Transcripts For CNNW State Of The Union With Candy Crowley 2

Exclusively on the conflict in the middle east, and the Immigration Crisis at home. Plus the cia fesses up. It spied on a Senate Committee. Never believe that an agency of government, particularly with the capabilities of the cia, would carry out such actions. Two lawmakers on committees that oversee the cia, house chairman mike rogers and senator angus king, on whether heads should roll. The then i shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow. Carl bernstein and dan rather on the story 40 years ago. This is state of the union. Good morning from washington. Im Candy Crowley. Israel says the soldier they feared was abducted is dead and palestinians say at least ten civilians taking shelter at a u. N. School were killed by an iz rilie rocket. Cnns wolf blitzer is in jerusalem. John vause is in gaza. First to you, wolf, how close to israeli officials believe they are to finishing their military mission, which i am assuming is destroying all those tunnels. They think theyre close to destroying the tunnels that theyre aware of. They obviously acknowledge there may be some other tunnels from gaza go into israel they are not aware. Those they found so far theyre pretty much in the process of destroying those tunnels. As far as the rockets and missiles and another 30 rockets, missiles came into israel today from gaza, they think hamas has 3,000 or so left rocket launchers. They think hamas used up or israel destroyed about 7,000. They think they had about 10,000 going into this. They have their work cut out for them going after the rockets and missiles. Theyre also going after hamas millers right nougt. They want to get the top leadership if they can, thats the specific part of the operation. It looks to me, candy, theres no great detisire on the part o the israelis for a ceasefire. The israelis said hamas had their chance five or six or seven times, they didnt take advantage of that, they now want to finish their job and they see theres an opportunity. I am told that Ground Forces, Israeli Ground forces, many of them have already redeployed, many of them have already left gaza, theyre moving back to israel, theres still some Ground Forces there, but it seems to be taking on a whole new phase right now in this operation, the israelis say they have their work cut out for them. If you listen to the Prime Minister of israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, hes not mincing any words. And john vause in gaza for us, john, if israel doesnt seem interested in any kind of ceasefire, hamas doesnt seem deterred at all, even given the high number of civilian casualties that are occurring there. Is there any sign that hamas is ready to pull back . You know, candy, it seems the more that they lose here, the more determined they are that it will be some kind of reason, not only is hamas not willing to give in, but it seems most people in gaza are willing to keep this fight going. Plus when israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made that speech, we went out, we saw palestinians gathered around television and satellite trucks running off generators because theres no electricity here. They listeneded and they barely flinched. Almost no reaction. They said weve heard it all before and thats despite this incredible death toll here, more than 780 people killed, there say dire human theirian situation here, but there seems to be genuine support for hamas to continue to take this fight to israel and its important to make the distinction here. There is the hamas political wing and then there is the hamas military wing. There is criticism of hamas, the Political Party especially the way they have run gaza over the last couple of years, but the resistance as they call it or the military wing, the al kasamberry glades there is a lot of support for them. Every time hamas continues to fire the missiles and they fire them not far from where we are if you listen carefully you can hear people cheering as they head off towards israel. So no pause on either side at this point. John vause in gaza for us, with be, in jerusalem action thank you both. I want to bring in Texas Governor rick perry who of late as been criticizing the Obama Administration for its stance toward israel. Governor, you have talked about the president s policy of calculated ambivalence. Where does that manifest itself . What exactly are you talking about . Well, from my perspective more than that from the secretary of state, when you have the president and his administration trying to secondguess Prime Minister netanyahu, then i think you see what im making reference to, the idea that our best ally in the middle east, the longest serving democracy in that part of the world, and if theres any air between us and israel is beyond me. I dont understand why this administration would criticize israel for trying to protect their citizens and their country from a group who have clearly stated that they will not be satisfied until israel is wiped off the face of the earth. We need to be standing up with israel, sending a strong message to those in the middle east that would attack this democracy, that we are their ally, and they can count on us. Governor, we have heard the president and secretary kerry talk about israels right to defend itself. They did express their worries about the large number of civilian casualties that seem to be taking place in gaza, and yesterday we heard Benjamin Netanyahu, the president , im sorry, the Prime Minister of israel saying that he thinks the president and kerry have been terrific, so you dont believe that . No, i think that there have been messages sent both publicly and privately that have not been strong in their support of israel. I think you need to look back at the rhetoric and what theyve done. I dont think that they have been as strong with israel as they should be, and the fact is, you have hamas that are using their children to protect their missiles, and i think prime 3 minister netanyahu was very for forthright, very specific when he said that israel uses their missiles to protect their children and there is a very different perspective, if you will, and a very different result in those two people and their statements, and frankly, in the two organizations. Grn, you haovernor, youve l staunch supporter of israel. If you will, when you look at the pictures that were seeing, and we know that netanyahu has expressed his regret for the civilian deaths, but when you look at the 1,700 plus palestinian deaths in gaza, the large majority of which are civilians, we are told, what is your thought about that . What is your reaction to that . War is a horrible thing. There are individuals who lose their lives, but when we have a fairly good understanding that hamas is actually using their citizens as shields, at that particular point in time it loses a lot of the power, if if you will, from my perspective is when you use your civilians as a shield, that speaks volumes about who you are and what you believe in. When you look back at hamas statements about they will not be satisfied until israel is wiped off the face of the earth, then you start understanding the mentality a little bit better of a terrorist organization like hamas. Let me turn you to the border crisis specifically that has been in the headlines recently for the unaccompanied minors that are crossing the rio grande largely to come into the United States. The president has said, because congress has not dealt with the immigration issue at all, but he feels he has to do this on his own. What we are led to believe by reports is that the president may, in fact, make some moves that would perhaps cut down on the number of deportations that are taking place now for which hes been widely criticized by the latino community, and that he may, in fact, give temporary status to those without documents that are currently in the u. S. What do you think of both those things . Well, i think that is a side issue. What we are substantially more concerned about in the state of texas, and i will suggest to you across this country, are the 80 plus of individuals who dont get talked about enough, that are coming in to the United States illegally, and committing substantial crimes. Since september of 08 we have seen 203,000 individuals who have illegally come into the United States, into texas, booked in to texas county jails, and candy, these individuals are responsible for over 3,000 homicides and almost 8,000 sexual assaults. I wish the president would respect that desire of texans and the citizens of this country to secure the border. Thats the real issue here, and one that all too often gets deflected by the conversation about unaccompanied minor children, which that is a tragedy. The idea that parents are putting their kids or theyre being forced to get on a train or a bus and travel 1,500 to 1,800 miles where theyre very exposed to being abused both physically and otherwise, but the fact from my perspective as the governor of texas, its the reason that we are deploying 1,000 National Guard troops, so that the people of the state of texas will feel that at least the leadership in the state of texas is doing something to try to make their communities safer, and that is my goal. Governor i intend to continue to be focused on that as we go forward. Governor, i have to point out that a number of Fact Checkers has said that that 3,000 homicide figure is wildly off, but let me talk about the National Guard that you want to send, and this is the state sending the National Guard. As i understand it, its going to cost you 12 million, 13 million a month. How long are you prepared to spend texas money to keep the guards at the border . Well continue to do what we have to do to keep our citizens safe. And let me go back to those numbers. You know, what are the number of, i do stand by them, by the way, but what are the number of homicides acceptable to those individuals . How many sexual assaults do we have to have before the president of the United States and washington, d. C. , acts to keep our citizens safe . That border is not secure, and we see it every day, not just in texas, but i will suggest to you the other 47 contiguous states of individuals who are committing crimes against our citizens. Its time for us to secure that border. So you are prepared, if if i understand you, to keep the National Guard along the border, to help the Current Border guards in perpetuity . Is there the kind of money, is there the kind of support what im prepared to do in texas for that. What im prepared to do is not just the National Guard but our department of public safety, our texas ranger recon teams, the parks and wildlife wardens we have deployed there and i will suggest to you there will be other individuals who come to assist in securing that border. Thats what i think thats what the American People want. Theyd like to see a president who leads this country and says you know what . We do have a problem on our southern border. Were going to deal with it, and the president refuses to lead on this, from my perspective. And governor, to those who say that youre calliyour calli the National Guard in texas is part of your road to become president and to run for president again, your response to is . Of your road to become prt and to run for president again, your response to is . Im the governor of texas, my citizens safety is what is foremost here and hasnt got anything to do other than those numbers of individuals who are coming across the border, and when you think about the idea that some of them are from countries that have substantial terrorist ties, whether its pakistan or afghanistan or syria, we are historic record highs with individuals being apprehended from those countries. We say its time to secure the border. Hasnt got anything to do with anything other than the american citizens expect washington to respect the constitution and secure the border. One of the things thats actually enumerated in the constitution, wed like for them to do their duty. Governor rick perry, as always, i thank you for joining us. Appreciate your time. Thank you, candy. Still ahead, the cia director admits his agencys fight on congress. Should the president put his man at the agency out in the cold . Well ask senator angus king. Hes next. Et me get this straig. 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Visit tripadvisor san francisco. soothing sound of a shower with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. Nothing can be further from the truth. When the facts come out of this i think a lot of people who are claiming there has been a tremendous sort of spying and monitoring and hacking will be proved wrong. That is cia director john brennan in march saying his agency did not spy on Intelligence Committee staffers. Turns out yes, they did. With me now is senator angus king. He sits on the senate Intelligence Committee. Senator king, thanks for being here. This whole thing started when your committee began to look at the bush era antiterrorism plan of the cia, looking at what happened there, looking at if torture was committed, did we send folks to other countries to have them tortured there, et cetera, et cetera. So the cia believing that you all had gotten a hold of documents you shouldnt have, hacks into the computer and essentially spies on your committee, and your reaction to that admission now . Well, its shocking and its particularly shocking because if you go back to the clips in the spring, candy, youll see john brennan, the chief of the cia, the director of the cia, saying this was absurd and nobody should make these kind of irresponsible charges, and all of those kinds of things and now the cias own inspectorgeneral has confirmed that they did just that, that they went into the Computer System that was supposedly separated and within the control of the Senate Committee and essentially phished around. They even created false identities to pretend to be Senate Staff Members going into the computers. It was, its not good. I mean, the more important thing is the report itself, but this certainly undermines the kind of trust that you got to have, and heres the deal, candy. When we do oversight of these agencies, which by the way, nobody else really watches, were the only one watching these guys, weve got to be able to rely upon what they tell us. If we cant trust so is an apology enough . The information theyre giving us, how do you do oversight . Absolutely, how do you do oversight . Go ahead. Yes, i dont think an apology is enough. Particularly because this had happened several times before. I think weve really got to have some serious discussions about john brennan, find out what he knew about this when he was making those statements, what he knew about it at the time. Im not calling for his resignation, but im pretty skeptical right now, because it really has undermined the trust between the committee, and if you go back to the report itself, candy, one of the key findings of the report is they werent honest with us. They werent honest with the congress, the president , the secretary of state. They were misrepresenting this program and what it did and how effective it was, and you know, this is serious stuff. Again, because were the only people that are overseeing this outfit, and if we cant trust what theyre telling us, we got to talk seriously about what our other options are. Well, so what are your other options . Because you have a director that either didnt know what was going on in his agency as it relates to the hacking into the Computer System or he didnt tell the truth. So at some point, i mean, as you know, a number of our colleagues, republican and democrat, have called for his resignation. What is the alternative here . Well, i think the bigger question is how do we do our oversight more effectively, and we may have to embed people in the agency or have, create an office of oversight in the agency because its just essential. The American People are relying on us to watch whats going on, and theres a bigger question, of course, which is relatively Small Committee with a small staff overseeing a 50 billion a year enterprise, the overall scope of the intelligence services, and i think its something we in the committee are going to have to discuss seriously and were going to have to have a really straightforward discussion with the white house. I want to play you something the president said at his News Conference late this week, when he was talking about the torture report which has opinion called, whi been called which we hope to see from you all at least a redacted version of it and talking about the behavior of the cia, and here is one of the things he said that caught my attention. O behavior of the cia, and here is one of the things he said that caught my attention. Its important for us not