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Three U.S. Lawmakers Traveled with Alan Gross; A Generational Split Between Older, Younger Cuban-Americans on Opening Up Cuba; Timing of Cuban Policy Significant; Awaiting Statement from Alan Grossman; Average Cubans Thrilled with New U.S./Cuban Relations; Interview with Sen. Tom Udall; Charlie Rangel in Cuba; Will Congress Slam Door on Obama's Cuba Policy?

Aired December 17, 2014 - 13:30   ET

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


WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: You're looking at live pictures from a law office here in Washington, D.C. You see the podium there, the American flags. Alan Gross is about to make a statement. I think his wife, Judy, will make a statement as well. They're going to be speaking out. They're back here in the United States. We'll listen in to hear what they say once they walk in there. This is their attorney's office. They've worked hard over these five years to get Alan Gross freed. He is a free man right now.

Let me bring in Ana Navarro who's joining us from Miami.

Ana, the polls show that the older generation of Cuban-Americans, especially in Little Havana in Miami, are fiercely opposed to this normalization of relations with the Castro regime, the Castro government in Cuba. But younger Cuban-Americans, those born here, maybe in their 30s and 40s, they're much more open to a normalization of relations. You live there in Miami. What do you think? Is that true that there's a generational split between older and younger Cuban-Americans?

ANA NAVARRO, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think there is a generational split, Wolf. I think it's a natural thing because the older Cuban-Americans felt the suffering in their own skin. That makes a difference. Even though there is a generational split, I don't think it's anywhere near the numbers that some people would like to portray. Evidence of that is that we don't have one single elected official statewide in Florida that is pro lifting sanctions. You have Senator Bill Nelson, the only Democrat, joining all the other Republicans in being against lifting sanctions on Cuba unilaterally. And the entire congressional delegation from south Florida is now also against sanctions. The one member that was for them was Joe Garcia and he was defeated in November.

I think what you're seeing now is frankly very cynical from President Obama. Part of the reason -- I think you were right when you said he's wanted to do this from day one. You're seeing him do it now because his elections are over and the 2014 elections in Florida that were at play are also over and the Senate went into adjournment yesterday, and I think this is exactly the right time for him to do it, where there's the least amount of legal repercussions. But good luck trying to get the funding for this stuff through the anti- sanction -- the pro-sanction forces in Congress.

BLITZER: But you know that it's not just all the Republicans. You just heard Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, he supports the president's decision to normalize relations and there are a whole bunch of other Republican Senators who agree. I suppose most of the Democrats, the two independents and the 44 other Democrats in the new Senate, they're going to be with the president on this. So I'm not exactly sure that Marco Rubio and those who are fiercely opposed to this improved relationship with Cuba are necessarily, correct me if I'm wrong --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- going to have the votes?

NAVARRO: The ones who oppose are in very strong positions. Marco Rubio's going to be the next chair of Western Hemisphere. Any ambassador that needs to be confirmed to Cuba, which is in the western hemisphere, would have to go through his subcommittee. Jeff Flake is going to be the number two. So there's a lot at stake about Marco Rubio being there. Bob Menendez is the ranking member on the entire committee of Foreign Relations. You have Mario Diaz-Balart on the Appropriations Committee. You have Speaker Boehner, who came out with a statement not too long ago saying this isn't the right time to lift sanctions, much less normalize relations with Cuba. If you look at and talk to Republican leadership in the Senate and the House -- I know where John Cornyn is on this and I know where Mitch McConnell is on this and where John Boehner is on this. This is not going to be an easy lift for President Obama.

BLITZER: He may have some support, though. The new incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Corker, of Tennessee, we'll be anxious to hear where he stands. But the word on the street is he's much more open to an improved relationship between the United States and Cuba than some of his other Republican colleagues.

Ana, stand by. We'll get back to you.

We're waiting to hear directly from Alan Gross. He's going to be speaking at this news conference. He's going to be making a statement. We think his wife, Judy, will make a statement as well. He's just back in Washington having spent five years in a Cuban jail. These are live pictures from that law office here in Washington, D.C. Alan Gross, we'll hear from him directly.

In the meantime, let's get more analysis on what's going on. Joining us, Senator Tom Udall --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- of Colorado, with us.

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: You know what, you're absolutely right. You have another Udall from Colorado. You're from New Mexico. Tom Udall is here. Donna Brazile is here. Our Democratic strategist who's with us as well.

Senator Udall, thanks for coming in.

You worked hard to get Alan Gross out of there. You were there. Tell us what it was like.

SEN. TOM UDALL, (D), NEW MEXICO: Well, I was there a little more than a month ago with Senator Flake. We spent two hours with Alan Gross. It was an engaging conversation. My sense is his condition was getting better. It seemed like something was up. We were at the point where it really seemed that the Cuban government was easing things in order to get to the point to do some behind-the-scenes negotiations. We felt very encouraged by what we saw. We didn't like the condition he was in. He'd lost a couple of teeth. His health wasn't great. But he was plugged into the rest of the world. He was on the Internet. He knew what was happening in Cuba. He knew what was happening in the United States. He's pretty amazing.

BLITZER: You met with Raul Castro, the president of Cuba, too.

UDALL: We didn't meet with Raul.

(CROSSTALK)

UDALL: We requested that. But we met with a number of officials. We met with the foreign minister and other officials. At every meeting, we said, this is the time to do this. And the next period after the election, until we get in a big presidential campaign, this is the window of opportunity. The president has seized that. And this is something that's great.

BLITZER: As you know, the Cubans were always saying, or at least they were hinting broadly, Alan Gross can be freed but they want these three remaining Cuban Five prisoners being held in the United States. They wanted that swap, if you will. And the U.S., for five years, for all practical purposes, President Obama refused to make that exchange.

UDALL: That's right. That's right, but --

BLITZER: You're OK with the swap?

UDALL: I think any of these things are messy but I think we should move on to normalization. Clearly, Alan Gross is back. Our intelligence source has been released. 65 or so political prisoners within Cuba have been released. There's something very good on our side. You talk to those families. They will tell you that that means something.

BLITZER: So you're OK with releasing the Cuban prisoners?

UDALL: I think we should move on from that and normalize relations and drop the embargo and move in a significant way.

BLITZER: Donna Brazile, you went to Havana and met with Alan Gross. I think you went with Congresswoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz at one point, didn't you? DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I went with Karen Bass, of

California. And former Congressman Jane Harman was also part of the delegation.

BLITZER: Wasn't Debbie Wassermann Schultz part of your delegation?

BRAZILE: No, she wasn't. She was on another delegation. But there have been so many Americans have gone down to Cuba to lobby for Alan Gross' release. We've gone down in the hopes that we can normalize relations with Cuba. It was a very important visit. I'm glad Alan is released. I'm actually joyful. This is a very blessed day. Alan suffered in prison. He lost a lot of weight. But he never lost his resiliency and his determination to come home. So I'm very happy for him and Judy today.

BLITZER: When you heard the news, Donna. You get emotional from time to time. You heard the word that Alan Gross is about to fly back to the United States with these U.S. lawmakers. Describe your immediate reaction.

BRAZILE: I jumped up and screamed. There hasn't been a night or weak that I have not personally lobbied people at the White House. They've been so great. We've met with members of Congress. Judy has called us and called us. When I went, I was with a friend, David Dreyer, who attends the same synagogue with Alan Gross and had a letter from his rabbi. David and I went together. We spent two hours. Alan kept telling us, we can do it, keep pressing. But I'm very joyful. This is the second day of Hanukkah. Another night for me to celebrate as well.

BLITZER: Festival of lights --

BRAZILE: Absolutely.

BLITZER: -- that the Jewish people celebrate all over the world.

BRAZILE: I'm very thrilled.

BLITZER: Gloria, the timing of this is significant. It comes, what, a month or so after the midterm elections. The president, his final two years, he doesn't have to worry about getting reelected, the politics of all this. The timing significant, because I think it's fair to say this deal probably could have been achieved a long time ago but maybe the politics stood in the way before the midterm elections.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, of course. I think also, as the president himself said, that he had to negotiate the return of Mr. Gross before he could do anything else. So that was a final impediment. But taking a step back for a moment, you had an election in November. This is a president who lost control of the Senate. But what has he done? Immigration reform through executive action, climate change, and now Cuba. And what this does, this is a president who's clearly looking towards a legacy he wants to leave, one way or another. If you're a Republican right now -- and we've heard Republicans coming

out there today including the speaker of the House, who called the president's negotiations full of mindless concessions. You've, of course, spoken with Marco Rubio and the rest of you -- if you talk to Republicans, this plays into two things. One is the notion of the imperial presidency, trying to do things without Congress which, by the way, he is.

And secondly, to the president, the question of whether the president shows weakness in face of the bad guys. These are the bad guys. This is the president, who when he first ran for the presidency said, I want to talk to the Iranians, I want to try and normalize relations with Cuba. He's been out there for this entire time. But it will play into a narrative in the 2016 election. And it will also affect Hillary Clinton. You set up this disparity between Hillary Clinton, secretary of state to Barack Obama, versus potentially Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio. We see that today.

BLITZER: Stand by. Everybody stand by. Gloria, Donna, Senator Tom Udall, stand by for a moment.

(LAUGHTER)

We're going to continue our special coverage. We're waiting to hear from Alan Gross. There's a live picture coming from his law offices. His lawyer's office right here in Washington, D.C. We'll hear from him right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're standing by. Looks like they're getting closer to the start of this statement, the statement that Alan Gross, who was in a Cuban jail for more than five years, now back in the United States, an American contractor who had gone to Havana more than five years ago, wanted to provide some Internet access for the tiny Jewish community in Havana. Was picked up by Cuban authorities, arrested, convicted, spent five-years-plus in a Cuban jail. Has now been released.

In exchange, the U.S. has released three Cuban prisoners, part of the Cuban Five. Two of the others were released earlier. They're back in Cuba. The U.S. also got a Cuban citizen who had been a U.S. intelligence source, a spy for the United States. He was arrested 20 years ago in Cuba. Spent the last 20 years in a Cuban jail. He is now a free man here in the United States. The director of National Intelligence here in the U.S. issuing a strong statement welcoming this U.S. spy's return to the United States.

Let's go to Havana as we await Alan Gross. Patrick Oppmann is our man on the scene. Alina Machado is in Little Havana, a section of Miami.

Patrick, first to you.

A lot of excitement, I think. What you're seeing is average Cubans on the streets of Havana. From what you can see, are pretty thrilled about this move towards normalizing U.S./Cuban relations. PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. This is something

that people have waited sometimes their whole lives for. They want to be closer to the United States. Many have relatives, particularly in south Florida, who they're not able to see, not able to be in communication with regularly. So there's a hope this will change that. They only learned about this about two hours ago, noon local time, when Raul Castro came on air here, obviously, very unexpected announcement and commended the U.S. president for these negotiations.

Very conciliatory language, complimentary language we've never heard from a Cuban leader towards a sitting U.S. leader, just remarkable to hear Raul Castro speaking well of President Obama. Then he talked about a normalizing of relations. And we were with regular Cubans when that happened, people in their home, happened to hear that they had the TV on. And they were completely surprised. They had no advanced warning of this. And they started crying, broke down in tears. Most people were born after the Cuban revolution here. They've never known anything but animosity between the U.S. and Cuba. They've never known anything but the U.S. embargo towards Cuba. Any hope at all that that could change is incredibly significant. Historic day here, Wolf, as a glimmer of hope.

BLITZER: Certainly is.

Patrick Oppmann is the only U.S. television correspondent reporting from Havana right now.

Patrick, stand by.

Alina Machado is in Little Havana, a section of Miami. A lot of Cuban-Americans live there.

What's been the reaction there, Alina?

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First, I want to set the scene to get a sense of what's going on here. We're on Eighth Street in Little Havana in Miami. There's a police presence here. People are slowing down, honking their horns, kind of showing their response to the fact that change is on the way.

Here at Versailles, we've been talking to people all day. If you come over here, you will actually find a small but vocal group of protesters. This man over here, let's see if we can show you the sign he has. He's been very adamant about his position showing that he is upset, he is disappointed, he is angered by President Obama's announcement today.

Now, that is what we've been hearing most of the day from most of the people here. And that is particularly the case when we're talking about the older generation of Cubans, the people who came here in the '50s and the '60s. People like, my parents, who lived through the transition in Cuba and then left the island because of political persecution and other things that happened. That group is very vocal, very upset about the talk of any change.

Then you have the younger generation of Cubans that we've been talking to here and there. They're not out here as much as the older generation. They say maybe change isn't that bad.

So you see the generational divide when it comes to the opinion of what is coming and whether it's a good thing or not -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Stand by, Alina, Patrick Oppmann.

Once again, we're awaiting Alan Gross. We expect him to be making a statement momentarily now. You're looking at live pictures coming in from the law office, his attorney's Washington office. He's going to be making a statement. He flew from Havana on a U.S. jet together with two U.S. Senators, one U.S. representative. They arrived at Joint Base Andrews outside of Washington, D.C., and have been whisked to this office. He's together with his wife, Judy. We're anxious to hear what he says now that he's back in the United States.

Senator Tom Udall, of New Mexico, is with us.

We just got a statement from your Republican colleague, Bob Corker, of Tennessee. He's going to be the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 54 Republicans in the next U.S. Senate, the majority. There's going to be 46 Democrats. 44 Democrats, two Independents that caucus with the Democrats.

A careful statement. Let me read it to you, Senator Udall.

"This morning" -- this is Senator Corker -- "I was notified of the release of Gross. I'm pleased he'll be reunited with his family after suffering unjust imprisonment and mistreatment by the Castro regime. The new U.S. policy is no doubt sweeping and as of now there's no real understanding as to what changes the Cuban government is prepared to make. We will be closely examining the implications of these major policy changes in the next Congress."

So it's a pretty cautious statement from the incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Certainly not very critical, as Marco Rubio's statement was. Certainly not very supportive, as Senator Patrick Leahy's or your statement was. But pretty cautious.

UDALL: My sense is Senator Corker -- I've been on the committee a couple years now. Very, very thoughtful. He really thinks through issues. He doesn't react in a negative way to things right off the bat. He thinks through.

The other thing about this is that he seems to be open for people to make the case. I think that is something very hopeful for this.

I remember when I was in the House with Jeff Flake and we voted on an appropriations bill to ban, to drop the ban on travel, we had the votes. It was a big vote. President Bush told us he would veto the bill and we had to take it out. So we had the votes in the House to do something that was pretty extensive like this.

I think if we address the case and focus on what's at issue here, it's freedom and democracy, the American people being the best ambassadors to go down there and represent this country. That is really what's at issue. I think if people understand that, they're going to realize that there's a lot of very hopeful things that can flow out this.

BLITZER: You are pretty happy about this.

As we await Alan Gross, I want to go back to Havana. Charlie Rangel, the Democrat, is in Havana right now.

Coincident you're there, Congressman. Why are you in Havana right now?

REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: I was here with a medical association to exchange advancements that have been made here in relation to the treatment of diabetes. I was here with other members of Congress and we've been concerned about normalization, and they said don't talk about it, something is going to happen. But I have never been more proud of being an American. The Cuban people are dancing in the street. And so many members of Congress and Americans are proud of the president for taking this historic position.

BLITZER: What do you say to those lawmakers, your colleagues, not all Republicans, some Democrats, who think the United States should not make these kinds of concessions to what they describe as this brutal repressive regime in Havana?

RANGEL: You know, we're doing business with Vietnam. We're doing business with China. And certainly we don't have the same standards there. I know as it relates to the fight on terrorism, this solidifies people in our hemisphere. It appears that it appears the president of Cuba had more respect for our president than he did.

And in any event, we're moving forward. It's all good. It's all positive. And people will be speaking from the streets of Havana, New York, and California and Miami. And I think that's the best cure for the relationship that's been so poor in the last half a century.

BLITZER: While you're there, I know that you got a crazy schedule, are you going to have a chance to meet with the Cuban president, Congressman?

RANGEL: No. No. No. I met with people from the administration, but I haven't met with the president. It's not on my schedule to meet with him. I have in the past. I think this is the day for President Castro and President Obama to explain to the American people how this is so important for our countries, for our hemisphere and the crisis in the middle east at least this part of the world will be working more closely together. It's a great thing for our exports, for our farmers, for our scientists. It's a great day for all Americans in this hemisphere.

BLITZER: All right, Charlie Rangel is a happy guy today in Havana.

Congressman Rangel, thanks very much for joining us.

RANGEL: Thank you.

BLITZER: Have a safe flight back to the United States.

Let's get some reaction.

Gloria, this has been a tough decision for the president. As we say, he wanted to do this normalization of relations with Cuba for a long time but he's been blocked repeatedly in the last five years by the Alan Gross imprisonment, if you will. I think it's fair to say he was hoping and it may turn out to be true that one of his legacies would be that he opened the door in the normalization of relations, which earlier presidents wanted to do and he managed to achieve.

BORGER: He opened the door today, Wolf. The question is whether Congress is going to slam it back in his face. I would like to know what you guys think about this. Congress has to approve the funding for example, for any kind of embassy there. Congress itself has to vote to lift the embargo. You're going to have Republican control of the Congress.

And although, while this doesn't fall along Democratic/Republican lines totally, you have Chairman Menendez complaining about what the president did. I would argue the White House shouldn't be optimistic about what it can get done with this Republican Congress.

BLITZER: Hold on one second.

I got Jake Tapper, who is over there at the news conference where we're waiting to hear from Alan Gross. Jake is joining us on the phone.

Jake, set the scene.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We just heard from a family spokeswoman from the Gross family giving us details about what happened exactly today. Alan Gross was in prison, on the phone with his attorney, Scott Gilbert, yesterday morning when he was told he was going to be released from prison. We're told that that was followed by a long silent pause from Mr. Gross and then he said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

But this morning, at Andrews Joint Air Base, his wife, Judy, his attorney, Scott Gilbert, and Senators Flake and Leahy got on a plane to Havana, Cuba. They landed. They found Alan Gross there. They spent about 30 minutes on the ground. We're told that coincidentally while he was visiting with the members of Congress -- I'm sorry. That's later. That's when he landed on Air Force. He gets on the plane, and on the plane is awaiting him a big bowl of popcorn. That's one of the things he's said to have longed for in more than five years of captivity.

As well as a corn beef on rye with mustard was waiting for him and some potato pancakes for Hanukkah, with applesauce and sour cream. At 8:45 in the morning, roughly, the pilot announced they were leaving Cuban airspace, at which point -- actually, I'm being told Alan Gross is coming out right now, Wolf, so I'm going to get off the phone.

BLITZER: All right.

So this is the news conference. Alan Gross, clearly a very happy man, reunited with his family, his wife, Judy, his daughters. He's from Rockville, Maryland, outside of Washington, D.C. Had been a U.S. government employee and worked for the Agency for International Development. Went to Havana in 2009, went there to try to help the tiny Jewish community in Havana get some Internet access, if you will, on a trade mission -- on various missions over the years since then, while he was arrested and then convicted of crimes against the Cuban government. Many people had gone there to try to bring him out, but it has finally happened. He's now a free man.

Here he comes with his wife, Judy.