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Investigators Find ISIS Connection in San Bernardino Shooting. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired December 04, 2015 - 10:30   ET

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


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[10:32:54] CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, reporting live from San Bernardino, California. I would like to welcome our viewers from around the world.

We have breaking news to pass along to you. Investigators have found a connection to ISIS in regards to these terrible shootings in San Bernardino.

Jim Sciutto broke the story moments ago. Jim, I want to bring you back in. Tell us what you know.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Here's the latest. As you say, investigators have now established a link to ISIS to the San Bernardino shootings. This link based on their finding that the wife of the shooter, Rizwan Malik, that she posted a pledge of allegiance as it were to the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, the wife Malik made this on an account with a different name.

Authorities have not told us yet how she made the posting, what device she used. To be clear here, law enforcement officials look at this as an attack inspired that was by ISIS, may have been inspired by ISIS but not necessarily directed by ISIS.

So the inspiration came, but they weren't necessarily under orders from ISIS to carry out this attack, picking the targets, et cetera. But still a link there based on the wife, Tashfeen Malik, making this pledge of allegiance to the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi as the attack was under way.

A law enforcement official tells my colleague Pamela Brown that this is quote, looking more and more like self-radicalization. Other officials we have talked to have said that they have not ruled out that they weren't helped along the way, as it were, to radicalization, influenced by others as often happens with attacks like this.

I also want to make clear because we talked about this regularly for the last couple of days about the influence of a workplace dispute on this. Law enforcement source telling CNN that there is greater focus on the part of investigators as to whether there was a workplace issue around religion.

So, to be clear, that workplace factor has not been ruled out as an influence in this case. What is new here is that they have established a link to ISIS in this case. That the wife there, Tashfeen Malik, pledging allegiance on a Facebook posting as the attack was under way to the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi.

[10:35:01] One other note I would make, Carol, is that there is precedence for this in other ISIS-inspired attacks. In fact ISIS asks, even demands of its supporters to make a public posting on social media, on Twitter, on Facebook, as the attack has been under way. We've seen this in a number of previous attacks that have been inspired by ISIS as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Sciutto -- thanks.

I want to bring in our CNN terror analyst Paul Cruickshank now to get his thoughts on this. Paul -- authorities found smashed cell phones, and there's a missing hard drive near the couple's home. You heard what Jim says -- authorities think that this couple may have had help along the way. That kind of says there may be a cell operating here. Is that possible?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERROR ANALYST: Well, Carol -- we don't know if there was a cell behind this or they were just the two of them acting on their own -- on their own steam.

But Jim's reporting is extremely significant suggesting that this was an ISIS inspired attack. We have not seen a deadly is inspired attack in United States to date, by my account. This would be the first time we've actually seen people killed in an ISIS-inspired attack in the United States.

And it also moves us more toward the notion that this was an Islamist terrorist attack. And this would be the deadliest, Islamist terrorist attack in the United States by my count since 9/11. So all of this very significant from Jim Sciutto -- this new reporting and as he says, there has been a track record for these ISIS-inspired extremists in the West to pledge allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi the leader of ISIS, to ISIS just before these attacks or while they're under way. We saw that happen in Garland, Texas in May of this year where Elton Simpson, one of those responsible for the failed attack, they were killed by a traffic cop before they were able to get into that Draw the Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest. He pledged on Twitter just before the attack an allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. We actually have the tweet.

In Denmark in February of this year, an attacker who launched an attack on a free speech event in Copenhagen also killed a Jewish man in Copenhagen, he posted a pledge of allegiance to Abu Bakr al Baghdadi just minutes before the attack.

We also saw somebody in France in December of 2014 who launched a knife attack against police, do a similar thing on his Facebook page where he put the ISIS flag up.

And in that hostage siege in Australia in December 2014, Man Haron Monis put up a pledge of allegiance to ISIS on his own web page. So this has consistently happened -- ISIS encouraging this,

celebrating this. And they're reposting these tweets and Facebook pledges. They're telling these -- the followers around the world that, by allowing us to take ownership for this, that's almost as important as launching the attack itself.

So, very, very important reporting from Jim Sciutto; I think this changes the complexion of how we look at this attack.

COSTELLO: All right. I'm going to have to take a break. But beside me now is California Congressman Pete Aguilar. And Congressman, I want to get your thoughts after a break because now there's scary developments this morning. So I'm going to take a quick break, we'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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[10:42:46] COSTELLO: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello, live in San Bernardino, California.

Breaking news to pass along to you: investigators have found a connection to ISIS in the San Bernardino shooting. I'm going to read this off my cell phone because I want to get it just right.

"As the San Bernardino attack was happening, investigators believe the female attacker, Tashfeen Malik, posted on Facebook, pledging allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi". This is according to three U.S. officials familiar with the investigation.

The posting was by Malik made on an account with a different name. That's according to one U.S. official. The officials did not explain how they knew Malik made that post but this is a very disturbing new development. And as far as I know, this is the first time such an attack has gone down in the United States.

Joining me now is California representative Pete Aguilar. So you're just hearing the news. Your reaction?

REP. PETE AGUILAR (D), CALIFORNIA: This is my district. This is my home. This is where I was born and raised. I'm a fourth generation resident of this city and of this community.

This is shocking. This tragedy has been shocking. We'll continue to grieve and we'll continue to work with the families and those who have been affected. I've asked for and received both classified and non-classified briefings from the FBI. They have been continuing to keep me in touch on the developments.

COSTELLO: Were you expecting this?

AGUILAR: You know what I don't think we expect any of this. We didn't expect this tragedy a couple of hundred yards away from where we're standing right now. So, there's still so much more that we're going to --

COSTELLO: It just adds such a frightening new dimension to this tragedy.

AGUILAR: It does. It does. Clearly, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, we've been asking questions about these issues. We've been talking about these developments over the years. You know, we don't know this -- I know this has been reported but nothing has been confirmed. That's a better question for law enforcement officials clearly but any time --

COSTELLO: That's one thing that's been frustrating some people, that especially the President hasn't come out and said, this was a terrorist attack. It's cut and dried. I mean they had a bomb-making lab in their garage.

AGUILAR: I've been very clear. I've been very clear that this is an act of terror on my community. That's how I feel. That's how this community feels. I'm less concerned about legal definitions of terrorism and I'm more concerned by my community members standing with me.

[10:45:04] Last night thousands of us came together at a community vigil where we honored those folks who were affected. And we are going to continue pick up those pieces, and we're going to continue to move forward. That's what I've been concerned about.

But I share your comments that -- about what we call this. I've been calling this an act of terror on my community because that's exactly how I feel.

COSTELLO: How would you characterize the terrorists of this case?

AGUILAR: Well, you know, I don't know that I can -- that I can call them anything. I think right now this is an act of terror on my community -- something that was done here in San Bernardino and within the Inland Empire. It's tragic and shocking.

But what I would continue to say is that this right now as we hear the stories about the families and as we put pictures to these names, it's just been devastating for our entire community. And the 14 that lost their lives, the 21 that are injured, but the hundreds more who have been affected who are in Inland Regional Center standing behind you, and the hospital staff and the first responders. I mean all of those folks, you know, we need to stand with and we need to work with.

COSTELLO: In the bigger picture, in the war against ISIS, some Americans don't think we're doing enough, especially in Syria and in Iraq. Your thoughts -- what should we do now?

Well, there's more that we need to do, clearly. And the House Armed Services committee has had hearings on this. I think people on both sides of the aisle have had discussions about what more we can do. You know, we stand ready as members of congress and as members of the committee.

We stand ready to hear what the administration is doing and to give adequate oversight and to give our opinions on things that we need to be doing in order to combat this threat.

COSTELLO: Any thoughts on one specific thing we need to do?

AGUILAR: Well, I think, you know, no-fly zones is something that the committee has talked about. Those can be done, offering safe refuge for individuals to be trained to fight ISIS as well as those refugees who are fleeing a terrible, terrible situation. You know, that's just one thing that we can and should be looking to.

But I just want to be very clear that this is something that is still developing. You know, law enforcement needs to comment on this. I'll continue to ask for briefings. And this is -- I've called this a threat on my community here in San Bernardino County.

COSTELLO: Congressman, thank you so much for being with me this morning. I appreciate it.

AGUILAR: Thank you.

COSTELLO: I'm going to take a quick break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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[10:53:17] COSTELLO: And welcome back to San Bernardino, California where we're following breaking news this morning.

Authorities have found a connection to ISIS in the San Bernardino attack. Apparently the female attacker posted on a Facebook page, a pledge of allegiance to the ISIS leader, al Baghdadi.

I want to bring in CNN terror analyst Paul Cruickshank. When you piece together all that we know so far, this couple had this bomb- making lab in their garage, destroyed cell phones and deleting hard drives from their home. They wore military, fatigue type clothes, they had their faces covered, they were heavily armed, and now this pledge to al Baghdadi. What do you make of this, Paul?

CRUICKSHANK: I think the scenario we may now be looking at is this couple may have been planning something; some form of terrorist attack in the United States on behalf of ISIS. But something that happened at that holiday party, we're hearing perhaps an argument over religion, may have brought forward those plans and brought forward those plans perhaps dramatically.

And they, perhaps, just decided to go straight out and do what they could then at the holiday party. They didn't bring all the bombs they had. There were 12 pipe bombs left in their garage. Maybe they brought forward their plans. We don't know yet whether that was the case. But the fact that we're hearing that there was this altercation, perhaps an argument over religion, suggests that type of scenario. The FBI is going to do a lot more investigating and they'll go where the facts lead them.

[10:55:01] This does appear now to be in the ISIS column, the ISIS-inspired column. We can expect ISIS to claim ownership of this attack in a big way to make propaganda over it.

I think the fact this came so soon after the Paris attacks, you have to ask yourself the question, were they inspired by what they saw play out in Paris? That ISIS-directed attacks on the streets of Europe, did that play some role in speeding up perhaps their plans?

That's the kind of thing investigators are going to be looking at; very, very difficult to get precise answers because they are both, after all, dead.

COSTELLO: That's true. Paul Cruickshank -- many thanks.

And thanks you all joining me today. I'm in San Bernardino. I'm Carol Costello.

"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan after a break.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: Hello everyone. I'm John Berman.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thanks for joining us. We're following breaking news out of California following that massacre in San Bernardino.

Investigators have found a connection -