Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

ISIS Beheads American Journalist; Holder Arrives in Ferguson Today

Aired August 20, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We're following two major stories unfolding this hour, both in middle America and the Mideast.

First, the savage message to America. Islamic terrorists behead a U.S. journalist and warn that another may soon die. Their demand? That Washington call off its military strikes on ISIS comrades in Iraq. We've got complete coverage from around the globe on this late- breaking story.

Also back in this country in Ferguson, Missouri, overnight, protests are tense but somewhat less violent. Now the real battle takes shape behind closed doors.

The Attorney General Eric Holder is due to arrive in Ferguson later this morning. In fact he's now on his way.

Who was really in charge of keeping peace in the streets or prosecuting the case, if it goes to court? We'll talk about that.

But let's begin with those horrific developments out of the Middle East. The terror group ISIS has released a chilling video that appears to show the beheading of kidnapped American journalist James Foley. The video is so gruesome we can only show you these still images.

ISIS claims Foley's brutal execution is payback for current U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. Also in the video ISIS militants threatened to kill captured American journalist Steven Sotloff who you see -- that you see right there, if those airstrikes don't stop.

In the meantime the White House says it is working to confirm the authenticity of these videos.

We're covering the story from a variety of angles beginning with CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr.

Good morning, Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. In the latest developments, the British Foreign secretary is speaking out about all of this saying, noting that the executioner, the murderer speaks with an apparent British accent, and that means intelligence services on both sides of the Atlantic want to know who he is. They want to identify him, but in the meantime, the friends and family of James Foley are remembering the man and the journalist.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARR (voice-over): The ISIS video is simply too horrific to show. The man being executed by beheading is James Foley, a freelance journalist kidnapped in northwest Syria on November 22nd, 2012, Thanksgiving Day.

ISIS, the brutal militant, rampaging through Syria and Iraq, say they killed Foley in retaliation for U.S. military operations in Iraq. Foley, a freelance photojournalist from New Hampshire, reads a message denouncing the U.S., presumably written by his captors. He says America is his real killer, and then Foley is murdered.

The Obama administration said they're working to authenticate the video, adding, "If genuine we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends."

And the family of Jim Foley released a statement late Tuesday night that reads in part, "We implore the kidnappers to spare the lives of the remaining hostages. Like Jim, they are innocents. They have no control over American government policy in Iraq, Syria, or anywhere in the world."

Another American journalist, Steven Sotloff, is shown at the end of the video. The executioner speaking with an apparent British accent, threatens to take Sotloff's life if President Obama doesn't stop airstrikes in Iraq.

Sotloff, kidnapped on the Syrian/Turkish border, has worked as a contributor to "TIME" magazine. No one knows how many thousands of Syrians and Iraqis have died at the hands of ISIS militants. Across their stronghold in northern Iraq, cold-blooded mass killings of Iraqi men, women and children.

REAR ADM. JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We do have information that they continue these kinds of depredations and crimes against humanity. There's no question about that.

STARR: After dozens of airstrikes against ISIS positions across northern Iraq, the group may feel pressure, but there is no sign it's abandoning its violence and horror.

ISIS has some 10,000 fighters, it's now a group the U.S. intelligence community calls a credible alternative to al Qaeda, with aspirations to attack the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: And if Foley's murderer is proven to be British, this is just underscoring the concerns that intelligence agencies have that Westerners, Europeans and even American citizens may be traveling to Syria and to Iraq to fight there and could return home to plot new attacks -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Barbara Starr, reporting live from the Pentagon this morning.

Let's take you to London now because as Barbara said that masked militant seemed to have a British accent. According to Reuters the British prime minister cut short his holiday to come and lead an investigation to find this terrorist.

Let's head to London and Atika Shubert to tell us more.

Hi, Atika.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi. And not just a British accent but possibly even a South England/London accent, and the British government, it now says they are looking at that video, scrutinizing the audio on that to see if they can narrow down exactly who he is. Take a listen to what Britain's Foreign secretary had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PHILIP HAMMOND, BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, we're very concerned by the apparent fact that those -- that the murderer in question is British, and we are urgently investigating. Agencies on both side of the Atlantic are first of all looking to authenticate the video, to make sure that it is genuine. Sadly it appears to be. And then to see if we can identify the individual in question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now the big concern, of course, is what -- how this may rebound back here in the U.K. There are already an estimated 400 possibly more British militants that have gone to Syria to fight, and there are thousands more across Europe, and there's always been a concern that they could come back home to carry out attacks here -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Atika Shubert reporting live from London.

The mother of Daniel Pearl is responding to this execution of James Foley. Daniel Pearl, you'll remember, is the "Wall Street Journal" correspondent who was kidnapped and beheaded in Pakistan in 2002.

The Daniel Pearl Foundation sent out this tweet from Ruth Pearl, quote, "Our hearts go out to the family of journalist James Foley. We know the horror they are going through."

Let's talk more about this horrific video with Mike Baker, he's on the phone, he's a former CIA covert operations officer. We're also joined by CNN military analyst General Spider Marks.

Welcome to both of you.

MIKE BAKER, FORMER CIA COVERT OPERATIONS OFFICER: Thank you.

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Hi. Thanks for being here.

Mike, to you first, the White House says it's working to confirm the authenticity of this video. Based on your experience with the CIA, what do you make of the timing of this video?

BAKER: Well, this is -- unfortunately this is the jihadist version of shock and awe. They've -- you know, they've been taking a few body blows as a result of the airstrikes, the involvement of the U.S., and this is their response, as bizarre as it may seem. They've been holding James Foley now for some time, and they've decided to take this route, and as a result, we shouldn't be surprised.

I mean, this is -- there's been a number of these similar videos posted, similar actions, atrocities done by them, in just the recent past. So this action as tragic as it is, unfortunately, you know, shouldn't be a surprise.

COSTELLO: So, General Marks, what should the U.S. response be? They have another American journalist and there's nothing to convince me they won't behead that journalist, too. So what should the reaction of the U.S. military be?

MARKS: Well, Carol, I think you're correct. It is potentially extremely sad outcome that we might see here coming up. The United States right now has taken a very active role. They've stepped up to support the viability of the government in Baghdad. They've done that by way of support of the Peshmerga militarily, as well as the ISF, the Iraqi Security Forces, to try to bolster their abilities, to try to regain the momentum.

The United States right now has to take essentially two views, a tactical view, and they want to be able to give the Iraqi government an opportunity to try to hold what ISIS has been able to achieve. There is no immediate capability to roll them back, unless you were to put boots on the ground, that apparently is not a likely outcome, in order to really engage with them and push them back to where they came from over the border with Syria, although an ungoverned border, albeit completely an ungoverned space.

That's the tactical engagement immediately. The strategic view is ISIS has got to go away, and the United States, along with partners, must take and is beginning to take a strategic long-term outcome which is they have to (INAUDIBLE) and degrade the leadership and the Iraqi people and Syrian populations as well have to stand up and say we're not going to take this level of brutality. It is inhumane, it doesn't do anybody any good, and look, ISIS is completely ecumenical in their hatred to everybody who is not ISIS.

So sadly, as Mike Baker indicated, this next outcome is probably going to -- going to occur, and there's -- the only thing we can do right now is what we are doing, which is to try to reinforce those forces that are engaging with ISIS. But we shouldn't back off.

COSTELLO: OK. Right, right. So Mike, General Marks mentioned boots on the ground and of course President Obama says absolutely not, but if you don't have American boots on the ground to help Kurdish fighters, how do you get rid of these terrible people?

BAKER: Well, I think the general is absolutely correct. In our current configuration we're not going to. Look, the White House doesn't have a policy at this point of defeating ISIS. It's a short term containment with some, you know, hope for a happy ending, where we get an Iraqi government that's inclusive.

And the implication there in the administration is that somehow then the Iraqi government on its own, you know, with some limited support will either be able to defeat ISIS, which I don't think anybody, you know, actually believes will happen or will somehow negotiate with them.

And I think this video -- and they don't have a history of posting fake videos, so I'm afraid the forensics may bear out that this is in fact James Foley, unfortunately, but I think this latest incident shows that these are not people you can negotiate with, so the idea that somehow they'll be brought into the fold, convinced through an inclusive government to somehow, you know, end the violence, they don't care.

ISIS is not in a position where they care whether Maliki is in power or who is in power in Iraq. That's not their point and so we're looking at it from a certain perspective but it's not the reality on the ground.

COSTELLO: And General, I guess what I was struggling to ask, if another American is killed by ISIS, will this force President Obama's hand? Will he be forced to put American boots on the ground?

MARKS: You know, Carol, I don't know what the president intends to do. My concern is that you never want to declare what you're not going to do, and our president has done that on a couple of occasions, and that's for a domestic consumption. That's for the -- for the United States and his electoral base to say yes, we don't want to get back involved in this, but you've got to send a message to ISIS and you've got to send a message to your friends that are in the region that -- that we're with you and we have to demonstrate that.

So we're beginning to demonstrate that right now and we have in the past few weeks with advisers and very precise airstrikes that obviously are doing some good. You have to be able to be able to read the ground, the situation on the ground, and the conditions that are presented, and then try to shape those, and you've got a whole toolkit full of capabilities to shape those or you're going to reach in and use those to your advantage.

So clearly what this administration chooses to do might be far more measured than these images, these horrible images would want us to, the path we'd prefer to go down.

COSTELLO: All right, General Spider Marks and Mike Baker, former CIA, thanks so much to both of you for joining me this morning.

MARKS: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the protests ease somewhat in Ferguson, Missouri, but now a new battle may loom.

CNN's Chris Cuomo is in Ferguson where the nation's top law enforcement officer is due to arrive in hours.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": And Carol, when Attorney General Eric Holder comes here, what will he do to change the mood and can he do anything to change the investigation? We have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Now, of course, to our other big story of the morning in Ferguson, Missouri -- nearly 50 people have been arrested, but no injuries last night and police saw no need to fire tear gas either.

Now, this relatively calm night turns to a potentially pivotal day. A grand jury could meet today on whether to indict the white police officer who killed the unarmed African-American teenager.

And later this morning, Attorney General Eric Holder is due to arrive in Ferguson.

Battle may be looming, though, over exactly who would prosecute this racially explosive case. Would it be the feds maybe or would the locals maintain control?

CNN's Chris Cuomo is in Ferguson with the latest on this. Good morning, Chris.

CUOMO: Hey, Carol.

There are a lot of ways this could go but a strong probability how it will go. Yes, Eric Holder is coming here. That has great symbolic and political significance for this community, means they're being taken seriously, they're being respected. It means there will be pressure on the local prosecutor's office, which as you know by now does not have the trust of this community in many instances to do their best work.

Their 40 FBI agents here say they've conducted hundreds of interviews about the matter. So, there is symbolism and pressure to dot best investigation possible.

Will it lead to charges? Probably not. Why? 1982 cases as they're called, civil rights cases very high bar. You'd have to show this was a crime that was motivated by the race of the victim. That's going to be hard, and that's why they're not often made, Carol.

You remember there was one of these investigations done in Trayvon Martin's case. Nothing has come of that, but it is an important day nonetheless in a positive way.

COSTELLO: All right. Chris Cuomo reporting live from Ferguson, Missouri, this morning. Chris Cuomo, thanks. For more, let's bring in our CNN commentator and legal analyst Mel

Robbins, and CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Sunny Hostin.

Welcome to both of you.

MEL ROBBINS, CNN COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Carol.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I want to talk about the grand jury that's supposed to convenient today in Missouri.

Sunny, first of all, tell our viewers what a grand jury is tasked with.

HOSTIN: You know, generally, a grand jury is about 23, sometimes less, sometimes a little bit more, of citizens, and they sit on the jury usually for about a month, sometimes less, sometimes more. And they listen to evidence, and they decide whether or not there's probable cause to go forward with a case.

And that's what is likely going to happen here. The grand jury will listen to the 911 calls, will listen to forensic evidence, trajectory of the bullets, will also listen to eyewitness testimony.

Sometimes, more often than not a defendant does -- potential defendant does not testify in front of the grand jury. I don't think that will happen in a case like this. I think officer Wilson will testify in front of the grand jury and give his version of events.

And then, there will be a majority. If there's a majority of the grand jurors decide that there is probable cause to indict, a prosecutor then makes the decision whether or not to indict.

I think what is troubling to many people in this case, Carol, is that prosecutors have the authority to charge someone without going before a grand jury.

So there's a lot of talk in the legal community as to whether or not this is really just a punt by McCulloch by someone, a prosecutors who has been in office over 20 years and quite frankly who has deep, deep ties to law enforcement. Remember, his own father was shot in the line of duty by a black man when he was 12 years old, which is why many people are saying that's why he's going the grand jury route as opposed to just indicting and charging and making that decision himself.

COSTELLO: Although you could argue, Mel, this is a racially and politically charged case, and maybe it's best left up to the grand jury to decide whether to bring this case to trial.

ROBBINS: You know, you could. There's a couple things, though, that I think everyone at home will find interesting, and that is, I agree with sunny, that he's punting. If you think about what happened in the Trayvon Martin case, where there were six weeks of protests and investigation, the state of Florida assigned a special prosecutor, Angela Corey.

She didn't go to a jury. You know what she did? She did a hearsay affidavit and just filed a complaint, and some argue that maybe she succumbed to public pressure, but it certainly calmed down the mood in Sanford, Florida.

And what you see here is a case in Missouri where the prosecutor could easily just file a complaint. It's what they do in most cases.

And instead, I think personally, my gut is saying he probably thinks that this case is a close call. It's a case where you have witnesses conflicting, which means it's impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

You also have reports that the officer was actually injured. It's a higher standard that officers have in terms of being justified in a shooting, and this is a mess of a case.

So, as a prosecutor, Sunny will tell you, you've got to make a call as to whether or not you can think you can successfully prosecute one and in his gut he may be saying, holy cow, I can't successfully prosecute this so I'm going to throw it to the grand jury.

COSTELLO: OK.

ROBBINS: One other interesting point here, Carol, is that in many states, a defendant has the right to testify.

In New York, Sunny and I have seen this over and over. I would often put defendants in the grand jury. In Missouri, you do not have the right to testify before the grand jury of 12 people, but Darren Wilson may be called, because he was one of the witnesses. So, we'll see what happens.

COSTELLO: Well, would officer Wilson want to testify? It's his right, right? He can testify if he wants, Sunny.

ROBBINS: Absolutely. Well, no, it's not his right. In the state of Missouri, you do not have a right as a defendant to put the case on. The prosecutor puts all their chips in. They put in all the evidence, everything that they have, and they let the 12 folks on the grand jury, there's not even a judge overseeing all of this, decide.

And it only has to be a vote of nine of them determining that there is probable cause to charge the officer. So, the officer doesn't have a right to appear in the state of Missouri. It doesn't take all of the grand jury, just nine of them, and they only have to decide that there's probable cause to charge the officer in this case with an unjustified shooting.

COSTELLO: Well, Sunny, might that make it more difficult if these jurors don't hear from Officer Wilson?

HOSTIN: I suspect they will hear from Officer Wilson.

But, you know, I think what may make it difficult for the grand jury, and I don't know how long this grand jury has been impaneled, I don't know how long they've been seated, but who has not heard about this case? And so, I think, you know, when we see that the autopsy report hasn't been released, but that video of the alleged strong-arm robbery has been released, that kind of information changes the narrative and I think in some way poisons the well of the jury.

And so, you know, this would be a tough job for a grand jury to hear this, the evidence that's placed before them, when they probably know a lot more about what has happened in this case, which is another reason why if you're prosecuting this case, I don't know that the grand jury is the appropriate way to go.

I'm surprised, though, carol, that McCulloch is holding onto this case. I'm surprised that a special prosecutor hasn't been assigned to this case. Of course, that's the call of the governor in Missouri, but again, this in my view, having prosecuted cases, I don't know that going before the grand jury is the way to go.

As a prosecutor, you have the authority to charge a case, and I'm surprised, given the amount of information and the number of witnesses and I think the world eye on this, that he's keeping this case. It just strikes me as strange move.

COSTELLO: Well, the governor is standing by his prosecuting attorney. He says the prosecuting attorney was elected by the people and he can well do his job.

So, we'll see how it pans out.

Thanks to both of you. Mel Robbins and Sunny Hostin, I appreciate it.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM, they are the men and women who will decide if Officer Darren Wilson should face a trial in the shooting death of Mike Brown. We'll talk more about that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We are hearing more about Darren Wilson, the officer accused in the shooting death of Michael Brown, from the people who knew the officer best. In an interview with ABC, a man who says he's been friends with Wilson since high school talked about the toll the tragedy is taking on his friend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can tell that he's struggling. You know, I can tell that this is really hard on him. Darren's a good person and people have just immediately jumped to label him as a cold-blooded murderer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: And Darren's friend added that while he isn't sure justice can be served, he hopes some sort of change occurs and that the Brown family can find some peace. Well, let's talk more about that, Richard Weinblatt is a former police

chief and dean of the School of Public and Social Services at Ivy Tech in Indianapolis.

Welcome, sir.

RICHARD WEINBLATT, SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES: Good to see you again, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good to see you, too. Do you think that Officer William can get a fair hearing if this case goes to court, goes to trial, I should say?

WEINBLATT: I hope so. Just like I would want Mike Brown to be treated fairly, I would want Officer Wilson to be treated fairly.

That's our court of justice. It's not North Korea. We have the best justice system in the world. So, I would hope he would get a fair trial.

And there's a lot of conflicting information. As your legal panel just discussed a few minutes ago, there's a lot of conflicting information coming out. And so, I don't think it's so clear-cut as some people once believed.

COSTELLO: Officer Wilson is now in hiding. He probably will testify before the grand jury. We know he's received death threats. How will he safely be brought into the grand jury, you think?

WEINBLATT: Well, I am sure that the Justice Department is involved in those security and safety procedures. I'm sure Captain Johnson and the Missouri State Highway Patrol is involved in that. They're going to do every precaution they can to protect him.