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New Day Saturday

Obama: Iraqi Leaders Must Come Together; U.S. Military Advisers To Arrive Soon In Iraq; ISIS Uses Social Media To Get Recruits; Up To 80,000 Child Migrants Expected This Year; Mudslide Threatens Minneapolis Hospital; Beginning of the End of NFL's Redskins?; USA to Play Against Portugal; Transgender Teen Told to Remove Makeup before License Photo

Aired June 21, 2014 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was speaking in broken Arabic.

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: It is a crisis of enormous proportions. It is a humanitarian crisis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are really close. It is like another block party except maybe a little less fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: So much to talk about this morning. Hopefully Saturday is a nice day off for you. I'm Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell, 8:00 on the east coast, 5:00 out west. It's NEW DAY SATURDAY.

PAUL: And first this morning, three years after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq, American military advisors are about to head right back in.

BLACKWELL: Yes, we may see them on the ground there as soon as this weekend. We are expecting them today. The first few of this 300 to be there today. Their mission is to help Iraq stop Islamist militants belonging to the group, ISIS. They seized town after town. They are just about 40 miles from Baghdad. These are gains that ISIS fighters made.

PAUL: The thousands of Iraqi Shiites march across Baghdad today vowing to defend their capital and their country.

BLACKWELL: Now the militants are using their call, putting out new propaganda video urging westerners to join them in Jihad.

PAUL: President Obama meanwhile is telling CNN, quote, "No amount of American fire power can hold Iraq together if Iraq's leaders don't unite."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF IRAQ: Part of the task now is to see whether Iraqi leaders are prepared to rise above sectarian motivations, come together, compromise. If they can't, there's not going to be a military solution to this problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The first initial group of advisers again is expected to be very small.

PAUL: Let's bring in CNN's Erin McPike in Washington. She is going to tell us more about what these advisers and I think this is the big question, Erin, on everybody's mind, what are they going to do once on they hit the ground in Iraq?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi and Victor, the mission is two-fold and so the first part of that is to gather intelligence on the ground in Iraq. The second is to assist Iraqi forces there on the ground and James Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, was on "THE SITUATION ROOM" yesterday and he addressed just that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: The mission is not to go after ISIL. The mission is really three-fold, one assess the state of the Iraqi security forces. Two, assess the security situation on the ground. We need to get better intelligence before the president can make any kind of kinetic decisions.

Number three, we need to assess the advising mission itself. How many advisers total we need and where they need to go. We have to stand up these two joint operation centers. So the mission of these folks right now is really to do some good assessment and some advice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: So as you heard there, he had that third point, which is really to assess what the United States should be doing on the ground in Iraq too.

BLACKWELL: You know, there's been some experts who have said that no boots on the ground is just semantics because you now have 300 military advisers in country. Could this ramp up to a larger number. Could there be some military intervention? Is there discussion of that at all?

MCPIKE: Victor, President Obama has been consistent on this throughout the last week both in a statement and in his interview with Kate Bolduan yesterday that the mission will not be for combat.

PAUL: All right, Erin McPike, thank you so much live for us in Washington there. By the way, that full interview with President Obama airs Monday morning on "NEW DAY."

BLACKWELL: As we said, ISIS fighters have turned to social media to spread the propaganda. They released a recruitment video online aimed at persuading Muslims in the west to abandon their comfortable lives and embrace Jihad. It includes testimonials in English from men who identify themselves as British and Australian militants en route to Iraq from Syria.

PAUL: So let's bring in, Jenna Jordan. She is the assistant professor of International Affairs at Georgia Tech. So glad to have you with us, Jenna. Have anyone been able to really determine how effective these propaganda videos are at recruiting people?

JENNA JORDAN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, GEORGIA TECH: I think propaganda videos are effective. Al Qaeda central has used them to varying degrees of success in its path. It was able to broaden the base of support internationally. I think that is what ISIS is trying to do with the social media. Obviously, it has a significant amount of support right now.

It has a large amount of financial resources. It has considerable varying support on the ground in Iraq. I think it is really trying to broaden movement internationally in order to recruit more foreign militants and operatives that might be willing to come and fight on behalf of the organization. Ultimately that's what the group wants to have a lot of people willing to come and fight for their cause.

BLACKWELL: We reported this morning that ISIS fighters are just about 40 miles from Baghdad. They have been 40 miles from Baghdad for some time now. They quickly went through the northern areas of Iraq. Now they are getting to a heavy Shia area, they are fighting some resistance. Help us understand why they were in many respects welcomed as they went into the northern areas of Iraq.

JORDAN: They primarily went through predominately Sunni areas. Now granted Sunnis are minority in Iraq overall, which is going to pose problems for ISIS as they tried to consolidate, you know, a larger hold across the country. But they went into areas that where predominantly Sunni where they had support on the ground.

There were interestingly, lots of affiliations with Sunnis that would be sort of an unlikely alliance. Former Saddam Hussein loyalists who would normally not support an organization like ISIS who has such a harsh interpretation of Islamic law who has very brutal tactics killing civilians and killing Shias.

And additionally it has the support of many Sunnis who participated in the Sunni awakening. The problem is these groups feel very disenfranchised from the Maliki government, which they see as illegitimate. They see that the government hasn't represented the Sunnis well and they haven't.

And I think this is one of the main reasons that they have been able to have so many groups come on the side of, which has really helped the group to effectively capture these territories.

PAUL: Can that be changed that feeling of being marginalized or excluded by the Sunnis? How plausible is it that these three groups are going to get together and that they would be able to form a solid government?

JORDAN: Yes, I mean, that is really difficult and that's what people have said, it is a potential solution is to have a more inclusive government and power in Iraq. Whether or not Maliki is going to be able to do something like that. I think it's difficult to tell at this point, but I think a really inclusive government is critical in order to avoid the kind of sectarian conflict that has plagued Iraq since 2003.

PAUL: Is it each possible with the dissension with the two groups?

JORDAN: I think to have the representation in government would be at least the first step. I think that many of the groups that are giving ISIS a lot of its support and its ability to capture territory, many of the former Saddam Hussein loyalists, many of the Sunnis that participated in the Sunni awakening and really helped to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq. I think if these groups were shown some kind of support or some kind of promise that they might have recognition. I think it might push them away from supporting ISIS as much as they have.

BLACKWELL: You know, Maliki was seen as the person who could do that, who could offer reconciliation instead he went for consolidation and purged the government of the Sunni representatives. Is there another Shia leader who is in waiting, who could be the next person who would be trusted to start this reconciliation that so many have been waiting for?

JORDAN: I'm not sure who might be a reasonable contender for Nuri Al- Maliki. People have discussed it. I am really not sure who the potential contender might be. I think an inclusive government is really what is going to a critical factor to dissuade a lot of existing support that ISIS has and further support as well.

BLACKWELL: All right, Professor Jenna Jordan, thank you so much for helping us understand this.

JORDAN: Thank you so much for having me on the show.

BLACKWELL: Certainly.

As we mentioned more than 1 million Iraqis have been forced from their homes as a result of the conflict there. To find out ways to help, visit our web site at cnn.com/impact.

Coming up, more than 80,000 kids, without parents, children alone, will illegally cross the border into U.S. this year, but the Obama administration has a plan to fix it. But will this even approach solving the problem.

PAUL: And it comes at a high cost too. Then homes, streets, businesses, just barely hanging on to solid ground as mud slides take out roadways. Look at this.

BLACKWELL: And can the DMV tell you to take off your makeup to get your license? That is what happened to one person in South Carolina. Now the fight is on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: They are looking at DOD facilities now to handle this overflow. They are even going to move some of these people as far away as an Army base in the state of Washington. They are rapidly running out of those facilities. So it is a crisis of enormous proportions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: That was Senator John McCain talking about what he calls both the humanitarian and national crisis. More than 50,000 child immigrants. Migrants now reaching the U.S. border without their families, just children on their own. With this mistaken believe that they will be able to come in and stay. As many as another 30,000 kids are expected before the year is out. Federal authorities at least believe they'll be maybe 30,000 more. Now the White House says that the U.S. will dedicate more than $250 billion to try to stop that.

PAUL: This money is going not to border security we want to point out, but to nations south of the border, quoting the White House here, quote, "address the root cause of the migration." CNN's Nick Valencia joins us with details because when people first hear that quote about how much money were talking, they first go where is the money going?

BLACKWELL: It is a lot of money, $250 million is going to Central American governments places like Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala where the majority of the undocumented minors are coming from. You are looking at pictures from the Health and Human Services of the influx of the migrants.

The White House hopes that this will be used in reintegration for these migrants as they are deported back into their home countries. They didn't really give details about what that re- integration is thought. The administration also pledging, Victor and Christi, $161.5 million for the Central American Regional Security initiative.

That is going to help governance and security issues, a big problem about kind of blamed on this is the violence in the Central American countries, very violent in place like Guatemala and El Salvador. Despite all of this money, though, senior lawmakers like Senator John McCain says this is not going to stop the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCAIN: Right now, with the number of thousands that are crossing the border, that have left Central America and on the way here, it is a roughly 15-day trip, if we stopped it tomorrow, there would be the backlog that would be coming here. It has to stop and it has to stop immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP) VALENCIA: The White House is also accusing crime syndicates of spreading this information saying that they are telling migrants to come now to the United States because they will be given essentially get free entry into the United States. Of course, the White House says that is not the case at all. They are blaming the large influx on this so-called misinformation.

BLACKWELL: So I know there are some people who will hear that and ask, is the U.S. paying to secure the borders in Central America instead of securing the U.S. border? Is that what is happening here?

VALENCIA: It's upset some people. You know, there are some segments of our U.S. society that don't think that this is a good idea. Where was the money when you want to secure the border? Instead you are sending money to a Central American government that you may not be able to hold them accountable for what they spend that money on. Who knows if it's actually going to go to keeping these migrants and this reintegration process?

We don't really even know what that means either and part of the problem also here in the United States is detention facilities. Where are you going to keep these thousands and thousands of migrants that are crossing the border? You're running out of space here. There is clearly a processing problem.

You're looking at pictures here from Wednesday in Brownsville, Texas. Deplorable living conditions for these migrants and also really upset communities. Lawrenceville, Virginia, small community there. They had proposed to house thousands of family groups. Adults had come to this country with children. The community there did not like the idea. They cited security concerns and disease.

We are seeing reports of scabies and measles and chickenpox in these facilities. Some border patrol agents that I spoke to when I was there said they contracted those illnesses and they were afraid of spreading it to their own families. So this is a very nuance issue and a headache for the administration.

Right now also receiving criticism from lawmakers like McCain. How is this money going to be spent and where exactly is it going for the so-called reintegration process.

PAUL: Yes, hard to see those pictures of those kids.

BLACKWELL: It is. Either way should they stay or be sent back. You see the kids there in what looked like kennels. It's difficult to watch. Nick Valencia, thanks very much.

PAUL: All right, take a look at this. Bright lights in the sky. Clouds swirling around. A look at these lightning images. Storm images we have for you.

BLACKWELL: And then Russian water. Floods, storms caused major mudslides and then look at this. There's a hospital full of patients threatened sitting near this river. A live report as the earth slips from beneath it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Rise and shine, sleepy head. Saturday is waiting for you and so are we. You look at the beautiful skyline here in Atlanta. Welcome to NEW DAY with CNN. I hope you are waking up to some pictures like that. It is gorgeous. Look at these amazing pictures. Lightning from last night in Parker, Colorado, south of Denver.

Photographer Jeff Howell from affiliate, KMGH, shot these images before midnight. Are they gorgeous? He is one good photographer for sure. Victor, you just kind of hope as much as you look at that and as beautiful as it is, you do not want to be on the receiving end of it.

BLACKWELL: Hopefully everybody is safe out there. It is amazing you can catch something that happened so quickly on film. Great pictures.

Let's go from Colorado now to Minnesota. Heavy rains, floods threaten part of the state. The governor actually has declared disaster areas in more than one-third of the state's counties. Ana Cabrera joins us there from the banks of the Mississippi River there in Minneapolis. This is a touch-and-go time for that facility behind you.

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can see the cleanup underway just across the river because a mudslide happened here Thursday night and right on top of that collapsed hillside, as you mentioned, Victor, is a hospital. A building there on the edge that looks particularly concerning.

We understand that is an office building. That office space has been evacuated. We are told everybody is safe. There is still concern, however, because more rain is in the forecast.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA (voice-over): Geologists and structural engineers are literally digging in this morning trying to determine the depth of the bedrock that's holding up this hospital along the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are testing how deep it is. They assure us we can care for patients safely.

CABRERA: And city officials agree saying, it appears the buildings remain on solid ground. Part of the bluff came crashing down on the roadway along the river after days of intense rain in the Upper Midwest left rain swollen rivers and flooded homes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've had landslides, but nothing like this.

CABRERA: In Blakely, along the Minnesota River, there is just one road leading in and out of town. The reason? The ground has slid away from the county highway and no trucks or cars are allowed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They cannot give us a time limit to get back. There's no electricity. They cannot get power lines up because it is so muddy.

CABRERA: The high water came rushing through parts of town carrying mud and debris.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm in shock. We have lived in a lot of places, but I have never went through anything like this in my life.

CABRERA: While some people struggle with the aftermath, others are preparing to deal with the high water. Work crews are building temporary levees along River Street in Delano, Minnesota, and residents of creek side are putting down sand bags around their property.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are some neighbors who lived here for 40 years. They have never seen this high water level before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton has now declared a state of emergency in 35 counties because of this flooding. Most of it is affecting parklands and farm lands right now. There are hundreds of homes and businesses that have flood damage. Roads are destroyed. Victor and Christi, damage estimates have climbed into the millions.

BLACKWELL: Ana, has the threat subsided? Over the next few days, could this get worse?

CABRERA: It is possible. You can see a break in the rain right now. We do know there is more rain in the forecast. The rivers are still rising. They have not crested yet. Expected to peak at major flood stage sometime in the middle to late next week. Now, unfortunately, the folks here kind of have to watch and wait. We do know that the National Guard troops have been deployed to try to shore up some of the waterways and hold back the high waters -- Victor.

BLACKWELL: Ana Cabrera for us there in Minneapolis, thank you very much.

PAUL: Disparaging to Native Americans. That is what the U.S. Patent Office is calling the Washington Redskins longstanding name. It cancelled the trademark, but is this a real victory for Native Americans. We are going to wonder will this push the team to rebrand?

BLACKWELL: And play the music. Yes, there it is. World Cup fever, baby. It is hot. The temperature in Brazil even hotter. How the steamy, sticky humidity could affect the game this weekend, but the U.S. not worried about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT BESLER, U.S. SOCCER TEAM: We're used to it. We have teams coming over from Europe that never play in humidity and they are cramping and complaining about it. So far us, we are trying to use it to our advantage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) PAUL: If you haven't looked at the clock, 29 minutes past the hour right now. Hopefully you don't need it this morning since it is Saturday. I'm glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

BLACKWELL: One day of the week where you don't have to worry about the clock. I'm Victor Blackwell. Let's start with five things you need to know for your NEW DAY. Up first, the White House announced the U.S. will spend more than $250 million to address the tens of thousands of illegal immigrant children showing up at the U.S. border mistakenly believing the U.S. will allow them to come in and stay. Almost $100 million will go to El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala where officials say that 29 percent of the children are coming from.

PAUL: Number two, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ordering troops to carry out a surprise combat readiness test. Sixty-five thousand troops in Russia's Central Military District are going to put on a full combat alert. The military exercise is going to last about a week, we're told. But this comes just one day after Russia said it was beefing up security along its border with Ukraine.

BLACKWELL: And number three, what's being said in the U.S. is resonating in the Middle East. The Presbyterian Church votes to shed its investment in three companies that it says help Israel occupy Palestinian territories. It's the first such move aimed at pressuring Israel to pull out.

PAUL: Number four, if you like flying remote-controlled planes and helicopters, well, guess what, 84 million acres are officially off limits now. The National Park Service is banning drones from all its lands and waters. That includes monuments, seashores, historic sites and rivers. The FAA is working on new rules to address safety and privacy concerns.

BLACKWELL: Number five, World Cup fever spreading. According to FIFA, an historic number of viewers around the world tuned in to watch the first round matches. 11.1 million people in the U.S. tuned in to ESPN to watch the U.S. beat Ghana. And tomorrow Team USA will sweat it out facing Portugal in a match set in the heart of the Brazilian rainforest.

PAUL: So here's the big question. Is it the beginning of the end for the Washington Redskins? The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week, which came as a shock for a lot of people, canceled six federal trademarks held by the team on the grounds that the name is, quote, "disparaging to Native Americans."

BLACKWELL: You know, some call it a victory for critics who decry the team name as racist, we have been here before 1999. Let's go back 15 years. The U.S. Patent Office made a similar ruling. That was overturned. So here we are today. And the Washington Redskins are still one of the most popular and the most valuable football teams in America worth some $1.7 billion last year according to "Forbes."

PAUL: So let's talk about it with sports business analyst Rick Horrow. If the ruling stands, Rick, and thank you so much for being with us.

If this stands, I mean, and apparently at this point we believe that to be a big if, what does it mean for the franchise? I mean, could it continue selling its current team merchandise?

RICK HORROW, SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Well, I'll tell you, guys, it's a victory for the lawyers because this is a very complicated issue. And the Trademark and Patent folks basically and 2-1 said there was insufficient evidence earlier as it was appealed and overturned five years ago. This is not just about today, but it's -- when the original patents were applied for in 1966 through 1977.

And the bottom line is nobody is sure what the ruling is going to be, but it could happen quickly. In the meantime, the Redskins can certainly sell their merchandise. The ruling is stayed until the appellate court rules on it. What it makes it do, though, is difficult for them to enforce under federal law. There is still state and there's still common law issues, too. So don't go printing your T-shirts just yet.

BLACKWELL: All right. That was going to be my next question, but I'll move on to another one. What does this mean for other teams? Let's say the Indians.

PAUL: The Braves.

BLACKWELL: The Braves and the Chiefs. What does it mean to those teams and their heritage of those names?

HORROW: Victor, very interesting distinction because the Indians, Braves, the Chiefs, may not be as disparaging. It's not just today but when their patent was allowed. And so there are some issues, seminals as well, where you have some kind of common ground between those groups and those particular teams. So it's ruling will be confined to this specific issue of the Redskins during the time the original patents were applied for.

Nobody says the issue of disparagement today with the Redskins is relevant. That's why it's very important. It's just when the patent was applied for. That's why this issue is very, very critical not only to the Redskins but the entire NFL.

We talked about the work that the NFL, by the way, as we know. But the Redskins are very, very valued. You say nearly $2 billion, about $104 million in operating income. And that is all up in the air today. The lawyers are trying to vigorously, as we know, defend it.

PAUL: We know last month, 49 senators, even Majority Leader Harry Reid sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell saying that the team, quote, "is on the wrong side of history." What do you think is the possibility the team will change its name?

HORROW: There is a legal, there's a political issue, there's a financial issue. And all of -- all of those have to intersect. Daniel Snyder bought this franchise knowing he had that logo and trademark. Done a very good job whether you like the trademark and logo or not of marketing this team. The average merchandise for NFL teams is $50 million, $60 million, the pressure outside -- clearly the D.C. city council, the senators, all those you referred to.

The other pressure, though, is the NFL. All of the teams minus the Cowboys share in each other's merchandise. And so if there is an issue which reduces the merchandise sales, then all of the teams get involved. And that's the issue there.

BLACKWELL: All right. So let's talk about what we're hearing from the team's trademark attorney. He said that he believed that this decision will likely be like the previous one. Will be overturned. We've got the words put up on the screen.

"We've seen this story before. And just like last time, today's ruling will have no effect at all on the team's ownership of the right to use the Redskins' name and logo."

What do you think? You think he's right?

HORROW: Well, it has an effect. Certainly a social effect and a political effect. I'm not the judge that's going to hear the case a year from now. So we don't know. The last time, there was insufficient evidence to overturn it at the time the application was applied for. So the name means different things to different people. And was it disparaging to a substantial component of American Indians between 1967 and 1990? That is the issue. So it's one of those subjective issues that a judge has to decide. Lawyers can write opinions and statements either way. But the court will decide.

BLACKWELL: And the lawyers, as you said at the top, are the real winners here as this goes on and on and on.

Rick Horrow --

HORROW: Well put. Well put.

BLACKWELL: Thank you very much.

PAUL: Thank you, Rick.

HORROW: See you guys later.

PAUL: See you later.

So you know the U.S. facing Portugal in the World Cup tomorrow. Portugal's top player, Cristiano Ronaldo, could be out of the game. Good news for the USA? We'll see.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT BESLER, U.S. DEFENDER: The humidity, it's no joke. We -- I play in major league soccer so I play sometimes down in Houston. And I'll have to say the humidity down here is actually worse than it is in Houston. So that's saying something. (END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Anybody who's been in Houston in June knows it.

BLACKWELL: No joke.

PAUL: Matt Besler there of the U.S. soccer team talking about the extreme heat and humidity that his crew most likely is going to be enduring tomorrow when they play Portugal.

BLACKWELL: Now you may not believe this. It's probably tough to believe that they have this happening in the middle -- the heart really of the Brazilian rainforest, although we know that millions of kids around the world they play, you know, just pick-up games.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: But these are professions.

CNN's Lara Baldesarra is in Rio for us.

LARA BALDESARRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christi and Victor. I am certainly ready for the USA's second World Cup game. The United States, they're getting ready for the game that every team truly wanted to avoid. It's not because of who they play but where they play.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDESARRA (voice-over): The U.S. faces Portugal in Manaus. The only Brazilian host city in the Amazon rainforest which means not just playing in the high heat which averages 88 degrees Fahrenheit in June, playing in the deep humidity which can make it feel hard to breathe for any one let alone a soccer player running for 90 minutes.

KYLE BECKERMAN, U.S. MIDFIELDER: It's probably similar to Houston, Dallas, Midwest, East Coast in the summer, so hopefully when we get there, it won't be as shocking as it has been to some other teams.

GEOFF CAMERON, U.S. DEFENDER: I think the heat plays for both teams, so you can just wash that out.

BALDESARRA: Either way, it will be a physically grueling match for both teams with fitness levels and conditioning certain to play a role on which side has the edge.

Now for the U.S., they will have to do without a key player, Jozy Altidore who is out with a hamstring injury. It is a pretty big loss as Altidore was expected to be a key goal scorer.

JURGEN KLINSMANN, U.S. HEAD COACH: We still have the hope that Jozie will be back. How quickly? That is down to his healing process.

BALDESARRA: No matter which striker Klinsmann chooses defends will be key. So now without Altidore the U.S. will depend on Aron Johannsson or Chris Wondolowski to put the U.S. on the score sheet. No matter which striker Klinsmann chooses, defense will be key. Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to play for Portugal despite dealing with a knee injury. Ronaldo is Ronaldo and this guy, he can score from anywhere.

BECKERMAN: You lose the ball and the next thing you know it's in the back of your head. That's how dangerous he is. So we're going to have to be aware of him at all times.

ALEJANDRO BEDOVA, U.S. TEAM: We're trying to go out against Portugal and win that game. And then we don't have to think about anything.

BALDESARRA: U.S. fans are turning out in record numbers to support this team in America as well as in Brazil and the players, they are feeding off of this energy.

BECKERMAN: Any time we get on the field it's all about making them proud of us. Win, lose or draw, it's all about them seeing in good spirit, commitment and that, you know American fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDERSARRA: The U.S. fans has certainly been proud of their squad. The original expectation was just to get a draw against Ghana, which the U.S. far surpassed by winning. Now expect these fans to be even louder. Even more excited for the game against Postugal inside and outside of the stadium.

And Christi and Victor, I don't know that you'll both be in your red, white and blue on Sunday night.

PAUL: Got that right.

Lara, thank you so much.

We're going to have a look at Sunday's weather, too, coming up a little bit later this hour.

BLACKWELL: All right. We want you to stay around for this because it's -- there's a lot of questions, a lot of questions here. Transgender teen gets his driver's license. The DMV tells him to take off the makeup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is how I am every day. And if a police officer wanted to recognize how I am, then he would want to see who I am in my picture as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So here is the question, was the DMV's move legal? Our legal experts have something to say about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR, "SMERCONISH": Hey, good morning. I'm Michael Smerconish. U.S. special forces are headed to Iraq. The president says they're just there as advisors. But how dangerous is the threat of mission creep?

And Cheney blasting Obama on the failure of Iraq. But my guest, Ambassador Joe Wilson, whose wife Valerie Plame was famously outed by the Cheney staff, he might have a different view.

And faking it on the soccer pitch. Everybody is doing it so why are some saying it's un-American. A soccer star is going to tell us.

We've got a great program for you this morning and I hope you'll join us -- Victor, Christi.

BLACKWELL: Michael, thank you very much. "SMERCONISH" airs this morning at the top of the hour 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

PAUL: OK. Ladies, let me ask you something here. Has the DMV ever asked you to remove your makeup before taking, you know, that dreaded driver's license photo? I'm guessing the answer is probably not. I mean, they've not asked me.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Probably not. But should a driver who was born a male, someone who's transgender or, as this young man describes himself, gender nonconforming be allowed to wear makeup in his photos?

PAUL: And advocacy group says the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles restricted this teen's free speech rights by making him remove his makeup for a driver's license photo.

BLACKWELL: All right. Check out the before and after. 16-year-old Chase Culpepper says that a DMV employer told him that he couldn't wear, quote, "a disguise." So apparently the before is on the left, the after is on the right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHASE CULPEPPER, GENDER NON-CONFORMING TEEN: And she said that I could not wear a disguise to take my photo, and according to her, like me wearing makeup would be a disguise. And I do not look like a boy should.

It was very degrading and I felt I was in shock.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: So Michael Silverman is an attorney and the executive director of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. Joey Jackson with us as well, HLN Legal analyst, criminal defense attorney.

Gentlemen, I want to thank both of you for being with us.

Michael, what was your initial reaction to this case?

MICHAEL SILVERMAN, ATTORNEY: Well, good morning, Christi. It's nice to be here with you. Thank you.

Look, here's the thing about Chase. He is a 16-year-old who likes to wear makeup and does so on a regular basis. He is perfectly happy and comfortable with who he is. His mother loves him just the way he is. His friends support and like him. And it's not the job of the government of South Carolina to tell him that he's somehow not OK because he doesn't match their expectations about what a boy should look like.

BLACKWELL: So, let me come to you, Joey, for the legal question here. DMV in South Carolina, the policy is, quote, "At no time will an applicant be photographed when it appears that he or she is purposely altering his or her appearance so that the photo would misrepresent his or her identity."

Is identity the operative word here? Is disguise? I mean -- let us know what this all hinges upon.

JOEY JACKSON: Of course, Victor. Good morning. Good morning, Christi and Michael.

Listen, the bottom line is it is, Victor, but it's not only identity, it's the misrepresentation of identity. And that's what the DMV would argue. I mean, listen, people should be who they are. You know, we need to have peace, love and happiness amongst all of us and that's for sure, and that's my personal view but let me tell you what the DMV will say.

What the DMV will say is that you need bright line rules. And those bright line rules need to be that we have an interest, says the government, in protecting and ensuring against fraud. And certainly as a result of that, we have a right to have policies which ensure that that would occur.

And in any instance, particularly this where you're talking about freedom of expression. We all enjoy freedoms of expressions and certainly they're very important, Victor. But what the DMV will say is that at the end of the day you have to balance that freedom against the government's obligation to keep us safe, to keep us secure, to prevent any type of fraudulent activity.

And to the extent that this could potentially do that by allowing someone to alter their identity, says the government, not me, they will then claim, Victor, that there is a legal basis and right to prevent him from wearing makeup and to otherwise require and compel him to have that photo taken without it.

PAUL: So, Michael, I understand that you're asking the DMV to retake the photo. Have you put in that request and have they responded?

SILVERMAN: We have requested that the DMV allow Chase to retake his photograph. We have not heard back from them directly but they've certainly been speaking publicly about the situation. And they have stated to the press that they do not intend to allow to retake his photo. I hope that they'll reconsider that because all Chase wants is to be able to go back and take a photo that represents who he truly is, his real identity.

BLACKWELL: Michael, in this letter, I've got a copy from your organization Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund. And one line here says sex stereotypes like this do not justify government agency restriction constitutionally protected expressions.

To have a driver's license is not constitutionally protected. It's not a right, it's a privilege. And if they say no makeup in this photo and it's not based on any gender stereotypes, what protects your client or protects Chase in any way when this is a privilege, not a right?

SILVERMAN: Sure. In fact, what the South Carolina DMV has said to Chase is sex stereotyping. They have told him you need to look more like a boy. And our Supreme Court has been very clear about this. Sex stereotyping. That is, judging people based on your own preconceived notions of what a boy or a girl should look like is against the law. And it can subject someone to liability.

Certainly in this case where the government is telling a boy we want you to look a certain way, that is less like a girl, that raises profound implications about sex stereotyping and the freedom to be who Chase really is.

PAUL: Joey?

JACKSON: The government will have two arguments against that. The first is that the policy on its face is gender neutral. It doesn't seek to discriminate against gender or against race, against anyone. It's a policy that says no misrepresentation. So that's issue number one.

The second thing the government will argue quite clearly is as follows. Listen, everything has to be a balancing test. And as a result of this balance, we as the government, and here is the constitutional test, we have a rational relation, a rational basis to imply this. We're not acting arbitrarily, says the government. We're not acting discriminatorily, says the government.

We are acting in a way that allows for everyone to take the photo and everyone to drive. Just do it so that your identity is clear, right, to all of humanity. And so that protects people from criminality or protects from fraud. It protects people from identity theft, and on that basis, the government again will argue that what they're doing is just improper and indeed constitutional.

PAUL: All right.

SILVERMAN: I -- I was just going to jump in, Christi, if I could. I think it of course misses the point that this is Chase's true identity. And to tell him that he has to take off his makeup is to actually force him to take a photo that doesn't reflect who he truly is.

PAUL: OK.

SILVERMAN: Which would violate the fact --

JACKSON: And I think that's probably the best argument of all, Michael. PAUL: All righty. Well, Joey Jackson and Michael Silverman, we're so

appreciative that you could be here with us. And appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

SILVERMAN: Thank you so much.

JACKSON: A pleasure and a privilege. Great day, all.

PAUL: You, too.

We're back in just a moment. Stay close.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: That's what it looked like in my house.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: With just a few people.

BLACKWELL: I was going to say, 70 people standing around watching?

PAUL: Not quite that many.

Before we hand you over to Michael Smerconish, of course, let's look at the weather across Brazil for this weekend's world cup matches including, of course, Team USA tomorrow.

KAREN MAGINNIS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, and it looks like because we're in the Amazon, typical rainforest-type weather. This is probably one of the more exotic locations. And in the past 12 hours, we did see a nice little cluster of thunderstorms move across that region. And in the forecast, it's still kick some showers and storms. That's why it's the rain forest. That's why it's tropical. Temperature wise, we'll keep it fairly muggy. It'll be hovering right around that 80-degree mark. But the humidity is going to be the deciding factor here as far as how this game is played because it is going to be oppressive.

Look, at 79 degrees around 80 degrees this comes in the evening right about 6:00. Wind not really a factor. Humidity 85 percent humidity. You know in the Deep South when this humidity is around 75 percent or 80 percent, how oppressive it is? Well, that's what it's going to feel like there. And really, you cannot rule out the chance of a shower or a thunderstorm.

So, Christi and Victor, it looks like it's going to be fairly exciting and conditions might be a little tricky at least for the soccer players.

PAUL: Does anybody know -- if there is a thunderstorm do they call off the game?

BLACKWELL: I don't know.

MAGINNIS: Ye.s PAUL: Does anybody know?

MAGINNIS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Somebody in the cube, somebody has to know.

PAUL: Yes. Likley? Likely.

BLACKWELL: Likely?

PAUL: Likely that they'll call. Anyway, let's hope that that doesn't happen.

BLACKWELL: You know, my whole career has been in the south below the Mason Dixon. And I remember standing out in the humidity just sweating, standing still -- Karen.

PAUL: Put some sugar on it. You have hair in those days.

BLACKWELL: Just standing still.

PAUL: It's the hair that gives it away that you are miserable.

(LAUGHTER)

Isn't it, Karen?

BLACKWELL: But, see, look what you're wearing, look what I'm wearing. It's the wool.

PAUL: Well, take your coat off, for heaven's sakes. You don't need to wear it.

BLACKWELL: You've got to tell me twice.

PAUL: There you go. We're so glad that you spent some time with us. If you want to derobe, you go right ahead.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: Because you (INAUDIBLE). We can't see you.

"SMERCONISH" is starting right now. We'll see you back here at the top of the hour at 10:00.

BLACKWELL: See you in an hour.