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David Sweat Reveals Escape Details to Investigators; FBI Launches Corruption Probe at Prison; Fourth of July Terror Warning; Chris Christie Expected to Launch Presidential Bid; Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 30, 2015 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:01] PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: And the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM begins right now.

(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, Chris Christie says he's ready to tell it like it is, but are the voters ready to hear it?

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: I taught you that in a trusting relationship you don't hold anything back.

BROWN: Let's talk in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Well, good morning to you. I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being here with us. We appreciate it. And by the way, we are one hour away from that big announcement from Chris Christie. The New Jersey governor considering a run for the White House.

At 11:00 a.m. Eastern, he's expected to declare he is officially a candidate for 2016. So will Republican voters give him a chance? We will be all over it.

And another big story we are watching, confessions from a hospital bed. David Sweat is upgraded from critical condition to serious, and he is now talking to investigators. They say he's spilling secrets on his prison escape, and the intricate plans hammered out with fellow fugitive Richard Matt. Sweat says he later ditched the older Matt because he was slowing him down.

But the biggest challenge came in their first moments of freedom. Prison employee Joyce Mitchell backed out and didn't show up with the getaway car. And just minutes ago her attorney told us she is ecstatic the manhunt is over.

Sara Ganim is right outside of the hospital where Sweat is recovering and talking to investigators. Jean Casarez is right outside the prison.

Sara, I'm going to start with you. This time yesterday Sweat was in critical condition from the two police bullets. How much is he able to cooperate today and talk to investigators?

SARA GANIM, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, his condition was upgraded to serious yesterday, Pamela, and we actually do expect another update on his condition today. You're right, he continues to talk to investigators. You know, for three weeks while these guys were on the run, authorities really wondered was their plan really to run away with this prison seamstress, Joyce Mitchell?

And then David Sweat was captured alive and he began to talk to police and authorities learned that, yes, their plan A was to run away with Joyce Mitchell to Mexico, but when she got cold feet and failed to show up that night, they were forced to improvise, to come up with another plan, and they headed toward the Canadian border instead.

BROWN: So interesting that from all of their planning they didn't have a plan B there.

Jean, I'm going to go to you now. We've learned about this FBI investigation from my colleague Evan Perez and the possibility that inmates partnered with corrupt prison employees. Tell us about that.

CASAREZ: Well, you know, we're right here, we're at the prison, and all morning we've watched correction officers reporting for work just like it's a normal day but a law enforcement source has told CNN that the FBI is currently undergoing an investigation inside the prison to see if there actually is a drug trafficking network there.

Now they spoke with employees who said that some of the inmates use heroin, so that's the big question. Where would they get heroin? Could employees be involved in this network? And so it's all part of a very, very large investigation. We're also understanding that they found the DNA of Sweat and Matt

deep down underneath the prison behind me in tunnels normally where no one would walk more less an inmate, so they want to see if, in fact, Matt and Sweat had any involvement, if there was at all, in that drug trafficking network. Just a very big, complicated puzzle, Pamela.

BROWN: Interesting. And you know, Jean, it's one thing for Sweat to reveal details on the escape as we're learning he is doing right now, but quite another for him to expose corruption inside the prison. Do investigators believe that he can help in exposing whether or not there is corruption there?

CASAREZ: Well, investigators are not talking about that now, but I guess we can see what he said so far, right? He implicated Joyce Mitchell, that she was going to pick them up and that she was involved in the escape plan. He also discounted defendant Gene Palmer having any participation at all with the escape plan. And so -- and that is corroborated because we do know that the governor of New York said that, in fact, Sweat was going to go to Mexico with Joyce Mitchell.

[10:05:16] And we also know that Lyle Mitchell told NBC News that he, in fact, was going to be killed, and Sweat told that to investigators. So there is some corroboration here because you always want to know, are they going to be truthful? A convicted murderer does not have the propensity for telling the truth. But you better believe it, they're going to ask him for names because they need answers.

BROWN: Absolutely. Sara Ganim, Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

And let's talk about all of this with someone who knows the prison system well. That's retired superintendent of Attica Correctional Facility, James Conway.

Thank you so much for being here with us.

JAMES CONWAY, RETIRED SUPERINTENDENT, ATTICA CORRECTIONAL FACILITY: Good morning, Pamela.

BROWN: So I want to get your reaction first to this idea that there could have been a drug ring going on at Clinton Correctional Facility. Would that surprise you and how often does something like that occur?

CONWAY: It would surprise me if there was a drug ring involving a lot of staff. Quite frankly, there has been drugs in prison for years. It's one of the things that we have to fight against. Most of the drugs are introduced by visitors, but there have been occasions in the past where employees have been compromised, and they have brought there in drugs.

BROWN: Well, and we've seen in this case that some of the employees allegedly gave the two men tools so what's to stop them from bringing drugs?

Criminal defense attorney Paul Callan wrote about this, talked about this, and he says prison corruption is the nature of the beast. Let's take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I think there's systematic corruption, though, in any major prison system in the country and I think it's the nature of the beast. These, by the way, prisons are in isolated communities in upstate New York.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

CALLAN: Company towns, and I think it's hard to solve the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So to Paul's point, how do you solve the problem?

CONWAY: Well, you have to be diligent. You have to be on your game at all times. If you have -- we get countless letters from inmates every day and they have to be checked out. We have to do our diligence to make sure that we have -- and I believe we have the finest staff in the state of New York. There are some bad apples, but we have to do our best to police it when we have --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: You talk about some bad apples, and the -- you know, Attica Correctional Facility where you once worked does have a pretty violent past. And I want to read something here from "The New York Times," and it talks about that famous and bloody prison rebellion back in 1971 there.

It says, "To those who work at the prison, the history of the riots is an everyday reminder of the danger that inmates who greatly outnumber guards could take over at any time. An Attica sergeant whose father was killed in the retaking tells all new recruits about the events of 1971. He says, 'I make sure it gets talked about. You do certain things a certain way because it wasn't done one time, and the inmates took control.'"

So in your experience, James, how do you think the legacy of that riot impacted the way workers interacted with prisoners?

CONWAY: Well, what that sergeant is talking about I think is guard against complacency. You don't want to leave a gate unmanned. In the 1971 uprising, inmates were able to break through different gates and gain access to the entire prison. So you want to be on your guard at all times. Inmates will take advantage of situations, so -- and it's a very --

BROWN: As we --

CONWAY: If you think about it, 87 percent of the inmates are violent felony offenders. So it could be a dangerous place.

BROWN: And you wonder why some of the inmates who are so violent earn these special privileges like the honor block which some have been suggested should be banned. What do you think of that, James? CONWAY: I don't agree with that at all. I think it wasn't the honor

block that allowed these inmates to escape or the housing in the honor block. It was the employees that brought in the tools that allowed them to cut out of their cell. If they had been in general population cells with those same tools they could have cut out of the cell there and accessed those tunnels.

BROWN: All right. James Conway, we'll leave it there. Thank you so much, appreciate it.

And still to come right here in NEWSROOM, concern about an attack over the holiday weekend, but why now? And what could terrorists be plotting? We're going to discuss after this break.

[10:09:39]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: U.S. officials are warning the public to be vigilant over the July 4th holiday weekend for possible terror attacks, 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 attacks this weekend, and on CBS News former CIA director Michael Morell underscored just how seriously 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, Nora, 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: Some pretty alarming words there. CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank is live in London for more on this.

So, Paul, do you agree with Morell's assessment of the threat?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Yes, I mean, there's a lot of concern about this upcoming holiday, Pam. Terrorist groups have had a long-standing ambition to hit the United States on U.S. national holidays. They realize that this could be additionally traumatic for Americans. Documents found in bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, show that al Qaeda was interested in hitting the United States on the July 4 weekend.

[10:15:12] But there's even more concern this time around, Pam, because ISIS have called for a surge in terrorism during Ramadan. There's another 2 1/2 weeks to go in Ramadan. The spokesman of ISIS, Abu Muhammad al-Adnani. last week issued a fatwa saying that followers of ISIS will be rewarded 10 times more in paradise if they launched attacks.

There's also additional concern because of the accelerating number of Americans who are becoming implicated in ISIS terrorism. There's been a real surge in the numbers in the last few months. Since March 15th Americans have been implicated in plots against the U.S. homeland, and this year there's been a seven-fold increase of arrests of Americans linked to ISIS -- linked to ISIS recruitment compared to last year according to a recent study by the Central National Security. So a lot of concern at this moment, Pam.

BROWN: Yes. In fact, there was a suspect arrested in New Jersey yesterday. He was the ninth this month. At least 30 since the beginning of the year. So for this specific bulletin that was sent out, it says there is no specific or credible threat that has been identified, but my question to you is, how do officials even know what the threat is because of how ISIS has evolved, because how quickly people are going from being -- going from a planning stage or having an idea to becoming operational.

That time is collapsing, so is that really the question to be asking, whether or not there is a credible threat?

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's exactly the right question, Pam, and one of the developments in recent years and recent months is this sort of lone wolf terrorism, people not connected operationally, organizationally to terrorist groups overseas. But ISIS have been trying to instigate attacks and we've seen ISIS fighters in Syria and Iraq directly reach out to Americans over social media to try and encourage them to launch attacks.

We saw that with that attempted attack in Garland, Texas, just a few weeks ago. Well, in recent weeks evidence emerging that ISIS over these online messaging apps now providing detailed bomb-making guidance to followers in the West. That's a very concerning new development. All of that plays into this warning, Pam.

BROWN: Yes. That peer-to-peer communication encryption really concerning to counterterrorism officials. And I think why we're seeing this sort of heightened alert around the Fourth of July holiday.

Paul Cruickshank, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And just ahead right here in NEWSROOM, no teleprompter? No problem. Chris Christie wants to tell it like it is. But can his tough talk win over Republican voters?

We're going to head live to New Jersey up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:22:09] BROWN: Chris Christie may be taking a page out of John McCain's famous Straight Talk Express as the New Jersey governor is expected to launch a presidential bid in his hometown of Livingston, New Jersey, today. Christie offered a preview in this recent video touting his trademark blunt style.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTIE: I know if my mom were still alive, she would say to me, I taught you that in a trusting relationship you don't hold anything back, and if you're going to run for president of the United States, and you're going to ask these people for their vote, that is the single most trusting thing they can do as a citizen, is to give you their support, so you better tell them exactly what you're thinking and exactly what you're feeling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: The video paid for by Christie for President, ends with the phrase, "Telling it like it is." But after a slide in popularity, can Christie still woo voters? That is the big question today and chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash is in Livingston, New Jersey, the site of Christie's announcement.

Dana, good morning. How is it there?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Pamela. Well, this is definitely set up to play to Chris Christie's political strengths, and that is just talking. And he is going to do that in a sort of unconventional way when it comes to a presidential announcement. We've seen a lot of them. This is the 14th on the Republican side.

If you can sort of see over my right shoulder there is a stand there, and that's where he is going to have, I am told, just an outline, not prepared remarks. We've already been reporting he's definitely not going to have a teleprompter, but the way that they have set up this gymnasium inside Livingston High School where he attended several decades ago is for it to feel like a town hall, to feel like he is down with the people.

And a lot of people here as you can imagine are those who he has known for many, many years, many who he grew up with and so forth. So that is kind of the intention here, but just to be honest, if Chris Christie would have expected and written the presidential announcement for himself back when he was at 60 percent -- when he won approval by 60 percent of the voters here in New Jersey, when he won re-election, there's no way, Pamela, that he would have picked this kind of event.

I mean, this is by necessity, this kind of more low key event because he has a lot of climbing to do. He's not on top of the world anymore. He's not on top of the polls. He's having a hard time getting donors.

BROWN: Yes.

BASH: So this is the scrappy way that he is going to try to come back from really the abyss, doing this kind of interaction with voters and then going to New Hampshire, the place where he knows he has to get back. He's going to spend five days there starting today, doing town hall meetings to try to win voters there in order to try to propel and revive any kind of candidacy.

[10:25:04] BROWN: So you mentioned he's going straight to New Hampshire from there. Why is that such an important place for him? BASH: It's a great question. New Hampshire is important because it

is the most fertile ground for an actual campaign to grow out of the rubble, which is where he is right now because of the bridgegate scandal. Not just that, because the economy here is really not in good shape under his leadership as governor, and so that is a place where it is New England, it's not that far from New Jersey. Similar mentality in that it is more of a moderate mentality.

It's a lot more of Chris Christie kind of voters than let's say an Iowa where they tend to be a lot more evangelical, a lot more socially conservative, and also because they -- the voters there like to be able to touch, to feel, to talk to their candidates, and that is where Chris Christie really thrives as a candidate.

You mentioned coming to me that that's the way John McCain did it in the Straight Talk Express back in 2007 and '08 when he did come back and eventually become the nominee. He had a lot less competition. Chris Christie has a lot more. It's going to be harder for him but they say that's really the only way that he's going to have a chance to come back from where he is right now -- Pamela.

BROWN: Certainly a different playing field, to say the least.

Dana Bash, thank you so much for that.

And now I want to bring in Ron Christie, former special assistant of President George W. Bush, as well as Kevin Madden, Republican strategist.

Great to have you both here with us.

RON CHRISTIE, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Great to be with you.

KEVIN MADDEN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Good morning. Good to be with you.

BROWN: Good morning. Ron, I'm going to start with you here. So you were recently on a plane with one of Chris Christie's senior strategists. Tell me, what did you learn then?

CHRISTIE: Well, what I learned, Pam, was that Chris Christie, when the governor comes out later this morning, his theme, his message is going to be telling it like it is, and I was told Chris is just going to go and level with the American people, he's going to tell it like it is. He's going to go up to New Hampshire and he's going to have the opportunity to have honest town hall conversations with constituents in the Granite State.

And I think Chris Christie, given his past with bridgegate, a lot of people who are saying, no, he's done, it's over, I think it's tell it like it is campaign is going to be an interesting dynamic, an interesting take, and that's what I was told and that's what I expect later today.

BROWN: So, Kevin, on that note, as Dana also said, you know, he's lost some of his popularity in part because of bridgegate. He's entering a very crowded field with so many other Republicans running. How in your view is he going to win over voters?

MADDEN: Well, I think this telling it like it is approach is -- I think it's the Christie campaign trying to tap into this voter sentiment where they're very tired of these blow dried politicians. They're tired of the status quo, and they want somebody who is a truth teller. They want somebody to give them some straight talk, and that kind of contrast will be very favorable to the Christie campaign.

I think one of the challenges that still remains, though, is that a lot of that straight talk did lead to some unfavorable numbers in New Jersey and if you look at the field poll after poll has showed that Chris Christie is seen as one of the more -- has some very high unfavorable ratings against some of his other competitors. And that is going to be something that ideally if he camps out in New Hampshire and as Dana alluded to goes voter by voter, handshake by handshake, town hall by town hall, he can start to change that.

BROWN: So, Ron, back to this idea of telling it like it is, it can lead to some trouble sometimes as Kevin sort of alluded to, and we saw it with John McCain. Some people said, you know, he at times was off message. It was messy. So there is a risk that Christie runs with this strategy, right?

CHRISTIE: I think that's right, but I also think Kevin's point is a strong one here. I think Chris Christie, by going out there and showing his, frankly, vulnerabilities, if you will, of going out there and telling it like it is, and being level with the American people. I think there's a quest for a certain level of authenticity that is often missing in politics today.

When you contrast that to the other side of the aisle where Secretary of State Clinton is very shrouded, gives very, very limited press availability, I think with Chris Christie, I think with several other Republicans in the field of going out there and doing retail politics -- and that's another thing I was told by one of his senior strategists is that Chris Christie loves going to the crowds.

He loves talking to people, he loves interacting with people, and I think that authenticity like that will shine through as against the usual sort of guarded, scripted politicians that we're so accustomed to hearing from.

MADDEN: Yes.

BROWN: And we know Christie will be the 14th Republican to enter the race. You expect it to be a long battle ahead for the nomination.

Ron Christie, Kevin Madden, thank you so much.

MADDEN: Great to be with you.

CHRISTIE: Pleasure.

BROWN: Good morning to you. I'm Pamela Brown in for Carol Costello. Thank you so much for being here with us.

[10:30:01] And this morning convicted killer David Sweat is upgraded from critical condition, and investigators say he's revealing crucial details of the prison escape. The intricate planning and the scramble to improvise.