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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Los Angeles Schools Closed Over Threat; NYPD Investigating "Hoax" School Threat; L.A. School Officials To Give Update In News Conference; White House Addresses School Threat. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired December 15, 2015 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00] EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: They don't believe, school district on what exactly they did because for example we know that FBI has a command center that is staff 24 hours a day in Los Angeles.

And as far we can tell they don't believe federal law enforcement does not believe that the threat is credible. They certainly think its something they want to look at. They're investigating it. Their helping the local officials there investigates it.

But I think that a lot of people are a little bit dumbfounded by what quickly happened in Los Angeles this morning. Not to say that you should not treat all threats seriously, they have to, they have study it, but, you know, just looking at what -- you have the information that we have, we know that what New York was receiving was a message that had some of the same words including regarding backpack and gun attack on schoolchildren.

And so, that's pretty much what L.A. had as well, and they reacted in a completely different way, and so that's going to be left for them to explain, perhaps they could have -- instead of shutting down the schools, they could have delayed the opening while try to investigate it, while they try to make sure the schools were safe, deploy more officers to make sure people were protected, but it does seem like shutting down the schools really raised this to a level that has cause a lot of consternation for law enforcement on the federal side, local side in Los Angeles today.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Evan, thank you.

Boris, I want to bring you on this. Look, I'm a mom, and I get the messages about school shutdown on a certain days and they have to go out very early in order to catch parents before they accept their morning plan and gone off to work.

So, is there any chance that perhaps the Los Angeles officials acted as quickly as possible so that they would be with them that window before they were able to ascertain that perhaps this was a generic, and I'll say it, Mayor de Blasio in New York words, a generic and outlandish post a numerous school district simultaneously.

That kind of e-mail, is it possible maybe the Los Angeles officials thought they were the only ones? BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is possible, Ashleigh. Obviously, two very different approaches here in Los Angeles shutting down all of the schools, here in New York staying open.

Again, Mayor Bill de Blasio saying the threat is not credible. They are cooperating with the FBI to try to figure out the source of this e-mail. Many indications that it came from overseas, and or reporting, indicating that it may have come from Frankfurt, Germany.

The e-mail is essentially very generic, it's a piece of writing as you said that the Mayor called outlandish. Bill Bratton, the police commissioner in New York saying that it almost identical to the e-mail receives in L.A. and numerous other locations.

We're still working to figure out what those other location maybe, it's not seen as a credible terror threat. As you mentioned some misspellings specifically the word "allah" was not capitalized, that would lead into indication that this is not a serious Jihadist. Bill Bratton also saying that the person who wrote it is potentially a "Homeland" a fan of the show time, a show. Someone who may have watched recent episodes as well.

Now, keep in mind, they have said that they are investigating this as hoax, but they say it's not the usual prank. Obviously, L.A. is taking this very seriously. Bill Bratton saying that it appears that the official in L.A. school officials were not coordinating with the law enforcement before issuing that closure.

We're expected to hear more from official in L.A. within the next hours, so it should be interesting to see what they have to say, with their approach was if they were simply being proactive or as you mentioned Ashleigh, trying to get notice the parents immediately before they were able to take their students school.

BANFIELD: Yeah, you move quickly when it come to the kids. And hopefully we'll get those answers Boris Sanchez for us. Thank you, and Jonathan Gilliam, and Evan Perez as well. Thank you.

I just want to make note of the time it's 12:33 Eastern Time and we do expect at any moment that the White House will go up live. It's usually a press briefing everyday. And it's standard operating procedure. But today more than likely that podium will be peppered with a flurry of questions about what is happening, not only in the L.A. unified school district with 640,000-plus kids stays home over a terrorist threat, but also the million-plus kids in New York school district going to school anyway despite the fact of receiving what seemed to be a similar if not identical e-mail.

We're going to not only take you live to the White House, but up next, we're going to talk to Congressman Brad Sherman who has seen that e- mailed threat to the school district. We'll get as much intelligence from him as we can.

And then at the top of the hour 1:00 Eastern Time we're expecting the second of the briefings from the L.A. unified school district to possibly give us more information about why such a drastic measure was taken and if they still consider it as credible as they did an hour ago after hearing New York thinks otherwise.

[12:34:59] We are back right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Welcome back, everyone. We continue to follow the breaking news. I'm Ashleigh Banfield live in Las Vegas and we're counting down the hours to the Republican debate here at the Venetian Hotel, and we were prepared to bring you a full show with regard to the candidates arriving in about 20 minutes or so. And then came astounding news out of Los Angeles Unified school district that they're keeping 640,000- plus children home from school today, after an electronic threat.

The light of which has not really been revealed. Safe to say we have discovered though that the threat came from overseas, from Frankfurt, Germany, an I.P. address from Frankfurt, Germany and that it contained missed spelling particularly of the word "allah" without a capital letter.

[12:40:00] Significant to those in New York who have said the treat that they received that seems similar to the Los Angeles threat did not prompt them to close the 1600 school in the New York school district and keep the 1 million plus children in a New York school district.

But in Los Angeles a different story, a concern that was brave enough to them to keep all of those children home and to send them back if they had already left for school that dozens upon dozens of school busses on route to pick up children returning to base and staying depart today.

We have no idea how long this will last, if the children will go back to school tomorrow. But make no mistake if you're a parent, you know that children staying home from school means your routines are completely upset as well, so this affects millions of people.

I want to give you a statement that we've received from the Mayor of Los Angeles. Erick our study releasing this statement, just a short time to go and I will quote him, "I understand the concerns, families must feeling this morning, but it is critical we remain calm. This decision has been made by the school district in and abundant of caution, as mayor we have shared our support and our intelligence and the Los Angeles police department is working in collaboration with the school district, school police to fully investigate this threat, we've also asked our emergency operations center to be activated and we have ranged for MTA that's the transit system in Los Angeles area to help out by providing free buss rides to all of those school district students, we will continue to monitor this situation nothing is more important to me than the safety of our families."

All kids with school IDs were allowed to ride the pubic transportation busses for free today's in order to return home, if they had already left for school.

I want to bring in Congressman Brad Sherman, he is the former Chairman of the subcommittee on Terrorism, and a senior member Of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

He has seen this threat that was e-mailed to the Los Angeles Schools. He is also a congressman from California. Congressman, thank you for taking the time to speak with us.

Can you tell me what you saw in the e-mail, can you be specific?

REP. BRAD SHERMAN, (D) CALIFORNIA: Well, there are two issues here.

First, the person making the threat claims to be the extremist Muslim Jihadist. And there are reasons to doubt that here is in the whole text of the e-mail, there is a pornographic reference to a body part that this person claims to be a devout Muslim.

I don't think that's a consistent. There is certainly nothing in the text of the e-mail that shows that the person who wrote it has any particular understanding of Islam. So, this could be sent by an Extremist Jihadist, but it could also be sent by someone with a different agenda.

The second issue is that, this person claims that they are going to, you know, that they have prepared to take terrible action today's at least some of the details -- of the threat black creditability, a claim that he's got 32 accomplices, and that's way beyond what ISIS or even Al-Qaeda have been able to put together in any western city.

And they claim they have nerve agent. I'd be very surprised if that part of the threat was true. So, it may be there's some part of threat that is true, and acting in an abundant to clash that makes a lot of sense, maybe this was sent by someone who supports radical extremist Jihadism or maybe it was sent by somebody else.

BANFIELD: So I want to be very clear on some of this extraordinary details congressman that you're sharing with us having seen this letter that the person claims to be an extremist Muslim Jihadist, there were pornographic references to a body part it contained in the e-mail text.

SHERMAN: There is just one reference.

BANFIELD: OK, All right one reference, and that the text does not indicate that this person has an understanding of Islam.

There is also a claim you said that the person, and I don't know if this where your words or the words of the e-mail, but this person was going to take "Terrible action today", where those your words or the e-mails words?

SHERMAN: Well, that's my words, but they're highly consistent. I mean he describes the various actions they were going the take, claims to have 32 accomplices, claims to have nerve agent, those are extraordinary claims and at least I would suspect that some of the claims in the e-mail are false.

[12:45:00] BANFIELD: And when you said it describes various actions they were going to take, does it go into detail about what actions other than mentioning it that there are these accomplishes and nerve agents -- saying he, I don't know if there's a name attach to the e- mail...

SHERMAN: It is signed an Islamic, or Arab name. And I believe it's a male name. That does mean that this person is a male. We don't know what part of this e-mail is true or what is false. But there's a claim of bombs in backpacks, there's a claim of nerve agent, there's a claim of gang of 32 accomplices plus the author, so. And some of those claim some of those claims are probably false.

BANFIELD: I missed the last part. You said claims of bombs, bombs in backpacks and nerve agent and what is the last thing that you said?

SHERMAN: Having 32 accomplices all ready to take action or all planning to take action today.

BANFIELD: Congressman, this is absolutely astounding information. Do you recall the name, and you said it was an Arabic name or sounded that ...

SHERMAN: I've got to be careful as to what details should be revealed, and I'll leave that one out.

BANFIELD: I respect that. Can I ask you this, do you know. I know you're the Congressman from California, but do you know if this is the exact same e-mail that the school superintendent in New York received? They said it was generic, and what you are describing does not sound generic unless it is a copy sent to a number of people.

SHERMAN: The only thing -- there is a reference to the L.A. Unified school district, which may be why schools in Burbank, Beverly hills are open today. And obviously, if something similar was sent to New York, they would reference that particular school district.

So it's very specific as to the how, we have a complicated system of running schools in Los Angeles county. And most of this country as well, where you have a variety of local school districts and they walk across the street, and you are in a different school district, and this threat is aimed at the L.A. Unified school district.

BANFIELD: Congress man Sherman, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to share with us this extraordinary information the content of the e-mail that are at issue right now and have causing such a ripple effect throughout the Los Angeles school district.

Congressman, thank for you your time. Let me just recap if you are just joining us. 640,000 kids, 900 schools closed because of an electronic threat that was sent to the member of the school district, and now we are learning from the congressman of California what was contained in that e-mail.

Let me summarize. Threats of about bombs in backpacks, nerve agent, 32 accomplices taking terrible action or the likes of terrible action today also, describing various different actions, and the interesting aspect that the congressman pointed out is that the person who e- mailed did sign a name it sounded as though it was an Arabic name or an Islamic name.

It was not revealed to us from congressman what that name was, but it did say that that person who e-mailed claimed to be an extremist Muslim Jihadist, although there were inconsistency contained in that e-mail specifically a pornographic reference to a body part which would be inconsistent with someone who is that extreme in religion.

And also the text did not seem to indicate much of an understanding of Islam, we had learned earlier that the name "allah," god, was misspelled without the capital a, that would be definitely not quite understanding how to refer to one of the most revered figures in Islam, just remarkable information from the congressman.

We are hoping to get further information from the White House when the press briefing beginnings. That just suppose to start -- actually it was supposed to start about 18 minutes ago, so we're still watching. Perhaps they are compiling as much intelligence as they can as well before they face the press corps.

But we're going to bring that to you just the moment that they go live in the press briefing room. Josh Earnest expected to be the person who will fill those questions, and we're going to continue to give you the updates from the Los Angeles school district as well, because in about 11 minutes, we're expecting that they too will hold their second of two news conferences today.

[12:49:44] The last one is two hours ago with the initial information on the closure. Hopefully further information about how long this will last and why they took such drastic action. We are back right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: I'm Ashleigh Banfield coming to you live in Las Vegas, the site of the Republican Presidential Debate which gets underway in just hours and almost certainly there will be a question tonight about what is transpiring in Los Angeles.

640,000 schoolchildren being asked to stay home because it's too dangerous after a threat came into the school officials there. They said unspecified, but were learning more details about bombs in backpacks, and nerve agent, and 32 accomplices, signed by somebody claiming to be a extremist Muslim jihadist with an Arabic or Islamic name.

This is critical. We're going to get some reactions from the White House shortly. We're still waiting for them to go live.

In the meantime, here in Las Vegas, at the Venetian Hotel, you can imagine, the candidates are just minutes from arriving here for the debate which is just hours away. And you can imagine they are preparing how they're going to respond to questions about this. Rick Tyler is Ted Cruz's campaign spokesperson. He joins me now live.

Rick, I didn't expect to ask you a question about this but I'm going to ask you a question about this. What would your candidate, Ted Cruz, how would he react to what's happening today when he president?

RICK TYLER, NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON, CRUZ FOR PRESIDENT: First thing I want to find out is that the kids are safe and whether an assessment incredible threat or not. And so you're hearing reports from New York City, it says not a kind of - it is a hoax, something they went act on.

And then you have the opposite Los Angeles, of course it's their (inaudible) San Bernardino so you can imagine sensitivities. But the (inaudible) you got to make sure the local folks have the resource that they need if there is a credible threat, and then you going to put a plan of action make sure everybody is safe.

BANFIELD: Rick, I had a lot of follow up. I can't do them. Unfortunately, the president -- rather the White House Briefing Room is going to go live shortly, but we'll be able to talk to you a little later in the day as well about what's going to transpire. Thank you for braving (ph) the wind. I appreciate it.

I'm going to say a quick break and come back live hopefully to the White House Press Briefing right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:57:17] JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: ... task force of the 21st century policing where we had law enforcement experts, legal experts, academics and others that come together around a set of recommendations that are then -- and have been shared with local enforcement agencies across the country. The...

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

EARNEST: ... community across the country. Ultimately, you know, these individuals are making these decisions based on the information they have received and based on their knowledge of what they believe is the best interest of the community. And obviously, they would know better than anybody else.

I can tell you that the as the local law enforcement agencies are making these decisions, and considering these decisions, they do so with the support and the assistance of federal agencies, in this case, the FBI. And there had been conversations between law enforcement officials in Southern California and the FBI in this matter.

But again, you know, this is ultimately a decision that was made by officials in Los Angeles.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we have been discussing homeland security in the wake of Paris and California, the president has talked a number of times about not giving into fear and not allowing extremists to change the way that we live our lives.

I'm wondering if you can talk broadly about what advice the White House offers citizens about how to strike the balance, particularly around the holidays between vigilance and resolve not to give into the fears of terrorism. EARNEST: Well, Josh, the most important thing in the mind of the president is to keep the American people safe. And we certainly do want to encourage everyone to be vigilant, that includes the citizens of our country. We encourage them that if they see something, they should say something.

[13:00:00] That advice, of course, continues to be operative, and we encourage the local law enforcement and the state officials to be vigilant as they go about their basic business of protecting the American people.