Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Gunman Kills Two, Wounds Several in Tel Aviv; New York Man Arrested for Planned ISIS Attack on Revelers; ISIS Suicide Plot Shuts Munich Train Stations; Israeli Police Searching for Gunman, 2 Dead; Putin Cites NATO Threat in New Security Strategy; Three Top Aides Resign Amid Carson Poll Slide; Levees Threaten to Fail in Town Near St. Louis; Obama Looks Toward Legacy in 2016. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 01, 2016 - 09:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

[09:00:12] FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. We have breaking news this morning. I'm Fredricka Whitfield, in for Carol Costello this morning.

In Israel, the second largest city there, Tel Aviv, a gunman has opened fire on a crowd outside of a pub and at least two people are confirmed dead. Several others are wounded. Police are swarming a neighborhood, searching for the shooter and any clues as to whether this is terror related.

CNN's Ian Lee is joining us now from Jerusalem with more on this.

Ian, what are you learning?

IAN LEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, there is that massive manhunt happening right now in Tel Aviv. The shooting took place on Dizengoff Street. Now two eyewitnesses told Israel Radio that a man dressed all, wearing a black balaclava carrying an M- 16 carried out this attack. Now two people have been confirmed killed in this incident. Four are in serious condition.

Dizengoff Street is known for its shopping, its bars, its restaurants. This attack happening in broad daylight. And we just got off the phone with Israeli authorities. So far they are still not saying whether this is a criminal incident or if a Palestinian carried this out conducting a terrorist attack there in Tel Aviv.

WHITFIELD: And Ian, that last reference because of the last three months there has been an exchange of violence between Palestinians and Israeli police, correct?

LEE: That's exactly right. There have been multiple stabbing incidents here in Jerusalem, around Israel as well, and that's one thing that they are wondering about is, is this just an escalation of that violence that we have been seeing or is this somehow criminal related Israeli police being very careful to say they just don't know right now.

WHITFIELD: And then what do we know about this pub? Was it like an outdoor cafe? Are there any eyewitness accounts about how this person wearing all black, as you just explained, went about this attack?

LEE: Well, this attack happened fairly quickly. As the suspect is still at large. That massive manhunt taking place. Showing up, shooting outside of this pub, hitting a number of people. We're hearing at least 10 people have been hit. The others, though, suffered minor injuries. But police very much searching this area.

We're seeing pictures also right now of police officers fully body armored with M-16s, searching the area looking for the suspect because he's still at large according to these witnesses, has an M-16, still very dangerous situation there in Tel Aviv.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very volatile situation. Ian Lee, thanks so much. Check back with us when you learned more.

All right. Meantime, raw nerves and ruckus celebrations as millions of revelers celebrate a New Year and police scramble to diffuse ISIS threats here in the U.S. and abroad. In Germany authorities evacuated two train stations in Munich after intelligence uncovered possible ISIS plans to dispatch suicide attackers. The plot supposedly to strike at midnight.

And in Rochester, New York, federal investigators say this local man planned to slaughter revelers in the name of ISIS. They say he had his weapons and had been in contact with someone overseas claiming to be part of the terror group.

We are uncovering all of the details. CNN's Boris Sanchez in New York and our Frederik Pleitgen in London. Let's begin in New York with Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Fred. Officials are saying the capture of the suspect, Emanuel Lutchman, is a good sign. The U.S. is doing everything it can to prevent an ISIS-related attack here in the United States. The U.S. attorney for Western New York -- for the western district of New York actually telling CNN, quote, "This New Year's Eve prosecution underscores the threat of ISIL even in upstate New York but it demonstrates the determination to immediately stop any who would cause harm in its name."

Now as you mentioned, Fred, the suspect did have contact with someone abroad claiming to be a part of ISIS. The suspect asked that person if he could go to Syria to prove himself, to prove he belonged among his brothers in ISIS. Instead, he was told he should stay in the United States and target Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ (voice-over): A homegrown terror plot to attack people celebrating the New Year thwarted by the feds. Twenty-five-year-old Emanuel Lutchman now facing charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS. His alleged plan? Police say he was looking to attack a bar and restaurant while revelers partied overnight in Rochester, New York.

MARK CHIARENZA, BAR OWNER, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK: I was nervous, owning some establishments downtown, you know, it's a little scary. But then I, I sat back and thought, you know, we have very good security staff, there's great police presence on the East Avenue and, you know, they're really just trying to put the fear into us, and we're not going to let that happen.

[09:05:12] SANCHEZ: Talking to an FBI informant, Lutchman allegedly discussed using a pressure cooker bomb and kidnapping people. According to a criminal complaint, he told the informant, quote, "I will take a life. I don't have a problem with that."

The Feds say that on Tuesday Lutchman went to an area Wal-Mart with the informant to stock up for the attack, buying black ski masks, zip ties, knives, a machete, duct tape, ammonia, and latex gloves. And the complaint says he planned to release a video after the attack.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO, NEW YORK CITY: There's also a new normal when it comes to terrorism.

SANCHEZ: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo talking about the suspect's alleged path to radicalization.

CUOMO: He served time in Attica, became a Muslim, went out, became radicalized on the Internet, and became the proponent of one of these terrorist groups, the ISIL groups, and pledged allegiance to the ISIL group, and had a specific plan to assassinate people.

SANCHEZ: But Lutchman's neighbor say that's not the man they knew.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a street kid. He's not a hardcore terrorist, you know. He just jumped on a bandwagon, being a little stupid.

SANCHEZ: If convicted, Lutchman could face up to 20 years in prison and a quarter million dollar fine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: As Governor Cuomo mentioned Lutchman had had some criminal instances in his past. He served time for a robbery. He's due back in court next week -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Boris, thank you so much.

All right. Let's check in with Fred Pleitgen now. We're talking about the terror fears in Germany and again ISIS at the center.

Frederik Pleitgen, in London, what are you learning?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, absolutely that this was a plot that at least was inspired by ISIS and it's interesting because apparently the original tip-off that was given to the Munich Police Department and to German authorities came from U.S. intelligence services and later the Germans got the same information from the French as well, and that's when they decided to act.

One of the things that they said is they got this information very late in the game on New Year's Eve, Fredricka, and then decided they had to act very, very quickly shutting off the Munich Main Railway Station, which is a gigantic one. One of the biggest in Germany. And also a commuter train station in the west of Munich as well.

They said that the information they got was actually quite specific. They got what they called personal details of some of these alleged attackers. They are still trying to corroborate whether or not these are real people or whether or not these might be phony names. The talk is of about five to seven people who wanted to conduct suicide attacks exactly at midnight on New Year's Eve. Apparently of Iraqi and Syrian origin.

There were a lot of police on the street there in Munich. The celebrations went forward. Nothing happened. The Munich Police has now given the all clear. But they do say they are still very much in a heightened state of alert -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Frederik Pleitgen, thank you so much.

All right. Let's discuss both of these terrorist fears. We're talking about Rochester, New York, and Munich, Germany, with CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem.

So, Juliette, you know, if these plots are in indeed real what does this tell you about ISIS, its reach, determination, to terrorize the West, whether it'd be by the use of what Frederik said, five to seven people who are, as Boris was reporting, one person?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. So this is an example of how ISIS is taking different approaches depending on where they are. As we all have seen in the last year, Europe is a much easier target just given the number of people that have gone to Syria to fight. They then come back. They are able to form. They are able to plan larger scale attacks.

What we see in Rochester is very different and a lot of people may read that indictment and say this doesn't seem like much. What a lot of what the FBI is doing now is essentially making very public arrest even against people who seem not like a huge threat or may have mental disabilities I think to make a statement to others that the FBI is watching.

WHITFIELD: Almost like acting as a deterrent?

KAYYEM: Absolutely. And I think in this case in particular so because what you want to do with ISIS and with the lone wolf threat is make people who might plan an attack slightly paranoid and concerned that they may be being watched. And in this case it was a perfect example of someone who was approached by an FBI informant, planned with the FBI informant and then of course was exposed by the FBI informant.

And you want to keep a sort of -- you want to keep them a little bit paranoid and on their toes so to speak so that they then don't plan these kind of attacks. WHITFIELD: And we know, you know, the U.S. and Europe have been on

alert because of the recent attacks as well as, we're talking about the holidays.

[09:10:00] But what do you make of any potential suspects who would take advantage of an occasion where there would be so many people at the same time, there would be such heightened security measures?

KAYYEM: So this is again where I -- is very different between Europe and the United States. The United States, what concerns me more is less something like the New York Times Square but more places like San Bernardino. The sort of infinite soft targets we have throughout the United States on random days. Right? So it could be any Tuesday, any Friday.

Those attacks are nerve-wracking and scary because, one, they're hard to disrupt. But two, the good news is at least is -- they tend not to be as consequential as, say, what we saw in Paris. Europe has a very different problem, which is the capacity of ISIS members or those who have been trained by ISIS to actually plan and execute in such an organized fashion. That is much more difficult in the United States for a variety of factors.

WHITFIELD: OK. And, Juliette, perhaps you took a look at the "Washington Post" this morning and saw this headline saying Obama thinks his Syria strategy is right and folks just don't get it. And it talks about how the president scolded his aides for not adequately selling his anti-ISIS strategy. So is that the bigger problem perhaps? That the selling of the strategy undermines its effectiveness and then sends a less than reassuring signal to the public?

KAYYEM: Well, I have been supportive of the president's sort of tactical and strategic strategy in the sense that it's a long-term strategy. It's not a quick fix like, you know, closing the borders but I think it's going to have a long term strategy. Where I do think the administration has failed is in communicating what that strategy is. And in the absence of I think sort of resonating with the American public about their own concerns, right? That people are just very nervous right now.

Then you have more extreme people talking about not letting Muslims in or some of the more extreme measures we've been hearing lately. So what we need to do is I think in this New Year sort of take a deep breath, recognize that there is a threat, but also, you know, recognize that we can't lose our heads in the process of combating a threat that while scary is also something that is manageable if we just, you know, sort of effectuate the plan.

WHITFIELD: Right. And super quick, flipside to that. How much of your strategy would you ever want to really reveal?

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. Especially in the United States. I mean, what we saw with what's happened in Rochester is there is a lot going on that we actually don't know about until it is exposed in a court or in an indictment. And this is going on throughout the United States.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

KAYYEM: And I think what we need to do now is recognize, you know, you see the polling, the CNN polling, people are nervous and I think we have to recognize that that nervousness is real. It is not irrational. And then address it in ways that we can over the next year. But there are no quick fix. Even what we're hearing on a number of -- by a number of people that none of those are quick fixes to a long-term problem that we have.

WHITFIELD: All right. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much. And Happy New Year.

KAYYEM: To you, too.

WHITFIELD: All right. Still to come, Russia thinks NATO's expansion is a threat. Now Vladimir Putin has approved a new security strategy in response. The details from Moscow next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:16:49] WHITFIELD: Welcome back. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We continue to monitor breaking news situation out of Tel Aviv, where investigators continue to intensify the search for a gunman, someone who opened fire outside a bar restaurant there on a popular street there in Tel Aviv. Witnesses say the lone gunman was wearing black and carrying an M-16. Two are dead, four injured. We'll continue to monitor.

And a stunning new security strategy in Russia, which is now declaring NATO a threat. President Vladimir Putin endorsing the plan last night. It says NATO's military build up threatens his country's national security. Matthew Chance is in Moscow with more on this -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There are a couple of points to come out of this document which is a sort of official document that Russia has to up every six years. It was last updated in 2009, so time was ripe for this new description essentially of the threats to the Russian state as the Kremlin sees it.

And it says that it sees the expansion of NATO, the western military alliance as the major threat to Russia's national interests and it also says that is because Russia's what it calls independent domestic and foreign policy, which has triggered a counteraction from United States and its allies.

So, I think the reference there is to the fact that Russia has engaged in military activities in Ukraine. It's engaged in Syria as well, carrying air strikes against ISIS and other rebel groups in support of Bashar al Assad and his allies.

And that's angered the United States specifically, but also NATO countries in general. So, this is a formal document which says, look, NATO is a threat to Russia's national interest, but it doesn't necessarily represent a big shift in the thinking of Russia. Russia and Putin in particular has been describing NATO as a strategic threat to Russia for some years now.

And indeed, that threat has come to a head over the conflict in Ukraine, where Russia has essentially deployed military forces, although it denies this, and to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and other western institutions. So, it wants to prevent the further expansion of NATO and it's made that now a priority in terms of its national security.

WHITFIELD: Matthew Chance in Moscow, keep us posted, thank you so much.

All right. American politics, the race to the White House, Donald Trump is ringing in the New Year and hoping his momentum continues into this election year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Three, two, one -- happy New Year.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Meanwhile, Trump's rival, Dr. Ben Carson, is starting the New Year with a shake up atop his campaign. This comes as Dr. Carson continues to struggle in the polls. In October, he was rivaling Donald Trump for the lead. But the latest CNN poll shows him a distant third place.

CNN's Chris Frates joins us now with the very latest.

So, Chris, it's quite the shake up.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a quite the shake up. Good morning and happy New Year to you too, Fred. And welcome to the first day of a presidential election year.

[09:20:01] The Ben Carson campaign starting this year with new leadership. After weeks of struggling in the polls, the Carson campaign ended 2015 with a New Year's shake up. Three top Carson staffers, his campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, and communications directors resigned from the campaign yesterday.

Campaign officials explained the resignation as routine and not the signs of a campaign in a tail spin. And with only weeks to go until voting starts, Carson said in a statement that it was, quote, "necessary to invigorate my campaign with a strategy that more aggressively shares my vision."

Now Carson named Bob Dees as his chairman and he elevated senior strategist Ed Brookover to campaign manager. In an email, now former communications director Doug Watts told me he and former campaign manager Barry Bennett, quote, "respect the candidate and we have enjoyed helping him go from far back in the field to top tier status and wish him and his campaign the best of luck."

Now, Carson's business manager, Armstrong Williams, said that Carson started losing ground after the Paris attacks in San Bernardino. Here is how Williams said Carson would reverse his slide in the policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, CARSON'S BUSINESS MANAGER: Dr. Carson is not the one to stand like Mr. Trump or Mr. Cruz and stand and front and center and people think because you speak loud and you say fiery things, you are a leader and you're in control, he's soft spoken. And sometimes people confused soft-spokenness with not being strong enough. But Dr. Carson has learned that sometimes being soft spokenness is not enough, he will be more authoritarian in the way that he speaks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRATES: Now, Carson struggle with foreign policy on the campaign trail and he slipped in the polls. He's now a distant third behind Donald Trump and Ted Cruz -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Chris.

And coming up, our next hour, we're going to be talking to the new campaign manager for Ben Carson. Look forward to that.

All right. The potential of levee failures could turn river towns into the islands today as this massive flooding shows no signs of leaving Missouri quickly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Levees threatening to cut off neighborhoods this morning as historic flooding swallows parts of Missouri.

[09:25:02] The rain may be over, but the scope of devastations just beginning to be understood. The biggest concern today, how to get around.

The National Guard joining the fight overnight to keep lanes of this major interstate open. I-55 one of the only ways to cross the Meramec River right now. Closures still in effect on that bridge. As for I- 44, 24 miles are still impassable. The town of Valley Park is located along that stretch.

And Jennifer Gray is there this morning.

Jennifer, how does it look? Lots of high water.

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fred, yes, lots of high water. It looks like we're standing at the end of a boat launch, but this is actually Highway 141. I'm standing right in the middle of the street, and you can see water all the way to the other side of what is Interstate 44.

Believe it or not the water has gone down considerably actually. Where we are, the water has actually gone down almost six feet if you can believe it. But, look, we still have a long, long way to go. Water is still very, very high. It is going to be at least until tomorrow or Sunday before things start to look a little closer to normal where we are.

Right around St. Louis though, the Mississippi River there is cresting now. It will most likely do that throughout the entire day, so the water is still very, very high. A lot of places still vulnerable. You are talking about the levee concerns. They actually evacuated people in that area a couple of days ago.

And the latest update from the EOC says the levees are holding fine. But it is still going to be a fluid situation until those waters can start to recede. So, the weekend is going to be a very crucial time to watch all of that as the waters continue to go down. But, Fred, it is going to be a long road ahead for people here around the St. Louis area.

Not only do they have sewage floating in this water as we've been talking about yesterday in the reports, as well as this morning but you're also going to have the mud and silt from the Mississippi River, the Meramec River left behind not to mention all the trash and debris. That's been flowing down these rivers into the neighborhood. So, a lot of clean up ahead, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Right, and not to mention toxins too because of cars flooded out. Lots of dirty stuff in that water. Need to be very careful.

All right. Thanks so much, Jennifer Gray. We'll check back with you.

All right. In this breaking news, we continue to watch Israeli's second largest city Tel Aviv reeling after a gunman opened fire on a crowd outside of a pub and at least two confirmed dead, several others are wounded. A police searching for the shooter and any clues as to whether this is terror related.

CNN's Ian Lee is in Jerusalem for us.

Are you learning any more?

IAN LEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, we're still watching this massive search operation taking place in Tel Aviv. Images coming out of police going through people's yards, going house to house, searching for the suspect, very much still at large at this hour.

Now, those two eye witnesses that told Israeli radio described the person as wearing all black and carrying an M-16. And that is why the police right now are very careful but also going and searching every nook and cranny because this person is still believed to be armed and two people were killed. Four seriously injured.

But still the police are very careful about placing blame on this right now. They are saying that it could be criminal or it could be a Palestinian carrying out a terrorist attack. Right now, they don't know, this attack happening on Vissegoff Street which is the main street in Tel Aviv. This is the place that has bars, has restaurants, shopping. This attack happening in broad daylight and police as you can see right now, it is getting dark, that search for that suspect going into the evening -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ian Lee, keep us posted, thank you so much there from Jerusalem.

President Obama spending his first day of the New Year in Hawaii. The president and family wrapping up their vacation there and returning to Washington will be pretty busy agenda for the president as he enters his final year in office. In just a matter of days, he delivers his last State of the Union Address and among the highlights a new executive action on gun and a plan to close Guantanamo Bay.

CNN senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta has more from Hawaii.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, during his vacation here in Hawaii, President Obama has been working with his top aides on the upcoming State of the Union Speech. The speech is expected to set an ambitious tone for what the president is vowing will be a busy end of his eight years in office and right at the top of the agenda is gun control.

(voice-over): For President Obama the final round is about to begin.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In 2016, I'm going leave it out all on the field.

ACOSTA: Up first in the president's eighth and last year in office, Mr. Obama's long response to mass shootings in the U.S., surfaces familiar with the plan say it will be a package of executive actions on gun control, expected before the January 12th State of the Union, and aimed at the gun show loophole which allows some firearm sellers to avoid conducting background checks on their customers.