ISIS Strategy; Immigration Reform Delay; Royal Baby
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we're going to defeat them.</s>CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Making the case. President Obama says he has a new strategy to defeat ISIS. This week, he has to sell it to Congress and to you. This as he punts on immigration reform. No action until after the midterms.</s>KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: CNN exclusive. An owner of the Atlanta Hawks now selling his stakes in the team because of racially charged e-mails he sent. E-mails he also made public. This morning, the franchise CEO speaks to CNN. What really happened behind the scenes?</s>MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking baby news. We have a spare to the heir. Prince William and Catherine announcing they are pregnant again. Prince George set to be a big brother. We have all the details.</s>CUOMO: Your NEW DAY continues right now.</s>ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Chris Cuomo, Kate Baldwin and Michaela Pereira.</s>BOLDUAN: Good morning and welcome once again to NEW DAY, everyone. It is Monday, September 8th and it is 8:00 in the East this morning. A critical week we're kicking off for the battle against ISIS after harsh criticism has been coming at the president for suggesting that he doesn't have a strategy. The president is now set to unveil his plan. Unveil that strategy. He's going to meet with key congressional leaders. That likely is going to happen Tuesday. He's also going to then address the nation Wednesday.</s>CUOMO: And, remember, the big issue back here in the U.S., immigration reform. It's a priority, just not right now. The president says he will not take action until after the midterms, leaving people in his own party extremely upset. Let's begin with senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta and the new strategy to defeat ISIS. One problem at a time, Jim.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Chris. And a senior administration official say the president and his aides have begun working on that speech, set for Wednesday, one day before another 9/11 anniversary. And it will be a message designed to show the country that the president is eager to take the fight to ISIS.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): After a few fumbles on ISIS, President Obama has a new game plan, he says, to start going on some offense.</s>OBAMA: We're going to shrink the territory that they control and ultimately we're going to defeat them.</s>ACOSTA: But in an interview on "Meet the Press," the president insisted once again U.S. combat troops won't return to Iraq.</s>OBAMA: This is not the equivalent of the Iraq War.</s>ACOSTA: That tough new approach on ISIS came with an expansion of U.S. air strikes over the weekend, targeting the terror group for the first time in western Iraq, around the Haditha Dam. That air power, the president hopes, will tip the balance to Iraqi and Kurdish forces, as well as potentially moderate Syrian rebels battling ISIS on the ground.</s>OBAMA: We are going to be helping to put together a plan for them so that they can start retaking territory that ISIL had taken over.</s>ACOSTA: The ISIS reset was welcomed by Democrats, who worried the president was being too cautious.</s>SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D), CALIFORNIA: I want to congratulate the president. He is now on the offense.</s>ACOSTA: GOP critics are far from convinced.</s>MITT ROMNEY, FORMER GOP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know the Pentagon was going through "what if" scenarios but the president apparently wasn't, hasn't developed a strategy. You know, I don't know whether you can't see reality from a fairway.</s>ACOSTA: That golfing reference is not lost on the president, who acknowledged he stumbled after the beheading of American journalist James Foley. Mr. Obama admitted he sent the wrong message during his recent vacation when he recognized Foley's execution, only to head to the golf course minutes later.</s>OBAMA: You know, I should have anticipated the optics. You know, that's part of the job.</s>ACOSTA: The president also insisted he did not refer to ISIS as a JV team to "The New Yorker" earlier this year. That is a claim that fact checkers have deem to be false. In the meantime, the president will be sitting down with congressional leaders here at the White House about his ISIS strategy tomorrow. And at this point, White House officials are not yet saying whether the president will seek to get authorization from Congress for air strikes in Syria. They say they have not reached that decision just yet. Kate and Chris.</s>BOLDUAN: All right, Jim, thank you so much. Jim Acosta at the White House for us. Let's talk about this as well. President Obama's decision to delay action on immigration reform. Executive action. That decision is drawing criticism that the president's playing politics with the lives of immigrant families. The president says he wants to make sure that the American public is onboard before he takes any action. Let's discuss this with Democratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez. She's also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Congresswoman, it's great to see you. Thanks so much for the time.</s>REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ (D), CALIFORNIA: Good morning, Kate.</s>BOLDUAN: So what is your reaction? What was your initial reaction when you heard that the president was delaying this move?</s>SANCHEZ: Well, let's remember that it's not just the Latino community but many immigrant communities who have been waiting for something to happen. And so the first fault lies with the House of Representatives, the Republicans who have refused to bring up anything on the House floor. So we've all been frustrated. All immigrant communities have been very, very frustrated about this, as well as the business community, the faith community. So when President Obama said to us, in particular the Hispanic Caucus, I'm going to get something done and you'll know by August, it is a disappointment. It is a frustration. And more importantly, there are probably about 60,000 or 70,000 families of all stripes that this affects with possible deportations between now and after the election.</s>BOLDUAN: Congresswoman, did you get any heads up that the White House was going to be making this delay?</s>SANCHEZ: Well, we understood from the president and from Secretary Johnson of Homeland Security that in August they would be reviewing a six page memo we sent to them with administrative issues that they could fix or work on or change that they could help these families who have really been -- really been suffering because of this. Let me give you an example. Let's say that you are an American citizen and you fall in love with someone here and they happen to be here without the right documents. You marry them. They want to be with you. You file for them. They go to another country to put in the paperwork because they must be out of the country. Then they must stay there for 10 years until they are eligible to come back and be with you, even though they're married to an American citizen. So things like that can really be changed. Maybe you let them wait the 10 years here to get that status. And so, you know, there were things that were very, very practical on this list. And the president said he would address it with us. He would choose on that list. He would help us with that. And, in fact, he has now delayed it until after the election. We had no heads up on that.</s>BOLDUAN: I mean, congresswoman - well, then, congresswoman, then you've called these - some of these very practical, which kind of, in political terms, you would think would mean should be easy to pull off. Why then do you think the president's delaying it? The White House says that they think this issue is just too big to allow people when they say - which they mean Republicans -- to grandstand it, win votes on it. Is that a good enough reason for you to delay action?</s>SANCHEZ: Look, there are various communities from an economic standpoint. The business community has been saying, listen, we need to fix this broken immigration system. From a family value's perspective, the faith community said, enough is enough, don't deport these people, don't pull apart families. And more importantly, from a homeland security perspective, the people who work on this say, listen, if we could make sure that these people who have economic reasons and family reasons that they want to be in this country, if we could get them off the chart and give them the right paperwork, then we could concentrate our limited resources on the people who really mean to do us harm. For all of these reasons, we should be getting it done now instead of after the election. So, yes, of course, we're disappointed with the president as the entire immigrant communities, all communities are disappointed with the House Republicans for refusing to bring this up.</s>BOLDUAN: Well, that fight will continue, but this -- I want to stay focused on the news of the president's decision. Let me play devil's advocate on the flip side of this. If you're frustrated and disappointed that the president is not acting now with these practical measures, as you said, why then, if this issue is so important, and if the president thinks that it could risk control of the Senate for Democrats, why then can't you just wait the eight weeks or so until after the election to allow the president to do it?</s>SANCHEZ: Well, we have no choice. The president has at his discretion to that. He has decided to do that. So we are going to have to wait. The problem is that in those two months that we're talking about, there could be up to 60,000 mothers. And a lot of this is about women, by the way. Women. Because usually the man has papers to work here, most of the time the children are born here, it's the mother that is being deported to wherever it is, Korea, to Ireland, to Mexico, to whatever. And that is about -- so important. It's so nuclear to the family, the mother. And so what we're talking about is families who are torn apart. And so it might seem like it's not a big deal to some people, but to every family it should be important.</s>BOLDUAN: And I want to get your final take on this. Your colleague, Congressman Luis Gutierrez, he described what the president is -- move as being playing it safe. I would also argue that this could be a gamble, kind of a political way of saying, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Does the president risk losing the trust of the Latino community after so many times of making promises and not following through? Do you think he risks hurting the Democratic parties' support by the Latino community?</s>SANCHEZ: Again, I'm going to emphasize, it's not about Latino families. It's about all immigrant families. There are plenty of other communities that have been waiting for this. And the answer is that they understand and we will let them know that it's -- while the president has disappointed, the real reality is that these House Republicans have refused to work with us, to move a bill that would solve this issue for the faith community, for our community, for the immigrant community, for the business community.</s>BOLDUAN: Congresswoman, has he made that job harder though?</s>SANCHEZ: I would say that it's always difficult during a political time to get out and to get out the right message and to go out to make people understand. But we're revving up the machines to let all immigrant communities and our faith community is helping us from all angles to let people understand that it has been these House Republicans refusing to move a bill through the House of Representatives.</s>BOLDUAN: Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, it's always great to see you. Thanks for your time.</s>SANCHEZ: Thank you.</s>BOLDUAN: Of course. Michaela.</s>PEREIRA: All right, Kate, thanks so much. Ten minutes past the hour. Here's a look at your headlines. The European Union is planning to move forward today with new sanctions against Russia despite its ceasefire with Ukraine. European security officials say the agreement is holding, yet it is shaky. Shelling and explosions broke out Sunday. The heaviest fighting has been near the airport in Donetsk. There are reports that rebel leaders will go ahead with an all for all prisoner exchange with Ukraine. President Obama says the U.S. military will help fight the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa with equipment and support for health care workers. The president says if the international community does not help, the virus could mutate and spread to other countries, including here in the U.S., and pose a serious danger. Ebola has already killed more than 2,000 people in this most recent outbreak. And historic gift for Harvard. $350 million will be donated today to the school of public health. It was gifted by Hong Kong billionaire and Harvard alumnus Gerald Chan, who says the school changed his life. He says a professor convinced him to leave physics behind in favor of biology. That move ultimately laid the groundwork for a doctorate in radio biology. He went on to build a multibillion investment empire.</s>BOLDUAN: Wow.</s>PEREIRA: This is the biggest donation in that university's history. The biggest solo donation. There's been foundations that have come together to give big gifts. But this, I mean, record, $350 million.</s>CUOMO: Just what Harvard needs, more money.</s>BOLDUAN: I was just saying, if they could just make the price of education across the board more</s>PEREIRA: One of the areas they're hoping, because they won't say exactly where -</s>BOLDUAN: Right.</s>PEREIRA: Is public health. And they sort of pointed to the Ebola outbreak as a need for -</s>BOLDUAN: Well, that's interesting.</s>PEREIRA: Yes. So, who knows. We'll see what happens.</s>BOLDUAN: You never know.</s>CUOMO: Ebola, ISIS, so many horrible stories going on right now. But we don't have to make the news all about sickness and terror and death. Let's celebrate life. The only thing that's better than a new baby is a royal baby.</s>BOLDUAN: I love hearing this come out of your mouth.</s>PEREIRA: Uh-huh.</s>CUOMO: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child. Max Foster has the latest on the exciting announcement right from Buckingham Palace.</s>BOLDUAN: Cancel your vacation plans, Max.</s>CUOMO: Max, try to somehow control your enthusiasm.</s>MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, it's my home for the next seven months. I'm told that she -- the parents only found out very recently that Kate was pregnant. And she's suffering from this early - this very acute morning sickness that she had last time around with Prince George. So she had to cancel an engagement today. They want to be fully open with the public and that's the reason why they came out with the announcement today. She's not yet 12 weeks pregnant, so she's not far gone. So we do have some time to go on this. Probably about April we expect the due date to be. We don't know whether it's a boy or a girl. And there is some cynicism in this country, I have to say, because we've got the Scottish referendum coming up and this is expected to be a big boost for the know (ph) campaign in Scotland but the palace assures me this has nothing to do with it whatsoever. The couple wanted to be honest with the public. They're very excited. The queen's very excited. And I'm sure the public are pretty excited as well, although seven months of coverage may be a bit of a stretch. They got a bit fed up with it last time, but in the end it was pretty exciting. Kate was here for it. She</s>CUOMO: Oh, I remember very well. Very well. She was so moved by the situation, she decided to have a baby herself. That's how strong the influence was.</s>BOLDUAN: Yes. Yes. This is the best type of copy-catting.</s>BOLDUAN: You know, I don't like to fashion myself as the duchess, but, you know.</s>PEREIRA: If you start wearing a tiara after this -</s>CUOMO: No, you'd go right for queen.</s>BOLDUAN: Well, I mean -</s>CUOMO: Duchess, pooh, pooh.</s>BOLDUAN: I'm only excited because this may mean - this is the text I got from my husband this morning. Does this mean another trip to the U.K. for you? And I was like, hopefully I'll be joining Max, that's right.</s>PEREIRA: And the baby onesie. A royal onesie.</s>BOLDUAN: Exactly. A royal onesie. Oh, there we go.</s>PEREIRA: There we go.</s>BOLDUAN: I need to do some shopping for this baby. Must go.</s>CUOMO: Yes. A baby's a great excuse to shop, by the way.</s>BOLDUAN: Uh-huh.</s>CUOMO: It's going to be tough for the man of the house to say no when it's for the little girl.</s>BOLDUAN: Shh. Hopefully Michael's already at work.</s>CUOMO: Our thanks to Max Foster. We'll be hearing from him about this very much.</s>BOLDUAN: Because Max is like, are you guys done with me? Yes, we area.</s>CUOMO: Max, yes we are. Yes, we got caught up in ourselves once again. And just to set the record, Mic and KB both have girl in the offing.</s>PEREIRA: Girl.</s>BOLDUAN: I would like -</s>CUOMO: The odds makers and the mo man (ph) say it's a boy.</s>BOLDUAN: I would like the ability to change that, you know, at some point, you know.</s>CUOMO: Our EP says we have discussed enough. And so we move on.</s>BOLDUAN: Sorry. I did it again.</s>CUOMO: Have you heard about this, the owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He writes that too many blacks are scaring away white season ticket holders. Now he's got to sell his stake in the club, but is leaving about doing the right thing or just right for business? We have an exclusive conversation with the team's CEO. And you're going to want to hear it.</s>BOLDUAN: Also, security fears on the anniversary of 9/11 coming one day after President Obama is set to give a big speech outlining his strategy to combat ISIS. We're going to speak with security experts about the latest threats against the U.S.