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Rescue Mission on Mt. Sinjar Unlikely; Interview with Missouri State Senator Maria Chapelle-Nadal; Hacker Group Declares Day of Rage; Reporters Arrested During Protests

Aired August 14, 2014 - 09:30   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

A major shift taking place concerning the thousands of refugees who were trapped on Iraq's Mount Sinjar by ISIS fighters. U.S. officials say last night's air drop of food and water on the mountaintop could be the last one and a rescue mission now seems much less likely. That's because there are far fewer Yazidis on the mountain than previously thought. But there is still an overwhelming need to shelter the refugees who are returning.

CNN's Anna Coren has that part of the story from the Iraqi/Syrian border.

Good morning.

ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. That's exactly right. There is a humanitarian crisis unfolding here in northern Iraq, as thousands of Yazidis come from Mount Sinjar fleeing the slaughter from ISIS militants.

They are here at this refugee camp and the camp as it is, is not able to accommodate everybody, so makeshift shelter has been erected, plastic, cardboard, whatever they can possibly get whilst the U.N. builds this tent city behind me. Families already starting to move in. They haven't been registered which is the normal process with UNHCR but these families don't care, they want to get out of the blazing heat, they want some shelter, they want some roofs.

These families have lost absolutely everything, Carol, and the U.N. has described this as a catastrophe, going so far as to issue its highest emergency.

Let's have a listen to what the UNHCR spokesperson, Ned Colt, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD COLT, UNHCR IRAQ SPOKESPERSON: This is a catastrophe. There's no question. People are continuing to come into the northern Kurdistan region of Iraq. They're moving around once they get here. It's very hard to track them. To be blunt we don't have -- we don't have housing for all of them at this point. We don't have shelter. We're working on that, thousands of tents are being erected. I mean, as we speak a new camp, an extension of a camp is going up.

We will have eight camps operating with the Kurdistan regional government's support and leadership on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right, we lost Anna Coren's shot from the Iraqi/Syria border. But as you can see more aid is coming into those refugee camps and that's a good thing because there have been much criticism against the United Nations for not providing enough relief.

We'll take you back to Iraq in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

Missing in action, that's how my next guest, Missouri state senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal describes Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, and his response to the shooting death of that unarmed teenager Michael Brown. Here she is holding up a giant image of the Democratic governor's head with the letters "MIA" on his forehead during a Monday protest.

Can we see that image? Hopefully we're going to go see it. We're going there. It's Jay Nixon again and we're going to see -- anyway, we're going to see that image shortly.

For his part the governor announced late last night that he is canceling a planned trip today to the state fair and will instead make his second visit to Ferguson as he urges police to, quote, "respect rights -- respect the rights of citizens and the press."

Senator Chapelle-Nadal joins me now.

Welcome.

MARIA CHAPELLE-NADAL (D), MISSOURI STATE SENATOR: Thank you so much for having me this morning.

COSTELLO: Thank you for being here. We finally did see that picture of the governor's head, priceless in its imagery. This is the governor's second trip or it will be today. What else do you think he should be doing?

CHAPELLE-NADAL: Well, actually, the governor has never attended ground zero. He's never been on the grounds with these young people who are absolutely hurt and angry, in fact, when he was here the other evening, he was in Florissant, not Ferguson, and he was only here for about five minutes and he left, so he didn't even listen to the concerns of his citizenry, but the governor has been absent when it comes to minority communities and the state of Missouri, not only for a few years, but for a few decades in his service to the Missourians and the people who I represent.

COSTELLO: So what do you want the governor to say today when he visits?

CHAPELLE-NADAL: The governor needs to roll up his sleeves and he needs to go to ground zero. He needs to listen to these young people and their frustration. We have been protesting now for four days. Today is number five or six, and he's not shown up. He's not listened to any of the concerns of young people and they're frustrated and they're mad. They've been harassed and they've been intimidated by authority, and we, frankly, believe not only has St. Louis County police officers but also the Missouri Highway Patrol, we believe that they have used excessive force.

And for that reason, we want to expand the investigation, have the Department of Justice expand the investigation and to see how protesters have been treated and peaceful demonstrations.

COSTELLO: And I do understand you were tear gassed at a protest on Monday during what you call a peaceful protest. You confronted the Ferguson Police chief about that. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAPELLE-NADAL: I just wanted to know if I was going to be gassed again like I was on Monday night, and I was peaceful, and I'm your state senator and I was gassed. And we couldn't get out. And we were peacefully sitting -- I just want to know if I'm going to be gassed again.

CHIEF THOMAS JACKSON, FERGUSON POLICE DEPARTMENT: I hope not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And hopefully you were not, but people are still getting tear gassed, if anything, the situation seems to be escalating. I know you want the U.S. Justice Department to expand the investigation, but some people are saying maybe they should call in the National Guard or something like that.

CHAPELLE-NADAL: Well, we definitely need some federal intervention at this point, and I'll say last night, we were gassed again. In fact, the entire world has seen what has happened last night, and you would think that you were in Iraq.

I was in Iraq in 2010, and we were fired upon in Iraq in 2010, and nothing that has happened in Iraq in the last couple of years looked like what happened last night, and for that, it's disgusting, and for the governor to be missing in action is absolutely absurd.

COSTELLO: Just to calm things down for a while, should authorities institute a curfew, allow people to protest during the day, but when night falls, make them go home? Would that be a good idea?

CHAPELLE-NADAL: It would be a wonderful idea, but here is the problem. There is uncertainty. I confronted the chief of police yesterday and I asked him if we're going to have a curfew, everyone should know about it. Just merely suggesting that everyone go home at night is not mandating that there should be a curfew, so because it is not mandated, people are staying out and protesting peacefully all night long, and when night comes, the police start firing, and we couldn't breathe last night.

We couldn't breathe on Tuesday night. We couldn't breathe on Monday night, and we just want to know if it we're going to protest, what time of day can we protest in peace without being fired upon?

COSTELLO: All right. Missouri state senator Maria Chapelle-Nadal, thank you for joining me this morning, I appreciate it.

CHAPELLE-NADAL: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM the online activist group, Anonymous, announces a, quote, "day of rage." After the break we'll also tell you about Anonymous' decision to release what they say is the name of the officer who shot Michael Brown.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: The online vigilante group Anonymous is calling for a national day of rage today and they're doing it in a most inflammatory way. Anonymous has a video posted online showing Michael Brown's uncovered body lying in the street. Of course we're not going to show you that, but we can show you this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget.

Ferguson, expect us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Anonymous also says it has the name of the officer involved and is threatening to release -- actually it's already released that name online. We have not confirmed it so we're not talking about exactly what name that Anonymous is releasing, but let's talk about Anonymous and what exactly it can do with CNN Money tech reporter Laurie Segall.

So you've been in Anonymous chat rooms all morning long?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: I have. I've been speaking to a lot of these folks. And to make it clear, these guys call themselves such as hacktivists. They see injustice and one thing they said is until justice prevails hack and protest replace it. So oftentimes you'll see them going in and releasing sensitive data. They'll be performing attacks on people's e-mails and that kind of thing and in this case that's what they're doing.

Now I actually spoke with a member of Anonymous and I asked him about releasing this name and how he felt about it and what he said is this is the beginning. We also have his picture, we have documents and what they're waiting on is for the police department to respond to these allegations, otherwise, and you can actually follow them on Twitter. They're threatening at certain times to release more and more information -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So the police say they're not releasing the name because of death threats, not only against the officer but against his family. Does Anonymous take that into account?

SEGALL: No, they do. At one point they actually released the information of the police department officer, the sergeant involved, and they said he was getting lots of threats and they kind of scaled back a little bit on that, but these guys are vigilantes to a degree and they believe if justice is not served they will react with hacking.

Now I actually want to play you some sound exactly describing what their mission is and what they're threatening to do. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To the citizens of the United States, we are Anonymous. A little over 48 hours ago in Ferguson, Missouri, the Ferguson Police Department was involved in a shooting of an unarmed teenager.

Mike Brown was shot six times in cold blood and was left to die. His body lay in a pool of blood in the sweltering heat for hours, while the police militarized the area against protesters and attempted to justify the killing with a reasonable story as to why they snatched this innocent student's life for no reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEGALL: You know --

COSTELLO: Now to me that's incredibly inflammatory --

SEGALL: Sure.

COSTELLO: -- because we don't know the other side of the story.

SEGALL: Absolutely. And what they say is listen, if the police department isn't going to release this information, if they're going to be very protective and they're watching closely at how the police officers are treating protesters, even journalists. In these Anonymous chat rooms they're talking about how the police are treating journalists as well and, you know, one of them said to me, you know, riddle me this, we pay the police force, they are our employees, so why can't we force them to be accountable to us?

Obviously always two sides of a story but these guys are reacting via the Internet, via hacking and exposing very sensitive information that obviously we have to independently confirm before we can put out there -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Laurie Segall, thank you so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm working on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop videotaping. Now let's grab our stuff and go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right to videotape this, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up, let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't point your gun on me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The police crackdown on violence in Ferguson takes on a new twist. Police detained two journalists charging their batteries at a nearby McDonald's and a TV camera crew gets tear gassed.

I'll talk about this with our media correspondent in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Journalists covering the violence in Ferguson, Missouri, became part of the story last night. I have some video that I'd like you to take a look at. It was taken at a McDonald's in Ferguson. Reporters were there recharging their phone batteries when police burst in.

Here's the video captured by "Washington Post" reporter Wesley Lowery.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm working on it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop videotaping. Now let's grab our stuff and go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right to videotape this, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hurry up, let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please don't point your gun on me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see me working? Please do not tell me not to use my --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Time to go. Let's go.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Please (INAUDIBLE) the gun on me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're down to about 45 seconds. Let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: All right. So reporters Lowery and another reporter from "The Huffington Post" named Ryan Reilly were taken into custody. They were handcuffed and detained. Both say they were aggressively handled.

I want to bring in CNN's senior media correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES" Brian Stelter to talk about this along with Mike Brooks, HLN law enforcement analyst.

Mike, as you were seeing video of this, was this proper police procedure?

MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely not. I looked at this and having been with -- a police officer for over 26 years and with the civil disturbance unit and emergency response team in Washington for a long, long time, no, this was not proper at all.

Number one, when is the police now in charge of closing down restaurants? Was there a threat to this restaurant? Were these reporters in danger? No. It seems that they were not. The manager should have asked them to leave if they were going to decide to shut down that restaurant for public safety reasons. But they were not. And to just -- flex cuff somebody and then take them outside and stand outside the restaurant for 15 minutes after they were arrested is not proper procedure.

And then they were taken to the station, Carol, and then all of a sudden they were unarrested. And you just can't unarrest somebody. That opens up this department to false arrest, false imprisonment, civil charges. I'm just telling you that is not the proper procedure at all.

COSTELLO: Brian, I know you talked to Wesley, what did he tell you?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, he said it felt like it was unnecessary what happened to them and he said he wanted it to be about the protesters, he doesn't want to be the story but he feels that his arrest and Ryan Reilly's arrest were an anecdote about what protesters have also experienced.

After all there were 18 arrests reported last night, two of them were journalists. If this happened to these two journalists and this seems absurd, you've got to wonder about the other 16.

COSTELLO: I want to tell our viewers what happened to the Al Jazeera crew. I want --

STELTER: Yes. This is disturbing last night as well.

COSTELLO: Yes. So take a look at this video. While we're watching think about this. These are pictures of the Ferguson, Missouri, police force, guns drawn firing tear gas to disperse a crowd. Now watch, see those tear gas canisters. They landed near a TV news camera. This kind of thing can happen, though, Mike, in breaking news

situations. You just sort of get in the way. So is this different from what happened inside the McDonald's?

BROOKS: Yes, a little bit, I think, Carol. Number one, you know, were there protesters there, where their position was set up? Number two, the lights. Were they giving away the law enforcement's position? Well, law enforcement comes over and tells them hey, guys, can you turn your lights off because you're illuminating us to the crowd, possible threat. But then to have the officers come in and mess with the cameras and mess with the lights, that's improper. That's not -- that should not have happened.

COSTELLO: Now that would have made me very angry as a journalist.

BROOKS: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: So Al Jazeera did respond, Brian.

STELTER: Yes. In the last hour they put out what I think is a very strong statement. They say not only was that tear gas aimed in their direction but also rubber bullets and even after they yelled press more rubber bullets were fired.

And I'll read to you, "Al Jazeera America is stunned by this egregious assault on freedom of the press that was clearly intended to have a chilling effect on our ability to cover this important story."

Those are strong words saying this was intended to have a chilling effect. And by the way we heard that from "The Huffington Post" last night, too, about their reporter arrested so there are -- although these are two different cases, it does contribute to a sense that there's been an escalation in tensions between the press and the police there.

COSTELLO: A lot to talk about on your show, right, this weekend?

STELTER: And hopefully we'll talk to these reporters, yes.

COSTELLO: Yes. Brian Stelter, Mike Brooks, thank you so much.

In the next hour, one of the two reporters -- trying to get things to work here today. Anyway, we'll talk to one of the reporters from "The Huffington Post" in the next hour of NEWSROOM. I hope you join us. I've got to take a quick break. I'll be back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)