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CNN Saturday Morning News

White House Stands By Rice; Bank of American Settling Over Merrill Lynch Lawsuit; Obama and Romney's Individual Stance on the War on Drugs; The Battle Over (and in) Ohio; Interview with Ohio Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted

Aired September 29, 2012 - 09:00   ET

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

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Deborah Feyerick, in for Randi Kaye.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Victor Blackwell. It's 9:00 in the east, 6:00 out west. Thanks for starting your day with us.

FEYERICK: Well, we start with an admission from the intelligence community. They're now saying that the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, it was a deliberate and organized terrorist assault. Four Americans were killed including Ambassador Chris Stevens. An investigation found that it wasn't just a violence end to a spontaneous protest over an anti-Muslim film.

BLACKWELL: U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice was one of the administration officials who originally said it was not a terror attack and that has now led Congressman Peter King to call for her resignation. Here's what he told our Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: To rule out terrorism, to say it was not terrorism at that time was a terrible mistake to make whether it was intentionally or unintentionally. To show the significance of that, I believe she should resign, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: The White House is standing by Rice saying everything she said in that interview was cleared by interagency groups.

FEYERICK: Well, two people remain hospitalized after a shooting rampage in Minneapolis earlier this week. Police say the shooter was laid off just hours before the incident and then returned with a gun and shot and killed five co-workers before committing suicide. His family said he had a history of mental illness. Among the dead, a business owner who was recently honored at the White House.

BLACKWELL: Bank of America is paying more than $2.4 billion to settle a class action lawsuit over its acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Investors sued in 2009, claiming the bank misled them over the financial health of both companies prior to the merger. Bank of America has denied the allegations but said it agreed to settle to avoid an expensive legal battle. Mortgage rates are headed down once again, hitting all time record lows. According to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac, the rate on a 30-year loan is now 3.4 percent, for a 15-year loan, it's 2.7, three percent. The rates are headed down, thanks to the Fed's plans to buy up mortgage debt from banks' balance sheets.

FEYERICK: Well, we hear a lot of spin on the campaign trail when it comes to the big issues. So we are here at CNN are helping you cut through the noise to figure out where each candidate stands. We're sizing up how President Obama and Mitt Romney plan to tackle the challenges facing the country one issue at a time. This hour, our John Zarrella takes a look at where each candidate stands on the war on drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Angelica Hernandez was nine when she first crossed the border with her mother and sister.

ANGELICA HERNANDEZ: I still remember crossing the desert, having to sleep in the desert because it was getting late when we had been walking for hours and my mom would hold my sister in one arm and me on the other arm. And just pray that nothing would happen.

ZARRELLA: But their human smuggler was pulled over for speeding and they were deported. Their second crossing succeeded. Entering school as a fourth grader, Hernandez was teased because she spoke no English.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FEYERICK: Now that was the package that we ran earlier, a very powerful packages on the challenges on immigration law. We are going to be taking a look at the drug laws. And I think we might have that package now or we're going to be coming up with it a little bit later on.

But right now, the presidential candidates focusing on the swing state of Ohio.

BLACKWELL: Yes, just this week, President Obama made his 13th visit to the state this year. We drilled down on the importance of the buckeye state. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: So let's move to politics in the battle over Ohio. There are actually two battles going on there, the race for president, also the fight over early voting. But let me start with the presidential race. Here's our latest poll of polls for the state. You can see that 51 percent of likely voters are leaning towards President Obama. That's around the same margin he won the state with in 2008.

But many consider the race to be closer than the numbers indicate. And that's why both campaigns have spent a significant amount of time traveling around the state. Joining us now is Nina Turner, democratic state senator from the Cleveland area. Thanks so much for being here this morning. First of all, how is the president's message resonating there in Cleveland?

NINA TURNER, DEMOCRATIC STATE SENATOR, CLEVELAND: It's resonating in a very strong way. The citizens of this state, they know who's standing with them. That is the president of the United States of America. And the polls indicate how the voters in this state are feeling.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about the fight for voters' rights. Ohio's Republican led legislature changed the law. They took away some early voting rights, the federal court ruling overturned the new law but that decision is now being appealed. So there's a lot mixing up. The main point here is that voting in the three days right before the election, you've been very outspoken on this saying that it's blatant voter suppression. Explain.

TURNER: It is, Victor. You know, it doesn't make any sense that in 2012 we would have the chief elections officer along with the attorney general of the state of Ohio appealing the decision of a U.S. Circuit Court judge that said you will treat the voters in the state of Ohio as equals and you will restore the last three days of early voting. Make no mistake about it, what they are doing is creating an environment by which voters in this state have less access to the ballot than they did last year or the year before or in 2008.

As we know in Ohio, about 100,000 folks in this state took advantage of the last three days of early voting. It makes no sense. You know, in a letter to the attorney general, former U.S. Circuit Court judge Nathaniel Jones said that it pained him that the attorney general was aligning the good people of Ohio with the segregationist policies of former governors like Governor Wallace and others who under the guise of state's rights defied the United States Constitution.

Victor and Deb, that is exactly what is happening in the state of Ohio. That is exactly what is happening in Florida. That is exactly what is happening in Pennsylvania and it is absolutely shameful.

BLACKWELL: I want to go to that point. You brought up the word segregationists and you talk more about this not just being an effort to suppress the vote or the democratic vote, but you said on this network about six weeks ago that Jim Crowe has been best resurrected in Ohio. Support that and how can - how do you see this as being directed specifically toward African-American voters?

TURNER: Well, Victor, for example, in my county which is the largest county in the state of Ohio, Cuyahoga County. In 2008, African- Americans voted 56 percent early and in person although they only make up 26 percent of the voting population.

Again, we know by the data that African-Americans tend to vote early and they tend to vote in person. And not only does what the attorney general and the secretary of state, not only what they're doing does it have an impact on African-Americans, it has an impact on poor folks, too. I mean they are restricting - the secretary of state is restricting the number of hours that folks can vote. He has fired, as you know, boards of election members who have dared to say that we are going to stand up for the voters in the state of Ohio. It is crystal clear what is going on. And although there may not be barking dogs to see or there may not be a literacy test or poll tax, what they are doing is just the same. It is the 21st century version of voter suppression in the state of Ohio and other states across this country. You know, the Brennan Center in New York said in 2011 over 180 measures, bills were introduced in legislatures across this country. This is no surprise by any stretch of the imagination what folks are doing who have the political clout to do so. They are suppressing the vote.

FEYERICK: And this is something we've been following and we're going to keep following. As a matter of fact, we have the secretary of state, John Huston coming up. We are going to hear why Ohio did feel that limiting some voting hours would be helpful.

BLACKWELL: Our thanks to state Senator Nina Turner. Again the secretary of state John Huston is standing by and we will talk more about voters' rights, early voting and the battle for Ohio.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FEYERICK: We're back with our Ohio discussion. Early voting there starts next week. But all the talk there is about the final three days of early voting. The Saturday, Sunday and Monday right before election day.

BLACKWELL: Joining us now is Ohio's Republican secretary of state, Jon Husted. Where does the schedule stand now for early voting in Ohio?

JON HUSTED (R), OHIO SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, early voting starts Tuesday. For the first time ever, every single voter in the state receives an absentee ballot request. We expect on the first day of absentee voting on Tuesday that a million ballots will go out to voters. They will have essentially five weeks and over 750 hours to vote from home, 230 hours over the course of five weeks to vote in person, plus all day on election day. And so it's really never been easier to vote in Ohio. We expect that everything will go quite smoothly.

BLACKWELL: It was indeed easier in 2008 though when people had that Saturday, Sunday and Monday to vote. So let's get right to it, what you might have heard from the state Senator Nina Turner, right before the break. She said that this law is meant to suppress that vote. A lot of people voted in that weekend before the election. It happened in 2008. What was wrong with the 2008 schedule that it had to be cut this year?

HUSTED: Do you know that, frankly, the reason is because the boards of elections on a bipartisan basis actually asked for those three days to account for all the millions of ballots that are going to be potentially be out there in the mail so that they can make sure that the voter rolls are secure and that we have no duplicates, we know who's voted, we know who's eligible to vote on Tuesday, so nobody votes twice.

As a matter of fact, Senator Turner voted for the bill that ended those three days. And so it is stunning to me that this has become the issue that it has. Because frankly, for most voters in Ohio, the opportunity has been expanded over 2008 and everything is running very smoothly in Ohio. We have - we're going to be ready and voters are going to have a very easy time casting their ballots this year.

FEYERICK: You know, Mr. Secretary, what's interesting is that, last year, 93,000 ballots were cast in the last three days prior to the election. Clearly enough votes to sway a potential election and the 18 electoral college votes, Governor John Kasich changed that part. Why not open it up to everybody if you are going to open it up to the military, why put this ban in place?

HUSTED: Well, first of all, it was done by the legislature on a bipartisan basis at the request of the bipartisan election officials from across the state so that the boards of elections could account for all those ballots. I hate to keep coming back to that but it was done in that manner. Whether the final three days exists is really about a federal lawsuit that is out of my hands. We will see what the courts say. But it's not like any of these voters are going to somehow be denied the opportunity to cast a ballot.

Frankly, we did a lot of things over the course of those 35 previous days that you can vote to make it easier. And so the question - but the question -

FEYERICK: Are you saying the legislature made a mistake? Do you think the legislature made a mistake?

HUSTED: No, I don't.

FEYERICK: (INAUDIBLE) staunchly supporting taking away these three days?

HUSTED: Look, it's a matter of whether or not - the lawsuit really is a matter of whether or not we're allowed to treat military voters differently than other voters. It happens in all 50 states where we make special accommodations for military voters. What the lawsuit from the Obama campaign says is that we can't treat military voters differently. We have to treat all voters the same.

This issue will be settled. Voting - it is more than 35 days before those issues have to be resolved and they will be resolved by then. Voting starts in Ohio on Tuesday and they will have - voters in the state will have 35 days to cast a ballot. And there are plenty of opportunities to do that. We have some of the most expansive laws of any swing state in the country in terms of voter opportunity. And so things are going well in Ohio despite the fact that there are some who would like to create controversy where none really exists.

FEYERICK: Well, the courts, just to play devil's advocate, the court basically said that there would be irreparable injury to a large percentage of voters. So that is not a political debate. That is a court coming down and saying you can't disenfranchise a certain group of voters just because they're not in the military.

HUSTED: Well I know we don't believe that the courts don't also have political concerns that they also address, and the bottom line is I will enforce whatever a court tells me to do. If the federal courts ultimately say that the law should be struck down or if the law is upheld, that's my job. My job is not to make the law. My job is to enforce the law and make sure we create a balance between easy access and to make sure that we also have elections integrity and security in place.

We have a great balance being struck in that manner. You don't have to take my word for it. Common cause did an analysis of all 50 states and they said Ohio was one of the sixth best states in the country in preparation for this election.

FEYERICK: OK.

HUSTED: Everything is going to go just fine.

FEYERICK: So you're ready. That's good to hear. OK.

HUSTED: I'm ready.

BLACKWELL: Ohio secretary of state -

HUSTED: And I think Ohioans are ready for this to be over.

BLACKWELL: Jon Husted, thank you.

And remember for all the top political news and more on voters rights and new laws, be sure to check out CNN.com/politics.

People in L.A. are bracing for Carmageddon, 10 miles of the busiest highway in America closed. It could cause a Godzilla of traffic jam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Checking top stories, officials from the U.S. intelligence community now say that the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was a deliberate and organized terrorist assault. Originally the administration said it was not a planned terror attack. Four Americans were killed in that attack including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

FEYERICK: And a new warning about buying medication online. The FDA says those low priced medications on the internet could be fake, expired, even contaminated. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy said less than three percent of online pharmacies meet state and federal laws.

BLACKWELL: Today, 10 miles of one of the busiest freeways in America are closed. People in Los Angeles are calling it Carmageddon two. You have to say it like that. Last summer, drivers feared a similar closure on Interstate 405 would cause a monster traffic jam but it went smoothly because most drivers stayed home to avoid it.

Well, this weekend officials are once again asking people to stay off the road. It will reopen on Monday.

FEYERICK: And back to our in-depth look on social issues in this year's election. Our John Zarrella reports where each candidate stands on the war on drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): A fishing trawler tries outrunning a Coast Guard cutter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't stop for you captain, I'm sorry.

ZARRELLA: The crew of the cutter fires its 50 caliber machine gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whew! All right!

ZARRELLA: Disabling the trawler. On board, 20 tons of marijuana. This was the mid-1980s. The drug war was at its height. Then vice president George Bush headed up a task force to fight the problem.

GEORGE BUSH, FMR. U.S. PRESIDENT: We have to do better interdicting it.

ZARRELLA: In Miami, cocaine is found hidden in commercial jets, flowers, even boxes of yams, problem is some aren't yams at all, rather plaster casts painted and shaped like yams, inside, pure coke. Stash houses and drug labs are routinely raided. That was a war on drugs. These days, it's not even a war on words.

(on camera): The White House doesn't even call it a war any longer, focusing more on prevention. In this political season, the issue on illicit drugs rarely gets a mention on the campaign trail.

(voice-over): When it does come up, President Obama and Mitt Romney appear to be on the same page.

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The president of the United States must make a priority of helping reduce demand in this country.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States can focus on drug treatment and prevention.

JUDGE GISELE POLLACK, MISDEMEANOR DRUG COURT: Absolutely. I agree with that.

ZARRELLA: If anyone should know, it's Judge Giselle Pollack, presides over misdemeanor drug court in Brower Country, Florida. The idea, you get clean, you avoid a criminal record.

POLLACK: (INAUDIBLE) there's no violation of probation.

ZARRELLA: Pollack said drug courts ought to be a priority for the candidates because they reduce drug dependency and save taxpayers millions. And she has got the numbers to back it up.

A study showed Pollack's court saved the county as much as $30 million a year over a five year period, basically the difference in the cost of treatment and counseling versus incarceration.

POLLACK: If we can keep them out of the criminal justice system at this level, then we will save billions and billions in prison costs.

ZARRELLA: For the White House it's a multi-layered approach. Focus on education and prevention, treat drugs and addiction as a public health issue not just a criminal justice concern. Law enforcement continues choking off the supply.

This year, the federal government is spending just over $10 billion on prevention and treatment. Law enforcement and corrections, just under 10. Mitt Romney has not outlined how he would allocate federal dollars but both men say they are not in favor of legalizing marijuana and both are emphatic that working closely with Mexico which has supplanted Florida as the favorite drug route is a must.

Pollack says she'd like more political discussion about drugs, in part, because substance abuse can be the result of a job loss or tough economic times.

POLLACK: We live in a society of aggravating stress. So it's only natural that people are going to turn to substances, whatever they may be, to numb their pain, their stress.

ZARRELLA: Ironically, the most talked about campaign issues leading to one of the least.

John Zarrella, CNN, Miami.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FEYERICK: Well, of all the social issues on the table this election, what's the most important to voters? Find out next hour.

Well, I'll see you back here at the top of the hour.

BLACKWELL: "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" starts right now.