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CNN NEWSROOM

Patriots' Belichick Claims Ignorance; Kerry Meets Coalition Against ISIS

Aired January 22, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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


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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Two hundred million dollars or else, the ultimatum expires in just hours, the lives of two Japanese hostages, hanging in the balance.

Hi, Mitt, it's Jeb. What are you up to for the next 20 months or so? A secret meeting between Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. Will one try to push the other out of the presidential contest?

And I have no explanation for what happened. New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick says he was shocked by the Deflate-gate allegations. The question now is what will Tom Brady say? He gets ready to speak live, and we will speak to a former teammate.

Hello, everyone, I'm John Berman.

Happening now, Secretary of State John Kerry is about to present a global plan to defeat ISIS. We expect to hear from him in London any minute now. We will bring it to you live.

The secretary has been meeting for hours with foreign ministers from 20 countries. This is the first time that the U.S.-led coalition has met since the terror attacks in Paris left 17 people dead.

While this is going on, chaos in Yemen is presenting a direct threat to the U.S. war on terror. CNN learned that ISIS is now starting to establish a presence in Yemen, which is already home to al Qaeda's deadliest branch, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. That group is linked to the "Charlie Hebdo" attack in Paris and earlier attacks against United States. Experts predict that the two terrorist organizations will now compete to see who can strike America first and hardest.

All that happening while Japan is desperately trying to reach, to contact the ISIS militants holding two Japanese men hostage. The terror group has vowed to kill the men by tomorrow if Japan does not pay a $200 million ransom. So time is very much running out.

We are waiting to hear from Secretary of State John Kerry. Again, he is due to speak in London. We will bring you that news conference. You're looking at a live picture right now. The minute the secretary starts speaking, we'll get to that live. You know where John Kerry was on Sunday night, by the way? He was watching the New England Patriots win the AFC championship game. That's a clumsy segue to our next story.

Bill Belichick solo, stone-faced, and in his words, shocked by the so- called Deflate-gate scandal that really threatens to taint the biggest event in sports. We're talking about the Super Bowl.

The coach of the Patriots stood at the podium and said he had no idea, no idea that 11 of 12 Patriot footballs did not have enough air in them, that had somehow been deflated in their game against the Colts on Sunday.

There are many people who suggest that a deflated ball could give a team an advantage, especially in bad weather. It could help you grip the ball, throw the ball, hold onto the ball better that. That of course was on the way to the Patriots win and on the way to the Super Bowl where the Patriots will appear next week.

Bill Belichick says he has no explanation for what happened. In fact, he said he didn't know how the whole inflation rules even worked until now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BELICHICK, HEAD COACH, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning. That said, I've learned a lot more about this process in the last three days than I knew or had talked about it in the last 40 years that I've coached in this league.

I think we all know that quarterbacks, kickers, specialists have certain preferences on footballs. They know a lot more about it than I do. They're a lot more sensitive to it than I am.

Tom's personal preferences on his footballs are something that he can talk about in much better detail and any information than I could possibly provide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: When the coach said Tom's personal preferences, he's talking about Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The Patriots quarterback, a superstar as big as they come in football and in sports, he will hold a news conference today at 4:00 p.m. CNN will carry it live. What will his explanation be for why the balls, those footballs, did not have as much air as they were supposed to?

Let's talk about this. Jerome Wiggins played for the New England Patriots. He helped them win their first Super Bowl -- very well too, thank you for that, by the way. Jermaine Wiggins is with us.

We're also joined by our Rachel Nichols who watched that news conference along with me.

And, Mr. Wiggins, let me ask you, one thing that Bill Belichick said is that he had no idea about how these football inflation rules worked, no idea until he woke up on Monday morning.

You played for Coach Bill Belichick. Is it really something like that you could not know? This guy is one of the most detail-oriented coaches in sports.

JERMAINE WIGGINS, FORMER NFL TIGHT END: I think when you look at the number of inflations, the 12.5 to the 13.5, I think maybe he might have had a little bit of an idea.

But as a player who played a long time, I caught a bunch of footballs, I didn't know about the rule. I didn't know there was a certain limit. To me, I think when you stop to look at this whole Deflate-gate, it's starting to get funny.

What Bill Belichick did today is he came out and he said he had no idea, he doesn't understand, he don't know what's going on. To me he's showing that, hey, this is something that's bigger than what we think here in New England. We don't know about this. We have no understanding about this.

And I'm one to put my team and say, hey, listen, guys, I don't know what this is. We're making a big deal out of nothing because you get no advantage with a ball with less air in it.

BERMAN: So, Rachel Nichols, Coach Belichick said he had no idea how it happened, but he did seem to suggest that Tom Brady might. At least Tom Brady might be able to speak more about how he liked his footballs, and we will hear from Tom Brady later today.

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: A lot of people wondering now did Coach Belichick throw his quarterback under the bus, as we say.

I will say this, I guarantee Tom Brady and Bill Belichick have had many conversations about this over the past few days. It's not as if Tom Brady was watching this press conference with the rest of us and had no idea what Bill Belichick was going to say. So as usual with the Patriots, we can expect a coordinated effort.

And one thing a little bit buried in that news conference that Bill Belichick gave, beyond the headlines, was he was talking about how he will make sure going forward that the footballs are more within the normal range when they are inflated and not at the bottom of the legal range.

And you have to wonder if Tom Brady is going to come out later today and say, oh, no, what we like to do is put them right at the bottom of the legal limit, maybe weather deflated the ball a little more. It was 51 degrees at kickoff, however, so I'm not sure they can put forward that explanation. It's going to be very interesting to see what they do going forward.

I did want to throw to one piece of sound, though, for you guys. I was able to sit down with Coach Pete Carroll from the Seattle Seahawks yesterday. He of course is going to coach against the Patriots in the Super Bowl. And I asked about what responsibility coaches have to make sure they are aware of these situations, that things are being followed and done the right way. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: How significant is that if the Patriots are found to have participated in cheating the rules?

PETE CARROLL, HEAD COACH, SEATTLE SEAHAWKS: Well, I don't know all of that answer right now. But -- and I don't know about the circumstances, so it would be crazy for me to comment on it.

But we're try to do things right. We want to do things the right way, and see the league and the league office is working to figure out what is right, and let's stand for what's right.

And when we make our mistakes, we admit to them, and we fix the situation, and we -- we send the message if that's the right way to do things. So we'll see what happens with this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLS: Carroll noted to me that, hey, these head coaches, you're the 32 stewards of the game, and it's important for coaches to do the right thing, not just in football and the rules, but because they're examples to a lot of people.

The NFL is our most popular sport. There's a lot of people watching, John.

BERMAN: It's important to do things in the right way. Jermaine Wiggins, if it is found that the Patriots did things in the wrong way. If it is found that they somehow took air out of those footballs, intentionally doctored them, does there need to be a sanction and does it need to come before the super bowl?

WIGGINS: I think if it is found out that they did do something, I could see a fine. I don't think anything more than that, maybe a $100,000 fine, because when you look at it and you ask somebody who has played in the National Football League whether or not a ball that has less air in it is going to affect the game, no.

When quarterbacks use the football, every quarterback -- a lot of quarterbacks in the National Football League, and we've heard some of them come out, they doctor the football. They do whatever they need to do.

I've seen guys put footballs in saunas to try to get them so they feel comfortable in their hands. We've all heard Aaron Rodgers say he likes more air to it.

So to me, if they are found guilty of this, I think a fine is something they should definitely get. But as far as all this other nonsense where Bill Belichick should be suspended, take draft picks away, to me when I look at this, because both teams use their own balls, this to me is not an advantage for one team.

A guy likes a ball a certain way, he feels it better. The ball is not going to come out of Tom Brady's hands faster. It's not going to throw further because of the fact it's a smaller football.

NICHOLS: But, guys, you've got to remember there are certain things you can do within the rules. Jermaine, you've got to know there are certain things, you can put a ball in the sauna before the week comes. You can dunk it in water --

WIGGINS: There are a lot of --

NICHOLS: -- you can scuff it up. Those are all within the rules, but what you cannot break the rules and underinflate the ball.

WIGGINS: Rachel, Rachel, there are a lot of things guys do in the National Football League to go past. I remember when I played we used QDA, which is the adhesive spray that you spray on before you -- your tape on your ankles. You spray it on your hands, you spray it on your forearms to get a little extra stick-um.

We've seen guys use stick-um in the past. So there are rules in place. But every team, every player, they try to push those rules to the limit a little bit. Is it right? No, it's not right. But that's how things operate in the National Football League.

It's one of these things if you get caught, you sit back there, you say, I'm sorry for that. Next time, I won't do this. But to go out there and say that here's a coach that should be suspended for doing this, to me that's ludicrous.

You know what, you look at it, there's no advantage of having a ball with less air in it. I've seen it. I've played. Guys use balls at all different sizes. And to me that's just the way it is.

BERMAN: You say the Patriots and the teams around the league push things -- Rachel, hang on -- they push things to the limit. The question about the Patriots is, do they have a culture of pushing things beyond the limit?

Jermaine Wiggins, stick around. I want an answer to that question. We're going to get that a little later from you. Rachel, thanks so much for being with us.

And, again, as I said before, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, he will hold a news conference at 4:00 p.m. Eastern. What will he say about the controversy? Will he say he had anything to do with those footballs and how they were treated and perhaps why there was less air in them by the time they were measured by the refs?

Please stick with us for that. Obviously if you can't watch it on TV, you can watch it on your smart phone, on your desktop, inside a store window if people still do that.

Now we want to move on to the new developments in the international effort to defeat terrorists. We are expecting to hear from Secretary of State John Kerry any minute now. This is the news conference the secretary is attending.

He's been in a meeting with foreign ministers of 20 countries. They have discussed how they intend to fight ISIS, the growing threat from is.

Joined now by our Atika Shubert, who's been covering these meetings. Joined by Jim Sciutto, our senior national security correspondent.

Atika, what's been happening there.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're now hearing from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and he's just been talking about the support and commitment he's gotten from other ISIS coalition members.

Clearly Iraq of course is at the forefront of this, and a lot of the meeting the day has been focused on the next phase of the fight against ISIS, specifically equipping and training ground troops, especially Iraqi troops to really make gains against ISIS.

So far the air strikes have been able to contain ISIS and stop it from reaching Baghdad, but it really does require boots on the ground to defeat ISIS. And this is why Iraq is such a key ally why they need all the support they can get. And that's what the meeting today focused on and is likely to continue to become a regular meeting for the next -- every month now, we're expecting to see these coalition meetings with the core members, John.

BERMAN: And, Jim Sciutto, this meeting is going on, focused mainly on ISIS, but there is another terror concern that grows worse by the day, what is happening in Yemen, that country in the midst of chaos right now, a power vacuum. There are fears that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula could -- you know, hang on, Jim. Hang on, Atika. The secretary of state is speaking right now. Let's listen.

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Thank you both very much for, in your case, Mr. Prime Minister, traveling here and spending an important amount of time, and, Philip, thank you for cohosting today and providing the venue here in London and bringing everybody together.

And, Prime -- Mr. Prime Minister, I want to thank you for your forceful, strong and important leadership at this critical time.

I think it's important to know that this meeting that we just took part in here today takes place in the context of the members of the global coalition to counter Daesh, having come together for the very first time as a group in Brussels.

And as Foreign Secretary Hammond mentioned, in Brussels there were representatives from 60 different countries representing a very broad worldwide range of views and of priorities. Today -- and then we came together with the very same goal.

We all understand that Daesh, as it is commonly known in the Arab world, is not simply a Syrian problem. It's not an Iraqi problem. Daesh is a global problem, and it demands a coordinated, comprehensive, and enduring global response. And that's what we came here to talk about today.

The coalition came together around the joint statement that was issued out of the meeting in Brussels. And that outlines our multiple lines of effort that we are currently engaged in. Providing security assistance, strengthening the capacity of Iraq to stand on its own, protecting our homeland, disrupting the flow of foreign fighters, draining Daesh's financial resources, providing humanitarian relief to victims, and ultimately defeating what Daesh represents, defeating Daesh as an idea, if it could be called that. All the coalition partners are continuing to make vital contributions to this. We mean all 60, whether it's sheltering refugees, training, advising Iraqi troops on the front lines, or speaking out against Daesh's hateful, false ideology. We appreciate the contribution of every single member, each of whom has chosen one line of effort or another.

But we also recognize the need to, as effectively as possible, be able to coordinate all of these contributions. That's what the small group that came here today set out to do. The small group will continue to meet on a regular basis and continue, obviously, to consult with the full 60 members of the coalition who will meet again as a full membership. In the meantime, we want to ensure that we are synchronized, that we are unified, that we are effective, that we are able to carry out each line of effort as rapidly and as efficiently as possible. As agreed in Brussels, we will establish an expert level series of working groups to pool resources and expertise from coalition capitals in order to defeat Daesh as an organization. And, thereby, we will combat its manpower, its resources, its recruiting, and its ideology. The full plenary will convene again later this year in order to draw from the lessons that we have learned all around the world.

And as I think many of you are aware, President Obama has invited countries to come and join in a consultation about violent extremism in Washington in the month of February during which time we will have civil society, religious leaders, students, NGOs, others, plus government ministers and we will have a subsequent ministerial meeting ourselves at the State Department. All of this is to try to build capacity and efficiency, basically just to get the job done. Now obviously, there's a tremendous amount of work that is already underway. In recent months we have seen, definitively, Daesh's momentum halted in Iraq; and in some, cases reversed. While Daesh may make some announcement about some distant location where four or five people have chosen to affiliate with them, that does not represent advances in the front line of the initiative that we have begun with which is building the capacity of Iraq to be able to defend itself. That process is very much underway at this time. It's important to note that ground forces, supported by nearly 2,000 airstrikes now, have reclaimed more than 700 square kilometers from Daesh. Coalition training and advising efforts in Iraq are underway and ramping up with the goal of ultimately raising 12 new Iraqi brigades.

This spring we'll begin training for the Syrian opposition forces at camps in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar. The fact is that while the trajectory of this fight, as President Obama and other leaders have said from the beginning, will be neither short nor easy. That has been a consistent statement. Today we are seeing important gains along all the lines of effort. And we discussed these gains in detail today, as well as the necessary steps that we have to take to build on them. I don't think there's any undertaking in its early months where you can't do better and you can't find things you can't improve on. That's precisely what we talked about here today.

Let me also add that we're not only focused on defeating Daesh and liberating the areas that are under its control in the short term, but we're also concerned with helping Daesh's victims to rebuild their lives once Daesh is long gone. And this is absolutely critical. These communities will need police and local governance in order to ensure that law and order -- in order to restore ties with the central government. They'll need provisions for basic resources like electricity and water, and those who've suffered unimaginable horrors under Daesh, especially women and girls, will continue to need the kind of humanitarian relief that countries around the world have generously been providing since this crisis began.

To that end, we commend the recent U.N. announcement of a Multi- Partner Recover and Stabilization Fund. And this fund will support Iraqi-led stabilization efforts in communities that have been rescued from Daesh's grip. For many, it will literally serve as the bridge between horror and hope. As President Obama said in his State of the Union address a couple days ago, this effort will take time, it will require focus, but we will succeed. Tomorrow I will travel to Davos, Switzerland -- I think the prime minister is going today. I think we're speaking almost one right after the other -- And at that time, I'll speak in greater detail about our global efforts and global efforts that are necessary to prevent and combat violent extremism. For now, let me underscore this, this is a huge task with no shortcuts. We've made progress in coordinating our efforts today, and we will continue to make progress, including at the summit on opposing extremist violence that I talked about a moment ago that President Obama will convene.

After five months of close collaboration on this effort, I can tell you that Prime Minister Abadie, Foreign Secretary Hammond, and all of the coalition partners here today fully recognize how important this moment is and restated their commitment to see this through. We know that we have to get it right, and that is precisely what the subject matter of this meeting most focused on. Thank you.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State John Kerry finishing up remarks in London. He's there with the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom, as well as the Iraqi Prime Minister there. The secretary talked about the need to work together with coalition partners to battle ISIS. But perhaps the most interesting thing is, he didn't use the word ISIS, I don't think, once. He called the group Daesh. I've also heard it called Daesh before. But Daesh or Daesh is another word for the Islamic State that doesn't give it credit, frankly, for being a state at all, and he pronounced it in a way that is also an insult.

I want to bring in our senior national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. Jim, he seemed to repeat that again and again and again. He seemed to be trying to make a point.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: He did. It's interesting, John, I heard that, as well. And you know, Daesh is the correct pronunciation. It's a phrase in Arabic and it sounds, in Arabic, like to be trod under the feet. So, of course, a sign of disrespect, in addition to taking away that claim of Islamic State or Islamic State in Syria, ISIS or ISIL, as the administration has called them before. It sounded deliberate to me. Whether the mispronunciation of it, Daesh as opposed to Daesh, was delivered as a question. But we know that using Daesh is an intentional sign to show disdain for the group. I think it is interesting. That said, at the same time, he did describe the effort of fighting Daesh or ISIS as being significant. His words, this is a huge task with no shortcuts. And that's been a pretty consistent message from the administration. This is going to take time, it's not going to happen overnight and will take a real international effort.

BERMAN: The secretary made clear it will not be short and it will not be easy and will take the cooperation of all the coalition partners. Atika Shubert, Jim Sciutto, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

SCIUTTO: Thank you.

BERMAN: Come up for us next, ISIS is holding two Japanese hostage, asking for $200 million ransom. Will Japan pay? What are the issues the nation has to deal with? What are the risks of paying ransom? We'll look at that issue next.

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