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NEW DAY

Israeli Leader to Address Congress Tuesday; Kerry in Switzlerand Pushing for Iran Deal; Controversial "SNL" ISIS Skit; LAPD Fatal Shooting Caught on Video

Aired March 2, 2015 - 06:00   ET

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


(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tension may be at its worst right now.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: The animosity between the White House and the prime minister is no secret.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a difference of opinion on how to handle the Iranian account.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They need a nuclear program for peaceful purposes the way I need a ham sandwich.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The politicians killed in the center of the city next to the kremlin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Russian authorities certainly did have a role in marginalizing some of the liberal figures.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be scandal not only in Moscow city, but throughout the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They came out with the guns and shot him five times.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They always shoot to kill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That man is dead now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to NEW DAY. It's Monday, March 2nd, just 6:00 in the east. Tensions between the leaders of Israel and the United States are unusually high. Just hours, Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak to a pro-Israel lobby group ahead of the address before Congress.

We will lay out his take on why the current situation with Iran is a mistake. The political drama here is from bb accepting this invitation from Congress without White House being in the loop. That led to a snub by the president who will not meet with Bibi while he's here. ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: And this speech is dividing Americans. It's dividing Democrats. It's even dividing the Jewish community. Should Speaker Boehner have invited Netanyahu without notifying the White House? And this speech comes with enormous political risks on all sides just two weeks before Israelis decide whether to reelect Netanyahu.

So we have this story covered only the way CNN can. Let's begin our coverage with CNN's senior White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn.

The White House is offering an icy welcome to Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu. The prime minister is in Washington to warn the world that the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program will backfire. Netanyahu speaks to the pro-Israeli lobby APAC later today and will address Congress tomorrow.

The White House is not remaining silent this week. Top officials national security advisor Susan Rice and U.N. ambassador Samantha Power will also address APAC later today.

President Obama, we should mention, he's sitting down for an interview with the Reuters. He will also be responding to Netanyahu. And you will recall it was Rice last week who said that Netanyahu's speech, which was arranged by the House Speaker, John Boehner, without the knowledge of the White House, was quote, destructive, but Boehner says he's getting a lot of interest. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: They certainly made it worse over the last five or six weeks. The threat coming from Iran and the Iranians having a nuclear weapon is a threat to the region. It's a threat to the United States, and it's a threat to the rest of the world. This is a serious issue, and we're not going to resolve this issue by sticking our heads in the stand. The prime minister can talk about this threat, I believe, better than anyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And there are hard feelings inside this White House about Netanyahu's visit. I talked to a senior administration official last night who said Netanyahu is trying to make himself the center of attention here in Washington this week.

And as you mentioned, the president will not be sitting down or meeting with Netanyahu this week, because the White House says the Israel elections are just around the corner. But as one senior administration official told me, don't even expect a phone call.

Back to you guys.

CAMEROTA: A chilly reception. All right. Jim, thanks so much for that.

So it's clear, Benjamin Netanyahu is not backing down, so what will the Israel prime minister say and how will it play? CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott traveled with the Israel prime minister. She has that part of the story.

Good morning, Elise.

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Alisyn.

Well, Prime Minister Netanyahu spent the entire flight to Washington from Jerusalem, about 12 hours, working on that speech, sharpening that language. Senior officials traveling with him telling us that he's going to use this opportunity to lay out the deal with Iran that's shaping up as he knows it.

Officials say Israel has a great deal of understanding about this deal shaping up. He does not feel, Prime Minister Netanyahu, that Congress has been fully informed, and so he wants to lay out the deal, why he thinks it's bad for Israel, the United States and the world; and also urge Congress to put some pressure on the Obama administration to push back a March 24 deadline for a political framework. He thinks more discussion is needed. He says he's not against any agreement at all, but this is a bad agreement.

I do think today, though, he's going to use this address to APAC, that pro-Israel, lobby to lower the temperature a bit, to try and mend fences a little bit with the administration, saying he has a lot of respect for the president, the White House, and try and take out the politically-fraught tone of this speech. Because he's going to say, listen, the relationship between the U.S. and Israel always bipartisan; always has been, always should be.

Back to you guys.

CUOMO: Right. Now it's just unusual that we have the leaders, who seem to be presenting a different face than the overall relationship between the two countries, and that's causing some tension, obviously. Elise, thank you very much.

So let's bring hope in CNN political commentator Peter Beinart and Gideon Rose, who's an editor of "Foreign Affairs Magazine."

Gideon, just looking at it, the overview, is this a good move for Prime Minister Netanyahu?

GIDEON ROSE, EDITOR, "FOREIGN AFFAIRS MAGAZINE": Politically it might be. He's a good politician, so he's clearly betting it's going to help him in the Israeli political campaign and that he'll gain more than he loses by siding with the Republican Congress against the Democratic administration.

So politically it is. In terms of the broader strategy for the region and broader U.S.-Israel relationship, no, it's a disaster, I think.

CUOMO: Now you look at the numbers, Peter, there is tension here. It's not obvious. We're going to talk about it among the politicians. But put up the poll about how this is being seen in general. All right? Here's the favorable opinion of him. Going through the ages those aren't great numbers. He's certainly up against it there. We're hearing about division here among American Jews, how they feel about this; Israel Jews. How do you interpret that?

PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The Republican Party's problem is that although -- I mean, Israel's problem, sorry, is that although it's very strong in Washington right now, it's base out there in the country looks like the Republican Party. It's older white voters. African-Americans, Latinos and younger voters, including younger Jewish voters, are more critical of Israel; and this in the long-term, demographically, could be a problem for Israel's basis of support in the United States.

CUOMO: All right. So you have that. Now you have the obvious political tension. The White House is being a little cagey about it here, after saying that they wouldn't be, but Senator Feinstein, she comes out with something where, when Prime Minister Netanyahu says, "Listen, I have to think about all Jews, I'm here to represent all Jews in the world," Feinstein says this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: Well, he doesn't speak for me on this. He doesn't at all speak for me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that bother you when he says he speaks for all Jews?

FEINSTEIN: Yes. I think it's a rather arrogant statement. I think the Jewish community is like any other community. There are different points of view. So I think that arrogance does not befit Israel, candidly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: Arrogance. Strong word, Gideon.

ROSE: Well, look, let's be honest. Israelis consider the fact that American Jews are over here, not in Israel to be a sign that they don't really have to -- they don't care enough to actually come over there, so why should their concerns be taken into account?

Netanyahu is asserting that he has the right to speak for all Jews everywhere as leader of the Israeli state, and that makes sense in his eyes, but it doesn't mean that he actually necessarily represents Jewish opinion.

CUOMO: Right. Well, we're talking two things here. One is, obviously, Jews in America feel very strong ties to Israel, not just culturally, but in term of loyalty to the cause. And we see it on many different layers. So I would challenge the fact that how Israel views American Jews. But that's for another day.

When you say, "I represent all Jews," and you get pushback, Jews usually do speak with one voice, though not through Benjamin Netanyahu, yes?

BEINART: I think the divisions inside the American Jewish community on Israel have been growing. They're growing because of an increasing generation gap. Younger American Jews don't see Israel as threatened and weak as much as their parents do. They certainly don't remember the Holocaust. They don't remember 1967, when Israel was on the brink of destruction. They've grown up seeing Israel as a very powerful country. They've also experienced less anti-Semitism.

CUOMO: Do you think Bibi has made himself bigger than Israel with this move, coming here, you know, taking on the White House, essentially making it about him, about him? Is that dangerous?

BEINART: Yes, I think it's dangerous, because it makes people who feel like they have to choose between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. If you look at an organization like APAC, its membership are mostly people who voted for Barack Obama but want to be pro- Israel. So you're forcing them to make a choice, and that, I think, is probably not good for Israel.

ROSE: If you wanted to raise the question of dual loyalty, you couldn't do it in a more obvious, direct way than Netanyahu has just done.

BEINART: Right. And Americans just voted for -- we voted in the presidential election here. Barack Obama and the members of Congress represent us. We don't vote in Israel. We haven't decided to move to Israel.

There's been a long history of American Jewish leaders making it clear that, while we care and feel connected to Israel, we are American citizens. And that's a very important point to make.

CUOMO: What do you think of the White House, though, returning tactic for tactic, which is, "We don't like how you snubbed us by going with Boehner and the House, so we're not going to meet with you"? Was that the best response by the White House?

ROSE: It's always difficult to deal with a truculent ally who is aligned with your own domestic political enemies. This happened with Taiwan; it happened with Syngman Rhee in South Korea. It's happened with Mikheil Saakashvili in Georgia.

The White House has a problem, because it wants the Israelis to sort of shut up and go away, but it can't actually say that. How much it should reveal it's annoyance is, again, a political game for them.

CUOMO: Do you get to express your -- you always get to express your annoyance with allies. That's part of being friends, right? But this is different than all those other examples that Gideon just gave. Israel stands apart from any other ally that the United States has in the world. Isn't that true?

BEINART: That's true. But if you look at the history of U.S.-Israel relations, America has tended to defer to Israel on the Palestinians, but when it comes to questions of war and peace for the United States -- and that's what Iran is. If this Iran deal fails, the United States moves closer to war with Iran. This is the kind of issue on which American presidents, Democrats and Republicans, have never deferred to Israel or any other of our Middle Eastern allies. Obama is being -- I think is in the tradition here.

CUOMO: It's easy to say, "Making a deal with Iran is dicey. We can't really trust these guys." That's easy to say if there's no other solution, and you see Iran spreading not contracting in terms of its influence.

But we do have to remember, in the messenger here of Bibi Netanyahu, this is the man who said this 2003, "Get into Iraq, get into Iraq. That's the place you need to be." So often you have to consider the source. Right, Gideon?

ROSE: Yes. But I think it's also not just about Netanyahu. There's a gross hypocrisy in the Israeli position. The Israelis have a local nuclear monopoly. They can destroy Iran in a second later today if they wanted to. And what this is really about with Iran is a potential future risk to the Israeli nuclear monopoly in the region.

Now I understand why the Israelis don't want to lose that and may eventually in some future date have to rely on deterrents like we do, like other powers do.

But the White House sort of hears all this talk about this existential threat, and they hear the Israelis basically trying to manipulate U.S. politics, and they get annoyed. Whether they should show their annoyance is an interesting question politically, but the -- I think the White House really feels like the Israelis are playing fast and loose with the facts on this deal and not presenting the case honestly.

CUOMO: But again, tipping the scales, it is an existential threat. Nobody faces the one the way Israel does, and that obviously is always a lens through which we have to watch their actions and what they say. And we'll have to see what Benjamin Netanyahu says today.

Gideon Rose, Peter Beinart, thank you very much -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Chris.

So while Netanyahu is in Washington trying to stop a deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry is in Switzerland pushing for a deal in the Iran nuclear talk.

CNN's chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, joins us live from Switzerland with more.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Alisyn. Well, I'll tell you, for all the drama and acrimony in Washington the nuclear talks here in Switzerland today were in Monteux (ph), right on Lake Geneva. They're continuing at pace and, in fact, an accelerating pace. These talks this week were originally meant to be just at the

political director level. That's a level below secretary of state, but now face-to-face meetings added between Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart, Dr. Javad Zarif. Beginning tonight they're going to meet multiple times, State Department officials tell us, tomorrow on Tuesday and into Wednesday.

And you're also hearing from U.S. officials, in effect, a pre-buttal to Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech. They're saying that he's been wrong before, that the interim agreement which is in power right now has held back and restricted Iran's nuclear program for the first time in a decade.

They also say that they didn't choose this dynamic with the Israelis, it's not the way they want to go, but their diplomatic solution in this view of this administration is the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.

There's a long way to go in these talks. There's a deadline at the end of this month, but I've spoken to people from both sides, including the Iranian side. They say things are moving in a positive direction. Alisyn, that certainly doesn't mean there will be a deal, but they're getting closer, and the level of focus here, the level of work here in Switzerland, they're not listening to -- they're turning a deaf ear, you might even say, to all that's coming out of Washington -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK. Jim Sciutto, thanks so much for that update.

PEREIRA: Breaking overnight a dramatic and deadly confrontation caught on tape. Police in Los Angeles are investigating now an altercation between several officers and a homeless man had a ended when police say the suspect was shot and killed after attempting to get an officer's gun.

Our Sara Sidner is live this morning in Los Angeles with the very latest. Another situation very concerning, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. The video is chaotic; it's intense; and it's disturbing, because ultimately, you see a man being shot to death in the streets of L.A.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): The video taken by a witness in downtown Los Angeles begins with an altercation between police and a man on the street. We don't see what caused the incident to turn violent, but the man appears to throw punches towards one of the four officers on the scene, who were trying to arrest him on suspicion of robbery.

It escalates, ending up on the ground. You hear someone say what sounds like, "Drop the gun." Then the sound of a Taser goes off. Then more shouting that sounds like drop the gun yelled twice. A struggle continues, and five shots are fired. The suspect lies motionless in the street.

Police say the suspect attempted to grab the officer's gun.

COMMANDER ANDREW SMITH, LAPD SPOKESPERSON: During the attempt to detain him this individual resisted our officers, they struggled with him. They tried to Tase him a couple times. That was ineffective. And eventually, the struggle occurred where the officers were struggling with the individual over one of the officer's weapons.

SIDNER: Police say three officers fired their weapons, including a supervisor. An investigation is underway.

SMITH: Again, this is a very, very early stages of the investigation, and that analysis is based on one video, which shows a portion of the incident that occurred. We want to wait until all the video is in that's available. We want to wait until all the people have been interviewed, all the witnesses, all the officers to determine exactly what happened before we make any kind of judgment whether this was proper or not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: And you heard Commander Smith talking there about other videos. We understand that some of those officers did have body cams on, and there's also surveillance video from one of the buildings there in the area. They are trying to look at all that, as well as some of the witness statements. They are still taking the statements from witnesses.

We talked to two of the witnesses, and they said that, before all this happened, before that video started rolling, that the person who was killed was actually Tased once before that, but jumped up and started coming at police at that point in time.

So in this case certainly still under investigation. A lot still to be known, but that video very dramatic and very, very upsetting to many, many people.

Back to you guys.

PEREIRA: Sara, we're going to have our legal analysts on in the next little while to talk about all they see there. Thanks so much for that report.

CUOMO: New this morning Iraqi troops launching a major offensive against ISIS to capture the key city of Tikrit. According to state TV, tens of thousands of troops, using fighter jets, helicopters and artillery, are attacking ISIS strongholds.

Now, this is the third attempt by Iraqi forces to regain control of this city since ISIS took it over last June. It's famous as Saddam Hussein's hometown, but it's also a key point of control in the region.

CAMEROTA: Tens of thousands of mourners march against the assassination of a top critic of Russia President Vladimir Putin. Boris Nemtsov was gunned down Friday near the Kremlin just two days before a planned rally to protest Russia aggression in Ukraine. Ukraine's president says Nemtsov was gearing up to reveal information about Russia's involvement in the conflict. This morning, no leads on who killed Nemtsov.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: You watch "SNL" over the weekend? Well, a parody of a Toyota ad showing a dad dropping off his daughter, sparking all sorts of outrage online. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TARAN KILLAM, CAST MEMBER, NBC'S "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": It looks like your ride it is here. You be careful, OK?

DAKOTA JOHNSON, ACTRESS: Dad, it's just ISIS.

KILLAM: Take care of her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That ISIS twist has many asking, some wondering does the sketch go too far? Did "SNL" go too far? Some calling it offensive, saying that ISIS atrocities are too heinous to milk for laughs, others calling it bold and provocative.

So we ask you, where do you stand? Do you find it funny or do you think it goes too far? Tweet us or post your comments on our Facebook page. Curious what you guys think.

CAMEROTA: I love it. I love -- what better hallmark of democracy is there than making fun of a group that hates freedom of speech? I mean, they've made fun -- "SNL" has done bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, Ahmadinejad. This is what they do.

PEREIRA: There will be those that say -- and I'm just throwing back to you, the families that have just seen their kids leave, families right here in America, too painful for them, so soon.

CUOMO: Could argue that they want these people to be disrespected most of all.

But what do you think? You let us know. All right?

After the break we're going to talk to you. Let's show you this video again. What do you see here? Do you see the police left with no other choice other than to use deadly violence? Or is this an example of extreme force on a homeless man? We're going to take you through it. Experts will break down the video.

CAMEROTA: And the political fight to fund the Department of Homeland Security starting all over again. When the dust settles will John Boehner still be House speaker?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PEREIRA: Dramatic video of a fatal police shooting in Los Angeles is sparking new questions about excessive force. In the video, it shows officers involved in an altercation with a

homeless man suspected of robbery outside of a homeless shelter on Sunday. Police say they tried to Taser the man, but then he continued resisting and that he was shot after trying to reach for an officer's gun. Will body cameras make a difference in this case?

Want to bring in HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson; and CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney, Danny Cevallos. Gentlemen, at first flush, I have to say, what do you see in the video? What stands out to the most, Danny?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The most important thing is going to be whether or not there was a reach for the firearm. Because once that happens, police officers are trained that once it gets to that point, deadly force is authorized.

The other thing that they're going to consider, too, is something you don't see in the tape, which is what this suspect is suspected of doing. An armed robbery or other dangerous felony is going...

PEREIRA: We don't know that.

CEVALLOS: Right. We don't know that yet. But that could amp it up for the police officers, if they're aware that they may be dealing with somebody with a weapon.

PEREIRA: And Joey, there's a lot we don't know. We don't know what predicated this altercation. We do know police were responding to a robbery call. This was a suspect, and then this all happened.

What do you see that concerns you?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the big concern surrounds the process by which they get to justice here. And certainly, there will be a full and fair investigation; don't want to jump to any conclusions. But any video could be spun any number of ways.

Now, we know the LAPD district attorney will be investigating. There are concerns with that. Why? Because that's the same law enforcement entity that works in the police, and we see over and over again you want public trust.

PEREIRA: Yes.

JACKSON: And in order to get that public trust, you want an independent entity to be evaluating this.

I will say this, though. From a police perspective, the argument will be he's resisting. He may have grabbed for the firearm, he's noncompliant. They're going to argue that he had mental health issues. At the same time, however, you have multiple officers...

PEREIRA: But those are all -- are all fair points.

JACKSON: Absolutely, 100 percent they're fair points. But there's -- there's two narratives here. PEREIRA: You can look at it two ways.

JACKSON: Absolutely you can. The police will argue that, and from, you know, the perspective that it was excessive force, they'll argue there were multiple officers there. They already Tased him. Was the force imminent, that is immediate to the officers, and did the -- was the action reasonable? And ultimately, was the force they used, the firing of a weapon, proportionate to the threat that he posed?

PEREIRA: That's the issue, is you can look at this two ways. Absolutely. Are police using excessive force? Was this man resisting, and was he reaching for the gun? Here is one thing that we have not had prior to this is one of the officers at least was wearing a body camera. How is that going to play into the investigation and subsequently, perhaps legal resource?

CEVALLOS: We're at a fascinating time in law-enforcement history, because these body cameras, you know, originally defense attorneys probably thought this will overall inure to the benefit of law enforcement and not to defendants, but we're seeing that it might actually -- it might actually show some police misconduct in some instances if that camera is on all the time with no volition or no control.

PEREIRA: But it still doesn't tell the whole picture, does it? Because there's things that could have happened prior to this...

CEVALLOS: Of course.

PEREIRA: ... that we don't know about, and that's where other eyewitness testimony, or other cameras, we know there's a surveillance camera. One of the missions was there that police are getting their hands on.

CEVALLOS: Let's talk about why what you say is so significant. It's so significant, the lead up, because it goes to one critical issue, and that is the state of mind of the officers who were there. When you enter into a situation, how fearful are you? What is the build up to it? What do you know that we don't know? So certainly that's critical, but ultimately, it also turns on what happened then and was it reasonable.

PEREIRA: Let's flip the script. The state of mind of the suspect is also key, and we know that -- reports say that this man was dealing with some mental health issues. We know that on Skid Row, there are multiple mental health issues, and that's one of the things the LAPD has been working on is getting some of that community policing so that the police officers know the population that they're dealing with. So that does play into the state of the mind of both the police and also the suspect.

CEVALLOS: Maybe. But then you have to take a step back and realize, irrespective of any mental health issues, police are trained in the force continuum. Use the amount of force need to meet the amount of force that is presented to you. So that once we get to the evaluation of is he going for my gun,

officers, no matter what their training, no matter what they may make an assessment about someone's mental health, once a hand goes for that firearm, you're basically at the highest level, and at that point, deadly force is usually authorized.

PEREIRA: I've got 20 seconds, and then I want to get your final thought on this. A lot of people are going to be quick to say this is another example of police brutality, reaching for the gun instead of using other ways to subdue a suspect. Do you think it's too soon to even make that kind of assessment?

JACKSON: Well, look, we see what we see. And so do you believe your lying eyes? That's critical. It will be investigated. I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but there's also major concern. When you grab for a gun. I've defended cases when you're grabbing for a gun and the officer has to use force. Did you get ahold of that gun? Was it likely, you know, that the officer was in danger by you grabbing for the gun, and did he need to be shot by three different officers? Those are all critical questions.

But finally, Michaela, again, I don't want to pooh-pooh the process. It needs to be independent. It needs to engender the trust and respect of the community for us to respect, ultimately, what they do, either indict or not indict the officers involved.

PEREIRA: Well, that is going to be key now. The investigation is -- this happened yesterday. The investigation now will continue. Danny, Joey, always great to have your legal minds on this. Thanks so much -- Chris.

CUOMO: A man stood up against Vladimir Putin, and what Russia is doing in Ukraine. He wound up riddled with bullets and dead. That man was Boris Nemtsov. The big question now: Did Nemtsov have more than an opinion? Did he have information about Russia that someone did not want exposed?

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