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Obama Speech on Clean Power Plan; Jury May Be Closer to Putting James Holmes to Death; Raging Wildfires Cause Evacuations in California. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired August 3, 2015 - 14:30   ET

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


[14:30:00] BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They will claim this plan is a war on coal to scare voters, even as they ignore my plan to actually invest in revitalizing coal country and supporting health care and refinement for coal miners and their families and retraining their workers for better paying jobs and healthier jobs. Communities across the country have been losing coal jobs for decades. I want to work with Congress to help them. Not to use them as a political football. Partisan press releases are not going to help those families. Even more cynical, we've got critics of this plan who are actually claiming that this harms minority low-income communities even though climate change hurts those Americans the most. We're the most vulnerable. Today, an African-American child is more than twice than likely to be hospitalized from asthma and 40 percent more likely to die from asthma. So if you care about low-income minority communities, start protecting the air that they breathe and stop trying to rob them of their health care.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And we can also expand Medicaid in your states, by the way.

(LAUGHTER)

Here's the thing. We've heard these same stale arguments before. Every time America has made progress, it's been despite these kinds of claims. Whenever America has set clear rules for our air, our water, our children's health, we get the same scary stories about killing jobs and businesses and freedom. It's true.

I'm going to go off script here just for a second.

(LAUGHTER)

Because this is important. Because sometimes I think we feel as if there is nothing we can do. Tomorrow is my birthday.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: So I'm starting to reflect on age and in thinking about what we were doing here today, I was reminded about landing in Los Angeles to attend a college as a freshman, as an 18-year-old. And it was late August. I was moving from Hawaii. And I got to the campus and I decided -- a lot of pent up energy. I wanted to take a run. And after about five minutes, suddenly I had this weird feeling like I couldn't breathe. And the reason was, back in 1979, Los Angeles still was so full of smog that there were days where people who were vulnerable just could not go outside and they were fairly frequent. And folks who are older than me can remember, you know, the Cuyahoga River burning because of pollution. And acid rain, threatening to destroy all of the great forests of the northeast. And you fast forward 34 years later and we solved those problems. But at the time, the same characters who are going to be criticizing this plan were saying, this is going to kill jobs. This is going to destroy businesses. This is going to hurt low-income people. It's going to be wildly expensive. And each time, they were wrong. And because we pushed through, despite those scaremongering tactics, you can actually run in Los Angeles without choking. And folks can actually take a boat out on that river. And those forests are there. So we've got to learn lessons. We've got to know our history.

[14:35:15] The kinds of criticisms that you're going to hear are simply excuses for an action. They are not even good business sense. They underestimate American business and American ingenuity. When President Nixon decided to do something about the smog that was choking our cities, they warned that it would ruin the auto industry. It didn't happen. Our air got cleaner. In 1990, when Republican President George H.W. Bush decided to do something about acid rains, said electricity bills would go up, lights would go off, it didn't happen. It costs much less than anybody expected because businesses once incentivized were able to figure it out. When we restricted leaded fuel in our cars, cancer-causing chemicals in plastic, it didn't end the oil industry or plastics industry. American chemists came up with better substances. The fuel standards we put in place did not cripple the American auto industry. They retooled. Today, they are selling the best cars in the world at a faster pace than they have in a decade, they have high-fuel efficient cars, giving consumers more choices more than before and saving families at the pump. We can figure this stuff out as long as we're not lazy about it. As long as we don't take the path of least resistance. Scientists, citizens, workers, entrepreneurs, together, as Americans, we disrupt those stale old debates, upend old ways of thinking. We're inventing new technologies, whole new industries. We're not looking backwards. We're looking forward. And if we don't do it, nobody will. The only reason that China is now looking at getting serious about its emissions is because they saw that we were going to do it, too. When the world faces its toughest challenges, America leads the way forward. And that's what this plan is about.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Now, I don't want to -- I don't want to fool you here. This is going to be hard, dealing with climate change in its entirety. It's challenging. No single action, no single country will change the warming of the planet on it is own. But today, with America leading the way, countries representing 70 percent of the carbon pollution from the world's energy sector have announced plans to cut their greenhouse gas emissions. In December, with America leading the way, we have a chance to put in place one of the most ambitious international climate agreements. It's easy to be cynical. It's too big for humanity to solve. I am absolutely convinced that is wrong. We can solve this thing but we have to get going. It's exactly the kind of challenge that's big enough to remind us that we're all in this together.

Last month, for the first time since 1972, NASA released a single snapshot of the earth taken from outer space. So much has changed in the decades between the first and second picture. Borders have shifted, generations have come and gone. Our population has nearly doubled. But one thing that hasn't changed, our planet is as beautiful as ever. It still looks blue. And it is vast. But also it's fragile. As miraculous as anything in this universe. This blue marble belongs to all of us. It belongs to these kids who are here.

[14:40:00] There are more than seven billion people alive today. No matter what country they are from, what language they speak, every one of them can look at this image and say that's my home. The generation to heal from climate change, and we're the last generation that can do something about it. We only get one home. We've only get one planet. There's no Plan B. I don't want my grandkids not to be able to swim in Hawaii or not to be able to climb a mountain. I don't want millions of people's lives disrupted and this world more dangerous because we didn't do something about it. It would be shameful of us. This is our moment to get this right, do something better for our kids. Let's make the most of that opportunity.

Thank you, everybody. God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: God bless the United States of America. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: This is one of those Obama legacies, climate change. The president speaking there at the White House, unveiling his America's Clean Power Plan. He said, "This is the single most important step the U.S. has made in the fight against climate change." Got a huge applause, but ultimately, he took a swipe at the criticism that has already existed, referencing back, giving L.A. smog as an example and saying essentially the critics he's heard before called them scaremongering tactics, excuses for inaction.

Let's unpack this, though, and talk about the politics of climate change. I have Dan Pfeiffer with me, the president's senior advisor and now a CNN political commentator. And Nick Loris joins us as well, an economist who focuses specifically on energy and environmental issues at the Heritage Foundation.

Gentlemen, welcome to both of you.

Dan Pfeiffer, let's talk about your former boss.

Here he was. Legacy issue and even when the president started speaking, he was talking about the economy and bringing troops home, diplomacy and now, of course, climate change. My question to you, why now? Why is he tackling climate change now?

DAN PFEIFFER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this -- what he announced today is the end result of not just months but years of work on not just this regulation but on a series of steps he's taken with the executive authority to get with the climate change. He has said to all of us that he did not -- he has done everything in his power to deal with the issue of climate change. He used it as a moral issue, a climate issue, a national security issue.

BALDWIN: The Democrats have responded, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley, those who want to be president, they are hailing this effort. But then you have the Republicans who are already criticizing it.

Nick, I'll come to you in a second.

You have Marco Rubio saying this will increase cost of electricity, specifically pointing out, if you live in Tampa, your bill would go up $30 a month. Calling it catastrophic. Ted Cruz is saying that they are cooking the books.

Nick, I hear you laughing but this is your area of expertise. Where are the Republicans getting their number? Set me straight?

NICOLAS LORIS, ECONOMIST, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I think it's conventional wisdom when 80 percent of our needs are met through carbon-emitting conventional fuels, such as oil, natural gas and coal. You're going to have higher energy prices when you restrict the output of those sources of energy. And it has very big ripple effects because energy is necessary for just about everything we make and do. So it's not just when your energy bill comes in the mail or you fill up your gas tank, it's through all of the goods and services that we pay for and that's why it had a ripple effect where higher prices destroy a lot of jobs and cause a lot of families to lose income.

BALDWIN: What about the president's point about, you know, technology evolving and saying we need to know our history and there's no excuse for inaction? How do you respond to that, Nick?

LORIS: I think we can have markets above and a free market policy that rewards innovation and competition and will ultimately provide the affordable and reliable energy that American families and businesses need. But this plan is restricting those energy choices that's artificially driving up energy prices and, most importantly, it's not going to have a huge impact on global temperatures. No matter what your position on climate change, you're talking about a few hundredths of a degree change in Celsius over the next century as a result of these regulations. In my opinion, it's all economic pain and no climate benefit whatsoever.

BALDWIN: Dan, can you respond to that?

[14:45:00] PFEIFFER: Sure. I think, as the president laid out, this is ultimately going to save people money. It's going to shift us to cheaper renewable technology. It's the right thing to do. Nicolas here, he has a commonsense approach from the other side but from all of the Republican candidates that you quoted, they don't believe it's real or it is real and we have nothing to do with it or it's happening but there is nothing that we can do about it. We can do something right now that is going to make us more energy secure, deal with public energy concerns, deal with national security. So we can do it. And the problem is, it's hard to have a debate with Republicans when they refuse to accept what is clear, decided science that the flap net is warming and that's because of human activity.

BALDWIN: Nick, you know the science. Are these Republicans candidates off on this?

LORIS: I won't speak for all of the candidates. I think it's obvious that greenhouse gas emissions are contributing to warming but we haven't seen any temperatures warming over the last 18 years. Yes, we've had warming and yes emissions are playing a part but I don't think we're headed to the catastrophic warming that some of the climate models project we're heading towards and, more importantly, I don't think these regulations are going to make a dent in the overall global amount of greenhouse gas emissions and, therefore, we're not going to see any mitigation in global temperatures.

BALDWIN: OK. Let me mention again, in the coming weeks, the president will be going to Nevada and will be the first sitting president to go to the Alaskan Arctic touting this plan.

Gentlemen, Dan Pfeiffer and Nick Loris, thank you both so much.

PFEIFFER: Thank you, Brooke.

LORIS: Thank you.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Breaking news here. In the sentencing phase of James Holmes, the jurors have put Holmes one step closer to death. This decision came out just moments ago. Holmes was convicted back on July 16th on all 165 counts against him. It was July of 2012 he murdered 12 people and wounded 70 others when he opened fire when all of those people were in the theater, the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight." In phase two of the penalty phase, the jury had to answer one question.

So, let's talk about this with CNN legal analyst, Danny Cevallos.

But first, to my colleague, Sara Sidner, there in Centennial, Colorado, following this process for us.

Sara, tell me what has just happened.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is happening right now, it's still happening. There are 24 counts here of murder. I want to explain that a bit because it sounds confusing. There were 12 people killed but 24 counts of murder that the jury has found him guilty on. The next phase will be deciding whether or not he could be faced with the death penalty. What we have found out now is that they are now on count 21. So far, every single count of count 21, the judge is reading just now, the jury has said that the mitigating factors do not outweigh the aggravating factors. And what that means is that this case will now go on -- the sentencing part of this case will now go on to phase three where the jury will look again at whether or not he deserves the death penalty as opposed to life in prison without the possibility of parole. What we will hear in this third phase is the victim impact statements. It is going to be for sure a very emotional time. We're expecting to hear about 12 to 15 -- not just sure how many, but between 12 and 15 people who will come and give their statements about what this incident, what this attack, this terrifying attack did to them. Whether it's someone who lost a loved one and can never see them again or hear their voice or whether it's someone who was injured in the attack, who was gravely injured in the attack, who was hurt, who is still dealing with the pain of the attack. We expect to hear from 12 to 15 of those people in this next phase, the trial. And then the jury will look at all that they have seen and heard and they will decide whether or not James Holmes will be put to death in phase three -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Sara Sidner, stay with me.

Danny Cevallos, let me bring you in.

From how I understand, we hear the victim impact statements and then -- then the jury will decide, death or not. That is that final step?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Here's the process. First, the prosecution has to prove at least a statutory aggravating factor, that means a list of items, in each state usually means, killed a number of people at once, maybe this is the second killing. Once that happens, though, it bounces over to the defendant to introduce mitigation. Then the jury weighs mitigation against aggravation. Did the mitigating factors outweigh the aggravating factors? And only then if they do --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:50:13] BALDWIN: In these 21 counts, so far they have been?

CEVALLOS: Exactly. And then the decision is making between life without the possibility of parole or death penalty. You could break Colorado's procedure down into four separate steps. That's really where we are now. That's the stage that we are coming into.

BALDWIN: OK. And I'm just trying to put myself in a jurors' perspective. They have to weigh -- they rejected the insanity defense?

CEVALLOS: They did. That was at the guilt phase of the trial.

BALDWIN: Right. He's been convicted on all 165 counts. How, then, do they deliberate to figure out death or not? What are they having to check? What box are these jurors having to check?

CEVALLOS: Well, it's a very -- in a way, it's a very subjective analysis. And you could argue as defense attorneys by presenting the mental illness --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: With the journal? CEVALLOS: Absolutely. Believe it or not, there's a method called the

Colorado method, completely by coincidence, in selecting a jury that is designed to say, we're trying to save this person's life. So you choose jurors and make arguments along the way during the guilt phase as well as in the penalty phase that lines you up and gives you your best chance to not necessarily get your guy a not guilty but keep him alive. And that's exactly what I think this defendant -- his lawyers have done smartly the entire time, keep that evidence in of mental illness, not just on the guilt phase but to sort of prime these jurors for the eventual argument that this is a person whose life is worth saving.

BALDWIN: The parents -- Sara Sidner, I want to ask you this. I was going through, anticipating this happening. The parents in "The Denver Post" - this is before the trial, the parents were quoted as saying, the death penalty -- Dave Palmer's parents, by the way -- "The death penalty is morally wrong, especially when the defendant is mentally ill."

The parents and sister testified on James Holmes' behalf and the mother didn't even know she was seeing a psychiatrist, and had she known, perhaps she would have acted differently. How have the families all together been sitting in this courtroom? What has that been like day after day after day?

SIDNER: Brooke, it's been extremely tough on all of the families, as you might imagine. The Holmes' family usually sits near and behind him and the other families behind the prosecution. What is happening right now, the defense has asked that each and every juror be polled. So they out loud have to say, yes, indeed, this was their verdict. All 24 counts. And the reason that there are 24 counts but 12 murders, there were two counts per person. One was about killing with intent and deliberation and the other one was about killing with extreme indifference to human life. Now the jury has said, look, he is guilty on all 24 of those counts. They say that they believe he knew the difference between right or wrong but they do see he has psychological problems. But now they are saying, this is worth going on to this other phase and this is when the decision will be made in phase three as to whether or not he gets the death penalty. His family has pleaded for his life but we're now going to hear from the victims and they are going to come forward and then after that, Brooke, there is still a chance for more victims to come forward. As you know, there are 70 people who were hurt. 12 families who potentially could speak, who will then get a chance in the final sentencing when the judge puts the sentence out there to speak again. We're certainly going to be listening to a lot of the horrific stories that these families have been through -- Brooke?

Sara Sidner on it for us in Colorado.

Danny Cevallos, thank you for breaking it down.

We'll be watching.

Thank you all.

Next, it has been called a tinder box. Flames spreading, fanning 60,000 acres and evacuations under way. We'll take you there live.

Also breaking news, we're getting word of a capture of a suspect featured in CNN's "The Hunt with John Walsh." Hear what happened.

You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:57:24]BALDWIN: Drought-parched California is under siege by a raging wildfire. The Rocky Fire doubled over the weekend to 60,000 acres. It's only 12 percent contained. More than 12,000 people have been evacuated since last Wednesday. Firefighters are on the fire lines trying to control this fire. It's proving to be pretty difficult due to the weather conditions, scorching weather conditions, unpredictable winds. This fire is so intense NASA has captured these smoke images from space.

Stephanie Elam is watching the danger there.

Stephanie, it is hot, hot, hot, where you are, and the weather is not cooperating?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Not cooperating at all, Brooke. That is a huge part of it. It's a multitier problem that they are dealing with. There has not been a fire that has come through this area and that's part of the problem as well. You've got all of this tinder brush ready to go up in flames. Because of that, this fire is dynamic because it keeps changing heads as far as which way it is going. Behind me, you have firefighters here. California has an interesting system where they will help each other out. If you have people available, firefighters available in southern California, there is a fire in northern California, they will work up here. As you look at the fire line, what you can see here is that there is some burned out brush in front of us. And if you look at the hillside, you will see flames burning up behind me where the smoke is. That is back burn. That means that the firefighters are starting these fires to burn out any brush, which could be fuel for the fire that may be coming this way later on this afternoon as they expect. They control these fires and watch the wind to see which way they are going and burn down the brush because if there's no fuel, it will help them contain the fire and get it down. Around 3:00, 4:00 is the worst time for this fire, on certain edges of it. That's when the flames start popping up. If you could look up over here, Brooke, you can see there's white smoke. It's active fire. It hasn't been really percolating since we've been out here since 4:00 this morning California time. But it's starting to come back up as the humidity has dropped and it heats up to 100 degrees -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Stephanie Elam, we'll stay in close contact with you. Thank you so much. Stephanie Elam in California for us.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: Top of the hour. Breaking news here on CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.