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WSJ: U.S. Sent $1.3 Billon in Three Payments to Iran; FOX Apologizes to Former Anchor & Settles for $20 Million. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired September 07, 2016 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:06] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, that Virginia teenager who was severely hurt after stepping on an explosive device in Central Park is walking again. Connor Golden now uses a prosthetic to get around. The blast blew off his lower leg in July. In a post on his fundraising page, the teenager said he's forever grateful for the outpouring of love and financial support he and his family have received.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: What a terrible situation for that kid and the family to deal with at that age.

CAMEROTA: Horrible, and the idea that he expresses gratitude. That is obviously inspirational. People stepped up for him that is definitely a good thing.

How about something else good? Late night laughs, one time presidential candidate Ben Carson getting some laughs for what he said and did during a live CNN interview. But first, Donald Trump gets a little bit of the treatment. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON: A lot of people were saying President Obama was snubbed by China when they didn't have the stairs ready for him to get off the plane. In fact, Donald Trump said if that ever happened to him, he'd just close the plane doors and leave the country. Every other country is saying, that's all we have to do? Thank you, that's perfect.

JIMMY KIMMEL, JIMMY KIMMEL LIVE: You know, a lot has been made what a gift to comedians Donald Trump has been. But I feel like Ben Carson, if we had a chance to get know him a little better, he might have been number one.

BEN CARSON (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: In order for the country to be great again, every aspect has been great including the inner cities.

REPORTER: And we just saw Mr. Trump here. I asked him, how did it go? And he said, great. He said, he learned a lot of things. What do you think he took away from today?

CARSON: My luggage. REPORTER: OK, it looks Dr. Carson is going to find his luggage --

KIMMEL: Amazing.

(APPLAUSE)

KIMMEL: I can watch four hours of Ben Carson running after his luggage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: We're writing the jokes for them. He didn't even have to write them.

CUOMO: That has nothing to do with us. That's all Dr. Ben Carson.

CAMEROTA: I mean, the moments on news are just that spontaneous and funny. Here you go. You're welcome.

CUOMO: My luggage. Oh, my breakfast.

(LAUGHTER)

CAMEROTA: Donald Trump says that if he becomes president he will ask his military advisers for a new plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days. And he claims he also has a secret plan of his own. Is Trump on the right track to fight ISIS?

We take a closer look ahead on "new day."

CUOMO: How does that work, they come up with their plan and he says, what about this?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:33] CUOMO: All right. A headline that needs unpacking from the "Wall Street Journal" this morning, the U.S. has sent around $1.3 billion in foreign currency to Iran. This is the first real accounting of how much money the U.S. has sent on to that country.

Why? What effect could it have? And what could it mean to the war on terror in a bad way?

Tony Blinken, the deputy secretary of state, joins us now.

Tony, great to have you on the show.

ANTHONY BLINKEN, DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Chris, thanks for having me.

CUOMO: First, $1.3 billion. Can you verify that number? Is that how much has been transferred to date?

BLINKEN: Well, I haven't seen that report. But here's what's going on, we achieved a nuclear deal with Iran to prevent it from getting nuclear weapon. That's made us safer, made countries around the world safer.

Part of that involved lifting sanctions on Iran, and that freed up money that had been frozen around the world that Iran had in bank accounts that it couldn't bring back to Iran. Now as part of the deal, Iran is bringing back some of that money.

But the overwhelming majority of that money is going into their economy which is in dire straits. It's not going to the military.

CUOMO: How do we know?

BLINKEN: We know. We've seen it. We see what they're saying. We see how they're spending it. And what they've told us, but also what we see, is that instead of going to the military, the money is being poured back into the economy, because this is an economy that was suffering terribly.

CUOMO: Do you think that you could guarantee from the State Department to the American people that this doesn't get filtered into groups like Hezbollah and other terrorist allies that Iran has, and not one dollar of it can go there? Do you think we could really know --

BLINKEN: We can't say that not one single dollar would go there. What we can say, based on what we've seen so far, is that virtually all of it is going into the economy, not into the military.

And the bottom line is this, this agreement that we've reached has made us safer. It's put far into the future the day when Iran could get enough material for a nuclear weapon.

CUOMO: The perception is, the politics of this has never played as well, as the administration wanted them to, that you gave them everything and they can still do things that we can't uncover here. They haven't treated the deal with full respect the way they were supposed to. They haven't given back those three joint citizens. The Iranian-U.S. citizens and yet, they're getting their money.

Fair criticism?

BLINKEN: First, the deal was not going to solve every problem. It's focused on one thing. That is the nuclear program that was growing, and growing and growing. Countries around the world are getting tired of the sanctions. We acted in a way that put far into the future the day where they could get enough material for a bomb.

Second, the IAEA, the organization that's been monitoring this, has told us that Iran is making good under its commitments on the deal. And indeed, our own sources tell us that Iran is making good on its commitments under the deal. So, they're living up to their side of the bargain.

Our side of the bargain was to release some of the sanctions and so, some of the money is going back. But again, it's going into the economy, not into the military.

CUOMO: Was any of the money that's been sent to Iran a quid pro quo to get those Americans freed?

BLINKEN: No.

CUOMO: You're 100 percent sure of that?

BLINKEN: Absolutely.

CUOMO: So, all of these discussions about the planes and the money, that's just spin?

BLINKEN: Absolutely. We were in an environment when having getting this deal done, it was possible to see if we could get some other things done. We owed Iran a lot of money from way back when. We had sold them weapons. This is during the shah, before the revolution. The revolution happened. We kept the money. We didn't send them the weapons. There was an arbitration that President Reagan backed to decide what to do. And we were able to conclude a deal in way that actually saved us billions of dollars.

CUOMO: The -- what do you make of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies?

[06:40:03] It's a right-leaning group, politically in its disposition. American courts have found Iran liable for tens of billions of dollars for victims of Iran-backed terror. Should we have used the money that they're supposed to get back to give to those victims?

BLINKEN: This deal hasn't solved every problem. We've remained absolutely focused on a lot of things that Iran is doing around the word, including support for terrorism, that continue to pose a threat to our security, the security of Americans, the security of people around the world. We're focused on that like a hawk.

But taking this nuclear problem off the table was a big deal, and it also took away from Iran for feeling that it could act with total impunity knowing that it was backed by a nuclear program.

CUOMO: The administration, different military sources, you all bristled when Donald Trump said, I'm going to get a 30-day plan for how to beat ISIS? Why? Why is that such a bothersome proposition?

BLINKEN: Look, I'm not focused on Mr. Trump's plan or anyone else's plan. I'm focused on the strategy that we're implementing that is succeeding to taking to ISIL and succeeding in winning. By every single measure that we look at this -- territory, leaders killed, propaganda on the Internet, the flow of foreign fighters, the flow of financing, by every single measure this strategy is succeeding.

CUOMO: So, the idea you that don't have a plan, because that's what he means, within the month you don't have a plan, you reject that?

BLINKEN: It's absolutely wrong, and it's actually dangerous to say that, because here's what happens, ISIL feeds off the impression it gives, the perception it creates that it's 10 feet tall. That's how it attracts foreign fighters from around the world. And as we have a strategy that's working and succeeding, we're taking

away that narrative. The message is going out, no, they're not 10 feet tall, in fact they're losing. They're falling back. They're losing territory. They're losing leaders.

So when anyone says, ah, the administration doesn't have a plan, it doesn't have a strategy, it's not succeeding. That actually goes right to the narrative of ISIL, that's what they use to attract foreign fighters. That's exactly what we need to stop.

CUOMO: Quickly, as a diplomat, you use the word "dangerous" a lot. WE hear about the -- whoa, what, Trump does is dangerous. He goes down to Mexico, he has his meeting, we hear that word "dangerous" again. What is it about diplomacy that people are missing in a meeting like what happened with Trump and going to Mexico?

BLINKEN: Look, I think we're at a time, Chris, when -- and it's understandable because so many people feel left out and left behind with so many of the changes that are happening around the world.

And part of that results in an instinct to pull back, to come home or to act and go it alone, not to work with others, not to work cooperatively. But we can't advance our interests, we can't protect our people if we're not actually acting with others, working with others.

We can't build a wall high enough to stop the seas from rising, the planet from warming. We can't lock the door tight up to prevent disease from coming into the country or terrorists for that matter. The best way to do it, the most effective way to do it, is to work with alliances, to work with partners, to work with others. That's what we're trying to do, and that's the art of diplomacy.

CUOMO: And -- but the criticism on the other side is, America seems weak. America doesn't enforce its will on people anymore. ISIS attacks here, attacks all over the world seemingly with impunity, and people are afraid, and that's why in polls you see Trump, on national security, he's down to Hillary Clinton, but on fighting terror, he's up.

What does that tell you about the perspective on the administration?

BLINKEN: Look, I can't speak to Mr. Trump, but I can say this. Again, there is a sense out there of chaos and confusion. So much information is coming at people every single second. They're trying to make sense of it.

But what I do know is this, when it comes to ISIL, we are succeeding. We are pushing them back. We are actually on the road to defeating them in Iraq and in Syria. And around the world, American leadership is bringing countries together, 65 countries now in a coalition to deal with ISIL, rallying countries in Europe to deal with Russia's aggression in Ukraine.

This climate agreement, which is going to be remembered far, far longer than any of the things we're talking about today, that we reached with China and other countries around the world, that's the best we have at for protecting our planet for decades to come. That's American leadership.

CUOMO: Tony Blinken, thank you very much for coming in, making the case for America.

BLINKEN: Thanks for having me, Chris.

CUOMO: Appreciate it.

Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: Well, a major settlement in the sexual harassment suit against disgraced former FOX News chief Roger Ailes. Why the network is apologizing to a former anchor and what the big settlement could mean for this presidential race. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:48:18] CAMEROTA: Twenty-first Century Fox has apologized to former FOX anchor Gretchen Carlson and agreed to pay $20 million in a settlement after she accused former FOX News chief Roger Ailes of sexual assault.

This as another FOX News anchor Greta Van Susteren abruptly leaves the network.

Let's bring in CNN senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter, and CNN commentator and legal analyst, Mel Robbins.

Great to have both of you here.

Brian, wow, there was a lot of news coming out of FOX yesterday. Let's start with the settlement. We read about workplace settlements from time to time. Put in historical context this $20 million that 21st Century Fox on behalf of Roger Ailes.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: It's one of the highest sums we've seen in a sexual harassment lawsuit in American history. And the consequences will be felt across corporate America, not just a $20 million sum here, but also a public apology.

CAMEROTA: Let's read that for a second, just because that also is notable.

STELTER: I thought it was even more surprising than the money.

CAMEROTA: "We sincerely regret and apologize that Gretchen was not treated with the respect and dignity that she and all our colleagues deserve."

What are you hearing from that?

STELTER: Reading between the line, it doesn't blame anyone in particular. But, clearly, the owners of FOX reached the conclusion that, yes, Ailes has done. Ailes has denied this, and he didn't pay a dollar of the settlement. This was all FOX on the hook for his behavior --

CAMEROTA: And that's interesting. It is interesting because there are rumors that he would have to cough up some of it? Why didn't he have to?

STELTER: Right. He continues to fight. I think this is -- Ailes is a classic fighter. He was going tooth and nail with his lawyers saying he wasn't going to be on the hook for this.

[06:50:00] So, FOX is trying to move forward, moving to the post-Ailes era but they're not making that easy.

CAMEROTA: Let's talk about if that's possible, Mel, because we have heard there are other settlements, possibly much quieter ones that are happening. What about any criminal charges. We've heard there's the statute of limitations for three years for sexual harassment. Is it possible that anything else that could be brought against Roger Ailes?

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR & LEGAL ANALYST: Hey, good morning, guys.

You know, anything is possible. Will charges be brought against Ailes? I highly doubt it. There's a number of reasons why.

First of all, whether or not you can make out a case. And the headache do you actually want to go down that route? And it seems that Gretchen in particular wants to shut the door on this and look forward to the next chapter of her life.

You know, one of the things I want to jump in on one of the reasons that FOX was so eager to settle this is because there is something called alter ego liability, which means if somebody inside a workplace basically is the employer, meaning that Ailes was the chairman and CEO, he was the one who's running the ship for more than two decades.

So, even though 21st Century Fox is the parent company, is the one coughing up the $20 million settlement. At the end of the day, if it's gone to litigation they could have been held liable for every single thing that Ailes did. There's a very interesting twist in this case. They actually sued Roger Ailes individually.

That's important because under Gretchen Carlson's employment contract according to the reporting, he was obligated under the law to go to arbitration with her employer, not bring a public lawsuit. Why filing Roger Ailes was actually a smart move by the Stanford educated graduate to basically surprise them.

STELTER: She dragged the story into the light.

ROBBINS: She sure did. You know what else she had that most cases don't have? She had a ton of evidence. For almost a year, Alisyn, she was allegedly bringing an iPhone into meetings with him. A lot of these cases actually never go to any kind of a settlement because women that are bringing the claims don't have any evidence that they can put forth. It's his word against hers.

CAMEROTA: It becomes the he said/she said that we talk about.

Brian, what about the other big news, Greta Van Sustern, one of the faces of Fox's prime time lineup reportedly leaving yesterday.

What does your reporting say about why that happened?

STELTER: One of the highest profile women at the network. This is the aftershock of Roger Ailes' recognition. When he resigned, other stars of FOX and Greta Susteren and others had the right to leave. That window is rapidly closing. She exercised that right last week.

Fox said don't bother coming to work you're done. That's a hard ball tactic by Rupert Murdoch and the owners of FOX.

CAMEROTA: Is there a subject here which is she defended Roger when all this happened? Before the settlement before all the details came out about how pervasive this was --

STELTER: She did.

CAMEROTA: -- Greta Van Susteren defended him and it sounds as though she didn't know what was going on behind closed doors. Maybe management hung her out to dry?

STELTER: I think you're on to something there. She told me she was never harassed and she didn't know about harassment at the time. Obviously, that has changed now. More than 20 women came forward speaking anonymously to investigators about this behavior by Roger Ailes. Greta Van Susteren and many FOX stars defended Ailes. Sean Hannity did. Many others did.

Most of them have not spoken publicly about that. I think Greta feels regret about what she said in July.

CAMEROTA: Greta was well liked within the building. She was supportive of other people. I can speak to that myself. What's next for her?

STELTER: She would like to return to broadcasting. She only has to sit on the bench for a couple of months by living I'm curious to see where she ends up next.

CAMEROTA: I know you're not a political contributor of ours, however, this does affect everyone in the country because Roger Ailes who, you know, was ousted from FOX News was welcomed by the Trump campaign. And is now an informal at least, adviser to Donald Trump.

Is that a liability or an asset for the Trump campaign?

ROBBINS: Honestly, I think it's a zero net sum. I mean, at this point in the election, we've gotten a point in this country where I think people are entrenched about what they think about these candidates. The fact that Ailes has gone to advise Trump I don't think it's going to sway anybody to join the Trump camp in terms of voting for him. I don't think it's going to dissuade anybody.

So, I don't think -- from a political standpoint I don't think it has any impact at all.

STELTER: I do think, though, Hillary Clinton has had this talking point on the campaign trail about show me who your friends are, I will show you who you are. I do believe she'll use this as a talking point against Trump, one of the many talking points against Trump maybe at the debates.

CAMEROTA: I mean, look, he needs female voters, and if female voters think he's using a sexual harasser as one of the advisers, maybe that will have impact on them. But I guess that remains to be seen.

ROBBINS: I don't think so.

CAMEROTA: Mel, Brian, thank you very much.

[06:55:01] ROBBINS: I actually -- yes, I don't think so.

CAMEROTA: You're on the record. We'll see. We appreciate that you're going out on the record and giving us your perspective, thank you.

Let's get to Chris.

CUOMO: That not to be as much risk for Mel to what's going to happen.

All right. So, who will do the job of keeping you safe? Clinton or Trump? We have the latest in the case against each by the other. And we have a deep dive on the character contest.

You've heard a lot from Trump about Clinton and pay for play. But do you know his past when it comes to wrongly paying for influence? You will, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Your moment of liberation is at hand.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Troops cannot count on Donald Trump.

TRUMP: We're going to build beautiful safe zones in Syria and other people are going to pay for it.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Look at the map, Donald.

TIM KAINE (D), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump has misled the American people over and over.

MIKE PENCE (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Hillary Clinton deleted almost 18,000 e-mails. That doesn't look like politics, folks. That looks like obstruction. BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: Mr. Trump called my foundation a

criminal enterprise. Unlike him, we actually say who gives us money and what we spend it on.

TRUMP: People who have nothing to hide don't blink.

HILLARY CLINTON: Come clean and release those tax returns.

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

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO: Good morning, and welcome to your NEW DAY.

Up first, who will keep you safe? That's a key question in the election. Donald Trump says he has a secret plan to do that. And that he's going to demand that his top generals give him a new plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days.