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Violent Storms Turn Deadly in Midwest; Memorial Today for Two Slain Police Officers; A Royal Snub?; Journalist Disputes White House Report on Bin Laden. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 11, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't tell me, your (EXPLETIVE DELETED) town has just been hit. There goes the school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now in the NEWSROOM, wicked weather slams several states, and it ain't over yet. The death toll climbing as tornadoes, hail and powerful wind gusts leave a path of destruction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir. I didn't do it. No sir, I didn't do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Plus suspects in a deadly cop shooting in Mississippi due in court. Four now charged in the shooting death of two police officers during a traffic stop. What the family of one of the murdered officers is saying now.

And some are calling it a royal snub. The Saudi king not meeting with President Obama this week. But what's really behind his decision to skip a summit of Arab leaders in the United States?

Let's talk, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with the severe weather that's devastating towns across the Midwest. Violent storms ripping through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First time don't tell me (EXPLETIVE DELETED) town has just been hit. There goes the school. There goes the school. That's my Casey's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) school.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: A tornado blowing the roof off this central Iowa school while at least 100 people were inside. Incredibly no one was injured. In Arkansas, possible tornado ripping through a mobile home park, killing two people and injuring two others. In Texas, a rural town just east of Dallas has been left devastated. A possible tornado cutting a path of destruction. Leveling homes, knocking down power lines, and toppling trees. 26 people hurt in what one official called a mass casualty event.

Meteorologist Jennifer Gray joins us now live from Van, Texas.

Tell us more, Jennifer.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Carol, we are seeing the first hours of daylight here in Van. And you can see the destruction behind me. We have trees and power lines littering the roads. All across this town. In fact, they pushed us back a little bit because crews are now in there sawing the trees and trying to get power restored. Also, cell service restored for a lot of people.

And you can see in the distance that brick building. That is actually part of the school. They still use that part as the gymnasium. However, they have built newer additions. But that one has been heavily damaged. The roof is completely blown off, insulation just hanging down. Everything that was once inside of the building is now just all over the ground, and we also have seen all the windows blown out, as well.

We took a closer look just about an hour or two ago. We also talk to residents here who said the tornado sirens did go off, however it was only about five minutes before the tornado hit. And one lady we spoke with in this house that we're right in front of, she said that she didn't even have time to get in to her storm shelter, so she just had to huddle in her bathtub with her two dogs. She describes it as just extremely frightening, and she was very, very lucky.

Of course the Red Cross is here. We have shelters here. The First Baptist Church, people have been coming together, bringing in supplies. They've also been going door to door to make sure everyone is OK and accounted for. But a lot of cleanup ahead here, Carol, for the people of Van.

COSTELLO: All right, Jennifer Gray reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

For more on the deadly storms in Arkansas I want to bring in Rick Fehr. He's the public information officer for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.

Good morning, sir.

RICK FEHR, PIO, ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: I know two people tragically died in Arkansas. Is everyone accounted for?

FEHR: At this point in Howard County, where that possible tornado went through, yes. It struck a mobile home park near the town of Nashville, Arkansas. As you said, two people died. There were several other injuries, but it appears that everyone is accounted for there.

The one problem we are still having in several locations throughout the state is, especially in the mountainous regions, we've had a ton of rain in the last 24 hours, and we have had numerous reports of motorists stranded in rising water. So that's the main threat that we face now.

COSTELLO: So you have emergency workers deployed now trying to rescue people?

FEHR: Yes. In numerous counties. The latest report I saw came in just a few moments ago from a county about an hour to the northwest of Little Rock. And we had two other reports of stranded motorists in that same general area last night. So flash flooding can be a tremendous threat and that's one thing that we're going to struggle with probably the rest of the day.

[09:05:16] COSTELLO: All right. Rick Fehr, thanks so much for taking the time out to talk to us this morning. We appreciate it.

So the threat is far from over. 57 million people could be at risk for severe weather. CNN chief meteorologist Chad Myers here with more for you.

Good morning, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol. Dozens of reports of tornadoes over the weekend. And hundreds of reports of wind damage, and power lines down, and hail, and they continue right now but the rain in parts of Texas was one drought helping, not drought breaking but drought helping but also flooding. Of course the kind of airport here, south of Dallas, that's 11 inches of rainfall just in 48 hours along the Red River here.

Everywhere that you see white was 10 inches of rain or more in about 72 hours. And it's still raining in some parts. We're going to get severe weather from Detroit all the way down to Texas again. It's cold and dry in the west. Even cold and white in parts of Colorado. Had some snow over the weekend. But here you go, this is the warm air. This is the muggy. This is the frizzy hair kind of day that we're going to see across the deep south.

When you get the humidity down here like we have, we will see severe weather pop up, and right now we still have some strong weather here across parts of Texas. Even though it's the morning hours, just had a tornado warning north of Conroe, Texas. But now I don't think that storm is rotating very much at all. We'll keep watching it. There are still more storms out there that could rotate and kind of rotate down toward or sink down toward Houston later on today. But look at this line of weather all the way from St. Louis, all the

way into eventually -- this is this afternoon, all the way into Detroit, Columbus, Cincinnati, down into Lexington, Louisville, Kentucky, and the rain continues, storms continue as well later on this afternoon. All the way into parts of Texas.

Carol, it just doesn't stop when you get the trough out here and the ridge in the east, it's severe weather season. That's when it happens day after day after day. That's what we're seeing.

COSTELLO: All right, Chad Myers, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, two police officers gunned down. Their families wrestling with heartbreak. We'll hear from one of the officers' mothers. A CNN interview, next.

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[09:10:40] COSTELLO: Heartbreak in a small southern town. Hattiesburg, Mississippi, coming together today to remember two police officers gunned down over the weekend. That memorial service set for this afternoon. Also today, court appearances for the accused cop killers. And two others accused of helping them afterwards.

One victim, Officer Benjamin Deen, 34 years old and the father of two children. He was a decorated veteran of the police department. The other slain officer had less than a year on the job.

Liquori Tate was living his lifelong dream, though. Last June he wrote on Facebook, quote, "I graduated the police academy today. I am now a police officer. I would like to thank God, the police academy, the police department, my family, friends and loved ones. Just last hour we heard from Tate's mother on CNN's "NEW DAY."

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YOLANDA ROSS, MOTHER OF OFFICER LIQUORI TATE: He always wanted to be a police officer since he was young. Playing with police cars, and having Xbox games, and just having a protective spirit. That has always been one of his dreams.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Let's go to Hattiesburg now and CNN's Alina Machado.

Good morning.

ALINA MACHADO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. You know, heartbreak is a good word to use to describe the mood here in this small Mississippi town where those two police officers lost their lives by simply doing their jobs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Curtis, did you do it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, sir, I didn't do it.

MACHADO (voice-over): Asserting his innocence while being hauled into the police station, 26-year-old Curtis Banks, one of the now four suspects in custody this morning, two of them facing capital murder charges in connection with a shooting death of two police officers in southern Mississippi.

MAYOR JOHNNY DUPREE, HATTIESBURG, MISSISSIPPI: You never want this to happen. The men and women who go out every day to protect us, the men and women who go out to make sure that we're safe.

MACHADO: Thirty-four-year-old officer Benjamin Deen and 24-year- old Liquori Tate were shot and killed after a traffic stop ended in a hail of gunfire Saturday night. Police say Curtis and his brother Marvin fled the crime scene, allegedly stealing a police cruiser and using it as a getaway car. Authorities have divulged little else about the timeline of events and any suspected motive, only saying Officer Deen initiated the traffic stop, called for backup, and that Officer Tate responded to the call.

Deen was a seasoned officer who won Officer of the Year in 2012 for his department. The other, a rookie who joined the force in June of last year.

RONALD TATE, FATHER OF LIQUORI TATE: This is my baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I know.

TATE: This is my baby. And that's all I see, is my baby.

MACHADO: In an emotional interview with CNN, Tate's father Ronald said his son, quote, "loved everyone and had a passion for policing."

TATE: He was a guy who was willing to put the risk out there, put his life on that risk. And he really knew the risk, but he thought -- I think my son just thought, you know, people are generally good. And that's just the way he was. He thought people are generally good people, so let's treat them all with dignity.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACHADO: Now all four suspects are expected to go before a judge at some point today. Meanwhile, Carol, it's worth noting that this is the first time in 30 years that a police officer has lost his or her life in the line of duty in this small town.

COSTELLO: Alina Machado reporting live from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, this morning.

Now the capital murder charges filed against these two suspects means prosecutors could pursue the death penalty against them. So let's take a closer look at the legal aspects of this case. For that I want to bring in HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson and criminal defense attorney Brian Claypool.

Welcome to both of you. JOEY JACKSON, HLN LEGAL ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Joey, I want to start with you.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Hi, Carol.

COSTELLO: Because we were talking briefly in the commercial break about how dangerous routine traffic stops can be.

JACKSON: You know, interestingly enough, Carol, from my earliest days as a prosecutor, when the officer would sit across from me and we would write up the charge I would say, so it was a routine traffic stop? And they would remind me that there's nothing at all that's routine about a traffic stop. And even, you know, it's a bad habit I might say it now, and I'm reminded again, but unfortunately, you're reminded through cases like this where you see it's anything but routine.

[09:15:03] An officer stops someone, apparently noted something was amiss, because they called for backup, and now you have two people dead. So certainly a very dangerous job. And you know, now it will move forward where there will be an accountability process and that accountability process starts today in terms of the court appearance when they're brought before the judge, and bail is set and then ultimately a grand jury convenes for an indictment.

COSTELLO: And of course, Brian, investigators will have to put together how exactly this went down because, you know, as Joey said, there was a call for backup. Do you think there was a dash cam video or something like that?

CLAYPOOL: Well, we'll find out whether there was a dash cam video. And we also need to hear the audio dispatch tapes, Carol, to find out, for example, did the officer run a license plate check on the vehicle that prompted him to pull the car over? And why did he pull the car over? What was the cause of that? Did they run a background check to find out who might be the owner of the vehicle? Was it a stolen vehicle?

We need to investigate things like this. And another thing, you know, Joey's right. I mean there is no safe traffic stop. You can't let your guard down. This is an unfortunate grim reminder, too, that when you're pulling a car over in the evening like that, in a corridor, a lot of times it's best to have two officers so there's anything we can learn from this, two officers, one coming up on the side of the car, on the passenger's side and then the other officer on the driver's side so we can always learn from a tragic situation. So hopefully this might happen here.

COSTELLO: The other puzzling aspect of this case is, why did they steal the police car as a getaway car? Why didn't they use their own car?

JACKSON: Yes, well, you know what, a great question. But you know, regardless of them doing that, it's interesting how quickly they were apprehended. Initially apprehending the two and then ultimately getting all of them. And when you look at each charge, remember, as you mentioned, Carol, this carries the death penalty in Mississippi. Capital murder charge for taking the life of a police officer and in addition to that there's the accessory after the fact charges.

So if you harbor and provide aid to someone who commits a violent felony, certainly that becomes problematic. In that you could face up to 20 years for that alone. And so even that charge, the hindering prosecution charge, the possessing a weapon when you're a felon and you shouldn't have one. So there's a lot of accountability to be had here.

And I would think that the police certainly will be very motivated as will the prosecutor to get justice, whatever that means when you have two officers who are dead.

COSTELLO: Right. And just very briefly, Brian, what's going to go down today in court?

CLAYPOOL: Well, Carol, before I comment on that, I thought there was another important point we should bring up. Two suspects had prior serious felony convictions for weapons charges. So I think at some point we do have to look at the criminal justice system there to find out why these two thugs were actually released and on the street. I think that's an important point.

And today I believe will be a bail hearing to answer your question. And I don't think either of these -- these thugs will receive bail. I think they won't have any bail.

COSTELLO: All right. Brian Claypool, Joey Jackson, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a stunning new report alleges the Obama administration lied about the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the raid that killed him. We'll talk about that next.

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[09:21:47] COSTELLO: Some are calling it a royal snub. In an apparent blow to the Obama administration's plan to build Arab support for a nuclear deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia's King Salman announced that he's not going to meet one-on-one with the president in Washington, or attend a Camp David summit with other Gulf allies.

The White House is downplaying the significance of this last-minute change of plans. But others say it's a clear signal from the new leader that he's not happy with President Obama.

CNN's White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski live in Washington with more.

Good morning.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Carol. Hi. Kind of depends on who you talk to. Which analyst is talking to what unnamed official sources here in this game of snub or not a snub. But not surprisingly, both the U.S., and the Saudis right now, are saying this is not a snub. Saudi Arabia is saying look, they have to deal with fighting off the Houthi rebels in Yemen at the moment that this is not some kind of intentional message they're sending.

The scheduling just wasn't going to work. Even though the change seemed to be at the last minute. But what you have here is President Obama inviting these leaders to a summit of Gulf states at the White House at Camp David, and they don't seem to be treating it as all that big a deal. I mean, very few actual leaders are going to attend. And the White House keeps emphasizing how important these relationships are right now.

I mean, dealing with ISIS. The situation in Syria. In Yemen. Regional stability while the U.S. is trying to negotiate this nuclear deal with Iran which these Gulf states aren't exactly thrilled with. So on the one hand I mean you could say, it's a long trip. Some of these leaders can't make it for health reasons. In the case of Saudi Arabia the king is almost 80 years old. He is sending the crown prince.

So everybody's going to have a high level delegation there. And work could get done let's see what happens. But on the other hand, you have people questioning now well, is this sort of sending the message that things aren't going well with the Iran deal? Or not as happy as expected with that. And they want to make that known in this subtle but very noticeable way.

And are they looking for some more military and security reassurance from the U.S. that the U.S. just isn't ready to provide right now? So I think we're going to have to see what happens during this summit. And also I think if there is a major development as it's kind of being, you know, read ahead of time now, with Yemen that would make it more understandable as to why the king didn't want to come right now -- Carol.

COSTELLO: We'll see. Michelle Kosinski reporting live from the White House this morning. Thank you.

A stunning report out today by journalist Seymour Hersh alleging the Obama administration lied about key details of the Osama bin Laden raid. Citing an unnamed retired senior U.S. intelligence official Hersh writes that quote bin Laden's location was given to the U.S. by a Pakistani informant looking to cash in on the $25 million reward also Pakistani officials did know about the raid, and even helped coordinate it.

Also there was no firefight. Helicopters were allowed in to Pakistani air space, and guards at bin Laden's compound were ordered to leave. Hersh also says bin Laden's burial at sea, you know the burial at sea? He says it never happened.

Last hour Hersh told CNN's "NEW DAY" why he says the U.S. lied about the raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEYMOUR HERSH, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: The initial plan was, the plan that everybody agreed to, it would be announced seven to 10 days later as the result of we did a drone hit in the Hindu Kush mountains that separate Pakistan and Afghanistan. And my god, we took a look, there was a tall guy that turned out to be bin Laden. We did a DNA test and the president was going to announce it a week later. Everybody in Pakistan is protected. The generals --

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: So what happened?

HERSH: What happened is the president decided that night to go pub rick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So let's talk about this with CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen.

Good morning, Peter.

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good morning, Carol.

COSTELLO: Good morning. Peter, you wrote the book on bin Laden. Did the president lie?

BERGEN: I mean, the short answer is there's no evidence for that at all. You know, Sy Hersh has had a distinguished career. He was an investigative journalist but I think he misfired with this one. A number of claims he makes in this piece just defy common sense and the evidence that we know. For instance he says because the U.S. and Pakistan, these were collaborating on the hunt for bin Laden, and they all knew that he was in this compound in Abbottabad in northern Pakistan that there was no firefight.

The SEALs just walked in and shot bin Laden. Well, I was in the compound and I saw evidence of considerable number of bullets that were exchanged. We know from two of the SEALs on the raid who publicly said that other people were killed that night. Other shots were fired. We know from multiple U.S. officials that four other adults in the compound were killed. And that's just one example of where the reporting just doesn't make sense.

Another, Carol, is he says that Saudi Arabia was financing bin Laden's stay in Abbottabad which makes no sense at all. After all bin Laden's principle goal the overthrow of the Saudi regime. They revoked his citizenship in 1994. He's their mortal enemy and the idea that somehow they'd be subsidizing his stay in the compound. None of this really adds up. Not to say that there might not be something in the 10,000 word article that's true but as far as I can tell what's true isn't new and what's new isn't true.

COSTELLO: You don't sound like you think much of this article at all, Peter?

BERGEN: Well, you know, I -- you know, I'm somebody who has admired Sy Hersh, and he broke the My Lai story, you know, he broke the Abu Ghraib story along with "60 Minutes." He's had a distinguished career. But this is based really on one source and literally hundreds of people in Pakistan and the U.S. government would have to be lying for years and years about this issue.

And you know, we live in an open society. And when there is a conspiracy like Watergate, people start -- you know, people start talking about it. Not just one person. But number of people. So you know, it fails a lot of commonsense tests.

COSTELLO: You also did your homework on this one. You actually contacted Hersh's main Pakistani source. He's a retired general. His name is Assad Durani. What did he tell you?

BERGEN: Well, Assad Durani was head of the Pakistani Military Intelligence Agency in the early '90s. So that's two decades ago. So it's not like he's super current on the bin Laden raid. But what he told me is that there was no evidence of the assertion that the Pakistanis knew that -- you know, that ISI knew that bin Laden was in Abbottabad. But he said, you know, he could -- you know, he said plausibly it could be so.

But there's a big difference between plausibility and evidence. And so simply having somebody say hey, it's plausible, I mean, you know, anything's plausible. But as historians and journalists we try and traffic in what is true. What is provable or disprovable.

COSTELLO: OK. So my final question, and the thing I found most shocking I don't know why, is bin Laden's burial at sea. Seymour Hersh says that was a lie. Was it?

BERGEN: You know, I have -- you know, I have no idea about that, about that. You know, we haven't seen pictures of the burial at sea. There doesn't seem to be much out there that backs up the burial at sea. It's been said that it happened. You know, maybe this is the time for the administration to come forward with pictures or with evidence. That's a part of the story that's very, very hard to get at because it happened in the middle of the Indian Ocean with almost no witnesses.

So, you know, I -- I think it's a reasonable question to ask, you know, is the story as it's been presented for real or not? But I have no reason to disbelieve it. And I have no reason -- there's been no evidence proffered that it actually happened except, you know, some assertions that it did happen. But, you know, that said, I think the onus is more on people who've said that it didn't happen, rather than those who say it did. Because, right now there is also no evidence that it didn't happen.

COSTELLO: Peter Bergen, thanks for your insight. I appreciate it.

Programming note to share with you, watch Fareed Zakaria's special on ISIS. It's called "BLINDSIDED." That airs tonight 9:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, prince mixing politics and pop in a Baltimore concert for Freddie Gray. Even Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore state's attorney, lines up on stage with Prince.

We'll talk about that next.

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