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NEW DAY

Hundreds Rescued in Historic South Carolina Floods; Doctors Without Borders Demand Hospital Inquiry; Oregon Gunman's Father Talks to CNN. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired October 5, 2015 - 06:30   ET

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


ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTTOR: -- stores are doing what they're supposed to do.

[06:30:03] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: That's fine. But I think just going after manufacturers sounds good to the lefties. I don't know that it's going to --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Errol, Brianna, can you tell we have a lot to talk about on this program about this issue. We have many different angles and we will have Governor Huckabee to talk about what his plan is.

We'd also love to hear your take. You can tweet us using #NewDayCNN or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay. You can also find Chris and me on Twitter.

Thank you, Errol. Thank you, Brianna.

CUOMO: I'm not on Twitter anymore.

CAMEROTA: Yes, you are. Constantly.

Also, the first Democratic debate will be hosted by CNN and Facebook. It's just a week away. Be sure to watch next Tuesday, October 13th, 9:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

This is sure to come up, Michaela.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it sure is.

Alisyn, there's outrage following the weekend bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan. It killed 22 people. Doctors Without Borders wants an independent investigation of that air strike in Kunduz. We'll give you a live report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:35:04] CAMEROTA: We are following breaking news in South Carolina. Rescue and search operations resume this morning. First responders from multiple agencies looking for people who may be trapped by the flooding. Hundreds of daring water rescues completed over the weekend. Governor Nikki Haley calling the historic flood "a thousand year event" and blaming five deaths on the South Carolina roads on the flooding.

CUOMO: So, the group Doctors Without Borders is demanding an independent investigation of a deadly bombing at one of its hospitals in the Afghan city of Kunduz.

Here's what happened: 22 people were killed by a blast, 12 staffers, 10 patients in that number. The Pentagon is now acknowledging it may have accidentally hit the facility during a military operation. Doctors Without Borders says it is now pulling out of Kunduz and wants to know more about how this could have happened.

PEREIRA: This morning, Pope Francis opening the Vatican's three-week synod on family issues. During the synod, bishops from around the world will discuss how the church respond to the needs of the modern Catholic family. The gathering happening as a now fired Vatican priest comes forward to announce that he is in a same-sex relationship. Monsignor Krysztof Charamsa saying he wanted to challenge what he called the church's backward attitude toward homosexuality. Catholic priests are not allowed to be in sexual relationships, gay or straight.

CAMEROTA: All right. Let's have levity, shall we?

Hillary Clinton severing up the laughs on "Saturday Night Live."

PEREIRA: She was funny.

CAMEROTA: I haven't seen it yet. I can't wait to. I'll see a clip.

(CROSSTALK)

PEREIRA: How about we show it to you?

CAMEROTA: Also, the Donald was the topic, I've heard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald Trump? Isn't the one that's like, uh, you're all losers?

I'm just an ordinary citizen who believes the Keystone Pipeline will destroy our environment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I agree with you there. It did take me a long time toe decide that but I am against it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Clinton, I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to say, my sister's gay. Thank you for all you've done for gay marriage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you're welcome.

CLINTON: It is great how long you've supported gay marriage.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I could have supported it sooner.

CLINTON: Well, you did it pretty soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, could have been sooner.

CLINTON: Fair point.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: I love her arguing with herself. It's so good. The one who plays her to do it right in front of her. I love that with Sarah Palin and Tina Fey, too.

CAMEROTA: That part is great. It's a no-lose for Hillary Clinton to go on here. I mean, that's --

CUOMO: Well, it is -- it is potentially lose if you can't look in the mirror, which is what you're doing with the doppelganger there and not laugh at yourself. People are watching. She did well.

I love the line where the fake Hillary says to Val, the bartender, "Wow, I wish you could be president." She goes, "Me, too." But the way she played the line, it was funny.

PEREIRA: The big question is whether Donald will do that, right? If he's going to be on "SNL", we'll talk about that coming up.

CAMEROTA: I think we can expect that.

PEREIRA: I think we can, but it would be great to see the two of them together.

CUOMO: All right. So, Syrian President Bashar al Assad, no laughing matter, but he is speaking out for the first time since Russia began air strikes inside his country. He has a dire warning for the world.

And he's blaming the U.S. for something. Listen to what, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:42:27] CUOMO: If you want to figure out what's going on in Syria, you need to hear from the man who's running Syria right now. His name is Bashar al Assad, he's called the president there. He's given his first interview since Russia begun air strikes in his country. Now, in it, he praises Russia and Iran and slams Western nations as terror supporters.

Seems backwards. Well, you have to understand it from his perspective. He also talks about the air strikes that are going on there and how a Russia warplane violated Turkish air space over the weekend. What's his take? Because it nearly sparked an international incident.

So, we have with us, Stephen Seche. He's the U.S. former diplomat in Syria, and the former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, now executive vice president of the Arab Gulf States Institute.

Mr. Ambassador, good to have you with us.

Let's look at what he says and you can help us figure out what it means. First, "Terrorism, on the one hand, and these Western countries, on the other, are perpetrating the same act, they attack terrorists but they are terrorists in their policies, whether by imposing sanctions or by supporting terrorism."

All right. The perspective of this man given who he is and what he's accused of perpetrating on his own people, what is your read about that? Who is the bad guy here?

STEPHEN SECHE, FORMER U.S. CHARGE D'AFFAIRS, SYRIA: Well, I think Bashar al Assad, Chris, is feeling pretty much void by the Russian support. And he is in a big morale boost since the Russian forces came in.

So, I think what he's trying to do now is create a justification for the Russian entrance into Syria and its support for the regime of Bashar al Assad and also at the same time, speaking to the Iranian audience, the international audience to say we are back, we're stronger, we're prepared now to defend my regime and all those who are opposed to it are on the wrong side of the fight. I think evidence will suggest that exactly the wrong view for Bashar al Assad to take.

CUOMO: How strong a case can you make that Bashar al Assad is good for his people.

SECHE: I can't imagine a case that would make that argument in any way at all. And I do think that what we're see now is the response from the international community which says that we are going to fight the fight we need to in Syria regardless of whether the Russians are in now supporting the Assad regime and basically shoring it up in the northwest corner Latakia, Tartus, around Damascus, that area there. Well, that's a last strongholds of the Alawites and the Bashar al Assad regime.

CUOMO: The side note, the Russian plane going through Turkish air space, that is not an accident, that is just testing limits. It gets escorted out by the F-16s. The Russian fighters want nothing to do with that kind of firepower in the air. What is the message there and what do you think the response needs to be?

[06:45:01] SECHE: Well, I think what we're seeing is the fact that Russia will test our resolve. They've broadened their heavy air force and they're going to see exactly how willing we and our allies are to make sure that the fight we feel is essential will continue unimpeded by the Russian forces.

So, this kind of testing will continue and talk of a no-fly zone I think is also something we need to be very cautious about as before we determine exactly what are going to be the rules of engagement, what Russia really wants, how far it's willing to push and what we are willing to do in response.

CUOMO: Well, and that's the big question, right? You talked to Senator John McCain. At a certain point, if somebody punks you enough, you have to show whether or not you are a punk and you have to show whether or not you are willing to use force. That's going to be the measuring stick for the U.S. right now.

Next quote from Assad. This is about Russia. "The Russians talk to us about all the details concerning the Syrian situation, including anything raised with the Russians by any other country or any discussion between them and those countries whether they were allies, opponents or enemies. There is complete transparency in this relationship."

He's making the point that Russia is being a fair broker here, that it's not an inside situation. What's your take?

SECHE: Well, clearly Bashar al Assad is making the Russian case. I think the Russian case is pretty weak. I think that Vladimir Putin and Russia went in because Assad is so weak. He really needed shoring up. His troops are demoralized, numbers are down. His Air Force is not doing the job that it really wanted to have it done. ISIL is moving in from the northeast. They're around in the northwest.

So, I think what he really sees now is a life line. He's making every possible argument he can that this is a life line that's well adjusted by giving the foes and giving the forces that are aligned against him.

CUOMO: Here's the biggest gambit in terms of that case that he's making. Let's put up Assad's statement about the U.S. "What is more painful is the exploitation of the refugees problem on the part of western countries and western media. They portray is as a humanitarian tragedy from which they feel pain, while in reality, they are the greatest contributors to this condition through their support of terrorism and through the sanctions they imposed on Syria."

Appraise that statement.

SECHE: Well, the sad reality, everyone involved in Syria has begin to move together and mobilize to make sure this mass migration can find a way to stop. And I think that means the U.S., Turkey, our Arab allies, and all those assigned with Bashar al Assad, because everyone has a role to play in this, and playing a blame game is useless. But there's a human tragedy unfolding and Bashar al Assad and everyone else needs to way to get this conflict to an end so that can stop.

CUOMO: Now, it seems like one step towards the goal that you state is this new initiative of the U.S. military on Raqqa. What do you know about it? What's the plus/minus?

SECHE: Well, my concern with this decision to move in greater force supporting Arab fighters and Kurdish fighters in the Northeast where ISIL or ISIS is really strongest, will really occupy them and maybe that leaves the Russian forces freer to take care of the opposition to Bashar al Assad in the northeast -- or the northwest rather as I was saying. So, that suggests to me the last man standing is Bashar al Assad.

So, I think we need to be careful that we do not carve this country up into a "we'll take care of the east, we'll take care of the west." And who's left? The Assad regime.

CUOMO: All right. Ambassador Seche, thank you very much for helping us make sense of what makes no sense to most people, which is what's going on in Syria. We'll speak to you again soon, sir.

Mick?

SECHE: Thank you.

PEREIRA: All right, Chris.

Roseburg, Oregon in mourning, grieving the nine innocent people gunned down in that massacre in Umpqua Community College last week. The gunman's father is speaking out to CNN. You'll hear from him, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:52:45] PEREIRA: A community in Roseburg, Oregon, is left with so many questions about why a gunman stormed a college campus and opened fire, killing nine people. Among those left wondering why this happened, the gunman's father.

Our Ryan Young spoke to him exclusively and joins us now from Roseburg, Oregon, with that conversation.

I'm sure it was a difficult one.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very difficult. You know, obviously, it's one of the toughest pars of our job when we go to someone's door and knock on it, especially in a situation like this. And you can really feel the father's pain. He's searching for answers himself. But he kept stressing over and over to us, he really wanted to reach out to the families who are involved in this.

He talked to us for about 25 minutes, 5 of the minutes on camera. You can really feel his pain in terms of how he wanted to move forward, how he wanted to ask questions about how his son could even have all the guns that he ended up having.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IAN MERCER, OREGON GUNMAN'S FATHER: How on earth could he compile 13 guns? How can that happen? You know? They talk about gun laws. They talk about gun control. Every time something like this happens, they talk about it and nothing is done. I'm not trying to say that is the blame for what happened but if Chris had not been able to get a hold of 13 guns, it wouldn't have happened.

YOUNG: Did you know he had 13 guns?

MERCER: I had no idea he had any guns. I had no idea that he had any guns whatsoever. And I'm a great believer that you don't buy guns -- don't buy guns, you don't buy guns.

YOUNG: So, even you, you want changes? You want the gun laws to change?

MERCER: It has to change. It has to change. How can it not?

Even people that believe in the right to bear arms, you know, what right do you have to take people's lives? That's what guns are, the killers, as simple as that. Simple as that. It's black and white. What do you want a gun for?

YOUNG: A lot of people talk about his mental make-up. Police will dig into that. What do you understand about his mental make-up?

MERCER: I'm going to let the police follow through with all the investigations on that.

[06:55:01] You know, whatever they determine is something they're going to find through their investigations. I don't have any comment to make on his mental state, obviously, somebody goes and kills nine people has to have some kind of issue.

He's my son. He's my son, you know? There isn't any kind of disharmony or bitterness or anything like that between him and I.

When he was down here, we saw each other, went for dinner and did things that sons and dads do, you know, just talk and -- he lived with his mother the whole time. He didn't come and live with me at all. So, we had a harmonious relationship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: So, Ryan, you mentioned that you spoke to him at length off camera. Did he talk any more about any troubling signs that he had seen in his son?

YOUNG: You know, none that he wanted to mention. He kept stressing to us over and over again, at first he only wanted to answer a few questions. He ended up going so forthcoming. So, we kept kind of going with the interview.

One of the things he talked about was he wanted police to be able to do their investigation. He said he had no problems with this. And you heard that on the last part of the interview. So, he had really no idea that this was even ever a possibility. He understands now that a lot of people are going to view his son as a monster.

PEREIRA: That's the part for him that's so hard, I'm sure. Obviously, this was a child that -- he mentioned it, his parents were divorced, correct?

YOUNG: Yes.

PEREIRA: When was the last time he saw his son? Did he talk about that?

YOUNG: He said the last time was before his family moved here to Oregon was the last time he saw his son. He said, look, he had no issues with him.

So, you know, you kind of want to ask those questions, you want to psychoanalyze the situation, but he really had no way to provide us with extra information in terms of why his son may have turned this way. I mean, look, he said he didn't know he had the 13 guns. That was the thing that blew us all away. He's calling for gun control.

So, that was something that kind of astounded all of us during the interview.

PEREIRA: Ryan Young, thank you so much.

I mean, that's the thing. He joins a horrible group of people whose parents -- parents of people who have committed these kinds of mass shootings and they struggle to understand why their own child could perpetrate such a horrendous act.

CAMEROTA: Right. Well, this is what is ultimately so unsatisfying. I mean, I applaud him for speaking out. We always want to hear from the family. How could this have happened? What did you see?

PEREIRA: What did you miss?

CAMEROTA: What ends up being unsatisfying is there is no answer. Often when you ask the parents, they didn't see it coming. They didn't know that there was this history of violence.

I mean, he was estranged, not from his son but he hadn't seen him for over a year. But still, no sign. You always want them to put the puzzle pieces together and he couldn't put the pieces together.

CUOMO: No sign he wants to talk about. The push back on this man, this family is going to be you are the people we're looking for accountability. Where were you in this guy's life? There's no way he spontaneously combusted.

PEREIRA: But should parents be held responsible for their adult children's actions?

CUOMO: Well, first of all, he's an adult. Legally no.

PEREIRA: Yes, 26 years old.

CUOMO: It's not going to happen unless he is a judge to --

PEREIRA: You're going to bear that.

CUOMO: Right. And many will say you should, because somebody knows about what was going on with this guy.

PEREIRA: There were signs. There had to have been.

CUOMO: That's going to be a big factor here. Hearing it from this man, it made sense. But many people will say, well, you're not the person who make that case because you were the one who was supposed to help control this guy in the first place.

CAMEROTA: Well, sure. I mean, where else do we go for any answers about him?

Anyway, we'll be talking a lot about this throughout the program. We have a lot of news to get to this morning. So, let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The state of emergency for the city of Columbia.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just don't be stupid. Don't try to drive through flooded areas.

CUOMO: Hundreds of saves in deadly rushing water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The best thing is that we still have our lives. We still have our lives.

CAMEROTA: Hillary Clinton proposing new gun control measures overnight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He shot the professor and just started shooting everybody.

YOUNG: Did you know he had 13 guns?

MERCER: I had no idea he had any guns.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Large debris field has been located.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The biggest concern we have not heard from this vessel.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The blame that's to be done is on the hurricane, not the captain.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone.

Welcome back to your NEW DAY.

We do begin with breaking news in South Carolina. The flood ravaged state gets even more rain. First responders fighting the historic high water levels this morning to rescue people who need to be evacuated. Hundreds of daring water rescues already carried out over the weekend.

CUOMO: Governor Nikki Haley is calling the flood a thousand- year event. That's about chance of happening, not historical context. Take a look at the streets and roadways. They've already had at least five fatalities. We don't know the number and it's likely to rise. And many, many thousands are without power. That's going to get worse as well.

The highways in Charleston remain closed and with good reason.

Let's begin our coverage with CNN's Nick Valencia, live in Columbia.

The situation there now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Chris.

Just within the last hour, the curfew, that 12-hour curfew here for the city of Columbia has lifted, but the rain has not let up. It's almost as if the storm is just lurking over the state of South Carolina.