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Obama, Putin Trade Barbs in Speeches; Planned Parenthood President Faces Grilling Over Videos; Obama Meets with Cuba's Leader; U.S. Launches Airstrike on Kunduz Province; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 29, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


[10:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right. People like his dimples.

Brian Stelter, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. Right now President Obama is meeting with Raul Castro behind closed doors. In public, the Cuban dealer ripped U.S. policies toward his country and around the world. Now things are noticeably frosty in this toast shared between President Obama and Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. They traded punches in yesterday's speech before the united nations and then went behind closed doors for a substantive meeting. Their most substantive meeting in two years.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski live at the U.N. with more. Good morning, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. Right. I mean, this is an extraordinary who happened at all. It's been two years since these two leaders were able to sit down and talk. And you look at everything that's transpired since then. Russia's role in some of these events. The dueling speeches yesterday with President Obama slamming Putin's choices. Putin blaming the U.S. for many of the world's problem.

But here they are, sitting down, as tense as that might have been. And what the White House says is -- the same thing that the Russian side is saying, it was at the very least constructive. The White House says it could have been worse. There have been meetings and calls between these two in the past that were nothing but an argument over what's going on in Ukraine. But now there's another pressing issue and that is Syria, and what kind of common ground, what kind of potential cooperation there might be because there is a common goal now of fighting ISIS.

The problem is the stance and the view of what's causing it and what the end game will look like could not be more different. Putin wants to back Syria's President Bashar al-Assad who just yesterday President Obama called a tyrant. He wants to see a political transition. What came out of this meeting was basically an agreement to do more talking. That military to military, the U.S. and Russia are going to have some communication so they basically won't be fighting each other if they're both going to be trying to fight ISIS.

And Russia did agree to, in the future, talk about a potential political transition in Syria. To see that happen with Russia playing a role alongside the U.S., that's a very optimistic outlook but this is at least laying the groundwork for more dialogue. Better a situation than it was going in. But to look at what's been going on in the U.N. and what continues today, this is really trying to find some shred of common ground, trying to find some progress in the face of some bad situations.

Here's the president meeting now with Raul Castro. The first time they've done this. Castro is making demands on the U.S., making it seem possibly unlikely for a full opening of relations to happen but they are looking to see a long-term transition to that.

Also a meeting to come later this morning, counterterrorism, fighting ISIS in the face of not the best news on the U.S.'s front and trying to get that accomplished, Carol. So looking for progress is really the name of the game here.

COSTELLO: All right, Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the United Nations this morning.

Also right now on Capitol Hill, a dramatic hearing about to take place. For the first time the president of Planned Parenthood, we see her right there, she will defend her organization before lawmakers. That's right. House lawmakers are about to step up their scrutiny of Planned Parenthood. The stakes are undeniably huge. Conservative lawmakers want to strip its public funding over the secretly recorded videos taken by an anti-abortion group.

CNN's Tom Foreman is here to tell us more about this hearing.

Is there only one witness, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's the only one. She's the only one that matters, too, at this moment because this is a chance for House Republicans to really take some shots at her over this whole issue of funding for Planned Parenthood. However, it's also been clear from the statement she's prepared and that her group has released, she's ready to take some shots right back.

Important to remember in all of this, Carol, the fundamental debate here is not supposed to be about the broad question of abortion and whether people are for it or against it in this country. It is supposed to be specifically about the question raised by these videos, which is, did Planned Parenthood sell parts of fetuses for a profit, which would be breaking the law. And did they alter any procedures in some way in their abortion process to get better samples, in a sense, for research people out there? Is that what happened?

The people who made these videos say it proves that they did. The videos do. Other people in Washington including Planned Parenthood have said, no, it absolutely does not prove it. But that's the fundamental question here because if that was the practice, then Congress may have some reason to say, we to want look at the funding. COSTELLO: All right. Tom Foreman, Tom Foreman, stand by. I got to

take our viewers to a different part of Capitol Hill because the House Speaker John Boehner is speaking at the GOP presser. Let's listen.

[10:05:04] REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: And there's a lot on our plate this week. In addition to that, the idea that we should -- the president should lift sanctions on Iran and provide Iran with about $100 billion of their assets locked up in Western banks, without first paying the victims of Iranian terrorism, and there are about $43 billion of judgments against Iran for a U.S. citizens who've been slaughtered by the Iranians. I'm sure Mr. Min will tell you all about his bill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a lot of excitement and chatter about this week. We've got our work to do. Today we'll have Duffy's Bill on the floor. Duffy's Bill, Women's Public Health and Safety Act, gives flexibility to the states, especially when it comes to Medicaid funding and others, on their choice as to where to spend it.

Also Min has his bill, and I don't want to bring it up because I want him to get to -- be able to talk about it, but this is a fundamentally changing bill. When you want to talk about the funding going around to fund terrorism and the justice of those who have --

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to step away. We were hoping the House speaker would say something about, you know, his pending departure and perhaps he will. We'll keep monitoring that hearing for you.

But back to Planned Parenthood. As we told you at the top of the show, the president of Planned Parenthood is now testifying before a House committee and she's going to defend her organization against charges that the organization is selling fetal baby parts and other allegations.

But I want to -- can we bring Tom Foreman back for just a second? All right. Let's bring Tom Foreman back because I did have a question for you.

FOREMAN: Sure.

COSTELLO: So this committee is based on the secretly recorded videos and the president of Planned Parenthood is the only witness, so why aren't the people who made these secretly recorded videos testifying today as well?

FOREMAN: Well, she would like that to be the case. She's made the point that she thinks the emphasis should be here on these secretly recorded tapes and whether or not there's a misrepresentation by this group out there.

There's several reasons that's not happening. First of all, some of the people in Congress who are after this say they don't really care about that right now. They're much more interested in Planned Parenthood. But secondly, there may be a dispute about what's on the tape, what's actually being said there, although it seems fairly clear the Planned Parenthood representatives on tape are saying that they're not doing it for profit, that they're just trying to recoup their expenses. That seems fairly clear if you watch all of the tape.

But there's not really a dispute that these were Planned Parenthood representatives nor that they were saying what they wanted to say at the time, even if they were unguarded. So the question of how the tape was made is a question that can be raised and can be scrutinized but it doesn't change the content of the tape. That's why would Congress say, no, no, we want to talk to Planned Parenthood. The issue of how the tape was made is a different one all together.

COSTELLO: So they don't want to find out whether the tape is accurate?

FOREMAN: Well, I mean, they're saying what's on the tape is accurate in its own right. I mean, as any sting tape, obviously, any defense lawyer would say, well, we need to know all of the setup and everything that follows afterward. What they're saying here is there are many minutes of tape, answer for what's on the tape first and then we'll get to that. She would like very much -- Miss Richards would very much like to say, no, no, you have to have the whole context or there is no measure of the accuracy of these tapes and that matters -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Tom Foreman, many thanks.

As I've said many times before, I am hopelessly addicted to facts so I want to lay a few facts on you before we begin a discussion over this. $500 million in federal funds goes to Planned Parenthood. None of that money, none of it, pays for abortions. That's been banned by law since 1976. Planned Parenthood says only 3 percent of their services are dedicated to abortion. The group says 97 percent of its services are for things like breast -- breast exams, rather, gynecological services including Pap smears and pelvic exams, cancer screenings and contraception. All of these things provided for many women who cannot afford care.

So let's talk about what's happening in Congress right now. Journalist and editor-in-chief of the Anushayspoint.com, Anushay Hossain joins me now. I'm also joined by senior -- a senior fellow of the Independent Women's Forum, Julie Gunlock.

Welcome to both of you. I appreciate you being here.

ANUSHAY HOSSAIN, JOURNALIST: Thanks, Carol.

COSTELLO: Thank you. Julie, so first question to you. Don't you want to hear from the people who made those videos?

JULIE GUNLOCK, SENIOR FELLOW, INDEPENDENT WOMEN'S FORUM: Sure. And I think there's time for that. But I think Congress has an obligation to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used smartly and ethically and legally. So that seems the more pressing issue for Congress. This is not a small amount of money. You mentioned $500 million. And that's going to an organization that might be performing some illegal activities. So I think Congress really owes the taxpayers some investigation into that. And I certainly think stopping funding until that investigation is complete is acceptable.

[10:10:14] COSTELLO: OK, so, Anushay, so doesn't Congress want to know if what's on that tape is accurate and true, and where it happened and don't they want to track down the people allegedly responsible for selling these baby parts?

HOSSAIN: Exactly, Carol. I completely agree with you. You know, just as you were showing earlier, despite the fact that 97 percent of Planned Parenthood's services don't have anything to do with abortion, this organization has really become the kind of defining symbol of the politics of women's health and the domestic war over abortion in this country. Recent polls even show that despite this calculated smear campaign, I mean, this is a part of a much larger campaign, to really bring down Planned Parenthood and ban abortion in this country, despite that, the majority of Americans still believe that the government should be funding Planned Parenthood and they support this. So we really need to talk about what this is really about, which is the larger war, domestic war, on abortion.

COSTELLO: And Julie, I'll just lay this by you to see what you think about this. There have been many state investigations of Planned Parenthood separate from the federal government.

GUNLOCK: Sure.

COSTELLO: There have been investigations of Planned Parenthood in Indiana, Missouri and Massachusetts. No wrongdoing whatsoever has been uncovered. Are you surprised by that?

GUNLOCK: Well, I haven't examined each of those investigations. But again, this is the federal government's responsibility to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. Don't forget, if a contractor with the Department of Defense or a health care provider with HHS or a contractor with the Department of Education, if there were charges or videos showing illegal behavior, the money would be cut. There'd be no question.

We need to separate this from the very emotional issue of abortion. This is an organization that is potentially misusing American taxpayer dollars. Congress is mandated to look into this. So I don't think it's that unusual. I understand it's a really highly charged issue, but it's absolutely within the rights of Congress to look into this.

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: Well, but that's exactly -- that's exactly what I'm saying, Julie. I want to take the emotion out of it. And the only way you can, like -- I just don't understand why they wouldn't want to investigate the tape and its accuracy before they go on to defund Planned Parenthood.

GUNLOCK: But I think what's important is that Planned Parenthood has admitted that it does this. And so we need to --

COSTELLO: It's legal. It's legal to do it.

GUNLOCK: Right. Well -- I think that's a question that they're going to examine.

COSTELLO: Exactly. But shouldn't they want these people who made the tape and --

HOSSAIN: No, Carol, they don't to want see the people who made the tape because this is political theater. This is Republican political deja vu and it's becoming ridiculous theater. They are obsessed with this organization. And -- I mean, we were here last year. We were here the year before. Once again, they're threatening to hold Congress hostage over this issue, shut down the government. I mean, this is not about these doctored tapes that have been proved to be false.

GUNLOCK: There are plenty --

HOSSAIN: And you know, there are --

(CROSSTALK)

COSTELLO: OK. Julie, last word, then I've got to go.

GUNLOCK: There are plenty of other organizations, community health centers and women's health centers that can provide the services that Planned Parenthood provides. And there can be private funding for Planned Parenthood, but in particular some of the Hollywood stars that are so concerned about this issue. So I see nothing wrong with the idea of shifting the funding to community health centers and taking it away from Planned Parenthood until the investigation is complete. I think the American public and the American taxpayers deserve that.

COSTELLO: All right. I've got to leave it there. Julie Gunlock, Anushay Hossain, thanks to both of you for being here. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, first they were on the world stage -- oh, actually, I've got to show you these pictures. There's Raul Castro at the United Nations. He's going to meet shortly with President Obama. We'll take you back to the United Nations next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:18:37] COSTELLO: All right. Let's go back out to the United Nations right now because Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama have just walked into the building there. Can we go back to the United Nations. There's the picture. There you see them walking in. President Obama, I believe he is meeting now with Cuba's president, Raul Castro.

I want to bring in Jim Sciutto, CNN's chief national security correspondent.

So what do suppose they'll talk about today?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, you hear the White House already lowering expectations on what's going to come out of this meeting. They're saying, don't expect any bold announcements, don't expect any bold agreements in this meeting. It really is -- I don't want to say get to know because they know each other but there might be a little bit of a victory lap involved in this. Right? I mean, this is a successful in view the Obama administration round of diplomacy that led to the end -- well, not quite the end because it's not quite normalization but it is the resumption of diplomatic ties after decades of hostility.

So they're here. They just inked that deal this year. It's a chance for them to meet and get together. But they're not going to announce any grand new agreements.

COSTELLO: But Raul Castro has already started criticizing the United States.

(LAUGHTER)

SCIUTTO: Imagine that. Imagine that already. You know, the two things, I mean, he's making two demands, for the -- so they've resumed diplomatic relations but for the full normalization of relation you hear the Cuban president calling for two things. One, close Guantanamo and lift the trade embargo. Here's what he had to say to the General Assembly yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRES. RAUL CASTRO, CUBA (Through Translator): After 56 years in which the Cuban people put up heroic and self-resistance, diplomatic relations have been re-established between Cuba and the United States of America.

[10:20:10] Now a long and complex process begins towards the normalization of relations. But this will only be achieved with the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: So let's do some reality checks on those two demands. As far as the trade embargo is concerned, the president said from the podium he's confident it will be lifted. The fact is, as you know, GOP Republicans -- first of all, there's a lot of opposition to lifting the embargo, second of all, they don't want to give Obama a victory on this and they see this very much as Obama's gain. So that's frankly unlikely.

On Guantanamo, White House officials have said and Josh Earnest repeated this yesterday, that we disagree on that, we have no plans of closing Guantanamo. So, you know. Does that mean they find some common ground as some point? You know possibly. But at this point, I think they're going to enjoy the progress they've made this year.

COSTELLO: OK.

SCIUTTO: And make no promises about next steps.

COSTELLO: I'll fall back on the old cliche, time will tell.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Jim Sciutto, many thanks.

U.S. forces launching an airstrike on the Taliban who seized the Kunduz Province and freed hundreds of fellow militants from jail. Now the death toll is rising as Afghan Security Forces fight to take back the large city to be overrun by the Taliban since 2001.

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in London with more on this.

Hi, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hi, Carol. The U.S. airstrikes this morning has been the most significant strike against the Taliban since they've taken over Kunduz, according to government officials. 83 Taliban have been killed. Most of those in that air strike. But that perhaps was the easy part because the strike was just outside the town. There are civilians in the town. There's the risk of collateral damage with airstrikes in the town.

The Afghan president says that the Taliban are holding out, fighting in and amongst the houses, using people as human shields. The Taliban leadership, the new leadership, Mullah Mansur, for whom this is something of a significant victory, is telling his fighters, protect civilians, protect their property, is telling civilians there won't be judicial executions.

The question to be asked at the moment is, how come this town, strategically important, economically important, how come it was overrun so quickly and so easily by the Taliban? The army there, more numerous, better weapons, the Afghan police in the town as well, the Taliban have been gathering outside of that town now for several months. This attack has really sort of been telegraphed that it's coming.

And on the face of it appears the army and police deserted their posts and ran away. The Taliban are now parading around just like we saw ISIS do in Iraq with tanks they've taken from the Afghan government, with Humvees, U.S.-made Humvees, that they've taken away from the Afghan Security Forces. So the picture for the Afghan government here is one of retaking a town but figuring out how they lost it so easily, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Nic Robertson reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come, Yogi Berra not only made his mark on the game of baseball but his legacy also includes, well you know, Yogi-isms. Some of the best phrases made it all the way to the White House. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:27:32] COSTELLO: Fans and loved ones are saying good-bye to baseball legend and Yankee great Yogi Berra who's being laid to rest this morning in the his New Jersey town where he lived and raised his family.

CNN's Andy Scholes joins me live with the latest on this American treasure. He was an awesome guy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS: Certainly was, Carol. And the family opted for a private ceremony but they know Yogi had millions of fans so they're allowing the YES Network to broadcast it live. The pews at the church are full of Yankee legend, Mariano Rivera, Reggie Jackson, Joe Torre, are all in attendance. Torre just finished telling some of his favorite stories about Yogi. And it's hard to find anyone who has anything but amazing things to say about Berra. He's known, of course, for all his Yogi-isms over the years, the short stature and iconic smile, almost makes you forget about how amazing of a baseball player that he was.

Yogi won 10 World Series as a player for the Yankees, appearing in 14 of them. Those are both records. He holds nearly every World Series hitting record. Yogi won three MVP Awards, finished in the top four of the MVP voting for seven straight years. It's just astonishing considering he was only 5'7".

Everyone, of course, has their favorite Yogi-ism. We hear them all the time. Here are some of the best that politicians often use.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, 41ST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It was Yogi Berra who said, you can observe a lot by just watching.

BOB DOLE, FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: It ain't over until it's over.

JAMES BAKER, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: It's deja vu all over again.

JOE LIEBERMAN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: Yogi Berra once said, when you come to a fork in the road, take it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: And, Carol, one Yogi-ism we didn't hear just now and my personal favorite is, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

Yogi Berra certainly was a legend in more ways than one.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: Oh, we will miss him. I can't believe he's gone. But that's awesome that all of those people showed up and are saying wonderful things about him. He deserves it.

Andy Scholes, thanks so much.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady says he was not endorsing Republican frontrunner Donald Trump when he said it would be great if the real estate mogul won the election. In an interview with the Boston radio station, Brady said his comment was, quote, "taken out of context." In fact, he says he has not made up his mind about who he wants to be in the White House.

In the meantime, Trump now getting a major boost of support from billionaire investor Carl Icahn who says he believes Trump will wake up the country. All of this happening as a new poll shows Trump trailing behind a hypothetical match-up against Hillary Clinton.

CNN political reporter Sara Murray has more for you.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. Donald Trump might be leading the Republican field but a new poll shows he could struggle in the general election.