Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Racist Police Officer Texts; Thousands Following ISIS Online; Markets Up in Response to Jobs Report; Smoke Fills Delta Flight Cabin; DOJ to Investigate Baltimore Police Dept. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 08, 2015 - 09:30   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: So you were saying that it used to be there was a waiting list to become a New York City police officer. Not so much today.

[09:30:03] GIL ALBA, FORMER NYPD DETECTIVE: Now, in New York City, you could just walk in and take the test every day. So, you know, you know, but -- you know, the New York City Police, once you're in a police department, I mean you follow a certain pattern through life and you become ingrained into the New York City Police Department. So it's a mind-set and you do become one.

COSTELLO: Gil Alba, thanks for joining me this morning. I appreciate it.

ALBA: Yes, thank you for having me.

COSTELLO: I'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: All right, we're expecting the new attorney general, Loretta Lynch, to come out and stand behind that podium at any moment now to announce a civil rights review of the Baltimore City Police Department. Once the attorney general gets behind that podium, of course, we'll take you live back to Washington.

In other news this morning, the San Francisco Police Department is under fire after a startling investigation revealed racist and homophobic text messages sent by police officers. Messages like this one reading, "white power," or this one that says, "get your pocket gun. Keep it available in case the monkey returns to its roots. It's not against the law to put an animal down."

Oh. In light of those messages, more than 3,000 cases over the course of a decade are now being reviewed and could be overturned. Let's talk about this with Tom Fuentes. He is a CNN law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director.

[09:35:04] Good morning, Tom.

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: What do you make of this? I mean those are not subtle at all. FUENTES: No. When I hear these stories and cops that sends these kind

of messages or behave in that kind -- it makes me sick because it brings into disrepute all of the hundreds of thousands of outstanding police officers who are not racist, who don't do this. And these cities that don't have an adequate selection program to not select people that have this kind of poor, terrible character or racist thoughts or corruption and other -- other issues like that in their character, I think it's terrible and the cops that do this then make everything else questionable.

You know, we just talked about Brian Moore, the New York City police officer gunned down. You know, that would have been -- if that subject would have been pulling out and if Moore had shot him with all of his experience that probably reaching into his waistband means something dangerous is going to happen and it turned out to be a pack of cigarettes just as he shot him, we'd -- we'd be hanging more for being a racist -- yet another racist white cop killing a black guy. Instead, he's dead.

So that's the problem that comes up when white cops do this, they endanger all the other cops that are out there are decent and good and trying to enforce the law and trying to use their experience to keep their own lives and communities from being killed.

COSTELLO: So, supposedly these racist tweets might affect 3,000 cases. How will the department go about figuring this out?

FUENTES: Well, I think that they'll go back to who these officers are that sent these messages, and then how many cases were they involved in? How many arrests did they make? Were the arrests possibly, you know, judgment calls that could be called into question based on, you know, their racist activities? The times that they arrested a black person or a minority member?

In San Francisco, where I worked for the FBI for many years, you know, actually the whites are the minority there because of the large Asian population in San Francisco. So you do have minority population in a city like that. That city should be as diverse or more diverse than almost any major city in the country.

COSTELLO: San Francisco's district attorney did talk about this. Let's listen and then comment on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE GASCON, SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT ATTORNEY: This evidence by events in Baltimore, Staten Island, Ferguson, Missouri, South Carolina, and far too many other places, when a police officer engages in misconduct, there are significant implications for public safety and for the public trust, particularly in our minority communities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So he's saying this is not just about a few bad apples but a systemic problem across the country. Do you agree? FUENTES: No, I don't think it's systemic across the country, but there

are in many communities it's systemic. And it appears more systemic in some cases just because it only takes a few officers to do it, and then everybody else to go along with it, if they're even aware of it, or, you know, to not report it to senior officers. And if you have cases like that, if this turns out that other officers reported it higher up in their chain of command and nothing was done about it, then that's yet another issue for discipline to be taken against those officers or those commanders that didn't take action.

COSTELLO: Tom Fuentes, thanks for your insight, as always. I appreciate it.

FUENTES: You're welcome, Carol.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the attack in Garland, Texas, ringing alarm bells in the FBI. Now the FBI director is warning that ISIS is recruiting hundreds, maybe thousands of Americans online. We'll talk about that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:01] COSTELLO: Some startling revelations from FBI Director James Comey. Comey saying that the feds warned Garland, Texas, police about Elton Simpson just three hours before that attack on the Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest. Elton Simpson, and a fellow gunman, were shot dead at that Garland event but Comey says the danger is far from over. He says ISIS may be recruiting thousands more Americans online. CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr has more on this.

Good morning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.

Whatever warnings were given, there's no indication that the police officer on the street in Garland, who opened fire on the attackers, knew anything about them or what they were up to. That's the difference between Washington warnings and life out on the street.

Now federal law enforcement officials are saying that Simpson, in fact, did have online contact with known jihaists overseas who were encouraging him to launch attacks. It's raising this whole question again, with these types of attacks, are they inspired by ISIS or directed by ISIS? It may not make much difference anymore with so much of this online activity going on.

And Comey, the FBI director, speaking to reporters had this to say. And it was so interesting, I want to -- I want to read it to everybody directly. The FBI director saying, quote, "I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there. It's almost as if there is a devil sitting on their shoulder saying, kill, kill, kill, kill, all day long. They are recruiting and tasking at the same time."

Militants, many of them ISIS adherents, doing just that, online, in places that are difficult to detect, communicating with people and trying to get activity going that leads to attacks. Later today, in fact, state, local officials will have a private phone

call with federal officials about some of this. It's supposed to be a routine phone call with all these various levels of law enforcement and intelligence. But you can sure bet, this entire issue is going to come up.

Carol.

COSTELLO: I was just curious about what Garland Police are saying about this FBI warning. Did it come in time? Did it help them?

STARR: Well, I think it really goes back to that police officer out on the street. The indications are that they had some warning that this event, this Mohammed -- the prophet cartoon test, if you will, was going to be the subject of protests and anger and possible attack. Whether they knew about Elton Simpson in particular, it seems clear, the police officer out on the street who opened fire on the ground at that site had no idea that Simpson was there. The FBI had been watching him, they had been concerned about him. Not clear that they had any direct knowledge that he had left his home in Arizona and gone to Garland, Texas, at that time.

Carol.

COSTELLO: Barbara Starr reporting live from the Pentagon this morning. Thank you.

On Capitol Hill, the Senate has overwhelmingly passed a bill that would give Congress a say in any future deal with Iran.

[09:45:06] The parties have less than two months to hammer out a deal, but recent progress has hinged on the lifting of Iran's crippling sanctions.

Now this bill would prevent President Obama from lifting the congressionally mandated sanctions whil lawmakers will review the deal and decide whether to fight it. The House takes up the measure next week.

Coming up next in the NEWSROOM, passengers say they thought they were going to die. The terrifying moments aboard a Delta flight as smoke filled the cabin, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Oh, Wall Street is loving their jobs report. Christine Romans is here to talk about the Dow because, what, it jumped more than 200 points already.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's a really good performance here for investors this morning, so a good Main Street number, job creation for nurses, for computer systems designers, for hospital workers, for accountants, that was a really good number. And now you are seeing Main Street -- Wall Street, rather, react as well. So a big rally here, really close to record highs. Another good day like this, you could see record highs for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

So, up more than -- there you go, 234 points here. It started really because of the UK election, though. That was really the springboard this morning, because you don't have a big drawn out uncertain government in the UK. And so overseas, before U.S. markets even opened, you had investors happy. And then you get this jobs report.

[09:50:04] Another thing, Carol, about the jobs report that's interesting is that it wasn't so gangbusters great that the Fed could start jacking up interest rates right away. So some people are saying, OK, the Fed won't raise interest rates right away, but it does show the American economy maybe in the second quarter picked up some speed after a slow first quarter. So all around -- I would call it a Goldilocks day for economic reasons. Not too hot, not too cold, just right. And that's what investors are seeing.

COSTELLO: OK, so that means a happy Friday. A doubly happy Friday. Christine Romans, thanks so much.

All right, in other news this morning, terrifying moments for passengers aboard a Delta flight. The plane forced to land when smoke suddenly began filling the cabin. Passengers recorded the harrowing moments. Michaela Pereira has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You can hear the smoke alarms sounding off inside Delta Flight 2028, the cabin filling up with smoke fast.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was so scared. I started to scream.

PEREIRA: The FAA says more than an hour after takeoff from Ft. Lauderdale, the crew reported smoke in the cockpit and a problem with one of the jet's two engines.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started noticing at a certain point a mist coming through and then I realized the mist coming through the cabin was smoke. I could smell the smoke. Then I looked back toward the rear of the plane and it was dark.

PEREIRA: All 89 passengers were told to put their heads between their legs to limit the amount of smoke they inhaled.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have to take something and do like this. Oh my god.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were coughing. Some people were crying.

PEREIRA: The flight to New York immediately diverted to Charleston, the pilot telling passengers what went wrong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Apparently there was a malfunction in the engine and it had something to do with oil being burned, and they were deciding to turn one of the engines off to avoid the extra smoke.

PEREIRA: The smoke clearing in five minutes and all the passengers are now back in New York safe and sound this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not religious, but I clenched my fist and said, OK, God, I'm with you now. Get us down please. And I promised to be a good boy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: I would have made that same plea. That was CNN's Michaela Pereira. Delta says the safety of its passengers is its top priority. Delta, as you might expect, is investigating that incident.

The next hour of NEWSROOM after this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICH GRIMM, RETIREE: My first jump in 1980 we're over this cornfield in Ohio and it was out of a little Cessna 182. So I was in the plane and there was this older gentleman in front of me and so when they opened the door and he climbed out to hold on, as he let go he went, wham.

Right there, I was in had mass panic and I was is scared and I was thinking this is the stupidest thing in the world and I was holding on with a death grip and he's like, go, go, go, go, and I just let go and closed my eyes and big old round World War II parachute opened up and then I looked down and I was like, wow. This is pretty cool.

My I name is Rich Grimm. I'm a retired firefighter from Ontario, California. Now, I jump out of airplanes. As you get older and running into burning buildings starts to get a little more painful, so I started thinking about changing gears and retiring from the fire department and starting a full-time skydiving center.

Most fire departments have a retirement system. When I turned age 50 after 31 years, I receive a pension. It allowed us to pursue our dreams -- pursue my dream, not my wife's dream, let's say.

During my fireman career I was always skydiving recreationally as a hobby and I realized that maybe I could turn this crazy hobby into a full-time business. And then when I retired in 2010, we started a full-time skydiving center for first timers and experienced skydivers in Ocean Side, California and then we do these once a year exotic skydiving trips somewhere cool in the world.

It just kind of snowballed. It's one of these things I kind of just, no pun intended, fell into.

We're here in Costa Rica. This is one of our yearly trips.

I'm way too young to be this old, I'm not going to move into some senior citizen gated community. I want to be out there jumping out of airplanes as long as I can and having fun. It's a pretty good retirement gig.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:54:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

At any moment now, we're going to hear from the new Attorney General, Loretta Lynch. The nation's chief law enforcement officer is expected to announce a formal investigation of the Baltimore City Police Department. Of course that follows Freddie Gray's fatal injury -- Freddie Gray's death. He died of those fatal injuries while in police custody. And it also has to do with longtime accusations against the police department of excessive force.

CNN justice reporter Evan Perez joins us from Washington. He's covering this. What will Loretta Lynch say?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Carol, I think what you'll hear from her is that this an investigation requested by the community there in Baltimore, not only from the mayor but also the governor of Maryland, also backed this request for an investigation into the police department.

The Justice Department is already there. They're doing an investigation of the death of Freddie Gray to see whether or not his civil rights were violated in his death in police custody. At the same time, last year, the city asked the Justice Department's community policing office to come up and provide some help in reforming the police department, so already there's two parts of the Justice Department that are at work in Baltimore related to the Freddie Gray incident.

And now we have a third investigation. This is going to be more invasive. This is going to take a look at the pattern of arrests and whether or not there is something that the Baltimore police are doing wrong, and whether or not they are discriminating against African- Americans, whether or not they have a pattern of policing that is -- that relies on excessive force.

[10:00:10] All of these things, of course, come into play in the Freddie Gray case, Carol.