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CNN NEWSROOM

Hagel: Obama's Pick for Defense Secretary; Hillary Clinton Returns to Work; Colorado Theater Massacre Suspect In Court; Reid Criticized for Katrina-Sandy Comparison; Grounded Drilling Rig on the Move; McChrystal Supports Hagel Nomination

Aired January 7, 2013 - 10:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour of NEWSROOM starts right now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, finally bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), SOUTH CAROLINA : This is an in your face nomination by the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But it's bad news for Chuck Hagel. Both Republicans and Democrats line up against his nomination for Defense Secretary and the announcement hasn't even been made yet.

Traveling against the State Department's wishes, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson joins Google's chairman for a trip to North Korea.

From gigantic touch screen tables to ultra HD televisions, we're finally getting see the latest high tech gadgets and gizmos we will be craving. We have hot new products debuting at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Plus this --

CARLOS DIAZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Carlos Diaz coming to you from South Florida, the site of the BCS National Championship game. An epic matchup between Notre Dame and Alabama. We have the details. CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Thank you so much for being with me this morning. I'm Carol Costello. We begin with a brand new battle brewing this morning in Washington. In just about three hours, President Obama will announce two key nominations.

One John Brennan as CIA director, Brennan is a veteran of the agency and now serves as the president's chief adviser on terrorism and Homeland security and the other nomination is already igniting a firestorm. Former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel is known for being fiercely independent and loudest outcry could come from Hagel's own party, his fellow Republicans. Hagel served two terms for his native Nebraska.

He's called the Defense Department bloated and says the Pentagon needs to be paired down. Hagel is also a combat veteran. He was badly wounded in Vietnam and is openly wary of armed conflict.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. SEN. CHUCK HAGEL (R), NEBRASKA: The pain and we didn't have any medics there with us. We did have some guys, again, I think pretty bad shape and the morphine was used for them.

You know, if I ever get out of all of this, I am going to do everything I can to assure that war is a last resort, that we, a nation, a people calls upon to settle a dispute, the horror of it, the pain of it, the suffering of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're covering all the angles of this story. Jim Acosta is on Capitol Hill. John King has our analysis. But let's start with you, Jim, on Capitol Hill. Hagel is already getting some blistering criticism. Listen to this from yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM: This is an in your face nomination by the president to all of us who are supportive of Israel. I don't know what his management experience is regarding the Pentagon, little if any. I think it's an incredibly controversial choice. And it looks like the second term of Barack Obama is going to be an in your face term.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And that's from a fellow Republican. So Jim, is Hagel's nomination dead on arrival?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I don't think so, Carol, not at all. I talked to an administration official over at the White House just in the last hour about some of these comments that Lindsey Graham made on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" yesterday.

And the way the White House looks at this, they see some of this opposition from Lindsey Graham and potentially from John McCain as being sort of almost a grudge for Chuck Hagel's turning against the Iraq war during the second term of the Bush administration.

Hagel supported the war and then soured on it as the years went on as a lot of Americans did and I just want to share with you, Carol, some comments that I got from this administration official talking about Lindsey Graham.

Quote, "It's one thing to posture on a talk show. It's another thing to look a two-term Senator in the eye and say I'm voting against you because you turned against the war in Iraq."

This administration official also described the nomination of Chuck Hagel as a vote where a president gets his guy. So they don't see this nomination as being so controversial, so white hot and provocative that the president doesn't get a -- get his person confirmed by the Senate.

Obviously, there have been nominees to Secretary of Defense in the past who did become major problems like John Tower who had some personal issues that derailed his nomination as Secretary of Defense during the Reagan administration.

But one other thing I wanted to point out, that this administration official is pointing out, they're also -- and you're going to be hearing about this later on today, Carol, when you have the White House briefing and Jay Carney steps to the podium.

They're going to be pointing to some of the comments that were made by a lot of these Republican Senators when Chuck Hagel left the Senate pointing to what Mitch McConnell said.

You know, a lot of these Senators made some glowing statements about Chuck Hagel when he left the Senate talking about his time supporting the voters back in Nebraska.

Quote, "A lot of these guys gave wonderful quotes about Hagel when he retired," according to this administration official. So we're going to have to wait and see what happens with all of this, Carol.

Yes, Lindsey Graham sounded very much against this nomination yesterday, but there's still some time to go before these hearings get started.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Jim Acosta, thanks. Let's bring in our chief national correspondent now John King for more on what this means for the Obama administration. John, good morning.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So with the Hagel nomination, is the president setting this in your face tone for his second term?

KING: I think the president would call it, Carol, something very different. I think he would call it his comfort zone. Chuck Hagel is someone who, yes, he is a Republican, but as you noted, he is more of an independent, more of a maverick, someone with whom the president is personally very comfortable, with whom the president shares the goal of shrinking the Pentagon somewhat.

Look, the president, yes, he is picking a fight here. There is no question. Remember, we thought it might be Susan Rice for Secretary of State. It's not surprising for a president who won an election to decide to pick one or two big personnel fights. That happens in Politics.

They think the White House calculation, Jim's dead right about the Iraq war. They think if we have to re-debate the Iraq war, that the president and Senator Hagel, they're on the high ground on that one.

You're going to hear a lot of criticism that he's soft. It's interesting you have a Democratic president picking a Republican for Secretary of Defense. Does that, they want someone that's tough because the criticism historically is they're soft on defense and here's a Republican choice labeled as soft, soft on Israel and soft coming to Iran sanctions.

John McCain and other conservatives say soft with the end of the Iraq war, but the president's comfortable with him. The president is also comfortable with the new CIA chief.

The president doesn't have to face re-election. This is the second term, a different set of calculations. The White House, yes, Senator Hagel has some work to do, some diplomacy to sell this nomination. But I think they'll win in the end.

COSTELLO: OK, I want to ask you about Hagel's Israel comments because he made some pretty pointed comments about Israel and I'm going to quote them so people know what I'm talking about.

In one, Hagel said, I'm not an Israeli Senator. I'm a United States Senator. And another, he says, quote, "The Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here." Now, Republicans are saying those comments are very controversial. Are they?

KING: Sure, they are controversial. In some ways they're candid in the sense that, Carol, you spent a lot of time in Washington. You know the Israeli government and the American Jewish lobby is very powerful in Washington. That's a simple fact of life and politics.

Senator Hagel is saying that in a more blunt way, maybe a less diplomatic way and less coded and smooth way than many people use in the language. But he's also reflecting a powerful reality, which is the Israeli government has a lot of sway with American politicians and so does the American Jewish lobby. That is simply affect.

Now because of the blunt language there, he is going to have some explaining to do and he is going to have to do what all nominees do. But Senator Hagel knows the process. He's going to have to spend a lot of time meeting one on one.

Many of these Senators are former colleagues. Some of them and this is where it's interesting, you know, came after he left the Senate. They did not serve with him. So he's going to have to explain himself.

And the president will have to make clear I'm the boss and remember, Carol, the tensions between this administration and Israel is a carryover even in the election. It was no secret that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, if he had his way, would have preferred a Romney presidency.

Again, in a second term, the president is less worried about the politics. He wants his team. COSTELLO: OK, so Hagel will be rough. We'll see how rough shortly, but the president will also nominate John Brennan though to run the CIA. He is a veteran of the agency. Will the president have an easier time with that nomination?

KING: Easier, yes. Is it done deal? No. But you should expect Mr. Brennan will become the next director of Central Intelligence. He'll be asked some tough questions about the administration's Benghazi. We knew the Benghazi issue is going to come up anyway.

It will come up when Secretary Clinton testifies before she leaves. We expect that to happen. Mr. Brennan what did they know and miss warning signs? Expect him to be asked has the administration been perhaps too flat footed when it comes to the Arab spring?

That's one of the reasons the White House says Mr. Brennan is a good pick. You'll have some people ask you or if the administration to reactive it was opposed to proactive around the world?

But Mr. Brennan has great relations on Capitol Hill from a bipartisan perspective. Look for this as all nominees as an exploration of administration policy, some people, Carol, to air the questions and grievances. It's not so much about him. It's more about the bigger picture and expect him to be confirmed quite easily in the end.

COSTELLO: John King, thanks so much.

We are expecting a formal announcement on the nominations of former Senator Chuck Hagel and John Brennan. In just about three hours, Wolf Blitzer will begin our special coverage starting at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Of course, we'll bring you the president's remarks live.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton getting back to work this morning at the State Department. On the agenda today, a meeting with assistant secretaries. The past few weeks have been tough for Clinton.

She's battled the flu, a concussion. She was hospitalized for a brain clot near her brain. Still unclear how our illness might affect you plans to testify before Congress about September's deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya.

The man accused of using three guns to murder people in a Colorado movie theater will be in court for a key preliminary hearing this morning. And the evidence unveiled today is expected to be graphic and quite painful for the families of the victims.

For the first time, prosecutors will unveil 911 tapes and videos from inside the theater where accused shooter James Holmes allegedly killed 12 people. CNN's Casey Wian joins us now from Centennial, Colorado with more. What do we expect to happen today, Casey, in court?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we are going to see the beginnings of the prosecution's case with up to 70 witnesses being called over next several days. This preliminary hearing is expected to last the entire week. And what's interesting is that a lot of evidence that the prosecution has against James Holmes, this is the first time that the public will be able to hear it because there has been a gag order in effect in the case covering the prosecution, covering the defense.

And up until recently covering the University of Colorado where James Holmes until just before he allegedly committed this horrific massacre was a student. Also, as you mentioned, family members are expected to be here today. Some of them will be in the same courtroom as James Holmes.

Others will be in an overflow room because of space issues and because family members say some of them don't want to be in the same room as James Holmes. We also could see the defense beginning to lay out its case for diminished mental capacity.

With the gag order, there have been public filings that make it clear that that's the avenue that the defense intends to pursue in the case and we may see some of that, as well. James Holmes will not enter a plea during these proceedings.

That will come at an arraignment, presumably after the judge rules if he does there's enough evidence to bring James Holmes to trial on 166 counts of murder, attempted murder and weapons charges -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Casey Wian reporting live for us from Colorado this morning.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has shocked many with a comment he made about Hurricane Katrina. He said it was nothing compared to Superstorm Sandy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Just about 15 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now. He is trying to urge fellow Senators to pass aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy. Majority Leader Harry Reid is in hot water after saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: We are now past two months with people of New York and the people of New Orleans and that area. They were hurt but nothing in comparison to what's happened to the people in New England.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Those comments came as part of a broader statement where Reid said Congress approved aid for Katrina victims in 10 days, but has taken more than two months for those hit by Sandy. By the way, Sandy killed at least 113 people in the United States, 50 were in New York State, 24 in New Jersey. Katrina's death toll was more than 1,800 and the majority of those deaths were in Louisiana.

Shell oil says the drilling rig that ran aground off Alaska's southern coast is on the move and being towed. The company said they found no leaks and the fuel tanks appear intact. The rig was being towed back to Seattle a week ago when a severe storm hit and that's when the crew had to cut the rig loose and it ran aground the next day.

In less than three hours, former Senator Chuck Hagel is expected to be formally nominated by President Obama to be the next Defense Secretary. But his nomination may run into some resistance. The former leader of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal told NBC's "Today" show, all that really matters is trust.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.): I think Senator Hagel has the experience. He certainly got the quality as a person. The real matter is whether the president has that level of trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's ask former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark. He is live in Little Rock, Arkansas, this morning. Good morning.

GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: Good morning.

COSTELLO: OK, so you're a military guy. What's the most important thing that President Obama has to consider when he nominates a Defense Secretary?

CLARK: The president is looking for someone with the expertise and experience to bring credibility to the team. I think someone to represent the United States Defense Department with the Congress and so he has to testify and handle Senate, Congressional meetings and leadership.

Represent the United States abroad and of course, he has to participate as the -- with the National Security Council with the president and he's the number two person in the national command authority. I think Stan McChrystal is exactly right.

It takes trust. The president has to have that trust. I think Chuck Hagel has earned that trust and respect from the personal relationships with the president through their time in the United States Senate and through previous times when Senator Hagel two-term Senator has put a lot of effort in to the Defense Department, traveled abroad.

He's seen U.S. forces. He knows the missions. I think he's a very, very smart pick. I think a great Secretary of Defense.

COSTELLO: It is interesting because he's a war hero. He won two purple hearts. He saved the life of his brother serving beside him in Vietnam and some Republicans suggest he's too soft.

CLARK: I think that when you go there through an experience like Vietnam and paid the price and two purple hearts means you were hit on two separate occasions and gives you appreciation for what it's like on the ground at the bottom.

And especially the Vietnam experience. The country really didn't -- didn't appreciate the men and women that served the way we have since we went in -- since 9/11, really.

And I think that Senator Hagel really understands the costs and risks of conflict so I think that's the appropriate perspective to bring to bear when you're going in to the Defense Department.

COSTELLO: Chuck Hagel's comments on Israel also bothering a lot of Republicans. He said, quote, "In one instance, Chuck Hagel say I'm not an Israeli Senator. I'm a United States Senator."

He also says that Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here. Those comments really bother not only Republicans I would say but Democrats, too, because Israel is such a strong ally of the United States and vice versa.

CLARK: Yes. Those comments are the comments that provide ammunition to people who want to pick an issue, but I'm convinced that Senator Hagel understands the U.S. responsibilities in the region.

I believe he's a very strong supporter of the U.S. alliance with Israel and help the United States support our defense commitments in the region not only to the Israelis but the broader context of trying to resolve those issues, bringing to bear the assets of the pentagon and a responsible and constructive way.

I think that's what you're looking for in the Secretary of Defense, I don't think you're looking for a zealot, but someone with was come, perspective, experience. Someone who understands the issue and put it in the proper context and I do think he has to have the trust of the president.

COSTELLO: General Wesley Clark, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us this morning. We appreciate it.

Talk Back question today: What if any new gun laws should be passed? Facebook.com/CarolCNN or tweet me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now's your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day: What if any new gun laws should be passed? We are getting a first glimpse in to what the White House may propose in terms of gun laws.

According to "The Washington Post" Joe Biden and his task force are considering reinstating the ban over assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, universal background checks for gun buyers establishing a national gun sale database, strengthening mental health checks.

Imposing stiffer penalties for carrying guns near schools or giving guns to minors. Wow, ideas, something to talk about. Forget that. Already NRA-backed lawmakers are shooting down the administration's approach. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. HEIDI HEITKAMP (D), NORTH DAKOTA: I think you need to put everything on the table but what I hear from the administration and if "The Washington Post" is to be believed that's way, way in extreme of what I think is necessary or even should be talked about. And it's not going to pass. See, that's the other thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: We're talking about this on the same day that James Holmes the accused aurora shooter appears in court, a painful reminder of why we're discussing gun laws right now.

A CNN/ORC poll taken after the Sandy Hook shootings, about two thirds supported new gun restrictions including a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons. Gun rights advocates don't like that either. So what kind of gun control might they favor?

As one lawmaker put it, nothing, if you call it gun control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE THOMPSON (D), CALIFORNIA: A lot of times when you talk about gun control, you turn off more than half of your audience. And this is more than just that. What we're doing is we're working to prevent gun violence. It's a very complicated issue and there's a lot of moving parts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK. So we'll bite. How do you prevent gun violence? Talk back question today, what if any new gun laws should be passed? Facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me.

The chairman of Google travels to North Korea on a trip not sanctioned by the U.S. government.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for being with us. We're approaching 30 minutes past the hour. Time to check the top stories.

The Palestinian Authority has chosen a new name for itself. In an attempt to bring rival groups together President Abbas issuing the decree rebranding the group as the State of Palestine. That's according to a news agency saying that the change is, quote, "a unique, new move to the path of national independence."

Senator Rand Paul is asking for privacy after his 19-year-old son William was charged with under aged drinking and disorderly conduct following an arrest. Authorities did not say if the younger Paul who is on a flight was drinking on the plane or at the airport.

And $9 billion of aid on the way to victims of Superstorm Sandy after President Obama signed a scaled back funding package in to law. A vote for additional $51 billion in aid is set for next Tuesday.

Less than three hours from now, President Obama is expected to name Chuck Hagel as his choice for Defense Secretary, but that nomination could be bruising. Hagel is known for being fiercely independent and the loudest outcry could come from his own fellow Republicans.

They say he's the wrong choice to oversee the military. The combat veteran badly wounded in Vietnam is openly wary of armed conflict and called for cuts in defense spending. So far, the response from lawmakers has been polarizing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: He delayed emergency funding for the troops in 2007. In 2008, he said it wasn't because of the troops' addition. When you add to his dangerous views on Iran and Hezbollah and hostility towards Israel, I think the Senate should oppose Mr. Hagel.