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Edward Archer Confesses To Ambushing And Shooting Philadelphia Police Officer; El Chapo Recaptured; Muslim Woman Ejected From Trump Rally After Staging Silent Protest; Trump Using Bill Clinton's Infidelities To Combat Hillary; State Of Emergency Declared For Thousands Living in Michigan. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 09, 2016 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:11] POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Poppy Harlow. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin with breaking news. I want to go to Miguel Marquez. He joins us now in Philadelphia, because a short time ago, an arraignment for the suspect of a Philadelphia police officer, Edward Archer, confessed to being inspired by ISIS. The list of charges quite long.

He is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, assault of a law enforcement official, reckless endangerment of a person and steeling a police firearm, those among other charges. Archer, you will recall, allegedly fired a spray of bullets at Officer Jesse Hartnett on Thursday night.

Let's go to Miguel Marquez in Philadelphia. He's been on the story from the very beginning.

What happens now, Miguel, now that we have these official charges? What now?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he has been transported to the correctional facility. He has being held on no bond. He hasn't been assigned a public defender yet. So it will probably be next week sometime before all of those things start to get sorted out. But certainly, this is an individual who is in a lot of trouble.

In addition to all the charges you mentioned, because he was previously convicted, there is several other charges related to his assault, because he was brandishing and using a handgun which convict in the state isn't meant to do. So there will be a lot of lawyering to go.

But you know, here at the hospital, we have the police officer who has survived this, and he is still recovering from those very terrible wounds, despite being shot three times in the arm, at least 11 bullets total headed his way. Some at point-blank range. His left arm, though, quite in bad shape. Broken the bone broken in one place, artery severed, lots of nerve damage. It will be quite some time before Office Jesse Hartnett is back up and add it, but at least the wheels of justice are moving. He has been now transferred to the correctional holding facility outside of Philadelphia, where he will probably await a more formal arraignment in the days or weeks to come -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Miguel, let's talk a little bit about that officer, though. And just as you described it last night to Anderson Cooper, just a miraculous job really that this officer did.

MARQUEZ: It defies logic that he was able to do this. This is a police officer. He has been on the force five years. He is 33-year- old. He was in the coast guard before. This is a guy on a routine patrol in west Philadelphia. He had his window down, as they typically do so they can hear what's going on out there. Somebody flagged him down. He pulled over, stopped. As he stopped his car, it was Edward Archer who rushed him with a gun, the nine millimeter handgun semiautomatic, firing round after round. At one point, his hand all the way in the window. And despite that, the officer was able to return fire, jumped out of his squad car, started to chase him down. Hit him in the butt, amazingly enough. And keep in mind, his left arm is useless at this point. He is shooting -- running, shooting and on the radio to dispatch all at the same time.

HARLOW: Wow.

MARQUEZ: They were able to catch him there at the scene. Recover the gun. Just an amazing story. How he survived this, he probably should play the lottery and probably win that nearly billion dollars now.

HARLOW: You know, I would love to see him win that tonight.

Miguel, before I let you go, though, just tell us about the man who is charged with all of this, because he did claim to police, right after, that this was in the name of ISIS. But can you decipher for us, you know, whether this was directed by ISIS, ISIS inspired, if this is was all just in his head. Walk us through that.

MARQUEZ: Yes. Well, this is the big question that law enforcement officials are getting at. They are going through everything, his present and his past. All of his certainly his phones, computers, any sort of internet traffic that he did. Is he tied to anything? That is the big question.

FBI did not have him on the radar previous to this. He did travel to the Middle East, Saudi Arabia in 2011, and Egypt the following year. The imams in the area where he lived and operated say they don't know who he is. His mother told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was a devout Muslim, but none of the imams knew he was.

She also said he suffered sort of problems. He hit his head several times apparently falling off a mop head and playing football and that he wasn't in sort of full control of his mental capacities. He had been speaking to himself, mumbling much lately. He was due to be sentenced in a previous conviction on Monday, and he had told his mother that he felt that the police were targeting him.

So whether or not all of this conspired basically to create this in his head or whether he actually was in contact with somebody either domestically or internationally we waiting to find out -- Poppy.

[15:05:18] HARLOW: Miguel Marquez live in Philadelphia.

Miguel, thank you very much. Obviously, a huge concern what we saw play out in San Bernardino and the attack on police officers here in New York as well.

Mexican special forces in a shootout with a gang of drug cartel suspects on Friday. When it was over, the most wanted, most notorious drug lord back in handcuffs.

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HARLOW: You see him there. That is a man no longer on the lamb. Thumbing his nose at the Mexican government. Joaquin El Chapo Guzman escaped from a maximum security prison in July. A worldwide manhunt ensued. Right now, he is back in the same prison where he escaped from.

Two new things today. Details about what finally led authorities to El Chapo after his time on the run. Also, what his chances are of extradition? Will he be extradited this time, the United States?

Nick Valencia in Mexico City outside the prison.

Nick, talk to us about this operation. Incredibly complex. You had the president of Mexico coming out yesterday immediately announcing that they had caught him. I mean what, is it that led to him finally?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, perhaps it could have been his own carelessness, recklessness or ego. We understand in that press conference by Mexican officials that he had tried to get a movie done about his escape from this prison right behind me, (INAUDIBLE) prison. His representatives had reached out to producers and actresses and that contributed to authorities pinpointing his location.

We understand, Poppy, that that home where he was pinned down at was under surveillance for about a month. He arrived there on Thursday, and that's when the Mexican government decided to carry out this raid in the early morning hours of Friday.

And he nearly escaped again, escaping through that storm drain while those gang of cartel operatives where El Chapo returned fire with the Special Forces from the Navy. El Chapo eventually got into a car and he was spotted in the outskirts of Los Mochis, Sinaloa where he was able to get away for a little bit. Tracked down eventually by Mexican authorities, and now captured. He is now in this prison behind me. And that's left a lot of people scratching their heads, Poppy. This is the same prison that he broke out in July of 2015.

HARLOW: Right.

VALENCIA: Now, back in custody, I spoke earlier to law enforcement official - Yes, go ahead. HARLOW: Nick, I was going to say and I remember you reported there

when it happened when he escaped in July. And the U.S. authorities were furious, because they had worked with the Mexican authorities to catch him the first time. They wanted him extradited. Mexico said no. So this time, do you think that Mexico will extradite him to face trial, face charges here in the U.S.?

VALENCIA: Well, just a couple of hours ago, I got up with source of mine, a senior law enforcement source that here in Mexico he tells me that extradition of El Chapo to the United States is quote "very likely but will not happen any time soon." We could only assume that the Mexicans want to hold on to El Chapo after capturing him just a little while longer. That same source is telling me that the formal steps, that paperwork, those formalities, have not been carried out yet. They have not received a formal request from the U.S. government nor has Mexico undertaken those steps to make this a formal extradition process.

But again, that source telling me that the extradition of El Chapo is very likely. And this, Poppy, is a huge development. A very significant development in the relations between Mexico and the United States. We have seen a stronger cooperation between these two governments in recent weeks with high profile operatives of cartels here in Mexico, being extradited to the United States. Now, it appears as though the world's most notorious drug trafficker Joaquin El Chapo Guzman may very well be extradited as well to the U.S. -- Poppy.

HARLOW: Nick Valencia live for us in Mexico City. Nick, thank you very much.

I want to Ioan Grillo. He is a journalist. He has covered El Chapo for years and years, focuses a lot on drug trafficking. He is the author of the upcoming book "Gangster warlords." He joins me now on the phone from Mexico City.

You can't write this stuff. You can't make this up. The fact that he was on the lamb, stays so close to home and then wants a movie made about him.

IOAN GRILLO, AUTHOR, GANGSTER WARLORDS (on the phone): Incredible drug trafficking for the last 15 years. You also find, often the reality is weirder than fiction, but at the same time, these fictional films affect reality. I talk to gangers on the street, killers who say that they first became gangers because they saw (INAUDIBLE) about gangs. And then at the same time, gangsters like El Chapo Guzman wanting to make a film about himself.

So you know, this is crazy reality, you know, whether it is larger than life, they're so about them, movies about them, even video games about them. People that imitating what they see in these films and at the same time, these films are some reality.

[15:10:14] HARLOW: Do you think that, I know there is this $5 million reward that was offered for his capture, it is a sizable amount, but also, people are weary on often to spill the beans, if you will, because they are scared for their life in the life of their families. Do you think we will ever know who ratted him out?

GRILLO: It maybe be very difficult. Like you say, many people are terrified. I have covered many murder scenes in Mexico where you see a body with its finger cut off and stuck in its mouth. And that is a symbol of somebody who is being a snitch. Other times, it's been decapitated heads I've seen with messages saying see here, shut up. So people in the community have that around them all the time. They're thinking if I tell the authorities, my whole family could be killed.

But at the same time, you have people generally criminals themselves murders themselves, so close by, who may have information and could tell the authorities. Now, another drug trafficker used to be a colleague of El Chapo Guzman and became a rival (INAUDIBLE), he was killed by the marines in 2009, on U.S. intelligence. And I talked to the head of the DEA that maybe they paid an informant $5 million for that information. Some people may think it's a bit (INAUDIBLE) that you spent $5 million to taxpayers' money paying maybe a drug trafficker for that information, but that's all of the drug law enforcement.

HARLOW: But Ioan, before I let you go, when you look at the Sinaloa cartel, and you look at this man as a figure head and force no doubt, but taking him out, what does that actually do to the drug trade, do to drug trafficking essentially across the border into the United States?

GRILLO: I think on a tactical level or the technical level, just level of moving drugs, it will not have an effect among the drug Sinaloa cartel. We are talking about federation is tens of thousands of people. It is the federation has been grow for a hundred years, since Washington first made drugs illegally in 1914, they have been trafficking drugs. And over some thousands of people involved, producing drugs, moving drugs, selling drugs, and that keeps ongoing.

However, the caption of Chapo is very emblematic, very important psychological in Mexico. The fact this guy, the most wanted criminal in Mexico could stay on the streets and beat the system, they made it so other gangsters could win, uncontrollable. And then he can have in prison, maybe the government can get on top of the situation.

HARLOW: Yes.

Ioan Grillo, thank you very much for joining me. We'll keep you posted on the latest with this.

But again, he is back in that same prison in Mexico City. We will see if he gets extradited to the United States.

A lot ahead this hour. Donald rally in Iowa, just wrapping up. The day after this moment, at his rally in South Carolina.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're saying ugly, ugly things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: That is the Muslim woman who was escorted out by police after she stood up in silent protest at the rally last night. We will have the details for you.

Also, you heard President Obama in CNN's town hall this week talk about so-called smart guns. We will speak one-on-one with the state senator who proposed the first smart gun bill 14 years ago. So why hasn't anything happened?

And later, people living in flint, Michigan have a dangerous situation on their hands. That's the water, people have been drinking out of their own faucets. They are accusing city leaders of ignoring the problem, doing nothing about it. That story ahead. Stay with us.

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[15:16:33] HARLOW: Turning now to the race for the White House. Just moments ago, Donald Trump wrapped a speech before a packed house in Iowa for just over three weeks to go before the Iowa caucuses. During the speech, he touched on everything from ISIS to his chief rival in a potential general election, Hillary Clinton.

One thing we did not hear about, an incident last night for the Muslim woman kicked who was out in South Carolina rally. She stood up and silent protest during his speech. It happened after Trump suggested Syrian refugees are affiliated with ISIS. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I know the game. And I know the game very well. These people will come in --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: The crowd booing and heckling, as you can hear the woman was escorted out along with three other people. Here's what she had to say about it afterwards.

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ROSE HAMID, EJECTED FROM TRUMP RALLY: This one guy was setting get out, do you have a bomb, do you have a bomb? And I said no, do you have a bomb? So no, they were -- they were saying ugly, ugly things. One guy was saying, God is great. I'm like yes, God is great. And one guy said (INAUDIBLE) love you which is the Arabic for Jesus. And I said, yes, I know, and Jesus loves you too. So it is -- the thing is that people don't even know what they're saying. They don't even -- they just get riled up in the hate mongering and they don't know what they're saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Our Sara Murray is following the Trump campaign. She joins us live from his rally in Iowa. So right after this happened, Sara, a very well-known Muslim advocacy

group came out, demanded that Trump apologize. It's not likely we're going to see that, is it?

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: I think it's pretty unlikely. We have asked the Trump campaign for a response on this. They have not responded. And you know, what is interesting is even though Trump did not address that event here at his speech in Iowa, he did have what has become kind of common at Trump events, which was one person in the audience shouting out that President Obama is one of them. He is, you know, a radical Islamist. He is Muslim. And Trump once again did not correct this person. He just said, well, look, and then he kind of moved on. That sort of has been the way Trump responds to people shouting this out in his audience. And remember, that early on, Trump was one of the original birthers when it came to President Obama. And so, even though he is not straight up saying that out on the trail, he is not shutting it down when voters raised the issue.

HARLOW: And his message today there in Iowa, Sara, do we know the focus?

MURRAY: He went after Ted Cruz hard today in Iowa, Poppy. And I think that is because you are seeing in the latest polls. If you look at the latest FOX News in Iowa, Ted Cruz is leading by four points. So, take a listen to what he had to say about Cruz today.

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TRUMP: We are sort of like tied with Ted Cruz, and you know, we will talk about that. We will talk about Ted, and I like Ted and everything else, but he has to straighten out his problem. He got to straighten it out. You can't have that problem and go and be a nominee. You have to straighten it out. It has to be taken care of. So if anybody wants to discuss that later, we will discuss it. Maybe we won't discuss it now. We will just make people feel a little depressed if they are on Ted's side.

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MURRAY: So you saw him there fanning the flames on another birther controversy. This time these are his questions whether Ted Cruz can be president, because he was born in Canada. Most legal scholars believe Cruz can. But look that wasn't his only shot at Cruz. He went after him for accepting checks for big donors. He also went after Cruz for not supporting subsidies for ethanol here in Iowa which is a big issue. So, it clear Trump really wants to defend turf here in Iowa. And he said he really wants to win this state, Poppy.

[15:20:21] HARLOW: Yes, countdown on. Three weeks to go.

Sara Murray, thank you so much.

Ted Cruz not the only target for Donald Trump. Coming up, Bill Clinton, former president and ghost of scandals past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said a lot of things.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you respond --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Donald Trump seizes on form of president's personal past as part of his new line of attack against Hillary Clinton. Will the strategy work? We're back in a moment.

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[15:23:38] HARLOW: These days, Donald Trump's largest target, perhaps not one of his Republican rivals in the primary, it is Hillary Clinton. The way he is attacking her, largely through her former president husband.

Chris Frates is with me now to talk more about how Trump is using Bill Clinton's infidelities against his wife.

I mean, no question, coincidence, it's not a coincidence in the timing here, frankly. Bill just got on the trail.

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATION CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. I mean, Poppy, Donald Trump continues to hammer Hillary Clinton by dredging up Bill Clinton's past sex scandals. He is using Instagram, Twitter, and campaign speeches to throw the democratic power couple, but so far they haven't taken the bait.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LENA DUNHAM, CLINTON SUPPORTER: The way that she has been treated is just more evidence of the fact that our country has so much hatred towards successful women and inability to separate their accomplishments of powerful men.

FRATES (voice-over): Lena Dunham, creator of the hit HBO "Showgirls" taking what sounds like a veiled swipe at Donald Trump, who is relentlessly attacking Hillary Clinton for her husband's sex scandals, a strategy of guilt by association.

On Instagram.

HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Women's rights are human rights, and human rights are women's rights. Once and for all.

Let's keep fighting for opportunity and dignity.

FRATES: On the stump.

TRUMP: And she wants to accuse me of things and the husband is one of the great abusers of the world. Give me a break. Give me a break.

[15:25:04] FRATES: And on Twitter: "I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about women's issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite is and how Hillary abused those women. The worst thing Hillary could do is have her husband campaign for her." Just watch.

CLINTON: We'll bring you a --

[15:00:11] State Republican lawmaker even got it on the act, heckling Clinton about her husband's sexual improprieties at a New Hampshire campaign event.

CLINTON: You are very rude and I'm not going to ever toll on you. Thank you.

FRATES: Bill Clinton says he won't fire back unless Trump becomes a GOP nominee.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't is a response. If he wins the Republican nomination, we will have plenty of time to talk about it. I have no interest in getting involved in their politics or doing anything except trying to help Hillary.

FRATES: Trump said he went on the offensive after Hillary Clinton called him sexist, but admitted that if his attacks start hurting him women voters, he would back off if it hurt.

TRUMP: Yes, I hit him pretty hard. And maybe they won't be attacking me anymore, because you know, I am somebody that has great respect for women, believe me. And I will do a great job, far better for women than Hillary will ever do for women, but I certainly tone it down. There is no question about that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRATES: So the attacks are good politics for Trump. He is trying to hobble Bill Clinton just as Clinton takes to the campaign trial to make his wife's case. And Clinton bashing of course is very popular with Republican primary voters. They deeply dislike the Clintons.

Now, it is a much different story, Poppy, on the Democratic side, where Clinton's rivals are largely avoiding the subject. In fact, on Friday in Iowa, Bernie Sanders told a town hall there, that the race should be focused on the issues, not what they called Bill Clinton's disgraceful behavior, Poppy.

HARLOW: All right. We are going to hear more from Bernie Sanders on that in just a minute.

Thank you so much, Chris.

Joining me now, Mollie Hemingway, senior editor for "The Federalist." She wrote a fascinating piece about this. And you talk about sort of dragging out the old Clinton scandals. And here is part of what you wrote.

You wrote, "Donald Trump was smart to bring it up, particularly in the fashion he did. He's not saying either Clinton's behavior is disqualifying, just that they can't play the sexism card with him, without bringing it up. It may not be polite, but it is ruthlessly effectively and efficient."

Do you think this was a political calculus missed by the Clinton camp?

MOLLIE HEMINGWAY, SENIOR EDITOR, THE FEDERALIST: Well, I think they certainly did miss it. And it is understandable how they missed it. The media has generally have let things go from the Clinton's past. And it is not just about --

HARLOW: In your opinion.

HEMINGWAY: Generally speaking. It is not just what about Clinton has done, what President Clinton has done, but also about how Hillary Clinton behaved toward the women who did accused her husband of sexual assault and harassment. And that's really why it does still retains relevance. Hillary Clinton just repeatedly tweeted out that we should believe all women about when they claim that they have been attacked by men.

HARLOW: She said so recently when she was asked by it.

HEMINGWAY: So she has gone over her skis a little bit. But the media are going to generally let her go. I mean, even you saw how we are handling the story of the protester last week who was a rape survivor, who wanted to asked here about how she treated these women. We treat her in the media as if she was a heckler. That's the word that was just used. Where you have the protester last night in the Trump rally and you have got so much media coverage. Everybody get protesters, but how we treat people varies quite a bit.

HARLOW: So you think-- that's interesting. Do you think that the Clinton camp really -- they just thought that he's not going to go there, no one is going to go there.

HEMINGWAY: And also true because so frequently, Democrats have had success with war on women messaging. And so, I think that Hillary Clinton thought she is a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood which is a big part of the war on women messaging campaign. I think she thought she could get away with it just a little bit more. Donald Trump didn't say that it is disqualifying what Clinton did or even what Hillary did, but just don't call him a sexist, because then he'll bring it up.

HARLOW: So let's listen to what Bernie Sanders had to say last night. I thought this was very interesting. He was asked about it. Here's his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Hillary Clinton is not Bill Clinton, what Bill Clinton did I think we can all acknowledge was totally, totally, totally disgraceful and unacceptable. But I am running against Hillary Clinton. I'm not running against Bill Clinton. He's been in Iowa recently, but I'm running against Hillary Clinton, and I believe, and I have to say this, and I thank you for your question in this sense. I think what we need to do is as a nation, certainly something that the Republicans are not doing, is focus on the bloody issues facing this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: So he is saying we have to focus on the issues, but he prefaced that with calling former President Bill Clinton's behavior disgraceful and unacceptable. What do you make of his answer?

HEMINGWAY: I'm actually kind of surprised by that. Bernie Sanders has been pretty soft with his attacks on Hillary Clinton, even reminding people about what that was like living during the '90s with so many different women accusing President Clinton of sexual mistreatment at that time and in his past. It's something that a lot of younger voters I don't think are very familiar with particularly, a lot if younger female voters. I'm not sure if they, you know, if you didn't live it, you're not going to remember these things.

And just having it brought up, relearning these details, remembering what it was like with all of the Clinton parsing, the what is the independent investigations and what not, it's not going to help Hillary Clinton, particularly at a time that she's also facing investigation over her email scandal.

[15:30:02] HARLOW: Right. In your piece, you mention the footnotes, the graphic footnotes for the star report, for example. But Hillary Clinton, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, had her highest approval ratings as first lady through that I believe 67 percent. Could this actually benefit her?

HEMINGWAY: There is something about the fact that people very badly about what happened to Hillary Clinton in terms of how her husband treated her and respected her in that marriage. But it is true that we know more about her involvement in discrediting these women and personally being involved in defaming them and what not. That's not a message that she wants to talk about. That's not something that she wants people reminded of. And again, she has her own scandal with its own very Clinton issues going on in terms of what she claimed she knew about her email server and how she didn't have any classified information on it. Now, we know that there are thousands of classified emails.

These are the type of Clinton scandals that people remember from the 90s that makes them tired. And so, I think she just wants to avoid any relationship to scandals, whether they're sexual, whether they are dealing with her handling of classified information or anything in between.

HARLOW: Certainly out there, and at the floor right now.

Mollie, thank you. Appreciate it Molly Hemingway of "the Federalist."

Coming up next, we are going to get back to the gun debate. Guns could actually lockout criminals and young children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, think about your kid going in and finding the gun and playing around with the gun. That's what you want to expect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: We're going to take a closer look at the technology behind those smart guns and why not everyone thinks they're necessarily a great idea. Next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:34:48] HARLOW: All right. I want you to take a look at something. Let's play this video.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

HARLOW: What you're looking at in a moment is a so-called smart gun. These are guns that basically lock unless the intended user as the one using them. They can be run by remote watches, the trigger can be stopped from being pulled in a child picks it up or a criminal who is not supposed to have it.

And when you look at smart guns, they're really not sold anywhere in the United States. According to the law, all handguns sold in New Jersey must be smart guns within 30 months after the first smart gun is sold nationwide. That is a new law proposed.

Critics say that this law would effectively ban the sale of conventional handguns in New Jersey. This is way back. This was 14 years ago now. And so, it was never really implemented. Well, two stores tried to sell smart guns in the United States and they were flooded with angry calls. One store owner said that he received death threats, both stores gave up on plans to sell smart guns.

But now, there is new law on the table, it is a bit different, but gets at the same issue. I want to bring in the New Jersey state Senate majority Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat. She sponsored the smart gun law 14 years ago now.

LORETTA WEINBERG (D), MAJORITY LEADER, NEW JERSEY STATE SENATE: I guess that's how long, yes.

HARLOW: Thank you for being here. You are back with to talk about that, but also with what is on the table right now. Walk us through why you think this basically -- I mean failed. You got it passed and then it never worked. No one could tell smart guns, because the guns store owners said they were flooded with calls of people saying why would you do that?

WEINBERG: The law was originally passed some 14 years ago in 2002, in order to spur the technology. We've had one of our universities in New Jersey, New Jersey Institute of Technology, just really getting close to developing this technology. What happened is the pro-gun lobby, the NRA, seemed to stand in the way of moving forward on the research and development. And they kept on using the New Jersey law as the reason. If such a gun comes on the market in New Jersey, it will be the only kind of gun you can buy. HARLOW: Well, because let's be clear. What the previous law did was

once this smart gun technology is widely available, then 30 months after that all guns sold in New Jersey have to have the technology.

WEINBERG: Once the attorney general deemed that it met our standards, very important, OK. In recognition of that I put in a new bill, which says no, there will be no mandate that you must buy a smart gun, but once the technology is developed and the attorney general says it meets our standards, then retailers must offer one model for sale. Hopefully that bill has gone through the Senate.

HARLOW: Do you think that's going to be voted on this week.

WEINBERG: On Monday in the assembly.

HARLOW: Do you think it will pass?

WEINBERG: I do believe it will pass. It came out of committee in the assembly. It has already passed the Senate.

HARLOW: Let me read what the NRA has said. We have never had a problem with smart gun technology. Our only issue with New Jersey was the mandate that would require firearm dealers to only sell smart guns. The choice should be left to the marketplace.

Let me push back and ask you this. If the marketplace demanded it so much, don't you think they would be out there already more? There is some Silicon Valley D.C. (ph) money flowing into this technology for sure. But what do you make about what the NRA says?

WEINBERG: First of all, the law, the new law will not say that that is the only kind of gun you can sell. It will say you must offer.

HARLOW: At least one.

WEINBERG: At least one of those models. So that's an incorrect statement that the NRA made. But they have stood in the way by threatening people, making people afraid of moving ahead. Now, the president included the idea of research and development in his latest.

HARLOW: Executive action.

WEINBERG: Executive order on gun safety, which really I was delighted to see it. Something I have been kind of lobbing the White House on over the past year so through the legislative exchange, a group of progressive legislatures. And I'm looking forward to seeing this passed on Monday in the assembly, reaching the governor's desk, and with the support of the White House by moving some funding through the department of justice and through the department of defense into getting this research and development, moving ahead.

HARLOW: But the technology is out there. I mean, they know how to make these. The technology has been out there for more than a decade.

Let me ask you this. You got about 300 million guns in the United States right now. Would you want them to be, or would you consider mandating at least in New Jersey that those guns be retrofitted with this smart gun technology? Is that realistic?

WEINBERG: That is not realistic. It is not anything that our law says. It would seem to me that if you were a person who was buying a firearm, a gun to keep in your home for whatever your perceived issues about safety are, that you would want this kind of a gun, a gun that your child can't get access to, or if somebody steels it, they can't use it.

So all we are asking in this bill is let's move ahead with the R&D, let's get this to the marketplace, and in order to stop the kind of threats, let's give the retailers some cover by saying, OK, you have to offer one model for safe.

HARLOW: Thirty seconds left. Do you think that the government should give the private sector some sort of incentive to build these guns? And I'm not just talking about the big gun manufacturers. I'm talking about the small technology companies.

WEINBERG: Yes, there are smaller technology companies, there are entrepreneurs out there. This is a whole new field. And once this is developed, it probably can be used in a lot of different ways that you and I aren't even thinking of right now.

HARLOW: Senator, thank you very much.

WEINBERG: Thank you.

HARLOW: We'll see what happens at the legislation maybe even on Monday.

WEINBERG: It will be on Monday. Thank you.

HARLOW: Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

Coming up next, we are going to take you to Michigan, a new threat to citizens of the city already on the nation's most dangerous places to live list. It is not because of guns or crime right now, but it is because of what is coming out of the faucet. That's right, water. We will take you to flint next.

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[15:44:26] HARLOW: A state of emergency has been declared for thousands of people living right now in Michigan. This is months after researchers discovered toxic levels of lead in their water supply.

Take a look at this bottle. This is contaminated water that men, women, children, they have been all drinking, and they have possibly filled their body with this increased lead water for more than a year.

Our Sara Ganim is in Flint, Michigan with more.

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SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This neighborhood says it all, 15 percent of homes in Flint, Michigan are boarded up. There is a 40 percent poverty rate, high unemployment and it is consistently at the top of the nation's list of most dangerous places. This 33 square mile city doesn't even have a grocery store. And now, they don't have clean drinking water. For 18 months, researchers believe the water flowing through taps across Flint has been tainted with lead.

RHONDA KELSO, PLAINTIFF IN CLASS ACTION SUIT: I'm paying for poison. Paying for water that's a toxic waste.

GANIM: Rhonda Kelso and her 12-year-old daughter Kay Lynn are among many residents of Flint whose blood levels tested high for lead after the city switched their water source.

In an attempt to cut costs, city officials stopped getting pretreated water from the city of Detroit in 2014, and instead, began using water from the nearby Flint River. The problem is that the Flint River is 19 times more corrosive than Lake Huron, Detroit's water source according to researchers at Virginia Tech. And the city wasn't treating it according to federal law. Lead pipes began to corrode, leaching into the water.

DR. MONA HANNA-ATTISHA, HURLEY CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: If you were to put something in a population to keep them down for a generation and generations to come, it would be lead.

GANIM: Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha at Flint children's hospital.

HANNA-ATTISHA: It is a well-known potent neurotoxin. There is tons of evidence on what lead does it a child. And it is one of the most damming things that can do a population. It drops your IQ, it affects your behavior, it has been linked to criminality. It has multigenerational impact. There is no safe level of lead in a child.

GANIM: After hearing her patients complain about water that looked and smelled and tasted funny, she decide today investigate. Using publicly available data on lead levels in children in Flint, she found that the percentage of lead in kids double, even tripled in some places after the water switch.

HANNA-ATTISHA: When we saw that it was getting into children and when we knew the consequences of it, that's, I think when we began not to sleep.

GANIM: Here is how this happened. The corrosive Flint River water goes from the plant to the water mains, to the service lines to the homes. In Flint, the water mains are made of iron, which turns some of the water brown. And half of the service lines and pipes in Flint homes are made of lead.

HANNA-ATTISHA: We have to think about it that these children were drinking through lead painted straws.

GANIM: For at least a year, city and state officials denied anything was wrong. The former mayor, Dane Walling, publicly drank the water to make a statement. But a 2011 study had also warned that the Flint River was corrosive, and needed to be treated. Is there a good explanation for why they decided not to add the anti-

corrosives?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

GANIM: Material to the water?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

GANIM: Nobody has answered that question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don't think there is a good answer for that.

GANIM: Experts tell CNN it would have cost about $100 a day. In late September, officials finally recognized what experts had been saying. The water in Flint was toxic. By October, the city reverted back to using the Detroit water supply, but the damage was done.

GOV. RICK SNYDER (R), MICHIGAN: I do apologize for it with respect to our role in the issue.

GANIM: The state's director of environmental quality stepped down and walling lost a re-election campaign that centered around the issue.

DAYNE WALLING, FORMER FLINT MAYOR: In retrospect, I regret all of it, all the way back to seeing the city move to a different drinking water source. You can't put a dollar amount on the devastation to our community, our kids. It was completely avoidable.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GANIM: So Poppy, the question now is who is to blame. People who live here in the city of Flint, they blame the state, because at the time these decisions were being made, the state had control over the city, because of a financial emergency.

Now, last night there were protests here. People calling for the governor to resign. He did apologize later earlier in the week when he declared a state of emergency here. And you know, there are state official whose have lost their jobs over this. A recent task force found that the blame lied with the state department of environmental quality, that they should have known better. They should have understood better a law. They should have put the anticorrosive agent into the water. But the irony for the people who live here now is they are about 70 miles from the coast of the world's greatest natural water resource, the great lakes.

HARLOW: Yes.

GANIM: Yet, they cannot get clean drinking water from their taps, Poppy.

HARLOW: Unbelievable. Can you imagine your child drinking water with twice the level of lead it can acceptably have. Thank goodness for that doctor you talked to, Sara, who spent her time and energy to get to the bottom of this.

Thank you very much. Sara Ganim, investigating for us in Flint, Michigan.

Up next, the war on ISIS. What the public needs to hear in next week's state of the union address when it comes to President Obama's plan to fight ISIS in his final year in office. Stay with me.

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[15:53:18] HARLOW: The man who fired a loaded handgun into a police car this week arraigned today on attempted murder and other charges. Edward Archer, a 30 year old, started firing and seriously wounded the officer inside that patrol car on Thursday night. He says he did it in the name of ISIS.

A police captain tells CNN that Archer will not say much more other than that he pledges allegiance to the Islamic State. Investigators, though, now trying to get to the bottom of whether or not he really does have a connection to ISIS or to another terror group.

CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier joins me now.

When you look at this, Kimberly, this would mark the fourth time that we have seen a so-called lone wolf or homegrown terrorist attack in the United States in just the past few years. We had the attack on police officers here in New York, you had Garland, Texas. You have this. Where do you think this person fits into that increasing threat of these lone wolves?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Unfortunately, he fits right into the group that authorities had predicted would start answering the call, someone who seems disenfranchised, his relatives have told local newspapers that he is mentally disturbed, no one has said that from an official standpoint. But what we are getting is the kind of picture of someone who was easily influenced and radicalized by the constant drum beat of ISIS social media outreach. And one of the things that ISIS has done is say go and attack in your own area. They have said it on twitter to people. All you have to do is leave a note at your home saying that you've sworn allegiance to ISIS and then go attack a figure of authority, like the police or soldiers, and because of that they have made it very easy for fear to spread and their ideology to spread.

[15:55:04] HARLOW: Let's look at the latest polling, because what it shows is that most Americans, and this is not just along partisan lines, most of them, 64 percent, disapprove how the president's handling ISIS. He has one year to turn that around and he addressed the nation Tuesday night in the state of the union address. What are your sources in the military saying they want to hear from this president on this fight?

DOZIER: Well, they would like to hear that there's going to be more of an all-out push. I mean, some members of the military I've spoken to have said they would like to see stepped up clandestine aid, more resources on the ground. Others I have spoken to have said they would like to see the president acting on the intelligence that they are getting. That they are getting a pretty good picture of what's going on in Syria from both technical and human intelligence that they have a pretty good lay of the land in terms of the ISIS network, but that because of fears of civilian causalities, but also because the U.S. doesn't want to put some of the resources you need on the ground to go after some of these targets that the campaign is going more slowly than some would like.

HARLOW: Thirty seconds left, obviously, I should have mentioned at the top the San Bernardino case. I mean, the other prime example of this. What can law enforcement get or what do they want from the federal government to make this a more effective fight here at home?

DOZIER: Well, one of the things that has just happened, the White House announced on Friday was that they have a new office inside the state department, or rather a new chief. The former head of special operations within the Pentagon who is going to take over the messaging campaign to try to stop the message from ISIS that's drawing people and also the department of homeland security and department of justice are reorganizing their counter-violent extremism fight. They have tried to do this before. Let's see if they can figure out how to reach the masses and head off is.

HARLOW: Kimberly Dozier for us in Washington, thank you so much.

We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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