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Brussels Terror Alert Extended Amid "Probable" Threat; American Band Recalls Concert Hall Massacre; NYPD, FDNY and Homeland Security Hold Active Shooter Drill; American Survivor Tells How She Got Out Alive; Getting Inside Minds Of Paris Attackers; 71 Days Out From Iowa Caucus, Donald Trump Holds Firm Lead; Preview Of CNN Film "The Hunting Ground." Aired 4-5p ET
Aired November 22, 2015 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: New developments this afternoon.
Who is this man?
Police say he is the third attacker at the Paris stadium. Investigators asking anyone with information to come forward.
Plus, Brussels still on highest alert. Schools and the subway still shut down. The prime minister speaking today telling residents to remain vigilant.
And it can only be called chilling. Two Eagles of Death Metal bandmates talk about what happened inside the Bataclan theater.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Several people hid in our dressing room. And the killers were able to get in and killed every one of them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: NEWSROOM starts now.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
WHITFIELD: Hello again and thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. New developments in the investigation into the Paris terror attacks. Police want the public's help in identifying this man.
French officials just released this photo of the third stadium attack suspect, who blew himself up outside the entrance gate. This as lead suspect, Salah Abdeslam, is still at large.
His brother telling a Belgian TV station he believes Abdeslam had intentions of another attack but changed his mind at the last minute. He was last seen near the Belgian border where Brussels is extending its highest terror alert into Monday. This comes amid a warning of a, quote, "probable and possible threat."
Underground subways will remain closed. Schools canceled. Today, Belgian prime minister Charles Michel asked the public to avoid shopping centers and large crowds.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLES MICHEL, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): What we fear is an attack similar to what happened in Paris with several individuals, even perhaps launch offensive weapons in several places at the same time, which leads us to think that the potential targets are those which are highly concentrated in population, such as shopping centers, commercial centers, public transport.
Finally, I want to confirm that the schools will be closed tomorrow in Brussels. Again, I want to indicate that everything is being implemented in order to have a return as quickly as possible to normal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. Let's go live to Brussels now. CNN's Nima Elbagir is there.
Nima, you just witnessed some police activity a bit earlier. We see some people out there.
What's going on?
NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we believe it was a police sweep. And it seems to have moved on now, Fredricka, although they have reinforced and sealed off the streets around the central police station not far from where we are here.
As you said, some people are braving it. They are coming out on the streets. But it is very diminished to what you would expect to be out in a European capital city over the weekend. It is this extraordinarily eerie situation, where people are trying to go. It is the festive season, after all, and meet with friends.
But interspersed amongst them are these military and police reinforcements. There is absolutely a sense that this is a city on edge but a city attempting to move on -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So subways remaining closed. Schools closed.
But what about people going to work?
Does this send the message that even people will stay away from their businesses and essentially shut down the city into a work week?
ELBAGIR: Well, that's going to be the difficult question. That's going to be a question that every single person's going to have to answer for themselves. What we've seen inside the hotels is that definitely those who are having to travel here for business are staying away. So many of these hotels are empty. You can really feel already that there is so much concern about the
impact economically this is going to have on people coming up towards Christmas. People are trying to put a brave face on it but there's a lot of fear here, Fredricka. There's a lot of tension.
Every time we walk towards one of these security sweeps, as we're running with our camera, people are asking us, "What's going on? Do you know what's going on?"
People are very much on edge but at the same time, when they look over and see what happened in Paris and the attempts that Parisians are making to get on with their lives, there is also a lot of gratitude.
WHITFIELD: All right, Nima Elbagir, thank you so much in Brussels.
Let's talk more about this now. CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Gilliam and CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona.
Jonathan, let me begin with you. The Belgian prime minister saying he fears multiple attacks much like Paris experienced.
[16:05:00]
WHITFIELD: What kind of information might lead a prime minister to say that publicly?
JONATHAN GILLIAM, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I would definitely say that he has some credible information that an imminent attack is possible. And I would liken this to -- any type of information we've had in the past that has stood -- like on military basis or here in New York City where I live that really alarms law enforcement, you take what we typically had that pushes up the threat level and magnify that. And that's the feel that you get when there's an imminent attack.
It is something that you know through sources primarily, usually it's through sources or through when you've actually arrested somebody and they give you information that something is actually being planned and is potentially underway. That's a very alarming thing when it comes to trying to figure out where this is going to happen so law enforcement can adequately defend against that attack.
WHITFIELD: Lt. Col., next week, British prime minister David Cameron will be announcing plans for greater military effort against ISIS.
What would "greater military effort" look like?
LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: For the British, that would be expanding their operations into Syria. Up until now, the British parliament has not given the British armed forces the authority to operate inside of Syria. They've been doing some drone flights, some reconnaissance but they're not actually dropping bombs in Syria.
Their aircraft are restricted to operations in Iraq only. We're hoping that that's going to change because we'd like to see more British air activity. We'd also like to see some British special forces on the ground there. So it remains to be seen if Mr. Cameron can convince the Parliament to give him that authority. It would certainly be welcome for the coalition.
WHITFIELD: And then, Lt. Col., what is the definition of defeating or decapitating when you talk about, as we talked to Professor Fawaz Gerges in the last hour. He said ISIS may be made up of between to 30 and 100,000 combatants. That's a huge number.
So what is decapitating it or defeating it?
How do you really define that?
FRANCONA: You've got to just destroy them. There's no possibility of negotiating with these people. They just have to be utterly destroyed. Now every day we wait, it gets worse and worse because we see them hemorrhaging out to different areas.
As these affiliates grow around the world, it becomes more and more of a problem. What we need to do is start in Syria and Iraq, start there, take them out there and hopefully that will lessen the appeal of all of these other people to join them. Start there, go there, take the rest of them on later.
WHITFIELD: OK. Also problematic, we've seen it, Jonathan, the porous borders in Europe. But people have enjoyed being able to go from one country to the next. But now it's all under a greater microscope.
So how might this impact law enforcement's approach from country to country?
GILLIAM: Well, it should impact them tremendously because the reality is, Fred, that this may be occurring now but it's been a problem that has allowed this to be built up.
For these operators of unconventional warfare that use terror, which is what these Islamic fighters are, it's allowed them to be able to move back and forth. And I'll go right along with Colonel Francona and go even further.
The one thing that could happen in this world that would cost no one even a dollar is if Islam themselves stepped up to the plate and started pushing this out so that we can adequately fight it. I do not see that. And it's time that Islam realize we want them to be a part of the solution.
And if these people are existing in their veins, they need to push that out so that we can adequately fight it. And that's really the biggest problem that we have. It's the easiest and simplest and most cost-effective solution to this whole thing.
WHITFIELD: All right, Jonathan Gilliam, Lt. Col. Rick Francona. We're going to continue chatting with you in a moment. Coming up, we're going to be talking about the security drill in New York City today, where you are, Jonathan, and what Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is saying about any possible threats to the U.S. Also this afternoon, we're hearing a chilling account about what happened inside the Bataclan theater. The American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was on stage when gunfire suddenly rang out. The band was able to run off the stage. And lead singer Jesse Hughes describes what happened in an interview with Vice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSE HUGHES, LEAD SINGER, EAGLES OF DEATH METAL: Several people hid in our dressing room and the killers were able to get in and killed every one of them, except for a kid who was hiding under my leather jacket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killers got in your dressing room.
HUGHES: Yes. People were playing dead. And they were so scared. A great reason why so many were killed is because so many people wouldn't leave their friends. And so many people put themselves in front of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Of the 130 deaths that occurred that night in Paris, 89 of them were at the band's concert inside the Bataclan --
[16:10:00]
WHITFIELD: -- theater. And an incredible moment captured before the shooting that night at the theater, take a look. This picture was taken just moments before the attack. The picture showing the eager faces of fans waiting for the concert to begin. You see everyone smiling, throwing up peace signs there.
The band has since released a statement that, while they are home safe, they are horrified and they're still trying to come to terms with what happened in France.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: In New York today, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is reassuring everyone there are no credible terror threats against the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEH JOHNSON, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We know of no specific credible threat of a Paris-like attack directed against the U.S. homeland. We are and we continue to be and we have been concerned about copycat-like attacks, as Director Comey said on Thursday. We're concerned about the type of attack we've seen by a so-called lone wolf. This type of exercise is something to address that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Johnson was part of a drill with police and fire department in New York where they conducted a three-hour active shooter drill at a Lower Manhattan subway system.
Jonathan Gilliam and Lt. Col. Rick Francona back with me now.
This active shooter drill, it was planned, by the way, before the Paris attacks but it has, of course, been now influenced by what happened overseas.
So Jonathan, you first. These are regular drills that take place in New York City. But how might it be different now, given what has been transpiring over the last year or so, how ISIS has grown, continues to, you know, attract followers and infiltrate --
[16:15:00]
WHITFIELD: -- ordinary, you know, day-to-day activity in so many cities?
GILLIAM: Well, you can't do enough of these drills because the more you practice, the more perfect your response is actually going to be. As we say in law enforcement and the military, action beats reaction.
If you have a plan, you're always going to be more likely to act than you are to just react. And that's what you see here in these exercises. Every time, Fred, that these terrorists go out and commit an act overseas, we can learn from that. And it doesn't matter if it's, you know, in Mumbai or if it's in Israel or if it's in Paris, we can learn from the tactics that they used because, ultimately, it's against soft targets. It's in areas where people congregate. It's the same tactics that they'll use when they come over here.
I'm just tired of hearing people like the director of Homeland Security say that there's no credible known threat. We need to stop differentiating between the numbers game, which is the potential, and start looking at the possibility. And it's 100 percent possible that it could happen any day in New York if they get the right people here.
WHITFIELD: So, Col. Francona, isn't that what these drills are about?
Because that is an acknowledgement, is it not, that it is possible and, if it is to happen, we are at the ready.
Is that the message that's being sent, whether it be municipalities or whether it be the military conducting these kinds of drills?
FRANCONA: Yes and I'm not sure how much of a deterrent effect these have but they sure give the first responders an opportunity to practice their skills and what they're going to do when something like this happens.
And just let me echo what Jonathan says there, this lack of a specific credible threat doesn't mean there's not a threat. And so I think we have to act like there is a threat, like the police in Belgium are doing right now.
I don't envy the police in Belgium because right now they've got that city shut down. How long are they going to be able to keep that up?
The terrorists just can wait and wait and wait until the opportunity -- this is a race against the clock.
Who finds who first?
WHITFIELD: So, Jonathan, when I hear you and you say you don't like that kind of language, is it because you believe it sends a signal that, you know, people should not be vigilant?
Or is it a mixed message?
Because it seems as though, in this day and age, everybody kind of walks around knowing that, unfortunately, the potential is there.
Why do you think it is undermining, if that's the right word, that that kind of language would be used by the Homeland secretary?
GILLIAM: I come off as an aggressive person. I am an aggressive person. But what I always -- I try to err on the side of caution with this stuff. It's not fearmongering. I'm trying to put out awareness mongering. I'm trying to get officials and I want people to realize that you should always expect that it could happen.
And I think the verbiage that they use is just, it's almost a lawyer type verbiage, saying that there's no credible threat. When people hear that, they drop their guard. And that's largely based on economics of not trying to use the -- trying to ruin the tourist industry or the shopping industry.
But we just don't live in the day and age anymore where you should be putting people completely at ease. You should be teaching them. The American people are smart enough. Teach them that they can make the biggest difference by looking around. And the time that they spend saying what they say, I think they could be giving hints to people in what to look, in where to look and what to look for.
WHITFIELD: All right. Jonathan Gilliam, Col. Francona, thanks so much, gentlemen. Good to see you.
GILLIAM: Sure.
FRANCONA: You got it.
WHITFIELD: So while New York City works at keeping itself protected from terrorism, the French government is trying to stop ISIS in its tracks in other ways. It's stepping up its bombardment of ISIS targets, specifically the self-declared capital of Raqqah. It is being hit by waves of airstrikes and on the ground by Kurdish fighters.
In an exclusive report, CNN senior international correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is seeing the fighting firsthand from the Kurdish front line just outside of Raqqah.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SR. INTL. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Airstrikes can repeatedly pound Raqqah but it's here that any ground offensive by the Kurds towards the capital of ISIS, its self-declared caliphate, would have to begin. And still, a sense of stalemate.
Their ultimate goal of Raqqah, visible on a good day in the far distance. And this base, at times in the past few days, hit by ISIS mortars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And don't miss Nick's full exclusive report from Syria tomorrow on NEW DAY, starting at 6:00 am Eastern. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:20:00]
WHITFIELD: Mali begins three days of national mourning tomorrow as the death toll in Friday's hotel attack climbs to 22.
By the time security forces rushed in to the Radisson Blu hotel and ended the siege, bodies were scattered across the floor. Incredibly, many others survived. CNN international correspondent David McKenzie spoke with survivors who were telling amazing stories of how they made it out alive, including an American who works for the CDC.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHIE FAZEKAS, CDC SPECIALIST, ATTACK SURVIVOR: I e-mailed my husband. I said something like, there is something going on and I want you to know that I love you.
And then when a few hours later, when the fire down the hallway, I wrote another e-mail and I said, I do believe there are shooters here. And if I don't make it, I want you to know I love you and my family. But I am coming home.
I do this because I love doing this work and where we are in the world that we need to continue on.
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're committed to the work no matter what.
FAZEKAS: No matter what. This wasn't about Mali. This was about what I call idiots. I'll be back.
MCKENZIE: Was there any point really, any moment where you thought, OK, this is it, this is the end of the road?
FAZEKAS: When the shooting came down the hallway, I was more nervous. I wasn't sure but -- it wasn't going to end. I was going home. I knew I was going home. That's the end of it.
MCKENZIE: So when the signal came, what went through your head?
FAZEKAS: Oh, gosh. I'm so glad to see you guys.
[16:25:00]
FAZEKAS: I don't know much French but I could say merci beaucoup, merci beaucoup. I said it all the way down the hall and I'll say it again.
These guys, every one of them that I mentioned, put their lives on the line for me that day and I so appreciate that.
And there's a group of people who didn't make it out. And my heart goes out to their families. But I believe they were here doing what they love and what they're committed to. And if that day were to come for me, someone would be saying that about me as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: The hotel was hosting delegations attending peace talks. About 140 guests and 30 employees were there when the attack began. The former French colony has been battling Islamist extremists with the help of U.N. and French forces.
And an American teen killed in an attack in the West Bank earlier this week was laid to rest in his hometown just outside of Boston today.
Eighteen-year-old Ezra Schwartz had just graduated from high school and was studying abroad in Israel. Israeli authorities say he was killed by a Palestinian gunman on Thursday.
One of Schwartz's friends shared a message on his Facebook page, "Even though I only knew you for three months, it felt like I knew you forever. Rest in peace to one of the greatest friends I will ever have.
"The positive attitude you brought to everything you did was incredible and just having you around always made everyone more happy."
Here's more from our affiliate, WCVB.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We watched him grow, a young child, all the way to --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): His roots were in Sharon but Ezra Schwartz's heart was in Israel, his rabbi says, drawn to the country to study for a year before going to college.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ezra was a fun-loving, funny, silly, wonderful guy, big heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): That generosity on display in a final act of charity, delivering food to Israeli troops. Authorities say a Palestinian man on a rampage crossed his path, spraying the street with bullets. Ezra was one of five killed in a series of attacks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The whole school went into shock. The middle school and upper school immediately canceled classes and everybody came together to pray.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): The 18-year-old graduated from Maimonides Jewish Day School in Brookline this year, where the brutality of the attack paralyzed teachers and students.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's devastating. It's heart-breaking, is what it is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): During a prayer service at the Sharon Synagogue his family attends, the grief was overwhelming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, I think our thoughts were really on the family, on the boy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): There is sadness here but also frustration and anger over the violence gripping Israel and claiming promising young lives.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why this young, vibrant man?
Why was he cut down, really, at 18 years old?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: John Atwater (ph) with our affiliate WCVB reporting.
Next, the hunt for one of the most wanted men on Earth and what his brother is saying about his disappearance -- next.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:01]
WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The brother of the only suspected Paris attacker known to be alive says he believes his brother may have changed his mind at the last minute and decided not to go through with his part of the attacks in Paris. The suspect Salah Abdeslam is still on the loose and he is now one of the most wanted men in the world. Our Ivan Watson joins me now from Paris with the latest on this, Ivan?
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka, let's bring you up to date with a new development. The French TV channel TF1 has interviewed a defense attorney, a lawyer for one of two Belgians who have been under arrest in Belgium, and they are believed to have done the drive with this fugitive that you just mentioned, Salah Abdeslam from Paris all the way up to Brussels on the Saturday after the November 13th attacks. And the lawyer has given some more details about this fugitive, saying that supposedly, Salah Abdeslam was really upset and maybe ready to blow himself up during that drive, that he might have been wearing an explosive belt or something like that and that he also spoke very little during the drive, and also appeared very calm at the moment when that car was stopped.
And the people were questioned by French authorities and then eventually released. Now it's important to note that Salah Abdeslam is now missing. He's still a fugitive now, more than a week after the attacks. The two people who went and picked him up from Paris, they are in Belgian custody right now. All of these details have come from the defense attorney of one of the men who allegedly drove this fugitive away from the scene of the Paris attacks, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And then Ivan, what do we know about those two that helped drive him away in terms of their involvement, how much they knew, whether they at the last minute got roped into it, or whether there's real intrinsic value here in their arrest?
WATSON: It appears that after the attacks, Salah Abdeslam called up to his hometown to Brussels, the Belgian capital which is under serious security lockdown right now and asked for a ride basically. And they took him back up. And the car that he was traveling in was later found by police in Brussels, the Belgian capital. The two men that picked him up, they have been in Belgian custody ever since then and presumably the Belgian authorities are trying to find Salah Abdeslam. In the meantime -- and it's important to note that one of his brothers was in Paris and was one of the attackers and killed himself, blew himself up amidst all the carnage on that day.
There is a third brother who was not part of the attack. He is in Belgium. And he's been speaking out to the media. He is not in police custody. He's made a fresh appeal for his brother to please turn himself in. He has speculated that maybe his brother effectively got cold feet and didn't follow through on the Paris attack. And he also made another statement saying he would please like to see his 26- year-old brother in jail, turning himself into authorities, rather than end up in a graveyard, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Still mysterious as to how these brothers would end up, one and two others would go in such different directions. Ivan Watson, thank you so much.
[16:35:01]
