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Trump Announces Candidacy for President; Mitchell Gets Prison Visit; Al Qaeda Leader Killed; U.S. Airstrike Targets Key Terrorist In Libya; Al Qaeda Leader Killed; Hunt for Fugitives. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 16, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, I'm Brianna Keilar in for Wolf Blitzer. It is 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London and 8:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks so much for joining us.

Up first, he vows to make America great again and with that real estate mogul and reality T.V. star, Donald Trump, announced that he's running for president of the United States. In true Trump fashion, his off-the-cuff speech promoted him as the leader the country needs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Our country needs -- our country needs a truly great leader, and we need a truly great leader now. We need a leader that wrote the art of the deal. We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing, can bring back our military, can take care of our vets. Our vets have been abandoned. And we also need a cheerleader.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Well, let's bring in our political panel. We have Senior Washington Correspondent Joe Johns. He is in New York where the Trump -- where Trump kicked off his campaign. And we have National Political Reporter Maeve Ruston as well as Political Commentator S.E. Cupp here with me in Washington.

OK. So, Joe, first to you. This was so off the cuff. It didn't really look like there was even a teleprompter there or if there was that he was using it. Was this all ad-libbed?

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: It wasn't all ad- libbed. I watched him. I was pretty close. And it was clear that he was going back and forth from notes to ad-lib. So it was Donald Trump. And if you can say anything about him, out in the country, I think the take away will be, at least at the outset, that this speech was very authentic. He says what he thinks.

And he also made it clear that this is going to be a different kind of candidacy. You know how Mitt Romney in the last go-round had a difficult time talking about his wealth. Well, you know, this quote from Donald Trump essentially that "I don't need anybody's money, I'm really, really rich." So, that just shows you that this candidate is going to be very

different from anything I think we've seen out there. And the question is how it'll be received in places like Iowa where he's going next or New Hampshire where he's going after that -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, very big questions there. OK. So, S.E., he starts off his remarks -- he takes aim at his Republican rivals. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And I can tell you, some of the candidates, they went in. They didn't know the air conditioner didn't work. They sweated like dogs. They didn't know the room was too big because they didn't have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS? I don't think it's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: OK. That is -- I mean, that's off the cuff, sweating like dogs? It's colorful.

C.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I actually got a -- I got an embargoed copy of the speech he was meant to give before he delivered it. And it looks nothing like what we heard. It's clear, as Joe mentioned, he was glancing at these -- at these notes.

KEILAR: It was a suggestion.

CUPP: It was a -- it was a suggestion he did not take, though, --

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP -- seriously take.

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: This is Donald Trump, right? This is the moment when, perhaps, the GOP presidential race has finally turned into a reality show. We have as many as 20 candidates running and Donald Trump just will make it a lot more fun. Going after all of the Republicans, you know, one by one by their names? That's a totally new realm that we're entering here.

KEILAR: OK.

CUPP: Well, it's colorful on the left as well. I mean, you're talking about the metric system with Lincoln Chafee or Bernie Sanders --

KEILAR: (INAUDIBLE) metrics.

CUPP: -- at the Ben and Jerry's, yes, event. It's a colorful election no doubt and Donald Trump's presence in it, as we just saw today, will make it all that more colorful.

KEILAR: But Lincoln Chafee, to be clear, is at asterisk when it comes to polling, right? Donald Trump, he's not right there in the top tier but he does OK. CUPP: He's got a hugely successful reality show, "Apprentice" and

"Celebrity Apprentice." It gets a ton of viewers. As he mentioned all of his products in this announcement speech, he's very rich as he told us. And so, he'll get -- he'll get -- he has fans.

RESTON: But the big thing to remember is that no matter how he does in the national polls, and we may very well see a surge really quickly here, he really is not -- his polling is not good in Iowa where he is headed next.

KEILAR: Yes, take a -- let's look at his Iowa polls. And how do viewers see him there?

CUPP: Well, it was interesting, I was there just a couple of weeks ago talking and there's a -- there's a lot of voters out there who want to see him jump in for the entertainment factor.

[13:05:08] But at the same time, the "Des Moines Register" Bloomberg poll showed that he actually had the highest unfavorable ratings of the Republican candidates and the highest number of likely caucus voters who said that they would not vote for him. So, that's a huge hurdle for him going forward.

KEILAR: You have some people who were questioning Trump's ability to lead the country. He questions whether other candidates have what it takes. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: All of these politicians that I'm running against now, I -- it's so nice to say I'm running as opposed to, if I run, if I run. I'm running. But all of these politicians that I'm running against now, they're trying to dissociate -- I mean, you looked at Bush, it took him five days to answer the question on Iraq. He couldn't answer the question. He didn't know. I said, is he intelligent? Then I looked at Rubio. He was unable to answer the question. Is Iraq a good thing or a bad thing? He didn't know. He couldn't answer the question. How are these people going to lead us? How are we going to -- how are we going to go back and make it great again? We can't. They don't have a clue. They can't lead us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joe Johns. It's very clear that Donald Trump will answer the question. I think the question is, will the voters like the answer? So, when you think of that, what's the impact that Trump may have on the rest of the field here?

JOHNS: I think entertainment value, as I have sort of said before. But there's an unknowable here as well and that is the different kind of voice that he brings. The people surrounding Trump think that he really connects with blue-collar workers, people who want straight talk out there, people who are concerned about their jobs, people who want to see somebody who's already made it, who they know will not be on the take to have a chance. So, that's the question. Once you get past the reality show issues -- and, by the way, we've put in a question to NBC as to whether he'll be able to even host the reality show while he's running for president and I did ask the campaign about that. They said, look, there's a possibility that one of his children might have to host "Celebrity Apprentice" until such time as he's not considered a presidential candidate.

KEILAR: Sure.

JOHNS: So, -- yes, but a lot of questions out there. But the bottom line is it's an unknowable as to whether he'll really be able to connect. We do know he has an ability to shake hands and talk with people and how will that translate? The people around him say once he gets out there on the campaign trail, it's going to be a completely different story, and you'll start seeing him rise in the polls.

KEILAR: He said that America is becoming a third world country and he said this about the American dream.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Sadly, the American dream is dead.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bring it back.

TRUMP: But if I get elected president, I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: That's not exactly -- I mean, in a way he shifts to a more optimistic view of the future, but to something like, the American dream is dead, sort of (INAUDIBLE) --

RESTON: Well, I mean, it captures people's attention. And I think that the other thing you hear voters saying out there is that someone like Trump, he's fired people. He can make snap decisions, that's what they like about him.

KEILAR: He said he'd take negotiators. He knows the top negotiators.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: The real top negotiators. One for each -- one to each country and he'd just have them work it out.

CUPP: Can you imagine his cabinet meetings? Get me China on the phone.

RESTON: Right, exactly.

CUPP: I mean, look, voters love straight talk, as Joe was mentioning. They love that. But they also look at a presidential candidate as a pilot and they want the pilot to fly the plane straight. And so, they want discipline as well as straight talk. And I'm just not sure that people are calmed -- you know, have a calming sense of being on Trump's airplane.

RESTON: But at the same time, --

CUPP: Which I'm sure is beautiful.

RESTON: It is beautiful. If he does -- if he does push other candidates to answer the question in a clearer way, that could create a really interesting dynamic in this race.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll see sort of how he shapes it. Maeve, thank you so much. S.E., appreciate it, Joe Johns, thank you so much in New York following all of this for us.

And I do want to tell you about a programming note, Donald Trump will be Jake Tapper's guest this week on CNN STATE OF THE UNION. That is at 9:00 a.m. Eastern this Sunday. Sure to be very interesting.

And coming up, accused prison escape accomplice, Joyce Mitchell, got a visit from her husband today, just hours after CNN learned that the escaped inmates had planned to murder him. We'll have more on that and the latest on the search that's gone cold, at this point.

But up next, a U.S. drone strike kills a key Al Qaeda leader and experts say it's the biggest blow to the terror group since the death of Osama Bin Laden. We'll talk about that.

[13:10:08]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: It's being called the biggest blow against Al Qaeda since the death of Osama Bin Laden. Al Qaeda's second in command has been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Yemen. He was known as the man who ran the most violent and dangerous branch of the terror network, and he had been plotting attacks against the west for years, including the "Charlie Hebdo" attack as well as the underwear bombing plot that almost happened. This is the second U.S. attack on a prominent terror suspect in just the last few days.

Paul Cruickshank joining me now from London. He's our CNN Terrorism Analyst. He's also the co-author of the book "Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda." Paul, thanks for being with us. And give us a sense of how this impacts AQAP, especially because this is a group known for a sophisticated bomb technology. Does any of that ability -- is it degraded at all because of this?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, unfortunately not because you still have this master bomb maker, Ibrahim Al Asiri, at large and it may be that Al Qaeda in Yemen decide to launch some kind of attack against U.S. aviation to avenge the death of Nasir Al Wuhayshi. Wuhayshi really was beloved of the rank and file in the group in Yemen. He had a very impressive jihadi resume. He was a close confident of Bin Laden in the years before 911. Then, he moved back to Yemen and built up this group. And so, a real power house in Yemen. And at his death, Al Qaeda in Yemen is as strong as it's ever been with more resources than ever before to launch these kind of international operations against the United States and the west.

[13:15:11]

And the successor to Nasir al-Wuhayshi, Kasim al-Rhimi (ph), is seen by some, including Saudi counterterrorism, as more dangerous, even, than Nasir al-Wuhayshi. He's seen as the brains behind the operation. So there's still going to be a big threat from this group in the months and years to come.

But for the global al Qaeda network, Brianna, this is a very big blow indeed because he was tipped to be the long-term successor of Osama bin Laden. Somebody who was a valuable assets to al Qaeda in their global contest with ISIS because of his popularity inside Yemen, inside the global jihadi movement.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: It's the second strike - the second U.S. strike against a prominent terror suspect that we've seen just here in the last few days. You have that one in Libya. Now this one in Yemen. What does it tell you about U.S. intelligence? Especially in these areas where we thought maybe it wasn't so good, places where it was difficult to have assets on the ground.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, it suggests that they may well have assets on the ground, both in Libya with that strike against Mokhtar Belmokhtar over the weekend, which may or may not have killed him, but also in Yemen potentially with strikes not just against Wuhayshi, but other leaders in the group. And I think it is possible that in Yemen there's been a sudden amount of bravado from some of these AQAP leaders. They saw all the reports about the United States pulling out back in the early spring away from Yemen and perhaps felt a bit more comfortable about venturing out in the open. Well, I don't think they're going to feel that anymore.

KEILAR: Do you think because of what's happened in Yemen with the U.S. pulling out, you have this Saudi air campaign against the Houthis there who are in power, do you see this group becoming more powerful because there is this vacuum that the government used to fill in Yemen?

CRUICKSHANK: Brianna, that's - that's exactly right. And there is this political vacuum, this complete chaos, and al Qaeda are able to exploit all of that. But they're also able to exploit heartfelt anger amongst Sunni tribal factions in Yemen because of this Houthi/Shia takeover of territory in Sana'a and other parts of the country. And so they've had a real recruiting windfall from that. So they have more fighters, really, than ever before and they've been able to take control of quite a lot of territory, including the southern port city of Mucala (ph). That's where it would appear that Nasir al-Wuhayshi was killed in this drone strike.

KEILAR: Paul Cruickshank, always a pleasure. Thanks for being with us.

And still to come, the search for the escaped inmates in New York and the woman who allegedly helped them. Now we are learning more details about the nature of her relationship with the men.

Also ahead, the white woman who stepped down from her position within the NAACP breaks her silence, explaining why she let people think she was African-American.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:21:38] KEILAR: Now to new developments in the New York prison break case. Joyce Mitchell, the prison worker who allegedly assisted the two convicted killers, received a jailhouse visit from her husband today. And this all comes after sources tell CNN that the fugitives, Richard Matt and David Sweat, had planned to kill Lyle Mitchell, but later abandoned the plan. The source also told CNN that Joyce Mitchell was having a sexual relationship with escapee Richard Matt.

Alexandra Field is in West Plattsburgh, New York.

Alexandra, tell us what investigators have told you, certainly as it seems like the trail's gone cold here.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure. That's right, Brianna.

At this point, the confidence that we saw last week that they were closing in on the fugitives, that they were in this area near the prison seems to have deflated and yet they are still keeping a heavy presence here. You can see the security checkpoint right behind me. They're looking at every car that passes through here. So nobody is ready to pull out yet. They're pursuing every lead. They've got hundreds of law enforcement officers, but they haven't had a clear sign indicating that the suspects are still in this area since late last week, Brianna.

KEILAR: Do we -

FIELD: So now a lot of the attention turning toward the investigation.

KEILAR: Do we know how Joyce Mitchell is doing behind bars, Alexandra?

FIELD: We are definitely getting a picture of that. She did have her first jailhouse visit today from her husband Lyle. The couple, they appear to be sticking together at this point. The sheriff says that the two had a one-hour visit. She's permitted two hours' worth of visits over the course of the week. It was a non-contact visit, so they were separated by glass, speaking to each other on the phone. But this was a private phone call. It was not a monitored phone call.

We also heard from Joyce Mitchell's attorney today, who says husband Lyle is standing by her. The attorney describes Joyce Mitchell as being remorseful and tearful. But the sheriff's department is saying that in her cell where they are having her under constant surveillance, closely monitoring her, that she has kept her cool, that she has kept her composure. I want you to listen, though, to what her attorney had to say about his impressions. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEPHEN JOHNSTON, JOYCE MITCHELL'S ATTORNEY: All I know is that he said that he's standing by her. So, that's what he told me when I spoke to him. I don't know anything more about their conversation than that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And she will be transferred to another jail?

JOHNSTON: That's what I was told by the sheriff late morning today.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know where?

JOHNSTON: It may be happening now. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: You heard it there, Joyce Mitchell could be transferred to another jail. The sheriff here has said that she might create too much of a distraction here while this search goes on.

As for Lyle Mitchell, Brianna, as we've reported before, investigators have questioned whether or not he had any kind of role in the escape plan and the plotting or if he had any knowledge of the plan. We do know that investigators have spoken with him. He has not been charged with anything at this point, Brianna. But we do know that he has now retained an attorney to represent him.

KEILAR: He has an attorney. All right, very interesting. Alexandra Field there for us in West Plattsburgh, New York. Thank you.

Rachel Dolezal now almost a household name, right? Apparently she has no regrets about letting people believe for decades that she was African-American, even though she is white. Dolezal, who resigned yesterday as head of the NAACP's Spokane, Washington, chapter, says that she's identified as black since she was a little girl. Here's how she explained it this morning on NBC's "Today" show.

[13:25:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT LAUER, HOST, NBC's "TODAY" SHOW: Are you an African-American woman?

RACHEL DOLEZAL, RESIGNED AS HEAD OF NAACP SPOKANE CHAPTER: Identify as black.

LAUER: You identify as black. Let me put a picture up of you in your early 20s, though. And when you see this picture, is this an African- American woman or is that a Caucasian woman?

DOLEZAL: That's not in my early 20s, but -

LAUER: That's a little younger, I guess, yes?

DOLEZAL: Yes, 16 in that picture.

LAUER: Is she a Caucasian woman or an African-American woman?

DOLEZAL: I would say that visibly she would be identified as white by people who see her.

LAUER: But at the time, were you identifying yourself as African- American?

DOLEZAL: In that picture, during that time, no.

LAUER: When did it start?

DOLEZAL: I would say about five years old and -

LAUER: You began identifying yourself as African-American?

DOLEZAL: I - I was drawing self-portraits with the brown crayon instead of the peach crayon and the black - you know, black curly hair and, you know, yes, that was - that was how I was portraying myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, Dolezal is estranged from her parents. They told CNN last hour that they were disturbed by this interview this morning because, in their view, she refuses to be truthful about her identity.

Just ahead, a proposal to boost NATO capabilities in eastern Europe provokes a chilling response from Russia. Are the U.S. and Russia headed for a new Cold War?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:30:00] KEILAR: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Brianna Keilar, in for Wolf Blitzer.

We haven't heard saber rattling like this since the Cold War. Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia will add 40 long-range nuclear missiles to its arsenal by the end the year.