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Voters Have Crucial Vote in United Kingdom Today; Justice Department May Investigate Entire Baltimore Police Department; Candidates Court Super PACs for Big Campaign Donors; Industrial Park Joins North, South Korea; AQAP Leader Killed in Drone Strike. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired May 07, 2015 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[13:32:13] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to viewers from the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.
Voters in the United Kingdom today have some tough choices to make as they vote for a new parliament. Nothing less than whether the U.K. remains a part of the European Union is at stake. Britain's youth- oriented channel E-4 turns off its programming today. They have been seeing this, image of a man, it says, is Darren, sitting in a control panel with a large on/off switch.
Nic Robertson is in London, joining us live.
Nic, U.K. law prevents you from talking about the politics of the election but what is voter turnout looking like today?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, maybe more powerful even than E-4, the sun's been out today. I think that's had an impact. The perception is turnout has been high. People here know this is an important election. And the expectation is that turnout will be higher than we've seen in the last couple of elections. We were here at this polling station almost 12 hours ago when the doors opened. There were a group of people standing outside. It's been a fairly steady stream. Of course people are coming out of their offices, they're on their way home, and we're seeing the turnout pickup here at the moment. We've seen the leaders of the parties, David Cameron, the Conservative Party, he voted in his Oxford constituency. Ed Miliband voted north of England, the leader of the opposition there, southeast corner of England. The U.K. Independence Party, Nigel Farage, he came out to vote, the Liberal Democrat Party. He voted in Sheffield. Nicholas Sturgeon of the National Party voted up in Glasgow earlier on in the day as well. Also the Green Party leader, the Green Party, Nicolette Bennett, she voted -- Natalie Bennett, rather. She voted in London early as well. All the leaders have been keen to get out early in the day as well.
BLITZER: When can we start seeing how the vote is shaking out?
ROBERTSON: You know, Wolf, the polls close here three and a half hours from now. And within about an hour, in 10 to 12 minutes of the poll -- within less than an hour of the polls closing, we're told the first seat could be called. The reality is this is close. This polling station here, the last elections, the gap between the two leading parties was just 42 votes. The expectation is before the results are in, it could be some time late Friday. But the first results were coming in by about 11:00 p.m. local time tonight. The first results will be coming in. It will carry on through the night. Of course after you get results in, then the real sort of landscaper, the new political landscape for the U.K., will begin to come clear -- Wolf?
[13:35:16] BLITZER: Stick with CNN for extensive and complete live coverage.
Thanks very much for that, Nic Robertson, in London.
Still ahead, big money versus big money. How super PACs are shaping the race for the White House in 2016. Our political team standing by to take a closer look at the candidates courting that small pool of very high-donor dollars.
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BLITZER: The U.S. Justice Department could soon take a closer look at the entire Baltimore police force in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray and charges being filed against six Baltimore police officers. The attorney general, Loretta Lynch, was on Capitol Hill just a little while ago and spoke about that possible investigation.
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LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: We're currently in the process of considering the request from city officials and community and police leaders for an investigation into whether the Baltimore City Police Department engaged in a pattern or practice of civil rights violations. And I intend to have a decision in the coming days.
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BLITZER: The Justice Department is already conducting their own investigation into Freddie Gray's death and the possible violation of his civil rights. We'll see if they take on a broader investigation into the entire Baltimore police department. We'll know in the coming days.
Other news, Hillary Clinton is ready to rake in some big-time money for her White House bid. She's courting donors for a super PAC supporting her candidacy and her allies have an ambitious goal, $300 million. It's just a preview of what could be the most expensive presidential race in history.
Let's bring in our senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny; and our senior Washington reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.
Jeff, in the past, candidates have been reluctant to go out, openly endorse these super PACs but I guess that's history, right? [14:40:04] JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT:
Somewhat reluctantly. President Obama was the biggest idea. He talked for years about how he didn't like the super PACs then suddenly game in. in 2011. I remember it very well when he decided to start speaking out for them. Hillary Clinton's been campaigning since the very beginning over the last month saying we need to limit the amount of money in politics but now she is, in fact, speaking out, urging these wealthy donor to give to her. She's in Los Angeles today for three big fund-raisers. She'll be talking to some of those big donors.
BLITZER: Explain for viewers who don't know what a super PAC is.
ZELENY: It allows you to write as big of a check as you want to fund, to help elect the candidate. You can't work with the campaign. It's sort of like a big brother to help you on the side to kind of help all the efforts so they can't work in coordination but they work separately. It's a very murky law. It has been around for -- this is the second presidential election cycle, and she's not alone, Republicans are out there doing this in huge numbers. It's all because of that Citizens United Supreme Court decision a few years ago.
BLITZER: If you're a billionaire, you can give as much money as you want?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON REPORTER: That's right.
BLITZER: You can give $100 million if you wanted to do it, if you want.
ZELENY: If you want.
BLITZER: Because there's no limit. And that's one of the reasons we're told why Jeb Bush, the Republican -- arguably, the front-runner, maybe not the front-runner.
HENDERSON: Maybe he's not the front-runner.
BLITZER: -- why he's delaying his official announcement, because --
HENDERSON: Yes, because he can raise this unlimited amount of money until he gets in. They've set a figure, Hillary Clinton, $300 million, they feel like they can raise $100 million --
BLITZER: For Jeb Bush's team?
HENDERSON: -- for Jeb Bush's team, in advance of him getting into this thing, could be June, could be July. They want to wait as long as they can because they want to get these unlimited funds. If you're a grassroots donor or activist on the ground, you might feel like, hey, why's this guy sitting on the sideline, why isn't he in this thing? In some ways, Hillary Clinton ran into this problem as well, donors saying, we want to see her out there, we want to see what the product looks like before we put some big money in. But for now, he's waiting. He's going to be able to rake in huge amounts of money but also people like Marco Rubio who are in the race are able to say, listen, I'm not waiting on the sidelines, I'm a sure thing right now, why don't you invest in my candidacy.
BLITZER: Vermont Senator Sanders announced he's running against Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. He was here with me last week right after his announcement. He said he's not going to play that game, he's not going to support -- want any money from those super PACs. He doesn't want any of those billionaires. He's got a strong position against that kind of fund-raising. But impressively, he's raised $3 million over the last few days alone.
ZELENY: It is impressive, without question. He is speaking to what the left side of this Democratic Party wants. He's filling in a vacuum that's sort of been created by Elizabeth Warren and he's done very well in online fundraising. It's surprised the Clinton folks. This is coming in, in small dollar increments, average of $43. So that is going to take him a long way. It reminds me of another Vermont presidential candidate, Howard Dean. In 2004, he did very well with these small-dollar contributions. Of course there's a limit to that. He can't ever raise as much as her. He's had a great week ever since he appeared on your show.
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BLITZER: A lot of these candidates they say they tonight want to unilaterally disarm. If they're opponents, their rivals are raising these kinds of funds -- we used to hear Bill Clinton say that as well and others and President Obama when he was raising unlimited funds basically. They don't want to unilaterally disarm.
HENDERSON: That's right. That was the argument in 2011 that maybe we don't like the rules, maybe we want to so the law changed. But in the meantime, now that these are the rules, we're going to play by the rules and benefit from the rules to even the playing field because Republicans certainly don't play by the rules, have been able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for these super PACs.
BLITZER: A lot of very rich people with a lot of money. I asked Bernie Sanders if George Soros, for example, who's a left wing fund- raiser, if he were to come up with a huge sum of money, would you take that, he said no. He's got a principle position. See if it stays like that.
All right, guys, thanks very much.
Still ahead, there's breaking news coming into CNN from Yemen. We've got the details when we come back.
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[14:47:51] BLITZER: We're back with the CNN exclusive, taking you inside the mysterious world of North Korea. Just a few miles from the demilitarized zone, beyond the barbed wire and tank, a rare symbol of cooperation between the North and South, an industrial park where thousands of workers go each day.
Our own Will Ripley got rare access to the complex and filed this report.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's been many years since CNN has been allowed to visit the Kaesong Industrial Complex about three hours south of Pyongyang. This complex is supposed to be a symbol of unity between North and South Korea. But as we witnessed firsthand on the ground, there's a lot of obstacles standing in the way.
(voice-over): Made in Korea. Sneakers, rolling off assembly lines in a South Korea factory with North Korea workers.
"When we started doing business here, we had 300 employees. Now we have 3,000," says the manager, Kang Lee Wah (ph).
She'd like to hire 2,000 more but she can't. This factory and more than 100 others in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, caught in the middle of a showdown between the South and North just miles from their heavily armed border. There was so much hope at this historic summit in 2000. A landmark deal between Pyongyang and Seoul. South Korean businesses on North Korean soil. One of them, the Mt. Kungong tourist region, closed after a North Korean security guard shot and killed a wandering tourist in '08. Today the industrial complex remains open but planned expansion has been frozen for five years.
In 2010, South Korea accused the North of torpedoing their navy ship killing 46 sailors. In response, South Korea stopped all new investment in Kaesong, leaving the industrial complex half empty and businesses with no way to expand.
"Because of the restrictions, we can't fill huge orders and meet high demands," she says.
(on camera): Every morning, and every evening, 270 buses help transport 52,000 North Koreans back and forth to work.
(voice-over): These buses stopped for several months in 2013, escalating tensions led North Korea to pull all the workers out. The crisis triggered by North Korean anger over joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States. Now a new dispute over worker pay is threatening business again. Wages are paid directly to Pyongyang. North Korean complex managers are demanding a wage increase of $4 a month.
"We believe the attitude of the government is hurting the lives of the workers here," he says.
South Korea objects to a wage hike, saying the North is going around the rules by unilaterally declaring a minimum wage without consulting with the South.
At risk, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers and their families.
(on camera): Political disagreements between the North and the South are not supposed to affect the activities, the daily activities at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. That's clearly not the case. As this very, very shaky partnership continues to pose problems, well, that also sends a greater message about the problems on the Korean peninsula, which remains very deeply divided -- Wolf?
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[14:51:30] BLITZER: Will Ripley getting rare access inside North Korea. He's filing for us every day. Much more coming up tomorrow.
Just ahead, breaking news in the war on terror. A senior al Qaeda operative in the Arabian Peninsula killed by a U.S. drone strike. We're going live to the Middle East after this quick break.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[14:55:32] BLITZER: The breaking news, a senior member of the al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leadership has been killed by a U.S. Drone strike. Let's go to Beirut.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is monitoring this story for us.
What have we learned, Nick?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, in short, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's media wing has released a reasonably lengthy eulogy in which they announced death of a senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander. He's familiar to many of you, I think, because he's the man who gave the lengthy statement after the Paris attacks in which al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims that the Kouachi brothers were working with them. They claimed responsibility for those attacks. He was also a man who was the spokesman over the kidnapping of journalist, Luke Summers. So a familiar face killed by a drone strike. My colleague, Barbara Starr, says American officials confirm that's the case as well. We are looking to work out the details of when this strike occurred. In the last two to three weeks. It was clear one drone strike killed a number of relatively senior figures in Yemen. They were thought to be part of the media wing. What is obviously important here, Wolf, is given that Yemen is in such great turmoil now, where we have this civil war between the Houthies and loyalists alongside the former president battling those loyalists of the current president, Hadi, and Saudi air power in the skies bombing the Houthies as well. It appears that has not at this stage diminished the U.S.'s ability to hit key AQAP targets. We're not sure when this particular death occurred. We do know it's from a drone strike, according to AQAP's media wing. Despite the fact the U.S. no longer have an embassy, we saw it closed back in early February, they are still able, it seems, to continually prosecute their war against AQAP in Yemen itself.
BLITZER: It's interesting as you point out that the AQAP video was released by their spokesman. Their spokesman is actually a Canadian. The secretary of state, John Kerry, he's in Saudi Arabia today. Now the Saudis are calling for what they say would be a five-day cease- fire to allow international aid workers to get into Yemen. How significant would that be?
PATON WALSH: Well, it would potentially mark maybe the end to violence there, but an awful lot is riding on the ifs in that statement we saw from the Saudis backed by John Kerry. They basically lay the potential of the cease-fire at the feet of the Houthies. They say they've extended the possibility for a five-day window that would be renewed. The Saudis saying they'll announce later when that date will begin. They're going to meet in Paris with other gulf states tomorrow. They say they want a few days for the aid community to be able to get their shipments ready. That all depends on the fractured alliance of militia who don't always speak off the same page, laying down their weapons at the same time. The Saudis don't just want a cessation of fire. They want a cessation of movement of weapons, pretty much a complete stop on the side of the Houthies for this cease-fire to be in effect. A key quote from their foreign minister, if it doesn't happen everywhere, it will happen nowhere. So everything really resting on the Houthies. There's a lot of sequencing involved. What may happen, if that cease-fire comes into play, there could be a conference in 10 days in Riyadh, in which the Saudis will invite all parties involved in Yemen. Early signs the Houthies aren't interested in that particular conversation. But if a cease-fire does come into play, that could reduce the massive humanitarian toll we're now seeing and allow aid in, medicine, food, to a country that's been rocked by this air campaign and violence on the ground for weeks -- Wolf?
[13:59:45] BLITZER: Nick Paton Walsh on the ground for us in Beirut, monitoring what's going on. We heard the call to prayer behind you coming in from that mosque.
Nick, thanks very, very much.
That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."
For our international viewers, "Amanpour" is coming up next.
For our viewers in North America, "Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. Top of the hour. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you so much for being with me.
