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THE SITUATION ROOM
U.S., Syria, And Iran Come To Aid of Iraqi Government; Interview with Senator Saxby Chambliss; Senator Thad Cochran Wins Mississippi Republican Primary; Hillary Clinton Defended "Dead Broke" Statement; Search Warrant for Cell Phones; Surge of Children on the Border
Aired June 25, 2014 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: John, thanks very much.
Happening now: Iraqi troops head to the front lines of what their prime minister is calling a holy war against terrorism, but with American advisers, Syrian air strikes and Iranian drone flights, it's quickly becoming a wider war. Next targets: are ISIS terrorists now sending bombers to Lebanon? And we'll go live to Beirut.
And I'll ask Jordan's former foreign minister about concerns that the Iraq conflict could spill over into Jordan.
Plus Hillary Clinton on wealth. In a new interview she tells what she meant to say about money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: My inartful use of those few words doesn't change who I am, what I've stood for my entire life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
Getting ready for battle. Iraqi troops move to the front to fight ISIS insurgents, but this bloody conflict is getting a whole lot more complicated. As Syrian warplanes hit villages in Iraq, Iran sends surveillance drones overhead and U.S. advisers go to work on the ground. The war is clearly spreading.
The former Jordanian foreign minister is here with us in THE SITUATION ROOM. CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom is standing by in Beirut. Let's start with our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr. She has the very latest -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think you just laid it out. This war getting more dangerous by the day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STARR (voice-over): As Iraqi army forces battle ISIS militants west of Baghdad, there is disturbing evidence the war is now not limited by borders. In the Iraqi town of al-Kei (ph), the carnage of a Syrian air strike inside Iraq, at least 57 Iraqis killed, more than 120 wounded up and down Iraq's border with Syria after Syria launched air strikes inside Iraq.
The U.S. doesn't know yet if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who fights ISIS inside Syria, has formally joined forces with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's regime. Iran also deepening its involvement, flying surveillance drones over Iraq, sending in its own military advisers just as the U.S. does the same.
With the Iranians now trying to mobilize thousands of Shia militiamen in southern Iraq, the war is widening.
JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: Widened from what? Widened from five minutes ago? An hour ago? Yesterday? It's been widened, obviously, in the last days with reports of some people from Iran being engaged in Iraq, with perhaps even some Syrian activities therein. That's one of the reasons why government formation is so urgent.
STARR: Secretary of State John Kerry is pushing for a new government to be formed to unify Shia, Sunni and Kurds. Maliki avoided that issue even as he rejected forming an emergency government to deal with the crisis.
NURI AL-MALIKI, IRAQI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It is no secret to all Iraqis the dangers behind the call for formation of a national salvation government, as they call it. It is simply an attempt by those who rebel against the constitution to end the young democratic process.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STARR: Look, as the U.S. watches this, Wolf, they see ISIS beginning to get a bit stretched out on the battle lines. They may have to halt for a while before they go much further and regroup and consolidate their positions.
But perhaps the real question now is whether Iraqi forces can launch an effective counter offensive, push ISIS back, gain territory and even hold on to what they already have as part of the Iraqi security forces.
BLITZER: Clearly, the U.S. wants to go after these ISIS terrorists. The Iranians want to do the same thing and the regime of Bashar al- Assad in Syria want to do the same thing. Is there really any coordination between the U.S., Syria and Iran, given that these three countries have very, very different goals, if you will?
STARR: You know, it's absolutely fascinating, you know, with this worn-out, would Washington, the Syrians and the Iranians band together in some sort of cooperative effort? We're told no, that there is no military cooperation, intelligence coordination with Syria or Iran.
But it may be strange bedfellows out there, and it could come to pass, clearly, that there may be some opportunity when they will communicate about what is going on. If air strikes were to be launched by the U.S., clearly there would be an effort by the U.S. to make sure everybody in the region knows what the U.S. military would be up to after it happened. They want mow miscalculation here.
BLITZER: You're absolutely right. All right, Barbara, stand by with us. I want to bring in CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom. He's joining us from Beirut.
Mohammed, how much concern is there in the region this war could get a whole lot wider?
MOHAMMED JAMJOOM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, there's a lot of concern. In fact, in all my years reporting from the region, I've never seen as much concern from the various countries in the region, from my sources in those countries, that possibly a region-wide war could be sparked because of what's going on in Iraq.
And the problem is, is the more countries like Iran intervene, the more you'll see countries like Saudi Arabia, which is the archrival of Iran in this region, try to figure out a way to interfere in that war, as well. They're going have to do something if they think Iran is getting deeper involved in the Iraq crisis. And when that happens you will see sectarian divisions deepen across this region at a time when they've already been boiling over, and they're as deep as they've ever been -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Mohammed, there's been a bombing in Beirut. That's where you are. What can you tell us about this bombing? What does it mean?
JAMJOOM: Wolf, this is the latest in a string of bombings this past week. I can tell you that this city, this country is on edge, and now the burning question on the lips of so many in Lebanon is, is ISIS now on the attack in Lebanon, as well?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMJOOM (voice-over): The third suicide bombing to rock Lebanon in less than a week. A scene of panic and chaos. Even security forces were left scrambling and injured.
(on camera): Tonight tensions very much on the rise here in Beirut after a suicide bomber blew himself up in one of the hotels just behind us on this street. Police have cordoned off the area. They're fearful that there might have been a secondary explosive device planted somewhere nearby.
(voice-over): Residents of Lebanon fear even more violence, especially with ISIS posting announcements like this one online.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We will go to Iraq in a few days, and we will fight and come back. And we will even go to Jordan and Lebanon with no problems.
JAMJOOM: Worry here is growing.
SAMI NADER, LEBANESE ANALYST: I'm really very concerned because for the simple reason that the stability and Lebanon is very fragile.
JAMJOOM: Analysts say ISIS and other jihadists groups could easily take advantage of the fractured government, weaken security forces, and deep sectarian divisions. Since last year, a rising tide of Sunni anger toward Shiite military group Hezbollah has been to blame for several car bombs targeting Shiite-populated areas in and around Beirut. Now blood is being shed once more, and many suspect ISIS is behind it.
On Friday, a car bomb targeted a security checkpoint in the Baqa'a Valley.
And another worrying sign. Angry Islamists in nearby Tripoli held a demonstration. At one point, chants of support for ISIS could clearly be heard.
NADER: I'm worried about this collapse, total collapse of the Lebanese institution. The excellent word for these movements are a dislocated state, a divided society, which is the case in Lebanon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JAMJOOM: Wolf, everybody I spoke with on the scene of that suicide blast tonight said that, while they're worried that this is going to continue, they also hope that it's going to stop.
And they all said that they have no doubt that this is going to Lebanon and hitting Lebanon now because of what's going on in Iraq -- Wolf.
BLITZER: The spillover from Iraq, from Syria, hitting Lebanon; could be hitting Jordan, as well. The region clearly, clear worried. Mohammed, thanks very much.
Up next, as Iraqi troops head into battle, they're now getting some help, as we just pointed out, from both Iran and Syria. So does this mean the United States is actually siding with its own foes? I'll ask the Senate Intelligence vice chairman, Senator Saxby Chambliss. He's here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Also, the former Jordanian foreign minister, Marwan Muasher, he's here, as well.
Plus, what Hillary Clinton meant to say about money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLINTON: I shouldn't have said the, I think, five or so words that I said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story. As Iraqi troops go off to battle they're getting help in their battle against the ISIS insurgents. They're getting some air strikes from Syria, drone surveillance and weapons coming in from Iran, and support from U.S. military advisers. About 150 U.S. military advisers are already on the ground. The president says up to 300 will be deployed. Joining us now Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia. He's
the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and CNN Middle East analyst Marwan Muasher. He's the former Jordanian foreign minister, one-time ambassador to the United States.
Gentlemen, thanks very much for coming in.
Syria goes ahead. They use their warplanes to attack ISIS targets inside Iraq, but in the process they wind up killing about 50 civilian Iraqis, men, women and children; injured scores of others. What is going here?
SEN. SAXBY CHAMBLISS (R), GEORGIA: Well, that's the dilemma that the White House is facing right now, Wolf, and has been facing for the last several days regarding air strikes.
If you have air strikes in congested areas, you're going to have collateral damage. You would hope you could get all of these bad guys out in one area that's isolated, but that's just not going to happen now.
The unfortunate about this is that this has bled over from Syria into Iraq. Now we have a terrorist organization that controls more territory than any terrorist organization that we've ever seen. This gives them a perfect breeding and training ground for operations as well as other terrorists that will seek to kill and harm Americans. And the real fear we have, of course is that it may bleed over to Jordan next.
BLITZER: A key U.S. ally.
CHAMBLISS: A very key U.S. ally. And who knows where it's going next? These folks want a caliphate. They want to control Jordan. They want to control Lebanon and Israel. They're a -- they're a large, nasty group of folks.
BLITZER: Ambassador, do you agree with that assessment?
MARWAN MUASHER, CNN MIDDLE EAST ANALYST: Well, I think, of course, we have all the reason to worry. They are terrorists, and they are extremely radical and trying to influence a large part of the territory.
I would caution a little bit against, you know, over worry that they will spill over into Jordan. Remember they are going to be able to -- they're going to have to face a very strong army with planes, with tanks and a very seasoned army in the Jordanian -- army and they don't have the social supporting environment.
BLITZER: Because I've heard in these reports that there are already, in some of these refugee camps, and as we know, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees inside Jordan right now, coming in from Iraq, coming in from Syria. There already are ISIS agents inside, trying to foment trouble.
MUASHER: You actually have ISIS supporters as individuals, not just in refugee camps. Even among some Jordanians there are supporters of ISIS. But this number only in the 200. They don't have the same supporting environment that's what they do in Iraq and the Sunni communities, frustrated and marginalized. And has allowed them to achieve military successes.
I'm talking about a group of people that might have, what, 10,000 fighters at most. They're not going to be able to fight three countries at the same time. And so while they are certainly a huge security threat, as the Senate has said, with them exerting influence over a large piece of territory, I would still caution against thinking that they are going to be able to achieve these.
BLITZER: Is Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, the man to get the job done now or should he simply move on?
CHAMBLISS: No. He certainly has not provided the kind of leadership that we need to get through this crisis. Wolf, the problem is that he just got -- his party just had a pretty significant election. And he is the choice of his party, at least right now, to be the prime minister. So he's being very defiant and very stubborn about stepping down, but there's going to have to be a political solution on that side at the same time we have a military solution on the other side. Otherwise, instability there and the violence there is going to continue.
BLITZER: Secretary of State John Kerry goes to Baghdad, and it's not an easy thing. It's dangerous. It goes there and meets with Nuri al- Maliki, appeals to them to create a national unity government. Nuri al-Maliki goes on television today and says, "No way. We're not doing that. That would be a violation of the Iraqi constitution," basically telling the United States never mind.
MUASHER: Maliki has ruled in a very exclusionist way and probably will continue to do so, but as the senator said this is going to take a political process. It is not about a military affair.
BLITZER: Do they have time for this? Because it looks like that clock is ticking.
MUASHER: I think things will get worse before they get better. I think a likely scenario would be that people within Maliki's party are going to come to terms with the fact that there is -- that there needs to be a political process and maybe -- maybe ask Maliki to step aside and put somebody from the same party, because they did win the election, put somebody who is more open-minded and is ready to give the other forces, the Sunni community in particular, a more meaningful say in running the affairs.
BLITZER: How is it, Senator, that Syria, Bashar al-Assad's air force and military, they're getting involved in Iraq right now, going after these ISIS terrorists? Iran and their Revolutionary Guard, they're getting involved, going after these ISIS terrorists, and maybe the United States. The president of the United States may authorize -- I don't know if we will -- U.S. air strikes or drone strikes or something along those lines. I don't know if you have inside information, but this is a very unusual situation. CHAMBLISS: The American people just are having a very difficult time
understanding the fact that here we are, an adversary of Iran from a nuclear weapons standpoint. We're on the opposite side in Syria, and we may -- we may wind up being supportive and on the same side against ISIL.
So it is extremely complex. It's extremely sensitive, but as we head into Ramadan, this week something's going have to give. It's going to have to give in the short term. Otherwise, I don't see any way out of it.
BLITZER: What do you recommend? Should the U.S. get involved militarily in Iraq right now?
CHAMBLISS: Well, I think it depends on what you say from a military standpoint. If we went in with air strikes right now, we would kill too many civilians along with military. That's going to cause more problems than it will solve.
The advisers that are on the ground are going to report back to the president when they gather the intel that they were sent there to gather. They're going to talk about command and control with ISF and see if they cannot garner some spine among the troops that we spent so much money and so much time training to fight these guys, to stand up to them. And if they would do that, then obviously, that would be the solution, and it would be without an American military presence.
BLITZER: Is there a military solution here?
MUASHER: I don't think so. I think you have to differentiate with ISIS, which has to be fought by all means, and between the Sunni community where you have to find a political solution. So get, you know, weaken ISIS militarily to the point -- to every point possible, but then work out a political solution.
BLITZER: And you're confident that the Jordanian military, unlike the Iraqi military, which so much of it simply crumbled in the face of some terrorists coming in. The Jordanian military is resolute and can get the job done to protect the kingdom.
MUASHER: I'm very confident of the Jordanian military capabilities, as well as the Jordanian opposition. Opposition to these.
BLITZER: Is there a real threat from these ISIS terrorists to the United States, to the homeland here? Some of your colleagues in the Senate keep saying these guys, if you give them free reign in Syria, Iran, and maybe elsewhere, what they're going to do is plot terrorist attacks against targets in Europe and eventually in the United States. Do you believe that?
CHAMBLISS: Well, remember that ISIS, ISIL, whichever one you call them, broke off from core al Qaeda, because they're more extreme than al Qaeda. They've been in Syria fighting. We know that there have been some Americans inside of Syria fighting. We know that an American inside of Syria strapped a suicide vest on himself and blew himself up. If those folks that have now bled over in Iraq have the opportunity to
train Americans to come back to the United States to carry out missions like that, you bet they will do it.
BLITZER: Does the U.S. intelligence community believe that's a realistic scenario?
CHAMBLISS: It is always a possibility, and our worst fear that someone would get into this country who is from this country or someone in this country that's grown up here would carry out a terrorist act like that. And with the movement into and outside of Syria right now, they're so very difficult to control. I think the possibility within the intelligence community is that it's very possible.
BLITZER: Senator Chambliss, thanks very much for coming in. Marwan Muasher, thanks to you, as well. We'll stay on top of this story. Much more coming up later.
When we come back, though, for the second time in two weeks Hillary Clinton is now clarifying some controversial comments made about her wealth. What she's now saying to critics who suggest she's simply out of touch.
And why the House Speaker, John Boehner, announced he's planning to sue President Obama. We have new details coming into THE SITUATION ROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: There have been some questions about whether the Tea Party could be in trouble after a dramatic win for the GOP establishment in a nasty Senate race marred by cheating allegations, mudslinging, a nursing home break-in.
Our chief congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is in Mississippi where Senator Thad Cochran managed to pull out a win over Chris McDaniel, who still has not conceded. Dana is joining us now with the latest. What is the latest, Dana?
DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest is just that. Thad Cochran has more than a 6,000-vote lead over Chris McDaniel, and he still hasn't conceded.
In fact, Wolf, he just released a statement saying that he wants to still look at voter irregularities, because he wants to be, quote, "absolutely certain" that Republican primary voters actually won a big part of this Republican primary. So he is as defiant as ever.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BASH (voice-over): This was anything but a concession speech.
CHRIS MCDANIEL (R), MISSISSIPPI SENATE CANDIDATE: So much for bold colors. So much for principle. BASH: You've got to be combative to challenge a 36-year Senate
veteran in your own party. Yet Chris McDaniel took anti-establishment Tea Party fervor to a whole new level.
MCDANIEL: There is something a bit unusual about a Republican primary that's decided by liberal Democrats.
I guess they can take some consolation in the fact that they did something tonight by once again compromising, by once again reaching across the aisle and by once again abandoning the conservative movement.
BASH: McDaniel was talking about an aggressive Cochran effort to win his Republican runoff with the help of Democratic voters, allowed in Mississippi. On the coast, where Cochran brought federal dollars for defense contractors and aid after Katrina, and by enlisting African- American organizers by Jackie Bland, who handed out 5,000 flyers.
JACKIE BLAND, COCHRAN SUPPORTER: I'm a Democrat, but I'm supporting Thad Cochran.
BASH: That kind of outreach worked. We saw it first hand at this voting precinct.
(on camera): Did you have people in your community coming up to you and saying, "We've got to get out and vote for Senator Cochran"?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, they did.
BASH: And what was their argument?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, they were just showing where we need a man that could support us.
BASH (voice-over): When polls closed turnout here tripled from primary day three weeks earlier, up 7,000 votes for Cochran in the broader Hines County.
Henry Barbour helped lead the unusual effort to spend big bucks to get out the Democratic vote for a Republican in a GOP race.
(on camera): Chris McDaniel clearly feels like he got robbed, that the votes turnout and the victory that Cochran had was in large part because people like you got Democrats to the polls.
HENRY HARBOR, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, in America we have a right to vote and in Mississippi we don't register by party so whites and blacks get to vote in a Republican primary if they decide and I think the constitution gives them that right.
BASH: Barbour, the nephew of former nephew of former governor Haley Barbour also sits on the Republican national committee.
SEN. THAD COCHRAN (R), MISSISSIPPI: Thank you very much!
BASH: He hopes a white Mississippi Republican getting African- American votes can be a model for expanding the GOP nationally beyond largely white voters.
BARBOUR: It just makes sense that you would talk to folks who aren't just like you and I think that's a healthy thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: But it's really unclear, Wolf, whether Cochran and the coalition of his supporters like Henry Barbour built for his win here in the runoff really can be transferred to a national level to other Republican candidates.
He is in many ways unique. He has spent four decades and I'm seen it and talked to people here, building bridges and building ties with the African-American community and other non-traditional Republican voters. So that is a big part of why they felt it was important to come out in a Republican primary.
The other side of it is that they also were very much afraid of having Chris McDaniel who they think the traditional Democrats is way too extreme for this -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Dana, you better get inside. It looks like those clouds are pretty ominous behind you.
BASH: Summer in the south.
BLITZER: Dana Bash in Mississippi. Thanks very much.
Let's dig a little bit deeper on this with more. Joining us our CNN political commentator, Ryan Lizza and also our chief political analyst Gloria Borger as well as Jeffrey Toobin. Like Ryan Lizza, they both write for the "New Yorker" magazine. Is that correct? Both of you write for the "New Yorker" magazine.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Gloria, a good night for the GOP establishment. Not so good for the tea party. Was the Eric Cantor defeat by a tea party activist, was that just the one off?
GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think it looks now to be an outlier. It was a warning to Republican incumbents. And I think what Thad Cochran showed last night is that he was able to use the levers of power. He had Haley Barbour, former governor of Mississippi, his political machine behind him. He had outspent his challenger by 6-1. And he had organizations outside the state like the chamber of commerce who were coming in and said, you know, we're not going to lose this seat so the Republican game plan to take over the Senate which I'd like to do is now very much on course because they don't have to spend money anymore in the state.
BLITZER: They're not worried. And he did get apparently, anecdotally a lot of support from African-Americans who are Democrats.
RYAN LIZZA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. And look, it's a Republican primary. So most African-Americans in Mississippi are Democrats.
BLITZER: But they're allowed to vote.
LIZZA: Their open primary and there are rules. I doubt, you know, this is a model going forward for most Republicans. It is a sort of very unique circumstances down there.
But on this issue of the tea party's success, I don't think you can really judge it in the wins and losses. The tea party does not have a lot of wins under their belt in this election cycle. But if you look at how they are influencing the Republican Party overall, they're the driving ideological force right now in the Republican Party. They are putting the fear into every establishment Republican. And they're moving the party to the right end and you can't forget how big a deal the Cantor loss was. They now have Steve Scalise, very, very conservative in their leadership.
BLITZER: Even when they lose they win because their message clearly comes forward.
John Boehner, he's speaker of the House of Representatives, now threatening to sue the president of the United States for some of the executive orders he has signed. I want you to listen to Boehner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Congress has its job to do and so does the president. And when there's conflicts like this between the legislative branch and the administrative branch it's, in my view, our responsibility to stand up for this institution in which we serve.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: Could this lead to an impeachment proceeding against the president?
BOEHNER: This is not about impeachment. This was about his faithfully executing of the laws of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Let's talk about the laws of our country. Does he have legal standing to go ahead and sue the president this issue?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Almost certainly not. You know, this is not the first time members of Congress have thought about suing the president. Democrats, during the Nixon administration in the '70s, sued over the continuation of the Vietnam War and the courts very clearly said we are not getting in the middle of fights between the legislative and executive branches. You want to impeach the president, go ahead. But we are not going to get in the middle of these fights. And I think this is a political attempt by Speaker Boehner to, you know, rile his troop, but this is not something that will go forward in the courts.
BORGER: This is about motivating your troops to get out and vote in the midterm elections. I've talked to Republicans. The numbers they're looking at show that the thing that pulls the best for them in terms of motivating their base is not Obamacare. It's the imperial presidency.
And what this speaks to is a president who is doing things on his own, who is acting above the law and this is about raising money for the Republican Party. It's about getting out those voters because they're looking at these numbers and they're saying wait a minute. We have an issue here that we have not tapped into yet and that's exactly what John Boehner is doing.
BLITZER: Let me move on and talk about Hillary. Hillary Clinton, that is, she's not necessarily running for president. Although, we seems to be she will. She just sat down for an interview with Gwen Ifill of PBS and she once again had to clarify what she meant when she said they were flat broke and then she was really not wealthy. And now she's saying this. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I shouldn't have said, I think five or so words that I said. But you know, my in-artful use of those few words doesn't change who I am, what I've stood for my entire life, what I stand for today.
Bill and I have had terrific opportunities. Both of us, you know, have worked hard, but we've been grateful for everything that we've been able to achieve. And sadly, that's just not true for most Americans today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: All right, so she's trying to contain some of that damage. Is that serious damage or not so serious?
LIZZA: I think a little bit because I don't think the Clintons view themselves as the kind of people who should be or open to an attack that they are privileged and wealthy now, right? I just don't think that they ever saw this coming because that's not their sort of self- identity. And the fact of the matter is they are part of the one percent whether they like it or not. They're on both the left and the right in this country right now. There is a populist movement and the politics are different on the two sides and she's encountering that.
I think the other thing is she -- remember, even in 2008, the media environment that existed is not like the current media environment today especially, you know, given what's going on with social media and this is the first sort of test and her stepping into that as a --.
(CROSSTALK)
BORGER: So she's clearly trying to pivot to her record and her record of being there for equality, et cetera, et cetera. And she had her husband out there, although I don't think she planted his words with him, but he was out there defending her which by the way, you are going to see -- start seeing over and over again as we did during the 2008. TOOBIN: It's Tuesday. Election Day is only two years or five month
away so she really better clean this up.
LIZZA: This kind of attack to them, I think, angers them not as bad, but almost the way when Bill Clinton in 2008 was attacked for not being for African-Americans and he argued that the Obama campaign said he was racist. I mean, that really cut to the core of who he thinks he is.
I think this is similar. The Clintons just don't believe that they have ever been, you know, for the wealthy and privileged and that's -- they believe it's not where they come from.
It's affecting her in that way.
BORGER: I think there is a sense with the Clintons that they weren't to the (INAUDIBLE). They were born into great wealth like maybe Mitt Romney was born into great wealth that they've actually have earned their wealth lately and she talks about her blessings and all of the rest and Bill Clinton said I'm still surprised that people want me to talk, you know.
BLITZER: So that talk is not cheap. As you know, Jeffrey, since leaving the White House he's made like about $100 million mostly giving speeches.
TOOBIN: Life is good when you can make that kind of money.
Look, it didn't hurt Franklin Roosevelt to be rich. It didn't hurt John F. Kennedy to be rich. Both Democrats, both associated with progressive causes.
BORGER: Right.
TOOBIN: I just think, you know, they are going to just have to deal with this. They're rich, but so what? You know?
LIZZA: There is some Democrat out there trying to figure out a way to challenge here and I don't think anyone has identified who that person is yet. These are the kinds of issues that will go after the Clintons.
BORGER: Well, it would be their wealth. It would be where the money is coming from. It is the ties to Wall Street. And that's the question, you know, sort of populist Democrats have about the Clintons which is, are you making your money from Wall Street? What are your ties to Wall Street? This is a problem.
BLITZER: Elizabeth Warren going to do that? I don't think so.
BORGER: Well, I don't think of Elizabeth Warren.
LIZZA: There is someone that has figured out.
BLITZER: I don't think Joe Biden will do that either. I don't think anyone will do that on the Democratic. So maybe, you know, Dennis Kucinich or somebody like that. But is a viable Democratic candidate making those arguments.
TOOBIN: Wolf, I think you just started the Kucinich alert. It may happen.
BORGER: As we learned with Mitt Romney, politicians have a very difficult time talking about their personal wealth.
TOOBIN: Right.
BORGER: It's not easy for them.
BLITZER: Guys, thanks very much.
When we come back, a rare unanimous decision just out of the Supreme Court which could affect your cell phone and your privacy rights. Jeffrey Toobin is sticking around. We'll explain what happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: Rulings out of the Supreme Court today including a rare, unanimous decision involving policing your cell phone. Our senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is still with us to break this ruling down.
It is a privacy rights versus police going after alleged criminals, sensitive issue.
TOOBIN: And actually a very simple issue when you think about it. Everybody knows that when the police arrest you they can pat you down. The question in this case is, let's say they find a cell phone as is often the case. Can they read what's on your phone without getting a warrant? And unanimously the courts said no. You need a warrant.
They said, look, you know, it's not even accurate to call them phones anymore because they have text messages. They have Internet records. They have e-mails. They have photographs. There's more information in your phone about you than there probably is in your apartment. So the courts said you need a warrant and I thought it made a lot of sense.
BLITZER: And it did to those nine Supreme Court justices. The conservatives, the liberals, all nine of them unanimously agreed.
TOOBIN: You know --
BLITZER: How unusual is that?
TOOBIN: Well, at the end of the year, you know, the Supreme Court only has two more days for opinions. Tomorrow and Monday. You almost always get the 5 to 4 decisions, and I thought it was interesting, as you point out, that this was unanimous and I thought it was just a great example of how the court can take the 18th century United States Constitution, apply it in a circumstance that James Madison couldn't possibly have imagined.
But in a way that I think recognizes privacy interests, but also the interest of law enforcement because law enforcement can get that warrant and they can maintain their own safety by seeing if you have a weapon. But if they find a cell phone which is really the key to all of our lives at this point they can't just search it willy-nilly. They have to have a magistrate or judge give them the order.
BLITZER: How long practically speaking does that take to get that warrant?
TOOBIN: Usually it can be done over the phone if there's an emergency. It is not a big burden on law enforcement, but it is -- it is a burden and there's an interesting unresolved on what happens if you're already in prison now because of a search of your cell phone like this, those people are going to start to bring their cases.
BLITZER: We'll see what happens. Jeffrey, thanks very much.
TOOBIN: All right.
BLITZER: Coming up at the top of the hour, defending Iraq's capital from a terrorist onslaught. Our own Nic Robertson is live on the frontlines in Baghdad where Iraqi troops are using old military tanks to try to keep those ISIS insurgents out.
Plus with the violence spiraling out of control, is it better strategy to stop trying to hold the country together? Why some experts say divide the country of Iraq into three.
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BLITZER: Now to the extraordinary surge of children crossing the United States border undocumented and often alone. Thousands and thousands of them are winding up in detention. The Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson went to Arizona today to get a firsthand look at the problem.
CNN's Polo Sandoval is here in the SITUATION ROOM with an update -- Polo.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is the secretary's second visit to the southwest border in less than a week. Today he toured a detention facility housing some of the thousands of undocumented families.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL (voice-over): The brush along the nation's southern border. It's the frontline of what the Obama administration calls an urgent crisis.
Since October tens of thousands of unaccompanied children and families have poured over the Rio Grande and into the custody of Customs and Border Protection.
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R), HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: CBP estimates that next year more than 150,000 unaccompanied children may attempt to cross our borders. This is a crisis. It's a crisis that's been in the making for years. One that we should have seen coming. A few concrete actions have been taken.
SANDOVAL: The feds are running out of detention room. Pictures show the overcrowding in facilities like this one in Brownville, Texas. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is back at the center of the crisis.
JEH JOHNSON, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We're extensively engaged with the Mexican government and the Central American government about stemming this tide. And there are other things that we need to do to stem the tide. We're building more detention space for adults that bring kids.
SANDOVAL: In south Texas a temporary band-aid just three miles from the border. Federal contractors are working overtime turning this 55,000 square foot warehouse in McAllen, Texas, into a holding facility by mid-July.
CNN obtained the floor plans which detail four separate living areas enclosed by 10-foot high chained link fences. Each complete with five cells, an isolation area and Port-A-Potties. About a thousand detainees will be held here to keep up with the flood of people crossing the border illegally.
The private property turned detention center could provide only a measure of relief. The Obama administration now struggling to deal with the surge in children crossing the border, many driven here by a misguided dream.
JOHNSON: There's no free pass. There are no permisos (ph) for children -- for your children who come to the United States.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANDOVAL: And Johnson continues to drive that point home for Central American families that illegal entry into the United States does not necessarily guarantee a permanent stay. And also that last point that the secretary mentioned about these are children being placed in the hands of smugglers.
Wolf, those are the organizations right now that are truly making a killing off of this. Major profits. Our intelligence sources on the ground telling us that regardless of your age, if you cross the border illegally, you have to pay the protection to these Mexican drug cartels to use those established routes.
So while U.S. officials on this side of the border see that the major headache and really a major problem, these organizations on the Mexican side, these ruthless cartels, see major dollar signs.
BLITZER: And making a lot of money on this and it continues and continues. And to hear the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Mike McCaul, say 150,000 unaccompanied, undocumented kids potentially in the next year could make it past that border, that's a pretty, pretty shocking.
(CROSSTALK) BLITZER: All right, Polo. Thanks very much for that work.
This note to our viewers. Don't miss CNN Films' "DOCUMENTED." It's the story of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who's living in the United States illegally. He's about to risk everything by coming forward, telling you his story.
Watch "DOCUMENTED". It airs Sunday night, 9:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Coming up, as Iraqi troops try to regroup against ISIS insurgents, they're getting new help from Iran and Syria. We're going live to Baghdad.
And will Iraq end up being split in three? We're taking a closer look at the forces that are threatening to tear that country apart.
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