Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Carol Costello 20160706

Richmond, says the video is deeply troubling and has understandably evoked strong anger and emotion in our community. He is calling for a federal investigation. Polo sandoval has more. There is a growing call for an outside agency to get involved. Investigators are taking a closer look at that footage. As you mentioned, it is disturbing. Hundreds of protesters taking to the streets in batten rouge after this graphic video surfaced between police and a Convenience Store. Two officers responded to an anonymous call after midnight on tuesday. The caller said a man selling cds outside of the store threatened him with a gun. They attempted to subdue 37yearold alton sterl. The store owner says that one officer used a taser but sterling remained on his feet. Sterl sterling is then tackled been an officer over the hood of the car. As they strained to arrest him, he was shot at several times over point blank range. I was two or three feet away when it happened. He said while he was in the parking lot, he saw the officers pull a gun. His family demanded answers. I want to know who are about what happened about the whole situation. My mother didnt deserve it. He didnt deserve it at all. The officers in question were wearing body cameras but they apparently fell off in the altercation. Batten rouge police have placed the officers off on administrative leave. We are going to review the video, the audio. We have witnesses, nonbiased witnesses here. We are going to bring them down to our station and interview them. Sterling died of multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and back. God bless his soul. It could have been handled differently, much differently. On both sides, it could have been handled differently. Was alton sterling, did he have one previous conviction on his record . The owner tells cnn that sterling was a man who had permission to sell cds there in the parking lot of that store and was never really much trouble but, again, ultimately, investigators will have to take a closer look at the video and people there and at sterlings criminal past as well. Polo sandoval reporting live this morning. Joining me is tom fuentes, Law Enforcement analyst and fbi director. Tom, welcome. You have seen the video. One Police Officer cries out that the suspect had a gun. You cant really see the suspects right arm at all. In your estimation, what happen here . It is hard to tell what happened. All of that matters to what the Police Officers thought they were facing when they were dealing with him. From the video, we dont know exactly how long the discussion was with the Police Officers and sterling, how long they were asking questions, did they ask him to put his hands up so they could pat him down and see if he, in fact, had a gun. We dont know any of that part. The part about the body cam falling off, yes, that sounds strange. We dont know what type of body cams they are. Do they have audio . Audio should still be running even if the cameras fall off the chest of the officers. We dont know that also. We dont know. We will have to wait for the forensics to see the claim he was shot in the back could be an exit wound from the shots in the front. We dont know when those shots were fired. Was he pulling the gun out and he was too big and strong and they couldnt. Was he able to pull a gun out of his pocket. Those are questions we dont know and will have to be found out. Excuse me. Is this video live that we are seeing . That man is a protester. He said he wants things to be peaceful. We expect the Sterling Family to be speaking out. If mr. Sterling did have a gun, and he was down on the ground and he moved to grab that gun, how fast would a Police Officer have to react . Well, the officer would have to react instantly. You would think that reaction would to be get that gun, get it out of his hand or move his arm away so they cant point that gun. If your shooting someone, they still are often not going to be neutralized that instant. They would still be in a position to bring that gun forward, point it at the officers, shoot it and then maybe the wounds that were received were mortal but they dont kick in right away. The person is still able to do an attack. I think thats a huge question of if it was seen he was pulling a gun out. Shooting him in the chest may not be, depending on the angle they had and you dont see because of the car blocking it, what kind of an angle it is. Another part of this investigation to me is going to have to be what kind of Selection Process does batten rouge have and what kind of training. Were these officers so poorly trained because even in the beginning of this when you see the officer make a base calli National Football league tackle of sterling near those cars where they roll over by the cars, you would never want to do that. You might get hurt. You might smash your head against the side of the car or he might. It is not a good position to initiate in this particular takedown. This is initiated by the Police Officer. The fact that he did it at that moment, we dont know what sparked it. Did sterling Say Something to him . It didnt appear there was anything that required the tackle to be made right at that instant in a bad location. Tom fuentes, i have to leave it there. Thank you for your insight. In just 60 minutes, we expect paul ryan to talk about the fbi directors recommendation not to press charges against Hillary Clinton over her use of private email servers. Paul ryan is not happy. His republican colleagues are furious. Texas congressman, roger williams, tweeted the fbis decision is a failure of our justice system. Congressman, lamar smith said, if clinton were a republican, she would be indicted. David vit terse says, it gives clinton a pass, based on politics, pure and simple. Paul ryan giving the okay for the House Oversight committee to grill the fbi director. We are going to have hearings. Jason chapeth is going to be calling up james comey to answer questions. He didnt answer any questions with the press. Our Judiciary Committee is sending questions. There are a lot of unanswered questions. He shredded the case she had been making all year long. All right. Im just monitoring, because we are getting in new tweets from the political candidates every minute of every day. Im just monitoring that for you. Of course, all of this is fueling Donald Trumps attacks against clinton. Lets bring in chris frates for more on that. Hillary clinton might be off the hook legally but politically, donald trump has been hitting her where she is most vulnerable with voters on her trustworthyness. He hammered clinton and said a couple things. The first one i want to put up on the screen. He said, crooked hillary has been proven to be a person who is dishonest, incompetent, and of very bad judgment. Then, he used the fbi directors own words to paint clinton as unfit for the presidency, tweeting crooked Hillary Clinton and her team were, quote, extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information and then he went on to say she is not fit for the presidency. At a Campaign Event last night, trump repeatedly used the fbi decision to argue that clinton is part of the same dishonest political establishment that he intends to upend if he is elected. Today is the best evidence ever this weve seen that our system is absolutely, totally rigged. Its rigged. Trump also accused linton of bribing attorney general Loretta Lynch after a New York Times story cited unnamed democrats saying clinton may decide to keep lynch in that post if she wins. Clinton said nothing about that publicly and trump offered no evidence to back up this claim. Clintons camp was gad to get some legal resolution on this case. It has been hanging over their heads for about a year now. They knew this wasnt the end of it for them politically and, man, they really were right about that, carol. Yes. It continues to be damaging. Chris frates, thanks so much. This is the tweet i was looking at. A couple of minutes ago, this appeared on Hillary Clintons verified twitter account just about 15 minutes ago. It is a tweet from president barack obama. Let me tell you, my faith in Hillary Clinton has always been rewarded, but, boy, a lot of voters have a question about Hillary Clintons use of her private server and whether her judgment is good. Reporter what was so bizarre and surreal was it didnt come up yesterday. The white house refused to talk about when they were aboard air force one and their trip together. It is interesting to see this relationship between the two of them evolve and develop having covered them in 2008. They have gone from enemies to frenemies to dependant friends. Hillary clinton desperately needing a boost in her popularity and that she hopes to get from the president in relatively high poll numbers and president obama hoping that his legacy and policy numbers survive this election season. The two of them very much dependant and intertwined during this process. What we saw yesterday was the unfolding, the beginning of that dependency if you will. The two of them in charlotte, north carolina. We saw the obama of 2008, the r oratory, passion and personality. The president acting as a character witness for Hillary Clinton really. You fired up . Yeah. Ready to go . Fired up . Im fired up. Hillary got me fired up. There has never been any man or woman more qualified for this office than Hillary Clinton, ever. Ive also known him as the friend that i was honored to stand with in the good times and the hard times, someone who has nev never forgotten where he came from. Donald, if you are out there tweeting, it is hawaii. Carol, of course, the pictures in that moment you really saw were kind of extraordinary when you think of the development, the evolution of their relationship here, the two of them getting off of air force one, shoulder to shoulder and moving forward together. The white house choosing not to even acknowledge really what had taken place with the fbi investigation and comes indictment, a very p damming handling of her emails at the time. There will be some statements about the misstatements from Hillary Clinton. Susan malveaux, reporting live. Back to bat on ruon rouge. Thank god for microsoft. If not for them, maybe we wouldnt be here today right now as we are congregating. The Baton Rouge Police department p did was confiscate the video system from sss foot mart. Mr. Abdullah said that they had him in his car, did not present him with a search warrant but went in and took his system. So he is confident that his video, his Surveillance Video shows the entire incident. That is now in the possession of the Baton Rouge Police department. Now, there are no criminal charges pending against anyone as far as we know. Certainly, because of the tragic and unfortunate situation with mr. Sterling, no criminal charges could be filed against him. Why are they holding on to this video . We havent heard them saying anything about bringing in investigation against the officers. What were asking for is for this investigation to be taken out of the hands of the batten Rouge Police Department and handed over to the Louisiana State police. The mayor has said he will not be involved in a coverup and the best way to ensure that there is no coverup is to hand it over to some neutral third party. Also, i want to thank congressman richmond. I understand, last night, he has asked for the Justice Department and the fbi to be involved. It is the same thing that im requesting for the family as well. So, what ill tell you is this. I dont think the department knew there was another video out there. We certainly believe there may be other videos that show this situation as well. What i want to say is certainly, please send your prayers and condolences out to your family. We certainly want to say. This is mrs. Mcmillan, the mother of mr. Sterlings son. Im sorry. This is cameron sterling, altons son. So we want to make sure that you certainly send your prayers out to him, because we need it. We are praying that the truth ultimately comes out from this. We think with an independent investigation we can get down to that. Thats what the family wants. So ill hand it over, back to mr. Mcclanahan and if you have any questions afterward, ill be more than happy to answer. Were actually here today to speak to the culture of the Baton Rouge Police department. This incident is only one incident in many. What we are going to do today is rule out the 1 of bad Police Officers that go around becoming the jundge, the jury, the executioner of people period but more specifically, innocent black lives. What im calling for today is that the chief Law Enforcement officer, which is the major, to fire the chief of police immediately. I demand for the chief to be fired immediately. I demand that he resign if he has the guts. Secondly, i am calling for the chief executive officer of this city to resign, to step down. He must step down, because this is a new day. We will not have in our city, the capital city, anybody who allows this type of action to take place. It will not take place no longer in the city. Im calling for the ceo and the chief Law Enforcement officer, all of them to resign. Im calling for a full investigation of this Police Department and this website where they go on and call bla wk folks anything they want to call them. It is uncalled for. If you set behind the screen of a computer, you will act upon it when you get out in front of the community. We aint gonna run around scared. I will no longer tell my son to see a Police Officer and say, yes, sir and bow down to them. Hell, no. Everything that is going to start today is not going to stop today. I promise you, we will continue to act until we get the 1 gone, the bad gone and the chief Law Enforcement officer gone period. Mrs. Mcmillan wants to make a statement. First of all, i want to give thanks to all the residents of bat on rouge and those that have came and expressed their condolences throughout the different meetings over the past 48 hours. I also want to clear some things up prior to the beginning. The interrogate of what i really need to say p alton sterling, regardless of if you knew him or not, he is not what the mass media is making him out to be. This is a ploy to try and obscure the image of a man who was simply trying to earn a living to take care of his children. With that being said, the individuals involved in his murder took away a man with children who depended upon their daddy on a daily basis. My son is not the youngest. He is the oldest of his siblings. He is 15 years old. He had to watch this and this was put all over the outlets. And everything that was possible to be shown. Some may know alton sold cds and was doing just that, not bothering anyone, and had the consent of the store owners as well. In the event they recorded the two officers. Now, if we could reflect on the measure of a man, it should not be judged on his past p the most scientific mark that a man left his life and what he left the lives of his children. As this video has been shared across the world, you will see with your own eyes how he was handled unjustly and killed without regard for the lives that he helped raise. As a mother, i have now been forced to raise a son who is gonna remember what happened to his father that i cant take away from him. He is at an age of understanding. I hurt more for him m and his loss as a parent one of the greatest fears is to see your child hurt and knowing there is nothing you can do about it. What i saw last night from the city of baton rouge will forever warm my heart. We offer a complete humility of individuals who will carry this burden and stand together to ensure this will not go unjust it is. It will not go unnoticed specially for the future p. I for one will not rest p or not allow him to be swept in the dirt. I say again i for one will not rest and will not allow yall to sweep him in the dirt until adequate punishment is served to all parties involved. Again, i want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. They will not go unnoticed. Under any normal circumstances, the criminal justice sus stim says if a person xhits a crime, he is to be arrested, charged and the system will take place. Im calling on anybody in this city with any backbone to go and arrest those two officers. If the system would work for anybody, it should work for them too. Let a judge set their bond. Murder, there shouldnt be a bond period. Let those two officers be arrested and charged with capital murder. Let them hire lawyers. Let them try to weasel themselves out. Thank god for youtube. Thank got for iphones. Without the iphones, they might have gotten away. I want them to know. Them and them friends, because they run in packs like dogs, that there day of reckoning is upon them. They must make peace with their maker. It is the last time they should walk free to harm another. We will not stop until justice is served. P this young man that died for all others that have died at the hand of unlawful p Police Officers. We want you to know this is not the beginning nor is this the end. We shall go until we achieve victory. We shall shall get victory for all those involved. We shall get victory. I stand with scoc and the naacp, the nation of islam. We stand with our people. We are calling for a coalition, an economic boycott starting this friday of the louisiana p mall. Thats what we are calling for. We are not going to stop as brother mike mcclanahan, president of the naacpcp until we get justice. Thats all i have that. Starting this friday, dont spend anything at the mall of louisiana. Thank you. Your name. Abdul rasheed mohammed, local representative of the nation of islam. At this time, we will begin to take a few questions and not supply the family because of the emotional toll it has taken on the family. There is a unified front. We have elected officials here. People from the faithbased community. We have nonprofit leaders here. We have people in baton runl that a rouge that are demanding for justice. This is not a place for division. We are not trying to pit all of our community against Police Officers. We understand all Police Officers are not bad. It should not take National Attention for us to get an answer about a man being murdered by Police Officers and then for officers to pull a gun out of his pocket and shoot him at point blank range and we not have anything from our chief of police and our mayor is a disservice for the people of east baton Rouge Parrish and we will not stand for it. If there are a few questions, we will take it and start with National Media first. Any questions . What else have you been told . What we have been told by the Police Department, is that the body cameras fell off of them. They have not released any footage as of yet. There is dash cam video as well. We have not seen dash cam video or Police Body Cam video. The video from the Surveillance Video of the store clerk was taken by the Police Officers. That video footage has not been released. They took the store owners video camera and recorder from the store. We do not understand why they took the video recorder. That is a question for us. The store clerk should still be able to watch what is happening at his store. So state representative Denise Marcell has led with body cameras and she is going to have conversations leading forward as results with finding out how do we get answers as to what is going on with the body cam footage. What is your source of action . We are going to set a Community Meeting for this afternoon to be on the same panel. We want all of our faithbased leaders, all people that care, black, white, whatever your belief or ethnicity is. We believe this is a baton rouge issue. We need to come together in the city and say this is not going to stand in our community. They say baton rouge is a tale of two cities. How do we move forward and how quickly are we going to get our resolve together to do so . What i believe is that they should come forth and give us answers to the questions we have been asking yesterday. I emailed the xhooef yesterday aski asking that an external investigation be done so it would not have the appearance of any conflict of interest. I was told that wasnt going to happen. I believe this community deserves an answer. I dont believe they should have waited this long to give us the answers we are asking for. Let me just say, the sooner that you come out with something, then you can set the rest of the people in the community. If you dont do that, people continue to have questions and as many videos as come out, the worse it is going to get. Yes, im calling upon them to come out and give us some direct answers or charge the officer, give us some information. We need to get arrest in the community. Im calling on them to unify this community. It is upon the mayor and president of this parrish to do so and the chief of police. What have they said . We havent heard a clear explanation of why these officer fired their weapons on this gentleman. It shouldnt take so long to get a an answer from our Police Department. Have you talked to the family about whether he had purchased a weapon recently or whether he had a weapon on him . I dont know the answer to that question but it is irrelevant. If you look at the video, it certainly speaks for itself. Mr. Sterling was not reaching for a weapon. He looks like a man who is trying to get his head up, who is actually fighting for his life, a life that ended immediately there after, almost as if he knew what was about to happen. The video certainly speaks for itself. As Police Officers, they are trained for any and every scenario. They are trained. You cannot tell me those officers have not been trained how to go upon a scene with a gentleman that may or may not have a weapon. They are trained. Be that as it may, even if they wasnt trained, two guys had him down by his arms. I can take candy from a baby. These guys did not want to take a gun from him until he was dead. That was on their mind. I promise you evidence will show when they arrived on the scene, they had shooting somebody on their mind. If they should say, let me talk to you first and knock you down and put handcuffs on you, whatever it might be. They did none of that. Not only did they kill him, they walked over him, shouted some obscene stuff and said, dont call or whatever it was. If these guys had that type of mentality, they do not need to be sitting home. They need to be sitting in prison on if paid leave getting their minds right for their day of reckoning. Did it seem that the cameras fell off rather easily . We dont know if they fell off or they was taken off. Whats important is that we have a video that is showing you what happened and we see an individual thats being assassinated in front of us. One thing about these cameras, because we all said about the cameras, erik garner had the clearest cameras ever and they still did not indict or hold those Police Officers responsible. We want these individuals held responsible because this has become a Common Thread across america. It is not one we will stand for here in baton runl. We are here to ask them to be transparent, make sure they show us everything and if the cameras did fall off, where is that footage that led up to when they fell off . We want to make sure they are not lying, because they have been known to lie. Thats where we are. To answer your question, i was told by the chief of police that both body cams fell off in a tussle. However, i did not see that on the video. If that happened, and he is saying there is a defect in the body cameras, i am saying, we dont need to use those body cameras anymore. Lets outfit our Police Officers in body cams that dont fall off, because they are using them throughout the nation and they are not falling off of other officers uniforms. I would call upon him to immediately stop using those body cameras number one. It was yesterday afternoon after i sent him an email and he requested that the state police come in. He did call me back. Thats when he said the body cams did come off. They had some footage but it wasnt very clear. The footage we have thats good is from the store. Again, i think a lot of the unrest is in the fact that question do have a video at the store. Why havent they released that video . I dont understand that. Why havent they given us some indications of where this investigation is going or will be leading to . Those are some of the questions ill be asking. One of the other things that came up on the body camera commission was whether or not an officer should be able to view that body cam prior to making a statement. I was told yesterday that he had not given a statement yet. They were giving him time to get with his lawyer. That also concerns me. He said that the state police probably would not want to take over the investigation because they had gathered a lot of the information at the scene and talked to a lot of the witnesses and what i said to the chief is, Going Forward, we should never have another situation like this. We should have a memorandum of understanding with the Louisiana State police where the Baton Rouge Police backs up and allows them to come in initially and make those investigations transparent. Thats what im calling for, transparency. Let me take a few minutes to allow miss sandra sterling p to speak to you for a few moments. Hello. My name is sandra sterl. Im the aunt of alton sterling. I am not pleased with what i saw. I was out there the day of. I was actually out my body for a couple of days. When i saw this video at 4 00 this morning, i was very disturbed and i was hurt at what i saw. Its a horrible thing. Its a horrible thing to happen to him. He didnt deserve that. I commend the person that finally brought that video up. Had she not been brought it up, we would have been blinded. We never would have known what really happened. By those cameras being lost, it was that video that made us realize what really happened that particular night. I applaud that person that brought that video out. It shed light on everything that we didnt know. We was blinded. Do any of you know what happened to that video . No, we dont know. Somebody posted it to facebook. We are thankful that they did. Yes, sir. Do you trust no, we do not trust the Police Department at this stage. They have not given us reason to trust them. Trust is a relationshipbased thing. A communication between us and a communication between them. We have not had that communication from them to us. There has been no trust established as it relates to this situation. We will address each issue as it comes up. Right now, we want to stick to the issue. Let me Say Something. Let me just say this to you briefly. I dont want to dismiss your question. Let me say this to you. Everybody here has fought on criminal Justice Reform and we have all said it is not just about citizen reform. It is about community policing. So if nothing else, this is going to be one of conversation that is we are going to have as how the police interacts with every community in baton runl but certainly the communities in north baton rouge. Thats where we are going. Listen, we are not going to take any more questions but we will say to the individual tonight at 6 00 at sss food mart at the corner of fairfield and foster were going to break away from this very emotional News Conference held by the family of alton sterling, a man shot and killed in front of a Convenience Store under somewhat suspect circumstances. I want to bring in tom fuentes, our senior Law Enforcement analyst. There you are. Welcome back, tom. This family is very emotional. The naacp came out and said he wants the police chief to resign. How do police handle this when emotions are so high . First of all, carol, my heart goes out to the family. They are victims and they have to live with this the rest of their lives, whether their Family Member did well or wrong or whatever happened. He has died. Thats a tragedy for him no matter what. As far as the police go, i am a little confused at the way the Police Department is handling this. First of all, to not make any Public Statement. They cant say what the results of their investigation is. It is too soon for that. They can say what they are doing, what the process is, describe it, try to alay the communitys worry it is going to be swept under the rug or not properly investigated. Thats number one. Number two. Most Police Departments now in this country, the protocol for an officerinvolved shooting is that another agency does the investigation. The fact that theyre saying that Louisiana State police are not investigating, i dont understand that. If the fbi ultimately is called in to do a civil rights investigation, thats not something the Police Department can refuse if thats what the decision is. I dont understand at this point why they are not wanting an independent investigation to explain what happened or as much as what they are doing about the different facts they dont know. Tom, for those viewers just joining us, i want to show this disturbing video one more time. Mr. Alton sterling was selling cds in front of a Convenience Store. Police approached him for some reason you do not know. They ordered him to the ground. You see a Police Officer tackling mr. Sterling. They get him to the ground. One of the Police Officers shouts, i think it is a Police Officer who shouted, he has got a gun. You see the Police Officer take out his own Service Revolver or 9 millimeter gun. If we roll the video further, you would see him shoot mr. Sterling in the chest and we dont know. There were Bullet Wounds to the back. The family was asked if mr. Sterling had a gun. His lawyer said, i dont know the answer to that. It is irrelevant. The video speaks for itself. Is it irrelevant . No, that would not be irrelevant. Whether he is supposed to have a gun or allowed to have a gun may not mean a thing if he actually has a gun. Because part of the video is behind the parked car, we dont see his hands or whether he was reaching under his sweatshirt, possibly pulling out a gun. We cant say whether he did or did not or was trying to pull out a gun. If i can say another thing on Police Technique when they talk about training. Having, as a Police Officer, been confronted with many subjects that arent going to cooperate and be arrested, at the point, these Police Officers should have been calling for a backup and had multiple officers given the size of alton sterling. They should not have been trying to do a football tackle all by themselves and get into a wrestling match that they might not be able to win. They put themselves in a position that even if they were beginning to lose the battle with him, there shouldnt have been a battle with just two Police Officers. So what should happen now . There was a question of the body cameras falling off the Police Officers. They were supposed to prevent actions like this and they fell off daurg the scuffle. Thats what we are told, they fell off during the scuffle. If thats true, then they should have clear video of what happened to and what was said with the two officers and sterling. They should have that before the tackle, before the wrestling match. The videos should be crystal clear. The audio should be clear as to what happened if thats the case those cameras came off. They have hard drives in them. Merely falling off and falling to the street should not damage the video itself thats contained in the memory. The next question, the cameras should still be operating even if they are pointing at the sky or at the ground. You would think that they are still recording the audio for the entire duration of this incidence. I think the first step of this is that the chief of police needs to get in front of a microphone and get in front of the people of that town and say, we know this incident happened. This is what we are doing. We know it should be investigated by an outside agency. We have asked the Louisiana State police to take over this part of the investigation, we will provide them with all of the videos and Security Camera coverage. The store, itself, would have coverage of the parking lot, probably. All video be provided to the investigators, all statements, all interviews be conducted by the state police and take the local Police Department out of this. All right. Tom fuentes, i have to leave it there. Emotions are very high in patton rouge this morning. Some are calling for an economic boycott. The naacp is calling for the police chief to resign. The mother of his son saying she will not let it go by without justice being served. We will have much more in the hours to come and in the newsroom and on cnn ame is bare dog chow natural. Now that i work there, i value the food even more. I feed it to yoshi because there are no artificial colors, preservatives and its made with real chicken. Im so proud to make dog chow natural in davenport, iowa. I found her wandering miles from home. When the phone rang at 5am, i knew it was about mom. I see how hard its been on her at work and i want to help. For the 5 million americans living with alzheimers, and millions more who feel its effects. Lets walk together to make an even bigger impact and end alzheimers for good. Find your walk near you at alz. Org walk. All right, breaking news to pass along. Hillary clinton as you know was not indicted but according to the fbi she was careless with the nations most sensitive information. It certainly call also into question her judgment. Republicans have been angry Hillary Clinton will not be charged or indicted. Theme been urging james comey to testify in front of the House Oversight committee. And that wish has come true. We got word james comey, the fbi director, will be testifying in front of the House Oversight committee. That will happen licketysplit, that will happen tomorrow. Manu raju is on capitol hill with more. Reporter thats right, carol, this is really part of an effort by republicans to keep this issue alive. They believe its unlikely a prosecutor could bring charges against Hillary Clinton, that is not the end of the story, and one piece of this is to have oversight hearings. Jason chav felts announcing they will begin hearings, asking director comey specifically about his decision not to bring not to subject that there should be any charges brought against Hillary Clinton but its just one piece. I just spoke to mike pompeo whos a member of the House Intelligence Committee who said they met, as members of the House Intelligence Committee, early this morning to discuss a possible legislative response to put pressure on Hillary Clinton and put pressure on the fbi. He was kind of cagey about his details about what could congress do legislatively but he says Hillary Clinton should be denied access to classified intelligence, classified information, for the rest of this campaign season. And thats something paul ryan, the House Speaker, mentioned also last night. Again, this is one piece of an effort by republicans to really put pressure, raise concerns about Hillary Clintons handling of this issue. And just because there may not be any criminal charges, it doesnt mean her political problems are over, carol. All right, manu raju, thanks so much. It is a morning of breaking news. Were getting word that president obama in just about oh, 10 25 eastern time, hell make some sort of statement on afghanistan. As you know, theres been a wave of terror attacks across the middle east. There was some question about the level of troops within afghanistan. We believe the president may be talking about that but i dont specifically know that. But we do know hell be making some sort of statement on afghanistan in just about 40 minutes or so. Lets talk about the development on capitol hill right now with james comey testifying before the House Oversight committee. With me now, john jay lavel, a trump delegate. Hillary rosen, a clinton supporter. And jonathan allen, Political Columnist for roll call and coauthor of whats your biography called . State secrets and the rebirth of Hillary Clinton. Thank you so much. Jonathan, what do you make of this testimony from james comey . Are republicans on the right track . Are they attacking the wrong person . Well, i think its necessary. I think the world or certainly america watched the press conference yesterday and it seemed to be leading up to the words that there would be charges and then there was a 180 and all of a sudden theres not going to be charges. Clearly, a case was laid out that, you know, charges should have been made. That being said, theres no question that it was an indictment of Hillary Clintons character, of Hillary Clintons judgment, and her failure to recognize the National Security concerns of the American People. This is far from over. Theres been reports that this investigation is closed. We still dont know if who hacked into these emails. Not just Hillary Clintons emails but the individuals she was conversing with the fbi said it had no evidence that Hillary Clintons email was hacked. It said it might be but it did not provide any evidence that Hillary Clintons email server had been hacked. Likely to be and thats concerning. That is concerning but theres no evidence it actually has been hacked. Jonathan, ill post this question to you. James comey is going to testify. You probably watched the News Conference. It was i mean, it was bad for Hillary Clinton, it was devastating for Hillary Clinton. Why isnt this enough for republicans . It was less devastating for Hillary Clinton than the fbi recommending criminal charges against her, but i agree with you, it was a really devastating moment for her in terms of the trust question, in terms of the honesty question, in terms of whether or not she may have violated statute. Jim comey didnt even say she didnt break the law. He simply said that no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute, given what the fbi found. I think House Republicans want to hear more of that. If they could hear 11 hours of that, like the 11 hours of benghazi testimony Hillary Clinton gave in october but have it be bad for her as opposed to the 11 hours of ben gaghazi testimony, they would get that from comey, they would like to hear him talk as much as possible. How does she combat that she has a trust issue with voters . Two things. First, if the republicans want to put comey on trial theyre going to end up overplaying this and blowing it. This is a guy who was a u. S. Attorney, appointed by a republican president , Deputy Attorney general in a republican administration. He is, you know, by all accounts for a long time above politics. If they want to start attacking comey on the hill for making a decision not to charge Hillary Clinton, i think thats a huge mistake. Two important things came out yesterday. The first, was that they did say that she was careless in her application and use of email, but she has already acknowledged that and apologized to the American People for that. The other thing they said, very importantly, and he will elaborate on this if pressed, is that she was honest and open and transparent in the evaluation of this problem. There was no intent to hide or mislead the investigation. So the way Hillary Clinton gets beyond this, i think, is just to go and do what she is doing, starting today, again, is talk to the American People about what they care about. Their issues, not her issues. Dont you think, though, hilary, that Hillary Clinton should maybe hold a town hall and abc questions voters have about her judgment . Isnt that important . Well, you know, throughout this primary she actually has answered to voters over and over again yeah, but she hasnt answered carol, let me finish News Conference from jim comey she is consistently in town halls and meetings withanswerin care about. Look, elections are about choices. Today, shes in atlantic city, promoting how Donald Trumps bad judgment and unethical behavior resulted in bankruptcies and Small Businesses not being paid and there are numerous instances where that will happen. Now, you could call that a diversion, but really what it is is lets talk about choices. People are going to have to decide. Which one of these people speaks to their needs Going Forward all right, i have to end it there. Thanks to all of you. The next hour after a break. So nice, so nice st. Croix full of pure vibes. So nice, so nice. St. John a real paradise. This summer experience Us Virgin Islands nice. Book 4 nights at visitusvi. Com before july 16th to receive the 4th night free, plus 350 in spending credits. Good morning. Im carol costello. Thank you for joining me. Were following two big breaking stories. Were just minutes away from a statement by president obama on afghanistan. Ash carter and chairman of the joint chiefs also expected to be there. Plus, fbi director james comey now set to face a grilling by lawmakers tomorrow. After a decision not to recommend charges against Hillary Clinton. Any minute now, house leaders expected to speak too. Paul ryan already saying clinton should be blocked from access to classified information during her president ial run. So lets get right to cnn National Correspondent suzanne malveaux. Shes at the white house. Suzanne, what do we expect to hear from the president in just about 25 minutes . Whats going to happen is the president will talk about the plan moving forward regarding afghanistan. What we expect is the president s going to be leaving for warsaw, poland, tomorrow, attending the nato summit. This has been a u. S. Endeavor thats lasted for 15 years. This is certainly not something the president anticipated that would extend beyond the two administrations that hes been in charge of, but that has been the case. And theres been a certain reluctance for him to be a war president but thats happened. What we expect in the next couple of days is the president is going to reach out to the leaders, fellow leaders, and ask them for more support, to continue their support. It was just back in may that you had those Foreign Ministers committing, saying they will go beyond the 2016 mission, that they will continue with the Financial Support, with the training of the forces there. That is something the president is going to reiterate. Also, i should let you know the president does have a decision. Is he going to cut those u. S. Forces inside of afghanistan in half or will he keep the remaining force there. These are the kinds of issues the president has been grappling with. It is something that he did not anticipate, but as weve seen over the last nearly eight years, the president has had to accept this role. Yes, there is a robust force inside of afghanistan. Things have not gone as well as they had hoped. And they continue to need Financial Support from the critical Nato Alliance he is going to be meeting with this weekend, carol. All right, suzanne malveaux, reporting live from the white house this morning, thank you. In the meantime, the political fallout from that fbi decision on Clinton Emails now fueling Donald Trumps attacks against his political rival. Cnns chris frates, good morning. Hillary clinton might be off the hook legally but politically Donald Trumps been hitting her on her trustworthiness. In a classic trump tweet storm this morning, trump said crooked Hillary Clinton lied to the fbi and to the people our country. She is so guilty. But watch, her time will come. At a campaign rally, trump repeatedly used the fbi decision to argue clintons part of that same dishonest political establishment that he intends to upend if hes elected. We now know that she lied to the country when she said she did not send classified information on her server. She lied. Like a criminal with a guilty conscience, clinton had her lawyers delete, destroy and wipe away forever except i still say there are geniuses that can find them 30,000, think of this, 30,000 emails. Today is the best evidence ever that weve seen that our system is absolutely totally rigged. Going a bit off message, trump once again praised former iraqi dictator saddam hussein. We shouldnt have been there. We shouldnt have destabilized. Saddam hussein was a bad guy, right. He wallas a bad guy. Really bad guy. You know what he did well . He killed terrorists. Clintons campaign jumped on those remarks, saying trumps praise for seeming strong men knows no bounds and again demonstrates how dangerous and how unworthy he is of the office. Clinton was able to play a little offense there on a day where trump mostly kept her on defense, carol. All right, reporting live for us this morning, thank you. One key issue for Hillary Clinton in this email controversial is whether or not those emails contained classified information. Heres what mrs. Clinton has said in the past. I am confident i never sent, nor received, any information that was classified at the time it was sent and received. I never sent classified material on my email and i never received any that was marked classified. Im confident that this process will prove that i never sent, nor received, any email that was marked classified. But the head of the fbi, james comey, contradicted clinton when announcing his decision. From the group of 30,000 emails returned to the state department in 2014, 110 emails in 52 email chains have been determined by the owning agency to contain classified information at the time they were sent or received. All right. Here now to talk about this is david gergen, former president ial adviser to nixon, reagan, ford and clinton, and larry sabado, director of the University Center virginia for politics. David, i want to try something new here. I want to remove politics. Lets do that, shall we . Go dark . Go dark because this is really important. According to the fbi, secretary clinton was careless with some of the nations most sensitive documents. Top secret information. How concerned should voters be about this . When the fbi says shes been extremely careless, theres a natural reason voters should be concerned. The fbi went on to say had this happened to someone who was working at the state department there would have been sanctions. Presumably blocking access to emails. So theres a distinct impress that even show she may not be guilty a felony, shes been careless with National Security. I think people have a sense either the system is rigged or they have a sense of entitlement. That there is one set of rule also that apply to everybody else. If you work at the state department, you get fired. But theres a different set of rules that get applied to us. I think Hillary Clinton has to deal with that. I think she now has to sit down or someone a group of press, and really have a serious conversation and review everything. Thats what i suggested to hilary rosen, that Hillary Clinton ought to sit down and explain what happened, why voters should still trust her judgment, because thats largely what shes running on, right, she keeps saying donald trump isnt fit for office because he doesnt have good judgment, but this incident calls into question her judgment. Carol, it does, and thats why its such a legitimate issue as opposed to so much of the fluff we hear on the campaign trail from both sides, things that dont really matter that are frivolous. This is a serious issue. I think david is on to something here. Hillary clinton needs a come to jesus moment. She needs it in exactly the right context. It cant be in the convention. I wouldnt recommend a Richard Nixon checker speech going back to 1952. We dont do those kinds of things anymore. It has to be in a serious interview with a journalist or maybe journalists who will ask her very tough questions and shes going to have to answer all of them. You know, she cant answer a few and then have her staff signal that times up. She needs this. Whether she recognizes it or not. I also want to go ahead, david. Yeah, shes been through this with benghazi very recently. She handled herself extremely well. If she comes forward and reviews everything, she could help to clear the air. Otherwise, theres going to be this continuing sense shes dodging and it only further erodes trust. James comey, the fbi director, is going to testify before the house committee, right, so republicans are keeping this going. I want to take a politics out the equation. So they charge the system is rigged, inmating theres something about james comey thats kind of rigged. So theyre talking about an fbi director whos in charge of ferreting out terrorists in the homeland security. Isnt that dangerous . Sure, look, this is a dog that wont hunt, as they would say in larry sabados part of the country. James comey has a reputation, well earned, on both sides of the aisle as a straight shooter. A man who is a registered republican. A Deputy Attorney general in the bush administration, george w. Bush, you know, rushed in and prevented administration aides going after a sick John Ashcroft attorney general to get permission for wiretapping. The same man appointed by president obama to be head of the fbi. I dont think theres much there. The republicans, theyve got a legitimate set of questions to ask about what hillary did. Theyve got questions to ask about ways the difference between being extremely careless and gross negligence, gross negligence under the statute could bring felony charges. So theyve got some legitimate questions. Unless they have proof thats been malfeasance, somewhere in the system, i dont think that dog will hunt. I know, arent they attacking the wrong person, larry . I mean, if anybody should testify before congress, shouldnt it be Hillary Clinton . Well, i dont know if you can get her to do that. Look, again, i agree with david, everybody i know who knows director comey tells me that hes a person of rock solid integrity. Hes a republican. Everything we know about him suggests hes a conservative. And you can disagree with the decision he made, but by and large, what he did was defensible. And, too, this is so typical of Donald Trumps campaign. And its the reason why he cant get traction. He always goes too far. Hes got Hillary Clinton pinned. So what does he do . He attacks the integrity of james comey. He suggested the attorney general of the United States has been bribed. Then he says something positive about saddam hussein. Is there anybody who can rein him in . I think we all know the answer now, no. The saddest part to me is people dont have much faith in our institutions, right, so to continue to tear down an insurance tuinstitution without any evidence seems to be wrong. It plays to peoples fears. I think larry sabato is exactly on target about this. You know, theyre if anything, i actually think this is one of the finest hours of the fbi. Ill change my mind if evidence comes to the fore that says they rigged it, the investigation, but we have no evidence like that. The concentration ought to be now on who should be president of the United States. And is Hillary Clinton the right person for that job. Many Americans Still believe that. Many other americans dont. Lets focus on whats central here. I hope we can. David gergen, larry sabato, many thanks. We are awaiting the president. He is expected to speak in just about 15, 20 minutes. Hes expected to speak on the subject of afghanistan. Were also expecting House Speaker paul ryan to talk at his weekly press conference. We expect House Speaker ryan to talk about james comey and his testimony before congress. Kelloggs® frosted 8 layers of wheat. And one thats sweet. For the adult and kid in all of us. Kelloggs frosted miniwheats® feed your inner kidult now that i work there, i value dothe food even more. I feed it to yoshi because there are no artificial colors, preservatives and its made with real chicken. Im so proud to make dog chow natural in davenport, iowa. All right, to capitol hill, paul ryan is holding his News Conference. Thats not paul ryan, by the way, but lets listen. To protect america act, hr4237, which would prevent terrorists from purchasing firearms or explosives while protecting the Due Process Rights of americans. I have not met one member of congress in favor of terrorists being able to purchase firearms. The real debate is whether and how to assure due process for americans. My proposal with senator cornyn is no way, shape or form infringes upon the rights of law abiding gun owners. What it does is ensure the terrorists do not have the ability to legally purchase firearms. Isnt that really the goal here. Two weeks ago, House Democrats waged a disrupptive asitin because they supposedly wanted legislation that prevents terrorists from being able to purchase firearms. Now they can. This proposal, democrats are opposing it for no good reason. Because they only want the political fight and because they dont want to confront the three inconvenient truths im about to address. My proposal with senator cornyn should be supported by all. It would require only the most partisan bad intentions of my democratic colleagues not to be praising this legislation. Just think about it. It would also be the height of hypocrisy and irony not to push this measure with their full energy. This bill wasnt written by the nra. This proposal was drafted by members of congress who understand how to prevent terrorists from purchasing firearms while protecting the Due Process Rights of americans. There are three very important truths that my democratic colleagues shouldnt find so inconvenient. First, the orlando shooter was an islamic terrorist pledging alee allegiance to isis. The handgun used in the orlando shooting didnt just march itself into the nightclub that night and discharge itself. Ill get to the third in a moment. First, want to point out in reality theres a whole lot more going on here beyond a gun control debate. Attempts by members of congress to narrow this issue so glaringly is alienating the rest of our country who understands the bigger picture. We also must unite to i. D. The threat of radical islam. Because you cannot eliminate the threat youre not willing to identify. What makes matters worse is its clear that even as the president i. D. d the threat, he has no idea how to eliminate it. That unfortunately is the third inconvenient truth. Congress has a duty to prioritize National Security over Party Politics which is why democrats should join House Republicans in passing this important proposal to prevent terrorists from purchasing firearms and to keep america safe. It is their duty. From the beginning, i have been saying that we need to be clear eyed about who the enemy is. We need to stay focused on the threat of home grown terrorism. Right now, we have an administration that simply refuses to step up its game. Last month, as part of our better way agenda, we put out 67 recommendations to keep america safe. Last week, leader mccarthy, while working with our Terrorism Task force, proposed common sense legislation. Its common sense because it requires our government to prioritize our efforts to counter violent extremism. That includes defining the enemy as radical islamic terrorism. Believe it or not, we do not do this already. This legislation is also common sense because it takes steps to make sure guns dont fall into the hands of terrorists. This is something we have to get right. Law enforcement has been telling us over and over we have to get this right because if we get this wrong we could undermine their other terrorist investigations. There isnt a person in congress who wants a terrorist to get a gun. We also want to make sure we dont undermine those investigations Law Enforcement is conducting. Were not going to compromise the constitution. Were not going to infringe upon anyones rights with due process. The constitution is a beautiful document. It is so efficient you could fit it in your pocket. We are not going to actually pass legislation that infringes upon a persons constitutional rights. So we have to get this right. We dont want to fringe upon the second amendment. We dont want to infringe upon the fifth amendment. We dont want to infringe upon anyones basic constitutional rights. We can get this right while honoring the constitution. This is where we all swear to serve. We swear to support and defend the constitution and that is our duty. Now, we need to define this enemy. We need to defeat this enemy. I also want to take a moment to note today that the house will take up landmark legislation to reform our Mental Health system. This is what congressman tim murphy, a clinical psychologist, has poured his life into. He has spent years working on Mental Health reform. This is bipartisan reform. It came out un unanimous from the commerce committee. Also something we think needs to be addressed, the issue of gun violence in america and Mental Health. Because of this bill, people will get the treatment they need when they need it. Its a great breakthrough. I look forward to todays vote. Terrorism has come to americas shores. Weve seen time and time again just in the last seven years more than a dozen terrorist attacks on american soil. And every time it happens, all you see is the president trying to shift the debate to gun control. Why shouldnt the president be working with us here in congress to confront the real threat of radical islamic terrorism, instead of trying to take away the gun rights of law abiding citizens . Were going to continue all right, were going to break away. You heard the republicans are going to introduce a gun control bill. We dont know exactly whats in it but we do not democrats do not like this bill because, how do we know that, well, because theyre holding a rally on the steps of the capitol, saying they dont like this bill. They have families who have lost loved ones to gun violence speaking. You see one of them right there. You see steny hoyer from maryland standing there beside nancy pelosi, also somewhere in the crowd. Also, in just about five minutes, president obama is due to issue some kind of statement on afghanistan. Hell have the defense secretary with him and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. So lets head out to the white house. Suzanne malveaux is covering this for us. What is the president expected to say . Good morning, carol. The president s expected to go to warsaw, poland, tomorrow where hell meet with nato summit leaders to talk about their commitment inside of afghanistan. Its been 15 years since the u. S. Has been involved of course since the september 11th attacks. Its relied heavily on its international partnership. What we expect the president to talk about is the need to continue that. That is something the u. S. Has relied on. It is a position the president has not really been enthusiastic about taking. He has been a reluctant really commander in chief when it companies to a war president. But this is something also that hes emphasized time and time again, the need for this International Coalition to really lead in this effort. So we expect a couple of things are going to happen. The pentagon announced the president had given them more authority, the military commanders, more flexibility, if you will, to strike the taliban where they saw the forces, the Afghan Forces, threatened. That that was something that was flexible in their judgment. That is something that could possibly open the door to more u. S. Strikes inside of afghanistan or even perhaps more combat missions inside of afghanistan. Theres a very limited role in terms of the u. S. Military and what they can do in those strikes because its been something where, yes, you have people who are training, the u. S. Forces training inside of afghanistan on the ground. But the paul has expressed a need that, look, for all intents and purposes, you might have special trainers on the ground, but for all intents and purposes, there is combat inside of afghanistan. They wanted that flexibility to go after when they felt that either u. S. Forces or Afghan Forces were threatened on the ground. So that is one thing the president has been considering and talking about with pentagon officials. The other thing of course is whether or not the forces, u. S. Forces, are going to be cut in half. Right now, there are 9,800 forces on the ground. Perhaps that could be limited to 5,500 by the beginning of next year. So that might be something that he actually talks about. And then theres the financial commitment, carol. Were talking about in the tune of 5 billion a year. Thats committed by nato summit Foreign Ministers at least. We expect the leaders will also make that pledge this weekend. That goeses into 2020. The United States carrying the bulk of that, 3 billion a year that the u. S. Is still spending on that mission, that war mission inside of that country. I have to tell you, one of the things that this administration is emphasized for many years now is this is a training mission. This is something they are trying to help the Afghan Military, the afghan split, independently handle, without necessarily dependence on the United States and its nato partners. I actually had an opportunity to go to afghanistan. This was back in september of 2011. This was the tenth anniversary of the 9 11 attacks. And what we were there for is to actually feature the training that was taking place. U. S. Military. With those Afghan Police and the Afghan Military. The people i spoke to, there was a lot of frustration still because there was corruption, there was a sense that they were not ready. They were not prepared. They didnt have the heart in them really to go after the taliban. During that same time, there was a Taliban Attack on the u. S. Embassy and the nato headquarters in kabul where we were covering that story. At the same time, they say look, were trying to build up their confidence and skills, but it has been a very frustrating experience, carol. To wolf blitzer now. The president expected to speak at any moment. I would suppose he chose this moment because of the wave of terror attacks across the middle east and also criticism from john mccain about troop levels in afghanistan. The president s got to make a very important decision. Does he keep a lot of those troops in afghanistan for a lot longer. He wanted to get those troops out of there, most of them, if not all of them, by the end of the year. When you have troop deployment, it takes a long time for the u. S. Military to get ready. If there are about 10,000 u. S. Troops in afghanistan right now, and this has been the longest war in american history, going back to october 2001, right after 9 11, the u. S. Began deploying troops to afghanistan, theyve been there ever since. And if the u. S. Is going to maintain a significant troop presence in afghanistan, the president has to make that decision with the chairman of the joint chiefs, the secretary of defense, other top military commanders, at this point. So the assumption is hes going to go forward and say american troops will stay even longer in afghanistan. Well hear precisely what he has to say, but this is a significant decision. It will affect a lot of American Military personnel and will affect the overall war on terror because the assumption is not only the taliban, al qaeda has a presence in afghanistan and neighboring pakistan as well but isis is now developing a presence there as well so theres clearly a lot at stake. The president presumably will be underlining those points when he makes the statement in a few minutes. I want to go to david gergen now. We just got the two minute warning the president is speaking so i may have to interrupt you, but its interesting that this News Conference from the president comes at this particular time. He just got back from north carolina. We werent given a warning about it at all. It just says the president s going to talk about afghanistan. Act weigactually, hes under pressure to keep a sizable force there. I think hes probably going to announce hes going to do more there than he wanted to do. It comes on the heels of the brexit vote in england and this is an opportunity to talk about how important its going to be to strengthen nato even as the eu is under pressure and may disintegrate. I want to go to Lieutenant Colonel rick francona. What do you suppose the president will say . The defense secretary will be there. You expect theyre going to be talking about more troops in some way. I think were going to hear the president s decided to keep the troop levels okay, sorry, rick. We have to listen to president obama. Good morning, everybody. More than 14 years ago after al qaeda attacked our nation on 9 11, the United States went to war in afghanistan against these terrorists and the taliban that harbored them. Over the years and thanks to heroic efforts by our military, our intelligence community, our diplomats and our development professionals, we pushed al qaeda out of its camps, helped the Afghan People topple the taliban and helped them establish a democratic government. We dealt crippling blows to the al qaeda leadership. We delivered justice to osama bin laden. We trained Afghan Forces to talk responsibility for their security. Beginning that process, a year and a half ago in 2014, americas combat mission in afghanistan came to a responsible end. Compared to the 100,000 troops we once had there, today, fewer than 10,000 remain. And compared to their previous mission, helping to lead the fight, our forces are focused on two narrow missions, training and advising Afghan Forces and supporting counterterrorist operations against the remnants of al qaeda as well as other terrorist groups including isil. Even as weve maintained a relentless, you know, case against those who are threatening us, we are no longer engaged in a major ground war in afghanistan. But even these narrow Missions Continue to be dangerous. Over the past year and a half, 38 americans, military and civilian, have lost their lives in afghanistan on behalf of our security. And we honor their sacrifice. We stand with their families in their grief and in their pride. And we resolve to carry on the mission for which they gave their last full measure of devotion. This is also not Americas Mission alone. In afghanistan, were joined by 41 allies and partners. A coalition that contributes more than 6,000 troops of their own. We have a partner in the Afghanistan Government, in the Afghan People, who support a longterm Strategic Partnership with the United States. In fact, afghans continue to step up. For the second year now, Afghan Forces are fully responsible for their own security. Every day nearly 320,000 Afghan Soldiers and police are serving and fighting. And many are giving their lives to defend their country. To their credit and in the face a continued taliban insurgency and terrorist networks, Afghan Forces remain in control of all the major population centers, major transit routes and most district centers. Afghan forces have beaten back attacks and theyve pushed the taliban out of some areas. Meanwhi meanwhile, in another milestone, we recently removed the leader of the taliban, Akhtar Muhammad monsour. The security situation in afghanistan remains precarious. Even as they improve Afghan Security forces are still not as strong as they need to be. With our help, theyre still working to improve intelligence, logistics, aviation and command and control. At the same time, the taliban remains a threat. Theyve gained ground in some cases. Theyve continued attacks and suicide bombings including in kabul. Because the taliban deliberately target innocent civilians, more afghan men, women and children are dying. And often overlooked in the global refugee crisis. Millions of afghans have fled their homes and many have been fleeing their country. As president and commander and chief, ive made it clear i will not allow afghanistan to be used as safe haven for terrorists to attack our nation again. Thats why i constantly review our strategy with my National Security Team Including our commanders in afghanistan. All these reviews were guided by the facts. Whats happening on the ground. To determine whats working and what needs to be changed. Thats why at times ive made adjustments. For example, by slowing the drawdown of our forces and, more recently, by giving u. S. Forces more flexibility to support Afghan Forces on the ground and in the air. And i strongly believe that it is in our National Security interest, especially after all the blood and treasure weve investigated in afghanistan over the years. That we give our afghan partners the very best opportunity to succeed. Upon taking command of Coalition Forces this spring, general nicholson conducted a review of the security situation in afghanistan and our military posture. It is good to get a fresh set of eyes. And based on the recommendation of general nicholson as well as secretary carter and chairman dunnford and following extensven consultations with my National Security team and our partners, im announcing additional adjustments to our posture it instead of going down in troops at the end of this year, the United States will maintain approximately 8,400 troops in afghanistan through the end of my administration. The narrow missions will not change. They remain focused on supporting Afghan Forces and going after terrorists. Maintaining our forces at this specific level based on our assessment of the security conditions and the strength of Afghan Forces will allow us to continue to provide tailored support to help Afghan Forces continue to improve. From coalition bases in jalalabad and kandahar will continue to support Afghan Forces in the ground and in the air and we continue supporting critical counterterrorism operations. Reaffirming the enduring commitment of the United States to afghanistan and its people. The decision i make today can help our allies align their own commitments. Tomorrow, i depart for the nato summit in warsaw where ill meet with our Coalition Partners and afghan president ghani and chief executive abdullah. So we can keep strengthening forces through the end of the decade. The summit is an opportunity for allies and partners to affirm their contributions and im confident they will. Because all of us have a vital interest in the security and stability of afghanistan. My decision also sends a message to the taliban and all those who have opposed afghanistans progress. You have now been waging war against the Afghan People for many years. Youve been unable to prevail. Afghan Security Forces continue to grow stronger. And the commitment of the international community, including the United States to afghanistan and its people, will endure. I will say it again. The only way to end this conflict and to achieve a full drawdown of Foreign Forces from afghanistan is a lasting settlement between the Afghanistan Government and the taliban. Thats the only way. Thats why the United States will continue to strongly support an afghanled reconciliation process and why we call on all countries in the region to end safe havens for militants and terrorists. Finally, todays decision best position, my successor to make future decisions about our presence in afghanistan. In january, the next u. S. President will assume the most solemn responsibility of the commander in chief. Security of the United States and the Afghan People. The decision will make sure the successor has a Solid Foundation for continued progress in afghanistan. As well as the flexibility to address the threat of terrorism as it evolves. So in closing i want to address directly what i know is on the minds of many americans, especially our troops and families who have born a heavy burden for our security. When we first send our forces into afghanistan 14 years ago, few americans imagined wed be there in any capacity this lock. As president , i focused our strategy on training and building up Afghan Forces. Its been continually my belief that it is up to afghans to defend their country. Because we have emphasized training their capabilities, weve been able to end our major ground war there and bring 90 of our troops back home. But even as we work for peace, we have to deal with the realities of the world as it is. We cant forget whats at stake in afghanistan. This is where al qaeda is trying to regroup. This is where isil continues to try to expand its presence. If these terrorists succeed in regaining areas in camps where they can train and plot, they will attempt more attacks against us. We cannot allow that to happen. I will not allow that to happen. This september will mark 15 years since the attacks of 9 11. And once more, well pause to remember the lives we lost. Families, grief, we stand with survivors who still bear the scars of that day. We thank the First Responders who rushed to save others. And perhaps most importantly well salute our men and women in uniform, our 9 11 generation, who have served in afghanistan and beyond for our security. Well honor the memory of all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice including more than 2,200 american patriots who have given their lives in afghanistan. As we do, lets never forget the progress their service has made possible. Afghanistan is not a perfect place. It remains one of the poorest countries in the world. It is going to continue to take time for them to build up military capacity that we sometimes take for granted. And given the enormous challenges they face, the Afghan People will need the partnership of the world, led by the United States, for many years to come. But with our support, afghanistan is a better place than it once was. Millions of afghan children, boys and girls, are in school. Dramatic improvements of Public Health have saved the lives of mothers and children. Afghans cast their ballots in democratic elections and seen the first democratic transfer of power in their countrys history. The Current National unity government continues to pursue reforms including record reve e revenues last year to strengthen their country. Over time help decrease the need for international support. That government is a Strong Partner with us in combating terrorism. Thats the progress weve helped make possible. Thats the progress that our troops have helped make possible and our diplomats and our development personnel. Thats the progress we can help sustain in partnership with the Afghan People and our Coalition Partners. So i firmly believe the decision im announcing today is the right thing to do for afghanistan, for the United States and for the world. May god bless our troops and all who serve to protect us. May god bless the United States of america. The president of the United States flanked by the secretary of defense, the chairman of the joint chiefs making a major announcement that most of the u. S. Troops currently serving in afghanistan will, in fact, remain in afghanistan through the end of his administration. That ends on january 20th of next year. The president announcing there will be a troop level of 8,400. There are close to 10,000 u. S. Troops in afghanistan right now. Another 6,000 troops from allied nations including nato partners. Beyond that, the president said there was an Afghan Military and Police Presence of 320,000 troops. Lots to digest right now. The president clearly hoped most u. S. Troops would be out of afghanistan by the end of his administration. We have complete analysis. Quickly, your reaction, barbara, whats the sense at the pentagon right now about the president s decision . Wolf, i think its fair to say behind the scenes military commanders had wanted this for some time as they had looked at the situation in afghanistan over the last several months. Not a big surprise. But it is more than just a numbers game of how many troops you are going to keep in afghanistan. Afghanistan, for the u. S. , a very different battlefield. A country where theres not a strong tradition of a central governance and a Central Security structure. This is what has led to the taliban, al qaeda and, in eastern afghanistan, isis, being able to get some toeholds that are of such concern. The Afghan Military may have 320,000 but theyre not everywhere, theyre not all fully capability of fighting, and the u. S. Will knows that. Thats why the taliban have been the number one concern, that they are back, taking hold in some of the remove areas in the south and the east where Afghan Forces simply cannot get to on a continuing basis. Several weeks ago, the president made perhaps the most crucial decision. He gave u. S. Troops ground and air extended authority to deal with the taliban in afghanistan. That was a very significant step forward. It was a big sign that the u. S. Thinks the taliban are still a force that has to be reckoned with. I think you can expect to see some criticism of the president. The republicans have long been opponents of the socalled deadlines that the white house has announced, troops will be out by such and such a date. Theyve said that deadline gives the taliban room to come back. They know or believe the u. S. Will be gone. The president making it clear he believes more troops will be necessary. The deadlines that originally had been set not working too well, wolf. And the troops that will remain, just want to be precise, the u. S. Troops in afghanistan, they do have immunity. This was a big issue when the president , at the end of 2011, removed all u. S. Troops from iraq because the government at that time of Nuri Al Maliki refused to provide immunity to u. S. Military personnel. There were only a few hundred troops left. Now its built up close to 5,000 in iraq. The u. S. Troops who will remain, at least indefinitely in afghanistan, they have immunity from domestic afghan laws, prosecution. Well, there is a socalled stat tuls of forces agreementtype situation, where the u. S. And afghanistan, the government there, have worked out those details. Wolf, you raise a really interesting point here. Why not just send more troops . Because there is a government in afghanistan. Thats a key issue in both afghanistan and iraq. There are now sovereign governments there that get to vote about how many foreign troops they want in their country. So it is a big step for the Afghan Government to acknowledge and agree to keep these extra troops. Theres a lot of feeling in that country they want foreigners out of there. The Afghan Government of president ghani making clear by agreeing to this decision he does need more help, but clearly it would be a very different matter if he would try to ask them if they wanted a large number of additional u. S. Troops in their country, wolf. Lets get some more reaction and analysis. Rick francona is joining us, one of our retired military analysts. If the Afghan Military and police have a force of 320,000, theyve been trained over the past nearly 15 years by the u. S. The u. S. Has spent tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars in afghanistan, training these Afghan Military personnel. Why are they still incapability of getting the job done against literally just a few thousand taliban, al qaeda and isis personnel who are fighting them in afghanistan . Because, well, one of the problems is they dont have the retainability they need. They have 320,000 troops at any given type but theyre not the same 320,000 troops. They rotate in, they rotate out lets say they only have 100,000. Whats wrong with 100,000 fighting if they were capable as opposed to their criticism is theyre basically inept, they cant get the job done despite the best of intentions. Whats wrong with 100,000 troops fighting a limited number of taliban, al qaeda and isis terrorists . Even 100,000, wolf, they cant be everywhere at the same time. They cant maintain the presence on the ground they need. Theres no history of a Central Government in afghanistan. We dont have the history of a Central Government. Its hard to control that large territory with the few people. 320,000 sounds like a lot but really isnt. You would need at least that just to maintain some presence. They just dont have the the wherewithal. The secretary said hes very concerned with their commitment to the cause. For many of these people, its just a paycheck. Let me bring spider marks, retired u. S. General, into the conversation. Spider, the whole notion of the u. S. Indefinitely keeping troops in afghanistan, almost 15 years now, comie ing up to 15 years, much longer is the u. S. Going to have to be involved with the limited number of nato personnel in afghanistan, until the Afghan Military has the capability, the political will, to get the job done on their own . Wolf, thats really the magical question. Its a matter, as rick described, achieving a culture within its military and governance thats going to allow them to embrace the challenges they face with some degree of yet credibility. I think the president laid it out precisely. He said the challenge is not, again, with the quantity of the Afghan Military and Law Enforcement capabilities, its the quality. And what the United States brings to bear and with our Coalition Partners, we bring, the president was precise, we bring intelligence, logistics, command and control and aviation support. If you spend two seconds in afghanistan, youd know that nation is completely cut off. It is isolated pockets of success in different locations. Yet none of those are fully and aggressively connected. Theres no lines of communication to get to point a to point b with any degree of facility. The United States capabilities along with its partners are essential over the near term. What the president has said is, look, there is a notion of a transition decision. He wants to make sure his successor is in a position to embrace and to have a sense of whats going on in so he came back and said well hold what we have until we can assess further. Since then, weve seen what has happened in iraq. Weve seen the development of isis in iraq. Weve seen the number of u. S. Troops going back up. Theyll say he at least learned that lesson and hes implementing it right now in afghanistan by refusing to reduce the number significantly. The president really didnt want to do this today. For the last eight years, as you well know, he wanted to leave behind a legacy ended in iraq and afghanistan. He got the troops out of there. Once he removed those troops from iraq and things fell apart there and we had isis come in, hes been under enormous pressure not to do the same thing. Also within the Defense Department itself. Ash carter, the secretary, believed in a tough u. S. Response to isis and he does not want to see afghanistan fall apart. So i think the president went against the grain today. Hard decision for him to make clearly very comfortable doing it. But its the right decision. A wise decision. I think within american politics, whats very clear now is that the next president is going to inherit a very complex world with a lot of tough decisions ahead. Yeah, very complex world in afghanistan and in iraq. Youre absolutely right, i have no doubt the president would have liked to end the second term in office, eight years as president of the United States, and be able to say all u. S. Troop are also out of afghanistan, are out of iraq, but that clearly is not going to happen. Everyone stand by. Were going to continue to stay on top of the breaking news. Theres a lot happening today. Well be right back. Its in the quiet moments when you see why she does this. For hillary, its always been about kids. And when millions couldnt get health care, this first lady worked with republicans and democrats to fix it. Creating the Childrens Health insurance program, so that every child gets the health care that child deserves to have. Now eight million kids are covered. Thats the kind of leader she is. And the kind of president shell be. Im Hillary Clinton and i approve this message. I found her wandering miles from home. 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Call Liberty Mutual for a free quote today at see Car Insurance in a whole new light. Liberty mutual insurance. Good morning, im carol c t costel costello. House Speaker Paul Ryan called for answers from the fbi when it came to Hillary Clinton. Also saying she should be denied access to classified briefings. As the fbi director james comey gets ready to testify on capitol hill tomorrow. I think director comeys press conference raises more questions. So were going to be ready to answer those questions. A number of questions, ojr, that committee is going to invite the fbi director to come up and testify. He did say that short of prosecution some Administration Action might be in order. I was on the ticket in 2012. After the convention, you get the full deep classified information as part of transition. As part of being a nominee. I think the dni, clapper, should deny Hillary Clinton access to classified information during this campaign, given how she so recklessly handled classified information. Thats point one. Director comeys investigation shred the claims secretary clinton made throughout the year with respect to this issue. He laid out the case that the things she had been saying had or had not been done have been false. Weve seen stone walling and dishonesty from secretary clinton on this issue. That means theres a lot more questions that need to be answered. We have learned the attorney general Loretta Lynch will testify next week. Lets get right to cnns manu raju, he has more on all this, good morning. Good morning, carol. Theres one piece, Congress Response to the revelation that Hillary Clinton carelessly, in the words of fbi director james comey, handled classified intelligence. Tomorrow, that hearing will take place as you mentioned, and the House Oversight committee ran by jason chavetz. Republicans are not satisfied with his decision to not refer the case for criminal prosecution by the Justice Department. The question is what can congress do next what else can republicans do to put pressure on Hillary Clinton, on the administration Going Forward. Youve played a little bit of sound from that paul ryan press conference. I had a chance to follow up and ask him specifically does congress do anything to deny Hillary Clinton the right to get those classified briefings and he said very clearly this is something were looking at. This is something the administration should do. Were not foreclosing any options. That includes possibly pushing for a special prosecutor, that some republican lawmakers are seeking right now. Paul ryan said he is not ruling that option out either. Clearly were only seeing this intensify as we head into the final months. So while Hillary Clintons legal problems may be over, her political problems are only just beginning in the eyes of republicans, carol. Manu raju reporting live from capitol hill. Also at the top of the hour, louisianas governor will hold a press conference. The case has blown up on social media after a cell phone video of the confrontation went viral. What youre about to see is quite graphic. A 37yearold man slammed to the ground outside of baton rouge Convenience Store as alton sterling tussled with police. Hes 37 years old. Hes shot in the chest. Maybe in the back. We dont know. Well carry the governors News Conference set to take place minutes from now at 11 00 a. M. Eastern time. There was a very Emotional Press Conference we aired just about a half hour ago from mr. Sterlings family, his 15yearold son broke down. He was just sobbing. The naacp gave the director of the local chapter of the naacp gave this fiery statement that the police chief in baton rouge should be fired over this incident. As of yet, the police chief has yet to issue a Public Statement which is just confusing people in baton rouge. The governor is expected to talk at the top of the hour. Thank you for joining me today. At this hour starts right now. Hello, everyone, im kate boldin. And im john berman. We are expecting to hear from the louisiana governor, addressing the deadly shooting that happened just about four miles from the governors mansion. A 37yearold man, alten sterling, shot multiple times by police. The encounter caught on cell phone video. Well take you to baton rouge as soon as that press conference with the governor begins. What the governor has to say about the