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Three Brooklyn Men Arrested On Suspicions Of Ties With Terrorism; Bill O'Reilly Charged With Embellishing His Stories While At CBS CNN Explores The Mysteries Of Jesus In New Show On Sunday

Aired February 25, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to pull out of this. This is the very end of the press conference involving police Commissioner Bill Bratton with the NYPD, also there, members of the FBI, members of the joint counterterrorism task force, so multiple agencies involved in the arrest of these three men from New York City who were just arrested, accused of trying to join ISIS and to provide support for this terrorist organization.

I want to bring back in our justice correspondent, Evan Perez, as well as Buck Sexton, former CIA counterterrorism analyst.

Evan, we learned two of these suspects were legal residents of the U.S., even though they weren't from the U.S. originally, weren't born here. One was somebody who was here legally and then overstayed. What else did we learn from that?

PEREZ: Well, we heard from the commissioner of police here in New York, Bill Bratton.

What he is now assessing is that this -- ISIS has now transformed itself into a real threat here in this country.

Until now, you know, we've heard from law enforcement officials in Washington and around the country that, you know, the view of ISIS was that they really weren't capable of doing anything here. And that appears to still be the case.

However, what he is signaling is, you know, he says, you know, this is real. Because when he took office, he said, you know, we came thinking that, you know, our main concern was Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaeda affiliated in Yemen. And what he's saying now is that, because of the ability of ISIS to appeal to some of its recruits, to people who are being radicalized at home, to really do anything, whatever they can to help carry out attacks on this country that the ISIS threat has really transformed itself into something that is at the top of his list.

CABRERA: Right. The police commissioner talking about at least one of the suspects with plans to buy weapons to go and kill or shoot or injure FBI agents, police officers here in the U.S. One of the suspects even saying he would try to kill the president if ISIS wanted him to do so.

Buck, how big is the threat to America? BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, the threat is very real

and it's been around for a while. Specifically from ISIS as well as Al-Qaeda and its affiliates that have an actively plotting as we know for years. ISIS has been telling its adherence around the world even though it doesn't necessarily keep lists. It just can reach out to people and assume that those who are supporters may act on its proclamation. And that is to engage in attacks against countries where you are essentially.

Anything outside of the door of Islam, for people in the Islamic state, anything outside that of is going to be a place you can actually target. So what we've seen generally is been a lot more recruits showing up to fight for ISIS than we have people engaged in attacks on various homelands, whether it is Australia, or places in Europe, in Canada. But we're going to see more of in this country I think. And that is something we need to be prepared for. And the FBI, the NYPD intelligence division, counterterrorism division and other law enforcement agencies are going to do the best job they can.

But just based on the sheer numbers we are seeing of those who not only join ISIS, but are supporters of ISIS, someone is going to slip through the cracks at some point. They're talking about attacking, in a way, that even if they have very little training, even if they have very little skill or operational security, if they're just going to get firearms and kill people in the name of ISIS, that's quite easy to do. And so, that's why the FBI realized they had to swoop in, not just to get the individual who is flying, but the other two as well before they can get into the airport or do something else.

CABRERA: And Evan, as you pointed out earlier, one of these men arrested in Florida wasn't necessarily planning to travel to Syria according to the FBI but was financing, was providing sort of support for a network of sorts.

PEREZ: Right.

CABRERA: And so it makes you wonder, are there others that he's in contact with or has been in contact with.

PEREZ: And that's partly what the FBI and the NYPD, the members of the joint terrorism task force were doing overnight. They frankly, they worked through the night on this case after they arrested the one individual who is about to fly out of JFK. They were interested to figure out whether there are other people who were part of this network.

And again, that's part of what's interesting about this case, as it appears to be something transformative here. Because it's something that the FBI has not noticed before, which is any kind of real network, you know, most of these guys tend to act alone because they're afraid of getting found out.

CABRERA: The so-called lone wolf.

SEXTON: This is a cell. This is not a lone wolf. That's the distinction. CABRERA: Yes, that's the distinction.

SEXTON: And now, they're looking for the cluster and terrorism analysis. We have been call that the people that are affiliates that may have known, that may have been spiritual sanctions. So that's a part of the follow-on investigation as well as the possibility of either lone wolves in contact with the cell or additional cells. These are all the moving pieces right now.

PEREZ: And hence, the warning to law enforcement. Because, you know, if the fact that they've now arrested these guys, perhaps there are others that they're in contact with that the FBI doesn't quite know about. You know, they could be deciding to act.

And I'll tell you one other thing that's interesting from the press conference, is the information that one of these guys overstayed his visa. That's going to be something that the government has to answer for because, you know, that is also a big a fear, a big weakness in our system. You know, if you have people who are overstaying their visa and could carry out attacks.

CABRERA: It is an ongoing investigation as they said as well.

Evan Perez, Buck Sexton, thank you both for your insight and expertise.

Now, two of those terror suspects that we just heard about are expected to be in this Brooklyn courtroom this afternoon. We have a CNN crew in court. We will bring you the latest from there once we have it.

Up next, after stories about ISIS spreading and kidnapping more people, now it appears the effort to defeat the militants is working in some places. We'll take you to the frontlines of the fight, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Thanks so much for staying with us as we have been following the breaking news out of New York where federal authorities today charged three men with conspiracy to help ISIS.

Now, Western nations might not be engaging in actual ground combat against the terror group. But they are fighting ISIS at ground level. How? By training forces who have already proven they can win against this terrorist group.

The Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq is one of the groups. These fighters have kept ISIS at bay and a lot of the region here despite suffering serious losses.

I am going to turn now to our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman who is in Erbil, Iraq.

Ben, what kind of training are these Peshmerga fighters receiving?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really sort of a broad range of fairly basic training in some respects. And in other respects, some more sophisticated weapons systems.

Now, this is a program that only began earlier this year, but it's already beginning to show results.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN (voice-over): Kurdish fighters rushed to battle stations crawling to take up positions behind sandbags. Moments later, they opened fire. ISIS is a long way away. These men have left the front to participate in an expanding coalition training program for the Peshmarga. The instructor are from the German army. For security reasons, they declined to be interviewed on camera and asked that we not show their faces. Many of the Peshmarga like 18-year veteran (INAUDIBLE), are no strangers to war. Nonetheless, this sort of modern training makes a difference.

When we returned to the front, he tells me, I'm hoping we'll take fewer casualties and inflict more on the enemy.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, training is conducted by German, Dutch, Italian and British troops. Elsewhere in Iraq, U.S. troops are working to upgrade the beleaguered Iraqi army.

Dutch soldiers trained the fighters in the most basic of battlefield first aid, how to protect and evacuate the wounded. How to tie a simple tourniquet.

Peshmarga units don't have medics. The wounded are simply thrown in the back of a car and, if they're lucky, they'll survive the drive to the nearest hospital. One aspect of training the Peshmarga have asked for says the spokesman (INAUDIBLE) is urban warfare. Foreshadowing perhaps a role in the battle for Mosul. If that battle happens, the worry is that ISIS will sew the city with thousands of improvised explosive devices or IEDs.

Here, the Peshmarga troops are learning how to detect IEDs. IEDs are one of the most deadly tactics used by ISIS. More than 50 percent of Peshmarga casualties and fatalities are caused by the ISIS IEDs. The training program began last month and is already showing results.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The two platoons, we trained them at the frontlines. We got the answer from the Peshmarga, the generals that those platoons are much more efficient than before.

WEDEMAN: And perhaps more deadly.

Here Italian troops are training the Peshmarga on the Pulgori (ph), an Italian made empty tank weapon, a weapon likely to make an impact when they take it to the front.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And the Kurds are hoping that this training in combination with new and better weapons will definitely turn the tide when it comes to ISIS -- Ana.

CABRERA: Fascinating, Ben Wedeman, thank you so much. Live in Iraq for us.

We just got a statement in from New York Senator Charles Schumer releasing the statement after those three men were arrested for allegedly trying to join ISIS, arrested here in New York and I want to read this to you.

It says quote "this foiled ISIS plot sends shivers down the spine of New Yorkers and clearly underscores that we must remain ever vigilant in the face of terror threats. And that funding our national security must be a top priority of the federal government at all times. While details are emerging, it's reassuring to know that the FBI and the joint terrorism task force has had eyes on these would-be terrorists for months. We have the best law enforcement community in the world protecting us each and every day."

Note the mention that funding federal government should be a priority as we are still awaiting some kind of a vote on that DHS funding which runs out on Friday should the Senate and the House not be able to find a compromise here. Much more on all of this just ahead.

Also, more reports that anchor Bill O'Reilly may have embellished stories. What his former colleagues are now saying and how O'Reilly is responding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: I want to stop this now. Those words from FOX News host Bill O'Reilly after repeated allegations that he embellished his reporting, saying he witnessed deadly protests during the Falk Land's war in 1982 and now new scrutiny of his reporting surrounding JFK's assassination.

His former colleagues at the Dallas News station where O'Reilly was once a reporter said O'Reilly could not have witnessed the suicidal gunshot that killed a friend of Lee Harvey Oswald. Now, that account had been made by the FOX News host on air and also in his book "Killing Kennedy" where he writes quote "as the reporter knocked on the door of the (INAUDIBLE) daughter's home, he heard the gunshot blast, the shotgun blast that marked the suicide of the Russian assuring that his relationship with Lee Harvey Oswald would never be fully understood. By the way, that reporter's name is Bill O'Reilly."

I want to bring in Lloyd Grove, the editor-at-large for "the Daily Beast" who has been following this story closely.

So Lloyd, media reports local law enforcement did not put O'Reilly in the same place where that gunshot was fired. How damning are these accusations?

LLOYD GROVE, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, I don't think they're accusations. I think they're facts. He wasn't there. There are phone audiotapes showing that he was in Dallas trying to get to the site of the suicide. Didn't get there until at least the day after. So they're not really accusations. The guy just made it up. So how damning are they? Well, if we expected to get our facts and our news from Bill O'Reilly like we did from Brian Williams, they would be damning. But since we don't depend on Bill for that, we depend on him for his opinion, for his entertainment value and for fighting for the folks, then they're not going to be a career ending thing for him, I don't think.

PEREZ: But yet these aren't the only accusations against him about him embellishing or lying about certain facts of where he was or what he experienced while reporting. In fact, Bill O'Reilly just asked CBS to release the report on the Faulk Lands, in Argentina. I want to play some of this from "the O'Reilly factor" from Monday night and then we'll discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: As I reported accurately, the violence was horrific. Today, CBS News released the video.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE REPORTER: As words of the Argentine defeat leaked out in (INAUDIBLE), thousands of demonstrators began to gather outside the presidential palace but the demonstrators, as many as 5,000 of them, began screaming traitor, traitor and this is the end of the military dictatorship.

O'REILLY: In my reporting, I told it exactly the way it was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now, that wasn't Bill O'Reilly, though, what he just showed, was it? I mean, we don't put him at the scene even though he showed the clip of the video.

GROVE: Well, no one's disputing that Bill O'Reilly was in Buenos Aries covering this riot. You are right that videotape, there were five CBS crews at least on the scene. It could have come from anyone. I think where the problem arose was where Bill saying I covered the Falklands war, or he kept sort of indicating or imprecise or making it up that he was in the Falklands and that wasn't the case.

CABRERA: So he covered it, but you're saying that he embellished what he experienced?

GROVE: He covered the riot. He didn't cover the war. The war was over by the time that riot occurred. Argentina had already surrendered to the British Navy. So, you know, Bill is sort of a story teller. He's a teller of tall tales at times. This is not the only incident of bill sort of, you know, massaging the facts to suit his entertainment value.

CABRERA: And you think that this may have no effect on his success in the future?

GROVE: I'm almost 100 percent confident that the number one personality on FOX News whose program is churning in $1 million a year as a cable program, he won't have a penalty imposed on him.

CABRERA: All right, Lloyd Grove, thank you so much. We have to leave it there. Still ahead, our top story. The three men from New York City arrested

for trying to help and even join ISIS. You are looking now at the Brooklyn courthouse, where they are expected to appear this afternoon.

Stay with CNN special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: This Sunday, CNN begins a special series called finding Jesus, faith, fact, forgery. Now, the reports uncover fascinating new insights into Jesus using the latest scientific techniques and archeological research.

Joining me now is Bruce Feiler. He is the author of "Walking the Bible, a journey by land through the five books of Moses."

So Bruce, we are talking about science and faith coming together here, oftentimes controversial. Has new technology, do you think, been useful in helping us to understand more about Jesus? Has it helped to sort of test fact versus theory?

BRUCE FEILER, AUTHOR, WALKING THE BIBLE: Well, I think it's -- they are trying to turn is relevant to this because they shroud itself was found 700 years ago but it wasn't until 100 years ago that imagery first showed what this depiction allow people to think is actually the face and body of Jesus. But here's an example where science and faith in some ways are in conflict. Because the latest testing shows that the shroud is actually only 700, 800 years old and so that seems to contradict the story. I think it's important --

CABRERA: That it couldn't go way back to Jesus' time, you're saying.

FEILER: Right. But I think, Ana, it's important to remember that the bible is not a work of history. There is this sort of idea particularly in this country that if you can prove that one screw existed, you can prove that the whole machine existed.

The Bible is a work of faith. It is a work of meaning, and that really is its primary function to offer guidance. And you know, look, I have been doing this for many years. You mentioned walking the bible. I went looking for Noah's ark, I crossed the red sea. But I think that we don't necessarily need to prove the bible in order to take meaning from the bible.

CABRERA: Now, the series that we are talking about that we are going to start here on Sunday, it is going to take a look at six ancient relics and whether science can prove their authenticity. You mentioned the shroud of Turin. But you also said there are other items that are under scrutiny.

FEILER: Exactly. I mean, it's important, pilgrimage is a very big business. And 300 million people will go on a pilgrimage every year. I mean, that's a third of all tourists worldwide. So for a very long time, there has sort of been this internal competition. So you have got bones that are related to relics, OK. You have pieces of wood that are the cross, you have shrouds. And so, a lot of people are going to Turin. So Turin is very invested

in this. And the Catholic Churches has balanced -- even Pope Francis hasn't said that it's true, the shroud of Turin, but what he said was that it invites us to contemplate Jesus. And I think that that really is the way to look at this. Not as a piece of proof, because we are not going to find a digital recording of God like some lost beetles recording we can update from the Internet.

What this is a way to encounter. Because the way I see the shroud of Turin and all of these relics is almost like a literary moon rock. Like I'm dating myself on (INAUDIBLE), but the idea was you touch the moon rock, you have a sense of what it was like on the moon. I think to see this allows you to again contemplate the screw --

CABRERA: Helps you to grow spiritually then as an individual.

FEILER: Exactly.

CABRERA: There's value in that.

FEILER: That's where there's value. Because as I said, you know, the bible is a work -- if you and I left this studio and walked through, you know, out through central park, and said to anybody we meet what's going on in your life, we could find a story in the bible, a 2,000 year old document, in some cases stories go thousands of years before that that is relevant to them. That's what the bible can do. It can help us in our own lives. We don't need to prove it. What we need to is encounter it and take meaning from it.

CABRERA: And what I'm hearing you say it doesn't seem like the bible, if you're not saying it's a work of fact, it still can be an individual's truth because of religion. It is not black and white, about the least.

FEILER: These stories, if you took any of these stories and passed in by your editors, they would say, wait a minute, we need more information. They were not writing history. They were writing the story of the people and how they came to be and what meaning they imparts to the rest of them.

CABRERA: Thank you so much, Bruce Feiler for joining me. I appreciate it.

I want to send it over to my colleague, Jake Tapper.