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Philadelphia Police Officer Survives Horrific Ambush; NYPD Issues Alert to Officers; Mexico: Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Recaptured; 2 Arrested in U.S. on Terror-Related Charges. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired January 08, 2016 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And Tom Fuentes, when the New York NYPD issues a memorandum to all of the New York police officers, and among other things, saying that "The New York Police Department strongly emphasizes all members of service to exercise a high degree of vigilance and to employ a proactive safety measures at all times." They don't just do this on the basis of the abundance of caution. They are clearly concerned that what happened in Philadelphia and Paris is going to be escalating, moving to New York and elsewhere?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Sure. They're worried about a copycat doing what this guy did. They put out the warning, and they do continue to do that on the abundance of caution basis, and remind the officers, because after a certain time, if nothing happens, you can be slightly complacent, and they want to keep them alert.

BLITZER: I want to go the Miguel Marquez in Philadelphia for us.

And you were inside of that press conference, Miguel. Very tense in Philadelphia, and very dramatic of 33-year-old Officer Jesse Hartnett facing surgeries, but he is alive.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely incredible story, Wolf, that this officer was driving along, and rolls the window down as he sees somebody asking him for help or flagging him down, and then the pictures that the Philadelphia police department has now released of the suspect walking up to the car, and firing one after another bullet at him. At one point, his arm, his hand is inside of the police officer's car shooting him. He was only hit three times in the arm, and the police now saying that at least 11 shots were fired from that 0.9 millimeter, and the officer is gets out of the car and goes chasing the suspect down the street while keying the radio. And the left arm, because that is the arm that he was hit in is completely immobile there, and he goes to chase the suspect down the street, and he hits him once in the buttocks, says the police commissioner here, and then they are able to apprehend him on the way to one of the homes.

That suspect, who is 30 years old has survived, and she is being questioned by police, and good enough to be questioned. At one point, the police say that he was saying nothing and then offered up that I follow Allah and I pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State and that is what I did and that is the only thing or some variation of that is what he said to the police. They are conducting searches in his mother's home, and another home, and in a suburb close to Philadelphia, and that I want to get to the bottom of whether or not this is a true nexus to terror or somebody who was angry, and had a gun and decided to shoot.

The other thing that is interesting about this, this is a gun that was stolen from the home of a Philadelphia police officer couple of years ago, and they don't know how many times it changed hands. It was reported stolen then say police, and very is very frustrating for the police department to have to have this happy to this 33-year-old officer, and the five-year veteran of the police force here, with a gun that was used and own bed by the Philadelphia police officer being used by against one of his own police -- Wolf?

BLITZER: A stolen police firearm.

Miguel Marquez, standby.

Everyone, standby.

And there is other breaking news that we are following, and this is just coming into CNN right now. The president of Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto, has said that Joaquin Guzman, also known as El Chapo, has been arrest. The drug kingpin has been arrested according to the Mexican president. We'll get more on this.

Two major stories developing right now. Much more happening right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:08] BLITZER: Joaquin "El Chapo: Guzman has been captured by the president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, just announced a moment ago. And he has been on the run for weeks and weeks and arguably one of the most if not the most-wanted man certainly in north America right now, El Chapo, and once again in the hands of the police.

And Tom Fuentes is with us, the former FBI director and CNN law enforcement analyst.

I assumed it was a matter of time before they got him. But they apparently got him apparently alive which is surprising at least, but you know more about this than I do.

FUENTES: Well, I am sure they wanted to get him alive, but the interesting thing is that the last time he was recaptured after an escape, they said to expedite him to the United States, because there are a number of charges against him and extradition requests are in and pending against him and Mexico said, no problem, we will put him in the most secure jail, and he won't escape, and now we will see what happens now. The U.S. is going to be making a strong pitch. And also, U.S. intelligence like last time that helped to lead to the capture, so does Mexico owe the United States intelligence and law enforcement community gratitude for helping get him back into custody?

BLITZER: They found him apparently in Mexico. I assume it is a matter of pride though nor the Mexican government to say, you know what, he is a Mexican and captured in Mexico, and we are going to be keeping him in Mexico, and we can handle him a third time if you will, and he is not going to be escaping again, and we don't have to extradite him to the United States, but why does the U.S. want him as badly as it does?

FUENTES: Because he has committed a number of crimes against the United States --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: He's committed a lot of crimes in Mexico, too.

FUENTES: But the fact that the U.S. is saying to Mexico, you have shown that you can't hold him, and there is too much corruption.

BLITZER: And they bluntly say that to the Mexican government, we don't trust you and you have failed a couple of times now, and hand him over to the United States. And we will put him in a maximum security prison and some place he is not going to be escaping.

FUENTES: Yes, in maximum security, he is not going anywhere, and if he gets life, he is going to die regardless of whatever he gets. And in Mexico, this is another time yet that they can't say that 100 percent, there is no corruption in the country, and no chance that he is going to be having cooperation from the prison officials or others to help him escape yet a third time. So that is the issue that is pending.

BLITZER: And to remind the viewers that I have notes here, he escaped from prison in July of last year, and slipped through a hole in the shower stall. It is elaborate, and there is the video that was pretty elaborate. And he goes into the shower stall, and then all of the sudden, goes down and disappears and goes through a tunnel, and gets out of what was then a maximum security federal prison in Mexico, and he has been on the run since July.

He broke out of another maximum security prison in 2001, and hiding reportedly in a laundry cart, and they arrested him after 13 years on the run, he was 13 years.

And he has a lot of money from the drugs, and illegal drugs, so the fear is that if he is sent to jail in Mexico a third time now with all of that money, and all of the cash, he is going to be finding a way to escape.

[13:40:30] FUENTES: Yes, and one of the specialties has been as the I inventor of tunneling under the U.S. border that essentially, he has the construction personnel and expertise to do another tunnel, and, you know, again, that is the last tunnel was about a mile long out of that prison, and no one in the prison heard any construction or noises, and they were constructing it. So that is the specialty, and this is the fear that he is going to be doing it again no matter where they put him.

BLITZER: And El Chapo recaptured and re-arrested by the Mexican authorities. I want to bring in our senior Latin affairs editor, Rafael Romo.

Give us some perspective right now, because this is a huge story right now, and Mexico here and the United States and all of north and south America right now one of the most wanted men in the world, and now arrested once again, and the pressure is going to be on Mexico, as Tom Fuentes says, to extradite him to the United States, because there is concern that no matter the maximum prison in Mexico, he is going to escape another time.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Yes, definitely, and this is an important point, Wolf, because for the last few years, Mexico has put emphasis on keeping the criminals in Mexico, and having them serve sentences there before extraditing them to the United States, but when El Chapo escaped in July 11th, last year, it was highly questioned, but we started to hearing the reports an hour ago, that there was an operation in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, and then we got the tweet from the Mexican president, and the tweet says "mission accomplished, we have him, and I would like to inform the Mexicans that Joaquin Guzman has been detained." And he also tweeted saying congratulations to the security cabinet for having been able to capture El Chapo at nearly six months after he escaped from a maximum security prison in Mexico -- Wolf?

BLITZER: And he is charged with drug trafficking, and related crimes here in the United States and in Texas, Arizona, Illinois, New York and Florida and California, who have specific charges against him. What are the prospects that the government, government, and the president will go ahead to extradite him to the United States?

ROMO: I the think that there is a lot of pressure to extradite Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman sooner rather than later. And for people who are not very familiar with El Chapo at one point, his fortune was estimated at $11 billion and he made the richest people on "Forbes" magazine, and he has a vast enterprise that is responsible for shipping drugs to primarily to the United States, and talk about heroin and cocaine and also in recent years to places in Europe and as far away as Asia. And so capturing him today, it is definitely a huge victory for the Mexican government -- Wolf?

BLITZER: It is a huge victory, but if you are saying with all of the money that he has, the fear is that he could go ahead through the associates and bribe individuals at any prison in Mexico where he may wind up once again, and he could escape.

Hold the thought, Rafael.

Art Roderick is joining us, a former U.S. Marshall.

Art, you are very familiar with this case. Can the Mexicans get the job done and hold him a third time if in fact he is put in what they call the maximum security prison there or should they give up and give it to the United States?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, it is a short period of time he is in jail there, and as you recall, after the escape, we got a number of extraditions coming out of Mexico, and part of it was the package for El Chapo to be extradited back to the U.S. so this is a short period of time that he is going be held there, and that he is going to be coming back via aircraft here to the U.S. where he is going to be ending up going, I don't know, because he is wanted in eight or nine different U.S. districts, so it is going to be a question as to where exactly he is going to be.

BLITZER: But plenty of maximum security prisons here in the United States that would detain him?

RODERICK: I would say he is going to be going, once charged in the hands of the bureau of prisons, he is going to be ending up in Florence.

BLITZER: Is that the best one?

RODERICK: That is the secure max facility for the U.S.

BLITZER: Have you been there?

RODERICK: I have not been to Florence, but I was at the previous one down in southern Illinois. I actually worked there for a little while in St. Louis, and it went from Alcatraz to southern Illinois to Florence.

BLITZER: And Marion, Illinois.

RODERICK: And Marion, Illinois, right.

BLITZER: And tell us what it is like.

(CROSSTALK)

[13:45:12] BLITZER: El Chapo, if he is going to be going there for the rest of his life, what kind of conditions would he have to endure?

RODERICK: He is locked up completely by himself 23 hours a day, and he has his own little facility they let him out of the jail, but he is caged by himself. No human contact at all.

BLITZER: And one hour a day, Tom Fuentes, he can go out to get fresh air, is that right?

FUENTES: Basically, and that is it. Again, it is like a dog pen where he has his own space to go out to get that, but it is not to comingle with any other prisoners or any other outside contact.

BLITZER: And windows in the little cell?

FUENTES: I don't know. I haven't been to that facility, but just knowing what Marion, Illinois, is like, probably not. And John Gotti gave a great -- wrote some comments about his time there at Florence, and it is pretty horrible.

BLITZER: Hold on for one moment.

CNN correspondent, Martin Savidge, is with us as well, and he was with the Mexican police as they were hunting for El Chapo.

Right now, Martin, I know that you have been all over this story for us for a long time. Politically speaking, it could be awkward for the Mexican government to send him to the United States in effect acknowledging that they can't hold him.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. It is a very awkward situation, potentially to be in, because right now the question is going to be extradition and how quickly they get it achieved and some say, wait a minute here, the United States is making him their number one, but he is also number one wanted in Mexico, and so those difficulties to be ironed out. The last time he was captured and believing that it is in Sinaloa, which is the same state where he has been captured before, he had to be taken to Mazatlan. They had to hold him a couple of days before they could transport him, because they were concerned about security breaches that somebody would rescue him, and it going to be interesting to see where he was caught, and how he is transport and presumably back to Mexico city. All of this is carried out by the Special Force, and not so much the national police here, and a lot of the work searching for him was being conducted by the military. And a special branch of the military, the Marines, and that I was specifically chosen not coming from the area where he is believed to have been. Because they didn't want any family complications or family members of those searching for him to be kidnapped or they want any way for their investigation to be compromised and no way to be tipped off that he was on the way. They had to move a lot of the times by helicopter, because the terrain there is extremely rugged. It is a very remote area in the Sinaloa State. This is all presuming where he was caught, but there was activity there earlier today, which is the indication of how it went down, but it is a difficult military operation. And as you say now the difficult part is the political operation that comes with it.

BLITZER: And politically, it is going to be awkward, and the fear is that there is corruption in the police force in Mexico, in the prisons in Mexico. If he is held there, maybe the military has less corruption, but will there is concern with all of the hundreds of millions of dollars that he and the associates have stolen over the years, and there could be a third escape.

Everyone standby.

We will have more on the breaking news.

And also more on what is happening with the breaking news out of Philadelphia. A Philadelphia police officer ambushed, and the suspect is telling police that he did it in the name of the Islamic State, and that is according to the police homicide captain. And we are learning more about the suspect, and we are going to be showing you what we know right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:19] BLITZER: We're following multiple breaking news stories here on CNN. Mexican police have captured the escaped drug kingpin, El Chapo. We're following that story. Standby. More information. Also a breaking story here in the United States. A police officer in

Philadelphia ambushed by a man who said he did it for the, quote, "Islamic State." He fired 11 times at the police officer hitting him three times.

That arrest came less than two days after two men were arrested in Texas and California on terror-related charges. Those two were also linked. They spoke with each other about possible travel plans to train for ISIS and other terror groups in Syria.

We have a picture of the suspect in Philadelphia. The 30-year-old suspect said he shot this police officer. Fortunately, the police officer survived. There's the suspect in this case. Also a 30-year- old individual who said he did this in the name of Islam. The police homicide captain said he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. He did it because he follows Allah.

Jim Sciutto is joining us from the Pentagon.

It looks like there's an up tick in ISIS-inspired attacks, whether in Philadelphia, Paris, and these two arrests that we have seen in the United States.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. In this shooting in Philadelphia, as well as these arrests, you see all the ways that ISIS can potentially extend its reach here on to the U.S. homeland. You have this attacker that looks like a lone-wolf attack early in the investigation but pledging allegiance as he shoots this cop.

Let's look at these two arrests as well. The first is 24. He entered the U.S. in 2009. He is accused of providing material support to terrorism including offering ISIS training assistance. The complaint does not specify what kind of training and assistance, but a volunteer reaching out from America to ISIS to offer his help. Let's look at the second suspect. He entered the U.S. in 2012. What he did and fought in Syria. He claims while he was over there he posted on social media that he fought for groups such as Islam. Came back to the U.S. and lied about it. That, of particular concern because it's those veterans of fighting on the ground there for those groups that in many ways law enforcement particularly concerned because they come back with skills, how to handle a weapon, how to operate in a combat environment. You see today the range, the whole range of how ISIS can inspire people. Something that looks like a lone-wolf attack in Philly, someone goes to fight in the war zone in Syria, comes back to the U.S. and someone else who volunteers himself supports ISIS, all these ways. The other thing, Wolf, and we talk about this a lot, very difficult to prevent because they are operating by themselves. Although we know there was communication between those two who were dealt with in the criminal complaints.

[13:55:36] BLITZER: That's worrisome that the two individuals were communicating with each other.

Jim Sciutto, standby. I want to bring back our law enforcement analyst, the former FBI

assistant director, Tom Fuentes. Also joining us once again from Toronto, Mubin Shaikh. He's a former jihadist counterterrorism operative.

Doesn't seem to be any shortage of individuals inspired, Mubin, by ISIS, this terror group, the so-called Islamic State, as often as there are arrests, others seem to be popping up. What's the attraction?

MUBIN SHAIKH, FORMER JIHADIST & COUNTERTERRORISM OPERATIVE: Yeah, really what you're looking at, first of all, there's a spectrum of individuals that are going to be lured into these groups and the individuals who are going to come back. The vast majority are low hanging fruit, teens, young males, even females who are attempting to travel. We know that ISIS is training women, soldiers, children soldiers. So the attraction really to a lot of them is a sense of belonging. A sense of belonging to this supposed caliphate that's going to reclaim the lost glories of the Islamic golden age. It's very superficial in their understanding. Even by the way in which they use Islamic sources. The way in which a guy slaps on a hat and a robe and says I'm doing this for Allah and everything is OK. This is really what you're looking at. A very superficial commitment to a sense of belonging and identity.

BLITZER: Tom Fuentes, the aftermath of Philadelphia, the arrest of this 30-year-old suspect who went and shot this police officer, supposedly told police in the name of Islam. He pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. Says he did it because he followed Allah. The NYPD in New York -- and I have read this long memorandum released to thousands of law enforcement officers in New York City telling them, "In the aftermath of what happened in Philadelphia and the aftermath of what happened yesterday in Paris, where an individual went into a police station there with a knife and pledged his allegiance to ISIS as well." In Philadelphia, the incident there is causing alarm in New York City. The memorandum says, "Members of the police in New York are reminded that ISIS, or ISIL, has called for supporters and sympathizers in the United States to carry out attacks." So this is a warning to law enforcement all over the country right now. Tighten up your security.

FUENTES: Absolutely. It exemplifies the 900 cases being conducted in 50 states. That you have these individuals they are looking at maybe into the thousands who may go to what the FBI called flash to bang. The time they start thinking about being inspired to the time they go operational and go on street with a weapon and try to kill somebody. It's an extremely dangerous situation because you know where they might strike next. If it's one guy in Philadelphia, they are going to learn more about him, but what if it's just a lone deranged person who got his hands on a stolen gun and committed this act. That's almost impossible to stop if he didn't share his intent with anybody else.

BLITZER: How worried are law enforcement to copy cats?

FUENTES: They would be very worried. They always are it's a well publicized murder of a police officer on the street that somebody else may try to do the same thing. The police are so vulnerable because they can come to the individual who is going to kill them if he waves at them and the officer thinks it's an individual asking for assistance, that's what the police do. They assist members of the public. That act can get them killed.

BLITZER: Based on what has happened in Philadelphia, the shooting incident, and the pictures are so dramatic, it's wise for all law enforcement percent until to wear body armor right now.

FUENTES: It is, but if somebody comes up to your squad and tries to shoot you in the face and all you can do is fend it off with your left arm, that's a tough situation. Police officers are not going to be able to avoid contact with the public or be behind a barricaded bulletproof glass. They are out on the street, they are out of the patrol cars, dealing with the public every minute of the day.

BLITZER: We'll leave it there.

But CNN will certainly stay on top of all of these breaking news stories.

That's it for me. Thanks for watching. I'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern in "The Situation Room."

The news continues next on CNN.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.