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Ferguson on Edge After Night of Looting; Protesters Face off With Police in Missouri; U.S. Airstrikes Aim at ISIS Near Dam; Governor Rick Perry to Deliver Statement; Protest Vigil Today for Michael Brown

Aired August 16, 2014 - 12:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. We begin today with brand new information about the investigation into the police shooting of an unarmed teen in Ferguson, Missouri.

A law enforcement official tells CNN the Justice Department did not want local police to release surveillance video as yet allegedly showing Michael Brown committing a robbery at the store moments before he was shot and killed by a police officer. The reasons for that major rift straight ahead.

But first, here's what we know about a new round of violence in Ferguson overnight. This was the scene in the early morning hours when angry looters blocked off a street and looted three stores. A SWAT team across the street didn't move in or arrest anyone eventually the crowd dispersed.

And peaceful protesters helped protect the stores from more looting. The state's governor, Jay Nixon, in a tweet thanking those demonstrators and says he will visit the town of Ferguson today.

And at this hour, people in Ferguson are planning a vigil to mark the moment when Michael Brown was killed exactly one week ago today in broad daylight. A rally is scheduled later on today about 12 miles away in St. Louis at the city's famous gateway arch.

We're covering all angles of this developing story as only CNN can. Our team of correspondents and analysts all joining us. Rene Marsh at the White House, Ana Cabrera in Ferguson, L.Z. Granderson in Detroit, Michigan and Charles Blow in New York and Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed joining us on the phone.

All right, let's begin with Rene Marsh at the White House because we're talking about sources telling CNN, Rene, that the Department of Justice advised against Ferguson police to release that surveillance video because there were some worry or fear that it might really invoke more emotions there. Give us more.

RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. This is new information we're getting from our justice reporter, Evan Perez. These sources are saying the Department of Justice warned Ferguson police it was not a good idea to release the video you are looking at on your screen there. Let's take you back to earlier in the week. We know that the Department of Justice had this discussion with the police department on Thursday. The reason that they gave, they said that they believed it would just increase tensions and we already know that tensions were pretty high within the community.

And the Justice Department said it would make things even worse, so during that discussion on Thursday, the Department of Justice won. They did not release the tape. Then fast forward to Friday and the surveillance video was released.

And we know that this happened again, federal authorities did not agree with this. They said that they should not do this. However, the police department went ahead and did it anyway.

It is unclear at this point though, Fred, as to why the Ferguson Police Department felt the pressure or the need to release the video despite hearing from federal authorities that they were advising against it. That remains unclear.

We do know that federal investigators had their own copy of this video, had no plans whatsoever to release it, but it is worth pointing out as far as the bigger investigation goes, you know, the Department of Justice is looking into this separately from the criminal investigation.

They're looking to see was there some civil rights violation, so the fact that Ferguson police did not listen to their advice, there's really nothing that the Department of Justice can do about it, but it just speaks to the bigger issue here, Fred.

They received this information from these investigators who were brought in and they clearly went against it. Unclear why.

WHITFIELD: Ana, let me bring you into this. You are there in Missouri. Have Ferguson police responded to what DOJ is saying or at least what sources are telling us advised that it shouldn't release the video, what's the police response to that.

And then I wonder, too, how important is it for the governor to return to Ferguson today, as he promises in a tweet that he really wants that face time with the community there?

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think they were talking about two separate things, so let's start with the first piece, we have not heard from the Ferguson Police Department yet this morning.

In fact, we haven't really heard from any law enforcement this morning and we have been reaching out, trying to ask questions about exactly what happened here last night. The fact that there was more unrest.

Again, there was this new information released from the Department of Justice advising against releasing the video about the robbery. And so, we are trying to get those questions answered. We want you to know. As far as the governor coming into town, there was criticism by protesters and residents earlier in the week that he had not been present, he had not reached out very well to the community here in Ferguson.

Particularly the African-American community, who have been outraged about how this investigation has been handled and about the incident itself involving Michael Brown and him being killed and whether or not that was justified.

Now, we're here along the main drag, so to speak, where all that looting happened earlier in the week, where more looting happened last night. Just across the street over my shoulder here is the Ferguson market where that alleged robbery happened.

That was sort of the central point of looting that happened last night where we're told up to 200 people were at one point trying to get into there and there was a standoff between looters and other residents or protesters who were trying to prevent looting from happening.

And eventually lost and the looting did occur. We're also hearing from people here on the ground that things could have been much worse last night. Unfortunately, though, businesses are having to close up shop. If you drive along this drag, you will see boarded up businesses.

And I had a chance to talk to one of the assistant managers at one of those businesses that has been damaged and property stolen. Listen to what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Had crews on the scene who described a very tense situation and there was fear that perhaps if police had confronted these people who were looting that maybe there could have been a gun battle and people would have lost lives. What do you think?

SERETHA ALFORD, ASSISTANT MANAGER: With that situation, it's so scary now, you don't know who to trust. You don't know who the good guys is and who the bad guys is because of this situation. So, out here, people are fearful. People are scared and they have the right to be scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: People are scared. People are fearful and everybody wants to know what's going to happen next. It's so unpredictable. We do know there's that rally planned at noon today. It has now been exactly one week since the shooting occurred. It happened a little after noon last Saturday.

So at noon, a rally is supposed to be held outside the police station. Another protest in which we're told those are gathering and trying to get out a message that justice must happen in this community and in this case -- Fred. WHITFIELD: All right. L.Z. Granderson, Charles Blow also with us and State Senator Jamilah Nasheed. So L.Z., to you, this certainly seems messy because there are so many different tentacles to this entire investigation, but do you worry whether it's the looting or the recommendation of DOJ to not release the video Ferguson police decides to release it any way.

Are all of these distractions from the questions at the very core of this case, which is what happened between Officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown one week ago midday right there in broad daylight.

L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN COMMENTATOR: I think you hit it right on the head. We cannot get away from the core question, which is what transpired between Michael Brown and this police officer moments before Michael Brown was shot to death.

But there are so many interesting tentacles to this story that I think it's good for us to have these nuance conversations. There's the conversation about the militarization of police, about obviously the black community had these individuals in Ferguson who have nothing to do with what they're trying to accomplish.

They're looting and that leads to nothing but selfishness and more violence and they need to be uprooted from this movement and then you have the largest question, which Charles talked about earlier, which is this rioting you see, this protest, this doesn't just come from one particular shooting.

This has come in this particular community because of decades and decades of oppression and disenfranchise. We've combed through now the arrest records, the number of times police officers pulled over black residents versus white residents.

It's pretty clear there's been a pattern in that community for a long time and that was the straw that broke the camel's black and Ferguson is like a lot of communities we have across the country. Whether we're able to get to a larger conversation, I don't know from this case.

But the more that the police and rioter and looters distract us from the ultimate question, what happened to Michael Brown and that police officer in those minutes, the further away we get to resolving this case.

WHITFIELD: And so, Charles, expound on that. You know, this moment in Ferguson is a moment that has happened in too many cities across America for a very long time. But that you hear from so many members of the community there in Ferguson, whether they were eyewitnesses or folks who simply live there and say this really does speak to a history of problems.

Between the mistrust that community members have and the police department and you know, whether the federal government now being involved in its own investigation of this, how much does this assist this community or perhaps even you know open the door to assisting other communities dealing with the same problem. CHARLES BLOW, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think it's important to look at it and say the federal government probably helps in the case by kind of diffusing or getting past some of the suspicious that local residents have of local officials.

However, it's really important for us to recognize this is not a local issue, but a national issue, an issue that we all have to engage on a national stage and on an interpersonal stage. Whether or not you know, someone feels fear, they can legitimately feel fear.

Is that fear reasonable and rooted in something beyond just the circumstances at hand and whether or not race plays into that. Whether or not the size and gender of this person plays into that. Whether or not being in a community of people who are poorer than you or who you perceive to be other than you plays into that.

All of that is kind of interpersonal work that all of us have to do to examine ourselves. And I think this part of what the citizens of Ferguson are saying is that we are othered constantly and part of what black America says on a regular basis is we are othered.

And that otherness diminishes our potential to be active and equal participants in the system and the ideals that are America. And until we get to the point where we have that discussion constantly, not just a discussion, but actively work to alleviate those barriers, to activate people's participation, you'll have flare ups like this.

WHITFIELD: Ana, let me bring you into this because we talk about the mistrust that's clearly been established there. People say they haven't trusted local police there in a long time.

But now that you've got federal investigation underway, are you hearing from anybody there who says they're much more likely to talk to federal authorities and ask the same questions local authorities might ask?

CABRERA: Well, most of the people we've been talking to want to give their accounts about what happened to Michael Brown. If they actually witnessed it itself and we've heard from the federal investigators in press releases and statements that they are reaching out to anybody who was a witness of exactly what happened.

And they in fact plan to go into the neighborhood, the apartment area near where Michael Brown was shot and killed to make sure that witnesses who haven't come forward yet feel like they can come forward and they're going put themselves in a position in order to do that.

So, we're hearing that there's an effort at least on a much larger scale to try to engage the community with law enforcement, but I think it's very consistent that we're still hearing from people in this community that they don't trust law enforcement, especially at the local police department here.

And in fact, it seems like every move along this story and every move that even local officials are doing to be more transparent is only making matters worse and really driving a deeper divide as opposed to helping the situation -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, and State Senator Nasheed, still on the phone with us. In the coming hours if not days, what is your hope in terms of questions to be answered?

STATE SENATOR JAMILAH NASHEED (D), MISSOURI (via telephone): Well, we want to know what really happened. We want justice for Michael Brown. We don't believe as a community that justice occurred under the watch of Bob McCullough.

That's why we're calling for an independent prosecutor because only then will the unrest (inaudible). We need a prosecutor that is going to be unbiased. We don't believe Bob is that prosecutor. The bottom line is this here.

What we have to begin to realize is that we had a young man, his only crime was walking town down the street, yes, was he seen as bully? Yes. Did he steal? Yes. But that doesn't justify the killing of an innocent young man who was unarmed, looking to move on with his life and be productive things.

By the hands of the police department that was supposed to protect and serve him. We know there are a lot of undercurrent issues, elements in the black community. The racial profiling, police brutality, the lack of jobs.

All of those things is a direct correlation of what we see happening in the streets here in the city of St. Louis as a result of that murder. So, what you want to see happen moving forward, we want to see some transparency.

We would like to see an honest investigation that will bring about justice for Michael Brown. That's what we're looking for.

WHITFIELD: All right.

NASHEED: And again, that's why we have a petition. It's www.petitionforjustice.com. We are asking that individuals sign the petition so that we can take at least 20,000 signatures to the doorstep of Bob McCullough and let him know this is the opinion from the people.

They don't want you there on this case. And you should be statesman enough to move aside in order to ease the tension that has occurred as a result of the murder of Michael Brown.

WHITFIELD: State Senator Jamilah Nasheed, Rene Marsh, Ana Cabrera, L.Z. Granderson and Charles Blow, thanks to all of you, appreciate it.

Perhaps you still have questions you want answered about Ferguson, Missouri. The situation unfolding there or the tactics being used by both sides. Tweet us using #fergusonqs and we'll get some of your questions to our panel of experts throughout the day. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: A new round of U.S. air strikes hit Northern Iraq early today in an effort to take back a critical dam from militants. ISIS took over the Mosul Dam this month and with it, they took control of the flow of energy and water in that region.

Senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh is live for us in Erbil, Iraq. So Nick, what's the latest on the operation to take that dam back?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Conflicting reports as to whether or not Kurdish militants known as Peshmerga have actually begun a ground offensive to retake parts of that dam. Unofficially we're being told perhaps they are en route -- officially we're being told, no, they haven't moved as of yet.

So, there is, of course, continuing U.S. air power being used at targets around that particular dam. ISIS mobile units as they're referred to, that's often going to be armored vehicles that they've stolen from the Iraqi army by the U.S. military.

So it's a complex task for those jets in the sky and once they're on the ground, perhaps there will be this ground offensive moving towards the dam, but that, in itself, a very messy job. A hugely fragile piece of infrastructure.

Vital for electricity across Iraq and of course, holding back hundreds of thousands of tons of water could cause great damage for that dam to be affected in any way and of course, we are waiting to see quite what kind of fight ISIS put up for it -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And is there a feeling that ISIS is intensifying, that it is able to further dig in its heels?

WALSH: Well, ISIS has been growing exponentially in the past few months. We first started covering its rise in the middle of last year. In Syria, it was a relatively small, but extraordinarily violent and vicious group, but it's moved to unite itself across the Syria-Iraq border, concentrating its operations around Mosul here.

They seem as they get more equipment from overrunning Iraqi army positions to get much more potent. There are recruits in numbers gathering as the word of what many consider an extremist world, the caliphate they are creating spreads around the world.

That of course recruits. They're getting more fire power. It's just people beginning to ask now whether or not by attacking the Yazidis, moving in on Mt. Sinjar and incurring U.S. air strikes, perhaps they could be guilty of overreach now -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.

All right, back in this country, Texas Governor Rick Perry, facing felony charges in his state. Prosecutors say he abused his power and threatened a district attorney there. Can his potential race for president survive this bombshell?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Texas Governor Rick Perry is in big legal trouble. A grand jury has indicted him on two felony charges. He's accused of abusing the power of his office and coercing a public servant. Special prosecutor says Perry tried to force a district attorney to resign.

The governor is expected to speak at the state capitol in Austin today, 3:00 Eastern Time. But his lawyer is already speaking out. Nick Valencia is here now.

So, Nick, this is a pretty significant deal. The governor will be booked. There will be a mug shot, fingerprinting, all of that.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he is the longest running governor in Texas history and there hasn't been a governor indicted since the early 1900s. So this is a very big deal.

Just imagine if you were applying for a job and you had an indictment attached to you. This all stems over an alleged threat that he made towards a Democratic district attorney in Travis County, Rosemary Lindbergh.

Rosemary Lindbergh was busted for a dui in April 2013. Governor Perry asked Lindbergh to step down, but she didn't and he allegedly followed through with this threat to withhold upwards of about $7 million from a unit that she was running, Public Integrity Unit.

Now the special prosecutor says the charges, as we mentioned, Fred, coercion of a public servant and abuse of power and here's the interesting thing because he is indicted, KDUE, our CNN affiliate in Austin, Texas says that he is going to be booked, fingerprinted and he is going to take a mug shot just like everyone else would have to go through.

Now his lawyers, the defense counsel for Governor Perry, they're saying this is pure politics. I want to read a statement here that they said to CNN. We will continue to aggressively defend the governor's lawful and constitutional action and believe we will ultimately prevail.

So, the defense counsel for Governor Perry saying that this is just all politics. They don't believe it has any foundation whatsoever.

WHITFIELD: It is interesting that 3:00 Eastern Time, the governor will for the first time address this himself, stepping before the cameras there. How much of this is in large part because of his potential run for presidency that he would come out so quickly as opposed to allowing a few days to pass?

VALENCIA: It's a good move on his part at least in PR sense to come out so quickly and kind of trying to admit this in the bud here very quickly. That question may be best suited for some political analyst. They may have a better insights to how much this is going to affect his presidential bid. But you know, really coming off his 2012 bid where he had that very public gaffe, he wasn't able to name federal agencies. He started off as a front-runner, quickly lost that head steam that he had going into the race.

Something like this, you know, it doesn't look good. It's a ways away though. Maybe he can do an about face, do some PR. Again, he is aggressively according to his defense counsel, going after these charges, trying to get them dropped.

So we'll have to see how this develops and what he says at 3:00 p.m. -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Absolutely. Now, remember, this grand jury has indicted him. Feels like the case is there to move forward with an indictment, but it doesn't mean he's been convicted.

VALENCIA: That's right.

WHITFIELD: You know, this is still very early in the stages of the legal road, however, it will be important to hear what the governor has to say today at 3:00. Of course, we're going to carry that live.

VALENCIA: We'll be watching.

WHITFIELD: Nick, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

All right, meantime, protests are happening today across the nation over that shooting death of the unarmed black teen in Missouri. Our Victor Blackwell is in Ferguson, Missouri, where riots and looting happened just hours ago.

Victor, a lot is scheduled to take place today as well with the governor saying he's going to Ferguson, Missouri.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Fred, Jay Nixon will be here today. A vigil scheduled for 30 minutes from now, but overnight, three stores looted, one person shot. An officer injured and again, those Molotov cocktails and a return to the military style response from law enforcement.

Going to show it to you and show you a confrontation between the protesters and the man expected to calm things down here. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Major development today in the death of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown gunned down by a white officer, Officer Darren Wilson. One week ago today, a law enforcement official tells CNN that Ferguson police released this video purporting to be Michael Brown robbing a convenience store despite the objections from the Department of Justice.

CNN's Victor Blackwell is in Ferguson. So Victor, we know that while it was peaceful night before last, it was anything but overnight. Exactly what happened and how is the community now trying to come together to try to move forward?

BLACKWELL: Yes, you just mentioned that surveillance video from the convenience store. We'll talk more about what happened to that store overnight. But first, I want to show you live what's happening here across from the Ferguson Police Department.

Some of the protesters, the demonstrators, are gathering. There is a vigil that's scheduled for the top of the hour here to mark the first week, one week to the day since Michael Brown was shot and killed here in Ferguson.

They're expected to repeat that chant we've heard all week, hands up, don't shoot. That's what's happened here right now as we hear the cars honking and driving by. Let's talk more about the store overnight, the Ferguson market.

Where police say Michael Brown allegedly was involved in a strong arm robbery, stealing $49 worth of cigars. That place was looted overnight. The owners previously had boarded up the doors and windows, hoping to protect it from the faith that the QT, the Quick Trip met several days ago, being burned down.

But those boards were ripped off, people rushed in, stole items, and then the state troopers came out. We saw the style of response, to a lesser degree, but similar to what we see earlier in the week, the tear gas and the rubber bullets.

We didn't see that last night, but the armored vehicles and those guns were back. Three stores were looted overnight. Molotov cocktails were thrown. Reports of one person injured. Instead of police, there were other protesters who eventually ended the looting there at the Ferguson market.

But because the police did not get involved, the owners of Sam's Meat Market stood in front of the stores with rifles and handguns and dared people to come in. I spoke with five or six young men earlier in the day who had been inside that store.

They were peaceful at the time. They were wearing red bandannas and red St. Louis Cardinals baseball caps. I want you to listen to a bit of our conversation. It went for a few minutes, but listen to what happened when I started with just simply asking their names.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: First, can I get your names?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Mike Brown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Brown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, Mike.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Brown.

BLACKWELL: You say you're all Mike Brown. That's probably out of solidarity. Tell me why? Why are you here, why the red bandannas you have?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can be anybody, your son. It could be your nephew. It could be anybody. It could have been him. It could have been him. It could have been her. It could have been her.

BLACKWELL: Do you think that anything will change? After all the cameras and all the crowds?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No way. Look, I'm from around here and it's been like this since I was growing up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: They all told similar stories that they've been they call it harassed by Ferguson police before and just a few minutes after that conversation, the man charged with trying to quell some of the intensity, some of the violence here, Captain Ron Johnson with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

He walked up to that store and one of the young men you just saw on that video he confronted Johnson, listen to a bit of their conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPTAIN RON JOHNSON, MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL: OK, I want to tell you -- if you want to say to my face -- I'm not. But we are going to make a difference, but I'm going to tell you, just like me and you are talking, you're listening to me, just like you're saying, everybody is not going to be like me.

Everybody's not going to try to understand and make a difference, everybody's not going to be like you, but we got to start with me and we got to start with you. So keep doing what you're doing. Keep expressing your view. Keep saying what you're saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, Captain Johnson speaking face to face with one of those protesters yesterday. His troopers in the department did not confront those looters last night. We'll see what happens here today.

This is expected to be peaceful here across from the police department. Again, Fred, scheduled to start at the top of the hour here in Ferguson. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right, Victor Blackwell, thank you so much. Again, vigil taking place at the very location where Michael Brown was gunned down one week ago today.

Still to come, does the fact that Michael Brown was a suspect in a robbery change the complex of this case? Our legal guys are here with their take.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Six days after Michael Brown was killed, we learned that police believe he was a suspect in a robbery just minutes before he was shot dead. Police have released these surveillance images from a convenience store. They say this is Michael Brown in a white shirt and red cap robbing the store of cigars.

CNN's Don Lemon talked to people in the community and they say Brown didn't have a chance to defend himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the cops approach Mike Brown, he was just a suspect, he wasn't guilty of anything.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: That doesn't justify --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don, this is America. This is the land of the free. We're innocent until proven guilty and Mike Brown didn't have the opportunity to be held accountable for his actions in a court of law. So he's innocent until proven guilty and as of right now, we don't know Mike Brown committed any crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's bring in our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor in Cleveland, good to see you. And Kirby Clements here in Atlanta, good to see you as well. He is a criminal defense attorney.

OK, so, Gentlemen, lots of great questions being brought by spectators there. People who live in the community. And you know, Avery, first off, there are so many wonder where was the probable cause in the first place?

If there is no a conflict between police officers or police chief saying this officer, Darren Wilson, didn't know that Michael Brown was a suspect in this robbery, what was the reason for stopping him? Why was walking in the middle of a street a crime?

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, it's a misdemeanor. Still a crime. Whether Mike Brown, you know robbed a bank or even was a mass murderer, had really nothing to do with it. The police chief there was sort of bungling through information being given to him.

Basically said that after he had his first press conference that Officer Wilson had no idea about the robbery, but what we don't know and what's critical, I think, is we need to find out what that conversation was. What was on the police recording? Was there a police recording?

We know we have Dorian Johnson, who was Mike Brown 's sidekick who was there and he's been going on a lot, but we don't have the tape recordings and that's what's going to fill in the question of whether or not the question you asked, whether there was probable cause.

WHITFIELD: So, Kirby, is that alarming to you that we have not received a transcription, if there is a recording of that kind of account that Avery is talking about, yet the police department felt justified in releasing the surveillance video.

Really kind of painting the picture of Michael Brown and his alleged activity prior to, but we don't hear you know, any real chronology about the conversation, the sequence of events that happened just prior to that shooting.

KIRBY CLEMENTS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It is somewhat problematic for me because obviously, the police are releasing evidence in a light that tends to paint Mr. Brown in a negative light, but if they have more evidence and they're saying that they're releasing it because it's for the public and they have to release it.

Well, if that's the case, then they need to release everything. Whether they have a transcript prepared or not is a different story and many times, when you're looking into an investigation, the police don't release everything, but it appears to me if they're going to release some things.

They need to release everything and if they're not doing so, that seems they're trying to if you will, steer the conversation and that is problematic.

WHITFIELD: Then there's the argument, Avery, that sometimes police won't reveal everything because there are still eyewitnesses to talk to and they don't want the eyewitnesses to be influenced by information being released by the police.

FRIEDMAN: Well, that's exactly right. That's the balance that the prosecutors' office has to make. On the one hand, there's an enormous amount of pressure from the media and others to have information.

On the other hand, prosecutors are trying to build a case, so the dilemma here is you air on the side of disclosure. There were some remarks, the Department of Justice told local officials not to release the tape.

That seems unlikely to me because the Department of Justice has absolutely no say in that, but ultimately, the question really is this balance the prosecutors have to make. And I think that's actually what's in play right here.

WHITFIELD: So, Kirby, are you going to agree with that? That would seem unusual for the Department of Justice to advise a local jurisdiction, do or do not make something public.

CLEMENTS: Absolutely unusual because you're not going to have one agency telling another agency how to conduct their investigation, so that strikes me as highly unusual and even improper because you just don't do that.

WHITFIELD: OK, Avery, Kirby, thanks so much. We of course will be right back with much more on this story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Now to Iraq where the U.S. targeted ISIS again today in a new round of airstrikes. The activity is centered around the Mosul dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in Iraq. It controls water and power to a huge area and right now, ISIS is in control of it.

The U.S. air strikes are contributing to the effort by Iraqi Kurdish forces to take back the dam. The strikes come after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution yesterday trying to stop the flow of money and arms to ISIS.

I'm joined now by CNN global affairs analyst, Kimberly Dozier, from Washington. Good to see you, Kimberly. So, how critical is it for Iraqi forces to retake this dam?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, they need a win and they also need to capture this key piece of infrastructure. It feeds fresh water and electricity to much of the northern region. They also are trying to rescue some of the Yazidis who are trapped in that area.

A town near there where there was also another U.S. airstrike, people from there have reported that 80 different Yazidi men were executed yesterday and that others fled some of the women and children were captured and taken into ISIS held towns, presumably to be held and possibly sold for slavery.

WHITFIELD: And we're talking about these reports yesterday, the numbers are phenomenal, The 350 men captured, 1,000 women specifically from the village as you speak of.

And with these U.S. air strikes, does it seem that there is going to be anything you know, in that realm that can help defeat ISIS? I mean, it seems as though they are emboldened as the U.S. airstrikes continue.

DOZIER: Well, you're right. The numbers really fluctuate, but what they are doing is instituting this brutal rule across the area. It's part of their model for staying in power in the territory they hold and to take more.

U.S. intelligence officials this week describe the group as a long- term credible threat not just to the region, but to the west and even to the United States.

Because of its ability right now to organize itself and to react to what happens on the ground. If one town is too tough to take, it will fall back and then move into another one.

That's part of the command and control structure that the group built in its years fighting in Syria, and before that, fighting against U.S. Forces inside Iraq. The intelligence officials say that's when this group really got professional and battle hardened.

Many of the senior leadership spent time in U.S. military jails and it was sort of a Jihadi school for them. Now, they've come out and forms this infrastructure that's really tough to take out. WHITFIELD: And some investigations have revealed that while this group was forming an intensifying, gaining strength, especially while in Syria, it was robbing banks and bank money is what was helping to bankroll this organization.

But is that the continued source of revenue of resources or is it being revealed or uncovered that there is money being funneled to ISIS in some other way?

DOZIER: Well, intelligence officials say ISIS is getting its money from a number of different sources. Yes, some from those banks in Syria and Iraq that they hit some from private investors in the gulf that want to see an Islamic caliphate take hold.

But they've also taken hold of some oil fields and refineries in the Iraqi territory that they've seized and they're selling that on the black market. That's giving them millions of dollars to sustain their operations.

But intelligence officials say they don't have enough money long-term to take care of the people currently under their control. And they're fighting on a number of different fronts.

So, the analysis is if you keep external pressure on them, you can eventually beat them back. Shrink them back possibly to a smaller territory and back to a terrorist group that could be easier to manage.

WHITFIELD: Extraordinary. All right, Kimberly Dozier, thank you so much for bringing that to us. Our next hour of the NEWSROOM begins right after this.

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