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Judge Denies Motions in Freddie Death Case; U.S. Attorney Lynch Talks About Recent Violence; Obama Reaches Milestone in Iran Nuclear Deal, Kerry Defends Deal; All Eyes on Biden During Speech; Trump, Bush in Heated Attacks; Who is Helped, Hurt by CNN Debate Changes. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired September 2, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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


[13:30:00] JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, the defense tried very hard in oral argument in this morning with the motion to dismiss the charges saying that in fact the prosecutor's office had become witnesses because they conducted their own investigation when the police were conducting their investigation and he'll want to put them on the stand. The judge response to that was that there wasn't an issue, that that's all right to do. If they have any issues with the state attorney, that's another venue. They can ask for a sanction with the attorney governing the attorneys in this state but it's not proper for this trial.

In the motion to recuse, the judge made mention of Marilyn Mosby, remember her statement on May 1 when she made the statement of probable cause, the judge did mention, "no peace, no justice; no justice, no peace." The judge did intimate she was an advocate in that and that that was not proper but that did not warrant recusal of her entire office.

And so the community is aware of this hearing. They know how important it is. There were peaceful protests in front of the courthouse, and also about four blocks away near the waterfront. And one person was arrested. There was a group locking arms, Justice for Freddie Gray. The police asked them to move out of the roadway, they did not. One person they put in the police van and arrested him. An officer was injured, the police department tells us, not requiring hospitalization. But the community is aware. The protests are ongoing. There are some signs. People are mingling around now. But obviously, it's really a normal day in Baltimore but for this critical hearing for these six police officers, now defendants in the killing of Freddie Gray.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Jean Casarez, from Baltimore, thank you so much.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke about the recent wave of violence across the country a short time ago. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: The many shootings we have seen around the country in recent months are all particularly troubling is. We have seen violence strike at all segments of our community. It's a sad fact now that no one is safe. We've seen these brutal police killings. We've seen the particularly violent shootings of two Virginia reporters killed on air last week. Last month, members of our military targeted in Tennessee, moviegoers in Louisiana and, of course, in June, church parishioners in Charleston. And, of course, many of our cities are seeing an increase in violence that we're looking at very closely. This violence against all of us, regardless of what uniform any of us wear, has to end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Lynch says the Justice Department will hold a meeting later this month with law enforcement officers from around the country and they'll discuss strategies to combat the violence.

Up next, the White House plays a numbers game as they reach an important milestone on the Iran nuclear deal. We'll talk about that. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:37] KEILAR: We begin with a major victory for President Obama and the White House and a desire to get approval for the nuclear deal negotiated with Iran. Today, Maryland Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski said she'll approve the deal. That puts the number of supporting Senators at 34, the magic number to fend off a veto of Congressional action aimed at strikes down the deal.

Moments ago, we heard from Secretary of State John Kerry as he defended the deal in a speech in Philadelphia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: This arrangement is both unprecedented and unique. In addition the IAEA will have more inspectors working in Iran using modern technology such as real-time enrichment monitoring, high tech electronic seals and cameras that are always watching 24/7, 365. Further, Iran has agreed never to pursue key technologies that would be necessary to develop a nuclear explosive device. So the agreement deals not only with the production of fissile material but also with the critical issue of weaponization. Because of all of these limitations and guarantees, what we can sum up by saying is that without this agreement the Iranians would have several potential pathways to a bomb. With it, they won't have any.

You've probably heard the claim that because of our strength, because of the power of our banks, all we Americans have to do if Congress rejects this plan is return to the bargaining table, puff out our chests and demand a better deal. I've heard one critic say he would use sanctions to give Iran a choice between having an economy or having a nuclear program. Well, folks, that's a very punchy sound bite but it has no basis in any reality.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Before his Philadelphia speech, the secretary of state sat down and spoke with Christiane Amanpour about the deal and the vote count needed in the Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:39:52] KERRY: Obviously, 34 votes are enough votes for the president's veto to be able to be upheld but we're not -- that's not the way we're approaching this, we want anybody and everybody, hopefully, to be able to vote for it. We'll continue to try to persuade people until the last moment and our hope is that that number will grow, obviously. But it is enough to sustain the president's veto. That's not satisfactory for us. We want to go further and we'll continue to persuade.

But what's really important here, Christiane, is not to get caught up in the process. It's to really look at this agreement. If this agreement were to be denied by the Congress unilaterally after we have led the everyday to negotiate it and joined in good faith with France, Germany, Britain, China, Russia and Iran has signed up to this agreement, if the United States were to unilaterally move away and say, "We're not going to do this," it would have profound effects on our country and the national security of the nation and the region. Iran would then be free to go do what it wants to do, having showed up in good faith to make an agreement and it's the United States that somehow says, no, we won't live by this. I think it would be extraordinarily damaging.

But the politics are obviously intense and there are fears that people have about Iran's compliance because of past events. What we're trying to point out clearly today is that this agreement is not based on hope or trust. This agreement is based on verification and on very specific steps that Iran has to take. Business in Iran will not be able to take off because Iran has done all of the things that it has to do in order to expand the breakout time and live up to this agreement that could take six months to a year. So again nothing in this agreement is based on hope more to a signature. It's based on very specific things that have to be verified for the lifetime of this agreement. There's no sunset to this agreement. It is the lifetime of the agreement that must be lived up to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Congress is scheduled to start debate on the Iran nuclear deal next week with a vote expected after that. And there's a number of Democrats who haven't said which way they will vote on the deal. So far, all Republicans, who have decided, said they will vote against it.

Coming up, Vice President Joe Biden is in Florida for a major speech and fund-raiser, so you better believe we're paying attention as we wonder, is he laying the ground work for a presidential campaign. Stay with us.

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[13:47:09] President Obama chooses a picture-perfect setting for his campaign against global warming. The president hikes along a shrinking glacier. He cruised across a bay in Alaska to emphasize his message. And he says the warming is not just bad for the environment but national security. He pointed to Russia's expanded military interests in the Arctic.

And a trip by Vice President Joe Biden today is fuelling speculation about his political future. The vice president speaks next hour at Miami-Dade Community College. He'll be promoting the Obama administration's education initiatives. And then later he attends a fund-raiser for Democratic Senate candidates. Biden is currently weighing whether to jump into the presidential race and the trip has touched off questions about whether he's laying the ground work for a campaign.

The vice president's words will be scrutinized closely as many look for clues to which way he's leaning on a possible presidential run. Today, a new ABC News/"Washington Post" poll shows the vice president and Hillary Clinton are in a virtual tie when it comes to favorability.

Joining me is CNN's political commentator, S.E. Cupp; and we have former Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm.

And a full disclosure, we should add, Governor, you are working with Correct the Record, which is a major outside group backing Hillary Clinton. I want to put that out there.

So, S.E., to you, first.

What is the Biden strategy if he gets in the race? How does he differentiate himself from Hillary Clinton?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he needs to acknowledge that courting progressives is not the right road for him. Democrats have been losing a lot of older male blue-collar voters and he is actually the perfect candidate to speak to that particular voter who might be a little turned off by Hillary, definitely not into Bernie Sanders and but for Biden might consider a Republican so I would imagine that's the kind of campaign he would look to have if, in fact, he gets in.

KEILAR: When you look, Governor, at these public events that the vice president has over the next few days in key areas, key states, is he testing the waters?

JENNIFER GRANHOLM, (D), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: I think he's being a great vice president and highlighting the administration's policies. He's obviously evaluating this. Everybody knows that he's watching. But, you know, the poll you cited today, if you look at the favorability among Democrats, I mean, Hillary Clinton has an 80 percent favorability rating. She's got a 79 percent favorability rating among African-Americans, 68 percent favorability among Hispanics. All of those a little bit higher than his. Everybody knows a competitive Democratic primary would be good for the party and everybody's going to give Joe Biden, who is wonderful, the space to make his decision. But those kinds of numbers are the things he'll have to

[13:50:04] KEILAR: And certainly part of his calculation.

S.E., the past few weeks, we've seen Donald Trump taking several shots at Jeb Bush. This week, Bush hit back with an attack ad. Trump followed suit this morning on ABCs "Good Morning, America." He addressed the new Bush strategy. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION (voice-over): He really had no choice, I think. He had to go out with an ad. Did a very expensive ad. Let's see what's happened. So far, everybody who has attacked me has gone down. Let's see what happens here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Who is winning this fight, S.E.?

CUPP: Well, it's -- it's actually hard to say because if you look at the polls of registered Republicans, most Republicans are not with Donald Trump. Most Republicans, upwards of 70 percent, are split among other candidates. So if Jeb's calculating I'm going to reach and talk to those guys, the people who actually care about your conservative record, then I think Jeb is in it sort of with a long game in mind. I think what Jeb has to do, and I see him sort of doing this, he's now attacking Trump, especially with Trump's new tax plan on his liberalism. I think you go against -- against his -- the narrative that he's anti-establishment, and I think the new tax plan is a perfect way to do that. Raising taxes on the wealthy, I would say, if I were Bush, sounds like something Hillary Clinton would do, you know. You have to make the case, Donald Trump, that you're actually anti-establishment when you've been voting for and donating to and supporting establishment politicians for most of your life. I think that's the better argument for Jeb than to question his conservatism, because his supporters don't seem to care.

KEILAR: They certainly don't, and they seem to really be motivated by the fact that he's an outsider.

What were you going to say, Governor?

GRANHOLM: I was going to say it's so interesting to watch from my perspective --

KEILAR: Oh, sure.

GRANHOLM: -- because Donald Trump has clearly been goading Jeb Bush into attacking him, and so Jeb Bush does attack him and says he says nice things about Hillary Clinton, but then Jeb Bush is going to get an attack, saying he, too, said nice things about Hillary Clinton. I mean, Donald Trump has pushed Bush into being not the happy tortoise, as he said he wanted to be, but really the unhappy warrior. He is not in a place where he was at the start of this campaign to not say bad things about people, to really keep his eye on the long game. Donald Trump has single-handedly pushed Jeb Bush off his game, and now he's really flummoxed about where to go. And he says all these crazy things when he's flummoxed, whether it's the stuff about not paying for women's health care, or anchor babies. All the mistakes he's making are all thanks, I think, to the flummoxing that he has undertaken because of Donald Trump.

KEILAR: I almost sense glee in your voice, Governor, as you're a Hillary Clinton supporter there.

GRANHOLM: Well, you know, when your adversary is fighting your other adversary, you should put up your feet and break out the popcorn.

KEILAR: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

I do want to get both of your takes on this. It's an announcement that CNN has made that we're amending the selection process for the upcoming Republican debate which will be in a couple of weeks here, September 16th. It involves which polls are being considered to set this 10-person field for the second debate.

Who does this seemingly help the most, S.E., and who could be left out this time around, do you think?

CUPP: Yeah, well, clearly it benefits Carly Fiorina even if CNN hasn't decided who had will end up in the September 16 debate. It looks like she will now be included. She had a great first debate performance and wanted to build momentum after that which is hard to do if you're not named Donald Trump. She really did create a story line that she was being kept out of, you know, the main stage debate because the polling system, the criteria was wrong, and so she has a victory here, and I think all eyes will be on her and she has a really good opportunity to have another good debate performance. If that means, however, that someone like Chris Christie is left out, and I don't know that's the case, obviously, you know, that's not great news for any candidate first on the main stage and now won't be.

KEILAR: I will make a quick point that the new change would add a candidate. Possibly, we could see even 11 candidates on the stage if this is a change. It's not going to subtract someone who would be under the full criteria.

CUPP: Oh, good.

KEILAR: Governor, final thought to you on this. Let's say all things being as they are right now, Carly Fiorina ends up on that stage, been a big attack dog against Hillary Clinton, what would that mean for Clinton in this debate?

GRANHOLM: Well, I don't think you're going to see anything new from her. I mean, she's like the other candidates. She's anti-choice. She's anti-marriage equality. She's anti-comprehensive immigration reform. She's anti-banning assault weapons. None that you're going to hear policy-wise anything different than what you've been hearing from the others.

KEILAR: Do you worry about a female candidate taking on your female candidate?

[13:55:00] GRANHOLM: Well, I'm not -- she has probably, you're right, more freedom to attack a woman, you know, but I don't know that voters are eager to see, you know, a woman versus woman cat fight. I think it's really going to be in the end about which candidate is going to best help you in your circumstance as a voter. And I don't know that any of her policies are different than any of the other Republicans who are going to be on that stage. And ultimately, I think that's what voters will look at.

KEILAR: Governor Granholm --

(CROSSTALK)

CUPP: I don't think it's necessarily going to be a cat fight. I think two women and maybe we're examples of that are capable of having a conversation without it being a cat fight.

KEILAR: I'm so sorry. I am so sorry, S.E.

CUPP: Well, I hope so, for sure.

KEILAR: And I will give you the final word next time, I promise.

All right, Governor Granholm, S.E. Cupp, thanks to both of you.

That is it for me. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

"Newsroom" with Brooke Baldwin starts right after a quick break.

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