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NEW DAY
Report: Tikrit 75 Percent In Iraqi Control; Tension High In Ferguson After Shooting; Prince Charles Opens Up
Aired March 13, 2015 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, President Obama poking fun at himself, reading mean tweets about him during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: "A 30-rack of Coors Light is $23 now at Sun Stop. Thanks, Obama."
"Somebody send Obama some life hacks on how to be a good president, ha ha. Like I bet that would help. LOL."
You know, the LOL is redundant when you have the "ha ha".
"I'm all right with the president wearing jeans. I'm not all right with the president wearing those jeans."
I think I get the point.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, that is kind of great. I think those are probably not the meanest he's ever seen.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: I think you're right. It's great to read mean tweets. You and I should do that at some point.
PEREIRA: But have to do maybe with a glass or something in our hands.
CAMEROTA: I like how you think.
PEREIRA: All right, Iraqi forces have been making gains against ISIS in Tikrit with the support of Iran. How does Iran's involvement shape what happens next in the war against the terror group?
Joining us now for some perspective is CNN military analyst, Major General James "Spider" Marks. General, always a pleasure to have you with us. Thanks so much for joining me this morning. Let's talk about Tikrit and why it is so crucial. Are you able to hear me?
MAJ. GENERAL JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I've got you, Michaela. My apologies.
PEREIRA: Not a problem. Talk to us about why Tikrit is so crucial. MARKS: That was an interrogative. What's happening in Tikrit is the very first effort on the part of the ISF, the Iraqi Security Forces, to really have a major offensive against ISIS in Iraq. They're enjoying success, which is absolutely a good thing.
The challenge that we see is that Iran has a very strong influence in the form of a militia and some significant leadership that's in place to galvanize that militia, to support the ISF. So the success on the ground is a good thing as we've indicated.
But that's a tactical result that we're seeing. Strategically moving forward, the challenge becomes what type of other influence will Iran be able to generate in Iraq, and that's the challenge. And it's been there all along.
Again, tactically, right now unless the United States or someone else can provide an alternative that will yield the same type of success, tactically, which is what has to happen right now, then there is no alternative.
The Iraqis will continue to lean on Iran and the force that's in place and that's not a good thing in terms of how we move forward with Iran. We have zero past performance in being able to influence actions on the ground, vis-a-vis Iran, and for to us assume we can moving forward is a concern.
PEREIRA: General Dempsey actually echoes your concern about the involvement of Iran. Listen to what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GENERAL MARTIN DEMPSEY, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Look, Iran is going to be influential in Iraq, has been influential in Iraq. And I am concerned about the way they wield that influence, there's ways they could wield it to promote a better Iraq economically for example.
And there's ways they can wield that influence to create a state where the Sunni and the Kurds are no longer welcome. And it's my concern about the latter that we're watching carefully as this Tikrit event unfolds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PEREIRA: And it's the question of which direction Iran will go as the strategy moves forward and as the U.S. figures out its involvement in this.
MARKS: Well you know, Michaela, the concern that I have is that we have no evidence that Iran is going to do anything that would be positive toward a successful outcome or a shared vision with the United States or other regional partners. That's going to be to anybody's benefit other than Tehran's.
So I don't -- I understand what General Dempsey is saying completely. We should be optimistic, that they might be able to, we might be able to achieve that kind of outcome. What I see happening is we're backing ourselves into a strategy because Iran is helping Iraq be successful tactically on the ground, we now can assume ideally that they might help us lead down a path that leads us to a strategic outcome that's favorable. I don't see that.
PEREIRA: I want to turn to a situation, quite alarming, a report that 40 Iraqi soldiers were killed. ISIS apparently dug a tunnel underneath the headquarters of their headquarters, killing these 40 Iraqi soldiers, detonating IEDs. We have seen unusual tactics and terrible tactics and the lengths that ISIS will go to. This is another example of the challenging foe ISIS represents.
MARKS: Well, absolutely. And what it really tells you is that ISIS has a presence and with that presence they are able to conduct operations. You don't dig underground. You don't conduct operations subterranean operations that take effort, time, engineering capabilities, explosives capabilities.
Clearly they have those capabilities and those techniques embedded in their force. In order to accomplish something like this, this takes a lot of intelligence. It takes a lot of familiarity with the ground, with the conditions.
This indicates that ISIS has a very strong presence. We have known that, but in order to accomplish this, that's a long-term engagement with some really horrible results for the ISF.
PEREIRA: Major General Spider Marks, we appreciate you joining us. Thanks so much. Have a great Friday. Full stop.
MARKS: I'll pay attention next time.
PEREIRA: Delivery was my error, apologies, have a great weekend.
MARKS: No, no, problem is mine. See you.
CAMEROTA: It's hard to see punctuation on television, I find.
Meanwhile back to one of our top stories this morning, after those two police officers were shot in Ferguson, the family of Michael Brown now speaking out. We will talk to their attorney, Benjamin Crump, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Some serious situations going on in Ferguson, Missouri. So let's bring in Benjamin Crump. He is the attorney for Michael Brown's family. You've been at the center of this since August 9th when this first happened with the shooting. The family is very concerned about what these shootings of these officers could mean. What is that concern?
BENJAMIN CRUMP, ATTORNEY FOR MICHAEL BROWN'S FAMILY: Well, first they offer their sympathies to the officers and their families, and I hope that the law enforcement community offers sympathies to her and her family as they continue to encourage the community to work with the police.
This is not what they wanted, violence is never the solution. So they are saying work with the police so we can find these criminals who committed this heinous act.
But more importantly, this is the opportunity for us to see how far we've progressed since August, the community and the police department in Ferguson trying to work together on a common goal.
Not just those findings from DOJ because that is what we really want to get back the focus on, but also we're trying to find out who committed this heinous act.
CUOMO: While we keep hearing that we don't want the shootings to be a distraction from advocates in the community, in a way they are not a distraction, they're a part of the policing culture in this community. That is going to affect behavior by police.
Not just vengeful behavior. You took shots on two of ours. We're going to be hard on you. And what the community needs to put out is a message of respect.
CRUMP: Our hope is that the police will not see this as them versus the community. Not even them versus the African-American community. But an opportunity to say this, we can work together. The community and the police can come together and we can get the results of not only sending a clear message to America that this won't be tolerated.
We won't stand for violence and we have some serious issues and problems, we need to be focused on. And we don't need any distractions from that hover did this heinous act as we said before, is not a supporter of Michael Brown junior.
Chris, think about what was going on. We were addressing finally the serious issues, finding in the DOJ report and anybody who has been working with the Brown family. This is the last thing you wanted.
CUOMO: Right. Because, look, it proves that there are deep issues here, that the police there are risks to them in the community. That has to be addressed as well. I want to look at both aspects of the DOJ report. First of all, do you believe any way you can mitigate the strength of what was said about this police department?
CRUMP: Absolutely. We talk about the findings -- there were two reports. The one report said that you had this pattern of discrimination and excessive force against African-Americans, and they talked about this overt racism in the emails.
But then on the other hand they said, but the police officer who shot Michael Brown wasn't affected by this. So you got to make sense of all of that. You have the cesspool of racism, but saying it's not going to spill over to the individual officers so these are the serious problems we got to talk about.
CUOMO: Right. Now we had Neil Bruntrager on. He is the lawyer for Darren Wilson, but his big jog is that he represents the officers of St. Louis County. He said that there were some false premises in that report about the culture here and it's really about a problem that's all over the country. Not just Ferguson. That Ferguson isn't the problem. Do you agree with that?
CRUMP: Well, I think everybody in my community who has read that report, would say, that's what we've been saying all along. We are treated differently by the police and so forth. However, you cannot deny those things in the report, the raw statistics and --
CUOMO: It's not simply that there are just more blacks, so blacks are going to be higher in every category.
CRUMP: Yes. Remember this, Chris, there are bad actors on both sides. There are bad actors within the department. There are bad actors in the African-American community. And what we have to say is we want to make sure we hold everybody accountable so don't run away from this report.
Don't try to deny this report, let's say it's some serious issues we got to address. And if we don't get our head out the sand, nobody can move forward.
CUOMO: Now you have the other aspect of the DOJ report, which is about the Michael Brown shooting. The criticism would be why isn't the community coming out to support that finding the way they're supporting the findings about the culture of policing, saying all right, they did their investigation, it looked like Darren Wilson, they believe was telling the truth.
CRUMP: Well, you know what? The community is -- there are some people in the community that are supporting that. Now I would say look at the report for yourself. You have to ask yourself, Chris, the killing of an unarmed teenager when is he going to be cross-examined by anybody? Ask the tough questions about inconsistencies. Ask the tough questions about why you had to shoot. We haven't had that.
CUOMO: I get why you want that.
CRUMP: People in the African-American community just think if that was us, the rules just different. They would be asking us all these tough questions.
CUOMO: But the system -- well, it depends, right, it depends. If you didn't get indicted then you would never be cross-examined by a lawyer.
CRUMP: There lies the problem.
CUOMO: Well, it is a problem of perception.
CRUMP: Exactly.
CUOMO: He went a grand jury. They said he shouldn't be prosecuted. The DOJ who everybody celebrated coming in here, Eric Holder. He'll make everything right. His findings are that they believe Darren Wilson. Why isn't that getting supported more? CRUMP: Well, I think people are saying when you look at all of these killings of unarmed people of color, Eric Gardner, Tamir Rice. We're told our lives don't matter because the deaths are swept under the rug and no police officer was never held accountable. Are we to say that a police officer is never wrong when they kill a person of color because that's the message that's going out?
CUOMO: Look, you had the case with the kid coming down the stairs and the officers shot at him, he was indicted. Every case is different.
CRUMP: Every case is absolutely different, but there's no denying the perception in America, when people of color are killed, that we are not given equal justice when it's the police on the other side. That's what we got to deal with.
If we want to have trust and faith on both sides, we got to say at some point, police officers got to be held accountable for killing us, too. You look at the statistics, why is it happening at such an alarming rate in America today?
CUOMO: Understood, that's the problem and the hard part is obviously finding an answer, not just the perception, but the reality.
CRUMP: We have a lot of work to do.
CUOMO: Appreciate you being here with us.
CRUMP: Yes, sir.
CUOMO: All right, Alisyn to you.
CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, we'll get back to you in a second, but on a lighter note, Prince Charles is opening up about his love life and his life as a grandfather with another heir on the way. We'll take you live to London for the CNN exclusive.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAMEROTA: Now to a CNN royal exclusive, Prince Charles opening up about his ten-year marriage to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, and his newest role as grandfather to be for a second time.
CNN's Max Foster sat down with him. Max joins us live from London. Give us the headlines, Max.
CN MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Rarely does he give interviews, but when he does, he never talks about anything personal. So this is one of those rare occasions. I think what he wanted to do is really ten years after they married talk about his wife to Brits mainly, but also to the world and say, you know, you're more accepting of her.
This is what she's like. It is part of the preparation, really, for when he becomes king and she technically will become queen. So he spoke very, very openly about her and he talked about the real challenges, as he called them, that she's faced in her public profile up against that legend that was Princess Diana.
But I think the public, and polls show this, have warmed to her over time. And I think the palace strategy has changed a bit. They're not trying to spin people into liking her anymore. They're actually just letting her be herself and as people meet her they learn to like her. I asked Prince Charles about that, how her character doesn't always come across on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRINCE CHARLES: It's a peculiar thing. Sometimes the camera, but also inevitably you are perhaps a bit more relaxed when it's slightly more private. We don't want people totally surrounded all the time by the dreaded camera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The dreaded camera. Now he knows what life is like for us, Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Except we like it, but Max, that looks fascinating. It's great you got him to open up. We'll tune in to that. Thanks so much. Be sure to watch the CNN documentary "Spotlight, Charles and Camilla" this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.
PEREIRA: All right, tons of people are tossing pizzas at a home in Albuquerque.
CAMEROTA: They're lucky.
PEREIRA: As you might try to understand that, the owner is not pleased. What's behind all the pizza pelleting? Well, Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a special delivery when a pizza ends up on the roof not of your mouth but of your house.
This is a famous scene from "Breaking Bad" when Walter White tries to make peace with his wife.
She ends up closing the door on his face and he launches the pizza, but the actual house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has become a tourist attraction for fans and owner, Frances Pedia, says a few have been slinging pizzas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some have tried and missed. If you're going to be a jerk, stay the hell away.
MOOS: Frances seems more than capable of defending herself. She got some help from the creator of "Breaking Bad." In a podcast Vince Gilligan called her the sweetest lady in the world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And if you are getting on her nerves, you are doing something seriously (inaudible) wrong. I don't even consider them fans, I consider them jag-offs.
MOOS: Joining forces against the jag-offs, tossing pizzas is Jonathan Banks who plays the hit man on "Breaking Bad."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If I catch you doing it, I will hunt you down.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I loved it. I loved it, yes.
MOOS: After all, who wants to clean pizza off the roof?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's the few idiots --
MOOS: Some wonder how many takes Brian Cranston's famous pizza toss took.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got to get it up there?
MOOS: He did it his very first try.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He landed it. He stuck it.
MOOS: From personal experience, I can tell you, it's not easy.
(on camera): Want some pizza?
(voice-over): We failed the first two takes.
(on camera): It's on the house. Well, not exactly on the house, but near the house.
(voice-over): Nevertheless, our $18 pizza was resilient.
(on camera): Want some pizza?
(voice-over): Don't try pelting Francis's house with pepperoni pizza or you may end up in slice-its. Jeanne Moos, CNN.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you're going to be a jerk, stay the hell away.
MOOS: New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Free pizza.
PEREIRA: I have an idea. You could get is saran wrap and put it really tied, something springy. It would fall back on the person that was throwing it.
CAMEROTA: Let's try that. I love Jeanne Moos' reporter involvement.
CAMEROTA: Got a good arm on her too.
CAMEROTA: Thanks so much to Jeannie. All right, back to our top story in Ferguson, there are two people investigators want to talk to in the shooting of the two police officers. We will tell you where the manhunt stands at this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: A manhunt is on.
CUOMO: This is where the two officers were shot.
ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: The heinous and cowardly attacks.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Whoever fired those shots --
HOLDER: This was a damn punk.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: They're criminals and they need to be arrested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These officers had suspected alcohol on their breath.
PEREIRA: Did the Ferguson Police Department police for profit?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The really big detrimental effect on the citizens that they are supposed to be serving.
PEREIRA: Secretary of State John Kerry is in Egypt for talks with Iran on nuclear issues.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congress does have the ability to take away from the president the power to implement this agreement.
BERMAN: Jurors hearing from the first time from a man who was car jacked at gun point by the Tsarnaev brothers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Surveillance video showing him frantically begging the clerk to call 911.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CUOMO: Good morning. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. It is Friday, March 13th, 8:00 in the east. We're live from Ferguson, Missouri. A powder keg once again after the shooting of two police officers. Two people are now wanted for questioning in connection with this ambush, but there's a lot of other news this morning. Let's get you to Alisyn and Michaela in New York for that.
CAMEROTA: Chris, we will talk to you about that manhunt very shortly when we go back to Ferguson.
