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CNN NEWSROOM

Sailor Wounded in Chattanooga Shooting Dies; Drones Delay Efforts to Fight California Freeway Fire; Khamenei: Iran Policy Toward U.S. Won't Change; 120 Killed, 140 Injured in Iraq Market Suicide Bombing; GOP Stumps In Iowa; Democrats Tackle Phoenix; Teen Tells Her Plane Crash Survival Story. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired July 18, 2015 - 11:00   ET

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


[11:00:00] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Hello. Good to see you guys.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: You too.

WHITFIELD: Have a great day.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: You too.

PAUL: You too.

WHITFIELD: Maybe it's going to be a relaxing one for you, too.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

PAUL: I don't know about that.

WHITFIELD: Because it's a big, big morning -- no.

PAUL: We've got to make it good.

WHITFIELD: There is never any relaxation when you have kids but it is all in fun.

PAUL: It is. You're right. You're right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.

PAUL: Thanks -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: You all have a good one.

All right. It is the 11:00 Eastern hour. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM starts right now.

All right. Breaking news right now.

This morning another life lost in the shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Randall Smith, a logistics specialist with the U.S. Navy succumbed to his injuries this morning. His death was confirmed by his step-grandmother today. Smith was shot three times in the attack at the Navy Operational Support Center. Smith is now the fifth fatality in the deadly shootings. Four U.S. Marines were also killed: Lance Corporal Squire Wells, Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt and Sergeant Carson Holmquist.

Now, electronics including a cell phone and computer taken from the home of the shooter, Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez, are en route to an FBI lab in Virginia where investigators will comb through them in search for a motive.

Our Sara Ganim is outside of the recruiting center in Chattanooga where the first attack happened. So Sara -- what is the latest on the investigation there?

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning -- Fred.

Yes, you can see behind me that there is a very active memorial here. Members of the community have just been coming through all morning to pay their respects. Behind them is that recruiting center where there is also an active investigation. We see investigators looking around the building, walking around, canvassing, also going inside at times and examining that bullet-riddled front door of that recruiting center.

You know, earlier in the week before Randall Smith died, his family members talked about him. He was a father of three. He was married. He had served his time overseas. His grandmother telling CNN that he, that day, had tried to warn everyone but just couldn't get away fast enough before being shot.

He was shot three times -- hit in the liver, the stomach, and also the colon. He had underwent surgery earlier in the week. Family members were hoping that he would pull through after he stayed, at least, in recovery that first night. But unfortunately, his step-grandmother telling a CNN affiliate that he died earlier this morning around 4:00 a.m.

Take a listen to what she had told us earlier in the week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLENE PROXMIRE, STEP-GRANDMOTHER OF RANDALL SMITH: He was never shipped over there anywhere where the fighting and all that was at. He loved the navy. He loved it in there. You would think, oh, this is never happen to your family, but by gum, it can. It can happen anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: Randall Smith's name was added to a makeshift memorial here just a few moments ago by a member of the Chattanooga community who just wanted to make sure that he was among those who were remembered.

You know, the grieving continues here. So does the investigation. Investigators looking for a motive. They still do not have one. They are also looking into the details, like where he got those guns. Were the guns purchased legally?

I was in Nashville yesterday where he worked that's about two hours away from here. And we know that the FBI was also making calls and on the ground there trying to figure out if he had any other connections other than in Chattanooga where he was visiting the day of the attack.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sara Ganim -- thanks so much from Chattanooga.

All right. Let's bring in Jonathan Gilliam. He is a former FBI special agent; and former police officer and CNN law enforcement analyst, Harry Houck. Good to see both of you.

So Jonathan, let's begin with you because now we hear at the FBI at least in Quantico, the cell phone and computer of this gunman. What are they looking for particularly? And what if information is encrypted, what's the equipment that they have there to try to get any information from it?

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, let me just say that the cartographers -- those are the computer experts in the FBI -- they are amazing. They can get the information if it is there. It doesn't even matter if that has been destroyed. They will get it.

It doesn't appear -- I haven't heard any reports that he destroyed any of his computer stuff or phones. So those cartographers will get in there and get all the information.

And then investigators will go through that and look for clues as to motivations, planning cycles, where he was radicalized, and on and on. They're going to look as though they were doing an autopsy on this guy's life. And they're going to just completely dissect everything.

They are looking for clues that would lead them in different directions, you know, so they can get a full picture on this guy. Where did these guns come from? Did he have any training? When he traveled overseas what was he searching on the Internet at that time, before and then after he went overseas.

[11:05:13] Those are the types of things that are going to give them the full picture.

WHITFIELD: And Harry how will investigators go about trying to better understand the trips that he took? Apparently, he took multiple trips to Jordan, a very short period of time. And at first, investigators according to the "Washington Post" reporting this morning saying that he was going to visit a grandmother. It would seem that that would be fairly easy to verify. But then how do investigators go about the motivation and what may have happened during that trip?

HARRY HOUCK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I'll tell. It is going to be very easy for them to track, you know, when he flew out of the country and when he came back. The problem is do we know what happened when he was in Jordan?

We know that his friends said when he came back from that long trip, he was a completely different person. So what I'm trying to think here is how do they know that when he gets to Jordan, do people come and try and radicalize him? Is there somebody at the airport, is there somebody in immigration who says, listen we have a Muslim- American, coming into this country and now let's target him to radicalize. And then while he was there he was approached by radicals, by terrorists and they radicalized him there so when he comes back to the United States he can commit an attack like this.

WHITFIELD: But what makes this complicated here is lots of people are going to Jordan and that is not necessarily what is happening in their experience.

HOUCK: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: So you can't just arbitrarily single somebody out. I mean that's what investigators are up against.

So talk to me about how this makes it much more difficult for counterterrorism efforts too, especially since in this case, there doesn't appear to be a really huge trail. And so it is getting more difficult. Is this becoming the norm perhaps even for counterterrorism that they are now dealing with, you know, people who are being radicalized secretly? It is difficult to detect them.

HOUCK: Well, what we have to do is we have to look back at all the attacks that have already occurred. What we have to do is develop a pattern. And once we have that pattern developed of all these certain instances, like we say a lot of them are involved in MMA fighting and Kung Fu. That's not enough, ok. A lot of them go overseas and come back. All right. These are things we need to look at.

And then what happens is when you see people from this country go to, say the Middle East for a long period of time and he'd come back. His friend knew he had changed. Now, should his friend have called us and let us know? Probably not because he's probably not thinking anything about that -- him becoming a terrorist or not.

But the fact is that we had to develop patterns. We need to develop an effective counter narrative here in the United States to combat the message that al Qaeda and ISIS are trying to recruit Americans here in the United States.

WHITFIELD: And Jonathan do you think this is a new problem that perhaps counterterrorism officials have kind of reached their limit on trying to single out and detect who might be up to no good?

GILLIAM: I don't think they have reached their limit, Fred. I'll tell you one big place that they actually were making great headway in and were pulled back from is actually doing surveillance inside mosques or sitting down with mosques and actually recruiting the mosques to where they are working with law enforcement because here -- this is the truth.

This is a closed community. I have worked in and around mosques doing surveillance outside the mosques. And the FBI now though since the time that I have left have tremendous constraint upon them. Even the NYPD's, their whole surveillance program was stopped. And it was purely political.

We are now -- we're in a war, it's not that we just got in it. We've been in it. This is where they are going to recruit. The Muslims themselves are the ones who can make the biggest difference of all, of everybody.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Gilliam, Harry Houck -- we'll leave it there. Thanks so much -- gentlemen.

GILLIAM: You got it.

HOUCK: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Parts of a scorched interstate are reopening today in California. The flames jumped interstate 15 in San Bernardino County and sent terrified drivers running from their cars and then up a hill to safety. About 20 cars and two semi-trucks were destroyed as the flames seared the freeway there. We are also getting new details that the five-person drones being flown in the area had actually been hampering the firefighting efforts for about 25 minutes.

CNN's Dan Simon is covering the fire for us from San Francisco. So very frightening situation where firefighters are putting their lives on the line to fight this battle. But then they have this latest obstacle -- personal drones.

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, Fred, this is becoming more and more of a problem. And in the case of yesterday we were told they had at least five of these drones in the area preventing helicopters from dropping water on to those cars for as long as 25 minutes. I don't have to tell you, that in a case like this, you have an emergency situation, that 25 minutes is eternity.

[11:10:06] So this is getting to be a real hindrance in southern California and in parts of the country where you have firefighters, you know, trying to put out these flames and you have drones in the area.

You have the Forest Service putting out a statement. They're very clear about this. I want to read this to you. It says, "Please stop flying hobby drones in the area. We can't risk choppers colliding with them. We could have a loss of life." And amplifying that, you take a look at this picture that the Forest Service tweeted. It says "If you fly, we can't."

You know bottom line is these drones are becoming less expensive, cheaper than the price of an iPhone in some cases. They are lots of fun to fly, let's be honest. They take great video. But you know, they need to stay away from active fires.

Fred, let's just talk about where things stand. You talked about the damage toll. You have got 20 vehicles that were destroyed. We actually just got an update. We are now told that you have 64 vehicles impacted in some fashion. We gave that number of 20 destroyed, another 44 damaged. You know, you had a situation where the flames just advanced so

quickly on that freeway. You had people literally running for their lives as those flames came up the hill. And what a terrifying situation that was. At this point 3,500 acres charred, 5 percent contained. But the fire does appear to be dying down a bit, not advancing quite aggressively as we saw yesterday -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Frightening stuff. Thanks so much, Dan Simon. Keep us posted.

All right. Next, a horrific bombing on a marketplace in Iraq. It's one of the single deadliest attacks claimed by ISIS in Iraq.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Defense Secretary, Ash Carter, leaves for the Middle East tomorrow after the U.S. and five other countries helped reach a historic nuclear deal with Iran this week. But today, Iran's Supreme Leader spoke out about the deal for the first time and he had actually some harsh words for the U.S.

[11:15:12] Our Sunlen Serfaty joining us live from the White House. So Sunlen, what was said?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the Ayatollah, he didn't criticize the nuclear deal outright but he also didn't endorse it either underscoring that the draft of the nuclear deal will have to go through the legal process of ratification within Iran. But he did, as you said, have some harsh words as expected for the United States saying that Iran will uphold its anti-American policies. Here is a moment from the speech. Note the reaction from the crowd that was translated via translator.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER (through translator): our policies will not change vis-a-vis the arrogant government of the United States at all. We have repeated multiple times with the United States, we have no talks vis-a-vis regional issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: And this was a televised address to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. These were the first real comments that we've heard from the Ayatollah since the deal was struck. Now, remember, he is a Supreme Leader. He really is the one that gets the final say within Iran whether this deal goes through. So certainly a lot of people watching each and every word very carefully, Fred, including here at the White House.

WHITFIELD: And Secretary Carter first stop is going to be Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in fact has already been a harsh critic of this nuclear deal. And crowds in Iran today, you know, could even be heard singing "death to America, death to Israel". So what does Carter hope to accomplish by visiting Israel? SERFATY: Well, this is, Fred, part of the big White House push to

sell this nuclear deal both here and abroad, dispatching Secretary Carter to the region. Certainly first and foremost, it is about reassuring Iran, Netanyahu has called this deal a stunning and historic mistake.

But Defense officials say that while Carter is over there meeting with Netanyahu, he will reiterate the U.S. and Israeli's robust defense relationship according to a defense official. But he'll also discuss more intelligent sharing and more coordination, of course, aimed at reassuring the Israelis of what this deal with Iran could potentially mean for their own security -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Sunlen Serfaty -- thanks so much.

Also coming up, we'll talk more about the Iran deal with former U.S. State Department adviser, Aaron David Miller.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:21:13] WHITFIELD: All right. Breaking news out of Iraq. A suicide bomber killed at least 120 at a busy outdoor marketplace in an eastern province. 140 more are injured, including children. It is one of the deadliest attacks claimed by ISIS in Iraq.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Amman, Jordan.

Nick, police say the bomber set a trap for these victims -- explain.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You have to hear really quite how devastatingly cynical this plan was to understand the kind of cruelty involved. We're talking about the equivalent in the Muslim calendar of Christmas Eve to some extent. This was after the lengthy fast of Ramadan when Muslim's prepare for the Eid holiday, Eid'l Fitr (ph).

The first real of that, Friday, in (INAUDIBLE) market in Khan Beni Saad, a key town northeast of Baghdad, people flooded to the outdoor market, hot, they're looking to buy ice for their forthcoming festivities. And a man drives in to that outdoor market with a truck which is laden with ice, he's offering at a price significantly lower than they'd normally see on the market.

They flood towards the truck and try to buy. Inside that ice though is hidden a large quantity of explosives. As soon as people are gathered and there are hundreds around trying to make that purchase of the ice, the device is detonated.

You have to pause for just a moment Fred on the number of 120 because we, you know, rattle these numbers off a lot without necessarily thinking how many lives that (INAUDIBLE) -- how many lives has been taken. 140 wounded as well in that one single blast. 13 children, 14 women -- mostly Shia because this is ISIS, a predominantly Sunni radical group in the Sunni-Shia sectarian divide sweeping the violence in the Middle East right now. These victims -- mostly Shia.

This area was supposed to be cleansed of ISIS in months previous but clearly they're still able to penetrate. They're still able to end the Ramadan holy month with extraordinary violence. ISIS has been perpetrating with this one shockingly awful (INAUDIBLE).

You have to remember, go back in your mind about maybe ten years now for the worst day of the American military presence in Baghdad -- a spectacular bombing that killed over 100. So often, so regularly when al Qaeda in Iraq were wreaking the worst amount of havoc they could. Many worry we may be seeing ISIS trying to replicate those tactics.

WHITFIELD: Terrible. And so Nick, you mentioned 120 dead but with so many injured. The expectation is very high, is it not, that more will die? Is there the medical infrastructure to assist those more than 100 wounded?

WALSH: It is very hard to tell. I think it's fair to say that yes, it's very hard for an area like Diyala to be able to flood in the amount of assistance required particularly given a lot of the area is still (INAUDIBLE) along the side, security to assist people. It's very hard to know that a leap in the death will actually possibly occur again.

But 120 still in itself so shocking. I think the worst singular bombing that ISIS claimed for even the loss of life in Yemen a few months. I don't think it quite reached that devastating toll. But still, breathtakingly cynical how they managed to lure people toward their death.

WHITFIELD: Yes, luring them with ice after the end of Ramadan. Thank you so much Nick Paton Walsh. Keep us posted from Jordan.

All right. Straight ahead, new details on the victims of the rampage -- that shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee and a closer look at the heroes tragically killed right here on American soil.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:28:00] WHITFIELD: All righ.t Good morning, again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Breaking: a fifth person has died as a result of this week's shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Randall Smith, a logistics specialist with the U.S. navy, succumbed to gunshot injuries this morning. His grandmother told CNN that he was in the hospital fighting for his life after being shot three times. Smith is the fifth fatality in the deadly shooting. Four U.S. marines were killed during the initial attack.

Federal investigators are combing through electronics taken from the Mohammad Youssuf Abdulazeez's home. They have been sent -- those items have been sent to an FBI lab in Virginia where questions on what the killer's motives were could be revealed.

The hunt is also focused on Abdulazeez' trips overseas. A friend of Abdulazeez tells CNN that he was certain, quote, "Something happened over there", unquote. And that Abdulazeez wasn't the same when he came back to the U.S.

I want to take a moment here and talk more now about the victims. Randall Smith, in particular. The sailor who was in his mid-20s, leaves behind a wife and three children. His grandmother, Linda Wallace, tells us that before he was shot three times, Smith saw Abdulazeez and tried to warn everyone around him.

Smith's step-grandmother Darlene Proxmire says the mass shooting was especially difficult because she never had to worry about Smith's safety because he was on U.S. Soil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLENE PROXMIRE, RANDALL SMITH'S STEP GRANDMOTHER: You think this will never happen to your family, but by gum, it can. It can happen anywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That grief is shared with the four other families who lost their loved ones Thursday. Alexandra Field honors the fallen marines.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan earned two Purple Hearts, fighting the war in Iraq. A son of Massachusetts, (INAUDIBLE) in the city of Springfield, with flags lowered to half-staff.

[11:30:17] JIM SHEREMETA, SPRINGFIELD RESIDENT: My heart just went down to my toes because I said my God. And I suppose when things hit home, close to this area, it affects you a lot deeper.

FIELD: "He was our hero and he will never be forgotten. Thank you, Tommy, for protecting us," a loved one wrote on Facebook. From Massachusetts Governor Charley Baker, "Terror comes home to Massachusetts. God bless Tom Sullivan and his family and his friends."

Sullivan's last day of duty spent in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the Naval Marine Reserve Center, his Marine brothers by his side. Sergeant Carson Holmquist, a decorated Marine from Wisconsin served two tours of duty in Afghanistan before he was killed here at home. He leaves behind a wife and son.

The youngest victim, 21-year-old Lance Corporal Skip Wells graduated three years ago from Sprayberry High School in Murrieta, Georgia, service was in his family.

GARRETT REED, FRIEND OF SKIP WELLS (via telephone): He loved his country. You know, his mama, served in the military, I believe she was a Marine, also. So I figured he just wanted to follow in her footsteps. He was in ROTC in high school. He loved that. I think that's just a calling that he had. FIELD: Wells recently took a trip to Disneyworld with his mom. She says, "My son died doing what he loved for the love of his country and his family."

A decorated 11-year veteran who served multiple tours, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt is pictured with his children. There's no sleep tonight someone writes. Wyatt was from Arkansas, but he lived in Chattanooga where they are honoring the fallen and the families left behind.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, and right now, we want to talk with someone, who knew one of the victims rather well. Joining me now from Statesboro, Georgia, is Marine Corporal James Gordon.

So I understand, James, you were a friend and a bunkmate in Iraq with Gunnery Sergeant Tom Sullivan. So when you heard what happened this week, when you saw the images and heard the details, what was your initial reaction?

CPL. JAMES GORDON, U.S. MARINE CORPS (via telephone): Extremely frustrating. The fact that we have that kind of violence occurring on American soil is very troubling. Tom Sullivan was an amazing man, a great leader in the Marines.

We were stationed the second time together. He was a great squad leader, great leader. He was always the gentleman that you just wanted to go talk to. He lived in the barracks with all the other troops. Any time there was any problem, his door was always open. He was always the person to lean on. To lose that, it is hard to even talk about.

WHITFIELD: He is a recipient of two purple hearts and just knowing as a friend, knowing what he had been through, the duty that he has served and then give me an idea of just feeling of specially when our armed service men and women have been abroad, have been in combat and hardship places, to come home, there must be a real feeling of relief and guard down.

That something like this would occur catching so many by surprise in a place where they would feel safe and comfortable. Give me your thoughts on that

GORDON: It is -- when you are in Iraq and you are deployed, you are expecting to be put in harm's way. You are expecting for there to be a direct threat. We call it keeping your head on a swivel. You go into a place when you involved in being overseas where you are doing your job as a service member.

You are expecting these threats to come. When you are back in the United States, yes, you are still at all times at some level on guard but, this violence is just -- it's frustrating.

WHITFIELD: It's hard for anyone to understand. It's incomprehensible, really. But now, you know, even as family members and as friends such as yourself are grieving the loss of your loved ones here.

You are also hearing the dialogues, about you know, soft targets, recruiting stations being soft targets, a place that traditionally is where anybody can kind of come and go and inquire about whether they want to join the military.

[11:35:02] In large part, that's why these armed service men and women are not armed. Do you think that should be reconsidered now? What do you think an answer to this is?

GORDON: I don't know that I have an actual answer. The Marine Corps when they are recruiting, you know, they highly train the individuals to become recruiters. They want to put forward a certain image in attracting new recruits.

And to go into a more armed appearance may or may not be appropriate. You know, there are gentlemen in leadership that I am sure will make all these decisions. But the ability to defend ourselves within America I feel is something that needs to be looked at.

WHITFIELD: Corporal James Gordon, thank you so much for your time. Of course, our hearts are extended to you and the family members of Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan and the other four American heroes that lost their lives.

Straight ahead, a breakthrough for U.S. and international ties with Iran as a nuclear deal is struck. But what does it mean for longer term U.S./Iranian relations. Iran's supreme leader today is calling the U.S. negotiations an exception. This could make an even tougher sell for critics of the deal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:40:13]

WHITFIELD: All right, Congress is set to review the historic nuclear deal with Iran. The White House is trying to pitch the deal's merits to its toughest critics, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Defense Secretary Ash Carter travels to the Middle East tomorrow to try to smooth over concerns that the deal will give Iran more wealth and power and do little to curb its nuclear program.

Let's bring in Aaron David Miller from Washington. He is a vice- president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center and spent more than two decades as the U.S. State Department adviser on Middle East affairs. All right, good to see you.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT ADVISER: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so I want to talk to you about some reaction coming out of Iran, the Ayatollah's comments in a moment. But first, you know, you write that this really is a big deal in large part because it also means new patterns in behavior as you put it when it comes to talks, patience, and expectations. Explain. MILLER: I mean, you are talking about an American policy over the last four decades that was based on containing and countering and even confronting Iran. That paradigm has clearly shifted.

You have had 20 months longer of negotiations. Personal relationships have formed between American negotiators at a senior level including the secretary of state. I think there is no way. It is like turning an aircraft carrier around.

It is going to be very difficult to do. We have set something into motion here. The real question, Fred, I think is, is this a business deal, a transaction or is this going to set the stage for a more fundamental transformation, primarily in the Iranian regime's behavior and its repressive character at home.

I think over time, the bed of the administration is that, that is a possibility. But for now, I think we are left pretty much with a business proposition. They accept constraints on their nuclear infrastructure for 10-15 years.

In exchange, they are going to end up getting billions of dollars in unfrozen oil revenues and an open for business sign in Tehran that will bring them a lot more money. I think that troubles a good many critics.

WHITFIELD: OK, so today, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenie says that the nuclear deal will not change Iran's policies towards the United States, and quote, "Our policies towards the arrogant government of the United States will not be changed at all." But as you look at what he said, what does that mean as it pertains to the deal?

MILLER: The cheerleaders of the accord will argue that at least he didn't blast an agreement that his own negotiators just concluded. The critics will say, however, that in essence chanting death to America and death to Israel is not the kind of rhetoric that is likely to facilitate or create more space for the (inaudible) in Washington. We have to remind ourselves, this isn't a peace treaty.

WHITFIELD: This is not about friendship, though.

MILLER: No, it is not.

WHITFIELD: So when you think about what you are saying and how you are deciphering what the ayatollah said. This really isn't about friendship. This is about a deal of peace, not just for the region but from a global perspective.

MILLER: Well, I think the administration has an objective and now it's to produce a slower, smaller, more easily verifiable Iranian nuclear program for a limited period of time in order to avoid what the administration believes would be a worse outcome.

End of the sanctions, we are seeing war, maybe the Israelis would strike, maybe the Americans. But in exchange, we paid a very high price and I think we have to simply be very clear-eyed about what it is we have done.

The essence of the deal is the Iranians are going to get an enormous amount of money, part of which will be used to fuel their bad behavior in the region --

WHITFIELD: Because of certain sanctions lifted you're talking.

MILLER: Right, in exchange for accepting limitations on an already illegal and elicit nuclear program that they shouldn't have been involved in to begin with.

So you know, I frankly am not worried much they are going to cheat on this and violate accord because I think frankly, on balance, this is a pretty good deal for Iran. I think they will want to maintain it.

WHITFIELD: Do you think anything is missing from this deal?

MILLER: Well, the critics would argue a lot is missing. The critics would argue it is too short, 10-15 years is nothing. I measured my home life in government in four to eight-year increments, I mean, what's a decade. After ten years, many of the constraints on Iran's capacity to enrich disappear.

Critics would argue that the verification regime, the monitoring regime is simply too lax. The critics will argue that the Iranians are going to have a lot of money to throw around the region to support Assad, Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraqi/Shia militias.

[11:45:10] In essence, that is going to reinforce the reality that Iran is a rising power in the region. Forget the Arab spring, Fredricka. We are, I think, going to witness a Persian spring as the Arab world melts down and Iran begins to increase its influence in the region.

All of these things trouble the critics and the administration concedes some of it would argue that the alternatives are simply worse. That may or may not be. We'll never know. All we know is what we have.

WHITFIELD: All right. Aaron David Miller, thank you so much. Good to see you.

MILLER: Always a pleasure.

WHITFIELD: All right, straight ahead, two competing political events, one featuring Republicans and one featuring Democrats. We'll check in on both live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, presidential candidates from both parties are out in force today. Ten of the Republican contenders are at the 2015 Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, including current frontrunners, Donald Trump and Scott Walker.

And in Phoenix, Arizona, Democrats, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley will be attending a progressive group's annual conference. We are covering both live events right now. Chris Moody is in Phoenix and Mark Preston is in Ames, Iowa.

[11:50:08] So Mark, let me begin with you. Donald Trump has been dominating the news and the polls. The format will allow for some other voices to be heard. Explain.

MARK PRESTON, CNN EXECUTIVE EDITOR, POLITICS: Well, you know, Fred, Donald Trump comes up from Arkansas last night where he had some very harsh things to say about others running for the Republican nomination including Jeb Bush. He will be taking questions from a moderator but unscripted questions out of the audience.

Now this audience, Fred, are social conservatives, they are the engine that fuels the Republican side of the Iowa caucuses, very important folks, about 2000 of them here today. If Donald Trump is really serious about trying to run for president, he needs to do well here in Iowa, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then Jeb Bush, you mentioned him, but he is not there. What's on his schedule? What's going on?

PRESTON: Well, not only Jeb Bush is not here, but Chris Christie is not here nor is Rand Paul. I spoke to each one of those campaigns. They said that they had prior commitments. Jeb Bush was in the state a couple of days ago.

Chris Christie we expect next week and Rand Paul later in the month. It does say something that Jeb Bush is not necessarily courting these social conservatives as the likes of Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Michael Huckabee.

It looks like Jeb Bush will be really trying to thread the needle and reach out to more broad-based part of the Republican Party there, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, so Chris Moody, in Phoenix, Bernie Sanders has been drawing bigger and bigger crowds. What's expected today?

CHRIS MOODY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, if Republicans are talking to the true believers in Iowa. Democrats are talking to their true believers here in Phoenix, Arizona.

Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders are attending the Net Roots Nation Conference. Liberal progressives are going to be marching, knocking on doors, really rallying for Democrats.

But just as Jeb Bush is not there in Iowa, Hillary Clinton is not here this year. She came to this conference in the 2008 primary, 2007. She was actually booed afterwards when she defended corporate lobbyists.

So she made a decision not to attend. They said it was a scheduling conflict but a lot of people here say we don't really buy that.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris Moody in Phoenix, thanks so much. Mark Preston from Ames, Iowa. Appreciate it. We'll be right back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:56:09]

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories, officials say Boston marathon bomber, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been moved into the Super Max, the nation's most secure federal prison. Tsarnaev was being held in Florence at a separate prison in Colorado. A federal jury sentenced Tsarnaev to death in May for his involvement in the 2013 deadly attack.

One person is dead and four others are recovering this morning after their small plane crashed on an Alaskan hillside. One of the passengers was able to call 911 and notify the police that their plane went down. The four survivors were flown to Juno where their injuries are being treated. Officials have not yet said anything about the condition of the survivors.

Banks in Greece will reopen on Monday after being closed three weeks during the financial crisis. A deal was reached this week to give Greece nearly $100 billion. Right now, Greece owes more than $300 billion to its creditors.

WHITFIELD: It sounds like a movie plot. A plane crashing into the side of the mountain and you are the only survivor, stranded in the middle of nowhere. That's what happened to 16-year-old Autumn Veatch this past Saturday while she was flying home to Washington State with her grandparents.

CNN's Sara Sidner sat down with the teenager to get her story firsthand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The 16-year-old Autumn Veatch was excited when her grandparents offered her a chance to be flown home in a private plane instead of driven home. But that excitement turned into sheer terror when the plane began to have problems.

AUTUMN VEATCH, PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: We almost crashed the first time we went through some clouds. He took a really sharp turn and was like, that was a close one.

SIDNER: It happened again and this time the plane crashed in the remote wilderness.

VEATCH: I'm still panicking and freaking out and they both started freaking out and yelling, turn the GPS back on. I can't see anything that's going on. He started to go up and then it was a light and then it was all trees and then it was all fire.

SIDNER: She got out and tried to save her stepgrandparents.

VEATCH: They were both screaming. There was no way I could get to grandma, because she was on the far side. If I got grandpa out first, then maybe she would come out. I was trying to pull him out and I just couldn't do it. There was a lot of fire.

SIDNER: Sobbing, she eventually realized she would die too if she stayed put.

(on camera): You must have been so incredibly stressed out, scared, sad.

VEATCH: Scared to be alone in the middle of absolutely nowhere. I didn't even know where I was, what city it was.

SIDNER (voice-over): She began walking, her hand, face, and hair burned. Her body bruised.

(on camera): Did you think at some point, I'm not going to make it? I'm going to die.

VEATCH: I was freezing. It didn't seem likely I would make it. What are the odds? I don't know anything about outdoor survival.

SIDNER (voice-over): But she did make it after two nights and three days in the wilderness. She credits a tip from the survival shows her dad watches. Follow the water and live. Sara Sidner, CNN, Bellingham, Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: We have so much more straight ahead in the NEWSROOM. It all starts right now.

All right, hello again, everyone. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. A fifth person has died from the shooting rampage in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Randall Smith, a logistics specialist with the U.S. Navy succumbed to his injuries this morning.

His death was confirmed by his stepgrandmother today. Smith was shot three times in the attack at the Navy Operational Support Center. Four U.S. Marines were also killed, Lance Corporal Squire Wells, Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Sullivan, Staff Sergeant David Wyatt and Sergeant Carson Holmquist.

Federal investigators are combing through electronics now taken from the home of the shooter, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez.