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New Video Captures El Chapo's Prison Escape; Taped FBI Interrogation of Terror Suspect; Obama Sells Plan in News Conference Today; Trump Leads GOP Field In New National Poll. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired July 15, 2015 - 09:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[09:00:10] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now on the NEWSROOM. Now you see them, now you don't.

IOAN GRILLO, AUTHOR, "EL NARCO": It makes the government look dumb.

COSTELLO: Inside the cell of notorious drug lord El Chapo moments before he escaped through this tunnel complete with a motorcycle.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's leaving so many people here to wonder exactly who was helping Chapo escape.

COSTELLO: Also, Trump on top? He's tied for the lead in a new national poll.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I want to save the country. Our country is going to hell.

COSTELLO: But his illegal immigration talking points has some families bristling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Donald Trump talks about Kate Steinle like he knows her.

COSTELLO: Plus, trying to survive in some of the roughest terrain in the west.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three days, no water, no food.

COSTELLO: Did reality TV help a teenager live through a burning plane wreck and find her way back to civilization?

Let's talk. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. We begin with stunning new video capturing the world's most powerful drug lord breaking free from a Mexican prison.

Take a look at these. These are the final moments behind bars for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Watch carefully as he emerges from the shower, walks over to his bed. Seconds later after changing his shoes, you see him getting back up. He'll do in just a second. He'll go back into the shower area and then he disappears for good.

Authorities say El Chapo escaped through a complex mile-long tunnel equipped with the ventilation system, lighting and a motorcycle. All of this as law enforcement source reveals to CNN federal agents actually warned Mexico that a planned escape might be in the works after El Chapo was locked up last year.

Let's bring in CNN's Polo Sandoval, he's on the ground in Mexico where that brazen escape took place.

Good morning.

SANDOVAL: Hey, Carol. Good morning. The release of that video by the Mexican government truly surprising so many people here on the ground especially after being here for several days. Many people did not expect the release of that key piece of evidence here as it does -- that video does show the remarkable escape. Plus it's also the latest image captured of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman before he disappeared into a camera blind spot and into custom built tunnel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL (voice-over): This newly released surveillance video shows the second brazen prison escape of infamous drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Watch as Guzman, still in prison uniform, calmly walks over to the shower in his cell, he bends over and then seemingly vanishes into thin air.

Mexican authorities say Guzman exploited two blind spots in his maximum security prison cell which is under 24-hour surveillance slipping through a hole under the shower to make his elaborate get- away. Guzman's tracking bracelet that monitored his every move left behind.

GRILLO: To see somebody escape from supposedly the top security prison through a tunnel a mile long with lights, with an air vent, with a motorcycle on rails, it makes the government look useless.

SANDOVAL: These images showing a motorcycle inside the tunnel Guzman used to escape. According to Mexican officials, the bike was likely used to remove dirt during the excavation and transport the tools for the dig. The tunnel stretching for about a mile and ending inside a half built house.

El Chapo, a menacing marijuana, heroin and cocaine kingpin and head of the multi-billion dollars Sinaloa drug cartel, is described as a complete savage with powerful ties spanning across Mexico and the U.S. And now details emerging that after Guzman's first recapture in early 2014 U.S. DEA agents received information suggesting that Guzman's relatives and associates were looking for ways to break him out of prison again, passing this information along to Mexican authorities, a claim Mexico's government has denied.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And back out live just outside the prison perimeter where we are now learning that the United States has offered to help with this manhunt. But at this point Mexican authorities have not taken up the offer as that lingering question remains at this hour, Carol.

COSTELLO: All right --

SANDOVAL: Exactly where is Joaquin Guzman. Back to you.

COSTELLO: Polo Sandoval, reporting live from Mexico this morning. Thank you.

Be sure to stay with us. Later on this morning we'll talk with a "Wall Street Journal" reporter Dudley Althaus. He's based in Mexico City. We'll dive deeper into this elaborate escape and talk about the corruption plaguing the Mexican government.

Also this morning a terror suspect's devotion to ISIS in his own words. This is the FBI interrogation of 23-year-old Alexander Ciccolo who's accused of plotting an attack on a college campus and executing students live on the Internet.

[09:05:04] In just a moment we'll talk to a man who knows the suspect and his family. In fact our guest served on the Boston Police Force with the father, who reportedly was the one who alerted authorities. But first, let's begin with CNN's Alexandra Field with the latest on the investigation and this surveillance tape which is astounding.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it was actually played in open court. It was then decided that he would be held without bail. We knew that authorities had been monitoring this young man, listening to his conversations, watching his social media that they believe he was prepared to launch this ISIS-inspired attack. But in this video you actually see investigators asking him of his beliefs about ISIS, why he supports them and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, ISIS this, ISIL that, all these things. What is your take on that? What do you feel about, you know, the group that calls themselves ISIS or ISIL? Are they doing a good thing?

ALEXANDER CICCOLO, SUSPECT: Yes. Yes, they are. They're doing a good thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What part of what they're doing is good? Like what, what is their -- and again, this is education for us, too. So what is their ultimate goal? What are they doing? What's good?

CICCOLO: They're implementing the Sharia. They're freeing people from oppression. Wherever they go, they're changing things. Finally establish Khalifah.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FIELD: After this video was played in court, Ciccolo's attorney did speak about the comments that are made in that video and what he says is that he didn't hear any expression of a desire to commit acts of violence. Instead he heard a man talking about his beliefs when asked about those beliefs.

We do know from court documents that this is a 23-year-old man with a long history of mental illness. Again, he was being watched by authorities. And authorities say they moved in once they felt that he was beginning to take steps toward action. Receiving four different firearms. They went into his apartment. They also found that he had parts of Molotov cocktails already constructed. He had a long knife and also a machete -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I know. I have the list of what they found, what police say they found at his apartment. So pressure cookers, you know, similar to the ones used in the Boston marathon bombings. A Colt AR- 15, 223 caliber rifle, a Sig Arms mode SG 550-1, a 556 caliber rifle, a Glock 17, a Glock 20. They also found partially constructed Molotov cocktails two machetes and a long curbed knife. Wow.

FIELD: He had been making a list of the things that he felt that he needed to carry out an attack. Well, he does talk about being inspired by ISIS. He also talks throughout this court documents which show excerpts of his conversations with the witness who was cooperating with the Joint Terrorism Task Force. He does talk a lot about the Boston marathon bombings. And you bring up the pressure cooker which was obviously used in those attacks. He does seem to draw a great deal of inspiration from that attack, from those brothers, and from the type of explosives that were used there.

COSTELLO: Alexandra Field, thanks so much, I appreciate it.

My next guest says Captain Ciccolo made a courageous choice when he tipped off authorities about his own son. A choice that not only saved his son's life but possibly countless others.

Daniel Linskey is a former superintendent-in-chief for the Boston Police Department. He knows the Ciccolo family personally.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning, sir, and taking the time to talk about the Ciccolos.

DANIEL LINSKEY, FORMER SUPERINTENDENT-IN-CHIEF, BOSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thanks for having me, Carol.

COSTELLO: First of all, just tell me about the Ciccolo family and about Alexander.

LINSKEY: Captain Ciccolo comes from the law. His father was a police officer, his uncles were police officers. He's got cousins on the police department, a law and police department. He's a great police officer. A courageous police officer. He was involved in an incident with my brother where they both earned the Medal of Honor. He's a good community police officer when he was in District 18, leading community trust and lowering crime at the same time.

He's a great administrator and he's a great guy, and faced with an amazingly difficult decision. He made a courageous choice to benefit both his family and save his son's life and obviously the lives of others as well by getting that plot stopped.

COSTELLO: He'd been estranged from his son for a few years. Is that right?

LINSKEY: He had an issue with his son when he got to be of the age of 18 where, you know, he was having him not obeying the house rules and doing things that the captain didn't like. He had to ask him to leave his home for the benefit of keeping his home sound. But at the same time he still got him a place to live and got him a job down at a friend of mine's restaurant, and was still supporting and working with his son, trying to deal with some of the issues he had.

[09:10:06] And I think one of the challenges as a parent, once your child turns 18, and if they've had some difficulties with mental health issues, there's not a lot of resources, there's not a lot you can do. They're in the eyes of the law, on their own, and you can't force them to do things that are actually in their best interests.

COSTELLO: And Alexander was -- I don't know, he's apparently searching for something. But this wasn't the first group, ISIS, I'm talking about, he wanted to join. There were others, right?

LINSKEY: When I first met him, he decided he was going to go to the West Coast. He was involved in the Occupy Movement for a period of time and looking to do that. And then I know at some point he got involved with an anti-nuclear program and was very much, that was his cause that he aligned himself with. And it seems like later on he decided to align himself with this radical form of Islam and get into the jihadist violent aspects of it where he felt the need to conduct attacks on people who didn't believe the same things he did.

COSTELLO: Any -- I mean, how did his father find out that his son was sort of allegedly collaborating with ISIS?

LINSKEY: He's been -- you know, the Captain Ciccolo is engaged with his son and been talking to him and sees -- you know, they talk to each other and had conversations. And at some point his son was telling him what he was thinking and what he was feeling and what he was posting on social media. The captain had concerns about it, talked to him, tried to get help.

And when it looked like his son didn't want to accept any of the help, the captain was offering, I think the captain was concerned about the potential of this going someplace different, he alerted authorities to be on the lookout in case this was not just talk. So it starts out as just talking conversation, concerning in nature, and I think his thought was, let me make sure this doesn't go any further. And if it does, the proper officials are alerted to it.

COSTELLO: And we have a graphic up of all of the weapons that this kid acquired. So he has mental health issues and he gets somehow involved with ISIS online or wherever. And his father is a police officer. So how was he able to acquire all of these weapons, do you think?

LINSKEY: Well, the weapons came from -- obviously once they started investigating him, started having conversations, they put up a confidential source to start working -- probably with him online, engaging in conversations, seeing exactly what his thoughts and plans were. And then the government asked him if, you know, if he would talk about what he was looking for. He said he was looking for rifles and it appears they made an offer to provide the rifles and see if he's -- how far he was willing to go with the plot.

Was it idle talk or was he going to take steps to go forward and actually gather information and make preparation for this attack? And it appears by accepting the weapons and building the Molotov cocktails, he was making steps to prepare and engage in an attack. And that's where the government stepped in and stopped the plot at that point.

COSTELLO: Daniel Linskey, thank you so much for joining me this morning, I appreciate it?

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Donald Trump climbs to the top of the GOP polls. Can he stay there. Our political panel will weigh in next.

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[09:17:19] COSTELLO: Just a few hours from now, President Obama ratcheted up his sales campaign to rally support for the new nuclear deal with Iran. He'll field questions at a White House news conference. His goal, tamping down public doubts and the partisan vows to kill the agreement before it goes to Congress.

CNN correspondent Michelle Kosinski is live at the White House with more on this.

Good morning, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol.

Right, Congress is ready and more than willing to get their hands on that deal and in some cases tear through it. But the White House is just as ready. I mean, they have an answer ready for every element of criticism. Today, we're going to hear the president take questions at a press conference. The vice president is heading to Capitol Hill to talk to Democrats, and coming from all sides right now, a hailstorm of reaction.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have cut off every pathway for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

KOSINSKI (voice-over): President Obama got his nuclear deal with Iran. The job now: to defend and sell it at home.

OBAMA: I think that criticism is misguided.

KOSINSKI: Taking on the skeptics and critics asking why the U.S. and five other countries couldn't insist that Iran dismantle its nuclear capability altogether, here with "The New York Times".

OBAMA: The notion that the world signed up for these sanctions in order to either achieve regime change, to solve every problem in terms of Iranian behavior or to say to them in perpetuity that they can never have peaceful nuclear power, that was never something that was in the cards.

KOSINSKI: But there are plenty of questions, what kind of access really will nuclear inspectors have if Iran balks at opening certain doors? There is a process in place were that, though gaining access through it could take nearly a month or longer.

JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR: The most disappointing part of it is the inspection part. It's not anywhere any time. It's not anything remotely like that.

KOSINSKI: Former Senator Joe Lieberman and experts weighed in at a House committee on the deal, only hours after it was announced.

REP. ED ROYCE (R-CA), CHMN, HOUSE FOREIGN RELATIONS CMTE: Why would the United States sign off on such an agreement?

KOSINSKI: Many in Congress angry that Iran will still be able to enrich uranium at all, al albeit a vastly reduced supply. It's still retained almost all of its industrial nuclear infrastructure, at the same time, it will gain billions of dollars in sanctions relief and new trade. While not unlikely, continuing to fund terror, threaten neighbors and destabilize the region.

Some parts of the deal expire in ten or 15 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have rather seen 20 years, 30 years, rather than 10.

KOSINSKI: President Obama acknowledges the challenges.

[09:20:00] OBAMA: Diplomacy can work. It doesn't work perfectly. It doesn't give us everything that we want.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KOSINSKI: So, Congress could vote in disapproval of the deal which would mean they would keep congressional sanctions on Iran. But what could happen is that the deal then falls apart. Iran basically says, well, that's not what we bargained for. Then again, other countries are involved, so they could lift their sanctions and move forward.

And now you have the White House essentially warning Congress that even if they were to get all the votes necessary to override a presidential veto if they did disapprove of the deal, the outcome might not quite be what they intended, Carol.

COSTELLO: Michelle Kosinski, reporting live from the White House this morning -- thank you.

As the controversy surrounding Donald Trump and his immigration comments continue to swirl, the brother of a woman shot and killed in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant is speaking out.

Brad Steinle telling CNN's Anderson Cooper Trump is, quote, "sensationalizing his sister Kate's death."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRAD STEINLE, BROTHER OF WOMAN ALLEGEDLY KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT: Trump talks about Kate Steinle like he knows her. I've never heard a word from his company manager, never heard a word from him. It's disconcerting and, you know, I don't want to be affiliated with somebody that can't have -- doesn't have the common courtesy to reach out and ask about Kate and ask about our political views and what we want. The platform that he's sitting isn't exactly what our family believes in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Steinle appearing to have a change of heart concerning Trump after tweeting this message to the Republican candidate back on July 4th. The tweet said, "Donald Trump, thank you for speaking about my sister Kate. She was an amazing kind and loving person, an angel, my Kate."

Well, let's talk about the latest polls, because Donald Trump is popular with voters, despite that. Trump is the choice for 17 percent of Republican voters in a "USA Today"/Suffolk University poll. That's ahead of 14 percent for Jeb Bush. But keep in mind: those numbers are within the margin of error. So Bush and Trump are technically tied.

Still, it's cause for Trump to celebrate.

CNN politics reporters Sara Murray and MJ Lee are here to put this poll into perspective.

Welcome to both of you.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: Thanks for having us.

COSTELLO: Thanks for being here.

So, let's put this in perspective. Back in 2012, when Trump was pretending to run for president, his poll numbers were great. In April of 2011, Trump was the front runner along with Mike Huckabee. In the end, Trump decided not to run despite the numbers.

So, Sara, what does this tell us?

MURRAY: Well, look, I think obviously Donald Trump thinks that his numbers were good enough or thought he could move the numbers. And one of the things we've heard him say a lot is the reason my numbers hadn't been better before is because people didn't think I was serious about running. Now that they know I'm serious about running and they're in the race, you're seeing my numbers start to improve. I think sort of the big question mark, is how his favorables and unfavorables move. When you look at the general electorate, he's still not very popular.

But when you look at the Republican primary voters his numbers are actually improving in terms of his favorability. So, that's a really interesting to watch as well.

COSTELLO: OK, let's take about the favorability rates for just a second and concentrate on that, MJ, because back in 2011, Trump's unelectable numbers were high, 68 percent of all Americans had a negative view of Trump. This latest poll, it focuses only on Republican voters but the unfavorability rating is still high.

MJ LEE, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: It shows that six in ten Republicans wouldn't vote for Trump or has an unfavorable view of Trump. This is a problem that Trump has had for a while now going back to 2011 as he pointed out.

The number of Republicans who either do not like Trump or do not want to vote for Trump has always been high, meaning that the pool of voters that Trump is working with and trying to convince to vote for him has always been limited. One other thing I would point out about a potential roadblock for Trump going down the road, is the fact that so far, he has had unlimited air time. This is at a point in the cycle when many of his fellow candidates are not going up in the air with ads.

So, what happens to Donald Trump when somebody like Marco Rubio is going up with ads and he isn't the only person that is dominating the air waves, and people are starting to see some different faces and some different options?

COSTELLO: Interesting.

OK, let's talk about August and the first big debate, because it appears that Donald Trump will make the first cut, right? And he'll be on stage with probably with Jeb Bush and the language that Donald Trump has been using, he's described Jeb Bush as terrible, Jeb Bush on his part says, well -- you know, Trump has called Bush terrible and Bush says he doesn't see Trump as a factor.

[09:25:01] So, you have to wonder, what will this first debate be like?

MURRAY: Yes, well, I think we have a good sense of what the debate will be like from the side of Donald Trump. It's pretty clear that Jeb Bush is public enemy number one for him.

I think it will be interesting to see who else engages against Donald Trump, because when you really look at it, the pool of voters that are considering Jeb Bush probably does not have a lot of overlap with the pool of voters who are considering Donald Trump. I actually think his candidacy is more problematic for people like Senator Ted Cruz, or Senator Rand Paul. The more people who are voting for Donald Trump, the fewer people are voting for those candidates.

So, so far Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have had a pretty good relationship. It will be interesting to see if one of the other candidates who's polling a little bit lower gets up on stage and has saved some zingers for Donald Trump.

COSTELLO: OK, speaking of Ted Cruz, MJ, is there a meeting coming up between Donald Trump said Cruz will be visiting him in New York City today. We don't have a lot of details on exactly how this meeting came together. Trump says Cruz asked for the meeting. As you know, Cruz is one of the few Republican candidates who actually supported Trump when he was in all of his controversy over his immigration comments.

So, maybe it will be a friendly meeting but at the end of the day, they are competing against each other. So, it should be interesting.

COSTELLO: MJ, Sara, thanks for being here. I appreciate it.

Still to come in THE NEWSROOM: a 16-year-old girl being called a superhero after walking away from a plane crash and hiking two days in the wilderness for help.

CNN's Sara Sidner is following that story for us.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we'll have new details on exactly what is happening with the search for the crash site itself. And we'll tell you a little bit about the 16-year-old who managed to survive not only the crash but survive her time in rugged terrain. We'll have that after the break.

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