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CNN NEWSROOM

New Goodell Bombshell; James Foley's Mother Speaks Out; Dramatic Rise in ISIS Ranks; Congress Pushes for ISIS Plan Approval

Aired September 12, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, I got it all. Have a great weekend. Thanks so much.

NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

For the first time since the Baltimore Ravens released Ray Rice and the NFL suspended him the team returned to the field to play. The Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 26-6 last night and while Rice has been castigated from every corner of the world for hitting Janay Palmer, many members of Ravens nation still support him. Fans, including women, showed their loyalty by wearing Ray Rice jerseys to the game.

We're also learning more about the NFL's investigation into Rice's assault. This bombshell dropped overnight, ESPN quoting four sources who told Rice -- who say Rice told Goodell at a meeting in June he had indeed punched Palmer. The report seems to contradict Goodell's account to CBS News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: When we met with Ray Rice and his representatives, it was ambiguous about what actually happened.

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS: But what was ambiguous about her laying unconscious on the floor, being dragged out by her feet?

GOODELL: There was nothing ambiguous about that. That was the result that we saw. We did not know what led up to that. We did not know the details of that. We asked for that on several occasions. It was unacceptable in it of itself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN's Andy Scholes was at last night's game.

Tell us about it, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Well, Carol, it was a sellout at M&T Bank Stadium last night. The fans were as loud as ever but of course Ray Rice definitely still on everyone's mind. You know, this story seems to take another turn every few hours. Roger Goodell continues to be under fire, many people don't believe what he's saying. You know, but amidst this controversy the Ravens, they had to get back to work.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES (voice-over): The Baltimore Ravens taking the field for the first time since their teammate Ray Rice was let go amidst a domestic violence controversy.

In a new report, four sources tell ESPN that Rice met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell back in June, admitting he punched his then fiancee Janay Palmer in a casino elevator months before TMZ posted the surveillance video.

On Tuesday Goodell told CBS News that Rice's account of what happened was ambiguous compared to what the video showed.

O'DONNELL: But what was ambiguous about her laying unconscious on the floor, being dragged out by her feet?

GOODELL: There was nothing ambiguous about that. That was the result that we saw. We did not know what led up to that.

SCHOLES: The number of current and former players calling for Goodell to be held accountable is growing by the day.

JONATHAN VILMA, FORMER NEW ORLEANS SAINTS LINEBACKER: Roger Goodell failed to act, plain and simple. He failed to act. There should be consequences.

SCHOLES: And former Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook tweeting, "Being a leader is not a part time job. If Goodell holds the players to a high standard, he should be held to that same high standard."

Mere hours before Thursday night's kickoff, CBS officials nixed a pre- recorded Rihanna opener considering the singer's own history of domestic abuse at the hands of ex Chris Brown. Instead devoting time to a discussion about the abuse scandal rocking the NFL culminating with James Brown making a powerful plea.

JAMES BROWN, CBS COMMENTATOR: According to domestic violence experts more than three women per day lose their lives at the hands of their partners. So this is yet another call to men to stand up and take responsibility for their thoughts, their words, their deeds, and as Dionne says, to give help or to get help, because our silence is deafening and deadly.

SCHOLES: After defeating the Steelers the Ravens voiced their support for their ex-teammate.

DENNIS PITTA, BALTIMORE RAVENS TIGHT END: He's always been unbelievable in the community here and people have really grown to love him and they support him as do we. We acknowledge the mistake he made.

TORREY SMITH, BALTIMORE RAVENS WIDE RECEIVER: Ray is still a great guy. You know, he made a mistake. You take away those two minutes of his life and you look at a model citizen, a model man.

SCHOLES: Fans also showing loyalty to Rice by wearing his jersey.

BOBBY MCDONALD, BALTIMORE RAVENS FAN: I stick behind Ray Rice 100 percent. And I will rock this jersey every day until he is back on that field.

CARRIE BREEN, BALTIMORE RAVENS FAN: This is a situation that is between his wife and himself and I feel that everybody should leave them alone and let them deal with the situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHOLES: And Carol, I couldn't believe it. I was shocked to see so many Ravens fans wearing their Ray Rice jerseys last night. I mean, there were hundreds of them and surprisingly most of them were women. And the ones I talked to were much more upset at the NFL and Roger Goodell than they were at Ray Rice.

COSTELLO: I can't say that I'm really surprised, Andy, even though that one fan, that female fan told you that she thought this was a matter between Rice and his wife. Well, domestic violence is a crime and it's an assault and it's not just between a man and his wife. You know, it's a crime and it should be investigated and prosecuted just like any other crime, so I can't say that I'm really surprised.

It's been interesting reading tweets in the Twitterverse, too, because some current players have also commented on Roger Goodell and what's happening within the NFL.

SCHOLES: Yes, that's right. We've seen that happen over the last few days. I think Eric Weddell of the San Diego Charges, he sent out a tweet the other day, saying, you know, basically all the players, current players are saying that Roger Goodell needs to be held accountable like he's held them accountable for years.

We saw, of course, all the New Orleans Saints that are involved in Bountygate. They're keeping a close eye on the situation right now because of the strict punishments Goodell handed down to them and of course they want to see the same thing happen to Roger Goodell if in fact it is proven that he has been lying to everyone.

COSTELLO: All right. Andy Scholes reporting live for us this morning. Thanks so much.

The mother of beheaded American journalist James Foley says she's embarrassed and appalled by how the U.S. government dealt with her son's kidnapping by ISIS. You certainly remember James Foley was killed by ISIS fighters three weeks ago.

Well, his mother Diane Foley says the government was not there for her family. She had to brief the FBI on her son's case, she had to do that. And her family was threatened with prosecution if they paid any ransom money.

Diane Foley sat down with Anderson Cooper. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIANE FOLEY, JAMES FOLEY'S MOTHER: I really feel that our country let Jim down. And --

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360: In what way?

FOLEY: Well, Anderson, I -- we met wonderful people within our government, good people, who cared, who wanted to help. But the reality of the bureaucracy and really -- was such that we were not helped. We really weren't. And --

COOPER: You didn't feel like they were there for you, that they were really -- the U.S. government really was not?

FOLEY: Not at all. And yet we don't blame -- I don't want to blame people because that's not going to help.

COOPER: So did you feel that -- your family, that Jim was a priority for the government?

FOLEY: No. We really didn't. You know?

COOPER: And you saw that in what? In the resources that they had you interact with, the people they had you interact with? What -- how did you get that sense?

FOLEY: As an American I was embarrassed and appalled, you know. I think our efforts to get Jim freed were an annoyance. You know. And --

COOPER: An annoyance to the government.

FOLEY: Yes. Jim would have been saddened. Jim believed until the end that his country would come to their aid.

COOPER: Did you know that --

FOLEY: Well, that's what --

COOPER: -- what was happening to him, where he was?

FOLEY: Anderson, to be honest, that thought was rather frightening. We tended to know everything before the FBI or anyone else.

COOPER: How so?

FOLEY: Because we did everything we could. I went to Europe several times to interview the European freed hostages, just so I could find out how Jim was, what's going on. Where are they? What were the chances of this or that? It was a frightening thing and the FBI was -- everyone was kind and supportive but the FBI used us for information.

COOPER: Really? They came to you for information?

FOLEY: Absolutely.

COOPER: About his location, about --

FOLEY: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.

COOPER: It's amazing to me that you flew overseas to actually interview, hostages --

FOLEY: No. It's not, Anderson. I said mother. I was frantic.

COOPER: You'd do anything.

FOLEY: Anderson, Jim was an incredible human being. He was very courageous and he had a heart. I mean, anyone who knew Jim loved him. Jim had an ability to be present, to listen, unlike so many in our world.

Jim had many gifts, Anderson. I did all I could. Is I was unable to do enough.

COOPER: What did you learn from the hostages who had been with him and who had been released?

FOLEY: That he continued to have that compassion and goodness to the very end, that he continued to believe that our country would find a way to free them. He passionately believed in America and our goodness and that he was valuable as a citizen, and I also found out that the prayers of people from all over the world gave him an incredible courage.

COOPER: He felt that?

FOLEY: Without a doubt, Anderson.

COOPER: I understand he actually got a letter to you through one of the other hostages.

FOLEY: He did. He did, Anderson, thank god.

COOPER: Which is an extraordinary thing. It wasn't actually physical letter, the other hostage memorized the letter.

FOLEY: Exactly.

COOPER: I have an excerpt from the letter, can I read it?

FOLEY: Of course.

COOPER: Can I read part of it? It's really I think just extraordinarily moving.

"Dreams of family and friends taking away and happiness fills my heart."

That must -- I mean, it's such a sign of resilience that in the midst of this. FOLEY: Jim knew, Anderson, that he was privileged. Privileged in a

very ordinary Americans. He was very loved. He grew up in a community of love, crazy family, he's the oldest of five children, lots of crazy wonderful memories. He was privileged. He was privileged. As many of us Americans are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The National Security Council released a statement after Diane Foley's interview saying, quote, "The administration's goal has always been to do whatever we can within our capabilities and with the bounds of the law to assist families to bring their loved ones home."

Dan O'Shea, a former Navy SEAL and coordinator of the Hostage Working Group at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad understands Foley's frustrations. In fact he says she's not alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN O'SHEA, V.P., GROM TECHNOLOGIES: I came back and I met with many of the families that expressed very similar frustrations about what they perceive as the lack of an effort by the U.S. government to try and bring their loved ones home. And, you know, the reality is, you know, we spent two years in Iraq and we're hundred if not thousands of folks that worked on many cases, hundreds of kidnapping cases.

Many folks -- many of my peers included went on nightly missions and raids, hundreds of missions to try and find actual intelligence on just, say, one kidnapping. So it's a very complex environment, the family is not getting a lot of information from the government. It's very challenging and it just -- it brings back a lot of bad memories hearing her thoughts and concerns about her son.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: For more about James Foley and his legacy foundation you can visit their Web site, Jamesfoleyfund.org.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, as the United States puts its strategy in motion against ISIS, shocking new numbers out show a dramatic increase in its ranks. We'll talk about that and more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Don't call it a war, so says Secretary of State John Kerry. It's really a very significant counterterrorism operation, shorthand, a VSCO -- or you could just call it a war which by definition is an organized and often prolonged conflict generally characterized by extreme violence, social disruption and economic destruction.

And when you look at the group that we're not at war with, we're seeing a dramatic rise inside their ranks. According to the CIA, there are up to 31,500 ISIS fighters across Iraq and Syria and what's more shocking almost half are foreign-born, including 2,000 Westerners. Defeating ISIS will be a tall order for retired Marine General John

Allen. He's been picked to lead the United States' efforts against this terror group.

Our senior Washington correspondent Joe Johns joins us now from the White House with more.

Good morning, Joe.

JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

That's an anticipated appointment for John Allen. He's got vast experience in the region. He would be leading the international coalition, really just a tight rope for him, because the idea here is to take on ISIS without elevating their international status.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS (voice-over): This morning, U.S. surveillance flights over Syria are under way, the military now developing potential targets for future airstrikes against ISIS militants, a U.S. official has told CNN. This as CNN learns the CIA's estimate of the size of ISIS double, now said to be between 20,000 and 30,000 fighters. And the number of Westerners in their ranks, up to 2,000, including about a dozen Americans.

Secretary of State John Kerry in the Middle East building a coalition, nine Arab nations signing on in the battle against ISIS.

Saudi Arabia agreeing to train anti-ISIS fighters, but none of the nations expected to participate in military strikes.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that's the wrong terminology.

JOHNS: In an interview with CNN's Elise Labott, Kerry took issue with this action being called a war.

KERRY: What we are doing is engaging in a very significant counterterrorism operation. And it's going to go on for some period of time. If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with ISIL, they can do so. But the fact is, it's a major counterterrorism operation that will have many different moving parts.

JOHNS: Moving parts including money to arm Syrian rebels to fight ISIS.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN, (D) WEST VIRGINIA: I'm going to have deep concerns about us investing taxpayers' dollars at $500 million to a group of rebels we're not sure how it will be used to our benefit.

JOHNS: But many parts of the president's plan receiving skepticism on Capitol Hill.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: An F-16 is not a strategy. And air strikes alone will not accomplish what we're trying to accomplish.

JOHNS: With one House Republican and former Air Force surveillance pilot in Iraq predicting a long slog.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R), ILLINOIS: I think we are looking at a multi- year war in front of us, and I hope the American people are patient for it, because anything short of destroying this group is going to lead to many, many problems in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Of course, a big question is whether Congress would actually vote to authorize use of force to fight ISIS, and there are a lot of people in Congress right now who are not itching to take that vote, at least before the midterm elections -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, I think that's an understatement. So, stick around, Joe. I want to bring in chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash.

Dana, welcome.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Carol.

COSTELLO: Yes, one more question for Joe before he goes away, though. I just wonder, Joe, when will the second phase of this operation take place? When will we start arming the Syrian rebels? When will the money go to train the Iraqi military and the Syrian rebels?

JOHNS: Well, we're told the infrastructure for all of this is already in place, and what they need is the $500 million to sort of scale that up. So it's really a question of when Congress gets around to voting this, and certainly Dana can tell you more about that than I can, but the simple version is either they're going to throw it into a temporary spending bill, or they're do it in a standalone bill and it could come I suppose as early as the first week of October, Carol?

COSTELLO: What do you say, Dana?

BASH: Joe's exactly right. The question after the president's speech was whether Congress was even going to give him this limited legal authority that the president says he needs to arm and train Syrian rebels.

There was a meeting yesterday morning with House Republicans, I'm told that the House speaker said basically look, this is not the commander in chief we chose, the one that we would have wanted but he is our commander in chief. He is asking for this. I think we should give this to him, despite the fact there is as you heard in Joe's piece some trepidation, even from some Democrats, because they're saying people are asking how do we really know who we're training, whose hands these arms are going to get in, and so forth.

It does sound like the Republican leadership in the House, despite their differences with the president, they are going to push to have a vote as soon as next week to give the president this limited authority. The bigger question, though, is what about broad authority for this broader, new mission that the president is clearly on and right now, Congress is punting on that, Carol.

BASH: All right, Dana Bash, Joe Johns, thanks so much.

Still to come in NEWSROOM, some Americans who depend on Social Security are having money taken out every month to pay back delinquent student loans. Can you believe it?

Alison Kosik is here with that story.

Good morning.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

And even if you're 65 years or older, the government can reach into your Social Security income and take part of it if you still owe money for student loans. I'm going to have details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: If you are behind on your student loans and collecting Social Security, the government might start taking some of your money to pay back those loans. But if you're caught in this situation, is there any relief?

I just want to make it clear Alison Kosik, so that means you're 65, you're ready to collect Social Security and forgotten about the college loan you had like 20 or 30 years ago and now the government's going to collect?

KOSIK: That's a problem. You shouldn't forget about the student debt that you owe. Think about it. Do you forget about the mortgage? Do you forget about your car payment? You probably don't.

You know, there's one person I talked to at Bankrate.com, Greg McBride, he tells me this way. If the U.S. treasury that cuts that Social Security check, if that student debt isn't paid off, guess who is on the hook to pay it? Me. You out there, the U.S. taxpayers.

So, the point that Greg McBride is making is this, whether you're 65 years old or 25 years old, federal student loans are not an obligation that you can walk away from. You need to really get out in front of it, if you look like you're having a problem paying them back and really, you can't run and hide your obligations.

COSTELLO: What took the government so long in discovering you owe on your student loans?

KOSIK: Well, it actually is up to you to sort of call the company that services your loan and say, listen, I'm having a problem making the payments. Let's lower the payment per month so I could actually handle it.

Now, there is one thing you can do, or a couple things you can do if you are in default, if you've been in default for a while. You can consolidate and promise to pay back the money or you can spend a good ten months paying, making at least nine on-time payments, then you show you can handle it and you can file for what's known as income- based repayment, IBR, you have to file for this, and then get those monthly payments that you can handle but once again you have to file for that, not a lot of people realize, they think once I show in this sort of trial period of 10 months that I can pay it back I'm in good standing, right? That's not the case. You have to file for this income-based repayment to do that.

COSTELLO: Interesting. Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, the Ray Rice controversy prompts a major change to Thursday night football, just hours before kickoff. Coming up next, why CBS and the NFL network yanked pop star Rihanna from the opening act.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)