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CNN NEWSROOM

Obama's Policy Shaped by Terror Threat; Ex-FBI Chief to Probe Ray Rice Case; Should Roger Goodell Go?; Bieber Gets Booed, Drops Pants

Aired September 11, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama vowing to eliminate ISIS and outlined exactly how he'll achieve that goal in a speech to the American people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So tonight with a new Iraqi government in place and following consultations with allies abroad and Congress at home, I can announce that America will lead a broad coalition to roll back this terrorist threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The President says more than 150 air strikes have been launched to fight the terrorist group within Iraq, the country where just five years ago Mr. Obama announced the U.S. mission would be coming to a close.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Let me say this as plainly as I can. By August 31st, 2010 our combat mission in Iraq will end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh, but that was then.

Here to talk about it, Donna Brazile, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist; Larry Sabato, director of the Center of Politics at the University of Virginia; and Rich Galen is a Republican strategist. Welcome to all of you.

DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Good morning.

LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thanks Carol.

COSTELLO: So Donna, there's a bit of irony here. This president won election in part because of his anti-war stance. So, here we are. It's just kind of weird.

BRAZILE: No, I don't think so. Look, it's very important that the President laid out a comprehensive strategy to deal with this threat. He has been able to rally our allies, our NATO allies and others, including countries in the region. And that's going to be very important if this campaign is to be successful. We have to make sure that there are people in the region who are there with us to ensure that ISIL is eliminated as a threat, not just to the region, but to American interests all over the world including here at home.

COSTELLO: Rich, does the President have that coalition of the willing, as you might say?

RICH GALEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, he says -- I don't think it was exact at all. I mean it was a vague description of an unknown coalition with unnamed countries who the President said will get together and design a strategy to degrade and defeat ISIS, ISIL, IS -- whatever we call them. A strategy that says my strategy is to develop a strategy isn't a strategy.

Having said that though -- give me two seconds here -- the fact is that this business about demanding that our leaders stick to whatever they said six, eight, ten years ago in the face of changing conditions is crazy. I'd much rather have President Obama not admit anything, but acknowledge the fact that times have changed. I think that's healthy.

COSTELLO: Larry.

BRAZILE: Well, you know, we could also admit it was a mistake to go to Iraq in the first place.

GALEN: Well, that's a different issue. I'm defending your guy.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: I understand. I just wanted to make sure that you understood.

GALEN: Thank you, Donna. Appreciate you going back and --

COSTELLO: Well, I think this is a good time -- this is a good time to bring up that fiery exchange between John McCain and Jay Carney who was, of course, once the President's spokesperson and now he's CNN contributor. So listen to what transpired last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I was there in Syria. We knew them. Come on, you guys are the ones -- your boss is the one that when the entire national security team wanted to arm and train them that he turned them down, Mr. Carney, after --

JAY CARNEY, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Senator, I think we have to agree to disagree on this.

MCCAIN: The facts are stubborn things, Mr. Carney. That is, his entire national security team including his Secretary of State said we want to arm and train and equip these people. He made the unilateral decision to turn them down. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Of course, there's some truth to that, Larry. But let's talk about congressional support, support from lawmakers. President Obama said last night it would be nice to have some support. But after listening to that exchange, will he get any?

SABATO: Well, I don't think in this case Senator McCain is necessarily saying he wouldn't support it. In fact, he said he would support what the President decided to do. And from early indications, most Democrats and most Republicans are going to back him.

By the way, that's what the founders wanted. They wanted war powers shared between the President and congress. It's what the War Powers Act of 1973 says as well. So let's hope it happens.

But look, Carol, presidents do pirouettes all the time. I think Rich Galen is absolutely correct. You don't want to have a president so stuck to his prior positions that he can't change in the face of new information, new developments and also changing public opinion. The public changed its mind, too. So that's important to remember.

COSTELLO: It is important. Good point. But still I think the majority of Americans don't want boots on the ground. And it's hard to imagine winning the fight against ISIS without a military fighting them face-to-face, so to speak -- Donna.

(CROSSTALK)

BRAZILE: Well, it is a military on the ground. It's the Iraqi military that must be on the ground. It's making sure that the Kurds have the support that they need as they fight ISIL. It's ensuring that Saudi Arabia who agreed last night, I believe, when Secretary Kerry was there that they would provide training assistance. So we have to make sure as Rich said, and Rich I agree with you, we have to make sure that these allies come to the table with more than just rhetoric, but they bring troops, they bring training so the people on the ground are the people from the region because ISIL is a threat to the region as well.

GALEN: And part of the -- I think part of the very complex calculus that goes into this is that the countries, like the GCC countries, for example, have to provide -- if they're going to provide their boots on the ground, they have to be Sunni fighters as opposed to Shia fighters.

SABATO: I agree.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Donna Brazile, Larry Sabato, Rich Galen -- thanks so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

SABATO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a former FBI chief heading an investigation into what the NFL knew about the Ray Rice assault and when the league they knew it. We'll talk about that next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A former FBI director will now look into how the NFL investigated the Rice affair. Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner said he never saw the now infamous tape before he handed down Ray Rice's punishment. Not so fast, there are reports the NFL did have that tape. So what gives? CNN's Miguel Marquez has more for you.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The NFL tapping former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead an independent investigation looking into how the NFL handled evidence in the domestic violence case against Ray Rice. Mueller's probe will be overseen two NFL owners and will be made public.

The announcement comes hours after the Associated Press reported a law enforcement source told them the tape of Rice violently striking Janay Palmer was sent to an NFL executive five months ago.

In an interview with CBS News on Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell maintained the league never saw the video until it went viral on Monday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS NEWS: So did anyone in the NFL see this second videotape before Monday?

ROGER GOODELL, NFL COMMISSIONER: No.

O'DONNELL: No one in the NFL?

GOODELL: No one in the NFL to my knowledge.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: The AP says their source sent a DVD of the video unsolicited because he wanted them to see it before deciding on Rice's punishment. The AP also saying the source played a 12-second voice mail message that came from an NFL office number on April 9th confirming the video had arrived with a female voice saying "You're right, it's terrible."

The NFL issued a statement following the potential bombshell. "We have no knowledge of this. We are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it."

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti admitting they dropped the ball in handling the incident after seeing the initial video.

STEVE BISCIOTTI, OWNER, BALTIMORE RAVENS: I was picturing her wailing on him and him smacking her and maybe her head was this far from the wall and with her inebriation dropped. Why did I conclude all that? Because I wanted to, because I loved him, because he had a stellar record, and the cops had already seen the video. So I assumed it wasn't a forceful blow that moved her head three feet into that wall.

MARQUEZ: The league continues to insist that it reached out multiple times to police and the prosecutor's office for the video but couldn't get it. Yet Rice's own attorney had a copy. In a letter to NFL club executives on Wednesday, Goodell says it would have been illegal for the league to get the video from either law enforcement or the casino itself once a criminal investigation begins.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Miguel Marquez, thank you for that report.

Now this. You know I'm no fan of Stephen A. Smith. I called for his suspension when he talked about provocation in Ray Rice's assault on Janay Palmer. ESPN did eventually suspend him.

Well, now I think smith has gone out of bounds again with his attack on Terry O'Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women. The group is calling for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to step down. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN A. SMITH, ESPN: I'm sorry. I think this woman is off her rocker. I think she's lost her mind. That's right, I said it. This is the most ridiculous nonsense I've ever heard in my life. Roger Goodell deserves to loose his job because -- why are you acting like he's Ray Rice?

Roger Goodell did not hit Janay Palmer Rice. He hasn't hit any women. And by the way, last time I checked Skip, why are we talking about the NFL as if it's some cesspool for domestic violence. There's a few cases; it's being dealt with. It needs to be dealt with harshly, et cetera, et cetera.

There are 1,800 players in the NFL. By and large most acting like model citizens, never get in any kind of trouble. What the hell is this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right. We've got to wrap.

SMITH: Because this happens and he mishandled it, he's got to go? That's crazy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: She's just crazy. Terry O'Neill, you crazy lady -- you can respond to Stephen A. Smith. Terry joins me along with Rachel Nichols host of CNN's "UNGUARDED".

So Terry, respond to Stephen A. Smith.

TERRY O'NEILL, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN: You know, Carol, the reason that we have asked for Roger -- we are insisting that Roger Goodell must resign and we want a truly independent investigator with full authority and full power to do a top-to-bottom review of all of the domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking incidents within the NFL community.

There is clearly a systemic problem in the NFL. And we don't have answers. That's why we have asked for a fully empowered investigator. We would hope that the investigation would be far-reaching and would end up with real reform recommendations that will be implemented. The NFL needs to change its culture.

COSTELLO: So let's talk about that independent investigation because the NFL is setting up what it calls an independent investigation. But how independent is it really? Robert Mueller's law firm has done business with the NFL and two team owners are overseeing the probe. Rachel, isn't there a better person to head up this investigation?

RACHEL NICHOLS, CNN HOST: Well, unfortunately -- I agree it is a problem. And it does make you wonder about credibility which is, of course, the key issue here. You would hate to think there's anything that has impropriety.

We can't say for sure that Robert Mueller is not going to lead a clean investigation. It's a little unfair to just jump to that conclusion. That being said, wouldn't it be nice to have someone lead this investigation who didn't have ties to the league, whose firm didn't have ties to the league?

I was very concerned about by this idea that the investigation would be overseen by two NFL owners. John Mara and Mr. Rooney both have a stellar reputation so I'm not calling into doubt either of their character.

However, I want to read you a couple statements from Giants owner John Mara just yesterday. This is him talking about Roger Goodell. He says, "First of all", he said, "many of us were dissatisfied with the original two-game suspension of Ray Rice. We have all learned a valuable episode." So that is what you would want to hear from an NFL owner.

But he went on to say "The notion that the league should have gone around law enforcement to obtain the video is in my opinion misguided as is the notion that the commissioner's job is in jeopardy. The video is appalling. I do believe the team and the league took appropriate action after they finally had the opportunity to view it."

So this is the perspective of the owner who is overseeing the investigation. Again, I want to stress John Mara is a high character guy. I'm not assassinating his character. But it is disturbing when you have the appearance of impropriety in this way. And that's really been the issue the whole time, right? that we don't think that they've taken the proper attention and care with these cases.

COSTELLO: I want to go back for a second to Stephen A. Smith and Terry.

NICHOLS: Hey Terry, you're not crazy. I just want to put that out there.

O'NEILL: I don't know. Maybe asking for some accountability at the NFL, maybe that's crazy.

COSTELLO: I'm just intrigued because, you know, it's really not that controversial to call for Roger Goodell to step down in this case. Why do you think Stephen A. Smith is, you know, so upset about this at all?

O'NEILL: I don't have any idea, but I will say that what we -- when we started scratching the surface of this, when we saw the second video and how horrific it was, we started asking what in the world is going on over at the NFL. And what we found was dozens of domestic violence incidents. What we found was an indication that there really is a culture of violence against women, against the NFL and that on Roger Goodell's watch, these incidents have been treated as isolated incidents. Oh, this was just a random act, this was just isolated.

That's how they sweep it under the rug. They minimize, they deflect, and I think that what we're calling for is to take that curtain away and really look at the system and it's completely contrary to their whole practice of deflection and minimizing these issues.

NICHOLS: But Terry, you do have to be a little careful. Because when you look at the hard numbers, and there are numbers on this, the rate that NFL players commit domestic violence offenses and are arrested, which is really the only thing that we can look at, is about half of the general population, the rate of general population of males their age. So they're not committing these offenses more than the general population. In fact, they're committing them significantly less.

However, where there is a big concern to me when you look at that same raw data is that they're committing domestic violence at a disproportionate rate to other offenses like drugs or rape or some of the other things that get a higher headline. So that does then create this perception they have a domestic violence problem.

And the thing that creates that perception even more is how the league deals with it. Because if they're not taking domestic violence seriously, even if the NFL is not rife with domestic abusers which the numbers say it's just not, it doesn't send a great message to anyone if the league brushes it off.

COSTELLO: Something interesting I wanted to point out because the Baltimore Ravens play tonight -- right. Well, Rihanna is going to perform --

NICHOLS: The national anthem.

COSTELLO: I just find that interesting, Terry.

O'NEILL: Right, yes. I am one who thinks that victims of domestic violence have strategies for handling the situation that they find themselves in. Extricating yourself from a violent relationship takes strategy, it takes thoughtfulness, and it takes real care. Many women cannot extricate themselves safely.

COSTELLO: But don't you think Rihanna should maybe say something at the Ravens game? I mean I don't think she will because she hasn't -- she's said a couple of things, but she doesn't mention it very often, and she shouldn't because it's her personal business. But in light of all that's happened, wouldn't it be nice if she said something?

O'NEILL: You know, she's an artist; she is trying to create her own way in the world. And I just would not want to criticize her for doing that and not saying anything. I think the good news here is that we are all having this conversation. I think the national conversation needs to continue and we really need to take a look at -- and Rachel, you're absolutely right. It's a disproportionate issue. And by far the vast majority of men within the NFL are not committing domestic violence acts.

But when you don't treat it seriously, when you brush it under the rug, when you minimize it and say it's just a Ray Rice thing, you treat domestic violence as nothing more than an image problem and that propagates the problem.

NICHOLS: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: All right. Terry O'Neill, Rachel Nichols, thanks to both of you. I appreciate you being here with me.

You can watch "UNGUARDED" with Rachel Nichols, by the way, tomorrow night 10:30 Eastern right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Showbiz can be pretty hard to navigate. One thing is universally understood, if people start to boo you, it might be time to leave. Apparently Justin Bieber didn't get that memo.

Here is Jeanne Moos.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: What to do when you arrive on stage to boos. The boos for Justin Bieber at the telecast of "Fashion Rocks" were even louder from the back. Bieber didn't get embarrassed. He didn't get angry. What he got was undressed. With a tug at his boxer briefs, was Justin through? No.

JUSTIN BIEBER, SINGER: Is that better?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Somewhat. Thank you, Justin.

MOOS: When the shirt came off, the squeals of delight drowned out the boos. Then Bieber started to vamp, strike a pose, Hoda Kotb was in the audience.

HODA KOTB, TALK SHOW HOST: I felt bad for him. I really did because when you're sitting there and you're watching a kid get booed on stage --

KATHIE LEE GIFFORD: Why did he walk out with such a tall model?

KOTB: I know. He looked shrimpy. MOOS: But not everyone was booing Bieber. Get out the ear plugs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the heck. Oh my God.

MOOS: A fan barely able to control her camera all because, when booed Justin Bieber didn't just take it, he took it off.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I'm concerned about that young girl.

Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.

"@THIS HOUR WITH BERMAN AND MICHAELA" starts now.