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Wolf

Obama Orders Review of U.S. Hostage Policy; Donald Trump Surges in Polls; Incident Outside Courthouse in Tsarnaev Sentencing; New CNN Film on Glen Campbell, Alzheimer's Disease. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 24, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Let's discuss what's going on and bring in a special guest. David Levinson is joining us. His father, Robert Levinson, was detained in March of 2007 while traveling on Kish Island in Iran. Although his family has not been able to communicate with Levinson, they did receive a video and pictures of him a few years ago.

David is joining us from New York.

David, first of all, I don't know if you had a chance to hear what the president had to say, this shift in policy and how to deal with efforts to try to win the hostages' release, but if you did, what did you think and what impact, if any, might that have on the fate of your dad?

DAVID LEVINSON, SON OF IRANIAN HOSTAGE ROBERT LEVINSON: Well, Wolf, my family and I haven't had an opportunity to review the policy so I'm unable to comment. But I can say whatever policy will get my father home safely is the -- is what we want to happen.

BLITZER: How long has it been, David, since you've had any proof of life, video, a picture that your father is alive? As you know, the Iranians deny that they have him. The Iranian government.

LEVINSON: Well, we received a video of him in December of 2010 that basically showed him as a hostage, he appealed to the United States government for help for his release. Then we received in April of 2011 photos of him in an orange jump suit that were shocking and displayed him just in a way where we know that there's a ton of urgency to get him home.

BLITZER: You believe that he is being controlled by the Iranian government even though they deny it.

LEVINSON: Well, my father went missing on Kish Island, which is an island off the coast of Iran. And within a few week's time, an Iranian news outlet reported that he was in the hands of security forces and was to be released in a Matter of days. So we know that -- while we don't know where he is right now, we know that Iran -- the government of Iran has information about what has happened to him so that we can find him and bring him home.

BLITZER: Has anyone either directly or indirectly asked you and your family for any ransom payments, if you will, money in order to win the freedom of your dad?

LEVINSON: When the hostage video came out we tried to contact back the source from where the video came from but we've received nothing in response so we have not been in contact with anybody holding my dad.

BLITZER: You know, we're being seen now live not only here in the United States but around the world, David. And I assume some people in Iran might be watching us right now as well. What would you like to say to them?

LEVINSON: I would say please just on humanitarian grounds. My father is a wonderful, wonderful man and the best person I've ever met and he deserves to live the rest of his life out in peace with his family and surrounded by the people that he loves and so I would say whatever we need to do, tell us what we need to do to bring him home safely.

BLITZER: As you know, the U.S. and five other countries, the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, they're all trying to negotiate a deal with Iran right now to presumably at least curtail its nuclear program. As far as I know, there's been no direct linkage demanding that Iran free the four Americans who are there in exchange for this deal. Iran's about to get tens of billions of dollars in frozen assets lifted. Do you think there should be a condition attached, no deal unless the four Americans who are held by Iran are freed?

LEVINSON: Well, we just want him home. And that's our one focus. Whatever we can do to make that happen is what we're hoping for. This is an urgent time for us and my brother mentioned it's crunch time. My father suffers from diabetes, from high blood pressure, he is a 67- year-old man and we know that everyday that passes is a day he's further away from home and day that he's further away from all of us. We support whatever urgency can bring him home.

BLITZER: David Levinson, good luck to, you good luck to your whole family. We hope you are reunited with your father and reunited soon. Thank you very much for joining us.

LEVINSON: Thank you so much, Wolf.

[13:34:27] BLITZER: There are three other Americans being held captive in Iran. Emir Hekmati, a U.S. Marine veteran, he's been charged with cooperating and coordinating with the U.S. government, sentenced to 10 years in prison. The "Washington Post" journalist, Jason Rezaian, is accused of espionage. He's had two court appearances. And the American pastor, Saeed Abedini. He was taken into custody because of his Christian faith. Once again, we hope all four of these Americans are released and released soon.

As the deadline of June 30 draws near, Iran is rejecting key demands by the United States on its nuclear program. The Iranian supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insisted that his country will only cooperate if economic sanctions are lifted first. He also ruled out a freeze on research and development for ten years as well as inspections of military sites. That seems to be in direct contradiction with the framework dole worked out in April.

Up next, we'll go back to South Carolina. There are new developments unfolding there. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:39:29] BLITZER: The pastor and state lawmaker killed in the church massacre in Charleston a week ago is being honored today. The body of Reverend Clementa Pinckney arrived at the statehouse in Columbia just a little while ago on a horse-drawn carriage. There you see it. It will lie in state throughout the day. Pinckney was pastor of the Emanuel AME Church. He was shot and killed along with eight other church members during Bible study. We've just learned, by the way, that the church does plan to hold Bible study later this evening, exactly one week after the tragedy. Tonight's lesson -- the power of love.

Other news. There are tuning new details about the help two killers received in the months before their brazen escape from a maximum security prison in upstate New York. According to a law enforcement source, prison worker, Joyce Mitchell, has now admitted to smuggling in frozen beef laced with hacksaw blades for the men to use. She stopped the -- she stored the meat in a freezer at the tailor shop where she worked before it was delivered to one of the inmates by an unknowing prison guard. The source also says the that guards were buttered up with baked goods that Mitchell handed out to get favors for two inmates, including moving to cells right next to each other. Right now, roughly 1,000 officers are searching for the men in a remote wooded area near a burglarized hunting camp. Police say they're working under the assumption the men are armed. They obviously remain very, very dangerous.

Now to presidential politics here in the United States. And Donald Trump, the billionaire businessman, the reality TV star has only been in the race for about a week but he's already seeing a bump in one critical state. The new Suffolk University poll places him second in New Hampshire with 11 percent. That's only three points behind Jeb Bush. That surprised a lot of people, but not Donald Trump, who's now looking to Trump the competition.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), CEO, TRUMP GROUP & PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I can't believe Bush is in first place. You know, I'm -- some people are thrilled. I'm not thrilled because how could Bush be in first place? This guy can't negotiate his way out of a paper bag.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Joining us now is our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger.

Gloria, he's doing well, you've got to admit, in New Hampshire. It's early, he's barely behind Jeb Bush.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: He's well known, he's the shiny new thing in the Republican Party. One thing he really benefits from, Wolf, is not only his name I.D., but this is such a large field so to place second you don't have to place that high. And, of course, Jeb Bush is very well known, the Bush name very well known, Donald Trump? Well, right now because the field is so large it looks pretty good for him because he's taking on Bush directly, he wants to be the Bush alternative. People are starting to tune in and pay attention and he's been out there non-stop.

BLITZER: The first Republican presidential debate is going to be early August and that big debate, only the top ten, according to the national polls, will be on that debate stage. There's a very real chance Donald Trump will be one of those 10.

BORGER: There is a real chance because it's based on national polls. National polls are very often all about names people have heard of. Right? And Donald Trump is famous. So he might very well be on that debate stage. I think that honestly is a problem for the Republican Party. The Republican party has a field of very serious, very good candidates out there and they don't want to be having arguments with Donald Trump about things that he's never been involved in, for example, Jeb Bush, education reform. You know, he's attacking Jeb Bush, Jeb Bush doesn't want to get in a fight with Donald Trump and the party doesn't want to be seen as having the clown car anymore. And so I think the Republicans that I talk to say, yeah, it's an issue for us.

BLITZER: There's going to be at least 15, maybe as many as 20 Republicans running for that Republican presidential nomination so there will be a fierce battle. I assume Republican leaders don't want to hear Donald Trump trashing, for example, Jeb Bush or any of the other candidates.

BORGER: They don't. So far, at least, what the Republican candidates have tried to do is all kind of trash Hillary Clinton because she's the easy target out there. At some point, they're going to have to start discussing each other's policy details. And, you know, that is when they're going to have interesting conversations. I think the problem with Donald Trump is what kind of conversation are they going to have with Donald Trump? And there are lots of candidates who don't want to do that. Scott Walker --

BLITZER: The governor of Wisconsin.

BORGER: -- the governor of Wisconsin -- may want to argue with Jeb Bush over issues like common core education and immigration reform and they may want to talk about what to do with Obamacare but I'm not sure they want to call each other names. And this is what Donald Trump has been doing by just saying that Jeb Bush couldn't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. I'm not sure what that means.

BLITZER: And he also says he can't believe he's even second to Jeb Bush who he considers to be --

(CROSSTALK)

BORGER: Well, been in the race 15 minutes.

BLITZER: Bobby Jindal is getting ready to announce later today as well.

BORGER: He's got the opposite issue here. He is at 1 percent in the polls, as you said to me during break, if you round it up. And he's not well known. He is a governor of the state. He is a guy people looked at very seriously. He hasn't been able to gain any traction and his advisors are saying, look, there's only one way for us to go, which is up. He believes he has appeal to evangelicals, to conservatives, and that he's going to show himself to be a fearless truth telling candidate who will not be politically correct, but he has to find a way to kind of get noticed and get attention or else he's not going to get in that first debate, and it makes it tougher for him than for someone like Donald Trump.

[13:45:37] BLITZER: He's got great name recognition in Louisiana but not necessarily around the country. He has a lot of work today.

We'll have live coverage in "The Situation Room" later today of his announcement. I think that happens at the end of the 5:00 p.m. eastern time hour.

Gloria, thanks very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BLITZER: Much more coming up after this, including a closer look at a new CNN film. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:49:40] BLITZER: Breaking news in the Boston bomber case. We've just learned that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will speak soon. Victims of the bombing spoke earlier today. There are no cameras in court, but we will get a full report on what he has to say. We'll share that with you as soon as we get it.

We're also getting reports of an incident outside the courthouse where Tsarnaev's sentencing hearing is being held.

Nicholas Czarnecki saw the incident. He's joining us on the phone.

I know you're a photographer in the metro Boston area. Tell us what we saw. We see a cop holding what looks like a meat cleaver.

NICHOLAS CZARNECKI, WITNESS & PHOTOGRAPHER (voice-over): Yes. So court just went into lunch recess, and as soon as that occurred it looked like a car without its license plate pulled up and parked right in front of the courthouse, and I knew it was kind of strange, and as soon as that happened the car -- police officers began to approach the car. A gentleman came out, and he was talking to the police officer, and then they searched the car, pulled out his license plate and also what appeared to be a large meat cleaver. They sat him down on curb shortly and then took him into custody.

BLITZER: Is there any indication what this individual was planning on doing with that meat cleaver?

CZARNECKI: No, not -- not that I'm aware of. They quickly escorted him away and, again, took his car and seemed like it's going to be towed away pretty soon.

BLITZER: We have the video and we're showing our viewers of this individual being handcuffed, being arrested right now. It looks -- I mean, obviously he pulled up without a license plate in this black vehicle right in front of the courthouse here where Tsarnaev is about to be sentenced, find out if he gets the death sentence, liver in prison without the possibility of parole or whatever. Do they think that's just a coincidence or perhaps related to the fact that Tsarnaev is in there?

CZARNECKI: I can't say for sure, but I know it's pretty strange since all the streets are blocked off surrounding the area by police barricades, so just to see a car pull up without its license plate makes it pretty -- pretty tense situation for sure.

BLITZER: Basically what we're told is that the police obviously saw the car without license plates. They saw this individual. They went inside the car. They searched it. That's where they found the meat cleaver. Is that right?

CZARNECKI: That's correct.

BLITZER: So we -- basically that adds a little bit of tension on that situation right there. Once again we'll find out what Tsarnaev has to say. He's about to be sentenced. He's going to make a statement. There will be no cameras in there. We'll have a full report as we have people inside.

Thanks very much for joining us. Thanks for snapping that photo as well.

CZARNECKI: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up, a very different story we're following. We're going to sneak peek at a major new CNN film on the musician Glen Campbell's battle with Alzheimer's disease, how his family and other families, how they are all learning to cope.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:56:16] BLITZER: When the country music legend Glen Campbell was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease he decided to share his story. That decision led to the award-winning documentary, "Glen Campbell, I'll Be Me." It follows Campbell on his final tour taking him from concert stages to the challenges of rehearsal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLEN CAMPBELL, SINGER & ALZHEIMER'S PATIENT: Hey, boys, I had it just exactly where I wanted it.

Put it up.

Would you put it at 122 out of kicks, put it at 122.

Just for kicks.

There's too many Indians in here, man. I'm the chief. There's one driver in here.

Yeah.

So if you want to be the fire from the ditch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's been one of our biggest problems. Glen has become unrehearsable. Any rehearsal is more like a sound check, can't get through a song without stopping and trying to tell someone how to play their instrument or that they are playing too loud.

Wait a minute!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You can see the CNN film "Glen Campbell I'll Be Me," Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern.

But I want to talk about Alzheimer's right now. Harry Johns is the president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association.

Harry, thanks very much for joining us.

As you know, 5.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's. A new case is diagnosed almost every 68 seconds in this country, so this film in spreading awareness of Alzheimer's is very important, isn't it?

HARRY JOHNS, PRESIDENT & CEO, ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION: Oh, it certainly is, Wolf. To get the word out to have more people understand the realities of what people face in having the disease and what family members face as caregivers is extremely important to moving this forward.

BLITZER: When someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Harry, it impacts, as you know, the whole family, all of their friends. Tell us about your organization and what you're doing to try to help those who are themselves trying to cope.

JOHNS: Well, the Alzheimer's Association, we are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to people, both at Alz.org and at our 800 number so that people can get the help and support they need, each and every day, and we do that in communities as well so that people can have a place to turn. The devastation of the disease is so great not only for the people who have it but also for those family members and those caregivers who are helping them cope.

BLITZER: And with all the baby boomers out there living longer, this is the number of people with Alzheimer's, correct me if I'm wrong, Harry, it's really set to explode, isn't it?

JOHNS: The number of people today, as you said, Wolf, is over five million who have it, 15 million caregivers. Those numbers are going to go up by about three times, triple by the middle of the century if we can't find the treatments that will change the course of the disease, but we believe --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: How close are we, Harry, to a cure?

JOHNS: You know, the science community is very upbeat, Wolf about, what can be done if we can get the funding we need, and I have to say great credit to Senator Blunt, Senator Murray on the Senate Appropriations Committee for the National Institutes of Health. They and their colleagues have just increased what had they put forward for appropriations by $350 million, a huge step, a historic step. The same in the House. Chairman Cole and his colleagues on a bipartisan basis moving forward $300 million to make this happen.

BLITZER: All right. Harry, I know this is critically important work. I want to thank you and thank the Alzheimer's Association for all the important work you're doing.

Once again, for our North American viewers, "Glen Campbell, I'll Be Me," aired Sunday night, 9:00 p.m. eastern, only on CNN.

The news continues next on CNN.