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D.C. Suspect Due in Court; Bikers May Target Police; ISIS Closes in on Baghdad. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 22, 2015 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:06] ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Poppy Harlow, in today for my friend Brooke Baldwin.

And we begin this hour with breaking news in that D.C. mansion murder case. The suspect is due in court soon for the first time since his stunning capture after a widespread manhunt. Daron Dylon Wint is accused of brutally torturing and killing a powerful Washington businessman, his wife, their 10-year-old son, and the family's housekeeper. He allegedly set fire to their mansion, leaving the four victims inside.

A government official telling us here at CNN that Wint is charged with first-degree murder while armed, and the dramatic manhunt spanned 400 miles. Authorities barely missed Wint at his girlfriend's apartment in Brooklyn where he allegedly fled. U.S. marshals finally nabbed him, along with five other people, late last night in Washington, D.C.

Our Tom Foreman is following this story outside of the Washington courthouse, where Wint will soon appear.

Tom, good afternoon to you. What do we expect to happen today now that he is going to make his first appearance in court?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an arraignment. It's a fairly broad, open courtroom with a lot of people in there, a lot of people being arraigned for a lot of things. He will come in front of the judge there, who will basically tell him what the formal charges are against him, as you cited, first-degree murder involving a weapon. And then he will be asked to enter a plea, whatever he wishes to say about that.

It will also be really the first time we get a look at this guy, which, of course, is really very intriguing to many people in the city who have been absolutely horrified, Poppy, at the crimes that were committed and at this extraordinary chase that went on and ended up with him being captured really just a couple of miles from where I'm standing right now.

HARLOW: One of the key things that we've learned today, Tom, is how much cash was found on hand, right?

FOREMAN: Yes. In these two vehicles, with these six people involved, authorities say $10,000 were found. $40,000 was delivered to the house according to authorities in the course of what they believe was a hostage situation where this money was essentially coerced. The owner, Mr. Savopoulos, was told basically to have this delivered to the house. Nonetheless, despite that, he, his wife, his 10-year-old son, their housekeeper, Veralicia Figueroa, all killed in the most brutal way, the house set on fire. But there was this $10,000 found among these five other people who were with Wint. What that tells us right now, Poppy, we don't know. But a lot of questions about where that money came from, whether it's part of that $40,000.

HARLOW: And we've heard, Tom, for the first time from some of the family members that lost their loved ones in all of this.

FOREMAN: Oh, yes. The family, of course, there are two daughters who were away at boarding school who have issued a statement basically saying to the neighborhood how very sad they are about what has occurred, how they hope that this will bring some sense of peace to the neighborhood -

HARLOW: Yes.

FOREMAN: Even as people share in their grief. And I can assure you, Poppy, many people in that neighborhood for miles share in the grief because it was just such a horrendous crime.

But the mysteries remain about this. Chiefly among them, what about those five other people?

HARLOW: Right.

FOREMAN: Were they involved in any way, shape or form? And I'll tell you, looking through the docket in here, although his brother is allegedly one of these people, Wint's brother, is allegedly one of the people's who's picked up, his name is not on the docket right now. We don't recognize any other ones. So if any of these others are being charged with anything, we don't know what that is now or if it's going to happen at this point.

HARLOW: Right.

FOREMAN: Although we're hoping the U.S. attorney will come out and have a few words to say in the course of the afternoon.

HARLOW: Right.

FOREMAN: Poppy.

HARLOW: All right, Tom Foreman for us, thank you so much. Again, that court appearance just at some point this afternoon we're expecting it. We'll keep an eye on that for you and let you know as soon as we have it.

Well, investigators first connected with Wint and Wint connected him to the murders after finding his DNA on a pizza crust. The pizza crust that was left at the scene. One of Wint's former attorneys says even if that is true, it does not mean that he went inside that mansion or killed anyone. The lawyer, Robin Ficker, defended Wint in six previous cases, none of which he says ended in guilty verdicts. He believes authorities have, quote, "the wrong guy."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBIN FICKER, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR DARON DYLON WINT: I know him to be a kind, gentle, nonaggressive person. Someone you wouldn't mind your grandmother going to lunch with. He's not the guy that did this. I met with him many times. I've observed hundreds of thousands of people in my life, completed 30,000 cases in court. I - when I'm sitting across from a person for hours at a time, I can tell that they're kind and gentle. He was not a mean, aggressive person at all. He was a young man finding his way, a student at Prince George's Community College. He tried to get into the Marines. He was patriotic.

[14:05:05] I've had many cases where the DNA findings have been thrown out of court. We don't know who conducted this DNA and how it was done. It needs to be securitized. Why is the - why are the police letting out piecemeal, little bits of evidence in a Chinese water torte method? They need to conduct themselves in court and not keep talking to the media, trying to brand this guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Well, that's what his former attorney says. Let's talk about it with another attorney. Joining me now, a lawyer who defended troubled clients in the past, Walter Bansley the III defended one of two murderers convicted and sentenced to death in the brutal killing of a mother and her two daughters in Cheshire, Connecticut. You'll remember that case well.

Walter, thanks for being with me.

WALTER BANSLEY III, DEFENDED MAN CONVICTED IN CHESHIRE MURDERS: Thank you.

HARLOW: What's your reaction to what the former attorney of Daron Wint there just had to say?

BANSLEY: I think his point should be well taken. The law requires us to presume a suspect to be innocent. And I don't see any need to rush to judgment. And, frankly, from the information I have, there seems to be quite a few questions regarding the criminal culpability of Mr. Wint. So it seems like everybody should calm down a little bit and let the authorities do their job, let them investigate and then have a trial if that's where we're going with this.

HARLOW: What are the biggest questions that you have?

BANSLEY: Well, unlike the case that I was involved in, you don't have any eyewitnesses. It seems like they have some initial forensic evidence. Just as the attorney said, it needs to be tested, it needs to be analyzed by independent analysts to determine that everything was done properly. And I think there's more questions that need to be answered before we rush to a judgment.

HARLOW: So you don't have also a gun. Let's talk about motive, right? What we do know, according to the authorities, is that we do know that Daron Wint is someone who worked for the company that was run by this CEO who was killed in all of this. We know he worked there. We don't know for how long. We don't know if he was still employed there when this went down. What does that tell us, if anything, about motive, or do you think that that is key in all of this, is establishing a motive?

BANSLEY: Well, establishing a motive in a murder case is always crucial. Jurors want to know why somebody committed an act. But I think in the questions you just asked, they need to be answered before we can make any determinations or come to any conclusions. I'm sure there were a lot of other employees at that company. So I'm not sure at the moment why anything would point to Mr. Wint being involved, at least from the perspective of being a former employee.

HARLOW: Well, I think they're pointing to the DNA on the pizza crust. They're pointing to the fact that he fled. And when they arrested him last night, he was found with $10,000 cash. Obviously that package of $40,000 was delivered to the house.

Let me ask you this. Your client, you defended Komisarjevsky in that famous now Cheshire, Connecticut, case where the family members were held up in their house, the daughters and mother raped and tortured and ultimately killed. The father escaped. You said that that had an incredibly negative impact on your law practice. As you look at this from the perspective that you're sitting in now, what are you thinking about the similarities to this case?

BANSLEY: Well, obviously, this is very similar in a sense that the crime that shocks the very community, and frankly and I think very understandably, the community views this as being a victim itself. That was the difficulty we had and the defense in this case is going to have a similar difficulty, and that is trying to pick fair and impartial jurors that can make a determination without the outrage of the offenses coming into play. Very difficult under these circumstances in a small community because, frankly, most of the - most of the people who live in the community see themselves as victims.

In the Cheshire case, one of the things we had when we asked prospective jurors about sitting and being fair and partial, we asked them, as a result of the Cheshire murders whether or not they had installed any surveillance or security systems. And we had quite a few people that indicated just as a result of that offense alone, they did put in surveillance systems, which was an indication, of course, of the outrage and how the community felt.

HARLOW: Walter Bansley, thank you so much for the perspective, sir. Appreciate it.

BANSLEY: Thank you.

HARLOW: Coming up next, bikers declaring war on police officers after that deadly shootout in Texas. A new warning suggesting that gangs have bombs and grenades that they are ready to use against police officers. Find out how the police are preparing ahead of this Memorial Day weekend. Also, ISIS advancing, getting closer and closer to Baghdad, as critics

pounce on President Obama for saying the United States is not losing this war on ISIS.

[14:09:49] Also, it got many of you talking. A reality television star from "19 Kids and Counting" facing awful accusations involving young girls. We'll talk about that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARLOW: All right, this just into us here at CNN. Hillary Clinton is at a campaign event in New Hampshire. She has just responded to the State Department releasing some of those e-mails, about 300 of her personal e-mails that were stored on her private server. This is sort of the first time that they are releasing a batch of these e-mails. I want you to take a listen to what she just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Well, first of all, I'm glad that the e-mails are starting to come out because it's something that I've asked to be done, as you know, for a long time. And those releases are beginning. I want people to be able to see all of them. And it is the fact that we have released all of them that have any government relationship whatsoever. In fact, the State Department have the vast majority of those anyway because they went to what are called dot gov accounts.

[14:14:57] I'm aware that the FBI has asked that a portion of one e- mail be held back. That happens in the process of Freedom of Information Act responses. But that doesn't change the fact that all of the information in the e-mails was handled appropriately.

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: But to take (ph) a private server, though, do you have some - some concern that it was on a private server?

CLINTON: No.

QUESTION: But wasn't there sensitive information on that server?

(CROSS TALK)

QUESTION: With the e-mails, secretary, do you - are you going to recommend the State Department release all of them as soon as possible?

CLINTON: Yes. That has been my request, Paul. I've said from the very beginning, I want them to release all of them as soon as possible. And they are in the process of doing that. I understand there is a certain protocol that has to be followed. They're following that.

These that are being released today have been in the committee jurisdiction. They were given to the committee some months ago. And now, finally, those are getting released. So it's beginning. I just would like to see it expedited so we get more of them out more quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: All right. We're going to talk a lot more about that on this program. Coming up soon, we'll have Michael Smerconish join me to discuss.

Also this, a new and frightening warning for law enforcement, the potential use of car bombs - care bombs planted by revenge-seeking bikers against police officers. Officers in places and across Texas got that warning from the state's Department of Public Safety, which says even family members are at risk as members of the Bandidos and Black Widows may seek retaliation for Sunday's shootout in Waco that left nine bikers dead.

A source tells us here at CNN, four of those bikers were killed by responding police officers. What's more, the bulletin says gang members may attack police using C-4 explosives, grenades, and Molotov cocktails. That warning is based on unsubstantiated information from an informant, but Waco police had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. W. PATRICK SWANTON, WACO, TEXAS POLICE: The incident that occurred here Sunday afternoon was an absolute tragedy. However, those of you that were there know that we did absolutely nothing to start that. We would ask you to remember that and remind you that although you have totally different ways from us, law enforcement did not start the melee that occurred at Twin Peaks on Sunday afternoon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Again, he's saying there law enforcement did not start the melee.

Let's talk about it with former Navy SEAL and former FBI agent Jonathan Gilliam.

Thanks for being here, Jonathan.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT & FORMER POLICE OFFICER: Good to be here.

HARLOW: I can't imagine being an officer, feeling sort of this threat on top of the normal threat that officers feel every day that they're on duty.

GILLIAM: Right.

HARLOW: Waco Police say they are under this constant threat right now. Where are these bikers getting the guns? Because we know about 100 of the 300 or so weapons that were found were legal, but not all of them.

GILLIAM: Well, so, I have a real issue with the whole way this narrative is starting to work its way out. I've - you know, I've been talking with cops. I've been talking with bikers. And I've been talking with cops that are bikers. They're - when we say these people, if we're speaking about that specific group that was in the - that was allegedly in this shootout, I can't tell you where they got that. I mean the majority of bikers that I've ever met in my life, and I was raised around bikers and I know bikers, they're biker club members. They're not gang members. There are these one percenters in there that do organized crime type of things inside these certain bike clubs. But the reality is, the majority of these people, if they have weapons, those are illegal weapons.

HARLOW: So are you surprised here, and it's important you know, we're talking, when I say these people, I'm talking about the people making the threats, right?

GILLIAM: Sure.

HARLOW: Or the people that were part and party to what we saw play out on Sunday night in Waco.

GILLIAM: Right.

HARLOW: But are you surprised to hear things such as C-4 explosives, Molotov cocktails, potentially car bomb threats against police officers?

GILLIAM: I am surprised to hear that, and I'm also surprised to hear that sergeant that was just speaking there a second ago. And I'm not coming down on the cops, but I'm also not going to come down on the biker community because the reality is, we don't know - that was from a source. We don't know if that's the reality. All the bikers that I've talked to - and I've had some pretty heavy weight people call me and tell me, they don't know where this is coming from. Where is this narrative coming from?

And there's so many mysteries as to who started this. The guy that supposedly shot the first shot, that the witnesses are saying he's gone, he's the one that vanished. I mean there's all these different things that are going on with this investigation. I think when a cop comes out and says - which the sergeant just did - you live a different way than we do, the majority - 60 percent of these bikers are former military.

HARLOW: So how do you - look, it's a fair and important point to make. When you look at any potential - look, there's concern about this Memorial Day weekend, what could happen? Will there be this retaliation or not? Some of the rallies have been canceled. If you're a police officer, if you're in these shoes and owners of these establishments, such as the one where this broke out -

GILLIAM: Right.

[14:20:02] HARLOW: How do you walk that line? How do you police it? How do you keep an eye on it this weekend so the bad elements don't get control?

GILLIAM: Right. I would say this to all the community out there, whether it be the biker community or law enforcement is, just slow down. Back up a little bit. Cops are nervous about bikers, and bikers are nervous about cops. And that's a recipe for disaster. I think everybody needs to look at each other as people who are living their lives and doing their jobs. I think that if the cops slow down and look at each individual as an individual person, as an individual potential threat and take it slow, they'll be able to think their way through these things.

I think also with bikers, if you get pulled over, slow down, don't get in the - you know, don't get a hot head because that could result, as we've seen over these past six months with these different cop shootings, if you react in a certain way it may - especially in a heated environment like this, it may go down a road that is not good.

And I just want to say this about the media. You know, when we're talking about sources and we're talking about this type of a fluid thing where there's this many people there, the reports that are going to come out can actually fuel this. And I - I just think this is something that could blow up into something that it's not. And that's what I'm worried about. This is not a war that anybody would ever win.

HARLOW: And just to be fair here, this is a warning that came to the Department of Public Safety in Texas.

GILLIAM: Right.

HARLOW: And they've issued it to the police officers.

GILLIAM: Right.

HARLOW: Jonathan Gilliam, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Good context. A good, important discussion to have.

GILLIAM: Thank you very much.

HARLOW: Coming up next, with ISIS threatening cultural destruction on the ancient city of Palmyra and moving closer and closer to Baghdad, is the U.S. strategy against the terror group now at a serious crossroads? We'll take you live to Iraq next.

Also, a stunning and disturbing revelation from the family behind the reality television show "19 Kids and Counting." The Duggar's eldest son apologizing over allegations of child molestation. You may be surprised which presidential candidate is coming to the family's defense.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:26:20] HARLOW: ISIS has just claimed responsibility for this. What you're looking at is the aftermath of a bloody suicide bombing at a mosque in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia. Today, ISIS terrorists are continuing their bloody march towards the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. They're claiming yet another steppingstone along the way. First, taking Ramadi six days ago. Now, a town near a major military installation.

President Obama, though, saying, quote, "I do not think we are losing this war." But the maps paint a very different picture. Last year, this was the ISIS presence across the region. Groups scattered across Syria and Iraq. Well, look at it today. Today it looks a lot more like this. A lot more red. A lot more territory seized by ISIS. Across the region, their presence is growing in Libya, Tunisia, and Yemen. And, as for Syria, those terrorists are now apparently in control of half of the country. Half of Syria now in ISIS' hands.

But more now on their move in Iraq. I want to bring in Arwa Damon, CNN's senior international correspondent. She joins us from Baghdad.

Arwa, you know, it was just days ago when sort of any analyst that I would ask, is it even possible that ISIS would threaten Baghdad in any real way, they kept saying, no, no, no, that's completely different, that's completely different. But then Barbara Starr was just reporting last night increasingly some U.S. intelligence officials are concerned about that. What about on the ground there? Are they concerned about ISIS being able to topple Baghdad?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They're concerned about ISIS being able to make its way to the capital and wreck (ph) violence upon the individuals who live here, who have already seen too much bloodshed over the last decade plus. As for ISIS actually taking, capturing Baghdad the way it did Mosul, Tikrit and Ramadi, not necessarily that big of a threat. But that doesn't mean that ISIS is not going to continue to terrify the population here, if it is capable of fully taking over Anbar province.

The aim of the Iraqi government following the fall of Ramadi to ISIS was to try to beef up the presence of its forces and the various different Shia militia volunteer units and try to arm up the Sunni tribes in an area called Habania (ph), that's a major military base. And to try to keep ISIS from taking control of the other smaller towns around it. Well, over the last 24 hours, ISIS did manage to take control of another town and is trying to attack another one as well using car bombs and heavy machine gun fire. So whatever reinforcement the government was planning on sending, either they have not been sufficient enough or they are not able to keep ISIS at bay. But at this stage, yes, the concern is real. But is Baghdad going to be falling any time soon? That is not necessarily a very likely scenario either.

HARLOW: All right, Arwa Damon live for us in Baghdad. Arwa, thank you very much. Appreciate it.

Let's talk more about this with Colonel Derek Harvey, retired U.S. Army and former Iraq senior analytical specialist under General David Petraeus.

Colonel, thank you for being here.

COL. DEREK HARVEY, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Good afternoon.

HARLOW: Let's talk more about what Arwa said, they are concerned, the residents, the innocent people of Baghdad, concerned about the terror that ISIS could bring, even if it doesn't topple the capital, what it could bring if it does enter the city. What would that look like in your mind?

[14:29:44] HARVEY: Well, I think what we're going to see, and I'm really forecasting this unless we really change our strategy and the Iraqi government can adapt more quickly to the threat. Baghdad may look closer to what it looked like in 2006. We could be seeing 100 to 125 vehicle bombs going off every month.