Return to Transcripts main page

CNN NEWSROOM

Queen Rania Attends Rally in Honor of Pilot; France Cracks Down after Terror Attacks; Jenner Reports Fuels Transgender Discussion; "Saved by the Bell" Cast Reunites

Aired February 6, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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


JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm holding it right here.

In the introduction to this document which sort of lays out the President's national security strategy, there is an opening letter or message from the President. I just want to read one key quote to you Carol because I really think this sums up and neatly encapsulates the President's national security strategy.

He says, "We have to make hard choices among many competing priorities and we must always resist the overreach that comes when we make decisions based upon fear. Moreover, we must recognize that a smart national security strategy does not rely solely on military power."

So the President trying to respond once again to his critics -- people like Senator John McCain, Senator Lindsey Graham -- who the President feels like, you know, always wants to plunge in headfirst in military conflict.

The President has a much more nuanced approach. He's not George W. Bush. And in many ways, this White House, this president has been sort of the reaction of George W. Bush and so, you know, these big questions about Ukraine.

I'm told by senior administration officials that yes, there is very serious discussion happening right now as to whether or not to provide defensive arms to the Ukrainians to fight those Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.

And you'll recall, Carol, We were talking about this earlier this week. Ash carter was testifying up on Capitol Hill and saying he was inclined to support that type of aid. I'm told by a senior administration official that's not too dissimilar from the White House view at this point.

So they're moving in that direction it sounds like. But it is going to be fascinating to listening to Susan Rice later on this afternoon. But if anybody thinks that this president is going to take on a much more activist approach when it comes to foreign policy in this next couple of years, I think you can see in this document that that is not going to be the case. They're going to offer up a defense of this more nuanced national security policy that the White House has had for several years now -- Carol. CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Jim Acosta, reporting live

for us from the White House -- I appreciate it.

As military operations against ISIS intensify, the slain Jordanian pilot is being remembered as a hero. A cousin telling CNN he was quote, "loved by everyone".

Earlier today, Queen Rania joined thousands of Jordanians at an anti- ISIS rally in a sign of unity and solidarity. Yesterday the queen visited the pilot's hometown. This picture shows her embracing the pilot's widow. The couple had only been married for six months.

Let's bring in Jomana Karadsheh. She's in Amman, Jordan, with more. Hi -- Jomana.

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol.

And we were there in that small town, small village in the south of Jordan when the queen and the king of Jordan visited to pay their respects to the family of the fallen pilot. And really, it was such a heartbreaking scene -- really emotional there.

We went into that condolence tent where the queen met with his wife and his mother. And you saw hundreds of women who gathered there -- some who knew him and some who didn't, young and old. They just came there to show solidarity with the family.

His mother was -- she looked in so much pain and grief -- Carol. She could not speak. She looked numb. She looked frail. We were able to speak to other relatives who wanted to share their memories of Muath al-Kasaesbeh and also tell us about how they felt about what has happened to him. Here's what his 21-year-old cousin Layla told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAYLA AL-KASAESBEH, COUSIN OF JORDANIAN PILOT: He not only lived, he existed, you know. He did something for his country and for his religion. He had to die in that way to show people how cruel those people are, you know. It's sad. It's heartbreaking. And we're so sad. We're crying all the time. When we're not crying, we're talking about him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARADSHEH: And Carol she went on to describe his personality saying he had a strong character. He was popular and that he had always had that ambition and dream to become a pilot and really we hear this from a lot of people there. They say they are very proud of him for what he did in his life and ultimately what he stood for in his death -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you so much. Jomana, reporting live from Jordan this morning.

In the meantime as Jordan pledges vengeance against ISIS, France is still reeling after the terror attack funded in part by that group. In the days after 12 people were killed at the "Charlie Hebdo" offices, French officials arrested a comedian for making comments on Facebook that appear to sympathize with the attackers. They questioned an eight-year-old boy after he refused to observe a moment of silence at his class to remember the victims.

And now the city of Paris is temporarily banning any outdoor filming of action movies because Parisians might confuse actors for terrorists which means things like this car chase from the "Bourne Identity" would not be allowed to be seen in Paris.

Let's talk about this some more with Olivier O'Mahony. He's the U.S. bureau chief for "Paris Match". Welcome.

OLIVIER O'MAHONY, "PARIS MATCH": Hello, Carol. It's nice to meet you.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here because I think most Americans would be confused by this policy. Are you?

O'MAHONY: I'm not. I think the French people understand this kind of policy. The situation in Paris is pretty extreme and has been very extreme since the attacks on "Charlie Hebdo". And the climate, I mean people think that France is a pretty safe country. We're thinking that France was a pretty safe country until the Paris attack one month ago.

And so people understand what is going on. And you know, the army is hiring people. That's never heard of. We are aware that like 1,200 French citizens are members of the so-called jihadi networks meaning going to Iraq to do the jihad and that's obviously a very, very worrisome fact.

COSTELLO: But surely Olivier, the people of Paris would know the difference between an actor in a movie and a film set and real life.

O'MAHONY: They do understand that. Everybody does understand that. It sounds like a little bit extreme but, you know, it's really a situation that we have never heard of in France. And basically everybody -- I mean the French media don't make a big deal out of this measure.

Something that is much more controversial is like censorship on the Internet. That's much more controversial measure because it impacts people's lives. That was announced this morning. But you know, like everybody --

COSTELLO: Wait, wait. What -- I don't know about censorship of the Internet what did they announce this morning?

O'MAHONY: In France there was a law that prevent people to condone terrorism. It's called "Apologie d'terrorisma" (ph), incitement terrorism. You cannot do that. It's like falls under the law. And so basically it was announced very recently this morning actually that the French police can just block Web sites without going to court, without talking to a French judge, just like that, block the blog or the Web site that hosts people that basically incite terrorism. COSTELLO: So the French police are making this decision and not a

court because, you know, there was such a freedom of speech outcry surrounding Charlie Hebdo so it seems -- I don't know, Olivier.

O'MAHONY: Freedom of speech in France exists obviously but in France it's completely illegal to make any incitement and comments that incite terrorism and that's a law and people accept that. So that's why people understand the ban on filming action movies in the streets of Paris because basically it can be confusing to the people who live in the neighborhood.

COSTELLO: All right. Olivier O'Mahony, thank you so much for helping us to understand.

O'MAHONY: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I appreciate it.

O'MAHONY: Thank you very much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a famous face and changing looks that have raised so many eyebrows. Rumors swirling around Bruce Jenner opened a national discussion on the once-whispered issue of transgender. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: -- appearance continues including in the "New York Times" and on the cover of "People Magazine". And while neither Bruce nor his agents are responding to CNN's request for comment, the reality show star's 88-year-old mother did give an interview to the Associated Press. She didn't use the word transitioning or transgender but Ester Jenner did say her son reached out telling her "I want to be honest about my identity and, mom, I'm still the same person. I'm still going to race cars. I'm still going to fly airplanes and I'm going to get my helicopter license."

So let's talk about this. Here to discuss this, Kristin Beck, she's the first transgender Navy SEAL. And is the author of "Warrior Princess: A U.S. Navy SEAL's journey to coming out Transgender". Welcome, Kristin.

KRISTIN BECK, FIRST TRANSGENDER NAVY SEAL: Hi, Carol. How are you doing?

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here. I'm doing great. Here's what the "New York Times" columnist Nick Kristof, who wrote a piece called "Bruce Jenner's Courage" told my colleague Don Lemon. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK KRISTOF, NEW YORK TIMES: This has already been in the works. We're beginning to have TV shows about it, beginning to have -- and President Obama for the first time in the State of the Union addressed referred to transgender people but to have a sports icon like Bruce Jenner make this transition and come out as a transgender woman I think is a real moment that maybe something that people can begin to identify with and dissolve a little bit of that prejudice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Do you agree with Nick?

BECK: I totally agree with him. The prejudice and violence against transgender people is mostly due to misinformation and ignorance on so many people's parts.

So if Jenner comes out and when she comes out and I can't wait until she does, as Katelyn Jenner would be amazing. It's going to would be a breakthrough for us, just more people to understand what we're going through, that we are people. We deserve dignity, we deserve respect and maybe cut away some of this violence that happens against transgender people.

COSTELLO: Would it have been better if Bruce Jenner would just tell the public what he's doing instead of making us guess?

BECK: Yes, totally. I mean I can't wait for the second when she finally just says, "Hi, this is me." This is who I am and it will put to rest all of the speculation.

It upsets me the tabloids up until just a very short time ago were still making fun and you're making fun of a person and you're making fun of a human being and it just isn't right. And that needs to end.

COSTELLO: Well, you and Laverne Cox have been such wonderful role models. Some transgender advocates say that since Bruce Jenner is attached to the Kardashian, that's kind of a shame. What do you think?

BECK: I would never say that. I think that Bruce Jenner is still a hero of mine. He was on my Wheaties boxes when I was growing up, you know, in the late 70s. He's a hero. To try to start saying the tabloids and then the reality show and all that -- he's still the same person.

And I love the fact that he says he's still going to race his cars and start flying a helicopter. I'm transgender navy SEAL. I still ride my motorcycles. I still wear jeans and t-shirts a lot of times and I have my welder in my garage and I still enjoy doing all the other things. We don't change as people. You know, the house doesn't change. You can change the wallpaper a little bit but the house is the same.

And Bruce is still going to be the same person. When he changes his name and we start calling Bruce her and change our pronouns, that's a point of a breakthrough. When Jenner comes out and says my name is Katelyn is what I heard and she starts actually saying who she is. We have to get to that point. I can't wait until she does that.

COSTELLO: You know, sometimes we forget celebrities do have feelings and they are people. So describe to us how difficult this must be for Bruce Jenner. BECK: It was difficult for me. I mean everybody says, you know,

Kristin and courage and bravery and you were a Navy SEAL so it must be easy. This is by no means an easy thing and this is not something you choose. Who would choose to go through this type of turmoil?

It's just something that -- this is deep inside of a person. The family thing is the biggest thing. I love that, you know, Jenner's mom came out and mentioned something. It took my mother about a year to kind of breakthrough to the fact that this is a little more than a phase. This is something that's really, you know, personal to me. I had family members that were upset about this for quite a while.

And you have to give everybody a chance on their own time. And I think that's what, you know, that she's going through that right now. She has family members a little bit wishy-washy.

I saw some things that Kim said that weren't, you know, totally supportive. So come out and show the family support and it will change the minds of a lot of people. We need this.

COSTELLO: All right. Thank you so much for sharing your insight. Kristin Beck, I appreciate it.

BECK: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Brian Williams in the midst of a firestorm after apologizing for claiming his helicopter was forced down in Iraq by enemy fire. Can he survive the controversy? Brian Stelter has new information for you next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The controversy continues swirling around Brian Williams following the NBC anchor's admission that he made a mistake when he claimed a helicopter he traveled in while he was in Iraq was forced down by enemy fire. Our senior media correspondent Brian Stelter is in New York to tell us it just got worse. Good morning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it really does seem to get worse, Carol. For the first time this morning when I'm speaking to my sources at NBC, I hear more confusion and frankly I hear fear in their voices about how this is going to play out because there are even questions being raised about other stories Brian Williams reported in other parts of the world. There's questions being raised about his reporting about Hurricane Katrina.

But I want to pause and tell you about something important that I first shared with you here on yesterday's program. I interviewed a pilot who was in Iraq with Brian Williams, Rich Krell (ph). He's told me he was the pilot on the aircraft that Brian Williams traveled on and it did come under small arms fire but not an RPG strike. He was in some ways supporting Brian Williams' account and other ways he was contradicting Brian Williams' account.

That pilot was there but there were several other soldiers that came forward last night and said actually no, Brian Williams was on our aircraft, not Rich Krell. And this morning Rich Krell text messaged me and said now he's questioning his own memories. He says that the nightmares of Iraq have now resurfaced in him and he wants them to go away. Essentially Carol, he's backtracking.

I think it's really important to tell viewers that that has happened, and that he's no longer standing by his story. It's obviously difficult, Carol, because in retrospect I wish I hadn't shared the story at all. We did do a lot to verify his story, to check about him. I found a photo of him with Brian Williams. I checked with NBC -- All of that. I spelled it out online on CNN.com.

But most importantly, his story does not check out. And instead the stories that are checking out Carol are the stories of the other soldiers who say Brian Williams was never even affected by small arms fire. Basically this makes the situation even worse for Brian Williams because all these soldiers are coming out of newspaper stories and saying that Brian Williams was nowhere near the scene of this Iraq attack.

COSTELLO: Back to this -- his name is Krell. I can't remember his first name.

STELTER: Rich Krell.

COSTELLO: Rich -- why would he do that?

STELTER: You know, he heard me talking on CNN yesterday. He heard me on "NEW DAY" talking about these reports that Brian Williams was an hour away from the site of the RPG attack. He says and he said to me repeatedly yesterday that his memories were very clear that Brian Williams was close to the scene and that the plane did come under fire but not under that rocket propelled grenade attack.

He now says he's questioning his own memories. And I wish I had an answer for you about why that has changed. We're going to keep trying talking to him and keep trying to talk to other soldiers as well. Bottom line is he's revising his story so I want to make sure we revise ours as well.

COSTELLO: Ok. So going back to NBC and the chaos there because we all remember what happened with Ann Curry. So NBC's got that to worry about too, right? So they have to be careful about what they decide to do with Brian Williams, correct?

STELTER: This is a (inaudible) for NBC -- you're right. Look at this morning's "New York Post". I have never seen anything quite like this. This is a network news anchor with a Pinocchio nose on him calling him a nose for news.

This is humiliating at this point for Brian Williams and for his colleagues. I can tell you that Tom Brokaw, for example, his predecessor is furious about what's going on. And there's lots of people in the rank and file at NBC who also have a lot of questions about the murkiness of Brian Williams' story.

The reason why me and lots of other reporters are trying to interview the other soldiers and others there is because there is all this lack of clarity about what really happened. Like I said, I'm sensing even a little bit of fear at NBC about what to do and about how this is going to play out.

He has a lot of credibility. And he has a wonderful legacy of reporting. But there are serious questions now.

COSTELLO: All right. Brian Stelter, I'll let you get back to it. Thanks so much.

STELTER: Thanks.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Zack Morris and his giant cell phone are back. The gang from "Saved by the Bell" reunites to the delight of fans everywhere and to the chagrin of our Jeanne Moos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It might just be one of the best reunions ever. Jimmy Fallon and the cast of the 90s sitcom "Saved by the Bell" at Bayside High, of course. CNN's Jeanne Moos has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When I heard there was an amazing "Saved by the Bell" reunion skit on the "Tonight Show", the old 90s sitcom didn't even ring a bell.

What's funny about that? Honestly, I just don't get it.

But those who do get it couldn't get enough. Cheering Jimmy Fallon's entrance to the show music, cheering Zack's entrance.

Who's this guy?

The entrance of Slater, going nuts over Jessie and Kelly, and what's his name, the principal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Belding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on here?

MOOS: Twenty-five years, Mr. Belding has had to let out his bell but the others look remarkably unchanged, especially Slater, still looking good in dance tights.

Two main characters were missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Try to forget about me.

MOOS: This is Screech's recent mug shot when he was arrested after a Christmas Day night fight outside a bar.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so excited.

MOOS: What's funny about this? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a very famous scene.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so excited.

MOOS: The guy who saved by explaining "Saved by the Bell" was my producer, so steeped in the sitcom that she and her husband to be once dressed up as Zack and Kelly for Halloween, Kelly, whose current condition was worked into the skit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm pregnant.

MOOS: Practically every reference flew over my head.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's like Jessie becoming a stripper.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously, a reference to show girls.

MOOS: Show girls.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're a stripper, don't you get it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a dancer.

MOOS: The Web site "Slate" pronounced the reunion sketch probably the greatest 90s nostalgia porn you'll ever see -- just about the only joke I got was the size of the mobile phones calling me back to the early 90s.

Jeanne Moos, CNN --

CROWD: Best friends forever.

MOOS: -- New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: My gosh. I love "Saved by the Bell". Jeanne I'm going to force you to sit down and watch my old VHS tapes. Just kidding.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

Another hour of NEWSROOM coming up next.