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ISIS Circles Kurd Fighters, Sets Off Bombs; Lewinsky: I'm "Patient Zero" For Cyberbullying; Holder Hits Back At Criticism Of Obama; Hannah Graham Suspect Indicted On 2005 Sex Assault

Aired October 20, 2014 - 15:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN. Bottom of the hour, I'm Brooke Baldwin. ISIS fighters have today made this fierce push to grab new territory carrying out some 50 nearly simultaneous attacks on Kurdish forces in Iraq.

I spoke with a reporter who traveled to the front lines to both Syria and Iraq just a couple of weeks ago. She herself is Kurdish. Navigating this dangerous region averting militant landmines and IEDs rigged along desert roads.

And what she found in her journey to find these Kurdish fighters battling face to face with ISIS was startling. Here's our interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Joining us now, Khazar Fatemi, she is a Kurdish reporter based there in Stockholm, Sweden. She traveled to Iraq and Syria recently just to profile these ethnic fighters on the frontlines, many of whom are women. I want you to watch this part of her revealing report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHAZAR FATEMI, JOURNALIST AND FILMMAKER, QUASAR PRODUCTIONS: I have been following the Kurdish women fighters for some years now, but they've been fighting at the frontlines for more than 30 years. They have been fighting for their rights in the Kurdish areas in Iran, Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Tamara has been fighting for the Kurdish guerilla, PKK, for over ten years now. This time, I meet them. They are not fighting a government, but extremely group, ISIS, in the Kurdish parts of Iraq. Even though, they are simply armed, they're determined to stay and fight and prevent ISIS from getting to the old city of Kirkuk.

And before it's time to change to the next group, they write down their thoughts. We have been present when history is written but not mentioned. This time we will be mentioned and seen, one of 40 million Kurds throughout the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And Khazar now joins me from Stockholm. Khazar, thank you so much for joining me. Absolutely phenomenal reporting there.

FATEMI: Thank you.

BALDWIN: So here's what I want to begin with. I'm wondering, what surprised you more? That so many of these fighters are women or that they are coming together all these different nationalities and they seemed to be united and almost liberated in battle?

FATEMI: I would say both. I'm Kurdish and I've heard these stories. I've heard a lot of women do go to battle but still I was surprised. You're not used to seeing women with uniform with a gun.

BALDWIN: What is their motivation to leave their homes, leave their families, and fight?

FATEMI: I would say their motivation is something we take for granted to be equal, to have the right to speak your mind, to do what you want to do to become what you want to become, those simple things motivates them.

And because they have this background by not being able to do this and when they joined the guerrillas they feel equalness and they want to fight even more for it.

BALDWIN: But the sense of inequality is something I imagine they are accustomed to given this part of the world and the culture from which they come. My question then would be since they are also fighting alongside a lot of men from this part of the world, how do the men receive these women?

FATEMI: I felt like they were even proud. They proud that the women were among and very often they said they would fight even harder than us. When a fellow gets injured, it's almost always the woman who is the first one on spot to help.

BALDWIN: A lot of these female fighters are actually taking the time to chronicle their roles in this war in their journals and diaries. Did they share any of that with you?

FATEMI: They were writing about things they miss. They were writing about their dreams. What they did exactly that day. The friends they lost in the battle, about what gives them courage. I mean, they all knew about what happened to the Yazidi people and they wrote that as something they would like to fight for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Khazar Fatemi speaking with me from Stockholm, Sweden. There was a much longer interview. You can watch the whole thing, go to cnn.com/brooke.

Coming up next, skeletal remains recently discovered near Charlottesville, Virginia, where search teams have been looking for missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham. Could this be her or someone else? We'll talk live to a forensic pathologist about what exactly was found and how police will determine who this is. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: The newest name in social networking today is Monica Lewinsky. The woman who is the most famous White House intern just joined Twitter. In fact, here's Monica Lewinsky's first tweet.

"Just three short words. Hashtag, here we go." Let's talk about this with CNN digital, Kelly Wallace, who also covered D.C. for a little while. Thank you for wearing several hats for us today. Let's begin with -- what was her -- here we go. What was that supposed to mean?

KELLY WALLACE, CNN DIGITAL CORRESPONDENT: Here we go. She's plunging. Here I am on Twitter. She's been quiet for the most part for ten plus years. Now she's putting herself out there on Twitter. What she also said after that. Her second tweet, "Was very excited to speak at this "Forbes" under 30 summit for millennials" and she made some big news.

BALDWIN: Let's talk about that.

WALLACE: She basically said she's going to devote her life to trying to end the cyberbullying and online shaming that really kind of damaged her. Let me just read a couple of things of what she said during the speech in Philadelphia.

She said, quote, "I was patient zero. The first person to have their reputation completely destroyed worldwide via the internet." And she went on to say, "Staring at the computer screen, I spent the day shouting, my God, and I can't believe they put that in or that so out of context," she said.

"And those were the only thoughts that interrupted a relentless mantra in my head I want to die." I mean, it's pretty powerful hearing that from her as someone who says, you know what, now I'm going to try to devote my life to trying to bring an end to this thing, this action that is very damaging to so many people.

BALDWIN: I mean, that whole story broke, that was like, pre-Twitter, pre-Facebook. Can you imagine what that would have looked like at the time had that existed?

WALLACE: Exactly. You know, we were talking about it. I was just talking about it with one of your producers. Why is she doing this and why now, right? I mean, a little bit.

BALDWIN: We saw her "Vanity Fair" this year.

WALLACE: Yes, and that she's trying to talk a little bit about what happened. This is in one way putting my cynical hat on, it's one way to rehabilitate her image and sort of change her brand, but it's also, Brooke, a pretty brave thing to do to put herself out there.

She's going to be ridiculed all day. People are going to be saying give me a break. I think I'm one of the people who said, you know what, if you want to devote your life to this important issue, go for it. BALDWIN: Go girl. Kelly Wallace, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, President Obama started out with the Democrats in the majority in the House and Senate. First Democrats lost the House and now might they lose the Senate?

Hello. Two weeks to go, midterm elections. Here's the president in early voting today. How can he rescue the Senate? S.E. Cupp and Donna Brazile debate next.

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BALDWIN: Eric Holder on his way out as attorney general is sticking up for the boss. Holder just told our justice correspondent, Evan Perez that, no, Barack Obama is not indecisive as portrayed in a recent book by a former cabinet member, but rather cautious and then decisive. Here's Eric Holder with Evan Perez.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There was really strong criticism recently from Leon Panetta who led the CIA and the Pentagon. He called into question the president's ability to make decisions especially on Syria. You were in some of those meetings. Did you see an indecisive president? How do you feel about the criticism that's been made?

ERIC HOLDER, ATTORNEY GENERAL: I have to disagree with his characterization of the president. The president is a deliberate person in an appropriate way. He's also resolute. Once he makes up his mind. I think that what Leon said in the book is unfortunate.

Frankly, I don't think it's something that a former cabinet member should do while the president you serve is still in office. That's not something that I would even consider doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So a little swipe there at Leon Panetta, a former Obama defense chief whose book describes Obama as more than a little wishy washy and deferring to other nations on some of the world's thorniest issues.

So Democratic strategist, Donna Brazile is with me as is political commentator, S.E. Cupp. Ladies, welcome. Donna Brazile, Barack Obama, cautious or indecisive?

DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think he's deliberate. He has so much in is inbox, so much on his plate. I think he's disposed of many issues whether it's making sure that our financial sector came back from the brink, working to ensure that consumers can get loans for housing and of course, the two wars. I think he's been very decisive.

Look, I haven't been able to read the entire book. It's 512 pages. I have a lot of other books on my shelf right now. I skimmed through it. There are some great stories that I think Leon Panetta talks about. The president is deliberate. He assembled a team of rivals because, you know what, he wanted to hit different points of view.

BALDWIN: S.E. the word, just going back to what Donna said initially deliberate describing the president. But isn't there also such a thing as being too cautious and too deliberate when it comes to an issue such as the war in Syria?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. I mean, Eric Holder's admiration for his friend, President Obama, is clear and it's adorable. It's not really -- it doesn't really reflect reality. The reality of the situation if you talk to Democrats in his administration, Democrats on the campaign trail, Democrats in congress, Democratic strategists, they have all complained privately and publicly that the president has waited too long on any number of crises and failures.

Whether it was the VA crisis, the Obamacare roll out, the IRS scandal, the Secret Service, ISIS, Ebola, they have all complained that he hasn't acted decisively or soon enough and public polling, public perception of President Obama doesn't reflect that either.

Public perception of the president is that he has waited too long and he's not come out strongly enough. It's just not the reality.

BRAZILE: He doesn't shoot from the hip. He's not shooting from the hip unless he's playing basketball or maybe swinging a golf club. He is someone who likes to hear from different people. These are weighty issues. You can't just go in there and arm one faction and come out the next day and that same faction is shooting at you.

I think his style while it may be discomforting for some people, I actually like the fact that he is deliberate. That he is thinking about this and that he's able to listen to people, like S.E. listen to me, he's listens a range of views from all across the spectrum.

Read the entire book. I read only half of it. It's really good. Many of these crucial decisions including the risk that the country took and he took as well and captured and bringing Bin Laden to justice, that was tough.

CUPP: We know. There are --

BALDWIN: One voice. Let me be one voice for people here because people will write I would love to hear both of your opinions. You have Bob Gates, Hillary Clinton and now Leon Panetta writing about the boss and the boss is still in office. I'm curious your take on the fact that people are writing these memoirs with the boss still at the White House.

BRAZILE: I guess they're trying to get maximum exposure to sell their books. But the truth is that, you know what, the three people you mentioned. They are very serious, great public servants. And you know what? So what? CUPP: Well, I think President Obama probably feels a little bit differently than "so what." I think there are some legacy predicting going on. You know, the president can say, maybe we made some mistakes in foreign policy, but when it came to Obamacare or the economy, look at what we did.

Leon Panetta can't really say this is what Leon Panetta did. I think he wants to be clear on the foreign policy decisions he wanted to make that were not listened to.

And I also think he was pretty frustrated, as was Bob Gates, as you could tell, that some of these foreign policy decisions were being made from a political point of view. And I think he greatly disagreed with where some of that reasoning was coming from and wanted to express that.

BRAZILE: S.E., Leon Panetta left the Nixon administration because he thought President Nixon was too lax on civil rights enforcement. He criticized Bill Clinton because he thought Bill Clinton wasn't acting fast enough on the deficit.

Leon Panetta is a former member of Congress, CIA director, great public servant. I disagree with some of the things he said, but you know what, it's a good read. I need to read the rest of it as soon as the election is over with when the Democrats retain control of the Senate. I had to get that one in.

BALDWIN: Nice, nice, Donna Brazile. Let's save that for another conversation. News flash, yes, midterms, two weeks away. Let's talk about that tomorrow. S.E. Cupp and Donna Brazile, thanks for coming in. We'll all read the book.

Coming up next, breaking news, the main suspect in the disappearance of missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham is indicted for a rape in Virginia, this as skeletal remains were just found over the weekend in the Charlottesville area. That's coming up.

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BALDWIN: Breaking news here, an indictment against Jesse Matthew, the prime suspect in the disappearance of missing University of Virginia student, Hannah Graham here. This is coming from Fairfax police. They will be announcing in the next hour his indictment on charges related to three, three separate sexual assault counts including abduction and rape back in 2005.

This happening mere days after investigators came across human remains in the search for this missing University of Virginia student. They found a skull and scattered bones just off of a road in a dried-up creek bed in Charlottesville, Virginia, the location behind an abandoned home.

Significant as the exposed bones were just eight miles from where Graham was last seen, four miles from where this suspect, Jesse Matthew, once lived, and five miles from where Morgan Harrington's body was found. She was the Virginia Tech student whose death is also now linked forensically DNA to Matthew. Here was the officer who made the discovery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I do believe god wanted us to find what we found. I don't know how else to explain it other than something inside me told me, just continue to look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Sergeant Dale Terry goes on to describe the remains, no hair, no flesh, just bonus intact along with a pair of tight dark- colored pants. Terry described the vertebrae bone as long and consistent with that of someone who would be tall.

Let me bring in very well know forensic pathologist, Dr. Cyril Wecht. Dr. Wecht, nice to have you on.

DR. CYRIL WECHT, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Let just begin with the big question and to be just incredibly delicate about this, this wasn't a body, it was bones. When we talk about as she has been in the headlines, Hannah Graham missing for some 30-plus days, is it possible a body could decompose in that short amount of time?

WECHT: Yes, given the temperature, the overall environment in which the body was found and she has been missing for about five weeks, I believe that skeletonization could have well occurred. You have the body exposed to the elements.

You've got everything that goes with a wooded area including the possibility of animal activity. I don't want to get into more detail than that. But this is not a body inside a house.

It's an exposed body. So, yes, considering all of those factors, then you can have skeletal remains such as has been described in this case.

BALDWIN: What about, Dr. Wecht, dental records? How quickly will investigators be able to identify the skeleton?

WECHT: Identification could possibly have already been made as we speak. If they obtained Hannah Graham's dental records and they had an opportunity to present those to a forensic odontologist, then the match could have already been made, assuming the availability of such an expert.

And that correlated with the forensic anthropological examination of the skull bones namely, is it consistent with that of a Caucasian female of this age group and so on. I think it is quite conceivable the identification has been made although they won't be divulging that for a while.

So I think that we shall have a definite determination made quite shortly whether it is or is not Hannah Graham, considering the sensitivity of the situation, the great pathos involved with the parents and close relatives and friends of this young lady, I'm sure they will want to know whether or not there is closure.

So I think that they're going to act quickly and that determination will be made in a forensic scientific fashion with no conjecture. DNA can be accomplished, too, if there are cellular elements in some of the bones. That will take a couple or few days. I do not believe they will get any DNA evidence on the skeletal remains to tie in the alleged assailant.

BALDWIN: Doctor Wecht, we're about to lose your satellite. I have to cut you off. Thank you so much for coming on. Again, if it's not Hannah Graham, it is someone else's son or daughter.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for being with me. I'll be back tomorrow. "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts now.