And Poland and Lithuania were both participating in this exercise where the ship was buzzed. So all of these things are Russia's attempt to not only intimidate U.S. forces but also to try and influence Eastern European countries, former Soviet bloc countries, that have joined NATO. It's all part of a game and it's not a very good way to conduct diplomatic engagements. CUOMO: The footprint, the presence, expanding by all accounts. More

involvement and more deadly involvement in Ukraine. They're begging for a response. The question is what will it be? General, as always, thank you for helping us understand better.

HERTLING: All right, thank you, Chris.

CUOMO: All right. So we're going to be dealing with that, and now I'm giving it back to you at the desk, I believe, to Brooke.

BALDWIN: You are, Chris Cuomo. Thank you so much.

We have to talk about parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska this morning, dealing with dangerous flash flooding and a threat of tornadoes. This part of the country really having trouble shaking the stalled storm system. When will people in the Plains see some relief? We have that for you, coming up.

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[06:47:27] PEREIRA: Severe storms in Texas are expected to dump a month's worth of rain in just days. Emergency crews in Houston already performing at least 45 water rescues this morning alone, as flash flooding drenches neighborhoods.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers live with more. They're telling folks just to stay indoors if they can, right?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: They're tweeting it out. Houston Emergency Management, Harris County emergency management, especially northwest of the city, "Please, don't go out. It is life-threatening out there." And in fact, you said a month's worth? Almost a half a year's worth could be coming down here. 20 inches of rain in northwest Harris County in the past 48 hours alone. Rivers are at flood stage down there in Houston.

Now, it's raining all the way to Omaha, but that's not the real threat. The real threat is down across the Gulf Coast, Harris County, Victoria, backward towards Liberty. Even a tornado warning for Liberty County right now; that's just northeast of Houston as that rain continues. Thousands and thousands of lightning strikes going on right now. Guys?

CUOMO: All right, my friends.

Bleacher Report this morning, the big three for the Cavs lining up to their nickname, living up to their nickname, rather, in the playoff opener. We have Andy Scholes. More in this morning's Bleacher Report. They say this could be a really, really good set of playoffs. But what do you think, Smiley?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well -- we hope so, Chris, but so far this weekend, not many great games. Lots of blowouts in the first weekend of the NBA playoffs.

But, hey, the Pistons, they gave LeBron and the Cavs all they could handle in Game One of their series. Now LeBron of course looking to make it to his sixth straight NBA final this year. Now the Cavs only up one in the fourth quarter of this game. LeBron finds Kevin Love in the corner for the three. Then moments later, Kyrie Irving going to show off those fancy dribbling moves. He lays it in. The Big Three combining to score 81 points in this one. The Cavs hold to beat the Pistons 106-101.

Now the action continues on TNT and NBA TV. Pacers and Raptors get things started at 7:00 Easter. Mavs and Thunder hit the court at 8:00. Then the Rockets and Warriors at 10:30. Big question for that game is will Steph Curry play with his bum ankle? He's listed as questionable for tonight.

All right, Peyton Manning hanging out at Nascar race in Bristol yesterday. He was a guest of Dale Earnhardt Jr. There he's trying to throw a pass in the pit. And good thing he's retired. Now crazy moment later in the race. Kyle Busch driving his car back to the garage actually ends up clipping a fan. She would reportedly be OK but had to go to a local hospital to be checked out. Now, Carl Edwards would go on to win the race and, of course, does his trademark backflip after taking the checkered flag.

[06:50:05] All right, before yesterday's Red Sox game, marathon bombing survivor Patrick Downes threw out the first pitch. And check it out. Fires in a strike to Big Papi. Now, Downes lost his left leg in the bombing. He will be one of the first to run in the marathon after losing a limb at the event three years ago. Now, Adrian Haslett will also running in the race later today after losing a limb three years ago.

Its just such an inspiration, Brooke, to see these survivors out there not letting anything slow them down. We wish them luck today.

BALDWIN: Three years later. We do indeed. Fenway, a special place. Mr. Scholes, thank you so much.

Meantime of course talking politics today ahead of the big New York primary. Former president Bill Clinton making controversial comments while he's been stumping for his wife. Is he helping? Or could he be hurting her campaign as the candidates hit crunch time ahead of the primary tomorrow?

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[06:50:04] PEREIRA: Former president Bill Clinton is stumping for Hillary all over New York ahead of tomorrow's primary. The former president ran into trouble back in 2008 when last campaigning for his wife. Had a few stumbles this time around, too. Is he an asset or a liability for Hillary's campaign?

Joining us now, John Avlon. He's an asset for us. He's a CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast", although I'm in our Cuomo will find a way to make you a liability but that's OK, brother. You are here with me. That's all that matters. This is our space. This is our space.

So we know that he has been sort of the chief campaigner for Hillary and for all of the Democrats, to be honest.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

PEREIRA: Hillary likes his speech so much, that they've actually made some of his speeches into an ad. Let's listen.

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BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: America needs a leader who can not just talk change but can make change, who will take us all along for the ride and empower everybody. Because when you're president, after you take your hand off the bible, you can label and blame for about 15 seconds. And you either show up and make it better or you don't. Her first instinct is always not to blame, not to label, but to ask what can I do to make it better?

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PEREIRA: So it's powerful stuff. What does he bring to the table?

AVLON: Look, I mean, first of all, let's acknowledge this is an unprecedented situation in American politics.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

AVLON: A former president campaigning for the potential nominee, who is his wife.

PEREIRA: Right. He could end up being the First Gentleman.

AVLON: The First Laddie, as he's said. Right? So this is surreal right from the get-go.

PERERAI: Yes, it is.

AVLON: But Bill Clinton is the big dog in Democratic politics. He has been brought out to act as a primary surrogate for every nominee since he left the White House. And there's a reason President Obama called him the Secretary of Explaining Stuff. He has a gift when it comes to retail campaigning, talking about policy in a way that resonates with folks. So the Clinton campaign could be crazy to leave that asset in the garage.

PEREIRA: Sure. All right, except --

AVLON: Except!

PEREIRA: -- for the fact he's not infallible.

AVLON: No. No one is.

PEREIRA: In fact, we know that he had a bit of a dust-up, yes, with Black Lives Matters protesters. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL CLINTON, FMR. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't know how you would characterize the gang leaders who got 13-year-old kids hopped up on crack and sent them out on to the street to murder other African-American children. Maybe you thought they were good citizens. She didn't. She didn't!

When somebody won't hush and listen to you, that ain't democracy. They're afraid of the truth. Don't you be afraid of the truth. Don't you be afraid of the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So, then, he almost apologized for it. I want to play a little of this.

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CLINTON: I almost want to apologize for it, but I want to use it as the danger threatening our country. I know those young people yesterday were just trying to get good television and they did. But that doesn't mean I was most effect naive in answering it.

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PEREIRA: Is this effective? I mean, is that going to ultimately hurt Clinton's campaign?

AVLON: I don't believe so.

PEREIRA: You don't?

AVLON: I don't. But this is a fascinating moment, right? Bill Clinton got in a lot trouble in the 2008 campaign for comments he made during the South Carolina primary that were dismissive of President Obama's campaign, then Senator Obama's, comparing it to Jesse Jackson. But this is fascinating, because this is about divisions inside the Democratic Party that Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton absolutely represent. But the fight goes back to the crime bill. And the fact is that Bill Clinton doesn't feel that he has anything to apologize for the crime bill. That, you know, he says that -- it needs to be reformed. There were unintended consequences, and to that extent they've made mistakes. But when confronted with protesters who are arguing with Bernie, he pushed back hard and authentically to say that if you really believe in Black Lives Matter, then you got to give the crime bill credit for reducing murder rates.

PEREIRA: Real quick, remains to be seen at this next exchange about he talks about Bernie Sanders, if it's going to help or hurt Clinton.

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CLINTON: A few things I really haven't enjoyed about this primary. I think it's fine that all the young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent and sound so good, just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything would be fine.

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PEREIRA: Yes. So then of course, Bernie has to react to that.

AVLON: Yes.

PEREIRA: We should be encouraging young people to get involved in politics, not disparaging them.

Is this kind of stuff where he is a tricky surrogate for Hillary?

AVLON: Look, he is so valuable, especially at this stage of the campaign. People get tired, they make mistakes. And his style of campaigning is very loose. Now he's obviously joking there, you can tell by the style, but he's joking about people wanting to take bankers out and shoot them. And whether that's a riff off class warfare accusations or not, that kind of stuff gets pulled out and used as a negative.

PEREIRA: Time and time again.

AVLON: ANd Bernie Sanders was very effective in turning that out. Actually a "Daily Beast" link, which I appreciated.

PEREIRA: Well done.

AVLON: And pushing that out to say, look, this is the not the kind -- joking or not, this is not the kind of disparagement of the kind of policies we're debating when it comes to banks.

So, look, there is a cost when you get someone with that big a personality, but I thin,k as Bill Clinton once said about the country, what's right with Bill Clinton outweighs what's wrong with Bill Clinton.

PEREIRA: Good to have you here, my friend. All right, thanks so much.

Following a lot of news, including an update for you on the deadly earthquakes in both Ecuador and Japan. Let's get to it.