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David Sweat Reveals Escape Details to Investigators; FBI Launches Corruption Probe at Prison; Fourth of July Terror Warning; Greece Shuts Down Banks. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 30, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:05] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not ignorance, illiterate, not knowing where they go and now here they are achieving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREIRA: That is so magical. I love it. Congratulations to all of them.

CUOMO: The dream is alive.

PEREIRA: And with that we turn you over to "NEWSROOM" with Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello today.

Hello, darling.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I like that. The dream is alive Great to see you, guys. Pay a visit, I'm in New York. So come see me.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Happening now in the NEWSROOM. Prison break plans revealed.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: So the plan was to head to Mexico.

BROWN: But it all fell apart.

ANDREW WYLIE, CLINTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: He will be in basically 24/7 lockdown for the rest of his life.

BROWN: Captured fugitive David Sweat starts talking. What we're learning about a possible heroin ring inside the prison.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: Some of those employees have told officials that there is heroin use amongst the inmates. And so the question is, are the employees involved in that?

BROWN: Also, Independence Day alert.

MICHAEL MORELL, FORMER CIA DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I wouldn't be surprised if we're sitting here a week from today talking about an attack.

BROWN: Why the feds are warning local cops about possible terror attacks over the July 4th weekend.

Plus, more pay for long days? The president wants to make five million more Americans eligible for overtime. Could that drive his polls even higher?

Let's talk in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Good morning. I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday, a very busy Tuesday.

And this morning convicted killer David Sweat is upgraded from critical condition. And investigators say he is revealing crucial details of the prison escape, the intricate planning and the scramble to improvise.

Sweat says he and Richard Matt had figured out a plan B when Joyce Mitchell backed out and didn't show up with the getaway car. Their new plan went off course by thousands of miles. And Sweat is sure to face questions about a possible heroin ring operating inside the prison. Investigators believe there may have been a criminal network, inmates partnering with corrupt prison workers.

We are covering all the angles for you this morning. Sara Ganim is right outside the hospital where Sweat is recovering and talking. Jean Casarez is right outside the prison and former FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam will discuss the investigation of what went on behind those walls. We're going to begin with Sara.

Good morning.

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Pamela. Yes, you know, for three weeks while these guys were on the run authorities really wondered, was their plan really to run off with this prison seamstress Joyce Mitchell or did they have something else in mind? Was she just a decoy?

Well, now that David Sweat has been captured, arrested, that he's alive and he's talking, authorities are learning that, yes, that was their plan A. They were going to run off with her to Mexico. And when she got cold feet and didn't show up that night, they were forced to improvise and go towards a different border.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM (voice-over): Investigators hoping convicted killer David Sweat continues to talk this morning. The former fugitive's condition now improving after being shot twice in the torso Sunday.

WYLIE: He's going to be brought back to the Department of Corrections when he's cleared medically.

GANIM: Police wanting answers to exactly how Sweat and Richard Matt planned and executed their escape from the maximum security prison. 35-year-old Sweat already confessing that he and Matt initially planned on running away to Mexico with former prison worker Joyce Mitchell.

CUOMO: They would kill Mitchell's husband and then get in a car and drive to Mexico.

GANIM: When Mitchell didn't show up, the duo headed toward Canada instead. But 18 days after their escape the men separated, Sweat telling investigates 49-year-old Matt was slowing him down. A source telling CNN there's evidence Matt was sick possibly from contaminated food or water. An examination of his body found blisters on his feet and minor cuts.

SHERIFF KEVIN MULVERHILL, FRANKLIN COUNTY, NEW YORK: You know, as intelligent that these guys are, breaking out of a maximum security prison, evading police for three weeks, Joyce Mitchell was plan A.

GANIM: Both men were found dressed for the woods. Inside Sweat's bag there were tools, bug spray, maps, and Pop Tarts. Authorities say Matt's body reeked of alcohol. The inmates' DNA initially found inside this cabin along with an open bottle of grape gin.

WILLIAM FARRINGTON, FOUND CABIN WHERE ESCAPEES STAYED: There was nice cooking gear, there was barbecue, there was bed. It looked pretty well equipped for a place that far out in the woods.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[09:05:02] GANIM: Now Sweat remains in this hospital here behind me in serious condition. Authorities of course keeping a close eye on him. There's a trained security team here that's watching him 24/7. They do expect him to be here for a few more days recovering. After that he goes back to the Department of Corrections.

The district attorney in Clinton County telling CNN yesterday he does plan on charging him with escape, with burglary and with any other crime he may have committed while on the run. And, Pamela, he likely will spend the rest of his jail time in 24/7 solitary confinement.

BROWN: Yes. I have a feeling he is not going anywhere.

Sara Ganim, thank you so much for that.

And now let's turn to the FBI investigation and possible evidence that inmates partnered with corrupt prison employees. The lawless alliance could even include a heroin ring operated inside the prison. New York's governor scoffs at the idea that the prison and its employees had turned soft.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CUOMO: You know, now they say all this Dannemora prison sounds like a country club and it was easy to escape from. Remember, Dannemora has been open for over 100 years. There was never an escape. Country club? This is the prison that they would threaten the other inmates in the rest of the system that if you didn't behave, you would go to Dannemora.

Dannemora was -- had the reputation of the toughest prison in the system. So it was no country club.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: For more on this let's bring in CNN correspondent Jean Casarez.

So, Jean, you hear heroin ring, possible heron ring operating inside the prison. It seems pretty shocking to me, no?

CASAREZ: You know, Pamela, we've watched correction officers report for work today at the prison behind me just like it's a normal day. But law enforcement officials have confirmed with CNN that the FBI have launched an investigation inside the prison to see if in fact there is drug trafficking.

Now they are talking to employees. Employees are saying that inmates use heroin. And so then the point is, well, where would they get that heroin and could the employees be involved at all with any drug trafficking ring?

Now we do know that the employees are also being asked about if they are talking to employees at all and inmates about streets and locations outside the prison because obviously to escape and they were able to get away and seemingly knew where they were going. We're also learning that the DNA of Sweat and Matt was found deep in the tunnels underneath the prison where inmates cannot have access to.

So the question then is also if there is a drug trafficking issue, could Matt and Sweat have been involved in it so they would get extra privileges that other inmates would not.

BROWN: You raise an interesting point there.

Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

And to talk about what more what Jean was just saying, if prison workers were smuggling drugs to prisoners, what kind of role might Matt and Sweat have played in this. So joining me now to discuss, former FBI special agent and police officer, Jonathan Gilliam.

Thanks so much for talking with us, Jonathan.

JONATHAN GILLIAM, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Sure.

BROWN: First off, are you surprised by how much David Sweat is saying so soon after he was captured?

GILLIAM: I'm not surprised because I think he was in such a miserable place in his life over the past couple of weeks that, you know, good interrogators are going to take the environment in which he's in right now and they're going to make it a warm environment, they're going to make him feel welcomed.

Believe it or not, this is what works. And not going in there and just bust his chops. You know, you want to go in there and show him that it's a no-win situation for him. If he cooperates, the rest of his life could be affected by his cooperation.

BROWN: But you said the rest of his life could be affected, I mean, he's already --

(LAUGHTER)

GILLIAM: That's right.

BROWN: Going to spend the rest of his life behind bars in solitary confinement.

GILLIAM: Maybe gets extra 30 minutes.

BROWN: In solitary confinement.

GILLIAM: Right.

BROWN: I mean, what would the bargaining chip be?

GILLIAM: It could be an extra 30 minutes out of solitary confinement. I mean, he knows -- he knows what solitary confinement is all about so he knows how precious every minute is. And those things count. It could be, you know, time off from solitary confinement. But I really think it's in the prison's best interest or in the investigators' best interest to work with him to get the full story. Because, look, he may be the guy that escaped, but the overall corruption that could possibly going on in here that is the real problem.

BROWN: But how can you trust what he is telling to investigators?

GILLIAM: Right.

BROWN: How do they know that it's factual?

GILLIAM: So running a case is like taking several panes of glass and painting -- you know, having somebody paint a picture with other stuff around it. When you lay those panes of glass on top of each other the real picture comes out. That's what you're trying to do here. You go take all these different interviews and eventually as you keep stack in those on top of each other, the real picture is going to reveal itself. That's how investigators is going to be able to tell, is he telling the truth, is he not.

[09:10:08] BROWN: You know it's interesting. You wonder if he wants to tell his story to investigators. Sometime -- we've seen this with terrorists in the past.

GILLIAM: Right.

BROWN: Where they want to brag about what they did.

GILLIAM: Right.

BROWN: And that could -- you know, this was a pretty incredible escape.

GILLIAM: Right.

BROWN: They were able to go free for three weeks.

GILLIAM: He knows he's going to be famous. He's a psychopath. I mean, you look at people who are serial killers and are psychopaths, they eventually want to tell once they get caught because now they're famous. You know, he's got that in the back of his mind. So I think it's good that the FBI is coming into this as well because everyone will try to minimize their role in this. And the state and the prison system will also try to minimize their role. The governor right there was -- was trying to minimize the role of the whole thing, of the prison and the state. That's why outside investigators need to come in.

BROWN: Quickly, would it surprise you if there really was a drug ring going on at that facility?

GILLIAM: Unfortunately nothing -- if you've done law enforcement, nothing would surprise you. I know great people that work in the prison system. I've worked with them on cases. But there's too many things that are falling into place here to think that there's not something going on. It may not be widespread but they have to look at it as though it is so they can pick every single corrupt part out and then prune that whole thing like it was a brush -- a tree that has bad leaves.

You want to get all those off of there so it can grow up healthy. That prison system has definitely got some bad stuff going on inside of it. There's no doubt about that.

BROWN: And you wonder, had they not escape, if this would have been brought to their attention in the first place.

GILLIAM: Probably not.

BROWN: Another question there.

GILLIAM: Right.

BROWN: Jonathan Gilliam, thank you so much for being on with us.

GILLIAM: You got. Thank you.

BROWN: We appreciate it.

And still to come right here in NEWSROOM, U.S. officials warning the public to be vigilant over the July 4th holiday weekend. We'll tell you why right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:03] BROWN: We are following a new terror warning for this Fourth of July. Although no specific or credible threat has been identified, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center all say extremists could launch attack this weekend. The alert comes after a string of terror attacks across the world. And on CBS News, former CIA director Michael Morell underscored just how serious he's taking the alert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORELL: I don't want to tell Americans what to do or what not to do, but I wouldn't be surprised if we're sitting here a week from today talking about an attack over the weekend in the United States. That's how serious this is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: CNN justice reporter Evan Perez is in Washington with the very latest on the terror alert -- Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Pamela. Major holidays always bring concerns about terrorist attacks but this weekend authorities are particularly worried about domestic ISIS- inspired attacks. And here's why.

For months the FBI has been picking up intelligence about ISIS recruits here in the U.S. wanting to use the high-profile holiday to carry out attacks. And as you know, the number of ISIS supporters here at home has been on the rise. And ISIS has used social media to put out a call for attacks in the West during Ramadan. That threat was made clear just last week with the terrorist attack in Tunisia that killed dozens of Western tourists, as well as the beheading in France, and a terrorist bombing at a Shia mosque in Kuwait.

Now here in the U.S. just yesterday, the FBI made the ninth arrest this month of an alleged ISIS supporter. Alaa Saadeh is a 23-year-old man from New Jersey who allegedly was planning to travel to join ISIS in Syria and Iraq. He's part of what can fairly be called a cell of ISIS supporters in the New York City area. At least three other associates have been arrested in other charges.

Pam, that includes a Queens college student who allegedly was plotting bombings in New York.

BROWN: Certainly very troubling there.

Evan Perez, thank you so much.

And checking our top stories on this Tuesday, investigators in Indonesia are trying to figure out why a military plane crashed into a residential area. The Indonesian Red Cross says at least 70 people are dead. Officials aren't sure how many people were on board that plane.

And a wildfire in Washington burning more than 3,000 acres. And hot weather is just making it worse. So far at least 24 homes are damaged. 100 other structures are in the fire's path. The cause of the wildfire is unknown at this time.

And the semifinals in the Women's World Cup kicking off. The number two ranked United States playing the undefeated Germans tonight. The winner will move on to the championship match.

Good luck to them.

Still to come right here on the NEWSROOM, quick to run and even quicker to spill the beans. Captured inmate David Sweat now revealing critical new details about his failed escape plan. Plus, why the FBI is now getting involved. We'll be right back.

[09:19:12]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Two days after his capture inmate David Sweat is spilling crucial details to investigators about his botched escape plan with partner Richard Matt. According to Governor Andrew Cuomo Sweat has revealed the pair wanted to go to Mexico once they broke free, but they were forced to improvise after prison worker Joyce Mitchell bailed on the escape plan. Meanwhile the FBI is launching an investigation into a possible drug ring at Clinton Correctional Facility.

To talk about all of this, let's bring in former senior FBI profiler and special agent Mary Ellen O'Toole.

Thank you so much for being here with us. First off, I want to talk about this sort of alleged drug ring. You know, some employees have apparently told investigators that there were prisoners using heroin. How difficult would it be to operate a drug ring in a place like Clinton? And is this something that happens often that we just don't realize?

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: Well, we've already gotten a picture that the culture there, at least in the honors part of the prison, seems to be very lax. And so that culture may be very systemic and be present in all areas of that prison. But I've been in a lot of prisons throughout the United States to do -- conduct interviews and I could not say at all that this is typical of most institutions.

BROWN: Let's talk about Sweat because as we know he's been talking to investigators shortly after he was captured. Do you think he will continue to talk about? I wonder what is his incentive given the fact that he's likely to spend the rest of his life behind bars and part of that time in solitary confinement.

O'TOOLE: Well, here's the thing that's really important. I know a lot of people have said, what is his incentive? But he is a different kind of offender. And for David, who I believe manifests traits of psychopathy, a very dangerous personality disorder, it is enough for him to be able to talk about how smart he was, to talk about how good he was, to talk about how he led a 1300- manhunt successfully for over three weeks.

[09:25:28] That is enough in it of itself. And frankly, for those of us that really understand this concept of psychopathy, these guys live in the present moment. They live in the here and now. So for him to think about a year from now or two years from now, and being in total isolation, he's not thinking about that. BROWN: It is -- in some ways it's an opportunity to brag about what

he did. I keep going back to that note, have a nice day, when they initially escaped. That just gives you sort of insight into their sort of mentality.

O'TOOLE: It does.

BROWN: So take us into an investigation like this. When you're dealing with someone like David Sweat, with this personality type, how do investigators talk to him, earn his trust, get him to tell them information that's truthful?

O'TOOLE: Well, first of all, you don't build rapport with someone who's psychopathic because the premise of a psychopath is that they don't bond with other people. So you can't be their best friends. That's never going to happen. But you go in and you make it all about them. You have to be sincere in your approach, but you talk to him about how effective he was, again how smart he was.

This is unbelievable. And you let him talk. And I know the question earlier was, well, how do you believe what he says? But it's the same way that you approach any interview. You have to corroborate what he says because one of the 20 traits of a psychopath in addition to being narcissistic so they want to brag is that they're pathological liars. So you do have to corroborate everything that they tell you.

BROWN: Interesting. And I want to get your reaction to the fact that the inmates didn't seem to have a plan B once Joyce Mitchell bailed. They originally planned to go to Mexico. Are you surprised by that? I mean, they had this elaborate plan to escape the prison but then their -- they first plan fell through and it seems like they didn't have a fallback.

O'TOOLE: I'm not at all surprised. I said early on that these are two individuals who had burned every bridge that they ever had. Even their own mothers want nothing to do with them. So for them to develop allies on the outside after what they had done was nearly impossible. So she was going to be the only plan. Now the thing that makes him -- makes him very resilient is that they were able to land on their feet once Joyce didn't show up. But to say that there were people who wanted to help them on the outside, it wasn't going to happen.

BROWN: All right. Mary Ellen O'Toole, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your insights. We appreciate it.

O'TOOLE: You're welcome.

BROWN: Good morning, everyone. I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being with us here on this Tuesday.

President Obama and his European counterparts are urging Greece to return to talks over its debt crisis. With the cash strapped country now just hours away from default. Greece says they can't make a $1.7 billion loan payment that's due today. Tens of thousands took to the streets as we see right here last night

in support of the government's decision to stop negotiations. Greece's current bailout ends today. But terms to extend the bailout include highly criticized pension cuts and tax increases.

CNN's business correspondent has the latest from Athens -- Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, with the banks still closed and Greek citizens being restricted to just 60 euros, around $65, $67 a day, out of the ATM machines, now everybody is focused on tonight when, with no money in the government coffers, Greece will default on its loans to the IMF.

The significance of this is many fold. Firstly, it's the first time that a developed country has defaulted on a loan to the International Monetary Fund. Secondly it means Greece can no longer get any more money from the IMF. But it also moves the whole debate between Greece and the European partners into a new level.

We believe there have been talks over the course of the last few hours between Greece and European officials. No one is saying what those talks were about. But if the rhetoric of the past few days is anything to go by, it's highly unlikely that a deal can be done before tonight's deadline.

When you put all this together, you have to assume that the referendum goes ahead on Sunday and the position for Greece remains ever more risky -- Pamela.

BROWN: Richard Quest, thank you so much.

To Wall Street now, about to open for business as the markets come off their worst day of 2015 over fears of a Greek default, stock futures are up today even though that threat of default, as Richard said, will very likely become a reality within hours.