Transcripts For CNNW Wolf 20141110

Thank you very much for joining us. One year after cnn broke the story of long waiting lists for veterans seeking care, there is a massive shakeup at the department. Robert mcdonald took over in july after congressional hearings and the resignation of retired general eric shinseki. Mcdonald said that the v. A. Needs to hire 28,000 doctors and nurses to clear the backlog of patients, including 2500 Mental Health professionals. He said the scandal could cost up to 1,000 v. A. Workers losing their jobs and losing their jobs quickly. Secretary mcdonald is joining us here. Thank you for joining us and critically important and always, especially on the day before veterans day here in the United States. So this minute, 1 00 eastern here in youre announcing what is, what, the largest shakeup in the history of the u. S. Federal government . Is that what youre saying . Thats right, wolf. This is going to be the largest reorganization of the veteran affairs. Were calling it my v. A. Because we want them to think of the department as embracing them and giving them a warm hug to get the care they need, a department that is totally veteran centered. Its fair to say, this is the result of the scandals, the problems that have developed over these past several years . This is the result of my 42 trips to 22 different cities, visits to eight medical schools, talking to thousands of employees, thousands of veterans. I learned a lot. Weve had teams of people around the organization from the bottom to the top of the organization working on this reorganization and today were announcing the major planks. Were going to go through all of that. Lets go through some of the other headlines of what is going on right now. You immediately want to fire 35 workers at the department of Veterans Affairs but another 1,000 you want to get rid of as well. Is that right . Well, what weve said is were taking disciplinary actions against individuals who violated our values. Our values are represented in this acronym i care. Were taking disciplinary action. That disciplinary action over the last year has involved in about 5,600 employees. Some of those are still active and were in the process of following that to its conclusion. Were acting aggressively, expeditiously and against the law. Unlike the private sector, you were the chairman of Procter Gamble for some time, unlike p g, to fire a government worker, its not that easy. Theres a process that needs to be followed. One of the things i did was put out a statement and told employees about something i call sustainable accountability, which is, we should have daytoday feedback with our employees and if we are supervising our employees, as well, our values should not be violated. Sharon helman is director of the phoenix v. A. And people were waiting, vets were waiting way too long to get service. Shes still on the government payroll. Is that right . . What we do is when theres an indication of a violation of one of our values, we take them out of operation right away because we dont want any harm to come to our veterans. Shes no longer a director but shes no longer getting paid . Shes still on the government payroll. Let me interrupt. Jeff miller, chairman of the house on Committee Affairs put out a statement saying, this isnt complicated. The v. A. Has the evidence that they need to fire sharon helman, which it does, they should fire her. Keeping her on the phoenix executives payroll when the department wants to fire them is not in our best interests. Im following the law. If a member of Congress Wants me to follow a different procedure, they need to pass a different law. The law says that with this level of an employee, whats called a Senior Executive service employee, i have to propose a disciplinary action. That disciplinary action gets judged by a judicial process and then, only then, does it get resolved. I need to make sure that every single one of these results in a positive disposition. If Congress Wants me to follow a different procedure, they have to pass a new law. The only thing the new law did was take the appeal time and cut it in half. And 1,000 other workers at the department of Veterans Affairs, you want to get rid of them expeditiously . Anybody who violated our values, were going to be asking for their separation. Youre also going to have a massive recruitment of doctor and nurses and psychologists. Do you have the funding for that . We have the funding. The new law that was passed gave us 15 billion and as a result of that im going to medical schools and telling people that the v. A. Is a great place to work, an incredibly aspiring mission to care for our veterans. The massive reorganization youve Just Announced this hour, republican senator john see isakson, may be the next chairman of the Veterans Affairs in georgia, you said your Delivery System, the way you deal with veterans is a 1980s Delivery System and its really archaic, if you will, and doesnt service the hundreds and thousands, millions of veterans who need help. We need to be more veteran centric. We need to focus on veteran outcomes. What happens when a crisis occurs, oftentimes in organizations, whether they are business organizations, they become internally focused. We need to only care about veteran outcomes and put in place the Organization Structures we need to care for veterans. And youve got a massive reorganization that youre announcing today. Do you welcome hardcore congressional oversight . I think we have a lot of oversight now. I have great relationships with members of both committees. I dont think this is about oversight. I think this is about getting the job done. I first watched a House Committee hearing where a member of Congress Held up an ig report from 2003 and talked about access problems. This is not a new problem. Many of these people have been on the committee since 2001 and after. Ive been here 100 days and im here to fix it and im going to work with the members of congress. Im very proud, by the way, of cnns coverage over the past few years of the scandals plaguing the department of Veterans Affairs, especially our Investigative Unit and drew griffin. They did an amazing job and i suspect that, without cnns reporting over these past few years, you and i would not be talking about this massive reorganization right now. What i have told every employee in the v. A. , i want them to tell me that theres a problem. Ive asked them to tell us, criticize what we do. And in this reorganization that weve talked about, my v. A. , we have teams of employees from every level within the department contributing their ideas to how we need to improve veteran outcomes. So, to me, thats really critical. Those whistle blowers who came forward to cnn, they are going to be protected, right . They already have been. Weve been certified by the office for counsel for our whistle blower remediation activity and those, particularly in phoenix, they have been given new jobs, better jobs, great jobs and i think they are seeing changes occur. And will there be more transparency . Drew griffin was frustrated over the last few years because secretary shinseki, a very honorable man, they wouldnt provide information. Under your leadership, can you tell the American Public, yes, there will be transparency . Again, if youre running a Customer Service organization and you want to take care of customers, youve got to be transparent. Were going to have lots of partners in this organization. We partner with doctors outside the v. A. System and with the veteran service organization. The only way thats going to work is if youre transparent and working against the Common Mission of taking care of veterans in the very best way. Because theres no Greater Mission for the United States. You can send men and women off to war, youve got to take care of them when they come home. Youre a graduate of west point. This is very personal for you, isnt it . It is very important. My father is a veteran. After world war ii, he served in the Occupation Forces in japan. My fatherinlaw was in a b24 and got caught over austria as weigh as p. O. W. My uncleinlaw was sprayed with agent orange. My nephew right now is flying missions in the middle east. This is very personal. I have a lot of folks that i served with that i really want to take care of in the very best way that i can. You gave up a huge job at Proctor Gamble to take on this mission. I thank you for what youre about to do. I know the veterans will be grateful for lets hope you can deliver because so many people out there are counting on you. We will deliver. We will deliver because we have the entire American Public behind us and we have great partners to work with. Secretary mcdonald, thank you for being with us. Thank you. Happy veterans day. Happy veterans day indeed. Stand by. An important isis convoy under fire from coalition planes. Did they hit the most critical target. And later, president obama and Republican Leaders are headed for a showdown over Immigration Reform. Our Political Panel getting ready to break down. The latebreaking developments. And even piano tuners were just as simple . Thanks to angies list, now it is. Weve made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. Buy their services directly at angieslist. Com no more calling around. No more hassles. Start shopping from a list of toprated providers today. 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Isis, the coalition launched strikes that may have wounded the leader of the terror group. Iraqs ministry of the interior said Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was injured in northern iraq. Barbara starr is our pentagon correspondent. Shes following the story for us. Arwa dam is joining us as well. She knows what is going on. Barbara, lets start with you. What are leaders there at the pentagon saying about this attack and did they get al baghdadi . The answer, wolf, flat out is they do not know. Military officials looking into all of it. They say they struck a convoy of ten vehicles near the Northern City of mosul because, in no small part, it was ten vehicles. That, to them, indicated that isis leadership was probably in those vehicles in a very unusual, large group. They went ahead and took the shot against it. But when they shot at the convoy, they did not know if baghdadi was inside. They had no reason to believe it. They tell us one way or the other. Now, scouring intercepts, social media, videos, operatives on the ground trying to get any intelligence that they can that baghdadi might have been there. Right now they do not have it. Wolf . Certainly little is known about this chain of command within isis or what might happen if Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was incapacitated or injured or killed. Arwa damon is on the border between turkey and syria. Youve covered that situation in iraq, arwa, for many years. Put this into some context for us. What would it mean to isis if al baghdadi was, indeed, hit in the attack. Reporter well, lets just look at the evolution of isis and how the organization emerged as it is today. It started off as al qaeda and iraq and then becoming the Islamic State of iraq. All of this under the u. S. Occupation of iraq and then finally reemerging post the u. S. Troop withdraw to become the Islamic State in syria. That make it is clear that even if the organizations top leadership is taken out, it can still continue to survive and reemerge. When we looked at what we know about the way that isis is organized today, you have al baghdadi at its head, yes, but then he has a deputy and underneath that he has an entire cabinet and strong hold of raqqa, for example, we hear from various analysts that have information for how the organization is set up and they operate as smaller cells. It would be able to continue to carry out operations, acts of terror and even if the toptier leadership has been taken out. While taking out baghdadi may be a major victory, its not likely to bring about the demise of isis in and of itself. These are professional military officers who decided to bolt for whatever reason and go with isis. Arwa, thanks very much. Before i let you go, though, i want to congratulate you on a recent honor. As a lot of our viewers know, youve always been there right in the middle of the most dangerous places to bring us the news and with courage, bravery. With that in mind, you were recently honored at the courage in journalism award. Theres the picture, arwa. Welldeserved. One of the most courageous journalists in the world, doing amazing work for all of us. Dont blush too much and just go back and do the job. We can count on you to do it as brilliantly as you always have. Arwa damon, Barbara Starr, thank you very much. President obama tells republicans in congress, pass Immigration Reform or ill take action on my own. The two sides appear to be on a collision course over fixing the immigration debate. Our Political Panel will weigh in when we come back. [ male announcer ] are you so stuffed up, you feel like youre underwater . Try zyrtecd® to powerfully clear your blocked nose and relieve your other allergy symptoms. So you can breathe easier all day. Zyrtecd®. 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Switch to Liberty Mutual insurance and you could save up to 423 dollars. Call Liberty Mutual for a free quote today at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. President obama and republicans in congress appear to be an a collision course over Immigration Reform. On cbs face the nation, president obama said that he gave john boehner to pass an immigration bill. For a year i sat back and let him work on this. He decided not to call the senate bill and couldnt produce his own bill. And i told him at the time, john, if you dont do it, ive got Legal Authority to make improvements on the system. Id prefer and would still prefer to see it done through congress but every day that i wait, were misallocating resources and so, john, if you cant get it done before the end of the year, im going to have to take the steps that i can. Lets bring in our Political Panel, chief political analyst gloria borg gloria borger. Newt, what does that sound like to you . He can wish for things but not command them. Its not a dictatorship. I think both are trying to change the law for millions of people. He will almost certainly face a direct fight in congress and one that i suspect he cant win. He has an obligation under the law to faithfully execute the law. Its not being properly executed now. He has an obligation to do this. By the way, 501 days since the Senate Passed a bipartisan immigration bill. Correct me if im wrong, there are easily 218 bipartisan votes that could pass that law if they opened it up and Speaker Boehner let both parties vote on it. Look, paul, first of all, theres a brandnew poll out that says 74 of the people that voted last week are deeply opposed to the president doing this on their own. Overwhelmingly even people who want it done want it done in cooperation with the congress. And then you have to start with that. You werent elected speaker of the house. You dont set the houses legislative agenda. The guy who was just got reelected by a huge margin and here we have the republicans gaining senate seats, house seats, governor nships and the president is behaving as though Nothing Happened last tuesday. You know, i think what the president could do is he could issue an executive order and say that it goes into effect on day x. Give the house a little bit of time if they can pass a bill. I mean, after all, as you both said, they 501 days. The president could do that. I would also hope that, even if they dont and theres a problem on immigration, that you can segment these things. Different parts of the legislative agenda, some things they can agree on and some things they cant agree on. The president has drawn a red light. Congress is going to recess to christmas and new years. I know this. Ive worked on the hill. Ive worked on the hill. I guarantee theres 218 votes in the house today to pass that bipartisan bill. Its not everything that the president wants or republicans would want. But the speaker has that obligation to let the housework its way. Are there 218 votes in the house to pass the Senate Legislation . Oh, i dont think so. I think the whole mood has shifted. I think the children coming across the border is huge numbers and ebola has shaken people. Theres a much stricter attitude right now, for example, controlling the borders first. But let me just point out, the president can act and then the congress can react. The congress has passed a spending limitation, exactly what boland did in 1982 and said no money can be spent to implement this executive order. Well, but then that would be the showdown and then one might argue it would be up to the other party to say, okay, if were not going to accept this from the president this is what we want and this is what well agree to. Hold on, mr. Speaker. Im not going to accept that. Well take a break and i want to get pauls thoughts on this before we move on to other topics. If the president , if theres no other legislation passed, the president signs executive orders changing the status of some of those 11 million who are here with undocumented papers and, in effect, gives them amnesty. Thats going to cause a huge uproar, right . First of all, its not amnesty. Amnesty is no punishment, no sanctions. If they can stay legally, isnt that amnesty . No. Temporarily. At least from what i understand, they would have to register. Right. Under the law that was passed, the bill that was passed by the senate. They would have to study english and it would be a lot more than its not amnesty. That mean no, sir sanctions and no punishment for your conduct. Amnesty is what happened during the reagan administration. Thats correct. And no republican survived. Stand by. Lets continue this conversation. We have a lot more to talk about. The 2016 president ial race. 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Would he be a formidable candidate . If he got through the primaries. Particularly were talking about immigration. His stance on immigration would give us trouble in the republican party. I think hes also a bit rusty and in talking to my sources about jeb bush, its very clear that he wants to run but, as i was told, wanting to run and actually running and deciding to run are two different things. So i think hes kind of seriously considering it but not sure he wants to take what do you think about Newt Gingrich . Could he win in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, some of those early elections for the republican nomination . Well, i think there is going to be as many as ten people would are serious people in the race. Jeb would certainly, from day one, be one of them. He has a great record as a reformed governor of florida. He obviously has a huge Family Connection nationwide. He is, i think, theost effective politician in the bush family except maybe for his son george p. So i think you have to say, from day one, hes a serious candidate. Hes also very charming and very personable and capable of working hard. Hed at least be in the fight. If you have ten people in iowa, who knows who is going to come in first. Same thing in new hampshire. I think its an open field right now. And maybe you dont have to come in iowa if you dont know. A lot of people are already speculating. You love Hillary Clinton. I do. You want her to be the next president of the United States, i assume, paul. I do. Lets say theres a race between Hillary Clinton, the democrat, and jeb bush, the republican. If republicans want to be in the white house, they have to carry states like florida and ohio. Hes very popular in florida. Florida was the closest state in the 2012 election. The former governor of florida, its an enormous advantage. I think hes right. Jeb is really gifted politician. I think his bigger problems lies in the primaries where hes for common core, which is good standards in schools for the tea party. He is for auto liberal immigration policy which they call amnesty which its not. Well know hes serious when he chooses his name to be more popular like nixon. Thats the problem. Hes a very able guy. He can raise a lot of money just like Hillary Clinton can raise a lot of money. But that name does not hurt you. How important is it for conservatives, mo conservatives more moderates to be a strong state like ohio, florida, john kasich, the governor of ohio. Hes out there as well. As we get more data out of last tuesday, a lot of these socalled demographic barriers and a lot of the socalled blue wall i think are showing pretty big gaffes. Republicans did very well with asian americans, they did better than they have in a long time with hispanic americans. They even in some areas did remarkably well. Africanamericans, endorsed by the largest black newspaper in ohio. So a lot depends on the next two years and, again, as paul knows this, having ridden the wave up and down as i have, if we get two years where obama is as bad as he has been for the last year, Hillary Clinton is going to lose almost without regard to who the republicans nominate. But theres a flip side to that, isnt there, newt . If republicans cant prove that they can govern from capitol hill now that they are in control of the house and senate, they have something to prove here, too. Absolutely. And im encouraged by the article that boehner and Mitch Mcconnell wrote last week in the wall street clinic. They are going to come at the president from day one with very positive, specific reforms bill, many of which will be popular. The Keystone Pipeline is about 70 approval. Youre going to see a productive Republican Senate and house. Im not as worried about that as i am making sure that president ial candidates learn the lessons of 2014 and look at people like Cory Gardener and john kasich that enabled them to win races much easier than they did back in january. Newt gingrich, paul begala, gloria borger, thank you. A sudden rash of knife attacks against israelis, including one knife attack in jerusalem. But when we start wog about tomorrow, we miss out on the things that matter today. At axa, we offer advice and help you break down your insurance goals into small, manageable steps. Because when you plan for tomorrow, it helps you live for today. Can we help you take a small step . For advice, retirement, and life insurance, connect with axa. Im just looking over the company bills. Up . For advice, retirement, and life insurance, is that what we pay for internet . Yup. Dsl is about 90 bucks a month. Thats funny, for that price with comcast business, i think you get like 50 megabits. Wow thats fast. Personally, i prefer a slow internet. There is something about the sweet meditative glow of a loading website. Dont listen to the naysayer. Switch to comcast Business Today and ge50 megabits per second for 89. 95. Comcast business. Built for business. A rash of stabbings today against israelis. One israeli woman was killed during a settlement in the west bank. Two others were wounded. The attacker was killed by a security guard. The alleged attacker, a palestinian from the west bank was captured a short time later in an apartment building. Nic robertson is joining us from jerusalem. Nic, what is going on over there because it seems there were these car attacks, now these stabbings. What are folks there saying . Reporter that tensions are going up, the incident this afternoon, the stabbing this afternoon in the west bank, weve looked at the cctv video, the security video, at the bus stop where the attack took place. The attacker, first thing he does is drive his van up just like the attack we saw in East Jerusalem last week, drive his van up, knock somebody over, get out of the van, go back, start stabbing that person, chase somebody else across the road, start trying to stab him until hes interrupted and then Security Forces shoot him. But one of the people injured there in the stabbing, a 24yearold lady, died later in hospital. The attacker is in the hospital as well. And the attack earlier in the day in tel aviv, again, startling similarities. A young soldier near the rail system, a paramedic who was on the scene treating that soldier said the soldier was stabbed multiple times in the stomach and abdomen and legs as well. Hes in a Critical Condition in the hospital right now but what has people worried here, wolf, is weve now heard from the radical islamic group, islamic jihad, and they have praised both of these attacks, taking place at transport hubs. Theres so many similarities than to the recent attacks that have taken place. Wolf . This comes at a time when there are also tensions escalating between rival palestinian groups, hamas, for example, and they have escalated. From the west bank to gaza, several buildings in gaza were blown up and vehicles belong to them and indeed there was supposed to be a tenth anniversary Remembrance Day type events in the west bank celebrating the passing of arafat and this is bus of the rift between hamas and fattah appears to be growing and the tensions there escalating, wolf. Its a dangerous situation all around. Nic, well stay in close contact with you. Thank you very much. President obama right now is at the apac summit in asia, the Asian Pacific cooperation summit. Were going to talk about a brandnew deal he struck with china and why it got a warm reception. Were just getting this in from Barbara Starr at the pentagon. The first u. S. Troops have arrived in the Anbar Province in iraq, an area largely controlled by isis. The president doubled the troops from 1500 up to 3,000 plus right now and some of them are actually going into the Anbar Province. The pentagon telling barbara that 50 u. S. Military personnel are conducting a site survey of facilities for potential future use as it advise and assist operation in the area. Much more at the top of the hour on this developing story. But not only are u. S. Troops in baghdad and mosul, they are now in anbar and more are on the way. Just a week after the democrats suffered a stinging defeat in the midterm elections here in the United States, president obama has now focused his attention at least this week on foreign affairs. First on the agenda is the Asian Pacific the president wasted no time announcing an important new agreement with china over visas. Im very pleased to announce that during my visit, the United States and china have agreed to implement a new arrangement for visas that will benefit every from students to tourists to businesses large and small. Under the current argument, visas between our two countries last for only one year. Under the new arrangement, student and Exchange Visas will be extended to five years, business and tourist visas will be extended to ten years. Lets bring in the former u. S. Ambassador to china, he was a republican president ial candida candidate, former governor of utah. What do you make of this deal . Because it thousand puts china at least as far as visas are concerned the same level as brazil and some other Major Trading partners. We go from the lowest category, that of about one year, to now the most preferred. This has been worked on for a lot of years. Its a very big deal for the United States and china, particularly when you you look at the glue that binds the relationship, which the people to people aspect. So this will facilitate the movement of people back and forth. With respect to suntudents, the dont have to reup, business folks dont have to get reupped. So this will facilitate things in a very significant way and kudos to those that made it happen. So if we apply this type of problem solving around economics and security, we might have a goodbye later bilateral relati. Testimony make if easier for chinese to come here to two business here, study here. So can we say this represents a significant improvement in u. S. china relations . Well, this will be seen as one step in a helpful direction. But you have to remember the relation is so complicated, well also be taking steps in positive correctidirections andl about balancing the good and the bad. The Biggest Issue is that we dont have a big bold visionary aspirational relationship like we did with respect to cold war politics. And we dont have a strong economic relationship like we did when we were working toward getting china in the wto. That tends to keep you honest at the negotiating table, when youre shooting for something bigger and better for both countries. Right now there is avoid in the relationship. Were doing all the necessary things at the management level. Its more or less status quo, but the relationship is crying out for something bigger and bolder. Trade could be part of that, global collaboration, scientific collaboration, a whole lot could fill that vessel. My concern is when there is a vacuum, something fills that sack im a vacuum and it looks like putin is looking to fill that vacuum. And what about north korea . When you were in beijing, you worried a lot about north korea. What do you make of their recent socalled Charm Offensive releasing these three americans . Its fathirly predict only. Theyre trying to weburnish the image. But its a very untrustworthy regime. You understand it well. This was probably predictable and the onus is on the United States as presint obama sits down with xi jinping. Our response should be not until there is some sort of movement on denuclearization. And thats the big issue ongoing. John hunts man, always good to have you here on the program. Thanks vich for joining us. Coming up, shot inches from his heart, he was still trying to save others from the gunman. The officer known as the ft. Hood hero getting ready to tell his story. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. I make a lot of purchases foand i get ass. Lot in return with ink plus from chase. Like 50,000 bonus points when i spent 5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. And i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at Office Supply stores. With ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. Travel, gift cards, even cash back. And my rewards points wont expire. So you can make owning a business even more rewarding. Ink from chase. So you can. As we approach veterans day, we want to highlight an act of valor in the middlef a deadly shooting rampa at a u. S. Military base. A few months ago, army major Patrick Miller and his wife ashley were living in texas after being assigned to ft. Hood following two previous key employments to iraq. But on wednesday, april 2, his life instantly changed. Keyemplo. But on wednesday, april 2, his life instantly changed. Sitting in the office and all of a sudden you you hear bang, bang, bang, six seven gunshots. Reporter he was shot just two inches below his heart. He was trying to go reload. So i pushed him as hard as i could, shut the door, locked it, started grabbing 911 on one hand, putting prerk ssure on th other. Reporter as youre shot, youre trying to save these people and calling 911 . Adrenalin is a heck of a thing. Because honestly, ashley doesnt like hearing this, but i didnt know how long i was going to live. Reporter patrick knew his chances of survival diminished each moment, so he went to it, by climbing out of his office window. People call you a hero. How does that make you feel . I say this before. But in my eyes, the true heros are the ones who never made it home. I appreciate every day, every minute of every day and everything and every. It sounds so cliche, but it is so true. Dont sweat the small tough and live your life to the fullest. A real hero indeed. Thanks to poppy harlow for that report. Thats it for me. Ill be back 5 00 p. M. Eastern right here in the situation room for our international viewers, amanpour is coming up next. For our viewers in north america, newsroom with Brianna Keilar starts right now. Hi, there. Im filling in for brooke baldwin. U. S. Troops have just arrived in Anbar Province. A huge move on the war on isis and this comes as the u. S. Has decided to double the number of troof troops in iraq. But president obama says this is not a sign theyre losing the fight, instead a shift to a new phase, an offensive strategy instead of a defensive one. Barbara starr joining me now. This is significant that these troops are in Anbar Province. Reporter it is. It is really just sets you back on your heels if youve covered the military for a number of years. U