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Boston Police, FBI Shoot and Kill Knife-Wielding Terror Suspect; Interview with Representative Mike Turner; Amtrak Train Tears Car in Half; James Holmes Describes Night of Mass Shooting; Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired June 03, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:02] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

Right now we're monitoring a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee. The topic? Terrorism gone viral. Representatives will be discussing the increasing threat from violent extremist groups like ISIS who are using the Internet and social media to recruit fighters and inspire terror attacks. A timely hearing in light of what's going down in Boston.

Radicalized by ISIS and tracked 24 hours a day every day, Boston police shoot and kill a terror suspect after he lunges at them. Authorities say he lunged at them with a military-style 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, you know, they do what they were trained to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Now investigators are trying to figure out if 26-year-old Usaama Rahim, the brother of a well-known cleric, may have been part of a larger terror plot.

We're also learning that a second suspect has been arrested and is set to appear in federal court later today. What's unclear this morning, why authorities decided to zero in Rahim and this other man when they did.

So let's bring in CNN national correspondent Deb Feyerick and national security analyst Juliette Kayyem. Welcome to both of you.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I'm curious about this second suspect, Deb, who's going to appear in court later today. His name is David Wright. What do we know about him?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What it appears is that he was in touch with the main suspect, Usaama Rahim. Usaama Rahim was the one who lunged at the police officers. They may have met online.

This is sort of a classic example, it appears, of a lone wolf attack. Individuals radicalized by reading ISIS readings and rantings and other extremist propaganda. We were told yesterday by the head of the FBI in Boston that the threat is now contained. So we do know that David Wright, the second person involved in this -- apparently involved in this, will be in court later today.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's go back to this first suspect. And I want to address this to Juliette.

Because you serve on a task force investigating such things. So how did Rahim come to the attention of authorities?

KAYYEM: Well, I had, when I had been in government, as a member of this joint terrorism task force. So basically, look, all joint terrorism task forces are taking a sort of broad view of potential suspects so they're looking at intelligence. So there may be a couple hundred people that are being surveyed at any given time. But I can tell you, as the FBI has made clear, very few get of them 24/7 surveillance.

So there was clearly more information coming in about Rahim that triggered both the Boston Police and the FBI to not only have 24/7 surveillance but to approach him in open yesterday morning. Now -- because most interrogations actually occur at someone's home or office because you want a confined space. So there are aspects to this case, to what unfolded yesterday, that make you believe, that make me believe, that there was something that triggered this that they were worried about something happening relatively soon.

COSTELLO: And we know he was posting some kind of threats on social media, on his Facebook page, right, Deborah? The type of knife that he was carrying intrigues me and have also intrigued Tom Fuentes to be honest with you.

FEYERICK: Right.

COSTELLO: Right? So I want to show our viewers a picture of this knife.

FEYERICK: Sure.

COSTELLO: It was a huge knife and it seems to be the exact kind of knife that ISIS guy used to behead hostages. What does that say?

FEYERICK: Well, what that says is clearly nobody walks around Boston or Roslindale, which is a suburb, carrying that kind of knife. What police are saying is that the level of alarm had increased significantly. Significantly enough so that authorities really felt that they had to approach him. There was no arrest warrant. There wasn't even an intention to arrest him. But the response -- how he reacted, how Usaama Rahim reacted clearly showed he was on edge because the officers didn't even have their guns drawn when they walked up to him. The 24/7 surveillance was relatively new. It had just started over

the last couple of days. He was on their radar earlier but now they're looking to sort of track it back. But they really felt that now was the time that they had to go up and they had to question him, and yes, we do know that they were looking at the possibility that he was going to attack a police officer. The fact he was going to attack a police officer with that kind of knife and not with a gun would show a very different picture.

COSTELLO: OK. So, Juliette, you know, Rahim's brother, the Imam says, you know, he was just talking to his dad on the phone and meant no ill intent. So they do have surveillance video because I think it took place near a CVS parking lot or something.

KAYYEM: Yes.

COSTELLO: So police have that surveillance tape and they're going to show it to members from the Muslim and black communities. Why are they doing that?

KAYYEM: I think it's a -- I think it's a great idea because, look, it's a high tense time. If the allegations against Rahim and other co-conspirators are true, it shows that some radicalization was taking place and the police department, I think, very rightfully is reaching out to the communities saying, look, here's what we got, we don't want there to be all sorts of mystery or suspicions or counter theories about what happened in that parking lot.

[10:05:15] And so if there is video evidence that the guns were down by the police officers and that he charged with a knife, that is at least going to put some of these rumors to rest.

Now the brother who is a well-known Muslim cleric here, you know, I just have to say, like, people don't know what their brothers or children are often doing. So I just -- I don't think that his narrative makes much sense right now. I think we just have to look at the video or let the community look at the video and determine what in fact happened and one of the good things is a lot of stuff will unfold in open court in just a few hours as they bring the charges against the co-conspirator.

COSTELLO: Right. This co-conspirator, David Wright, is supposed to be in court around 3:00 p.m. Eastern. So it'll happen this afternoon.

Deb Feyerick, Juliette Kayyem, thanks to both of you. I appreciate it.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

COSTELLO: In the meantime, the fight against ISIS overseas rages on. According to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, thousands of the Islamic fighters have been killed since the start of the coalition campaign. In an interview with a French radio station Tuesday, Blinken said, quote, "We recorded an enormous loss for Daesh or ISIS. More than 10,000 since this campaign started. And this will eventually have an effect," end quote. So he's saying 10,000 terrorists have been killed since the campaign

began, what, nine months ago overseas.

With me now to talk about this is Republican Congressman Mike Turner from Ohio. He's a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Welcome, sir.