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Germanwings Co-Pilot Made "Practice Run"; Texas Attack Source: ISIS Role Not "Just Inspirational"; Sources: Gunman Tweeted With ISIS Operatives; Clinton: U.S. Needs Immigration Rules Overhaul; Police Comm.: "Surprised" by Charges. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now on the NEWSROOM, rehearsing mass murder. The pilot who killed 150 people by crashing into the French Alps practiced the maneuver on a flight earlier that day. Details from a new report out this morning.

Also, the Texas cartoon contest gunmen dubbed "keyboard jihadis." Based on their Twitter trail, should we have seen this coming?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is difficult is to respond quickly once he really starts to get violate (ph).

COSTELLO (voice-over): We're digging into their web of connections and why the feds are saying ISIS was more than just an inspiration.

Plus, Baltimore's police commissioner admits cops of part of the problem.

ANTHONY BATTS, BALTIMORE POLICE COMMISSIONER: It was clear the day that I stepped on the ground here in Baltimore that there's a lack of trust.

COSTELLO (voice-over): His plan to help the city move forward as one of the accused officers raises the question, was Freddie Gray's knife legal or not?

Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN's breaking news.

COSTELLO: Good morning. I am Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We start with breaking news out of Baltimore. The mayor there, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, will announce a new partnership between her city and the Department of Justice. That's in the wake of a shooting death of Freddie Gray and the protests that follow. Now, we don't know the details of a partnership just yet, but the mayor is expected to talk about it any moment now. When she does begin speaking about it, we will bring it to you live.

Also this morning, disturbing new details about that co-pilot who deliberately crashed a Germanwings jet into the French Alps back in March. He actually practiced the move on the same day as that doomed flight. According to a new report by French investigators, Andreas Lubitz rehearsed a controlled decent on an outbound flight from Dusseldorf to Barcelona on the same day of the crash, and yes, there were passengers on board.

Here is what he did five times during that particular trip. Look at the red line. Lubitz entered descent information to 100 feet to make sure the flight computer would accept it. These tests only lasted three seconds and happened while the captain was out of the cabin. Later that day, prosecutors say that 27-year-old Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit and took the plane down, killing all 150 people onboard.

Senior international correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is following the latest developments for us. Tell us more.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol. All of this comes from an interim report that the investigating authority, the French authority called the BEA, issued earlier today and the most significant information in that report is the fact that there seemed to have been somewhat of a rehearsal or a tryout that he did during the flight that was immediately preceding the doomed flight that happened later on.

And you're absolutely right. This happened when the captain left the cockpit, and he says that immediately the descent began and then the report reads, and I'm quoting from it right now, "At 7:20:50, the selected altitude decreased to 100 feet for three seconds and then increased to the maximum value of 49,000 feet and stabilized again at 35,000 feet."

This was -- it happened several times, and there were several times apparently that Lubitz selected the altitude of 100 feet as he was bringing the aircraft towards a descent. Now at this point in time, the aircraft was supposed to descend anyway, and that's one of the reasons why air traffic controllers, at least on what seems to be this practice run, didn't notice anything.

The commission then comes to the interim conclusion saying several altitude selections toward 100 feet were recorded during descent on the flight that preceded the accident flight while the co-pilot was alone in the cockpit.

We have been talking so much about how much planning Lubitz put into this, how premeditated this is and this gives a strong indication that there was a lot more planning involved than initially thought, Carol.

COSTELLO: Sure does. Frederik Pleitgen, thanks for your report. I want to bring in CNN aviation analyst now, Mary Schiavo. She's a former Inspector General with the Department of Transportation and now represents victims and their families after airline disasters.

Good morning, Mary.

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I guess the most obvious question, wouldn't air traffic controllers have noticed these practice runs?

SCHIAVO: No, they wouldn't because what he was using to select 100 feet is internal to the plane, it's an altitude selector, and I think what he was probably doing was seeing if the plane would take the command. There's a thought that the airbus is so highly computerized that the plane simply would not let him put in a selected altitude that would be below the terrain he would actually be flying.

[09:05:12] And the 9/11 2001 hijackers thought that about airbus, too. There is some evidence that suggests that's why they picked Boeing. Of course, both planes will let you do it and so he did it in the four minutes that the captain was out of the cockpit using the rear facilities because the front lab was broken.

COSTELLO: I guess, finally, I just want to get your general thoughts on this, because it's so shocking. I would imagine for the passengers aboard that practice flight, they are feeling very lucky this morning.

SCHIAVO: And probably just terrified that that went on when they were on the plane. What is interesting about this is we have so much data, all this data was available and it could have been downloaded. The ability to do this and to download this data both continually from flight or at the end of each flight is there, but there is so much resistance to doing that. And this kind of flight data could provide tracking data, could have raised questions. Hey, what were you doing? Why would you do that when the pilot was out of the cockpit, etc.? But we don't use that kind of data for trend analysis and I think that the BEA will be asking that. How much data should we be analyzing? We will have to weigh mental health privacy against the safety of flight, and the fortified doors against the ability to get in, and that's what the BEA says they're going to do in the next face of this investigation.

COSTELLO: Mary Schiavo, thanks for your insight, as always. I appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Just hours after ISIS claims its first attack on U.S. soil, investigators now believe the gunmen had online ties to ISIS operatives overseas. And while there remains doubts that ISIS actually plotted the attack, one U.S. official says the terror group certainly provided more than just inspiration.

CNN's Kyung Lah has that side of the story in Phoenix. Good morning.

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. What investigators are scrambling to understand and try to connect the dots on is exactly what the relationship was between these two gunmen and the ISIS hierarchy. They are not sure at this point. Were they just trying to get their attention and approval, or was it more concrete, were they told directly to do this?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAH (voice-over): This morning investigators on the hunt for any possible accomplices in the Garland, Texas, terror attack. The FBI scrubbing through the two deceased gunmen's electronics found in their Phoenix apartment searching for any clues that may connect Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi to other terrorists in Phoenix and across the country. But one law enforcement official says investigators did know Simpson was openly communicating online with members of ISIS overseas, and even opened a new investigation into both men in recent months.

SETH JONES, DIRECTOR, RAND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE POLICY CENTER: I think from an intelligence standpoint, what is difficult is to move that quickly and to arrest them when it's not entirely clear that he is going to do it. We have a lot of people on social media that are saying these kinds of things.

LAH (voice-over): Simpson apparently had public exchanges on a Twitter with this prominent: British-born ISIS fighter and a U.S.-born al- Shabab fighter in Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan. Just a week before the attack, Simpson tweeted in reference to the controversial event, "When will they ever learn?" Hassan retweeted his tweet and later wrote "The brothers from the Charlie Hebdo attack did their part. It's time for brother in the U.S. to do their part."

According to U.S. court documents, Hassan traveled to Somalia in 2008 from Minneapolis to join the terrorist group al-Shabab. Court records also suggest Simpson wanted to join the jihad in Somalia around the same time, but it's not known whether Simpson and Hassan knew each other.

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is something that the United States government has been focused on in both issues. Both in terms of foreign fighters as well as efforts that are underway by extremists, including those in ISIL, to use social media to try to radicalize individuals and inspire them to carry out acts of violence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: We are learning a few more details about the investigation. According to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation, the guns that were used in the Texas attack as well as those found in the vehicle, those were purchased legally. As far as what was found in the apartments here, the apartment that they shared, that apartment, Carol, was quite barren, but they did manage to retrieve a hard drive and that hard drive is currently being examined.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Kyung Lah reporting live from Phoenix this morning.

Let's take a closer look at these online ties between ISIS operatives and at least one of the gunman. For that, we turn to terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank. He's also the co-author of "Agent Storm: My Life Inside Al Qaeda and the CIA."

He joins us now from London. Good morning, Paul.

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: I want to show our viewers, again, this twitpic of Junaid Hussain, he's a British recruiter who supposedly used Twitter to inspire violence or at least celebrate it. Tell us more how he is connected to this Phoenix gunman?

CRUICKSHANK: The Phoenix gunman, Elton Simpson, just before the attack, urged his followers on Twitter to follow this guy you are seeing on your screen, Junaid Hussain. He is believed to be a British ISIS hacker in Syria urged them to follow this guy, and in the minutes after the attack, Junaid Hussain starts taking ownership for ISIS. So what the FBI is looking into is whether there was a sudden amount of collusion between Elton Simpson, the Texan attacker, and Junaid Hussain, this British ISIS fighter in Syria. U.S. officials believe he may have been a key inspirer of this attack because of these interactions online.

COSTELLO: So there is another man who may have been involved, too. His name is Mohammed Hassan, and he is an American from Minnesota. He tweets under the name "Miski". He put out a call a week ago to attack the Prophet Muhammad contest. How does he fit into the mix?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, Mohammed Hassan fits in because he was responding to a tweet put out by Elton Simpson where he was referencing this event in Texas, complaining about it a week before, and then this American Somali jihadist with al-Shabab puts out this threat referencing the Paris attack and calling on American jihadis in the United States to do the same, to launch an attack, posting a link to this specific event and then Elton Simpson, the perpetrator of this attack, retweets that tweet, so clearly a week before this attack that there is a link to an attack threat put out by an American al-Shabab member with Elton Simpson retweeting it.

A lot of questions for the FBI. Why didn't they increase surveillance on Elton Simpson, given the fact that this was put out, given the fact that they appeared to be aware of it because there was this joint DHS/FBI bulletin put out referencing a tweet put out by somebody part of al-Shabab. Why didn't they increase surveillance in the week before the attack on Elton Simpson given all this? So a lot of questions for the FBI today.

COSTELLO: And the other question, and I always ask you this, but Twitter accounts, how are these guys able to freely communicate via Twitter?

CRUICKSHANK: What they do is they change their Twitter handle again and again and again, so Twitter may take one of their accounts down, but then they just retweet a new link to a new Twitter account and it sort of mushrooms up again. And so they are able to maintain these Twitter accounts, interact among themselves.

Elton Simpson, the (INAUDIBLE) of this Texan attack, was interacting with all sorts of ISIS fighters online, reposting their stuff. Clearly, it's a big challenge for the FBI because there's a lot of these people around like that in the United States and posting all kinds of threats. But still, I think there are significant questions given the very specific retweet of this threat against the Texas attack.

COSTELLO: Alright. Paul Cruickshank, thanks for your insight, as usual. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Hillary Clinton putting immigration front and center in her campaign. Will it be a win with voters? Brianna Keilar is in Las Vegas.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol. Hillary Clinton called for a pathway to full and equal citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and she slammed Republicans as calling for second class status. I `will have details on the key debate in this election cycle after a quick break.

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[09:17:12] COSTELLO: A new Iowa poll is out and Scott Walker is up. The Wisconsin governor leading among Iowa Republican caucusgoers with 21 percent. And then it's a four-way scramble for second place between Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Mike Huckabee. Physician Ben Carson has 7 percent, and at 5 percent, Jeb Bush is a distance seventh.

If you're looking at how they're trending, though, Walker is actually down 4 percent compared to February of this year, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz trending higher as Paul and Huckabee no change.

Ben Carson and Jeb Bush both taking losses. Bush down 6 percent in just three months.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton taking a stand on immigration, pushing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will fight for comprehensive immigration reform, and a path to citizenship for you and for your family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Clinton making the remarks to this crowd of undocumented Americans in Las Vegas. She went to slam her Republican rivals, saying they're simply not ready for reform.

Our senior political correspondent Brianna Keilar is following the story for us.

Good morning.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

With her remarks, Hillary Clinton really define what this debate over immigration reform will look like in this election cycle, and she positioned herself squared herself with Latino voters who have called for a pathway to citizenship for the more than 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

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KEILAR (voice-over): In Nevada, surrounded by undocumented young Americans known as DREAMers, Hillary Clinton called for comprehensive immigration reform.

CLINTON: We can't wait any longer for a path to full and equal citizenship.

KEILAR: It's a position immigration activist have long wished she would take, and it's far from where she was in 2008, when she did not back driver's license for undocumented immigrants.

CHRIS DODD (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, no, no, you said yes, you thought it made sense to do it.

CLINTON: No, I didn't Chris. But the point is what are we going to do with all the illegal immigrants driving on the road?

DODD: That's a legitimate --

KEILAR: Since then, the growing bloc of Hispanic voters helped deliver the White House for President Obama in 2008, and again in 2012, after he took executive action to halt the deportation of young Americans.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It makes no sense to expel talented young people who, for all intents and purposes, are Americans. KEILAR: Now, Clinton is calling to protect their parents as well, and

end the separation of families.

CLINTON: We should put in place a simple straightforward accessible way for parents of DREAMers and others with a history of service and contribution to their communities to make their case, and to be eligible for the same deferred action as their children.

[09:20:06] KEILAR: Republican Carly Fiorina, newly in the race, slammed Clinton.

CARLY FIORINA (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unfortunately, I think she's pandering. I think we need to start with some basics, you know? We need to secure the border.

KEILAR: Jeb Bush --

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Jeb Bush --

KEILAR: Fluent Spanish speaker, put out a video to mark Cinco de Mayo.

Tuesday, Clinton took on Republicans who support legal status but not citizenship.

CLINTON: When they talk about legal status, that is code for second class status.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Hillary Clinton's position on this issue is really a nod to the changing demographics in the Democratic Party, this growing Latino voter constituency. But, Carol, she may have to bring around some more moderate Democrats and that's why you see it framing it as a family issue as she tries to do that.

COSTELLO: All right. Brianna Keilar, reporting live from Las Vegas this morning -- thank you.

The former U.S. president, Bill Clinton, is campaigning for his wife overseas. While in Morocco, Mr. Clinton sat down with Christiane Amanpour at the Clinton Global Initiative Summit. Christiane asked President Clinton to react to accusations that foreign donations to the Clinton Global Initiative had undue influence on Hillary Clinton's decisions in office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: We had a policy when she was secretary of state that we would only continue accepting money from people that were already giving us money. I tried to re-create that policy as nearly as I can now during the campaign -- with minor exceptions for our health care work, which we can talk about if you like.

And I think they all -- people know that. People -- they understand that an enormous percentage of health and development work around the world is funded by governments and multinational organizations, and they fund us because they think we are good at solving problems and taking advantage of opportunities, but we also have 300,000 other donors and 90 percent of them give $100 or less.

So, there is no evidence -- even the guy that wrote the book, apparently, had to admit under questioning he didn't have a shred of evidence and he thought he would throw it out there and see that it'd fly, and it won't fly.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is that what you say -- it won't fly, is that what you say, it won't fly?

CLINTON: Yes, it won't fly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Christiane will unveil her interview this afternoon on her show at 2:00 p.m. Eastern.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, we are part of the problem -- harsh words for the Baltimore police commissioner. Up next, CNN sits down for one-on-one interview with Commissioner Batts, after six of his officers are charged in the death of Freddie Gray.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:34] COSTELLO: A major challenge to claims that Freddie Gray was arrested illegally. Officer Edward Nero, one of those six officers charged, is now filed a motion demanding an inspection of the knife that Gray was carrying at the time of his arrest, arguing that knife was indeed illegal. We're going to talk more about that in just a minute.

But, first, one-on-one with Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts. In an exclusive sit-down interview with CNN's Evan Perez, Batts reveals he found out about the charges against those six officers just moments before you did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY BATTS, BALTIMORE POLICE COMMISSIONER: I found out that the state attorney was going on and what she was going to present probably about 10 minutes before she went on. She gave me a phone call and told me what she was about to do and that she was going on live. She told me what the charges were.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: What were you first words out of your mouth when you heard that?

BATTS: I don't want to get into that so much. I can say that I was probably surprised, you know, by the information that I heard.

Again, my mind started going to, what is going to be the response in the community and what is going to happen in the community? I went to what is going to happen with my officers? My 40-plus task force was focused on getting the entire complete story.

PEREZ: So, you have 45, 50 employees, and my understanding 30-plus crime investigators who are focused on this case, and then to have them usurped by another office, doing an independent investigation, my understanding, they had four investigators doing this -- what does that like? What does that feel like? What does that feel for your employees?

BATTS: If they could do with four what we did 40, then they're good at what you do. We looked at everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's bring in CNN justice correspondent, Evan Perez, who is in Baltimore. Why didn't the state's attorney tell Batts she was going to file charges sooner than five minutes before she announced it?

PEREZ: Carol, that's a very good question.

I think the commissioner was trying to be diplomatic. He said that the state attorney was trying to keep a separation between her office and hers. But it's clear -- he was not happy. Simply from a public safety standpoint, you want the police department ready to have a reaction, to be able to take care of whatever reaction the community might have after this announcement.

So, it wasn't handled well in his view, and in the view of his officers. You know, they should have gotten at least a little more notice so they can prepare for whatever the public reaction was going to be.

COSTELLO: All right. Evan Perez, reporting live from Baltimore -- thanks so much.

Now, to those major questions over the knife that Freddie Gray was carrying. According to court documents, the attorney for one of the officers charged describes the knife this way. He describes as "a spring-assisted, one hand operated knife, which he says violates Baltimore City and Maryland state law.

So, let's talk about this. CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes is here. I'm also going to be joined by Reverend Jamal Bryant. He's the pastor and founder of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore.

Thanks to both of you for being with me this morning.

So, Tom --

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning.

COSTELLO: Good morning.

Tom, I want to start with you. Does Officer Nero have a case here? FUENTES: I honestly don't know. I don't know what the specific

provision is of the law in the city of Baltimore or state of Maryland on knives, how long or spring loaded or how you classify it. And I don't know what this knife actually was. We haven't seen the knife or heard anymore detail about it.