Return to Transcripts main page

NEW DAY

Kerry Meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Regarding Nuclear Deal; Kerry Willing to Negotiate with Assad in Syria; NYC Real Estate Heir Arrested for Murder; Ferguson Suspect in Custody for Shooting Two Officers. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired March 16, 2015 - 08:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Alisyn Camerota, and Michaela Pereira.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Look at that view. How beautiful is that?

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: That is beautiful.

Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. It is Monday, March 16, 8:00 in the East. Chris is off today and we are happy to be joined by John Berman. Thanks so much for being here in his stead.

Two weeks and counting. That's the deadline for the framework of a nuclear deal with Iran. Secretary of State John Kerry in Switzerland this morning resuming talks and refusing to apologize to Iran's leader for that controversial letter written by 47 Republicans.

PEREIRA: The White House desperately trying to keep Congress out of that process as the author of that letter doubles down, insisting he has no regrets about writing or sending it. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is tracking developments for us live from London. Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, has gone into these talks with Secretary Kerry saying that really there's a lot of technical issues to address here. Secretary Kerry has framed it differently. He has said that this is going to be more about, you know, there were a few technical issues to cross, but really this is a came and time for political judgments.

Two weeks now to the deadline for this framework agreement, final agreement to be reached by the end of June. Zarif and Kerry were supposed to meet Sunday. That didn't happen. Certainly their deputies were meeting and it was just decided Secretary Kerry would get a brief on how the talks had gone through for the day. They've been meeting for quite a long time so far this morning, but later in the day Zarif is expected to go to Brussels where he'll brief the French, the Germans, and the British, the other members of the P5 Plus One, the European/U.S. negotiating team, if you will, along with the Russians and the Chinese on this particular deal. But at the moment the talks do not appear to be getting any closer, both Kerry and Zarif really speaking a difficult language, technical issues on one side and Secretary Kerry saying, look, it's time for political judgments now.

CAMEROTA: And another interesting development, Secretary Kerry also speaking about a willingness to sit down at the table with President Bashar al Assad of Syria. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Everybody agrees there is no military solution. There is only a political solution.

I am convinced with the efforts of our allies and others there will be increased pressure on Assad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you would be willing to negotiate with him?

KERRY: Well, we have to negotiate in the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: How does he explain that shift, Nic?

ROBERTSON: Well, the State Department is saying this isn't really a shift at all. It certainly sounds like a change in tone because if you go back a year and a half ago Secretary Kerry was saying Assad is no longer a legitimate leader of his people, he needs to step aside.

But, you know, this goes back, if you will, what the State Department is saying, it goes back really to 2013, the Geneva talks which were designed to bring this sort of the rebel side and Assad's government together in talks. Those have stalled. You know, back then they tried to get them going again early 2014. But, you know, back in 2014 -- early 2014, Bashar was at those talks in Geneva, and there wasn't a willingness on other side. And what Secretary Kerry is saying now if enough pressure can be brought to bear, we can get into talks with Bashar al Assad's government and he should really step aside.

But who is going to bring that pressure to bear? Last year there were talks and I was down in Switzerland, the real effort was to, when the expectation was to get the Russians to put pressure on Assad. That didn't happen. And the likelihood now of getting the Russians to do what the Europeans and the United States wants even seems less likely to be achievable.

CAMEROTA: OK, Nic Robertson, thanks so much for all of that background.

We want to bring in now Jen Psaki. She's a spokeswoman for the State Department. Good morning, Jen. Can you hear me, Jen?

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: I can.

CAMEROTA: Oh, great. OK, good morning, welcome to NEW DAY. Great to have you with us. Let's talk about what Secretary Kerry has said this morning, or yesterday I should say, about Syria and Assad. When did the U.S. policy or strategy at least shift on Bashar al Assad? PSAKI: Alisyn, it has not shifted. I'll just remind everyone that

for more than two years we've been talking about how there has to be a political process. That's what Secretary Kerry was referring to. The process has been on hold for some time. But there's no question that in order to bring an end to the suffering of the Syrian people the international committee would need to bring both sides to the table together. But Assad has lost legitimacy. The United States government absolutely continues to believe that. We don't see a future for him in Syria.

CAMEROTA: Jen, you say it has not shifted. However, let me remind you some of the things said in 2011 all up until last year. In 2011 president Obama said Assad must go. That's very different --

PSAKI: Alisyn, Secretary Kerry has said that countless times in recent weeks as well, and continues to believe that.

CAMEROTA: Isn't that different from negotiating?

PSAKI: We're talking about having both sides at the table. You can't have the opposition negotiating with itself. You certainly wouldn't get very far. So our goal continues to be, as does the goal of the international community, bringing both sides together. That's not a process that's ongoing or that exists right now.

CAMEROTA: It was just last year, Jen, in fact a year ago this week that the Obama administration ordered the Syrian government to suspend its diplomatic and consular missions in the United States, requiring all personnel who are not legal residents to leave the country. Again, quite different than saying we're going to sit down at the same table and negotiate.

08:05:08

PSAKI: Alisyn, I think people are forgetting that we've been talking about a political which would to require both sides negotiating for some time now. That's been on hold since both sides and since many countries met in Switzerland over a year and a half ago. It's not a process that's ongoing. We would love to reboot the process because that's the only way we can see bringing an end to the suffering of the Syrian people.

CAMEROTA: Jen, what is the plan to get Bashar al Assad to the table?

PSAKI: Well, I think that's a discussion that Secretary Kerry and others are having with both his Russian counterparts, his counterparts in the Gulf countries, and we're trying to determine what the best way is to get representatives of the regime at the same table with representatives of the opposition. It's difficult, as you know. There's a war going on. The opposition is continuing to build strength, but right now we're continuing to have discussions about how we can reignite a process. There isn't a process going on, unfortunately.

CAMEROTA: It doesn't sound as though Bashar al Assad wants to be even a part of the process. Just an hour ago he gave an interview on Iranian television. He responded to Secretary Kerry's comments about negotiating, and let me read to what Bashar al Assad said. "Any talk on the future of the Syrian president is for the Syrian people, and all the declarations from outside do not concern us." What's your response?

PSAKI: Well, I think we have to take anything Bashar al Assad says with a huge chunk of, grain of salt here because he has killed tens of thousands of his own people. I think the international community is not going to stand by and accept his word that he's thinking of the people of his country and we're going to continue to think of ways to put necessary pressure on. That includes diplomatic ways. That includes training and equipping the Syrian opposition that is beginning this month. That includes continuing to provide additional assistance. And we're going to stay at it until we bring an end to the suffering of the Syrian people.

CAMEROTA: A quarter million people in the past four years have been killed in this conflict in Syria. So what would any bargaining chip be for Bashar al Assad? If we've taken him having to step down off the table, then where does that leave the U.S.?

PSAKI: First of all, to be clear, nobody sees a future for Assad in Syria, not the United States, not anyone in the international community who's been on the side of the opposition and on the side of the Syrian people. We're talking about how to exert any kind of pressure we can exert. There's obviously military pressure through our training and equip program. There's pressure from the international community, from the United Nations. There's diplomatic pressure. And if he's someone who, as he claims, cares about the people in his country, then this is something he should be responsive to.

CAMEROTA: Jen, let's move on to talk about Iran and what's going on there. We've heard a couple details leak out this morning from the British foreign minister. What can you tell us about where negotiations are this hour?

PSAKI: Well, Secretary Kerry is on the ground now in Switzerland. He met with Foreign Minister Zarif this morning. Our negotiators have been on the ground a little bit longer. So this is something -- we're obviously at crunch time right now. And the next couple days leading up to this weekend will be key. We fully expect we will take until the end of the month to determine if we can get to an agreement that both sides can live by.

But the fact is we continue to believe while there's a lot of technical talks, they're actually both. They're technical discussions. Our technical experts have been working with each other. That's one of the reasons we have our secretary of energy with us, to really delve into those technical peeks. But there are political decisions that the Iranians need to make. We can't predict whether they will get there, but we're going to keep working at it and keep negotiating for the coming two weeks. It's a key time we're in.

CAMEROTA: Jen, let's talk about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's e-mails. She has said that she turned everything over that's relevant to the State Department. When will you release them?

PSAKI: Well, it's going to take several months because she turned over 55,000 pages. That is quite a lot. That's several boxes of pages. We need to go through those. We're using FOIA standards to determine what needs to be redacted. When we go through that process we will post those documents online, make them available to the media, to the American public, to anybody who wants to take a look. We are going to do a first tranche of documents, which includes the documents that have already gone to the select committee related to their requests around Benghazi.

CAMEROTA: OK, Jen Psaki, thanks so much for all of the information and thanks for coming on NEW DAY.

PSAKI: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: New this morning, another teenager from Britain arrested for planning to travel to Syria to join up with ISIS. This comes days after three other teens were arrested in Turkey trying to enter Syria, yet another case of young westerners recruited to the ISIS fight. CNN's Arwa Damon is following all these developments for us live. Such a concern for parents and for the communities.

08:10:03

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is, and one also has to look at how it is that ISIS is able to appeal to these teenagers whether they're male or female.

Now the most recent case is when Turkey detained three individuals. They are 17 to 19 years old. They were originally alerted by British intelligence, Turkish intelligence was, and they were picked up at Istanbul's secondary airport as they were trying to enter the country, this happening on Friday. And then on Saturday they were deported back to the U.K., detained there and now currently released on bail facing terrorism charges.

Turkey is pointing to this as an example of what needs and can happen when sufficient intelligence is being shared. Turkey is saying that it does immediately act porch intelligence when shared and calling for an even broader scope when it comes to intelligence sharing between Turkey and Europe to try to prevent these various individuals from reaching ISIS-controlled territory.

But again what also needs to be looked at is how it is that ISIS is able to continuously recruit these individuals, especially when it comes to teenagers. We also have the case of those three teenage girls from Britain as well who did make it all the way to Syria. Turkey is saying in that case British authorities should have alerted them earlier.

CAMEROTA: All right, Arwa, thank you for that.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So the heir to a prominent New York City real estate company is locked up this morning on murder charges. Robert Durst was arrested just hours before the finale of an HBO documentary about his suspected role in several murders. That finale included quite a bombshell, an open-mic moment that could keep Durst behind bars maybe for good. To put it all in context right now let's bring in CNN's Jean Casarez live in New Orleans where Durst is just now behind bars.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He sure is, and we're right here at the criminal justice center because in just a few hours he will face a judge here. A law enforcement source spoke to CNN that was briefed on the investigation and says that Robert Durst actually drove from Houston to New Orleans last Tuesday, March 10th. He checked into a downtown hole, they say using cash, using a fake name. And when he was arrested late Saturday night, had a fake driver's license on him.

Robert Durst is no stranger to the criminal justice system. Over a decade ago he was acquitted of first-degree murder charges out of Texas. Now he faces those same charges in Los Angeles on the slaying of a very dear friend and a confidante in Beverly Hills.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DURST, MILLIONAIRE MURDER SUSPECT: What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.

CASAREZ: An explosive comment by real estate heir Robert Durst caught on a live mike ending HBO's six-party documentary series "The Jinx." What he means unclear, but these are the words of a man who police say is a cold-case murder suspect. Durst whispering to himself in a bathroom after a final interview for the special, which challenges the audience to decide whether the 71-year-old son of one of the most powerful real estate tycoons in New York City is responsible to the disappearance of his wife in 1982, the murder of a close friend in 2000, and a neighbor in 2001.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The writing looks similar.

CASAREZ: In the final episodes, the filmmakers confront Durst after uncovering a letter written by the millionaire to longtime friend and crime novelist Susan Berman. Berman was found shot dead inside her L.A. home over 14 years ago. The handwriting and misspelling of her address eerily similar to a letter written to police telling them where to find the body. Durst denying he wrote it.

DURST: What I see as similarity is really the misspelling in the "Beverly." Other than that, the block letters are block letters.

CASAREZ: Police arresting the heir Saturday at a New Orleans hotel, now held on a capital murder charge in Berman's death, citing additional evidence that has country on to light in the past year. It is unclear what role the documentary played. The millionaire's attorney selling FOX News he was underwhelmed by the new developments revealed in the six-part series, including his ramblings in the bathroom.

CHIP LEWIS, ATTORNEY FOR ROBERT DURST: L.A. County's got a case. We'll address those facts in the courtroom. But generally speaking, I was underwhelmed. CASAREZ: The millionaire has long maintained he did not kill Berman

or his wife, who has never been found.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: And we do want to say that CNN and HBO both have, as their parent company, Time Warner. Also this morning, the maker of the documentary said on "Good Morning America" that they have been in contact with law enforcement for several years and as soon as they found that alleged confession, they did take it to law enforcement.

Also want to say that today's hearing is an extradition hearing.

08:15:02

The question is will he fight voluntary going back to Los Angeles to face these charges. His attorney says he will not, and therefore he'll be bound for California, we expect, very shortly. Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: Jean, what a case. So many strange twists. Thanks so much for that.

Well, the LAPD says they're questioning suspects in the shootings of two undercover officers. The LAPD says both officers were in an unmarked vehicle when shots were fired Sunday. Police say they believe the officers were targeted. The officers suffered minor injuries.

PEREIRA: Meanwhile, a 20-year-old man is charged in the shooting of two police officers during last week's protests in Ferguson. The suspect confessed to pulling the trigger, but says he was not out to target those officers.

For the latest, let's turn right now to CNN's Stephanie Elam, who is live in Ferguson. Interesting -- I did fire the shots, but I didn't target them, is what he's saying.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. That's exactly the case, Michaela, and they're not ruling out that 20-year-old Jeffrey Williams may have been targeting police, but at this point they're saying his story is he had a dispute with someone who was out here, a demonstrator or a protester in front of the Ferguson Police Department, and then he inadvertently hit the two police officers. Which it's worth pointing out, the two men were standing side by side when they were hit.

Prosecutor saying that they've recovered the weapon as well, and they also said it was key that they were getting information from people who were out here, demonstrators, as well as people in the community, to help nab the man who was behind the shooting.

We also understand the two officers that were shot are recovering and are obviously very relieved to know that the man behind the shooting is in custody. We also heard from the prosecutor saying that Williams was someone known to be a demonstrator out here, but I talked to a couple of people who say that he is not a demonstrator. One man even visiting with Williams yesterday, who he said he knew through the community here in the St. Louis County area. And he said he admitted to him that he's never been out here protesting as part of the Mike Brown changes that they want to see with the Ferguson Police Department.

I'll send it back to you guys in New York.

BERMAN: All right, Stephanie Elam, thanks so much.

Boston, St. Patrick's Day, made a little bit of history. Actually, people made more than a little in this case. Two LBGT groups marched after decades of opposition. The gay military veterans service group Out Vets, and gay rights group, Boston Pride, joined the annual celebration. Boston's mayor Marty Walsh also marched. That ends a mayoral boycott of the parade that dates back to 1995. It's been a long time since the mayor of Boston's been out in that parade. Some Catholic groups did decline to take part, saying the event was too focused now on politics.

CAMEROTA: Change coming to Boston, even the most traditional symbol.

PEREIRA: And apparently change coming to New York, too. The parade tomorrow will also have some LBGT representation as well.

BERMAN: It's nice to see people taking part.

PEREIRA: Absolutely.

CAMEROTA: Well, the Robert Durst stunner, caught with an open mike saying he, quote, "killed them all". Does that amount to a confession in the disappearance of his first wife and the murder of a longtime friend and neighbor?

PEREIRA: And if you've seen this, a race goes horribly wrong. My goodness, a car breaks in half and goes airborne. Miraculously, that drivers joins us live, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

08:22:13

PEREIRA: A bombshell moment in the case against Robert Durst. The heir to a New York real estate fortune and an accused murder appearing to confess to his crimes on a hot mike in the final episode of "The Jinx". We want you to take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT DURST, REAL ESTATE HEIR: (INAUDIBLE). I killed them all, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: While some details and context clearly are missing, that audio is bone-chilling. This episode airing a day after Durst was charged in the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman. HBO and CNN are owned by the same parent company by the way, Time Warner.

Joining us now, Paul Callan, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor. Joey Jackson is also here, HLN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney. This story kept Paul Callan up last night watching it. This is quite a case, fellows. We got to dig through it with you.

Joey, first of all, that audio, we hear him whispering under his breath on a hot mike. He has the reasonable expectation of privacy, I understand. But he whispers those words. Can it be admissible in court?

JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Paul and I can argue over this point.

PEREIRA: I'd like to hear that.

JACKSON: But I believe that it could be ruled inadmissible for the following reason: you have an expectation of privacy in the bathroom. Let's evaluate the statement and context. He makes the statement as he excuses himself to go to the bathroom with the microphone still on. And so I think it's problematic and certainly attorneys will look to preclude it.

The second issue is, if we're basing a conviction on the strength of a confession alone, it's problematic. There needs to be other evidence to corroborate what he said.

PEREIRA: Other evidence?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, there's a ton of other evidence --

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: There's a lot of other evidence in that people disappeared suspiciously, his actions were suspicious. If you watch the series, you'll see how that develops.

PEREIRA: It twists and turns, yes.

CALLAN: But getting back to the issue of admissibility, I'd have to disagree with Joey. I think it's totally admissible. People think, they have this misconception you have to get Miranda warnings in order for a confession to admissible. Well, that only involves the cops. This is HBO doing an interview. If you're idiotic enough to speak with a mike on and say, "I killed them all", tough luck, that is going into evidence and a jury could hear that.

JACKSON: Final point on this is you can make the argument that they were acting as agents of the state inasmuch as they were investigating the case, they were sharing information with the police department.

CALLAN: Who, who? Who made them agents of the state?

JACKSON: I wish we had time. (CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: I would love to let you go on this, but another point that I really want to get at is the fact that he even participated in this documentary to begin with. I want you to listen to the advice that he got from his attorney. Take a listen to this.

08:25:00

(BEGIIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I may have said a zillion times, you can't help yourself. Right now you're a free man, 100 percent. You say something inadvertently and you'll find yourself charged in New York or charged in Los Angeles. An interview is a big risk for you.

Why do you want to do an interview?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: A gigantic risk, Joey. And if you're -- let's say I catch a case and you're advising me. You're going to tell me never, ever to even open my mouth in a media setting.

JACKSON: 100 percent. First of all, you're never catching a case, all right? You're way too classy for that. In any event, moving forward, attorneys advise not to speak. Because anything you say can and will be used against you. So ultimately speaking, in any context, it's certainly misadvised and ill-informed. He shouldn't have done it. I would have recommended against it.

PEREIRA: You agree, Counselor?

CALLAN: You see, he's changing his position now. He says anything you say can be used against you, but I don't mean to go back to that.

However, yes, it's idiotic for him to have appeared. The attorneys knew that. Remember, authorities were within an inch of making a case against him in these two cases, but they lacked one thing -- and he provided the link by saying, "I killed them all." So that's enough now probably for a jury to evaluate whether he committed the murder.

JACKSON: If it gets to the jury.

PEREIRA: If it gets to the jury.

JACKSON: If that issue gets to the jury.

PEREIRA: Let's look also at the timeline because I think this is significant. I'll start with you, Paul, on this one. There is a significant gap in the timeline of potential crimes. I think we have the full screen of it. 1982, his wife Kathleen goes missing. In 2000, a gigantic gap of 18 years, Susan Berman is murdered. And then, from there, it sort of speeds up. What do you make of that? And does that put you at an advantage or disadvantage as his defense attorney? CALLAN: Well, it makes it more difficult for the prosecution, this

gap, because usually with serial killers, you're going to see serial killings timewise, not extensive periods of time -- at least that's what people think. And also remember another thing. When they hear the Los Angeles case, they're probably not going to hear anything about the prior killings, so the case will rise and fall on the facts of the individual case. So it's easy to sit back at the HBO series and say, hey, they got him finally, but for the jury, it's only one case at a time.

PEREIRA: We just had one of the attorney -- or rather the judge in one of the cases on our air a little earlier today. And she essentially said that the prosecution failed to make their case, and that's why he got off, even though it seemed that everything was pointing to that. Is that what you agree with what happened?

JACKSON: It would appear -- and of course we're talking about the case in which he was charged, that he was acquitted of the murder, even though he admitted it, said it was self defense, and then of course he dismembers the body. They still acquitted him. The judge had misgivings about how it was prosecuted. When you sit there as a judge in the courtroom, which I don't, but the reality is judges oftentimes inject themselves by saying "Sustained." "Overruled." So they'll oftentimes understand exactly what's going on, and this judge felt that the right questions were not asked, and that the prosecution didn't follow up on particular issues. So she was very concerned about it.

CALLAN: And Joey--

(CROSSTALK)

CALLAN: Joey would agree with me also that usually in self-defense cases you don't dismember the person after you defend yourself.

JACKSON: Absolutely. Four days of testimony, remember, he spent on the stand four days describing exactly what he did and he got acquitted. Amazing.

PEREIRA: It's an unusual and incredible story, and grisly to say the least. I'm sure we'll be talking to both of you. Paul, Joey, thanks so much.

You can sound off on this. Tweet us @newday, go to Facebook.com/newday as well. We'll see your comments there. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: OK, Michaela. Two weeks, that's how long officials have to hammer out the framework of a Iran nuclear deal. We'll tell you what obstacles stand in the way.

08:28:39

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)