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Manhunt Continues for Escaped Convicts; Accomplice Describes Sadistic Convict Richard Matt; Manhunt Continues in Willsboro, NY; Jeb Bush Takes Aim at Putin During European Trip. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 10, 2015 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:30] WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

Law enforcement officials are going door too door today in Dannemora. That's in upstate New York. They're searching homes near the Clinton Correctional Facility looking for two escaped prisoners. There have been two possible sightings of Richard Matt and David Sweat. Investigators think a woman who worked with the pair at the prison planned to pick up the convicted killers after they broke out of the maximum security prison but then changed her mind. That's what a source, at least, is telling CNN. Another source says Joyce Mitchell went to the hospital because of panic attacks. Mitchell supervised both inmates when they worked in the tailoring shop within the facility. The public information officer for the New York State Department of Corrections tells CNN prisoners use sewing machines and other sewing tools and that any inmate could apply for a job in the tailor shop.

Meanwhile, the son of Richard Matt is speaking out about his father's prison escape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK HARRIS, SON OF ESCAPED CONVICT RICHARD MATT: It's hard to comprehend at first. Just shocking. Nobody would really expect that. It's in his nature. He escaped from Attica before, too. So I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our national correspondent, Polo Sandoval is joining us from Dannemora.

How is the community coping with what's going on?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I can tell you it is business as usual for now. The main headline at this hour is that much of the focus of the investigation has shifted back on to this community since the search started five days ago. The New York State Police saying they're really no specific tip or lead that brought them back here to the gates of the Clinton correctional facility, but they simply want to retrace the steps that they made in the days and really perhaps hours following the discovery of that jail escape, that search continues at this hour for Richard Matt and David Sweat. We want to share these images that I'm sure you've seen already of New York state police officers wearing body armor, heavily armed, walking the streets of Dannemora, much of the attention focusing on here. Many of these images seem to indicate they may not have one solid strong lead taking them in another direction so coming back to square one as they search for these two individuals that are dangerous -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Are people -- the authority there is where you are urging people to stay indoors or to simply go about their business?

SANDOVAL: They're asking they go about their business. Simply stay alert. Just to put things in perspective, we watched some of these police officers walking down the street is but moments later we watched a mother and her two toddlers going out for a walk. Speaking of them, they're not really afraid, they're simply alert, so I think that that's the tone we're seeing in this town. Many people here used to just living in the shadow of a prison. Some of the folks we've spoken to in the last several days not necessarily surprised. They were -- at least they were surprised it took this long for something like this to happen. But in the meantime, school buses are running, people are driving around, except they are having to stop for some of these checkpoints. Those are still throughout the community here -- Wolf?

BLITZER: Polo Sandoval on the scene for us. Polo, thanks very much.

We're now hearing from a man who knows better than most just how sadistic the fugitive, Richard Matt, can be. As Matt's accomplice back in 1997, Lee Bates watched him kidnap, torture and then murder a man, a man he later dismembered and dumped in the Niagara River.

Here's what Bates told our Anderson Cooper last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE BATES, ACCOMPLICE TO RICHARD MATT IN 1997 MURDER (voice-over): If you wanted to take a picture of the devil that's the face you would see.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, A.C. 360: Can you explain what he did to his boss? It was a long ordeal. I understand he tortured him.

BATES: He used duct tape to tie Mr. Rickerson up. He beat him with anything and everything that he could, a knife sharpener, a security device, the club for my automobile. He physically grabbed Mr. Rickerson's hands and pulled his fingers back until they snapped. Punching him, beating him.

COOPER: And this is while he was duct taped in the trunk of the car?

[13:35:00] BATES: Even before. Starting in the house, throughout the car ride, and eventually, well, he opened the truck and Mr. Rickerson told him, "I'll take you to the money, let me out." And Richard Matt then said, "I don't believe you. I don't believe you. You've been playing games with me. I don't believe you." And in a fit of rage, he reached into the car, grabbed Mr. Rickerson by his head and snapped his neck in front of me.

COOPER: You actually saw that? You heard that?

BATES: Yes, I did, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: It was Bates' testimony about the crime that helped prosecutors get Richard Matt a sentence of 25 years to life.

Meanwhile, there's another new development in the manhunt for these two convicted killers who escaped from that maximum security prison. We'll have details of that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Willsboro, New York, is one of the areas where there was a possible sighting of the escaped convicts, Richard Matt and David Sweat. The town is about 30 miles or so south of the Clinton Correctional Facility, that's the maximum security prison.

On the line joining us right now is Shaun Gilliland, the town supervisor.

[13:40:00] Shaun, what's happened over the past 24 hours in your town? Are they still there, the law enforcement authorities, en masse?

SHAUN GILLILAND, WILLSBORO TOWN SUPERVISOR (voice-over): Yes, they are. They've redeployed somewhere between 50 and 100 corrections officers again today. They're on the ground and pretty much the same area that they were working yesterday. You know, looking in every structure and going through the woods and swamps and fields and thin things. Kind of ending more than yesterday but they're still working it. We haven't gotten any reports one way or the other but simply that they are continuing to search.

BLITZER: I see a police on the ground law enforcement. What about in the air? Are there surveillance helicopters? Planes flying over with infrared devices to get some sort of search going?

GILLILAND: We have not seen any helicopters today. They are definitely being used yesterday between the thunderstorms.

BLITZER: You're the town supervisor, what are the authorities, state, local, federal, telling you?

GILLILAND: They -- I talk extensively with our county sheriff, Richard Cutting (ph), and he's been the law enforcement liaison with all the other agencies I asked him basically do they move south or whatever. And he said, "They're still looking in this area for a reason." That's all he would tell me.

BLITZER: Are there a lot of campgrounds over there? Camping grounds or, like, cottages, cabins where people may have summer homes that are usually empty or maybe this time of the year before the full summer comes into play where potentially they're looking through cabin by cabin.

GILLILAND: The town of Essex has a very large seasonal population with camps and summer homes and things like that. It's mostly full time residents and farms so I don't believe that they've been going to targeting any seasonal homes.

BLITZER: And as far as you know there've been no additional sightings of two suspicious individuals or one individual in your area, right?

GILLILAND: Not since the initial one on Monday night, that's correct.

BLITZER: How's the community dealing with this?

GILLILAND: I think they were apprehensive yesterday. But I think -- I guess a feeling of calm has kind of come in. I mean, no additional things have happened and we also -- you know, you see a lot of law enforcement presence in town so people -- life seems to be going back to more normal.

BLITZER: Shaun Gilliland, we'll stay in close touch. Thank you.

GILLILAND: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Up next, Jeb Bush meeting with world leaders, including Angela Merkel. But he's stepping up his criticism of another world leader. We're talking about Vladimir Putin. We have details from the next stop on Jeb Bush's European journey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:04] BLITZER: The National Transportation Safety Board says the operator of the Amtrak train that crashed in Philadelphia on May 12 was not on his cell phone. The NTSB says phone records indicate Brandon Bostian was not texts, talking or on the internet as he operated the train. The agency is trying to determine whether the phone was off. The NTSB is investigating why the train went into a curve at more than twice the speed limit from 50 miles an hour to over 100 miles an hour. It derailed killing eight people, injuring more than 200.

Turning overseas, Pope Francis today welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to the Vatican. The only other time the two have met was back in 2013, just five months before Russia invaded the Ukrainian territory of Crimea. This latest visit comes as the Ukrainian Catholic Church asked the pontiff to protect its followers from Russia. Also prior to the meeting, the United States had been urging Pope Francis to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine.

I spoke with the prime minister last night. He called on the West to give Ukraine more defensive weapons to help protect it saying Russia is actively engaged in its country with troops on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: They deny there are any Russian troops in Ukraine right now. These are all Ukrainian -- they say these are Ukrainian forces who may be loyal to Russia but these are Ukrainian citizens fighting your government.

ANSENIY YATSENYUK, UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translation): I want to be very clear. More than 10,000 Russian military boots are on the Ukrainian soil and in addition about 30,000 of Russian-led terrorists trained by the Russian army.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Jeb Bush is also stepping up his criticism of the Russian President Vladimir Putin over the crisis in Ukraine. The former Florida governor is headed to Warsaw, the second leg of his European trip. In a news conference in Berlin, he called President Putin a bully and he took a swipe at the Obama administration's response to Russia's aggression.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEB BUSH, (R), FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR: Ultimately, Russia needs to be a European country. And ultimately I think as the deal with Putin you need to deal from strength. He's a bully and bullies don't -- you enable bad behavior when you're nuanced with a guy like that and I think just being clear. I'm not talking about being bellicose but saying here are the consequences of your actions and that would deter the kind of bad outcome that we don't want to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Our Dana Bash is joining us from Warsaw.

Dana, this trip is clearly a chance for Jeb Bush to outline his foreign policy credentials, if you will, before kicking off his formal presidential campaign on Monday. How's he doing over there?

[13:50:00] DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you just certainly played a clip of what he is hoping his big message is going to be here which is if you want somebody who is going to stand strong against what he believes and many others believe is the biggest threat to countries like where I am right now in Poland, which is Jeb Bush's second stop, then he will be the guy to stand up to Putin even though it was, of course, his brother back in 2001 who called Putin trustworthy, and he said he knew that because he looked into his eyes. So you certainly have kind of Jeb Bush wanting to be that guy who is a leader that America can count on and even these countries here in Europe can count on, but, again, he's got the baggage of his brother, not just when it comes to the Iraq war, not just when comes to other issues that Europeans are concerned about, like surveillance but also about the kind of maybe relationship that he did or didn't have with Vladimir Putin.

BLITZER: What else is on his agenda during this five-day visit to Europe?

BASH: Well, he was in Germany, and Jeb Bush not only gave a speech but was able to get a quick audience with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, which is something that his aides are quick to point out that she doesn't often do. She tries to stay very far away from American domestic politics. Now he is here in Poland, and he actually made an unannounced stop at Auschwitz, of course, the concentration camp, before he came here to Warsaw. That was something that they didn't put on the schedule. They didn't take any press probably for obvious reasons, but here he's going to do a similar thing that he did in Germany. Wolf. He's going to meet with the leaders, the president and president-elect and will be a tourist as well and sightseeing before he goes on to Estonia, and the theme here, especially in these former Soviet countries as I mentioned at the start of this discussion, Wolf, talking about how he believes America needs to be much more robust in defending these countries and supporting these countries not just financially but perhaps militarily.

BLITZER: Dana Bash in Poland covering Jeb Bush's visit there. We'll stay in touch. Thanks very much.

Just ahead, we will stay on American politics. Marco Rubio's campaign firing back over a report in "The New York Times" on his financial troubles over the years. Some political analysts say this actually winds up helping Rubio connect with voters. Ron Brownstein standing by. We'll discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:55:57] BLITZER: Marco Rubio's presidential campaign here in the United States is trying to turn the tables on a "New York Times" report outlining his financial struggles. "Times" points to Rubio's disclosures he owed $150,000 in student loans and $30,000 in other debt in 2000 and his decision to liquidate $6,000 in retirement account resulting hefty taxes and a purchase of $80,000 speed boat when his finances improved among other things.

Let's bring in our political analyst, Ron Brownstein.

Does this report in "The New York Times," does it hurt Rubio's campaign?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Running against the media never hurts you in a Republican primary. This is really about judgment, not resources. I think the underlying issue they are trying to raise is -- I think this might raise for some voters it is whether this is someone, especially because he's a young Senator, first-term Senator, whether he's had the judgment, made the right kind of decisions that give you confidence to make decisions on the big stage. Similar to my view about the Clinton ethical controversies. A certain number of voters this will Matter to but we've learned over the last 20 years voters have a high tolerance to imperfections among the candidates and I don't think this will be dispositive.

BLITZER: The Rubio campaigning blasting "The New York Times" as elitist: "First, 'The New York Times' attacked Marco over traffic tickets and now they think he doesn't have enough money. Of course, if he was worth millions, the 'Times' would attack him for being too rich like Mitt Romney."

What do you think of that response? BROWNSTEIN: Republican primary never hurts to go after the media,

particularly kind of the big establishment institutions like "The New York Times" so in that sense it's fine for Iowa and New Hampshire. The underlying issue that I think this is really raising is as I said about the judgment, the choices that he's made and what kind of -- how that makes you feel about his ability to make choices on the bigger stage. I think in the end, as I said, there are some voters who will kind of recoil from this or make them feel a little queasy given his background but I don't think it's going to be a big decisive issue.

BLITZER: As you know, if you're running for president of the United States, almost everything is -- got to assume is going to be out there, right?

BROWNSTEIN: And as I say, what makes this especially kind of a little more tricky for him than it would be for somebody else is that he is a young first-term Senator after we have had a young first-term Senator as president that many Republicans argue was not officially seasoned and tested so in that sense it could kind of point to an existing challenge or vulnerability for him. Look, I think voters kind of -- the idea -- the way he's trying to convert it or turn it. And I am like you. I have been economically squeezed. That's not a bad response, but that isn't really the real issue that the article I think is raising.

BLITZER: Because I've had student loops, trying to pay back the student loans. A lot of people can certainly relate to that. The other point in the first article noting he and his wife had a whole bunch of speeding tickets. Everybody gets speeding tickets, especially with the cameras out on the streets nowadays. What was that all about?

BROWNSTEIN: I wasn't -- I wasn't in the editorial room when they decided, but I think that was a strange story and goes to the underlying question going is this someone who has exhibited the judgment and choices in his life that would give you confidence for him in sitting in that big chair, and as I said, I said there are going to be some voters for whom all of this does raise some doubts, but I don't think -- Rubio challenges, more about finding a spot in the race between Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, the two poles. GOP at this point and has to find a way to emerge between them.

BLITZER: These attacks in "The New York Times," the stories in "The New York Times," potentially could help him.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, in the near term. but I do think that -- I do think an overriding challenge for him is you have a lot Republican voters who after the Obama experience, only the third sitting Senator in American history elected president. A lot of Republicans are looking for executive experience, something Rubio will have to overcome. And this sort of thing is just another little thumb on the scale kind of having to show that you have the experience, judgment and kind of gravitas for the top job.

BLITZER: Ron Brownstein, thanks for coming in.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: That's it for me. I'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM."

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