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Terror Suspect Killed in Boston; Nuclear Iran; FIFA President Resigns. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 02, 2015 - 15:00   ET

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


[15:00:02] DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A simple mistake to make, but one with very, very tragic consequences. The park says that it is reviewing its practices, but that the system is flawless if you follow the rules -- Brooke.

Diana Magnay, thank you so much.

Now this:

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news here as we go into hour two. You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Just a heads-up, any moment now, we're going to take you live to Boston. Boston police will be speaking, the police commissioner, Suffolk County DA, special agent in charge, all talking about what happened this morning, this terror suspect who died at the hands of law enforcement.

This just in, new details about this man, in his 20s, who was shot and killed in this parking lot at Roslindale section of the city. A law enforcement official says the victim had been under surveillance by the Joint Terrorism Task Force for at least a couple of years.

Authorities believe he had become radicalized by ISIS and other extremist influences. When officers from Boston police and FBI approached him early this morning, Boston's police commissioner says he turned on them with a huge knife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIAM EVANS, BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: The officers asked again, gave several commands for him to drop the weapon. And, unfortunately, he came at the officers and they did what they were trained to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is one side of this. You have the victim's brother, an imam, saying this -- quote -- tweeting, "Pray for my younger brother, Usaama Rahim, shot three times in his back by Boston police, then dying, his last words, I can't breathe."

With me, national correspondent Deborah Feyerick, and also here, CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, who once was a member of the Joint Terrorism Task Force when she was a homeland security adviser to Massachusetts' governor.

So, ladies, welcome to both of you.

And, Deb, let me just turn to you with the very latest. So, since we last spoke, we know he's been under surveillance for a couple of years and apparently radicalized, among other influences, ISIS.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And that's what an FBI official is now saying, is telling our Evan Perez out of Washington.

What we do know, though, is that his brother is telling a very different story. And he says that his brother, Usaama Rahim, was waiting in a bus station early this morning when he was confronted by two individuals from the JTTF, two investigators, and that apparently he had time, according to his brother and a Facebook posting, to call their father on the phone, because he needed a witness.

Now, the brother makes no mention of this sort of military-style knife, which is what investigators are saying he basically waved at them which caused them to shoot him. But we know that the JTTF investigators did have him on their radar, now we're learning, for about two years, that they were monitoring changes in his behavior, in his activity.

The specific threat it appears was against police officers. And that's information that sort of recently came to light. Why they decided to question him now, it's unclear, whether this was something that was imminent, whether the attack or the alleged attack was perhaps going to take place.

But we do -- or we are now being told that he had two other people that he was in contact with. Whether again--

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Let me cut you off. Forgive me. Let's go live to the news conference happening now in Boston. We will all listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

EVANS: And FBI agent in charge of the Boston area, Vince Lisi.

At approximately 7:18 today, our officers, in conjunction with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, were involved in a surveillance of a known suspect wanted for some terrorist-related information that we had received.

As a result of that information, our officers approached the individual for questioning. The officers were unarmed. They haven't had their hadn't had their guns out. At that point, the suspect in question came at the officers.

We have video depicting this individual coming at officers while the officers are retreating. The individual in question had a -- what can be described as a large military knife. The officers retreating, and that's from the video we have available, as well as witnesses' account.

And they kept retreating, verbally giving commands to drop the weapon, drop the weapon. And, at some point, the individual, proximity came close that the officers were in danger. Their lives were in danger. And then two officers discharged their weapons.

The individual, from what I understand initially, is -- has been obviously deceased. He was hit with what we believe two shots, one to the torso and one to the abdomen.

[15:05:05]

He's been identified as Usaama Rahim, a 26-year-old male who resides in Roslindale. Again, it's an active investigation. We really can't go into too much detail. Again, it's an investigation that's been going on for some time by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

And, again, I have always said it's a difficult part of our job when we have to take a life. But, clearly, in these circumstances, both the FBI and Boston police did everything they could possibly do to get this individual to drop his knife. And, at some point, unfortunately, we had to take his life.

So, at that point, I'm going to turn it over to district attorney Dan Conley, who is going to answer questions about the death investigation. And then FBI Director Vince Lisi is going to entertain some questions regarding the FBI's role. And then we will open it up to some questions. OK?

And this is the knife that was used. And I can put it up here.

I don't know how -- Michael, you want to hold that? That's the particular knife that the officers were retreating and was recovered from the scene.

DAN CONLEY, SUFFOLK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thank you very much, Commissioner.

As Commissioner Evans mentioned, my name is Dan Conley. I'm the district attorney here in Suffolk County.

Whenever there is a sudden or unnatural death that occurs in Suffolk County, assistant district attorneys respond to the scene as well, and conduct an investigation. It is our role to direct in these investigations. And this is no different, whether it's a police- involved shooting or otherwise.

So, this morning, shortly after the incident occurred, of course, we did respond. I responded myself to the scene and began the investigation into the death of the individual who expired in Roslindale earlier this morning.

Our role, the role of the district attorney is to determine whether or not the law enforcement officers involved who exercised in this case deadly force did so with justification, either in self-defense or in defense of others. Well, that investigation is just beginning. I have assigned my first

assistant district attorney, Patrick Haggan, to lead that investigation along with the Boston Police Firearms Discharge Investigation Team under the direction of Superintendent Greg Long and Deputy Superintendent John Brown.

I have every confidence that they will do an excellent investigation, along with assistant DA Pat Haggan and Ed Zabin. I also want to thank special agent in charge Vincent Lisi. This morning, when I arrived at the scene--

BALDWIN: OK. We're going to pull away there this. But we have been listening here to the police commissioner. This is the DA speaking there in Boston, talking about what happened this morning, specifically also showing the picture. This is the first time we have seen this image of this large military-style knife that the Joint Terrorism Task Force was confronted with this morning at this bus stop when ultimately they shot and killed the suspect.

He's been named as Usaama Rahim, 26 years of age, from Roslindale there in the Boston area.

I have got Juliette Kayyem with me and Deborah Feyerick.

Juliette, let me just go to you, because when you're listening to all of this and hearing from Deborah's report saying that he has been -- he had been under surveillance for two years from, you know, a group that you used to work under the Joint Terrorism Task Force, what has to happen for the task force to go from surveying someone to showing up at a bus stop at 7:00 in the morning wanting to question an individual?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Brooke, that's a great question. And that is what is so unique about this.

So, take away the death right now. It is very, very rare for the Boston police and the FBI to do a sort on-foot surveillance together. It means that they had enough evidence, both jurisdictions, local, as well as federal, both jurisdictions had some capability to bring a case against him and that's why the surveillance was occurring.

So, it would be additional. It would be a lot of information had come in to suggest he was going to do something imminent or close to imminent. And that's why they were following him. The standards are not excessively high, but there are standards to begin an investigation like this.

So this is unique, in the sense that they were clearly watching someone who they had concerns with. There's also some media reports here that in the last two or three weeks, the investigation of him really sort of ticked up, although he may have been on a number -- on a list for the last two years.

[15:10:00]

If that's true -- and I'm just looking at the calendar here. So, it's just something to be aware of. If that's true, that means that it -- that they are sort of -- additional surveillance of him was aligned with the Tsarnaev trial, the trial that just ended about three weeks ago with the death penalty sentence.

So, that's something like that someone like me on the outside, who knows the inner workings, is looking at, is, what sort of triggered this approach this morning? I can't tell from the picture how long the knife was. And I did not hear the very good and competent Commissioner Evans say what the length of the knife was.

But that's going to be relevant, too, in terms of whether the police officers felt like they were under threat.

BALDWIN: Yes. And you made a point about Tsarnaev, which is sort of an interesting tangential detail that I wanted to get to Deb in just a second.

But, Juliette, let me just stay with you, because, obviously, they weren't just looking at him. According to our reporting from Evan Perez out of D.C., they were also looking at two other individuals, two associates who were also apparently radicalized by ISIS or other extremist elements.

So, if you have these joint terrorism task folks, coming in to question this man, what -- what about the other two as this is happening simultaneously this morning?

KAYYEM: They -- my guess would be, at least in a good investigation, is that all three of these were being at least surveyed simultaneously, and that the moment that the incident occurred this morning, because we simply don't know what triggered their interaction.

BALDWIN: Right.

KAYYEM: Was it purposeful or was it just a series of events?

That the other two sort of suspects were immediately either contacted or surveyed, so I have to assume they either have been contacted or that they are under surveillance right now.

BALDWIN: And finally to you, Deb, as we were just talking, so this man, Usaama Rahim, his brother is a well-known imam in the Boston area who we have talked to at CNN.

FEYERICK: Well, that's exactly right. And he posted very quickly on Facebook, but also on Twitter, asking people to support his brother, who is now deceased.

But this is a man, this Imam Ibrahim Rahim, he was known to the Islamic Society of Boston. I spoke to them. They say they want answers as much as anybody else. But this is a man who actually, after the marathon bombing in 2013, he came out and said that he and other imams would refuse to officiate at Tamerlan Tsarnaev's funeral--

BALDWIN: Funeral. FEYERICK: -- because what he did was so abhorrent to them and so abhorrent to the tenets of Islam that no self-respecting imam would come out and actually officiate at this funeral. And, as you know, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was buried in effectively a potter's field. Nobody wanted to take him.

But so the brother is supporting this man, Usaama Rahim. We don't know whether the three individuals were actually conspiring, whether they were actively and aggressively talking online, and whether they had gone, in the words of the FBI and law enforcement, operational. So the big unknown, is as Juliette says, was this an accidental encounter, where they went to talk to him and he turned, or--

BALDWIN: Was there a very specific--

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: -- was there a specific sort of arrest that about to be negotiated? And we really don't have those details right now.

BALDWIN: OK. All right.

Well, thank you very much, Deborah Feyerick. I know you will get them.

And, Juliette Kayyem, thank you as well.

I have more breaking news on this Tuesday here, bombshell on the world's most popular sport, as this explosive corruption scandal unravels. The man in charge who was just reelected, by the way, for the fifth term, he is out. Hear why.

Plus, the race to save survivors trapped inside this cruise ship, rescue crews hearing the cries for help from people really on what they considered this trip of a lifetime. We will take you there.

And the U.S. says Iran had frozen its nuclear stockpile through the negotiations over its program, but, surprise, apparently, inspectors say the stockpile has increased. It's bigger, a lot bigger. We will give those details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:17:55]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BALDWIN: More breaking news this afternoon here. We are going to go to the Pentagon for this, because there's a new stunning development in the big live anthrax shipping accident.

So, let me go to Barbara Starr, who can tell us exactly what this latest turn of events looks like -- Barbara.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Brooke. CNN has just learned exclusively the Pentagon now investigating

whether it, the Department of Defense here in the Pentagon, accidentally, inadvertently received a live shipment of anthrax.

As part of this overall investigation, let's regroup here. There were three shipments. They were supposed to be dead anthrax that went to 12 states and three countries and about 30 different facilities. In the last several minutes, CNN has learned exclusively the Pentagon police force, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency, the cops that protect everyone at the Pentagon, they are on the list of facilities that received a suspect shipment.

Now they have to go back, they have to test it and determine once and for all did they inadvertently get live anthrax here at the Pentagon or was it dead anthrax, as it was supposed to be? The big problem is the original batch did test live. Now everything has to be gone back through. You might ask yourself, why would the Pentagon police force even have anthrax?

Well, apparently, they regularly get these shipments of the dead anthrax. They use it to calibrate the chem biodetection equipment they have here around the Pentagon as part of the levels of protection here in this building.

But now they are on the list, the Pentagon police agency, as one of the places where they have to go back now, one of at least 30 places around the country, plus Australia, Canada, and South Korea, concern that they inadvertently got live anthrax from Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, rather than the dead anthrax they were supposed to get shipped.

Look, the Defense Department says, officially, there is no threat to public health because all of this was under so-called controlled circumstances. But they will also tell you, Brooke, they are just simply not sure what they're dealing with. They think 12 states and three countries, these numbers are going to grow. They have to test everything because they don't know what the problem is.

[15:20:17]

They don't know how this happened. And they have not, to be clear, been very forthcoming with public information. The work force, the military here at the Pentagon, the civilian work force, the news media that works in this building, nobody has yet been informed formally that the shipment that came to the Pentagon is one of the shipments being investigated -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: Barbara Starr on it for us, Barbara, thank you.

STARR: Sure.

BALDWIN: More breaking news here. Amid this explosive corruption scandal, FIFA president Sepp Blatter resigning as the head of the world's most popular sport. This comes just days after the chief of world soccer's governing body was narrowly reelected to his position for the fifth time. And CNN has just learned, even though Swiss authorities say Blatter

isn't under investigation, U.S. officials say the FBI corruption investigation continues; 14 people have been accused of racketeering, wire fraud and money laundering, conspiracy. Blatter is not one of those arrested or facing charges. Let's be clear.

Let me bring in sports attorney Brian Socolow.

So, first of all, when you hear about this as it pertains to the chief of all of soccer right around the world, there have been a lot of -- there's been a lot of talk of scandal for years. But to hear that he is all of a sudden stepping down, surprise?

BRIAN SOCOLOW, SPORTS ATTORNEY: It is a surprise. He could have stepped down before he got reelected, but he didn't. Something must have happened between the time--

BALDWIN: Over the course of the weekend?

SOCOLOW: Over the course of the weekend.

It could be that prosecutors in the U.S. or in Switzerland came to him and said, we have more damaging information that implicates you directly. He may have learned that. It may have been the sponsors that lined up and said, Sepp, it's time for you to go. We don't want our brands to be tarnished with by association with what seems to be a criminal, corrupt enterprise. And you need to leave before our brands get hurt.

So, something must have happened. It's a drastic step for him to resign at this point.

BALDWIN: But, again, no charges. Obviously, that could change, depending on what they find, right?

SOCOLOW: That's right.

It's still probably somewhat early in the investigation that the prosecutors have under way here in the United States, certainly in Switzerland. They could learn more information. And one thing that you often see is, in a situation like this, prosecutors will demand a resignation of an official like this as part of some type of plea bargain or as part of their investigation.

We don't know if there have been those discussions that have been going on that may have led to that in this case. There's, I think, a lot more to come here, a lot more information we're going to learn.

BALDWIN: Just finally, can you help underscore how historic or significant this is? Again, we're talking about the world's most popular sport. To an American viewing audience, how big of a deal?

SOCOLOW: It's an incredibly big deal. He's been in power for 20-plus years.

BALDWIN: Wow.

SOCOLOW: He's been associated with FIFA for 40 years.

Just last week, he said, I'm the one to lead FIFA through all this and institute reforms. For him to turn around and resign like that, maybe it's like Richard Nixon resigning at the height of the Watergate scandal, because he realized he had no other way out of it. It is absolutely huge.

BALDWIN: Brian Socolow, thank you very much.

SOCOLOW: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Next here, as a nuclear deal with Iran hangs in the balance, the United Nations report now indicates the country's nuclear stockpile in fact has been growing in the middle of these critical negotiations. I have got Jim Sciutto standing by. He will join me with his brand-new reporting on that coming up.

Also, Caitlyn Jenner already breaking all kinds of records, especially on Twitter. She now has more than two million followers a day after her big announcement. So will she really become this face of this trans movement? We will discuss straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:04]

BALDWIN: The world is very closely watching the final push for an agreement between Iran and world leaders over its nuclear program.

We are now down to under a month for the deadline for the deal. But a report out of the U.N.'s nuclear inspectors shows that Iran's stockpile has actually grown. It's gotten bigger while negotiators have been sitting at this table, and not by a little either.

So, let's get some perspective for all of this.

To our chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto.

And what's happening here?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'll tell you, I have spoken to a senior Iranian negotiator. He's part of the team negotiating this deal. And he says that this is temporary. It's a technical issue, that, yes, it has grown, but that by the end of the month, which is the deadline for a full agreement, a permanent agreement, it will be back to the agreed-upon level.

The thing is, just for a matter of explanation, they enrich this uranium, and then by the agreement they convert it to a less threatening form, which is called uranium oxide, and that they're in the process of doing that. When they complete doing that, it will be back down to the same level as when they started this agreement.

Now, the interesting thing here is the State Department backs that up. The State Department spokesperson, Marie Harf, who is senior adviser to the secretary of state, John Kerry, saying that that's part of the deal. They're not worried about it. By the end of the month, it will be back where it's meant to be, and that their levels are allowed to fluctuate within a range over time.

But it does show you that there is some room within the parameters of this agreement to enrich a bit more. And this is one of the questions that makes some of the opponents of the deal uncomfortable.

BALDWIN: Which is why we wanted to ask you about it, I guess, just for that perspective.

And, so, as we were looking at the calendar, as the deadline is at the end of this month, in addition to the nuclear negotiations, there also has to be at play the issue of Americans either being held or missing in Iran.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no question.

I was in this hearing this morning. You had four -- there are three Americans currently being held in American prisons. There's another who's been missing for eight years now, Robert Levinson, who you will remember was a CIA contractor there -- an FBI contractor, rather.