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AT THIS HOUR

Trump Upset with Advisors over Syria Withdrawal as Turkey, Iran, Russia Meet on Ceasefire; Surgeon General Urges People to Carry "Save Shot"; Trump on Syria Withdrawal: "Just Get It Done"; Facebook Admits Data Breach Bigger Than First Reported. Aired 11:30-12n ET

Aired April 5, 2018 - 11:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[11:30:00] BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Is that a feasible thing that would really allow the U.S. to leave without leaving a vacuum that you would have Russia and Iran filling?

LT. GEN. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: No, not at all. Remember, this is a U.S.-led coalition. It was the United States that put this coalition together. Now 75 countries involved in one form or another. It would be great to have contributions from other nations. But without American leadership, and the massive American contribution to the air power, intelligence, firepower and American Special Forces on the ground, I think the coalition would fall apart and we would see a resurgence of ISIS. I think that military advisers are right to tell the president that four to six months may not be enough, but we have to be open minded and open ended to make sure the job is done. I think the president is beginning to fall into the same trap that he accused President Obama of doing, putting timelines on victory. You can't do that. You have to let the general fight the war as it plays out.

KEILAR: He's said that, right, doesn't like to telegraph the timeline.

FRANCONA: Yes.

KEILAR: And also you're seeing him sort of struggle against what his military advisers are telling him.

I want you both to listen to something pretty interesting. General Joseph Votel, top commander in the region, he was recently before Congress. He asked -- he was recently asked before Congress if it is still U.S. policy that Syrian president Bashar al Assad should go and here was his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: Is it still our policy that Assad must go?

GEN. JOSEPH VOTEL, U.S. COMMANDER: I don't -- I don't know that's our particular policy at this particular point. Our focus remains on --

(CROSSTALK)

GRAHAM: If you don't know, I doubt if anybody knows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: This is interesting, Elise. It is very important to watch it. His "I don't know if that's our policy," I'm wondering is he saying he doesn't know whether it is that Assad should go or really the focus is on ISIS and not so much on Assad? What is going on there?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I think it is a little bit of both, OK. The policy of the U.S. is Assad should not be leading Syria. Is the policy of the U.S. going to be make sure he leaves Syria? I think you've seen under President Obama in the last couple of years not really. That is what I think President Trump is trying do here. Rex Tillerson gave a speech in January that got under President Trump's skin, saying that the U.S. is going to stay in Syria, going to stay through the war, going to counter Iran in the region. President Trump is saying, no. The job is ISIS and doesn't really, I think, have much appetite for being involved in the civil war, and that's why he thinks U.S. troops should finish the job against ISIS and get back. As you know, if the U.S. leaves these liberated areas and doesn't hold them, they'll be not only ISIS come back, but as --

KEILAR: That's right.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Iraq 2.0, which, you know, gave rise to ISIS, we saw that.

Colonel, in that regard, where you have such disparate views between the president and his military commanders, how much of this is just military commanders placating the president's concern about the cost of the U.S. military involvement without taking the steps that would be needed to execute a drawdown.

FRANCONA: That is a dangerous line for these generals to walk. I think they're going to focus on what the mission is now. I think you saw that with General Votel. He was -- didn't want to answer that question. His mission is to defeat ISIS, not to overthrow Bashar al Assad. So it might be U.S. policy that Assad has to go. But it might not be the American methodology to remove him. So you see Votel walking that fine line. It is very, very troubling when we don't have a coherent policy because, who benefits? We're looking at the major power brokers in Syria right now. It is not the Syrians and it's not the United States. You have the Russians, the Turks and the Iranians determining what is going on. They're sitting at the table and we're not.

[11:34:00] KEILAR: That's right.

Colonel Francona, thank you.

Elise Labott, appreciate it.

Coming up, the new rallying cry from the nation's top doctor on fighting the opioid crisis. Why the surgeon general is calling on Americans to carry the so-called save shot. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: New this morning, the top doctor in the nation is weighing in on the opioid epidemic. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a public advisory that says if your family or friends are at risk of an overdose, that you should carry naloxone and know how to use it. It is sold as Narcan. It can bring a person back from an opioid overdose.

Joining me now is Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Sanjay, doctors and paramedics know how to use Narcan or the save shot. We heard stories of librarians who know how to use it when people od in their libraries. Is this something that is easy to use if you're not a medical professional?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think so. Really two ways to use this. One is a basically an injector and it is pretty autonomous, meaning once you put the injector on the skin, it will automatically administer the Narcan. The other is the nasal spray. You inject the nasal medication into the nasal cavity. That's the argument that the public health officials made for some time. This say pretty big deal. Just to give you some context. You don't see these very much. The last time a public health advisory was issued like this was back in 2005, warning pregnant women about the uses of alcohol during pregnancy. So this is the -- just to give you an idea of the scope and the context and the seriousness, they want to make this more widely available. They want to have loved ones be able to administer this because it can take too long for paramedics to arrive. Someone is overdosing, you have minutes, usually.

[11:40:17] KEILAR: You talked to the head of the FDA about dealing with the opioid crisis and the role that doctors play in it. I want to listen to part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: You and I were practicing around the same time, and we were taught some of the same things about people should not be in pain, you know, that's something we can take care of. Downplaying the potential concerns about these drugs. What about now?

DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FDA COMMISSIONER: I think doctors from our generation and probably a little bit after were trained in a way that pain was a fifth vital sign and more liberal prescribing these medications. We recognize that wasn't appropriate. So I think that there needs to be some effort to try to re-educate a generation of physicians. I think some form of mandatory education could make sense.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: What do doctors think about that?

GUPTA: It is -- I think a couple of minds on this. First of all, I think everyone is aware of how significant the prescribing -- how out of hand it has gotten in the United States. We're not even 5 percent of the world's population. We take over 90 percent of some of these classes of drugs. It is ridiculous. I think the doctors prescribing it are a big part of the problem here. None of the organized medical groups like the idea of a one-size-fits-all federally mandated training sessions. They are hard to administer, not clear they're effective. The AMA, the American Medical Association, they represent some 200,000 doctors and they don't like the idea for those reasons. I think it is probably going to happen. We're in the throes of this terrible crisis, but it'll take time to make sure the doctors are getting re-educated on this issue.

KEILAR: Sanjay, thank you very much, for being with us.

GUPTA: You've got it.

KEILAR: Coming up, Facebook's data crisis just got a lot bigger. More people might have had their information improperly shared than Mark Zuckerberg and his company initially thought, likes tens of millions more. We'll have that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:46:33] KEILAR: More now on President Trump's plans to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. Sources telling CNN that the president was irritated when his military advisers warned that six months was too short of a time frame to withdraw all troops. According to an official, he responded by telling his team to just get it done.

Joining me now, we have CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, with us.

And, Christiane, how do you think leaders in the region are viewing this possibility that U.S. troops could withdraw from Syria?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they have been very vocal and there is a lot coming out of the region. Look at the map and take as a given this is a proxy war. All sorts of actors who are engaged then, and all vying for control and superiority. So, the United States has helped local groups liberate a lot of eastern Syria. From the Syrian regime and from is. Now, if they remove the United States troops from there and the militias who they back, will probably collapse, according to analysts. That means countries like Iran or the Syrian regime could go in and fill that particular vacuum. So that is something that is very, very concerning.

And people are wondering why President Trump might do that kind of thing, given how, you know, intent he is on denying Iran power in that region. We just have seen Iran, Turkey, Russia, the real power brokers in Syria, all meeting in Turkey right now, which is a U.S. ally, to talk about their dominance in that region.

Now, Iran portrays what it is doing there as a fight against terrorism. So the U.S. says it is fighting terrorism as well. So you can see that is a pretty complicated issue. On the other hand, of course, Saudi Arabia also does not want the United States to leave because it thinks the U.S. is backing its proxies, its allies there. And even President Trump himself said that when he spoke to the king of Saudi Arabia to tell him his plans for Syria, apparently, the king wasn't that happy, he asked for the troops to remain. And President Trump suggested, well, if you want them to stay, you're going to have to do some paying.

And then you have Israel. For Israel, it is a nightmare scenario. Anything that causes more room for Iran or, indeed, the Syrian regime to expand in areas that they currently don't hold.

KEILAR: I want to take a bit of a right turn with you, Christiane, and talk about your new series "Sex and Love Around the World. You explore how refugees flee war torn countries maintain relationships, how they maintain intimacy in refugee camps. I want to watch this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR (voice-over): I reported on people fleeing war and crises throughout my career and always wanted to ask about how they manage to maintain what makes us all human, relationships, love, and intimacy.

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: All three generations of this family are sharing this small space, and privacy is scarce.

(on camera): You've got a four-year-old, a six-year-old and you have a new daughter coming. I just want to ask you one personal woman question. Here you are in one room in a camp, and you have to have husband/wife relations, you're pregnant. How difficult is it to do that here with everybody in the same room and --

(CROSSTALK)

AMANPOUR: What?

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAWKING FORIEGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAWKING FORIEGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHTER)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAWKING FORIEGN LANGUAGE)

[11:50:20] AMANPOUR: So in this room, you got pregnant?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAWKING FORIEGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAWKING FORIEGN LANGUAGE)

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I bet no one ever asked that question, Christiane. You really are sort of going into uncharted territory. Tell us more about what we should expect to see.

AMANPOUR: Well, look, we were talking about the Syria war just before you showed that clip. And to be honest with you, it is that war that prompted me to want to do that series. Because we had seen these floods of desperate people coming from Syria to the west, and I really did wonder how they maintained their humanity, their human relationships.

Of course, that goes right down to the nitty-gritty of sexual relationships, relationships of intimacy between parents and children, between couples and all the rest of it. And it is the kind of question that nobody really asks refugees from Syria or, indeed, from Afghanistan, these incredible, conservative societies where, by and large, women, they have never even thought of the idea that they also have a right to happiness, to fulfillment, to -- you know, to the kinds of rights that we take for granted in the West just as human beings. There women are subservient in every single way to men, to religion and to society. So that's why I was probing in Berlin where they have accepted so many refugees. They're teaching them how to cope with Western morals, Western standards, and particularly teaching the men how to treat women with respect. It's a really interesting, interesting dynamic. It's so eye-opening. And I did get to hear a lot from these people.

KEILAR: We're interested to see it. Also, it was just fascinating to see how they create happiness for their children, too.

AMANPOUR: Yes.

KEILAR: It's so universal.

We appreciate it, Christiane. Thank you for being with us.

Don't forget to check out Christian Amanpour's "Sex and Love Around the World," at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday on CNN.

Coming up next, what's another 37 million people between friends? Facebook is admitting the data breach was even bigger than first reported. We'll have details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:56:47] KEILAR: If you have a Facebook account, you'll want to know this. The social media icon has ramped up its estimate of how many users had their data improperly shared. Instead of the original estimate of 50 million, Facebook says it now may be up to 87 million people. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, who is set to testify before Congress next week says he made a huge mistake.

CNN's senior tech correspondent, Laurie Segall, was on Zuckerberg's phone call with reporters.

What did he say, Laurie?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN SENIOR TECH CORRESPONDENT: He described that number, too. He said this was a max impact, this was a max number of people that could have been impacted by this. He also took some questions about should he step down? He said he is doesn't plan on stepping down and life is about learning from your mistakes. It's a pretty pivotal moment for the company. He said they need to be more transparent about what they are doing, and he accepted responsibility. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK ZUCKERBERG, CEO, FACEBOOK (via telephone): We're an idealistic and optimistic company. For the first decade, we really focused on all the good that connecting people brings. But it's clear now that we didn't do enough. We didn't focus enough on preventing abuse and thinking through how people could use these tools to do harm as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: Very interesting to watch. Mark has been open about this. He sat down with me a couple weeks ago. Mark Zuckerberg doesn't go out there publicly much, but this is a time people want to hear from the CEO of the company. There was a lot anger that this happened, and people don't know the extent of it. After covering tech for all these years, this is a moment, I think, of the Silicon Valley optimism of move fast and break things. That was Facebook's motto. I've been in Facebook's campus many times. They used to have signs up that said, "move fast and break things."

It's clear when you look at the weaponization of the platform, the manipulation of it, user data, we don't know what's happening with our data, how it's being used. It's clear this CEO has a lot to answer to which he now has the opportunity next week before he goes and testifies before Congress. Lawmakers will have a lot of tough questions. Yesterday, the hour-long phone call with reporters was practice.

KEILAR: Yes. It does seem to be a test. What are they going to do to ease users' concerns?

SEGALL: They're working a lot with third-party developers. They're limiting third-party access. They can't have the same access to user information, like our likes, our religious views, our political views, our political affiliation. It was interesting. Facebook put out a statement in this blog post, and he said most people on Facebook may have had their public profile information scraped by malicious actors, which is pretty shocking. So they've made some changes to a search feature that enabled malicious actors to gain information. This is just the beginning of what we're going to hear. This is going to be a long process and I think we'll hear more next week from Mark.

KEILAR: Laurie Segall, thank you so much for that.

And thank you for joining me.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with John King starts right now.