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FIFA Investigation Fallout Stretching Across the Globe; European Futbol's Governing Body Wants FIFA Presidential Election Delayed; David Webber Discusses FIFA Scandal; How will FIFA Sponsors Reaction to Corruption Allegations; U.S. Military Personnel Undergo Tests Following Anthrax Scare; Iraqi Troops, Sunni Tribesmen, Shia Militia Work Together to Retake Anbar Province. Aired 2-2:30a ET

Aired May 27, 2015 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:31] ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: From Argentina to Russia, to Switzerland, the fallout from the FIFA investigation is stretching around the globe.

Plus, the U.S. military accidentally ships live samples of deadly anthrax to South Korea.

CNN is on the front lines in the fight against ISIS at the Baiji oil refinery.

Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. Thank you for joining us. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

After years of allegations of widespread corruption, the governing body of the world's most popular sport is now facing an unprecedented crackdown. U.S. justice officials are accusing these nine current and former FIFA officials along with five corporate executives of racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering over the past 24 years. Switzerland is launching its own probe into the last two awarded World Cup bid. At a U.S. request, Argentina has begun the process of extraditing three of the indicted executives. In a statement, FIFA's President Sepp Blatter insisted he welcomes the investigations. Blatter is not one of the 14 people indicted but he was investigated. Officials wouldn't comment on whether he has been cleared.

Pamela Brown has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's the largest governing body for the world's most popular sport, soccer.

(CHEERING)

BROWN: And now FIFA has enough people indicted for corruption to start its own team, one the Justice Department says it organized, widespread and criminal. LORETTA LYNCH, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: They were asked to uphold the

rules, to keep it honest and protect the integrity of the game. Instead, they corrupted the business of worldwide soccer.

BROWN: At this luxury hotel in Zurich, Switzerland, authorities arrested seven FIFA officials as they arrived for their annual meeting. In total, the Justice Department indicted 14 officials.

LYNCH: All of these defendants abused the U.S. financial system and violated U.S. law, and we intend to hold them accountable.

BROWN: Among the charges, racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering.

RICHARD WEBBER, DIRECTOR, IRS CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION DIVISION: This really is the World Cup of fraud. And today, we are issuing FIFA a red card.

BROWN: Events like the World Cup help FIFA bring in more than $2 billion a year. The international event draws top players, top tourism, and top publicity for the host cities and sponsors.

(CHANTING)

BROWN: Now the Justice Department says FIFA officials have used that allure to earn a cool $150 million in bribes for more than two decades. In exchange, it allegedly provided lucrative media and marketing rights to the World Cup, another tournament.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FIFA worldwide has extraordinary power. This is uber power. We can make a case that this is the biggest sports bust in history. This is historic. This is monumental.

BROWN: So who is among FIFA's least trustworthy team of executives? Vice President Jeffrey Webb is directly accused of using his position to solicit kickbacks. And according to the IRS, top committee member, Charles Blazer (ph), has amassed $11 million in unreported income.

Accusations of corruption have long shadowed FIFA, including holding future World Cups in Qatar and Russia instead of the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were absolutely shocked. Except then we took a deep breath and everyone thought about the oil and the money and the fact that you could open up another part of the world. And everyone kind of shook their heads and said, well, of course.

BROWN: FIFA's provocative president, Sepp Blatter, avoided charges today and is up for re-election on Friday. But U.S. officials made clear today this is just the beginning.

JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: The work will continue until all the corruption is uncovered and a message is sent around the world that this conduct will not be tolerated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Thank you again to Pamela Brown for that report.

Well, these charges come as FIFA gets ready to elect its president on Friday. Sepp Blatter has been expected to win a fifth term easily. But European futbol's governing body wants the vote delayed. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[02:05:00] GIANNI INFANTINO, UEFA GENERAL SECRETARY: The members of the executive committee are convinced there is a strong need for a change to the leadership of this FIFA, and strongly believe the FIFA Congress should be postponed with new FIFA presidential elections to be organized within the next six months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Alex Thomas joins us now from Zurich with the latest.

Alex, as we heard. UEFA wants Friday's election for the next president postponed. FIFA insists it is going ahead with the vote. Could that change? Why do you think FIFA would want to hold the vote in the midst of a stunning scandal that taints it and raises questions?

ALEX THOMAS, CNN WORLD SPORTS; Good questions. Unlikely Friday's presidential elect, vote will be postponed or, delayed at all. And that's because, UEFA, the European federation, does call for the postponement was already a very public, vocal critic of Sepp Blatter. Its president, Michelle Platinier, thought of standing against Blatter in the election, and thought against it. So hard to beat the guy. Elsewhere in the world he is so hugely popular. We have seen time and again in the run-up selection. Confederation after confederation come out in public, vocal support at the Concacaf, the center of the U.S. investigation that we heard about. You have one delegate compare him to Nelson Mandela, Jesus Christ, every popular figure throughout history. Sepp Blatter is huge. And doesn't agree to the call to postpone the vote. This is part of what the confederation's statement read. "The Asian Futbol Confederation expresses its disappointment and sadness at Wednesday's events in Zurich while supposing any delay in the FIFA presidential elections to take place Friday here in Zurich." And the statement went on to say, Rosemary, they have already put in changes in place to reform FIFA. And they're confident FIFA's ethics committee will get to the bottom of the corruption. Everyone else in the world is saying, hold on, this ethics committee came in, three years ago, Sepp Blatter did start it. This is all happened under his watch. You know seems like the futbol officials within the game seem blind to any wrongdoing that FIFA are doing.

CHURCH: This is the thing. He has been there since 1998. It is extraordinary in light of what we are hearing. In some way he is unscathed. We will see what happens of course with the vote Friday. Because many see this as just the first step in cleaning up a very corrupt organization. What might come next? How big do you think this could get?

THOMAS: This could be a watershed moment for futbol, which is the most popular sport on the planet. Rosemary, you remember what happened with the Salt Lake City scandal, turn of the century, which forced the Olympic movement to complete the reform. All sorts of backhanders going on there as well. Think of the Armstrong doping scandal in cycling, which led to a change of leadership at the top. The question is, that without a change at the top. Can futbol actually change its image. And everyone outside the game is saying no. But it is the 209 futbol officials, mainly old men in suits, it has to be said doing the voting, and they don't agree with the rest of us.

CHURCH: Alex Thomas joining us from Zurich.

Many thanks for the live report.

Now let's bring in David Webber. He studies the cultural political economy of futbol at the University of Warwick and joins us from Coventry in England.

Thank you for joining us.

We have seen, 14 senior officials charged in connection with unprecedented corruption investigation. But Sepp Blatter who heads up the organization has not been charged. What do you make of that?

DAVID WEBBER, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICS & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK: I am not entirely surprised by that. I mean this is a man whose leadership has been very unprecedented, both in sporting terms, but also in politically, as well. Blatter himself has been strategic, clever, in insulating himself from, many of the accusations that have been thrown at FIFA in the past. As a previous correspondent noted, this is somebody who has an awful lot of support from the Asian federations, African federations and, indeed, across large parts of -- of the Americas as well. Blatter, for all the criticisms he's faced in Europe still maintains quite a strong hand, I think.

[02:10:11] CHURCH: David Webber, what does it say about Sepp Blatter and FIFA they plan to go ahead with Friday's vote for the next president of FIFA despite the damage done to the organization. Against the backdrop of the biggest scandal FIFA has ever faced.

WEBBER: Well, I think it certainly says something about Blatter's -- if I can to the word resilience. I have talked -- about his sort of Teflon like nature. Nothing seems to stick to him. He will be fairly confident about winning a third term in office. He knows the damage this will cause to the FIFA brand. In terms of his own leadership, he is fairly confident. I would imagine of emerging from this, relatively unscathed.

I did ask Alex Thomas this question. How big do you think this could get?

WEBBER: Well, I think it has to, certainly has the potential and a lot of European futbol commentators, certainly who hope for this -- this is going to be massive. Just the first of a series of investigations into widespread corruption, financially and proprietary, bribery and so forth. Whether or not that will be the case, still remains to be seen. By picking off key allies in the America's and perhaps also in other parts of the world, that's the best way of going about and sort of really enacting the reform of FIFA.

CHURCH: David Webber, thank you so much for sharing your perspective on this. We do appreciate it.

WEBBER: Thanks a lot.

CHURCH: Crucial to FIFA's feature is how its sponsors will react to allegations of corruption. Some of its corporate sponsors have a history of suspending deals with athletes facing public relation's scandals.

CNN's Samuel Burke takes a look at how some companies are responding to the crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a look at FIFA's top sponsors, Hyundai and Visa, have no issued a firm statement. Gazprom hasn't responded yet. McDonald's issued a firm statement. But Coca-Cola is the strongest yet, saying, "This lengthy controversial has tarnished the mission and ideals of the FIFA World Cup. And we have repeatedly expressed our concerns about these serious allegations."

Now, both Budweiser and Adidas have issued statements saying they expect FIFA to meet the highest ethical standard. They say they will keep in mind, Adidas suspended its contract with American sprinter, Tyson Gay, after he failed a doping test. To give you an idea of what soccer means to Adidas, that company sold $2.4 billion of soccer- related products in 2014.

Samuel Burke, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

#; More than two dozen U.S. military personnel are undergoing precautionary treatments after possibly being exposed to anthrax. 22 at the U.S. air base in South Korea. Military officials say live samples of the dangerous bacteria were inadvertently sent there and to labs in nine U.S. states. The shipments were part of a research project to develop a test for biological threats.

Our Kathy Novak just outside the air base in South Korea. She joins us now on the phone.

So, Kathy, bring us up to date on the current condition of those military personnel affected by this. And also explain to us how a mistake of this magnitude could possibly happen.

KATHY NOVAK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Rosemary, we are told there are no signs of possible exposure in the 22 people who were involved in the training here at the Osan Air Base. Now there is no threat to the public. But the 22 people were given precautionary medical measures including going through testing, being given antibiotics and some cases vaccinations. You say how this happened is the big question. What we know as you say is that a lab in Utah, inadvertently sent what should have been inactive anthrax, but it was in fact, live. It was being used in training. And a lab based in Maryland received the live samples and raised the alarm. It was ones when day here that an emergency response team destroyed the sample being used here. But by then the 22 people may have already have been exposed.

[02:15:12] CHURCH: Kathy, not the first time we have heard of these mistakes being made in relation to potentially deadly substances. Could this perhaps lead to -- tighter precautions being put in place to prevent this from perhaps happening again?

NOVAK: Rosemary, that's right. Just June last year, that Center for Disease Control personnel were unintentionally exposed to live anthrax. There was a big investigation into that. And a report found that there was a lack of standard operating procedures and a lack of oversights in the lab. Now we are seeing this is the incident this year. This involved the military. The military will work with the CDC to see what is going on. All the labs are testing current inventory. People will be asking the questions. Of course, anthrax is extremely dangerous. It can be deadly when it is airborne it scan be used as a biological weapon. How did this happen. How can it be prevented from happening again?

[02:20:13] CHURCH: Indeed. We want answers to the questions.

Kathy Novak talking to us there on the line from Osan Air Base in South Korea. Many thanks to you.

Well, two police officers have been arrested in connection to the discovery of migrant graves near the Malaysia/Thailand border earlier this week. Malaysian officials (AUDIO PROBLEM)

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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Iraq says it has recaptured territory from ISIS on the outskirts of Ramadi. But the Pentagon says no Iraqi forces have entered the city so far. Government troops, Sunni tribesmen and Shia militia are working together to retake Anbar Province.

Senior international correspondent, Nick Paton Walsh, reports, the battlefield extends far to the north.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is just a taste of how apocalyptic it could again at the vital Baiji oil refinery, already choking on smoke. Part of this huge complex is still head by ISIS. The months-long fight here slowed by fears of the ecological chaos ISIS could reach if they scorch and burn here as they retreat.

Iraqi Special Forces took us to their front line, defending the ruins of a house that a coalition air strike pushed ISIS out of.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PATON WALSH: They, from the elite golden division. Their Ramadi colleagues, part of the troops the U.S. said lacked the will to fight.

[0135:00] (on camera): That line of buildings over there ISIS's closest position. And yesterday during a thick sandstorm here, they used the cover of it to advance within 20 meters of here. When the sandstorm subsided, suddenly a fire fight began.

(GUNFIRE)

PATON WALSH (voice-over): We don't know why they start shooting this day, what they may have seen. ISIS are few in number here, they say, but willing to die. And had a sniper nearby. Or maybe they more want to show us and even Washington they very much do want to fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

PATON WALSH: "It's not logical and wrong," he says of the American press, "because anywhere, in Ramadi or Baiji, anywhere duty calls, we fight."

(GUNFIRE)

PATON WALSH: Their gunfire grows, and usually it's mortars that ISIS fire back.

(GUNFIRE)

PATON WALSH: So we pull out.

(GUNFIRE)

PATON WALSH: More ammunition, some American is arriving at their base, but the fight will be a slow encirclement, we're told. The reason we want to surround them, he says, is because we cleaned up the area properly with engineers because it has fear of booby traps.

Plenty here of ISIS, a vital part of Baghdad's new plan for Ramadi, but a slow grind. Mindful that Iraq needs something to live off if ISIS ever leaves.

(SHOUTING)

(GUNFIRE)

PATON WALSH: Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Baiji.

(GUNFIRE)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: For more now on the Iraqi government's fight against ISIS, let's bring in CNN's Ian Lee. He is following developments live from Cairo.

Ian, we are learning about the recaptured territory from is. But at this point, no Iraqi forces have entered Ramadi. What do you know about what is happening on the battlefield right now?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, Rosemary they're trying to contain ISIS from what we are seeing as we heard in nick's report. Trying to -- move slowly because of these improvised explosive devices that can cause quite a few casualties. Also trying to preserve infrastructure. In Ramadi, we are hearing that from some Sunni tribal leaders, they were able to retake the University of Anbar on the southern part of Ramadi. Trying to cut off supply lines for ISIS. They cannot be reinforced. We are hearing though that some reinforcement, supplies are still able to get in from the Western part of the city. But -- if we use Tikrit as an example it will be a very long fight. It will be very slow. Because of ISIS's ability to dig in and hold territory which makes it very dangerous for Iraqi forces.

[02:25:46] CHURCH: And, Ian, we have been talking about the Iraqi troops fighting along side Sunni tribesmen and Shia militias. The relationship has many concerned about possibility fee and potential for tension and mistrust. How potentially dangerous is this strategy of Sunni and Shia fighters joining forces against ISIS. And how exactly do those three work together?

LEE: Well, it's imperative that, that they learn to work together. And that they do work together. Because -- when this is all over, if they are able to kick out ISIS, they're going to have to have some reconciliation with the Sunnis. The Sunnis have real grievances with the central government. Grievances that have festered for years, before ISIS really emerged. So that's going to be, crucial for them to reconcile.

But when you look at the Sunni tribal fighters, there are also tribal politics at play here as well. Some of these tribes are against ISIS for various political reasons they have their own interests as well. And so as the old Arab proverb goes, Arabic proverb, enemy of my enemy is my friend. So right now they're able to work together against their, their common enemy, ISIS. But when we watch the Shiite militias go into areas that are predominantly Sunni, there have bane claims of rights abuses. That is something that is going to be -- we're going to be watching very closely as they move into Ramadi and try to retake the city, as we see the same claims of rights abuses, if we see that they're able to work together and bring stability without much bloodshed to the local population.

CHURCH: All right. Watching that very closely.

Our Ian Lee, from his vantage point there in Cairo. Many thanks for bringing us up to date on the situation.

We'll take a short break now. Coming up, the latest on the unprecedented charges surrounding FIFA. Details on the FIFA executive-turned U.S. informant who helped bring this scandal to light.

We are back in a moment.

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