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AT THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA

Obama Will Veto If Congress Doesn't Approve Iran Nuclear Deal; Israel's Netanyahu Says Iran Nuclear Deal a Bad Deal; Presidential Candidate Weigh in on Iran Nuclear Deal; Store Owner Talks Plane Crash Survivor. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired July 14, 2015 - 11:30   ET

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


[11:30:00] SANDOVAL POLO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Also for not addressing very high levels of corruption throughout all levels of government.

So I can tell you that the other uncertainty here is what this development may mean for the cartel landscape. I can tell you that, typically, we see several rival organizations sort of clash whenever a top cartel member, at least a cartel top boss, is taken down. In this case, for Sinaloa, we did not see that. If anything we began to see so many people come together, so many of this ruthless cartel boss' associates come to get, to find a way to get their boss out of prison.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, more than $3 million is being offered in help to track down this brutal killer.

Polo, thank you so much.

Back to our breaking news, the United States and world powers coming to a historic agreement with Iran over its nuclear program. Now presidential candidates from both sides are weighing in. We're going to hear what Hillary Clinton said just moments ago.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And any minute now, Donald Trump, who is at the top of the Republican field, he could address this Iran deal. He may also address why he says he is the target of Twitter threats from El Chapo.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:34:51] BOLDUAN: AT THIS HOUR, a historic deal to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons has been reached in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. The accord agreed to by Iran and six world powers is intended on keeping Iran from producing a nuclear weapon for at least a decade, but first President Obama must submit the deal to Congress for review.

BERMAN: Congress has 60 days for that. If Congress does not approve, the president says he will veto their measure.

Joining us now, CNN White House correspondent, Michelle Kosinski.

Big morning at the White House, to say the least, Michelle. MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is, indeed.

It's something of a victory lap for the administration but right now all this criticism is coming in. Keep in mind, Congress doesn't have an up or down vote on the deal itself. Even if they voted in disapproval, it's not going to destroy the deal. What they would vote on is whether or not to remove the sanctions on Iran that Congress itself imposed. Plus, they would have to override the president's veto. Even if they did that, the rest of the countries involved would have lifted their sanctions and the deal would still be in place anyway. So it's a confusing issue, but some of the criticism out there has been pretty harsh already. I mean, things like this deal violates every red line that the administration itself imposed. This is a grievous dangerous mistake for the world. That the goal has shifted from dismantling Iran's nuclear program to managing it. Some people are going to oppose this no matter what, but we're also hearing skepticism from the president's own party. The big question is, does the deal go far enough? I mean, leaving Iran with some nuclear capability, even though Iran claims it's just going to be peaceful or for research and development, there are many questions out there among members of Congress. Does this just open the door for Iran to do something very drastic even if it is 10 or 15 years down the road? The White House though has been countering over and over again. There are all kinds of contingencies in place. Sanctions could snap back. And the White House insists that even if so 10 to 15 years down the road Iran is thinking about making a move in the direction of a nuclear weapon, there would be less risk then than there is today.

Back to you guys.

BERMAN: Michelle Kosinski at the White House.

That is the White House argument, but there is another side.

Joining us now a Republican critic of the deal, Congressman Lee Zeldin, of New York. He's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congress Zeldin, thanks so much.

I know you are vehemently opposed to this. But let me ask you this. We just heard the prime minister of Israel say the world is less safe today than it was yesterday. However, if you reduce the nuclear stockpiles, weapons material in Iran by 98 percent, if you cut the number of spinning centrifuges by two-thirds, isn't that in and of itself a better situation than exists right now?

REP. LEE ZELDIN, (R), NEW YORK: Well, the leverage that brought the Iranians to the table are the sanctions. So if you look at everything that isn't even part of the negotiations, Iran can continue to finance terror, overthrow foreign governments, develop ICBMs. They're unjustly imprisoning American citizens, pledging to wipe Israel off the map, chanting "death to America" in the streets.

(CROSSTALK)

ZELDIN: -- part of the negotiations. BERMAN: But fewer centrifuges, less nuclear material, alone, is that a good thing?

ZELDIN: And in order to ensure compliance -- so if there was actually 24/7 anytime, anywhere inspections to ensure compliance and enforcement, then it would be a great thing to be able to dismantle Iran's nuclear program, to be able to eliminate centrifuges that are spinning, but on the compliance front the President Obama gave a speech where he referenced 24/7 and anytime anywhere and if you read the deal, it doesn't say that. It says quite the opposite. It has a convoluted process where the Iranians have a couple weeks in order to respond and then there's a commission that has to vote on what kind of actions to take in response to what the Iranians' counter argument is and a few more days for the Iranians to respond. That's not 24/7 anytime, anywhere inspections.

BOLDUAN: The question, of course, then is what is the alternative? Secretary Kerry said very clearly an Iran without a nuclear weapon is better than an Iran with a nuclear weapon. Everyone can agree on that. But how do you get to the point of preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon. If not that deal, what's the alternative?

ZELDIN: When we're sitting down at the negotiating table, the president of the United States, he inherits all the goodwill of American greatness. Our enemies don't respect weakness, only strength and consistency. The president should be sitting down at the table with a stronger hand bringing more into the negotiation and not giving in. Not setting arbitrary deadlines that we care more about than the Iranians do. There's a lot more we could be getting out of these negotiations. The president says that the only alternative to whatever agreement he presents is war, which I wholeheartedly reject and the irony of that statement is that this type of an agreement will result in more instability in the Middle East. It will not help as far as the efforts to prevent a nuclear weapon throughout the region as you have Egypt and Saudi Arabia and others who will be looking at these actions very closely, and they have to be concerned about the long-term futures of their country where their security will be in 10, 15, 20 years and the life of their country.

[11:40:40] BOLDUAN: So, Congressman, what are you going to do about it now? Congress has this review period, but the president can veto it. Other than criticizing and speaking very loudly about it, what does Congress do? What do you do?

ZELDIN: The Congress needs to reject the deal. The president -- if the president chooses to veto, which he said this morning in his announcement that he would veto -- the president said the American public has every right to be open-minded and to review it as long as you essentially agree with me. It Congress wants to reject the deal as representatives of the American public, the president already said he's going to veto it. Now, there are Republicans in Congress, but that majority isn't a supermajority. It would rely upon Democrats who are here who plan on being in office longer than Obama will be in the White House, and they're talking to their own constituents in their states and Congressional districts. They're going to have to do the right thing for American security because whoever the next president is, their leverage just got handicapped by negotiating away the sanctions that bring the Iranians to the table, and there are so many other actions of the Iranians that we need to confront head on.

BERMAN: The sanctions brought them to the table, Congressman, but it didn't stop them from producing weapons material or nuclear material. 20,000 centrifuges spinning, more than before the sanctions. So the problem is it's hard to understand how sanctions in perpetuity would change the behavior, and by the way, I don't know how you get every nation in the world to agree on sanctions in perpetuity.

ZELDIN: When the president talks about snapback sanctions, if you have a sank that takes eight years to put into place, when you take the teeth away from those sanctions it's hard for it to snap back within a couple months. The president should be negotiating with the stronger hand. I have used the analogy of Texas "hold them." The best hand you can inherit is pocket aces. When the president of the United States sits down at a negotiating table with Iran, he's inheriting pocket aces. The Iranians are inheriting the 7-2 off suit, the worst hand in poker. The president makes these concessions in good faith and the Iranians are not negotiating in good faith. They're not trustworthy. While they're spinning centrifuges with a poor economy, they're financing terror and they have killed United States soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have blood on their hands. And they're unjustly imprisoning a reporter from "The Washington Post," a pastor, a United States Marine. Why are we not bringing them home as part of this deal? I'm saying we could have gotten more.

BOLDUAN: You're laying out exactly how tough the debate will be now as congressional review will begin.

Congressman Lee Zeldin, thanks so much for your time.

ZELDIN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

So how will this deal, we see how the deal is going to play out on Capitol Hill, but how will the deal play in the 2016 election? Presidential candidates are weighing in, including Hillary Clinton. And at any moment, likely, we're expected to hear from Donald Trump. I believe he's expected to address this as well, as reported threats against him involving drug cartels. Stay with us.

BERMAN: Plus, an incredible story of survival. A teenage girl lives through a plane crash, nights alone in the wilderness, and a desperate hike to find help.

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[11:42:34] BOLDUAN: The Iran nuclear deal has quickly become an issue for the 2016 presidential race. Republican candidates not on board. Lindsey Graham telling CNN it's a death sentence, in his view, for Israel, if it is not changed. But Democratic candidates having a very different view. Hillary Clinton a short time ago praising President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, but also talking about the important issues that still need to be dealt with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: This is an important step in putting the lid on Iran's nuclear program. There will be a number of issues that have to be addressed. I want to just mention two. The first is enforcement. This agreement will have to be enforced vigorously, relentlessly. We have in the agreement the access for inspections and the transparency that was absolutely necessary, but we have to treat this as an ongoing enforcement effort, which I certainly do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. What does this mean for the race?

Both sides right now joining us to discuss, Patti Solis Doyle, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager at one time and a new CNN contributor -- happy to have her -- also with us, Kevin Madden, a strategist who worked on Mitt Romney's campaign.

Thanks so much for being with us.

Patti, it was interesting. Hillary Clinton said it was an important step. That was no standing ovation. I have seen higher praise for smaller things than you got from former Secretary Clinton. That reflects what do you think? A concern that not every Democrat is on board here?

PATTI SOLIS DOYLE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR & FORMER CLINTON CAMPAIGN MANAGER: Well, I think for her, especially, she's been very vocal about the skepticism towards Iran and this deal for the last few years. This talk started with her while she was in office. She sent her trusted advisers, Jake Sullivan, who still works for her on the campaign, to sort of test the waters. But she's also been clear that, you know, Iran probably cannot be trusted. So I think she's supportive of this deal but she is supportive with her eyes wide open. So, you know, I think she's going to -- that's why she stressed enforcement. I think she has her eyes wide open on this one.

BOLDUAN: We heard from Hillary Clinton and we also, Kevin, saw statement after statement after statement coming from the Republican candidates. Scott Walker just one of them saying that this nuclear agreement will be remembered as one of America's worst diplomatic failures, and that was echoed, by and large, all the way down the line. What you don't see in these statements, Kevin, the alternative. Where's the alternative coming from GOP candidates?

[11:50:16] KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR & REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think if you go out into the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, the number-one issue the economy but the number-two issue is national security and foreign policy. I think it goes without saying that many of those voters in those states that these guys like Scott Walker, Jeb Bush and others are trying to provide their support, they are not happy with the Obama foreign policy agenda so there is very little risk to go out there and drive a hard contrast and criticize any deal the president came up with. But I think there is a substantive opposition here with related to the arms embargo and some of the missile technology, the timelines on lets go sanctions. So that they'll be under pressure to come up with what a robust national security foreign policy posture towards Iran looks like and what would be the parameters of a deal that they would have put together. But the best thing they can do right now, drive a hard contrast against Obama and let the voters know they're not happy with this deal.

BERMAN: Kevin, you're right. When you're dealing with primary voters, Republicans, by and large, oppose the idea of a nuclear deal with Iran. But with Americans as a whole it gets positive numbers. The last CNN poll, the last time we asked the question, 53 percent of those polled said they support the idea of a nuclear deal with Iran. 45 percent oppose.

MADDEN: Right. The idea of a deal. But yet, they don't know the details. I think as this goes through that process of approval on capitol hill and the details come out, it very well may be those numbers go down particularly, John, when you see some Democrat criticism of the president's deal.

BOLDUAN: Also, Patti, when Hillary Clinton left office, when she left the administration, she really took pains and everyone noted, she was distancing herself, being more hawkish than the president in terms of foreign policy. Folks pointing out the fact she called the president reckless and naive when he was discussing sitting down with Iran's -- with Iran without pre-conditions. How does she thread the needle, though? It will be absolutely noted if she's seen as criticizing the president. But if she's not going to endorse it, I feel like she's already opening herself up for criticism if she doesn't take a hard stance on how she feels about it.

DOYLE: I think she has endorsed the deal. At least that's a report that came out of her meetings on Capitol Hill this morning. She's endorsed it with skepticism and her eyes wide open on what Iran is and who they are.

BOLDUAN: Does that nuance -- will that nuance play? Will that be received well on the campaign trail? Because, you know, Republicans will jump so quickly on it.

DOYLE: Well, here's the thing. I think Kevin's right that this Iran deal will be the centerpiece of any foreign policy discussion in the next -- certainly in the next 60 days as Congress is debating this, but certainly for the 2016 election race. And I think the fact that Hillary was there, she started these talks, she sent her advisors, she tested the waters, I think she's better I equipped to talk about this than anyone else out there that's running.

BERMAN: Kevin, it was interesting. Our friend Ron Brownstein says it's setting up as a campaign for repeal. Repeal Obamacare, repeal the Iran deal, repeal the idea of opening negotiations with Cuba, not to mention gay marriage. Is that an uncomfortable place, being basically a negator for a candidate, ultimately? MADDEN: No. Look, if you take Obamacare and foreign policy, for

example, Obamacare, I think we could have a very good discussion and I think I'd win it that Obamacare is not popular. I think we'd also have -- if you look at President Obama's numbers on foreign policy, on national security, they are not good. That's why Hillary is coldly calculating right now some of her remarks about this. Because if this deal starts to go south, the Iranians start to break it and there's not enough verification enforcement, you will see Hillary Clinton start to pull away from President Obama because she knows what many Republicans know, which is that the president is not very popular on the issue of national security. So Republicans are in a good position when they run a hard contrast, criticizing what they don't like about the last six years. But you're right on the fact that they have to provide an alternative vision. What -- a national security foreign policy agenda is going to look like for the future.

BERMAN: Kevin Madden, Patti Solis Doyle, welcome, thank you for being with us.

(CROSSTALK)

MADDEN: Great to be with you, as always.

BERMAN: You class up the joint.

DOYLE: Thanks.

(LAUGHTER)

BERMAN: All right. It's a terrifying ordeal for anyone, especially for a young teenager. She survived a plane crash only to wait for rescuers who never came so she went to find help on her own. She ended up in a small store in Washington State. We speak with the store owner next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:58:09] BERMAN: A stunning story of survival. A teenage girl is alive after the plane she was traveling in with her grandparents crashed in the mountains of Washington State. 16-year-old Autumn Veatch told local law enforcement she waited on rescuers for a day and slept by a river.

BOLDUAN: Before making her way to a highway where she was picked up and taken to a store where she -- where help was called. She's now at a hospital being treated for dehydration and muscle damage, a disorder she developed there. The sheriff says it doesn't sound like her grandparents survived.

Joining us is Rick LeDuc, the owner of the store where Autumn ended up. He was one of the first people to see her after she was found alive.

Rick, are you there?

RICK LEDUC, STORE OWNER (voice-over): I am. BOLDUAN: Great, thank you so much for joining us.

This is an amazing story of survival. You saw this girl. You saw this all firsthand. What happened? What did Autumn look like when she arrived at your store?

LEDUC: She was brought into the store by two gentlemen who picked her up on highway 20. Brought her in, at that point she relayed what had happened and that she has been in a terrible accident, had been out for the last three days. Two days out to get help. At that point, 911 was called and the sheriff's department and the rescue service were -- the EMS process was started. At that point, just tried to take care of what she needed.

BERMAN: How did she look? How did she look?

LEDUC: Remarkably, she looked quite good for somebody who's gone through an incredible ordeal and hiking through very difficult country, mountainous terrain. And where she was all trail so she had to beat through the brush, it sounds like, getting down to where she was found.

BOLDUAN: It's just amazing. We're seeing video of that. It's just amazing. Now she's recovering in the hospital.

Rick, well, probably you helped in trying to get her to safety and get her the help she needed.

Thank you --