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@THISHOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Interview with Rep. Gregory Meeks; Reid Slams Cheney for Iraq War Decision Prior to Obama's ISIS Strategy; Janay Rice Defends Husband; Obama Asks Congressional Authority on ISIS

Aired September 10, 2014 - 11:30   ET

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


MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman Gregory Meeks joins us now. He is a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thank you so much for joining us, sir.

REP. GREGORY MEEKS, (D-N.Y.), FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: Good being with you.

PEREIRA: A Democratic source tells us the president has been seeking the authority for some time. A few questions for you: will there be a vote, do you support it, and do you think it will pass?

MEEKS: Well, I think that the president has the authority to do the air strikes as he's been doing as well as to do what he's been doing all along in fighting the war on terrorism, utilizing drones and going after the leadership of these various terrorist organizations. I believe that if he comes back to Congress requesting the budget and talking about arming the Free Syrian Army and making sure the Kurds and the Iraqi army is doing what it should be doing on the ground that he will have the support. He definitely will have my support. But he will have the support of the United States Congress to do what has to be done to rid ourselves of this terrorist group known as ISIL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Congressman, you have supported air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria for that matter. You think the president already has the authority to go ahead and commit these air strikes in Syria. What do you think the president needs to do in his speech tonight? Is this cleanup over some of the comments he's made over the last several weeks when he said -- suggested he didn't have a strategy at that point for dealing with ISIS in Syria. When he said his goal was to make ISIS a manageable problem. Does he have to clarify some of these past statements tonight?

MEEKS: I don't think this is cleanup. I think this is President Obama doing what he should be doing. He's been very deliberative. I just came back from Europe last week and our allies, our NATO allies, are very pleased with the president that he's thinking this process through and including our allies, whether it be the NATO allies, whether it be from the Arab League getting involved, other Sunni Muslims from Saudi Arabia and Turkey. This is what should be. And I think that he didn't want to talk prematurely because you do not do foreign policy based upon emotion or based upon politics. It's something that has to be well thought out and well coordinated. And as a result of him doing his homework and talking to others, as a result of coming back from Wales last week, now he's able to articulate to the American people what he's doing and why he's doing it. And even then, I hope and I don't believe that he's going lay out all the specifics because you don't want to lay out the whole world, especially those we're going after, exactly what he's doing to do, but other than the fact that we are going to get them and that organization will not continue to exist.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: I want to take a bit of a turn, sir. As we watch the president speaking to the nation tonight about this ongoing threat, it doesn't take me to remind you what is being commemorated tomorrow. You know this very well, as the rest of the nation does. Do you think he has to frame the comments about terrorism a little differently? Do you think he is watching how he crafts this speech given that this is the eve of 9/11?

MEEKS: I think he's very aware of 9/11, and I think his whole presidency, he has stated that he knows his number-one priority, his number-one job is to make sure Americans are safe and 9/11 does not happen again. I think he has guided his principles as president just based upon that. That's why he did what he had to do to get Osama bin Laden. That's why he utilized drones to get the leadership. And I think he's putting that in the context of we can make sure we can get them there along with our allies so they won't be here and we don't ever have a situation like 9/11 again.

BERMAN: Congressman Gregory Meeks, thank you, we appreciate your insight and your work on this subject.

PEREIRA: Thank you, sir.

MEEKS: Thank you.

PEREIRA: Up ahead, a conversation I had this morning with a very brave woman. She had her own issues in her marriage with domestic abuse. She is the wife of a now-retired NFL player. I asked her if she thinks Ray Rice should be banned from the NFL, and I've got to tell you, her answer might surprise you.

BERMAN: Surprised me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Janay Rice has come to her husband's defense after he was cut from the Baltimore Ravens and suspended indefinitely from the NFL following the video that showed Ray Rice punching her. She said on Instagram, "I woke up this morning feeling like I had a horrible nightmare, feeling like I'm mourning the death of my closest friend. Just know we will continue to grow and show the world what real love is."

PEREIRA: I had the opportunity to speak to a woman who knows firsthand what Janay Rice might be going through. Dewan Williams acknowledges domestic abuse in her marriage to retired NFL player, Wally Williams. I asked her what she thinks of Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, has said about the Ray Rice situation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DEWAN WILLIAMS, WIFE OF RETIRED NFL PLAYER, WALLY WILLIAMS: I think he's full of it. I think that it's disheartening for them to even say that they had no idea what was on that tape clear the way that went down that's something that's happened before. She is -- it's disheartening. I know for myself and -- I mean, I was never punched like that but when you reach out, you're left on an island by yourself. People dissociate themselves from you. The NFL turns their back on you.

PEREIRA: There's so much to ask you about. Help us understand. You've experienced your own issues and you've been forthcoming about it. You've had your own issues with domestic violence in your marriage.

WILLIAMS: I have. And nothing that I'm proud of and I'm not here to throw my husband under the bus. He's a wonderful provider, great father and somehow we're still married. However, there were issues and when those issues were going on, when I reached out for help, whether it be through counseling or to talking to other coaches, coaches' wives, they listened but it's just the nod of the head and, you know, "how can you help me? Can you help me? When will you help me? Who's going to help me? "

PEREIRA: Very isolating.

WILLIAMS: Very isolating and it breaks my heart to see because I know right now she's on an island and because she has to protect what she is because that is her life right now and she's riding on Ray Rice's career at this point and so she has to protect that. If he punches her like that in a public place, I can't imagine what she's going through at home.

PEREIRA: Let me ask you about what you said about reaching out. Did you get -- at the time, when you reached out to people within the NFL organization for help or assistance, even just to be heard, did you feel like your situation was isolated?

WILLIAMS: Oh, not only was it's isolating, I was isolated. I was told by coaches in our particular situation, I was told not to talk to the media, not to talk to anyone, not to get an attorney, they would handle everything. It's hard to believe that the NFL had no idea what was going on.

PEREIRA: So you're saying they turned a blind eye?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely.

PEREIRA: Patted you on the head? Is that what it felt like?

WILLIAMS: I think it happened to me, it happened to others and it will continue to happen.

PEREIRA: Did it happen to others or is it what you think happened to others? Did you and other wives speak? Tell us about that.

WILLIAMS: It was a common practice. I had friends who had black eyes, they said they walked into cupboards. I had friends tell me their husbands ran them over like on the football field. You have these men that are playing a very violent support and it's OK to use aggression and force and to enforce their will on someone else on the football field and they come home at night and they're not used to not getting their way so when you say no, when you say you're not going to do this, they enforce their will. And you don't stop it, you don't break it. If you call the police, the police tell you, you know, you don't want this in the news. I have several incidents that have occurred in my personal life that there's no record of. I mean, my kid was ran up a tree in a g-wagon truck and there's no police report, there's nothing. So everything -- when they want to sweep something under the rug or turn a blind eye, that's what happens.

PEREIRA: What did you ultimately do? Did you turn for help elsewhere? Did you kind of repeatedly keep going back and say, "This is happening, this is happening"?

WILLIAMS: I repeatedly went back and it came to a point in my life where I felt that it was time for me to stand on my own because the violence was escalating between the two of us. There was no longer arguments. It was being physical and so I removed myself from my situation. I moved back home to Ohio. I went back to school and for me the healing began. I went back and got my master's in psych mental health. I'm a psych mental health practice nurse now and I practice psychiatry and it's my way of reaching back and being able to talk to people that are in these types of situation to let them know they can stand on their own. It's hard work but you can come back and be a whole person.

PEREIRA: It gives us a unique perspective, not only you're an NFL wife, you have been an NFL wife, but you also now are studying and living and helping people with some of these very issues. You look at the tape of Janay and you hear her Instagram defense of her husband. What does your heart say, your gut say, and what does your learned mind say when you hear that?

WILLIAMS: My gut says, "Oh, my god, she's in love, she's trying to save her marriage, she wants not to be the reason for her husband to lose her career." Because aside from the NFL with families, it's the NFL, it's the men and their work and then it's the families. So they've allowed their personal life to interfere with his professional life. My heart says, you know, she's in love, she wants to save her marriage. My mind said says she's being abused. What woman in their right mind and faculties would allow someone to knock them unconscious, be drug like a rag doll through an elevator door and left on the floor and turn around and marry him? That's someone who is in love with love and in love with being married to an NFL player, being married to that life and she loves the life that she's living.

PEREIRA: And you don't believe she's the exception to the rule.

WILLIAMS: Absolutely not. And unfortunately, I wish I could say those were the facts but it's not.

PEREIRA: Ray Rice -- you heard what the commissioner said. He suggested Ray Rice will play again. WILLIAMS: For sure.

PEREIRA: What do you think? What do you want to see happen?

WILLIAMS: Personally, I feel should Ray Rice be banned from the NFL? Absolutely not.

PEREIRA: Why?

WILLIAMS: I think that -- well, I feel that he's being punished because the lights have been turned on. What you do behind closed doors will come out.

PEREIRA: The veil has been lifted?

WILLIAMS: It's been lifted. And so they have no choice but to deal with this. These types of things have been going on for years.

PEREIRA: You think they're making him a poster child?

WILLIAMS: He is definitely the poster child for domestic violence in the NFL. Why should he have to pay penance for everything that everyone else has done?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: I want to point out, and I hope it wasn't misleading to people, because you saw Dewan had a cast on her foot. She told me show broke it when she was wearing a pair of shoes she had no business wearing when she was at her son's football game.

BERMAN: I know what that's like.

PEREIRA: She tripped and broke her ankle but I didn't want you to feel that was for any other reason. It was really surprising and I know you were surprised, too, that she doesn't necessarily support his lifetime suspension.

BERMAN: It makes you wonder. L.Z., I think, said it best. I think athletes and everyone needs to stand up and defend women now the way they speak up and defend other people in similar situations.

Now, as CNN continues to follow this story, you can learn more about how to help people dealing with domestic abuse. Visit CNN.com/impact.

Ahead for us @THISHOUR, the president gearing up for a very big speech tonight. Crucial, how he plans to battle ISIS. What does he expect to say? What does he need to say? We'll ask our expert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Breaking news. CNN has just learned that President Obama will ask Congress for authorization to arm and equip moderate rebels inside Syria.

I want to go straight away to our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, who I believe is on Capitol Hill.

Dana, does this mean that there will be a Congressional vote one way or the other on part of the president's strategy in dealing with is?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It means that the president does want a vote. But it's a good question. And it is easy to get confused because the big headline out of the White House meeting with congressional leaders yesterday is that the president wouldn't ask for authority to deal with ISIS. Here is the difference. He's not going to ask for authority for U.S. force against ISIS. What he does need, because sources are saying that this is a legal anomaly, is authority, legal authority, to arm, train, equip Syrian rebels so that they can fight ISIS on the ground there. It is a difference, they say, but something that he does need in order to go forward with the strategy he's going to lay out

BERMAN: That does mean that members of Congress will have a chance to get on the record, at least, with part of the ISIS plan.

BASH: It does, if they do take this up. The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, was on the floor this morning talking about this, saying that he supports this, does not support U.S. boots on the ground, does not support expanding the authorization that Congress has already given the executive branch years ago, that the president is using right now. But this is something that he supports, which means it sounds like he is going to put this in a vote. Now, the question is how that's going to happen, mechanically, procedurally, we're not sure. They're not going to be there very long. Only --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: No. And I don't think it something that he wants to do in some cases.

Dana Bash, always great to have you. Thanks for bringing us that news.

BASH: Thanks, John.

PEREIRA: Want to bring in CNN political commentator, Marc Lamont Hill. Republican Strategist Cheri Jacobus is here as well.

Marc, Congress is one part. Address the American public is the other. The president's plan to address the issue of ISIS tonight and outline his strategy, said to be in three parts. We know -- I want to show you the result of a poll. We know Americans aren't feeling that this strategy is foolproof. Look at that, 30 percent. What do you think he has to say to change the thoughts and minds of Americans?

MARC LAMONT HILL, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: All three parts are necessary. The first part of the plan was to establish who ISIS is and what the nature of their threat is. That's absolutely necessary because he needs to be able to connect those dots and frame is within the context of global terror. That's the first thing. There were rumors he thought they were J.V. or junior. And the second thing is he has to have a coherent strategy not for containing ISIS but for destroying ISIS. Now we may disagree on strategy but ultimately that's what the American people want to see.

BERMAN: Cheri, we just reported the president is asking for authorization to arm and equip the rebels. It's not a vote -- it wouldn't be a vote to authorize air strikes. But it would be a vote on that strategy. Do you think that members of Congress need to get on the record now on this matter of war and peace?

CHERI JACOBUS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think we're in a different situation now. There's no question that Congress is going to support this. No question the American people would support it right now. There's the same level of support, if not more, from going stronger on ISIS than there was that President Bush had going into Iraq. Also, President Obama's numbers -- he's got high disapprovals on how he's handled this. He has nowhere to go but up.

I think the Congress is glad that he's finally off the golf course and doing something. I think they're going to push him and support him because this is overdue. He's a little bit late to the game. I think frankly he's going to find a tremendous amount of support in Congress because this is what the American people want, this is what Congress needs. And we're just glad the president is finally making this attempt to act like a commander-in-chief --

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONT HILL: I think he's been acting like the commander-in-chief the entire time. The optics of the golf course aside --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: But the American people disagree with you, Marc, a huge majority --

(CROSSTALK)

LAMONT HILL: Absolutely. That's why -- I think the president was dismissive of the idea of optics. National security issues matter and the optics of it matter. So I'm not dismissing the whole golf --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: So he has to fix that tonight?

LAMONT HILL: He has to fix that. And the way to fix that is to sound stern. But I don't think the president hasn't been functioning as commander in chief. When he said, we won't have a strategy for ISIS, he meant it was still unfolding and developing --

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBUS: The polls disagree.

(CROSSTALK)

JACOBUS: Democrat lawmakers, you have people on the left and the media who normally support the president all perplexed by how he's been AWOL on this issue. We're so relieved that he's finally getting serious. We know Dick Cheney was right. We know that this is what the American people want.

LAMONT HILL: About what?

JACOBUS: About the threat of ISIS. The president is finally on board. We're glad. I think that we can put some of the politics behind us. Do members of Congress need this for their midterms? It depends. They can speak for themselves and say what they want to say with or without a vote. But now they have a vote.

PEREIRA: We have to leave it there.

Cheri, Marc, thank you both so much. We'll be watching.

You can watch it tonight, 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.

We'll take a short break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: In today's "Fashion Backstage Pass," Alison Kosik shows us how social media is helping clothes sell right off the rack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So you say you want it, that you've got to have it. Well, if you like it, you'll know where to buy it.

BLAIR EDIE, FASHION BLOGGER: If they like my photos, we'll receive an e-mail with a link to that specific product to pre-buy it and they get priority access before anybody else.

KOSIK: Fashion blogger, Blair Edie, sits front and center at the fashion show in New York. Armed with her mobile phone, she posts some of the looks from the runway on Instagram and through shopping service "Like to Know It" helps her followers know exactly where to shop for these fashions.

EDIE: Why not be accessible for her? It's important. If we like something, we should be able to get it.

KOSIK: Here's how to get it. Sign up for "Like to Know It," follow someone who uses the service. For example, fashion blogger, Blair Edie or celebrity blogger, Shea Mitchell. And if you click like on one of their fashion posts, you'll automatically get an e-mail of where to purchase the clothing and accessories.

ANBER VENZ BOX, FOUNDER, LIKETOKNOWIT: Those authentic endorsements are so much more valuable than a display out on the side of your site. There's a human element to it.

KOSIK: And that's the element businesses are trying to capture. How to turn those social media eyeballs into profits.

But don't ask founder and CEO, Max Azria, to sign up. He'd prefer to focus on creating the clothing.

(on camera): Are you on social media? Are you on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter?

MAX AZRIA, FOUNDER & CEO, BCBGMAXAZRIA: No. No way.

KOSIK: Why not?

AZRIA: Because I'm scared. I tried one time. It was thousands and thousands of messages and very frightening messages. So I stopped it.

KOSIK: Some proof that the Instagram economy is working? "Like to Know It" clicks, one website jumped by 575 percent in just nine days. And others are seizing the moment, too. They are helping shoppers find their favorite brands.

John and Michaela?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA: Alison, thanks so much.

That's it for us.

BERMAN: "Legal View" with Ashleigh Banfield starts right now.

(LAUGHTER)