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Danes Warned Of Shooter's Radicalization; Egypt Strikes ISIS Targets In Libya; Combatting Extremism Summit Opens; Shooter Radicalized In Prison; Shooter Swore Allegiance To ISIS; New Information On Link Between Shootings; French Terror Attacks Coordinated; Paying Ransoms To Free Hostages; New Poll On U.S.-Israel Relations; Slaughtered Christians Were Looking For Work; Egyptian Airstrikes Hit ISIS Targets in Libya; Big Majority Thinks Obama Should Have War Powers; Mixed Views on U.S.-Israeli Relations

Aired February 17, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 7:00 p.m. in Copenhagen, 8:00 p.m. in Jerusalem, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We start with three developing stories. We're learning more about possible ties between ISIS and the deadly shootings in Denmark. The intelligence service there now admits they were warned about the shooter being radicalized while in prison. But they also say there were no indications he was actually planning an attack. We're about to go live to Copenhagen.

In Libya, Egyptian planes continue their assault on ISIS positions. The air strikes are retaliation for the beheading of 21 Egyptian Christian laborers in Libya. We've got an exclusive report from their hometown.

Today, here in Washington, the Obama administration is planning to submit to -- planning to go forward with a summit on combatting what they call violent extremism. As many as 60 countries are taking part in the three-day summit. Part of the event will highlight how some U.S. cities are successfully handling terror threats. President Obama speaks at the summit tomorrow. We'll go live to the White House for the very latest.

Let's get to Denmark right now. A Jewish radio program has voluntarily gone silent due to security concerns. The country's domestic intelligence service offered protection but also told the radio station that it was too dangerous to broadcast the show, at least for now.

Let's get more on the investigation into the Copenhagen, Denmark shootings, the warnings about the man who shot and killed two people over the weekend. Our Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson is joining us from Copenhagen. So, Nic, what more have you learned about the shooter and what police now say they know about him before the shootings and any alleged ties he had -- may have had to ISIS? NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPOONDENT: Well,

certainly the prison services, and that's where he - that's whose custody he was in until two weeks before the shooting. He was released from jail only two weeks before the shooting on Saturday. The prison services here had alerted the intelligence services to a change of behavior by the gunman. They believe that he was being perhaps radicalized inside jail. That's certainly where the Danish ambassador to the United States has told us. And that was a concern.

But the intelligence services have come back today and said, look, we were advised about him, but we didn't believe he was an immediate and dangerous threat. What we do know about him is he had a very violent past. He was - he was a member of a gang here in Copenhagen that had been involved in violent crime and that's why he was in jail.

But what we've also learned is in the hours immediately before the attack on Saturday, he posted a pledge of support to ISIS leader Al Baghdadi. And this seems to be an indication of where his mindset was in the hours before the attack that he was supporting ISIS. He had never been there - he had never been to Iraq and Syria, according to officials here. But what was driving him, it appears, was is propaganda -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Nic, stand by because we're just getting this in to CNN. We're getting new information now on last month's attacks in Paris and the coordination between the two shootings in Paris. Investigators telling the French newspaper, "Le Monde," that Sharif Kouachi, one of the brothers who attacked the "Charlie Hebdo" offices and actually tested Amedy Coulibaly only hours before the shootings.

Two days later, Coulibaly attacked that kosher supermarket, killing four men inside. The paper also reports that the two men talked face to face the morning of the "Charlie Hebdo" shooting and that the attack was almost called off because the other brother, Said Kouachi, had actually come down with the stomach flu.

Let's bring in CNN Global Affairs Analyst Bobby Ghosh. He's the Managing Editor of "Quartz." Bobby, what do you make of this new information "Le Monde" is putting out?

BOBBY GHOSH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, we've known for the while - for a while that Coulibaly and at least one, possibly both, of the Kouachi brothers knew each other for quite a while. There were - there were some concerns about the gap between the two attacks. The "Charlie Hebdo" attack takes place on the Wednesday. The Coulibaly attack on the kosher supermarket takes place on the Friday, suggesting, to some people, that maybe they weren't coordinated. But this new reports suggests, quite clearly, that they were. The two of them meet on the midnight before the attack. And then, it would appear that Coulibaly bought this cell phone -- he had 13 cell phones. That he bought this cell phone specifically for communicating with the Kouachi brothers. So, it does seem like a very carefully coordinated pair of attacks now.

BLITZER: Yes, well, the fact that he had 13 cell phones that he was using some of them only specifically to pass on a message to, potentially, his partner in these - in these two separate shootings that were going on in Paris over a span of, what, Wednesday to Friday, that indicates a lot more coordination potentially than earlier thought, right?

GHOSH: Yes, it does. It suggests that they planned this thing together and that the second attack on the kosher supermarket was a direct - was something they discussed before and a direct consequence of the first attack.

BLITZER: All right, stand by for a moment. I want to get Nic Robertson to weigh in on this as well. He's joining us from Copenhagen right now. Nic, you got the news from "Le Monde" that it was obviously pretty coordinated, at least if you believe this report. We have no reason not to believe Le -- what "Le Monde" is reporting, that these two attacks in Paris were pretty coordinated. What's interesting is that the attacks in Copenhagen, that you're covering right now, one going after the news media, if you will, the second one going after a Jewish target, very similar to what happened a month - a month ago in Paris.

ROBERTSON: Yes, and there are other similarities we're seeing as well, Wolf, this sort of pledge of allegiance that the gunman here had to ISIS -- to the ISIS leader. We had that in Paris. Coulibaly doing that before his attack. So, you have those similarities. Then, of course, this is the concern for authorities here right now, Wolf, on a very high state of alert. There was a lockdown where we are, early this morning. A suspect package found. The bomb squad came in. The all-clear was given later. But police, right now, are looking for other potential accomplices

because although he had only been out of jail for two weeks, the concern is that there could have been a broader network of communication. You know, one of many cell phones may have been used. What's happening inside the jails here, not just the radicalization but techniques for communicating, networks are being established for communicating between these - between these radicalized individuals.

So, right now, the police have two accomplices in custody. They're going to be charged with being accomplices to murder and attempted murder here. But are there others? And that's what the police are looking for.

And, of course, what we're learning now from Paris is just how, if you will, devious and subtle and the lengths that these individuals will go to to communicate below the radar so the authorities can't keep an eye on it. And, of course, that's what we heard here from the Danish intelligence authorities today, PET, saying that they didn't anticipate an attack coming. Yet, it did.

BLITZER: And the question is, was it -- were these coordinated with - potentially, was there any coordination between Paris and Copenhagen, simply copycat? Maybe there's concern now, and I'm sure there is, about other copycats down the road.

I want to bring in our Producer Tim Lister who's been covering this story extensively. Tim, first of all, this latest information we're getting from "Le Monde," what do you know about this? What's your reaction?

TIM LISTER, CNN PRODUCER: I'm not surprised, Wolf, to be honest with you, because I was in Paris for those two weeks after the attacks. And it was clear to intelligence sources in France, at that point, that these attacks had been very closely coordinated. The association of Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers went back many years. They'd been in touch throughout that period. They had been involved in going to the same jails. They'd been involved in associating with the same circle in Paris. So, really not surprising that there was some sort of coordination, even to the point where they were wearing the same sort of clothes when they launched those attacks.

And, remember, the wife of Coulibaly and of one of the Kouachi brothers exchanged 500 phone calls in the previous year leading up to the attacks.

BLITZER: And there was a lot of suspicion, Tim, as you know, that the women weren't actually using those two cell phones. The husbands were actually using those two cell phones that had the wives' names attached to those cell phones, right?

LISTER: That's very true, Wolf, because in French law, it's very difficult to get permission from a judge to monitor all the devices that a suspect might have. You can get a warrant to listen in to a cell phone but not perhaps watch a computer. This is one of the weaknesses that the French intelligence services told us about throughout the investigation. They feel hamstrung. They feel as though they've got their hands tied behind their backs when it comes to investigating people like this.

So, it's a big problem for them. And it's not surprising, in a way, since we found out that Hayat Boumeddiene went to Syria immediately after. That was the partner of Amedy Coulibaly. She went to Syria immediately afterwards, so it appears that she knew for a good while before the attacks were launching that this was something in the offing. She was not, if you like, a silent, unwitting partner to this series of attacks in Paris.

BLITZER: All right. Tim Lister, I want you to stand by. Bobby Ghosh, stand by, Nic Robertson. We're going to continue to follow the breaking news.

We're also following other important developments in this war on terror involving paying ransoms to free hostages. That's causing some tension between the U.S. and some of its key allies. We're going to explain what's going on.

Also, CNN now has a brand-new poll we're about to release. New poll numbers on U.S.-Israeli relations, the visit -- upcoming visit to the U.S. Congress by Benjamin Netanyahu. The results of the American public opinion poll, that's coming up.

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BLITZER: Now to the war against ISIS. Egypt says its warplanes have, again, struck 10 ISIS targets in Libya. The bombing raids in Derna were in retaliation for the savage killing of 21 Egyptian Christians who were living and working in Libya. Egypt says its fighter jets carried out strikes based on what they call accurate intelligence and targets included ISIS training and storage locations. But an umbrella group of Islamist militias tells a different story. That group claims women and children were killed when the Egyptian air strikes hit civilian areas. CNN has not been able to independently verify the claims.

The trigger for the air strikes was an ISIS video showing the apparent beheading of about a dozen Egyptian Christians. Egypt says that all 21 Christians were killed by ISIS in Libya.

Our correspondent Ian Lee joins us now from the Egyptian town where some of the Egyptian Christians lived earlier. Ian, what are you learning about these men, who they were, why they traveled to Libya?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is a very poor town and it is a close-knit town. Many of the people living there are related. Thirteen of the men in that video were beheaded. Everyone in that village is grieving.

Why they go there is that there aren't job opportunities here in Egypt for them. They seek a better life, better wages in Libya to bring it back and start families. Many of the people we talked to, we're talking about either supporting their children or trying to start a family. And that's why they were going to Libya.

I talked to one man who was actually with those 13 that were kidnapped when it actually happened, he ran into ISIS himself. He tells me that when the ISIS militants stormed their apartment complex, there was a man, a local man at gunpoint pointing out where the Christians were staying. He said he didn't answer his door when the militants knocked. But his nephews and his cousin opened their door.

Right next door, he said there was a crack in the wall that he could see the militants walking into the room, grabbing them and taking them away. And he said if it weren't for the fact that this created a lot of commotion, more Christians from this apartment complex would have been taken away, though he does feel a lot of guilt, his family -- he felt like he has needed to protect these boys.

But he says he really couldn't be a hero. He would have just been another victim if he had been. He said the one thing, though, that does give him comfort is he knows the -- the name of God was on their lips when they died, Wolf.

BLITZER: And Egyptian officials say they're going to continue these air strikes, pounding ISIS targets in Libya.

Ian Lee, thanks very much.

At the White House earlier, the White House right now, I should say, they're talking about fighting terrorism before it takes root. Some 60 nations are sending high-level representatives to a three-day White House summit. This new poll, by the way, shows most Americans say Congress should

give President Obama the legal authority to wage war against ISIS. The CNN/ORC poll shows nearly four out of five people in the United States want lawmakers to give -- want lawmakers to give the president the power to use military force. That shows a slight decline in support since December.

Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is joining us now.

Jim, when it comes down to the use of ground combat troops against ISIS, this new poll shows the American public is largely divided.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And that is no surprise, Wolf, after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the public is not in the mood to get back into a huge ground war in the Middle East. But let's put these numbers up on screen because there is something interesting to point out, Wolf.

While you do mention, yes, the public largely against this, it says 47 percent in favor, 50 percent opposed. Look at the number in November, 43 percent in favor, 55 percent oppose. So you do see a movement in the direction of perhaps favoring the use of ground forces in Iraq to fight ISIS. And I think that is interesting to see that kind of movement.

You mentioned the summit that's being held over here at the White House to counter violent extremism, that is the other side of the coin here for this administration. They believe very strongly that when this war against ISIS -- that you're basically going to have to do more than drop bombs on targets in Iraq and in Syria, you're going to have to attack this problem at the root. And that means going after these communities with a different kind of message.

And we're going to be hearing more about that over the next several days. The vice president is speaking today. President Obama will be speaking tomorrow and the next day. And the reason why they're doing that is because the president feels very strongly, Wolf, that this is not a war against radical Islam. He's gotten in some hot water over that. A lot of Republicans disagree with that message. But that is the message we're going to be hearing about all week.

BLITZER: We certainly are. We're going to be covering it. We'll see what the vice president says today. And we'll certainly cover what the president has to say tomorrow.

Thanks very much, Jim Acosta.

When we come back, our new poll, for the first time, we're releasing new numbers on the prime minister of Israel's expected visit to the United States on March 3rd to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.

Did the Republican leadership, John Boehner, the speaker of the House, do the right thing by inviting the prime minister to Washington without getting that cleared by the president of the United States in advance? We have new poll numbers on how the American public feels.

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BLITZER: Inviting the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington to speak before a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress without notifying President Obama was the wrong thing to do, that's what 63 percent of Americans said in a brand-new exclusive CNN/ORC poll. Only 33 percent thought it was the right thing to do.

Those numbers only add to the current tension between the U.S. and Israel.

Joining us now to discuss these new poll numbers and a whole lot more, CNN's political director David Chalian and Aaron David Miller. He's a former adviser to six secretaries of state on the Arab-Israeli peace process. He's the vice president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center here in Washington.

So these numbers showing most Americans -- it's a pretty decisive majority -- 63 percent, think that the speaker of the House should not have done this without going through the White House, which is the normal protocol. They're not happy about the way it was done.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That's right, Wolf. And I think the key there is not -- is the process, not giving the heads up to President Obama is what is part of this question and offensive to most Americans. However, remember the context of when Speaker Boehner rolled out this invitation. It was the day after the State of the Union, the president was on a high coming out of the State of the Union.

And this was really a play to the hometown crowd for Republicans because when you look at the party breakdown in these numbers, a small majority of Republicans actually thought it was the right thing to do. Independents, Democrats, definitely the wrong thing to do. So that's why you get that number overall, 63 percent. But for Republicans, they thought it was the right thing to do. And that's why if you saw Speaker Boehner do this the day after the State of the Union.

BLITZER: You've studied this issue, U.S.-Israeli relations, for a long time. Has an Israeli leader, whether a president of Israel or a prime minister of Israel, ever been invited to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress without going through the White House, without a president of the United States at least signing off on that?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER ADVISER, ARAB-ISRAELI PEACE NEGOTIATIONS: Well, I think you know the answer to that one. No, this is unprecedented. And it's far beyond a matter of protocol. What it reflects, frankly, is the lack of trust and confidence. The notion that this is a month before the Israeli elections frankly is irrelevant. Bill Clinton had Shimon Perez in the Oval April 30, a -- literally a month before the -- his election run-off with Benjamin Netanyahu.

This shows, I think, the profound suspicion, the lack of trust, and the other reality is that the endgame on Iran is coming. And that's what's driving this. The suspicion and the lack of unanimity that exists between Obama and the prime minister.

BLITZER: The speech -- the prime minister still delivers it on March 3rd, the elections in Israel, March 17th. That's two weeks. So it's pretty close.

Some other numbers that we have in our new exclusive poll. Let's put them up on the screen. In the Middle East conflict, should the U.S. side with Israel? 29 percent of the American public says Israel. Palestinians, 2 percent. Neither, 66 percent. I was surprised but we've gone back and taken a look at least over the last 10 years, that number is fairly consistent, right?

CHALIAN: It is fairly consistent. Even longer than 10 years, we looked back at numbers all the way back to 1998 in CNN polling, I don't think that number of 66 percent, Americans not -- it's not been lower than 63 percent all the way back to 1998.

Americans do not want to get involved in other people's conflict. However, as you can see, there's a huge disparity when you do ask those that would get involved and want to choose a side, overwhelmingly, they choose Israel.

BLITZER: Are you surprised by these numbers at all?

MILLER: Not at all. Gallup has run these numbers on sympathy for Americans for various countries around the world since '01 and the disparity that exist between support for Israel, 60 percent to 80 percent, and that exist for Iran and the Palestinian Authority, frankly any Arab country, is huge.

So, the question is on -- earlier poll that we're talking, is this a headline or is this a trend line? Does this reflect the fact that more Americans are being exposed to this soap opera-like relationship between Netanyahu and the president, and is it taking its poll on the bipartisan character of support for Israel?

BLITZER: Because as important -- and you've studied this for a long time -- as Israel's concerns about a potential Iran nuclear weapon are, they are deeply concerned about having a very good relationship with the United States. This president still in office for almost two more years. And if there is a sense that U.S./Israeli relations at a time when Israel is being isolated all over the world right now are deteriorating, that potentially could hurt Netanyahu's efforts to get himself reelected.

MILLER: I think that's true. And beyond, the nature of the U.S./Israeli relationship. I mean, the fact is, Wolf, you've got a situation where, you know, the United States basically could probably survive with an Iran as a nuclear weapon threshold state. The Israelis will have a much harder time with that.

If there is an agreement that is actually reached and Benjamin Netanyahu is reelected, then you're going to see a lot more tension that exists now. CHALIAN: This is all about the domestic Israeli politics, too, of

course.

BLITZER: Right.

CHALIAN: With Barack Obama so deeply unpopular there, Benjamin Netanyahu sees a potential political advantage by picking this -- by coming to Congress and using Barack Obama as a foil he hopes to his political advantage.

BLITZER: It may help him politically in his effort to get reelected but in terms of deteriorating the U.S./Israel relationship, that's a serious problem that the Israelis are going to have if in fact -- if in fact that occurs. And given the animosity that currently exists between these two leaders, there's a real problem that the Israelis are going to have. I think you'll agree.

MILLER: No, I think that's right. But is this situationally driven or does this reflect a greater ten? I mean. my argument has been all along that unlike Lehman Brothers, the U.S./Israeli relationship really is too big to fail. Values interest and primarily what's happening in the Middle East now, beheadings of Americans, Egyptian Copts on a Libyan beach, all of these things reinforce --

BLITZER: But it's not only -- and I just got to wrap it up. But it's not just the deterioration in the relationship between the prime minister of Israel and the White House and the president of the United States, but there are a lot of Democrats in the House and the Senate right now, you're hearing things said about Netanyahu that I've never heard before from supporters of Israel and they've got a real problem, the Israelis, unless they fix this very quickly.

MILLER: I think that's right.

BLITZER: It's not just the White House. A lot of Democrats as well.

CHALIAN: It is. And we're seeing a partisan divide here at home over this issue --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Yes. Something the Israelis never wanted to happen.

CHALIAN: That's right.

BLITZER: But that's developing as a result of the way this was handled, coordinated, obviously a serious problem.

Guys, thanks very, very much.

To see all of the CNN's latest polling, by the way, make sure to follow @CNNpolitics on Facebook and Twitter. You'll get all of the latest political news.

Coming up, we have new details on last month's attacks in Paris and the coordination between the shootings and the shooters that was apparently a lot more sophisticated than we originally thought.

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