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International Arrest Warrant Just Issued For Man Who Was Seen on CCTV en Route From Brussels to Paris; Tunisia Declaring State of Emergency after a Bus Explodes. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired November 24, 2015 - 15:30   ET

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


[15:30:00] ELGIE SIMS (D), ILLINOIS STATE HOUSE: The video is supposed to be released. It's very difficult. These are difficult times. And we want the community to come out. We expect the community to be outraged and demand answers, but we don't want destruction to be coupled with that outrage.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're also taking the message to the street this is weekend. You marched with 200 people trying to get the word out to the people to stop violence, but also to be ready for whatever could happen next.

SIMS: Absolutely. You know, (INAUDIBLE) always stand ready to be the voice for the voiceless. And this weekend we were out. There is a reported gang war going on in the community. And we wanted to come out to stand with local community residents, with local business owners to say enough is enough. We want the violence stopped and we're going to stand with you to stop it.

YOUNG: You also wanted to see the video. You were hoping to get a preview before the public saw the video. One, tell my Maine why you were hoping to see it early and then what do you think is going to happen after the video is released?

SIMS: I was hoping to see it early because like everyone else, I want to make sure that we are handling this it appropriately. But I have responsibility to the constituents I represent to make sure that I'm fully informed about what's going to be presented.

But I'm also fearful for our community. I don't want a repeat of what's going on around the country to happen here in Chicago. Recently, we passed some very sweeping reforms in Springfield to deal with issues just like this. Deal with scenario base training and to deal with culture things like that. So we would be able to address these issues and to make sure that these things don't happen again.

YOUNG: Brooke, there is a larger conversation happening about body cams. Obviously, this was caught on a dash cam. People want transparency. And they are hoping that more in terms of transparency will happen in this community so there won't be situations like this in the future -- Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN HOST: Ryan, thank you so much. We will obviously talk about this tomorrow as the video will be released. Representative Sims, thank him for us as well. Coming up, back to our breaking news out of Paris. Chilling details

of a new suicide plot that was to unfold days after the initial attacks here in Paris. Just half a mile from where I'm sitting here, (INAUDIBLE).

We are also hearing that the so-called ringleader returned to the scene of the crime hours after the attacks as investigators and reporters were there searching for answers.

More on that, when we come back live from Paris.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:36:47] BALDWIN: Back here live in Paris. We have some breaking news involving that Russian jet that was shot down by Turkey. A U.S. official telling our correspondent at Pentagon, Barbara Starr, that the war plane had been in Turkish air space for 30 seconds or less. Keep in mind the Turkish government says it issues ten different warnings over the course of a five-minute period. They did not say if all these warnings occurred while the jet was actually in their air space. We can tell you at least one of the pilots was killed and a Russian marine who was sent to rescue them also died.

Back to breaking news coverage here in Paris. Two big developments tonight here just past the 9:00 hour in the evening. Let me bring you up to speed.

First, you have this international arrest warrant that's just been issued for this man, who was seen on closed circuit TV at a gas station en route from Brussels to here in Paris. Investigators say Mohammad Abrini (ph) is their new suspect. Who is he? This is a man who was caught on camera traveling with another one of his suspects who by the way is also still on the run, number one.

Number two, also breaking tonight here from Paris, we are learning that on the night of the attacks, phone signals picked up movement spanning a two-hour period, two hours by the ringleader here Abdelhamid Abaaoud. Those cell signals suggest he returned to the crime scenes at the restaurants, at the concert hall just down the street from me here while investigators were still on the scene intervening at the theater. This it ringleader was killed last week during a police raid in a Paris suburb.

And I have CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank, who is now in Washington, but was here through it all as this was unfolding in Paris.

And first, Paul, to you, I said this word earlier, the audacity, the brazenness that Abdelhamid Abaaoud would return after the bloodshed at the Bataclan, for example, when reporters from CNN were reporting on this down the street, investigators were on the scene, why?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: Well, Brooke, it's an extraordinary revelation that he would returned to the scene in the crime that he went back to the 10th and 11th and 12th that on these moment he went back to the Bataclan that night just a few hours after the attack.

One possibility is that he returned there to film footage of the aftermath of the attack for propaganda purposes. There is a video, which was put out by ISIS just a few days ago over the weekend which shows footage from the aftermath of the attack. We don't know whether that was the footage that Abdelhamid Abaaoud potentially shot, but it's certainly possible because ISIS are drilling into their fighters, their operative, the need to film these attacks, the aftermath of these attacks. They are saying it's almost as important as launching the attacks themselves. So certainly possible he was going back to the scene of the crime for propaganda purposes, Brooke.

BALDWIN: That is sick. And we have talked so much about the power of video and propaganda and recruitment. So that would explain it, a. B, what is the possibility, as much as you know about this terrorist organization, that they would have thought ahead of time and in the planning of these coordinated attacks here around the city that they wanted someone to survive to be able to document the bloodshed?

[15:40:13] CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's incredibly important for ISIS because these attacks are to instill fear, to generate propaganda, to energize and electrify their base. And so, the more footage that they have, then the better shape they are going to be from their point of view.

And in fact, if you look back at that plot that Belgium police thwarted in January in Belgium, a plot where Abdelhamid Abaaoud was also the ringleader, they actually found go-pro cameras in the safe house in eastern Belgium of (INAUDIBLE), suggesting that they wanted to film the attack in real-time. That was the same with (INAUDIBLE), an ISIS-inspired fighter in France. He launched that attack on the kosher market. Evidence from the investigation stressing he also filmed the attack and tried to send out the footage actually while he was in the kosher market to make a lot of propaganda out of it. Fortunately, that footage has never materialized, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Go-pro cameras, no words. Paul Cruickshank, thanks.

Coming up, could a Paris-style attack happen in the United States? Jim Sciutto received unprecedented access to some of the tools and tactics being used to protect the homeland.

Also ahead, breaking news of an apparent terror attack in Tunisia. A bus exploding, more than a dozen people killed. We will take you there, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:12] BALDWIN: The terror threats to the United States have never been greater. Hack attacks, data theft, deadly violence, at the same time ISIS-inspired terrorists are infiltrating this country and others. Each and every day, America's intelligence agencies wage war to find and foil attacks.

And so, CNN has gained exceptional access to these agencies and their leaders. And tonight in a CNN Special Report, CNN's chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto investigates the tools and tactics that the intelligence community is using to help keep all of us in the United States safe.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: One adaptation is using encrypted communications going dark. How much does that impede your ability to stop terror plots on the U.S. homeland?

NICHOLAS RASMUSSEN, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER: It's clear that our terrorist adversaries have figured out and learned what kinds of communications in the past we have been able to intercept. They understand that if they take those communications offline or find other ways to communicate, they can shield their communications from us.

SCIUTTO: Just like the attackers allegedly did in Paris. Another factor, aspiring terrorists hiding in training in what intelligence officials call hard targets.

RASMUSSEN: It's true we don't have as clear a picture as we would like of what they are up to inside the conflict zone.

SCIUTTO: A conflict zone like Syria where operatives can learn to use weapons, make bombs and communicate covertly. Skills that allow a handful of men in France to make a global impact.

RASMUSSEN: If they are able to identify and motivate and inspire individuals to take action, even on a relatively small scale in locations around the world, that type of activity can have an outsized political or strategic effect.

SCIUTTO: Devastating parents, one of the world's great cities, just as New York was devastated 14 years ago. Are we safer today than we were then?

JAMES CLAPPER, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: In my 50-plus years in intelligence, I don't know of a time we have been beset by a more diverse array of challenges, threats, crises around the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Jim Sciutto, I mean, talk about incredible access here. Tell me what your report will show us.

SCIUTTO: Well, I tell you. Those last comments there by the director Clapper, they really say it. They are just such a diverse array of threats right now. I mean, the ones that are so familiar, you and I talk about it for the last week-and-a-half, the ISIS kind of terrorism, Al-Qaeda terrorism on soft targets. But then you have these bigger issues, which we don't talk about as much. Russia and China today, the NSA told us this directly, have the ability to shut down key parts of U.S. infrastructure via cyber-attacks, aviation, financial, et cetera, you know. That would affect people's lives and really shut down the country. And that's the kind of variety that U.S. intelligence is facing now. Those small players like in ISIS and then big super power players like Russia and China, if that combination - you know, I ask him this question all the time, what truly keeps you up at night, it's that combination that keeps him up at night.

BALDWIN: We will all be watching my friend. It is a special report called "targeting terror inside the intelligence war" airing here on CNN 9:00 eastern.

Jim Sciutto, thank you very much.

More on breaking news here.

Tunisia declaring state of emergency after a bus explodes. Fifteen people killed in what authorities are calling a terror attack.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in the capital of Tunisia right now. She is near the scene on the phone.

And Sara, tell me. Do we know who was targeted?

[15:50:12] SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Yes. The security forces say that it was presidential guards who were inside of a fairly large bus, the hulk of the bus blown apart. We were able to see pictures of the bus itself. We are on the scene watching as the emergency vehicles came flying passed us. And we were able to witness it was very near a hotel. This is where it happened on Mohammad Five Boulevard which really a very main artery that goes through the capital. They shut that road down completely on one end, keeping everyone away. Only letting in the people who need to help the ambulances, the police, investigators, and a few journalists. But certainly there is definitely a heightened state of security in this city right now.

I can tell you, I'm looking out on the street from the balcony and is it quiet. There is not a person stirring. And that is exactly what the government had wanted. They put a curfew in effect out here. We were out there actually looking at the scene. Everyone was told that the curfew would be in effect. We all had a half hour to get back to a place where we could be inside. And I'm seeing just a few, two or three cars that out there. But certainly people are very afraid. And by the way, the airport actually has a lot of stepped up security. They put roadblocks in place there as well, Brooke.

BALDWIN: All right. Sara Sidner, thank you so much in Tunisia.

Coming up, we will take you all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower here in Paris in this era of heightened security and definitely some trepidation. How many people now, now that it's reopened, are taking the trip up? We will show you, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:56:06] BALDWIN: Canada is shutting the door on single Syrian men, this is according to Canada's EC news. This is only allowing women, children, and families from Syria, allowed to enter Canada as refugees. As you well know, the issue of refugees has become so intense, one celebrity used his newly minted national prize to showcase their plight.

Willie Nelson, I talked to him in Washington, D.C., just a couple of days ago, accepting library of congress' Gershwin prize for popular song. Here is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIE NELSON, MUSIC LEGEND: I don't care about refugees. Bring them all here. I don't care. I don't care about borders.

BALDWIN: A lot of governors disagree with you.

NELSON: I don't care.

BALDWIN: Do not come to my state. You say that's wrong?

NELSON: Absolutely it is wrong. It's what our big statue of liberty says, come on in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The Eiffel Tower was closed following the attacks but it has since reopened. When we were wondering, in this new era of heightened security, and still some trepidation, how many people were taking the trip up?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: How beautiful is this?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very, very beautiful. Breathtaking. Absolutely breathtaking.

BALDWIN: In the city of light, you can't get more iconic than this, the Eiffel Tower, built in time for the world fair in 1889. But all these years later, there is concern the architectural marvel could become a target for terrorists. Did you ever think you would see people under the Eiffel Tower, though, with huge machine guns?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, probably not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's -- yes, I'd say it's a bit -- takes you aback. Once you take the rest of Paris, it's the normal.

BALDWIN: This new normal is all Nikki and Tom know. In from London, they are celebrating two year as a young couple and first time in Paris. But between all of the champagne and shopping is security everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wherever you go in Paris at the moment, even department stores, it is the same thing, even just shopping malls.

BALDWIN: Hotels. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hotels, everywhere, even just shops. It's blank

at the moment in terms of being searched for possessions, bags, that sort of thing.

BALDWIN: How safe do feel up here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pretty safe. I'm a bit afraid of heights, so not that safe.

BALDWIN: That's your only fear of heights?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.

BALDWIN: This one of the best views of one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. And it's pretty crowded. It is lunchtime on a weekday. As far as security is concerned, the base of the Eifel Tower, we were wanded (ph). We walked through a metal detector and that's it. An elevator ride later, you get this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We actually booked a ticket into the spring about April I think we did.

BALDWIN: Allison and Todd are from Florida. This week marks a big anniversary for these two, 15 years of marriage. But after the recent attacks here, they almost pulled the plug on Paris.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was telling people at work, you know, I'm going to Paris. And they are like, are you crazy? And so I -- she said she would hold my hand, so we are here.

BALDWIN: Did you have to hold his hand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I definitely had to hold his hand. He was very nervous coming in.

BALDWIN: Still they, and everyone else up here, couldn't not show up for a city and a symbol that refuses to let the terrorists win.

You are celebrating yourself. It's sort of almost gives you a bigger perspective of life, right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Yes. Appreciate what you have and who you have.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our life is our family. We have four beautiful children at home. And we came to celebrate 15 years of marriage and, you know, that's our life. And you know, we are members of this world, right? We all live on this planet, but you can't let what other people decide to do rule your life.

BALDWIN: Amen. To life and love in Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[16:00:06] BALDWIN: Thank you so much for being with me tonight here in Paris. We will be back same time tomorrow. In the meantime, John Berman in "the LEAD" start right now.

END