Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hunt for Suspected Terrorist Underway in Europe; ISIS Demanding Ransom for Two Japanese Hostages; State Coup Underway in Yemen; Muslim Immigrant who Saved Hostages Granted French Citizenship; Obama Not Getting Credit for Improving Economy

Aired January 20, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the "NEWSROOM," terror in Europe. A hunt under way right now for a man, this man, the suspected link between ISIS and a Belgian terror cell. This is Germany carries out new raids and France makes fresh arrests linked to Islamic extremists.

And breaking this morning, ISIS holding two Japanese hostage. The country's prime minister promising to deal with terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): It is an unacceptable act to threaten us in exchange for human lives. And I feel angry about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: The high-price demand ISIS is making to set the men free.

And unstable state. Shots fired at the U.S. embassy vehicle in Yemen. CNN takes you inside the capital as opposition forces and the government battle for control.

And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. This morning across Europe, new ripples from last week's anti- terror sweep. In Germany, 200 police officers fanned out across Berlin and the region charging into 13 separate homes. The sprawling anti-terror sweep targeted associates of two men arrested last week. They are suspected of belonging to a Jihadist terror cell. A similar story is unfolding in neighboring Belgium. Police are hunting for this man. You are going to see him soon. He's described as the ring leader of a terror cell also targeted last week. More importantly, he's considered a key link between that terror cell in Belgium and ISIS operatives in Syria. Senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is in Brussels with more. Hi, Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. According to a senior Belgium counterterrorism official, the suspected ring leader of this alleged jihadi cell is this man, Abdelhamid Abaaoud. And recall that the cell, two suspected members from it, engaged in a lengthy gun battle with Belgium police last week. Both of those suspects were killed and several other people have been arrested in connection with the suspected cell in Belgium, in France, and in Greece in the days since then. This man Abdelhamid Abaaoud is one of the most notorious of Belgium's jihadists. He's been filmed in Syria alongside the ranks of ISIS. In one of those videos he's shown laughing in a pickup truck dragging at least a half dozen corpses through a field if you can imagine, through a field. He's also famous here because he's believed to have taken his teenage younger brother, a boy by the name of Eunice, now maybe 14 years old, to the bloody battlefields of Syria. Eunice has been described in the Belgian press as the youngest jihadist in ISIS.

So this man has been pointed out by Belgium counterterrorism officials as the man they believe to be a ring leader. However, the manhunt is still under way. This man has not been found. He was last tracked to Greece but Greek police under cooperation with the Belgian investigation, they succeeded in arresting another man, an Algerian citizen, and the Belgians are waiting for his extradition back here to Belgium. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Ivan Watson reporting live from Belgium this morning.

Also news this morning, ISIS issues a blood chilling ransom demand telling Japan to pay $200 million or two of its citizens will be beheaded. Japan has 72 hours to decide. But its prime minister offered no hint of negotiations saying "I feel extreme anger at their threat that they use the hostages as their shield. We do our utmost effort to protect their life." CNN's Will Ripley is in Beijing with more. Hi, Will.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. This news, and this video, is truly gut-wrenching for so many people in Japan. This is a country that doesn't have a military that fights ISIS unlike America and, of course, Britain as well. Two countries that have seen their own citizens executed on camera after refusing to bow to ISIS' demands. But now we have these two citizens. A freelance journalist Kengi Goto who was last heard from when he tweeted in late October and was taken at some point after that, and Haruma Yukawa, a man who went to the Middle East after experiencing some tremendous personal loss in Japan including the death of his wife. He owned, according to this website, a private security company.

Both of these men captured by ISIS. And just two days after the Japanese prime minister on a Middle East tour pledged financial support, $200 million to help the coalition that's fighting against ISIS, ISIS then pulls out these Japanese hostages, puts them on camera, and threatens their lives if the Japanese government doesn't pay that same amount of money to these terrorists who have caused so much chaos in that part of the world, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, Will Ripley reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Let's talk more about this with CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. Good morning, Paul.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning.

Cc: So, you know, this terror video looks the same as the others, the Jihadi John (ph) and the two Japanese hostages kneeling on either side of him.

But the new twist is this, is that ISIS is asking for ransom. Why?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, I mean they have been asking for ransom for all sorts of other hostages, European hostages in the past and even for some of these American hostages. We understand that there were sort of private channels where they were also asking for ransom. Why are they asking for ransom? They need money for their war effort to fund the fledgling Islamic caliphate, or so they claim it to be in Syria and Iraq. And I think perhaps they feel that the Japanese government may find a way to give some money over. Perhaps that's their hope. It's going to be very difficult for that to happen. There's a huge international spotlight on this case right now. And the international community doesn't want any more money getting to this terrorist group, which now appears to be pivoting towards launching attacks in the West. Western countries, and Japan and other countries, can't afford to give this group money to fund that kind of terrorism.

COSTELLO: Yeah, let's put the graphic up again. Because this is the ransom money that has been paid out by certain countries for terrorist groups to release their citizens. That's a lot of money, right? The reason I ask you about why they are asking for ransom in this particular terror video is because they released, ISIS released those Yazidis, the elderly men and children. 200 of them because they were too expensive to feed. Does that tell us anything at all about their finances?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, it might tell us something about the finances of the local level with perhaps some local commanders. Overall, ISIS is the richest terrorist organization in history. But they have a lot of cash needs. They have got to run bureaucracies right throughout Iraq and Syria administration, governance, services. That all requires a lot of money, Carol. And some of the money that they've been raising from oil sales, that's become a bit more difficult thanks to some of these airstrikes and efforts by the coalition partners to stem some of these financial flow.

So, yeah, they are cash hungry and so they need to find ways to raise revenues. And one of the long-term ways the international community is going to defeat this group is by starving it financing in Syria and Iraq definitely.

COSTELLO: So, I know Japan is intimated it won't pay the ransom. But Japan is a pacifist country. And, you know, they were in a tough spot, right? So, do you think Japan will? Will the United States urge them not to? What will happen? How will that process work out?

CRUICKSHANK: I think it's going to be extraordinarily tough situation for any country, to be - two of that citizens who have been taken hostage displayed in these orange jumpsuits and for the whole Japanese public to see an outpouring anger and concern from the Japanese public from the families involved. That puts a lot of pressure on any government. But at the same time, I think, you know, that the international community cannot afford to incentivize this kind of hostage takings by providing money and providing money to a terrorist group, which is brutalizing the people of Syria and Iraq and now plotting attacks against the West, against European countries that they also want to target the United States it would appear.

So this is an awfully difficult situation, but it's a huge spotlight for the Japanese. I think they have very little room to maneuver here because of these concerns about a terrorist threat from ISIS.

COSTELLO: Paul Cruickshank, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in "THE NEWSROOM", shots fired at a U.S. embassy vehicle in Yemen as fears the fragile cease-fire in Yemen is now collapsing. We'll take you to Yemen next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right. We've been talking about Yemen all morning and the fighting there between the government and rebels. We come to find out that the Yemen presidential palace is under attack. And I'm going to read you -- I just got this. So bear with me for a second. Several tweets from the Yemen Information Ministry state the presidential palace is now under attack. However, two interior ministry officials say the palace has been taken by the Houthies, which is the rebels I was speaking of. And keep in mind that Yemen is important to the U.S.-led war against terror, because that's where the al Qaeda affiliate that claimed responsibility for the "Charlie Hebdo" massacre is based. Paul Cruickshank is our terror analyst. He joins us now. So, what do you make of this information? You are skeptical.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, we just don't know. These are very early reports. There's been a lot of finding and scrimmages (ph) in Yemen's capital, then ceasefires negotiations between the government, President Hadi and these Houthi rebels who've essentially taken control of the capital Sana'a. Anyway, they are basically in power in the capital. You know, whatever the status of the presidential palace is. That's been the big change in Yemen in the last few months. It's created a lot of concern in the West because the government - because it doesn't control the capital anymore and how can it go all through al Qaeda and also al Qaeda has been exploiting the sectarian issue because these Houthies are basically Shia and they've been coming down from the north and taking control of the capital and parts of central Yemen, and al Qaeda has been exploiting that to recruit the Sunni tribals, so they've been gaining in strength, and more political turmoil. More instability means a greater al Qaeda in Yemen threat.

Of course, the group that's claimed responsibility for Paris and says its number one priority is to hit the United States and all those plots over the years against U.S. aviation, the (INAUDIBLE), and so on and so forth.

COSTELLO: Right.

CRUICKSHANK: So, this is a very, very worrying mix for U.S. officials. But Houthis have actually been going after al Qaeda, though, quite, quite successfully in central Yemen. So, they are anti-al Qaeda, and al Qaeda has been going after them as well. But the worry that U.S. officials have is that al Qaeda will play the sectarian card just like ISIS did in Iraq to recruit more and more Sunnis into its ranks, if there's kind of like a civil war situation that will play into al Qaeda's hands. So, worrying trends right now.

COSTELLO: But the other worry here is that earlier today a U.S. embassy vehicle was fired upon and Nick Paton Walsh says it appears it was targeted. So, that's a concern.

CRUICKSHANK: Definitely ...

COSTELLO: Because we are having U.S. embassy there.

CRUICKSHANK: Definitely a concern. And, you know, AQAP, the Yemeni group, the al Qaeda group there, they have got cells in the capital, Sana'a. They have gone off to various foreign embassies in the past. They may use this as an opportunity to attack American interests there. The American embassy in Sana'a is extraordinarily well fortified. Beyond the capability, probably, of the group like al Qaeda in Yemen to go after. And the Houthies aren't going to start targeting the Americans. That's not what they're trying to do here. They have differences with the central government they have been trying to negotiate them. They want sort of more power and more say over more of the ministries. They - they essentially control the capital of Sana'a and they want the power structure to reflect that reality.

COSTELLO: Paul Cruickshank, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the "NEWSROOM," hailed as a hero, the man credited with saving lives during the kosher supermarket siege in Paris, now hours away from a life changing ceremony. The overwhelming online push that has French officials taking action.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: It was his split second decisions that saved lives. Today Lassana Bathily, a Muslim will become a French citizen. Bathily is the Malian national who helped hostages to safety during the kosher supermarket siege in Paris. His heroic efforts inspired more than 380,000 people to sign an online petition calling for him to get a French passport as well as France's highest honor. Bathily will be granted French nationality by the interior ministry later today. The 24-year old recently spoke about the moments his workplace was taken hostage. Here's Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is Lassana Bathily, he is a migrant from Mali and a hero, especially to these people. They are among the 15 Jewish hostages the 24-year-old shop assistant saved from gunman Amedy Coulibaly at a kosher supermarket in Paris. Gun shots could be heard as Coulibaly killed four people. Bathily kept the 15 in the basement.

LASSANA BATHILY (through translator): I heard gunfire and I thought, oh my, what is going on? Then suddenly a group ran downstairs and they shouted there's gunfire in the shop. And then they said, they are here. They are here.

PLEITGEN: He ushered them into the freezer and waited.

BATHILY: After I'd been down below with the others for five minutes, we heard footsteps on the metal staircase. I thought it was him coming down, but it was my work colleague coming down. She said the man was asking for the keys to the shop, then she went back up.

PLEITGEN: Cold and frightened, the group remained in hiding.

BATHILY: The person came down again and told us we should all go upstairs otherwise hostages would be killed. Everyone panicked. Some said we must go up. There was just panic.

PLEITGEN: That's when Bathily made the brave decision to go upstairs alone.

BATHILY: Before I left, I asked if they wanted to leave with me. They didn't want to. They said no, it wasn't a good idea. They thought if they came up, they might make a noise. Perhaps he could be waiting for us. I didn't want to force them, so I turned off the light, shut off the fridge and shut the door.

PLEITGEN: He made his way out of the building, but spent some time in handcuffs. Initially police thought the young shop assistant was a terrorist, but eventually was able to give police detailed information about the store and its layout.

BATHILY: When I emerged, they told me to put my hands on my head and to lie on the ground. I panicked. There was lots of people and lots of shouting.

PLEITGEN: Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the "NEWSROOM" cheap gas, record high stocks, falling unemployment, so why aren't these economic gains helping President Obama's approval numbers? Can Obama's State of the Union change that? We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we want to take you back to Yemen where the presidential palace is apparently under attack. CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, one of the few reporters inside the country. What's happening now, Nick?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand from the information minister Nadia Saqqaf that the presidential palace has fallen to what she described as the Houthies, that's the rebel movement, the collection of - militia who swept across the capital in the past few months and are increasingly, it seems today, intent on exercising power here in the capital. She called what is happening now the continuation of a coup. Said that the president has no control at all. She also went on to say that he's inside his residence at the stage, but there is shooting from the rooftops down to the street outside that resident. And she doesn't believe his life is in danger, but she went on to say that she believes he should step down because effectively, if he remains in power, he will effectively be a figure head for the Houthies who she says seek to run the country.

Now, I should point out we haven't heard the Houthi side of the story here yet. They are clearly angry of what they consider to be a constitution that is unfair toward them that was going to be introduced and they also said when the fighting started that the presidential administration, that in fact it was they who were attacked. So, there's another side to be heard here. But it is quite clear at this stage that there are clashes inside the Yemeni capital Sana'a around key buildings. It is clear according to two interior ministry officials, too, that the Houthis have taken that palace. That would be quite a move, because we drove around (INAUDIBLE), and saw a lot of Houthis around that building, but a lot of Republican guards who very well armed so something certainly has changed in the balance there and, of course, reports of two other buildings essentially under attack here as well, albeit perhaps short lived. We're not hearing the kind of audible clashes we heard yesterday from this position, but we are hearing of seismic changes on the streets. Carol?

COSTELLO: All right. Nick Paton Walsh reporting live for us from Yemen.

As President Obama gets set to deliver his sixth State of the Union tonight. His economy takes center stage. He has a lot to be proud of, but those economic highs are not translating into strong approval numbers. CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans has more for you.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the Obama economy. The lowest gas prices in six years. Stocks that have tripled while he's been president. Unemployment back to where it was before the financial crisis. And a deficit that's been cut by two-thirds. If Mitt Romney had won, we might be talking about an economic miracle engineered by a biz wiz who knew just which buttons to push, but this is the Obama economy. It's the best in the world and the president isn't getting much credit.

GREG VALLIERE, CHIEF POLITICAL STRATEGIST: A lot of Democrats including the president don't want to brag about things getting better because it doesn't look too good because some people aren't sharing in the prosperity.