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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Russian Plane Crash Cause Debated; Long-Missing Child Had Been Abducted by His Father. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired November 05, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:31:06] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Moving back to our top story, the crash of that Russian plane in Egypt and what might have brought it down.

We're expecting a live White House press briefing any moment now. And that topic is almost certainly to come up, if not first, as soon as the Press Secretary Josh Earnest, takes the podium, we are going to move into the briefing room live.

But in the meantime there is other news to cover.

An Alabama mother did not know where her son was for 13 years, whether he was even dead or alive. And that's starting from the age of 5. Now skip over to the right. That's him at age 18.

And today, immense relief, her son is alive. He was reported missing back in 2002 when he was just that 5-year-old face. He's been found now, Julian Hernandez, at 18, was with his father. And his father has been arrested and is facing charges of potential child abduction here.

Jean Casarez joins me now.

I say potential. And I think why haven't those charges been slapped on that man? He is in jail. He is facing a very high bond at $250,000, but not for child abduction.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: If so -- there's so much to this. He was allegedly abducted out of Alabama in 2002.

As you said, 5-years-old, lived his life at least recently in Ohio. And he is now 18 years old. And he went to apply to go to college. Suddenly, it was discovered by the counselor that his name and his social security number didn't coincide with each other. Something was wrong. And a school counselor contacted the children of missing and exploited children.

BANFIELD: Yes.

CASAREZ: It was found out that he was on that list.

BANFIELD: He was on the national center's site database?

CASAREZ: Yes, can you believe that that they were able to track that? We don't know exactly how, we don't know what this little boy, now 18, said to the school counselor.

But the father is only charged in Ohio now with actually falsifying and defacing the database in Ohio to receive and obtain a fictitious Ohio state I.D. card.

But you're right, Ashleigh, this is, allegedly, a kidnapping class. And I just spoke with Alabama authorities. No charges are in the database at this point for kidnapping. But, remember, this could be a federal charges or state charges. They can do both.

BANFIELD: Or both.

CASAREZ: That's exactly, right.

BANFIELD: Yes, so I mean I'm just trying to think through all the dynamics here. A 5-year-old is taken from his custodial mother. He goes under an assumed name with this father. They live for 13 years. And who knows what this child was ever told. We don't know if he was told his mother was dead, his mother was abusive, his mother is a monster. We don't know anything.

But he's an adult now. That child is an adult. So presumably if he doesn't want to see his mother, he doesn't have to.

CASAREZ: That's right. And there's so many layers to this. And we don't know all of the alleged crimes that were committed along the way because you've got an Ohio I.D. you've got a social security number that apparently didn't fit this 18-year-old Julian Hernandez who is the victim in all this.

And you've also got kidnapping which is a life felony. Now the national center...

BANFIELD: When you say life felony, life in prison?

CASAREZ: Yes, it's a life felony think about Elizabeth Smart.

They brought charges federally and state in Utah when she was abducted and kidnapped. Life felony on the federal level...

BANFIELD: And by the way she was held against her will for nine months. This young boy, now man was held against his will unknowingly for 13 years.

CASAREZ: Right.

BANFIELD: Does that make it more egregious? Do you get a bigger charge? Do you get a bigger sentence, is that an aggravating...

CASAREZ: You're talking about sentencing. You're talking about the aggravating factors of sentencing exactly of how egregious this was, how long that took place.

And we don't know what this little boy, now 18-year-old adult, went through. We don't know.

BANFIELD: We don't know what he's going through now. For all we know, he's at the jail trying to spring the only love of his life, his father, is the only parent he's ever known.

[12:35:05] If you look at these pictures though Jean, you really get a sense for the -- what was stolen here from the custodial mother, an entire childhood.

CASAREZ: And the national center for missing and exploited children, which specialize in this right here. They applaud Julian Hernandez for the courage in taking the first steps to find the answers about who he is.

So they say he took the first steps to find out who he was. We know the work for Julian and his family has just begun and will continue over the next days, months and years as they adjust and get to know each other all over again.

BANFIELD: And I just have to ask you one other question. And obviously we're at a very early stage of this. But that father's being held on, I said before, $250,000, give or take, but it's about a quarter million dollars bond which for all of us is a lot of money.

But for a man who may have proven himself to be one of the most elusive among us, that is the textbook case of a flight risk. Why is that not a million dollar bond?

CASAREZ: Right, well they're just holding him on falsifying an Ohio I.D. So $25,000 could get him out, right. So I'm sure because I've been on the phone trying to talk with the district attorney this morning in Alabama. He is in meetings all morning. But obviously if they're going to charge other things, they want to do it fast because he can make bail.

BANFIELD: He is in a world of trouble. I mean that the charges that could come out of Alabama, compounding the extradition that's, you know, sure to be mounted.

We'll have to follow it. Keep us posted.

CASAREZ: And remember, it's an alleged abduction. A lot we don't know.

BANFIELD: Yes, at this point. Yes, thank you, Jean Casarez, we appreciate it.

As I mentioned before we are expecting that White House press briefing at any moment. And we expect that the crash of the Russian Metrojet plane is going to come up probably right off the bat. There is so many speculations, so many world leaders. And officials and sources within the intelligence community suggesting it was a bomb that brought down that plane.

It is likely to be one of the first questions of Josh Earnest when he takes that podium.

We're going to take you there live.

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[12:41:25] BANFIELD: As we continue to wait on more information about the downing of Metrojet Flight 9268, we're expecting to hear perhaps something out of the White House press briefing due to happen at any moment.

It is a moving target, what time the press secretary takes to the podium. But more than likely one of the first questions will be the downing of that aircraft.

The Americans have made the case that all intelligence suggests the plane was destroyed by a bomb.

The British have said the words, it may well have been brought down by an explosive device.

And a Middle East source briefed on the intelligence matter saying to CNN that it appears likely the bomb was placed aboard the aircraft.

So with all of this global echoing, that it was a terrorist act, a bomb on board, there is certainly growing speculation today that terrorists may have done just that, brought down a Russian airliner over Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people on board.

Here's what we can tell you definitively.

Both the United States and British officials say their intelligence suggests ISIS or perhaps one of ISIS' affiliates, planted a bomb onboard that aircraft.

And U.S. officials think it was an inside job. Done with help from someone at the Egyptian airport where the flight originated. And that is a beautiful resort called Sharm el Sheikh.

However, and this is a big however, Russian and Egyptian officials are pushing back, saying that there is no hard evidence as of now to support those suspicions.

Well, nonetheless, Britain is taking no chances. It's decided to suspend all its flights out of Sharm el Sheikh Airport for now.

And that has about 3,500 Brits who are due to fly out today stuck and stranded. We're going to keep you posted on just what the plans are to move those passengers around.

I want to bring in our CNN Military Analyst Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

I want to ask you specifically about the group you think might be, if in fact it is a bomb that brought down that aircraft.

ISIS making all sorts of noise about it but what do you think specifically? Who is it that might be behind this? MARK HERTLING, LT. GEN. (RET) FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL EUROPE: We've said for a couple days Ashleigh that's it's a group called Wilayat Sinai they've been very active over the last few years. There's been some intelligence gathering on them. From individuals in the area as, you know, we have the multinational force and observer mission about 30 kilometers northeast of where the aircraft crashed.

They have been there for the last 30 years. Those are American forces, about 700 soldiers on the ground. So they know this area very well.

And as CNN reported in early September, the Department of Defense sent a mission there to reinforce that camp with combat soldiers because of the threats by terrorists in that region.

Wilayat Sinai is a group that is actively attempting to overthrow the Egyptian government. They are doing that because they feel the Egyptian government has become too friendly with Israel.

So their purpose in life is not to establish a caliphate, their purpose is to overthrow a government. And they have been doing this for several years. The Sinai not only has this group of about 1,000 terrorists, that's the estimate, but they have been act -- the terrorists have actively been recruiting Bedouins in that region to try and allow them to assist in their activities, in getting across the border into Israel.

So that's what we know. They have been very active about 30 or so attacks that have been claimed by this group over the last two years. Not all of them have been committed.

[12:45:05] But as recently as September 11th, they shot a Kornet missile and destroyed an Egyptian army tank near north camp which is the area near the crash site.

BANFIELD: General Hertling, wasn't it you I heard actually talking about how Bedouins are a big part of the security staffing at the Sharm el-Sheikh airport?

HERTLING: Yeah, again, the Sinai, it only has about 1.5 million people living in the Sinai. And most of them are in Sharm el-Sheikh. And some of the Bedouins actually go for jobs there. So the theory, and, again, this is a theory, that this was an inside job by baggage handlers where the security may be more lax than in the terminal itself, is probably a good theory Ashleigh. But, again, it's not conclusive. It's what people are guessing at right now in terms of intelligence and because there's no firm evidence yet that it was a bomb, it's tough to go down the path of how did the bomb get on board.

BANFIELD: Sure. General Hertling, I might need to interrupt this next answer of yours if Josh Hertling appears at the podium. I could happen at any moment. But I do want to ask you, or Josh Earnest, excuse me.

There has been much that you do made about the fact that when a terrorist organization achieves its mission, the reason they do it is to create terror and the only way to do that is to make sure everybody knows you did it. And yet there hasn't been this massive trumpeting of responsibility. There's been slight trumpeting. There's been some suggest that is to give those who were responsible some cover and a little bit of time in order to save themselves and get away if, in fact, they pulled this off. Do you see any possibility to that?

HERTLING: Yeah, I definitely do. And that's certainly a potential. But the other thing is, who is going to claim it? Again, Wilayat Sinai has been attempting to garner support from ISIS. They want to be part of the brand, because ISIS is the worldwide known. No one knows Wilayat Sinai. When we first mentioned this a few days ago on CNN, it was like, who the heck are they?

Well, they want to be part of ISIS to get part of the branding of is. So who announces it? Is it W.S. that announces it or is it ISIS that announces it? And like you said Ashleigh there might be some plausibility in saying let's get the individuals who committed out of the country, in a hideaway spot or something like that. So all that's a potential. But truthfully, that's not usually the modus operandi of terrorist groups. They want to announce it fast and take credit for it even when they haven't done it.

BANFIELD: Yeah, because the terror is all in the announcing and the creation of fear because of the actions. General Hertling, I'm going to pause there for just a moment, squeeze in a quick break, and we're going to await this live news conference from the White House at any moment.

We'll be back right after this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Barbara Massaad has a way in the kitchen. So after a visit to Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon the cookbook author and photographer knew there was a very special recipe she needed to whip up.

BARBARA MASSAAD, AUTHOR AND PHOTOGRAPHER: I just had to do something. I didn't know what. But I just wanted to get closer to this problem.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lebanon has been overwhelmed with more than 1 million Syrian refugees. Many live in the Bekaa valley refugee camp and struggle to provide for their families.

MASSAAD: This whole adventure started when I went up to Bekaa, not knowing that I was going to do a cookbook. I started taking photographs of the refugees. I have a friend of mine. Her name is Tina. She called me one day. She said, I want to cook soup for the refugees, like in America they have soup kitchens. And that's what we did.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Massad began collecting recipes from chefs, foodies and friends to create a cookbook called soup for Syria. All proceeds go to the U.N. refugee agency to help Syrian refugees. Massaad said her work must continue to help children like 6-year-old Ayia, who has been at this camp for two years.

[12:49:06] MASSAAD: I became attach to them. So this has been my drive and my motivation to continue the project.

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BANFIELD: Got this just in. The Department of Homeland Security has okayed the Secret Service protection requests 24/7 for presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Both men had made that request some time back. And our senior White House Correspondent Jim Acosta now confirmed they've got it.

Today New Hampshire is place to be for the Republican candidates. I want to show you picture of Carly Fiorina in concord just a short time ago. She's surrounded as she prepares to get her papers filed to get her name on the ballot for the first in the nation primary. Always love watching that stuff. But more, I like to see them vote.

Marco Rubio was filing today. Jeb Bush and Chris Christie and John Kasich have events planned throughout the day. New Hampshire voters head to the polls February 9th. And that is soon, believe it or not.

Coming up in just a few minutes, you're going to hear from presidential candidate, former Senator Rick Santorum. Plus, later on, Jake Tapper is going to interview Ted Cruz, that's happening live a 4:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN.

[12:55:04] We're also keeping a live eye. I always say it is a moving target because you never know when the White House press briefings are going to happen but we are still waiting for that 12:30 press conference to happen 25 minutes later. In the meantime, I'm going to turn the helm over to Wolf Blitzer. He's going to bring you that news conference and whole lot more news right after this quick break.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNNANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 6:00 p.m. in London, 9:00 p.m. in Moscow. Wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us.

We begin with the mysterious crash of a Russian passenger plane in Egypt and disputed claims today that a terrorist bomb is to blame. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron couches it by saying a bomb is the most likely cause.

[13:00:05] Let's go to the White House right now.