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DHS Funding Battle; Jihadi John Unmasked; GOP Presidential Race; Homland Security Funding Battle; FCC Votes on Net Neutrality Rules

Aired February 26, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. Hello and thanks for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera. Brooke Baldwin is away right now.

A notorious figure of terror now has a name. U.S. officials confirm that the masked kidnapper ISIS features in its beheading videos is a British man identified as Mohammed Emwazi. He's a 26-year-old man who was born in Kuwait. And an activist from an advocacy group says before he was a terrorist, well, Emwazi was -- quote -- "a kind man who repeatedly faced suspicion of terrorism and received unfair treatment by authorities."

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASIM QURESHI, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, CAGE: It's quite hard, because he's such a -- he's a -- he was such a beautiful young man, really. It's hard to imagine the trajectory.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to go out now to our Atika Shubert. She's in London in the neighborhood where Emwazi reportedly lived.

Atika, what are you learning about this man there?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is his last known address. We have knocked on the door of the home, nobody answering there.

I did have a chance to speak to one man who said he did know Mohammed Emwazi. He described him as a polite young man. He said he didn't know him very well, and the last he saw him was a few years ago. But he was very shocked that he would be linked to this video in any way, much less be the man behind Jihadi John.

Take a listen to what some of the other neighbors in the neighborhood here had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a nice area. Everybody mixes. You have got affluent. You have got working class. Everybody gets on with everybody. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't expect it to be on your doorstep.

That's what shocked me mostly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: I mean, you get the sense right there that people are completely stunned by this development. And you heard from one neighbor.

It is a very mixed neighborhood. There are some affluent parts, some working-class parts. And what we know about from his family and where he grew up is that he had a good education from a middle-class background. He actually had a computing -- computer programming degree from Westminster University.

But we do also know that he was flagged by security services. He was put on a terror watch list, for example, and he was put on a no-fly list as well. At some point in 2012, it seems, he finally left the country and his family was visited by security services. They told him that their son was now in Syria, Ana.

CABRERA: And, Atika, I understand that the daughter of one of these ISIS beheading victims, who obviously was just obviously very devastated about that news, is now speaking out about this identity revelation of Jihadi John. What is she saying?

SHUBERT: Absolutely. As you can imagine, this is the daughter of David Haines. He was the British aid worker who was really just -- he was there helping Syrian refugees. And he was one of those brutally beheaded in those videos by Jihadi John.

Here's the exact quote that she gave to ITN News, I believe. It said, "It's a good step, but I think all the families will feel closure and relief once there is a bullet between his eyes," referencing, of course, there what appears to be the unmasking of Jihadi John and his identification as Mohammed Emwazi.

Many people here are saying that they want to see Emwazi brought to justice in some way. But how do you do that when he is in the ISIS stronghold there of Syria?

CABRERA: Atika Shubert, thank you for your reporting.

And for more, let's bring in former CIA counterterrorism analyst Buck Sexton.

Buck, he comes from a privileged background, by all accounts, grew up in a middle-class family, went to college at Westminster University, graduated reportedly with a computer science degree. Doesn't necessarily seem to fit the same mold as a lot of these recruits of ISIS.

BUCK SEXTON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it depends, because if you're talking about senior leadership of a jihadist organization like ISIS, obviously, what comes to mind is someone like an Osama bin Laden with al Qaeda. There are very wealthy. There are very well-educated people that have

filled the upper ranks, upper echelons of sort of jihadist leadership stretching back for a long time. And as we can tell, he's obviously somebody who has some sway within that group.

What I think is interesting here is that there's this narrative that's already being put out there about how this is really the reaction to a grievance that he had because of the way he was treated when he returned home from a trip to Tanzania. And I would just caution anyone to start to buy into that, because the jihadists always have grievances, whether it's U.S. policy or it's the treatment of one individual.

There's always some rationale they give for this. And to respond to what you think is unfair treatment by the authorities by leaving to go join what is a caliphate now and beheading people on video is clearly -- there's a massive disconnect. There's a complete immorality on display there.

(CROSSTALK)

SEXTON: And I would just caution anyone to listen to this group CAGE that really is apologists for jihadists in many cases and in some cases really ideologically colludes with them, seems to further some of the grievances that they then build upon for recruitment around the world, and then also people take this to heart and they will join.

CABRERA: We know this guy had a degree in computer science. Clearly, he was a technology man, but yet no trace of him on social media. Does that surprise you?

SEXTON: No.

In fact, when you look at the differences between who gets caught, particularly before they can leave, which jihadists, which would-be terrorists are caught on their home soil, it tends to be the ones that have poor operational security, poor op-sec, the ones that are very loud about what they want to do, the ones that are telling their friends and even new associates that mysteriously appear that have very probing questions about possible jihadist activity. The ones who are essentially dumb with that kind of stuff get caught.

The ones who have a better understanding of the social media footprint that they're leaving, the digital footprint that they leave behind every day, those are the ones that tend to make it there. And that he had computer training means that not only was he probably more aware of the capabilities of security services. He also may have been able, to some degree, to mask his activity online and prevent the authorities from being able to see whatever he was doing. That's a probability here.

CABRERA: And Jihadi John seems to have sort of disappeared from the ISIS propaganda recently. Why do you suspect that is?

SEXTON: Well, I think that right now ISIS has its focus on particularly defending some of the areas that it knows are going to come under assault. And they have this huge surge of propaganda with Jihadi John then of course with the burning of the Jordanian pilot.

And I think we're going to see that again. It's just a question of which captives they have in custody at this time and also what their strategic goals are in the near-term. And there seems to be a particular focus right now on recruitment based on the videos you're seeing. I think they're trying to capitalize off the barbarity they have already filmed and the terror they have already inflicted on the world for the purpose of bringing in as many foreign fighters as possible.

And we will see more of these videos, though. This is cyclical. And I think Jihadi John will be back, unless we can get to him first. That we know his identity now, at least that it's been established, seems to indicate that there's a greater likelihood we might be able to take him.

CABRERA: Why has it been so hard to track him?

SEXTON: Or really take him out, because he's not going to be arrested. If they get him, it would be in an airstrike.

It's been hard because, again, I think he's an individual who has an understanding of what it takes to avoid...

CABRERA: He's smart.

SEXTON: Yes, he's one of the smarter ones. And as I said, the ones that make mistakes are the ones who get caught. He left in 2012. It was much wider open, by the way, to go to Syria in 2012 than it is now. So it was a much easier process. Security services weren't nearly as alert as they have become because of what we're seeing with ISIS.

At the time, it was still more the Syrian civil war or the Free Syrian Army. And people might have been traveling without, for example, Turkish authorities saying this could be a real problem for us. In fact, there might have been some encouraging of this going on in the region.

CABRERA: There were fewer red flags.

SEXTON: Fewer red flags and also a much lower sense of threat from people going into Syria, whereas now we realize that if they're going to Syria, there's a high likelihood they are going to fight for the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra, the al Qaeda affiliate. And so he got there when it was easier.

And obviously now he's managed to make his way up the ranks through brutal acts of terror videotaped for all of us to see.

CABRERA: Wow. Buck Sexton, thank you so much for your expertise.

SEXTON: Thank you.

CABRERA: Now, here in the U.S., three guys from Brooklyn apparently connected with ISIS' powerful messaging machine. And they are now accused of planning terror attacks like assassinating President Obama and hijacking a plane. I want to show you the alleged ringleader, this man, Abror Habibov.

He ran kiosks at malls along the East Coast. He sold kitchen stuff and repaired cell phones. And in his spare time, apparently, the FBI says he organized and financed an operation to commit murder. He worked with two younger men, a 19-year-old arrested at JFK airport yesterday who hit a travel snag along the way.

His parents tried to stop him. His mom even took away his passport. He still managed to almost get on a plane.

Joining me now, Will Ripley in Brooklyn.

I know, Will, you have visited now Brooklyn neighborhood where these two younger suspects lived. You spoke to a store owner who had hired one of the suspects. What did he say?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Just within the last 30 minutes, We spoke, Ana.

And he revealed some very interesting and new details about this 24- year-old who went by Abdurasul, Abdurasul Juraboev, the young man who was arrested at his home here in this neighborhood, the Coney Island neighborhood in Brooklyn. The store owner says he was paid $500 a week to be a delivery man for this yiddo (ph) shop, $500 a week, obviously not the financial means that would allow somebody to carry out the kind of terrorist acts that these -- that this young man is accused of talking about online.

We also are told that he attended two different mosques in this neighborhood. This is a predominantly Jewish community, but there are small pockets in the Muslim community. He was a member of that community. But we are told he never gave any indication of any radical views. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZAK KAHN, OWNER, GYRO KING: I had never heard him, not even a single sentence about politics or about jihad or about army or about military or about wars or about imposing.

So, like, what happened to him? He seemed to be a very, very peaceful person. Before, you would see him not really listening much to what he was listening to. But now his headphone would be all time on. Even if he was going to the mosque, his headphone would be on.

He spoke to him Tuesday, Tuesday night when he was finishing his job here. So he said, boss, tomorrow -- Thursday is going to be my last day. Thursday is going to be my last day of work and I'm going to Uzbekistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: Akhror Saidakhmetov, the 19-year-old suspect, lived in this apartment building behind me. You see it's a very simple building. We went inside. Nobody answered the door.

But these are smaller, considered lower-cost apartments in this part of Brooklyn, which is definitely a working-class neighborhood, a very diverse neighborhood. And so it appears, Ana, that what we're seeing here is what we see in cities all over the United States, ISIS trying to reach out and recruit a young man who may not feel completely attached to the communities in which they live, perhaps young men who are seeking something bigger than a $500-a-week job or a simple apartment.

ISIS is making that promise. And, of course, more than 150 Americans have followed, and some of them have died as a result, Ana.

CABRERA: Will Ripley reporting from Brooklyn, thanks.

Ahead this hour, we all want fast Internet. A decision today could have lasting implications for how we all surf the Web. But not everyone's happy about this.

And while the U.S. fights ISIS, the Department of Homeland Security is now less than 12 hours away from running out of money. Will Congress find a way to fix this?

Plus, Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, now seems to be the hot candidate for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Happening right now, I'm going to take you to Sun City, Arizona, really a bizarre scene unfolding here.

You are seeing live pictures of what appear to be llamas or alpacas on the loose and authorities trying to chase them down. This has been going on for at least a half-an-hour, where these couple of llamas have just been on the run. There have been multiple attempts to catch them. And, apparently, they continue to elude the animal control authorities.

And in the meantime, of course, it's a traffic threat. Neighbors aren't quite sure what to do. And hence the reason that this is getting attention of the news station helicopter overhead as our affiliate KV -- VXB -- sorry -- I'm trying to see the letters there -- KNXV -- excuse me -- who is continuing to cover this.

And you see they're corralled right here in what appears to be a field of some sort near a parking lot. Lots of people moving in, closing in on them. Stay with me here as the image goes in and out just a little bit. But it's just a bizarre, a bizarre scene. And they keep getting away from these guys who are trying to catch them. Moving slowly. We will see here if they're able to get them.

But, no, sure enough, that's what happens. I mean, the hope here, of course, is you don't want anybody to get hurt or these animals to get injured, which is why it's so important for them to get ahold of these animals. No word at this point where they came from. But Sun City, Arizona, is not far from Phoenix. So this isn't necessarily a rural area where these farm animals, ranch-type animals are out and about just trolling the neighborhood, apparently, and again outsmarting several human beings in the process.

I'm just pausing to watch with you all at home as we see this bizarre situation continuing to unfold just a little north of Phoenix, again, Sun City, Arizona. The animals are obviously scared because they continue to run from the men who are running at them. Not sure what the strategy is here in trying to get these two llamas or alpacas.

Perhaps they got one because we're only seeing the second one, the black one, that's still out there. Now as the news camera pull back from the helicopter over the site, it actually looks like the other one has escaped. So now we have two separate scenes, two different animals that are running, crossing what looks like to be a busier street. It looks like they have the traffic stopped.

So this is now shutting down roads in this area in the process of trying to capture these animals that are running away from authorities. There he goes. Wants to be free.

Guys, do we have any indication as to exactly where this is? Is this a highway? Is this a residential street? It's somewhat hard for to us tell from these images. Maybe a boulevard? I know we're working to try to pinpoint this specific area.

Looks like streets are open. But there appear to be office buildings nearby, again, this happening in Sun City, Arizona, about 20 minutes north of Phoenix, Arizona, where we have seen at least a handful of people trying to corral these animals, trying to just grab them as they continue to run by. Just trotting through the parking lot like he owns the place.

Again, the big question is, where did they come from? I mean, the focus here is trying to get them. But at this point, we don't know where they came from. It's just outside of Phoenix. We don't know if they were in a zoo, if they were on a farm, if they were somebody's pet. That is all unclear. We're trying to get those details.

And I have to say, I feel kind of silly talking about this, because it's not something CNN typically covers. But it just is such an absurd situation. It's sort of hard to take your eyes off the screen here. And it's capturing the attention of so many because these llamas seem to be outsmarting the many people who have now come to the scene to try to get ahold of them.

We're going to break away for just a moment on this. We will keep watching it, so stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Happening right now, Sun City, Arizona, the llamas have been captured.

Live images right now again north of Phoenix, where you can see these authorities have moved in. They were able to during that break lasso essentially this white llama, the bigger one, and they also have captured the black llama.

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, in fact, responding to this bizarre scene that's been unfolding in front of our eyes -- we have learned that this is a senior living community where they initially were spotted, a viewer apparently calling our affiliate there at KNXV. That's why the helicopter got over the scene.

You can see they have this llama nearby. They have him on a rope, on a tether. They're still sort of wrestling with him to try to I guess get him into that truck perhaps is the end goal here. And the mystery remains as to, one, where they came from, and two, how they got out of wherever they came from. So still some questions to be answered in this scenario, but some good news as far as the inconvenience that these llamas have posed for a lot of people and the resources that they have pulled from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

And, again, they're still trying to figure out exactly what they're going to do.

Let's show you some tape of moments ago when they were able to make the official capture. Watch. You see he just kind of lassos it almost like a cowboy and is able to just stop the animal from running. So, again, an end to this whole situation. All is well in Sun City, Arizona. The llamas have been captured. All right.

Let's move on to an important story right now for our country. Less than 12 hours from now, the Department of Homeland Security could be out of money. Now, this would mean a partial shutdown of the government. In fact, tens of thousands of workers could be furloughed. Of course, the essential employees would still be having to work without pay.

This is a congressional battle that's going on. And the big linchpin in all this has been that executive immigration action that the president took. And a lot of the GOP, the conservative -- really conservative branch is unhappy with this. They tried to tie the legislation together.

Now, today, DHS Chief Jeh Johnson said that he sent a letter to Capitol Hill. He outlined the consequences if they all have to close up shop. And he warned that every local and state official, public safety official, that is, should be very concerned, because, of course, the local jurisdictions, local law enforcement gets money, gets funding, grants from the federal government in order to do training, to implement different programs. And all of that would cease to exist.

More criticism today from the White House on how this is being handled. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Right now, it seems to be an agreement -- a disagreement, actually, but principally between the Republican leader of the House and the Republican leader of the United States Senate. And, again, Republicans made an aggressive case over the course of

last year about why the American people should entrust the United States Congress to Republican leadership. And here we are seven or eight weeks into their tenure, and they're on the precipice of falling down on the job, particularly when -- and that's notable when we're talking about something as important as funding the Department of Homeland Security.

And then the question, I think, will rest with the speaker of the House. And if it's necessary for the president to speak to him directly about how important it is to fund the Department of Homeland Security, he will have that conversation. But I would anticipate that the speaker of the House understands the stakes of this action.

(END VIDEO CLIP)