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Grandfather of Cop Killer's Girlfriend Speaks; Rare Look inside ISIS-Controlled Areas; The Cost of Hacks

Aired December 22, 2014 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Randi Kaye sitting in for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

I want to get right to our Nick Valencia who's in Atlanta. We've been talking Nick quite a bit about Shaneka Thompson, the ex-girlfriend of the suspect, in this case of the shooting of these two Brooklyn police officers.

You just spoke with that woman's grandfather, the ex-girlfriend of the suspect. Tell us what you've learned.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. I spoke to him. He's in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Randi and what he told me about his granddaughter Shaneka Thompson is that she is improving. She still is hospitalized in Baltimore. He says that he does have plans to go there soon to check up on her.

I asked him about Brinsley -- Ismaaiyl Brinsley, who has allegedly dated Shaneka Thompson for at least a year. We don't know that for certain though. I asked his grandfather -- her grandfather, I should say and he told me that he knew nothing of Brinsley, had never even heard of him before.

It's worth pointing out that he was quoted in the "Wall Street Journal" saying that he was disapproving of the relationship between his granddaughter and the man that you're looking at right now on your TV screen but what he told me Randi just a short time ago is that he had never even heard of Brinsley before. He didn't know how he had got on the Baltimore. He didn't know how they met.

What he did tell me about his granddaughter though is that he loves her very much. And that she's a hardworking 29-year-old. That she had recently moved to Baltimore, Maryland about six months ago from Fayetteville for a better job. He says that she's recovering and he hopes the best for her and he expects her to make a full recovery -- Randi.

KAYE: And Nick, as far as he knew, even if she didn't mention him by name, did he say anything that maybe she was having problems with somebody that she had a relationship with. Because we don know -- as you and I discussed even yesterday that somehow had gotten a key and was able to get into her apartment at about 5:30 in the morning on Saturday. VALENCIA: Yes. He didn't know any details about this. He said the

first time that he heard about Brinsley was in that phone call from his daughter, who's the mother of his granddaughter -- the woman's name is Cynthia Turner. He said that Turner called him to notify him that said his granddaughter had been shot. He said he was heartbroken at hearing the news but that again he says he does expect her to make a full recovery and that he's just as shocked as anyone else finding out that his daughter -- granddaughter I should was -- was involved with someone like Ismaaiyl Brinsley -- Randi.

KAYE: I'm sure it's so difficult for this family. But the good news as he said is she's expected to recover and police will be certainly talking to her some more.

Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

KAYE: So many fingers are being pointed after the murders of those two New York City police officers. Some critics are blaming everyone from President Obama to those protesting the police deaths of unarmed black men such as Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The cop killer invoked their names in Instagram posts warning that he was about -- what he was about to do but Garner's mom says her son's death should not provoke violence regardless of how he died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GWEN CARR, MOTHER OF ERIC GARNER: Anyone who is standing with us, we want you to not use Eric Garner's name for violence because we are not about that. These two police officers lost their lives senselessly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: So let's talk about this. I'm joined now by HLN contributor and comedian Chuck Nice and cultural critic and writer Michaela Angela Davis. Nice to see you both, a lot to talk about here.

Michaela, to you first, I mean is it fair do you think to blame anyone other than this Ismaaiyl Brinsley for these murders?

MICHAELA ANGELA DAVIS, CULTURAL CRITIC AND WRITER: Not only is it not fair, it's so hurtful to a community that is trying to mourn the loss of police officers and also continue to fight for reform and those two things can happen together. New York is a complex city. We can mourn and continue to move forward at the same time.

But we were talking about it on the break that it was so unfortunate and so irresponsible, particularly for the union president Lynch to say that there were blood on folks' hands and people needed to see leaders come together. It was dishonorable, I think, to blame any -- this was a suicidal killer, let's be clear. The "New York Times" made it very clear what his past was and anyone can see that this is an unstable human being. But it caused a bigger rift and I felt like they were political pariahs on a terrible situation. KAYE: Well, isn't the blame game sort of how we got here? I mean

people were blaming the police officers that could be why now we have two officers dead.

CHUCK NICE, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I don't think -- well, I think that when we lack compassion in any discourse, when compassion and righteousness are sacrificed to gamesmanship and finger pointing, nobody wins. That's all there is to it. We're extremely immature racially in this nation in that what happens whenever we have a real problem -- and there is a real problem here -- people tend to circle the wagons, dig in their heels, start pointing their fingers, "This is why you're wrong, you're wrong." And no one says "What is the resolution here? Where can we make headway? How can we come together?" And this seems to be really the problem.

And there are certain leaders who have come forward and I am extremely disappointed in their response because it is completely and utterly unproductive. What do you hope to gain by saying that there is blood on the hands of the mayor for actually saying and expressing his personal experience with his own son?

KAYE: So what should these leaders be saying then? I mean how are they going to bring these two sides together now because there is a clear rift now between the NYPD and City Hall.

DAVIS: I mean they should be saying that we are going to do all that we can to work together, to work together with each other and work together with the community.

KAYE: They can say all these things. But it's action, right?

(CROSSTALK)

NICE: Part of coming together is what you say. Rhetoric is very important in a time such as this.

DAVIS: Right.

NICE: So, you know, the first thing that you can do is say "We are not going to make incendiary comments that are going to fan the flames of discontent within the city amongst both police and protesters. We're going to stop that right now." That's the first thing that could be done.

DAVIS: It has widened the rift between the community and the police department and I think that's what -- they're supposed to come and heal it and bring it closer together so it's very unfortunate that this is what now the community has to now negotiate what the politicians are doing and at the same time trying to heal and at the same time trying to have reform.

And what we're seeing is people are not fighting cops, they're fighting injustice.

NICE: Right.

KAYE: Right.

DAVIS: And so we're getting caught up in this is about cops. This is about injustice and brutality and racism. This is about big global things. So I think we need to be careful not to get in the rabbit hole with these political games.

KAYE: So do you think -- I mean obviously you think it is being politicized too much? Should they take this maybe behind the scenes? Is that part of the problem, all this talk out in the open? Maybe they just stop talking.

DAVIS: And come out with some solutions.

NICE: How about that?

DAVIS: Here's what we're going to do, yes.

NICE: I mean when you do take it behind the scenes you do at that point give yourself the leeway to say what you want to say face to face. You can duke it out all you want but you're not doing it in a public forum. It's no longer a prize fight and there's no longer the kind of, I'll call it, peacocking that happens when you're making these public statements.

DAVIS: But people are dead, families are terrorized, communities are mourning and you're having this out in the open. It's so unfortunate. There's a ripple effect -- right.

It's Christmas. People are not going home. The community is seeing this site of a killing grow and they're feeling that. So there are real lives on the line here and I feel like we're getting caught up in what people are saying in front of podiums and not understanding what's happening in the community.

KAYE: You know who's not being heard are the families of Eric Garner and the families of Michael Brown who are saying protest but protest peacefully. We don't want violence. How do you -- where is their role in all of this?

DAVIS: They've been saying that all along.

KAYE: I know but it's not being heard and look what happened.

NICE: For the most part it is being heard because most of the protests especially here in New York, the overwhelming number of protests that have happened have happened with very little incident or without incident at all. So it really is being heard. The problem is that we only focus on what happens when something goes wrong. We don't look at a protest that comes off without a hitch where there is no violence and people are heard and speeches are made and, you know, people are galvanized.

We don't look at that and go "What a great successful protest? Did you see that successful protest?" We don't do that. It's only when some police officers are attacked, unfortunately, by people who -- who knows what they were doing or when bad actors inside of a situation act out. That's when we take note and really we can't always attribute that to the protests.

KAYE: Right.

NICE: If I go into a store and shop and you come in and start screaming my name while you're smashing things going "Chuck Nice, Chuck Nice," while you're throwing things around the store --

KAYE: Happens all the time.

NICE: -- right and it does happen. And I'm sick of it for one. But am I really responsible for that damage? And so this is what happens. You're always going to attract a certain element of people who want attention, who are a little unstable when you do these things.

KAYE: But how do you get past that one image of many of those officers when de Blasio was walking through the hospital turning their back on him. That's a pretty strong statement.

DAVIS: It is. And when you think about the hundreds of days particularly from Ferguson on and the thousands upon thousands of people who have protested, there have been very little incident. If you look at the math there's been very little incidents particularly against the police.

That image of turning your back on the mayor is one that they can't take away and it was so irresponsible. This is the moment where you want to see the city -- it's New York, we come together.

NICE: That's a terrible image and here's the mayor going to visit the hospital, pay his respects and make his condolences and you are eschewing him in such a way where he is seen as anathema. That is not cool.

DAVIS: It's really irresponsible. And I felt like it was very immature. And people -- everyone's emotionally charged right now -- the police officers as well. But that lacked such insight and such foresight of the image of that. These are people we have to work with.

NICE: But the good thing is this. The mayor can forgive the police officers for doing that. The police can accept the fact that the mayor was speaking out of his own personal experience with his son and you can move on from there. That's the mature thing to do instead of saying "Oh man, you disrespected me." "I'm not disrespecting you, I'm telling you about my life."

DAVIS: The best thing they can do is change for real.

KAYE: All right, we will leave it there. Great discussion -- Chuck, Michaela Angela Davis, thank you very much. Chuck Nice -- appreciate it.

NICE: Thank you.

KAYE: All right. Still to come, some people claim to enjoy living under ISIS rule because it provides stability. CNN now has rare footage inside cities controlled by the terrorists and we'll share it with you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: The group that calls itself the Islamic state is claiming that slavery and beheadings are just part of their religion and some ISIS fighters are now talking about conquering Europe.

CNN got a rare look inside the areas controlled by ISIS through a German author who traveled there and interviewed ISIS members. Here's CNN's Fred Pleitgen with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an extremely rare glimpse into the inner workings of the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. German author Jurgen Todenhofer managed to visit ISIS territory both in Iraq and in Syria.

JURGEN TODENHOFER, GERMAN AUTHOER: They are only one percent. It's a one percent movement in the Islamic world. But this one percent movement has the power of a nuclear tsunami. It's incredible. I was so amazed. I was -- I couldn't understand this enthusiasm.

PLEITGEN: Todenhofer spent several days in Mosul, Iraq's second- biggest city conquered by ISIS in June. He even visited the mosque where ISIS head Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi gave a speech earlier this year. He also met with child soldiers.

TODENHOFER: How old are you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I am 13.

PLEITGEN: Todenhofer even managed to get access to a Kurdish prisoner in the hands of the extremists.

TODENHOFER: What did they tell you what would happen to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Our captors said that we have Islamic state fighters imprisoned with the Kurdish regional government. You are prisoners here and we will trade you back for our fighters. They didn't say they would kill or slaughter.

PLEITGEN: Todenhofer says people living in ISIS-controlled areas are in fear of the harsh penalties for infringement of the stringent laws but there's also a sense of order and stability. According to Todenhofer, fighters say they often manage to defeat much larger armies like the Iraqi military because they're not afraid to die.

TODENHOFER: It took you how many days to conquer Mosul? Four days?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We didn't kill 24 but we killed a score of them so they got terrified and ran away. We don't retreat, we only fight and God almighty will victor us. Those who have reverted from Islam do not have a solid ideology so they ran away. They came to fight for the tyrant, fight for money. PLEITGEN: During battle he learned many of the ISIS fighters wear

suicide vests, willing to blow themselves up rather than be captured. In one interview, a senior ISIS fighter warns the U.S. and Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We will conquer Europe someday. It's not a question of us wanting. We will. We'll kill 150 million, 200 million, 500 million -- we don't care about the number.

PLEITGEN: Atrocities ISIS has already committed suggest they're serious about their threats. This German author's visit to the Islamic state shows a brutal merciless group but also one that won't go away any time soon.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Munich, Germany.

KAYE: Getting a check now on top stories, CNN has learned the Pentagon may soon announce whether Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl will face a military court-martial. The 28-year-old was freed by the Taliban earlier this year in a controversial swap for five Taliban prisoners. Many of his colleagues said he deserted his post, risking and even costing American lives in the attempts to save him.

Sir Elton John is a married man. He tied the knot with his long time partner David Furnish on Sunday, marking the ninth anniversary of their civil partnership. New laws implemented in England this year made same-sex marriage legal. The pair met back in 1993. They've raised two sons, Zachary and Elijah. Congratulations to them.

I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just so pathetic to see you two fight over a silly comedy. It's like watching two bald men fight over a comb. Who cares?

Some on, Sony, you thought it was a joke to have James Franco assassinate Kim Jong-Un? The man single-handedly almost killed the Oscars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Seems like everyone, even the folks at "Saturday Night Live", are talking about hacks these days. But just how much does it cost to bring down a Web site or take down a Hollywood movie studio? CNN's Laurie Segall is joining me now to talk more about this. What do we know?

LAURIE SEGALL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know right now that a lot of Sony employees and former Sony employees are very nervous about their personal information from this hack leaking online but what we also know is the next Sony-style attack and the tools to carry it out could also be available on the dark Web. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SETH ROGEN, ACTOR: You want us to kill the leader of North Korea?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

SEGALL: The next Sony-style hack is for sale in the dark corners of the web. To bring down a web page for an hour, depending on the Web site, only $2 to $60 on this Russian underground page; to redirect people to a fake site, that's going for $750. What about an attack like the one on Sony?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out of pocket you're probably looking at maybe $500 to $1,000 of coding time to get something like that the same.

SEGALL: All of these services available for purchase on an illegal forum on the dark web in the deep corners of the Internet often accessed through encrypted browsers. The FBI may have traced the Sony attack to North Korea but in the wild west of the Internet you don't have to be a sophisticated criminal to launch a devastating cyber attack, you just need an Internet connection.

TOM KELLERMAN, TREND MICRO: You don't need to learn how to build a gun anymore. You don't need to be a coder in order to purchase a cyber Kalashnikov and add a grenade launcher to it in these forums.

SEGALL: Many of these forums based in Russia, Brazil and China are making billions. But not just anyone can enter.

KELLERMAN: Those people who are thinking right now that they want to go visit these forums and try to buy these capabilities, you should be well aware that the second you enter the forum you've probably been hacked.

SEGALL: As these online communities thrive, more cyber criminals could get their hands on the keys to major corporations. What makes the Sony hack different, it wasn't about money.

KELLERMAN: The fact that most hack attacks have a financial motivation behind them and this one didn't is significant which really speaks to the fact that geopolitics are now serving as a harbinger for attacks.

SEGALL: And just may level the playing field for smaller enemies everywhere who want something.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SEGALL: And Randi, what's so scary about this one of the security analysts say that one of these underground sites makes $10 million a week. He also said that they have hacker hotlines. So you go there, you buy a hack and if you need customer support there's actually someone that will get on the phone and give you hacker customer support. So this isn't rogue, this is happening and it's becoming increasingly dangerous, especially because it's easier for anyone to be able to commit a cyber attack being able to buy these tools online.

KAYE: Yes. I mean so easy and if you have somebody you want to get at I mean it looks like it's pretty easy to do so.

SEGALL: Yes.

KAYE: All right Laurie. Thanks for bringing us that -- appreciate it.

Travel could get pretty tricky this holiday week. Check out our Christmas Eve forecast whether you're in the air or on the road. Delays can be expected for a large chunk of the country -- flurries and storms hitting the Plains, the Midwest and the East Coast. And if the weather wasn't bad enough, you've probably seen it before, passengers behaving badly on an airplane.

Earlier this year Jeanne Moos spoke to a former flight attendant who created a Facebook page featuring photos of the bad behavior. We take a look back at the story, one of our favorites of 2014.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Passengers, prepare for shaming especially if you're not in the upright position and your feet are on your tray table.

Yikes.

SHAWN KATHLEEN, FORMER FLIGHT ATTENDANT: It's so yikes. It's so beyond yikes.

MOOS (voice-over): Former flight attendant Shawn Kathleen (ph) created a Facebook page "passenger shaming", showcasing photos of passengers behaving badly, leaving dirty diapers in seat pockets and going shirtless. How far we've flown from the elegant old days --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The travail has been taken out of travel.

MOOS: Instead of pearls, check out the altitude of these shorts.

KATHLEEN: It's getting worse by the minute.

MOOS: Her personal pet peeve?

KATHLEEN: Socks stay on.

MOOS: Except they don't. Sure it's funny when John Candy does it in the movie.

JOHN CANDY, ACTOR: Oh, my dogs are barking today. That feels better.

MOOS: But who wants to let barking dogs lie when they intrude from another row?

(on camera): We recommend you keep your feet covered and your hands exposed.

(voice-over): How gross is it to see a guy sleeping with his hands shoved down his -- avert your eyes.

But Shawn Kathleen has seen passengers do worse.

KATHLEEN: He caught his hair on fire in the lavatory while he was smoking crack.

MOOS (on camera): Sort of makes chewed gum left in the safety card seem quaint. And whatever you do, do not get nailed using clippers.

(voice-over): Why don't you just skip the in-flight manicure? No one wants to see you caring for your feet at 30,000 feet.

KATHLEEN: There was this gentleman treating his warts with Compound W. Yes. That happened.

MOOS: Shawn Kathleen quit her flight attendant job a year ago to become a nurse practitioner. She'll see plenty of naked men in nursing. But somehow looking at this?

KATHLEEN: I can't.

MOOS: Seems worse, a passenger using a pillow case to cover his eyes while uncovering the rest.

(MUSIC)

MOOS: Sure, let's fly, but don't leave behind your boxers, your dentures, your toenails or your wig.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Wow. That was something. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Randi Kaye.

"@THIS HOUR" starts right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone, I'm Ashleigh Banfield. John Berman and Michaela Pereira are off today.