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SC Senate Votes to Remove Confederate Flag; House Votes Next; Hillary Clinton Sits Down for Exclusive Interview with CNN; Pope Francis Keeps Connections with Old Life; Justice Department Open to Deal to Bring Home Edward Snowden. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired July 07, 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] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And we will have to see if these revelations coming from this deposition will lead to more women coming forward. I know that's a big question. The statute of limitations on these claims have expired and Cosby has not been accused or charged with a crime we should say.
Victoria Valentino, thank you very much. We appreciate you coming on to talk about this and share your story.
VICTORIA VALENTINO, FORMER PLAYBOY PLAYMATE WHO ACCUSES BILL COSBY OF SEXUAL ASSAULT: Absolutely. And thank you for having me.
BROWN: Thank you.
And don't miss the CNN special report "No Laughing Matter, Inside the Cosby Allegations." That airs tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. here on CNN.
Up next, she has been sharply criticized for being secretive and closed to the press but today Hillary Clinton could address those critics as she gives her first national TV interview to CNN. What will she say? What's behind her sudden change in strategy? We'll discuss straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:34:52] BROWN: The South Carolina Senate has passed a bill to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds, an emotional step forward for those calling for its removal, including friends and family of the slain Charleston Pastor Clementa Pinckney, who was also a state Senator.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[13:40:09] STATE SEN. GERALD MALLOW, (D), SOUTH CAROLINA: I have been in conversation with Mrs. Pinckney on a daily basis and, as Clementa's wife, his everything, I will tell you that she has been amazing in this entire process. Words cannot describe the deep grief that this family has been suffering from. The Senate has responded. And Jennifer has been our strength. Jennifer wanted to be able to come today and to thank this Senate.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BROWN: The movement to remove the flag has gained momentum since nine people, including Pinckney, were gunned down at a black church in Charleston last month.
Let's bring in our Nick Valencia outside the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina.
Nick, certainly not the end of the road yet for the flag to be removed. Do we know what will happen next? It's heading to the House, but how are they going to vote, do we think?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we don't expect the House to vote on this today, Pamela. I was speaking earlier to a Republican Representative Jonathan Hill, who says they expect to hear the bill today, but the likelihood is that it could be days before a final vote. There has been talk of possible amendments being added to the Senate bill that passed overwhelmingly today, 36-3. Discussion has been along the lines of taking this Confederate flag down and replacing it with another one from the Confederacy. Nothing official, though, has been proposed.
It's worth pointing out, if the House changes anything, one single word from this bill that passed in the Senate, then it has to go back to the Senate floor. The process as complicated as it is controversial.
Optimistically, what lawmakers tell me is we could expect a final vote on this bill as early as Thursday, possibly Friday. The end of this week -- Pamela?
BROWN: We have to wait and see. We see protesters holding the Confederate flag.
Thank you so much, Nick Valencia. We appreciate it.
In other news we're following, Hillary Clinton will give the first network interview of her presidential campaign to CNN's Brianna Keilar today. This comes on the heels of the latest Quinnipiac poll in Iowa. Clinton support has decreased while Bernie Sanders has more than doubled his numbers.
Joining me to break this down, CNN chief political analyst, Gloria Borger; and CNN senior political reporter, Nia-Malika Henderson.
Gloria, to you first.
With Bernie Sanders gaining steam, you have to wonder how much that is playing into this shift in strategy from the Clinton camp for her to do an interview.
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: It does play into it, obviously. But Hillary Clinton had a plan and she's kind of sticking to it. I must point out her favorability in the state of Iowa is 85 percent among Democratic caucus goers.
BROWN: Pretty good. BORGER: She's not exactly a slouch there. But this is somebody who
is, as a lot of people who work with her like to say, the most famous person you don't know. Bernie Sanders had to introduce himself, big rallies everything else. Hillary needed to be more relatable so she tried to meet with small groups of voters. Now second phase, doing interviews with journalists and --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: It seems so controlled, "second phase."
BORGER: Absolutely controlled. Even as far as roping in the press.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Exactly. She wants to be relatable but we see these optics of the press being roped off from -- very different from Bernie Sanders.
BORGER: Absolutely.
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Who has a different strategy. He is doing the movement --
(CROSSTALK)
HENDERSON: He's a different kind of politician. He's more of a progressive, more of an ideologue in some ways so they wanted to have this movement strategy and borrow from what Obama did in 2008. The question there is whether or not he can take this broad to the entire Democratic Party. He's obviously doing well. He had 8,000 people show up in Maine. I don't believe Maine is one of these early caucus states. He's doing well in Iowa as well. Even that state isn't necessarily representative of the Democratic Party more broadly. I talked to Hillary's folks and they say, listen, she's going to lose some states just like she lost some states and Obama lost states as well.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: But do you think they were caught off guard by Bernie Sanders?
BORGER: I think they might have thought maybe former Maryland Governor O'Malley --
(LAUGHTER)
-- would have gotten some capture, but I think Bernie Sanders is a phenom. He taps into the Elizabeth Warren left wing of the Democratic Party. Democratic caucus goers in Iowa are so liberal that, for him to say, I'm a Democratic Socialist --
(LAUGHTER)
-- is a good thing, not a bad thing. When Hillary Clinton can talk about electability and going up against whomever it is, I think Democrats will start thinking seriously about that because they want to win. Right now, it's early. He's interesting. He's electable.
[13:40:22] HENDERSON: It's the summer. People are falling in love with Bernie Sanders.
BORGER: And she hasn't been out there hosting -- if Hillary Clinton wanted to get 25,000 people together somewhere, she probably could.
BROWN: She probably could.
HENDERSON: And they didn't want to do that initially. It reminds us of 2004, those buttons that said, "I dated Dean but married Kerry." And I think in some ways that's what they're hoping for.
BORGER: It is a little Howard Dean like.
BROWN: She actually talked about Bernie Sanders. Let's listen to what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: Ice cream?
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How about instead of ice cream, a question? Some of your opponents have been drawing big crowds, mainly Bernie Sanders.
CLINTON: Well, we each run our own campaigns. And I said this was going to be competitive and I want to have a great debate in the primary caucuses around the country. That's what I'm looking forward to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Gloria?
BORGER: This is actually -- and this is going to sound strange. But it's not bad for Hillary Clinton because she didn't want to have this sense that she was being coroneted the Democratic nominee the fact that she has competition here makes people believe that she just hasn't been handed the nomination and she has to fight for it. People like that.
HENDERSON: It makes her a better candidate and pushes the Democratic Party where folks wanted to see it go.
BROWN: Quickly, I want to ask because she lost Iowa in 2008.
BORGER: Yes, she did.
BROWN: What does she need to do differently this time around?
BORGER: Well, they thought so.
(LAUGHTER)
They thought so, what she is doing is spending time in Iowa meeting voters one on one and there was a sense last time around that she hadn't spent enough time with real people in Iowa.
HENDERSON: Then she hopped in the Scooby van.
BORGER: She hopped in the Scooby van. And now Bernie Sanders is there. So I think she's got to come out of the shell more and I think that's what they're trying to do.
HENDERSON: Get the Scooby van out there again. Show up.
BROWN: We're anxiously anticipating that.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Gloria Borger, Nia-Malika Henderson, thanks so much.
HENDERSON: Sure.
BROWN: Be sure to tune in later today for Clinton's first national media interviews we just talked about on CNN. The interview will air at 5:00 p.m. on "The Situation Room" and again on Anderson Cooper at 8:00 p.m. We will have complete coverage on CNN.com, of course.
Coming up this hour, he's one of the most popular popes and, according to his friend, a master chef. What we're learning about Pope Francis as he continues his trip home to South America.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:47:01] BROWN: You could call Pope Francis a spiritual rock star. The first stop on his Latin America tour has crowds not only waiting in line but sleeping in the rain just for a chance to see him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SINGING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: A short time ago, Pope Francis wrapped up his second open-air mass in Ecuador at the Bicentennial Park in the capital, the same place where hundreds of thousands camped out last night in bad weather. The numbers grew this morning. More than one million people celebrated mass with the pope. Look at these pictures here. This is part of pontiff's popularity. It stems from his roots.
As Rosa Flores shows us, he has kept the connections of his old life.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HERNAN PAREDES, CATHOLIC PRIEST & OLD FRIEND OF POPE FRANCIS: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A personalized message from a dear friend is always a good gesture. PAREDES: "I ask you to keep praying for me and may God and Jesus and
the Blessed Mother take care of you."
FLORES: But when that friend e-mails you a month after being elected pope, it's practically a blessing sent from God.
(on camera): He was a busy man at the time.
PAREDES: He was. Can you imagine? With all the jobs and the situations in the church, but he had the time for friends.
FLORES (voice-over): Father Hernan Paredes has known Pope Francis for three decades. Their first meeting back in the '80s when Pope Francis was rector at the head of 100 seminarian Jesuits.
(on camera): What do you call Pope Francis?
PAREDES: Jorge.
(LAUGHTER)
FLORES (voice-over): They stay in touch by writing letters and e- mailing, all in Spanish. That's because Paredes says --
PAREDES: Forgive me, Pope Francis, but he failed twice to learn English.
(LAUGHTER)
He went twice through but he told me that in confidence. Sorry about that. Now he has no confidence anymore.
FLORES (voice-over): This picture, a memento from their visit in Argentina a few months before Francis became pope.
PAREDES: He gave me his blessing but, at the same time, I asked him to have a picture so he told me, Hernan, I am not a man of pictures, I'm too ugly. And you can see he's very stern, very serious.
FLORES: Now with his rock star status, the 78-year-old pontiff, who loves listening to opera, is probably one of the most photographed faces on the earth and one of the most quoted as well.
(CHEERING)
FLORES: His message during his three-country visit to South America one of inclusiveness, service and democracy. Next on his agenda, Cuba, and the U.S. in September.
Father Paredes says he doesn't know if Pope Francis, famous for his "who am I to judge" quote about homosexuality, will comment about the recent Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
PAREDES: Remember that the tradition of the church doesn't change overnight. And at the same time, he acknowledges that there are other ways of living. [13:50:00] BROWN: Father Paredes, who now lives in New York,
recently visited with the pope in the Vatican, his first time seeing his dear friend since being elected. It was an emotional reunion.
PAREDES: He said, you American.
FLORES (on camera): What does that mean?
PAREDES: Well, probably (INAUDIBLE)
(LAUGHTER)
FLORES: Like two old friends, they poked at each other, one of them just happens to be pope.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FLORES: And Pope Francis just celebrated mass with more than one million friends here in Ecuador. The focus is evangelization, unity, going out into the peripheries and reaching out to those in need.
Pamela, I've got to add one more tidbit about what I learned from Father Paredes. He said that Pope Francis, back in the day, back in the '80s, he used to be a chef and he used to cook for 100 Jesuits seminarians and he also washed their clothing -- Pam?
BROWN: Wow. Unbelievable. I don't think a lot of people knew that.
Rosa Flores, thank you so much.
And Greece's prime minister is meeting with European leaders in the next few hours from now to discuss the debt crisis and will address the parliament tomorrow. Greeks voted against Europe's latest bailout on Sunday and is now hoping to get a better deal from E.U. leaders. It wants less austerity and more of its debt canceled. Today, France's prime minister said the political and economic risks of Greece leaving the Eurozone are too high and the basis for a deal does exist.
Global markets are keeping a close eye on the developments, of course. As we see, Wall Street is only down about 20 points as of now.
Coming up at this hour, new details on reports of a possible deal to bring NSA leaker, Edward Snowden, back to the U.S. What the Justice Department is now saying, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:56:08] BROWN: The Justice Department wants to set the record straight. Yahoo! News reported that the U.S. would be open to a possible deal to bring government leaker, Edward Snowden, back to the United States for prosecution.
Our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, is joining us with more on this.
What are you learning here, Jim?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: What is new here is that you have the first outlines to a possible deal. They are not official. They came from the office of the Director of National Intelligence. The lawyer, in fact, told by a senior intelligent official that it was a private conversation. It was one lawyer having what he thought he was having a private conversation with another lawyer, and in that conversation he was doing his own handicapping what a deal may look like. He said it may look like three to five years in prison, a trial, et cetera. But he said that's not the official position of the U.S. government.
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: Because be wouldn't be negotiating on behalf of the Justice Department.
SCIUTTO: That's right. ODNI is not a party to these talks. This is the Justice Department to Snowden's lawyers. And the Justice Department came back to us and said, listen, there's no change in our position. If he does come back, it involves jail time and a trial. Let's be honest, it is interesting. A senior government official is throwing a number out there. It's not a trial balloon but it gives you an idea of what people are talking about as to what a deal could look like for Edward Snowden to come back to the U.S.
BROWN: The former attorney general, Eric Holder, he talked about this in this interview, what exactly did he say?
SCIUTTO: Holder said something very interesting. He basically handed one to Snowden saying that Snowden, in the words of Holder, that he sparked a necessary debate about surveillance and so on, which is a very interesting thing for the nation's former top official --
(CROSSTALK)
SCIUTTO: As you know, former officials truly speak their minds.
BROWN: That's true.
SCIUTTO: He's kind of saying, hey, you've got to hand it to him, had he not revealed these things illegally, and we know, broke secrets, many secrets with the U.S. government and the most sensitive agreements, then we wouldn't have had this debate, the country would not have had this debate about surveillance, phone metadata, bulk collection, et cetera, which is a position you've heard from the folks on the Hill who are privacy advocates, other privacy advocates. Very interesting to hear that from a former attorney general.
BROWN: How are people responding to that, quickly?
SCIUTTO: If you talk to the critics of Snowden, their heads are exploding. They say, how can you say that someone who broke a law, he was inside, worked inside the intelligence agency, inside one of the most sensitive intelligence agencies, broke a law, what kind of precedent are setting for others, saying, well, you know, you broke a law, but you might be doing the country a service. There are a lot of people not happy about that.
BROWN: There's concerns that there will be other Snowdens out there.
SCIUTTO: Absolutely. That's been a huge focus of the intelligence community, how do you prevent this from happening in the future?
BROWN: Do you know if anyone who reached Snowden's lawyers about this?
SCIUTTO: I personally have not been able to reach Snowden's lawyers. We did reach out, as I said, to the Justice Department, and they said that nothing has changed.
But it's interesting as well, and I don't think a lot of Americans are aware of this, that there is something of a negotiation, at least communication under way between Snowden's lawyers and the Justice Department.
One thing to keep in mind, the intelligence community, they want to have him back. Not to throw him a party --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWN: They want to see what he knows.
SCIUTTO: They want to see what he knows and what he gave up to the Russians.
BROWN: Absolutely.
SCIUTTO: What he took. They are extremely concerned about what was in his laptop and what the Russians and China -- remember, he went through Hong Kong. The Chinese know, as a result of what he took from U.S. intelligence.
BROWN: Yeah, they would love to sit down and have a talk with him.
SCIUTTO: Yes, a stern talk.
BROWN: A stern talk.
Thank you so much for bringing that to us.
SCIUTTO: Thank you.
BROWN: We appreciate it.
And that's it for me.
For our international viewers, "AMANPOUR" is next.
And for our North American viewers, "NEWSROOM" with Brooke Baldwin starts right now.
