Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room 20121201

The world. Im wolf blitzer and youre in the situation room. We begin with huge confrontations shaping up between president obama and republicans involving the most important decisions the president needs to make in his second term. Were now a month away from the so called fiscal cliff. A drastic combination of mandatory spending cuts and tax hikes that could plunge the United States back into a recession. While there are plenty of hard w0rds from both sides, some terms of a possible zeal are making the rounds. Kate bolduan has been following the back and fourth. Dont get too excited about that, theres only one way to avoid the fiscal cliff. Spending cuts and tax hikes. House republicans and president obama need to strike a deal on reducing the national debt. They have soundly rejected a white house offer that included 1. 6 trillion in revenue, 400 billion in medicare and other entitlement savings, as well as a permanent increase in the debt limit among other things. So far, the rhetoric has not softened. Treasury secretary tim geithner arriving on capitol hill for high level talks, most notably with House Speaker john boehner. Good morning, everyone. How did it go . Just listen. Despite the claims that the president supports a balanced approach, the democrats have yet to get serious. About real spending cuts. A much gloomier assessment from the initial prethanksgiving huddle at the white house. Boehner described his meeting with geithner as frank and direct, the same way he described his phone call with the president the night before. And for the past two weeks there has been no substantive progress. Most public statements have been optimistic, confident, hopeful. Were all sensing a very different tone from you right now. Are you walking away from talks . Have things completely broken down . No, no, no, no. Stop. Im disappointed in where we are, but going over the fiscal cliff is serious business. Im here seriously trying to resolve it. And i would hope the white house would get serious as well. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi quickly dismissed boehners remarks as a negotiating maneuver. I think theyll come around. Its a tactic. Its a tactic. Reporter you hear a strikingly similar message from other top Democratic Leaders saying the ball is in the republicans court. We are waiting for some specifics somewhere from our republican colleagues to show that theyre serious on negotiations. Reporter as the country fast approaches the fiscal cliff, the two sides are talking past each other. Democrats say theyve laid down their marker, hiking tax rates on wealthier americans. And its up to republicans to propose specific spending cuts they want to entitlement programs. However, republicans say theyve offered a concession, putting revenue on the table. And they say its now up to the president and his fellow democrats to feel some pain and proposed cuts in medicare and medicaid. Confusing . We asked harry reid. Where is the disconnect . I dont understand his brain. So you should ask him, okay . From capitol hill to the white house, democrats are standing firm, saying the major hurdle remains whether to raise tax rates. Whats next . Where do things go . The Top Republican aide tells me they look forward to talking to the white house. Time is still running out, too. And quickly. With us now are ryan lizza, the new yorker magazines washington correspondent and cnns senior political analyst ron brams team. Thank you both for coming in. Ron, you wrote an interesting column, i just read it, in the National Journal about democrats having a more unified coalition after the election in november. What sort of negotiating advantage is that supposed to give them in the fiscal cliff situation. I think its almost the inverse of what we saw in 2010 after big democratic losses in that election. The caucus was divided in the house and senate on whether to extend the bush tax cuts for everyone. Republicans were unified, they insisted it be extended for everyone. President obama ultimately made a deal to extend them as you know, for two years for all taxpayers, which is how we are where we are now. Democrats are virtually in lock step showing cracks, saying maybe we need to extend for those in the middle. Its a different circumstance. I think the leverage on the tax side, at least is clearly with the democrats, stalemates mean the tax cuts expired and democrats are more willing to live with that than republicans are. When you read between the lines here, senate am dids are more willing to go over the fiscal cliff. Do you think thats real or are they just posturing for the sake of the negotiation . I think thats real, the white house has been signalling since the summer of this year, that they are if the republicans dont budge on the tax side, on the revenue side, they are willing to let those to let the deadline expire, let the bush tax cuts all go back to the 2001 levels and start from scratch next year in redoing the tax code. So this is why the white house, they hold the trump card here. If nothing happens, then the policy moves in the direction that the democrats, the democrats favor direction, not exactly what the democrats want, but it moves in the direction that the white house wants. And that frankly is why many republicans, not exactly a stampede, but quite a few are saying, look, the white house has won the argument here over the top rates, lets take 98 of the bush tax cuts and get a good deal on entitlements. I think frankly, everyone realizes thats where this is headed. Do you remember back during the t. A. R. P. Negotiations, it seems like ages ago, the market dropped by Something Like 800 points. Should we be worried about whats happening with the markets right now . Theres a growing argument on the left that the white house is using too many scare tactics about the fiscal cliff and its actually not a fiscal cliff, you hear a lot of liberals saying its a slope. And the world is not going to end if we go over it. Now, you wont finds too many people in the administration who agree with that. They worry about the psychology, the markets. And frankly just the drama associated with hitting that deadline and washingtons inability to deal with this deadline. They worry about that. But the growing argument on the left, is that the white house shouldnt be so concerned. They should just call the republicans bluff. The democrats like to say that they got a mandate out of the last election. But do you think thats true . Certainly, its stronger in the senate for them, but republicans still control the house. On this question of letting tax rates for those at the top the lower tax rates expire for those at the top, there is a mandate. Polling has been consistent for years, and we saw in the exit poll. 60 of voters overall, and more importantly, 80 of obama voters is more unified Democratic Coalition support letting the tax rates expire. Thats why i think you see democrats thats why you see democrats being much more adamant on that, certainly than they were in 2010. Look, i think the country wants a zeal, and like ryan, i think were going to get a deal. At some point in the next six months, were going to end up with a tax rate for those at the top that is higher than it is now, but lower than it was under bill clinton. Its going to be messy getting there, but a higher rate for those at the top seems to be an inevitable outcome of this. Speaking of messy, the progressives love to get on the bandwagon on that one issue. What are they going to do when the president starts moving against entitlements . Well, you know, whats interesting on that, republicans gambled and lost, i think in the summer of 2011, president obama showed willingness to go much further on entitlements than he is today. Hell end up going further on a deal than he is now. But not as far as he would have then. He will have to confront his party. Thats part of the definition of being president , saying no to your own side. Theres a case to be made to liberals, if you do not constrain entitlements in the long run. What youre doing is squeezing all the Discretionary Investment s. Theres a case for controlling the entitlement spending. The republicans gambled and lost during the debt ceiling talks of 2011. Lets leave it there. Good to talk to you. Critical advances by Syrian Rebels shooting down regime warplanes. Arwa damon reports from inside syria. 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For more information including cost support options, call 1888xarelto or visit goxarelto. Com. We have a rare and important look at how syrias rebels appear to be gaining momentum. Cnns Senior International correspondent arwa damon is in syria. She was able to visit an area where rebels say they shot down a government jet. Children on the back of a tractor make a sizable tangled lump of metal. Now a trophy of war, proudly shown off. We want to take these pieces to show them to the orvilleages, he says. Let them see what happened to these planes. Everyone we speak to here describes the fear they felt any time they heard a jet overhead. For them, this is the greatest victory. The wreckage is being picked through pretty quickly by young and old alike. Resident thes are telling us, as soon as the strike took place, they began rushing to the scene. One man we spoke to said he was picking olives, he saw the plane being hit and the two pilots ejecting. At that point everyone fanned out, looking for them. He and others are telling us that one pilot was found unconscious with a head injury. Video posted to youtube shows a man in military uniform, seemingly unconscious, being carried away. As a man offcamera states, here is the pilot who is shelling the houses of civilians. Another clip is of him in a makeshift field clinic, head bandaged a voice says this is the fate of your pilots. And this is not an isolated incident. In the same vicinity, close to the city, in the span of 24 hours, rebels claim they not only brought down this fighter jet, but also two helicopters. Video posted to youtube shows a trail of smoke and a helicopter bursting into flames. Theres no way for us to confirm when and where this happened. These dramatic developments are the result of a pitched battle fought here at the 46 regiment base just over a week ago. For nearly two months, they lay siege to the base after clearing the villages around it of assads forces and positioning rebel snipers in the area. They waited for their enemy to weaken. The government would try to airdrop supplies from helicopters, they didnt dare land he says. And most times they would miss. And we would take the foot. It was inedible. Dozens defected. And even more we are told were killed. The final battle to take this massive base lasted 24 hours. Rebel fighters used artillery they captured from another unit on the base, firing it into the building and ending the battle. For this rebel unit there was a treasure trove of weaponry. And most important of all, antiaircraft missiles. Hundreds of them. Though not all functioning, the fighters tell us. Video posted to youtube right after the assault took place, shows stacks of metal boxes packed with soviet era antiaircraft missiles. Another video posted is explaining how to arm and launch the missiles and ensure that theyre locked in on their target. The regime still has the military advantage, thanks to the sheer size of its arsenal. The balance it seems may have ever so slightly shifted. Arwas joining us from Northern Syria right now on the phone. Arwa, is it the sense these rebels have, that they see some light at the end of the tunnel . Reporter all of the rebel fighters at some point in time, they are going to win this battle quite simply because they say they have come so far on their own. They feel as if the International Community has completely abandoned them. They say despite that, they have managed to make all of these significant gains. They have not yet lost the fight. In fact, they are gaining territory by the day, by the week. There are areas of Northern Syria, where two months ago, they were under the grass of outside forces. Right now, there are signs of life returning. Civilians are there. There are no signs youve told me over these past few days, arwa, that the longer this drags on and on and on and this bloody civil war continues, the more youre seeing some evidence that extremist elements, if you will, jihadists, those sympathizing with al qaeda may exploit the civil war and take advantage of it. Whats going on in that front. The situation has existed for quite some time now. The extremist groups move in. That is what were seeing taking place. Bear in mind that right now, they are a minority, they are a fringe element. But as one rebel commander put it, the longer assad stays in power, the more powerful these groups are going to grow. Thats going to become a problem that neither the Syrian Opposition nor the United States is or any other western or other nation is going to want to see materialize. Given just how volatile the region already is. As long as the battle takes place. As long as the extreme fighters are the ones willing to take up arms in some cases bringing in significant amounts of money with them. That is all the opposition has to turn to. They are trying to control these groups. But they will admit theyre very frustrated and disgruntled by this. These various students do not follow the rebel chain of command. Theyre not necessarily following orders by the syrian army. They may be trying to reign them in, theyre growing more powerful by the day. Stay safe arwa, thank you very much. Shes doing an amazing job for all of us. The looming fiscal cliff could force politicians to make some tough decisions. One of the hardest could involve a popular tax break enjoyed by millions of americans, we have details just ahead. Stay with us in the situation room. Two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. Bp has paid over twentythree billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. 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Some possible outcomes of the fiscal clif negotiations could have a major impact on you. Congress could limit the amount of Home Mortgage interest homeowners could write off on their taxes. One proposal would cap the deduction at 500,000, half of what it now is. Lawmakers also may limit tax breaks for second homes. Distressed homeowners also could see major changes ahead. The mortgage debt relief act which waves Tax Obligation on the portions of the mortgage being forgiven is set to expire at the end of the year. New estate tax rules will likely kick in. The exemption level drops back down to 1 million from the current 5 million. Thats causing a mad scramble to pass real estate and other assets down to children and grandchildren. Its like a feeding frenzy, everyones worried that at the end of this year, theres only going to be a small amount, which is a Million Dollars that will pass free of estate tax and gift tax. They want to lock in the exemption this year, before it goes away. Possibly, the worst thing for the Housing Market is if theres no compromise and we end up going off that fiscal cliff, and then theres a sharp cut in government spending. That could push the economy into a recession, raising the Unemployment Rate and that could push home values back down, wolf. A serious problem for a lot of people. Lets hope we dont go over that fiscal cliff. Fingers crossed they will reach a compromise. I dont think theres anyone out there that wants to see us go over that fiscal cliff. That would be bad. But the clock is ticking. Only a few weeks left. The biggest problem between the United States and mexico and how to solve it. Ill speak with mexicos new president. My exclusive interview is just ahead. This line is a convenienc. How you doing today . Im good thanks. How are you . Im good. [ gordon ] but for others, its all they can afford. Every day nearly nine million Older Americans dont have enough to eat. Anything else . No, not today. 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At least 50,000 people have been killed in mexico in the drug wars in recent years. Finding new strategies to tackle mexicos drug violence is certainly one of the top agenda items of the new president. That will need continued Close Relationships with the United States. We sat down for an exclusive interview. Whats the biggest problem in u. S. mexican relations right now . Translator Greater Trust in our relationship. I think the first meeting with mr. Obama is for us to get to know each other. Im convinced a Good Relationship with countries begins with a Good Relationship with governments. A recollectionship that would allow us to understand the World Affairs and the world basic disagreement will reach a relationship of brotherhood. There have been record deportations in the Obama Administration from the United States of undocumented workers back into mexico. I think we have to work at this issue. Especially to get proper treatment for the people in the end. I dont have the proper papers, also, i see with great understanding the proposal that president obama has offered to reach immigration reform. Its an issue, and theres american politics. Which government sees with great favor. Why are fewer mexicans seeking to crossover into the United States now . Because we have right now mexico has a great opportunity in my opinion, to reach Economic Growth. There are two main issues of my agenda of my proposal. I want to be focusing in for the next few years on Economic Growth to reach greater social benefits. That i think is going to be the best prevention of my government to establish organized crime, so as to avoid the millions of compatriots from my country have no other option the mexican ambassador here in washington. He said that the Mexican Government was left in his words in the dark by that socall ed fast and furious operation that resulted in the killing of the u. S. Border guard. Will you take steps to make sure that can never happen again . To be frank, i told president obama im going to tell president obama to try to avoid they had knowledge of i think a Good Relationship that mexico could maintain with the United States and vice versa should be based on openness and constant dialogue that would allow us to define share objectives and to work toward those so as to avoid activities which are not known we just learned that a well known mexican mayor, maria santos was killed, was murdered. Can you give us your reaction to whats going on . My country has to allow us to be intimidated to allow the authorities to be intimidated by crime. I think one of the changes that i have to that my government must reach, we have a greater coordination of efforts. Every level of government is a task for the state as a hole. It involves all three powers of the state. It involves all the authorities, so that events like the one you just mentioned will not happen again in our country. What do you think of the legalization effort of marijuana in states like colorado, washington state. Is that going to help or hurt . Translator personally, i dont agree with the regulation of drugs. Its not just about legalizing marijuana, its a door that would eventually cause for sectors of the population to consume drugs which are much more harmful the United States could possibly in the future, in your future, do a refocusing of the strategy we use. Im convinced and open to the debate about the issue. The finding strategies in order to combat drug trafficking. And drug consumption. And that has to be reached jointly. As you know, the state department has issued a travel advisory to go to mexico will and a whole bunch of areas of mexico saying its unsafe for americans to be here. How safe is it for american tourists to come to mexico . Mexico is a safe country. Unfortunately some areas of our country are leaving through events of greater criminality. And it is a challenge to the government mexico wants to predict the splendor and beauty we have in our country. For those who have not visited. For those who have the chance to be in mexico, i think their experience have been very different from that which is pointed around the world. Were air country with hospitable people, with great Natural Beauty all over the country. I will work to reach efficiency to recover spaces which have been lost. Some in mexico have called you the mexican kennedy. How do you feel about that. I will let history make its own judgment. Let the mexicans make their own judgment based on the resources, whatever i manage to achieve in my administration. It is honorable for me to hear such praiseful expressions. Most important for my government for myself will be to offer good luck to you, good luck to all the people of mexico. Translator thank you. 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How did you discover this bomb that was under your car . That was only a good luck because the driver of my neighbors, he saw it installed under my car with a magnet. He warned my driver there is something under your car please check it. My driver checked it. And he was suspicious because it was a bag. Then he informed me, i was preparing myself to go to the office. And i was already informed by the department and some security also from the police that im under threat and i should be careful. So thats why i informed the bomb disposal squad of the 30, 35 minutes to diffuse the bomb. The taliban as you know, has claimed responsibility for wanting to kill you because of your coverage of that young Pakistani School girl who was burned badly, flown to britain for treatment a spokesman said, we have advise ed journalists t be moderate. If they dont understand our advice, we send explosives or suicide bombers. Whats your response to that . Wolf, look, that taliban spokesperson, he sent me a six page letter a few weeks back and warned me i should not support malala. After receiving his letter, i wrote a column and spoke in my tv show that i will not accept your dictation. And i will continue my support for malala. And he sent me a message through one of my colleagues that we will send some suicide bombers. Today the same colleague of mine, he was contacted again by the taliban spokesperson. He told me the same message, that this time you survived. But next time you will not survive. And they want me to they warn me that i should not support malala, i should not say that attacking malala was a bads thing. Can i not surrender to the taliban. They warn i should not speak against them. If i stop, its a surrender to taliban. I will not surrender to taliban. The little girl called me from the hospital last night and she was giving me a lot of strength. She can stand against the taliban, and shes a little girl, 14, 15yearold girl, i should stand against taliban. The people of pakistan gave me a demand. I should stand with the people of pakistan who face terrorist attacks every day. Most of my colleagues in travel areas, theyre more vulnerable than me, they are facing more threats than me. From taliban and also the security offensive. I am sitting in the capital, yes . I should not surrender the taliban, i will not. And today just a few hours back, i spoke in my show. And i responded back to the taliban spokesperson, you think that you can terrorize me, i will not stop. And i will keep opposing you. Are you suggesting hammad that Pakistani Security services in addition to the taliban may also have played a role in this assassination attempt against y you . Wolf, its a very complicated situation. Nine months ago, the committee to protect journalists in new york and some other media outfits. They issued a statement, and i also endorsed the statement, and i was facing threats from some security officials. At that time, they established a special committee to investigate those threats. They never came out with concrete result. There was no result of their investigation. I cannot make a judgment right now, and i will leave it to the investigation authorities. Yes, taliban authorities have threatened me in the recent past and a few months back. I am scared of both of them. But i will not leave pakistan, i will not stop speaking the truth. Hammad, good luck to you. Be careful over there. We know the important work that youre doing, and we wish you only the best. Only the best for all pakistanis in the process, thank you so much for what youre doing. Thank you very much. A long secret u. S. Plan to explode anatomic bomb on the moon. The shocking details just ahead. Again . Its embarrassing its embarrassing we can see you carl. We can totally see you. Come on youre better than this. All that prowling around. Yeah, youre the king of the jungle. Have you thought about going vegan carl . Hahaha you know folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. How happy are they jimmy . Happier than antelope with nightvision goggles. Nice get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Aids is not going to take my baby. Aids will not take our future. Our weapons are testing. Education, care and support. And aids. Aids is going to lose. Aids is going to lose. I have a cold. I took dayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayquil doesnt work on runny noses. What . [ male announcer ] it doesnt have an antihistamine. Really . [ male announcer ] really. Alkaseltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you [ male announcer ] youre welcome. Thats the cold truth [ male announcer ] alkaseltzer plus. Oh what a relief it is [ male announcer ] to learn more about the cold truth and save 1 visit alkaseltzer on facebook. Sounds preposterous, but the u. S. Hatched a plan during the cold war to possibly nuke the moon. Cnns brian todds got the latest on this very bizarre story. Bizarre, but true. What happened . Wolf, as you know, in the 1950s there were all sorts of wild ideas floating around inside the halls of Government Back in the height of the cold war in the 1950s. There were security scares all around. American leaders felt they needed to give a jolt to the soviet union so athe time, this didnt seem so outlandish. Fire. Just think of what a Nuclear Explosion would look like up there. The u. S. Government once considered it. Cnn has documents and interviewed the leader of a once secret air force project titled a study of Lunar Research flights, with a just as low brow nickname, project a119. What was it really . To evaluate the value of putting a small, emphasize small in this world anyhow, Nuclear Explosion on the moon. Reporter physicist leonard rifle, now 85 years old, led the project in 1958. It was the height of the cold war. America and the soviet union were in a nuclear arms race. The soviets 4 h Just Launched the first satellite, sputnik, and were ahead in the space race. U. S. Officials needed a big splash. In comparison, the United States feared was feared to be looking puny, so this was a concept to sort of reassure people that the United States could maintain a mutually assured deterrence and therefore avoid any huge conflagration on earth. Reporter according to rifles declassified report on the project, team leaders also thought they could get information concerning the capability of Nuclear Weapons for space warfare. Rifle says the plan called for an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile to be launched from an undisclosed location, travel 240,000 miles to the moon, and detonate on impact. Various news reportes say they considered using a bomb the same size as the one dropped on hiroshima, but rifle now says he wasnt in on those discussions. Could the blast as some news reports suggest have actually blown up the moon . Absolutely not. It would have been microscopic, so to speak, would have left a crater that would have been, i think, essentially invisible from earth, even with a good telescope. Reporter rifle had some Brilliant Minds on his team. One of them, an up and coming graduate student named carl sagan, who went on to become one of the worlds most renowned astronomers. Later on, rifle said, sagan violated security when he mentioned the still classified project on a job application. Sagans widow told us shes not sure if he ever did that, but if he did, it wasnt intentional. By 1959, project a119 was drawing more concern than excitement and was abandoned. We didnt want to clutter up the natural radioactivities of the moon with additional bits of radioactivity from the earth. Rifle says other factors in killing the project were that they were not sure of the reliability of the weapons, the possible Nuclear Deterrent against the soviet union wouldnt have been worth the gamble and a lot of public backlash in the u. S. Contacted by cnn, the air force would not comment on project a119, even 54 years later. Pretty amazing. You also got gosome new detailsn considered efforts to deploy Nuclear Weapons in space. Dr. Rifle says in military circle at that time generally they discussed the idea of making the moon what they called a military high ground. Sounds crazy, but that involved possibly having Nuclear Launch sites on the moon. The thinking was if the soviets hit the United States with Nuclear Weapons, and wiped out americas ability to hit back, then america could launch warheads from the moon. He says this is a horrendous scenario and hes glad this is in the realm of Science Fiction right now. He hopes it stays there. Fascinating stuff historically speaking, thank you very much, brian. Tells us a lot about that era. Up next, a different story, Christmas Carols with a touch tone twist. Jeanne moos on the new way to sing holiday favorites. Cute. But dont you have any apps on your phone that can make your life easier . Who do you think i am, quicken loans . At quicken loans, well provide you with myql mobile. This amazingly useful app allows you to take pictures of your mortgage documents using an iphone or android smart phone. So you can easily send them to us. One more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. Ooh, lala bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. 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Crest prohealth for life. So jill can keep living the good life. Crest. Life opens up when you do. Christmas is still a few weeks away but your favorite Radio Station may have already switched over to holiday music. Everybody has a favorite, some new, some old. But jeanne moos found a new take on a classic that is poised to go viral. Reporter it is one of those omnipresent Christmas Songs you hear played on cellos. Performed by vocalists. That is the song reporter now the ding dong is coming out of the office phone. The day of there was over 250 takes. Reporter wasnt like you dubbed over sounds. No. No, all the sounds are real. Reporter produced at the warehouse where alphabet photography assembled their products in niagara falls, canada. Owner Jennifer Bakley used a mix of her employees and local musicians to create a do it yourself version of the carol of the bells. The janitor was also hes actually a local rapper. Reporter the guy manning the phone like some demonic elf demonic . Reporter is a singer songwriter named joel van fleet. I got excited. Reporter alphabet photography is a Small Company and unlike walmart, unlike the nba, jennifer cant afford a big ad budget. So this is a sort of viral christmas commercial. Two years ago she organized a christmas flash mob in a mall food court. Hallelujah reporter that video now has 39 million views. The new video starts with dial tone. Imagine all those folks at home who are going to be dialing 9591. Take it from the demonic dialer people are trying to play it, just know that not all telephones are in the same key. Reporter my producer found a better combo. Pound 8 pound 4. All right. Listen to this. Pound 8 pound 4, pound 8 pound 4. Reporter it will either sweep you off your feet or leave you wishing for dial tone. Jeanne moos,