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U.S. Troops Killed In Suicide Attack; Suicide Bomber Targets U.S. Troops In Afghanistan; GOP Contender Drops Out Of Presidential Race; Trump Demands Apology From Clinton; Police Briefing On Las Vegas Strip Crash Soon; Car Kills Believed Not To Be Terrorism; Possible Intentional Act By Woman In Las Vegas; Las Vegas Authorities Hold Press Conference. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 21, 2015 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer. It's 1:00 p.m. here in Washington, 10:00 a.m. in San Bernardino, 7:00 p.m. in Paris, wherever you're watching from around the world. Thanks very much for joining us.

Right now, we're waiting for a live news conference on a deadly crash on the Las Vegas strip. A woman is accused of repeatedly plowing her car into a crowd of pedestrians on purpose. When that police news conference happens, we expect it to happen soon, we'll bring it to you live.

One person was killed. At least 30 people were injured, several of them critically. A news conference coming up on what happened in Las Vegas. Standby for that.

But first, there is breaking news out of Afghanistan. U.S. troops there are among the six NATO service members killed in an attack near the Bagram Airfield. Afghan officials say a suicide bomber carried out the attack on a joint Afghan NATO patrol near the U.S.-run military base.

Let's bring in Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr, the former CIA counterterrorism analyst, Aki Peritz and CNN Military Analyst Colonel -- retired Colonel Sedric Leighton. He's also a former member of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Barbara, first of all, what do we know about what happened? How many Americans died in this attack? How many were injured?

BARBARA STARR, CNN CHIEF PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We're still waiting, Wolf, for the official word from the Pentagon. But six killed, three injured. As for those who perished in this suicide bomb attack, the Pentagon says that some of them were Americans, but we're waiting for that official word as to how many exactly there were. That should be coming shortly, later today, we are told.

What our understanding is, at this this hour, is these troops, it was a joint American-Afghan mission. They were traveling outside of Bagram Air Base in northeastern Afghanistan, a major NATO and U.S. post. They were traveling outside to attend some sort of meeting outside of the base. They were approached by a motorcycle and a suicide bomber blew himself up.

Those are the details. But it comes at a difficult time in Afghanistan. We are definitely seeing a pickup right now in the ability of Taliban and other insurgent groups to mount violent attacks from the north of Afghanistan all the way into the southern provinces -- Wolf.

BLITZER: There seems to be a major pickup not only from the Taliban, but ISIS, also, Barbara, seems to have a foothold now in Afghanistan. We don't know -- this seems to be Taliban, the inspiration for this suicide bombing that occurred, killing the NATO troops, injuring so many others. But ISIS beginning to have a foothold there as well.

STARR: This is something the intelligence community is watching very carefully, Wolf. It was several months ago when they first began to see insurgents in Afghanistan brand themselves, if you will, as ISIS. And the initial explanation is these were, perhaps, disaffected Taliban who simply -- who turned and said, you know, OK, now I'll be a member of ISIS.

But I have to tell you, it's being looked at much more soberly now as the weeks and months have gone on about whether or not and to what extent ISIS has been able to establish an actual affiliate or related organization inside of Afghanistan.

A good deal of concern about that, because, of course, Afghanistan's borders are not all that secure. And these people who may be ISIS inspired, ISIS adherence, ISIS members can travel in and out of Afghanistan, perhaps, with relative ease. So, this is something being very carefully watched indeed.

BLITZER: It certainly is. Aki Peritz, we haven't seen large-scale U.S. casualties, NATO casualties in a while. But there is anticipation now that could be building up. There are still about 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan.

AKI PERITZ, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST, CIA: That's right. There are about 9,800 troops, about 13,000 NATO troops in total. And the that that you have got Yes, 3900 NATO troops in all, and the fact that you've got individuals who are willing to commit violence, especially against troops, against civilians and so forth, is a very difficult issue.

We also -- as Barbara Starr mentioned, that we have now an ISIS foothold. And we've actually seen ISIS attacks against both Afghan security forces and NATO troops. The fact that this is actually happening in conjunction, sometimes against, Taliban forces, is quite frightening. And what does that mean for the future? It's still too early to tell.

BLITZER: The fact that the Taliban seems to be making major military inroads right now, despite those 13,000 NATO troops who are still there, 10,000 of whom are U.S. troops, what does that say to you, Cedric?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, Wolf, I think what it shows is really a continuation of the types of strategies that the Taliban has used in years past. They are, in essence, gearing up for the winter. They are also gearing up for the next fighting season, and they see this time period as being one in which they can actually go in and affect large numbers of military forces, be they NATO or be they U.S., because they believe that this is a great way to achieve maximum impact in the press and maximum impact politically as well.

BLITZER: Here's what worries a lot of analysts, and, Aki, I'll let you weigh in first, that the Afghan military, trained by the U.S. and NATO, armed by the U.S. and NATO, financed by the U.S. and NATO, basically may not be up to the job of securing their own country despite all of these, what, 14 years of major U.S. involvement.

[13:05:18] PERITZ: Yes. One of the big things is that the United -- the United States has been -- the United States' taxpayer has actually been funding the Afghan security forces for over a decade now. If we ever pull out -- if we actually decide to pull our folks and pull our money out, the Afghan security forces will fall apart because they can't afford all the things that they need to fight the Taliban.

And so, that is something that is extremely concerning, especially if we're actually going to pull out NATO troops, U.S. troops from Afghanistan and we let the Taliban, and potentially ISIS, take over parts of the country and actually control it as their own state.

BLITZER: Because that has happened, to a large degree, in Iraq right now. The U.S. pulled out. Look what's going on right now, huge chunks of Iraq under ISIS control, including the second largest city in Iraq of Mosul still under ISIS control, a city of some 2 million people. But other places like Ramadi and Fallujah, all of that still under ISIS control as well. And that's a disaster.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, Wolf. It is -- it is a disaster of the first magnitude. And the problem that you have is, in essence, we've created a culture of dependency, whether it's the Iraq military or the Afghanistan military.

And they haven't established the institutions that they need in order to actually go in and make a difference on their own. They are not viable elements. They don't have -- with a few exceptions, they don't have the units that can sustain themselves. They don't have the logistical tail (ph), they don't have the intelligence tail. And the problem with that is that they cannot be self-sufficient in military operations. And that's what we really want. That should've been the goal of U.S. policy from the beginning. It was never achieved.

BLITZER: The U.S. can't want security and stability in Afghanistan, Aki, more than the Afghani military itself wants and the same in Iraq right now. The U.S. wants it but if the Iraqi military is so divided and they can't stand up and do the job, it doesn't make any difference how many U.S. troops are going to be there. Once they leave, the place is going to fall apart.

PERITZ: Right. And that's one of the problems that we actually see in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places that are failed and failing states is that you have a country, a nominal state that cannot control its own borders. And if you remember, Poly Sci 101, if you cannot actually impose force and maintain your borders, you have a real problem.

And so, power upholds (ph) a vacuum. In this case, it is taken over by terrorists and insurgent groups. And, unfortunately, unless the capital is will to actually make the changes and making -- enforce the governance that they need, you're going to see more and more of this happening.

BLITZER: You're a retired U.S. Air Force colonel. During this Christmas week, NATO troops -- there are reports all six of these NATO troops may be Americans. They're going to be coming home in body bags. Others are going to be coming home injured, some of them severely injured in this suicide attack. It's a painful reminder of the cost that the U.S. military and other NATO allies are paying right now in this war that continues right now in Afghanistan.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely, Wolf. And one of the sad things about this is there was never a strategy that was developed to actually win this war and create a self-sustaining Afghan government. Because we've haven't created that self-sustaining government, we have a situation where we're making a lot of sacrifices and a lot of families are going to be suffering over to the holiday season because of this.

And it's also a reminder that the sacrifices that have been made are ones that certainly helped us prevent other terrorist attacks. But they didn't go far enough, in terms of actually preventing the types of political insurgencies that are occurring in Afghanistan and Iraq, and they didn't go enough to shore up those governments.

BLITZER: And our hearts go out to those family members of these American troops and others who were killed in Afghanistan on this day. And they'll be getting notifications, very sad notifications, very soon. Always painful, especially during this Christmas week.

Cedric, thanks very much. Aki, thanks to you as well.

One of the highest profile presidential candidates now getting out of the race for the White House. Senator Lindsey Graham broke the news to CNN's Kate Bolduan. She's standing by live. She'll tell us what he said. And his parting shot to the Republican presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump.

And Trump is taking his own shots at the Democratic leader of the polls, that would be Hillary Clinton, demanding an apology from her over an accusation she made over the weekend. And, once again, we're awaiting a live news conference from Las Vegas on that deadly crash on the Las Vegas strip. When that police news conference happens, we'll share it with you. We'll bring it to you live.

[13:10:51]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're going to go to Las Vegas. The news conference with Sheriff Joseph Lombardo has just begun. JOSEPH LOMBARDO, SHERIFF, LAS VEGAS METROPOLITAN POLICE (live): -- statement, and then we'll get into the Q and A. But prior to that, I have to acknowledge two individuals standing next to me, that's the district attorney, Steve Wolfson, to my left. And he will talk about the charges that the suspect is being charged with currently, and then what's possibly going to be pending in the future.

And to my right is deputy chief Jeff Buchan from Clark County Fire Department. And the reason why I have him standing there is -- in particular, because of their fantastic response that they had last night to the event as it unfolded.

As you know, our success with public safety is reliance on our partners that we can rely on during critical incidents. And Clark County Fire was instrumental, along with other -- a plethora of other individuals like AMR Medic West, to take care of the victims the best they could and facilitate the transport.

Additionally, the other public safety individuals, in particular NHP and their response. The members of LBMPD and their continued investigation now. Now, you have to be careful because some of my folks to my right over here have been working all night. And they're doing the best they can to facilitate the victims associated with this event and to track down the background of our suspect.

And then, before I get into the details, in particular to the mayor, Carolyn Goodman, the county chairman, Steve Sisolak, and our governor, Brian Sandoval, all three of them, I was in contact with last night and they offered all the assistance they could to my department and the community in order for a successful arrest and eventual prosecution.

So, without further ado, just after 6:30 p.m., initial calls to 911 indicated a vehicle had driven onto the sidewalk and struck several pedestrians. And someone thought there might have been gunshots. I'm here to tell you right now there was no gunshots that we could determine. I believe it was the result of the damage that occurred by the vehicle, people may have perceived that it was gunshots.

And as of now, we do not believe it to be an act of terrorism. Now, I want you to dwell on that for a second. We are a long -- short -- long ways of being into this investigation and all the intimate details. We had trouble identifying the suspect in the beginning. (INAUDIBLE) of the investigation. We do believe we have her properly identified now. But we are having difficulty obtaining her background. She is believed to be from the Oregon area, and we are going to do the best we can throughout the day to determine her background.

In light of that and not having those unknowns, we are not 100 percent ruling out the possibility of terrorism. The intentional act that occurred on the boulevard is going to be very hard for us to explain at face value. So, we are working through that. But I am comfortable saying now that I do not believe it to be an act of terrorism. But with that admonishment, we are still working through it with the assistance of the FBI. She's a 24-year-old woman driving a car with a three-year-old female child in the back who drove her vehicle up onto the sidewalk and struck more than two dozen innocent people. Video confirms that we believe it to be an intentional act. We have a video available and it's through a plethora of different venues. One is the properties themselves on Las Vegas Boulevard and also our regional crime cameras that we have here at LVMPD.

And then, additionally, from any videos obtained from the citizens at our request. So, we're still trying to receive as much video as we can and it is a request out to the public to continue to provide us with information. But we do have pretty detailed video that shows that it was an intentional act.

[13:15:03] The suspect, Lakeisha Holloway, repeatedly drove her car over pedestrians. Some jumped on her car and ran up to the window and banged on it trying to get her to stop, but she didn't.

As of now, one person was killed and over 30 people are taken to area hospitals. Three are critical with head injuries. We do not know at this point if any of them are Nevada residents. We haven't had information at this point whether any of them are, in fact, Nevada residents.

She left the scene and drove a few blocks to the Tuscany Casino, which is, as you turn east off the boulevard, eastbound Flamingo, where she parked in a parking spot at that location, exited her vehicle, left her toddler within the vehicle, and contacted a valet parker and advised that she had ran over some individuals on Los Vegas Boulevard and requested the valet parker to call 911.

So, District Attorney Wolfson (ph) will advise you on the charges pending on Ms. Holloway currently, and then what potential future charges will be -- occur as we processing through the victims at the various area hospitals.

The victims were transported to four separate hospitals, that being Sunrise, UMC, Spring Valley, and Desert Springs Hospital, with the majority of them being transported to our two separate trauma centers, which would be UMC and Sunrise.

As of now, the locations of the victims, actually where they reside throughout the United States and other countries, we are able to assess individuals from Quebec, Canada, Oregon, Colorado, Florida, Washington, California and Mexico.

So as far as any more specific details, I'm happy to answer any questions. But prior to that, I'd like to bring up Mr. Wolfson so he can advise you on the charges.

STEVEN WOLFSON, CLARK COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Thank you, sheriff. Good morning, everybody.

Like the sheriff, I'd quickly like to acknowledge all of the first responders. I mean you can all imagine what it must have been like only 16 hours ago on our Las Vegas Strip with a 2,000-plus pound vehicle ramming into literally 30 people or so. And I want to acknowledge and thank not only law enforcement, but our other first responders for the incredible work they do.

My office is beginning to receive paperwork on this case, as you can imagine. It's only because a few hours. But we intend to file charges immediately. We are going to start off by filing one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon. We will also be filing additional charges as the information flows to our office.

The other charges we're considering are a multitude of counts of attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, a child abuse and negligent, which pertains to the toddler which was in the back seat of this vehicle, as well as the felony count of leaving the scene of an accident, which I'm sure many of you realize as of October 1st is a non-probationable offense that this lady faces.

One again, charges initially are going to be filed, but as we receive more information, like the sheriff said, this is an ongoing investigation with videotapes and witness statements and other physical evidence to review, I anticipate a great number of charges to be filed.

This woman is in custody. We are going to do everything in our power to see that she remains in custody under the law and file charges appropriately and seek a vigorous prosecution and seek justice in this case.

Thank you.

Sheriff.

LOMBARDO: Thank you.

So at this point I'm happy to entertain questions.

QUESTION: Sheriff, everybody wants to know why she did it? What's the motive?

LOMBARDO: That's exactly what we -- we would like to find out.

Right now she made statements on the scene at the point of arrest. As I mentioned, investigation is ongoing. But we haven't determined to the exact fact what the motive was. We believe that she -- she had some dissociation with the father of her child and then events prior to the event, her being what we believe to be in Las Vegas approximately a week and homeless and residing within her vehicle. We don't know the exact percipient event that caused her to snap and/or whether it was planned previously.

[13:20:07] QUESTION: Was there any weapons in the vehicle?

LOMBARDO: No, not at this point. We are executing the search warrant on the vehicle as we speak, but we have not located a weapon as of this moment in time.

QUESTION: Can you tell us who the vehicle owner is? LOMBARDO: The owner resides in Portland, Oregon, but the suspect

advised that it is in fact her vehicle, but it is registered to a separate individual in Oregon.

QUESTION: Sheriff, the child --

QUESTION: Could she offer any explanation of why she did what she did?

LOMBARDO: She did and I am not comfortable disclosing that at this point because it is an ongoing investigation. But I can't go any further into that comment.

QUESTION: Sheriff, where is the child?

LOMBARDO: The child is in Child Haven here locally in Las Vegas under protective custody. And then we will do everything in our power to attempt to locate the father. We believe the father may be residing in Dallas, Texas. And at some point we thought we believed that she was attempting to make her way that direction via Las Vegas.

QUESTION: Do you know, does she have a mental illness at all?

LOMBARDO: No. She -- this is the issue associated with her individually. We are attempting -- she does not show previous arrests in NCIC. So we're doing the best we can to track down all family members and/or friends within the Oregon area to determine her background the best we can, and also trying to locate the father of the child.

QUESTION: Did you test her blood?

QUESTION: Drugs or alcohol?

LOMBARDO: We tested blood. We recovered blood subsequent her arrest. She did not demonstrate signs of being under the influence of alcohol. But we had a drug recognition expert respond to the scene and determined that he believed she to be under some sort of stimulant.

QUESTION: Did you get an initial read from the blood draw?

LOMBARDO: No, that take some time prior to us getting -- having the ability to do that. But, obviously in this case, it will be expedited.

QUESTION: Sheriff, why could (ph) you not out -- rule out terrorism as the potential causes of this (INAUDIBLE)?

LOMBARDO: Well, like I said, the video obviously shows intention. Her exiting the roadway on to the sidewalk and then, obviously, plowing through the pedestrians on the sidewalk. But as far as terrorism, we don't know what the intent was behind it and we don't know enough of her background to make that determination. As you can imagine, what happened in San Bernardino, a review of all of the social media and everything else led the FBI down that path. We haven't had the time or the luxury to get through all those investigative leads yet.

QUESTION: What day did she arrive in Las Vegas? LOMBARDO: We believe she's been here approximately a week. I don't have an exact date.

QUESTION: How's the child doing?

LOMBARDO: The child's fine.

QUESTION: Are you guys going to release the surveillance video?

LOMBARDO: Not at this point. As a matter of prosecution, it -- I'm confident it will be released at a proper point in time, but our concern at this point is the jury pool and our ability to have an untainted pool.

QUESTION: Assuming you (INAUDIBLE) you do rule out terrorism, is this any sort of a wakeup call about the threat on The Strip?

LOMBARDO: Well, I wouldn't perceive it as a threat. What I would perceive is public safety and traffic issues associated with The Strip. You know, it's an ongoing discussion with the county and public works in order to create a safe environment on Las Vegas Boulevard and our ability to put barricades, barriers and everything else associated with pedestrian traffic, whenever you have a high density vehicle traffic associated with it, to put those things in place in order to insure safety.

QUESTION: You said that you haven't' completely ruled out terrorism, is part of that because of the statement that -- that she made?

LOMBARDO: No, because our -- our lack of knowledge of her background.

QUESTION: OK, just the background, not something she said?

LOMBARDO: Correct. Nothing that she said.

QUESTION: Sheriff --

QUESTION: Is she going to be eligible for the death penalty, district attorney?

WOLFSON: You know, that's a consideration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could you move to the microphone?

WOLFSON: Sure. Sorry. Like any murder case, that's something that is always considered, but it's too early to even begin talking about that. I've read one page of a report, and I'm sure when this case comes to our office after all of these great investigators finish their work, there's going to be a lot of paper to review, a person's background and all the circumstances before we consider the death penalty.

QUESTION: Sheriff, you're going to have 300,000 people at the same place on the Las Vegas Strip in two week. What do you -- what are you looking at that one (ph)? LOMBARDO: Well, I appreciate your bringing that up. Obviously, it's America's party happening in two weeks and we're doing everything we can to ensure everybody's safety. That was an ongoing process and everybody knows that's something we do here every year, and it's a year-long process, and it has been ramped up in the most recent months in light of what's been taking place across the United States and the world. So I'm confident at this point we have all the mechanisms in place to be successful, and we are being very proactive to be successful. But as far as this having a direct correlation to New Year's Eve, I don't -- do not believe it to be so.

[13:20:26] QUESTION: Can you have --

QUESTION: Was there any discussion about not doing New Year's Eve?

LOMBARDO: No, sir. Not at all. I'm pretty confident that we can provide a safe environment.

QUESTION: Sheriff, with all the questions you have, what would you say at that point today is the biggest unknown in this case to you?

LOMBARDO: Well, the question was presented two different times, what caused her to do this, and we need to be more comfortable in the reasons behind that, and in particular what her background is that we need to be made aware of.

QUESTION: Did she offer any (INAUDIBLE)?

LOMBARDO: Well, I could comment on that. My personal opinion was, she was very stoic at the time of the event.

QUESTION: Sheriff, can you give us some more detail about the number of people, or perhaps Jeff (ph), the number of people hospitalized, transported and treated?

LOMBARDO: Yes, my count currently, and bear with me while I go to my notes. And, obviously, I can't release names or extents of injuries on these individuals outside of the individual that passed away and/or the three that have critical head injuries that we are concerned with. But the total count associated with the event so far and, you know, some people self-transported, some people will determine 12 hours later that they have injuries that they need to report. But as of now, I am comfortable with the number of 35.

QUESTION: Sheriff, you said she was stoic. What do you mean by that?

LOMBARDO: Well, there was a -- she didn't appear to be distressed due to her actions. That's the best way I can describe it.

QUESTION: Can you talk a little bit about the efficiency of the response and how that may have saved some lives?

LOMBARDO: Yes. Great question. The efficiency of the response was fantastic. And that's why I thought it was important for me to mention our public safety partners in the beginning of this. I believe we did a great job in responding to an incident that went across several city blocks and the ability to get the victims transported in a timely manner and the ability for us to respond -- apprehend a suspect and conduct an investigation.

QUESTION: Sheriff, could you describe taking her into custody, what occurred and how -- what was -- you said that a valet parker was asked to call.

LOMBARDO: Yes, so there was an eventual call into 911 obviously because as the recent event that had taken place just a few short blocks away, it was easy to correlate the two incidents. And we responded and she was basically standing there in a position to -- of nonthreatening. And she was taken into custody without incident.

QUESTION: Was she completely coherent? I mean you said -- you talked about her --

LOMBARDO: Well, the initial conversations with our investigators, she did appear coherent.

QUESTION: What did you say, that she was living at Planet Hollywood and was kicked off the property?

LOMBARDO: Well, we're trying to confirm that. I would not describe it as living at Planet Hollywood. I did describe to you earlier that she was living in her vehicle. She was utilizing different parking structures throughout the valley in order to reside, to spend the night.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE).

LOMBARDO: We are still tracking that down, but we do believe she was at Planet Hollywood earlier.

QUESTION: With the child?

LOMBARDO: With the child.

QUESTION: How do you spell her name? The first and last name.

LOMBARDO: The first name spelled l-a-k-e-i-s-h-a. Middle initial of n.

QUESTION: N like Nancy?

LOMBARDO: Yes, ma'am. And last name, Holloway, h-o-l-l-o-w-a-y.

QUESTION: And you said 24 years of age?

LOMBARDO: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: And you said Oregon. Did you say the town? Portland or some other --

LOMBARDO: Well, the vehicle, it comes from the Portland area. We are still tracking down her place of residence within Oregon.

QUESTION: What do you know about her actions last night prior to the crashes?

LOMBARDO: We don't -- alls we know is what I described here, is that she was in Vegas for approximately a week. Now, these are all comments made by her. So -- and I don't want to get into too much of a -- of those comments because of -- you know, we've got prosecution things that we have to deal with. But we believe her to be here for approximately a week residing in her vehicle and lack of money. So we don't know if she was soliciting (INAUDIBLE) associated with her stay here or she had some money associated with her stay, but we're doing the best we can to track that down.

[13:30:10] QUESTION: How did (ph) the public cooperate or not cooperate?