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Stock Market Update; FBI Looks at Cold Cases; Feds Probe Rep. Schock. CNN Poll: Americans Say They're Increasingly Fearful of ISIS at Home. New Signs of a Warmer Friendship Between North Korea and Russia? Aired 9:30-10:00a ET

Aired March 20, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Markets are looking to brighten today after Thursday's losses.

[09:30:04] The Dow dropping 117 points. And maybe diamonds aren't an investors best friend. Tiffany and Company reporting falling sales in almost all of its markets. Business correspondent Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Explain that one to us, Alison.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna.

Looks like Tiffany had a rough recent quarter. Its sales during the crucial holiday shopping season were hurt by weak demand, also the stronger dollar. And, by the way, the stronger dollar is part of the reason you're seeing this volatility lately in the stock market. Just in the past couple of days, you've seen the Dow make triple digit moves in opposite directions. And now, as the opening bell has just rung, we are seeing the Dow back in positive territory.

What companies, especially multi-national companies, are worried about where - when it comes to the stronger dollar, what they're worried about is any revenue coming from overseas, when it's translated back into American dollars, it could look weak. But, hey, if you're going on that European vacation and you're an American, you get more bang for your buck.

Brianna?

KEILAR: I know I'm certainly considering going on some of these trips that I've been putting off for a while, for sure, Alison. But also tell us -

KOSIK: It's a good idea.

KEILAR: Yes. Tell us a little bit about what's going on with these shakeups involving HBO and Sony. What's up there?

KOSIK: So these sort of back room deals look like they could wind up revolutionizing the way we get streaming video. That's if it happens. And that's actually a big if because according to "The Wall Street Journal," HBO and Sony, which, by the way, are coming out with new streaming services, along with Showtime, are apparently talking with big cable providers to try to get their own lanes to stream their services. Basically, I don't know if you have any of these services, but when you upload them sometimes it can be slow. You get that wheel of death showing buffering and you just want to kind of throw the computer through the - through the window.

So the point is, is so if you're watching "Game of Thrones," you can - you can upload it, rather, and go ahead and watch it without any hiccups in it. So by asking for this extra fast lane though it's questionable with all of these net neutrality rules whether or not it's legal. So there are a lot of complicated factors in this, but it looks like it is a part of discussion.

Brianna?

KEILAR: Well, that's interesting. I mean you can rewind or fast forward using those services, but you don't really want to. It's so annoying sometimes.

KOSIK: It is.

KEILAR: All right, Alison Kosik, thanks so much.

KOSIK: You got it.

KEILAR: Still to come, the FBI wants police to take a look at their cold case files to see if accused killer - accused killer and millionaire heir Robert Durst could be connected to them. Why his lawyer says the FBI must be desperate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:36:18] KEILAR: Let's check our top stories now.

Dozens of worshipers were killed in multiple suicide bombings in Yemen. The attacks happened at two different mosques in the capital city of Sanaa. At least 77 people were killed, 200 more were hurt, many of them very seriously. Several senior Houthi politicians and religious leaders are among the victims.

Ferguson Mayor James Knowles is not backing down. He says he has no plans to resign and that he's committed to the job that he was elected for. This vow coming just a little more than a week after both the city's manager and police chief stepped down. This follows a searing report from the Justice Department that found rampant racism throughout the city's police department.

And in India, a train derailment has left 30 people dead, 50 more injured. These are pictures from a scene that showed just a chaotic crowd of onlookers watching as rescuers pulled passengers from the wrecked rail cars. A railway spokesman says the train jumped the track after it overshot a stop.

The attorney for real estate heir and accused killer Robert Durst is firing back at federal authorities. He says if the FBI is trying to link his client to other cold cases, then they must not have much on him to begin with. This after the feds are investigating whether Durst could be connected to unsolved murders in several states. They're also looking into his potential involvement in the case of a missing California teen. CNN's Dan Simon has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As Louisiana authorities have Robert Durst on suicide watch, the FBI is putting out a call to local police departments to examine cold cases where Durst lived over the past 50 years. The wealthy real estate heir has a reported net worth of $100 million and lived and owned property in several states, including New York, Vermont, Texas, and California.

CHIEF ANDREW MILLS, EUREKA, CALIFORNIA: We are certainly interested in any information that may or may not come out of interviews with Mr. Durst. If information comes to us that allows us to further our investigation, we will certainly take the opportunity to do that.

SIMON: One case that has peeked interest is in a small northern California town of Eureka. Sixteen-year-old Karen Mitchell went missing in November 1997. She was on her way to work at a day care center. According to local news reports at the time, she was seen leaning into a light blue car that she may have gotten into. A witness gave police a description of the man behind the wheel. The sketch bearing a striking resemblance to Robert Durst.

MATT BIRKBECK, AUTHOR, "A DEADLY SECRET": Durst apparently knew Karen Mitchell. Karen had volunteered at a homeless center in Eureka, which Durst had frequented, which he had a habit of doing in these different cities. In addition, Mitchell's aunt ran a shoe store in a mall in Eureka and Durst had gone there several times, one time dressed as a woman.

SIMON: Author and investigative reporter Mat Birkbeck wrote "A Deadly Secret," a book chronicling Robert Durst. Copies of which were found in Durst's Houston home.

In New Orleans, meanwhile, where he checked into this hotel using a fake name, court documents also reveal he had more than 40,000 in cash, mostly in $100 bills, a rubber or latex mask to disguise identity, some marijuana, and a loaded Wesson .38 revolver. A law enforcement officer telling CNN he appeared to be on the lamb and planned to travel from New Orleans to Cuba.

Durst was arrested in New Orleans on Saturday and charged with the 2000 murder of Susan Berman, his friend and spokesperson. She was killed just before New York investigators were to question her about the disappearance of Durst's first wife. The arrest coming a day before the final installment of HBO's documentary about his life when he made this alleged confession while talking to himself in the bathroom.

ROBERT DURST (voice-over): What (INAUDIBLE) did I do? Killed them all, of course.

[09:40:06] SIMON: Durst's attorney says not to read too much into those comments and Durst himself has long denied any involvement in Berman's death and his wife's disappearance.

JIM MCCORMACK, BROTHER OF DURST'S FIRST WIFE: I was chilled and actually vindicated but chilled by the - by the open and unsolicited, you know, admission of guilt.

SIMON: That's Jim McCormack, the brother of Durst's first wife Kathie, who says he hopes Durst will finally confess to killing her and others.

MCCORMACK: I'm hopeful that he'll finally man up, tell his lawyers to bug off and he wants to have this thing over and put behind him.

SIMON: Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Robert Durst is not expected to be extradited to Los Angeles on a murder charge until next week at the earliest. He's facing a hearing on Monday in New Orleans where he's currently being held on drug and weapons charges.

And still to come, with ISIS moving closer and closer to Europe, fear now growing here in the U.S. that an attack by the terror group could be imminent.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

KEILAR: All right, we have some breaking news. The FBI and federal prosecutors in Illinois are investigating whether Congressman Aaron Schock broke the law in accounting for campaign expenses. This is according to people who are familiar with the matter.

Let's bring in CNN justice reporter Evan Perez on this.

So, Evan, Congressman Schock had said he's - you know, he's resigning. He will be gone from Congress very soon. But this may have eliminated some ethics issues for him in Congress. But there was still this outstanding issue of criminal - possible criminal issue.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Right.

KEILAR: And here we go. We have a little bit of an answer, that they're looking into this.

[09:45:02] PEREZ: Right, Brianna. This means that his legal problems are just beginning, even as he makes his way out of Congress. We are told that the FBI and prosecutors in Springfield, Illinois, which is his home district, are now looking into these allegations that he misused his campaign funds or improperly accounted for donor contributions and other in kind contributions that he has filed with -- you know, with his - with the federal campaign records. This is something that's still in an early stage. The first subpoenas have just now gone out and so now prosecutors and the FBI are going to start digging in to something that journalists here in Washington have already done a lot of work on. This is something political and other newspapers have published a lot of stories on in recent days, including whether or not Aaron Schock, Representative Aaron Schock, improperly accounted for the reimbursements for the use of his personal car by his campaign. That's something that politico wrote about just a couple of days ago right before the Congressman announced his resignation.

KEILAR: Is that one of the things they're looking into? Because this was one of the most fascinating issues he was facing with the mileage reimbursement. He accounted for it, it appeared, and got mileage reimbursement for I think it was like 100 -- almost 200,000 miles.

PEREZ: 170,000, correct.

KEILAR: Then he turns the car over and the odometer reads like 80,000 miles.

PEREZ: Right.

KEILAR: Clearly the math isn't adding up. He's gotten some reimbursement for that. Go on.

PEREZ: We expect that that's among the things that prosecutors are interested in finding out more about, and obviously there's also how the story all began, which is a reporter wanted to do a profile on the Congressman and found that he had this very elaborate -- elaborately designed congressional office done in the style of Downton Abbey. if you remember, that is how this whole controversy began. Now here we are. In addition to that there have been stories in recent days about whether or not he properly accounted for contributions from donors, in kind contributions, whether he used his campaign funds to take staffers to concerts and so on.

KEILAR: Katy Perry concert. Let's be clear.

PEREZ: Yes. So those are the things that the prosecutors and the FBI are now going to be looking at, Brianna. We expect the story to keep going.

KEILAR: It's a very interesting story. Evan Perez, thanks so much for filling us in.

PEREZ: Thanks.

KEILAR: While ISIS inches closer to Europe with the recent attacks in Tunisia, Americans say they're increasingly fearful of this terror group at home. There's a new CNN poll that found 80 percent of Americans see ISIS as a serious threat to the U.S. This is a number that's been steadily rising since September of last year.

Let's discuss this now with CNN political analyst and editor-in-chief of "The Daily Beast," John Avlon, and Democratic strategist and former communications director for the Democratic National Committee, Karen Finney.

John, I want both of you to jump in on this, we're looking right now, everyone's looking towards 2016. Normally you don't have, I guess, Americans you would say, you know, no one votes on foreign policy. But at the same time, you're looking at these numbers. Americans are so fearful. Do you think that this is going to play into the next election, John?

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I do, and I think it may already have started. First of all, in the wake of 9/11 it's always important to remember that terrorism is always one bad day away from being the No. 1 issue in America. But as we see ISIS spread, and abundant evidence of the evil that they represent, the lack of respect for anything resembling human life, it raises the stakes in terms of foreign policy chops. For example, Rand Paul, who had been at the top of the GOP consideration set and still is doing well in some polls, a noninterventionist foreign policy, article of faith that many libertarians hold, may not square well with the topography of the challenges in the world today. That really could have an effect on who rises to the top in the parties. And it could be an asset for Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State -- former.

KEILAR: That's music to your ears, Karen, I know. How do you see this playing?

KAREN FINNEY, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Obviously, it's a fluid situation. We started to see American's concerns rising about the time we saw the video of the beheadings. It was very interesting right before the 2014 midterms, people didn't know who was running for Congress in their state or for senator, but they knew ISIS. That said to me that people were very much paying attention. ISIS has been masterful, I hate to say it -- admit that, but in the way that they have gotten publicity, in the way that they have demonstrated their willingness to commit evil acts. I think the fact that we're also hearing increasingly about terror cells, we're hearing about this idea of lone wolves, and so people do have a much more acute awareness of it.

[09:50:08] And I do think it will play a role in 2016. It does give Secretary of State Clinton an advantage because she does have a knowledge and an experience with this area of the world. But I think the No. 1 question will be, as people's concerns are rising, will their tolerance for an increased level of American engagement also rise? I think that's really going to be the question.

KEILAR: That's a big question. Instead of looking to 2016, we can look at that right now, John, when you have tourists being targeted in Tunisia, for instance. I think this is something where Americans are realizing, what if this would happen in the U.S.? When you look at Congress right now really split on how to deal with ISIS, how much authority to give the president, for how long to give him this authority, how do you think -- does this push Americans towards wanting more engagement?

AVLON: I think it will inevitably underscore that engagement with the world is non-optional for the United States. We're always safer when we engage and neo-isolationist sentiment, which exists on both the far right and the far left, is living in a fantasy world. The inaction you're seeing in Congress, the impulse to being much more comfortable pointing finger, particularly at the president, rather than getting behind any kind of coherent strategy, that's troubling. You're also seeing it on the campaign trail where presidential candidates are really just waffling, saying I might be in favor of boots on the ground, I might not, it really depends. That's not what we need in a serious debate about an emerging problem in the world.

KEILAR: Do you see, Karen, Americans being more in favor of boots on the ground? Something that really seemed to be something that they said no, no, no recently to.

FINNEY: They might. And/or, I think as President Obama has talked about, there are other ways for our engagement in terms of increasing the amount of weapons that we're providing and increasing airstrikes. There are a whole host of options. So I agree. The No. 1 thing that Congress could do probably to start to ease people's concerns would be to go ahead and give the president the authority he needs to move forward. I also think just in the context of 2016, the fact that these guys are waffling hurts them because people want to hear what's your plan? And certainly for Jeb Bush, I think one of the concerns will be, and I think this is true for all of them, who are your advisers on these issues and are they people that we trust? Again, I think people are going to evaluate both what's the plan and what will the level of American engagement have to be in order to execute that plan.

KEILAR: All great questions. Guys, thanks so much. Have a great weekend. John Avlon, Karen Finney for us.

Still to come with Russia's relations with the West cooling, Vladimir Putin is looking east. We have new details about the president's budding friendship with Kim Jong-un.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:40] KEILAR: Could there be new signs of a warmer friendship between North Korea and Russia? A Russian official says that Kim Jong-un is expected to attend World War II anniversary celebrations in Moscow and it seems that North Korea has accepted Russia's invitation, though there's still no official announcement from Pyongyang about the May trip.

CNN senior international corespondent Matthew Chance is live in Moscow for us.

So Matthew, we hear about this trip. How do we interpret this?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORESPONDENT: Vladimir Putin, you have to remember, has been isolated by the West in many ways. He's facing international sanctions from the United States, from the European Union as well. He's been forced to look elsewhere for friendship and for alliances. He has a growing strategic partnership with China. Countries in South America as well. Now it seems he could be standing shoulder to shoulder with Kim Jong-un. It would be the first visit by the reclusive North Korean leader if he comes on May the 9th to celebrate the Victory Day celebrations here to mark the end of the second World War in Moscow in May. And it comes at a time when both countries are looking to deepen their ties.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE (voice-over): Facing a backlash from the West, Russia is looking east. President Vladimir Putin inviting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to Moscow to attend upcoming World War II anniversary celebrations. A Russian officials says North Korea's supreme leader is expected to attend, but so far no formal confirmation from Pyongyang.

STEVEN PIFER, SR. FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: You've seen the number of meetings that he's had with Western leaders in Europe decline and so the Russians have talked about this Asian alternative, and this is including some outreach to China, but other countries in Asia to try to portray Mr. Putin as not isolated, which in fact is the case.

CHANCE (voice-over): The Kremlin says 68 world leaders were invited to the Victory Day celebrations on May the 9th, but some leaders, including President Obama, have declined. Relations with the West are strained following Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. But recently, Moscow and Pyongyang have been fostering warmer relations. The two countries even declared 2015 their year of friendship. If Kim attends, it would be his first official trip outside North Korea since inheriting the leadership in late 2011.

PROFESSOR VICTOR CHA, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: If he's able to go to meet Putin in Moscow or elsewhere in Russia, this would appear to be a sign that he's completely consolidated control and he's confident enough to leave the nest and go do statesmanlike things around the world.

CHANCE (voice-over): And Putin continues to flex Russia's military muscles. Defense officials saying nearly 80,000 troops have been placed on full combat alert. On Wednesday, NATO jets intercepted a number of Russian military aircraft as they neared Latvian airspace, further rattling nerves among Russia's neighbors. T

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHANCE: Brianna, that blossoming relationship with North Korea is becoming yet another cause for international concern. Back to you.

KEILAR: It certainly is. Matthew Chance in Moscow for us. Thank you.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.