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FIFA's President Sepp Blatter Resigns; Poll Numbers Down for Hillary Clinton; Families of U.S. Iranian Prisoners Appeal to Congress; Interview With Rep. Dan Kildee. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 2, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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


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[13:30:57] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Our top story, the president of the world soccer governing body FIFA is resigning. Sepp Blatter made the announcement at a news conference within the last hour in Zurich, Switzerland. It comes on the heels of a huge corruption scandal that erupted last week.

Let's bring in our CNN international sports anchor, Alex Thomas, joining us from London.

What a bomb shell, only four days after he was re-elected to another term he announces, stepping down. Do we have any clue happened over the past four days?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORTS ANCHOR: We don't know if there's something being untold yet, Wolf. Did Sepp Blatter jump before he was pushed? But certainly this man who is as famous as star players like Lionel Messy and Christian Reynaldo, or clubs like Manchester United and Real Madrid, has been Mr. Soccer, for 40 years. He's been at the world governing body for the planet's most popular sport and president since 1998, the third-longest serving leader of that organization. But as you say his fifth term re-elected at the sage of 79, has lasted just four days. Although he will continue to fulfill his duties as FIFA president until Congress, 209 national associations from across the planet, more members than the United Nations, meet in the extraordinary Congress to elect a new president. Blatter has gone and it's flabbergasted the whole soccer world, Wolf.

BLITZER: It certainly has. As you know, Alex, the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who announced these corruption charges against so many of his top aides over the past several days, she and the FBI director here in the United States, James Comey, have made it clear their investigation is continuing, so the assumption has been maybe they have specific charges or evidence against Blatter himself. What are folks in Europe saying?

THOMAS: We know under the U.S. investigation one of the men called in for questioning was Jack Warner. He used to be head of Concaf, the federation in charge of soccer for central and North America, including the United States and the Caribbean. One of Blatter's trusted allies for years and years but left under a cloud a few years ago, accused of corruption. He's the focus of one of the specific alleges in "The New York Times" newspaper on Monday that was mentioned that explosive Department of Justice news conference last week that read like a Hollywood mafia movie script. It was in relation to a $10 million payment. If I go into the details, it gets very difficult indeed.

But there will be suspicion, yes, that Sepp Blatter was concerned about what might have been said under tough questioning. Although we have heard via Rob Harris at the Associated Press, that he's spoken to the Swiss authorities conducting a separate and different investigation into the controversial bidding processes for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

They say they are not looking at Sepp Blatter. Their stance hasn't changed from last week at the moment, no specific on Mr. Blatter. Since being elected as president for a fifth time on Friday, Wolf, we've seen scandal after day, scandals from New Zealand to Paraguay and Brazil, to Belgium, it's been never ending.

BLITZER: In the United States, they often go after lesser officials, they turn, some of these lesser officials, who then speak out against the big boss. And I assume that potentially could be happening even as we speak right now.

Alex Thomas, we'll stay on top of the huge story.

Sepp Blatter, only four days after he was re-elected the leader of the head of FIFA, stepping down. What a surprise this is.

Just ahead, Hillary Clinton's unfavorable ratings hit a 14-year high. Top Republicans are closing the gap with her in our new poll. We'll discuss the results.

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[13:33:56] BLITZER: A new poll includes troubling news for Hillary Clinton. Negative opinions of the secretaries has gone up since she kicked off her presidential campaign and her unfavorable rating at a 14-year high. All of this coming in a brand new CNN/ORC poll. Look at this, 46 percent of Americans now say they have a favorable opinion of Clinton, 50 percent say they have an unfavorable view, the highest since 2001. In the race for the Republican nomination, Florida, Senator Marco Rubio leads a crowded field of candidates and possible contenders. Rubio at 14 percent with Jeb Bush close behind at 13 percent.

Let's bring in our national political reporter, Maeve Reston, joining us from Los Angeles; and chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, in Washington.

Gloria, what's most striking to you about the new CNN/ORC poll?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: What's really striking to me, for months we've been talking ability the possibility of a Bush/Clinton matchup, the two dynastic political families and how the public would kind of be sick of both of them. When you look at our poll we asked an important question because elections are about change and the future, we asked the question, Hillary Clinton represents the past or the future.

Take a look. 51 percent, even though she's been in politics for decades, right. 51 percent say Hillary Clinton represents the future. When you ask that same question about Jeb Bush, take a look at this. Jeb Bush, 62 percent say he represents the past. So Hillary Clinton probably by virtue of being a woman and her gender, makes her look like more of the future, gets the benefit of the doubt. Jeb Bush, the name, not so much.

[13:40:27] BLITZER: Maeve, the former secretary had trouble connecting with voters according to our new CNN poll. Only 47 percent of those polls say she cares about people like them, that's down from 53 percent a year ago. And only 42 percent view her as honest and trust worthy, compared to 57 percent who do not. This is a problem, isn't it?

MAEVE RESTON, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER: It is. We should remember her people always expected her numbers to drop once she actually entered the race, nobody gets a free pass, but I was in Iowa last week and over the weekend talking to voters and you're hearing a lot of this now even anecdotally people are paying attention to the e- mail scandals and, you know, the Clinton foundation discussion, Democrats that I was talking to were saying that they weren't sure that she was as strong as they were originally thinking and that's a really interesting to watches especially because you have some of the younger contenders like Gloria has been talking about, like Rubio, who potentially could say listen, I can go up against her and be a much stronger challenger?

BLITZER: Gloria, let's shift to the Republicans for a moment. Jeb Bush, his family ties helping or hurting?

BORGER: At this point, not helping. And that's -- that's a real problem for him, particularly as he goes up against some of the younger people that -- younger contenders that mauve is talking about. We asked the question, Bush family connections make you more likely to vote for him. Take a look. 27. Less likely, 56 percent. And I will tell you, when that same question was asked in 2000, when W. was running, 42 percent said yeah, the Bush name will actually help. So this time you see that the brand is kind of tarnished and that Republicans have more of a choice, a larger field. Hillary Clinton, not so much. So Democrats don't have much of a choice. They say compared to what and they have bright shiny candidates out there.

BLITZER: A lot of Republicans out there.

Maeve, it seems to be, according to our poll, closing the gap in a potential hypothetical head-to-head matchup with Hillary Clinton, running about even, with Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, leads Bush and Cruz by margins. What do you make of this?

RESTON: I think we're going to see those numbers evolve a lot over the next year, but the important thing to remember is that they are really good selling point for which ever candidate is coming out the strongest against her. You know, obviously Jeb Bush had argued he would be the strongest contender against Hillary Clinton or his people have, but you're seeing how strong Rubio could be, what the contrast looks like, and really that is going to be very helpful to the campaigns that are trying to rise to the top. The other thing that I saw in Iowa this past weekend was that there really is a lot of room for a lot of those second tier contenders to vault to the top and I think we should definitely expect that to happen at some point, considering how unpredictable things always are in Iowa.

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BLITZER: Maeve Reston -- we've got to leave it there -- Gloria Borger, we'll continue this conversation later in "The Situation Room."

Guys, thank you.

This just in to CNN, President Obama will deliver the eulogy this coming Saturday for Beau Biden, the son of the Vice President Joe Biden. The younger Biden died Saturday of brain cancer. He was only 46 years old. His body will lie in honor at the legislative hall in Dover, Delaware, on Thursday. Public viewing will be held Friday in Wilmington. Beau Biden was a veteran of the Iraq war, former attorney general for the state of Delaware.

Still to come, Amir Hekmati, an American, a veteran and inmate at one of Iran's most notorious prisons, but his family and one lawmaker are fighting a huge fight for his freedom. They're standing by and will join us live when we come back.

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[13:47:54] BLITZER: Tonight, CNN will air a special "Situation Room" report on the future of ISIS In it, I asked a number of generals and admirals what they think the United States should do now.

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BLITZER: Starting with you, General Clark, the president of the United States calls you into his situation room and says, what's the most important thing the United States can do right now to defeat ISIS, you say?

GEN. WESLEY CLARK, FORMER COMMANDER: Get the Sunni tribes fighting.

BLITZER: You say?

GEN. CARTER HAM, FORMER COMMANDER: Ramp up support so they have the ability to fight.

BLITZER: What does that mean?

HAM: Forward air controllers, more precise, more effective air strikes, as a start.

BLITZER: What does he say to you, Admiral? ADM. WILLIAM FALLON, FORMER COMMANDER: The most important thing to do

is get to the leadership in Baghdad and tell them to get off their tails and make a difference out in Anbar.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, FORMER U.S. ARMY: Initially, keep ISIS where it is in some form of containment. Long-term, do everything these gentlemen said.

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, FORMER COMMANDER: All of the above, but a focus on what admiral fallen said, you have to persuade and we have not done diplomatically the things we need to do to get the Iraqi government supporting their people, all of their people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Don't miss our situation room special report, "ISIS, What Should the U.S. Do Now." That airs tonight 9:00 p.m. eastern only on CNN.

The families of four Americans being held in Iran testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier today and asked for more help to try to secure the release of their loved ones, Jason Rezaian, Saeed Abedineny, Robert Levinson and Amir Hekmati.

Hekmati's sister made an emotional statement. Her brother has been imprisoned in Tehran's Evan Prison since 2011 when the former U.S. Marine was arrested and accused of being an American spy.

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SARAH HEKMATI, SISTER OF AMIR HEKMATI: As a tourist, Amir was kidnapped from the home of his relatives and taken to Evan Prison. As a tourist he was held in a one meter by one meter cell, allowed out ten minutes a week to stretch his legs. He was beat on his feet with cables, taser, held for months in solitary confinement. To date, our family feels as though we have exhausted every option, reached out to the U.N. human rights groups, Islamic organizations, ambassadors from other nations, and we've engaged with high level officials from the U.S. and Iran.

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[13:50:09] BLITZER: Sarah Hekmati; her husband Dr. Ramy Kurdi; and Congressman Dan Kildee, from Michigan, joining us now.

Thanks very much for coming in.

Emotional hearing today.

Sarah, when was the time your family actually got to hear from your brother?

SARAH HEKMATI, SISTER OF AMIR HEKMATI: Actually, this past year, over the course of his detainment, he's been allowed five-minute phone calls every day. Sometimes more. More towards my mother. These are sanctioned phone calls. Prior to that, we had no communication at all. This has been a newer development. It's been helpful one hand, and then obviously we can't say everything that we want to say.

BLITZER: How's he doing physical?

HEKMATI: He lost over 30 pounds in the beginning in solitary. My brother's not a big guy any way. He's athletic. The nutrition is skim, the rationing.

BLITZER: Dr. Kurdi, you're a physician. This has got to be, what, 40 years, an emotional issue, as well?

DR. RAMY KURDI, BROTHER-IN-LAW OF AMIR HEKMATI: Very much so. He is very strong. We're concerned about him and his psyche and how he's going to be impacted by this.

BLITZER: Congressman Kildee, he's from your district in Michigan, you've been taking the lead in trying to generate outrage. Is there any progress at all that the Iranians are listening, that they might release him and the other Americans?

REP. DAN KILDEE, (D), MICHIGAN: It's hard to consider any progress when Americans are still in prison. The P5+1 negotiations have given us space to have bilateral discussion that gives us a chance to engage with Iran. We tend to see that as progress. Progress was made this morning when the House foreign affairs committee -- I was asked is on at this time in on the committee -- unanimously in a bipartisan fashion made a strong statement that if Iran wants to rejoin the international community, they have to release these Americans. That resolution will go to the floor of the House.

So it's progress when the United States government speaks with one voice and Iran understands they can negotiate anything they want, they won't be welcomed into the community of nations until they stop this behavior and stop --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Is there any connection, linkage between this and the proposed nuclear deal on the table, supposedly wrapped up by the end of this month?

KILDEE: We have to be careful with linkage. Linkage in the sense that there's opportunity for bilateral discussions. Iran has to recognize it's going to be hard for Congress or anyone to see this agreement, if it is agreed to, as legitimate when they continue to hold prisoners. But we don't want to trade Iran's nuclear capabilities or concessions, economic sanctions for the freedom of a man who simply served his country in uniform and is being held in an Iranian prison because of that.

BLITZER: Is that why they're holding him, sir, because he served in the United States Marine Corps? Is that enough for them to be holding your brother all these years?

HEKMATI: I mean, that's what we're speculating. They've dropped the espionage charges completely when they annulled the death sentence. They say he's cooperating with a hostile government. His cooperation is, for us, what, serving the U.S. Marines.

BLITZER: That's enough to hold him?

HEKMATI: According to the supreme leader's mandate, there's nothing wrong with a dual national serving in another country's military. Really, it's not even going in accordance to their own --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Remind viewers, why did he go back? Why did he go to? His family obviously of Persian ancestry. Why did he go back?

HEKMATI: Amir and I were born in the U.S. Our grandmother would come here to visit. She became elderly. It was hard for her to travel. He went. This was his first trip. He stayed there for two weeks, enjoyed time with family. Right before he came back is when they took him.

BLITZER: They took him because he was a former Marine?

HEKMATI: He was under investigation and of told he would be acquitted and released, there was nothing to worry about. Now it turned into him being a spy and later cooperating with a hostile government. We're across the table with the hostile government. That's what is questioning for us.

BLITZER: Doctor Kurdi, if you could speak to the Iranians who are holding him, what would you say to them?

KURDI: We would implore that they realize we're not a political family. We never were. We're not trading a humanitarian gesture for world peace and nuclear talks. Amir deserves to be free regardless of whatever charges he has. His time is up. There's no reason to have him there. There's multiple outlets to release him. We respectfully implore his release.

BLITZER: What would you say to the Iranians?

HEKMATI: I would also like -- Ramy mentioned that Amir's father has been very sick. He has terminal brain cancer. He's gone through two strokes. Time is limited for us. Amir actually did not know for a long time that his father was suffering with this.

We want to put the urgency on the fact that our father is not doing well. And Amir is there. Even in their own accord, they said he could be eligible for conditional release, for amnesty. So these are things that the attorney sees are avenues for his potential.

[13:55:16] BLITZER: I know you're grateful to the Congressman for his efforts, the fight. What about the State Department, the U.S. government? Are they doing enough to help your brother?

HEKMATI: As a family, it's never enough until Amir's home. We as a family want to find comfort in knowing, yes, it's being recognized on a county is basis, but what's the -- on a consistent base, but what's enough? It's been four years. When we're across the table from the Iranians and they're the -- there are previous Americans arrested in Iran that came back sooner that Amir has. That's why we're struggling with this.

BLITZER: It's hard for us watching the negotiations -- a quick answer from you, Ramy -- the Iranians will benefit tremendously from the nuclear deal. Tense of billions will flow to them -- tens of billions will flow to them. At a minimum gesture, they can release the Americans.

KURDI: Absolutely. No question they deserved to be released. Specifically, having vouched for Amir and the charges are not substantial. Implore respectfully. We stay away as much as we can from being too political as a family. We understand that's unavoidable in the media, but we ask for his release.

BLITZER: Let's hope he's released, the three others released, as well.

Congressman Kildee, thank you very much for what you're doing.

Thanks to both of you, as well. Good luck.

HEKMATI: Thanks for having us.

KURDI: Thank you.

KILDEE: Thank you.

BLITZER: That's it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in THE SITUATION ROOM.

NEWSROOM with Brooke Baldwin starts after a quick break.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[13:59:57] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go. You're watching CNN. We've got some breaking news on this Tuesday afternoon. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Got to go to Boston for this. We have learned now, moments ago, the name of the terror suspect who was shot and killed at this crime scene, still obviously taped off, this afternoon by police and the FBI.